, Columnist
Disputes Over the Election Don't Serve Either Side
The president-elect claims voter fraud was widespread. His critics call for a recount. Both are dangerous.
Contested.
Photographer: Steve Pope/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A friend on Facebook suggests that the recounts in the Rust Belt, and similar strategies that challenge the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s election, are a “canny” strategy to provoke the president-elect into spending all his time on Twitter, issuing thin-skinned tweets like this weekend’s unlikely claim that if you subtracted the number of illegal immigrants who voted, he would have won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote.
My Trump supporting readers will point out that I don't know Trump's claim to be false. That's fair. And so I said "unlikely." There is scant data available.1480450204212