Republican Congressman slams Trump loyalists

An article entitled “GOP Lawmaker Slams Republican Trump Loyalists, Calls MAGA Base ‘Anti-American,’ Says He’s ‘Damn Sick of It'” by Christina Zhao of Newsweek reveals that more Republicans are saying the obvious about their party leader and silent colleagues. Here are the first three paragraphs:

“Outgoing Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman of Virginia on Saturday unleashed a barrage of criticism against Donald Trump, his allies and ‘anti-American’ supporters, as the president continues to cast doubt on his election loss.

Riggleman is among the few Republicans who have acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden‘s victory over Trump. Most media outlets called the election for the Democrat, who has secured 306 Electoral College votes, over two weeks ago, but Trump has refused to concede.

In an interview with Forbes, Riggleman condemned his fellow Republicans for remaining quiet amid Trump’s attempts to cast doubt on the election process by claiming a ‘rigged and stolen” election. It’s ‘completely unethical,’ he said, explaining that some of his colleagues believe that breaking with Trump would ‘cost them their careers.'”

Riggleman has chosen his words wisely calling Trump’s allies on these accusations as “anti-American” and calling his colleagues “completely unethical.” As an example, I saw where Trump sycophant Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida is echoing they have proof of voter fraud, following a weekend when Georgia and Wisconsin recounts confirmed the election to Biden in their states, fired cybersecurity expert for Homeland Security Chris Krebs very credibly reiterated on “60 Minutes” last night the election was safe and secure, and two courts threw out appeals from Trump and his supporters.

To be perfectly blunt, the only voter fraud being committed is from the person who looks back at the outgoing president when he shaves. He staged these “unethical actions” for six months and is doing what he was expected to do, as he just cannot face losing.

GOP Lawmaker Slams Republican Trump Loyalists, Calls MAGA Base ‘Anti-American,’ Says He’s ‘Damn Sick of It’ (msn.com)

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Georgia’s second recount confirms Biden win

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am truly tired of writing about an outgoing president whose fragile ego cannot and will not tolerate that he lost the election. Yet, after seeing excerpts from his petulant Thanksgiving Day news conference, he is still banging on that drum that there was wild-scale fraud of over “100,000 or more “votes in many states.

Since that time, he lost yet another appellate court case, where a Trump appointed judge wrote a scathing rebuke of the lack of evidence. If you read between the lines, the judge said stop wasting the court and people’s time with unsubstantiated claims.

On Saturday, the Georgia recount was finished for the second time whose results confirmed Joe Biden won that state. A few paragraphs from the following article called “The Republican Secretary of State for Georgia says Trump ‘should leave quietly’ after state’s election recount confirmed Biden’s win” by Sophia Ankel of Business Insider are telling.

“Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said President Trump ‘should leave quietly,’ after the state’s election recount confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

‘When you lose an election, you should leave quietly. It’s the will of the people that has been expressed,’ he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an article published on Saturday.

Raffensperger has found himself the subject of intense criticism by the Trump campaign after Georgia turned blue for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Earlier this week, President Trump called Raffensperger ‘an enemy of the people’ and accused him, without evidence, of hiding “tens of thousands” of illegal votes.“

Three things are crystal clear and consistent about the actions of the outgoing president.

1. He will do anything, and I mean anything, to avoid losing. Michael Cohen, his attorney/ fixer said under oath to Congress, “Donald Trump is a racist, he is a con-artist and he is a cheat.” His niece said he will burn it all down to avoid losing.

2. He has habit of firing people or denigrating them if they tell truths that run counter to his lies. Chris Krebs, will appear on “60 Minutes” tonight. Krebs was fired from his election cybersecurity role for Homeland Security as he noted this was the most secure election in our history. Krebs joins a long line of Inspectors General, diplomats, staff, etc. who have been thrown under the bus by the outgoing president.

3. Trump fans wield the backing of the outgoing president by making death threats to people who are doing their jobs the best they can. Many of those under attack are Republicans, but they have the misfortune of telling truths the outgoing president does not like.

Yet, as I have said time and again, the actions of this outgoing president are disappointing and scary, but not a surprise. He has planned and staged his fraud claims for months. Plus, as many have noted in biographies and news stories, it is in his nature to win at all costs. The fact people’s lives are being threatened reveals just how dangerous following the words of this deceitful and corrupt acting person can be.

One more court win than a dead man has

The outgoing US president continues to claim wide-scale voter fraud without proof and does so in a smug, of-course-everyone-knows, fashion. Apparently everyone does not know this, in particular, many Republican election officials, Secretaries of State, a Homeland Security election cybersecurity official and judges (even Trump appointed judges) who disagree.

Yet, what the outgoing president fails to broadcast to his followers, is out of about three dozen court cases claiming voter fraud, he has won the grand total of one small case, that threw out a few hundred votes. If you are counting, that is one more court win than a dead man has.

From an article called “In Harsh Rebuke, Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Election Challenge in Pennsylvania” by Alan Feuer of The New York Times, the following paragraphs sum up what the vast other court cases are telling the outgoing president.

“In a blistering decision, a Philadelphia appeals court ruled on Friday that the Trump campaign could not stop — or attempt to reverse — the certification of the voting results in Pennsylvania, reprimanding the president’s team by noting that ‘calling an election unfair does not make it so.‘

The 21-page ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was a complete repudiation of Mr. Trump’s legal effort to halt Pennsylvania’s certification process and was written by a judge that he himself appointed to the bench. ‘Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,’ Judge Stephanos Bibas wrote on behalf of the appeals court in a unanimous decision. ‘Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.’

‘Voters, not lawyers, choose the president,” the court declared at one point. “Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.’The court accused the Trump campaign of engaging in “repetitive litigation” and pointed out that the public interest strongly favored ‘counting every lawful voter’s vote, and not disenfranchising millions of Pennsylvania voters who voted by mail.’”

I am truly sorry to have to continue to write these posts on the petulant, dishonest and dishonorable acts of someone in a leadership position. The fact this person is saying these things is disappointing, but not surprising, since, that is his nature and he has planned to do this for six months, if he lost.

What is most disappointing is only a small few Republican so-called leaders have called out the outgoing president’s fraud. What is also disappointing, because of the staging over the last six months and predicted posturing on election night, for which announcers criticized him, his followers believe these fraudulent statements by this petulant person.

So, please forgive my posts sharing these court cases and ongoing concerns about this person. I will not be content until the president-elect is sworn in. Unfortunately, the person has forever tainted far too many voters who actually believe what this most corrupt and deceitful president in my lifetime says and tweets.

It is time to pull up your big boy pants

If a certain outgoing president’s mother was still alive, she might say to her little boy, “it is time for you to pull up your big boy pants.” She would say, “here, wipe the tears away and stop holding your breath. You lost, my boy. So, please shake your opponent’s hand and congratulate him.”

After the pouting continued, she might add there was no cheating, you lost fair and square. She would add, what you are doing now is a reflection on you, not others. He would run into his room yelling “I hate you.”

She would let him cool down, then walk in later. She would ask him to talk calmly. He didn’t lose he would say. They cheated me. “No, son they did not. You just keep saying that hoping someone will listen,” she would reply.

Then, she would leave the room to let him think about it some more. Around dinner time, he would emerge. “Are you ready to tell your opponent congratulations?” she would ask. “No, and I am not going to because they cheated.”

“What proof do you have they cheated?” she would ask. “Rudy said he had mountains of it.” She asked for him to tell her.. After listening to his story through his pouting lips, she replied, “You know Rudy likes to exaggerate, but the counters and judges confirmed what you just told me is not true.”

“It is!” he shouted and ran back in his room.

That night, she went in to tuck him in. He said “aren’t you going to read me story?”

“No.” she said firmly. “Right now, I don’t want to be around you if you act like such a poor loser.”

“I am not a loser!” he shouted.

“Son, you are acting just like one,” she would reply. “Now, good night.”

I am thankful

I am thankful my immediate family is alive and well since the pandemic started. Two of our family felt the need to be tested for COVID-19, but came up negative.

I am thankful my wife’s sister and husband moved closer, to be near their children’s families, but also us. My wife is over the moon happy.

I am thankful my daughter’s boyfriend is a good man. They seem mutually smitten. She deserves no less.

I am thankful my sons have good mates in these interesting times. They are being safe and supportive to each other.

These are the most unusual times I have witnessed in my sixty two years. I feel for those who have lost loved ones to this spiteful virus. I hope we can come together in the months ahead and do what we can to help each other.

Happy Thanksgiving all. Be safe. Be well.

A few work vignettes

Since we need distractions to take our minds off the negative news of the day, please consider the following work vignettes. They are all true, but the names have been changed to mask identities.

– The new state president of a company was a smoker, but the headquarters had just instituted a no smoking policy indoors. The HR director swears the new president called him one day, as all he heard was a lighter clicking and a sighed exhale of cigarette smoke.

– Before thinking too ill of this state president, he did have two funny introductions. He was smoking outside, when a female worker said she had not seen him before. He eventually mentioned he was the new president, to which the woman replied “And, I am the Queen of England.”

– While being taken around to the local offices, someone mentioned he resembled an office manager named Bob. Making remarks at Bob’s office to the staff, the president said “People say I resemble Bob, but that cannot be, as Bob is uglier than a pair of old bowling shoes.”

– A colleague and I once were in a meeting with the senior leadership of a company going through some comparative data on compensation. The CEO (who I had worked with for years) could not believe they paid relatively poorly on long term incentive pay and would not let it go. To get the meeting to move on, I took a chance and said, “Tom, no matter how you measure it, you are sucking hind teat on long term incentives.” When he said “I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me,” the CFO said “Well, he’s got a lot of data to back it up.”

– The sidebar to the story is my colleague was telling the story to others in front of me. He said, “Here I am trying to be all serious and Keith is over there talking about farm animals.”

– My friend Marie ran a very successful Health and Wellness program for our employees. During October (which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month), she was promoting our mobile mammogram program (which had helped eleven women learn they had an issue in and could get care). I was telling this story in front of her to a senior executive and referenced “Breast Awareness Month.” Not batting an eye, she corrected me, that would be “Breast CANCER Awareness Month.” Oops. We still laugh about that today.

– One of the better consultants (and mentors) I ever worked with had the misfortune of meeting with a heavy set client, who proceeded to have chest pains during the meeting. The EMTs were called in to help. It turned out to be a needed wake-up call for this man, so he improved his health afterwards. Yet, as teammates tend to do, we never let our colleague forget this episode. He was a perfectionist, so he was consistently making us redo work if he did not like a proposed solution’s results. So, we started feigning chest pains (in the manner of Redd Foxx’s character on Sanford & Son) when he was too demanding on the team.

– Yet, this consultant taught me many things, one of which is to celebrate good meetings or trips. So, as we returned home from meetings up I-85, we would stop at a Dairy Queen and get a Heath bar Blizzard (Exit #70) to celebrate. Unfortunately, the DQ was torn down a few years back. Yet, I love Heath bars to this day and will crumble them on ice cream.

– Finally, speaking of traveling the highways to see clients, one of my favorite guests to chauffeur around, who I will call Patrick, named my two cars. For an old maroon Buick Park Avenue (remember I am not young), he called it the Red Dragon. When I replaced it with a gray-silver Infiniti, he called that one the Gray Ghost. So, he would involve them in conversations as to picking him up at the airport or his hotel, such as “I will be on the look out for the Gray Ghost.”

So, the key takeaways are have fun when you can and don’t forget to celebrate little victories. Heath bars and ice cream are optional. Oh, and it is OK to name your cars. By the way, we name our other cars, which is how he took part in naming my work cars.

When is Dandy Don going to sing his song?

When Monday Night Football began airing in the 1970s, one of the broadcasters was a colorful former quarterback named Don Meredith. Near the end of the game, when the outcome was no longer in doubt, “Dandy Don,” as he was called, would sing an old country song.

“Turn out the lights, the party’s over. They say all good things must end. Turn out the lights, the party’s over. I am so glad we a parted as friends.”

The latest Harvard CAPS-Harris survey finds that nearly two out of three voters believe the election was fair and that Biden won. Fifty-eight percent of all voters said it’s time for Trump to concede. The result would be higher, but the outgoing president’s hold over his party is still strong and two-thirds of Republicans believe Trump won. That truly is mind-boggling.

Yet, Michigan was certified for Joe Biden/ Kamala Harris yesterday and Pennsylvania is certifying county by county as we speak, in spite of the outgoing president’s gamesmanship. And, more importantly, the GSA claimed Biden/ Harris as the winner and is moving forward with the transition.

While the outgoing president relented to the GSA decision after getting pressure from the business community and Republican Senators, he still did not concede. Will those two-thirds of Republicans ever come around or are they destined to continue to believe the orchestrated fraud claims, in spite of two dozen lost court cases (vs only one small victory) and Republican election officials pushing back saying there was no wide-spread fraud?

Maybe some will, begrudgingly, but others will carry this torch and be consistently reminded by the untruthful and corrupt bent former president over the next four years. That is the sad situation for out country caused by Trump and abetted by his sycophants too scared to call the vindictive outgoing president on the carpet for his unproven claims.

So, Mr. Trump, Dandy Don is starting to sing. “Turn out the lights, the party’s over…”

Shouldn’t the president fire the guy in the mirror?

The outgoing president just fired Sidney Powell, an attorney, for doing what he wanted her to do and is doing himself – making ridiculous claims of wide-spread voter fraud without any proof. Truth be told, her claims were no more outlandish than Trump’s or his other rock thrower, Rudy Giuliani, both whom have been criticized for their fraudulent claims.

So, my question is shouldn’t the president fire himself for being as fraudulent and frivolous as his counsel? Matthew Brann, a Pennsylvania judge raked the Trump campaign over the coals for frivolous voter fraud claims as he threw out the case. The judge noted that the case was like “Frankenstein’s Monster,” all stitched together.

It is interesting the term Frankenstein was used, as the ghost writer of the outgoing president’s biggest seller called “The Art of the Deal,” was called Dr. Frankenstein by his publisher, as his book created a monster with all of its over-the-top bragging on its subject. It should be noted, more Republican voices have joined the fray criticizing the outgoing president..

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Trump’s legal team was a “national embarrassment.” He noted that Fox’s Tucker Carlson was correct asking for the campaign to show us some proof. So, it did not take a rocket scientist to know Trump had to find a fall guy (or woman) in this case.

Current Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey applauded the credentials of the Judge Brann who made the ruling.and congratulated president-elect is Joe Biden. Toomey asked Trump to concede, so we can move on.

Republican Michigan Congressman Fred Upton said the following per Raw Story, “‘It’s all said and done’: Michigan GOP congressman calls on Trump to concede the election.” He joins Senators Toomey, Mitt Romney, Lamar Alexander, Ben Sasse and Susan Collins in the recognition of Joe Biden as president-elect.

Current Governor Larry Hogan beseeched Republican leaders to lean in on the president with his fraudulent claims saying curtly to the outgoing president, “Stop golfing and concede.”

Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton said the outgoing president is like a “rioter in the street” who is “throwing rocks through windows.” Former Trump official HR McMaster agreed with the above sentiments, but was not as colorful with his metaphors.

Truth be told, these fraud claims have been orchestrated for over six months by the president. He has long set the stage for these actions, hiring 1,000 attorneys, defaming in the mail-in voter process, hobbling the post office, and telling his voters to vote in person as they are counted first.

So, if the president is going to fire Powell, he must also fire Giuliani who has been cartoonish in his fabrications of fraud. (Sidebar – what happened to Rudy?). Yet, they are taking their lead from the most corrupt and deceitful president in my lifetime, including Richard Nixon who resigned before he was removed from office. If the outgoing president fired Powell, he should also fire the guy in the mirror when he shaves.

A most undemocratic action

In an Associated Press article called “Mitt Romney on Trump: ‘It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President’” please note the following paragraphs:

“Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, one of Trump’s most vocal GOP critics, tweeted Thursday, ‘It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.’

Romney accused Trump on resorting to ‘overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election.’

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., went after Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who held a press conference Thursday presenting a list of far-fetched, thoroughly debunked claims on the 2020 election.

In a statement, Sasse said:’Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute. We are a nation of laws, not tweets.'”

Other than Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and a few GOP Congress people and governors, most Republican incumbents have been silent or offer some cautious support of the outgoing president. Former Republican Senators Jeff Flake and Bob Corker have been outspoken in their criticism holding no punches. Yet, per Mark Shields on PBS Newshour, it is interesting that the news show “Meet the Press” could not get any sitting Republican Senators to come on the show last Sunday.

This is telling, but is also sad. We have a petulant outgoing president who continues to claim wide-spread voter fraud without evidence, legal success, or sense of right and wrong. We need to thank Senators and others who speak out. We also need to remind the silent ones to what they swore an oath to – the US constitution.

The following is a letter I posted on the websites of three GOP Senators who are stating their concerns.

“Senator, too few Senators from my former party are publicly stating what they know privately. Thank you for your courage to speak up and be critical of the claims of wide-spread fraud by the outgoing president. Unfortunately, he has sown seeds of doubt and his followers do not know he has lost about two dozen court cases winning only a small one that tossed a few votes, that Republican officials have stated on the record there is no wide-spread fraud, that he fired Chris Krebs because he said the election was secure and what he is doing was predicted and unsurprising as he has orchestrated this over the last six months. He is endangering a peaceful transition of power and per his niece, she said her uncle will burn it all down to avoid losing. I appreciate your efforts to not let him burn down our democracy.”

Please feel free to use and adapt this note. The full article can be linked to below.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mitt-romney-on-trump-it-is-difficult-to-imagine-a-worse-more-undemocratic-action-by-a-sitting-american-president/ar-BB1bbGPm?ocid=msedgdhp

A note to a friend who is a Trump fan

I know you are an ardent Trump fan and I applaud your passion. Yet, numerous Republican election officials, even Trump appointees, have said on the record there was no widespread voter fraud. And. Trump has lost about two dozen court cases, winning only one small case that tossed a few votes. Biden won because he got more votes in states where it mattered most. Trump has staged this voter fraud issue for over six months, so what he is doing is predictable, alarming and harmful to our country. I expect you will disagree with me, and that is fine, but I wanted you to know I have major concerns. That is what this old fart thinks. That and $2 will get you a cup of coffee.