Not one of us knows whether Trump is laying the foundation for a serious coup attempt or just raising hell because he's desperate. I'm alarmed, in part because some very wise people are apparently just as alarmed.
What I can say: we're not seeing the things we need to see that would reassure us. For every Larry Hogan, Mike DeWine, or other Republican who's saying out loud that the election was fair, Trump lost, and he needs to begin the transition, there are dozens of powerful Republicans calling the election rigged and hundreds keeping mostly quiet.
The big story Monday: Last week Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said that if Trump didn't allow Biden to receive intelligence briefings by the end of the week, Lankford would step in and make that happen. Since Lankford chairs the committee that oversees the GSA, he'd have some clout.
Apparently somebody got to Jim Lankford. The Wall Street Journal reports that he reversed his strong position over the weekend.
I'm not in a hurry, necessarily, to get Joe Biden these briefings, it's been interesting how the media, the national media, not this network, but others have twisted this term "step in." I happen to chair the committee that oversees GSA, that is the entity that has to be able to make this call.
If that's not occurring by Friday, I will step in as well and be able to push and say, this needs to occur.
This is not a good sign. We're not seeing enough good signs, and that should bother us. Because meanwhile Donald Trump is literally stirring up street violence.
And while all that's going on, Georgia' Republican Secretary of State tells us about the pressure he's getting from other Republicans to change the election results there. I said Republican Secretary of State. He called Georgia Rep. Doug Collins a "liar" and a "charlatan" for levying false accusations, and he insinuated that Senator
Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said.
Surely Graham wouldn't push something illegal?
Raffensperger said he was stunned that Graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots.
Oh. So while we're telling ourselves it's just a matter of time before Donald Trump heads back to Mar-a-Lago and Joe Biden's dogs make their home on Pennsylvania Avenue, maybe we should pause the premature chicken counting and watch what some really powerful people are doing to our democracy.
Some of the effects are already evident. Political scientists Vin Arceneaux and Rory Truex have been tracking the opinions of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans concerning this past election, and the results are disturbing.
Almost half of Republicans don't accept Biden's win as legitimate.
Numbers like that are a five-alarm fire for democracy. Hell, they're bad for Thanksgiving--and a good reason to avoid extended family. And they explain what we're not seeing: Republicans coming out to acknowledge Biden's win.
This is why we need more words like those of National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien. But he's alone.
If there is a new administration, they deserve some time to come in and implement their policies ... if the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner -- and obviously, things look that way now -- we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council.
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