Restoring the Peaceful Transfer of Power - Rob Horowitz

Restoring the Peaceful Transfer of Power - Rob Horowitz

The events of January 6th, 2021, and all that led up to it, have put us on notice that a signature defining feature of our democracy, the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, can no longer be taken for granted. That is why the routine nature of yesterday’s certification of the results of the presidential election during a Joint Session of Congress presided over by Vice President Harris, whom Donald Trump defeated, was reassuring and noteworthy.

 

It is cold comfort, however, that in all likelihood, the only reason we were spared another falsehood-riddled attempt to overturn the will of the voters is that Donald Trump was the victor.  Throughout the 2024 campaign, as he did in 2020, Mr. Trump repeatedly made it clear that the only outcome he would deem “legitimate” was a victory.  In his professed worldview--one now adopted by too many of his supporters and, most importantly, by the vice president-elect who will preside over the Congressional certification of the 2028 election--either his side is declared the winner or the other side cheated.

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While going forward, Donald Trump will not be on the ballot, his clinging to or seizing power by any means necessary approach to politics and government, unfortunately, has potential staying power.  As a result, it is essential to resist the president-elect’s shameless and nakedly dishonest attempt to whitewash and even celebrate his despicable, lawless, and unprecedented drive to reject the votes of 81 million Americans simply because they didn’t choose him.  

 

Fueling a propaganda campaign upon which he refuses to let go, despite the fact it is unmoored from truth and reality, is at the heart of his pledge to pardon the January 6 ‘hostages’ and his threats to investigate and prosecute Liz Cheney, the other members of the January 6th select committee, and special counsel Jack Smith. In Mr. Trump’s funhouse mirror world, he is the victim—not the cops who were injured that day, the lawmakers and his vice-president whose lives were put in danger, or our democracy.

 

What often gets lost due to the understandable focus on the violence on January 6th is Mr. Trump’s unconstitutional and undemocratic demand that Vice-President Pence go beyond the ceremonial role spelled out in the Constitution and reject the electoral votes already certified by the states. He did so even though he had already lost the 60 or so court cases he brought challenging the results.  “President Trump demanded that I use my authority as vice president presiding over the count of the Electoral College to essentially overturn the election by returning or literally rejecting votes,” recounted Mr. Pence. “I had no authority to do that.” 

 

John Adams famously remarked that “facts are stubborn things.” As we get set for another Trump term, however, the combination of a president who employs a “firehose of falsehood” approach to communications that would make the old Soviet leaders that pioneered it proud and the media outlets and political allies who are willing--even eager--to amplify every falsehood means facts aren’t as stubborn as they used to be.

 

As a result, dogged persistence is required to continue to set the record straight and vigorously stand up for the centrality of the orderly and peaceful transfer of power. On January 6, 2021, we learned the hard way that safeguarding our democracy during the Trump era requires constant vigilance.