November 22, 2020
Donald Trump has virtually abandoned governing. In the face of vicious rampages of the pandemic and other crises, he concentrates only on an illegal and evil effort to overthrow the recent fair election in which both he and his visions of becoming dictator for life were roundly defeated. In the process he would destroy our democracy, crush liberty, and abolish the rule of law. Hopefully, he will not succeed. So far, he has utterly failed in his legal challenges—his court attempts to reverse election results have ended up 27 to zero against him. However, his failures have largely been unacknowledged by Republicans in Congress, some of whom urge him to exercise all of his legal options.
Legal challenges repulsed, Trump is now trying to persuade state legislatures in Biden-won states—contrary to law and in many cases the explicit words of their own state Constitutions—to override the votes of the people and to send Republican electors to the Electoral College. In doing so, he is attempting a coup. As Professor Laurence Tribe, America’s foremost constitutional scholar, tweeted yesterday (November 21), “What’s unfolding now is an attempted coup by a con. It’s a bigger political scandal than Russian interference four years ago. And yes, it is likely to fail, and the system is likely to prevail. But the American majority cannot rest.”[1] So far, this effort has met with failure also. Georgia has certified its vote and senior Michigan and Pennsylvania legislators have made it clear that their legislatures will in no way intervene to thwart the decision of the people. The largest county in Arizona has certified its vote and Nevada expects to certify soon. Most of the opposition to Trump has come from senior state officials (who happen to be Republicans) carrying out their duties conscientiously, recognizing the importance to America’s democracy of honesty in government.
What Trump is hoping for is the destruction of democracy in America and the country’s conversion into a northern version of Venezuela’s banana republic. Trump would be “El Supremo” or dictator for life and his children the princes and princesses of the realm with unlimited wealth. In addition to becoming a horrible place for its citizens to inhabit, such a state would likely accord El Supremo no respect and undercut his governance. Nevertheless, the majority of Republicans in both Houses of Congress either support the coup attempt openly or are complicit by their silence (like the “good Germans” of the Third Reich). Three Republican Senators and a small number of House Republicans have recognized Joe Biden as the President-elect and three or four others have said at least he should receive necessary transition materials.
House Democratic Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, has called Trump’s acts “close to treason.” In contrast, House Minority Leader and Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy has said, “President Trump won this election. So everyone who’s listening, do not be quiet. Do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes.”[2] McCarthy subsequently suggested that it doesn’t matter what is true, only what Republicans can make Republicans believe is true. When he was asked by Jonathan Martin of the New York Times as to Biden’s prospects of bringing the country together, McCarthy said, “It depends how it turns out. If you have 70 percent of Republicans who thought he cheated, he’s still going to have a hard time.”[3]
Assertions that the vote was fraudulent are monstrous lies. New York Times reporters surveyed election administrators in all 50 states and reported that the officials (Republicans and Democrats) have found no evidence of significant voting issues.[4] Of course, many Republicans are going to believe that there was cheating when the senior most Republican in the House of Representatives untruthfully tells them it is so and the President they voted for fills the TV airways with lies and insane conspiracy stories about a stolen election. When McCarthy pedals electoral fraud, he appears to be a banana republic man. (Perhaps he could be Court Jester—a post that is a position of influence.) Trump should be permanently excluded from public life and McCarthy should join him if he doesn’t deliver to the American people the apology he owes.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a different culpability. He said, “What we all say about [the election] is frankly irrelevant. All [the transition] will happen right on time, and we will swear in the next administration on Jan. 20.”[5] McConnell intimates that it is OK to tell outlandish and malicious lies about our election process and about the President-elect while alienating 70% of the Republican Party since Biden will be sworn in on schedule. This ignores the huge damage done to confidence in our democracy. Mitch is sort of half banana republican and half Leader. You might say he is a banana split.
Both McCarthy and Mitch should keep in mind the short poem by the beloved sportswriter of long ago:
“When the One Great Scorer comes
to mark against your name,
He writes not that you won or lost,
but how you played the game!”[6]
“It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.” – George Washington, 1796
“…the first of qualities for a great statesman is to be honest.” – John Quincy Adams, 1809
“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that have not wits enough to be honest.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1749
John Jay
[1] https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1330154898168680450
[2] Karen Tumulty, “Republican leaders need to tell Trump it’s over,” The Washington Post, November 21, 2020.
[3] Jonathan Martin, “Kevin McCarthy, the House Minority Leader, Doesn’t Think Trump Is Going Away,” The New York Times, November 18, 2020.
[4] Steve Coll, “Failures of Duty,” The New Yorker, November 23, 2020.
[5] Tumulty, op. cit.
[6] Grantland Rice.