Hypocrisy at its finest

For nearly four years Americans have been listening to Donald Trump complain that the 2020 election was stolen from him. His obsession with his loss is driving his campaign for the 2024 election.

Joe Biden was elected president in 2020. He received more than 81 million votes to Donald Trump’s 73 million votes. Refusing to accept his loss, Trump tried to overturn the election, targeting a few states where the vote totals were very close.

In Georgia, Biden received 49.5 % of the votes, Trump 49.2 %. In Arizona, Biden received 49.4% of the votes, Trump 49.0 %. In Pennsylvania, Biden received 50 % of the votes, Trump 48.9 %. In Wisconsin, Biden received 49.6 % of the votes, Trump 48.9 %.

These are states Trump still insists he won, although recounts show he did not. He still claims he was cheated out of the presidency, that he had millions more votes than Biden and there was rampant fraud in the election. He convinced his MAGA followers the election was stolen by Democrats and incited them to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while he pursued a complex, illegal attempt to overturn election results.

What’s so disturbing about this false claim of stolen elections is the total absence of logic. To begin with, it’s suspected Trump doesn’t really believe the election was stolen; he just can’t stand to admit he lost it.

The second point is how all the claims by Trump of a stolen election have been proven false. All 61 cases heard in court failed because there was no actual evidence of fraud. All the crazy allegations against Dominion Voting Systems never held up, and it cost some Trump attorneys their careers and Fox TV more than $700 million because they constantly defamed the company on air.

It’s the third point that really defies logic: If Trump’s election was stolen in these states, why were there no complaints about the elections down ballot? If the elections were stolen from Trump - the Republican presidential candidate, why weren’t the elections stolen from other Republicans on the same ballots - Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green and Rep. Jody Hice in Georgia, and Rep. Paul Gosar in Arizona? They all won. How were they elected, and Trump was not?

The answer is obvious; many Republicans didn’t vote for Trump.

It would have been impossible for Republican candidates to have won in those close states if ballots had been replaced, as claimed, with truckloads of invalid ballots cast by millions of illegal migrants and “dead” voters choosing Biden.

Obviously, all those so-called “cheating Biden voters” would have cast their votes for the Democratic candidates down ballot.

Logic is also pretty scarce in claims about the January 6 insurrection. As time goes by since the attack by Trump followers on the Capitol, we’re hearing more and more revisions of who the rioters were. MAGA members of Congress seemed to have forgotten how terrified they were when the Capitol was breached and they were hiding in fear for their lives.

Today, they refer to the attackers as patriots. Some have even visited them in prison. The most radical MAGA members refer to the prisoners as hostages, pretending that people who have been adjudicated in the American judicial system are being held illegally by the government. This is nonsense, blatantly unpatriotic and super hypocritical, especially coming from a party that likes to preach law and order.

The most egregious defiance of logic is the lie perpetrated by those of the Marjorie Taylor-Green crowd who argue the people attacking the Capitol on January 6 weren’t Trump followers. She claims it was left-wing groups who stormed the Capitol to stop the electoral vote count.

Her accusations make no sense. Democrats won the election. Joe Biden’s voters were thrilled with the outcome, so why would they try to overturn the election? Why would they want Congress to stop counting the electoral votes?

It was Republicans who lost. They’re the ones who wanted to substitute Trump electors for Biden electors. It was MAGAs in Congress and the rioters who tried to stop Vice President Pence from counting the electoral votes.

Either MAGAs are not too smart, or we’re witnessing hypocrisy at its finest. Or perhaps it’s a combination of both.