MYOB—A Political Cure
Well, to no one’s surprise, the Supremes did the right thing and tossed the Texas case which maintained that Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin should not be allowed to cast their electoral votes for President-Elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr. The New York Times wrote, “The court, in a brief unsigned order, said Texas lacked standing to pursue the case, saying it “has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.”
For those who don’t have law-speak at the tip of their tongues: MYOB, Texas. As The Times’ Editorial Board wrote, “As a legal matter, this is the rough equivalent of objecting on the grounds that the other side is winning. As political rhetoric, however, it is incendiary.”
The Electoral College is set to meet on Monday to cast their votes. It is anticipated that Mr. Biden will get the 306 that have been promised to him by the American People. Here endeth the Trump legal challenge to the election.
Between us, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw this morning’s headline. How about you?
The whole damn circus [with sincere apologies to Ringling, Barnum, Bailey, Big Apple, and Cirque du Soleil] was, I think, simply a way to stay in the news cycle—a pure, childish bid to keep the spotlight on Mr. Trump. I don’t think any of those who filed these suits ever thought they would win, nor do I think they really wanted to win. The Editorial Board chimes in, “Most of it is political theater ….” Yeah? Ya think? The whole thing was an ego-stroke for a clinically ill ego.
Mr. Trump isn’t the only one to blame either. Jim Rutenberg and Nick Corasaniti write in “‘An Indelible Stain’: How the G.O.P. Tried to Topple a Pillar of Democracy,” “The Supreme Court repudiation of President Trump was also a blunt rebuke to Republican leaders who had put their interests ahead of the country’s.” Oh no, not 45 alone, but his lapdogs as well.
“Through [the Republicans’] explicit endorsements or complicity of silence, much of the G.O.P. leadership now shares responsibility for the quixotic attempt to ignore the nation’s founding principles and engineer a different verdict from the one voters cast on Election Day.”
“Tom Rath, a former Republican attorney general of New Hampshire, who endorsed Mr. Biden and opposed his party’s effort at the Supreme Court, lamented what seemed to be political incentives within his party to shake that trust. ‘It’s very unfortunate that some people tried to live off that chaos, perpetuate it and make it even more difficult for the average citizen to trust what government’s doing.’”
Trump has been mining and minding the business of elections, not his election or his non-election, not really, but elections and their mechanisms themselves. The G.O.P. yes-boys-and-girls have been minding the business of Trump. And no one—I actually mean this—is minding their own business. Except, maybe, Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney? It boggles my mind. Mitt Romney, who, when he ran for president, was so composited by political operatives that he seemed like a Stepford candidate? That Mitt Romney. It would appear that he is the only current Republican senator who has a spinal column. He’s at least attempting to mind his own business as a senator and the business of the country and the Constitution which are his sacred charge.
Rutenberg and Corasaniti again, “The G.O.P. sought to undo the vote by such spurious means that the conservative majority on the Supreme Court quickly rejected the argument.”
Trump tweeted, “‘The Supreme Court really let us down,’ he said. ‘No Wisdom, No Courage!’” Maybe. Maybe no wisdom and no courage but definitely minding the business of the Supreme Court—to be a check on the Executive branch. Whether one has stacked the court with cronies or not. And who, exactly, is us? Are we using the Royal We now?
The Supreme Court may have let the madding, red crowd down, but history will tell a different story. The Supreme Court did what it is chartered to do. Adjudicate. They have spoken, and still Rudy Guiliani is talking about 4-5 more lawsuits.
“Even some Republican leaders delivered a withering assessment of the 126 G.O.P. House members and 18 attorneys general who chose to side with Mr. Trump over the democratic process, by backing a lawsuit that asked the Supreme Court to throw out some 20 million votes in four key states that cemented the president’s loss.”
Twenty million votes. Just poof! Presto! Chango! Abracadabra! Vanished. Erased. Uncounted. Is it any wonder that our country is in such a rage-anxiety-rage-anxiety tempest? Any wonder at all? None.
“[T]he president’s effort required the party to promote false theory upon unsubstantiated claim upon outright lie about unproved, widespread fraud—in an election that Republican and Democratic election officials agreed was notably smooth given the challenges of the pandemic.”
I’ve heard all kinds of people predicting that this rage/anxiety flip-flop will continue even after Mr. Biden is inaugurated. I agree, it might, but … Mr. Biden, I think we can all note, despite every door that has been slammed on his fingers during the transition, has been minding his own business. Doing the transition where he can. Reaching out consistently. Listening to voters again and again. Taking the high road he has from Day One.
What’s under the rage/anxiety spectrum is fear. The largest, loudest, thumping, stumping if pathetically lugubrious fearmonger is the “800 pound gorilla in the room,” Donald Trump. Minding everyone else’s business but his own paltry business.
Again, the wisdom of The Editorial Board, “These lawmakers were humiliating themselves to conciliate President Trump, a man who once created a coat of arms for himself emblazoned with the words Numquam Concedere—never concede.” Trump’s sad, sorry, remaining business is the truth that he lost the election, and now must figure out how to live with it. And what to do next.
That’s what’s true for all of us, Beloved. Oh not that we lost the election, but that we all must deal with the consequences of our actions and choose what to do next. It’s called living a life and it’s a universal experience for those of the human persuasion.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? I sure hope so.
Maybe when January 20th arrives—in 39 days [yes, I’m counting]—and the Oval Office is inhabited by a person with values that include all Americans—maybe the messaging out of The White House will ease down a few, no several, no, A LOT of notches? Out of the dramatic, addictive stratosphere of conspiracy theories and a 24/7 news cycle, and into the measured rhythms of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
When the government goes back to minding its own business, then we can get on with minding ours.
Dr. Susan Corso is a spiritual teacher, the founder of iAmpersand, and the author of The Mex Mysteries, the Boots & Boas Books, and spiritual nonfiction. Her website is susancorso.com.