If there is only one thing Americans have learned over the past four years it is that it is acceptable for Republicans to violate the law if they do it in service to the criminal and aspiring dictator occupying the Oval Office.
The latest Republican to “allegedly†break the law is South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. And like everyone in Trump’s orbit, his actions were solely to  help Trump no matter the damage to America’s representative democracy.
Apparently, Graham was able to pry his oral orifice out of Trump’s anal orifice long enough to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State to throw out legal ballots. In the Trump era, it is obvious that in every district that leans towards Democrats (read African American), ballots are not considered legal. It’s a novel way to implement Jim Crow without calling it Jim Crow and Trump is behind the similarly illegal efforts nationwide.
Graham’s “alleged†pressure campaign was part of the GOP’s ongoing and nationally-concerted effort to aid Trump’s plan to stage a bloodless, at least thus far, coup to stay ensconced in a place he has no right to visit, much less occupy.
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According to Georgia’s election laws, Senator Lindsey Graham’s actions constitute a felony. However,  no sane human being expects him to face any repercussions whatsoever because he is a Republican, a white Southern Senator, and he was acting specifically in Trump’s behalf.
Of course Graham claimed his attempted, not alleged, election interference was due to his overriding concern about election security with those nasty mail-in and absentee ballots. Since Graham was never concerned about mail-in or absentee ballots in the past, his actions lead normal humans to conclude that there was another issue driving his sudden “concern†about election security.
In this case, it was to ensure that Trump gets the number of votes from Georgia he demanded to remain in the White House. Graham is “alleged†to have also pressured election officials in Nevada and Arizona – two states that, like Georgia, he does not represent or have any more regard for than his own South Carolina constituents.
It was reported everywhere beginning Tuesday, that, besides being a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, staunch conservative, and Trump supporter, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperge accused Graham of asking him to throw out valid ballots. He said:
“Senator Graham implied for us to audit the envelopes and then throw out the ballots for counties who have the highest frequency error of signatures,â€Â
A second witness involved in the phone call between Graham and. Raffensberge verified that the Secretary of State is telling the truth.
The gentleman confirming Raffensberge’s accusation, Gabriel Sterling, is an election implementation manager who said that he was “on the conference call where Graham asked about how ballots might be thrown out.†Mr. Sterling said:
“What I heard was basically discussions about absentee ballots. If there was a percentage of signatures that weren’t really, truly matching, is there some point we could get to, we could say, somebody went to a courtroom could say well, let’s throw (out) all these ballots.There is no physical ability for this office to do anything along those lines. If somebody wanted to go that route, they could go the court route.â€
Graham naturally did what everyone in Trump’s circle has done since the loser’s very poorly attended inauguration – he lied like Trump and every two-bit, guilty street hoodlum caught in the act of committing a crime. Graham said regarding the criminal act that the accusation(s) are “ridiculous†and that he only wanted to “protect the integrity of mail-in voting,â€Â
In an effort to hold Graham accountable for his attempt at further decimating America’s democracy for Trump, three lawyers asked the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the call and whether Graham may have committed any ethics violations. The “complaint†reads, in part:
“If these allegations are true, Sen. Graham’s conduct constitutes an abuse of office and conduct unbecoming of a senator. For the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to suggest to a state Secretary of State that he refrain from counting lawful votes threatens the electoral process and damages representative democracy.â€
According to a report in Slate, “there is virtually no doubt that Graham committed a crime under Georgia law.†The piece also goes on to state the obvious: if Graham wasn’t a Trump bootlicker and Republican senator, he would be in serious legal jeopardy. Graham will not face an investigation or Senate ethics inquiry, much less be prosecuted “for conduct that would get almost anyone else arrested;†especially in a state like Georgia that has “a sordid history of prosecuting putative voter fraud involving far more innocent conduct.â€
Some may say it is just business as usual in Trump world, but that is, in and of itself, a damning indictment of the state of our Union’s reresentative democracy. Anyone in their right mind who thinks Graham will ever be held to account for committing an “alleged†election crime is an idiot. But despite the injustice of another Trump criminal flouting the law with impunity, the dirty crook Graham deserves to be arrested, prosecuted, found guilty, and thrown in prison for the proscribed duration like any other criminal. However, Graham is a white, wealthy Republican and he is likely going to reap a hefty reward for acting in Trump’s stead.
It is true that Republicans have tried every dirty trick in the book to pervert the course of free and fair elections, but for a sitting United States senator to “allegedly†ask Georgia’s chief election official to throw out legal ballots during a conference call beggars belief – except in Trump’s America.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
