Reality Horror TV for Real

Well....who said politics is boring?  Just so we don't relax, President Trump is finding every way he can to create chaos. This past weekend he tweeted his warnings and provocations to fill the streets in DC with domestic terrorists to foment insurrection on January 6th.  Is this really happening?   There are many who think he is completely unhinged and fantasizing about invoking the Insurrection Act to bring out the military and invoke martial law.  He apparently believes he will be able to confiscate the election machines in the 'battleground states' and wave his magic wand and force millions of people to line up like sheep and 're-vote' to change the result of a national election!  If it weren't so absurdly frightening it would be funny.

But wait, maybe he has a plan that is now coming into focus!  The unfathomable replacements he made at the Pentagon a few weeks ago, replacing long time career Pentagon leaders with his sycophantic supporters, perhaps make a little more sense.  If he has his toadies in control, then his move to call out the military is perhaps not so farfetched!  I guess he thinks he can get the military to herd all the unwilling voters to go to the polls and at gunpoint cast their ballots.

 

What a plan!

 

If any of this actually happens, it is goodbye democracy.

 

I tried to take a nap earlier today, since yesterday I drove back from a wonderful weekend with my daughters in Raleigh, NC.   As mile after mile went by, I was amazed at the giant billboards that  promoted Trump and "Make America Great Again".  I realized that the rural landscape I was racing through had hordes of people who blindly accepted the crap he was feeding them.  I tried to imagine living there and seeing those giant billboards every day and hearing the tripe being spouted by local radio every day.  

 

Since the journey had really wiped me out, I laid  my head down about 2:30pm and turned on the radio so the droning would put me to sleep.  What I heard instead was the local FOX talk radio host frenetically inciting his prospective callers to offer up their opinions of why the election was a complete hoax.  One

after another these people recited the often heard tropes about why Trump has been fraudulently hoaxed out of winning.  The host egged them on spouting the lies over and over again!  It is just so unbelievable that this is happening.......It just never seems to stop and no matter that what they are saying is unprovable because of the complete lack of evidence, and the fact that all of their lawsuits to change the election results have been laughed out of court by more than 88 judges nationwide, they just ignore the facts!

 

Thank God there are only 23 more days of this.  I am holding my breath until Trump is finally gone.  He has clearly shown his true colors over the past several weeks, and especially the last few days.  His complete cruelty and disregard for the millions of Americans who don't have enough to pay the rent is so nauseating.  He is out playing golf while people are sitting in food lines because they can't feed their children. 

 

Well, I guess we just have to fasten our seat belts and see what horror materializes next.  As I said, it certainly is not boring.  I just wish the future of my country wasn't at stake. 

Send something like this to the 127....

 When I wrote to my Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and told him he should be ashamed of himself for being one of the 126 Republican congressman who provided support for the Texas lawsuit trying to throw out the results of the election in 4 other states, he wrote me back:

 

                                                                                 

                                                                                   

Dear Laurence,

 

Thank you for your recent correspondence. I always appreciate hearing from constituents back home as it helps me better serve you in the 116th Congress.

As you may know, Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution states that “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors . .  .” The petition that Texas recently filed in the U.S. Supreme Court alleges that the states of Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania usurped the authority granted to the State Legislatures of those states to set the rules for presidential elections. Because the U.S. Constitution expressly provides that only the state legislatures may set the laws for the presidential election, I joined 125 of my colleagues urging the Supreme Court to consider these alleged constitutional violations.

I believe that the amicus brief I signed raises serious questions as to whether Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution was violated. The amicus brief gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to determine the validity of this claim. Because our commitments to the democratic process and peaceful transfer of power are the cornerstones of American society, I believe it is critical to resolve these constitutional concerns about the election. A ruling from the Court would bolster public confidence in the process, assuage the doubts of millions of voters, and ensure that future elections are conducted in full compliance with the Constitution. I firmly believe that all legally valid votes from eligible voters throughout the nation must be counted and given full effect, without being nullified or diluted by unconstitutionally cast votes. The amicus brief that I signed did not explore the many issues raised in President Trump’s various legal challenges. Instead, it simply asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether the Constitution was followed in those four states where last minute changes were made to the election process by judges, local officials, and others without the constitutional authority to do so. Without taking a position on the constitutional issues raised in the case, the Supreme Court determined that Texas did not have standing to bring suit. I accept the Court’s decision.

I have been involved in a number of different constitutional disputes over many years, including the 2000 presidential election during which flaws in Florida’s election process led to judicial review. In Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed two decisions of Florida’s Supreme Court, including one mandating a statewide recount in which each county would apply different ballot-counting rules, resulting in unequal treatment of Florida voters in violation of the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. In that election, the U.S. Supreme Court played an important role in ensuring that essential constitutional provisions were followed.

I swore under oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the amicus brief that I signed seeks to do precisely that. Our Constitution has served us well for over two hundred years by safeguarding individual rights, ensuring a separation of powers, and proscribing the means of electing our federal representatives.  Especially in times of controversy and contention, it is even more important that we not abandon the foundational document that shapes our legal system.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so in the future, should you have any other questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

 

 

Mario Diaz-Balart
Member of Congress

 

This is what I wrote back to him:

 

Dear Congressman Balart:

Congressman Balart, I received your email reply.  I know you have probably answered a lot of emails like this, but truly, what you sent to me is about as 'form' a response as it gets, and not very convincing for several reasons...

The Constitution plainly says that each state shall appoint presidential electors "in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct."  That in no way allows for any other state to impose its will on the right of another state to determine its own rules.  In the case that you support, Texas has asked the Supreme Court to override such legislative determinations.  The case you supported is therefore hostile to the liberal political system and antagonistic to the idea that the will of the people should prevail. 

The Texas brief stated that Texas asserts that the Supreme Court's intervention is necessary to ensure faith in the election, but it is hard to imagine what could possibly undermine faith in democracy more than the Supreme Court permitting one state to enlist the court in its attempt to overturn the election results in other states.  The Texas case attempts to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters in violation of the core principles of the Constitution.

Additionally, there’s no reason to believe the voting conducted in any of the states was done unconstitutionally;  no evidence has been produced of voter fraud and consequently Trump’s post-election litigation campaign has been repeatedly laughed out of courts across the country.

At the end of the day, you have misguidedly supported an effort to disenfranchise millions of voters solely for the purpose of maintaining power at the expense of a constitutionally insured process of accepting the will of the voting electorate.  Sir, that is about as anti-democratic as it gets.  You have now become part of a party that has abandoned the concept of democracy and the rule of law, and has accepted autocratic means and processes to remain in power--in effect you have supported an attempt at a coup d'etat.

You are not a stupid man by any means.  You know in your heart of hearts that this election was fair and secure, and you also know in your heart of hearts that there is a steady stream of falsehoods, misdirection and lies being promulgated by the Trump campaign and all it's sycophantic supporters, which now apparently includes you.  It is that steady invective that is stirring up emotions amongst a major part of the electorate that voted for Trump, and is now being persuaded by those lies that Joe Biden is not a legitimate President-elect.  Your actions have been cause for loss of faith in our system of government and our democratic norms.

When you lie in bed at night and stare at the ceiling and try to rationalize your support for this effort, I hope that somehow you will understand how destructive your misguided support of these anti-democratic efforts has been.

I am clear now in my understanding that because you have chosen to throw your lot in with those who reject our democracy, you have no place in the Congress of the United States.

Yours respectfully,

Laurence A. Lancit

 

Uh Oh! Wake up America!

What we have just experienced in America is akin to having a mole on your back that you notice one day, but since can't see it daily you don't really think about it.  Then one of your friends sees it by accident and strongly recommends that you go to the doctor and have it looked at. You know you've had it for a year already, but never really thought about it, but now, feeling a sense of urgency you immediately make an appointment.  Fast forward:  you actually have a virulent melanoma, have it immediately removed, and after full body scans seem to be free of any metastases.

 

But are you really safe?....Really clean?  Only time will tell, but the constant apprehension will be with you for years.  Scary enough? 

 

And that is how we have just been jolted awake in America.  This week we awoke to the fact that 18 state Attorneys General, and over 126 members of Congress(almost 2/3 of the House Republican caucus) have chosen to pledge allegiance to a man rather than their oath to protect the Constitution and the rule of law.  2/3 of the Republican party(including all the 'mute/conspiring' Senators in Congress and a significant number of Republican state legislators including 18 ATTORNEYS GENERAL have attempted the most brazen assault on democracy in our country's history.  They collectively filed a lawsuit directly to the United States Supreme Court intended to overturn a national election to keep the ruling regime in power.  That, my friends, is not what happens in a democracy.  That is what happens in a dictatorship.  This group of seditionists attempted to overthrow our democracy and negate the will of the vote of the people.  This is a treacherous action attempting to nullify a legal choice by our citizens of who should govern the nation.  The reality is that we are living in a country where a significant minority of the country doesn't believe democracy is as important as fealty to Donald Trump.  

 

The fact is that Donald Trump lost the election.  He lost the popular vote by over 7 million votes and 306 electoral votes.  That is not a close contest, folks.  And yet, here is a major political party that wants to overturn that result with no actual evidence to support their action.

 

Joe Biden said that this election was a referendum on democracy.  Well, democracy won, and now the Republican party has rejected the result of that referendum and now demands that the notion of democracy be ignored.  Think about that.  126 members of Congress, elected by the people, have announced that they don't believe that the will of the people should be accepted. 

 

What do these people really stand for?  Certainly not democracy, right?  

 

These people have conspired to overthrow the democratically elected President Elect.  And all of these actions are based on false claims of fraud and lies perpetrated by the President and his supporters.  The American people are being betrayed by these people.   How can we trust those who don't believe in the founding principles of our country?  How do we perceive this large minority as we attempt to govern our country?  Suddenly a huge percentage of our population has shown that they do not believe in the peaceful transfer of power, a fundamental characteristic of our American form of government that has been paramount since the founding of the republic in 1776.

 

I think it is important to analyze what these actions are based on.  We knew that there would be accusations of a rigged election by the Republicans and Donald Trump ever since he was elected in 2016.  He screamed and threatened that if he lost in 2020 it would be because of massive fraud and another rigged election in 2020.  Now, in the aftermath of what was clearly a secure and honest balloting,  and a repudiation of him, and after over 60 lawsuits contesting the result, there has not been even one lawsuit that has succeeded.  In fact, all the cases have literally been thrown out of court by Republican and Democratic appointed judges!  Not one lawsuit has been able to present any credible evidence to support any of these claims.  And yet, even though the Republicans and the President have been defeated in all the lawsuits, the Republican Party doesn't care!  They just insist the election was rigged in spite of no evidence.  It doesn't seem to matter.  The only thing important to these people is that a fair and free election is not as important as retaining their power. 

 

The realization that so many people in our nation believe the lies, being egged on by these rejectors of democracy, gives us a true moment of pause.  Last night the Supreme Court rejected their attempt--we dodged a bullet, but like the guy in the example I gave in the beginning of this blog, we should now be really scared for our future.  What will happen in the next election?  How can we trust that the result will be respected and accepted?  The Republicans in Congress who supported the ridiculous Texas lawsuit may not accept the results of any election if they don't win.  Remember, they don't believe in the sanctity of free and fair elections.  They don't believe in democracy and their oath of office means nothing.

 

What is the future of our country now?  My view is that this is a malignant movement that has been festering for a long time at the hands of many non-believers of democracy.  Consider the actions of Mitch McConnell over the past 10 years; the behaviors of Republican legislators who have made it their mission to suppress as many minority and Democratic voters as possible for years.  Consider how laughable it is that Texas, (whose Republican governor mandated that Houston, a city of over 4 million people, could only have ONE ballot deposit box for the entire population in the recent election), would bring a suit against 4 states calling into question their election processes. Consider the efforts by the Postmaster General to sabotage the delivery of absentee ballots.  Elections are only for show for Republicans apparently.  If they don't win, it's okay  to nullify them.  What form of government is that??

 

The only solution to rid our body politic of these cancerous people is to methodically identify them and destroy them.  That means that unless we relentlessly purge our government of these people who are non-believers of democracy, we are at grave risk of losing our republic.  This process will not happen overnight.  It requires diligence over a period of years to rid ourselves of a coalition of people that includes racists, fascists, nationalists, and white supremacists by voting them out of office and preventing them from coming to power.  We must all recommit ourselves to the preservation of democracy in America, standing guard daily against this dark force that has somehow found a foothold in our society.  

 

In case we had any doubts, at least we now can see it for what it really is. 

 

Unprecedented!

'Unprecedented' is a word that every day provokes my gag reflex more and more.  Everything is 'unprecedented' today from every word that vomits forth from Trump to every action taken by the Republican party to reject democracy.  Let's just stop using it.

And as we go forward, maybe it is time for the mainstream media to disregard more and more of what Salmon Head has to say daily.  I know it's 'unprecedented' to not cover every utterance of Orange Man, but really....does he have anything of value to say?  We should be itemizing all the anti-destructive actions that the new administration will have to take to undo the destruction of the past 4 years.  The world will be moving on after January 20th, so let's get a jump on it.

 

As one of my friends said recently, "Don't fret about the horribleness that we are seeing every day now,

because imagine if Tangerine Man had won.  The horror of more 'unprecedented' things happening over the next 4 years would make many of us take out our guns and off ourselves."  

 

The task of navigating the 'unprecedented' conditions that Peach Head has bequeathed to us with the corona virus is perhaps the most important job of the new administration.  Until we tame this beast, all the other parts of our lives will be ...well....'unprecedented'!  First and foremost will be the task of repairing and establishing a distribution system for the vaccines that ultimately will bring relief from the pandemic.   Watching Biden's team begin to peel the layers on this onion is such a welcome breath of intelligence that it's .....'unprecedented'!  When have we ever in our lives felt as damaged as a country?  So glad to see people with our well-being as their first priority planning to take charge.

 

All the lemmings who idolize Canteloupe Man will need to wake up soon and realize that they have been duped, or they will be left behind as the rest of us return to the 21st Century.  They and all their mute/racist/fascist loving 'representatives' in Congress will probably wind-up devouring themselves over the next several years.  It will be the 'unprecedented' death of a once valuable political party.

 

So now, every morning before I look at any newscasts or scan the papers, I take a moment (and a deep breath) and thank God we are finally 'rounding the corner' on this 'unprecedented' sorry era in the history of our country.  I have love and respect for those heroes who simply stood up and defended our Constitution.   Let's hope that we have learned a valuable lesson about the fragility of our democracy.  It was truly an 'unprecedented' moment of instruction at the feet of Apricot Head.

Can We Make It to the 20th?

The Washington Post reports today that of the 249 Republican members of Congress, only 26 of them (about 10%) are willing to acknowledge Joe Biden's victory in the national election.  That is after both AG Barr and Chris Krebs, former director of CISA, have affirmed that there is no evidence of any kind of massive fraud or rigging of the election.  That is astonishing and saddening.

What that really means is that 223 Republicans--elected by we the people-- in the United States Congress, who have taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, have chosen not to stand up for democracy.  They have, in fact, conspired in an effort to undermine our democracy.  They have stood mute as our most sacred institution--the right to vote-- has been attacked in an unfounded campaign against the democratic outcome of an election by the current President of the United States.  Trump is trying to leverage the power of the presidency to subvert the vote and overturn the election results.   History will not look fondly on any of them!

God help us, he cannot disappear soon enough from the scene.  Because as we wait patiently for

Inauguration Day to finally be rid of him, he is doing everything he can possibly do to trash as much of the important government functions as he can.  He simply doesn't care about our country any more.  If he did, he wouldn't purposefully replace experienced Defense Department employees with inexperienced lackeys who suddenly have control over our country's secret espionage activities and covert military actions.  And why are the new Trump installed leadership people in the Defense Department refusing to meet with Biden's transition team to get up to speed on critical national security issues?   And why is he trying to make thousands of Civil Service employees suddenly vulnerable to being fired at a whim?  Or why is he doing nothing to advance desperately needed plans to control the pandemic and distribute the vaccines that will shortly be available?   

 

It seems that his mission now is to destroy as much of our government as possible and sew as much discord and doubt about our democracy as possible.  It is clear that he is spitting on the concept of a peaceful transfer of power in our country, a tradition that sets an example for every democracy on earth and sets us apart from virtually all of the autocratic systems in the world.  Most of what he is doing is just spite....he is just spiteful.

 

It feels so helpless to be seeing all this stuff happening and not having the ability to stop it.  We are prisoners in our own country to a despot who doesn't care a whit about what our country really stands for.  The reality of his claims of voter fraud and rigged elections is a myth.   And yet he keeps promulgating the lies and revs up his lemming-like supporters to believe the myth.  All the while his actions seem designed to literally pull the dollars out of his unsuspecting supporter's pockets into his "Leadership PAC" to the tune of over $250 Million.... to do what with?  A small amount goes to his 'defense fund' and the rest goes literally into his pocket!  What a scam.  Is he stupid enough, even after all his failed legal efforts, to believe the election was rigged, or is it that he knows it's a lie but doesn't care?  Maybe both!  The biggest surprise is the belief held by so many Americans that the election was 'stolen' somehow--without any real evidence!  It is mind boggling.  They all seem to be SO sure!  Where are their brains?

 

Let's all visualize the image of pages of a calendar riffling off the top of the pile in a gentle wind,  like we used to see in the movies when they wanted us to imagine the passage of time.  At the end of the day apparently all we can do is hold our breath until January 20th and pray that nothing irreparably destructive is done to our country by this mean spirited, unhinged, vindictive excuse for a human being.  It is a wonder we have survived his term thus far, and--well-- actually over 250,000 deceased victims of the pandemic haven't! 

Call It What It Is.....

Let's, for the moment, put aside the political issues in this past election and simply accept the facts that a) this was a fair election with the least amount of irregularities in any election since the beginning of our republic, (which is the conclusion of several bi-partisan experts including Brian Krebs, recently fired head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and b) Joe Biden received the most Electoral College votes and popular votes.  

 

Now I know that 70% of the 74 million voters for Donald Trump simply don't accept those facts because of the right-wing media machine, misinformation by the Trump Campaign, and out and out lying by the President of the United States.  I, frankly, don't know if any of us can do anything about that.  The people who simply accept those lies as gospel are probably not reachable right now.  However, I want to focus on something else which is far more frightening and nefarious.

 

Donald Trump and his henchmen are attempting a coup d'etat  in our country....more specifically

something called an auto-coup, technically.  This is similar to the actions taken in Turkey by Recip Erdogan and in Hungary by Viktor Orbán.  The definition of an auto coup:  a nation's leader, despite having come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances.  

 

Sound vaguely familiar?

 

What we are witnessing in the United States of America is Donald Trump simply rejecting the will of the people and trying to maintain his presidency by negating the majority voting decision of 80 million people.  His legions are intimidating state legislatures, poll workers, canvassing boards and most egregiously, elected Republican legislators in the Congress and state houses coast to coast.

 

I have referred to the Republican Party as the 'party of death' for their mute conspiring with the President for lying to the public about the Covid pandemic which has now left us with over a quarter of million dead bodies at the hands of the administration because of the rank incompetence of Trump's handling of the crisis.  I will now add to that indictment by accusing the Republican Party at large for being the party of fascism, autocracy and anti-democracy.

 

The Republican party has stood mutely by as this President has attempted to invalidate millions of votes, specifically from the African American majority voting districts of Detroit, MIlwaukee and Philadelphia.  He has mobilized a legal effort to raise fallacious claims of fraud, election rigging, and election 'stealing' without a shred of actual evidence.  All of his lawsuits have been thrown out of court, many with prejudice, which is like the court saying, "Get the hell out of here before I kick you out on your ass!".

 

Trump's legions continue to lie about the fraud in every form of media they can commandeer, while refusing to offer any evidence in court, because that would open them up to censure by the judicial system for lying.

 

In sum, they are attempting to invalidate an election and maintain power by corrupting and trying to overthrow our democracy.  That is their aim.  Take a step back and see it for what it is and don't be afraid to label it for what it is. Trump's Republican party is trying to invalidate our election and is willing to reject democracy and accept autocracy and fascism.  For those who want a definition: fascism-- a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

 

Does THAT sound familiar?

 

So, I want you to ask yourself what the Republican party has to say about all this.  With only a few

exceptions, they remain mute and permissive to this assault.  Our Majority Leader of the Senate, McConnell, purses his lips and says, "Don't worry, we'll have an inauguration on Jan. 20th"...but he doesn't say who it will be.  Other Republican leaders want to give Trump 'time to get used to losing the election and pursue all his legal options'.  Never mind that in this election Biden got the exact same amount of Electoral Votes as Trump in 2016 and 3 million more votes in the popular vote.  In 2016, Hillary Clinton immediately conceded and Obama immediately initiated the transition to a new government and a peaceful transition of power.  Do you see the Republican party doing the same thing?

 

That is what is happening in America right now.  And by the skin of our teeth, our institutions seem to be holding together to reject this assault.  Apparently, the Republican party will fail in its attempt to support the auto-coup---this time---, but that will not end the problem we have as a constitutional republic.  Those Republicans are still in power...and rest assured they will not relent in their constant effort to kneecap the new Biden administration.  Remember, they are the party of Autocracy, Fascism and Anti-democracy.  Never forget that!  And the next time when the margin of victory might be much smaller, they might succeed in totally rejecting and abandoning our democratic republic for something else...something that will be a shredded image of what the founders of this great nation envisioned.  

 

We must do everything we can going forward to guard against this effort.

 

 

. 

 

Gag Me With A Spoon!

 

It is a sad commentary that after all the lies and drama, we have an administration that simply is not concerned about the people they represent.  Donald Trump is only concerned about his own rage and continuing to spread misinformation about the results of the election.  He has abandoned any pretense of being involved in the job he was elected to do, instead spending every waking moment on the golf course or tweet raging about his failed election bid.  

 

But most nefarious is his effort to halt any transition effort simply for spite.  America be damned is his mantra:  National Security--"Ha!"  Economic relief--"Nah! " Plans for vaccine distribution---"Let 'em die!"  And still his cultish followers believe his lies and think he won.  Good Lord, we have a problem!

 

Then there is the stuffed pig of a woman who single-handedly is stopping the transition because she is apparently a cult queen!  Emily Murphy, the GSA administrator, incredibly has the sole power to 'ascertain' the election which would permit the incoming administration have access to critical

information with departments of the current administration to better prepare for the handoff.  Her attitude is 'Fuck America--I am a Trumpist and Republicans will give me a high paying job when I leave here, so what do I care?'  She is actually breaking the law, but is not able to be prosecuted because the law is technically not 'actionable'.  Well guess what, this traitorous bitch needs to be prosecuted anyway, even if it simply is an action to make her life miserable.

 

And what about all the Republican senators and congressmen?  Don't they fill you with pride?  Amnesia about their oath of office is rampant.  Their attitude is also 'Fuck America'.  Is there a patriot in the whole lot of them?  I doubt it.  Their fear of this miscreant President and their own craven motives to remain in power supersede any thought of commitment to the Constitution of the United States.  Oh, they are all so disgusting!  Especially Lindsay Graham who was nabbed committing a crime by interfering with the

electoral process by asking the Sec. of State of Georgia if there was any way to 'lose' some of the mail-in ballots in the recount.  How grotesque!  I wonder if the people of South Carolina are satisfied and filled with pride with their sending this bozo back to the Senate for another six years.  He is a criminal.

 

I am sad for our country.  Unless the Democrats can mobilize to win the two senatorial seats in Georgia on January 5th, we are in store for at least 2 more years of inaction at the hands of Mitch McConnell, that paragon of patriotic virtue--(only to himself)!  Stacey Abrams and Tom Perez need to pull off the gloves and beat the crap out these liars and criminals.

 

I was ready to open my arms to my countrymen even though I didn't agree with their actions leading up to the election, but what I have witnessed in the election's aftermath is the sickening depths of depraved behavior they are exhibiting in their denial of fact.  Fact about the election; fact about the pandemic; and fact about the damage they are all causing our nation....and for what?  For Donald Trump???  History will not be kind to any of them.

Sore Losers!

In my last post, I tried to assume the posture of reconciliation.  I wanted to look forward to unifying our country and bringing some calm to the frenzy of vitriol being hurled from the Republican electorate.  Instead, it appears that the best we are going to do is to get spit in the face by those who seemingly are willing to reject democracy and embrace fascism.

 

Facts don't matter to these Republicans.  This election was decisive.  The margin of victory eclipses that of Trump in 2016, who heralded his claimed mandate.  Biden will have the same amount of electoral votes and double the popular vote margin, yet the Trumpists (including virtually all the Republican legislators in Congress) cry foul, cry fraud, cry rigged, and would rather coddle this poor excuse for a human and let him 'get used' to the fact that he lost.  One has to ask what they are afraid of.  To choose supporting a demagogue over their oath to the Constitution is revealing and horrifying at the same time.

 

So , what is the end game for these people?  The general public are ingesting the disinformation and lapping it up without any regard to reality.  And the politicians?....Are they so afraid of Trump that they are cowed into submission because of their belief in his position or because they are simply afraid he will

still be the power behind the Republican party and will somehow spoil their chances for re-election?  On a more tactical level, they probably are positioning to affect the upcoming runoff in Georgia for what will be control of the Senate.  Certainly, that is why McConnell is bending the knee.  They want to keep egging on the lemmings so they get a massive turnout from their base in Georgia.  It is so incredibly disgraceful that almost to a man none of these awful people have congratulated the new President-Elect and Vice President-Elect out of fear of pissing off their Trumpian base and their 5-Year Old-in-Chief.

 

With Trump's firing of people in the Pentagon and replacement with 'loyalists', and the gross and anti-democratic statement by Mike Pompeo the other day, one has to wonder if there is another plan afoot.  Does it occur to anyone that they might be planning to try to effect a coup to stay in power?  As much as all the pundits say that could never happen, there is real fear on the part of people like former Admiral Barry McCaffery that this kind of maneuvering is a prelude to coup d'etat.  It is sickeningly similar to efforts in foreign countries with autocratic governments to invalidate elections by claiming fraud and then simply seizing power 'in the interests of fair elections'.  That's pretty scary folks!

 

In the meantime, we the people are suffering from an out of control pandemic and the completely unreasonable stalling of the transition between administrations.  The result is that the rest of the world is laughing at us, and our enemies are gleeful at our inaction and chaos, which only serves to offer them opportunities to create more chaos and disunity in our country.

 

I am so sad for our America.  And I am angry at the man who has fomented all this chaos.  I thought I could be forgiving and empathic about the loss Trump's supporters are feeling.....but I can't when they all apparently reject the concept of democracy.  The only thing to do is to somehow eliminate the source of their idolatry.  Therefore, it is imperative that when Trump leaves office, if he ever does, the US legal system needs to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law possible for as many of his crimes as possible.  The only thing Trump deserves is a cell in prison, and I encourage the New York Attorney General and state and national prosecutors to throw the book at this miscreant.  Put him away so he can't run again and can't foment again.  Let him try to mobilize his base from prison....Nelson Mandella he is NOT!

 

In addition, the Democratic Party needs to plan and execute an overwhelming electoral effort on Georgia voters to elect the Democrats in the upcoming runoff on Jan. 5 to the Senate.  Frankly, if they don't do that, the Senate will still be in control of the Republicans and Biden and the majority of the country will still be under the thumb of Mitch McConnell and his anti-democratic cabal.  Do what is necessary to overwhelmingly defeat Perdue and Loeffler, who are criminals anyway. Wipe them out!

 

As far as the rest of his followers, most specifically Trump's GOP legislators who pledge allegiance to him

rather than democracy and our Constitution, exile or elimination in any way possible should be our goal.  Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell are traitors--they deserve a traitor's reward.

 

A majority of America voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.  Majority rules.

Where Do We Go From Here?

It is not easy to lose an election.  But as Joe Biden pointed out last night, the time has come for us to remember that while we may oppose each other's point of view, we are not enemies.  We are all Americans.  The time has come for us to abandon the vitriol and figure out a way to move our country forward to meet the challenges and solve the problems of a complex society that has pressing issues to resolve....climate change, income inequality, systemic racism, medical inequality, and most urgently, an out of control pandemic that is growing stronger and literally killing our citizens, no matter what party they belong to.

 

I appeal to all my Republican friends with whom I have locked horns over the years.  As reality sets in with the winning of the election by Biden, I am confident all of us yearn for a new beginning.  Our democracy works...even when we all think it will fail us!  We are counting every vote, and contrary to all the accusations of fraud and illegality, there has been no mass illegality committed.  No one has created boatloads of fake ballots and no examples of harvesting have been presented.  Trump's accusations are baseless, and all his legal obfuscations are being rejected.  

 

Instead, I am filled with a relief that is unexpected and surprisingly palpable.   I didn't realize how

burdened I was with the seemingly endless daily need to endure the tweets, the chaos, the division.  As the people celebrated in the streets, I felt the lifting away of the oppressive anxiety that was always under the surface.  As I watched the faces of the young children in the crowds today with their wide eyes taking it all in, I was grateful that this new generation of Americans would have a different role model; a much gentler, empathic image on their TV screens, and a lightheartedness in the spirits of their parents.  

 

What has become apparent to me during the past 6 months is that the sacred nature of our ability to make our voices heard and for us to choose our leaders is at the heart of our democracy.  No one person is our 'ruler and maker of rules'.  We elect our leaders.  And to put a fine point on that, we are the ultimate authority about who governs all of us....  We the people.  That is what has been demonstrated over the last week.  At some fundamentally unconscious level we ALL realize that it is that principal which is the ONLY thing that truly separates us from the autocracies and dictatorships of the world.  Our founders brilliantly enshrined this bedrock idea of our republic, which too many of us have taken for granted. If we ever deny or reject that principle, then we will be truly lost.

 

The vote of all the people over the last week has demonstrated that our voice can be heard.  A majority of us have decided to seek change...to choose a different path than the one we have been on for the past 5 years.  However, we must accept the fact that half of us don't want that change.  So we must seek accommodation and compromise between our opposing points of view in the interests of all of us.  We are not enemies, as much as some would seek to maintain that myth in our politics.  We are all Americans.

 

The time for reconciliation is here.  Joe Biden said last night that he will be the President of all of us, not just those who voted for him.  Why not believe him, or at least give him a chance to demonstrate that he is a man of his word?  We can be better, and we must be better.  The moment to grasp that new possibility is here.  I am ready to join hands with sincere people who hold the best interests of our country at heart.  We are all Americans, citizens of perhaps the most successful experiment at self-government the world has ever seen.  We need to believe in ourselves and find common ground with our fellow citizens to make our lives better.

 

I am willing to do my part to practice a new civility....are you?  

Moment of Truth

Many of us have been looking forward to this election moment knowing that it is essentially the 'last exit before the toll', the toll being the re-election of Donald Trump as President.  If he is re-elected, I am convinced that we will see the end of democracy as we know it in America.  In fact, our condition is so precarious right now that even if Trump is defeated this coming week we will teeter on the edge of chaos until inauguration day.  Beyond that, only if Democrats can secure a majority in the Senate and hold the House, will our democracy have a prayer for continued existence.  Alternatively, if Trump wins and Republicans maintain control of the Senate we can expect a much more fraught four years going forward, after which America will not be recognizable as we remember it. 

It is a sad reality that our country is the victim of pre-meditated usurpation of majority rule by a Republican party only concerned with retaining power at the expense of any moral compass.  To witness the complicity and hypocrisy of the current Republican party as our Constitution has been shredded by this administration is to see the presence of moral rot on the part of the people who were stupid enough to elect them.  The current Republican Party has stood there--- mute ---as our system of law was corrupted by the Trump administration while they all ignored their oaths of office.  Consider that all the literally hundreds of lawsuits currently being filed to suppress the vote, are being forced by Republicans in state legislatures, PACS, and other support groups.  The Republicans simply can't win by allowing everyone to vote.  What does that tell you about the Republican party?  They simply don't believe in democracy and the sacred right of everyone to vote!

 

Our court system has been systematically stacked by a Republican Senate that has been on a

mission to deny judge confirmations by Democratic administrations and jam an endless procession of arch conservative judges into the court system since 2016, culminating in the hypocrisy of sending Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court last week.  Our court system and most especially the Supreme Court is now wildly out of step with the wishes and desires of a clear majority of Americans.  Once decisions against the ACA and Roe v. Wade are effectuated, there will be a huge movement to change the judicial system, and if the Senate is in control of the Democrats there will be significant change over the howling of the remaining Republicans in the Congress...too bad!

 

Trump is only part of the disease afflicting America.  The people who are part of his cult do not appear to have any beliefs other than those of the cult leader.  They ignore blatant facts about his performance leading us through the pandemic; they ignore the science of virus transmission and the simple facts of increasing numbers of Covid cases and the acceleration of hospital admissions.  There is no 'opinion' here, only the stats which are frightening.  When you add to that the constant lies being told by Trump at every one of his 'super spreader rallies', it is no surprise that we are on the cusp of disintegration.

 

An additional 4 years of what we have had since 2016 will see further isolation of America from the rest of the world; continued rejection of life preserving environmental regulation; disintegration of the rule of law at the hands of a corrupted Justice Department; and the rise of a level of corruption that will destroy any remnant of democratic ideals enshrined in the  founding documents of this republic.  The rise of authoritarianism, the destruction of the free press, the pursuit of political enemies will be the symptoms of the destruction of our system.

So, the issue for all of us who still retain our hope that our constitutional republic will survive must use this moment to encourage all of our friends and family to vote.  Unless we can mobilize all those people of good will and intelligence to make their voices heard, we will be bequeathing a very nasty future for our children and grandchildren.  What thousands have sacrificed with blood to protect over the past 240 years will quickly evaporate in a cloud of lies, deceit and tragedy.

 

I choose to believe in the strength of the majority, and to be clear, a majority of Americans believe as I do.  It is simply a matter of honoring that majority and encouraging it to make its voice heard.  It is our moment of truth.