Trump Won. Time For The Left To Get Over It.

In the Sunday, July 29, 2018 Los Angeles Times, was an Op-Ed by writer Virginia Heffernan: "Was the 2016 election legitimate?" Let's take a look at her analysis. First, she tells us: "A nation devoted to majority rule has a minority president. Who squeaked into high office on an electoral college technicality." You have to admire the way in which, knowing she is stating half-truths, she describes Trump's election victory as some sinister scheme. Majority rule? Yes, our Constitution says that a majority of the Electoral College vote determines the winner. A "technicality?" That pretty much describes what many on the left think of the US Constitution - a technicality.

Yes, other Presidents have been elected by winning the Electoral College, but not the popular vote. Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George Bush in 2000. And let's not forget that John Quincy Adams won in 1824 with neither the popular vote nor the Electoral College vote. Adams won in the House of Representatives.

Heffernan says Trump won "Against most data projections. Using voter suppression. Using Russian disinformation." Against most date projection? Wow - I did not realize elections were decided by projections. If they were, we would have had a President-elect Dewey in 1948, inasmuch as Dewey was the overwhelming favorite over Truman - to the point where the advance printing of the Chicago Daily Tribune announced "DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN." There is a famous photo of a beaming Truman holding up that erroneous edition of the paper. Voter suppression? Heffernan's evidence is an article in the left-wing publication Mother Jones, claiming that discriminatory ID laws in Wisconsin prevented many from voting. So, voter suppression by duly passed laws? Were those laws challenged in the courts? We don't know from her article. We do know that Trump was busy campaigning throughout the Midwest while Clinton was...just hanging out with Bill, savoring their anticipated victory? Because, you know, Hillary thought her election victory was already decided - by the projections.

Russian disinformation? No doubt that Putin and Russia try to interfere with Western democracies, including our own. But Robert Mueller is busy prosecuting Paul Manafort over allegations of tax evasion from years ago, with absolutely nothing to do with Russia or Russian collusion. Another reason why I'm opposed to the appointment of special counsel - unlimited prosecutorial power with the ability to go after anyone they want to.

Curiously, in addition to seemingly not knowing about how our Constitution and electoral system works, and ignoring the other Presidential elections with electoral but not popular vote winners, Heffernan also seems to not know or care about our alleged rigged Presidential elections. The most well known one in our lifetimes was the 1960 Kennedy vs. Nixon election. Quite a few people thought that Chicago Mayor Daley, along with the Chicago mob, purposely waited until the morning after election day to turn in Chicago's vote tallies - perhaps with the Cook County machine waiting to make sure they had enough votes to put Kennedy over the top.

Leftists tell me they are sick of Trump. Well, conservatives are sick of leftists being unable to accept that Trump won the election - and that he is the President. So, now that we've established everybody is upset about something, I suggest we let reason replace emotion so that everyone may calm down a bit. And I'd like to see mainstream papers like the LA Times stop printing distorted Op-Eds like this one.