Strike Two

Let's be very clear here: the decision by the Supreme Court to reject Texas's ridiculous "lawsuit" that would've overturned the election results in four swing states and delivered the presidency to Trump should come as no surprise to anyone possessing even a modicum of understanding of the law.

It wasn't just that Texas lacked standing to sue another state over how it conducted its own election, or that the arguments it was making have already been debunked in dozens of lower-court cases; that was bad enough. But imagine, if you will, a scenario where states could challenge each other at the Supreme Court if they didn't like the results of an election. The virtual free-for-all that would ensue would ensnare the highest court in the nation in a litany of litigation that would relegate it to the status of referee at a pro-wrestling match. Only a lunatic would wish for such a scenario. But given the legal arguments that Team Trump has put forth in the courts over the last four weeks, lunacy just about sums it up.

The Court's decision was somewhat longer in length than the one they issued in the Kelly case, but no less definitive.

The State of Texas’s motion for leave to file a bill ofcomplaint is denied for lack of standing under Article III of the Constitution. Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections. All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.

Statement of Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas joins: In my view, we do not have discretion to deny the filing of a bill of complaint in a case that falls within our original jurisdiction. See Arizona v. California, 589 U. S. ___
(Feb. 24, 2020) (Thomas, J., dissenting). I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue.

You'd think that this decision would be enough; that Trump would finally get the hint. You'd be wrong. Just this morning, Rudy Giuliani announced he would be starting a new string of lawsuits at the District Court level. In Arizona, the state GOP party chair Kelli Ward is asking the Supreme Court to rule that the Safe Harbor date is unconstitutional. Good luck with that, Kelli. Overall, Trump and his surrogates are 1-58 in the courts.

In Washington D.C. today thousands of Trump's followers showed up in solidarity, clinging to the belief that somehow, someway their "fearless" leader would pull it out and prevail. The problem with sociopaths is that they never know when to quit. They just keep digging the hole deeper and deeper.

That Trump would stoop to this level is no surprise. Even when he won in 2016, he insisted that the only reason Hillary won the popular vote was because three million people voted illegally for her. All this year he was laying the ground work for contesting an election he and his campaign knew perfectly well was likely going to go against him. And now, with only weeks to go in this malignant administration, his claims of fraud, though thoroughly rejected by every court in the country, have won over a third of the electorate.

Anyone who believes that this nightmare is over hasn't been paying attention. Yes, the judiciary has held - thank God - but what's left of the GOP resembles more the members of the Reichstag in the days before Hitler seized power than it does a political party: impotent and complicit.

To me, it matters not whether Republicans actually believe that the 2020 election was rigged or whether they're just too chicken shit to confront Trump. Their actions are the issue here. Imagine the sheer gall of 126 members of the House of Representatives and 17 state attorneys general signing their names to an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit that, if successful, would've disenfranchised more than twenty million people and upended the results of a presidential election. The mind boggles. That a lawyer would even file such a complaint in the first place is even more disturbing. Somewhere, there's an ambulance chaser thinking to himself, "I'm looking pretty good right about now."

To call this a cult would do a disservice to the very word. At least cult leaders have the decency to kill themselves along with their followers. Instead what Trump is doing is killing the very fabric of American society, and I am very much afraid that as the clock winds down on his presidency, he will get more and more desperate and become even more and more reckless.

On Monday, the electors meet in their respective state capitals to cast their votes, all 538 of them. I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't deeply concerned about their safety. Just this morning it was learned that a member of the far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys, was in attendance at a White House Christmas party last night. This is the very same group that Trump told to stand back and stand by at the first presidential debate last fall. He knows he can't use the military to pull off a coup - the Joint Chiefs would never stand for it. But a couple thousand brown shirts, strategically placed, would certainly suffice.

I'm not being hyperbolic here. I've already seen some of the screen shots from the psychos who now call Parler their home. One of them was calling for the execution of Supreme Court justices. Do not kid yourselves. These people are primed and ready to march on Trump's orders. One tweet and we could have bloodshed.

The cops? Consider this: if roughly 75 percent of Republicans believe the election was stolen and 60 percent of law enforcement votes Republican, how many of those men and women in blue might be compromised? Would you trust them to preserve law and order in the event fighting broke out? Maybe, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. And if law and order breaks down, how soon will it be before we see tanks in the streets?

This only happens in places like Belarus, you say. You hope that's true. For me, the jury's still out. If you believe in God, like I do, pray like you've never prayed in your life that over the next few weeks this republic, which has endured for almost 240 years, has a peaceful transition of power.