Someone tried to steal the election, all right

A Liberal Dose

Posted

One week ago (June 9), the House select committee investigating Jan. 6, 2021, had its first live televised hearing. More than 20 million Americans tuned in (more than to the NBA finals), and that doesn’t count the ones who DVR’d it or have watched it on YouTube or other websites. The three networks and all major TV news outlets broadcast it live.

Well, almost all.

Fox did not show it. Lest one think they didn’t believe their audience would be interested, note that they did not have any commercials during the Tucker Carlson show, on during the first hour of the hearing (not even from the pillow guy). In other words, Fox News willingly gave up millions of dollars to make sure their watchers did not wander off during commercials and accidentally see something true. Side note: many studies have shown that people who get their news only from Fox are less informed about what is really happening than people who watch no news at all.

I hope all of you watched it or found a way to go back and watch it later. There was (and will continue to be) testimony from countless witnesses, including quite a few from the Trump administration. Much of it is on film and, in many cases, in official documents, plus many people will be testifying live. In other words, it is not a conspiracy theory or “fake news.”

It is as real as the blight on our national reputation it documents.

Here is what we know as FACT:

Donald Trump insisted he won the election, despite the fact most of his people told him he had lost. He continued to deny the outcome, spreading inaccurate information and outrageous theories as his “proof.” His efforts to overturn election results were thrown out by over 60 judges (many of them appointed by Trump himself). His attorney general, William Barr, was only one of several advisers who told Trump that the claims had no merit and lacked any evidence that voter fraud significant enough to “steal” the election had occurred. Barr called the claims “complete nonsense,” as well as a coarser term that starts with the word “bull.” Ivanka Trump testified that she believed Barr. Barr testified that he resigned because Trump was trying to make him pursue baseless voter fraud claims in an attempt to overturn a constitutional election.

Trump next claimed that the vice president has the authority to throw out electors from any given state by claiming voter fraud and, instead, swear in alternate Republican electors from that state. Pence does not have that authority, and there is no legal basis for substituting electors to nullify the will of the people in a given state. Vice President Pence verified he did not have the constitutional authority to do this, yet Trump continued to pressure him to do so. A federal judge has said Trump broke at least two federal laws just in his efforts to corruptly coerce Pence into overturning the election. Meanwhile, Trump pressured governments of states where Biden won to withdraw their fairly-chosen electors and/or to back up his unsubstantiated voter claims. He may face charges in Georgia for trying to browbeat that state’s Republican government to “find him just enough votes to win.” I say face charges, because that is voter fraud.

Trump and some of his inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, began speaking on the possibility of declaring martial law and having the military seize voting machines and supervise a new election. America condemns this when other countries do it, and rightly so. It is against the principles of democracy. Russia is one of those other countries, by the way.

Man, I’ve barely covered the first point.

I am going to continue, over the next weeks, to summarize every main point of these hearings. It is a litany of shame, dishonor, corruption, and treason.

And it is well-documented.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.     

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