Trump election denial like no other before

Mr. Johnson’s letter in the October 19 Sun, equating current election deniers with Democrats’ “questioning” the 2000, 2004 and 2016 elections, is based on false comparisons.

In 2000 and 2016, Democrats didn’t deny that the Republican candidate had gotten the number of votes attributed to him by state election authorities (except with regard to Florida in 2000, as noted below). Instead, they complained of an antiquated and irrational system that allowed the candidate who lost the popular vote to receive the most Electoral College votes. As for Florida in 2000, Democrats didn’t claim Republicans stole the disputed votes, but that a very confusing ballot caused votes for Al Gore to be miscounted or excluded.

In 2004, Democrats didn’t deny that George Bush had won the national popular vote. Instead, they sought a recount of Ohio returns, which resulted in a sharp reduction of Bush’s lead.

Another important distinction is that in each case, Democrats presented viable evidence to support their objections. The same can’t be said for Trump and his apologists. After he finished second in the 2016 Iowa caucuses, Trump tweeted, without a shred of evidence, that “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it.” After the 2016 election, a commission Trump appointed, to validate his claim that 3 million illegal votes provided Hilary Clinton’s winning popular vote margin, disbanded after a few months without producing any substantial evidence to support the contention. In the wake of the 2020 election, Trump allies filed over five dozen lawsuits challenging various state results, all of which were rejected by the courts — many of the judges for which had been appointed by Trump — for lack of evidence, up to and including the conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

Finally, Democrats never incited a violent insurrection, vandalizing the nation’s Capitol, to protest the 2000, 2004 or 2016 elections.

JAMES C. TODD

Ashberry Trail