How enabling Donald Trump backfired on the Republicans
And it ain't so hot for the rest of us either...
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, which right now seems like a decent choice, you know Donald Trump is claiming he got cheated out of the presidency.
If you believe Trump’s claim you also have to believe that there was a nation-wide conspiracy to cheat him and only him and both Democrats and Republicans were in on it. The plot would have to include election officials, elected officials and the judges who have dismissed Trump’s lawsuits for lack of evidence.
And if you’re thinking that’s unlikely, just wait.
Over the weekend Trump doubled down on his conspiracy theory and said the FBI and Justice Department also might be involved in the scheme. Here’s what Attorney General, William Barr – a Trump supporter to put it mildly – had to say about that:
"To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,"
But despite the fact that pretty much everybody with a three-digit IQ who’s looked into Trump’s claims says he has no evidence to back them up, most of the big-time GOP lawmakers still refuse to admit Joe Biden kicked his ass and tell Trump to knock this shit off. (They might word it a little differently – they’re politicians – but that’s what it comes down to.)
Those Republican lawmakers are enabling Trump and that’s what led to the cartoon you see above. The stuff about hospitals putting off surgeries is completely true and as far as I’m concerned, so is the need for spine implants.
Refusing to call Trump on his BS because they’re scared of him is having serious consequences; now the Republicans are afraid that Trump supporters will not vote in the Georgia runoff election that will decide who controls the Senate because Trump has convinced them the elections are rigged and their votes don’t matter.
Trump is scheduled to go to Georgia and campaign, but Republican leaders are afraid he’ll blow off urging people to get out and vote and make it about him and repeat his imaginary grievances, which might lower voter turnout.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer party.
But what does it mean for the rest of us?
The Republicans are being hoisted on their own petard and I actually looked that up because I’ve never known exactly what it means and found out it comes from Shakespeare and means “hoisted” (off the ground) by their own “petard” (which is a small bomb).
So if the Republicans are blowing themselves up with their own bomb, why should Democrats or Independents or the Rent Is Too Damn High Party – and I didn’t make that last one up – care?
Yesterday, a Georgia election official – a Republican – pleaded with Donald Trump to condemn threats of physical violence against election workers and officials after someone posted a video claiming vote manipulation by Dominion Voting Machines and a contractor for that company was accused of treason and found a noose outside his house. The man’s family members also received death threats.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident.
Trump called Georgia GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, an “enemy of the people” and Raffensperger and his wife have received threats. Her threats were “sexualized” and I don’t know what that means and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to.
Bottom line: there are some sick people out there and Donald Trump is encouraging them.
Don’t forget the numbskulls that wanted to kidnap the governor of Michigan, the two men arrested weapons violations near the convention center in Philadelphia, the charming couple that decided to wave weapons at protestors passing their house and the Staten Island man arrested for threatening violence against protesters, law enforcement and politicians in response to the election being “fraudulently stolen from us.”
So GOP lawmakers are enabling Donald Trump and Donald Trump is enabling a bunch of morons who are going to spend the next four years thinking they got cheated and Joe Biden isn’t a legitimate president.
What could possibly go wrong?
The Soufan Center is a non-partisan strategy center dedicated to increasing awareness of global security issues in the United States and around the world (took that right off their website) and here’s what Colin P. Clarke, a senior research fellow at the center had to say about all this:
“Under Trump, the U.S. has become a tinderbox.”
Neat, huh?
If you’re living under a rock I’m happy to pass along all this information and if you’re not living under a rock you might want to start.
I found a great one in my backyard just yesterday.