We’re going through a very strange period right now.
A national election has been held in America, home of the world’s oldest democracy. One candidate got six million votes more than his opponent, and the loser (in fact, the incumbent President) refuses to acknowledge defeat, claiming that the election was “rigged”.
Of course, this President claimed the same thing in 2016 when he won an election that he insisted (on Election Eve) was “rigged”.
Maybe all elections are “rigged”…if the definition is that the guy with the most votes wins? I can get behind that, as that was the intention of the Founding Fathers.
Evidently, our President has another definition: an election is “rigged” (or fraudulent, or illegal, or stolen) if citizens have the temerity to vote against Donald J. Trump.
Exactly.
The Prez and his minions have launched all manner of lawsuits to challenge vote totals and procedures in a number of States where he didn’t prevail…primarily Democratic-governed States. Thus far, Trump’s legal team has been laughed out of court. Idiot (Savant?) attorney Rudy Giuliani has been retained by the President to save the day. Trump had better hope that he does a better job on this task than he did in the Ukraine: that one got the President impeached!
In some of those statewide races, Republican Congressmen and Senators were elected. Imagine their annoyance and (private) rage at any effort by the Trump Administration to cast doubt on the election that they won!
But, of course, the Prez is only thinking of himself, as usual.
President Trump has thus far stonewalled President-elect Joe Biden’s effort to begin the two-month transition of one administration to another. Traditionally, the “loser” is gracious and helpful, as the outgoing incumbent wants only the best for America. That is not the case right now, as Donald Trump is behaving like a petulant 10 year-old who didn’t get his way.
And the worst part about it is that the Republican Party is going along with the charade…that President Trump was not defeated!
This is what occurs in fascist states, not democracies. It’s no wonder why there’s an “Antifa” movement in America.
By the way, all of the scrutiny of local election processes by Trump legal eagles and partisan agents has yet to uncover any significant voting irregularities in any jurisdiction. Any, as in zero.
(Today, President Trump fired his head of Cybersecurity, Chris Krebs, who publicly stated that the 2020 election was secure and safe from hacking and was the most accurate in history.)
In 2016, Donald Trump won the Presidency by prevailing with razor-thin margins in a half-dozen battleground states. In 2020, the Joe Biden campaign flipped some of those key states with razor-thin to modest margins. That’s all it takes, Folks.
Trump loved the process when he won (the Electoral vote) in 2016 and now hates it when he didn’t prevail. Four years ago, he lost the popular vote by 3 million votes and was elected anyway; this time, he lost by double that amount, just enough to swing the Electoral vote in Biden’s direction. It’s a screwy system but one that Donald Trump swore by…until he lost.
The question is: Where do we go from here?
Seventy million Trump diehards are disheartened: they’ve drunk the Kool Aid, believe that President Trump won the election (!) and, if that election is successfully “stolen” from Trump, are convinced that Joe Biden will turn America into a Communist country or worse.
How did we get to this point in America…where so many people believe absolutely in a Pied Piper who aspires to be a dictator? Is that what our citizenry wants…a leader who doesn’t believe in free speech, thinks peaceful protesters are Communist rabble, plays footsie with the Constitution, ignores the Rule of Law, lies continuously, and refuses to comport himself in accordance with hundreds of years of Presidential “norms”? A leader who has led a lame effort against a pandemic which resulted in grievous harm to the economy. Something which he insists he bears no responsibility for, by the way. A President who doesn’t believe in elections?
Well, at least 70 million voters think he’s totally fit for the job.
“Topsy turvy”: a state of utter confusion. That’s where we’re at, Folks.
It’s as if White is now Black, gravity no longer works, water isn’t wet anymore, and Monday follows Tuesday. Alice in Wonderland experienced something like this: weird shit going on that makes no sense. I mean Republicans lining up behind a fascist strongman-wannabe, for God’s Sake: what would super-patriot Ronald Reagan think?!
Fuck him. The truth on any matter is whatever Donald J. Trump says it is. Period.
We can expect this topsy turvy-ness to continue for at least another month while President Trump exhausts his frivolous legal maneuvers, exacts retribution on Administration officials who weren’t “loyal” enough, appoints a bunch of MAGA agents to civil service positions, considers some spectacular exit event designed to excite the faithful and piss off the incoming Biden Administration, and fills the airwaves with mean-spirited, totally bogus Tweets that will assure 78 million Americans that they voted correctly.
Unfortunately, but predictably, this is what you get when electing a narcissistic egomaniac to lead a democracy. The guy was in over his head from the get-go and, yet, thought that he had “nailed” the job. That’s understandable: he is who he is. (He also thought he was an astute businessman after his father gave him a couple hundred million dollars to play with.)
But, to have 70 million Americans thinking that he’s done a good job in the past four years?
How on earth?!
Within a few days 250,000 citizens will have succumbed to Covid-19, with almost 2,000 additional deaths occurring each day now that the pandemic is in its second phase. Experts are now predicting another 60,000 or more deaths before Joe Biden takes the helm on January 21st. A vaccine won’t be available to the general public until Spring 2021. Personal protective equipment (PPE) for front line hospital personnel is again in short supply, one-day Covid-19 testing is still unavailable to the public, and a whole bunch of those 70 million MAGA supporters are still refusing to wear facemasks or even acknowledge that the pandemic is real. President Trump hasn’t conferred with this Coronavirus Task Force for several months: he flat out gave up.
Two hundred and fifty thousand citizens dead! If a Muslim terrorist had gunned down ten Americans on U.S. soil, our President would (and has, in the past) have gone beserk with rage and determination to exterminate the perpetrator. A killer virus? No biggee…”We can’t let the cure be worse than the problem!”
My neighbor friend Marcus Kline, a Trump supporter, now believes that the pandemic is not a Democratic hoax: he’s in a Las Vegas hospital ICU fighting for his life. He and his wife caught the virus on a recent trip to Texas, where the Republican leadership (in line with Trump cheerleading to re-open the economy) has done as little possible to contain Covid-19 and is now reaping the whirlwind.
How irresponsible and stupid they were.
Speaking of stupid, all of my neighbors who had the expensive Trump 2020 flags hanging from their houses(like Marcus) have now exchanged them for American flags…as if they are true patriots in mourning who have been done wrong!
We desperately need some dialogue in our country about what made America great in the first place. Ours is a nation of immigrants who worked together to accomplish great things. When things weren’t right, protesters helped re-direct American efforts to do a better job. When threatened by belligerents, our citizens joined hands and defeated the enemy.
There was no Red vs. Blue division then. We accomplished none of this as a divided Nation: we were the United States of America.
And we accomplished all of this under democratic regimes, Republican and Democrat, not via a fascist dictatorship where we were told when to jump and how high.
Good riddance to (wannabe) President-for-Life Donald Trump!
Can we, please, return to normal now?
United we stand, divided we fall.