Thanks for the excellent op-ed piece by Lisa Weissler detailing Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s and the Republicans’ inconsistencies, outright contradictions and circular reasoning used in defending President Donald Trump. Those of us trained in critical reasoning are astounded by all the nonsense.
But the Republicans probably never intended that their debunked theories and tortured logic would convince many people. Rather, they’ve created lots of noise, muddied the waters and generated so much confusion that many Americans have tuned out and given up trying to make sense of it all. Unfortunately, this apathy means that the ongoing unconstitutional abuse of power and obstruction of justice goes unpunished. Ms. Weissler pointed out the “nonsensical rationale” in deferring a resolution of Trump’s malfeasance to the November election. But let me further point out the hypocrisy as well. The Republicans claim to be on the side of the will of the people, but Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million in 2016, and the GOP holds a majority in the U.S. Senate only because it is arguably the most undemocratic legislative body in the Western world — only the British House of Lords comes close. The most democratic element of the federal government is the House of Representatives. All current members won election in 2018: There’s your will of the people.
The Democratic majority in the House would be even larger were it not for Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression. The U.S. Supreme Court decided last year that gerrymandering was not a concern of the federal judiciary, a decision that would most likely have gone the other way if Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee, sat on the court.
The Republicans don’t want honest elections any more than they can hold an honest impeachment trial. Throw the bums out in November.
— Philippe Vermeyen
Trapper Creek
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