The saddest part about the Big Lie is that it’s not going to just affect this election, but all elections to come from here on out. The lie is so big and it keeps getting bigger. The evidence in support of it keeps eluding discovery, despite the proselytizers of the lie saying that it will be conclusively and bombastically proven just any nano second now and the world will never be the same.
A pastor once defined faith as “belief in things not yet seen.” That is the definition of religious faith. We cannot see heaven or know of the existence of God or angels, so we either choose to believe in them or not. That is what the 2020 election has come down to. It is now an article of faith in Trump world whether you bee-leave, as Franklin Graham would intone it, whether Trump won — the corollary being that if you only bee-leave hard enough, then it will come to pass.
Wrong. Say what you will about God, assuming He exists, He made the universe to operate according to immutable laws. Gravity isn’t going to suspend itself just because it would be a convenience to some disappointed politician. A lot of the laws of man are as straight forward as physical laws as well, and there is no mechanism in the Constitution, none whatsoever, for “reinstatement.” It exists only in the mind of Trump and his enablers. And make no mistake that it exists there. Charles C.W. Cooke, National Review:
I can attest, from speaking to an array of different sources, that Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he — along with former senators David Perdue and Martha McSally — will be “reinstated” to office this summer after “audits” of the 2020 elections in Arizona, Georgia, and a handful of other states have been completed. I can attest, too, that Trump is trying hard to recruit journalists, politicians, and other influential figures to promulgate this belief — not as a fundraising tool or an infantile bit of trolling or a trial balloon, but as a fact. […]
The scale of Trump’s delusion is quite startling. This is not merely an eccentric interpretation of the facts or an interesting foible, nor is it an irrelevant example of anguished post-presidency chatter. It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government. There is no Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. Hell, there is nothing even approximating a Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. The election has been certified, Joe Biden is the president, and, until 2024, that is all there is to it. It does not matter what one’s view of Trump is. It does not matter whether one voted for or against Trump. It does not matter whether one views Trump’s role within the Republican Party favorably or unfavorably. We are talking here about cold, hard, neutral facts that obtain irrespective of one’s preferences; it is not too much to ask that the former head of the executive branch should understand them.
Just how far out there is Trump’s theory? Consider that, even if it were true that the 2020 election had been stolen — which it is absolutely not — his belief would still be absurd. It could be confirmed tomorrow that agents working for a combination of al-Qaeda, Venezuela, and George Soros had hacked into every single voting machine in the country and altered the totals by tens of millions, and it would remain the case there is no mechanism within the American legal order for a do-over of any sort. In such an eventuality, there would be indictments, an impeachment drive, and a constitutional crisis. But, however bad it got, Donald Trump would not be “reinstated” to the presidency. That is not how America works, how America has ever worked, or how America can ever work. American politicians do not lose their reelection races only to be reinstalled later on, as might the second-place horse in a race whose winner was disqualified. The idea is otherworldly and obscene.
The GOP knows that this is the case, but they’re between a rock and a hard place. They need to depend upon voter suppression laws and redistricting to stay in power. Therefore, they have happily co-opted the idea of “election integrity” as a buzzword to use in their disenfranchishment schemes going forward. They’re not worried about the unconscionable erosion of faith in free and fair elections, they’re too busy trying to figure out a way to marry it to their long game. Whether it will work or not, one thing is clear: Mitch McConnell asking senators to vote down the January 6 Commission as a “personal favor” to him shows the naked political fear of this moment, surrounding the Big Lie and the proposed investigation of same.
If Trump had just accepted defeat, graciously or ingraciously, and moved on, he might well have had a comeback in 2024. We will never know. Because by him not admitting defeat and allowing the nation to come together, he widened the rift in the culture divide. Now he seeks to do more damage, still, with this futile notion that somehow, he didn’t really lose the election. So the GOP has a madman as its titular head, and a minority leader, McConnell, desperately trying to keep everything covered up and just trying to play politics as normal, and then there’s Kevin McCarthy, who is clueless. McCarthy literally just lives through each day, like a fruit fly, trying to cope as best he can with whatever comes at him. McCarthy has no plan, he’s just following McConnell’s housekeeping detail and hoping that Marjorie Taylor Greene stops shooting off her mouth before she does more damage.
That’s the state of the Republican party as we start to roll into summer, 2021. Mark my words, it will get a lot stranger.
I suspect they’re going to try to overthrow the existing administration, and I hope that the FBI and all the other agencies are watching the people talking about it and all their associates.
I don’t know if it will get that crazy. The only reason I say that is because a lot of the Capitol rioters are now getting arrested and they thought Trump would pardon them. I don’t know how much here is bark and how much is bite.
They sent Hitler to prison for a failed coup attempt. Didn’t stop anything.
Well, yeah, it did. Hitler learned to work within the system. When he became Chancellor in 1933, the Nazis weren’t a majority in the Reichstag; in fact, the Nazi’s “Seizure of Power” (in which Hitler was officially named Chancellor) was actually done within the confines of the Weimar Republic’s Constitution rather than a coup or other illegal method.
Of course, as soon as he became Chancellor, he ordered a crackdown on opposition parties (especially the Communists and the Socialists). The Reichstag fire happened fairly soon afterwards and then another parliamentary election was held in which a number of parties were prohibited from participating and it was that election in which the Nazis took power and there wouldn’t be any free elections in Germany until after the war.
I don’t think DJT is smart enough to learn anything that complex-actually work within a system. He may be cunning, but he choses not to learn anything legitimate.
U missed my point. It didn’t stop HIM from usurping power, & I believe history shows he was named Chancellor, then later murdered the man who named him. He did not legitimately ‘win’ anything. Throwing him in jail did not stop HIM or the national socialist party. That ‘constitution’ was as valid as the ones the Republican controlled states are busy fashioning. Let’s not ignore the violence on the streets he supported & threatened others with. Of course, he was as loyal to his brownshirt militias as Trump was to his insurrectionists. There were a lotta ‘illegal’ things done to facilitate his rise to power.
Never say never. This looser trying any and everything. The problem is 6 Jan is being ignored. The Constitution was well throughout. You might say it expected a looser like bones spurs to attempt such a move. Thank God for true Americans, who truly loves our country ,respect and obey our laws but most of. All true Americans have HONOR. They might attempt this again,only the outcome Will be different. Laws rule not lies.
I;m not sure where Trump is getting the idea that McSally would be joining him in DC again since the fraudit applies ONLY to the Presidential race. That was made very explicit from the start. No matter how many “votes” the frauditors “find” for Trump, the Cyber Ninja team are NOT authorized to “audit” any other race.
SNL did a skit back in the 80’s where Regan was so addle-brained, his staff convinced him that he was in a movie playing the part of POTUS. They told him his speeches were scripts and each one he was acting in a scene. I see the same think with Donnie Dim-Bulb.
I remember that skit and have (without success) looked for it on YouTube and more than once. For those who don’t remember or never saw it the thing is shot from Reagan’s perspective – the camera is where his head would be. Someone that could impersonate his voice would ask (in a whiny tone) something like “I don’t understand. Why would my character want to take money from programs for poor people?” and you’d see exasperated aides frowning and say things like “Just read the script Ron!” I for one couldn’t help but wonder if sometimes in real life things didn’t happen that way. However, Reagan was always too impressed by rich people, assuming that they were rich ONLY because they were really smart and knew their stuff. Perhaps it was the influence of growing up in a small northern Illinois town (Dixon) where the “rich” people were local businessmen that had built up a small family business the old-fashioned way with actual hard work and taking care of customers – and even if they were scuzzy doing enough charitable stuff to maintain good will in the community. Dixon was one of those “everyone knows everyone” type of places and one couldn’t get away with too much cheating or shennanigans and stay in business. Anyway, I suspect that from his days as a Hollywood actor Reagan assumed that the rich people he met in California were the same as the “rich” folks back home. Maybe kinda jerks at times but basically decent people who would usually (more or less) do the right thing. Talk about a sucker!
Ursula. I wish you hadn’t posted that picture. Those are two of the ugliest white men one could find. Ha.