In the weeks since the election I have been very bothered by what appear to be efforts by Democratic politicians to treat Trump’s victory like any Presidential transition --- respect the will of the voters, provide for an orderly peaceful transition (maybe make a big deal about how RESPONSIBLE the Democrats are), blah blah blah.
Well one can respect the will of the voters by accurately counting the votes of the Electoral College on January 6 but that does not require Democrats or any of the rest of us to consider Trump a legitimate President. 90 million potential voters chose NOT to vote. The margin of victory in the popular vote kept shrinking until Trump ended up with less than half of all votes for President. As I am recording this, the last official tally of his popular vote margin was one and a half percent!
Trump is not a legitimate president because he led an insurrection in January of 2021. By the exact wording of the 14th Amendment he is disqualified from holding office. More importantly, he would have been barred from holding office in the future but for the cowardice of Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
On the floor of the Senate, McConnell stated that Trump was guilty of fomenting the insurrection and should be held accountable in a criminal court. That then became McConnell’s reason to vote to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial. Had he voted to convict, he would have brought along enough Republicans to also vote to convict, and Trump would have been banned from holding future office.
In addition to that element of illegitimacy, he also stands convicted of in effect raping the writer E. Jean Carroll. This was a decision of a jury of ordinary New Yorkers before which Trump had the opportunity to mount a vigorous defense but he was too chicken to take the stand. He also was convicted of 24 business related felonies by a different New York jury.
But much of that is beside the point. The reason he is an illegitimate President is because the policies he is about to implement are detrimental to the health and well-being of all our citizens. He is going to enable states to criminalize women’s reproductive health care.
He is going to enable states to force teachers to ignore basic facts about American history in favor of the whitewashed version in the 1776 curriculum which professional historians have lambasted. He is going to try to reverse all efforts made by the Biden Administration to deal with the problem of global warming.
If he actually tries to round up and deport first thousands, then hundreds of thousands of our neighbors, fellow workers, fellow students, relatives of US citizens because he claims they are “illegal,” he will begin by herding them into concentration camps. In the rush of the effort, US citizens and green card holders will “mistakenly” be deported – and the process of “correcting” for those mistakes could take years.
Remember, there are still about a thousand children not yet reunited with their families SIX YEARS after the alleged end of the child separation policy. Trump has even promised to defy the 14th Amendment (again) by refusing to issue passports to US citizens whose parents are undocumented --- in effect repealing the birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment – changing the Constitution by decree
This is not a time for Democrats to “make nice” --- this is a time for Democrats to stiffen their spines and resist at every turn. They can start by boycotting his first address to Congress or by showing up and sitting silently – never standing for him – never applauding even if he says things they agree with. Democrats in FREE STATES should use every power of government to resist his efforts to round up the undocumented --- resist the efforts of SLAVE states to criminalize abortion activity by their citizens who travel to FREE STATES.
Resistance is essential. The only moral tack to take.