We're still scratching our heads trying to figure out why third-party candidate Jill Stein is pushing for a recount in three battleground states.

We're equally puzzled by President-elect Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that he actually won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote were it not for the "millions" who voted illegally.At a time when both antagonists in one of the most brutal and disgusting presidential campaigns in history are calling for unity and healing, both of these approaches will never achieve their stated goals.We say: Give it a rest.Whether you're satisfied with the outcome of the Nov. 8 general election or not, Trump has the necessary Electoral College votes to become our 45th president, and Hillary Clinton does not, even though she has about 2 million more popular votes.Trump has 306 electoral votes, 36 more than is needed to become president, to Clinton's 232.Stein said she has raised more than $6.5 million, which will allow a recount to begin in Wisconsin later this week.Trump leads in Wisconsin by 22,177 votes and captured its 10 electoral votes. Stein also is challenging the results in two other key states - Pennsylvania and Michigan.In fact, the official results in Michigan were just certified Monday, giving Trump a 10,704 vote victory and Michigan's 16 electoral votes. Stein formally filed for a recount in Michigan on Wednesday.She also gave notice to Pennsylvania officials by Monday's deadline that she will challenge the Keystone State's results, but she is having difficulty getting the required number of electors in each of the voting precincts to sign on to her cause.So far, she has only 1 percent of the required electors in each of the state's 9,000 precincts on board. Trump has a lead of about 68,000 votes in Pennsylvania and took its 20 electoral votes.Even Stein is dubious of her chances to change the outcome of the election. "We must recount the votes so we can build trust in our election system," Stein said in a written statement.Trump, on the other hand, released a statement, which said in part, "This is a scam by the Green Party and Jill Stein for an election that has already been conceded. The result of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused."To show how unlikely the recounts are to change the outcome, we cite the analysis of a nonprofit group, FairVote, which analyzed 27 statewide elections between 2000 and 2015. It found that just 282 votes on average shifted, resulting in just three originally defeated candidates becoming winners.Even there, however, the vote differences were substantially smaller than they are in the Trump-Clinton election.We are baffled by the involvement of the Clinton campaign in this recount process, even though it is marginal, especially since she conceded the election on Nov. 9 and urged the country to come together under the newly elected president.When he met with Trump after the election, President Barack Obama struck a similar theme.We are equally baffled by why Trump is taking the bait and lashing out with unfounded accusations about voter fraud.He needs to can the tweets and get on with the business of preparing to run the country starting Jan. 20.By Bruce Frassinelli |

tneditor@tnonline.com