We know we can expect even worse from Trump and his minions for weeks to come. We know that his media enablers, particularly Fox, Breitbart, Rush, InfoWars, and the rest, will do their part to further the lies and disinformation. They form a threat to the republic in ways our 18th century founding documents did not anticipate. How could have they? 
Are the delays in transition dangerous and unprecedented? Are they a violation of all decency and norms of the republic? Are they costing lives because governance is failing and COVID is raging? This and so much more are the reasons why Trump has failed in every way: moral treason and vile incompetence are his trademarks. Take heart: he is being driven from office by the voice of democracy.
Trump may yet incite violence and the "Charlottesville crowd" is armed and ready across Red nation. Even if larger social media outlets step up to their responsibilities, we should not underestimate the insidious efforts of his media enablers over at Fox. There is money to be made and since when has the good of the republic and the common weal been more important to them than money? The grift is always at the bottom of these enablers. Always follow the money. That too is at the bottom of the Mad King's plot.
The alternative universe of lies and disinformation is real because some 70 million will only believe them and have no regard for the facts or the truth. It doesn't matter how many will pull themselves away from their games of Jeopardy and the NFL to bring their guns into the streets. It only takes one with an AR-15 and there may well be more than one. Can a democracy actually function without trust in the truth? Without the facts and the confidence of civil discourse? What do we do with the Republican leadership that refuses sanity because they serve the Mad King and his cult? We are indeed in territories more like 1860 than any other time in our history.
Do remember that Lincoln too stood calmly in the midst of rebellion and never gave the rebels the status they sought or claimed. Biden appears to me to emulating this kind of leadership, albeit without States in open rebellion. The Republican Trumpist Cult seems governed only tweet and the rightwing commentators who tell them what to think and what to do. The elected defy the rightwing media at their peril it seems and we cannot expect them to act like adults, much less citizens of a functioning democracy.
But democracy _has_ functioned because their claims are proven false and the election has been won. They are more dangerous than petulant children who cannot accept defeat, their willingness to soothe the Beast is reprehensible because it is _costing lives_. We must be stalwart and like Lincoln I think Biden is uniquely qualified for this role now as any and we are lucky to have him.
Take note:
Biden is dealing with this attempted coup the way he promised to govern: with calm, deliberate clarity and with a hand extended to those who supported Trump. We can also expect him to have the appropriate army of lawyers to deal with the crazies and to be deep in conversations with those who will form the administration. He will fulfill his promise to be a steadying force and to nominate a cabinet that looks like America, particularly those communities who have always been under represented. Now if we can make it to January and the good people of Georgia show up to create a functioning Senate, America still stands a chance.
&&&& More from 11 November's news...
The Devil's Bargain is Power at All Costs
McConnell knows that Trump has lost the presidency and that by January when the Georgia Senate runoffs are held that he and his toadies can no longer sustain the dangerous, vile fiction of election fraud. They don't care about the country or national security or any of the other implications of the Mad King's madness. They don't want to cross him because that is how they keep power and continue to grift. So for now they must uphold all of his lies, albeit with tepid enthusiasm because they know this house of cards is going to fall with Electoral College certification. Because they don't care about democracy, they wouldn't mind if Trump stole the election. It's that sickening.
But craven elected Republicans know it's not even likely, maybe it is impossible because legal remedies are running out and the money that runs them don't want civil war, only because it's bad for business. Kochs want to sell stuff and they pay McConnell's bills. Trump doesn't care if there is civil war, so long as it is for him and about him, just like everything else.
Perhaps democracy wins. But as soon as McConnell and the Toadies abandon Trump for the truth then Trump will abandon them, which means that those two imbecile candidates from Georgia may not get further Trump support. McConnell thinks they are both going to win no matter what Trump does but he would rather those victories come in due course without Trump causing more damage. After all, Perdue and Loeffler will continue to kiss the ring and worse but once McConnell tacitly admits Trump has lost, Trump will see the whole Republican Party as disloyal to him. Trump will lash out at all who have not laid down their lives for him, and that mildly worries McConnell. Still, you see McConnell going along with the lies for now and mostly laying low if he can. He only cares not to make the Trump Cult hostile to him so that he can use them again.
McConnell and the toadies need Trump to keep the cult riled up because then they will certainly show up in January in Georgia. In the meantime, Democrats must keep their Georgia voters motivated because they are certainly the long shot under these best of circumstances---it is still Georgia even if it is now sorta'purple and went blue because of lots of suburban and black voters. McConnell needs every vote but is likely to get them no matter what Trump says or does, so long as he doesn't antagonize the dupes.
As we know, McConnell doesn't care about anything but being in power, and so in the majority. It's not ideology, it's power. With power comes money and influence. The oligarchs want both and they own Mitch. Trump never cares about anything but himself. The rightwing media wants the Trump frenzy to continue all the way to civil war because they want to cash out and don't give a fuck about democracy or decency. Carlson is the front runner if Trump doesn't begin to run again immediately---it's all about the money. Trump win or lose is setting himself up for Cult TV, which will bring him billions in subscriptions every month. In the meantime, the country gets sicker and sicker with COVID.
If Mitch gets his way in Georgia, which he thinks will happen no matter what Trump does, Biden will be thwarted Obama-style for four full years. There will be no reconciliation and it doesn't matter if Biden tries to cut deals with Romney, Toomey, Collins, or Murkowski. Mitch will continue ruin America because nothing will come to the floor.
Biden will undo much of the damage but democracy will be failing because governance means nothing happens---and that stalemate is now our death as any sort of successful civilization. Mitch believes that the oligarchs will survive and thrive as the rest of the world burns and dies from pandemic.
The Republicans couldn't be more depraved but actually they will be. Democrats only stand a chance if somehow they win those seats in Georgia. I'm not betting on that, are you? The headlight coming down the tracks is bearing down on planet Earth. Just when that train crashes into what's left of America remains to be seen. There's still time to derail the Cult and Mitch but Democrats need pretty much a miracle, if you ask me. Nobody asked, I know, I know.
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