If you didn’t read yesterday’s post, you probably should; because today's post is part-two of the same story.
The Green Party's presidential candidate, Jill Stein has launched a vote recount effort in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where Donald Trump had a very slim margin. Last week, a lawyer for the Clinton campaign, said they would be joining the recount effort. They are recruiting volunteers to help with recounts in two states. New signup forms are on the HillaryClinton.com website, asking for volunteers in Michigan and Wisconsin. It reads: “Help with the Michigan recount. Let us know if you want to get involved.” The website doesn’t offer any information about what volunteers would do.
85% of Americans believe this country is more divided than in past years, according to a recent CNN/ORC poll. This is the ultimate sign of a sore loser—and supporting Jill Stein only perpetuates the divide in our country. As usual, this activity does not benefit anyone except the politicians who need attention at any cost.
And, let us not forget about the hypocrisy.
Mr. Trump was asked in an interview before the elections, whether or not he would accept the election results. He jokingly replied, “I will totally accept” the election results “if I win.”
Mrs. Clinton immediately used the tongue-in-cheek statement as an opportunity to attack Trump. At a rally in North Carolina, she said: “To say you won’t respect the results of the election is a direct threat to our democracy. The peaceful transfer of power is one of the things that makes America, America. It is not a joke, and some people are sore losers, and we’ve just got to keep going.”
Mrs. Clinton called the idea of contesting the results, “horrifying.” “That’s not the way our democracy works. We’ve been around 240 years. We’ve had free and fair elections, and we’ve accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a debate stage during a general election.”
She added, “And let’s be clear about what he’s saying and what he means. He’s denigrating—he’s talking down our democracy. I, for one, am appalled that somebody who is the nominee of one of our major two parties would take that kind of position.” Easy for her to say that then, because she was completely convinced that she was going to win. Now we see what she actually says and does when she doesn’t win.
As I previously reported, she cried uncontrollably until her doctor finally sedated her. It was three days before she could speak in public. I wonder what Bill was doing for those three days!
But, back to Jill Stein.
According to the fundraising page set up by Stein, the filing fee in Wisconsin was originally estimated at $1.1 million; but when the filing deadline approached, the state claimed they had underestimated the fee and it shot up to $3.5 million. Michigan’s fee is $600,000 and Pennsylvania’s $500,000. Attorney fees are expected to be in the multi-millions. The money raised will also pay for the recruitment of recount observers.
The first estimate of what would be needed to finance the recount was approximately $2.5 million. Within no time, donations totaled $4.5 million. It appears the outpouring of financial support was beyond their wildest dreams, and obviously, Wisconsin agreed. When they significantly increased their fee estimate by more than 300%, Stein immediately announced that the recount was now going to cost $7.5 million. According to her recount website, the current estimate has now increased to $9.5 million. Surprise!
Trump is calling the recount a “sad” waste of time and money. And we all know how much Trump hates to waste time.
I have serious doubts regarding Stein’s reasons for pushing the recount; and apparently I am not the only one who thinks the fund-raising estimates are beyond belief. I ran across an article entitled: The Mysterious Case of Jill Stein's Surging Recount Costs, by Tyler Durden. He said the same things I’ve been saying.
According to Stein’s fundraising page, more than $7 million has been raised for legal and recount costs. Jill Stein has actually raised more money for her recount effort than she did during her failed election attempt.
During an interview on ABC’s The View, Stein made it clear that any money raised will only be used for the recounts. If there are any excess funds, Stein’s press team said that the campaign will consult with the Federal Election Commission guidelines on how best to proceed.
I tried to read the FEC “guidelines,” but there were 24 pages of small print, and my eyes started to glaze over. My instincts tell me, however, that somewhere in all that verbiage there is probably a convenient loophole that could, under certain circumstances, allow them to do whatever they want with the money.
Stein claims that the voting process was hampered by “cyber hacking,” although she has not provided any evidence to back up her claims. A recount would be unlikely to benefit Stein—who did not win a single state in the election. So what is her motivation? She’s getting attention and name recognition. Her efforts could help her build a larger donor list that she could use if she ever decided to run a campaign again. And, no matter how many times they recount the votes, any discrepancies would not give Hillary Clinton enough votes to emerge as the winner.
Two pro-Trump groups went to federal court late Thursday to try and stop the recount. On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Peterson rejected their request for a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the recount, saying there was no harm in allowing it to continue while the Court considers their lawsuit. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Dec. 9.
It still remains to be seen, how this will all shake out.
As was announced over the weekend, Jill Stein planned a protest/press conference for Monday morning, in front of Trump Tower, to report the progress of the recount.
Stein addressed a small, assembled crowd defending the recount as a “democratic measure” claiming that not all votes may have been counted. She declared, “This is not simply an abstract concern. This is a very real concern, that these votes from the communities of color be respected, and that we affirm that they are not once again being tossed into the dustpan here and disrespected.” (Huh? She is obviously not much of a public speaker.) She slammed Trump and his supporters for trying to interfere with her efforts. When you run out of things to say, try to make Trump look like a racist! We are REALLY tired of that ridiculous rhetoric.
In regard to her fundraising success, she said, “If we raise more than what’s needed, the surplus will also go toward election integrity efforts and to promote system reform.” Hmmm. If she makes that her new campaign platform, it would seem to me the “excess” could then go directly into her next campaign fund with her platform being “election integrity.” How convenient. The more I hear from Jill Stein, the more it appears that she is slightly "off."
But wait—there’s more. Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, a new rabble-rouser has emerged:
U.S. Representative, Democrat from Illinois, Luis Gutierrez, has announced he will protest at Trump’s inauguration. Haven’t heard about it yet? Well, there is still plenty of time to get the protesters hired and organized, so you will.
I’ll be reporting any updates to this story as I get them.
So, stay tuned…
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