LaMalfa complicit in attempts to overturn election
When the Electoral College put the seal of approval on Joe Biden’s president-elect status Monday — a status that should have been apparent to everyone six weeks ago — it put the final nail in the coffin of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the will of the American people.
Trump, of course, doesn’t see it that way. Just as the first Electoral College votes were being cast Monday, he sent out a tweet that included the words “massive fraud.” Again.
“Fraud?” He’s now lost 59 election-related court cases — including many that were heard by judges he appointed. None of those judges found any evidence of fraud, regardless of how hyped the alleged “fraud” was before the case was heard.
These actions are shameful and unprecedented in American history. So, too, are the actions of so many members of his party in not only ignoring the obvious, but in thumbing their nose at the will of American voters.
Our own District 1 representative, Doug LaMalfa, is in the middle of it, rightfully giving further ammunition to those who criticize him for rubberstamping Trump’s every wish, or never standing up to Trump when he’s clearly in the wrong.
And boy, is there a lot of “wrong” to go around about this.
First, the fact that the outcome of this election caught anyone by surprise is stunning. If you read any pre-election analytical stories, chances are they included a line like this:
“By the end of Tuesday, Nov. 3, it may appear that President Trump is on his way to re-election. But it’s likely that lead will disappear as mail-in ballots — especially those tabulated in big cities in key battleground states — are counted in the hours and days to come.”
In other words, the election went exactly as most people predicted.
Trump, though, acts oblivious to this. To this day, when he says he was “winning all these states big” only to see the election “stolen” because of “fraud,” he actually pretends to believe it — and continues with his charade that he’s somehow going to prevail, while raking in tens of millions of donated dollars every week for a campaign that was finished Nov. 3.
The worst example of this fraudulent — yes, fraudulent — behavior was the amicus brief from Texas challenging the results in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, a brief LaMalfa supported.
The irony here is too rich to believe. Republicans — the party always so strongly against judges who “legislate from the bench” — asking judges to throw out the votes of tens of millions of people and switch the selection of electors to states’ legislators?
Among the claims in the lawsuit were that Pennsylvania’s courts changed voting practices without legislative action. You know who else did that? Texas. Of course, Texas’ attorney general didn’t bring that up in the lawsuit.
Such behavior isn’t a surprise from Trump, who has turned this never-ending charade into his campaign’s personal cash register. And LaMalfa is complicit in this, as he’s still supporting Trump’s efforts.
LaMalfa’s interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN was painful to watch. He answered a “what evidence have you seen?” question by saying he didn’t personally see people land on the moon either — a comment that deservedly got a lot of national attention. When repeatedly asked by Cuomo what proof he had seen, LaMalfa admitted he hadn’t seen anything first hand beyond some media reports.
“I have to trust the people that are doing the investigating . . and trust that there is something there,” he told Cuomo. Trust who? People like Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuiliani, whose once-stellar reputation figures to be forever tarnished by his role in this?
Most concerning, LaMalfa said he’d accept Biden as president when his “hand is on the Bible” but until Jan. 20, “it may not be over.”
“May not be over?” It is over. Let’s stop pretending otherwise.
We know the elections weren’t perfect. We had proof of that here in Chico, where an uncounted, sealed ballot box turned up a month after the vote had been certified. There are examples of similar errors all across the country. Yes, those are cause for alarm; yes, they should be studied and corrected; and no, they were never on a scale big enough to overturn the results of this election. Not even close.
The fact LaMalfa joined forces with Trump on this leaves his judgment in serious doubt. We endorsed Audrey Denney two years ago and went “pick ’em” this time; knowing what we know now, we never would have made that call.
Joe Biden has been chosen by electors in the Electoral College as the 46th president of the United States. It is official. Now, more than ever, nothing is going to change that.
It’s time everyone from Trump, to LaMalfa, to their supporters realize that, and stop their shameful attempts at thwarting the will of the American people.