Donald Trump's Dangerous Delusions Denigrate Democracy, Endanger Millions
Since World War II there have been forty instances of autogolpe --the Spanish word for self-coup,-- whereby a lawfully elected leader goes extra-constitutional and assumes power to continue in office.
This political maneuver has a roughly 95% success rate, especially when a foreign power (often the United States during the cold war) is involved. h/t Greg Dworkin/Daily Kos for the vocabulary lesson.
So, regardless of his ultimate intentions, the incumbent president has been playing the odds as he continues to challenge the validity of the 2020 election results. Fortunately, his record at gambling is awful, as his bankrupted casinos proved.
Like so many Trumpian schemes, this one is failing, and causing collateral damage along the way. The president’s legal team was 1 for 14 last time I checked (the one victory involved a teeny number of ballots in Pa.), and now both legal firms filing those lawsuits have decided to bail out.
https://twitter.com/JoshShapiroPA/status/1327050782923952128?s=20
Despite administration attempts to tamp down unfavorable news, mostly by firing people, the agency in charge of election security has dropped a bombshell on the president’s claims of electoral foul play.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a statement signed by both state and federal officials saying they had no evidence that any voting system had deleted or lost votes, had changed votes, or was in any way compromised.
They said all of the states with close results have paper records, which allows for the recounting of each ballot, if necessary, and for “the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors”.
“The election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalising the result,” the statement said.
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FYI- Those readers buying into the narrative that Trump is winning in his coup attempt can check his progress via the Coup-O-Meter, an online dashboard reacting to various news events.
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From the New York Times:
“He knows it’s over,” one adviser said. But instead of conceding, they said, he is floating one improbable scenario after another for staying in office while he contemplates his uncertain post-presidency future.
There is no grand strategy at play, according to interviews with a half-dozen advisers and people close to the president. Mr. Trump is simply trying to survive from one news cycle to the next, seeing how far he can push his case against his defeat and ensure the continued support of his Republican base.
By dominating the story of his exit from the White House, he hopes to keep his millions of supporters energized and engaged for whatever comes next.
Trump’s refusal to accept the obvious, according to several news accounts, is about keeping his ‘base’ energized for the upcoming runoff election that will determine control of the Senate. His critics claim the public denials are about raising money. Both are probably true.
His new PAC gets 60% of the money raised for the "Official Election Defense Fund," and the RNC gets the other 40%. So a donor giving $500, would be sending $300 to Trump’s PAC, $200 to the RNC, and nothing would go to the fund. Such a deal!
https://twitter.com/BrianKarem/status/1327276472718004225?s=20
Meanwhile, the president’s mostly been on Twitter. That might be because his movements are constrained by the fact that 130 Secret Service agents are reportedly quarantining either because they’ve already tested positive or because they have been exposed to the coronavirus.
What is most amazing is the extent to which other members of the Republican Party are supportive of the president’s delusions. California’s GOP leaders have fallen in line, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, State Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove, along with State Sen. Melissa Melendez all claiming victory is within reach for Dear Leader.
Administration officials have stepped up to the plate as this poorly thought out NPR headline indicates: “Pompeo Promises a ‘Smooth Transition To A Second Trump Administration.’ ”
https://twitter.com/RussOnPolitics/status/1327258969363148800?s=20
When Trump’s minions aren’t parroting his claims of victory, they’re otherwise muddying the waters. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar is making the media rounds claiming President-elect Biden “stole” Trump’s COVID-19 response plan. (Dude, there’s nothing to steal there!)
In fact, thanks to the administration’s policy of not communicating in any way with Biden/Harris transition officials, the chances of the pandemic worsening in 2021 are growing.
From CNN:
Less than 10 weeks before Biden will take office, his team is locked out of crucial Covid-19 pandemic data and government agency contacts, which threatens to hamper the federal response amid peaking coronavirus cases and the expected mass distribution of a vaccine.
In order for the formal transition to begin, the General Services Administration, which supports federal agencies, has to sign off on, or "ascertain," the election. This official move is almost never an issue in the transition of power. This year, the GSA, led by a Trump appointee, will not sign off on the election result as President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election.
Faced with a lag in the transition process, Biden's team is working around the hurdles Trump has created to be prepared on day one, the sources say. The transition, which has already named a Covid-19 task force, has been making calls to governors and their staff, as well as the health community, to discuss both the response to the pandemic as well as plans to distribute a Covid-19 vaccine.
But the lack of a formal transition means Biden's team is not allowed to have contact with any agencies across the administration. That includes meeting with officials in the Department of Health and Human Services about the pandemic response, or with the Trump administration's vaccine task force, Operation Warp Speed, as the government is preparing to distribute the first Covid-19 vaccine within weeks. Biden's team will take over the vaccine distribution when he takes office, and health experts say the two administrations must be on the same page for a seamless transition, that, if flawed, could impact hundreds of millions of people.
The most consistent things about the Trump administration have been their incompetence and disregard for human life. Let’s not forget.
https://twitter.com/JenAshleyWright/status/1326946440938205185?s=20
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Lead image of the fence at the White House via Jane Mayer on Twitter