'No comparison': CNN’s Avlon lays out reasons why Trump’s bogus election challenges and Bush v. Gore are worlds apart

11 December 2020

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A common talking point among Republicans is that if former Vice President Al Gore could question the presidential election results in Florida in 2000, why is it wrong for President Donald Trump to make sure that he really lost to President-elect Joe Biden in key battleground states? But CNN's John Avlon, during a "Reality Check" segment aired on December 11, laid out some reasons why Team Trump's election lawsuits and the Bush v. Gore battle of 2000 are in no way comparable.

On his "Reality Check" segment, which aired during CNN's morning program "New Day," Avlon explained that Gore was questioning the vote count in only one state: Florida — where, Avlon stressed, the margin was "razor thin."Avlon pointed out that on December 13, 2000, Gore conceded to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush —acknowledging him as president-elect and congratulating him on his victory. "That's the way it should be done," Avlon said of Gore's concession speech. And Avlon made it clear that he doesn't expect Trump to make such a speech.

Avlon stressed, "There is a world of difference between Florida 2000 and Election 2020. That race was razor thin, with a margin of an ultimate margin of 537 votes in a single state where Bush's brother was governor. This time, Biden has won the Electoral College by a margin of 306 to 232 — in the popular vote, by more than 7 million. So, there is just no comparison."

Avlon also compared what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are saying now compared to what they were saying in 2000 during the Bush v. Gore case. Graham has joined Trump in making baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, and McConnell is saying that Trump is entitled to all of the vote recounts that he wants. But Avlon showed some old clips of McConnell and Graham in 2000, when both Republican senators were accusing Gore of being a sore loser and wanted him to go ahead and concede. McConnell compared Gore to figure skate Tonya Harding, and he didn't mean it as a compliment.

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