The courage of Brad Raffensperger

I am generally very hard on Republicans, far too many of whom have jettisoned morality and decency and allegiance to the rule of law and constitutional government as they have embraced Donald Trump and/or put their party above the good of the nation.  While the sedition caucus - see yesterday's last post - continues it betrayal of the nation, some Republicans seemingly are realizing their errors and belatedly are refusing to bow to Trump's threats and the demands of the deplorables (e.g., white supremacists, would be fascists/neo-Nazis, and Christofascists) who now comprise the base of the Republican Party.  Perhaps most visible of this group - many of which still have many sins to atone for - is Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger who perhaps more than anyone has borne the brunt of Trump's threats and glaring demands that he be treated as an emperor.  Hopefully, tomorrow more in the GOP will find a spine and vote to certify Joe Biden's election and say "no more" to Trump and his morally hideous and toxic base.  A piece at CNN looks at Raffensberger's refusal to bow to Trump.  Here are excerpts:

The hour-long recording of [Trump] the President of the United States, defeated and desperate, begging Georgia's secretary of state over the phone to "find" him enough votes to overturn the election results there was appalling.

But surprising?  After four years of Donald Trump's blatant assault on democratic institutions rules, norms and laws, anyone who is shocked by this latest outrage simply hasn't been paying attention. It was only a year ago that Trump was impeached for a similar attempt to strong-arm the president of Ukraine. 

No, what was remarkable about the whole, surreal and sordid conversation was not Trump's recycling of debunked conspiracy theories nor his insistent claim, against all evidence, that he had won the state by "hundreds of thousands of votes."  It wasn't hearing [Trump] the President sounding like a mafia don. 

It was the calm and steadfast way Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his attorney, Ryan Germany, firmly rebuffed him. 

After patiently listening to and rebutting each of Trump's bizarre diatribes about supposedly rigged machines, dead voters, shredded ballots and other social media-driven drivel, Raffensperger cut to the chase: "Well, Mr. President," he said, in even tones, "the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong." 

It's a safe bet that Raffensperger, a Republican who supported Trump, would have much preferred that Joe Biden had lost Georgia. Raffensperger might then have avoided Trump's wrath and the political and personal threats he has endured. 

Given the enormous sway Trump holds with Republican voters, Raffensperger knows that by placing his oath above [Trump's] the President's pleasure, he may well have doomed his own political future. And Trump was none too subtle in reminding him of that during their call on Saturday. . . . I will tell you that right now. The only people that like you are people that will never vote for you. You know that, Brad, right?" 

[T]he political threat is real, and Raffensperger knows that too, which is what has made his admirable stand so noteworthy. 

In his book "Profiles in Courage," former President John F. Kennedy described rare acts of political courage, in which politicians placed duty and conscience ahead of public opinion or their own political well-being. 

The essence of Trump is his belief that such courage is for suckers; that, regardless of duty, you do what is in your own best interest first, last and always -- even when it means undermining the most fundamental tenets of our democracy. It's been dismaying to see how many fearful Republican politicians have heeled to his craven view. 

Many of them will be on display in Congress on Wednesday, giving lift to Trump's well-litigated and thoroughly debunked charges of election fraud by challenging the vote of the Electoral College that will make Biden the 46th president.

By standing up for the integrity of the election despite Trump's shameless pressure, Raffensperger has proven himself, in America's moment of trial, to be an admirable exception. He has shown courage. 

Voters may not reward him for it, but history will.