The spectacle that is going on in this country with Trump trying to subvert and overturn the election should be an embarrassment to any truly patriotic American who truly gives a damn about this country. We are a nation of laws and institutionalized processes that have worked reasonably well (warts and all!) over the last 240 years. Free and fair elections and the peaceful transition of power have been part of the very foundation on which this country has been built.
At last count, the Trump campaign was batting 2 out of 31 lawsuits filed in various state and Federal courts. IF the Trump campaign had evidence that would stand up in a court of law, these cases would have been adjudicated in Trump’s favor. Instead, these suits are being dismissed as fast as they are being filed for the simple fact that the Trump campaign has not presented any credible evidence to support their allegations. And, remember, all of these judges are not Democrats. Due to Mitch McConnell’s effort to pack the courts across the country with conservative judges over the last four years, many of these judges are very likely Conservative Republicans – and even they are throwing out lawsuits for lack of evidence.
The fact that so many conservative, reputable lawyers have either refused to participate in this charade or have walked away from it should speak volumes. Ben Ginsburg has been a Republican election lawyer for 40 years and he is no where to be seen. Instead, the Trump campaign has Rudy Giuliani leading the legal challenges which has turned into nothing more than another embarrassment. His disjointed, rambling arguments, whether in front of the courts or in front of the press, are truly an embarrassment to his former colleagues and the entire legal profession. The word ‘pathetic’ comes to mind.
This whole legal circus reminds me of a gang murder trial that I served as a juror for when I was living in LA. It was an interesting experience and I certainly learned a lot more about gangs in LA than I ever really wanted to know. We found the young man guilty and he was sent away for 25 years to life because the evidence was overwhelming. We were talking to the prosecutor after the trial and we remarked about the amount of evidence and the weak arguments the defense made. He told us that the defendant had been offered a plea deal but that in these types of gang trials the defendants almost always insist on a jury trial rather than accepting a plea deal. He said they are hoping that there will be at least one juror who will insistently vote to acquit resulting in a hung jury. They know it’s a long shot but they almost always take it. This seems to be the same thinking as the strategy undertaken by the Trump legal team. Throw enough lawsuits out there and maybe one of them will stick. This is not the way democracy is supposed to work!
Since the legal strategy isn’t working, now Trump is blatantly trying to interfere with the election process by trying to convince Republican-led state legislatures to go against the will of the people in their states and put up a slate of rogue electors in favor of Trump. These efforts by Trump and his allies like Lindsay Graham are most certainly unconstitutional and could very well be illegal. The irony should not be lost on anyone. The ‘law and order’ president is, once again, operating as if the law does not apply to him. It is unconscionable that the Republicans cannot find their spines and speak out more forcefully about these continued assaults on our democracy.
There are a number of organizations that monitor elections around the world to try to ensure elections are fair and when they observe irregularities, they report them. These organizations are invited to observe the elections in the US and, heretofore, it has been kind of a boring process because the US has kind of been the standard for ‘free and fair’ elections. However, this year a number of these organizations have expressed concerns about Trump’s ongoing, baseless allegations of voter fraud. One of these organizations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has stated that they have observed no evidence to support Trump’s claims. 1
Trump’s campaign has been unable to provide any evidence of voter fraud that will stand up in court. Republican and Democratic election officials across all 50 states have stated that there is no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud. International election observers have stated that there is no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud. That is because, there has been no wide-spread voter fraud. Trump lost the election by 6,000,000 votes in the popular vote and by a margin of 306 to 232 in the electoral college. Those are FACTS!
The only voter fraud and election rigging that is going on is being done by Trump and his toadies. And given that Trump is such a vindictive, vengeful, petty megalomaniacal person, he will make it his mission to cause as much damage to the incoming Biden administration as possible in the next two months. This scorched earth approach to the transition will not ‘Make America Great’ but will leave the country deeply wounded and vulnerable. Trump doesn’t give a damn. He has never given a damn. A severely damaged and polarized America will just be another in a long list of Trump failures.
Trump had many shady lawsuits before he became President. You would think people in our country would have done their research on him. He had 40 lawsuits before he was President and most of them were settled out of court. The infamous Trump University everyone should have known about yet they made him President. I wonder if the same mind set of people in the 1920s would have voted for Al Capone if he promised them conservative judges?