December 8, 2020

The silence of the Republican leadership regarding Trump’s loss of the presidency is truly frightening.  After about 40 lawsuits challenging various aspects of the legitimacy of the election in multiple states, the Trump team has come up empty-handed.  And yet, the majority of Republicans in Congress have failed to publicly acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory.  Nothing like this has ever happened in my lifetime.  It’s a real headscratcher.  Then I read an opinion piece by Dean Obeidallah which made a lot of sense to me.  I have included the link below.¹ Obeidallah’s piece also meshes well with arguments outlined in Heather Cox Richard’s book, “How the South Won the Civil War,” which I am just finishing up.⁶ [I would highly recommend Richardson’s book for a thought provoking look at how we got to where we currently are.]

The short version of both Obeidallah’s essay and Richardson’s book is that the Republican Party has evolved into a party that is more interested in retaining power for a wealthy few than in preserving and protecting institutions like American democracy.  I know that’s a pretty strong statement but I got to thinking about some of the things we’ve witnessed during this last election cycle.

I’ll start here in Montana.  There was an effort this past summer and fall leading up to the election to gather enough signatures to get the Green Party candidates on the ballot here in Montana.  When it came to light that the Republican Party, not the Green Party, spent $100,000 on this signature collection effort there were a number of court challenges because it was obvious that the Republicans did not do this for some altruistic reason.  In fact, the Green Party disavowed the signature collection effort. The fact is the Republicans did it to syphon voters away from the Democratic candidates in the election.  The court challenges went all the way up the US Supreme Court where the court denied the Republican’s push to keep the Green Party on the ballot². 

That wasn’t the only occurrence like this.  In Florida, there were three candidates for state office that didn’t campaign, didn’t fund raise, didn’t do much of anything and yet they mysteriously landed on the ballot.  A current investigation is underway but it appears that these candidates were shills designed to syphon votes away from Democratic candidates for the state senate.  And if you think things like this don’t have any consequences, one of the races was extremely close.  The incumbent Democratic candidate lost by 31 votes!!  The fake candidate received 6300 votes which could easily have swung the victory.  There is currently a recount underway but who knows how this will ultimately come out.   The fact is, Republican dark money was once again trying to manipulate an election.

And then, of course, there is the presidential candidacy of Kanye West.  It is a well know fact that Kanye is a Trump supporter.  Who can forget the photos of Kanye in the Oval Office?  So, why would a friend of Trump run against him?  In the ‘normal’ world, Trump would have unleashed a Twitter storm against anyone who dared run against him.  No such storm happened with Kanye.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the whole candidacy was designed to syphon black voters away from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.    I guess this use of shill candidates has become a standard play in the Republican ‘hang on to power at all costs’ playbook.⁴

In addition to the use of shill candidates to draw votes away from Republican competitors, the Republican controlled state legislatures of many states have engaged in gerrymandering.  While gerrymandering has been engaged in to some extent by both parties, it is most prevalent in those states where the state legislature is controlled by Republicans. “Currently, rigged maps tend to be most prevalent, and most tilted, in states under Republican control. That is in part because Republicans did exceptionally well in the 2010 elections, giving the party far wider control of state legislatures, which oversaw redistricting after the 2010 census. The national Republican Party had poured money and expertise into state legislative races with the specific aim of gaining control over redistricting; the Democratic Party had not.”⁵

Finally, there have been subtle and not-so-subtle efforts to suppress votes by those groups, primarily people of color, who tend to vote Democratic rather than Republican.  The Trump campaign tried – unsuccessfully – to get thousands of mail-in ballots thrown out on bogus grounds.  This was nothing short of voter suppression.

Don’t forget, the Republicans have lost the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections.  We have had Republican presidents, including Trump, because of the vagaries of the Electoral College, not because they were popularly elected. You look at all of these factors in ‘the big picture,’ and it is clear that the Republican Party has become a party that is more interested in obtaining and retaining power by whatever means it takes so they can push an agenda that contributes to wealth disparity and racial injustice at the expense of democracy.  When you examine what is happening now in the post-election environment, it is easy to understand why Republicans are remaining silent.  We shouldn’t fool ourselves and think this is about democratic ideals – this is all about power.  Getting power.  Keeping power.  Exercising power.  Don’t forget the adage: ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  And that is what we are witnessing today.

“For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.”  Noam Chomsky

1. Opinion: Why Republicans still refuse to accept Trump’s defeat – CNN
2. Supreme Court denies push to add Green Party candidates to Montana ballot | TheHill
3. Evidence suggests several state Senate candidates were plants funded by dark money (local10.com)
4. Kanye West takes out two full pages in New York Times to tout candidacy (msn.com)  
5.  What Is Gerrymandering? And How Does it Work? – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
6. How the South Won the Civil War, Heather Cox Richardson Oxford University Press, 2020