When you actually wish to admire the madness of what we’re witnessing proper now, simply play the choice situation in your head.
Had President Barack Obama misplaced to Mitt Romney in 2012 by over seven million votes, suffered a 306-232 Electoral school shellacking, but insisted he was the rightful winner, accusing the Republican Celebration of a large and fraudulent marketing campaign to undermine him, all whereas refusing to concede the election, you don’t really want to suppose too laborious to grasp how this complete sorry episode in our nation’s historical past would have performed out.
If one thing so ridiculous and far-fetched ever occurred, Democrats wouldn’t have waited to take away him, they’d have carried out it themselves. They wouldn’t have waited for the Republican Celebration to cry and scream about it. He would have been banished from political life and by no means spoken of once more.
So regardless of the Supreme Courtroom’s ruling, wiping out this newest try by the GOP to subvert and destroy our nation, there’s actually one thing unspeakably horrible about this second. It’s unhealthy sufficient as it’s, but it surely’s truly getting worse, Supreme Courtroom rulings however.
By now many individuals have put their finger on what’s happening right here. Mainly, the Republican Celebration has proven its true colours. In a means, maybe, we must always thank Donald Trump for bringing this out within the chilly mild, for all to see.
As Adam Serwer, writing for The Atlantic, cannily observes, the message that’s being despatched by the Republicans right here is that your vote was fraudulent if the particular person you voted for wasn’t Donald Trump. And extra particularly, your vote was fraudulent in case you are not white.
To Trump’s strongest supporters, Biden’s win is a fraud as a result of his voters mustn’t depend to start with, and since the Democratic Celebration is just not a reliable political establishment that ought to be allowed to wield energy even when they did.
Because of this the authoritarian cures festering within the Trump fever swamps—martial legislation, the usurpation of state electors, Supreme Courtroom fiat—are so brazenly contemplated. As a result of the true will of the folks is that Trump stay president, forcing that end result, even within the face of defeat, is a success of democracy quite than its betrayal.The Republican base’s elementary perception, the one which Trump used to win them over within the first place, the one which ties the election conspiracy concept to birtherism and to Trump’s sneering assault on the Squad’s citizenship, is that Democratic victories don’t depend, as a result of Democratic voters usually are not actually American. It’s no accident that the Trump marketing campaign’s claims have centered nearly totally on jurisdictions with excessive Black populations.
To Republicans, solely white votes matter now. Are you questioning why you haven’t heard any accusations about voter fraud within the suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia, for instance, which helped Joe Biden win Pennsylvania? There are not any such accusations, as a result of these areas are predominantly white.
Again to our imagined situation: If Barack Obama had tried this, the Republican Celebration would lengthy since have lined up in unison, braying for his head on a platter. There can be no reticence in calling this precisely what it’s: treachery, treason, sedition of the best order.
Republicans wouldn’t be demanding hearings. From the highest of the GOP management down, they’d be demanding an inquisition. They’d be urging all of their constituents to flood the streets.
However again in our actual world, Democrats have been remarkably quiet about what is going on. Maybe it’s an expectation that it will all blow over, as soon as the Electoral School votes on Monday. Maybe the considering is, following the lead of Joe Biden, Democrats wish to undertaking an air of professionalism and functionality whereas the Republicans make fools of themselves. Maybe they’re inclined to simply let the media do the castigating for them. Maybe, as some have prompt, they really feel as if their Republican counterparts are solely behaving this fashion as a result of they know their efforts might be unsuccessful.
I don’t perceive this considering. It appears ridiculously naive, notably below these instances of unprecedented disaster, the place hundreds of People are dying in hospitals each single day.
The Republicans have embraced fascism. I don’t know what number of instances it’s going to be essential to say this. I don’t understand how it may be mentioned extra clearly. There won’t be any cooperation with these folks. They’ve bought their souls. Fascists are impervious to motive, disgrace or argument. The one factor they perceive is energy when it’s used in opposition to them.
The Democratic Celebration represents the bulk—by a substantial margin—of the American voting public. As various as our coalition is, it’s actually the bulk, and it must behave like a majority. We—not the Republicans—have been the thousands and thousands who marched within the streets of Washington, D.C. in 2017. We—not the Republicans—have been the thousands and thousands who marched in each main metropolis within the nation—and virtually each different place within the nation—in opposition to racism and police brutality. We—not the Republicans—have been those who flooded the polls in 2018, and once more in 2020, lastly throwing this abomination out of workplace.
A majority has energy, and it is aware of when to make use of it.
What the Republicans are doing has been, and is, insupportable. Any Republican—on the state degree, the federal degree, or in another capability—ought to be made to know that they’ve betrayed the nation. They should know that they are going to be considered and handled like individuals who have betrayed their nation—for the remainder of their political careers. They have to be made to know that they are going to face the results of their 2020 treachery for the remainder of their lives.
Until and till that occurs, they are going to proceed to mock us, to disenfranchise us, realizing that we are going to sit again in worry, counting on our fragile “establishments” to guard us. After which they are going to attempt it once more.
