Bill Gerling
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
President Trump claimed if he lost the election in 2016, it would be the result of fraud and lied that he had really won the popular vote. He has claimed fraud in 2020 without any proof. In his own mind and some of his followers, he can never be a "loser" regardless of the vote count.
Joe Biden got approximately more than 5 million more popular votes and will receive 306 electoral votes. At this time, Biden has the following leads in: Arizona, 11,434; Nevada, 36,866; Michigan, 146,143; Wisconsin, 20,480; Pennsylvania, 60,059; and Georgia, 14,163. He has won the three battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by larger margins than Trump won them in 2016.
It would take massive interstate conspiracy to defraud Trump with these numbers. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency and the Election Infrastructure Committee stated: "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised." Yet, Missouri's attorney general and nine counterparts are challenging a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on the counting of votes. Strange he would get involved in another state's election when Missouri voted overwhelmingly for Trump.
Trump wants his voters to believe he was cheated to delegitimize Joe Biden as the legally elected president. He tried to delegitimize President Obama as well by telling people he was not born in the United States despite evidence to the contrary. He wants to keep his followers in case he becomes a candidate in 2024 continuing his false claim. That is probably the reason why most of the Republican congressmen are supporting him. They are afraid to oppose him and his base putting politics before democratic values.
Trump is raising millions for supposedly litigating cases of alleged voting irregularity. Most of the money becomes a slush fund for Trump - one has to contribute $8,000 before a penny is spent for litigation.
He is also trying to sabotage Joe Biden's transition to the presidency by refusing to meet with him, ordering the General Services Administration not to cooperate, and not sharing the president's daily briefing. Sen. James Lankford and others have said this endangers the nation's security.
Obama met with Trump within two days after his election. Trump is firing government officials who he deems as disloyal and having a budget prepared as if he is going to be president.