FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A21
FRIDAY Opinion
P
resident Trump’s s hameful lega-
cy will be the needless death and
vast devastation of the covid-19
pandemic.
More than 3,100 Americans died
from the novel coronavirus on Wednes-
day, a s hocking all-time high, with the
virus currently the nation’s leading
cause of death. The health and eco-
nomic impacts of covid-19 were always
going to be brutal, but Trump made
everything much worse than it had to
be. And he has capped his mismanage-
ment of the crisis by making it more
difficult not just to persuade Americans
to comply with life-saving preventative
efforts but by also sowing doubt about
the vaccines that are the way out of this
crisis.
The worst thing Trump did — and
continues to do — is to treat the virus
less like a threat to the nation and more
like a danger to his own political and
psychological well-being. From the be-
ginning, he listened to the advisers who
told him what he wanted to hear — that
it wouldn’t be so bad (though epidemi-
ologists said otherwise), that we could
achieve some sort of herd immunity
(though infectious-disease specialists
said this was madness), that the disease
would magically “go away” in time for
the election (though all realistic people
said this was pure fantasy).
Trump could have used his mega-
phone and his dominance of the Repub-
lican Party to push for consistent, na-
tionwide rules for mandates and shut-
downs. If he had called last spring for
universal mask-wearing, for example,
and driven that message home with his
loyal MAGA followers, Republican gov-
ernors such as Ron DeSantis of Florida,
Greg Abbott of Texas and even Kristi
Noem of South Dakota l ikely would
have had no choice but to go along or
face the wrath of constituents who are
more loyal to Trump than to them.
Instead, Trump did the opposite.
When influential GOP voices began to
treat masks and business closures not
as public health measures but as threats
to liber ty, Trump encouraged these self-
destructive attitudes because his base
liked them. He led his supporters to
believe that the refusal to wear a mask
was somehow an act of bravery, the
refusal to practice social distancing
somehow a declaration of independ-
ence. Rather than try to contain the
virus, he literally encouraged its spread.
As the beneficial impact of the first
stimulus and relief package wore off —
and of ficials such as Federal Reserve
Chair Jerome H. Powell practically
begged for more tools to stanch the
bleeding — Trump did nothing. If he has
enough power over Republican sena-
tors to make them afraid to recognize
Joe Biden as president-elect, he has
more than enough juice to push them to
provide real relief for desperate individ-
uals and small businesses that have
reached the point of ruin.
So here we are. Covid-19 cases, hospi-
talizations and deaths are climbing
rapidly, making the spring’s pessimists
seem like winter’s optimists. The mea-
sures that could quell the surge —
masks and shutdowns — have become
politicized. There is only a tenuous
chance of more economic aid before
Inauguration Da y, and then not enough
of it.
We should be celebrating the success
of the administration’s Operation Warp
Speed in shepherding the development
of multiple vaccines, some of which
involve groundbreaking medical tech-
nology, in record time. Instead, we have
to worry about whether enough Ameri-
cans will agree to take the vaccine to
guarantee the level of immunity needed
for a return to normal life.
Is it fair to blame so much of this on
Trump? Unfortunately, yes. Too many of
his supporters don’t believe the pan-
demic is real and seem likely to see
vaccines as not just unnecessary but
another restriction on their freedoms.
And Trump’s treatment of the scientific
and regulatory process has undermined
many Americans’ trust in the guardrails
that are supposed to keep them safe.
Trump wants to personally take cred-
it for the rapid development of appar-
ently safe and effective vaccines. I say
fine, whatever, give him all the credit he
craves — if, and only if, he does what he
can to reach the people who are still
listening to him, and to convince them
that they ought to get vaccinated, if only
as a way of giving Trump one final win.
That messaging won’t reach anyone
who is concerned that Trump has inter-
fered with the process of developing
and approving these vaccines; it’ll be up
to figures such as Anthony S. Fauci,
former president Barack Obama and
incoming President and Vice President
Joe Biden and Kamala D. Harris to allay
their concerns. That’s still a lot of
damage to undo, but Trump was always
going to leave an enormous amount of
wreckage behind him. The most we can
ask of him now is that he clean up a tiny
fraction of it, even if only in his own
self-interest.
Twitter: @Eugene_RobinsonEUGENE ROBINSONTrump could
salvage a
shred of his
covid legacy “W
e will be INTERVENING in the
Texas (plus many other states)
case. This is the big one. Our
Country needs a victory!”
tweeted the soon-to-be-ex-president of the
United States. A filing at the Supreme Court
soon followed.
President Trump needs an intervention
these days all right — but not of the kind he was
talking about. And it’s he who desperately
needs a victory, not the country.
That’s because Trump and his allies have
lost just about every lawsuit they’ve brought to
try to keep him in office. By one Democratic
election lawyer’s count, they have just one win
and 55 losses to show for their efforts (a ratio
that would be even more lopsided if he count-
ed multiple losses in each case). Adding insult
to injur y, the Trumpistas’ solitary victory was a
piddling, technical one that affected just a tiny
number of ballots, nowhere near enough to
change the result. Sad!
Trump and his litigation boosters have lost
every which way, and everywhere. In state
courts and federal courts. In trial courts and
appellate courts, intermediate and supreme.
Before Democratic judges and Republican
ones. In Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada — every state
that could possibly matter. On substantive
grounds and procedural ones, on the facts, and
on the law.
They ’ve already lost a case in the U.S. Su-
preme Court — and are about to lose there
again very, very soon.
It’s hard to imagine that any alliance of
litigants and lawyers has ever lost more cases
for more reasons — and in less time — than this
sorry bunch has.
Their problem is they have nothing to sue
about, and never did. The words of a Trump-
appointed member of the federal appeals
court in Philadelphia pretty much sum things
up: “Calling an election unfair does not make it
so. Charges require specific allegations and
then proof. We have neither here.”
And time’s up. All the contested states have
certified their Biden-Harris slates of electors
before the deadline set by federal law. That
means the certifications “shall be conclusive,
and shall govern in the counting of the elector-
al votes.” The electors will meet and vote in
their respective states on Monday. The result
will be Biden 306, Trump 232. A landslide,
according to Trump.
Yet now we have what Trump calls the “big
one,” the litigation Trump proclaims will turn
it all around.
It’s the big one, all right, the biggest farce of
all. It’s a c ase the state of Texas brought on
Monday, directly in the Supreme Court,
agai nst Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and
Wisconsin. In a m ove that says more about the
legal judgment (poor) and the moral fiber
(absent) of their attorneys general than it does
about the merits of the case, 17 states have now
filed a brief in support of Texas, along with
Trump. More than half the House Republicans
— 106 — also joined the follies.
Brought by Texas’s ethically challenged at-
torney general, Ken Paxton, the case is legally
preposterous. By Texas’s own admission, it’s
“challenging” the other states’ “administra-
tion of the 2020 election.” No constitutional
provision, no statute and no principle of law
gives one state the standing to challenge
another state’s handling of an election. In our
system, Texas isn ’t the boss of Pennsylvania.
Allowing such suits would invite a multistate
free-for-all every time a presidential election is
held.
Beyond that, there’s no reason to believe the
Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction to hear
cases between states, will entertain this one. It
considers that “original” jurisdiction — its
power to act as the first court to hear a case,
and not on appeal — to be discretionary. And it
exercises that discretion sparingly, because it’s
not set up to be a trial court, let alone in such
(supposedly) exigent circumstances. When
matters can be resolved by suits involving
parties other than states, the court tends to
decline to hear them. Trump’s intervention
motion thus undercuts the rationale for in-
volving the high court — it shows the disputes
could be resolved in other cases in other
courts, as in fact they have been. Another
brilliant move by his “elite” legal “strike force.”
What of the Texas suit ’s merits? It has none.
It’s a r ecycling of failed claims. Whining about
poll-watchers being excluded, nonsense about
“mysterious late night dumps of thousands of
ballots,” fantasies about rigged Dominion vot-
ing machines — a Cuisinart of allegations
rejected by courts from Philadelphia to Carson
City.
Texas’s proposed complaint even has a claim
that, given Trump’s middle-of-election-night
lead in the defendant states, there was less
than a “one in a quadrillion” chance that Biden
should have won. Do they really think the
justices of the Supreme Court are that stupid?
And what relief does the Texas suit seek? For
the court to declare that the 62 electoral votes
of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wis-
consin “cannot be counted.” That’s a q uote.
That any member of any bar, let alone a
member of the Supreme Court bar, could file
such flimsy tripe in any court, let alone the
Supreme Court, is an embarrassment to the
legal profession. For public officials such as
Paxton and his fellow Republican attorneys
general to call for the wholesale disenfran-
chisement of the people of four states is an
affront to the rule of law, an insult to an
independent judiciary and a contempt of de-
mocrac y.
The big fraud of 2020 didn’t take place in
any voting booth, drop box or tabulation
center. It happened after the election, at the
presidential lectern, at news conferences and
in legal briefs orchestrated to support the
fiction that Donald Trump won. History will
record that the scam didn’t succeed.
Twitter: @gtconway3dGEORGE T. CONWAY IIITrump’s latest
farcical effort
BY OTIS MOSS III
O
n a Sunday morning in 1989,
during my freshman year at
Morehouse College in Atlanta,
I li stened to a sophomore cha-
pel assistant named Raphael Warnock.
Extraordinarily composed, Warnock
delivered from the pulpit a thoughtful,
powerful sermon — one that chal-
lenged us, as people of faith, to “sound
the trumpet” on behalf of children
forgotten at the doorstep of America’s
promise. When he finished, we all rose
to our feet in applause.
Warnock once again stands before a
community in Georgia, this time as
candidate for the U.S. Senate. If he is
elected in Januar y, he will be the first
member of Congress from the South
since Reconstruction to explicitly pro-
fess the spiritual tradition of the social
gospel as envisioned and designed by
people of African descent.
Perhaps because this spirituality —
commonly referred to as the Black
church tradition of resistance and re-
demption — has been absent from
government for so long, and so often
ignored by historians and scholars, it is
easily misinterpreted. But anyone who
cares to look will find that this theology
has advanced justice in our coun try for
generations.
Not surprisingly, Warnock’s beliefs
have already been widely mischarac-
terized in coverage of the Georgia Sen-
ate runof f. Conser vative pundits claim
these beliefs inject politics into the
pulpit. They appear to be completely
unaware that the “politics” of the Black
church tradition are rooted in the
words of Jesus, who called for every
Christian to be a champion of the poor.
Warnock’s preaching has also been
branded as “anti-American.” But he is
following Jesus — a nd in the footsteps
of the best-known articulator of the
Black church tradition, the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr., who believed poverty,racism and militarism were the triple
evils that threatened America’s demo-
cratic ideals. Both Jesus and King said
that people of faith must serve God
with all our heart, mind and soul — and
that placing service to a government
above the embodiment of love is an act
of idolatry. Far from being new or
extremist, this belief has been
preached from pulpits and hush har-
bors since Black people began wor-
shiping in this country without the
infringement of White overseers.
Warnock ’s approach to the social
gospel grew out of a question asked by
these enslaved Blacks: How could a
person be a Christian, love Jesus and
argue for the sale of other human
beings? In the cities and towns where
Georgia Senate candidates are now
campaigning, Black men and women
kept pressing this question. It led them
to form early independent churches,
such as the First African Baptist
Church of Savannah, and embrace new
denominations, such as the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, that
placed at the center of their worship
publ ic rebukes of the hypocritical
Christianity practiced by enslaver s.
This social gospel designed by peo-
ple of African descent had several pil-
lars that should today resonate with all
Americans, even if they are not them-
selves believers. This tradition holds
that all human beings are children of
God and therefore endowed with in-
herent worth and dignity. Racism is a
sin that corrupts the human personal-
ity and prevents equitable relation-
ships. Love and justice are the prereq-
uisites for creating what King labeled a
“Beloved Community.”
The importance of this theology did
not diminish after slavery. Too many
Blacks remained oppressed; too many
White Christians used faith to justify a
white-supremacist status quo. The
central contradiction was simply re-
framed: How could a person be a Chris-tian, love Jesus and argue that his
fellow human beings should be denied
the vote, kept in poverty, refused
health care and unjustly imprisoned
because of their race?
These contradictions are with us
still, and Warnock is well prepared to
address them. He was raised in public
housing in Savannah by Black Pente-
costal preachers and saw at a y oung
age how policymakers with a moral
compass can improve the lives of mar-
ginalized citizens. As senior pastor of
Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church —
where King and his father were both
pa stors — Warnock has devoted him-
self to the social-justice demands of his
Christian faith.
He has said that, as a senator, his
priorities will reflect the moral impera-
tives central to Black theology. He will
speak for the economically disenfran-
chised and against the racial and gen-
der inequalities interwoven into our
politics. He has pledged to ask the
important questions: Will we continue
to punish the poor and working class
by limiting access to health care? Will
we i nvest in prisons over education?
Will we celebrate essential workers
with rhetoric while denying them es-
sential wages? To Warnock, these is-
sues are mo ral, not political. What we
do to the “least of these” tells us who we
are as a nation.
Just as on th at day in 1989, Warnock
is prepared to sound the trumpet on
behalf of those le ft out of American
society. His critics might call this mes-
sage radical — b ut so was Jesus. They
might call it anti-American — but it has
been part of America’s story for cen-
turies. The fa ct that so few Americans
recognize this shows just how desper-
ately Warnock, and the tradition he
represents, are needed in the Senate
and our public life.The writer is senior pastor of Trinity United
Church of Christ in Chicago.Raphael Warnock can bring
the gospel back into public life
MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST
Democratic Senate candidate Raphael Warnock in Atlanta on Nov. 3.BY JOHN R. BOLTON
O
n Monday, Donald Trump will
officially lose the 2020 presiden-
tial election. In their respective
states, electoral college delega-
tions chosen by the citizens will meet to
cast their ballots. If there are no “faith-
less” electors, 306 votes will go to Joe
Biden for president and Kamala D. Har-
ris for vice president, and 232 to Trump
and Mike Pence. There will be no lawful
way to change this result.
Most Americans will be relieved that
the election is over. Unfortunately, too
many Republicans will see only the rati-
fication of a “stolen election.” Why? Be-
cause for months Trump has proclaimed
he could lose only through foul play, and
because too few Republicans said this
was nonsense.
Rather than “America First,” Trump’s
true slogan is “Trump First,” so his fanta-
sy will not end easily. Nonetheless, start-
ing with the resolution of the electoral
college vote, Republicans, and all Ameri-
cans, can take significant steps to move
beyond Nov. 3, without endless, debili-
tating reargument of what happened.
First, everyone — R epublicans espe-
cially — should recognize that the na-
tional political dynamic will change irre-
vocably at noon on Jan. 20. It will never
be the same again for Trump. There will
be a new president, doing his job, wheth-
er Trump adjusts to it or not. Even
though barely more than five weeks now
remain until the transfer of power, many
who have been unable or unwilling to
feel the tectonic plates shifting will final-
ly recognize the change. Mar-a-Lago is
not the same as the Oval Of fice. Foreign
leaders will not flock to Florida for
meetings.
Despite four years as president,
Trump neve r fully grasped the issues
before him, and he won’t learn any-
thing new once he leaves. His observa-
tions will become increasingly irrel-
evant.Trump will not disappear entirely. But
the thrill will assuredly fade.
Second, with this coming dramatic
shift in the political universe in mind,
every Republican as of next Monday’s
electoral college vote should publicly
acknowledge what they have known in
silence for many weeks: Biden is the
president-elect. We Republicans should
all ju st say it and get it over with.
If confronted by bitter-enders, stuck
on Trump and dreaming of continuing
the fight, for example on Jan. 6 when the
electoral college ballots are opened and
counted in Congress, Republicans
should take their cue from Nancy Rea-
gan: Just say no.
Third, there is every reason to believe
Republicans can make Democrats’ hold
on the White House last just one term.
Analysts across the political spectrum
have noted the GOP’s November success-
es, other than Trump’s loss. Winning at
all levels in coming elections, however,
requires a party not obsessed with con-
templating its 2020 presidential navel.
That will necessitate disbanding the
GOP’s circular firing squads now blast-
ing away in Georgia, Arizona and else-
where. This internecine warfare is not
along ideological lines; by any coherent
measure, all the main participants are
conser vatives. The common denomina-
tor is that Trump set these dumpster fires
to advance his own interests.
The Republican Party’s lasting
strength is its focus on policy, not per-
sonalities, and certainly not cults. To
reclaim the high ground, national, state
and local pa rty structures must focus
impartially on enhancing support for all
Republicans, not just Trump. We must
have open debates on policy, and new
platforms reflecting those debates. As
long as Trump continues broaching a
possible 2024 candidacy, this neutrality
is threatened.
Any party official unable to remain
impartial should be a candidate for re-
tirement. Historically, after presidential-election defeats, Republicans have
sought new party leadership. Following
Barry Goldwater ’s 1964 defeat, Ray Bliss
took charge as national chairman, with
excellent 1966 and 1968 results; after
Gerald Ford’s 1976 loss, Bill Brock
stepped up and laid the groundwork for
Ronald Reagan’s 1980 victory.
This is an entirely normal intra-party
transition. It is not about any particular
losing candidate or party official, and
saying so casts no blame. But without
ironclad assurances of impartiality by
current party officials, based on their
personal honor, Republicans risk miss-
ing a big opportunity for revitalization.
Contested elections for party positions
are not bad things.
Fourth, speaking as a baby boomer, I
make perhaps the most painful point:
Republicans should begin thinking
about finally selecting a non-boomer
presidential candidate. Recalling Ron-
ald Reagan’s line about Walter Mondale,
the “youth and inexperience” of these
late-comers may be a burden for them,
but it should not be insuperable.
If Biden again bears the Democratic
standard in 2024 — w hen he will turn 82
— a nd faces a non-boomer Republican
opponent, the contrast will be palpable.
If Biden doesn’t run, and a 78-year-old
Trump is again the Republican nominee,
the contrast will also be palpable. This
one should not be hard for the GOP, as
long as the succession is based on merit,
not heredity.
More sug gestions for Republicans
abo und, but even these four ideas are
likely to meet strong opposition from
some parts of the GOP despite their
Wizard of Oz, on Dec. 14, having finally
and de finitively lost the 2020 election.
Pull the curtain aside — b etter late than
never.John R. Bolton served as national security
adviser under President Trump and is the
author of “The Room Where It Happened: A
White House Memoir.”The GOP must move on