A
Liberal Dose
June
16, 2022
Troy
D. Smith
“Someone
Tried to Steal the Election, All Right”
One week ago (June 9), the House select committee
investigating January 6, 2021 had its first live televised hearing. More than
twenty million Americans tuned in (more than to the NBA finals), and that
doesn’t count the ones who dvr’d it or have watched it on youtube or other
websites. The three networks and all major TV news outlets broadcast it live.
Well, almost all.
Fox did not show it. Lest one think they didn’t
believe their audience would be interested, note that they did not have any
commercials during the Tucker Carlson show, on during the first hour of the
hearing (not even from the pillow guy). In other words, Fox News willingly gave
up millions of dollars to make sure their watchers did not wander off during
commercials and accidentally see something true. Side note: many studies have
shown that people who get their news only from Fox are less informed about what
is really happening than people who watch no news at all.
I hope all of you watched it, or found a way to go
back and watch it later. There was (and will continue to be) testimony from
countless witnesses, including quite a few from the Trump administration. Much
of it is on film, and in many cases in official documents, plus many people
will be testifying live. In other words, it is not a conspiracy theory or “fake
news.”
It is as real as the blight on our national reputation
it documents.
Here is what we know as FACT:
Donald Trump insisted he won the election, despite the
fact most of his people told him he had lost. He continued to deny the outcome,
spreading inaccurate information and outrageous theories as his “proof.” His
efforts to overturn election results were thrown out by over sixty judges (many
of them appointed by Trump himself). His Attorney General, William Barr, was
only one of several advisers who told Trump that the claims had no merit and
lacked any evidence that voter fraud significant enough to “steal” the election
had occurred. Barr called the claims “complete nonsense,” as well as a coarser
term that starts with the word “bull.” Ivanka Trump testified that she believed
Barr. Barr testified that he resigned because Trump was trying to make him
pursue baseless voter fraud claims in an attempt to overturn a constitutional
election.
Trump next claimed that the vice president has the
authority to throw out electors from any given state by claiming voter fraud,
and instead swear in alternate Republican electors from that state. Pence does
not have that authority, and there is no legal basis for substituting electors
to nullify the will of the people in a given state. Vice President Pence
verified he did not have the constitutional authority to do this, yet Trump
continued to pressure him to do so. A federal judge has said Trump broke at
least two federal laws just in his efforts to corruptly coerce Pence into
overturning the election. Meanwhile, Trump pressured governments of states
where Biden won to withdraw their fairly chosen electors and/or to back up his
unsubstantiated voter claims. He may face charges in Georgia for trying to
browbeat that state’s Republican government to “find him just enough votes to win.” I say face
charges, because that is voter fraud.
Trump and some of his inner circle, including Rudy
Giuliani, began speaking on the possibility of declaring martial law and having
the military seize voting machines and supervise a new election. America
condemns this when other countries do it, and rightly so. It is against the
principles of democracy. Russia is one of those other countries, by the way.
Man, I’ve barely covered the first point.
I am going to continue, over the next weeks, to
summarize every main point of these hearings. It is a litany of shame,
dishonor, corruption, and treason.
And it is well-documented.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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