Month: December 2020

The effort by President Trump to up end American democracy and establish himself as America’s Mussolini took the form of a lawsuit filed on December 8, 2020 by the Attorney General of the State of Texas. The Attorney General, currently under indictment for bribery (a federal crime) and likely looking for a pardon from Trump, claimed that “the election in four swing states—Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—suffered from ‘unconstitutional irregularities.’”[1]

This suit is based on the baseless voter-fraud claims rooted in Trump’s incessant lying—known by officials in both parties as mendacious, deliberate untruths. The untruths behind the case are widely understood. Even Trump’s Attorney General William Barr has publicly concluded that no significant fraud took place in the election. Just claiming there is fraud doesn’t establish its presence. Just believing fraud took place isn’t proof it took place. Evidence constituting proof is required. Nevertheless, “the attorneys general of 17 states—including Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, Utah, Arizona and the Dakotas”[2]—have also signed onto this bizarre legal action.

On December 9, Trump increased pressure on the Supreme Court to give him a favorable ruling by persuading 106—ultimately 126 including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy—of the 196-member Republican caucus in the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in his favor. The suit asked the court to essentially nullify the 10.4 million votes for Biden in the four swing states charged in the suit—two of which are led by Republican governors—as remedy for the claims made in the complaint. The suit asked that the electors from these states be blocked from voting and that the state legislatures support alternate electors.

In response, 20 states, Guam and the Virgin Islands filed counter amicus briefs urging the court to reject the Texas suit. The four states targeted by the Texas suit excoriated it in their submissions to the Supreme Court. “Texas’ effort to get the court to pick the next president has no basis in law and fact,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a court filing that labeled the case a bid to construct “a surreal alternate reality.” He added that the court “should not abide this seditious abuse of the judicial process and should send a clear and unmistakable signal that such abuse must never be replicated.”[3] In his December 11 New York Times column, David Leonhardt cites David French of The Dispatch (a conservative publication), “If [the plaintiffs] get their way in court, they would break the country.” “They won’t,” comments Leonhardt.[4]

The Post in its editorial that day said,

Latching onto Texas vs. Pennsylvania, the last-ditch lawsuit from Republican state attorneys general, the Trump team admitted that it cannot show fraud but argued that the Supreme Court should block the electoral college from finalizing its votes anyway. Judges will reject this wild argument too.[5]

The Texas suit is a corrupt, wrongful, unpatriotic action that seriously damages the standing of the United States in the world community. It is deeply contrary to the best interests of America’s people. Amidst many bad things and no good things, as Dave Leonhardt points out, it encourages substantial potential violence:

• Dozens of Trump supporters, some armed, went to the home of Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state, and began shouting obscenities.
• On Twitter, Trump supporters have posted photographs of the home of Ann Jacobs, a Wisconsin official, and mentioned her children.
• In Phoenix, about 100 Trump supporters, some armed, protested at the building where officials were counting votes.
• In Vermont, officials received a voice message threatening them with ‘execution by firing squad’.
• Seth Bluestein, a Philadelphia official, received anti-Semitic and violent threats after Pam Bondi, a Trump ally publicly mentioned him.
• A Georgia poll worker went into hiding after a viral video falsely claimed he had discarded ballots.
• Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, and his wife received death threats, including by text message, and caravans have circled their house.
• Gabriel Sterling, another Georgia official, received a message wishing him a happy birthday and saying it would be his last.[6]

And remember the planned abduction and killing of Michigan’s governor a few months back—a plan that seemed amusing to Trump. Recently Trump came to Georgia to campaign for the two Republican Senate candidates. While on the way, he phoned Governor Kemp, a former ally, but one no longer. He directed the governor to call a special session of the state legislature to discuss the replacement of Georgia electors pledged under the certified popular vote, with a slate selected by the Republican dominated state legislature. Governor Kent refused, saying that he was not permitted to do so under either state or federal law. He went from ally to whipping boy as far as his relations with Trump were concerned.

At Trump’s behest, Rudy Giuliani pursued a voter fraud case in the federal court in Pennsylvania, calling for the disenfranchisement of millions of Pennsylvania voters while offering no evidence of fraud. The case was emphatically lost at the trial court and circuit court levels, with conservative Republican judges of the Third Circuit writing the opinion. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. On Monday, December 7, the Court handed down its decision. It was a one line per curium decision, a unanimous, 9-0 rejection and all plaintiff requests were denied.

The Supreme Court delivered its opinion in the case of Texas vs. Pennsylvania on December 11, 2020 just a few days later:

The State of Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its election. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.

Statement of Justice Alito with which Justice Thomas joins: In my view, we do not have discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction. See Arizona v. California 589 U.S.—February 24, 2020. (Thomas; J. dissenting). I would therefore grant the motion to file a bill of complaint, but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue.[7]

The dissent by Alito and Thomas was procedural in nature. On the substance they made clear that they stood with the majority. So, on the substance of the case the vote was 9-0 here as well. President Nixon had been rejected once by a 9-0 vote of the Supreme Court, President Trump has accomplished it twice, a new record—and in one week.

The plaintiffs in Texas v. Pennsylvania included 18 of the 26 sitting Republican state attorneys general and the associated amicus brief was signed by 126 of the 196 Republican House members, including House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy. This legal action, correctly described by the Pennsylvania attorney general is indeed a “seditious abuse of the legal process.” It has absolutely no basis in fact. There is no evidence of any significant fraud or impropriety associated with this election as some 80 judges (Republican and Democrat), the Supreme Court justices (twice) and sitting Attorney General William Barr have affirmed. Biden was elected in a free and fair election. Trump’s baseless claims of fraud and impropriety are establishing the principle that it’s acceptable to try to overturn an election result with lies and conspiracy theories by legal or even extra-legal means. Anyone in office who contributes to a direct assault on American democracy in support of a corrupt and malicious would-be dictator is in violation of his or her constitutional oath and, therefore, should be banned from public positions that require an oath to the Constitution to assume office.

Some Republicans have been rightly appalled by such actions. “The act itself by the 126 members of the House of Representatives, is an affront to our country,” said Michael Steel, the former Chairman of the Republican National Committee. “It’s an offense to the Constitution and it leaves an indelible stain that will be hard for those 126 members to wipe off their skin for a long time to come.”[8]

The President of Freedom House, Michael Abramowitz stated, “From a global perspective this certainly looks like many of the cases we’ve seen around the world where an incumbent tries to hold on to power…there’s no question that people around the world are now looking to America and it’s really important for Americans of all parties to stand up for the rule of law and democracy.”[9]

Former New Jersey Governor and long an important figure in the Republican Party Christine Todd Whitman said, “I have been comparing it to Jonestown. They’ve all drunk the Kool Aid. It just hasn’t killed them yet.”[10]

“Since Election Night, a lot of people have been confusing voters by spinning Kenyan Birther type, ‘Chavez rigged the election from the grave’ conspiracy theories, but every American who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the Supreme Court—including all three of President Trump’s picks—closed the book on this nonsense.” Sen. Ben Sasse (R. Neb.) said in a statement.[11]

“House Republicans have faced what amounts to a choice for or against democracy: whether to sign on to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s delusional lawsuit to overturn the presidential election. A large majority failed that test.”[12] Senator Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) comment on the Texas suit was, “The idea of supplanting the vote of the people with partisan legislators, is so completely out of our national character that it’s simply mad.”[13]

And through it all we should remember that nothing is more important than our democracy and that Trump is not worth having even as chief federal dog catcher. During the greatest public health crisis in history of our republic, a crisis that should be Job One for our president, our president is only by his own electoral situation. In a 46-minute video rant the week after Thanksgiving, the Mad King, as he has been correctly called in the recent past, “dismissed the coronavirus as an ‘excuse’ to send out mail-in ballots.”[14]

Let all patriots who love this country, who adhere to its principles consult our Founders for guidance and remember that:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….” — Thomas Jefferson, 1776

“The original and equal rights of man, as the foundation of free government had long been understood…” – James Madison, 1830

“We are a government of laws, not of men….” – John Adams, 1780

“…the jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out if possible to destroy, the freedom of thinking, speaking and writing.” – John Adams, 1765

“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards. And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.” – Samuel Adams, 1771

“If there is a principle that ought not to be questioned within the United States, it is, that every nation has a right to abolish an old government and establish a new one. This principle is not only recorded in every public archive, written in every American heart and sealed with the blood of a host of American martyrs; but is the only lawful tenure by which the United States hold their existence as a nation.” – James Madison, 1793

“We should be unfaithful to ourselves, if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties, if anything particular extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous and independent elections.” – John Adams, 1797

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1776

 

John Jay

 

[1] David Leonhardt, “The U.S. Gets Closer to Vaccines. And Dozens of Republicans Join the Campaign to Overturn the Election,” New York Times, December 11, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/briefing/pfizer-trump-lawsuit-star-wars-your-morning-briefing.html.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Will Smith, “Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin Strongly Condemned the Texas Case to Overturn the Election Results, Press Stories, December 11, 2020, https://presstories.com/2020/12/11/pennsylvania-georgia-michigan-and-wisconsin-strongly-condemned-the-texas-case-to-overturn-the-election-results/.

[4] Leonhardt. “U.S. Gets Closer.”

[5] Editorial, “Trump and his GOP Enablers Are Slandering American Democracy,” Washington Post, December 11, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-and-his-gop-enablers-are-slandering-american-democracy/2020/12/10/f8466170-3b30-11eb-bc68-96af0daae728_story.html.

[6] Leonhardt, “The US Gets Closer.”

[7] Texas v. Pennsylvania, et al., https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/121120zr_p860.pdf.

[8] Jim Rutenberg and Nick Corasanti, “In Rejecting Texas Lawsuit, Supreme Court Deliver a Rebuke to the G.O.P.,” New York Times, December 13, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/us/politics/in-rejecting-texas-lawsuit-supreme-court-delivers-a-rebuke-to-gop.html.

[9] Jim Rutenberg and Nick Corasanti, “‘An Indelible Stain’: How the G.O.P. Tried to Topple a Pillar of Democracy,” New York Times, December 12, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/12/us/politics/trump-lawsuits-electoral-college.html.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Mili Godio, “GOP Senator Reacts to SCOTUS Decision on ‘Nonsense’ Election Reversal Bid, Newsweek, December 12, 2020, https://www.newsweek.com/gop-senator-sasse-reacts-scotus-decision-nonsense-election-reversal-bid-1554333.

[12] “Republicans Faced a Simple Choice: For or against Democracy,” editorial. Washington Post, December 13, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-faced-a-simple-choice-for-or-against-democracy/2020/12/11/e2e9a610-3bef-11eb-98c4-25dc9f4987e8_story.html.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Amy Davidson Sorkin, “Getting Through,” New Yorker, December 14, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/amy-davidson-sorkin.

 

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The end began slowly to take place over many days and only gradually became more and more sure and resistance to it became more desperate, more extreme, more criminal, and more fantastical as it gradually grew nearer.

By Saturday, December 5, the without-evidence, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes fanatic legal claims had mostly failed. Trump phoned Georgia’s governor who had already some days previously personally signed off on the vote in Georgia (which had shown Biden as the winner). After three electoral recounts, including one by hand, Trump pressured him to overturn the vote in Georgia. He asked Governor Kemp (R) in the telephone conversation to call a special session of the Georgia State Legislature to overturn Biden’s win in Georgia and appoint Republican electors for Georgia, thereby disenfranchising millions of Georgia voters. Several networks carried Trump’s call as a line item report. destroy American democracy and establish Trump as dictator for life

On Sunday evening, Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan (R) gave an interview on CNN’s State of the Union during which he said “he ‘absolutely’ thought that Kemp would not accede to Trump’s demand that he persuade the state legislature to appoint electors who would override the popular vote and nullify Biden’s victory in the state.”[1] Later that evening Kemp and Duncan issued a joint statement in response to Trump’s call for a special session of the legislature to override Biden’s victory saying that “doing this in order to select a separate slate of presidential electors is not an option that is allowed under state or federal law.”[2] Even in the face of this declaration, President Trump continued to increase the pressure. Governor Kemp and Georgia continued to resist.

There begins to be a thin ray of light visible at the end of this long dark tunnel of resistance—Donald Trump’s and Republican party leadership’s effort (in Washington) to cancel President-elect Joe Biden’s decisive electoral victory on November 3 by engineering a coup d’état. If ever there was a criminal act, destroying American democracy and establishing Trump as dictator for life would certainly be one.

The founders are with us:

“No man in his senses can hesitate in choosing to be free, rather than a slave.” – Alexander Hamilton, 1774

“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” — Benjamin Franklin, 1776

“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1800

 

John Jay

[1] Felicia Sommez, “Georgia Leaders Rebuff Trump’s Call for Special Session to Overturn Election Results,” December 6, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/brian-kemp-trump-election-results/2020/12/06/4c5db908-37d4-11eb-9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html.

[2] Ibid.

Before imposing the naval quarantine during the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy sent personal envoys to his principal allies to be sure that they would support him. To Paris he sent former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, a very tough-minded man, as (of course) was President De Gaulle. Acheson was given his appointment in Paris with President De Gaulle. It was a small meeting. In the middle of his briefing of De Gaulle, Acheson reached down into his briefcase, saying, “Here, let me show you the photos, [of the Russian missiles in Cuba].” De Gaulle waved him off and said, “No, no, no, no. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me.”[1] Would any prominent foreign leader say something similar to an American emissary today? To ask the question is to answer it.

In terms of whether the U.S. can any longer be trusted and whether Biden can convince allies that we can, consider the following: Trump was elected and smashed everything; Biden beat him after one term in 2020 but will only serve one term himself. So, for an ally what will it be 2024—another Trump or another Biden?

A very high percentage of what Trump has said every day has been deliberate lie or misstatement. Until Trump’s presidency, statements by America’s president were believed and acted upon around the world, from Washington to Lincoln to Teddy Roosevelt to FDR, JFK and Obama. Sadly, in recent years, our allies and friends—even our enemies—quickly learned that one cannot believe, trust or rely upon anything that Trump says. Distrust of Trump is explained by the Washington Post’s fact checker, Glenn Kessler and his two assistants, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly, in their book published in early 2020, Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth: The President’s Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies. The authors catalogued Trump’s lies from Inauguration Day 2017, to January 20, 2020, three full years. As of that day the count of lies and misleading claims over three full years came to 16,241. “That works out to about 15 claims a day. But the pace of deception has quickened exponentially. He averaged about six claims a day in 2017, nearly 16 a day in 2018 and more than 22 a day in 2019.”[2]

The Washington Post recently said that later in 2020 the average rose to 50 a day, in August still higher, 56 a day. And some of his days were simply phenomenal, “189 claims (a record) on August 11, 147 claims on August 17, 113 claims on August 20. The previous one day record was 138 claims—on November 5, 2018.”[3] It appears that by the end of October, Trump had made over 6,000 false statements in just nine months. Obviously, it is impossible to do normal business with a man like this, someone you can never believe.

Biden has made clear he will be a one-term president. So, in 2024, what will it be for the United States? Will we return to our practice, which began the Republic, of electing presidents who the world trusts and respects or will we have another corrupt Trump-like figure? As Biden tries convince other countries that the United States can be trusted today, it is only natural they will be very, very cautious. It may take a long time for the American president to regain the trust that went with the office at the time of JFK. De Gaulle may not have agreed with JFK’s policy, but he trusted the factual accuracy of his message.

“A lie stands on 1 leg, Truth on 2.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1735

“…I see my friends and friends of the public duped in so gross a manner that I despair.” – John Adams, 1790

“When a man has one of the two greatest parties in a nation, interested in representing him to be disinterested, even those who believe it to be a lie will repeat it so often to one another that at last they will seem to believe it to be true.” – John Adams, 1807

“There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible as he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier the second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual. He tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1785

“I hate deception even when the imagination only is concerned.” – George Washington, 1779

“Tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1758

“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that have not wit enough to be honest.” – Benjamin Franklin, 1740

 

John Jay

[1] Aaron Erlich, “Kerry Got the De Gaulle Story Half-Right,” History News Network, n.d. https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/7886.

[2] Glenn Kessler, “A Hierarchy of American Presidential Lies: How The Washington Post Tracks Politicians’ Falsehoods,” Literary Hub, June 10, 2020, https://lithub.com/a-hierarchy-of-american-presidential-lies/.

[3] Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly, “Trump is Averaging More than 40 False or Misleading Claims a Day,” Washington Post, October 22, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/22/president-trump-is-averaging-more-than-50-false-or-misleading-claims-day/.

 

Patriots

As soon as Joe Biden’s decisive victory was called by the networks and recognized by a majority of the American public, defeated candidate Donald Trump began an all-out attempt to discredit, tamper with and illegally reverse the decision of the American people had made through their democratic election process. He had repeatedly said that the election would be rigged against him; any outcome which did not result in his winning the election was ipso facto fraudulent. Though asked many times, he consistently refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power—unless he liked the eventual election result. (We know what that means!)

He filled the TV airways with lies and conspiracy theories. Of the first 40 law suits he filed in an effort to disqualify large numbers of Biden votes on the basis of claims of fraud or other irregularities (for which he offered no evidence), 39 were peremptorily, and sometimes angrily, thrown out by the courts. As these suits failed, Trump resorted to pressuring Republican-controlled state legislatures in states won by Biden to overthrow the voice of the people by declaring them for Trump—in other words, attempting a coup d’état. Meanwhile, with a few exceptions, Republican members of the House and Senate were either supporting these efforts or remaining silent and not opposing them. A president, who had been decisively defeated in his attempt for reelection, was attempting to overturn the votes of 80 million Americans, the largest total for any candidate in history. These efforts amount to the most threatening attack on American principles, values, and well-being ever attempted by a sitting president. This on the basis of fake claims of voter fraud and looney conspiracy theories—frequently repeated by the President—including the one fingering the company that serviced most of the voting machines around the country as having supposedly used software developed for the former dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who died nearly a decade ago.

Actions so corrupt and potentially beneficial to our enemies (like Russia) also set a troubling precedent. As reported in the Washington Post:

For the past three weeks, as the President refused to concede the election, the federal government, the Trump campaign legal team and whole swaths of the Republican Party have worked in tandem to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. . . . By lodging baseless claims of voter fraud and embracing⸺or declining to reject⸺outlandish conspiracy theories about the process. Trump and his allies have normalized the kind of post-election assault on institutions typically seen in less-developed democracies, according to historians, former administration officials, and lawmakers and diplomats across the political spectrum. Lingering damage to the U.S. electoral system could be among the most consequential legacies of the Trump presidency. . . .[1]

Given the complicity of Republicans in the House and Senate, it is difficult to see why no ethics violations have been levied.

Perhaps a few of the appalling statements being made by Republican quislings with respect to this attack on American democracy are worth including here. On November 10, after Trump’s tactic of undermining the election through baseless charges of fraud became clear, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there’s “no reason for alarm”[2] and newly-elected Chairman of the Republican Senate Policy Committee, Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), said:  “You know the president wasn’t defeated by huge numbers in fact he may not have been defeated at all. . . .” [3] “There’s nothing to congratulate him about,” Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told reporters on Tuesday [November 11] when asked if he had congratulated Biden on his win, according to a Capitol pool report.[4] Yet, “Biden won the popular vote by 6 million votes and the electoral college by 306-232, the same margin Trump won in 2016, which he described as a ‘landslide.’”[5]

The US House Minority Leader and Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy said, “President Trump won this election…So everyone who’s listening , do not be quiet about this. We cannot let this happen before our very eyes.”[6] Only four or five Republicans openly opposed President Trump’s antics. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in part, “President Trump has had the opportunity to litigate his claims, and the courts thus far have found them without merit. A pressure campaign on state legislators to influence the electoral outcome is not only unprecedented but inconsistent with our democratic process.”[7]And on November 19, Senator Romney called Trump’s pressure campaign an attempt “to subvert the will of the people. It is difficult,” he said, “to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.”[8]

The coup attempt and denial—a direct, unprincipled attack on the Constitution and American democratic system—would seem fantastical, even borderline comical, were it not so serious. Fortunately, the American people have stood firm as did some of their representatives in Congress⸺mostly Democrats⸺and most of their representatives at the State and local level, both Republicans and Democrats. These principled men and women help saved our democracy from the worst threat it has ever faced. Their acts of civic heroism did not extend to the Republican leadership in Washington in the House and Senate, with a small number of highly important exceptions, notably Senators Romney and Murkowski, as well as Collins and Sasse. The majority of Senate and House Republicans were either a vocal or a silent part of the Trump coup conspiracy.

As we are now enjoying the extended Thanksgiving holiday, let us express thanks to all Americans supporting and defending our democracy and our country. Let us thank explicitly those who, in carrying out their duties, played a direct role in democracy’s salvation. All Americans are in their debt. What follows is an account of some of their statements and actions.

In his New York Times piece of November 23 entitled “Happy Thanksgiving to All Those Who Told the Truth in This Election,” Tom Friedman said that all Americans this Thanksgiving should be grateful to “the critical mass of civil servants, elected officials and judges” all over the country (though most at the state level) “who did their jobs, always opting for ‘the harder right’ that justice demanded, not ‘the easier wrong’ that Trump and his allies were pressing for. It was their collective integrity,” said Friedman, “their willingness to stand with ‘Team America’, not either party, that protected our democracy when it was facing one of its greatest threats from within. History will remember them fondly.” Friedman mentioned as examples (among others)

• FBI Director Christopher Wray who defied Trump and said that in the past there has been no “…coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election” resulting from mail-in voting.
• Chris Krebs, the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who not only refused to back up Trump’s claims of election fraud but whose agency issued a statement calling the 2020 election ‘The most secure in American history’ adding in bold type, ‘There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes or was in any other way compromised.”
• The Republican-led Board of Supervisors (4 Republicans and 1 Democrat) in Maricopa County Arizona (the most populous county) which, according to the Washington Post, “voted unanimously Friday to certify the county’s election results, with the board chairman declaring there was no evidence of fraud or misconduct ‘and that is with a big zero.’”[9]

Two others should be acknowledged. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, who ran a superb by-the-book election in Georgia like a true patriot. The two Republican US Senate candidates demanded his resignation “while offering no evidence of misconduct,” which he adamantly refuted. Trump called him a RINO (Republican in name only) because he competently and honestly oversaw an election that Mr. Trump lost. Raffensperger said in response to objections from some Republicans that Biden carried the state, “People are just going to have to accept the results. . . . I am a Republican and I believe in fair elections.” And, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who by agreeing that “…Joe Biden is the president-elect,” drew down upon himself Trump’s threat to block his 2022 re-election.[10]

In Michigan Republicans saw in the composition of the county and state-wide Canvassing Boards which certified the vote an opening to advance Trump’s game plan. All the Boards have two Democrats and two Republicans. If the Republicans at one or more of these Boards could block certification, they could argue, they thought, that the legislature should step in, override the state election results (which had elected Biden by a margin of more than 150,000 votes), and send a Republican slate of Electors to the Electoral college. Further, if such a step could be repeated in other states, Trump could overthrow the election.

The Republicans, after a direct intervention by Trump, tried to block certification in Wayne County (Detroit). When that effort failed, Trump summoned the Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate Republican Senator Mike Shirkey and the Republican Speaker of the House, Lee Chatfield, to Washington pressure them. The legislators came to Washington as Trump requested and, after the meeting, issued a joint statement in which they said, “We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and, as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan’s elections, just as we have said throughout this election.”[11] So, the results in Michigan came down to a vote of the state-wide Board of State Canvassers on November 23. All the County Boards had certified. The state Board had to certify the state vote—otherwise chaos.  There are two Democrat and two Republican members on this Board as on the others.  One Republican announced in advance that he would vote for delay. The two Democrats would vote to certify and the other Republican did not say in advance what he would do. Suddenly the eyes of the world were on this regular citizen from Michigan. There was a three-hour meeting behind a closed door with people screaming outside the door. Finally, the meeting ended, with the other Republican, Aaron Van Langevelde having voted with the two Democrats. The Michigan votes were certified. In explaining his vote Mr. Langevelde said, “We have a clear legal duty to certify the results of the election. . . . We cannot and should not go beyond that. As John Adams once said, ‘We are a government of laws, not men.’”[12] Mr. Langevelde is a true patriot and hero if ever there were one. The Michigan vote was probably the turning point in Trump’s long struggle to reverse the outcome of the election. Trump allowed the transition process to begin the next day, heretofore having blocked it.

With the defeat in Michigan, the Trump campaign escalated its efforts in Pennsylvania. They sued Secretary of State, Boockvar, alleging that under her guidance (for all counties) the voters who had mailed in ballots could be notified and that they could come and make minor “fixes” where there were errors that needed to be fixed. The Democrat majority countries largely implemented her guidance and the Republican majority counties did not. This was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, they argued. The New York Times and Washington Post documented the responsive of the US District Judge:

‘That some counties may have chosen to implement’ Ms. Boockvar’s suggestions but others did not, ‘does not constitute an equal-protection violation,’” Federal Judge Matthew W. Brann of Pennsylvania [a conservative Republican] wrote.  He further wrote, “that President Trump’s campaign, which had asked him to effectively disenfranchise nearly seven million voters, should have come to court  ‘armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption’ in its efforts to essentially nullify the results of Pennsylvania’s election. But instead, Judge Brann complained, “the Trump campaign provided only ‘strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations’ that were ‘unsupported by evidence.’ In the United States of America, this [argument] cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state,’ he wrote ‘our people, laws and institutions demand more.’” [13]

Judge Brann heard the case on November 21 and it was promptly appealed to the Third Circuit. The Third Circuit found that the Trump campaign appeal had “no merit”. At the appellate level the case was heard by a three-judge panel of the Court, all Republicans, and the writer of the opinion, a Trump appointee. In his opinion Judge Stepanos Bibas writing for all three judges said that, “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither of these here.” Judge Bibas also wrote “Voters, not lawyers, choose the President. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.” The Third Circuit rejected the Trump case and, although one of the Trump lawyers said the case would be appealed to the Supreme Court, at this time it is not clear that will happen. It is difficult to see anything in this case at this point of legal merit for the Supreme Court to pursue.[14]

Also, “President Trump said on [November 26] that he would leave the White House if the electoral college voted for President-elect Joe Biden next month, though he vowed to keep fighting to overturn the election he lost and said he may never concede.”[15] So this long struggle may be effectively over on December 14 when the Electoral Collège votes. If so, it will be due to the heroism of the American people at all levels of life. But there is one thing that we may not escape for a very long time. “What Trump is doing is creating a road map to destabilization and chaos in future years,” said Trevor Potter, a Republican who served as chairman of the Federal Election Commission in the 1990s. “What he is saying, explicitly, is that if a party doesn’t like the election result, they have the right to change it by gaming the system.”[16] Liberty is precious but it also fragile; Americans must be forever vigilant. But a majority of Americans did not fail this time to maintain their sacred trust with their Founders. As Aaron Langevelde of the Michigan state-wide Board of State Canvassers said, “As John Adams once said, we are a government of laws, not of men.”[17]

We remember also what Sam Adams, Leader of the Boston Tea Party, Co-founder of the Sons of Liberty and Signer of the Declaration of Independence, said:

“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”

 

John Jay

 

[1] Toluse Olorunnipa. Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Rosalind S. Helderman, Washington Post, November 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-democracy/2020/11/24/e78b8194-2e6a-11eb-bae0-50bb17126614_story.html.

[2]  Lisa Mascaro, “McConnell says Electoral College Will Determine President,” Boston Globe, November 10, 2020, https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/10/nation/mcconnell-says-electoral-college-will-determine-president.

[3]Lisa Mascaro, “Sen. Roy Blunt: Trump ‘May Not Have Been Defeated’ in Election,” KMOV4, November 11, 2020, https://www.kmov.com/news/sen-roy-blunt-trump-may-not-have-been-defeated-in-election/article_e57d4691-2dc9-55f0-8e3e-e3b22e074ea4.html.

[4] Ariana Figueroa, “Wisconsin Republicans in Congress Chime in on Trump Claims of a Stolen Election,” Wisconsin Examiner, November 12, 2020, https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2020/11/12/wisconsin-republicans-in-congress-chime-in-on-trump-claims-of-a-stolen-election/.

[5] Kate Sullivan, Biden’s Margin of Victory over Trump Surpasses 6 Million Votes,” CNN, November 21, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/20/politics/biden-6-million-votes/index.html; Mike Dennison, “Daines, Gianforte Still Not Acknowledging Biden’s Sweeping Victory,” Missoula Current, https://missoulacurrent.com/government/2020/12/daines-gianforte-biden/.

[6] Karen Tumulty, Republican Leaders Swore an Oath to Defend the Constitution. That Means Telling Trump It’s Over, Washington Post, November 20, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/20/republicans-must-tell-trump-its-over/.

[7] Tess Williams, “Murkowski Calls for Presidential Transition to Begin, Saying Trump’s Attempts to Influence Electoral Results Are ’Unprecedented,’” Anchorage Daily News, November 22, 2020, https://www.adn.com/politics/2020/11/22/murkowski-calls-for-presidential-transition-to-begin-saying-trumps-attempts-to-influence-electoral-results-are-unprecedented/.

[8]Burgess Everett,“Sasse, Romney, Pan Trump Campaign’s Tactics in Contesting Election,” Politico, November 19, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/19/ben-sasse-trump-fraud-allegations-438574.

[9] Thomas L. Friedman, “Happy Thanksgiving to All Those Who Told the Truth in This Election,” New York Times, November 24, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/opinion/trump-election-democracy.html.

[10] “The longer Republicans Cower to Trump, the More Damage they do to democracy,” editorial, Washington Post, November 16, 2020,“ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-longer-republicans-cower-to-trump-the-more-damage-they-do-to-democracy/2020/11/16/2ac4e96c-282d-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html.

[11]Craig Mauger and Messila Nann Burke, “Michigan GOP leaders after White House meeting: ‘We will follow the law,’” Detroit News, November 20, 2020, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/20/biden-adviser-michigan-lawmakers-cant-intervene-election-result/6355274002/.

[12]Craig Mauger and Messila Nann Burke, “Michigan board certifies Nov. 3 election, cementing Biden victory,” Detroit News, November 23, 2020, htps://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/23/michigan-election-state-canvassers-certification/6390475002/.

[13] Alan Feuer, “:Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Seeking to Delay Certification in Pennsylvania, New York Times, November 21, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/21/us/politics/pennsylvania-trump-court-ballots.html; and Jon Swaine, “In Scathing Opinion, Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Campaign Lawsuit in Pennsylvania,” Washington Post, November 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-judge-dismisses-trump-campaign-lawsuit-in-pa/2020/11/21/cc097fbe-2c50-11eb-9b14-ad872157ebc9_story.html.

[14] Maryclaire Dale, “Appeals Court Rejects Trump Challenge of Pennsylvania Race,” November 27, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/us-appeals-court-rejects-trump-appeal-over-pennsylvania-race/2020/11/27/31b26fde-30d8-11eb-9dd6-2d0179981719_story.html.

[15] Josh Dawsey, “Trump Commits to Stepping Down if Electoral College Votes for Biden,” Washington Post, November 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-will-leave-if-electoral-college-votes-for-biden/2020/11/26/7883351c-303b-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html.

[16]Jim Rutenberg and Katheen Gray, “Duty or Party? For Republicans, a Test of Whether to Enable Trump,” New York Times, November 22, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/21/us/politics/trump-vote.html.

[17] Tim Alberta, “The Michigan Republican who Stopped Trump,” Politico, November 24, 2020, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2020/11/24/the-michigan-republican-who-stopped-trump-490984.

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On Tuesday September 29, 2020, President Donald Trump arrived at the designated sight for the first Presidential Debate for 2020. The Democratic Nominee Joe Biden was already there and had tested negative for the coronavirus. Trump arrived late and was not tested for the virus, which was supposed to happen. This was a disgrace as President Trump may have already been positive for the coronavirus—he could have been infected a day or so earlier, had an initial test and maybe have been waiting for the result of a more reliable test, before disclosing his condition or he may have been first infected at an event on September 30. Likely he knew that he was positive by October 2^nd when he hosted a large gathering of wealthy individuals at his golf club to raise money for the campaign and he certainly knew by the time of an important, maskless gathering on Saturday on the White House lawn of 100 prominent individuals from Washington and elsewhere to celebrate the nomination of Amy Barrett for a seat on the United States Supreme Court. One of Trump’s closest advisors, two Senators and the President of Notre Dame University tested positive after that event. It was a true super spreader and pictures of all those closely lined up chair which would soon have maskless White House guests sitting on them is a visual and permanent symbol of all the evil that has visited America during the regime of “the agent of the devil, in the Biblical sense,” as Senator Gillibrand put it in 2018 in a press interview. Vice President Biden, thanks to God, tested negative four times after his debate with President Trump on September 29^th.

But to call that event a debate is to use the English language poorly. It was one man trying to present his sound and coherent message to the American people but largely prevented from doing so by the screaming, shouting and bullying by the other man throughout the hour and a half event—such an affair that is correctly named. Fortunately, the next so-called debate scheduled for October because Mr. Biden refused to attend if Trump was still positive – CDC said he might be –  the Debate Commission changed the format to virtual and then Trump refused to attend because the event was virtual. Maybe Trump had the idea he could win by infecting his opponent. In any case there seems to be little purpose in continuing these farcical encounters. Yes, presidential debates are part of American Democracy, but not under any circumstances.

Shortly after the Saturday evening super spreader and apparently under considerable stress as a patient with Covid-19, Trump spent several days at Walter Reed Hospital there and received emergency treatment—including an antibody “cocktail” not yet approved for use by the FDA—which appeared to revive him and he was discharged. The treatment with steroids and another antibody drug continued. The steroids, plus his panic about the prospect of losing the election added to his normal personality seemed to drive President over the cliff edge of a rational world into a chasm of insanity. In telephone calls with Sean Hannity of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh he was raving about plots against him and called for, among other things, the indictment of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and his opponent Joe Biden. It seems completely unhinged and he certainly shouldn’t be anywhere near our nuclear launch codes.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday, October 10^th that Trump has “probably pressured the Justice Department to move against his political adversaries” and asserted that his “2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, should be jailed.” Trump gave a radio interview after a tweet “that his current Democratic opponent, Joe Biden is a criminal who should be barred from running.” He also called on Justice to indict former President Obama. None of these things does Attorney General Barr at this time appear likely to do. The Post notes that “The president’s calls for the Justice Department to target his political opposition in the heat of a presidential campaign is a jarring moment without precedent in modern American history.” The article quotes the president’s tweet of October 8^th which perhaps summarizes this entire reprehensible affair. “WOW!!! NOW DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, THE BIGGEST OF ALL POLITICAL SCANDALS (IN HISTORY)!! BIDEN, OBAMA AND CROOKED HILLARY LED THIS TREASONOUS PLOT!! BIDEN SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO RUN—GOT CAUGHT.”[1]

Naturally this sort of certifiably insane fascist like behavior has had a negative effect on voters, particularly swing voters. Most Americans are rational, patriotic citizens and many voters find the president’s actions beyond reprehensible. The Post ran an article on this on October 12 in which they quote a number of potential voters who find it difficult to vote Democratic, but are this year because they care about their country. A young man voting for the first time is quoted in the article saying, he decided to vote for Biden or, “as he says ‘not for Trump.’” Referring to the debate, he said that “Trump’s frequent interruptions and bullying during the debate helped cement his decision.”  “So did Trump’s failure to condemn white supremacy and the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group he told to ‘stand back and stand by.’” “That was just wild to me,” he said. ‘I definitely feel that like people are just blindly following him. They really enjoy the hate.’”[2]

Maureen Dowd in her column in the New York Times on Sunday, October 11^th commented on some of this. She quoted a Republican strategist who told the New York Times that “Trump is at a dangerous pass: ‘The knives come out, the donors flee, and the candidate throws embarrassing Hail Marys.’”

At the end of her column Dowd speculates on whether the moment is coming to Trump’s realization. At last he is beginning to understand reality. Could that be?

“Was this why he was tweeting a maniacal video in bronze face begging for the vote of seniors, swaths of whom may be slipping away because they feel betrayed over his failure on the virus? Was this why he was demanding that Bill Barr indict Barack Obama and Joe Biden and calling Kamala Harris ‘a monster’ and ranting about Hillary’s emails? Was this why he pulled out of the debate? Was this why he was picking a fight with Gretchen Whitmer in the midst of the FBI foiling a plot by a moronic militia to kidnap the Michigan governor?

Was it finally sinking in? Or was it just another week on Planet Trump?”[3]

So what now might our Founders think of this worst of all American presidents?

“If the federal government should overpass the just bounds of its authority and make a tyrannical use of its powers, the people whose creature it is, must appeal to the standard they have formed, and take such measures to redress the injury done to the Constitution as the exigency may suggest and prudence justify.”

Alexander Hamilton, 1788

“If there be a principle which ought not to be questioned within the United States, it is, that every man has the right to abolish an old government and establish a new one. This principle is not only recorded in every public archive, written in every American heart, and sealed with the blood of American martyrs, but it is the only lawful tenure by which the United States hold their existence as a nation.”

James Madison, 1793

 

John Jay

[1] Graham, Anne; Zapotsky, Matt; Demirjian, Karoun; and Daury, Josh, “Trump Presses Justice Dept. to Act Against Foes, The Washington Post, October 10, 2020, pages A-1 and A-4.

[2] White, Griff; Kelley, Pam; and Spollar, Christine, The Washington Post, October 12, 2020, page A-1, A-12.

[3] Dowd, Maureen, “Manic Panic on the Potomac,” The New York Times, October 11, 2020, Sunday Review, page 9

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – Declaration of Independence, 1776

2020 may come to demarcate the en masse departure of US citizens from our social contract. This most famous quote from the Declaration of Independence regarding our “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” cannot be viewed in isolation. It must be understood within the context of what the founding fathers believed inherent in any model of self-governance, namely, the social contract.[1]

The facemask has become a political symbol of the division between those who understand that their freedoms end at the boundary of potential harm to another versus those who believe that wearing a mask is too onerous a requirement to obey—an infringement of their individual freedom. In the throes of the worst pandemic to have hit this country since the Spanish Flu in 1918, many Americans decided to defy statewide or local regulations—indeed some stormed the halls of state buildings armed with semi-automatic weapons to protect their “freedom” and protest their (Democratic) Governor’s implementation of emergency measures to protect all citizens.

This anti-mask movement is not a grassroots phenomenon. The catalyst for defiance of reasonable public health measures started with a Commander-in-Chief who consistently refused to adhere to or model responsible actions, either within the White House or at large campaign rallies across the country. He repeatedly claimed that the virus was no more dangerous than the flu, suggested multiple times that it would “just disappear,” and promoted untested drugs (hydroxychloroquine) or fatal interventions (of bleach) on national television.[2] President Trump’s comments were not one-offs or the casual meanderings of an unintentional “hot mic” incident. Even after having understood in early February 2020 that a highly contagious, airborne virus had reached our shores, the President wasted valuable time denying its existence and insisting on its irrelevance to the normal course of public life.[3]

As the pandemic started surging in late March, the Trump administration convened its COVID Task Force, chaired by Vice President Pence. During daily briefings on national television, members of the Task Force would offer briefings regarding the pandemic. However, not only were the briefings by scientists or other health officials frequently overshadowed by contradictory or false comments by the President, but other public statements by the President either contradicted or cast doubt on the severity or reality of the virus. As one whose experience consisted of having been a reality TV star, the president demonstrated no awareness of the harm done by his haphazard and ignorant commentary regarding a public health crisis and the means to address it.[4]

Even President Trump’s arguments regarding his desire to play down the crisis to prevent panic fly in the face of what is widely understood as appropriate messaging to the public regarding what is known—the facts—and how to protect themselves based on scientific understanding of viable options at the time. And, admittedly, this was and remains a moving target for the novel coronavirus. However, denial, nonfactual fantasies, and false promises create confusion and false expectations. President Trump’s approach created a worse-case scenario in response to a crisis that requires widespread consensus to mount a united effort.

In the face of mounting evidence of the virus’ presence and virulence, many states or large urban areas opted for stay-at-home measures and shut down non-essential commercial activities. “Normalcy”—kids in school, in-person shopping, dining at restaurants—came to a screeching halt. All of this transpired at the state or county level. In one instance, stay-at-home measures led to divisions between the Democratic Mayor of Atlanta and the Republican Governor of Georgia, with the Mayor issuing stay-at-home orders, while the Governor refused to take any actions in response to COVID-19 and tried to overturn orders issued by Atlanta’s Mayor.

It is true that these public health measures closed numerous businesses and sacrificed the jobs, indeed the livelihoods, of many. The economic impact has been devastating to numerous sectors of the US economy and millions of workers. The unemployment rolls have swelled in the wake of these rolling lockdowns, phased re-openings and (now) rollbacks. It is also true that the stay-at-home orders, coupled in many cases by financial calamity, have led to increased incidences of suicide, domestic violence, child abuse and escalating substance abuse in our homes and communities. The impacts are severe, far-reaching and difficult to quantify. However, it is equally true that a robust economic recovery cannot succeed while COVID-19 positivity rates skyrocket, hospitals are at or over capacity, and morgues are overflowing. A healthy and sustainable economic recovery is synonymous with containing COVID.

Due to White House pressure to reopen and save the stock market as well as the public’s impatience with these restrictions, many states either did not follow public health guidance and those that did re-opened too soon—prior to sufficient identification and isolation of COVID carriers, accompanied by sufficient testing capacity and contact tracing measures—to ensure containment.[5] A favorite maxim touted by the White House and echoed by news outlets and (Republican) state leadership only weeks after the initial closures was that “the cure can’t be worse than the disease.”[6] In one instance, the Lt. Governor of Texas opined that it was worth sacrificing his own life, and by extension those of the elderly, to secure economic prosperity for younger generations.[7]

During this national debate, I asked my own kids about the worth of their grandmother’s life were her life at odds with their future fortunes. They answered that grandma’s life was “priceless.” This offered me some solace. Perhaps my children’s thinking is not yet soiled by a calculation that stacks grandma’s continued presence in our lives against a stock market portfolio. Or, perhaps, their own time-limited dependence as children unconsciously underscores our existential interdependence, an innate understanding of the social contract.

And, as predicted in the rush to reopen the economy, we are now experiencing the “second wave” with daily case counts and now deaths exceeding all prior records set from the beginning of the pandemic through October this year. The U.S. death count exceeded 265,000 this week and shows signs of exceeding 300,000 before positivity rates have started to peak.[8] Hospitals and morgues are overflowing again, and healthcare workers are in too short a supply.[9] Indeed, due to manifold ineptitudes at the federal level, originating with President Trump and echoed by his sycophants and the right-wing media, a nationwide acknowledgement of the pandemic was delayed, and the response was haphazard at best. And, still, some thwart the wearing of a simple, cloth facemask to provide protection for themselves and others. Some have suggested that mask-wearing regulations are analogous to the laws mandating the use of seatbelts in automobiles, but that analogy falls short. Seatbelt mandates protect the driver and passengers in the vehicle in the case of an accident. They do nothing to prevent injuries in other vehicles, unless seatbelts are similarly employed in other vehicles. Facemasks protect the wearer and anyone else in close proximity.

The mask is viewed by some as a simple measure of personal responsibility, an inherent part of the social contract, while it is perceived by others as a violation of freedom, a symbol of government overreach into personal lives. The facemask now symbolizes the political division in our country.

In this Republic, we agree to be governed by our democratically elected leaders. We also observe some constraints on our individual liberty for the greater good. As interpreted most directly in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, among others, John Locke argued that we gain civil rights in return for accepting the obligation to respect and defend the rights of others, giving up some freedoms to do so. In short, my freedom stops where my actions impinge on the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” bestowed equally on my neighbor. Evidently, for a significant proportion of our citizenry, donning a mask when shopping or walking on busy streets is too great a sacrifice.

The ultimate irony in the threat to our democracy is that it has nothing to do with the pandemic or facemasks per se. Indeed, the tyrant in the White House has not veiled his objectives in any why while shunning and even mocking the wearing of a facemask. President Trump has been quite clear that he detests our constitutional order; he’s gone to great lengths to test the resilience of our institutions. More disheartening than Trump’s actions has been our witnessing of the GOP’s and his followers’ fealty. While fighting for their “freedom” to not wear a facemask, Trump followers are promoting tyranny over our democratic values, institutions and processes.

It is well-documented that Trump repeatedly avoided any commitment to a peaceful transfer of power based on the will of the people. As John Jay has pointed out in earlier writings, he exploits the conspiracy theories of QAnon while claiming not to know about them. He has enabled previously fragmented white nationalist organizations by providing them a platform. “Antifa” (antifascist) is now a pejorative buzzword that connotes violent, anti-American anarchists to a large segment of our society, whereas the US Army represented “antifa” during World War II. Most insidious is that the current occupant of the White House detests the institutional framework designed by the founders and has repeatedly sought to weaken their foundations, whether through exploiting the fealty of the GOP or using Bill Barr and the Department of Justice as his personal legal team. A malignant narcissist cannot fathom a social contract.

On November 3, polls across the country opened and closed as they have done for almost 250 years. More people voted in this Presidential election than ever before. Due to unprecedented numbers of mail-in ballots and tight contests in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, where the counting of mail-in ballots only commenced on the actual day of the election, the numbers trickled in over several days.

President Trump initially claimed victory in the wee hours of November 4, even though several key states remained undeclared and neither candidate had reached the necessary 270 electoral college votes.[10] As the final vote counts in tight races were tabulated, Biden’s victory became more evident. On November 7, the Associated Press called the race for Joe Biden. Despite this reality, President Trump continues to contest the election results via tweet, spewing false allegations of widespread fraud to his followers.[11]

Immediately following the election, troops of lawyers fanned out in states with close races to file lawsuits rife with spurious claims regarding voting machines or faulty processes. None of these suits has stuck. They have been roundly dismissed and, in some cases, spurned by the courts. For example, District Judge Mathew W. Brann in a Pennsylvania suit opined: “This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations . . . this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws and institutions demand more.”[12] With each lawsuit and recount, Trump is again proven to have lost.[13]

President Trump has tried and failed to find a legal remedy to undermine our democratic process. He told his followers that he would “fight” for his throne. Our electoral process worked. Our judicial system adhered to the rule of law in their respective jurisdictions. Unfortunately, as with the virus, not all recognize the merit of the election. 70% of Republican voters believe the tweeter-in-chief, rather than the election workers and their own courts regarding a fair and fraud-free election.[14]

The issue is not “the mask.” The mask is only symbolic of the erosion in the social contract based on mistrust of the “other” political party. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” but they have never been self-executing.[15] Our freedoms are grounded in the social contract between citizens and enforced by our democratically elected leaders.

The tyrant in our midst wears no mask. The longevity of the American experiment is still very much at risk.

 

“A general dissolution of principles & manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy.” — Samuel Adams

“A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government.” — Thomas Jefferson

“You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.” — John Adams

“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” — George Washington

“Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” — John Adams

“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.” — Samuel Adams

 

Abigail Adams

[1] Social Contract Theory is generally defined as “the view that persons’ moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live. . . . That agreement is that each individual, being naturally free, gives up certain freedoms in exchange for certain protections. In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes posited that all people were free in the state of nature. The problem with absolute freedom, according to Hobbes, is that the exercise of some individuals’ freedoms will harm or infringe on the freedoms of other individuals. Abraham Lincoln provides one example of the expression of this theory. He said in his debates with Senator Douglas, “I believe each individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with any other man’s rights.” As It is impossible for individuals to defend all of their rights against the rights of each other, they join together in a community, enabled by government as the enforcer. According to Hobbes, Locke and many others, the Social Contract “was entered into voluntarily by the people, with the purpose of preserving their self-interests.” Jaren Wilkerson, “Disappearing Together? American Federalism and Social Contract Theory,” Journal of Constitutional Law, 17, no. 2: 572-573.

[2] Christine Paz, “All the President’s Lies about Corona Virus,” Atlantic, November 2, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/11/trumps-lies-about-coronavirus/608647/.

[3] Susan Glasser, “Bob Woodward Finally Got Trump to Tell the Truth about Corona Virus,” New Yorker, September 11, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/bob-woodward-finally-got-trump-to-tell-the-truth-about-covid-19.

[4]Brad Brooks, “Like the Flu? Trump’s Coronavirus Messaging Confuses the Public, Pandemic Researchers Say,” Reuters, March 13, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mixed-messages/like-the-flu-trumps-coronavirus-messaging-confuses-public-pandemic-researchers-say-idUSKBN2102GY.

[5] Chris Megerian, “As Corona Virus Cases Soar, Trump Continues Cheerleading for Reopening the Economy,” Los Angelos Times, July 2, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-07-02/coronavirus-cases-soar-trump-cheerleading-reopening-economy.

[6] Maggie Haberman and David E. Sanger, “Trump Says Coronavirus Cure ‘Cannot be Worse than the Problem Itself,’” New York Times, March 23, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-restrictions.html.

[7] Abby Livingston, “Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick Says a Failing Economy Is Worse than Coronavirus,” Texas Tribune, March 23, 2020, https://www.texastribune.org/2020/03/23/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick-says-bad-economy-worse-coronavirus/.

[8] Johns Hopkins University, Corona Virus Research Center, November 26, 2020, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/.

[9] Madeline Holcombe, Holly Yan and Naomi Thomas, “El Paso to Get Fourth Mobile Morgue as it Opens Civic Center as Overflow Medical Facility,” CNN, November 2, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/02/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html.

[10] Brook Singman, “Trump Declares Victory with Many States Still Undeclared, Hints at Supreme Court Case,” Fox News, November 4, 2020, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-claims-victory-states-undecided-supreme-court-white-house.

[11] Salvador Rizzo, “Trump Tweets String of Falsehoods about Wisconsin Absentee Voters,” Washington Post, November 25, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/25/trump-tweets-string-falsehoods-about-wisconsin-absentee-voters/. Also, Dan Balz, “A Vindictive Trump Seeks to Undermine Biden’s Presidency,” November 21, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-vindictive-trump-seeks-to-undermine-bidens-presidency/2020/11/21/410213ba-2bfe-11eb-8fa2-06e7cbb145c0_story.html.

[12] Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall, November 21, 2020), https://twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1330324993188765697.

[13] Rosalind Helderman, “Wisconsin Recount Confirms Biden’s Win over Trump, Cementing the President’s Failure to Change the Election Results,” Washington Post, November 29, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/wisconsin-recount-over/2020/11/29/b4896ade-30c9-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html.

[14] Katherine Kim, “Poll: 70% of Republicans don’t think the election was fair and free,” Politico, November 9, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/09/republicans-free-fair-elections-435488.

[15] Barack Obama, 2013 Inaugural Address, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGgQrxTcBqg.

Wag the Dog

In past years the phrase “wag the dog” has been used to characterize the action of United States presidents, who—besieged by domestic tumult and challenges—might seek foreign adventures (perhaps foreign war) to distract the public and thereby get himself out of hot water. Bill Clinton was suspected of just such a motivation when he unleashed bombing attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan in August 1998. A headline in the Baltimore Sun read, “Clinton’s Airstrike Motives Questioned: Many Wonder if Attack Was Meant to Distract from the Lewinski Matter.”[1] The article that followed referred to the wag-the-dog scenario, popularized in a recent movie by that name, in which a U.S. president embroiled in a sex scandal stages a way to distract the nation.[2] In reality the Clinton bombing raids—which he defended as important to confront Al Qaeda—appeared to have no effect, one way or the other, on the evolution of the Clinton/Lewinski matter.

Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran Agreement, formally known as the Joint Program of Action (JCPOA), saying that it was a terrible deal and Iran would agree to a better one on his watch. Instead, as we now know, Iran went back to its former policies and has now stockpiled low-enriched uranium for power reactors far in excess of what they were allowed under the JCPOA. Also, Iran is in the process of buying and installing improved uranium centrifuges to make more enriched uranium—thus moving (at least technically) closer to having a bomb production capability. Trump’s policy there, like most other parts of his foreign policy, has been a complete failure.

Trump has decapitated the top levels of the Defense Department and replaced them with stooges who know nothing about defense or national security. Our military naturally worries that with all the disarray created by Trump’s blatant attempt to overturn our free and fair election—itself a would-be coup and a direct assault on the Constitution—that some foreign enemy might seize this moment to launch an attack. A B-52 strategic bomber task force recently flew a sortie from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to the Middle East and is planning to send an aircraft carrier task force to the Persian Gulf.[3] These moves appear to be cautionary at this time.

President-elect Biden has said that, when he assumes office, he will seek to revive American participation in the JCPOA. The Iranians say they are open to considering a rapprochement. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said recently that “Iran would revert to the 2015 limits [set by the JCPOA] if the new administration returns to the deal, too. ‘This needs no negotiations and needs no conditions,’ he said.”

Anti-Iran hawks in the United States and Israel see the window closing on the possibility of a preemptive U.S.-Israel strike against the Iranian nuclear program. Likely supporters of such an attack include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some hardline officials around Trump. Netanyahu has said often that the potential Iranian nuclear threat represents an existential issue for Israel, and the chance to land a knockout punch may expire Jan. 20.[4]

So, might the current administration move against Iran? Do Trump and the senior officials around him believe that the Iran program could be terminated with one strike, even a day-long attack involving waves of bombers and missiles? The answer to this question is, almost certainly, no. The surgical-type strike is a myth. To actually stop the Iranian program, it would likely take a war of several or many months and perhaps occupation. Iran’s program is too big and too dispersed for a small special forces attack to be effective. And what of the wag-the-dog effect? Does Trump think that the American public would respond to an on-going war by accepting the need for him to stay in place until the emergency is over? Not likely. The American people do not want war with Iran. If the president dragged the United States into a war with Iran to stay in office, the American people would want Trump gone sooner than January 20 rather than later. If there is an emergency, let Biden handle it. There would be no wag-the-dog effect. The American people might be distracted from other things but not from ousting Trump as soon as possible. Perhaps Trump is thinking in terms of a limited attack—just enough to make revitalization of the JCPOA more difficult, like the Israeli assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist, Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a few days ago. But, a bombing attack is not the same as an assassination. Even a limited strike would likely spiral unpredictably out of control. At a Washington Post editorial puts it:

The people who do right by the country have one thing in common: They are guided by real-life experience, not by loony conspiracy theories tapped out on a keyboard somewhere. Their service is based on an idea expressed in the title of a long-enduring definition of purpose from the American Revolution: Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense,’ which is still a bestseller. It is common sense that has got us through dangerous times in the past. . . . It is common sense that we must now hope will prevail in days and years to come.[5]

“…war contains so much folly, as well as wickedness, that much is be hoped from the progress of reason; and if any thing is to be hoped, everything ought to be tried [to avoid it].” — James Madison, 1792

“War is an instrument entirely inefficient towards addressing wrong, and multiplies instead of indemnifying losses.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1798

“War is not the best engine for us to resort to, nature has given us one in our commerce, which, if properly managed, will be a better instrument for obliging the interested nations of Europe to treat us with justice.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1797

John Jay

[1] Susan Baer, “Clinton’s Airstrike Motives Questioned: Many Wonder if Attack Was Meant to Distract from the Lewinski Matter,” Baltimore Sun, August 23, 1998, https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-08-23-1998235021-story.html.

[2] Ibid., https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-08-23-1998235021-story.html.

[3] David Ignatius, “A Lame-duck Test of Wills with Iran,” Washington Post, November 26, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-remains-in-a-battle-of-wills-with-iran/2020/11/26/d79aa046-3020-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html.

[4] Ibid., https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-remains-in-a-battle-of-wills-with-iran/2020/11/26/d79aa046-3020-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html.

[5] “This Tragic Year, Give Thanks to Those Who Safeguard our Health and Democracy, editorial, Washington Post, November 25, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-tragic-year-give-thanks-to-those-who-safeguard-our-health-and-democracy/2020/11/25/6c00b076-2e60-11eb-96c2-aac3f162215d_story.html.