Ambition or Principle?

Before we all get back to probation stuff and domestic politics, I feel compelled to return momentarily to US politics, seen mostly through the lens of CNN. 

I think it's pretty important because we've all been led to believe that the US provides 'leadership' for the free world. And that would ordinarily be the case, Trump having proved the exception to that unwritten rule over the last four years. In the middle of a global pandemic, the relief all reasonably-minded people felt upon hearing that a grown-up would soon be occupying the White House was positively palpable from where I was sitting. But it's not that straight forward is it? 

The reality is that the present dangerous and emotionally retarded sociopath that still holds office until January 20th will continue to wreak as much damage as possible and in the process test the Constitution as never before, but hopefully not to breaking point. It also forces all Republican politicians to make a moral judgement call, never an easy position for many politicians nowadays, but especially for GOP 2024 contenders desperate not to upset 74 million Trump supporters. It's Daddy or chips? Ambition or principle? Republican Mitt Romney put it rather succinctly at the weekend:-   

Sunday, January 3, 2021
SALT LAKE CITY– U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) released the following statement in response to an announcement that several Republican senators plan to oppose certification of the presidential election results:

“The egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it. More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed. The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence.

“My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense. This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life. Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.

“Were Congress to actually reject state electors, partisans would inevitably demand the same any time their candidate had lost. Congress, not voters in the respective states, would choose our presidents.

“Adding to this ill-conceived endeavor by some in Congress is the President’s call for his supporters to come to the Capitol on the day when this matter is to be debated and decided. This has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.

“I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?”

And that was before the Washington Post got hold of a recorded hour-long delusional phone call call Trump made to the Georgia election chief effectively demanding he 'find' 11,780 more votes. He has already called the Senate run-off election on Tuesday 'illegal' and therefore likely to ensure Democratic control of the Senate. Will 11 Republican Senators really stand up on Wednesday and attempt to question Joe Biden's election for personal political gain and thereby help to further undermine the democratic process? 

Just when you might think things can't get much worse, what on earth do you think 10 former Defence Secretaries from both parties know to warrant their joint letter asserting that the Military have sworn an oath of allegiance to the Constitution and not to any individual? Could the future block-buster film on the lines of 'Death of Stalin' end with tanks on the White House lawn and which way will they be facing? 

There's still 16 days to go.