It was with a deep sense of relief that I watched the election results that made Joe Biden our next president.

According to a Nov. 25, 2020, article by Peter Grier and Sarah Matusek in the “Christian Science Monitor” entitled “In His wake, Trump Leaves Vulnerabilities of Democracy Exposed,” President Donald Trump had a four-pronged approach to winning the election in spite of the Electoral College vote count.

Trump, according to the authors, tried to create a false choice: either he won or the election was rigged. Apparently, at least 40 to 50 million Americans bought that argument. According to an Economist/YouGov poll, 84 percent of self-identified Republicans believe Joe Biden did not legitimately win the election. This is in spite of the fact that states with a total of 270 Electoral College votes certified Biden’s victory. That is the number needed for a candidate to win a presidential election. Biden actually won 306 Electoral College votes compared to Trump’s 232.

Trump’s first strategy to claiming a second term was to personally and publicly tell the American people that he would be the winner of the 2020 election after polls closed on Nov. 3. This was followed up by Twitter feeds. His second strategy was to sue states to stop vote counts or to throw out legally cast ballots. Trump’s third strategy was to lobby state and county officials to delay vote certification. His fourth and final approach, so far, has been to lobby state legislators to ignore the vote totals and to seat their own pro-Trump electors.

Of these four strategies, suing in court has been the least effective. It didn’t matter who appointed the judges, whether Trump other Republicans or Democrats at both the state and federal level; virtually all the cases have been dismissed for lack of evidence. But for those 40 to 50 million Trump supporters, the 2020 election has been stolen.

Trump tried to influence Republican legislators in Michigan by inviting them to the White House. At the same time Trump’s surrogates were publicly suggesting that those legislators seat pro-Trump electors to vote in the Electoral College in December rather than letting Biden win the state. Trump and his surrogates even criticized Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for not claiming voter fraud even though the Republican Raffensperger had voted for Trump. The secretary of state certified the numbers in spite of that criticism.

Numbers matter.

As I watched all these failed attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn Biden’s legitimate election, I have been reminded of elections in other nations of the world where leaders have tried to overturn the results using nefarious and immoral means. Russia and Belarus are two more recent examples. Putin is strongly linked to an assassination attempt on his opponent Alexey Nalvalny using a nerve agent. Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko declared himself the winner in spite of the European Union declaring the election illegitimate and against the will of the people of Belarus as demonstrated by unprecedented, peaceful demonstrations.

For those of you who are among the 40 to 50 million who continue to support Trump’s claim to a second term, what is your rationale for your contention that Biden stole the election? Is it based on facts and figures or is it based on emotion? Why do you continue to support Donald Trump in spite of the numbers? Why do you distrust all sources but those of Donald Trump?

Even Fox News stated Biden had won the election. Up until that point most of those 40 to 50 Republicans relied on Fox News as a legitimate source of information. Why the change now?

Using the falsifiability test, what information would satisfy you that Biden won and Trump lost? If you have no answer, or if you continue to deflect the question and bring up other issues beginning with “What about….?”, or if you are thinking of a nasty letter-to-the editor telling me you are ashamed of me, then you have the mentality of a cult member and a true believer.

Having been a cult member for seven years of my young adulthood, I recognize irrationality when I see it. I’m hoping you will end your denial and face facts. The nation will be better off if you can accept our new president-elect. Democracy will be preserved and hopefully strengthened. To continue to deny reality means continued division in the nation.

Being a patriot means more than waving an American flag on your truck or at your home. It means you support the Constitution and accept the election results. That’s how a healthy democracy works.

Joe Biden is our constitutionally selected president-elect. Let’s unite in the reality of that fact. Don’t be a sore loser. Pride and denial are not healthy ways of coping. “Only with pride comes contention” (Proverbs 13:10). Be healthy.