Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Trump persists in ignoring democracy's realities, even as Barr abandons him

Attorney General William Barr

Attorney General William Barr, perhaps the most influential of President Trump's loyal supporters, said there's no evidence of substantial voter fraud.

Jeff Roberson/Getty Images

All six states where President Trump contested his defeat have finalized results showing he lost, fair and square. Forty lawsuits have gone nowhere for lack of evidence anyone cheated. The administration's top election security official was willing to sacrifice his job for concluding this "election was the most secure in American history."

And now the Cabinet member most influentially loyal to the president the past two years, William Barr, has reported that his Justice Department has not uncovered any evidence of the widespread voter fraud Trump alleges — and has seen nothing that might alter the outcome of an election clearly won by Joe Biden.

Under any normal American democratic circumstances, such a clear conclusion from the attorney general delivered four weeks after Election Day would be the belt encircling the suspenders holding up the elastic waistband pants. Instead, the ousted president declared Wednesday: "We will win!"


Trump's dogged pursuit of his fantastical theories could be ignored altogether from now on. Or else they might get noted only as sideshow evidence of a sore loser who's so intent on attacking every available presidential norm that he's considering announcing a 2024 comeback bid on Biden's inauguration day.

But Trump will remain the most powerful person on the planet for seven more weeks, with the overwhelming majority of fellow Republicans holding power continuing to acquiesce to his out-of-bounds behavior. First among them is Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has refused to acknowledge Biden's victory while referring obliquely to legislative negotiations next year with a new administration.

"More and more on my side are at least approaching a public acknowledgement of the reality of the situation," Trey Grayson, a former GOP secretary of state of Kentucky and a co-chairman of the advisory board for the Secure Elections Project, said Wednesday. "But some real damage has been done."

Grayson pointed in part to the threats of violence against officials who have overseen the vote in states Trump lost, which neither the president nor most top Republicans have been willing to condemn. One of those officials, Gabriel Sterling, a Republican and Georgia's voting system implementation manager, excoriated the president and other members of his party on Tuesday for their silence.

"It has to stop," said Sterling, who has worked on two recounts affirming Biden's win in the state. "This is elections. This is the backbone of democracy, and all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. It's too much."

The president did not reply. Instead, after using Twitter to predict his victory one more time Wednesday, Trump tweeted out messages advancing a discredited set of reports about voting irregularities and mistreated GOP poll watchers in Michigan.

The issues they have pointed to are typical in every election: problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small number of ballots miscast or lost.

By midafternoon he was also remaining silent about what Barr told the Associated Press on Tuesday: that while federal prosecutors and FBI agents have been working to follow up on a range of specific complaints and information they've received about voting malfeasance, "to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election."

That comment, which did draw a rebuke from Trump's attorneys, is especially notable given how Barr has been among the president's most ardent and important allies — including by repeatedly making unsubstantiated warnings about the vulnerability of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic.

While Trump has permitted the transition to a Biden administration to begin, he has deviated from all other modern presidents by refusing to concede.

His next formal opportunity to do so comes in a dozen days, when members of the Electoral College across the country convene to cast their ballots. The people have given Biden a solid claim on 306 of those votes, to 232 for Trump.

It's up to Congress to tabulate the results and announce the winner. Such a joint session, set for Jan. 6, is normally a news-free ceremonial affair. But federal law provides the president's GOP allies at the Capitol an opening to seek to disrupt if not derail Biden's final step toward the presidency — by challenging the validity of some electoral votes and making their House and Senate colleagues vote on the matter.

Read More

Declaration of Independence
When, in 2026, the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we should take pride in our collective journey.
Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

What Exactly Does "All Men Are Created Equal" Mean in the Declaration of Independence?

I used to think the answer was obvious; it was self-evident. But it's not, at least not in today's political context. MAGA Republicans and Democrats have a very different take on the meaning of this phrase in the Declaration.

I said in my book, We Still Hold These Truths: An America Manifesto, that it is in the interpretation of our founding documents that both the liberal and conservative ideologies that have run throughout our history can be found. This is a perfect example.

Keep ReadingShow less
Washington, DC, skyline
A country in crisis needs to call a truce with its government
Michael Lee/Getty Images

Defending Democracy in the Heart of Democracy - Washington, D.C.

The Crisis in Our Capital

Washington, D.C. is at the center of American democracy. Yet today, its residents — taxpayers, veterans, workers, families, people like you an I, American citizens — are being stripped of their right to self-government. The recent surge of out-of-state National Guard troops into the District under federal order has highlighted a deep flaw in our system: D.C. does not have the same authority to govern itself that the 50 states enjoy.Keith

We are told this militarization is about “public safety,” but violent crime in D.C. is near a 30-year low . What we are witnessing is not a crime-fighting measure, but an unprecedented encroachment on local authority. The consent of the people — the foundation of democracy — is being sidelined to pursue a political or even personal agenda.

The Ethical and Constitutional Problem

Legally, a president can request National Guard support through interstate compacts. But legality is not the same as legitimacy. True democracy requires consent, not unilateral fiat. Under the Home Rule Act, federal control over D.C. is only supposed to last 30 days in emergencies. Yet the use of state-based National Guard units circumvents this safeguard and seems to demonstrate a hidden agenda. This is a loophole — one that undermines D.C.’s right to self-governance and sets a dangerous precedent for federal overreach.

An Urgent Legislative Answer

It is not enough to critique the abuse of power — we must fix it. That is why I have drafted the D.C. Defense of Self-Government Act, which closes this loophole and restores constitutional balance. The draft bill is now available for public review on my congressional campaign website:

Read the D.C. Defense of Self-Government Act here

This legislation would require explicit, expedited approval from Congress before federal or state National Guard troops can be deployed into the District. It ensures no president — Republican. Democrat or Independent — can bypass the will of the people of Washington, D.C.

This moment also reminds us of a deeper injustice that has lingered for generations: the people of Washington, D.C., remain without full representation in Congress. Over 700,000 Americans—more than the populations of several states—are denied a voting voice in the very body that holds sway over their lives. This lack of representation makes it easier for their self-government to be undermined, as we see today. That must change. We will need to revisit serious legislation to finally fix this injustice and secure for D.C. residents the same democratic rights every other American enjoys.

The Bigger Picture

This fight is not about partisan politics. It is about whether America will live up to its founding ideals of self-rule and accountability. Every voter, regardless of party, should ask: if the capital of our democracy can be militarized without the consent of the people, what stops it from happening in other cities across America?

A Call to Action

When I ran for president, my wife told me I was going to make history. I told her making history didn’t matter to me — what mattered to me then and what matters to me now is making a difference. I'm not in office yet so I have no legal authority to act. But, I am still a citizen of the United States, a veteran of the United States Air Force, someone who has taken the oath of office, many times since 1973. That oath has no expiration date. Today, that difference is about ensuring the residents of D.C. — and every American city — are protected from unchecked federal overreach.

I urge every reader to share this bill with your representatives. Demand that Congress act now. We can’t wait until the mid-terms. Demand that they defend democracy where it matters most — in the heart of our capital — because FBI and DEA agents patrolling the streets of our nation's capital does not demonstrate democracy. Quite the contrary, it clearly demonstrates autocracy.

Davenport is a candidate for U.S. Congress, NC-06.
The Return of Loyalty Tests and the Decline of American Democracy

Faded American flag

The Return of Loyalty Tests and the Decline of American Democracy

Remember when loyalty oaths were used to ferret out and punish people suspected of being Communists? They were a potent and terrifying tool, designed to produce conformity and compliance at the height of the late 1940s, early 1950s Red Scare.

Today, they are back, but in more subtle, if no less coercive, forms. The Trump Administration is using them in hiring and retaining federal employees, in dispensing federal grants, and in passing out perks.

Keep ReadingShow less