It is clear from watching the first couple of days of the Democratic National Convention and looking at what is going on in the polls that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have re-energized the Democratic Party. Joe Biden had the courage, character, and moral clarity to put aside his own ambitions and desires for a cause greater than his own. That is the sign of a true leader, and it certainly is paying off. It is a concept that does not even register within Trump’s brain. For Trump, the only cause worth fighting for is Trump.
There is no doubt that Trump and his minions are concerned they might lose this election. That very well might be true. However, the Republicans have been busy planting booby traps and mines throughout the country to deal with this exact scenario. These explosives are in the form of election deniers who are in positions to oversee election results. They are in the form of laws specifically designed to suppress the votes of minorities and young people who tend to vote for Democrats. They are in the form of extreme gerrymandering that locks Republicans into office. They are in the form of conservative judges sprinkled around the nation’s courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, who routinely support the Republican’s agenda.
As I mentioned previously, I am reading a book, “Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections,” by David Daley. It is really a ‘must read’ for anyone who cares about democracy in this country. It discusses in detail how the above-mentioned booby traps and mine fields were planted with the help of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Roberts.
The Roberts court opened the flood gates for dark money to pour into elections with the Citizens United ruling. And they gutted the Voting Rights Act with the decision in the Shelby County case. It gave the Republicans the green light to go around the country like Johnny Appleseed planting election booby traps!
Just as a reminder, in the 2000 election, Al Gore won the popular vote, but the Electoral College vote came down to the vote count in Florida which was extremely close. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately intervened in and stopped the counting process. As a result, all twenty-six of Florida’s electoral votes went to Bush which gave him a 271 to 270 victory. It was one of the most controversial U.S. Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history. Interestingly, Justice Brent Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett both participated in the lawsuit brought by the Bush camp that led to his victory. And look where they are now.
I am becoming reasonably confident that Kamala Harris will win the popular vote. The real question is, “Will the Democrats be able to successfully navigate the vagaries of the Electoral College and the mine fields that have been laid by the Republicans to actually be able to claim victory”?
Unfortunately, these days elections happen in two phases. There is the voting phase and then there is the litigation phase. And given the way the Republicans have skewed the judicial system with hand picked jurists who have not only passed the bar but have passed the “Federalist Society” test meaning they will be more amenable to supporting whatever specious legal arguments the Republicans make, the litigation phase of elections has become more important than the actual voting. That is exactly what the Republicans want, what they have put in place and what they are counting on to win this election. Votes are great but a skewed judicial system is even better.
There is a reason the very conservative former judge, Michael Luttig, a life-long Republican, endorsed Kamala Harris. He knows better than anyone the threat Trump and the current MAGA Republicans pose to American democracy. I’m sure he also knows this election will not be won at the ballot box. It will be won or lost in the courts! And given the current makeup of the courts, that is a very scary thought indeed.
