HE NEVER CONCEDED

Thirty or so years ago, a fella Cranky knows, name of Frip Chissom, came in a distant third in a Congressional Democratic primary in Northern Virginia. Frip never conceded, and indeed he never accepted the results of the outcome. But guess what? Nobody cared. The world did not stop. The Supreme Court did not get involved. And to Frip's delight, his opponent went on to defeat in November's general election.

So Cranky, and his friend Frip, are a little perplexed by concerns about whether or not The Donald, and his supporters (who are those people, anyway?), will accept the results of a defeat on November 8. Commentators make the claim that all Presidential losers in the nation's history have accepted the election results. Maybe, but there certainly have been some very begrudging acceptances.

And fears that many of The Donald's supporters will not accept an unfavorable outcome might be overblown. So what if they don't? After all, a large proportion of the Republican Party never accepted Barack Obama's victories in 2008 and 2012. The result was divided, ineffective government, but it was still government.

The bottom line is that the legal result of an election is not dependent on happiness with or acceptance of that result by the losing side. Now if the losing side decides to take up arms about the result, as once occurred in the nation's history, the situation enters a different dimension. But until The Donald starts talking armed insurrection, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and consider his threat of not accepting the results as just another Trumpian bombastic pronouncement.