The spectacle of the Republican Party repeating the lies of President Donald Trump, that he “won” reelection and is the victim of “electoral fraud,” has already gone from bad to worse.
It was anticipated that Trump would not demonstrate a modicum of grace or decency, much less recognize that he lost re-election fair and square. But it’s another very different thing that, in order to not fall from the grace of the “leader” of the Republican Party and the 71 million who voted for him, Republican leadership would grossly lie and trample on the processes, giving credibility to falsehoods and, in that way, ignoring the majority who elected Joe Biden in the Electoral College.
This is not a joke. It is extremely dangerous. In the more than thirty years I have lived in this country I never thought I would witness this dangerous Repubilcan game of undermining the very democracy they claim to defend, and literally trying to steal an election in the light of day arguing “fraud” at a grand scale; fraud which, of course, they have no proof of because it does not exist, on top of trying to make us believe that Democrat Joe Biden’s wins in the Electoral College are a product of our imagination and “cheating.” It’s dangerous that a party would try to muddy the electoral process in this way creating the false perception that, essentially, there was “substantial fraud,” just to massage Trump’s ego and keep him from admitting that he lost.
It is embarrassing that the Republican Party has fallen so low. That they should put their political interests ahead of this nation’s electoral traditions, undermining the credibility of the electoral process, is disgusting. The Senate Majority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, only wants to maintain the majority by ensuring that the two races in Georgia that are going to a runoff in January stay in Republican hands. He wants Trump to call his allies and lock in this majority; that’s why he says Trump has the right to ask the courts to elucidate “irregularities” that in the case of Georgia do not exist, according to its own Secretary of State who, by the way, is Republican. Irregularities that do not exist in any other states.
To McConnell we add the Attorney General Bill Barr, who as Trump’s lackey changed a traditional rule so that U.S. attorneys general could investigate irregularities, something that to now was only done after results were certified. But to appease Trump it is permitted now before certification, because in this case there is no fraud that merits any sort of investigation. He is authorizing investigations to try to fabricate a narrative that favors Trump.
Later on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, another Trump lackey with his own presidential ambitions, dared to say in a press conference that there would be a peaceful transition to “a second Trump administration.”
And in Congress, with the exception of a few Republicans who can be counted on one hand, no one has recognized Biden’s win.
It’s been a while now that we’ve seen this cult of Trump, not only among his followers, but the Republican enablers, who have used him to push their agenda and fill the judiciary and Supreme Court with conservative justices.
And if to maintain power they have to kiss Trump’s ring and trample on the Constitution and the will of the majority who elected the Biden-Harris team, they have shown that they have no qualms in doing so.
The question is how long Trump’s spell over the Republican Party will last, because the real conservatives, those who respect the Constitution and norms, no longer have a place in that party. Trump and the Republicans who enable him are pathetic and dangerous.
Maribel Hastings
