Accept the Election: It’s childish of Trump to not accept the election outcome, with evidence security and little proof of voter fraud

*this opinion reflects the opinion of one individual staffer, not the Harbinger staff as a whole

When I was six years old, I lost a game of Candy Land. I responded by flipping the game over and bursting out in tears — a typical reaction for a kindergartner. When I saw President Donald Trump repeatedly claiming “the election was stolen” and “rigged election,” I couldn’t help but see my 6-year old self in his over-dramatic response. 

The difference between the two situations, however, is that Trump is a 74-year-old grown man — and the President of the United States.

In an effort to coerce a different outcome, the Trump campaign recently spent $3 million for a recount in Wisconsin, a key swing state in the election. During the recount, Trump not only failed to win — but they found that Biden had 87 more votes than the total original declared. The attempt to reverse the presidency only widened Biden’s margin of success. 

At this point, with recounts totaled and no evidence of widespread voter fraud, it’s no longer laughable to not accept the results of the election — it’s childish.  

Along with Wisconsin, the validity of votes in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Arizona has been contested by The Trump Administration. After doing a hand recount, Georgia is now performing a second recount by machine. Michigan’s vote is certified, with the state government refusing a recount, while formal challenges and lawsuits have been filed against Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.  

After this many recounts, it’s naive of President Trump to assume the results will magically flip in his favor — it’s time to move on. 

The smallest margin by which Biden lost is 11,000 in Arizona, and there’s no evidence of tampering in any state, according to the Associated Press. It’s one thing to inquire about the validity of the election, but it’s another to challenge and sue states all across the country whose votes have been certified as legitimate. 

Accepting the win is a matter of respect. It’s not about the party that won, or who the losing candidate was. Whoever wins deserves to be accepted by the public — and that standard extends to the candidate who lost. 

The continued denial of election results have made it difficult for a smooth transition of office. Biden was denied the funds for transition to office in the weeks that followed the election, and many of Trump’s supporters believe the election was rigged. The political divide was already strong during the election, and the inability to accept the win has only made it stronger. 

In an interview with 60 Minutes, former Cybersecurity Chief Chris Krebs — who was fired by Trump via Twitter on Nov. 17— stated that this was the securest election in U.S. history. Krebs, along with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, spent three and a half years going over every possible scenario for how a foreign influence could interfere with the election before finding ways to stop them. According to Krebs, 95% of the ballots cast in the 2020 election had a paper record associated with it.

It’s clear the election was held with prime security. The national security agent for the President said that the election was secure, to which Trump responded by not only disagreeing — but firing him as well. Trump is only willing to listen to what he wants to hear, even if it’s the people in charge of the basis behind his claims about election fraud. 

In states like Georgia, for example, machines tabulated the first voting results. In the hand recount that followed, the results were consistent with the machines. According to Krebs, this debunks theories about malicious algorithms or hacked software within the machines that counted the vote. However, Trump continues to make claims about outrageous algorithms and rigged machines, even when the hand recounts match the original results. 

If Trump truly thought the election was rigged, he would call for recounts in other close states like Florida and Texas — not only states where he lost. 

With this being said, I understand where Trump’s coming from. Trump ended the night of the election with a majority lead in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. In the next 24 hours, Biden gained the lead in all three states. However, mail-in ballots were the last votes to be counted. Trump told his voters to vote in-person, and Biden ended with a large majority of mail-in votes. Ultimately, Trump brought this turn around on himself. 

If anything, his reaction to the loss diminishes his respectability as a leader and reaffirms why he failed to succeed in the first place. He’s not acting like a politician or a president that the country should look towards for guidance. Instead, he’s acting like a child that didn’t like their Happy Meal toy at McDonalds. 

The votes should speak for themselves. Each state has accepted the vote, and with the ability to audit the paper ballots, there shouldn’t be questions in states where Biden won by more than 150,000 votes. Although Trump continues to tweet things like “Fake news!” and “such total corruption,” many of his comments are flagged with “this claim about election fraud is disputed,” making them hard to believe. 

Even if Trump did get some of the states back, he needs 38 more electoral votes to break down Biden’s extensive lead. He would have to win at least three out of six, and the odds of that are slim.  Especially when, according the New York Times, there’s no president that has made as many voter fraud claims with such little evidence as Trump. 

So as someone who listens to the final call of the election, I look forward to having a president who can do the same.