The Dumbness continues. As I touched on in yesterday’s Gibberish, the attempt to overturn Pennsylvania’s record failed in the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the GOP still has one Hail Mary they’re going to try in the form of a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The suit has garnered support from Trump himself and the attorney generals of 17 states, including Mississippi’s loathsome Lynn Fitch.
Essentially, Paxton’s lawsuit alleges that four swing states – Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan – implemented rule changes in voting due to the pandemic that violates federal law. The argument goes that because of this, the citizens of Texas were harmed by the election’s outcome and the Court should throw out all the votes from those states, nullifying the electoral votes and Biden’s presidential victory.
Now if all this sounds a bit screwy, it’s because it is. Warning: I am not a legal expert by any stretch of the definition and have to go on what I read. That being said, most legal and election experts who are not on the Trump team say this may be the most ridiculous attempt by Republicans to rook the election to date. For one, it demands that other states change their votes because Texas says so, and that really doesn’t fly for any reason.
Another problem is the various states’ solicitor generals haven’t signed the brief, neither has anyone from the U.S. Justice Department. In short, a solicitor general is a person who actually argues a state or the nation’s case before the Supreme Court. So it’s nice and all that all these attorney generals from the various states involved – which just happen to be the ones that rejected expanding Medicare when the ACA came down, imagine that – it really carries no weight should it reach the Supreme Court.
But it probably won’t. The states get together next Monday, Dec. 14, the cast the official electoral votes that would make Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States of America. Now, it’s possible those electoral could pull some shenanigans, so-called “faithless electors.” However, that’s a rare bird in the first place and after the 2016 election, many states passed laws to make it even harder to do so. Furthermore, all 50 states and the District of Columbia certified their election results. That means the states have counted up as best they can and are satisfied with the results. The electors will cast their votes come Monday and will deliver the results to Congress on January 6. And that will be that.
Again, if this nonsense from Texas comes through and the Supreme Court overturns the election for him – and he’s flat quit pretending he’s trying to do anything else – Trump could win. But most experts call it garbage and, in any event, after the 9-0 smack he got after shooting the Pennsylvania shot, most folks seem to think Supreme Court Justices aren’t inclined to soil themselves by doing that something that could actually destroy the electoral process as well as the very concept of federalism the U.S. runs on. You really don’t want to open a door that would allow one state to overrule another’s decision like that.
That being said, some wonder who those 18 attorney generals are hitching their wagon to Trump. Well, it’s not all that curious. Trumpism will be the defining characteristic of American Conservatism and the Republican Party for quite a while, and 17 of those people know which side their bread is buttered on. As for Paxton, he’s being indicted on federal charges and is under investigation by the FBI for mishandling funds. It’s so bad his own staff will testify against him. So, he’s bucking for one of the pardons Trump is handing out like flyers to Vegas strip clubs.
So that’s where things stand. If you’re worried about the Supreme Court giving Trump another term, it’s probably safe to assume that’s not going to happen. As I said earlier, even if the suit was coherent as filed, which it isn’t, it’s basically too late in the game to make much difference. If anything is worth concern, it’s the reaction of the Base once reality sits on their collective heads and farts. They’re darkly muttering about another civil war and even the Arizona GOP is advocating folks being “willing to die for Trump.” Even some Republicans find the rhetoric worrisome.
As for me, we’ve already seen a kidnapping plan of Michigan’s governor by anti-maskers foiled and I’ve no doubt some drooling dingbat in a MAGA hat is going to at least try to do something horrible out of spiteful ignorance. I’ve resisted calling them a “cult” because that’s a heavy concept that doesn’t need to be tossed around lightly, but I’m starting to think it’s apt for these yo-yos. True or not, they gleefully claim to have more guns and the support of military or law enforcement.
Worse, they believe they have God on their side, and there’s nothing scarier than a zealot.
Dear Y'all 