To soften the blow of defeat Fox's Geraldo proposes naming the vaccine after Trump. "It would be a nice gesture to him and years from now it would become kind of a generic name. Have you got your trump yet, I got my trump, I'm fine. I wished we could honor him in that way." pic.twitter.com/fM8qwFhxF6
Yes, We need to “honor” him so he’ll accept that he was rejected by the American people due to his monumental corruption, incompetence and grotesque personal behavior. Maybe they could get the Nobel committee to give him the prize for chemistry? Or how about quickly blasting his face on to Mt Rushmore as he has stated he desires? Renaming the White House Trump Palace?
But wait. We are forgetting the best idea. Just pay him a couple billion dollars and call it a payment for being the very bestest president in the whole wide world.
Back in September, Politico’s Anita Kumar reported that for the previous year the Trump campaign had been assembling a team of election lawyers from all over the country to familiarize themselves in local election laws and prepare “prewritten legal pleadings that can be hurried to the courthouse the day after the election, as wrangling begins over close results and a crush of mail-in ballots.” The effort was led by “a 20-person team of lawyers” from major law firms who were overseeing a strategy in “key states the Trump campaign is targeting, like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.” It sounded like a very serious and professional operation, one which came as no surprise to me, since Republicans have specialized in disenfranchising Democratic voters for many decades.
Trump himself repeatedly made clear on the campaign trail what he planned to do, from contesting the validity of mail-in ballots to declaring himself the winner on election night regardless of whether the votes had been counted and filing a flurry of lawsuits contesting the election with an eye toward having “his” judges (including newly-minted Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett) deliver the election to him if necessary. I don’t think anyone can possibly say they are surprised at how he has reacted to losing the election.
In the weeks before Nov. 3, Trump did have that team of high-powered legal talent arguing cases around mail-in ballots and shifting deadlines in various states, some of which did make it to the Supreme Court. But then the election actually happened and vote-counting began, and since then Trump’s crack team has been been remarkably unsuccessful. The good lawyers have either been pressured to to quit or threw in the towel themselves as it became patently obvious that they had no evidence of voter fraud.
That hasn’t stopped Trump from plowing ahead anyway with the self-described “elite strike force” led by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, last seen prior to the election with his hand down his pants in the latest Borat movie and famously presiding over a post-election press conference at a landscaping company next door to a sex shop and a crematorium. Trump was evidently impressed by Rudy’s performance in both venues, because he gave the former LifeLock spokesman (hat tip to Salon’s Roger Sollenberger) full authority to conduct the legal strategy to overturn the election results by any means necessary.
CNN reports that Giuliani has taken full control. For instance, upset by what he was hearing from three of the lawyers assigned to argue one of the Pennsylvania cases, the man once described as “America’s mayor” fired them on the spot and took over the case — which was being argued the very next day — himself. He hadn’t been inside a courtroom in more than 30 years, and it showed. He was very nearly laughed out of court.
Giuliani was undaunted. He immediately pulled together the other members of the “elite strike force”: Sidney Powell, who is former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s Fox News lawyer; veteran right-wing husband and wife team Victoria Toensing and Joe diGenova, also Fox News lawyers; and over-the-top Trump defender and campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis. None of them have any expertise in election law, but then they don’t have a legal strategy either.
Having lost over and over again in court, Trump and his team have switched to their Plan B, which, as longtime Democratic strategist Chris Marshall spelled out in detail in Salon on Thursday, is to delay the certification of the vote in certain states and try to get Republican legislatures to assign electors to vote for Donald Trump instead of the actual winner, Joe Biden. This is based on the theory that if they can create enough chaos around the election results, Republican loyalists will rise to the occasion and “save democracy” from the Democrats, who are allegedly stealing the election.
This idea has been pushed by conservative talk show host Mark Levin and picked up by the right wing as a way to keep their beloved president in office for at least four more years. It’s a theory that is very unlikely to prevail, particularly since the Supreme Court just decided a case on “faithless electors” last July, in which the justices made it very clear that whatever the founders may have anticipated in the 18th century, our democracy today demands that electors express the will of the people. It will take some convoluted intellectual gyrations for them to conclude that state officials can simply change the results at their discretion.
In order to blow the smoke as thick as possible, Giuliani and the “strike force” held a press conference at Republican National Committee headquarters on Thursday which was so surreal that it may have displaced the COVID task force briefing where Trump suggested that people might inject disinfectant as the all-time weirdest press conference of the Trump era.
Giuliani, Powell and Ellis held forth for 90 minutes, going full Infowars and throwing out one insane conspiracy theory after another. They said that Dominion voting machines had been created by former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez (who has been dead for seven years) and financed by George Soros, the Clinton Foundation and “communistic” countries China and Cuba. Just in case that didn’t work, the corrupt Democrats had also rigged the vote with a sophisticated computer hack that was only foiled because Trump won so overwhelmingly that it tripped up the algorithm which allowed the “strike force” to catch them in the act. Also, the mail-in ballots were fraudulent because so many of them were filled out properly. (Yes! The fact that there were very few problems with mail-in votes was somehow evidence they were fake!)
Meanwhile, rivulets of black liquid were running down Giuliani’s face as if he were an extra in an Alice Cooper video from the 1970s. The assumption is that it was some kind of temporary hair dye. But it could have been embalming fluid, for all we know.
On Trump's official YouTube page, just now:
"Can they hear us on the stream? I guess not." "I don't think so…" "You see fuckin' Rudy's hair dye dripping down his face?"
Powell later made the rounds to expand on their theory and she made no bones about what they hope to do:
Sidney Powell: "The entire election, frankly, in all the swing states should be overturned and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump" pic.twitter.com/gA6aFVhvdt
You’ll notice that she just blithely uses the term “overturn,” as if that were perfectly normal.
If that doesn’t work, the “strike force” are also talking about a Plan C, which would be to delay the vote certification for so long that the states can’t send Biden’s required 270 electors to Congress by the deadline, which under the 12th Amendment to the Constitution would throw the election to the House, where every state’s delegation gets one vote. As luck would have it Republicans hold 26 of the 50 delegations. Surprise!
Is any of this remotely possible? Sure. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible. It’s tempting to think this is all so nuts that it could never possibly happen, but we thought everything Donald Trump has done over the past five years was nuts, and here we are. All our hand-wringing about this plot being un-American and destructive to our democracy is sadly irrelevant — not just to the preposterous Giuliani and the equally preposterous Trump but to the entire Republican Party. They have learned the power of total shamelessness, and it is profound. I would never count them out.
You know that guy. It’s pandemic expert Dr. Ashish K. Jha. He’s on TV a lot. He’s among the most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to this virus. The following is a twitter thread from this morning.
Today was a very, very odd day I testified before the Senate DHS committee. They held a hearing on hydroxychloroquine.
Yup, HCQ
In the middle of the worst surge of pandemic.
HCQ.
It was clear how our information architecture shapes questions of science and medicine of COVID. There were 4 witnesses, 3 who strongly supported HCQ They believed thousands of Americans were dying from lack of HCQ. And then, there was me. This split was not a reflection of evidence or the consensus in medicine. It reflected ability of the majority to seat more witnesses. The hearing was a testament to how politicized science has become.
I shared evidence of studies that have failed to find benefit of HCQ. 3 other witnesses shared personal experiences. And suggested my testimony was reckless because it would deny people access to lifesaving HCQ.
There was an attempt to make it personal. I passed. I’m not big on personalizing disagreement. I am more comfortable talking data, evidence, science. Their engagement with data was sparse. And they were horrified that I disagreed.
Most shocking?
[Senator Ron Johnson], other witnesses essentially argued there is coordinated effort by America’s doctors to deny patients HCQ. Why would we do this? Because we’re in bed with Pharma.
A version of the anti-Doctor rhetoric from [Donald Trump] and his “expert” [Scott Atlas]. I tried to explain that doctors don’t want to kill their patients by withhold therapy
But evidence matters. They tried to flip the narrative: that evidence was misinformation. And “art of medicine” was what mattered. And most amazing? That FDA, NIH, Pharma were all corrupt.
On a personal note, it was disheartening to be personally attacked during the hearing. By the witnesses, Ron Johnson and on @Twitter during and after.
But you may be wondering. What is going on? Why hold a hearing on HCQ in the middle of the worst surge of the pandemic? Why talk Hydroxy when so many Americans are dying?Because it was meant to push a narrative that masks and distancing don’t matter. If you get infected – no big deal – take some HCQ.
Its stunning.
I’m left pondering a quote from Barack Obama. An idea any American, liberal or conservative, would understand:
“If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false… the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work. And by definition our democracy doesn’t work”
Trump wishes this was the hand he is playing. It’s not.
Actor Edward Norton adds to the “bending reality” post I put up earlier. We get so focused on process we sometimes overlook baser motives. Trump is trying find some way to win, of course. But as much as anything else, he is trying to survive, says Norton. If you don’t play poker, skim this primer before digesting Norton’s thoughts.
I’m no political pundit but I grew up w a dad who was a federal prosecutor & he taught me a lot & I’ve also sat a fair amount of poker w serious players & l’ll say this: I do not think Trump is trying to ‘make his base happy’ or ‘laying the groundwork for his own network’…
…which is to create enough chaos & anxiety about peaceful transfer of power, & fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding. But he doesn’t have the cards. His bluff after ‘the flop’ has been called in court…
I will allow that he’s also a whiny, sulky, petulant, Grinchy, vindictive little 10-ply-super-soft bitch who no doubt is just throwing a wicked pout fest & trying to give a tiny-hand middle finger to the whole country for pure spite, without a single thought for the dead & dying
But his contemptible, treasonous, seditious assault on the stability of our political compact isn’t about 2024, personal enrichment or anything else other than trying to use chaos & threat to the foundation of the system as leverage to trade for a safe exit. Call. His. Bluff.
“That press conference was the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in American history. And possibly the craziest. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re lucky,” tweeted Chris Krebs of Rudy Giuliani’s press conference on Thursday. Trump recently fired the former DHS election security expert. By tweet, of course.
The presentation filled with conspiracy theories, Giuliani’s dripping hair dye, and promised evidence yet to see the light of day, made one wonder if Giuliani’s “crack team” had been smoking some before taking the podium. It was too bizarre to recount in detail. Watch Aaron Rupar’s highlight reel here, if you dare.
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, a lawyer for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, falsely claimed Donald J. Trump won the election “by a landslide.” She spun a conspiracy theory about Dominion Voting Systems, Smartmatic technology software, and the late Hugo Chavez of Venezuela creating software for flipping Trump votes to Biden. But Trump’s support was so “overwhelming in many states that it broke the algorithm,” she said. Later, Powell told Lou Dobbs, “The entire election, frankly, in all the swing states should be overturned and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump.”
Trump, as always, is trying to bend reality to his will. His people are attempting a coup in plain sight.
If you thought Rudy Giuliani's conspiracies were insane, here comes Sindey Powell crashing through Leeroy Jenkins-syle to spin a tale about Huge Chavez and George Soros working together to steal millions of votes via voting machines and software. pic.twitter.com/Ky5ALhjSsl
Multiple legal experts swear on their diplomas that Trump’s legal efforts are so looney, ham-fisted, and contrary to accepted law that they can never overturn the election. Those who make their living practicing law have more confidence in it than I for containing people who treat the law as a matter of convenience for themselves but primarily as a weapon to wield against enemies. Trump has made a career out of defying the law.
DETROIT — President Trump has invited the leaders of Michigan’s Republican-controlled state legislature to meet him in Washington on Friday, according to a person familiar with those plans, as the president and his allies continue an extraordinary campaign to overturn the results of an election he lost.
Trump’s campaign has suffered defeats in courtrooms across the country in its efforts to allege irregularities with the ballot-counting process, and has failed to muster any evidence of the widespread fraud that the president continues to claim tainted the 2020 election.
Trump lost Michigan by a wide margin: At present, he trails President-Elect Joe Biden in the state by 157,000 votes. Earlier this week, the state’s Republican Senate majority leader said an effort to have legislators throw out election results was “not going to happen.”
But the president now appears to be using the full weight of his office to challenge the election results, as he and his allies reach out personally to state and local officials in an intensifying effort to halt the certification of the vote in key battleground states.
After the Wayne County’s Board of Canvassers certified the election after a contentious meeting this week, Trump himself called one Republican member, after which she tried to rescind her certification. Not possible, said Michigan’s secretary of state’s office. So now Trump is going over her head. *
Too many made the mistake of counting Trump out in 2016.
Much of Wall Street views the Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn the election results as a desperate sideshow destined to fail. But JPMorgan is telling clients there’s still a chance that this process descends into chaos. It is 2020, after all.
Michael Cembalest, chairman of market and investment strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management, warned in a report Wednesday of the “remote risk of an American horror story” and “constitutional mayhem.”
“Bottom line: a LOT of very unorthodox things have to happen for Trump to be reelected,” the JPMorgan strategist wrote. “Even so, I’m not ruling anything out.”
Chess legend, Vladimir Putin opponent and democracy advocate, Gary Kasparov, issued this short thread explaining his view of what the outgoing president is doing with his attempted coup.
Trump isn't a fighting a legal battle, it's a war for reality, as it has been from the beginning. Attack anyone who reports the truth. First it was CNN and the NYT. Now it's Fox News. You cannot shame the shameless. https://t.co/FVvNTkWKp9
GOP complicity in this latest assault is why I and many others called for voting them all out, no half measures. They are selling their souls for pennies on the dollar and doing huge damage to the foundation of American democracy.
Trump's 2016 victory validated his tactics and rhetoric. His reelection would have validated his politics. He lost, but the tactics of total war on reality have not been refuted. The media hasn't figured out how to fight it and social media has no motive to.
* I had a client like that once. You’d hear the lead team member paged. Then another and another, working down the chain. He’d call everyone in the office, in turn, asking the same question. He didn’t want the right answer. He wanted someone to give him the answer he wanted, someone to blame when he did what what he wanted to and it went to shit.
When Madison Cawthorn was elected to represent North Carolina in the House of Representatives last week, he made history. The 25-year-old Republican, a motivational speaker who campaigned on a message about overcoming adversity, became the youngest person elected to Congress in nearly 200 years. He marked the momentous occasion with a simple tweet, encapsulating both his congressional run and this moment in national politics: “Cry more, lib.”
Despite his youth, inexperience, and a campaign plagued by scandal after scandal, Cawthorn trounced his Democratic opponent by 12 points.He’s part of a young, insurgent generation of GOP politicos forged in the heat of MAGA and the slimy crucible of its culture wars. Like any number of college Young Republicans roiling their campuses nationwide with increasingly radicalized rhetoric, Cawthorn is a young man who’s demonstrated racist views and been accused of misogynist behavior — and hasn’t let either stop him in his quest for power. Add in a photogenic set of cheekbones and a marked tendency to pose with girth-y rifles, and you arrive at the message the GOP has imprinted on its rising stars: one of instinctual cruelty and little else. It’s hard not to arrive at the conclusion that this is the future of the Republican Party, and the main of what it has to offer.
After winning his primary by running to the right of Trump’s pick, Cawthorn became a Republican Party star overnight. He made sycophantic comments emphasizing his love for Trump and was invited to give a rousing speech at the RNC. He was also beset by a series of scandals that might have sunk a congressional campaign in pre-MAGA times. In August, Jezebel turned up social-media posts from 2017 in which Cawthorn had enthused about a visit to the Eagle’s Nest — an estate used for Nazi meetings — referring to it as “the vacation home of the Fuhrer,” adding that the destination had been on his “bucket list for awhile.” Cawthorn, who uses a wheelchair after a near-fatal car crash left him paralyzed at 18, criticized “the disgusting members of the media who would try and affiliate a disabled man, like myself, with a movement that would have had me exterminated,” and denied supporting Hitler.
Soon after, he was accused of sexual misconduct by three women who claimed he forcibly kissed or touched them, and alumni of a private Christian college he briefly attended alleged in an open letter that he had “established a pattern of predatory behavior” toward women during his time there, driving female students to secluded places and making unwanted advances. (Cawthorn denied the allegations). And then, to top it all off, a website paid for by his campaign made a racist attack against a journalist, Tom Fiedler, who had covered the campaign of Cawthorn’s opponent, Moe Davis. “Tom Fieldler [sic] who works with Moe Davis’ advocates, is working to tear down Madison Cawthorn,” the website, moetaxes.com, read.
“He quit his academia job in Boston to work for non-white males, like Cory Booker, who aims to ruin white males running for office.” (Fiedler is a former Boston University dean and had volunteered for Booker’s presidential campaign.) Cawthorn later clarified, unconvincingly, that the sentence was the result of a “syntax error” that was “unclear and unfairly implied I was criticizing Cory Booker.” Ten days later he won his election.
He is a Trumper. He is a Republican. He is a monster.
There is new and disturbing information in the alleged militia plot against the governor of Michigan.
The 14 men charged had far more violent plans than just a kidnapping, according to federal and state authorities.
New filings claim there was a Plan B the militiamen had drawn up, that involved a takeover of the Michigan capitol building by 200 combatants who would stage a week-long series of televised executions of public officials.
And, according to government documents now on file in lower Michigan court, there was also a Plan C — burning down the state house, leaving no survivors.
In southern Wisconsin Wednesday afternoon the 14th man charged in the plot, Brian Higgins, was closer to extradition to Michigan, even as prosecutors there piled on new, even more outrageous accusations against the men.
Higgins appeared from his home for the video court hearing.
“My client is going to leave this house when this hearing concludes. And unless you tell him otherwise, he’s going to go straight to the sheriff’s department and turn himself in,” said Higgins attorney, Christopher Van Wagner.
The latest accusations include the charged threat that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was to be kidnapped and possibly killed; now government court records cite subplots to stage an armed takeover of the state capitol in Lansing and televise the executions of politicians.
In an interview with the ABC 7 Chicago I-Team last week, Michigan’s attorney general, who’s prosecuting some of the militiamen, discussed the domestic terror threat.
“We are one of the few states that does not ban guns in our state capitol building, and clearly there have been threats made on the lives of our legislators; you probably saw the pictures back from in April, where we had armed gunman, some of them, same defendants in this case, that were hovering over state senators with long guns, screaming and yelling at them as they were deliberating, as they were discussing legislation and as they were voting, so that remains a big concern to me in a very scary scenario,” said Dana Nessel.
That fear bleeds over to Illinois. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker mentioned the Michigan case during Tuesday’s COVID-19 update.
“We have threats that stream into my office daily, while we have watched the kidnapping plot against the Michigan governor unfold just a state away,” said Pritzker.
Despite the violent nature of the charges, including an alleged plan to hold a mock treason trial for the governor of Michigan once she was kidnapped, several of the defendants have had bond reductions and are now free.
You will recall that the reason these criminals were planning this is because Whitmer authorized temporary, modest lockdowns to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
When the men were arrested Trump didn’t bother to condemn them and Whitmer criticized him for stoking division.
“I see Whitmer today, she was complaining, but it was our Justice Department that arrested the people that she was complaining about, it was my Justice Department that arrested them. But instead she goes and does her little political act, and she keeps her state closed — although we just won the big case, as you know, to open up Michigan. Because what she’s doing is a horrible thing to the people. The churches are closed, the schools are closed, and the whole state is closed, and people are being hurt very badly by it in the form of drinking and suicides and depression. It’s a very sad thing.”
First of all, the state was not completely locked down. Ever. He was lying. Second, Donald Trump doesn’t care about people dying of COVID and neither does he care about mental illness or alcohol and drug disorders. It’s laughable.
But more importantly, Trump was basically saying there that the would-be murderers were justified in their motivation. He called her a dictator. He said that she was doing horrible things to people by following the CDC guidelines.
His people listened. And they are full-fledged violent fascists. The had a plan to take over the state house stage a week-long series of televised executions of public officials!!
That’s what we are talking about here. Trump knew that. And he tacitly defended them.
…we are now being lectured by a chorus of voices including Pete Buttigieg and Ian Bremmer, to “reach out” to Trump voters and “empathize” with their pain.
This is the same advice that was given after Trump’s 2016 victory, and for nearly four years, I attempted to take it. Believe me, it’s not worth it…I tried…
Those in the audience who supported Trump came up to me and assured me they weren’t racist. They often said they’d enjoyed the talk, if not my politics. Still, not one told me they’d wavered in their support for him. Instead, they repeated conspiracy theories and Fox News talking points about “crooked Hillary.” Others made comments like, “You’re a good, moderate Muslim. How come others aren’t like you?”
…I did my part. What was my reward? Listening to Trump’s base chant, “Send her back!” in reference to Representative Ilhan Omar, a black Muslim woman, who came to America as a refugee. I saw the Republican Party transform the McCloskeys into victims, even though the wealthy St. Louis couple illegally brandished firearmsagainst peaceful BLM protesters…
Don’t waste your time reaching out to Trump voters like I did. Instead, invest your time organizing your community, registering new voters and supporting candidates who reflect progressive values that uplift everyone, not just those who wear MAGA hats, in local and state elections. Work also to protect Americans against lies and conspiracy theories churned out by the right wing media and political ecosystem. One step would be to continue pressuring social media giants like Twitter and Facebook to deplatform hatemongers, such as Steve Bannon, and censor disinformation. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
And then, towards the end, this:
I don’t need Trump supporters to be humiliated to feel great again. I want them to have health insurance, decent paying jobs and security for their family. I do not want them to suffer, but I also refuse to spend any more time trying to understand and help the architects of my oppression.
It is very simple. There is no point in arguing with anti-democrats and apologists for racists about the value of democracy and tolerance. Doing so wastes an immense amount of time that could be better spent strengthening democratic institutions and extending justice and opportunity. And we don’t have a moment to waste.
The following twitter stream is by David Frum. I have disagreed with him about many things over the years. And I feel compelled to note that after 9/11 when authoritarian structures like the “Department of HOMELAND Security” were being erected he and his fellows were more than aggressive in knocking down anyone who suggested we were heading down that slippery slope at a accelerating pace.
But I’m not interested in recriminations against people who’ve belatedly seen the light in this moment. There are so very few. And on this we are on the same page:
No more happy talk about the “uniquely American transition of power.” Trump presidency and this post-election period confirm that the US is *less* committed to democratic norms – and has *weaker* institutional safeguards for democracy – than peer wealthy democracies.
I asked a German diplomat friend to detail the safeguards against, say, a German chancellor trying to extend her tenure despite losing an election. He replied that such a thing was utterly impossible, he couldn’t begin to enumerate the reasons why. And he was right of course.
Nobody wondered, “Will Gordon Brown or Theresa May leave office if defeated?” Ditto the Netherlands, New Zealand, and newer democracies like Portugal or South Korea. Democratic culture is deep, and election law is administered impartially. For all the boasting, not true in USA
Normally, inauguration day is a day of self-congratulation. This next one should be a day of self-reflection – and commitment to self-improvement. The US not only lags other democracies – it has regressed even by its own standards. Time for a new era of reform.
And reform begins with acceptance of some grim and unwanted realities.
The problems are not “on both sides.”
The illiberal authoritarianism of some dean of students somewhere is not equivalent to illiberal authoritarianism by the Attorney General of the United States.
Renewal of democratic institutions in the United States should be *non*-partisan – outside the everyday work of government – but cannot be *bi*-partisan when one party is so committed to (or frightened of) the individual leading the attack on democratic institutions.
And of course it’s not just Trump.
As I detail in these 3 related articles even the non-Trump Republican party has committed itself to a program of minority rule
It’s hard thus to imagine that Congress can effectively conduct an investigation into Trump-era abuses by itself – since so many Republicans in Congress accepted, protected, and even connived in those abuses – and since so many Republicans in the states are now adding to the list
An independent commission with subpoena power is what is needed instead – tasked to recommend reform measures – and supported by a citizen movement outside the party system to pressure for state and federal reforms for voting rights, fair elections, and an honest Executive branch
A reader registers the below objection to the foregoing. (Answer coming)
Now counter-question
How does “liberty” – or more exactly the democratic idea of regulating state power by impartial law – get into the hearts of men and women in the first place?
It’s not innate! By nature, we prefer that our tribe dominate. The democratic idea is learned.
Learned how?
Learned by practice, and practice based upon laws and institutions.
(Remember Tocqueville’s astute remarks on the importance of jury duty to self-government?)
So we have to build our institutions fair and strong to foster individual commitment to democracy
The Republican thralldom to Trump followed 20 years of undoing voting rights and civil rights. Republicans became acculturated gradually first to minority rule, then to authoritarian rule. Trump’s false allegations of fraud rest on carefully nurtured prejudices.
I’m going on too long. But if anybody is still bearing with me, one last point …
If I’ve had any one message in everything I’ve written about Trump and Trumpism since 2015 … it’s that the direct involvement of the people in elections is democracy’s LAST line of defense, not its first.
Joe Biden summoned 80 million Americans to defend democracy. Great, but that massive collective undertaking only followed the internal failure of the checks and balances erected to protect democracy in the long intervals between elections. And as we saw in 2020, malign actors can corrode voting rights during those long intervals between elections
80 million people voted to eject Trump and replace him. One official at the General Services Administration has successfully defied that vote for some 2 weeks. In a more democratic culture, she’d say No. The story of the Trump years is how many like her have said Yes.
Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn's lawyer now working for Trump, says the election was rigged by "communist money" and a scheme devised by the late Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuala. pic.twitter.com/8XTnRHCzAM
Yes, this is lunacy. But lunacy like this can get out of hand. The Republicans are the only ones who can put a stop to this. But they won’t.
Frum has come to understand this. But there are 70+ million Americans who remain with Trump all the way and among them is the entire GOP establishment.
Poor wingnuts. They are handcuffed by their shameless kow-towing to Dear Leader Imagine that:
Because Trump won’t concede, many conservatives have found they can’t be open about their plans to counter Biden’s agenda. Some have already faced blowback.
The conservative movement has become handicapped.
Organizations can’t sound the alarm about President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda. Conservative reporters won’t take pitches about Biden’s rumored Cabinet contenders, insistent on covering evidence-deficient claims of voter fraud instead. One conservative group involved in policy advocacy backed off from hiring two soon-to-depart Trump administration officials after growing concerned about the consequences.
And it’s all because of an unspoken rule set by President Donald Trump: Do not acknowledge Biden’s imminent White House takeover.
Those who have run afoul of the dictate have faced swift repercussions. Some have received angry emails from donors accusing them of siding with the “liberal media.” Those who have tried to start revving up the grassroots engine — warning of what could unfold in January, particularly if Democrats win control of the Senate via two runoff races in Georgia — have been likened to turncoats by colleagues.
“I sent out a weekly email and mentioned something about a potential Biden administration and the fallout was ridiculous,” said an employee at one prominent conservative nonprofit.
As Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration inches closer, this lack of preparation within the conservative movement has some of its top members worried they are unwittingly damaging their joint legacy with the president and creating an opening for the next administration to swiftly pursue a radical agenda. Meanwhile, Trump shows no signs of relenting in his quest to baselessly claim he won the recent election.
“Republicans can’t afford to get stuck in the denial stage of grief,” said Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, one of only a handful of GOP lawmakers who have congratulated Biden on his victory. Sasse even broke Trump’s unspoken rule by saying he would “crawl over broken glass before allowing the Senate to confirm” some of the names being floated for Cabinet positions in Biden’s administration.
“We’ve got some big fights ahead, and it’d be prudent for Republicans to be focused on the governance challenges facing our center-right nation,” Sasse said.
Several prominent conservatives, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation, said they should be readying a legal response to Biden’s promise to sign a series of executive orders on his first day in office that would undo some of Trump’s key policies on immigration, foreign policy and deregulation. And they are frustrated by the lack of pressure Biden has faced to fill his Cabinet with moderate voices who might balance out progressive influences elsewhere in his administration.
As Trump declines to travel to Georgia — instead criticizing the state’s recount efforts in a series of tweets — conservatives have also become increasingly concerned that the Democratic candidates competing in a pair of Senate runoff races there will glide to victory if Republicans fail to communicate, due to fears of upsetting Trump, what Biden and a Democratic Senate could accomplish.
“The winning narrative in Georgia would be that Republicans need the Senate to counter Joe Biden and [Vice President-elect] Kamala Harris when they’re in office,” said one prominent elected Republican. “The problem is you can’t make that case effectively when you’ve got the president telling some of his voters, ‘Don’t worry, Joe Biden is not going to be president.’”
It’s not easy being in thrall to a demented Cult Leader when he really goes off the rails. But they made their beds. And he’s going to be dominating their politics for years to come. Oh heck.
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