* Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain)
.The Election of 1824 - Four candidates were running for President: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay. When the election was over, Andrew Jackson had won 41% of the popular vote, and 99 electoral votes, while Adams had 31% of the popular vote and 84 electoral votes. Despite having won a plurality, Jackson lost the election in the US House of Representatives. Andrew Jackson is the only candidate ever to have won a plurality of the electoral college, but lose the election.
.The Election of 1828 - Andrew Jackson and his supporters did not go quietly into the night. The next four years was a continuous campaign as the nation divided. The congressional elections in 1826 were a harbinger of things to come, as the Jacksonians took 9 seats from the opposition, and control of the House. The campaign of 1828 was an ugly affair, with accusations leveled by both sides. Jackson's wife Rachel was accused of bigamy due to a legal mistake in her divorce, and she died of a heart attack weeks after the election. Andrew Jackson blamed his political opponents for her death. In the end Jackson won the election with 56% of the popular vote, and 178 electoral votes to Adam's 83.
Similarities to the Present -
While it is tempting to consider Trump to be a more divisive political figure than Andrew Jackson, that is debatable. But there are a number of parallels between those elections and today. The divisions within the country from 1824 to 1828 were deep. Jackson was a popular figure, a champion for the working class, and deeply critical of corruption in Washington. He was also denied the Presidency through chicanery. The nation was sharply divided between states with deeply divergent cultural values.
The Price of Fraud -
Election fraud is not new in the United States. Once the electorate believes that their good faith participation in the political process was cast aside, they have historically reacted strongly against those who played those dirty tricks.
Shortly there is going to be convincing proof that the election was stolen from Trump in Arizona and Georgia. Possibly more audits will follow. Everyone knows what an audit is, and the only people who object are those with something to hide. However, remember there is no Constitutional mechanism to overturn a Presidential or Senate election. The Arizona audit won't result in decertification of the election.
- Robert Barnes, Civil Rights Attorney
What the audit does is show everyone in graphic detail that their votes were invalidated through fraud. It has already generated anger and determination in the next elections, and political support for election reform. The reason that Florida had a clean election is because the debacles in 2000 and 2018 forced the state to clean up its act. Election reform is polling with strong majority support nationwide.
Without a doubt, the Democrats will try to retain control through media manipulation, attempts to thwart election legislation, and additional fraud. It is a rational argument that they now wield sufficient power to ensure that future elections will be rigged in Democrat favor, perhaps through a new round of Covid lockdowns, abuse of election systems, or outright cancellation of elections.