Sometimes they just make it too easy.

The formerly “counter-culture” but now boot-licking publication, Rolling Stone, is out with a long, heaving, breathless piece outlining the scary, scary ways Trump might try to “steal” 2024.

The simplest way to demonstrate its ridiculousness is to apply the “what if the other side” did it test. This is the result: scaremongering that Trump will do to them in 2024 what they did to Trump in 2016; use every legal means possible to challenge a close election. Of course, “legal” is a fluid concept with Democrats, but you get the point.

Here’s what the authors wrote:

After the 2020 race was called for Biden, Trump and much of the GOP embarked on a sprawling campaign — a blitz of lawsuits, rabid conspiracy theories, attempts to block certification, and slates of fake electors — to nullify Biden’s clear win. This culminated in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which Trump instigated, and led to years of criminal investigations and various indictments, as well as the mainstreaming of the MAGA election-denial movement. The efforts to overturn the election were unsuccessful, largely because Biden had won too many battleground states — unlike when the 2000 presidential race came down to the single state of Florida, and the Republican Party was able to successfully halt the recount of an extremely close vote.

Now, after applying switching it up with “the other guy” — meaning, 2016 Democrats — in brackets, see how the same paragraph reads:

After the 2020 [2016] race was called for Biden [Trump], Trump [Hillary] and much of the GOP [the legacy media] embarked on a sprawling campaign — a blitz of lawsuits, rabid conspiracy theories, attempts to block certification, and slates of fake electors — to nullify Biden’s [Trump’s] clear win. This culminated in the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol [SpyGate], which Trump [Hillary] instigated, and led to years of criminal investigations and various indictments, as well as the mainstreaming of the MAGA [Democrat] election-denial movement. The efforts to overturn the election were unsuccessful, largely because Biden [Trump] had won too many battleground states — unlike when the 2000 presidential race came down to the single state of Florida, and the Republican Party was able to successfully halt [Democrats failed to exclude military ballots from] the recount of an extremely close vote.

And for our friends on the left with short memories, here’s 12 solid minutes of Democrats denying election results:

And to be clear: these are not just random people, no-name congressmen, or miscellaneous members of the public; these are Democrat presidents, Democrat vice presidents, Democrat candidates; big, big Democrat names everyone recognizes.

November seems like it’s a long, long way away. It’s not. Prepare. When people are successful using all dirty means imaginable, they’re emboldened. Democrats will not be shy this time around. They won’t even try to hide it. In a way, we can be glad for that. What we have to do is not waste energy at the horror of it all. We know it’s horrible. Just accept that it’s horrible. Quick analogy:

When I was in college in Boston in the 1980s, I kept getting parking tickets. I complained to my father about it one weekend home for a visit. He said, “Look, you live in the city. You’re bound to get them. Just accept it as a cost of living, or you’ll be gray by the time you’re 25.” Boom. That was it. I just accepted it then. I didn’t like it. And I still tried really, really hard to not get them. But I understood — and now accepted — it to be the cost of choosing to live where I lived, which was close to my classes. Okay. Then I could proceed, and use my energy in more productive ways.

So it’s horrible, okay? We all know it’s horrible. We can all do what we can do to avoid it (volunteer to be a poll watcher, etc.) but it is what it is. Now what? What can we do with all that energy we used to spend being angry?

That’s where our answers lie. We’d all do well to seek them. Now.

Image: YouTube video screen grab.