What's happening as the Trump Administration goes through its final days is providing all of the evidence needed to prove that the "left wing liberal media" has been right on target and one hundred percent accurate about the mind-boggling corruption of the Trump Presidency. Partisan politics is doing exactly what George Washington warned us about in his farewell address. It has produced a blindness that is coming as close to achieving a destruction of the American Republic that our enemies have never succeeded in doing.
The leftist, liberal, mainstream media that conservatives so despise predicted that Trump would resist leaving the White House if he were to be defeated in the election in 2020, and they were exactly right. It wasn't hard to predict how he would resist, since he's been vocal about it ever since he got into office. But they've been right about everything they've said about Trump from the very beginning.
Deceiving the Faithful: Trump Thinks His Base of Supporters are Ignorant Fools
What Trump supporters point to as "evidence" of widespread voter fraud, mainly the anecdotal stories provided by mostly paid witnesses in the right wing media--and even Fox News has backed away from using most of the sources provided by Giuliani and the Trump Campaign because they are so obviously paid and hence, completely lacking in credibility--is not what his lawyers are arguing in front of the courts. If they brought that motley collection of kooks and their alleged "evidence" into a courtroom, the attorneys would be disbarred for malpractice. They are using those stories as a means of raising the money from their gullible followers in order to pay off a relatively large campaign debt and the legal debt they are piling up. They're selling that to their supporters to get money, but that's not the "evidence" they're taking to court.
But if Trump supporters think that's the evidence that is being presented in court, they are being deceived. The lawyers on Trump's legal team know that none of that evidence is credible. They have to deal with the facts as they exist, one being that this 2020 election has produced the most accurate, verifiable vote count in history, the other that under the Constitution, states make the laws which govern their own elections. The state officials who were in charge of the election, most of them Republicans themselves, have showed up in court with the evidence that proves and certifies the accuracy of their vote counts and that the rules under their state laws have been followed. It's hard to argue against the facts.
Some of the mistakes and gaffes made by Giuliani in particular, but also other members of Trump's legal team, have underlined just how ridiculous this effort has become. The Four Seasons Landscaping debacle is one of the most laughable errors. The claim that more people voted for Biden in Detroit than actually live in Detroit failed to take into account that precincts in Michigan are organized by county, not by city, and the official vote total that includes Detroit came from Wayne County, population 1,749,343 with plenty of registered voters to account for the 597,000 votes Biden received, as well as Trump's 264,000 with plenty of registered voters and residents left to spare and then some. Votes are not reported separately out of Detroit, nor does the city government there have anything to do with the election or the vote count, as incorrectly asserted by Giuliani.
Corrupt Expectations
Judges in the American federal court system are appointed by the President for the sole purpose of upholding the law. That is particularly true in cases which interpret the Constitution. Trump is complaining that federal judges he appointed do not seem to be returning any favors in their rulings against his election challenges. What is amazing about that is that he clearly expected the favors. You can't really get more corrupt than that. Ignore the law and rule in my favor because I appointed you? What is sickening is that most of his supporters are perfectly fine with his corruption, as long as they get their way. Seriously? If you're just OK with that, or pass it off as just politics, you have just trampled on the Constitution and thrown out the rule of law on which this country is founded. You're clearly no patriot, you're an extremist.
Trump himself stated that one of his expectations of the newest Supreme Court justice was that she appeared likely to rule in his favor when it came to election challenges. He planned this out in advance. Apparently, she is not as corrupt as he thought she was because she, along with the other eight justices, joined in turning down, without even a simple acknowledgement, the first case that came their way regarding the election.
And what kind of message is being sent by the lawsuit brought by the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, himself an indicted crook? Eighth graders who have to pass Constitution and Government know that no state can interfere in the election activity of any other state. Of course, Paxton is doing this to get Trump's favor and attention in order to get a pardon for the crimes he's committed. Other states are joining in because there are some state officials who still need Trump's favor to win elections and raise money. It is one of the most disgusting displays of ignorance and, well, frankly, outright stupidity that I have ever witnessed as an American. I joined the GOP as a college student right before the 1980 election. I would not vote for a Republican now for any office, not so much because of a political disagreement with their policy, though there are plenty of their positions with which I disagree, but because they have enabled the corruption of the American Republic for their own pocket-lining benefit.
Republicans With Integrity Are Rare
John McCain is at the top of my list. Yes, he could be a stubborn bulldog but if he were still alive, you wouldn't see the kind of going along with corruption that characterizes what it means to be Republican in America today. One of the most heartwarming aspects of this election was the gift that the voters of Arizona gave to his memory, putting their 11 electoral votes in Biden's column following his widow's endorsement. Yes, Trump lost Arizona because of John McCain.
Mitt Romney is also at the top of the Republican integrity list. He's a loyal and very conservative Republican but he has never bowed at the Trump altar. Next to McCain, he's been the most consistent Republican critic of Trump. He missed his shot at the Presidency by running four years too soon, though I think he still could have secured the nomination in 2016 before the Russians were able to give much help to Donald.
I've not really been surprised by the way Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey has stood up against Trump. Toomey is definitely Republican and conservative, but he's a politician who functions in accordance with the law and understands the importance of serving his constituents by working across the aisle. He's got a backbone.
And in spite of what they've done politically since being elected to office in Georgia, you have to admire Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Under withering pressure, they stood up to Trump and upheld both the law and the integrity of the voting process in their state. It hasn't been that long ago that Georgia was a place of terrible voter suppression and the turnaround has largely been due to individuals like Stacey Abrams and Keisha Lance Bottoms. But in spite of pressure, Kemp and Raffensperger held the line, producing evidence of a clean election, canvassing, auditing and recounting ballots not just once, but three times, and producing documented evidence of an election that represents the voters.
Is There Hope In the Future?
I sincerely hope that the one thing, perhaps the only positive thing, that comes out of the most corrupt Presidency in American history is a lesson learned. By the time the next election rolls around in 2024, I sincerely hope that laws will be in place that will prevent criminal frauds like Donald Trump from even being eligible to run.
To be honest, I don't think Trump would get nominated by the GOP if he did run again in 2024. Once he's gone, I think many GOP leaders will find a way to make sure he stays that way. He's unhealthy and when 2024 rolls around, will be 78. He's already suffering from dementia, visible when you watch him speak in public and particularly if you ever have the desire to watch one of his rallies all the way through. While it appears that Biden plans to follow Washington's rule of letting action speak for itself and will likely not push the criminal investigations against Trump further, I do hope that there are others who decide that no one is above the law. He's corrupt, but he may not be able to count on very many, if any, of his judicial appointees to help him out. Their job no longer depends on his favor. And they don't want to be labelled as corrupt.
Good-bye, Donald. It was not a pleasure.
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