And so it begins . . . .
The New York Times reports today that
In Republican-held state governments across the country, officials have collectively turned toward embracing Trump’s denials of the election result. Ten Republican attorneys general filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear a dispute over the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling allowing mail-in ballots to be received up to three days after Election Day.
While most American citizens (and others) would assume that they actually do want the Supreme Court hear the dispute (since, after all, that is what their brief is calling for), they realize that the reality is that the Supreme Court refusing to hear the dispute leads to a much more probable path to a Trump victory. If the Supreme Court refuses, that gives Republican-majority state legislatures in Biden-called states the opportunity to claim that they have no option to challenge a (claimed) fraudulent and illegal election other than by replacing the Biden electors with Trump electors.
The worst news is that, under the constitution, this is 100% legal. It is, undoubtedly, entirely faithless and lacking in integrity -- but the Senate's actions in Supreme Court justice ratification and the impeachment trial clearly demonstrate how far Republicans are willing to go to get "their way". This is, of course, entirely opposed to following all precedent and norms, allowing democracy to operate correctly, paying attention to all constituents (not just the minority) and just having the integrity to apply the same rules to themselves that they impose on others.
I find it particularly telling when people I talk to, who insist that this should be done, refuse to say whether they believe that the current results are incorrect -- particularly for the number of states required (three) to reverse the results of the election. They insist that there was fraud -- but they won't commit to whether it made any difference even if it were true. While I can agree with people holding different political views, I find this utter lack of integrity and total disrespect for democracy disgusting and sickening.
As I said in my previous article, America's Worst Case Scenario
Personally, I can't imagine California, the entirety of New England and a number of other states accepting this. The Republicans have already won two presidential contests (Bush vs. Gore and Trump vs. Clinton) in this century despite losing the majority of the vote. The Senate, where Republicans represent FAR fewer people than the Democrats, have had a majority that have made a mockery of both the impeachment and Supreme Court confirmation processes. There are substantial majorities of US citizens who support access to abortion, identical treatment for sexual minorities, less punishment for (if not outright legalization of) street drugs and a number of other issues who are ignored in favor of the opinions of a strident minority.
Legally, their only option is secession from the United States. I don't see a civil war happening because there is just no way in which the red states can beat the blue states (assuming that they even want to) and there will be enough people in the blue states who feel that they will be better off without the red states. The sad thing is . . . I really do wonder if this might not be the best thing for the United States . . . .
On the other hand, I now wonder about what would happen if/when the Republican-majority legislature of, say, Pennsylvania doesn't even allow their citizens to vote on secession (though THAT may be handled in the next election -- if elections are even a thing in Trump's US and assuming that there isn't a massive outflow of people to seceding states and influx of people determined to keep Pennsylvania in Trump's US).
The New York Times said that Trump's enduring legacy will be climate damage. Just think how proud he would be to have the legacy of freeing the people of the GREAT RED STATES of America from the interference of the SOCIALIST BLUE STATES. It will be THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND and it happened in just the fourth year of his ten years in office before his untimely death led Mike Pence to firmly establish the Christian States of America.
What a nightmare. I just wonder whether purple Virginia will secede or whether I'll be forced to uproot and move to the Democratic States of America.