Elections are a non-functioning sacrament of our stupid and fake civil religion.
The fact that Smith won a popularity contest does not mean that the ideas he and his supporters cling to are correct or that the policies he advocates are good. Conversely, the fact that Jones lost does not prove his ideology wrong.
The only things that matter in politics are power and money. How those are acquired is hardly relevant. So what if the priests of the civil religion interfere a little and switch a few, or a few million, votes to their favored man? Why should the power go to the most popular? Cheating is the advantage the (supposed) losers give to themselves.
Even if the Democrats needed to kill 10 million Americans to gain power and then torture the rest until they loved the Big Brother, well, that’d be just a means to an end. Welcome to realpolitik.
Laws, as we all know, are for little people. The Democrats are big. They won. They must be right.