As the 2024 presidential election draws to a close one of the most surprising things for many was that it settled quickly before most people even went to sleep.
In this calmness, it was clear that people who denied the results of the 2020 election had suddenly gone quiet.
This leads people to the conclusion that Republicans only believed the last election was rigged because they were unhappy with the results.
The claims of a rigged election were so many and so loud that thousands of people arrived to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win.
According to the US Department of Justice, the damage caused by the storming of the Capitol cost the U.S. government $2.8 billion.
January 6th, 2021 was an infamous day fueled by people claiming the 2020 election was rigged, or that Joe Biden had cheated in some way.
Leading up to election day Trump supporters took to social media platforms to warn about the “potential for widespread voter fraud that would taint the results,” according to The New York Times.
This concern seemed genuine, however, it can be seen as simply preparing for the potential that the election might not go their way.
When some Republicans thought Kamala Harris had a chance of winning, they began to come up with cheating scandals.
Even President Trump himself took to social media platforms to say that there was “a lot of talk about massive cheating in Pennsylvania” which was a state he later won.
This claim had no evidence to back it up.
It can be seen as preparation in case he did not win.
If Trump lost, he likely would have used this to deny the election.
The polls showed that Trump won all seven swing states which is surprising and is waving a red flag for cheating.
Some Democrats have claimed that Elon Musk’s internet provider, Starlink, was used to taint the election results.
One person posted on Threads claimed that “Musk’s Starlink uploaded votes in swing states.”
Their logic is that since Musk is a known Trump supporter he would have tainted the election results.
Similar to the 2020 fraud claims there is no evidence proving that this is true.
Republicans may think that since Trump won, the election wasn’t rigged.
The reason for this, though confusing, has some logic backed behind it.
In 2020 they claimed to have proof of the cheating.
Their proof can be supported by Political Commentator Dinesh D’Souza who posted on X “I think we can put the lie about Biden’s 80 million votes to rest once and for all.”
While sore loser-ism is something we’ve all experienced going back to grade school, the crisis reached its fever pitch in 2021.
The fact that none of those same Election Deniers have any issues with the surprising swing of states, or the claims of Musk’s interference shows that their sentiment was never about distrust in institutions, but rather simply: insufferable distrust in anything that they don’t agree with.
