A26 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020
W
E HAVE been highly critical
of Republicans who are aid-
ing and abetting President
Trump’s sabotage of Ameri-
can democracy. Let’s take a moment to
celebrate the handful who are showing
courage, principle and decency.
“Having failed to make even a plausi-
ble case of widespread fraud or conspira-
cy before any court of law, the president
has now resorted to overt pressure on
state and local officials to subvert the will
of the people and overturn the election,”
Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) said. “It is
difficult to imagine a worse, more un-
democratic action by a sitting American
president.”
“President Trump lost Michigan by
more than 100,000 votes, and the cam-
paign and its allies have lost in or with-
drawn from all five lawsuits in Michigan
for being unable to produce any evi-
dence,” Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) said. “Wild
press conferences erode public trust. So
no, obviously [Trump lawyer Rudolph
W. Giuliani] and his buddies should not
pressure electors to ignore their certifica-
tion obligations under the statute. We are
a nation of laws, not tweets.”Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffen-
sperger, who has run a no-nonsense count
and recount of the Georgia vote despite
extreme pressure from the president, cer-
tified Friday President-elect Joe Biden’s
victory in his state. “Like other Republi-
cans, I’m disappointed our candidate
didn’t win,” Mr. Raffensperger said. “The
numbers reflect the verdict of the people.”
Asked whether Mr. Trump should con-
cede, Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.) replied,
“Yeah. I think it’s all said and done.” He
added: “No one has seen any real identifi-
cation of any real fraud.” Rep. Kay Grang-
er (Tex.) told CNN’s Manu Raju that she
has “great concerns” about the presi-
dent’s campaign to pressure state law-
makers to override the will of the voters,
saying that “it’s time to move on.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan b lasted
the Trump administration’s refusal to
begin the presidential transition. “These
ridiculous challenges that are not based
on fact need to end,” he said Friday.
Republican Tom Kean Jr. of New Jer-
sey, having narrowly lost to incumbent
Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, mod-
eled a proper concession. “Congressman
Malinowski has my congratulations andmy commitment for a bipartisan partner-
ship,” Kean said on Thursday. He added:
“Our nation and the people of this con-
gressional district need to look forward.”
Then there are the thousands of large-
ly unheralded election workers, county
clerks, canvassers, legislators and state
and federal judges who have, with only a
few outrageous exceptions, done their
duty to count, certify and oversee the
voting process regardless of whether that
meant their preferred candidate would
win or lose.
No, fulfilling one’s duty to democracy
should not require special praise. A gra-
cious concession shouldn’t be notewor-
thy. An acknowledgment of Mr. Biden’s
victory shouldn’t require courage. And
no one should have to think twice to state
how wrong is Mr. Trump’s brazen effort
to overturn the results of a free and fair
election.
Unfortunately, most senior Republi-
cans, including the party’s Senate and
House leaders, Mitch McConnell (Ky.)
and Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), have chosen
to amplify or indulge the president’s lies.
So here’s to those who are passing his-
tory’s test right now.Stand-up Republicans
There are a few within the GOP pushing back against Mr. Trump’s lies.
affection on Mr. Sissi, whom he called
“my favorite dictator” at a 2019 summit
meeting. Last week’s arrests provoked
high-level protests from European gov-
ernments, including Britain’s foreign
secretary and the French defense minis-
ter. But the Trump administration was
characteristically low-key: The only re-
action by Friday came in a couple of
State Department tweets from mid-level
officials, who said they were “deeply
concerned.”
Though he won’t take office for an-other few weeks, Mr. Biden has an
opportunity to send a different message.
One of his top aides, Antony Blinken,
already did so, tweeting that “meeting
with foreign diplomats is not a crime.
Nor is peacefully advocating for human
rights.” Mr. Biden should speak out as
well, and he should raise the case in any
phone call he takes from the Egyptian
ruler. He has pledged to revive U.S. sup-
port for democracy and human rights
around the world. Egypt should be a
prime target of that effort.“N
O MORE blank checks for
Trump’s ‘favorite dictator,’ ”
Joe Biden tweeted in July
about Abdel Fatah al-Sissi,
the most repressive ruler in Egypt’s
modern history. Now, the president-elect
has an opportunity to make good on that
pledge. Last week, the Sissi regime ar-
rested the executive director and two
other senior staff of the Egyptian Initia-
tive for Personal Rights (EIPR), one of the
country’s foremost human rights groups,
and one of the few still operating inside
the country. The Trump administration
has routinely excused or ignored such
offenses, except when they involved
U.S. citizens. Mr. Biden should make
clear that his incoming administration
will be different.
The arrests beginning last Sunday of
EIPR administrative manager Moham-
mad Basheer, criminal justice director
Karim Ennarah and executive director
Gasser Abdel Razek came two weeks
after they briefed a group of 13 European
ambassadors and other diplomats, in-
cluding representatives of Germany,
Britain, France, Italy, Canada and the
European Union. After being questioned
about the meeting and the organization’s
other work, the human rights workers
were charged with supporting terrorism
and spreading false news.
The sweep added to a crackdown
against independent journalists, politi-
cal activists and civil society organiza-
tions that has gone on for months, with
more than 900 arrests. Such repression is
the distinguishing feature of the Sissi
regime, which since coming to power in a
bloody 2013 coup against a democratical-
ly elected government has imprisoned
tens of thousands of Egyptians and
tortured, killed or disappeared many
thousands more. Congress, which has
continued to appropriate more than
$1 billion in annual military aid for
Egypt, has been losing patience: In Octo-
ber, 56 Democratic lawmakers signed a
letter calling on the regime to release
those “unjustly detained for exercising
their fundamental human rights.”
Mr. Trump, however, has lavishedA message for Egypt
Mr. Biden should speak up about the latest arrests of human rights activists.
Regarding the Nov. 19 Metro article
“State to seek new Purple Line partner if
deal falters”:
I see no alternative to terminating the
Purple Line project. Purple Line Transit
Partners (PLTP) left the scene with $800
million in cost overruns that the private
concessionaire insisted it was owed.
Though Maryland has suspended con-
struction, the contract to build rolling
stock persists. What will the state do with
the rail cars if the project is ended? No
private partner other than PLTP will res-
cue the state from its follies; settlement
with PLTP is the only conceivable solu-
tion. Even then, the state will have to pay
construction cost overruns and operating
costs for more than 30 years. The state
simply does not have the money.
Blaming residents’ lawsuits for this ca-
tastrophe doesn’t wash. Responsible peo-
ple must deal with the opponents; they
can’t crush them. The Purple Line propo-
nents (developers, politicians, consulting
engineers and their allies) who delivered
this dud without seriously considering
the options to improve transit in the
Maryland suburbs deserve the blame; and
the people of Maryland will pay for it.
Lewis Leibowitz, Chevy ChasePurple Line, red ink
ABCDE
FREDERICK J. RYAN JR., Publisher and Chief Executive Officer“I
MYSELF have held the hand of
dying patients who are crying
out for their family that they
can’t see. I’ve taken care of co-
workers as they fight for their lives on a
ventilator, and knowing that they got sick
because the hospital or their government
hasn’t protected them.” Those words
from Minnesota nurse Mary Turner
about her experiences on the front lines
of the coronavirus pandemic were deliv-
ered on a day when nearly 2,000 Ameri-
cans died from the virus and during the
week when the United States reached the
grim milestone of 250,000 people dead.
She cried talking about the suffering
during a conference call Wednesday with
President-elect Joe Biden. He too seemed
near tears.
More and more Americans are crying
for lives lost. For people such as Tony
Stempeck, 63, a restaurateur in Reno,
Nev., who was an unfailing volunteer at
his daughters’ schools. Amanda
Bouffioux, 44, an administrative assis-
tant in Alaska who was taking communi-
ty college courses in hopes of one day
owning her own business. Elvia Ramirez,
just 17 and starting her senior year ofhigh school on an Indian reservation in
North Dakota. Choua Yang, 53, a Hmong
refugee who fled Laos when the govern-
ment fell to the communists and built a
life in Minnesota as an educator helping
other Hmong immigrants. Fred Dean, 68,
renowned National Football League de-
fensive end who helped lead the
San Francisco 49ers to two champion-
ships. Rebecca Cryer, 73, who survived
the explosion of the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building in Oklahoma City to
continue her legal career and become a
judge. Jeannette Williams-Parker, 48, the
first — but tragically not the last — nurse
to die in West Virginia from coronavirus
complications.
In March, when the virus was still
mainly limited to hot spots such as New
York City, Anthony S. Fauci, director of
the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, predicted that it
might kill up to 240,000 Americans. That
mark, almost unimaginable at the time,
has been passed as the pandemic rages
across the country. No state is un-
touched; particularly hard hit have been
the Midwest and the South.
The United States is not alone in theworld in suffering the deadly health and
economic effects of the pandemic, but it
is almost singular in its government’s
failure to mount a concerted effort to
contain the virus. President Trump’s in-
eptitude borders on the criminal, and
governors who went along with his hap-
py talk about the virus just one day
disappearing are now seeing residents in
their states pay the price. Only now are
some of them coming around to action,
such as mask mandates.
There is promising news about coro-
navirus vaccines, but relief remains
months away at best. With 253,000 dead
— and the number sure to climb —
health-care professionals on the front
lines still don’t have the equipment they
need or the cooperation from the public
for whom they risk their lives. “We’re
seeing the worst of the worst and these
patients are dying, and you go home at
the end of the night and you drive by bars
and you drive by restaurants and they’re
packed full and people aren’t wearing
masks,” said Michelle Cavanaugh, a
nurse at the Nebraska Medicine medical
center in Omaha. “I wish that I could get
people to see covid through my eyes.”Crying for lives lost
As the death toll mounts, a nurse wishes people would ‘see covid through my eyes.’
ABCDE
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EDITORIALSRICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi at the United Nations in 2019.News pages: Editorial and opinion pages:
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The Washington Post
1301 K St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 (202) 334-6000Senate who have worked tirelessly to un-
dermine both this free and fair election
and our democracy.
S ue Ann Gleason, ViennaThe ongoing criticism of election
officials by President Trump, his cam-
paign and many Republican officeholders
is very distressing. On one level, it is a
clear attack on the democratic system in
our nation. On another, it’s simply a tan-
trum by the loser of the election. It is sad
that the hard-working members of elec-
tion boards all over the country are the
objects of this uncalled-for rage.
I serve on the Ocean City, Md., Board of
Supervisors of Elections. We conduct the
municipal elections in our town. We have
a relatively small voting population se-
lecting the mayor and town council mem-
bers every two years. We count, recount
and recount again to make sure we report
accurate results. This is done with abso-
lutely no bias even though all seven of us
have our opinions on the candidates.
I s uspect the same can be said for all
those counting votes in our nation. I’m
sorry to see a sore loser making these fine
individuals appear to be dishonest.
Paul Gasior, Ocean City, Md.The Nov. 18 news article “ Deadlock,
anger and then compromise in
Mich. county” noted that President
Trump’s “false claims about widespread
fraud have reverberated with his support-
ers.” Uniform election laws would help
protect our system against such claims in
the future. Though experts agree that our
elections are secure, the mere possibility
of fraud u ndermines faith in the system.
Some states have better systems than
others. Antiquated laws for absentee bal-
lots do not reflect best practices. Federal
law should provide clear procedures for
collecting ballots, authenticating signa-
tures and timely processing of votes. We
need a consistent set of election rules.
Congress should offer grants to states
to modernize their voting systems with
uniform standards, particularly for mail
ballots. With better, uniform standards,
our elections will be less vulnerable to
allegations of fraud by losing candidates.
Jay McClure, The Plains, Va.The Nov. 19 editorial “Mr. Trump’s at-
tempted coup” correctly surmised that
efforts to persuade Republican lawmak-
ers in swing states to award their state’s
electoral votes to President Trump
amounts to an attack on democracy itself.
Such manipulation of the electoral college
is far from what our Founding Fathers
envisioned and violates the 14th Amend-
ment. How can one square the awarding
of electoral votes to the losing candidate
in a free and fair election, absent evidence
of fraud (and for the sole purpose of
overturning an unwelcome electoral re-
sult), with the concept of one person, one
vote? Moreover, why would voters bother
to vote in any future election if they know
the election will be decided not by them,
the voters, but by political hacks?
S. Michael Scadron, Silver SpringRegarding the Nov. 19 editorial
“Mr. Trump’s attempted coup”:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) report-
edly urged the secretary of state in Geor-
gia to find a way to throw out legally cast
ballots. This is a dangerous attack on our
democracy. We have to stop accepting
these brazen attacks on our system and on
democratic norms. To do so is to normal-
ize behavior that will ultimately destroy
what’s left of our democracy.
I am grateful that President-elect Joe
Biden won this election and am confident
he will take office on Jan. 20, but I firmly
believe there needs to be accountability
for individuals in both the House and theDangers to democracy
It is impossible for any of us who worked
with Judy Shelton on the board of directors
of the National Endowment for Democra-
cy to recognize Ms. Shelton in the carica-
ture created by the Nov. 16 editorial “A bad
sign for Mr. Biden” and some of The Post’s
columnists since Ms. Shelton’s nomination
to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
In the years I knew and worked with her on
the NED board, Ms. Shelton was a model of
fair-mindedness, civility and bipartisan-
ship. Washington could use m ore of her
decency these days.
George Weigel, N orth BethesdaA caricature of Ms. Shelton
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR[email protected]DRAWING BOARD KUPERB Y KUPER