I had the TV on yesterday for the Jan. 6th hearings while I was doing some other work. What struck me while and after listening to the witnesses that testified, most of whom were part of Trump’s inner circle, was the fact that Trump is either one of the greatest con artists of all time or he is completely detached from reality. In either case, he is not qualified to be President of the United States.
Virtually all of the witnesses testified that Trump was informed multiple times by multiple people that there was absolutely no evidence to substantiate the claims of ‘widespread’ voter fraud that would result in overturning the election. And yet, he continued then and continues now to propagate this myth that the ‘election was stolen.’ And sadly, millions of people believe him.
In a way, I feel for some of these people because, as a result of these ongoing claims of widespread voter fraud, Trump has raised over $250 million to ostensibly fund efforts to prove voter fraud where none exists. In my opinion, this money has been stolen from most of these people under false pretenses. On the one hand, I guess I should just think that if these people are dumb enough to believe this nonsense in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they get what they deserve, i.e., a smaller wallet. However, I’m sure that a lot of people who really couldn’t afford to squander money on Trump’s myth, did so honestly believing they were doing ‘the right thing.’
As we all recall, there was a whole bunch of people who believed they were doing the right thing when they followed Jim Jones into the jungles of Guyana! He, like Trump, had nothing but the cult of personality to persuade all of these innocent people to commit suicide. Trump, so far, has not asked any of his followers to commit suicide (although one of his followers was fatally shot at the Capitol) but, hundreds of his followers have been charged with crimes in relation to the Jan. 6th insurrection. Some of those people have lost jobs. Families have been torn apart. Many more have sent over $250 million to the Bank of Trump! And, according to the testimony given today, Trump has been told multiple times by those close to him there is not one shred of evidence to back up any of his claims.
The big difference between Jim Jones’ cult and that of Trump is that the damage that Jim Jones did was confined to a few hundred people. The damage that Trump is doing is potentially undermining the very foundations of democracy upon which this country was built.
Al Gore had a much stronger case to be declared the winner of the 2000 election having won the popular vote by more than 500,000 votes and yet the whole issue was ultimately settled by the Supreme Court when they halted the counting of ballots in Florida which ultimately led to Bush being declared the winner in the Electoral College. Al Gore could have kept fighting in the arena of public opinion claiming that Bush had won the election by fraud. However, after the Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, issued its ruling, Gore stood down and conceded victory to Bush for the good of the country. It was a contentious but, ultimately peaceful, transfer of power that was adjudicated in the courts. That is the process that is supposed to be used in the United States of America.
Trump, on the other hand, lost over 60 cases in state and Federal courts and continued then and continues now to not accept those adjudications as correct. If Trump really cared about the country and ‘making America great again,’ he would do what Al Gore did and just concede. Unfortunately, as we have all witnessed over the last few years, Trump doesn’t give one whit about America. He cares only about Trump – period. If stroking his ego results in the undermining of democracy in America, sobeit.
The hysteria that Trump created due to these provably false claims of widespread voter fraud remind me of when Senator Joseph McCarthy riled up the country by falsely claiming that communists had infiltrated the Federal government, universities, the film industry and almost everywhere else. Interesting fact: Roy Cohn, one of Trump’s mentors, served as the chief counsel for Senator McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. “Modern historians view his approach during those hearings as dependent on demagogic, reckless and unsubstantiated accusations against political opponents”1 Sound familiar? A coincidence? You can draw your own conclusion.
Just for the record, Senator McCarthy was ultimately disgraced and censured by the Senate. Roy Cohn was ultimately disbarred for unethical conduct and died of complications from AIDS five months later.
The tragedy surrounding the Jim Jones cult and the ‘McCarthyism’ hearings are now mere footnotes in history. However, the hysteria that Trump caused with his knowingly false propagation of ‘The Big Lie,’ is likely to be much more long-lasting and damaging to this country. Numerous Republican-controlled State legislatures have passed laws regarding ‘election security’ although there was no problem with election security during the 2020 election. These laws are designed to limit access to voting under the guise of providing enhanced election security. Further, many pro-Trump candidates who continue to propagate the Big Lie, are running for political offices that will give them authority over future elections.
While there has been no evidence of wide spread ‘voter fraud’ in the last election, all of the activities currently underway by factions of the GOP and fueled by the Trump-created hysteria at the local, state and Federal level, could well lead to ‘election fraud’ in 2024. It will only take one state legislature to decide to replace a slate of Electoral College electors that were legitimately voted in by the populace with one that they substitute due to unfounded allegations of voter fraud to completely undermine the very foundations of democracy in this country.
Think it can’t happen? They already tried it. Granted they weren’t successful last time, but that’s no guarantee they won’t be successful next time. Trumpism is our version of Jonestown, McCarthyism or the Salem witch trials. The country ultimately survived those tragedies. Let’s hope we survive this one.
The Orange Blob has:
6 business bankruptcies
1 settlement of stealing from his charity – so as to avoid trial
1 settlement of corrupt fraudulent University – so as to avoid trial
Widely known to stiff his contractors.
Widely known to sue and litigate others into submission
Additional ways he’s made himself, not our country great, by sticking it to others:
Trump Airlines – crashed
Trump Beverages – dried up
Trump Magazine – into the fireplace – gone
Trump Mortgage – defaulted itself and never paid debts
Trump Steaks – eaten alive and gone
Trump Vodka – apparently now for Israeli to drink into oblivion.
The ghostwriter for his book “The Art of the Deal” says it is the worst thing he has ever done – write that book – almost all fiction. It would be more appropriately titled “The Art of the Scam”.
There is no current Republican party. He’s destroyed it. Until the Trumplican Socialist National Party is terminated and something else reasonable replaces it – we’re headed towards trouble. If the Jan 6th committee does not result is his arrest and trial / conviction – or at least him fleeing the country to avoid such – or him dying a nature death before 2024 – some very dangerous times lay ahead.