MICHAEL WALSH: The Lights Go Out in Georgia.
Cue now the chorus of voices shouting about the Steal, despite the fact that a) at the time no courts took any of the cases and b) now that the matter is being adjudicated, the Trump team is losing and rolling over on its own. Ms. Powell, one of the former president’s staunchest defenders whose personal credibility considerably enhanced public trust in the rightness of Trump’s case, did what was best for herself in taking the plea deal; Powell is not stupid, and wisely chose not to sacrifice herself for someone who would toss her aside without a second thought — and who in fact has already distanced himself from her.
In any case, I have discussed the arguments regarding the Steal in two pieces here at the Pipeline; The System IS the Steal, and The Sting, and addressed many of the issues as they were happening in my columns for the Epoch Times, which were favorable to Trump.
Trump has attempted to bolster his support by identifying himself with the fate of the nation, directing most of his animus at his most potent challenger, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, largely for his effrontery in running against Trump for the nomination. Trump is demanding “loyalty” in a field in which loyalty is situational at best, and usually goes by the name of back-scratching. But the Republic is in too desperate a shape for considerations of “loyalty” when “victory” is the only thing that matters. Unbeholden to anyone else for his surprise victory in 2016, no one else is beholden to him now that he has squandered it in defeat. The only loyalty any candidate owes is to the country he seeks to lead, and Donald Trump is not the nation.
As the Romans knew, politics is a cruel, masculine business. Once the election was called for Joe Biden, however unfairly or even illegally, the Trump campaign should have congratulated the “winner,” withdrawn, and lived to fight another day; in other words, it should have emulated Richard Nixon, who lost the closely contested election of 1960 to John F. Kennedy. However difficult, that would have been the honorable and patriotic thing to do. Recall that from the start of his first presidential campaign Trump was already questioning the reliability of the electoral system and even then hinting he would contest any count that he lost.
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