Ever since the Mainstream Media outlets decided to call the Presidential election for Joe Biden, talking heads on the network news, pundits and even foreign leaders have been referring to Biden as “President-Elect”. However, this title is premature at best. We are only a week past one of the strangest national elections this country has ever seen. Even today, battleground states like Georgia are doing a hand recount of all the ballots due to the razor-thin margins by which Biden appears to have won.
Back in 2000, the close election between Bush and Gore dragged out for weeks. Although Gore briefly conceded early, he rescinded his concession and didn’t actually concede the election until December 13th, a full 36 days after Election Day!
The American people shouldn’t need to be reminded that the Media doesn’t declare winners and losers in our Republic. Media outlets can opine, speculate and guess all they want about who they *think* will be elected by the Electoral College, but the Media doesn’t get to decide. The only proper ways to claim the title “President-Elect” is under any of the following conditions:
- The opposing candidate concedes the race because the results are clear (Trump has not conceded and the results were razor thin in several battleground states)
- The dates for all states to certify the election results have passed and there are no contested results that would change the outcome of the election (as of Nov 11th there are still 43 states with future deadlines to certify election results, the latest of which is Dec 11th in California, and the contested results in several states would change the outcome of this election)
- All Electors in the Electoral College have cast their votes on Dec 14th 2020 and one candidate crosses the required 270 vote threshold (this obviously hasn’t happened as of the date of this article)
So why is the Mainstream Media colluding with the Biden campaign to jump the gun on referring to Biden as “President-Elect”? Is it simply out of confidence or wishful thinking that Trump’s legal challenges regarding election fraud will ultimately fail? Or could there be a more sinister motivation?
In 2016 Leftists and Progressives were blindsided by Trump’s surprise victory on Election Night. They woke up the day after and moaned and groaned (and screamed). Some even spun fanciful conspiracy theories that enough “Faithless Electors” could throw the victory to their queen Hillary. Ultimately though, Democrats were let down quickly. That’s not the case in 2020.
Democrats, Progressives and Leftists everywhere have jumped to the conclusion that Biden already won and that the “Trump Era” is over. The past week has been a blitz of starry-eyed daydreaming about the glorious new future of “unity” and “peace” in a Biden/Harris administration. It’s understandable why Democrats would rush to anoint their new king. After all, they spent the last four years being ruthlessly tortured by the reincarnation of Hitler himself!
Nonetheless, if Trump manages to succeed in his legal battles to prove voter fraud in key battleground states, can you imagine the disappointment on the Left? If Trump does win in the end it will have been after weeks of legal battles. Weeks that the Left will have spent mentally re-arranging the furniture in the White House. Such a victory by Trump would not just devastate Leftists, it would enrage them to the point of violence.
The fact that the Biden campaign has already “declared” victory (something Biden recently promised not to do), has already launched their transition website, is picking cabinet staff, and referring to himself as “President-Elect” is not only premature, it’s dangerous.
A child sees a toy they want on the shelf in a store. If the parent says “no”, doesn’t let them touch it and quickly moves along, the child may throw a small tantrum, but they’ll get over fairly quickly. However, what if the parent lets the child not only pick up the toy, but allows them to carry it with them through the store? The child gets to play with it and images what it’ll be like to take it home. What happens then if the parent takes it away before checkout and puts it back? You can only imagine the nuclear meltdown that would ensue, and understandably so.
We have spoiled children in America called the Left and Progressives. If they get their shiny new toy (Biden/Harris) they’ll be content for a while until they see the next toy that catches their eye. If SOCTUS or the Electoral College takes their toy away at the last minute, after they’ve had weeks to play with it, they will have a tantrum so massive it could erupt into full-blown civil unrest that’ll make the summer BLM riots look tame.
All this is the culmination of decades of centralizing unconstitutional power and authority into the Executive branch of our Federal government. Every four years we anoint the next monarch of America. Every four years the stakes are raised by the previous administration usurping more and more power into the Office of the President. Every four years the political polarization becomes increasingly bitter. How many more contentious election cycles can we go through before one side snaps?
Roger Sherman is a minarchist libertarian who hails from the great State of Connecticut. Although he resides in a big government “Blue State”, Sherman believes that liberty can still prevail. Sherman works “behind enemy lines” to spread the message of liberty to all those who desire to be left alone by the government, provided they respect the rights of others and don’t aggress against anyone unless first aggressed upon.