I try to avoid instantly reacting to anything. I try to be measured in my responses to everything that goes on around me, for a measured response brings us closer to truth, and truth is sorely lacking in the America we live in today. It's been a day though. In that day I listened to the phone call. Then I listened a second time. Then I read the transcripts. Let's get a couple of things out of the way right away. There are people in the White House saying "They cut out things from the phone call, it was about a settlement." I don't understand what we would be settling, but if something was cut from this phone call you're accusing the Secretary of the State of Georgia of lying, not reporters, because they released everything they received. It's obvious from the beginning of this phone call that it is the beginning of the call. There are also people saying that the "leak" is a violation of privacy rights, but you've waived any right to privacy when you hop on Twitter and lie to people. If you hop on Twitter and lie, the other parties involved surely have the right to prove you are lying.
It's a case of "show me the receipts," and in this case, Secretary Raffensperger has the receipts. Also, let's not call this a leak. This is a release. No one accidentally put this out into the wild to get a favor from a reporter. This was intentionally sent into the world. We can only guess at the motives as to why, and I'll make some guesses later on. If you'd like to hear the call, it's at The Washington Post, where you can also read the transcript if that is more pleasant for you. I completely understand if you don't want to hear his voice anymore. This call is a coordinated effort to commit treason. This call is a conspiracy to commit treason. A group of people; White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Kurt Hilbert and Cleta Mitchell, joined by President Donald Trump, made a phone call to Georgia in an effort to compel election fraud. That's what the phone call is, a coordinated effort to get another person to join their conspiracy, to help them overturn a lawful election in a coup. As attorneys, Hilbert and Mitchell should be immediately called before their respective Bar Associations and disbarred from practicing law. By joining their client in the commission of a crime they have forfeit the right to attorney/client privilege, and besmirched the reputation of their profession. For this phone call each of these people should spend time in jail. Charge them with 18 U.S.C. 241 (conspiracy to deprive a person of their civil rights). Charge them under Georgia law (16-4-7, criminal solicitation). Just charge them. It was only five weeks ago that I wrote it would be a terrible political decision for President-Elect Joe Biden to allow a new Justice Department to pursue Donald Trump. You can read that in this post at Quora (where it's in French, because sometimes I answer questions about American politics for French and French-Canadian audiences). I've changed my mind. This has gone too far. These men must be punished. When January 21st rolls around, Secretary Raffensperger will be the only one of them still holding elected office, and I understand why he released the tape. The lies on Twitter could have gotten him embroiled in the conspiracy, so this was purely defensive. I want to believe that he's doing it because it best for the country, and maybe that time has finally come, but has been a vocal supporter of this President and his hatred-based politics for too long to suddenly get to distance himself and pretend he's always been a good dude. Frankly, none of these people should be allowed to forget where they've stood the last 54 months or so, and each should be made to suffer the consequences of placing party over country. That's what this is for these Republicans. They've worked hard to appease Trump because it was good for their party, and they don't actually care about the country. They have become the evil that George Washington feared; unprincipled men who have subverted the power of the people, and now wish to destroy the engines by which they reached their positions of power. The men on this phone call, the men who blindly supported Trump for 54 months, and the men who are even now preparing to create a governmental circus on January 6th are all part of the problem. They work even now, months after Donald Trump has lost the election, to steal the election for him. I don't think that people like Jim Banks actually believe Donald won. I don't think Jim Banks is quite dumb enough that he can't see big numbers on paper and understand reality. The issue is that the reality is inconvenient for the Republicans who seek nothing more than to usurp the power of the people and acquire that power for themselves. The desire to serve the country has departed these people; the President, the Vice President, dozens of unelected, criminal, handlers, a dozen Senators, and more than 100 United States Congresspeople, including my own. Now the only allegiance is power, and money, and much like any petty monarch they move money around to keep and acquire power.
This isn't democracy, this is a poorly run mob family, and Jim Banks is just like any other mobster taking bribes and doling out protection in exchange for his own slice of the pie. We need to do better.
