Read that title over again. That’s a huge “except.” It flies in the face of almost two dozen judicial opinions – tossing out unsubstantiated claims of mass conspiracy to “steal the election,” lack of access to vote counts by GOP observers or any out-of-the-exceptionally-minor-ordinary voter fraud or exclusions – election officials (from both parties) almost unanimously vouching for the sanctity of the election, and even the election integrity assurances from Trump’s appointed director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), who was fired by Trump for letting his agency officially tell the American people that the election was “‘the most secure in American history.”
Aside from the damage done by Trump’s last minute firings and replacements, his imposition of executive orders and policy mandates that are clearly precisely the opposite of Biden’s stated goals or the continued lack of preparedness to administer a probable vaccine or vet (through the FBI) prospective cabinet appointees by reason of denying the President-elect normal transition funding, access to personnel and information, Donald Trump has damaged our own belief in our very democracy and election process. He has also made the United States the international poster child for hypocrisy when it comes to championing and believing in representative democracy.
What is abundantly clear is that Joe Biden will be sworn in as the next President of the United States on January 20th. What is equally clear is that Donald Trump, supported by most elected Republicans, has and will continue to undercut Biden’s credibility and do everything in his/their power to reverse that result. It won’t put Trump in for a second term; it has already perhaps irretrievably damaged the nation… internally, making unification elusive at best, and externally, in the eyes of allies looking for a path to reconnect with an America they no longer recognize.
Melanie Mason, writing for the November 19th Los Angeles Times, presents the results of a post-election review by the University of Southern California (a joint survey by Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research and the Dornsife Center for the Political Future). Bottom line: “President Trump’s repeated — and baseless — insistence that widespread fraud undermined this month’s presidential election has left a mark on Americans’ faith in the voting process…
“Using a 0-100 scale to measure their confidence that all ballots were tallied correctly, the survey found the average ranking from voters was a middling 58. Democrats gave higher marks — 79 — that the vote count was accurate, while Republicans on the whole rated their confidence in the election results’ accuracy at just 34…
“Only 35% of respondents said they believed the country was headed in the right direction, a nearly 10-point drop from 2016. The outlook varied by party, reflecting the hyperpolarized electorate — more than three-quarters of Biden voters said they thought the nation was on the wrong track before the race was called for him, but after he was declared president-elect, 60% of his supporters said they believed the country was headed in the right direction.
“In the immediate aftermath of the election, 56% of Trump voters said the country was on the wrong track; that glum view increased to 76% of Trump supporters after the race was called for Biden… The partisan divide extended to attitudes toward voting by mail. Nearly three-quarters of Trump supporters said the increase in mail-in ballots led to voter fraud, while nearly 80% of Biden supporters disagreed.” By the way, Trump voted by mail.
What this means is that most Americans currently do not believe in the United States of America. We’re in a heap of trouble – from the pandemic which is exploding again, the polarization which is as bad as it has been since our Civil War and our COVID-slammed economy which has shifted to a new accelerating level of decline – and we really need to muster our gumption, our patriotism and our commitment to fix what is obviously wrong. But it is that vision for a fix that is mired partly in mythology – where wearing a virus-resistant mask is not a medical necessity but a political statement and where deep state pedophilia conspiracy theories are indirectly supported by the President… and even several newly elected members of Congress. When facts don’t matter, how can repairs be implemented?
And if Americans do not believe in their country, if their only solution is either pure mythology or “my way is the only way,” exactly why should Americans care if their nation stays together? And if we do not care, can it? Will it? Can Biden attempt to find unity, when Trump’s toxicity is focused on keeping us angry at each other, at each other’s throats and more deeply polarized than we have been in over a century and a half?
I’m Peter Dekom, and if you truly care, stop and listen to the logic and wants of the rational segment of the opposing point of view… and find that middle ground that you can live with.
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