It's over.
No, really, it's over.
Yesterday, the Electoral College met, and when all the counting was done, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wound up with 306 electoral votes, and Pinky and the Brain wound up with 232 electoral votes. Not even threats of violence, some by a Michigan state GOP lawmaker, could stop the inevitable.
And let's get this straight: it's been over for quite some time. Trump and his band of merry marauders launched dozens of frivolous lawsuits in numerous state and federal courts, and for their efforts they ended up 1-59. Even the 1962 Mets had a better winning percentage.
Want to know how significant this was? None other than old Turtle face himself, AKA, Mitch McConnell, "congratulated" the president and vice president elect on the floor of the Senate. Even worse, Trump's BFF, Vladimir Putin, formally acknowledged Biden's win. That last one had to hurt. Not that I give a shit about his feelings, mind you.
As far as the so-called "alternate" electors that Stephen Miller alluded to on Fox News, you can forget about that too. A few dozen bat-shit crazy people holding a confab behind closed doors is meaningless. For the record, the legislatures of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were all in recess when the legitimate electors met to cast their votes, so there was only one certified slate of electors per state, and that slate was signed by each state's governor. Think about it: if it were that easy to throw a monkey wrench into the works someone a helluva lot smarter than these bozos would've done it by now.
And even if a couple of Republican senators decide to humiliate themselves on January 6 - hello, Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz - it won't make a difference. Enough Republicans will refuse to drink the Kool Aid to make the matter moot. And in a worst-case scenario where they all decide to win one more for the Grifter, thus causing a tie between the House and Senate, the tiebreaker goes to the slates of electors certified and signed by the governors. Case closed.
So, you see, it's really over. Trump tried using the courts to upend the election. When that failed he had his personal attorney and ghoul Rudy Giuliani along with fellow stooge Jenna Ellis hit the road to hold fake hearings with the express purpose of coercing Republican legislatures to override the popular vote in their states and appoint alternate slates of electors. When just enough of them balked, Trump threatened them along with Republican election officials who had the audacity to contradict his bullshit. When that still didn't work, he hatched this hair-brain scheme where supposedly alternate electors would ostensibly steal the election on January 6. He's nothing if persistent.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying Trump and his cohorts are done filing their frivolous lawsuits in courts and making their baseless claims on social media and the familiar "news" outlets. They've already raised more than $200 million from the rubes. There's plenty of fish in that there pond.
Just yesterday, it was learned that Ken Paxton, the indicted attorney general of Texas who decided to sue Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia in an attempt to disenfranchise 20 million voters, came to the "brilliant" conclusion that when the Supreme Court told him his lawsuit against those states lacked standing, that meant he had to start in District Court and work his way up the food chain.
Apparently he didn't read the dissent by Justices Alito and Thomas, who clearly said they "would not grant other relief." In other words, Paxton's problem had nothing to do with whether the Supreme Court was the proper venue to resolve disputes between states - it is. His problem is that no state has the right to tell another state how to conduct its elections. If the highest court in the land told him to take a hike, what makes him think a lower court will give him the time of day?
But then we all know what's going on here, don't we? This legal strategy was never about prevailing in the courts; it was about fleecing as many gullible people as possible out of their money so that Trump can have nice nest egg when he leaves office. Want proof? If Trump were actually serious about these legal challenges why on Earth would he entrust them to an incompetent like Giuliani, especially since he has someone like Jay Sekulow in the bullpen? Whatever else you may think of Sekulow - and, trust me, I've thought of 'em all - he's ten times the attorney Giuliani is.
My guess is that Sekulow has been busy crafting a legal strategy to keep Trump out of prison once he becomes a private citizen on January 20. Remember the Supreme Court is all set to rule on whether Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance can get access to Trump's tax records. I fully expect that decision to go against Trump. Once Vance gets a hold of those records, Sekulow is going to have his hands full for the foreseeable future, hence his absence.
So, once more for the students in the back, the 2020 election is over. The good guys won. Now it's on to Georgia, where on January 5, there will be two runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years. Let the wing nuts continue to hold this president's water for him. The more lucid among us have already moved on.
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