The last few days have seen unprecedented events in American history. I do not think it is exaggeration to call this the greatest constitutional crisis America has ever faced. Nixon's impeachment was done within the framework of the Constitution and precedent; what we have seen the last two days is without precedent, and requests were made for extra-constitutional actions. A brief recap-
Trump has asserted voter fraud. His various suits have been almost uniformly declined by all levels of courts. When examined, the suits have sadly relied upon innuendo and a few affidavits, as opposed to hard evidence. Courts have been understandably reluctant to interfere with our electoral process with such evidence. Despite this, there is strong statistical evidence for manipulation, as I discussed in my last blog. This evidence has been ignored by media and both political parties.
Trump, and certain elements of the Right, have asserted Biden will never be president. They have relied successively on state recounts, state suits, and federal legal action. All of these having failed, they looked to the Senate to refuse certification of the states' electoral votes. Short of any dispute, they wanted Mike Pence, VP and presiding officer/president of the Senate, to refuse to certify states' elector slates.
Into this situation came the Georgia special Senatorial election for both seats. The Republican candidates both had leads of about 3 points. Then Trump came to the state and made a variety of bombastic claims and assertions. In a leaked phone call he is heard telling the Georgia secretary of state that he needs to find 11,780 votes. No words about ballot manipulation, just a bald request to find the necessary votes to win. What could be construed as a fight for Truth suddenly became simply a quest to win. With this frame there was a 4 point swing to the Democratic candidates, and Republicans lost both Georgia seats and control of the Senate on Tuesday.
Wednesday morning, Trump addressed his followers, urging them to 'fight on', and asking them to converge on the Capitol to urge their representatives to object to the electoral vote certification. He repeated various election claims, and while not specifically inciting violence certainly did ask supporters to come to the Capitol.
Then Mike Pence declined to unilaterally refuse to recognize states' electoral results. He wrote an eloquent letter detailing his reasons, referencing the Constitution, the Founders' concerns about government, and relevant law. He concluded he did not have authority to unilaterally act in contravention of the state-certified vote. For this he was pilloried by Trump.
After Pence's action, or perhaps independently, protesters 'stormed' the Capitol building. They overpowered the few Capital police present and entered the building, various offices, and the chambers themselves. They were evicted by police and FBI. Never before has our Capitol been assaulted by our own citizens. And afterward, in another powerful show of discipline and determination, the Senate went back to counting electoral votes, and certified the election.
There are several results from these couple of days.
We faced a major constitutional crisis. A president asked for unilateral, extra-legal action on his own behalf. Mike Pence averted this when he did what was legal, moral, and deeply unpopular with many Republicans. He prevented a manipulated election from becoming a constitutional collapse. No president has ever asserted unilateral power to abrogate the will of the American People by setting aside the results of an election. To have done so would have been to convert our government to an autocracy. Mike Pence, by his personal act, prevented this. He is a rare example of a politician doing what is ethical and legal, instead of what is popular or self-enriching.
Trump was pilloried by his own party, even his own cabinet officers, and justly so for his inflammatory speech and his urging Pence to act alone. Both parties seem to want Trump gone, and given the events of the last month it is hard to blame them. There will be, finally, an orderly and peaceful transfer of power. Trump promised this, after months of speculation he did nothing to quiet.
There are a couple of other observations. Half the nation was going to be outraged whoever won. The losing side needs to be recognized and their concerns addressed. The police are being called out for a different standard of justice compared to BLM marches. I point out that the protesters at the Capitol, until entering the building, were law-abiding and largely peaceful, unlike the protests of last summer. Also, while claiming a racist basis for preferential treatment of white protesters, no one is even talking about the casual condoning of BLM rioters all summer long by Democratic mayors and the media, while Republicans to a man were quick to condemn the rioting in DC.
As I noted in the last blog, I do believe our American republic is functionally over. The conditions for a violent or otherwise radical move by the far Left are still present, and must be addressed to remove threats of further public violence. Even though the election seems to me to have been manipulated, we managed to avoid a constitutional crisis. In avoiding that disaster, and in the broad-based condemnation of Trump's actions and words, perhaps we can find some common ground to actually govern, and address the concerns of all Americans.
Ted
"The protesters at the Capitol, until entering the building, were law-abiding and largely peaceful." This is untrue.
ReplyDeleteAn armed riot was published and planned on Parler, mostly using coded language. People certainly arrived from all over with guns and wearing protective gear, in defiance of DC ordinances. Police were attacked outside the building with physical force and pepper spray, as documented on video. Several explosive devices (2 pipe bombs and several molotov cocktails at least) were discovered and fortunately disarmed.
And in any event, to say that "the protesters at the Capitol, until entering the building, were law-abiding and largely peaceful", is similar to claiming "he seemed like a nice guy, until he dismembered his wife and children." A terrorist mob of over 1000 insurrectionists, encouraged by the President, did illegally and violently enter the US Congress with the specific intent of disrupting the workings of another branch of government; it was successful for several hours. This is orders of magnitude worse than broken windows during protests. A policeman was killed when hit over the head with a fire extinguisher. And the consequences for this attack on the highest level of the United States Government? Almost none: A few dozen arrests for "disturbance of the peace" and firearms possession.
If a BLM mob, or a group of Islamic terrorists, had done this, and the Army had NOT been called in WITHIN SECONDS with overwhelming lethal force, I cannot imagine that anyone on either political side would have written the thoughts you have expressed.
Thank you for this concise explanation. I was feeling overwhelmed by the "news" coverage.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you have made an excellent summary of the important points and added helpful observations in a political area where national news outlets merely pointed out the obvious, leaving most of us in a fog. I appreciated your olive branch of peace at the end of your blog, though I fear that I agree with you that the great experiment of the American republic is slowly spiraling downward to its seemingly ineluctable end.
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Until you, and the GOP as a whole accepts the results of the election as being fair and more importantly, the will of the people, the is a problem with our republic. 50 states, and courts at all levels have found no credible evidence of election tampering that had a meaningful effect on the outcome. Two persons uniquely qualified to comment can stand in for everyone. No one has had more intense scrutiny than the Secretary of State, a Republican, in Georgia. He stood up for the results and the process, and had the rare opportunity of having to do the process twice with the special election of 1/5 that tipped the balance in the Senate. Mitt Romney made a powerful and clearheaded speech in the chamber where as someone who had personally experienced defeat in a presidential election, urged his party to do the right thing for its constituents - STOP LYING TO THEM! The election is over and had a clearer outcome than either 2000, 2016, and probably 1960. The difference is in the demagoguery and complicity of the Party. John Brown had a righteous cause in 1859 but in storming Federal property he and a small band of followers had the wrong methods. Conservatism is a proper position, but sedition for personal vanity is not. Trump deserves the same fate as John Brown, but with even less misplaces honor. There can be no letting the clock run out or appeasement, the poison must be removed from the system.
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