<p>If the fear mongering left are to be believed, we are facing turbulent times as of midnight November 3rd &#8212; the end of Election Day when all legitimate ballots are to be received. That is when any number of controversies will commence.</p>
<p>There appears to be only one way that most of the controversies can be avoided – and that is if the winning candidate racks up an exceptionally large and irrefutable win. But even that may not appease the losers in our highly charged political atmosphere. It is also VERY unlikely that either candidate will win in a landslide. This presidential election year is shaping up as yet another very close race.</p>
<p>What makes this year unique is that both sides have already claimed that the election will have been rigged or stolen if they do not win. Of course, that is nothing more than campaign hyperbole. The problem is that the hyperbole has become very extreme this year – ginning up anger and anxiety among the public.</p>
<p>Democrats are proffering the absurd argument that President Trump will refuse to leave office if he loses the election. They will use any traditional and perfectly legal challenge to the vote count in some states as proof of their false speculative scenario. Presidential candidates – and other candidates – have often resorted to the courts to decide contested vote issues. But if Trump uses his legal right to have the court look at controversial outcomes, Democrats will be ready to storm the Bastille.</p>
<p>Senator Al Gore used his legal rights to fight for victory in the 2000 campaign against George Bush. That case went all the way up to the Supreme Court. It is almost impossible to count how many congressional and state-based campaigns had to be decided in the courts. In some cases, the courts order a new election to resolve controversies and challenges.</p>
<p>One of the reasons that we seem to have increasing controversy in our elections is that changes in election laws opened the system to disputes. They have made the election process more prone to controversy.</p>
<p>When voting was restricted to a single day in which only previously registered voters could participate by presenting proper identification – and there was only a very small number of absentee ballots allowed &#8212; vote fraud was more difficult to carry out and easier to observe throughout most of the nation. Illegal voting was generally reserved for major cities run by one-party political machines.</p>
<p>Early voting, same-day registration or provisional voting, and the massive expansion of vote-by-mail have put millions of ballots outside the tight security of the past. It has created more opportunities for mischief – ergo more legal challenges to outcomes. Because of the closeness of our modern elections, the impact of fraud and election rigging is greater than before. It can overturn a legitimate count in more elections.</p>
<p>If Trump is losing, you can bet that he will want to challenge preliminary vote counts in the court. Unfortunately, former Vice President Biden and the Democrats will use those situations to ignite protests across the land – with a reasonable prospect of many becoming violent.</p>
<p>If when the dust settles the Biden/Harris ticket is victorious, there is a real possibility that hardcore Trump supporters will take to the streets. But it will be nothing compared to what will happen in the streets if the Trump/Pence ticket prevails. After all, the radical left has been violently demonstrating and rioting for weeks – months – as we head into the election.</p>
<p>For just short of four years, we have seen how Democrats and their increasingly powerful radical base have refused to accept the legitimate outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Not only has it corrupted the news media, but it has unleashed mob violence as a vehicle of opposition to Trump.</p>
<p>Make no mistake, the radical violence in the streets has nothing to do with the concerns and peaceful demonstrations against the instances of police violence against Blacks. That is just a cover for the more insidious actions of those motivated by anti-American sentiments than concern for the George Floyds of the world.</p>
<p>Democrats argue that the re-election of Trump will set off a wave of violence. It is a political use of the Mafia’s old protection racket in which they offer to protect people from the violence they would impose if they do not get what they want.</p>
<p>While Trump has been victimized by the unprecedented left-wing “resistance movement,” our pugnacious President has not been a calming and quelling influence. He has been too eager to respond and engage as a combatant.</p>
<p>At this juncture, it would seem unlikely that we can avoid heated controversy in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. How bad it will be is still an open question. But we could be … just could be … facing a pandemic of political hostility and violence not seen since the Civil War.</p>
<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>