By Erik Dolson
On Sunday, Donald Trump demanded that Joe Biden prove that the 80 million votes he received were not “illegally obtained.”
OK, this means I’ve been underestimating Trump. Since Trump can’t prove there was fraud, he now tweets that Biden must prove there wasn’t. This is a clever tactic that seems coherent and reasonable.
But it’s not, and falls into the “you can’t prove a negative,” category. My favorite description is this one:
“… If you were told that on a certain planet revolving around Sirius there is a race of donkeys who speak the English language and spend their time in discussing eugenics, you could not disprove the statement, but would it, on that account, have any claim to be believed? Some minds would be prepared to accept it, if it were reiterated often enough, through the potent force of suggestion.” (J.B. Bury, A History of Freedom of Thought, 1913)
Trump alleging fraud in the election, then demanding that Biden prove it didn’t happen, is Trump claiming English-speaking donkeys reside near Sirius, and demanding that Biden prove they don’t.
While his base may want to believe in fraud-donkeys, courts have rightly demanded that Trump provide evidence there are such animals, or the rest of us will go about our business. He has failed to do so.
Of course, Trump will now accuse the courts of conspiring to hide the fraud-donkeys. This just proves that it’s past time to stop listening to Trump. He’s the fraud, and for that, there is plenty of hard evidence.