This week, Sen. JD Vance sat down for a podcast interview with the New York Times. It was entirely unscripted and conducted by the Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, the co-host of The Interview, one of the newspaper’s digital media properties.
Garcia-Navarro couldn’t resist bringing up 2020:
In the debate, you were asked to clarify if you believe Trump lost the 2020 election. Do you believe he lost the 2020 election?”
Like in the debate, Vance punted to say he was focused on 2024, a reasonable response because Vance was not even in the United States Senate at the time. For the Left, the answer they seek is for every Trump supporter to admit that he lost the election, and by this measure, it has become a litmus test of civic leadership.
Only those who concede are allowed into the elite hallways of the Left’s various establishments. Those Republicans who bring up the charge themselves – like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinziger, Jeff Flake, and John Sununu – are given plum assignments routinely denied to the 2020 election deniers.
Garcia-Navarro pressed ahead. “Senator, yes or no. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” This time, Vance counter-attacked with the same arrow he drew from the debate quiver, pointing to election interference by the Big Tech companies in the censorship of the Hunter Biden story.
We have never been impressed with this line of defense because Joe Biden didn’t directly censor the story, and Joe Biden was the opponent. True, Tony Blinken engineered the letter from the 51 intelligence officials to help his future boss, which Facebook and the legacy Twitter took at face value to kill the New York Post story. Besides, in the immediate aftermath of the election – when Trump was leading on election night only to see his lead slip over the next few days because of mail-in ballots before the AP called the race for Biden – we do not recall any discussion of the Hunter Biden laptop.
Not satisfied with Vance’s response, Garcia-Navarro asked a third time: Senator Vance, I’m going to ask you again. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?
Vance stuck to his guns:
Did big technology companies censor a story that independent studies have suggested would have cost Trump millions of votes? I think that’s the question.
Now, the interview was beginning to lose its professional look and feel. Garcia-Navarro nagged a fourth time:
Senator Vance, I’m going to ask you again. Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?
Vance:
And I’ve answered your question with another question. You answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.
It was a dangerous offer from Vance. What if Garcia-Navarro had agreed with Vance’s premise that the tech companies did censor the story? How would Vance have responded? If he had stalled, he would appear as a sly cat. If he had responded, even feebly, to say Trump lost in 2020, Garcia-Navarro would have made news by eliciting a response from Vance, with the liberal media outlets pouncing on the reaction for the next 25 days. Vance could have potentially sunk the Trump campaign.
Garcia-Navarro had a constituency to protect – her liberal paymasters, so she didn’t take Vance’s bait. But she made an editorial comment typical of the Left: “I have asked this question repeatedly. It is something that is very important for the American people to know. There is no proof, legal or otherwise, that Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election.”
If we were Vance, we would answer her questions differently without once referring to the Post story about Hunter Biden. Trump did not concede in 2020 because it is highly unlikely that he lost.
When someone doesn’t agree with the other side, America has a tradition of having it reviewed by an impartial judge. Not a single judge was ready to hear Trump’s complaints on the merits, ruling against him only on technical issues. With the clock ticking towards certification, Trump felt even more compelled to assert that he did not lose.
Had Garcia-Navarro asked us why it was unlikely that Trump lost, we would have rattled off dozens of variables.
The Left decided to use COVID-19 to alter America’s elections fundamentally. Democratic operatives filed over 145 lawsuits, some as late as 90 days before Election Day, alleging that the pandemic shutdowns would disproportionately disenfranchise minorities and other communities of color. The goal was to get states that had zero experience with universal mail-in ballots to do a complete do-over of how ballots are received, validated, counted, and tabulated.
It was a time of severe worker shortages, yet the Democrat-run states said they were confident in implementing the new procedures with everyone adequately trained. Trump’s DOJ did not investigate Zuckbucks, the first time that a private foundation paid poll workers $400 million, mainly in Democratic precincts.
Trump had been warning for months that no-excuse mail-in ballots and a series of last-minute changes to vote acceptance and counting would result in a rigged election. He was ignored.
Numerous anecdotal factors supported Trump’s claim that he could not have lost. Before Biden won the nomination, he had lost convincingly Iowa and New Hampshire. No modern presidential candidate has ever won the nomination or the presidency after losing the first two states.
Biden rarely left his Delaware basement, and when he did campaign, he had trouble attracting an audience. It was unthinkable that Biden, who did not command the presence of a dynamic leader like Barack Obama or a technocrat like Hillary Clinton, outperformed both of them, winning more votes than any presidential candidate in history.
On the Trump side, his raw vote totals pointed to his victory. No American President in 180 years had failed to win reelection if he won more votes than the first election. Trump won 11 million more votes in 2020 than his 2016 count, to the tune of 74 million. [In 2012, Obama handsomely won reelection although he earned 4 million fewer votes than his 2008 total].
And there are the underreported stories of bellwether counties. For decades, 20 bellwether counties around the country have historically predicted the winner. Vigo County, Indiana, has consistently voted for the winning candidate since 1956. Valencia County, New Mexico, has voted with the winner since 1952. Trump won not only these two counties but 19 of the 20 bellwether counties.
On election night, Trump, having won Florida and Ohio by huge margins, was romping home to reelection. No Republican candidate had lost the presidency after winning both Florida and Ohio since 1960.
Then, the mail-in ballots began to get counted. Four days later, the Associated Press called the election for Biden. Liberal NPR analyzed the results and showed what a nail-biting finish it was: “Just 44,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin separated Biden and Trump from a tie in the Electoral College.”
Biden became America’s 46th president, and the rest is history. But it is not clear that Trump lost, absent a judicial review of the election on the merits, which never happened. That is where America should leave it and move on to November 5, 2024.
TIPP Picks
Selected by tippinsights
TIPP Tracking Poll Day 2: Harris Leads Popular Vote, But Trump Edges In Electoral Projection – TIPP Insights
Electoral Showdown 2024: Latest Win Probabilities – October 15 – TIPP Insights
The KISS Of Death: The Case Against Kamala In Six Simple Numbers – Bob Maistros, Issues & Insights
The Left Fears Wars, Hurricanes Will Affect Election – Peter St. Onge, The Daily Signal
Global Crackdown: How Foreign Censorship Threatens American Free Speech – Ben Weingarten, RealClearInvestigations
The Story Behind The ‘Vote For Trump’ Sign – Rob Bluey, The Daily Signal
The Cost Of Free Money – John Stossel, The Daily Signal
TIPP Takes
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics, And More
1. Israel Strikes Al-Aqsa Hospital Complex In Gaza – D.W.
Hospitals in Gaza said an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 in Nuseirat before another strike on the Al-Aqsa Hospital compound, where displaced people were sheltering, killed 4 more people.
Located in the central city of Deir al-Balah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital was already struggling to treat many wounded people from an earlier strike on a school-turned-shelter nearby.
2. Germany: Spy Chiefs Warn Of Increasing Russian Threat – D.W.
According to German intelligence, Russia could be in a position to attack NATO “by the end of the decade.” Having noted an increase in espionage and sabotage, spy chiefs demand greater powers and flexibility.
“We are observing aggressive behavior on the part of the Russian intelligence services,” said BfV chief Thomas Haldenwang, adding that such activities “have reached a new level in recent months, which ought to be a wake-up call to all.”
3. U.S. Warns Iran To Stop Plotting Against Donald Trump: U.S. Official – Reuters
The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Joe Biden has been briefed regularly on the threats and directed his team to address Iranian plots against Americans.
The Iranians have been told that Washington would view it as an act of war if any attempt were carried out against Trump’s life, the official said.
4. Iran’s Quds Force Chief Qaani Attends General’s Funeral: State TV – AFP
Iranian commander Esmail Qaani – who heads the Quds Force, the Revolutionary Guards foreign operations arm – had disappeared from public view and was rumored in some media to have been targeted in an Israeli strike on Lebanon before reappearing.
Qaani on Tuesday attended the funeral in Tehran for slain general Abbas Nilforoushan who was killed last month alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
5. Iran’s Top Diplomat Meets Senior Houthi Official In Oman: Ministry – AFP
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met in Muscat with Mohammed Abdelsalam, a senior official from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, according to his office.
Last week, Araghchi visited Qatar and Saudi Arabia where talks mainly revolved around establishing a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza as well as ways to contain the conflict from spreading across the region. Yemen’s Houthis, along with the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza and Hezbollah, make part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” of militant groups arrayed against Israel.
6. Facebook Censoring More Political Content In Hong Kong – RFA
Facebook is censoring a growing number of posts at the request of Hong Kong authorities, who have also pursued overseas internet service providers over content deemed in breach of the city’s security legislation.
Despite a city-wide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition in recent years, Hong Kong has remained outside of the Great Firewall of Chinese internet censorship. But there are signs that the city’s internet isn’t as free as it once was.
7. China Launches Crackdown On ‘Unauthorized’ Use Of Language – RFA
The Cyberspace Administration of China will take steps to “rectify the chaos of the irregular use of Mandarin and other characters on the internet,” state news agency Xinhua reported.
Experts say the move is a bid to stem Generation Z’s widespread use of slang and abbreviations on social media. The nationwide crackdown on language usage, codenamed “Clear and Bright,” will target expressions involving homophones—words that work as code by sounding like another word—and distortions of “sound, form, and meaning.”
8. India And Canada Expel Top Diplomats Over Murder Accusations – BBC
India and Canada have expelled their top envoys along with other diplomats as the row intensifies over last year’s assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.
Trudeau said his government responded after police began pursuing credible allegations that Indian agents were directly involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Delhi rejected the allegations as “preposterous,” accusing Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gain.
9. North Korea Blows Up Roads Near South Korean Border As Tensions Soar – Al Jazeera
North Korea has blown up the northern sections of the roads that connect it to South Korea, according to South Korea’s military.
The explosions came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called a meeting with his top military and security officials to discuss the issue of South Korea sending drones carrying propaganda leaflets over the country’s capital Pyongyang.
10. Russia Urges South Korea To Avoid Provocations Amid Drone Dispute With North – RFA
Russia said South Korea should refrain from “further provocations” in response to North Korea’s accusation that Seoul had sent unmanned drones across the border.
The warning came as Moscow aimed to ratify a treaty on a strategic partnership with Pyongyang. South Korea denied the North Korean claim.
11. Taliban Vow To Impose Media Ban On Images Of Living Things – AFP
Afghanistan’s Taliban morality agency pledged to implement a law banning news media from publishing images of all living things, with journalists told the rule would be gradually enforced.
It comes after the Taliban government recently announced legislation formalizing their strict interpretations of Islamic law that have been imposed since they swept to power in August 2021.
12. Malaysia’s Stock Market, Once Dubbed ‘World’s Worst’, Is Making A Comeback – Al Jazeera
Buoyed by Malaysia’s robust post-pandemic economic growth and a surge in foreign investment by U.S. tech giants, the Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index has climbed as much as 17 percent over the past year.
According to the Bursa operator, investors opened 289,000 new trading accounts during the first seven months of 2024, nearly double the number opened during the whole of 2023. A Bloomberg article in 2019 dubbed the Bursa the “world’s worst major stock market” after it suffered a 14 percent slump over a year.
13. Google Signs Deal With Startup To Build Small Nuclear Reactors To Power AI – Al Jazeera
Under the agreement with startup Kairos Power, the California-based tech giant will back the construction of seven small nuclear reactors capable of generating 500 megawatts of power.
The first reactor is scheduled to come online by 2030, with others to follow in the coming years. “This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone,” Michael Terrell, the senior director of energy and climate at Google, said in a blog post.
14. Nobel Prize: Trio Win 2024 Award For Economics – D.W.
Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson were chosen for their studies on how institutions shape nations’ economic success.
The economics award is worth 11 million Swedish kronor (roughly $1 million) — the same as the other Nobel categories. Acemoglu and Johnson are professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while Robinson works for the University of Chicago.
15. About 1 In 4 U.S. Adults Suspect They Have Undiagnosed ADHD – HealthDay News
About 25% of adults think they have ADHD that hasn’t been detected by a doctor, according to a new national survey by Ohio State University.
However, only 13% have shared their suspicions with a doctor, the survey found. Adults struggling with ADHD typically will have problems with paying attention, behaving in hyperactive ways and making impulsive choices, experts say. These problems often are severe enough to cause ongoing challenges at school, work and home.
16. Changing Alzheimer’s Drug Vial Size Might Save Big Money For Medicare – HealthDay News
Making a 75-milligram vial of the breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi available alongside the two current options of 200 milligrams and 500 milligrams could save Medicare up to 74% of the money lost from discarded Leqembi—as much as $336 million a year.
About 6% of Leqembi (lecanemab) is discarded because patients are frequently prescribed doses lower than the size of the drug’s single-use vials. Researchers estimated in a report published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine that this waste costs Medicare about $1,600 a patient every year.
Republished with permission from TIPP Insights
