When Congressmen take the oath of office, they swear that they will "support and defend" the Constitution. A central part of the Constitution concerns our electoral process. It is a core element of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power.
If there were indeed evidence of fraud, and the courts for some reason refused to acknowledge that evidence, and so they objected to the votes of electors on solid ground, they would be doing their job because a fraudulent election is not in furtherance of our democracy.
However, that is not the case here. In no court case, in no appeal to their supporters, has anyone connected with Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the election brought forth one shred of evidence of widespread fraud. Wild conspiracy theories, yes, but no evidence.
Despite the lack of evidence, three contested states obliged the President and conducted recounts or audits. The results were unchanged; no fraud, no missing ballots, were found. And in two of those states, the Secretary of State that was responsible for overseeing this examination was a Republican. Every court that heard Trump's complaint of fraud smacked the complaint down, often quite forcefully, and many of the judges who so spoke were Trump appointees.
Yet in the face of this universal proof and judgment by the responsible officials that Trump's allegations were baseless, more that 138/121 Republican Representatives, roughly 60% of the Republican caucus, and 8 Senators voted to object, to not accept, the votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona, respectively.
They must be held accountable. They must be censured, at a minimum. Really they should be impeached, but that won't happen if for no other reason than the number of people to be charged is huge and the result would be extremely disruptive to the work of Congress.
And what about those Congressmen who actively engaged in urging the crowd last Wednesday to commit violence against the government? As reported in The New York Times, Rep. Mel Brooks told the crowd before going to the capitol that they should "kick ass" and urged them to "fight for America. " Representatives Taylor Greene and Boebert, speaking before the surging crowd, both referred to the day as "Republicans' 1776 moment." All three were inciting the crowd to commit violence against the government, in violation of their oath of office.
They and any other Republican congressmen who engaged in such statements should be impeached. What they did amounted to treason.
Now it is also reported that some Republican Congressmen may have led insurgent groups on tours of the capitol the day before the riot. This allegation is now under investigation. If found to be true, they should also be impeached for aiding and abetting the insurrection. At a minimum they must be censured.
It is a sad day for our democracy when elected members of Congress actively engage in the destruction of our democracy. It is all too scarily close to the action of the Nazis as they rose to power legitimately through the democratic electoral process and simultaneously engaged in violence and sabotage to destabilize the government.
