What better way to cap off a tumultuous political year than by launching a chase to catch the elusive wild goose of election impropriety? Just because Trump supporters had failed to come forward with competent evidence of election fraud or misconduct in over 60 lawsuits does not mean that fraud did not occur somewhere, somehow. The Chosen One proclaimed there was fraud in practically every state he lost and, therefore, it must be so.

The chase was begun by a lean and hungry Senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley, who lusts after the worshippers of the Chosen One, presumably to inherent their support. Just after Christmas, with visions of future presidenthood dancing through his head, Hawley announced he would challenge Joe Biden’s election in Senate proceedings on January 6. Hawley apparently felt it was his duty to call Pennsylvania officials to account for failing to follow the state’s election laws, even though his former boss, Chief Justice John Roberts, and the rest of the conservative Supreme Court majority, had declined to do so. Hawley obviously knew better than the Supreme Court, being a self-proclaimed “constitutional lawyer.”

Not to be outdone, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who also envisions himself as the righteous heir to the Trump base, gathered up 10 other like-minded GOP Senators and joined the chase for that slippery goose. Cruz was mightily concerned that Biden’s convincing win, both in actual and electoral votes, should not be certified without examining those voter fraud claims which judges of all political backgrounds had refused to entertain.

In support of his pursuit, Cruz pointed out that 40% of the respondents in a public opinion poll believed the election was rigged. One might wonder where they might have gotten that impression. Could it be the result of the leader of the free world loudly proclaiming fraud from every rooftop in the country for the better part of 2020? The situation is akin to a person loudly yelling “fire” in a crowded theater and then demanding an investigation into the cause of the ensuing stampede.

The intrepid goose hunters seem to believe that fraud was involved in just those states where Joe Biden won a majority of the vote. It is of interest that they are the very same states which were subjected to such close examination by the courts without turning up a hint of impropriety. Then again, courts require competent evidence and a sound legal basis for claims of wrongdoing, while some GOP Senators obviously do not.

The 12 fraud hunters might have better luck in examining the voting practices of states where Biden did not get a majority vote, rather than the heavily scrutinized states that he won. Texas, for instance, where mail-in balloting was heavily restricted, even in the midst of a pandemic, and where only one ballot drop box was permitted in each county without regard to the size of its population, has a bit of a voter-suppression stench. If Ted Cruz was really concerned about rooting out election impropriety, his home state would be a more productive hunting ground.

The chances of bagging the wild goose are nil, as the chasers well know. It is merely a publicity stunt aimed at attacking the sanctity of our election process, while showing Trump and his diehard followers the continued fealty the challengers pay to the Chosen One. Why should these self-servicing politicians care that their scandalous antics are giving the American system of government a black eye across the country and around the world? After all, it is a given in Trumpworld that service to self always eclipses service to country.

Please follow and like us: