By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

“Massive voter fraud will be shown!”

That’s one of this morning’s tweets from President Donald Trump amid an avalanche of developments in recent days that further indicate no sign of election fraud in any state. 

That’s mystifying.

Remember when we waited for Trump to pivot from a non-traditional candidate to a presidential president and it never happened?

Given Trump’s on-going outlook, it seems clear that the remainder of his presidency could become as unprecedented as his presidency.

Many of us are still hoping he’ll pivot back and accept the overwhelming election results that show Joe Biden was victorious by a margin of six million votes. But more than two weeks since the election, Trump continues to dig in deeper even as more and more Republicans (and world leaders) quietly acknowledge that Biden won.

Trump’s rise into politics started when he pushed the birther myth against Barack Obama and it will likely end with him arguing over voter fraud. What a sad way to close out a presidency.

While we all acknowledge that mistakes are made in every election, almost all of it is unintentional human error and minuscule. States control elections and pass on much of the role to counties. There are more than 3,000 counties that rely on poll workers to do the right thing, but sometimes mistakes happen.

Trump’s empty accusation of widespread fraud (after predicting it months ago) is an unnecessary insult to every poll worker and county clerk in the nation. 

In the most trying of times, amid a pandemic, our poll workers helped guide us through what turned out to be the most secure election in American history, according to a Trump administration official in Homeland Security (who he then promptly fired).

There are 60 days remaining in the Trump presidency and the world is waiting for him to do the right thing.

A lot can happen in 60 days. Unfortunately, it would appear the last thing Trump intends to do is accommodate a smooth transition.

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POLL WATCHER – Among the tasks my job entails, helping come up with the weekly poll questions that appear at the top of our website is one of my guilty pleasures.

Guilty pleasure is probably a poor choice of words since some readers seem to think I spend time trying to develop questions with preconceived outcomes in a never-ending effort to annoy people.

That’s just not true.

What I do enjoy is seeing every day how the questions pan out in our overwhelmingly conservative political environment of northern Indiana and how incredibly divided we are right now.

This week’s question (Do you agree Joe Biden appears to be the legitimate winner in the race for the presidency?) was one of those that slowly shifted in the past day as it becomes clear that Biden is the clear winner.

The fact a large chunk of our readers seem unwilling to acknowledge that Biden is the clear winner is hard to fathom, but not surprising.

When we asked who readers admire more (Amy Coney Barrett, Mike Pence or Pete Buttigieg?) my immediate thought was that it would be a unique opportunity to highlight three Hoosiers who have played key roles in three of the biggest stories of 2020. 

In baseball talk, I thought it was a grand slam, but some readers said they thought I tried to pull the results too deep left on purpose by including Buttigieg. Seriously, I can barely remember to clock in each workday so I have to smile when somebody suggests we are trying to manipulate opinions through a fun little poll.

Not everything has to be seen through a political filter. The fact Buttigieg finished on top was a shocker. Maybe instead of looking at it as two conservatives and a liberal, try thinking of it as three folks who have made careers with the goal of supporting the American way of life?

To be sure, our poll is far from scientific, but it does offer a snapshot of what we’re thinking on certain topics. Look for a new one Monday morning.

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Dan Spalding is the editor at InkFreeNews.com.
He covers city government and politics and always welcomes your input.
He can be reached at [email protected] or at (574) 855-7612.