Let’s talk about ‘fair’ and ‘rigged’

In the wake of Donald Trump’s triumph in New York Tuesday, Joel Schleicher, a Sarasota resident and an engaged American voter and engaged Republican, offers this assessment on the subject of “fairness.”

“I wonder if Trump will complain about fairness and a rigged system. He should.

“Let’s look at the results.  

“First, the Republican candidates in total accumulated around 856,000 votes in New York.  In total, that is fewer than Hillary Clinton, who won with 1,054,083 votes.  Which means it doesn’t matter who the Republican candidate is; he is not going to win New York in the general election.

“Now as to Trump fairness:

“He will collect around 90 delegates from his share of the New York votes — 524,932.  

“Now let’s put that in perspective to his so-called fairness complaints.  

“Ohio Republicans cast almost 2,000,000 votes, with 1 million of them going to John Kasich. But he gets only 66 GOP delegates.   

“Or, why does Florida get only 99 GOP delegates when Florida Republicans cast almost 2.2 million votes — three times more than New York?  

“Heck, Alabama has more slightly fewer Republican votes — more than 800,000 — yet it gets only  50 delegates.  In Texas, Marco Rubio received almost as many votes as Donald Trump did in New York, and yet he won only three delegates. 

“In Wisconsin, a swing state the GOP needs, Republicans cast almost  1.1 million votes. Ted Cruz won as many votes in Wisconsin as Trump won in New York, and yet Cruz won only 36 delegates.

“So the only thing that Donald Trump showed Tuesday night is that New York Values do exist and the system is unfair in that he won 90 delegates in a state that is essentially irrelevant to the GOP in the national election.  

“Need we remind Mr. Trump, who likes to TELL us how many votes he has won, that more voters have voted against him than for him, by a significant amount, in the GOP primaries.  

“Yes, he is winning — and whining — but that does not mean he should  anointed.”