+
upworthy
Democracy

What's 'the downside' in humoring Trump's election fraud lies? Are you serious?

What's 'the downside' in humoring Trump's election fraud lies? Are you serious?

The United States is in an unprecedented, if not unpredictable, predicament right now. President Trump is refusing to concede the election, claiming it was stolen from him through fraud and cheating and illegal votes being counted. Despite legal experts, election officials (including Republicans in the states in question), and international election observers invited by Trump himself all saying that they've seen no evidence to back up these accusations, Trump isn't backing down.

This behavior from Trump is not surprising. It's been clear from the get-go that the guy is a malignant narcissist, and malignant narcissists will do anything to avoid admitting defeat. He is literally incapable of doing so, it's likely that he will go to his grave claiming that this election was illegitimate, even if someone with sway in his circle manages the herculean feat of getting him to publicly accept the loss like a big boy.

Trump is a problem, but he's not the biggest problem. This nightmare of a presidency has been marked time and again by half the country cringing at the president shattering democratic norms, then quickly shift to a chagrined brushoff of "Ugh, Trump being Trump again." After four years, we've come to expect, if not accept, that Trump is gonna Trump. Playing the victim when he doesn't get his way is Trump's game. We know this. He's not going to change.


What's more disconcerting is how many people are continuing to enable his behavior, despite the fact that it's tearing the nation apart. Not just disconcerting, but gross, frankly. As CNN's Jake Tapper said this morning, "They're coddling him like a 5-year-old whose pet turtle died." We're talking about a grown-ass man in the most powerful position in the world, not a petulant toddler past his nap time. It's just embarrassing.

And yet only a handful of Republicans have come out to say so. According to the Washington Post, a senior Republican official recently remarked, "What is the downside of humoring him for this little bit of time? No one seriously thinks the results will change. He went golfing this weekend. It's not like he's plotting how to prevent Joe Biden from taking power on Jan. 20. He's tweeting about filing some lawsuits; those lawsuits will fail; then he'll tweet some more about how the election was stolen; then he'll leave."

I'm sorry, what?

What is the downside? How about the tens of millions of Trump followers who, for whatever reason, actually do believe his lies and who seriously do think the results will change? How about the fact that their adulation of him is the only thing he lives for, and that he will keep feeding them the narrative that the election was stolen even after these lawsuits fizzle out? How about the fact that a not-insignificant number of his most ardent supporters are armed to the hilt, just waiting for the call to save America from the evil Democratic overlords? How about the militias and extremist groups that have been foaming at the mouth for an excuse to start a civil war?

Even if the chances of violence are small, they're real. These people don't brush off Trump's bombast; they cherish it. Trump's base is full-on beholden to Trumpism to a cult-like degree, and if this senior Republican official can't see the danger in fanning that flame of fanaticism, then they're a fool.

But we don't even have to go that far. The peaceful transfer of power is a democratic norm that keeps America safe and stable. Even during closer elections than this one—including the 2016 election, which Trump won with narrower electoral vote margins in key swing states and without the popular vote—the loser has conceded when the states' official projections made it clear that they'd been defeated.

This reaction of Trump's is humiliating on every level. We may have unfortunately had to live with Trump daily debasing the office of the presidency with his words and behavior because there was nothing we could do about it, but what he's doing now goes beyond that. This is an undermining of democracy itself.

Trump's base can't or won't see it, but I would think every single one of our elected officials would. This isn't rocket science. This is basic. The Republicans could have nipped this in the bud immediately, but instead most are just going along with it, either oblivious to or unconcerned about how fractious and dangerous it is.

But perhaps the biggest downside of "humoring" the Trump narrative is that HELLO WE ALL NEED TO LIVE IN THE SAME OBJECTIVE REALITY HERE. Claiming that Democrats literally stole an election through fraud isn't a schoolyard insult, but a genuinely serious criminal allegation. Pretending it's just run-of-the-mill political theater is insane.

Because people believe it, 100%. The right-wing slip into unreality keeps getting steeper, with hoards of Trumpists fleeing Fox NewsFOX NEWS, for the love—for not being Trumpist enough. This is the same frighteningly large percentage of Republicans who believe that QAnon conspiracy theories are real. Some of these people are now in Congress. The whacko fringe is taking over and bringing their untethered-from-reality misinformation machines with them and SERIOUSLY REPUBLICANS WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU? Conservative views are one thing; enabling your constituency to reject reality and substitute their own is entirely something else.

This goes so far beyond normal partisanship, it's not even funny. In fact, nothing about this is funny. Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, representative of the U.S. on the world stage, said today, "There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration." Then he chuckled.

Was that a joke? Is the attempt to overthrow a democratic election a joke? Is letting the whiny child with the nuclear codes think he's going to get his way, simply because he wants it, a joke? Or was Pompeo being serious? It's impossible to tell anymore. Even listening to the entire press conference, it was impossible to tell. The president's appointees are afraid to tell him the truth, either out of fear of his wrath—which is real—or fear of losing the brainwashed masses they need in order to keep political power.

Either that, or he has sucked them into his narcissistic delusions, which is actually a lot scarier.

Again, we are in uncharted territory here, but we shouldn't be. No one should be humoring this man's baseless claims to protect his fragile ego. No one should be going along with his undignified response to losing an election when the good of the country is at stake. No one should be allowing the feelings of a man with dangerous pathologies to control the way the United States of America transitions to new leadership.

Trump's power is not absolute. His sway is not unshakable. Elected leaders—Republicans in particular—can put an end to this embarrassing, dangerous charade right now by raising a united front and saying "enough" to Donald, loud and clear. He'll throw a fit and probably fire a bunch of people, but he's going to do that anyway once it sinks in that he can't have what he wants.

The stability and safety of the country, from forces both inside and outside our borders, hinge on how everyone in government who isn't Trump acts right now. So please, take a step back, look at the big picture, and do the right thing.

In the long run, there isn't a downside to that.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Representative Image from Canva

Let's not curse any more children with bad names, shall we?

Some parents have no trouble giving their children perfectly unique, very meaningful names that won’t go on to ruin their adulthood. But others…well…they get an A for effort, but might want to consider hiring a baby name professional.

Things of course get even more complicated when one parent becomes attached to a name that they’re partner finds completely off-putting. It almost always leads to a squabble, because the more one parent is against the name, the more the other parent will go to bat for it.

This seemed to be the case for one soon-to-be mom on the Reddit AITA forum recently. Apparently, she was second-guessing her vehement reaction to her husband’s, ahem, avant garde baby name for their daughter, which she called “the worst name ever.”

But honestly, when you hear this name, I think you’ll agree she was totally in the right.

Keep ReadingShow less
Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

Keep ReadingShow less

A beautiful cruise ship crossing the seas.

Going on a cruise can be an incredible getaway from the stresses of life on the mainland. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t an element of danger when living on a ship 200-plus feet high, traveling up to 35 miles per hour and subject to the whims of the sea.

An average of about 19 people go overboard every year, and only around 28% survive. Cruise ship lawyer Spencer Aronfeld explained the phenomenon in a viral TikTok video, in which he also revealed the secret code the crew uses when tragedy happens.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Kudos to the heroes who had 90 seconds to save lives in the Key Bridge collapse

The loss of 6 lives is tragic, but the dispatch recording shows it could have been so much worse.

Representative image by Gustavo Fring/Pexels

The workers who responded to the Dali's mayday call saved lives with their quick response.

As more details of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore emerge, it's becoming more apparent how much worse this catastrophe could have been.

Just minutes before 1:30am on March 26, shortly after leaving port in Baltimore Harbor, a cargo ship named Dali lost power and control of its steering, sending it careening into a structural pillar on Key Bridge. The crew of the Dali issued a mayday call at 1:26am to alert authorities of the power failure, giving responders crucial moments to prepare for a potential collision. Just 90 seconds later, the ship hit a pylon, triggering a total collapse of the 1.6-mile bridge into the Patapsco River.

Dispatch audio of those moments shows the calm professionalism and quick actions that limited the loss of life in an unexpected situation where every second counted.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less