Patriot Games

“In accordance with the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, as amended, the GSA administrator ascertains the apparent successful candidate once a winner is clear based on the process laid out in the Constitution… The administrator’s ascertainment is done for the purposes of making services provided by the [transition act] available. Until an ascertainment is made, the statute allows for the Biden transition team to continue to receive the pre-elect services from the government (e.g., limited office space, computers, background investigations for security clearances). GSA has met all statutory requirements under the [transition act] for this election cycle and will continue to do so.” 

Federal General Services Administration (GSA) spokesperson, November 6th 

I have to admit I am fascinated by the vast majority of Republican members of Congress who support Donald Trump’s efforts to retain the Presidency despite falling 5 million votes behind in the popular vote and a facing a massive gap in electoral votes… under even the most pro-Trump optimistic but realistic scenarios. Why are the same ballots that elected Republicans in those swing states that Trump lost valid for Congressional purposes but invalid when it comes to the presidency? Why did Donald Trump get a larger percentage of “corrupt Philadelphia” votes in 2020 than he did in 2016? 

Why have the GOP and Trump lost every single case filed for voter fraud, for lack of substantial and credible evidence, that has been presented before any judge, Republican jurists included? And why have all relevant Republican officials (from secretaries of state to those charged with running the election), even when accommodating a recount, been standing by their preliminary numbers? International observers (e.g., 28 observers from the Organization of American States) to our election have also stated that they saw no evidence of any relevant election fraud.

Why are the GSA and the Trump administration the first incumbency ever not to initiate transition support at precisely this stage of the post-election process in every other election since Presidential Transition Act of 1963 was passed? Even in elections that were far closer than this one?

We know that most Republicans in Congress acknowledge privately (never on mike or camera) that Trump has no realistic path to retain his office, even as they stand by and let the President throw his temper tantrum. Trump’s firing of high-level appointees or administrators, particularly placing completely inexperienced loyalists in top positions in the Department of Defense (all adherents to Trump conspiracy theories), and Trump’s direct order to the GSA (reflected in the above quote, which also produced the resignation of the relevant GSA administrator) not release normal funding to Biden’s transition team, are not only deeply disappointing but have devastating consequences for the entire country. 

For example, Biden may have assembled his pandemic team, but they do not have access to the plethora of vital federal data and information or to those who might be charged with getting any vaccine into wide deployment. Without that access, the process of containing the pandemic will consume additional time, during which more Americans will die or become infected… unnecessarily. GOP patriotism at work?

Despite Trump’s consistent failure to find meaningful voter fraud – including Trump-appointed post-2016 election fraud commission that was disbanded in failure – the President’s personal attorney, masquerading as our Attorney General, William Barr’s direction to the DOJ to investigate fraud had led to more than one internal resignation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s response to members of the US and foreign press about the seeming disruption in the President’s taking an active role in trying to prevent the ascension of the duly-elected President-elect, was sickening: he promised a “smooth transition” into Donald Trump’s “second term.” If it weren’t for our elaborate system of checks and balances, most political observers, based on patterns of “elections” where autocrats rule, would explain that what we are witnessing is an attempted coup d'état. This is a further slam to our global power and influence. Does this blockage move past obstinacy into the horrific world of treason?

This looks more like the political machinations of dictators like Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Kim Jong-un in Korea, Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, etc., etc. These autocrats purge opposition candidates before they can even run, “eliminate” opposition politicians in their legislatures and/or simply control ballot counting and declare landslide victories. Where there is true opposition, they often cry “fraud” or “fake news” and somehow win. Trump’s base is loyal, suggesting an ugly world of disloyal opposition to all things Biden coming up after January 20th.

In the autocratic world of the People’s Republic of China, now trying to kill their pledge to allow Hong Kong to enjoy the benefits of the treaty that transferred HK from Britain until 2047, democracy is suffering. Despite his public statement against Chinese efforts to erode democracy in HK, I suspect that Donald Trump would love to parallel these activities here in the United States. BLM might be among the first to be purged under this rubric. Speaking of resignations in protest… could this be America?

“Hong Kong’s autonomy from Beijing suffered another major blow Wednesday [11/11] after pro-democracy lawmakers said they would resign en masse to protest the disqualification of four fellow pro-democracy legislators by the territory’s government.

“The withdrawal of the 15 elected officials would essentially erase dissent in the legislature, which would be almost completely stacked with pro-Beijing lawmakers in a city where political opposition has been significantly curtailed by a new national security law imposed by the mainland Chinese government. That draconian law was enacted in June to quash months of unrest.

“The lawmakers’ resignations… are in response to the ouster of four colleagues — Alvin Yeung, Dennis Kwok, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung — under new powers granted by Beijing to disqualify legislators accused of supporting Hong Kong independence, refusing to acknowledge Chinese sovereignty or promoting foreign interference in the city’s affairs…

“Hong Kong’s Beijing-approved leader, Carrie Lam, said in a news conference Wednesday [11/11] that lawmakers must act properly and that the territory needed a legislature composed of patriots… ‘We cannot allow members of the Legislative Council who have been judged in accordance with the law to be unable to fulfill the requirements and prerequisites for serving ... to continue to operate in the Legislative Council,’ Lam said.

“In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the move to disqualify the four lawmakers was necessary to maintain rule of law and constitutional order in Hong Kong… ‘We firmly support the [Hong Kong] government in performing its duties in accordance with the Standing Committee’s decision,’ Wang said, referring to China’s [PRC] National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which approved a resolution this week granting the power to remove lawmakers.

“Freedoms once common [and supported by treaty] in the territory of 7 million have quickly eroded in response to months-long protests that gripped Hong Kong starting in March of last year and that have since gone silent because of the COVID-19 pandemic and new national security law… Education officials have purged teachers sympathetic to the democracy movement and punished students who supported the demonstrations. A journalist who investigated police misconduct has been arrested, as have many pro-democracy activists.

“Legal experts said the removal of the four lawmakers now calls into question the future of Hong Kong’s independent judiciary… ‘The change means that even current lawmakers can be disqualified from office by a decision of an election official rather than by a court,’ said Stuart Hargreaves, a law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. ‘It serves to further neuter what was already by constitutional design a weak Legislative Council. It’s an open question as to whether similar moves to bring the judicial branch to heel will be made. It is essentially the only meaningful check on the government’s power.’” Los Angeles Times, November 12th. Funny how much the United States isn’t looking so much like the United States these days.

I’m Peter Dekom, and when our elected officials kowtow to a political leader in defiance of the results of a bona fide election, when those actions seriously undermine the health and welfare of the vast majority of Americans regardless of political persuasion, it just may be time for us to recalibrate the system so that can never happen again.