Trump’s latest Fox News rant was one of his most
dangerous. Republicans can’t ignore it.
Opinion by Editorial
Board
November 30, 2020 at 4:56 p.m. CST
PRESIDENT
TRUMP’S Sunday Fox News rant ranks as one of the
most dangerous of his presidency, and that is saying something. Mr. Trump
issued claim after incoherent claim about vote rigging — machines switched
thousands of votes, dead people voted, mail-in ballots were “phony,” poll
watchers “weren’t allowed.” The United States just conducted probably the most
secure, transparent presidential vote in its history; Mr. Trump calls it
“the most messed-up election we have ever seen.” Proving there is no core
national institution he will not besmirch, Mr. Trump attacked the judicial
system for failing to ratify his lies and suggested that the Justice Department
and the FBI are in on the conspiracy.
Either the
president is delusional, or he is willing to knowingly tear down the democracy
to deny that he is a loser. Either way, everyone else in a position of
trust has a responsibility to defend the nation’s democratic system against
Mr. Trump’s sustained assault. Some Republicans, mostly at the state and
local levels, have done so, at times under extreme public scrutiny, counting
the votes and refusing to manipulate the electoral process to overturn the
popular will. For conscientiously overseeing the vote in his state — and
standing up for its integrity against baseless attacks from Mr. Trump and the
state’s two U.S. senators — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
and his family have received threats. He and other election officials have had
to accept
security details.
“It’s
time to stand up and be counted,” Mr. Raffensperger said. “Are
you going to stand for integrity? Or are you going to stand for the wild mob?
You wanted to condemn the wild mob when it’s on the left side. What are you
going to do when it’s on our side?”
The
response of most national Republican “leaders” has been to sit on the
sidelines, or worse. Three weeks after the major networks called the race for
President-elect Joe Biden, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) refused Sunday
to refer to Mr. Biden as president-elect, arguing that the label is not
“significant.” He managed to admit that the election was not “rigged,” but he
also claimed that “there may have been ballots that shouldn’t have been cast”
in Georgia and that “there were some things that were done that shouldn’t have
been done. And I think there was some element of voter fraud.”
The
label matters, and so does GOP senators’ endorsement of the fiction that fraud
and irregularities are a substantial problem. Should Mr. Trump persuade
millions of Americans that the voting system is corrupt, he could inaugurate an
era of dangerous instability; a future candidate in a closer election might
succeed in overturning a fair vote by exploiting the doubts and leveraging the
fear that the president has instilled.
For
weeks, Republicans dodged by saying Mr. Trump was entitled to make his case in
court. Well, he has had his chance. He has failed. Judges, including those
appointed by Mr. Trump, have made clear the election was not stolen. The dodge
has run its course.
“I
think the democratic process is strong and can certainly survive this
discussion,” Mr. Blunt said. That would be true if he and others would stand
tall and refute Mr. Trump’s toxic lies. As long as they allow the poison to
circulate, they are abetting the weakening of that democratic process.
