At what point do Donald Trump’s attacks on the election results shift from bumbling failures to full on treason? Yesterday it was reported that Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to pressure him into calling a special session, where Kemp would strongarm state legislators to select their own electors that would endorse Trump. The president also demanded that Kemp order an audit of absentee ballot signatures, something Kemp does not have the authority to do.
Kemp refused to call a special session, and Kemp spokesman released a statement saying, “The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order, … As the Governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps — including a sample audit of signatures — to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised.”
As I told the President this morning, I’ve publicly called for a signature audit three times (11/20, 11/24, 12/3) to restore confidence in our election process and to ensure that only legal votes are counted in Georgia. #gapol https://t.co/xdXrhf1vI2
— Brian Kemp (@BrianKempGA) December 5, 2020
An angry, rampaging Trump has been lashing out at his former supporters ever since his loss in November. A month later, Trump still refuses to concede, and parrots far-right conspiracy theories about voter fraud that have zero evidence. Trump’s team has now lost dozens of cases in states across the country and they fight to delegitimize the election results.
Trump has called Kemp a “moron” and a “nut job”, and told Fox News in an interview that he was “ashamed” he had endorsed Kemp. Trump and his cronies have also targeted Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, calling him “enemy of the people,”. Even newly re-elected Senator Lindsey Graham pressured Raffensperger into disqualifying ballots to hand the win to Trump. And incumbent Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, both of whom are competing in runoff elections next month, have called on Raffensperger to step down.
In response, Raffensperger wrote an Op-Ed in USA Today where he called out Trump for targeting him, saying “my family voted for him, donated to him and are now being thrown under the bus by him.”
Fellow Georgia Republican, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that Trump’s bullying wouldn’t work. Duncan accused Trump of using “mountains of misinformation” to try to cheat the election, adding “Calling the General Assembly back in at this point would almost be along the lines of a solution trying to find a problem, … And we’re certainly not going to move the goalposts at this point in the election.”
Duncan added, “All of us in this position have got increased security around us and our families and it’s not American, it’s not what democracy is all about but it’s reality right now. So we are going to continue to do our jobs. Gov. Kemp, Brad Raffensperger and myself all three voted and campaigned for the President but, unfortunately, he didn’t win the state of Georgia but it doesn’t change our job descriptions.”
Now, republicans are worried that Trump’s relentless attacks on Georgia’s election integrity (which again, have no basis in reality) will keep voters away from polls in the Georgia senate runoff. Trump’s own clown car of lawyers are encouraging Georgians not to voted because “the system is rigged.”
Trump threw another super-spreader rally last night to support incumbent senators Loeffler and Perdue, but spent much of the event whining about the presidential election and spewing lies about winning.
Trump’s refusal to accept reality and concede with any shred of dignity is pathetic and deeply un-American. But it also sets a dangerous precedent for future wannabe dictators. After all, Trump is a deeply ignorant and ineffective leader who has hired an army of clowns to defend him in court. What happens if the next pretender to the throne is actually competent and hires effective foot soldiers? It’s a terrifying thought.
Our democracy currently feels like an old wooden rollercoaster. We may have fond memories of riding it in our youth, but as adults we see the dangers of an unsafe and rickety system that is one break away from total collapse. The guardrails of democracy held fast in 2020, but they’re in dire need of reinforcement and repair.
(via CNN, featured image: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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Published: Dec 6, 2020 02:44 pm