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- By Levi Rickert
Opinion. Donald Trump, along with his aiders and abettors such as Rudy Giuliani and legal team, perpetrating the false narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen by Democrats is doing a major disservice to democracy in the United States.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, two Pennsylvania courts drew out the cases because they lack merit.
The U.S Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit on Friday rejected Trump’s request for an emergency injunction to overturn the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results. The opinion was written by Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed to the court by Trump.
The scathing 21-page opinion said the case was so weak, it probably would never be cited in any further court decisions.
On Saturday evening, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a Republican lawsuit that sought to invalidate more then 2.5 million votes cast by mail the general election. The lawsuit attempted to invalidate absentee ballots.
Since Election Day, Trump’s legal teams have filed over 30 lawsuits, and all have gone down in defeat because they all have lacked merit.
Ignoring his obvious defeat, Trump still spews out the election was stolen from him. Sadly, many of his supporters believe him. It is one more example of feelings overcoming facts.
Sadly, feelings win out over facts so often.
Almost half of all Republicans feel Trump “rightfully won” the presidential election and it was stolen from him by widespread voter fraud that favored Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll.
Even with Trump’s preposterous claims being dismissed by court after court, he still refuses to concede he lost to the election to Biden.
Trump’s false claims kept Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) Emily Murphy from following the law to begin the official presidential transition process for over two weeks. She finally relented after receiving a letter from members of Congress that asked her to come make public testimony as to why she was not fulfilling the law.
On the same day she relented, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, sent Murphy a letter telling her that her delay will cost lives, due to the interruption to the federal pandemic response and vaccine distribution. He further said any delay will especially harm the health and safety of American Indian tribes and Native communities grappling with the disproportionate toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Udall’s letter was consistent with national security and public health experts who were sounding the alarm about the potential of costing American lives because of her delay.
Udall, the best champion for Indian Country in the Senate, underscored that any disruptions to these essential services would violate the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribes and that Administrator Murphy needs to start this process to uphold her oath of office to faithfully discharge her duties and uphold the Constitution.
Even though Murphy finally sent a letter of ascertainment that sets in motion the transition, one still can wonder how much damage has been done.
I once knew a woman who did not believe that the 1969 Apollo moon landing happened. She was convinced NASA made it up. She surmised it was done on a staged television set in some remote part of the Southwest. No one ever convinced her differently. Even with solid evidence to the contrary, she took her belief to her grave at the age of 93.
The good thing about this woman’s refusal to believe man landed on the moon, her belief was not damaging to anyone. Her family and friends laughed about it.
However, in American politics, believing false narratives are not laughing matters because it can damage democracy. It is time for Americans to get a grip on reality because our country deserves a change that sides on the side of truth, rather than believing things that are not true.
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