Question: "Who won the 2020 election?"
Answer: "Ma'am, we know that President Joe Biden was sworn into office."
The scene was the Senate confirmation hearing of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), nominee for secretary of homeland security. The question came from Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI).
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| Republicans have a dilemma. There is a question they must not answer directly. The Biden-was-inaugurated response tries to make irrelevant the issue of Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Trump is adamant that Republicans not contradict his assertion that he won the 2020 election. If the Republicans answer to the question acknowledges reality, he becomes a RINO, a Republican in name only. RINOs are traitors to Trump. It is the classic "The Emperor has no clothes!" problem. Republicans are forced to deny their own eyes. Republicans might be watching to see who is non-compliant. |
To be a Republican in good standing, one needs to ignore evidence that would normally be dispositive. The 2020 votes came in just as predicted by a variety of polling firms, including the Republican-oriented Fox and Rasmussen polls. Votes for representatives and senators, for governors, for down-ballot races, all conformed to a pattern of a 2020 blue wave in jurisdiction after jurisdiction, red states, blue states, states with Republican election officials, states with Democratic election officials. Counts and recounts, many done by Republicans, confirmed the votes. Joe Biden received some 81 million votes to Trump's 74 million.
The Biden-was-inaugurated line is a way to assert that the issue is past and gone. It isn't past. It is a litmus test of political loyalty and character. It exposes people who cannot be trusted to do their duty regarding democratic elections. It shows that the Republican is willing to tread the party line if he is put under political pressure by his party. He would suspend belief in audited and recounted ballots not to acknowledge the election of a Democrat.
Trump is already supplying the excuses for Republicans to use to deny the midterm election results: There may be mailed ballots, the wrong people may have voted, machines may have switched votes, or the votes may be reported inaccurately by election officials. A Republican who uses the Biden-was-inaugurated line demonstrates that he cannot openly acknowledge an election victory by a Democrat, if that is demanded by his party.
There are multiple choke points and veto spots in our election machinery. Legislators will be put on the hot seat and urged to refuse to do routine ministerial acts. I have observed Oregon's state Senate races in my district, District Three, a seat currently held by Democrat Jeff Golden (yet another college classmate). It is a light blue district, but one that elected a strong Republican candidate in the past, Alan DeBoer. Recent Republican candidates have lost elections to Golden because he was a well-respected candidate and because his Republican opponents sabotaged their own campaigns. They could not resist the million-dollar-plus campaign help from the state Republican Party, which served up red-meat Republican orthodoxy.
This cycle's Republican candidate for this district, Brad Hicks, was a career Chamber of Commerce executive director. He is well connected to the local business establishment -- a mixed blessing. (Forty-five years ago I won election as a Democratic county commissioner because I advertised that I was NOT part of that good ol' boy network of businesses getting government contracts from the very people whose campaigns they fund. I was the "drain the swamp" candidate.) Hicks could be a plausible candidate, but he is stuck with being neck-deep in the swamp and a member of a party that cannot admit that their leader lost an election. If elected, Republicans in the state Senate would be under enormous pressure to deny certification of any election victory by Democrats if Trump demands it. They have a ready-made excuse for mischief: We have mail-in ballots in Oregon.
It is not easy to be a Republican in this era of Trump. They cannot escape Trump being Trump, with all his strangeness, and all his MAGA supporters. Trump and the GOP demand compliance and they are harsh on heretics.
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8 comments:
Saw a poll of MAGA voters that showed 100% that Trump is right about everything. The 30% of republicans that are MAGA has not changed. If you are MAGA, you are for Trump no matter what he does or says, that is your North Star. Apparently that blind loyalty is enough to determine all things under the republican banner. MAGA mind set will not change, but maybe what constitutes being a republican will if they suffer a profound election defeat.
The question of "Who won 2020" is getting old. Al Gore dispute his loss to George Bush Jr., and Hillary Clinton disputed her loss to Trump. Stacy Abrams still disputes her loss as Georgia Governor. The fact is that Joe Biden got 10 million more Democrat votes than Kamala Harris got, and they were dirty votes. Joe Biden won a dirty election with fraudulent votes. So who won 2020? Joe Biden was declared the winner, but he won with dirty votes.
From the content, word-choce, and tone I am confident that this was authored by Medford Republican Curt Ankerberg, although I cannot prove it. Possibly it is someone mimicking Ankerberg when Ankerberg is on his best behavior. I normally delete his comments and leave them unpublished because of his profound anger issues, but I publish this one because it reflects the opinion of many Trump supporters. Ankerberg cannot admit that he and other Trump supporting Republicans have been lied to by an extraordinarily successful crony-capitalist con man.
For anonymous- the George Catanza line- “If you believe the lie, it’s not a lie.” He knows it’s a lie, but he won’t let himself believe it’s a lie.
For the record, the anonymous post above was from me, Curt Ankerberg. I'm a conservative. I'm not MAGA. I'm not a Trump lackey. I'm not angry. I'm far more conservative than Donnie is. I'm always on my best behavior, and I only use profanity when you incite me and it's warranted. Yes...Trump is a liar. Trump is a con man. Trump is an egomaniac. Regardless, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were worse. Joe is senile. Kamala is an incompetent drunk.
It's tiring to see this blog seemingly focus on Trump 24/7, while ignoring Oregon issues. Yes, it's an easy diversion. Nothing that Oregon does will alter the outcome in 2028.
Meanwhile, Trump will continue to do what he thinks is right for the USA. And yes, in the federal government there are sycophants on both sides, but fortunately, there are enough in the middle that will help the US move forward, regardless whether there is a D, R, or I after their name.
Just need to keep in mind what will be done over the next 1-2 years to actually get someone nominated and elected that satisfies a majority of the voters, and their perceived issues. Regardless of who is elected, the Oregon problems will remain.
Any chance that the commenters who are Oregon residents will actually look inward a bit, and try to figure out how to fix Oregon? Or do they think everything is all and well.
The problem for people who want more Oregon news is that this is in fact the era of Trump. He is the prime mover in American politics, and that was true even during Biden's term of office. Biden's profound inability to articulate a narrative was an even worse problem than I anticipated. Trump held the spotlight. I have written about that multiple times and caught grief from Democrats who said -- accurately -- that I wasn't being a team player. I am not. I criticized Biden's incapacity. Pretending that Biden is something than he wasn't hurts democracy, just as pretending Trump is not a vile sociopath does. Anyhow, Trump set the narrative, so I discuss Trump. I want other voices to speak up.
Senate District Three will be an interesting race because there are several credible Democrats, so the positioning could go in several directions. The Republican, Brad Hicks, is stuck, I think. Nothing except a strong denunciation of his prior employment --which is inconceivable -- can extradite him from the reality that he is part of a very wealthy and powerful closed system of local establishment power-players. That is understood to be the Good Old Boys. Some people will like that and consider it a high qualification to be endorsed by so many rich and powerful people, running such well-known businesses. bI expect him to broadcast how well liked and trusted and acceptable he is, because he has no other choice. It is true and it is evident. No hiding this reality by putting him in a beat up pickup truck and pretending his is day laborer, in hock to The Man. He cannot do a Sister Soljah reversal. But I have never seen a lawn sign that says "THE SWAMP IS GREAT. TRUST THE ELITES. THEY HAVE YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND." And Hicks will be awash in money. And Trump will keep doing things which hurt Republicans. He chose to run as a Republican and will get the benefit from that and pay the cost. And Hick's only chance is a risky one and a temptation, which is to accept the millions of GOP money that will be thrown at him. I hope Hicks and the GOP spend $500,000 or more on KOBI. I want KOBI and Patsy Smullen's station to thrive. Sped, spend , spend. Bring that upstate political money down here, where we need it. The money the GOP will spend to promote Hicks will not be wasted if it helps prop up local media. And maybe voters here will want what Trump's party is offering. It could happen.
Brad Hicks has a bachelors degree in political science from SOU. He first worked as a lobbyist in Salem for 7 years (not lobbying for you), then he spent over 25 years running the Chamber of Commerce. He's always been a hired gun advocating for special interest groups. He's never championed for the little guy, and he's always supported tax increases that benefit the good old boys. Brad Hicks is essentially the Mafia Godfather in southern Oregon. He's dangerous. He's running to bring home the government bacon for the good old boys. Brad Hicks is strictly a lobbyist, and he has no business experience or knowledge. I would suggest that you vote for Denise Krause for state senate.
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