The ridiculousness of this moment in American politics is truly astounding. We have members of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senators who are demanding a commission be established to investigate allegations of voter fraud that were alleged by members of Congress. And if this commission isn’t established, then this seditious bunch won’t vote to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory. All this nonsense is being pushed by the White House and won’t actually change anything. Joe Biden will still be president on January 20th.
There remains no evidence of fraud but in the Donald Trump political school of brainwashing, if you say something often enough, it suddenly becomes true, or certainly worth investigating. Add to it the megaphone of right-wing media and voila, falsehood becomes fact. Here is the phenomenon on display with GOP Sen. Ron Johnson appearing on “Meet The Press.”
Here’s the problem. We’ve lived with lies from the Trump White House, and their water-carrying GOP allies for years. But in the eleventh hour, the falsehoods have become dangerous. They are now threatening our democracy by subverting the will of the voters.
The votes have been counted, re-counted, audited, often more than once, litigated, re-litigated and nothing has been found. The election was fair. Donald Trump lost. That should be the end of the story.
But what worries these paragons of political virtue in the GOP is that Trump will zing them with a nasty tweet, or have them challenged in the next primary by an opponent even more loyal to the soon-to-be former president.
And to carry this absurd argument even further: If the Republicans believe the presidential election was rife with fraud, why would their elections to Congress, on the same ballots, be legitimate?
