If only we could have had most of Donald Trump’s policies—-lower taxes, strong growth rates, no more bowing to China and calling out the biased disgraceful mainstream media—without the temporary bouts of Trump twitter madness, often expressed at allies such as vice president Mike Pence.
Trumpers in DC
Last week tens of thousands of Trump supporters came to Washington to support the president. Most were peaceful. A small percentage were not. They broke into the Capitol and disrupted a session of Congress that was certifying the results of the election. This is a practice that has been going after every election for more than two centuries.
Some of these lawbreakers at the Capitol, some of whom had just heard a speech from Trump saying the election was stolen but also telling them to “peacefully” go to the capitol, were apprehended by police, many of whom were injured and some of whom died. That’s a disgrace.
Another Disgrace
But just as much as a disgrace was the reaction of the Washington municipal government officials. They knew these people were coming for weeks and were ill-prepared to deal with them. For example, why wasn’t a perimeter step up two blocks away from the Capitol and overmanned with security forces such as the National Guard and others? These additional security forces were offered to Washington and the incompetent authorities turned them down.
These people who broke into the capitol should face the full fury of the law. That is unlike the tens of thousands of “peaceful” (sic) protestors who wrecked dozens of American cities this past year. The vast majority of these rioters were either not charged with anything or were bailed out of jail by funds set up by people like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and George Soros.
Some of the Trump supporters last week were on a fool’s errand. They actually thought that they could reverse the results of the election that put Joe Biden in the White House.
A Stolen Election?
They were given that hope in part because Trump’s relentless harping on a stolen election. There was some credibility to Trump’s claims but, as usual, they were exaggerated as were so many other things—pro and con—of his four years in power. Sometimes this president said and did some smart things. Sometimes he lost contact with reality. The same, by the way, can be said of many of his opponents. They are actually trying to impeach him in the last days of his presidency not only because they hate him but because they fear him: If they get him this time, they won’t have to worry about him coming back in four years and he might do that if this impeachment, like the first one last year, fails. He might do a lot of things. He has always had an unpredictable character.
Often Trump tweeted too much. He did stupid things without understanding the import of his action, without understanding that every action of the imperial president today has significance.
However, Trump’s basic case was and is Americans are being hurt by so many of their career pols; that the ruling classes of both major parties, “the swamp” creatures of the radical left and the Rhino republicans, have credibility. And his call for an “America First” policy, had much to recommend. Unfortunately, for millions of Americans, the attack on the capitol will be the last memory of Trump.
What about the election?
Although there were certain sleazy aspects to the election in many battleground states, not nearly enough chicanery was documented to reverse the results of the election. That would likely take months and years. It is something Congress should investigate but likely will never look at as long as Congress is in Democratic hands and has the mainstream media as its pliant partner.
Some Do Have a Point
Nevertheless, most of Trump’s supporters who came to Washington to investigate what happened in November were making a reasonable argument: Tens of millions of Americans thought the election result was rigged and that Trump won.
Did he?
I’m not sure. Yes, courts turned down his claims. But in most cases the courts were arguing they had no standing to decide these issues. They rarely went through the evidence Trump’s team had assembled of stolen votes and sleazy practices. So, the actual cases weren’t really argued out.
I also believe that courts in general, especially since the election of 2000, want nothing to do with even indirectly intervening in elections, especially at a time of great tensions in this nation. A decision even hinting at possibly overturning some or all of an election might have set off another round of rioting that could have ignited a civil war. Judges know that. They live here too.
The Claims
As to Trump’s supporters claims, I don’t think they have made that whole case. However, the rational ones—some of Trump’s supporters are as loony as many on the left—did make an effective case that voting practices in several states must be changed. The recent easing of these voting laws, Trump supporters said, provided the majority of victory in four to six battleground states that turned the election to Joe Biden.
But that method of changing the voting rules, the Trump supporters correctly argued, belongs to state legislatures and no one else although some Democratic led state election boards seemed to have acted in violation of the United States Constitution.
Indeed, Article 1 Section 4 of the United States Constitution specifies that “The Times, places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall by prescribed in each State by the Legislature.”
I think Trump and his supporters had a point in arguing these changes were possibly illegal. But enough to reverse this election? I don’t think so. That’s because there were the rules—like them or not—that everyone implicitly or explicitly agreed to before this election.
Still, this is why tens millions of Americans believe the election was rigged. Unfortunately, Trump led them to believe that somehow the results could be invalidated when the electoral college numbers were reported to Congress. He even thought that vice president Pence could throw out the results. But Pence, who actually understands the constitution and is an honorable man, would not violate the law. Good for him.
However, that does leave with an obligation to investigate voting rules at the states and may even more. The same section of the Congress says, “but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”
It is ultimately up to each state legislature to amend and update voting rules. But Congress can and should investigate. It should expose irregularities and pressure states to ensure that voting is always fair.
Doing It Right in the Sunshine State
In 2000, after disputed voting practices in Florida turned the election to Republican George W. Bush—you remember him; he’s the guy who set the United States on the road to a disastrous war in 2003 based in part of the claim that the Iraqis had weapons of mass destruction, a charge he basically conceded was not true in his later memoir—Florida changed and amended its voting practices for the better.
If they did the same in other states, most Americans might again have confidence that, regardless of an outcome, the voting process was fair. That could be a legacy of the last great Trump controversy that every fair-minded person could agree was good.
