Republicans won House seats, Senatorial races, state legislatures. The ballots give a good result for Republicans.
Except for Trump. He lost.
He says the ballots are phony and there was a conspiracy.
"I ask, oh God, that you would take your iron rod, and I ask that you would smash the clay jar of deceit in America. Smash the clay jar of delusion in the United States of America. Smash the delusion of Joe Biden as our president. He is not."
Michelle Bachman
Michelle Bachman may be an extreme case, but she is far from alone. A Morning Consult poll says that 70% of Republicans now say that the election was not "free and fair." It reports that 78% of Republicans say mail voting led to "widespread voter fraud." and 72% say there was widespread ballot tampering.
Leadership matters, and Trump is a persuasive advocate. Trump set the groundwork. He said there would be a conspiracy of Democrats, County Clerks, State election officials, forged ballots, dead people voting, people voting twice, something that would create a fraudulent election, and that if he didn't win then he would have been robbed.
He says this even in states with Republicans in key positions to manage and monitor the vote. There is a Republican Governor and Secretary of State in Georgia, whose vote counts parallel exactly the vote counts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The vote count pattern is entirely predictable, and had been publicly predicted, including on Fox News. There was substantial same-day voting by Republicans who were told to vote on election day because mail ballots were dangerous, and substantial early voting by mail by Democrats who were told it was safer than standing in long lines to vote. Then, as predicted, the Republican-oriented same-day vote was announced on election night, with mailed ballots opened and counted over the next days. Trump would get an early lead; Democrats would gain back some or all of it.
We are observing that leadership has consequences. Presidents have a role far beyond their governmental power. They lead, by asserting what they claim to be reality. They set a narrative. People don't always follow it, but they see it, and supporters tend to follow it.
Trump, for his own reasons, chose to treat COVID as a foreign invasion, then downplay its health consequences, treating masks and social distancing and temporary shutdowns as nanny-state tyranny and bad policy. He evolved into advancing a policy that is in effect today: let Governors, especially in blue states, take the heat for shutdowns. He would be on the side of freedom. People who like Trump generally go along. Trump supporters are more casual about the virus than are people who dislike Trump. Mask-wearing is partisan signaling. That was not inevitable. That was leadership.
Trump can sell. He makes big, bold promises and he speaks with confidence. Trump appears to believe what he says when he says it. Joe Biden does not have Trump's gift of persuasion. Trump sells hard; Biden sells softly. Biden's assertions seem like pleas. He is asking us, hoping to convince us, hoping we use our common sense. Trump is telling us what is real, and telling us people who disagree are wrong, period. Conviction sells.
Trump said that voting by mail is fraudulent, except in Florida, and Republicans believe it, and most Republican elected officials go along, even though it creates the complication that they actually like the part of the same ballot that grew the GOP's strength down ballot.
On election morning eight days ago I predicted all this, with a heavy heart. Yes, Biden would win the most votes. It would be the worst case afterwards: a much closer election than predicted by the polls, but with Biden winning enough votes in the right places. And then, I predicted, Trump would assert that the election had failed, that his loss was due to fraud, and that Republican state legislatures should ignore the popular vote and declare that the electors belonged to Trump. And then that it would go to the Courts. That is what is happening.
I will make a new prediction: Biden will be inaugurated president in January, because the facts won't sustain Trump's assertion, but Trump will win the long game. The long game is to stop Biden from creating a government of national unity with bi-partisan action on the problems facing us. Such unity is impossible on a foundation where one side is told by a persistent leader that he had been cheated.
And what value is that for Trump and the GOP? The GOP voters in this era of Trump are not unified on behalf of a conservative legislative agenda. They are unified by resentment. It is a party of opposition to Democrats, to demographic and social changes that are underway, to multicultural diversity, to secular government, to the economic and social changes that governments cannot stop. It is a party resentful about an on-rushing future that upsets a sentimental notion of a better past, when America was great in a way it isn't now.
5 comments:
I think this is the disintegration of America. If 70% of republicans can not see the election was fair, when it obviously was fair, then it’s clear partisan politics beats truth. Republicans can’t see they won all those senate races? Trump is the diseased result. I fear for our country.
"Nearly 80% of Americans, including more than half of Republicans, recognize President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the election, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll." - Reuters
I'll go with that, even though we are stuck with the recalcitrant 20% who live in an alternate reality, including some in Congress. I'm advocating a return to state run mental health facilities.
At some point, hopefully sooner than later, all Americans will see that Trumpism is not a political ideology but a marketing ploy designed to enrich its leader and a certain media outlet. (I see Don Jr. on QVC at some point.)
It hijacked a political party that was vulnerable and desperate for power, and that continues to go down the path to oblivion despite the rejection of a majority that will only grow.
Quite simply, America is becoming more secular, more diverse, and more tolerant. Those that cannot or will not adapt will be relegated to the margins. For many this will mean entering the welfare state, perhaps sharing Title VI housing with those who have different music tastes.
I have a prediction too...The return of Trump steaks!!
Rick,
20% of the voters have a real beef. The steaks in this election have never been higher. We refuse to be cowed...
If the US Senate races in Georgia we’re decided the transition would go forward. Whether Trump is on the Senate runoff ballot in Georgia or not the “ever presence” of Trump will turn out the Republican vote when the runoff election is held. I expect Mitch McConnell will recognize the Presidential Election results when the Senate races are settled. The wild card behind the scene is not political, it’s the return of CoVid19 throughout the country. Biden’s calming caring concern for all of us will turn the tide eventually. However, the 24/7 cable news shows now have another viewer-drawing, ad revenue producing reason to hope the transition drags on and on.
THe 2020 presidential results have confirmed the fast growing rot and decadence our nation has experienced as a result of ignorance and prejudice. Science is looked on with deep suspicion even when it has produced such miracles as the vaccination protocols that protected a generation from such devastating diseases as measles, mumps and the scourge of polio. While we are comfortable in appropriating billions upon billions for "defense" we ignore the millions of people adrift in our nation suffering from a lack of shelter and medical treatment. We are not a "great" nation - we are a "lucky" nation, one that up to this point has not has its homeland violated by foreign invaders, occupied, brutalized and bled dry. Even today, we teeter on the brink of a coup, a defeated president who has no intention of admitting that he has ever been wrong about any issue during his presidency. Can we really trust anyone in the Republican party to tell the truth about Donald Trump? A certified liar who has abused the office of president for four long years. While some may view his defeat at the polls as a repudiation of Repulican policies a great many Republicans espousing his egregious viewpoints were elected to office by an ignorant and idiotic electorate. We can only hope that some Republican leaders are secretly as repulsed by Trump and the the things he stands for and intervene to preserve what little inegrity remains in our voting process. I doubt that someone as stupid as Mitch McConnell understands that some issues are eally above politics.
Bob Warren
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