Opinion Analysis by Tala Karkanawi, Staff Writer

November 24th, 2020

President Donald Trump claimed that he would refuse the results of the 2020election in the event that he lost, which he did. Long before the presidential race towards November 3 started, some of his supporters have taken this claim about voter fraud and fear of illegal ballots to their hearts.

President Trump has officially launched multiple legal challenges and cases in multiple key states and leveled unconfirmed allegations of a possibility of having an electoral fraud in response to the November 3rd Presidential Elections in the US. It was discovered that a group of more than 150 former national security officials, warned about the issue of delaying the transition, and believe that delaying it may pose a serious risk to national security. 

A letter was written towards the General Services Administration – the government agency gave instructions to begin with the transition process – to officially accept and comprehend that Joe Biden is the president-elect and his vice president-elect is Kamala Harris, so that they can start dealing with national security matters and issues in preparation for the administration.

Multiple lawsuits were brought forward by the Trump campaign in almost six states to encounter the election result that were out. The campaign won minor court triumphs, for example, entailing Pennsylvania to set aside ballots received after the election day just in case they turn out invalid later on. It is compulsory on President Donald Trump’s campaign to prove that there is an election fraud occurring, and not simply declare it. This burden of proof requires evidence beyond doubt and not tweets off of President Trump’s twitter account.

Almost a week after Joe Biden was declared as the prospective president of the United States, Trump continues to deny the fact that he might have lost and to impede an orderly transition of power. The latest setback to his case came from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which led federal election defence determinations and efforts. It mentioned that, “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too.” 

Trump’s campaign also propelled legal encounters complaining about their allegations that their poll watchers were actually “unable to inspect and examine the voting process, and were not available in the counting room.” However, many of those allegations have been thrown out by the judges and were proven to be false, some within hours of being filed as well. 

In addition, the law firm Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, withdrew from their case in Pennsylvania in challenging around 3 million votes that were sent by mail, majority coming from the democrats. It was stated in a memo from the law firm that, “Plaintiffs and Porter Wright have reached a mutual agreement that plaintiffs will be best served if Porter Wright withdraws,” but did not offer further explanation.

The Trump’s administration’s issue in willing to accept the presidential transition has raised quite a few national security apprehensions and fears. Some Republicans believe that Biden does not have the right to few classified documents because he did not win the presidential elections, and plenty refuse to accept the former vice-president’s victory until now. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives, argued circa two weeks back that Biden does not need intelligence briefings because they believe that Trump might remain president in the new year. “He’s not president right now, don’t know if he will be January 20, but whoever is will get the information,” he told reporters.

When a political party loses the presidential election it remains an evident disaster to them, clearly. It puts the party into a chaotic environment with no executive leader for that branch of government for at least three years until a new person is possibly elected in their primaries. At the same time, the party in power controls the so called scheme, events, and enact a more popular political agenda that is beneficial for them. However, even though this year wasn’t in favour of the Republican party, the 2020 election proves how it was surprisingly a decent one for the Republicans. 

The primary and foremost evidence is that President Trump outperformed the results of 2016 by almost 10 million votes. Also, his late drive that was hurled with his conclusive win in the second presidential debate has carried him until the end of the campaign, which wasn’t expected at all. Trump lost so far because his Democratic rivalries enhanced their hold and margins in the outskirts, which usually belong to the Republican side, and that was enough for Biden to secure his win. This also happened because of the Republican’s failure of handling the COVID-19.  

Second, President Trump amended his enactment with voters that are non-white, according to exit polls. This was remarkable in places such as South Florida and South Texas, where he was able to shift entire counties around 20-30 percent towards his political party and his direction. 

Last but not least, the Republicans enlisted a distinct and diverse group of candidates. It was shown that almost every single republican candidate that flipped their congressional seat this year, is either a female, military veteran, or a Hispanic. 17 new GOP women were elected to Congress this year, and were able to outperform Trump in their own district by almost 5 percent.  

What could this mean to the Republican party and how strong will Trump’s grip be after his presidency is over, especially since he wasn’t able to get re-elected for the second time. Trump is musing over the idea of running again in 2024 if he does indeed lose the 2020 presidential elections, and by no doubt he would be the nominee of the Republican party. However, a lot can change between now and then. Many republicans, well they desperately wanted Trump to win, and this year’s elections might come off as a disappointment to them and to a lot of other people; but without no doubt, the congressional election’s outcome turned out to be a lot more in favor of the Republicans than it was for the Democrats. Trump framing the elections as a fraud might be a ploy to cause a setback. Alas, the results are in favour of Biden whether Trump likes it or not.