A reported 4,935, 487 votes were cast in the Georgia General Election, and Biden won by 11,799 votes as we all know. (Well, perhaps not all of us know: I refer you to the current nationwide conspiracy-theory mania and its consequent immediate threat to the health (COVID) and safety (Civil War) of our people and to our vaunted system of government (Autocracy) whose keystone is the peaceful transition of power.)
But.
I thought about the math. The winning margin is a crazy-small percentage of the total vote. Way small. Biden won by .23% of the vote—so much less than even 1 percent! Per the ‘butterfly-effect’ this could have easily gone the other way if a giraffe in Africa had suddenly farted off-key. But, the giraffe sounded fine, and the vote count ultimately put Biden in the Win column, And that’s one little thing to be thankful for in Georgia.
And now for the second little thing—and we’re not done talking about those 11,799 votes. Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State to find a way to publicly discount the Biden margin of victory; the phone call was recorded and is now publicly reported on audio. I cannot top Mark Hamilton’s comment that listening to it was like discovering a lost episode of the Soprano’s, Instead, I would like to recognize the Secretary’s resolute stand on the facts as he knows them and the integrity of the voting process that his state manages. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, and an important Republican politician did . . . wait for it . . . exactly the right and obvious thing: he ‘spoke truth to power’. And, far from being obsequious to the President, he handled himself with aplomb. And this act of decent and morally appropriate courage is the second little thing to be thankful about in Georgia.
If I build a statue to Brad Raffensberger, and I think I will, I’ll inscribe it with these words from his conversation with the President yesterday: . . . “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.” This statement, under the pressure of being accosted by the President of the United States, being threatened and accused of criminal activity with high-powered lawyers and politicians also listening in- is brilliant. On its face, it is true. Trump’s facts are wrong. And to call it out in this way does many things: Under these circumstances, it is code for “you’re a compulsive paranoid liar and have serious mental health issues that have been on display for a long, long, time. ..Mr. President.” I believe that’s what everyone in on the conversation heard from this statement. Nobody believes for a second that Trump got handed the wrong sheet of paper by an assistant and is therefore undergoing the ‘challenge’ of trying to argue a case while being accidentally in possession of the wrong data. (And note the passivity of the action, as if talking to a child: the data is wrong, maybe not the person. Though, alas, this professional courtesy—an attempt to allow everyone in the conversation to save face—did nothing to shield Raffensberger from further insult by the President.) Trump’s data, or facts, are conjured into life by Trump himself who, through distortion and delusion, only espouses a reality that comports to his capricious narcissism. Further, somehow, Trump intimidates a coterie of Republicans and legal minions into believing that they must sacrifice their honor today to effect the approval of Trump’s base supporters to slightly improve their political chances tomorrow. It is painful to watch, day after day. I’m stunned by these Republican Senators who won’t stand up to a wholly unfit President. Why do we even have the 25th Amendment? I’ve encountered more spine in a banana. But, Raffensberger is one Republican who did the right thing and I hope he has children because they couldn’t get a better life lesson from Dad.
Perhaps a third little thing might happen tonight in Georgia that we can be thankful for, as the results of the Senate runoff elections come in. But even if that third little thing doesn’t happen, I will say I am still very, very thankful for the first two things. Two out of three ain’t bad.
You must be logged in to post a comment.