Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.
Numerous audits and in-depth investigations led by Republicans have confirmed there is no evidence of voter fraud and machine rigging in the 2020 presidential election. Even former President Donald Trump has finally admitted he lost the election.
It is vitally important for voters to trust the 2024 election process. Post-election analysis, truth-telling by Trump and GOP-led investigations into the 2020 race should erase voters’ concern about the integrity of the upcoming election.
First, recall how Cassidy Hutchinson (assistant to Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff) testified before the Jan. 6 select committee that Trump told Meadows and other White House staff that he lost the 2020 election. Hutchinson’s testimony has never been proven to be false.
Second, on Aug. 4, Trump — in an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman — admitted that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Trump also said he “lost the 2020 election” on two other occasions: Aug. 23, at an event near the southern border, and on Aug. 30, at the Moms for Liberty summit.
Third, the 2020 election deniers may purposely be ignoring that eight prominent, life-long Republicans, all attorneys, published a 72-page, research-based document in July 2021 in which they concluded that Joe Biden won the election fair and square. All voters should read, at a bare minimum, the introduction and executive summary of “Lost, Not Stolen.”
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Fourth, Ken Block, a data analytics expert and Trump campaign consultant, was hired by the Trump campaign to find voter fraud in the 2020 election. In a deposition taken by the Jan. 6 committee, he revealed the same results as noted in “Lost, Not Stolen” — that there were no voter irregularities anywhere in America.
Fifth, when white nationalist Nick Fuentes — Trump’s guest at a Nov. 22, 2022, Mar-a-Lago dinner — learned that Trump admitted he lost in 2020, he blasted Trump on his Sept. 6 podcast, requesting voters to not back Trump this year. An infuriated Fuentes stated, “So, why did we do Stop the Steal?” Trump’s Stop the Steal conspiracy theory has been touted 526 times on his Truth Social social media platform and will be a permanent stain on America’s revered voting process.
Lost, not Stolen
The eight Republican attorneys conducted a deep legal review of all 64 court cases filed by Trump and his supporters to contest the 2020 results. The final report, with 280 reference citations, provided unequivocal evidence that Trump lost. They found there was “no credible evidence that fraud changed the outcome even in a single precinct, let alone in any state.”
The attorneys “also examined, point by point, every fraud accusation made in social media and in the public forum by those who claimed the election was stolen.” They found no improper vote counts, no voting machine rigging, no absentee ballot fraud, no voter identification fraud and no blocking of observers during the vote count.
The report’s authors include three prominent retired federal judges ( Thomas Griffith, Michael McConnell and J. Michael Luttig), former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg, longtime congressional senior aide David Hoppe and former Sens. John Danforth (Mo.) and Gordon Smith (Ore.).
They urged “fellow conservatives to cease obsessing over the results of the 2020 election.”
It’s interesting that 81 percent of adults surveyed in an ABC News/Ispos poll will accept the results of our upcoming Nov. 5 election. This means 19 percent of Americans — the ill-informed and gullible — have accepted Trump and GOP officials’ Stop the Steal pretense. Furthermore, 67 percent of Americans feel Trump isn’t prepared to accept the outcome unless he wins.
Patriotic Americans should feel sad for the 2020 election deniers, who have been hoodwinked, led down a dark rabbit hole, and given disinformation, misinformation and blatant propaganda. The 2020 Stop the Steal conspiracy theory movement has been proven — beyond a shadow of doubt — to be fallacious.
You should feel very comfortable voting on Nov. 5. Why? Close and contested elections are a part of American history, and all states have processes in place to handle just such situations. It is critical that citizens understand how these systems work so that they trust the results. Trusted elections are the foundation of our democracy.
On Nov. 5, don’t fret. Vote!
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Op-ed reference sources:
1)(U.S. News report) Finally Donald Trump says he lost 2020 U.S.l election by a whisker, The Economic Times, Sept. 6, 2024
2)Sarah Gray and Kelsey Vlamis, Mark Meadows quietly testified that he told Trump the election wasn’t being stolen, report says. But his book still pushed election fraud claims, Business Insider, Oct. 24, 2023
3)Brad Dress, Trump blames Kanye West for bringing Nick Fuentes as dinner guest, The Hill, Nov. 27, 2022
4)Sarah D. Wire, Trump admits he lost in 2020, leading white nationalist Nick Fuentes to disavow him, USA Today, Sept. 5 and Sept. 8, 2024
5)Walter Olson, “Lost, Not Stolen”: Prominent conservatives refute 2020 election myths, Cato Institute, July 21, 2022
6)Chris Walker, Poll: Two-thirds of Americans think Trump won’t accept 2024 election outcome, Truthout, Aug. 30, 2024
7)Miles Parks, Driven by Republicans, most Americans are concerned about fraud in the 2024 election, National Public Radio, Oct. 3, 2024
8)Jennifer Agiesta and Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN Poll: Percentage of Republicans who think Biden’s 2020 win was illegitimate ticks back up near 70%, CNN Politics, Aug. 3, 2023
9)Hannah Robbins, Poll suggests Republicans who believe Trump won in 2020 expect significant chaos in November, Hub-Johns Hopkins University, Aug. 7, 2024
10) Kelsey Dallas, Former federal judge Thomas Griffith talks about contentious 2020 election on `60 Minutes,’ Deseret News, Sept. 16, 2024
11) Benjamin Ginsberg, Lost, Not Stolen: The conservative case that Trump lost and Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Hoover Institution, July 1, 2022
12) Ken Block, Trump paid me to find voter fraud. Then he lied after I found 2020 election wasn’t stolen, USA Today, Jan. 2, 2024
13) Aila Slisco, Republican judges, lawyers conclude 2020 election was `Lost, Not Stolen,’ Newsweek, July 14, 2022
14) Joseph Sabino Mistick, Facts on a lost, not stolen, election, Trib Total Media, July 16, 2022
15) Miles Park, Driven by Republicans, most Americans are concerned about voter fraud in the 2024 election, WNIN-National Public Radio, Oct. 3, 2024
16) Caitlin Moniz, Donald Trump has spread 2020 election conspiracy theories 500 times on Truth Social, CREW-Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, June 27, 2024
Contact information: Steven.B.Corbin@gmail.com; 319-290-9779; Apr. 1-Oct. 31: 4116 Maryhill Drive, Cedar Falls, IA 50613-5781 and Nov. 1-March 31: 55055 Shoal Creek, La Quinta, CA 92253-4728
Disclosures:
1)Steve is a non-paid freelance opinion editor and guest columnist contributor (circa 2013-present) to 181 news agencies in 39 states who receives no remuneration, funding or endorsement from any for-profit business, not-for-profit organization, political action committee or political party
2)Steve is Professor Emeritus of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls (1975-2013); Marketing Department Head (17 years); State of Iowa Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service (2003)
3)Steve graduated from Nevada H.S. (Nevada, IA) in 1966; University of Northern Iowa (1970 bachelor’s degree); Colorado State University (1972 master’s degree); Virginia Tech (1975 doctoral degree)
4)Steve was elected to public office three times and served on the Denver Community School District Board of Education (Denver, IA) for 11 years, serves on the Advisory Board of Discerning Wealth Ameriprise Financial Services (Cedar Falls, IA) and is a member of the Cedar Falls Lions Club, Lions Clubs of Iowa and Lions Clubs International
5)Steve is married to Doris J. Kelley (Iowa House of Representatives, 2007-2011; Chair/Vice-Chair - Iowa Board of Parole, 2011-2014; Chair, Iowa’s 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration, 2017-2021)
6)Steve has three sons, three daughters-in-laws and three grandchildren
“My attempt at writing op-eds since 2013 has been to try my best at shifting from today’s journalism style of “my truth” to old-school journalism focused on “research-based truth” and as close to scholarly research as possible to restore journalism credibility and provide a value-added op-ed to the reader.”
