In the wake of the Jan. 6 electoral college count in Congress, I read "Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876," by the late chief justice William Rehnquist. A terrific, insightful history. I was curious because ... amazon.com/gp/product/037…
...Ted Cruz offered a 1876 commission as a possible compromise. And he was a Rehnquist clerk. But if you read this book, you see how crazy and cynical this proposal was. Is it possible Cruz never read this book? Or he did and just decided to ignore its lessons? ....
Moreover, Rehnquist makes clear that the vice president has literally no role but to announce the results for the individual states. So, again, the lie that Pence could have in some way blocked Biden's election is again exposed, in a well-explained history....
In the light the debacle concerning the distribution of the vaccine, worth recalling that for months Trump falsely said the military was going to distribute it. Here's an example from an Oct. 18 campaign rally: "Under my leadership, we are delivering a safe vaccine..." 1/2
"...we're all set to deliver it. We have the military ready to deliver it. It's going to be incredible. We have a General, that's what he does. He delivers soldiers and delivers everything. This is easy for them. It'll be delivered very, very rapidly." 2/2
and this during the 2nd debate with Biden: "We have our generals lined up. One in particular that's the head of logistics and this is a very easy distribution for him. He's ready to go as soon as we have the vaccine and we expect to have 100 million vials."
Is the Electoral College sustainable when Trump fights to overturn the results in a handful of states, in a vain hope to win, even though he lost the popular vote by more than 5 million votes? Bush in 2000, by contrast, only barely lost the popular vote. Moreover....
What if John Kerry challenged Bush in handful of states? Ford narrowly lost NY and would have beaten Carter if he had won. Nixon v. Kennedy was also close. But in each case, the loser accepted the result, quickly, and the country moved on.....
The system only works when all sides accept the result under the rules previously agreed to. Trump's refusal to accept the reality of his loss, despite losing by substantial margins in key states, underscores how undemocratic the Electoral College can be.
In the annals of tacky presidential campaign ads, Trump running an ad that touts he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize ranks up there. Hundreds of people get nominated every year. Stalin and Mussolini were nominated! It's meaningless. What matters is if you win.
One year we gave Barack Obama so many Pinocchios that House Speaker John Boehner added them up and posted it on Twitter. The number was 51! That seemed like a lot for a president.....
I just checked and the total for Trump currently is 1,213 Pinocchios! And it probably should be higher because we are forced to do many round-ups of claims when we don't award Pinocchios. Trump's average Pinocchio rating is 3.43 Pinocchios. ....
This is not to be confused with our ongoing tally of Trump's false or misleading claims, which nows stands at 20,000+. Yes, I know, we are behind on an update but we have been drowning in election falsehoods. washingtonpost.com/graphics/polit…
In our best-selling book, "Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth," we devote an entire chapter to Trump's lies about people he perceives as enemies, such as the late Sen. John McCain ....
One of his favorite fibs -- which he has said about 150 times -- is that he got a bill passed that John McCain could never achieved, VA Choice....
But it's McCain's bill! It's even named after him, signed into law by Obama in 2014. It's such a crazy falsehood, but Trump says it over and over again.