Election officials read documents before a hand recount of ballots at the Wisconsin Center on November 20 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Nam Y. Huh/AP
The completion of a partial recount on Sunday in the second of Wisconsin’s two largest counties reconfirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the key swing state against Donald Trump. The recounts over the holiday weekend in Milwaukee and Dane counties of more than 800,000 ballots in fact widened Biden’s victory by 87 votes, after he took the state by more than 20,000 votes. As the Washington Post reported, the effort cost Trump more than just any remaining shred of dignity he might have concerning the election: “Under Wisconsin law, Trump was required to foot the bill for the partial recount—meaning his campaign paid $3 million only to see Biden’s lead expand.”
Trying still to win somehow by reversing the election results may no longer be the point, of course. Trump threatened to sue in Wisconsin in the days ahead for “fraud,” despite no evidence to support such a claim. The move will likely meet with swift failure, as it just did in Pennsylvania. Instead, Trump’s goal may be to further damage Americans’ confidence and trust in the electoral system and undermine Joe Biden’s incoming presidential administration as illegitimate. That’s an effort that Trump and his GOP allies have so far been quite successful with.
It’s really something to listen to Trump supporters explain to @jordanklepper why Trump didn’t really lose the election. pic.twitter.com/4PAJ5v0RRx
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) November 27, 2020
