The election is over, but there’s no end to Republican
bad faith
Opinion by
Columnist
November 9, 2020 at 3:38 p.m. CST
It is
not over.
The
presidential election is certainly over, and the result was not particularly close. President-elect Joe
Biden won a decisive majority of the popular vote and likely a considerable
electoral college victory. Claims of widespread electoral fraud would be
spurious even if they weren’t made by a prating fool in front of a
Philadelphia landscaping firm. The 2020 election is
done. Concluded. Finished.
What
has not ended — what seems endless — is Republican bad faith and poltroonery.
I am
not referring here to those voters for President Trump who have been misled
into false hope. It is not hard to convince people who distrust elites and are
prone to conspiracy theories that elites are plotting to deny “real” Americans
their influence. It does not even matter if the vote-counters are Republicans,
because that is exactly what a conspiracy would do to hide its nefarious work.
No, it
is Republican leaders who are responsible for poisoning whatever wells of
goodwill still exist in our republic. Having aided Trump’s autocratic
delusions, they are now abetting his assault on the orderly transfer of power.
Through their active support or guilty silence, most elected Republicans are
encouraging their fellow citizens to believe that America’s democratic system
is fundamentally corrupt. No agent of China or Russia could do a better job of
sabotage. Republicans are fostering cynicism about the constitutional order on
a massive scale. They are stumbling toward sedition.
And
they are looking mighty pathetic in the process. After Trump’s campaign manager
threatened political harm to Republicans who refused to embrace Trump’s
position on the election, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and House Minority Leader Kevin
McCarthy (Calif.) reported promptly for degradation. Cruz falsely alleged that Republican poll watchers had been
denied access in Philadelphia. McCarthy falsely asserted: “President Trump won this election.” It was
a good thing both men were not in the same room or their strings might have
gotten tangled. Other Republicans simply expressed no opinion on the validity
of a U.S presidential election, as though Trump’s sabotage of democratic
legitimacy was just another tweet they could ignore.
What
explains this degree of deference to a besieged, erratic lame-duck president?
Some legislators claim that they are just providing time for Trump to cool down
and accustom himself to the election result. They believe, apparently, that the
president just needs a little encouragement and self-care before he will do the
right thing. This theory is less compelling on the 1,001st unsuccessful
attempt. Trump will not sacrifice any personal interest merely for the good of
the country. He will interpret anything short of opposition as permission. And
permission is clearly what many elected Republicans intend to provide.
The
only plausible explanation for Republican complicity is fear. Fear of a
vengeful, wounded president. Fear of a Trump-endorsed primary challenger. Fear
of voters so loyal that they stuck with Trump through a botched pandemic
response, a wrecked economy and an aimless campaign.
The
damage encouraged by feckless elected Republicans is considerable. Trump’s
defiance of the election results is already creating confusion in the
transition process. The incoming Biden administration is being denied resources
and facilities: office space, government email addresses that allow secure
communication, access to classified briefings. That will undermine the staffing
and preparations necessary to tackle concurrent health and economic challenges.
It is
particularly obscene for an administration that has abdicated the work of
pandemic response to undercut a new administration determined to mount a
serious effort. Trump seems determined to extend his legacy of incompetence and
needless death as far into the future as possible.
The
other effect of Trump’s strategy is harder to quantify — body bags are easy to
count — but no less real. Trump and his Republican retainers are purposely
destroying the democratic faith of many Americans. The problem is not with the
substance of Trump’s legal challenges (though they seem embarrassingly
frivolous). Rather, it is the broad assertion that the U.S. electoral system is
rigged. A conspiracy on the scale necessary to overturn the results of the 2020
election — reaching across several states, and involving numerous Republican
and Democratic officials — would reveal a system of government that is rotten
to its core.
If tens
of millions of people were to actually believe this, it would reduce the
legitimacy and, potentially, the stability of the U.S. form of government. It
would render political cooperation — agreement with the stealer of elections —
almost impossible. It would encourage a desire to retaliate in kind, and add
credibility to radicals who act outside the law.
It is
one thing to vote for a demagogue. It is another to support a demagogue as he
tries to destroy the credibility of voting itself. This is where the Republican
Party finds itself at the shabby political end of Donald Trump: as an ally to
illiberalism.
