They say ‘integrity,’ but sound like ‘hypocrisy’
I don’t know which is worse, a president who impugns the American electoral process in between fits of footstomping and purple-faced-breathholding, or the U.S. congressman who stands in his shadow and occasionally interjects with, “yeah!” and, “So there!”
I suppose they can be equally shameful.
As the U.S. navigated a contentious and close presidential election last week, it should not be a big ask for the assembled players to behave like the adults in the room.
Turns out, it was.
Instead the president, the House Judiciary GOP and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, among others, did things like smear metro Philadelphia, home to nearly 6 million Americans, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Betsy
Ross.
As all this went on, other Ohio Republicans took different paths. Sen. Rob Portman proved again that he is to the “quiet game” what Lebron James is to basketball. But Rep. Steve Stivers pushed back against Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of rampant voter fraud, albeit not as directly as he might have.
“We must count every vote that was legally cast,” he said in a statement. “And we must accept the results. If there is proof of fraud or illegal activity in this election, it should be taken to the prosecutors, the courts, and the public immediately. However, baseless allegations undermine the public’s confidence in our electoral system which is the foundation of our Republic.”
And Jordan? He jabbered on like a ventriloquist’s dummy spouting bad one-liners through clackety teeth. All week long, he proved himself to be little more than the political equivalent of Grover Dill from “A Christmas Story,” the subservient toady of neighborhood bully Scott “Scut” Farkus.
Here in Ohio, Trump handily beat Democratic nominee Joe Biden, a result that the Trump campaign has not contested even though we also are known to have a number of “Democrat-run cities,” which both Trump and Jordan have identified as the criminal masterminds of their comic universe.
He and Trump did not mention that the Republican-controlled state legislature played as much a role in Pennsylvania’s vote-counting conundrum as did Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
“Will Pennsylvania’s Speaker of the House and Majority Leader call for an audit of the election in their state?” Jordan tweeted. “Ballot integrity!”
Six times last week he invoked the word “integrity” on Twitter. Given certain events of the past few years, it could be argued that Jordan might want to rethink tossing such a word around so liberally.
Hypocrisy is a word that he should try on for size.
On a day not so long ago, in August in fact, Jordan was on hand to open Trump’s Ohio campaign headquarters in Westerville.
At the event, he talked about how Trump was certain to be re-elected because he was “rebuilding the economy and building the wall.” Remember the wall? That’s OK, Trump doesn’t either.
Anyway, Jordan was asked to comment on allegations that Trump deliberately was throttling down operations of the U.S. Postal Service to cripple mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic
A baseless claim by Democrats, he sniffed.
“Everything else has failed, so, shazam, let’s talk about the post office,” he said.
Now, about those tweets from Jordan above. In one, he retweeted a story about 2,000 ballots gathered late last week during court-ordered sweeps of post offices in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, efforts to ensure that no ballots were overlooked. If the ballots had been buried under the post office or were being shredded and eaten by diabolical postal workers in on the Democrat-run-cities conspiracy, the story did not say so.
“Now isn’t it convenient how this always seems to happen in Democratrun cities?” Jordan commented about the story. “Election integrity!”
What was that he said again in August?
Everything else has failed, so, shazam, let’s talk about the post office!
Integrity!