Cal Thomas is a conservative’s conservative. A paleo member of the movement, no one can credibly accuse the man of leftism in any instance. That’s why this indictment of Sidney Powell and a history lesson on American politics is so vital right now. Stolen elections like this one have happened before and will happen again. It’s in the nature of the democratic process and of the people who are lured to its opportunities for plunder.

Thomas: “The Trump legal team’s move over the weekend to distance itself from attorney Sidney Powell as it seeks to overturn the November 3 election results is a major blow to the president’s attempt to win a second term. Powell, whose 2014 book, ‘Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice,’ along with her work as the attorney for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, made her a darling of conservatives. But her assertions that Chinese communists, voting machines once used to flip Venezuelan elections and foreign money were behind Trump’s defeat lack as much credibility as Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s claim in the 1950s that communists had infiltrated the U.S. State Department. Last Saturday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann dismissed a lawsuit that attempted to reject some of Pennsylvania’s votes for Joe Biden, calling the effort ‘a Frankenstein monster.’ ”

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When a strong Trump supporter like this says the above it may be time to address the past and get on with the future. As Pennsylvania on Tuesday certified the state for Biden, the numbers now are also a motivator in this regard.

Thomas offers a history lesson on the nature of American elections, “There have been numerous charges of voter fraud over the years…It was believed that is how Lyndon Johnson stole a Texas Senate seat in 1948. LBJ had first run for the Senate in 1941. He lost by 1,311 votes and blamed voter fraud for his defeat. In 1948, Johnson ran again. On election night in the Democrat Primary runoff against former Texas Governor Coke Stevenson, it appeared LBJ had lost. Then, as if out of a magician’s hat, a box of uncounted ballots was ‘discovered’ in the south Texas town of Alice. By the end of that week, LBJ had ‘won’ by 87 votes, earning him the title ‘Landslide Lyndon.’ ”

 

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“The 1960 presidential race between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy was another contest in which voter fraud was alleged. Out of 68 million ballots cast (roughly half the number in the Trump-Biden race) Kennedy won by just 112,803 votes. The controversy arose over the Chicago Mafia and the corrupt mayor of the city, Richard J. Daley. They were accused of providing the necessary number of votes for Kennedy to prevail in Cook County and thus the entire state and nation…Then there was the 2006 Minnesota Senate race between incumbent Norm Coleman and comedian Al Franken, which Franken ‘won’ after numerous ballot recounts that stopped when Franken had acquired enough votes to be declared the winner. Franken’s margin was 312 votes. Once again, voter fraud was alleged.”

Thomas’ contentions on Powell and history display a knack for Team Reality, as opposed to Team Bitter End. We should heed his counsel and get on with the next fight.