"What's all this I hear about presidential erections?" - E. Litella
While usually a pretty funny statement (said by the late, great Gilda Radner on SNL) - this year it seems like that's the underlying raison d'etre for much of what we're seeing in these last few days heading into what promises to be a pretty nerve-wracking Tuesday.
While I have no interest in adding to people's anxiety level, there's 2 things I see (or haven't seen) that have been largely overlooked by all the media outlets.
- The "Big Day" really isn't November 5th. Let's not fool ourselves- there will not be a clear winner on Tuesday night. I expect that it's going to be at least a month before we know who the winner actually is. (I am not commenting on "cheating" with that statement. Not yet, anyway.) The "Big Day" is actually January 6, 2025- when whoever has been declared the winner has the election certified. That's when the orange will hit the fan.
- Which brings me to the bigger point- the real issue here is going to be race for Democrats to take the majority in the House of Representatives. If they do, then we will have a new Speaker of he House- and that, my friends, is who certifies the election based on the Electoral College.
Here's why #2 is really more significant than the actual race for POTUS/VPOTUS.
The current Speaker is Mike Johnson. He is a far right GOP member and an avowed "the 2020 election was stolen" guy. If he is still SOTH on January 6th, I think there is a very real chance that he will actually refuse to certify the election if Kamala wins. He's as much as said this on a few interviews, and some press is actually paying a little attention to this- the operative word being "little". No, Johnson cannot legally do it, but by virtue of the fact that the SCOTUS has been stacked enough to overturn Roe v. Wade after 51 years, I think it's fair to say that this same court would allow Johnson to not certify the election.
Full disclosure- I was very vocal about SCOTUS not actually rolling over to Orange is the New Black. Boy. was I ever wrong about that one.
If the Dems can get SOTH by getting that majority, then we have Mr. Hakeem Jeffries who will take over. While the GOP paints Mr. Jeffries as a "commie-leftist", I have personally found that he is actually a pretty moderate Democrat (a unicorn!) who seems bent on doing what's right for his constituency and really doesn't fall into the mire that some Democrats seem to be fond of thrashing around in. I would go as far as to say that Mr. Jeffries would most likely certify an election that didn't have Kamala as the winner with little thought to what he might actually want to do instead.
As it happens, I am a fan of HOR majority having the opposite party affiliation than POTUS because that offers a nice, can't-get-around-it kind of cheque and balance to the whole equation. I really don't care for POTUS and HOR being aligned on the same side of things. But not this year.
Why?
Because as Representative Adam Kinzinger so eloquently put it during the DNC:
"The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself." -A. Kinzinger, R-Illinois
And while that's mildly amusing to hear during the DNC, it is painfully true. I, myself, and a RINO (Republican In Name Only) just as Mr. Kinzinger is, and for a time that was a derogatory term. But that is a monicre I wear proudly now, as I still do believe much of the conservative mindset, but not the mindset of the GOP. The GOP now literally worships the Golden Calf all the while their apologists - who claim Christianity - utter things like this:
Or spill weapons-grade stupidity like this:
No, Matilda- the GOP has completely lost it. As such, a GOP based HOR is going to be a disaster of historic proportions - even more so if Randall Flagg and his monkey side-kick win POTUS/VPOTUS.
I find all of this being left unsaid, hence the title of this blog entry.
Then, there's a little matter of the impending civil war that I am 100% sure is going to happen. Here's those scenarios:
Kamala Wins: A whole bunch of knuckle-dragging, eyebrow sharing Neanderthals who up for the (now) regular "Stop The Steal" convention on the steps of the Capital on January 6th. This time they're organized, and this time there's a lot more of them. Ah- but the Capital police are also organized, and there's a lot more of them, and they're backed by National Guard and/or active duty service members. While the cops might show restraint, the guard and others won't, and when the first fool in the invaders fires a shot........yeah. That's gonna be ugly. And probably needed. That one will be over fast.
Kamala Doesn't Win: This one is WAY more scary and will absolutely happen. It goes like this: some city near D.C. has some civil unrest to protest the fact that Kamala didn't win. Guess Who sends in the National Guard; several people die; The Klueless Klux Klan declares martial law, and now it's game on with the 1798 Foreign Enemies treatment, internment (or worse) camps; blockades at ports and border shutdowns and the military hunting anyone that is deemed "subversive". That's gonna get really bad, and it will drag on for quite a bit. Everyone (except for you-know-who) will feel that one, and I can see that one tangenting into a lot of really, REALLY bad things.
The Playing Field Leveler: Providentially (not luckily) there is provision made to handle this in Sections 3 & 4 of the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution. This outlines the criteria and process needed to remove the POTUS from office without impeachment. I have to believe, in my heart of hearts, that those folks in Congress - when the chips are really down - will do the right thing here. I know that sounds naive and all, but by virtue of the fact that some Republicans were willing to give up their careers in order to best serve the country, I think that there are even more who would do that if we were in armed conflict with each other. I just do. At some point, even thought the media and our respective echo chambers would have us believe otherwise, some will step up. Yeah, it may take them being threatened directly before they'll take that stand, but at the end of the day, Congress is made up of intelligent people (who are sometimes not very smart) and they won't let this happen. Keep the Faith here, folks. We've seen that several times in our history already.
Or maybe this will all blow over and nothing will happen. At that point, it will be as Ms. Litella also said, "Oh. Never mind."
Get out and Vote.
