It is embarrassing. DT’s behavior is so obviously desperate, based on nothing but fear and a level of self-centered greed that should astound anyone who looks at it. And the desperation and blindness to anyone’s interests but his own is even getting to many of his most loyal supporters. But after 4 years of experiencing just how bad DT can be, we shouldn’t be at all surprised by his latest behavior.
Or rest our attention. I have been sleeping better each day with each step taken toward securing the constitutional peaceful transition of power. But who knows what despicable actions he might yet take?
In a recent tweet he attacked Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia for not using his “emergency powers…to overrule his obstinate [Republican] Secretary of State…” and claimed matching voter signatures to mail-in ballots would yield a “goldmine of fraud.” He also tweeted to Brian Kemp to “call off the [Senate runoff] election[s].” He was directly trying to stop an election. But the Governor and Secretary of State both refused to do so. Cody Hall, Kemp’s communications director, said the Governor does not have the legal authority to override (or cancel) the election. The only goldmine of fraud was coming from the White House.
Former Georgia Representative Allen Peake defended Governor Kemp and the way he handled the election results, and attacked DT, saying “I, for one, am tired of Trump’s whining. Man up, admit you got beat and do what’s right for the country.” And conservative columnist George Will earlier remarked that DT will end his presidency as he began it, by whining.
Trump likewise attacked Governor Ducey of Arizona for certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win in that state. While holding a press conference announcing the certification, reporters dimly heard the tune of “Hail to the Chief” which was the ringtone Ducey linked to calls from the WH. Ducey took out his phone from his coat pocket, saw who was calling, shook his head and continued with the press conference.
Even some of the most ardent DT sycophants are breaking with the President’s overwrought and baseless claims and attacks on our constitutional system. The latest was Attorney General Barr, who said, in an interview with the Associated Press, that the FBI and U. S. attorneys have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Even Vice President Pence might, according to the Daily Beast, be backing away from DT. His name no longer appears with DT’s on their fund-raising appeals. And “sources” close to Pence say he “privately views the Rudy Giuliani-led legal operation to overturn the 2020 election through the mass disenfranchisement of votes as counterproductive and doomed.” Why not illegal and immoral? “The vice president doesn’t want to go down with this ship.”
As far back as November 6th, GOP began to push back against DT’s false election claims, beginning with Senators Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Pat Toomey, amongst others. And by 11/10, 9 GOP Senators and 5 Congresspeople recognized Biden won the election. But, as of now, many congressional GOP still haven’t publicly acknowledged Biden’s win.
Trump and his lawyers have gone to court with several claims of election fraud, but in court and out it is clear there is no evidence to back his claims, nothing but the President’s desperate fantasies. In one of DT’s suits challenging Biden’s win in Pennsylvania, the judge in the U. S. District Court, according to VOX, “didn’t just reject the Trump campaign’s legal arguments, he mocked the campaign for its inability to present a coherent argument⎼ or to provide any legal support whatsoever for crucial elements of their claims.”
But presenting actual facts, not spontaneous nonsense, was never something DT cared about. On Wednesday, 12/2, DT shared on social media a prepared video of him repeating his false and incendiary claims the election was stolen from him, despite overriding evidence that Biden won by over 7 million votes, according to the Cook political report and State certified voter counts. This prompted an article in the Washington Post called “The most petulant 46 minutes in American history.” The author, Philip Bump, commented:
“[DT’s] former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and his former attorney have endorsed the idea that Trump should somehow try to step outside the boundaries of the Constitution to force some sort of re-vote supervised by the military: an overt coup to supplant Trump’s lazier attempt. Trump didn’t endorse that idea in his speech, but given what he’s already endorsed, we shouldn’t assume the thought hasn’t crossed his mind.
The essential question of the moment is how far Trump wants to go. Was this his way of sulking? Was the speech a lengthy vent, an airing of grievances without peer in American history? Or was it a sign Trump will continue to want to push the understood boundaries of what our electoral system allows?”
Maybe Heather Cox Richardson said it even better: What DT did in this video is “dangerous, unprecedented… and crazy.” Yes, crazy. “The president has largely ceased to govern, nursing his grievances in the White House and emerging only to golf… while the pandemic is burning out of control.” Last week, according to different sources, for three days in a row 2,500 of us died from the virus, too close to the number deaths from the 9/11 attacks (2,977). Instead of acting to save lives, DT sacrifices us to his quest to hold onto power.
And is Flynn’s endorsement of using the military to nullify the election and suspend the constitution evidence of why DT has been firing former civilian officials and leaders in the Department of Defense, Defense Policy Board and nine members of the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board, replacing them with people loyal to him, not the constitution? Is this vengeance on those who said ‘no’ to him? Or vengeance on a nation that has said ‘no’ to him?
Are his actions aimed at delegitimizing Biden’s win? Or merely an advertising gimmick, another scam to get donations from followers? A Reuters report documents how he has bombarded supporters with requests for money to stop “the Left” from stealing the election (or help DT steal it) and fund court challenges of the results. But the money isn’t going for that purpose. Where is it going? To finance future ventures? A run for President in 2024? To defend himself from anticipated criminal charges? Or maybe, as many have speculated, he is acting to undermine America as a service to Putin. It is hard to believe I am saying this, but I hope DT is just venting.
Will DT’s fall finally come, much too late, but the sooner the better? It most likely won’t happen, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in exchange for a decrease in their potential jail time, those who supported or enabled DT’s extreme number of crimes, admitted how much they lied, stole, and sacrificed others in their lust for power?
In an earlier blog, I remarked that November 23 should be declared a national holiday, Victory for Democracy Day, the day Susan Murphy from the GSA declared President-elect Biden as the “apparent” winner of the election, and could receive transition resources as well as security briefings. It was a large step toward securing a peaceful and constitutional transition of power. It should be celebrated and used to remind us how important our voice is. And how fragile a democracy can be.
I need to meditate or take a walk. If only Joe Biden could be inaugurated today, not January 20th.
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This post has been republished on Medium.
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