On Jan. 6, thousands of Trump supporters lead a violent insurrection against our nation’s capital. The person responsible for inciting and unleashing this mob was Donald J. Trump. Trump’s inability to accept defeat in the 2020 presidential election, culminated in the first non-peaceful transfer of presidential power in the history of our Republic.
The man who would be king perpetuated the myth that the election was stolen from him. Trump spent $50 million in advertisements convincing his supporters that widespread voter fraud cost him the election. Despite every Secretary of State signing off that the presidential election was fair and valid, Trump pushed the “stolen election” narrative.
Trump’s own man, Chris Krebs (Under Secretary of Homeland Security), said that “The November. 3rd election was the most secure in American history.” Axios reporter, Jonathan Swan, wrote in his Jan. 18 article that Attorney General Barr told Trump on Dec. 1 that; “The president’s theories about a stolen election were BS.”
Trump’s voter fraud charges were adjudicated 60 times by judges appointed by Republicans and Democrats. Sixty times his claim of voter fraud in the “battleground states” were dismissed for lack of merit. Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton and 17 other GOP Attorney Generals challenged the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the Supreme Court of the United States. The court ruled that Texas lacked standing to challenge the election results in other states. The case was dismissed.
After the courts rejected Trump’s voter fraud claims, he began leaning on pliable Republican Legislatures and Secretary of States in “battleground states.” With their assistance Trump hoped to nullify millions of votes cast in Georgia, Michigan Pennsylvania and Wisconsin while simultaneously voiding their Electoral College votes. After Trump’s coup de grace on American democracy, he would be re-elected president via the House of Representatives. This scheme failed because patriotic Republicans refused to bend to Trump’s pressure.
Trump’s last ditch effort to regain the presidency was to unleash violent goons on the nation’s capital. The insurrection left five dead (one capital police officer), 140 capital police officers injured, and congressional members fleeing for their lives. After the violence was quelled, the Senate and House of Representatives reconvened to count and certify the Electoral College votes. On Jan. 7, Joseph Biden was declared the 46th President of the United States.
Despite the violent insurrection and the perfunctory formality of counting electoral votes for the known winner of the 2020 presidential election, 147 Republicans voted not to certify the election. Why would Republicans countermand the will of the American people? Dave Ball’s (GOP Chairman of Washington County Pennsylvania) criticism of Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey sums up the Republican mindset; “We did not send him there to vote his conscience, we did not send him there to do the right thing.” Toomey voted guilty in Trump’s Senate trial for inciting insurrection.
For Christians who cling to Trump, here is God’s warning to humanity through his prophet, Malachi; “I will draw near to you for judgement, and I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, those who defraud the hired man of his wages, against those who defraud widows and orphans; those who turn aside the stranger, and those who do not fear me.”
Trump is a sorcerer of a sort who has cast a spell over his supporters. What else can explain this unwavering adoration for a documented and unrepentant racist, bigot, misogynist, adulterer, sexual transgressor, liar, and insurrectionist? Why follow someone who has abandoned the tenets of Christianity? Wouldn’t you be better off following a man who epitomizes love, compassion, decency, and forgiveness? Someone like, Jesus of Nazareth (The Christian Messiah).
Jesus made this comment about the path to salvation; “Enter through the narrow gate. The gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is clear, and many choose to travel it. But how narrow is the gate that leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are that find it.”
To Christians who have stumbled I say; pick up your cross and follow the Nazarene through the narrow gate.
Paul Guimond is a resident of Royalston.