Donald Trump is engaged in an effort to steal the 2020 election. And most of his party approves or remains silent. Recently, Senator Kelly Loeffler spoke to this issue in a debate. She is being challenged by Dr. Rafael Wornock in one of two U.S. senate races in Georgia. In the debate she was asked if Donald Trump lost the election, yes or no? She said neither, and told us that Donald Trump has every right to challenge the vote, and make sure every vote counts. Loeffler is a perfect example of how Trump gets away with his charade. In Georgia, each and every vote has been counted three times. Three times 5 million or so votes. The outcome was the same, Joe Biden won by more than 10,000 votes.

Trump is using tactics that are typically used in authoritarian and dictatorial regimes. Anyone that opposes the “Trump regime” is an enemy, and will be treated as such as if a war had been declared. Last Saturday, Trump called Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. Kemp has been a huge supporter of Trump. He led the way to open the Georgia economy well before other states because he thought it would please his boss in Washington. When Kemp opened the state in early April, Trump embarrassed Kemp, and made him a laughing stock of governors in the media. In the phone call with Kemp on December 5 (remember Trump’s phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine—led to impeachment) Trump asked Kemp to call the Georgia house and senate together for a special meeting to get them to change the vote. He thought by bringing the representatives of the people of Georgia that they could defy the will of the people. The will of the people was that 16 electors will vote for Joe Biden because he won the election. Kemp turned the president down. It’s hard to believe Trump did this. However he asked Republicans in Michigan and Pennsylvania to make him the winner.

This is an outright abuse of power. However, Trump has abused the power of his office since he arrived. He’s an authoritarian and a depot.

Coup

In an article in the Atlantic, Zeynep Tufekci helps us understand what is going on with Trump and the Republican Party. He makes it clear, but he also explains that most Americans won’t recognize or realize what is going on. At one point in his article he said:

The U.S. president is trying to steal the election, and, crucially, his party either tacitly approves or is pretending not to see it. This is a particularly dangerous combination, and makes it much more than just typical Trumpian bluster or norm shattering.

According to Tufekci, there is only one word in English that can be used to identify and name what is going on. He says it eloquently with these remarks.

Trump is attempting to stage some kind of coup, one that is embedded in a broader and ongoing power grab. And if that’s hard to recognize, this might be your first.

Although the coup that is identified here involves other states, lower and higher courts, the Supreme Court, a host of lawyers and election officials, ground zero for the election of the century is the state of Georgia.

Georgia Senate Races: At Risk?

There are two senate elections that will be decided in a runoff election on January 5, 2021. Here are the stakes. If Jon Ossoff and Raphael Wornock win their respective campaigns against David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler, then the Democrats will hold the advantage in the United States Senate. If the Democrats win both seats, then there will be 50 Democratic and 50 Republican senators. In a case like this, all tie votes are decided by the Vice President of the United States, who in this case Kamala Harris, a Democrat.

Trump has targeted Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, Secretary of State Brad Brad Raffensperger, a Republican and Election Chief, Gabriel Sterling, Republican. His targeting has resulted in death threats to Secretary Raffensperger’s family. Gabriel Sterling gave an emotional speech on the steps of the State Capitol saying that Trump and Senators Purdue and Loeffler have to stop what they are doing before some one gets hurt or killed.

Loeffler and Purdue have called for the resignation of Brad Raffensperger. All three of them are republicans. The senators have not backed off, and still hold to their position that he should step down. Raffensperger has been very clear that he will not resign. He shouldn’t.

Safe Harbor

Although today is “Safe Harbor” day, I am still concerned about Trump’s attempted coup. Safe Harbor day, which is today, December 8, is the day is when states can “lock” in their electoral college votes. A Forbes article helps us understand the importance of this day. Alison Durkee, the author of the article says that “under federal law, if states have finalized their election results and resolved “any controversy or contest” involving the appointment of the electors by six days before the Electoral College meets, those results should be treated as “conclusive” by Congress when lawmakers count the Electoral College votes and should not be challenged.”

Well, that day has come and almost gone. Although not set in stone, the results will be very difficult to change. Joe Biden will be the next president.

Supreme Court

Today the Supreme Court of the United States turned down a lawsuit filed by Rep. Mike Kelly claiming that mail-in ballots were illegal and the mail-in votes in Pennsylvania should be thrown out. The Supreme Court ruling was as follows:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2020
ORDER IN PENDING CASE
20A98 KELLY, MIKE, ET AL. V. PENNSYLVANIA, ET AL.
The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice
Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied.

This was a major decision since the Supreme Court is stacked with justices appointed by Trump. Ever since Trump was elected in 2016, he has called the presidential election rigged, even when he won. He especially is paranoid about mail-in votes. But he uses his paranoia to ignite his base that the election was stolen from because of mail-in votes. This case seems to tell us that mail-in votes are legal and simply be thrown out because Trump says they should.

Watch Out for Trump

There is less than a month until the Georgia runoff election for two U.S. senate seats. Mail-in voting has begun in the state, and more than one million mail-in votes have been filed. Early voting begins next week, and runs until the end of the month. Election day is January 5.

More than 300 million dollars has been spent on advertising for the two elections. Trump plans to return to the state and hold another of his rallies of lies. In the last rally which was to support Purdue and Loeffler’s race against Jon Ossoff and Rafael Wornock, Trump spent most of the time whining about how the election was stolen from him. Except that now he’s trying to steal it back. Is that possible. In Trump’s world, it is.
The tide has turned. However I heard someone on CNN say it’s not over until Joe Biden lifts his hand off the Bible.