The bizarre and unpatriotic aspirations of Donald Trump, and his recasting of the already radically rightist Republican Party, continue to diverge ever further from the Constitution, and more ominously from sanity. That’s to be expected from Trump, whose tenuous grasp on reality has long been a major cause of concern. But the GOP’s willingness – and weakness – to march along in his goose-stepping spectacle raises the stakes considerably.

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Republicans in Congress are positioning themselves for a historic battle pitting democracy against authoritarianism. And the authoritarian side is being represented by such GOP “leaders” as Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. They are supported by ten other Senate traitors, more than a hundred colleagues in the House republican caucus, and even out-going Vice-President, Mike Pence. Their futile plot is set to be implemented on January 6, the day that Joe Biden’s election will be certified by Congress:

“A group of Republicans has announced plans to reject electors from states they consider disputed if Congress doesn’t create a commission to investigate their claims of fraud. The effort, fueled by baseless allegations of voter fraud, drew support from Vice President Pence by Saturday night.” […]

“The statement calls for the creation of an electoral commission ‘with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed state.'”

For the record, the Congress has no authority whatsoever to create an investigatory “commission,” nor to impose a ten day audit of election returns. The session on January 6 is a ceremonial duty that merely affirms the election results already certified by all fifty states. The effort by these Republican extremists aims to challenge “disputed” electoral slates that do not exist. And they can’t succeed without both houses of Congress voting for their treachery. Of course, the Democratic-majority in the House is unlikely to play along with that.

Cue Fox News and their Senior Trump-fluffer, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro. She hosted Trump’s trade advisor, Peter Navarro, who has no expertise in constitutional law. And Navarro, as he is wont to do, went skidding perilously off the rails. He began by asserting that “the Democrat (sp) Party, as a matter of strategy, stole this election from Donald J. Trump.” And that led into this hideous exchange:

Navarro: They stole this. We can prove it. And other things… Breaking news: I would not be surprised to see a special counsel on this. And Vice-President Pence, he has the authority to give that ten day window to do what needs to get done, and I cannot imagine when you look at the facts he won’t vote the right way on that.
Pirro: And you know Peter, the interesting thing is that ten day window, it is something that they can change the date. January 20th cannot be changed. That’s constitutional. But this whole certification, the date can be changed.
Navarro: Well it can be changed actually. We can go past that date. We can go past that date. We can go past that date if we need to.
Pirro: Oh.

“Oh”? That’s a cute response by Pirro, an alleged judge, to a Trump administration official proposing a blatantly unconstitutional act. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution plainly states that “The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January [….] and the terms of their successors shall then begin.” That is not negotiable, nor subject to the legal shenanigans of anti-democratic authoritarians like Navarro and Pirro.

On Sunday morning Trump retweeted a random crackpot Internet troll agreeing with Navarro’s preposterous misreading of the Constitution. He also retweeted the screwball attorney, Sidney Powell, saying that “This ‘election’ was stolen from the voters in a massive fraud.” Never mind that she has never presented evidence of that in court, or that Trump’s own lawyers (Rudy Giuliani et al) threw her off their team for being even too deranged for them.

What’s more, both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, Fox News sister newspapers also owned by Rupert Murdoch, have also come out in opposition to Trump, Navarro, Pirro, and the rest of the Fox News deceivers. The Post published a headline story exhorting Trump to “Stop the Insanity“ and to “Give it up, Mr. President — for your sake and the nation’s.” The Journal’s Editorial Board went on record saying that…

“President Trump’s last and worst shot at overturning the 2020 election will come on Jan. 6, as the new Congress meets in joint session to tally the votes from the Electoral College. Mr. Trump wants Republican lawmakers to lodge formal objections to Joe Biden’s electors, and this kamikaze mission already has a few volunteers.” […]

“Any challenge to Mr. Biden’s electors appears doomed, since upholding the objection takes a majority in both chambers. The Democratic House would use the opportunity to excoriate Mr. Trump a final time on his way out the door, and grown-ups in the Republican Senate are unlikely to play along.”

And with that Fox News stands alone in their overly zealous, slobbering support for the failed president who is already halfway out the White House’s backdoor. Well, almost alone. Trump still has Newsmax, OANN, and the rapidly dwindling phalanx of cult disciples who still haven’t gotten to the acceptance stage of their political death.

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How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.