Texas has passed a number of controversial laws in recent weeks that have made national headlines, but Donald Trump is apparently looking to add to that list in his futile attempt to never admit that he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
Trump, who lost in the electoral college and encouraged a riot in Washington in January 6 that got him impeached for a second time, has spent the months since he left office adamant that he was cheated out of the presidency despite losing by millions of votes and in the electoral college. Both he and his followers have chased down every possible explanation other than that he, you know, actually lost. And that delusional departure from reality now apparently includes the need to audit results in states that he actually did manage to win.
According to the Texas Tribute, Trump wants the Lone Star State to add to legislation the state will pass that allows them to do an audit on the results in Texas, even though he carried the state and there is absolutely no evidence of voter fraud.
In a letter published Thursday, Trump said, “Texans have big questions about the November 2020 Elections,” and time is running out to conduct an audit of the “2020 Presidential Election Scam” because paper ballots are kept for only 22 months after an election.
“Governor Abbott, we need a ‘Forensic Audit of the 2020 Election’ added to the call,” Trump wrote. “We’re quickly running out of time and it must be done this week.”
Abbott, a Republican governor up for re-election, is now put in a very awkward position to either go through with a needless audit of paper ballots at Trump’s behest or face being put in the proverbial crosshairs of his supporters. Which is something many Republicans are trying very, very hard not to do even with the former president in exile in Florida.
This summer, Texas Republicans passed a voting law that they said would make it “easier to vote and harder to cheat,” even while opponents said it would make it harder for communities of color to vote. Texas officials said they had confidence in the 2020 elections but wanted to address concerns from some voters about election security.
Trump continued to stoke those flames by writing to Abbott that Texans “don’t trust your election system, and they want your leadership on this issue, which is the number one thing they care about.”
But by far the funniest outcome of an audit, of course, would be that somehow thousands of votes for Joe Biden were discovered and he actually won the state. What will happen, though, is probably a big waste of time and money with the same result: Trump winning Texas, but not enough votes to actually win the election he absolutely lost.
[via Texas Tribute]