Denial Delta
That title can be read in one of two ways. The first is more poetic, based on the old "de Nile ain't just a river in Egypt" joke. As a river ends, it empties into the sea through a large delta. Or it can be read the way math and science uses the term. "Delta" (Δ) is the Greek letter used to signify "change in" (a rocket scientist talks about "delta-vee" instead of "change in velocity," for instance). Either way, though it signifies that the rampant denial in the Republican Party right now is soon going to have to change, and that that day is rapidly approaching.
Right now, most of them are terrified to admit the reality that Joe Biden will be our next president and will be sworn in on January 20, as the Constitution dictates. The Washington Post recently contacted every Republican serving in both houses of Congress and asked them who won the election. Out of a total of 249, only 27 admitted the truth that Biden won. Two of them insisted that Donald Trump won, all evidence to the contrary. But a whopping 220 of them -- over 88 percent -- didn't answer at all. They're afraid of Trump's wrath, plain and simple. So they enable his denial by remaining silent. Right now, it's the safest course of action for them.
But the period where they should be allowed to get away with this is fast coming to an end. Up until now, Republicans have been offering up bromides such as: "let's let the legal process work, because everyone is entitled to their day in court." Again, this completely ignores the fact that in the over 50 lawsuits Trump and his team have filed, there is no actual evidence of fraud or any other problem that was widespread enough to alter the results in any state -- much less in the multiple states that would be necessary for Trump to have won. And it also ignores the fact that virtually all of the 30-plus cases that have been already decided have been essentially laughed out of court, by judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans (including even some Trump-appointed judges). There's just no there there. But as long as a handful of these cases remain outstanding, Republican politicians can pretend that they have any prayer of success, for a little longer.
But we're now reaching the official deadlines for the presidential election process, so they won't be able to keep this pretense up for very much longer. Today is the so-called "safe harbor" day, when every state must finalize and certify their election results and appoint electors to the Electoral College. In other words, today is the day the counting officially ends and the next step in the process begins. Next Monday is the real final deadline, because that is when the Electoral College votes. And once they do, Joe Biden is going to wind up with 306 votes, to Donald Trump's 232. The 2020 presidential election will be finally and irrevocably over. Joe Biden will officially have won. It won't be theoretical any more, it will be an undeniable historic fact.
There's one more step that may offer up a chance for Republican mischief-making, but all of this will fail, too. Congress meets in a joint session to accept the Electoral College votes from each state, and at that point a state's votes can be challenged by one House member and one senator. But even if this happens, the two houses then go off and hold separate votes, and if both don't agree to reject the state's votes, then the state's votes are accepted as valid. Since Democrats control the House, even if Republicans force this to happen in a last-ditch effort to appease Trump's infantile tantrum, it will still fail and Joe Biden will finally be officially recognized as the president-elect.
While some Republicans may wait until this congressional Kabuki theater plays out, most will likely start admitting that Biden did in fact win, right after the Electoral College votes next Monday. They simply won't be able to deny the reality any more in any credible way. And while most Republicans are still terrified of the wrath of Trump, already 27 of them have admitted the truth. As that number begins to grow next week, it will become so diluted that a Trump Twitter attack becomes less and less likely. The universe of people still willing to praise the emperor's new clothes will shrink, while the rest of them blush and turn away from his naked denial. There simply won't be anything left to protest, after all. The votes will have been counted and certified, the electors will have been named, and the Electoral College will have officially made its decision, just as the Constitution mandates.
There will be no more hiding behind "let's let the legal system work through it" because there will simply be nothing left to fight for or fight against. Once it's a done deal, there will be no going back. The Electoral College isn't going to meet twice. The Supreme Court is not going to suddenly wave a magic wand and hand Trump the election, no matter what Trump and Rudy Giuliani may think. House Democrats are not going to allow Republicans to disenfranchise the voters of a single state, much less the three or more Trump would need to win. It will be over, and everyone (but Trump and his die-hard enablers) will know it full well.
Trump, of course, is never going to let this go. He's going to attempt to ride his sense of grievance right back to the White House in 2024 (while merrily fleecing his supporters to finance the entire operation). He'll actually be trying to follow in the footsteps of one of his heroes, Andrew Jackson, who did exactly that after John Quincy Adams was elected by the House of Representatives in 1824. Jackson called what happened the "Corrupt Bargain" and immediately began campaigning for the 1828 race -- which he then went on to win. Trump probably doesn't know any of this, but sooner or later someone's bound to point it out to him.
But Trump will be doing so from the sidelines. Republican politicians will still be terrified of Trump's wrath, since he commands such a loyal following among the GOP base voters, but at least he won't have any governmental power to abuse any more. And the next presidential election will be four long years away.
So while Trump will most likely continue to deny the reality that he lost to Biden for the rest of his life, few others will still be fully on board his crazy train. Most Republicans in Congress are going to be more concerned with working with the new Biden administration, and they'll have plenty of other things to occupy their time than endlessly continuing to tilt at Trump's "I was robbed!" windmill. This won't happen all at once, but it is likely to at least begin to happen next Monday, after the Electoral College certifies Joe Biden as the 2020 election's winner. At that point, continuing to deny reality is going to become increasingly impossible a position for Republicans to take. Hopefully, Trump's mighty "de Nile" river will fan out and dissipate and empty into the sea of reality, and this change in the amount of denial in Washington will indeed become evident to all. We will have finally reached the denial delta, to put it another way.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
I dunno, CW. As long as Trump wont let it go (in perpetuity no doubt) wouldn't most Repugs have to go along with his silliness, lest they get the Trumpanzies angry at them "for not doing enough for President Trump?"
I truly hate to say this but we are not out of the woods yet! The upcoming 43 days may stretch fooorever with so much time for Trump to keep doubling down.
Pence
Gowan - Can You Make It Feel Like Christmas - Dec 10th @ 8pm EST
https://theempiretheatre.com/live/gowan-can-you-make-it-feel-like-christmas/?fbclid=IwAR23amDoE_DHShTHUwaI57BFTfS5D26-BNaz_Pm_VmFGMvA08brbUxnP9Gk
Gowan is at it again! He's gonna be live at the Empire Theatre in Belleville Ontario Thursday evening at 8pm EST doing some live tunes and then a full replay of his concert live streamed from there in October. It was a great show - not to be missed!
From theempiretheatre.com,
"Join us Thursday December 10 at 8pm for an evening of Gowan “Encore Plus” Live at The Empire.
"First a few LIVE tunes to get the Festive Spirit in gear and then a FULL REPLAY encore of the “Gowan Live At The Empire” show from October 2020, followed by a LIVE after show Question and Answer session. Egg-nog for the adults and rum for the kids!"
We're all just kids here, right? :)
And, here's a little reminder that the Beatles album, Rubber Soul, will be performed - cut for cut, note for note - by Classic Albums Live, also live from the Empire tomorrow night!
https://theempiretheatre.com/live/classic-albums-live-the-beatles-rubber-soul/
Tickets for physical distanced seating (50 people max) are only about fifty bucks or, if you can't make it in-person, you can make a donation to the tip jar for the band/crew/theatre to help keep the live community going during the hard times of the pandemic!
CAL's performance of Revolver last Wednesday night was pretty fun with standing ovations and everything!
well, the texas AG is apparently willing to follow donald down the rabbit hole.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/529209-texas-sues-biden-states-in-supreme-court-seeking-to-delay-electoral
As some writers elsewhere have observed, the silence of the Congressmen is not necessarily pure fear. It also very likely shows approval of what Trump has tried to do. In other words, if Trump had been more successful in getting Republican state legislatures to simply award their states to him by legislative fiat--as he very openly tried to do in Georgia, for instance--that would have been just fine with them. They certainly wouldn't have objected on the grounds that it's un-American to disenfranchise a whole state. If they thought such a procedure was an unacceptable form of fascist coup, you would have expected them to say so by now. On the contrary, they seem to have embraced it as a worthy attempt that may bear more fruit in another election.
When congressmen (congress people? congress persons?) don't bother to reply to questions from the Washington Post, it doesn't automatically imply that they're scared to commit by answering. It might mean they simply choose to ignore the Washington Post.
Elizabeth Miller
"Why do your post here?"
Where else would you have me do my post, party pooper?
You know what, don't answer that! :)
@crs,
regardless of the journalist or the outlet, intentionally not responding to a simple question like "who won the election?" is pretty conspicuous.
JL
Indeed!
don't deny, try pie!
Indeedy do.
[8], [11]
I think there's a lot of insincere reporting these days regarding Republicans and what they believe or what motivates them.
I keep hearing about how 74 million people believe what the orange one says. I simply don't believe that. They don't believe him. They're playing along. They seem to believe that every other Republican who won did so legitimately. Only Fat Donny got cheated? They're not really that stupid.
I keep hearing how GOP politicians are afraid of mean tweets and afraid of being primaried. Both have a little merit, but they're finally starting to own up to their real fear - death threats from the death cult zombies. I have no sympathy for Dr Frankenstein.
[9] Stucki,
What do the quotation marks indicate?
[7]
It's refreshing to see how little attention is given to attention-hungry trolls now that their attention-hungry candidate has lost and is facing a future that includes a whole lot less attention.
Program Note:
Thermometer has been updated (you may have to reload the page to see it). We're over 1/4th of the way towards our annual goal in just over a day. Woo hoo!
-CW
Excellent!
You conclude with "Most Republicans in Congress are going to be more concerned with working with the new Biden administration..."
I wonder if the Biden administration will make a little informal policy. To wit, that any Congressman who won't publicly announce that Biden is president, and that Trump is a liar and a fraud for denying it, won't get so much as the time of day from the administration, much less action and cooperation on matters pertaining to his or her district.
Kind of a little pushback from the other side of the fence. Scared of being primaried by an ex-presidential tweet? Fine, carry on. But don't expect the White House to acknowledge your Congressional existence. The game goes both ways.
Not sure Biden is that tough, but I hope he is.
Not sure I would describe what you are advocating, John, as being all that tough.
If anyone knows how to whip Congress in shape, it's Biden. And, he'll do it while flashing that wicked Biden smile. :)
John from Censornati [16]
A direct quote from the time several months ago when Liz posed that same question to me.
On her part, I presumed it meant 'People with contrary views aren't really welcome on an ultra-lib blog.' On my part, it was more on the order of 'Why are you cluttering the site with so much musical nonsense?'
Actually, CRS, that is not the question I posed to you.
I believe the question I posed to you was, "What is your purpose here?"
I don't believe I ever got an answer. :)
On her part, I presumed it meant 'People with contrary views aren't really welcome on an ultra-lib blog.'
Now, that right there is enough to form the basis for a prima facie case in support of the proposition that presuming the meaning of things can be rather akin to the practice of projection.
Liz [23]
My "purpose" would have obviously been (and would still be) to enlighten the ignorant or to re-direct the misguided.
Sorry it took so long
XOXOXO
CRS
@crs,
i think it's pretty self-evident that this is NOT an ultra-lib blog, more center-left. moderate and conservative views are welcome, as long as those views are espoused respectfully. i'd say of late we've been pretty firmly anti-trump, but that's just because it's a reality-based blog, and he himself is somewhat anti-reality.
JL
poet
Ain't nobody around this 'ultra-lib blog' been any more "firmly anti-Trump" than this Rep/Con, but my dislike of the orange moron did not blind me to the fact that Russiagate was a total scam backed to the hilt by many of our "center-left" fellow bloggers.
I love you, too, CRS.