Editorial roundup
Dec. 1
The Wall Street Journal
Barr can take the heat
Bill Barr can take the heat, and on Tuesday the stalwart attorney general guaranteed he’ll get it when he said “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
Mr. Barr told The Associated Press that allegations of “particularized” fraud, with some that “potentially cover a few thousand votes,” are being explored. But President Trump is down by 150,000 votes in Michigan, 80,000 in Pennsylvania, and 20,000 in Wisconsin. As for the idea that voting machines were compromised, Mr. Barr said the feds “have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”
As specific claims of fraud get knocked down, however, the broader tale of election theft takes on the nature of the unfalsifiable. “We won the election easily,” Mr. Trump said last Sunday. He later added: “It’s not like you’re going to change my mind.” But where’s the hard evidence to convince the country? Many of the theories floating around don’t withstand scrutiny. …
… On Sunday, Mr. Trump called Dominion voting systems, used in dozens of states, “garbage machinery.” But the totals from Georgia’s hand recount closely matched the results from its scanners. How does Mr. Trump explain that? In an op-ed for these pages, Dominion’s CEO denied the “bizarre” claim that his company is tied to Hugo Chávez. Third-party labs, he said, “perform complete source-code reviews on every federally certified tabulation system.”
Fighting such claims is like whack-a-mole. No, Pennsylvania didn’t count more mail votes than it sent out. No, Wisconsin didn’t have 89% turnout. No, several states didn’t simultaneously quit counting ballots on election night. No, ballots in Arizona filled out with Sharpie markers weren’t discounted. In an election with 155 million votes, there are no doubt irregularities and maybe some fraud. But for Mr. Trump to win the Electoral College, he’d need to flip tens of thousands of votes in multiple states.
We’re open to evidence of major fraud, but we haven’t seen claims that are credible. Now comes Mr. Barr, who has no reason to join a coverup. He likes his job. He wanted Mr. Trump to win. As the election timetable closes, Mr. Trump should focus on preserving his legacy rather than diminishing it by alleging fraud he can’t prove.