Some thoughts on yesterday’s attempted insurrection at the Capitol, where people tried to stop the process of peacefully transferring power after a lawful election:
Over the course of the last two months, there have been dozens of lawsuits by Trump and Trump supporters trying, in one fashion or another, to reverse the course of the election.
From the outset, many people mocked and ridiculed those suits, principally for the reasons that they were barren of actual facts of widespread fraud, and also because of the people that were sued.
One of the suits was even against Vice President Mike Pence, claiming he had the power to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters and decide the election himself. As if.
Another suit was not against a person, but the Electoral College. Which of course, is not an entity that can be sued any more than you can sue the Fifth Amendment or any other part of the Constitution.
Now normally you might hear me screaming about frivolous suits (and frivolous defenses). Such things make it more difficult for legitimate litigants trying to find redress from wrongs that have caused harm.
When Trump’s frivolous suits started there was an effort by the Lincoln Project to attack the lawyers bringing the suits, in order to shut the lawsuits down:
The Lincoln Project is set to launch a multiplatform campaign hammering Jones Day and other firms for their role in facilitating Trump’s efforts, I’m told. It includes TV and digital ads and social media highlighting the damage that enabling Trump threatens to our democracy and to the success of the presidential transition.
I said back then, on November 11th, that this was a bad idea. Let the suits be brought. Let them be lost. Let Trumpers see every conspiracy theory shot down as meritless after evidence was looked at.
And state after state that was under siege from Trumpers did everything they could to make sure every legal ballot was counted. Just like Trumpers claimed they wanted. Until they decided that wasn’t what they wanted.
Yes, I can hear some of you say, but Trumpers aren’t thinking with their brains but simply screaming from their hearts in cultist fashion. They can never be persuaded. Facts don’t matter.
While that is true for some, it won’t be for all. Over the course of the last two months we’ve seen Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security debunk the idea of mass fraud, as well as his own Department of Justice. There are some people who previously supported him that are now running for the life boats, if they can find any left.
Those lawsuits were a good thing. That they were laughed out of court is a good thing when found to be meritless, and judge after judge said just that. Some lawyers may, perhaps, even be sanctioned. Again, that would be a good thing if they acted in bad faith in bringing the suits when they surely knew better.
The winner in this election was the evidence. It was run through the legal system and the evidence prevailed. And it wouldn’t have happened that way without the lawsuits.