Today is the day when the control of the United States Senate will be determined as a result of the two runoff elections in Georgia. Democrat, Jon Ossoff, versus Republican incumbent David Perdue. And Democrat Reverend Warnock versus Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. The outcomes of these two races will determine which party controls the Senate and whether or not Mitch McConnell will remain as the Majority Leader. If the Democrats prevail (an uphill battle), it will certainly make Joe Biden’s life a bit easier. The Senate would be tied with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats but Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the Senate President Pro Tem and would be the tie breaking vote. There is no doubt that there is a lot at stake.
However, given the latest revelation of the tape with Trump pressuring Georgia election official, Brad Raffensperger, to ‘find’ 11,780 votes for Trump to basically throw the state into Trump’s ‘win’ column and the Republicans, who not only rushed to Trump’s defense in spite of this egregious assault on democracy, but are planning to challenge the certified results from the Electoral College, I believe this election is about much more than the control of the senate. I believe this election is about a willingness to tolerate and abet corruption in an ‘all’s fair in politics to retain power mentality’ – or not!
The call that Trump made to Raffensperger could just as easily have been made by Don Corleone or John Gotti. This country does not need a mob boss in the Oval Office and right now, that is essentially what we have. The sad part is, Trump isn’t even a ‘good’ mob boss. No doubt Corleone and Gotti would be laughing their asses off at Trump’s ham-handed attempts to come across as a tough guy. Trump is a failed businessman. Trump is a failed president. And Trump is a failed mobster. Trump is a con man, plain and simple, and his gig is just about up.
Had the Republicans had the backbones to convict Trump on impeachment charges, when he did this the first time with Ukrainian President Zelensky, we wouldn’t be here. But the fact is, Trump got away with the egregious abuse of power when he tried to pressure President Zelensky to announce investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. This failure to hold Trump accountable, just emboldened him and that is what we are seeing now. And those Republicans that are willing to challenge the results of the Electoral College, in spite of no credible evidence being presented to date in courts of law, to support those challenges, are no better than the lookout drivers waiting in the car for the bank robbers to emerge from the bank to whisk them away. They are aiding and abetting criminal activity which is undermining the very foundations of our democracy.
It is quite clear that the Republicans are more than willing to engage in all kinds of activities that are unethical and sometimes illegal in a desperate attempt to cling to power at all costs. To date, these have included gerrymandering, voter suppression, failing to hold the President accountable, challenging the results of a legitimate election, propagating provably false conspiracy theories and now aiding and abetting a President engaged in what is clearly unethical and most probably illegal election meddling. I have argued before that Trump is desperate to stay in office simply because he will face significant legal and financial problems when he leaves. His motivation is purely personal. The Trump Republicans each have their own personal reason, but the bottom line is that they want to cater to Trump’s base and the political power that comes with it. This is not about rigged elections, voter fraud, or any other nonsense. This is about power and holding on to the ability to push an agenda that is primarily beneficial to the wealthy and to white, fundamentalist Christians.
All you have to do is look at all of the Republican members of the House of Representatives and the Republican members of the Senate who are jumping on the bandwagon to challenge the results of the Electoral College and ask yourself, how many of these individuals are anything other than white? It is certainly not a very diverse group and, although there are a few white women involved, it is primarily made up of white men. It is certainly not a representative group of the demographics that make up America today.
Interestingly, most of the failed challenges to the election results that have been mounted to date by Trump’s legal team have involved challenging results from counties in the various states that contain large numbers of non-white voters. Are you seeing a theme here? That’s because there is a theme. This whole charade by Trump, his legal team, and his Congressional supporters, if it had been successful, would have disenfranchised millions of non-white voters. So, let’s be brutely honest here. When distilled down to the raw, bare, ugly facts this whole thing is about white political power. For Trump it’s about survival but, for all the other Republicans involved, its simply a power play to push an agenda that does not recognize nor represent the changing demographics of the country.
President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, was faced with a similar problem and he made his choice as to which side of democracy he would fight for. Perhaps the Republicans who are abetting Trump in this assault on democracy should read a little history and take a cue from Lincoln before they so quickly run down a rabbit hole that could certainly lead to a second Civil War if successful. ‘We the people’ have voted in accordance with the US Constitution. The results have been certified in every single state, Republican and Democrat. The efforts to overturn this election are no less seditious than the opposition Lincoln faced. It’s a truly sad day for America.
I heard from a Federal attorney that Trump should be impeached a second time for his phone call of intimation to an official to commit vote tampering. It is a crime in Georgia as well as a Federal crime. That impeachment would make him ineligible to run for office again and the impeachment can happen even if after he leaves office because the crime was committed when he was in office. Of course, he will be indicted for Federal and State crimes for the same offense.