To Comfort The Afflicted
And Afflict The Comfortable

To Comfort The Afflicted And Afflict The Comfortable

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Observercast

An Open Letter To Sen. Mitt Romney

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Sen. Romney:

You cannot say on Tuesday that you support giving Trump a vote on his Supreme Court nominee and then get upset on Wednesday when Trump refuses to say whether he will accept a peaceful transition of power. You either fully oppose a fascist or you end up aiding and abetting a fascist.

If you really are as truly upset as you say you are concerning what Trump said on Wednesday about not committing to accept a peaceful transition of power, then you will rescind what you said on Tuesday and now oppose a senate vote on Trump’s SCOTUS pick in the strongest and most unequivocal terms.

On Wednesday, Trump openly associated the need to quickly seat a new justice with his desire to have nine justices on the Supreme Court to rule on matters and disputes related to the election. By supporting a vote on Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, you are supporting Trump’s efforts to use his appointees in the courts to rule in his favor concerning the validity of mail-in ballots, which will be Trump’s last desperate attempt to cling to power. This is directly related to his refusal to say he will accept the results of the election and commit to a peaceful transition of power.

When you courageously voted your conscience in support of convicting President Trump for abuse of power during his senate trial, it rightly led to the possibility that your legacy would be that you were the one Senate Republican with the integrity to stand up to the gross abuses of power of our current president.

If, however, you continue to aid Trump in pursuing a vote on his Supreme Court nominee before the election, your legacy will simply be one of helping a despot in his last desperate attempt to hold onto and continue to abuse his power.

Your vote for conviction will be followed by an asterisk and an explanation that you played a central and key role in assisting Trump in his attempt to abuse his power to force through a Supreme Court Justice appointment in hopes of creating a majority on the court that will rule in his favor on the baseless claims that the election is rigged against him.

We are dealing with the death of our democracy here, so stop thinking you can support or oppose Trump when it suits you. It is not about you. It is about us!

Mark Y. A. Davies
Mark Y. A. Davies
Mark Y.A. Davies is the Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics and director of the World House Institute for Social and Ecological Responsibility at Oklahoma City University. Click for more of his essays. OneWorldHouse.net