Since Donald Trump began dominating our politicsuna game, we have gotten extraordinarily accustomed to horrifying language and behavior by leaders and candidates. I’d guess, when you think about it, that’s why we’re dealing with folks like Mark Robinson and Michelle Morrow these days in North Carolina.
We’ve come to think it normal to consider selecting folks to important offices who we would never tolerate where we work, where we worship, or where we learn. Think of Robinson’s quote “some folks need killing,” or Morrow saying Obama should be put before “a firing squad” on “pay-per view”. (It’s hard to actually type out what we seem to have become.)
All that said, even if this is what we’ve been reduced to, as we approach the presidential election, I wanted to remind people of one set of Trump interactions.
During a phone call on January 2, 2021, Trump asked Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find votes” so he could overturn the state’s election in his favor.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have . . . Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”
Later in the call, he suggested Raffensperger would face legal trouble if he didn’t play along.
Let that sink in. Or re-sink in.
There’s no doubt the conversation happened. It’s on tape. There’s no doubt what Trump was trying to do. No doubt he attempted to do it. All other transgressions aside — and there are admittedly tons of them — this single, undeniable, absolutely-proven set of utterances conclusively demonstrates that Donald Trump should be in the penitentiary, not the White House. That, simply put, cannot be denied.
The Raffensperhger call proves some other things too.
It proves our legal system has stunningly failed us. Both the federal special prosecutor and the Fulton County prosecutions have been delayed or blocked. And, in this instance, justice delayed is, literally, denied. The American “rule of law” has been unceremoniously defeated.
It proves, also, that the hapless and fearful U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has been unwilling, and unable, flatly, to do his duty. It’s been clear, from the first, he never would. He didn’t want to make anyone mad. The Georgia call could have been prosecuted almost immediately. It should have been. Must have been. When Garland refused to obey his oath, he should have been fired. Biden, too, failed to “take care” that the laws be executed. He didn’t have the stomach for it. He hoped Trump would just disappear. Biden pretended he could stay above the fray. Not in these times. So here we are.
Then there are the Republicans. Good God. Their senators voted, overwhelmingly, to acquit Trump in impeachment. As a party, Republicans have fallen into place, by astonishing margins, embracing a man who has committed blatant, disloyal sedition without even denying it. The Republicans murmur and avert their eyes. They can’t be expected to stand against anything. Even rank, democracy-destroying criminality. They don’t even consider it. Especially the religious ones.
This is where we are. It is, I’ll concede, grotesque. No single excuse can justify it. No single vote for Trump is anything other than an abandonment of character and patriotism. Not a single one.
We have fallen far. But this far?
Contributing columnist Gene Nichol is a professor of law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Get unlimited digital access #ReadLocalTry 1 month for $1
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