It’s time to put the country first before it’s too late

Our country hasn’t been normal for nearly a year now, so it might not sound right to start this post by writing “in normal times,” but so be it.
In normal times, Congress and the president would be working on how to plan a cohesive transition in the midst of a devastating pandemic that’s already killed more than 350,000 Americans, and one that’s increasingly getting out of control despite the approval of two vaccines.
In normal times, the president and Congress would be working together in concert with the states to work the kinks out of the vaccine distribution system so that the country could get that much closer to getting back to normal for real; there must be a federal distribution plan for the vaccine; it can’t simply be left up to the states to get the massive job done.
But the times aren’t normal, because what our political system has been dealing with since the Nov. 3 election, thanks to the president’s spreading of false allegations of widespread fraud in the election --- baseless charges that have all been struck down by the courts and the Supreme Court, as well as by officials in charge of the election and the Department of Justice --- the turmoil made by the president exceeds politics and threatens the very fabric of our nation.
The stunning, and very sad and scary truth is that the very essence of our democracy is under siege by a president who is totally and utterly out of control and unhinged, as he does nothing with his remaining time in office except to unleash threats and a torrent of false allegations about the election two months after it was decided.
As a result, the Congress on Wednesday will have to deal with the president’s Republican enablers in the Senate and House who are trying to overturn the election despite the overwhelming evidence that the election had no widespread fraud that would have changed the outcome.
Yes, that is sadly the case despite the fact that a bipartisan group of federal and state officials have ruled the election accurate. Those officials have included the president’s own director of cybersecurity – who was fired for not caving to the president’s false allegations --- and the man who was the head of the Justice Department until Dec. 23, former Attorney General William Barr, who quit early over his boss’ attempts to bully him into falsely declaring that the election results weren’t accurate.
The president’s actions became even more disturbing after his recent tirade, caught on tape, against the Republican secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, in which he bullied him to --- despite three recounts, including one hand recount confirming Biden’s 11,779-vote win – “find” enough votes to change the election. He even threatened criminal prosecution of him and his key aide if they didn’t follow the president’s demands.
Raffensperger, who said he voted for Trump, responded: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”
What this president doesn’t realize is that the United States isn’t his pet company that he can run and fire people who don’t follow his every whim – no matter how far-fetched and outlandish it is.
He doesn't realize that the same votes that he claims are fraudulent also elected many Republicans down the ticket in those states he's contesting. He also doesn't realize that Democrats weren't the only ones to use mail-in ballots. 
But none of that matters to the increasingly irrational man in the White House, and what's worse is that too many Republicans --- who apparently care only about what they perceive to be their political futures --- have chosen to enable the president’s misguided and stubborn attempts to overturn the Electoral College decision instead of listening to the more level-headed members of their party.
Our only hope is that more GOP lawmakers will reject such tactics. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah has repeatedly blasted the attempts at overturning the election as anathema to our democracy, and recently another prominent Republican, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, sounded the voice of reason in opposing the plans by a group of Republican senators and an astounding 140 House Republicans to try to reverse the election by rejecting the Electoral College votes for Biden.
“I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election,” Sasse wrote on social media in order to, he said, explain “why I have been urging my colleagues to reject this dangerous ploy.”
All this is so disheartening and draining, and will lead to a lack of confidence in the election system.
Political commentator David Gergen --- who served ably and had the best interests of the nation as a whole in mind while working in the Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations --- thinks Trump’s dangerous attempts to overturn the election, including his incredible bullying of the Georgia secretary of state over the weekend – could be even more of a threat to the country than Watergate was, and that’s scary. If Gergen, a true patriot and a bipartisan public servant, thinks that, then we are in deep trouble as a nation.
Indeed, what Trump is attempting to do is the equivalent of fomenting revolution, and shame on the GOP lawmakers for enabling him, like the German people enabled Hitler in the 1930s until it was too late and that nation was lost to his lunacy --- and millions of people not considered desirable Germans were exterminated.
We’re not there yet, but if they’re not stopped, Trump’s actions could lead to bloodshed and a new civil war. That's why it's imperative that his enablers have a swift change of heart and do their duty to uphold the Constitution instead of placating a very dangerous sore loser.


UPDATE ON JAN. 5
Memo to Vice President Mike Pence:
Please do your job as president of the Senate and certify this legal election on Jan. 6. Do not be drawn into the evil and treasonous doings of the president.
Be the adult in the room, sir, and please do your job as so many other vice presidents who have lost elections did so, including the following in the January after their respective elections:
1961: Richard Nixon, who lost to JFK.
1969: Hubert Humphrey, who lost to Nixon.
1977: Rockefeller (though he wasn't the candidate as Bob Dole ran with Gerald Ford) in the Ford-Carter race.
1981: Vice President Walter Mondale, in the race against Ronald Reagan.
1993: Dan Quayle in the Clinton election against George H.W. Bush.
2001: Vice President Al Gore in his truly close race against George W. Bush.
2009: Vice President Dick Cheney in the Barack Obama election win.
2017: Then-Vice President Joe Biden in the Trump-Pence race --- yours!
Both Republicans and Democrats did their job, and if any of those Democratic vice presidents had dared suggest that duly elected Republicans be denied CERTIFIED ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTES, there would have been holy hell to pay.
So please, Mr. Vice President, don't listen to the Bully-in-Chief and do your job.
Thank you, Mr. Vice President.