Did Sen. Mike Rounds Say the ‘2020 Election Had No Problems Whatsoever’?

The claim is false.

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In a recent Fox News appearance, Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway claimed that in his criticism of election conspiracy theories Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) “said the 2020 election had no problems whatsoever.”

The claim is false.

Hemingway’s claim came after Rounds appeared on ABC’s This Week, where he was asked, “What do you say to all those Republicans, all those veterans who believe the election was stolen, who have bought the falsehoods coming from former President Trump?” Rounds replied: “As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states. While there were some irregularities, there were none of the irregularities which would have risen to the point where they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state.” 

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  1. Richard Fulmer

    The MAGA crowd, taking their cue from the left, likes to try to paint opposition to Trump as a psychological disorder. But Trump’s actions are such that opposition to him is a necessary, though not sufficient, proof of sanity.

    “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” then, more properly describes the mental state of Mollie and her friends.

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    DANA A. NICHOLS

    Alec,

    In your brief lines above: you completely flagged Hemingway's casual, high-velocity, pretext question to Sen Rounds; you vetted his (essentially one, gloriously honest and articulate sentence!) immediate response to her -- which was spun so bloody fast that I re-visited my vertigo moments of flying; and, you offered her air to respond. I believe that you, and the clearly like-minded souls around you at The Dispatch, are a threat-of-truth unimagined by the
    kind of "journalism" pathology embraced by media policies enabling Hemingway, et al.

    Hemingway's tossing in "...all of those vets..." into her mix especially, deeply pisses me off. I'm one of those vets, and each of us -- every one an American with some grasp of pride to assess and decide matters for ourselves -- are not, never were, born to blindly sign off on this sort of arrogant, elitist expectation of "all-vets-one-party." I claim no political platform affiliation, and value my priceless freedom to just make my close-aboard judgement call to vote. Last time, it was the 'lesser of two liabilities' (Trump), which I paused over while wondering if the Oval Office of this nation was casually becoming a corporate boardroom, staffed by uncontained family and some frightening, volatile advisers. Fast forward, here we all are now. Pardon my TMI floodgate genes, but my abilities to retain some stuff (and track for some sort of lucid decision-making later) is often fleeting. Your reporting style, the collective, sincere wit of all of ya, and my being able to retain your one-paragraph, honest wonders -- is a
    good thing. Thank you, each, and press on.

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    Victor Clairmont

    So she misstated what he said? Thank you for the fact check—

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    Ben Connelly

    Hemingway has gone off the rails.

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      Bill Nelson

      She’s still kinda hot.

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        Ben Connelly

        Um, okay… I don’t go there and wouldn’t have gone there but I’ll let you be the judge of whether that’s an appropriate comment to make.

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          Bill Nelson

          Ms Hemingway has nothing to offer in the form of knowledgeable and insightful political and policy analysis. What’s left?

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            Ben Connelly

            I agree but I don’t believe it’s appropriate to comment on her appearance.

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  5. Tom (Inadvertent Obfuscation)

    Was this an example of our old (evil) friend equivocation? One could say that if the election outcome was not effected, the irregularities were not "problems". Maybe Mollie's claim was just misleading. (Clever lying?)

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    I agree with Senator Rounds: the outcome is clear: Biden won the election. Hemingway must not have been listening, or else was merely fishing for clickbait.

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    Pat Riot

    The 2020 election had no problems whatsoever. A few insane (Trump-voting, it turns out) weirdos who pranked their local precinct are not a "problem" in the context of an election with millions of votes.

    If somebody asks you, "was your flight on time?" and you answer, "no, it was late" (say in order to excuse not showing up to a meeting), when the doors opened exactly 1.7 seconds after the scheduled time, you are *lying* by omission. And saying, "but it was theoretically 'late'!" won't help you.

    The 2020 election was secure. There was effectively zero voter fraud. Anything else is a lie.

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      Mike B

      I would characterize it more like this: The flight arrived 10 minutes late (I think 15 is the standard for on-time statistics). "Was your flight on time?" "Well, it was a few minutes late, but not enough to cause a problem."

      Now, someone who has an interest in promoting a rival airline might charge that I said "My flight was right on time" and then take issue with that statement. This would be the classic straw man.

      Of course, the analogy is imperfect (as are all analogies) since arrival time is exact while voting irregularities are subjective; but the point is that what Mollie Hemingway said is objectively false. Rounds did not say or even imply that there were no problems whatsoever. He admitted that there were problems, but nothing that would change the outcome.

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        Frank Lee

        There is a relative consideration. In Japan the trains run on time. So a 10 minute delay in Japan is a relative big deal. The voting irregularities in 2020 were also a big deal because those type of irregularities had never been experienced before.

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          Pat Riot

          There were no voting irregularities in 2020 that we hadn't experienced before.

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            Frank Lee

            Right… and if you stay in the basement you can claim it is always dark.

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          Mike B

          Doggone it, there you've gone and made my objective point subjective. Curses, foiled again!

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        Pat Riot

        Yes, but had it he said there were no problems whatsoever he would have been absolutely correct in saying so.



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          Mike B

          But that isn't what he said. Whether you believe there were absolutely no problems is not at issue. What Rounds said, as opposed to what Hemingway said he said, is the issue. And he did not say there were absolutely no problems.

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            Pat Riot

            Yep, another Republican coward who still can't fully stand up to Trump.

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      Bill Nelson

      The FFA has specific definitions for late and on time flights, these stats are available per airline.

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        Pat Riot

        Your excuses are your own!

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          Bill Nelson

          Oh no, my head can be quite crowded.

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      Frank Lee

      You are an outlier. Over 65% of the voting population believes there was cheating in the 2020 election. Over 80% want voter ID. Ballot harvesting with mail in ballots is notoriously difficult to prove. However, Biden won by only 44,000 votes in the three key swing states of Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia. It does not take any conspiracy theory to believe that that difference was derived from ballot harvesting.

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        Pat Riot

        You mean 73% of Republicans.

        "Ballot harvesting" is done by both parties and all it means is volunteers taking perfectly valid ballots to the ballot boxes for people. There has been *zero* fraud associated with this in modern times, which makes sense since it's virtually impossible to get away with, and it would be obvious if it occurred.

        So actually, yes, it requires a conspiracy theory to believe this, which is why Republicans love conspiracy theories so much.

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          Frank Lee

          It isn't that my good friend Pat is ignorant; it is that he knows so much that just isn't so.

          https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/documents/monmouthpoll_us_062121.pdf/

          "Among respondents, 62 percent of Democrats said they support requiring photo ID, while the number rose to 87 percent among Independents and 91 percent among Republicans."

          https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2021/election_integrity_62_don_t_think_voter_id_laws_discriminate

          "A majority (51%) of voters believe it is likely that cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election"

          Democrat love conspiracy theories like the one that says Republicans and actual Democrats blocking their "steal the votes" legislation are anti-democracy and pro restricting voter rights.

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            Pat Riot

            Republicans are lying to their flock and Democrats are telling the truth.

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  8. Mplail01

    There were plenty of irregularities in the 2020 election, especially with regards to bureaucrats and judges illegally changing the election laws and procedures in several states. However, all the evidence indicates that none of these irregularities actually resulted in changing the outcome of any of the elections.

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      Pat Riot

      Nobody illegally changed election laws.

      When something is challenged in court and the court strikes down the challenge, then it is not, "illegal".

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        Victor Clairmont

        I am gonna do it Pat…..

        EXCEPT FOR DRED SCOTT RULING AM I RIGHT?!

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          Bill Nelson

          Because a court has a flawed ruling does not imply other court rulings are flawed.

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            Victor Clairmont

            AM I RIGHT BILL?!?! :D

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          Pat Riot

          ???

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    The Stray Goose

    I've thought Hemingway is vile for over six years now. She epitomizes the talking head that we see on all the major news channels. I want a new party and I want a new news network -

    The Dispatch News Network (DNN).

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      Bill Nelson

      Vile is a very strong word.

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