\\\Trump & The GOP: Lying for the sake of lying
COMMON SENSE SAYS: When disgraced former President Donald Trump whines that the 2020 election should have been “overturned many months ago” and calls the undeniable fact that Joe Bide won the “Really Big Lie,” it’s time to say enough is enough.
Nine months after the attack on the US Capitol, Republicans in Congress are defending Donald Trump’s role on January 6 in some of their strongest terms yet — and signaling he’d have widespread backing from the party if he ran for president again in 2024.
The GOP is continuing on its anti-democratic path, saying that even the contested term “fascist” is becoming more defensible given the GOP’s defense or denial of the January 6 Capitol attack. The vast bulk of the Republican Party is going along with it. The Big Lie has taken hold among the enormous majority of the Republican Party, to the point where you can’t be a member of the Republican Party in good standing if you don’t adhere to the Big Lie.
The Republican Party, as has been the case since 2016, will be following and acting in service to an authoritarian leader who routinely lies and is a criminal. Worse, they’re making martyrs of people like Ashli Babbitt, who was killed jumping into a secure area against the directions of an officer who knew there were elected officials behind him in the area.
There is a reason that Republicans either embrace Trump’s lie that the election was stolen, shrug their shoulders at his incendiary rhetoric, or whitewash his role fomenting the January 6 riot: Many believe his help will be essential to take back the House in 2022 and are eager to score his endorsement — or, in some cases, are scared to cross him.
Merrick Garland needs to get to work because the future of our democracy is at stake. The GOP and Trump are moving toward stealing the 2024 election, and right now, they have the support of Republican governors who are doing their best to hand their states to Republicans.
Some sites are expressing optimism, but I don’t have this luxury. We need to move against Trump NOW using the law to put him away. He is a psychopath and narcissist who could care less about his followers. He wants power at any cost, and if by chance he is re-elected, our country will plunge into an era of darkness never seen before.
Originally published at https://commonsenseandpolitics.com on October 13, 2021.
