Trump Continues to Reject the Reality of His Defeat;
Attempts to Mobilize Fascists to Reject the Legitimacy of Biden's Victory

From a revcom.us correspondent in the Southwest

December 7, 2020 | revcom.us

 

At a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, on December 5, in a speech the Washington Post described as a “firehose of falsehoods,” Trump snarled “We’ve never lost an election. We’re winning this election.” Just before he went to Georgia, Trump assailed Brian Kemp, the state’s governor and Trump supporter, for not convening a special session of the state legislature to overturn the election results there and cast the state’s electoral vote for him. He bellowed to the roaring mob of fascists, “Your governor could stop it (Ed: referring to nonexistent electoral fraud) very easily if he knew what the hell he was doing.”¹ The mob chanted “Fight for Trump!” and “Stop the Steal!”²

Trump and the Fascists’ Effort to Overturn the Election

Trump’s lawyers and lawyers for various allies of the regime have filed dozens of lawsuits across the country in their attempt to overturn the vote in several states. 

Most of these have been quickly dismissed, including by courts dominated by Republican appointees. On December 4 the Associated Press reported³ that in its “tally of roughly 50 cases by Trump’s campaign and his allies, more than 30 have been rejected or dropped.” Five of these cases were lost on Friday alone, in five different states. About a dozen are awaiting action. They keep filing a blizzard of lawsuits; Trump is threatening to take some to a Supreme Court stacked with Christian fascists—including three appointed by Trump; and many of these cases are as yet unresolved in court.

Sections of fascists are taking up Trump’s call to disregard the actual vote and force a Trump “victory.” In Pennsylvania, over 60 state representatives⁴ introduced a resolution that ends by urging “the United States Congress to declare the selection of presidential electors in this Commonwealth (Pennsylvania) to be in dispute.”⁵

Only 27 Republican congresspeople have acknowledged reality and said Biden won. This is ominous, as after the Electoral College tallies the vote on December 14, Congress is set to officially certify the results on January 6. Mo Brooks, a Christian fascist congressman from Alabama, recently announced that he will challenge the result, telling a reporter from USA Today that he intends to “reject the count of particular states … that had flawed election systems” (like Georgia and Pennsylvania).⁶ Brooks made the bald-faced lie that “… if only lawful votes cast by American citizens are counted, Donald Trump won the Electoral College”. When he learned of this, Trump tweeted “Thank you to Representative Mo Brooks!” 

Calls for Violence, Egged on by Trump

The fascist movement Trump has coalesced is threatening serious violence against anyone in their way. 

Last weekend in Michigan, a “Proud Boy” bellowed “We don’t want a civil war, but we’re already in one. And we’re in it to win it.”⁷ Leaders of a Florida rally said the election’s result was a “war on our homeland.”⁸ A speaker in Phoenix denounced Nancy Pelosi and Arizona’s governor, called for “rebellion”, and added, “I’d love to see half of these people hung by the neck.”⁹ The mob roared its approval.

Prominent Trump supporters also have called for violence. Radio host Eric Metaxas interviewed Trump and told him “I’d be happy to die in this fight.”¹⁰ Trump lawyer Joe diGenova said that Chris Krebs, a Trump appointee who had been the head of cybersecurity for the election and declared the election was free of fraud, should be “taken out at dawn and shot”. This week two Trump lawyers and Michael Flynn—the retired general who Trump pardoned after Flynn twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI—endorsed a statement calling for “limited martial law,” and a suspension of the U.S. Constitution. The statement concludes that if a national re-vote doesn’t happen, “We will also have no other choice but to take matters into our own hands, and defend our rights on our own …”¹¹ In his tweets and speeches, Trump has repeatedly encouraged such threats of violence. 

People must remain vigilant to their maneuvers and attacks, and active in opposing them, in massive, nonviolent protest when necessary. What happens in the next month and a half is critical—everyone needs to be prepared to mobilize quickly in massive numbers against any and all attempts by the fascists to overturn the election. 

Start by joining with Refuse Fascism’s Rally and Speak-Out in Washington, D.C. on December 12 to demand: 

In the Name of Humanity,
We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America
Trump: You Lost. Get the Hell Out!

 

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1. At Georgia rally, Trump spouts election falsehoods, amplifies old grievances, Washington Post, December 5, 2020.  [back]

2. At Rally for Georgia Senators, Trump Focuses on His Own Grievances, New York Times, December 5, 2020.  [back]

3. Trump loves to win but keeps losing election lawsuits, Associated Press, December 4 2020.  [back]

4. According to a report by the Philadelphia NBC channel news, “… 64 Republicans in Pennsylvania Legislature— fewer than half the total, but including House GOP leaders—signed a statement Friday urging members of Congress to block Pennsylvania's electoral votes from being cast for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. An earlier letter included 75 Republicans—but Republicans blamed a clerical error and removed 11 names.”  [back]

5.  Pennsylvania House of Representatives, House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda.  [back]

6. How House Republicans could mount last-ditch effort to contest election results, ABC News. According to this news report (and reported elsewhere), “With the support of a single senator, Brooks could disrupt the certification of the election by forcing both the House and Senate to debate and vote on the challenge—turning the typically ceremonial proceeding on the House floor led by the vice president into another venue for disputing Trump's loss.”  [back]

7. YouTube video of “Stop the Steal” rally in Lansing, Michigan.  [back]

8. The GOP Is the Party of Civil War, Slate, December 4, 2020.  [back]

9. YouTube video of “Stop the Steal” rally, in Phoenix, Arizona.  [back]

10. Eric Mataxas, Christian radio host, tells Trump “Jesus is with us in this fight,” Religious News Service, November 30, 2020.  [back]

11. We The People Convention Press Release.  [back]

 

At a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, on December 5,the crowd chanted, “Fight for Trump” and “Stop the Steal.” (Photo: AP)