‘Sore loser’ Trump doesn’t care about democracy

Given that former President Donald Trump and his cohorts continue to complain about the results of the 2020 presidential elections, one might infer that the election was very close. In fact, the election was not close.

To emphasize this fact, let's compare the 2020 election with the Bush vs. Gore 2000 election, which was one of the closest presidential contests in U.S. history.

Former Vice President Al Gore needed to win just one additional state to tip the election. By comparison, Trump needed to flip three states (Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin) to cause a tie in the Electoral College and he needed to flip four states to win outright.

The outcome of the 2000 election hinged on Florida's 25 electoral votes and the nearly statistical tie that precipitated a 36-day political crisis following the election. Former President George W. Bush's margin of victory in Florida was 537 votes. In 2020, President Joe Biden's margin of victory in the three states Trump would have needed to flip were all greater than 10,000 votes.

On Dec. 13, 2000, Gore conceded the race to Bush because he did not want to lead the country into a potentially dangerous

constitutional nightmare. On Jan. 7, 2021, Trump, without mentioning Biden's name, publicly acknowledged that "he would not serve a second term." This was one day after he incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol in order to force a reversal of the election results. Trump was not concerned that his actions were a threat to our Constitution.

Gore wanted to preserve the foundation of our democracy while Trump cared not about our democracy but only about himself. Trump was simply a "sore loser."

Don Steiner

Schenectady