And The Slide Of Hand Award Goes To: Liz Cheney
I am unaware if the 2020 Doublespeak Award has been picked yet (and by the way, for those who don’t know about the Doublespeak Awards, give it a look next time you need a good laugh), but I imagine the past few weeks have found it to be some stiff competition. Larry Kudlow for saying the Trump Administration has COVID-19 sealed “pretty close to airtight”? Josh Hawley for calling making sure a Supreme Court Justice is not a theocrat “a religious test for public office”? Well, I have quite a suggestion myself.
At this point, even many conservatives have acknowledged the sheer lack of evidence for Trump’s claims of voter fraud. Tucker Carlson spent his monologue on 11/19/2020 talking about how Sidney Powell has failed to produce evidence, even after asking Powell personality and promising to give her all the time she wants to show it. The same position has been shown by Matt Walsh, again hardly a Trump hating (or anti-conspiracy theory) pair of people.
Powell defended herself by stating she simply did not want to show the evidence until it appeared in court. But if that’s the case, why was she holding a two hour long press conference that same day promising evidence of voter fraud? For that matter, if she’s simply trying to keep it out of the hands of media, why has not even her own staff seen what they’ll be arguing for? And that’s ignoring the fact that in a court, the other side is suppose to have a chance to defend themselves against accusations — especially accusations that amount to the biggest crime in American History. Especially considering that not giving the defendant proper means to defend themselves was a common Republican criticism of the Senate trial of Donald Trump earlier this year.
Do I believe that Carlson said this because of his desire to tell his audience the truth? Of course not, I believe that he — like the rest of Fox News — understand that being a Democratic Party hate machine under Biden is simply easier than being the Republican propaganda machine under Trump. I noted on election night that Fox News was calling states for Biden much faster than any other network. They knew they were going to lose, and they just wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.
Still, some have tried to stay quiet. I noted early on that it seems only the most unlikable Republicans are moving towards the front line on this. You have Donald Trump Jr. (who now has COVID), Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Newt Gingrich, Dan Crenshaw, Josh Hawley— all of the worst people. Senator Mitt Romney was asked on 11/8/2020 while on Fox News Sunday if the President should concede, and basically said he shouldn’t but that he also shouldn’t declare victory — for whatever that’s worth.
However, of all the Orwellian non-answers given by politicians, easily the worst goes to Rep. Liz Cheney. Here’s what she had to say yesterday:
If the President cannot prove these claims [of voter fraud] or demonstrate that they would change the election result, he should fulfill his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States by respecting the sanctity of our electoral process.
Notice how Liz Cheney chose to use the word “if” and not, for example, “because.” If you had no idea what was going on, you’d think the President had just thrown around the idea and was in the process of investigating it. Instead, the President has been going on about this for almost three weeks, and after thirty lawsuits, many press conferences, and statements from his bombastic attorney and press secretary, we have seen no evidence. Of course, factual relativism has been a goal of the Republican Party for quite awhile (“Truth is not truth,” said Rudy Giuliani) but it’s how we’re now suppose to pretend that the past three weeks just didn’t happen that’s honestly pissing me off.
You might remember Kayleigh McEnany and Sidney Powell going on Hannity to promote over two-hindered pages of affidavits just a few weeks ago. What happened to them? They were sent to court, laughed out of the room, and then forgotten. Now, Sidney Powell expects us to believe new claims of voter fraud based on, you guessed it, an affidavit.
One does not need to wonder why top Republicans are not speaking out, it’s because they like Trump in power. Some, such as Cheney, will say that Trump should concede if they continue to be unable to back up their claims, but none will do anything to stop his actions. None would, for example, work to impeach and remove him on the condition he somehow manages to clearly steal the election. They might complain, maybe, but it’s unlikely much of anything would happen outside of an admission years after the fact — just look at how many Republicans still defend Bush’s “victories” in 2000 and 2004.
Liz Cheney and her ilk should be seen as nothing but cowards, and any answer that doesn’t tend with the world right now should be seen as not an answer at all. Here’s a question: With the information we have at the moment, do you think the President should concede? If you wish to wait for this to play out, you should be asked why you think the results of 30+ court cases are all wrong. No more of this “if” bullshit, that’s not the time we live in.
