La vergüenza de Oklahoma
TULSA, OK - Esta semana el senador de Oklahoma James Lankford sacrificó lo que posiblemente fue su última pizca de integridad cuando firmó un esfuerzo desafortunado liderado por el senador de Texas Ted Cruz para subvertir la elección libre, justa y democrática del presidente electo Joe Biden.
Wrapping themselves in debunked conspiracy theories and outright lies, Cruz, Lankford and nine other US Senators claim, hypocritically, that they will object to the Senate’s formal approval of the electoral college results naming Biden as the nation’s 46th president due to “an obligation to the voters and … an obligation to the Constitution to ensure that this election was lawful.”
Trump has made no secret of his attempts to overturn the will of the people, but this latest attempt to legitimize the losing candidate’s claims by 11 members of what used to be known as a body of rational deliberation flies in the face of the very democratic principles the senators swore an oath to uphold.
The fact is there is no evidence of any voter fraud or other irregularities in this election favoring Biden, and one of the only documented cases of someone voting on behalf of a dead person (one of the group’s claims) took place in Pennsylvania and was a vote for Trump.
Every single one of Trump’s false claims regarding how the election was “stolen” from him have been thoroughly debunked, often by elected officials belonging to his own party. Trump’s baseless lawsuits were colossal failures, thrown out of court with harsh language by judges and justices Trump himself had appointed.
To be clear, the effort by Cruz, Lankford, et al to reverse the electoral college vote has no merit and the group does not have the votes to accomplish anything but a short delay in the proceedings. And Lankford and the others know full well there is no basis for their claims. There is only one reason they are making such a public spectacle of themselves, and that is because they fear losing the “Trump base” when they are next up for reelection.
Lankford is one of many senators who has through his support or silence enabled Trump in his most dangerous and anti-democratic endeavors over the past four years, but it should have been taken for granted that the will of the people in a free and fair election would be honored. Instead, Lankford and the other members of the Cruz gang have chosen to spit on the Constitution and lie about the reasons why. It’s a disgraceful act of cowardice harkening back to the dark days of the US Civil War, and this abandonment of principles should be remembered when Lankford is up for reelection in 2022. (La Semana)