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.