I have followed the recent exchange of letters between Don Flood and several critics with mixed emotions. Don Flood’s commentaries are a gift to Southern Delaware. They are insightful, well-reasoned, relevant, and, without fail, based on verifiable fact. The disappointing responses to his letter of July 22 reflected the same misinformation that has been at the heart of the Republican party’s defense of Donald Trump’s horrific post-election behavior.
Let me put into context my view of the Trump presidency. I have voted in 16 presidential elections, and lived through 12 administrations. In every case I, of course, had a preferred candidate, who sometimes prevailed and sometimes did not. The winner would then go on to implement policies and take actions, and whereas some decisions were subsequently deemed good for the country and some not so good, we always absorbed them, made adjustments through subsequent administrations, maintained a solid reputation as a reliable democratic world leader, remained civil, and moved on.
Until Trump.
Let’s be absolutely clear: the goal of the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol was to overturn a perfectly secure and legitimate election. That goal is a direct assault on our Constitution and our democracy. There is zero defense for it or for the rioters’ behavior. Zero.
Just prior to the 2020 election, the Economist magazine (Oct. 31 issue) endorsed Joe Biden’s candidacy, arguing that, “As the guardian of America’s values, the conscience of the nation and America’s voice in the world, Trump has dismally failed to measure up to the task.” It cited a European survey finding that confidence in Trump to do the right thing in world affairs had dropped to 11 percent in France and 10 percent in Germany (compared to 84 percent and 86 percent for President Obama). The magazine added that “The most head-spinning feature of the Trump presidency is his contempt for the truth… Nothing Mr. Trump says can be believed.”
That observation was dramatically reinforced by Trump’s hostile post-election efforts to forcibly overturn the election. His temper tantrum is no less than a direct attack on our Constitution and our democracy. Sadly, Republicans in Congress have been complicit, many of them actually voting not to confirm the winner, Joseph Biden, again in direct contravention of our Constitution. They are equally guilty of an attack on our democracy.
A few Republican members of Congress, most notably Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, have acknowledged that the 2020 election was fully secure and valid, that Joe Biden was the winner, that there was no evidence of measurable fraud, and that Donald Trump’s lies to the contrary cannot be tolerated. Tragically, according to a recent Reuters poll, 53 percent of Republicans continue to say they believe Trump’s claim that he won the election.
I will close with a question. Does Donald Trump really believe the false assertions he continues to make? Do his supporters really believe them? If so, what do they want? It is clear that Trump envies Vladimir Putin and other dictators around the world. Do Trump and his supporters want America to be so ruled? Recall the one and only plank of the 2020 Republican National Committee’s mind-numbing platform: Whatever Donald Trump wants. Is Abraham Lincoln’s vision of government of the people, by the people, and for the people being replaced by government of the people, by a minority party and for only the very few? If state legislatures succeed in their quest to make voting prohibitively difficult for a targeted minority, are we doomed to permanent single-party control of the government? (Given the virtually total absence of existing fraud, legislators’ insistence that the new laws are about election integrity, not voter suppression, is nothing but a smokescreen.) I pray not.
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