The sky is not falling in spite of the hype by the mainstream media that is causing too many progressives fruitless worry.
I wrote about this in a recent blog, but I didn’t try to refute point by point the hype coming from MSNBC news programs and writers for the Washington Post and the New York Times.
So let me lay it out for you in detail.
Donald Trump is not going to be president again, the numerous voter suppression laws being passed by state legislatures will not increase the chance of Republicans winning elections, red state efforts to recount the 2020 presidential ballots will come to naught, contrary to conventional wisdom we don’t need a strong Republican Party, and domestic terrorism is not going to overthrow our government.
Let’s take them one by one.
1. Donald Trump will never be president again.
Speculation is that Trump will run again in 2024, which is why the news media hyped the story yesterday that a Reuters/Ipso poll found that 61% of Republicans believe the election was stolen from Trump and 53% believe Trump is the legitimate president.
I can’t figure out the difference between these categories, but the real point is that in January a CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that 75 percent of Republicans didn’t believe Biden won the election legitimately. The media didn’t mentioned that yesterday, perhaps because it would have undercut their effort to sensationalize the threat they are sure Trump still poses?
And here is a news flash. Trump’s control of the Republican Party is not a new thing, and it certainly doesn’t change the fact that he is toast. He may even be a felon by 2024 (we can hope).
2. Voter suppression laws will NOT keep Democrats from voting.
They didn’t last fall and they won’t in 2022. Minorities, young people, and the majority of Americans will be more determined than ever to vote and the courts will support us.
Voting rights is an constitutional right consistently upheld by court rulings. Even the 2013 SC decision striking down section 4b of the Voting Rights Act did not stop minorities and young people from voting, as the record number of votes cast last November showed.
Judges and justices will see through the veiled racism and voting suppression effort these laws represent and will strike them down.
If we stop trusting the long-term effectiveness and sturdiness of our judicial system, Trump Republicans will have won the day.
3. The recount efforts in Arizona and elsewhere are not going to weaken people’s trust in our elections.
The only people who will be convinced by these faux recounts that election fraud is real and our democratic elections cannot be trusted are the people who already believe these myths.
In other words, Republicans. Let’s hope it leads them to refuse to vote next year.
4. We don’t need a strong Republican Party.
I hear a lot of people saying we do. Why?
The Republican Party is doing nothing for the country and never has. The reason is that its philosophy of government is essentially economic Darwinism, the survival of the fittest, which is why they don’t care if wages are down and CEO pay is up.
The Republican Party has always been the party of the rich and will remain so. Why would I want such a political party to be strong?
In recent years it has also become a party obsessed with culture war issues they exploit for the sake of winning. Again, why would anyone who cares about the country want more of this?
On top of everything else, Republicans don’t know how to govern, and though Trump was totally incompetent, he’s not the reason.
Mitch McConnell is trying to block everything President Biden wants to do for the country just as he did during the Obama years before Trump took over the party.
Trump has made Republicans more extreme and more anti-democratic, but at the end of the day Republicans today are what they have always been, the political party that cares about Wall Street, not main street.
Keeping Republicans out of power should be our only concern, not the future of their party.
4. Domestic terrorism is not going to topple our government.
This is a genuine threat, but not to the point where insurrectionists will take over or even undermine our government. They are fringe and always will be.
Besides, they had their shot on January 6 and failed. They will again should they try.
January 6 was a day of shame for Republicans, but the insurrectionists know they were sent to the slaughter, so to speak, by a president who cares only about himself.
Over 400 of them have been charged with crimes and more will be, and the reason they will go on trial and most of them to jail is because the attack failed. That’s a strong deterrent for even a fool.
Just as important, if not more so, we now have a government whose leaders and agencies are committed to doing their job to protect the nation instead of sacrificing the nation to stay in power.
Obviously, I could be wrong about all of this, but I think the evidence suggests that while we do face genuine threats to our democracy, we need to maintain a balanced perspective in order to resist being influenced by news hype that causes us to wring our hands instead of keeping our heads.
Having said that, I promise this will be the last thing I have to say on the subject.
linnposts.com 
Thought you might need one of these: 5 Becky
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Thanks, Becky, but I’m not sure what “these: 5 Becky” are.
Thanks Jan for bringing me back from the brink. I think I do feel a bit more anxious about these issues than you apparently do but it’s also very likely that I’m overreacting. I would suggest though that because of the voter suppression by Republicans, we Democrats better get involved in a substantial way to help get out the vote.
All the voting machines in Arizona that the Republicans have had access to for a “recount” are now reportedly comprimised and cannot be used in future elections. The Republicans are trying/planning the same thing in other states in Blue areas. I’m not sure what the result will be of that. If local jurisdictions have to purchase their own voting machines, it could have a serious impact on voting if the machines are not replaced. It will also cause jurisdictions that are Blue to waste their funds on new votinhg machines. If so, do Democrats respond by counting votes in Red areas?
Wilbur, that’s exactly what we should do, but we should do it anyway. When Democrats turn out, we win. When we don’t we lose. It’s that simple.
Roger, if red states don’t buy new machines, voting will be limited on both sides. I don’t see courts allowing states to discriminate in where they place machines. Each state has different laws, but I think if they don’t have machines, they will be forced to use paper ballots like we used to. Either way, the hurt will be suffered equally by the parties.
Nolan just read this to me out loud like a parent sings a lullaby to a restless child. Similar comforting effect.
Thank you for sharing this, Dixcy. Makes writing it worth it all. Sleep well.
As a member both of the Liberal Democrats and of the Electoral Reform Society of Great Britain, I see with interest that there’s a growing movement for reform of elections in your country too. It began in the state of Mane, and has reached the stage where the Mayor of New York will be chosen by ranked choice ballot. This move away from the crude “winner takes all” system will tell at the next election, as will demographic change.
Nigel, ranked ballot voting is very slow in taking hold here. There has been a lot of talk about it in Minneapolis, but not in the state as a whole. I don’t see it happening in the federal races anytime soon across the nation.
Jan,
Thanks for the optimistic take on our nation’s condition. I share your “prediction” of incarceration for tRump.
Cheerz!
Gene
Gene, may our hopes be realized as he goes down hard.