2000 US election was stolen in a judicial coup d’etat from Al Gore: Analyst

Former US Vice President and Democratic hopeful Al Gore did not lose to Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush in 2000 because of his position on gun control, but the election was stolen from him in a judicial coup d’etat, according to an American political analyst and activist.

Myles Hoenig, a former Green Party candidate for Congress, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Friday while commenting on a report which says Democrats are haunted by political fears on the issue of gun control, such as banning assault weapons. 

About 20 years after restrictions on guns were blamed in part on Gore’s loss in the 2000 presidential race, many Democrats still worry that being too aggressive on gun control could hurt the party’s candidates in purple states and House districts, The Hill reported.  

“If you’re someone like Raphael Warnock, it’s a complicated message. It’s a nuanced message at best,” one Democratic strategist said of the incumbent senator who is up for reelection this year in a competitive race against Republican Herschel Walker. “There’s a lot of history that scares a lot of people. It’s a slippery slope that Democrats don’t want to be on the wrong side of, particularly for front-line Democrats.” 

Hoenig said, “Without re-litigating the 2000 election in its entirety, it’s a false statement to suggest that Gore lost the election because of his position on gun control. The election was stolen in a judicial coup d’etat, with Gore actually projected to win the popular vote.”

“It was his opponent’s brother (Jeb Bush) as Governor who controlled the electoral process in Florida, giving the win to George. Also, Al Gore was simply a poor candidate and only began to gain ground when he started to take on more progressive issues, to counter the popular appeal of Ralph Nader,” he stated.

Things have changed over the decades regarding gun control and it is more popular than ever for such proposals as red flag laws, enhanced background checks, and even banning AR-15s. Even the more pro-gun states like Georgia are reacting to the latest massacres that seem to be an American past-time. Warnock’s fate rests mostly on his and his opponent’s record. As a recent victor for the office, Warnock has very little to go on. For his opponent, Walker, this man is an idiot. But idiots do win in US elections, as likely in other countries as well (Boris Johnson, for example),” he stated.

“By the time November rolls around, no one can say today what the primary issues will be. Gun control is actually a winning issue for Democrats if they know how to campaign on it, and tying the Republicans to the NRA’s stranglehold on the Party. Women’s health rights and privacy will most likely be a top issue as overturning Roe v. Wade will motivate many to hold their noses and pull the Democratic lever,” he added.

“In some races, it is likely that the NRA’s candidate will win. It won’t be a wipe-out for either party. But the General Election is five months away, and real campaigning doesn’t begin until after Labor Day in September. In politics, that's a lifetime,” the analyst concluded.

Chicago shootings: 51 shot, 9 fatally over Memorial Day weekend

At least 51 people have been shot, nine fatally, in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend, with the US city again living up to its violent history.

On May 24, nineteen students and two teachers were shot and killed at Robb Elementary School by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, 10 days after a mass shooting at a store n Buffalo, New York, left 10 people dead.

Police say the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, entered the school with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle after earlier shooting his grandmother, who survived.

There have been conflicting accounts of how law enforcement responded to the shooting. The Department of Justice on Sunday said it would open an investigation into the police response at the request of Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin.

More than 45,000 people were killed by gun violence in the United States last year, up from 43,671 in 2020 and 39,581 in 2019, according to FBI data.

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