Trump: "The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry. And there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you've recalculated."
Raffensperger: "Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong."
The Georgia Senate races confirm the Presidential result. Georgia voters split about 50-50, with a tiny edge, apparently, for Democrats.
No big surprise.
Fox News is risking its profitability and its position in the market. Fox is reporting news that is unwelcome--maybe even unbelievable to many of its viewers--that apparently, once again, Democrats got just about exactly half the votes in a Georgia election. It's real: People actually vote for Democrats, legitimately, right under the eyes of voting officials.
Fox wrote it as straight news:
There is an imbedded message here.
The denoted, overt message is a report that Warnock and Biden won. Simple. The imbedded message is "Hey, wake up! Face reality. Biden won, duh. We aren't arguing that Biden won. We aren't taking the position that Biden won. We are sharing the simple reality that Biden won and so did Warnock, and maybe Ossoff."
Meanwhile, Trump. Trump was busy last night, tweeting.
And he kept tweeting:
The hardest thing to notice is what is not there. Trump wasn't there, front and center on Fox's web page. We don't see a story by Fox headlined something like: "President Trump protests widespread fraud, cites 'voter dump.'" The ninth story on this morning's opening page is an announcement of the upcoming rally near the White House. It concluded with a wet blanket:
Trump is becoming an embarrassment.
Trump's alternative view of the world persists, but it is no longer reality at Fox. There is a reality owned by Trump, yes, plus die-hards and the gullible, and by partisans who voice it for strategic reasons or out of inertia. It is performance, a show, just like the one Pence will do, implying that he loves Trump, and Trump is right, but that his hands are tied.
The objectors today are acting in a drama intended to bridge the two realities, the Trump reality and the reality that Republican voters are slow to wake up to, that Trump lost. A parent knows how to let a child down easy: There is no Santa Claus, but he exists as spirit and is more real than ever, and he will keep coming next Christmas and the ones after that.
Senators Hawley and Cruz have reason to put on the show because it connects them to the populist base. We are seeing the 2024 campaign already. They want to be more Trump-y than Trump, Don Junior, Ivanka, or anyone else. Voters around the world who share emails and Facebook assurances that Trump is a victim of some dark conspiracy of theft will continue to hold on a while. They need not believe Trump himself exactly, but they believe Trump's cause is just. The Trump spirit is as real as ever.
There are lots of reasons for partisans to hate Democrats and love Trump, and we are at the front end of a long process of watching a new reality settle in. Republican politicians, like Fox News, are hoping to pull their audience along with them. That means ditching Trump but keeping the spirit of Trump.
Trump the man has to go. He has gone wacko.
6 comments:
A little wacko? No, he has gone a lot wacko, delusional even. Some republicans in Georgia voted straight democratic yesterday, because they are reality oriented. Republicans have a decision to make, either follow the Trump train to an eventual train wreck or return to being honest. They can’t do both. I actually hope they return to reality.
Peter, I'd like to hear your take on what "Trumpism" (after Trump) looks like. Nobody can seem to find a coherent ideology besides loyalty to the man, and contempt for "liberals". None of these sycophants like Cruz or Hawley have Trump's (admittedly powerful) charisma or persuasive abilities. But "wacko" thinking is not going away. There's a space there now and something will fill the spot.
We are witnessing the real time destruction of a political party. In one day.
They deserve it. The Republican party has embraced the most Regressive elements of our society in a desperate attempt to hold on to power after repeatedly failing to serve the needs of the American people. They are now attempting to overthrow a fair and legal election with lies and cynical pandering to conspiracists.
As far as Trump goes; it's the orchestrated season finale of a reality show.
I started my comment from a position of the Civil War being won and we needed to bind up the wounds of America and unite. I deleted those words what I write now is that there are only two parties in Washington at this moment - patriots and traitors. I no longer mince my words. Support for Trump is treason!
I spent the day emailing Cliff Benz who took Greg Walden’s seat in Congress. Cliff had declared he was going to support the efforts to discredit the election results. In each email I gave him a blow by blow update on what I was watching on TV, I used words like treason, treachery , then sedition, anarchy, then fascist trying to increase my vocabulary about the Republican Party. Finally I got to blood on his hands. Asked him to come forward and be heard. Finally I knew I was beating a dead horse. These guys will now pretend amazement and tsk, tsk shame on Donnie. And go back to sucking up to the racism, violence and guns and oh, yes God's American freedom for not wearing of masks.
Nothing will change. All will grab and defend their power through fear and money. Trump will never leave the stage. And the media will act so amazed!!!! What would have happened if Black Lives Matter had stormed the citadel? How many dead then?
Time to re-brand this Whig party. Any ideas?
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