Trump's damage to democracy will live on

by Tom Maertens

The damage to American democracy that Donald Trump’s electoral tampering and voter suppression has done will live after him.

Because of his constant lies, more than half of Republicans attribute Biden’s win to vote fraud. If Democrats had rigged the elections, as Trump charges, GOP senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham would not have won.

Trump has lost more than 30 lawsuits that alleged violations of law during voting and counting in six swing states. So far, no court has found a single instance of fraud.

Despite that, Trump openly pressured swing state legislatures to intervene and name electors who would favor him, in violation of their laws or past practices. It didn’t work; all certified the election in favor of the winner, Joe Biden.

So what have Republican legislators done to stop Trump from destroying our democracy? Virtually nothing. Carl Bernstein blew the whistle on the pusillanimous Party; he named and shamed the invertebrate caucus, 21 GOP senators who he said have privately expressed disdain for Trump, while maintaining public silence.The damage to American democracy that Donald Trump’s electoral tampering and voter suppression has done will live after him.

But Rudy Giuliani, Mike Pompeo, Peter Navarro, Keyleigh McEnany, Jenna Ellis and others are still claiming that Trump won a second term.

Conservative writer Noah Rothman in National Review wrote that “Trump’s always been a conspiracy kook. What we’re seeing in the twilight of his kookery is the merger of QAnon, the GOP, and the large part of the conservative movement that earns its bread peddling miracle pills to gullible elderly people on the radio.” As H.L. Mencken might have noted, nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the Trump cult.

Trump has always associated with crooks and conmen but why are so many people willing to lie for him? Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, George Papadopouplos, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, Elliot Broidy, Alex van der Zwaan, Ken Kurson, Corey Lewandowski, Brad Parscale, Republican congressman Chris Collins, Republican congressman Duncan Hunter, lobbyist Sam Patten, businessman George Nader, and California donor Imaaz Zuberi have been indicted or convicted so far, mostly for campaign finance violations or for lying to the FBI.

Rudy Giuliani is a special case. It was his attempt to smear the Bidens in Ukraine for Trump’s benefit that led to Trump’s impeachment.

Now he’s fabricating stories about electoral fraud, with no evidence. As the Washington Post headline said, “Giuliani’s fantasy parade of false voter-fraud claims.” As a result, four law firms that were representing Trump have withdrawn from the case(s). Even Chris Christie, a Trump ally, termed Trump’s legal team “a national embarrassment.”

Ken Dilanian (CNN) reported that several of Giuliani’s friends believe that he is showing cognitive decline and is destroying his own reputation in order to help Trump.

As for Trump, 41,000 health care professionals signed an open letter in 2017 asserting that “Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States.”

In the last month, Trump has charged political opponents, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, James Comey, and Biden, of “the greatest political crimes in the history of our country,” usually unspecified. Abusing government prosecution powers could be a crime in itself.

Trump also fired the head of cybersecurity, Chris Krebs, for announcing that the latest election was the most secure in American history.

Trump is desperate to stay in the White House to avoid prosecution. He is facing dozens of civil lawsuits and multiple criminal charges; The New York Times cited tax fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering, racketeering and violating campaign finance laws as possible charges.

The New York district attorney, Cyrus Vance, has said he is looking into the Trump Organization’s “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct,” including insurance and bank fraud and paying hush money. Robert Mueller found evidence that Trump obstructed justice as many as 10 times, which may now become criminal charges.

The rape charges by E. Jean Carroll are still pending, as are charges by Michael Cohen that Trump falsified the value of his assets in order to obtain bank loans.

Several ex-White House officials have told the press that Trump has been asking about pardons since 2017 and has asserted the right to pardon himself.

It’s virtually certain that he will look to be pardoned, either by pardoning himself — a legally dubious proposition under a system that claims that no man shall be his own judge — or by resigning early in favor of Mike Pence who might then pardon him, which would be an admission of guilt.

Tom Maertens served as a White House National Security Council director during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.