But rationally I have no way to be 100% certain, because, as a thought experiment, if it really was rigged, what would look different to how it does look?
The fact that "everyone knew" and was expecting the losing side to cry foul means that when they do, everyone says "you see? Told you so."
But if it really was, how would we know? What would look different?
The fact that those who are meant to look out for such things (primarily, the media) are not trusted by one side to do so impartially means that if there really was foul play, their reporting would not necessarily be different. So again, how would you know?
To reiterate, I am not saying I think it was rigged. I'm not American, nor have I ever lived there. I'm just saying that _if it was_, things would look pretty much as they do now. _If t wasn't_, things would also look pretty much as they do now. So how can we know?
Republicans outperformed expectations in Congressional results. This is unusual given congressional results and presidential results have historically correlated. I don't understand the explanation for that if Democrats rigged the election somehow.
It seems more plausible that:
- there was a really high turnout aided by widespread absentee voting
- a large single-digit percentage of voters went Republican in the congressional races but didn't vote for Trump
I can't think of a fraud based scenario with any factual support that is as compelling.
But rationally I have no way to be 100% certain, because, as a thought experiment, if it really was rigged, what would look different to how it does look?
The fact that "everyone knew" and was expecting the losing side to cry foul means that when they do, everyone says "you see? Told you so." But if it really was, how would we know? What would look different?
The fact that those who are meant to look out for such things (primarily, the media) are not trusted by one side to do so impartially means that if there really was foul play, their reporting would not necessarily be different. So again, how would you know?
To reiterate, I am not saying I think it was rigged. I'm not American, nor have I ever lived there. I'm just saying that _if it was_, things would look pretty much as they do now. _If t wasn't_, things would also look pretty much as they do now. So how can we know?