The the situations are in no way comparable. The 2000 election came down to one state -- Florida. The Florida election was decided by a few hundred votes out of more than 5.8 million cast. Furthermore, election counting technology was not as accurate as it is today, so the margin of the vote was less than the margin of error for then-existing counting technology. A few quirks in vote counting could sway the outcome. Under these circumstances, bringing suit on how to conduct the count was reasonable -- a whole lot more reasonable than Donald Trump's suits to overturn the results in six states, all of which he lost by margins of at least five figures. The suit went all the way to the Supreme Court. When the Supreme Court made a highly controversial decision in favor of Bush, Gore accepted its judgment and went on to preside (as Vice President) over the session of Congress that declared Bush the winner. In other words, Gore sought to challenge a legitimately uncertain outcome in the courts, lost, and accepted the results. Trump sought to challenge six clear defeats in court, lost, and continued looking for other ways to change the outcome.
Or, if that is not clear enough, here is my table.
|
Donald Trump |
Al Gore |
|
Insisted during the election that if he lost it would be proof of
fraud.* |
Never claimed that defeat would be proof of fraud. |
|
Refused to concede defeat until
the January 6 insurrection was defeated and his cabinet threatened to
invoke the 25th Amendment unless he conceded.* |
Did not concede defeat until the Supreme Court held that Bush was the
winner. |
|
Defeated by margins in five figures in the states of Arizona,
Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. |
Defeated by several hundred votes in Florida, with vote technologies that
left a much higher margin for error than in 2020. |
|
Automatic recounts in all close states. |
Sought to block recount in Florida. |
|
Filed or encouraged others to file over 60 lawsuits challenging the
results, all of which were thrown out as completely without merit.* |
Lawsuit to block the Florida recount that involved highly
self-serving arguments by both sides, decided for Bush by the Supreme Court.* |
|
Pressured legislatures in all swing states to override the results
and appoint a slate of electors pledged to Trump.** |
Did not pressure any state legislatures to alter the results. (Useless since they were all Republicans) |
|
Pressured the (Republican) Secretary of State in Georgia to change
the result.*** |
Did not pressure any election officials to change the results. (Ditto). |
|
Arranged for alternative slates of electors in all swing states to
claim to be the real electors and vote for Trump.** |
No equivalent scheme. |
|
Encouraged the machinery of the federal government to declare some
elections fraudulent** or to void the elections, seize the ballots, and hold
a do-over.*** |
Never attempted or encouraged others to use the machinery of the
federal government to change the outcome. |
|
Pressured the Vice President to either reject swing state votes for
his opponent or to send the votes back to the swing state legislatures for a
10-day “investigation.”** |
Presided as Vice President over the election count and certified Bush
as the winner. |
|
Called for a “wild” protest to pressure Congress into naming him the
winner.* |
Did not call for protests. |
|
Large riot the day Congress certified the election, that forced
Congress to evacuate the Capitol and delayed the vote count by at least 6
hours.*** There is no evidence Trump
foresaw the riot or intended to incite it, but he clearly relished the riot
once it started and did nothing to stop it until it became apparent that the
riot had been defeated.* |
No riots |
|
Did not attend his successor’s inauguration.* |
Attended the Bush inauguration. |
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_________________________________
*Unethical, but not illegal.
**Unclear if this is illegal.
***Illegal.
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