THE UNIMPEACHABLE VERDICT ON DONALD JOHN TRUMP

 

©Wendell Griffen, 2020

 

 

This year began with the impeachment of Donald John Trump.  Then came the sham “trial” orchestrated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and presided over Chief Justice John Roberts.  McConnell and the other Republican Senators blocked evidence that Trump abused his office and pressured the government of Ukraine to announce that Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, would be the subject of a corruption investigation.   When the Ukrainian president refused to comply, Trump delayed sending military assistance that Congress had approved for Ukraine to defend itself against a Russian backed military insurrection.  McConnell and Roberts oversaw a “trial” in the Senate where witness testimony and documentary proof of Trump’s misdeeds was excluded by rules McConnell crafted.

 But Trump’s presidency faced another jury in November.  More than 150 million US voters delivered their verdict on his leadership.  They cast their votes in person on November 3, in person at early voting locations before November 3, by mailed ballots postmarked no later than November 3, and by absentee ballots delivered by November 3 to designated polling locations and drop boxes.   By Saturday, November 7, the ballot tally reached the point that media observers from across the political spectrum concluded that voters rejected Trump’s bid for re-election and, instead, voted to elect Biden as the 46^th President of the United States. 

News of Biden’s election caused spontaneous celebrations across the US and elsewhere around the world.  In cities in Europe, church bells rang to celebrate Biden’s election and Trump’s defeat.  Leaders of nations across the world issued congratulatory messages to Biden and his running mate, now Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, a woman of South Asian and African Jamaican parentage.

Trump has yet to acknowledge his defeat at the polls.  He falsely declared himself the victor of the 2020 presidential election the night of November 3 when he had only amassed statewide victories amounting to 213 of the 270 Electoral College votes required for election.  After his favorite news outlet, Fox News, projected that Biden would prevail in Arizona, Trump ordered his campaign to demand a retraction of the announcement.  When Fox refused, Trump and his supporters tried to shut down counting votes cast by mail, and leveled baseless claims that fraud occurred in the election process.  None of the fraud claims have been substantiated.  Trump’s effort to stop the vote counting process failed.  His campaign now threatens to file lawsuits to overturn the ballot tally and has announced plans to demand a recount of the votes in Wisconsin and Georgia.

Nevertheless, the verdict of US voters is clear and valid.  Joseph Biden, Jr. and Kamala Harris are now President-Elect and Vice-President Elect of the United States.  Donald Trump and Michael Pence are the lame duck President and Vice President of the United States.   A new administration is on the horizon because Biden and Harris were favored by more than 74 million people, despite that Trump and Pence were favored by more than 70 million other people.

The verdict of US voters is unimpeachable, irreversible, and irrefutable.  Donald John Trump has been defeated.  History will forever show that Trump became the first US president to be defeated after impeachment.  McConnell cannot change that history.  Trump must live with it because the world will not disregard it. 

In keeping with his narcissistic personality, Trump has refused to concede defeat.  In keeping with his delusional mentality, Trump falsely claims that the election was “stolen” from him.  Honest people know better.

Republican politicians in down-ballot races won re-election in 2020 by safe margins.  In several instances, Republican contenders defeated Democratic incumbents.  The notion that Republican ballots for Trump were stolen despite having been counted for Republican contenders in down-ballot contests is the thinking of idiots, fools, and frauds. 

Honest, fair-minded, and sensible people do not usually associate with idiots, fools, frauds.  Yet, more than 70 million voters preferred to entrust the future of the United States and its role in the world to Trump – long known for being a vicious idiot, fool, and fraud – and now known to the world as a “sore loser.” That is reason for concern.  However, it is not cause for alarm.  We would be alarmed if Trump had been re-elected.

I agree that we should be concerned that Trump is actively fomenting civil unrest and brazenly hoping white supremacists and would be domestic terrorists (who falsely pretend to be "militia groups"), white religious nationalists, and federal judges sponsored by Mitch McConnell will overturn the election results. However, again we should not be alarmed.  

Trump has always fomented civil unrest and violence against vulnerable persons and groups. 

White supremacists, domestic terrorists, and white religious nationalists have existed (and commingled) for generations.  

This is not the first time the federal judiciary has been packed with judges whose legal outlook favors white supremacist authoritarianism, patriarchy, xenophobia, and oppressive capitalism.   

The US faced these forces in the 2020 presidential election and defeated them.  The US fought and won a civil war against these forces more than 150 years ago.  President Franklin Rossevelt faced these forces when he launched the New Deal that produced such measures as Social Security, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Civilian Conservation Corps,  and the Works Progress Administration. History teaches that we should always view these forces with concern, but we must avoid allowing them to control our thoughts and actions as individuals and as a nation.

Trump will continue behaving as he does because he is a sociopath.  He and his followers are determined to defy truth, decency, and good order to keep their white supremacist, capitalist, and religious nationalist strangle hold on US society and the instruments of government.  Trump and his followers will not concede his defeat.  Doing so would require them to accept the political and moral verdict against the bigotry, greed, and cruelty Trump represents. 

So, expect Trump to continue telling the lie about a stolen election.

Expect Trump to call his followers to mount a voter intimidation and suppression effort in Georgia more violent and widespread than anything else in recent history. 

Expect Trump to call on the federal judges Mitch McConnell has packed the courts with to rule in Trump's favor.  No matter how the courts rule, expect Trump and his followers to foment chaos in Congress and across the nation however they can.

Trump wants the chaos, not cooperation, because he craves attention and wants an excuse to rule with an iron fist. His followers will do whatever it takes to give Trump whatever he wants, even to the point of engaging in violence and fraud.  Do not expect them to concede defeat.  Do not expect Trump and his followers to cooperate with a peaceful or gracious transition. They believe in domination, not cooperation.

President-Elect Biden should continue speaking about cooperation.  However, he must not expect cooperation from Trump, Mitch McConnell, or others who have bet the moral, ethical, and existential future of the United States on Trumpism.  Instead, Biden should encourage cooperation from people who believe in truth, love, justice, and the well-being of all.  We must cooperate to protect the Biden-Harris victory and our prospects for a future that is sane and safe.

Together, we must cooperate to support science and truth over recklessness, prejudice, and chaos.

Together, we must cooperate to help John Ossof and Rev. Raphael Warnock defeat Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the January 2021 runoff election in Georgia.

Let us continue standing together to protect the future of the United States for ourselves and our posterity, with God's help.  Together, let us join the fight for a just, loving, and hopeful future for all, a "good fight" worthy of our highest hopes and best efforts.

Pass the word.