Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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The Democrats are meddling in the muddle of the 2020 election.
And Americans and all people of goodwill and hope for this country should be alarmed once again.
That’s right. With the Nevada caucuses now a part of presidential history, it is fair to comment about just how much the Democrats are doing their best to muddle this election toward the end that President Donald Trump will be re-elected — with all that means to the health and welfare of our struggling democracy.
It is no secret and no surprise that Democratic disarray when it comes to choosing a vision and direction for America is usually the single biggest detriment to electoral success when the White House is on the line. This year is no exception — especially if the Democratic debate last week is an indication of the direction of presidential fortunes come November.
Simply put, the debate — from the moderators who didn’t moderate, the candidates who were less than candid, where the substance that voters needed was superficial at best, and the normally respectful disagreements were anything but normal or respectful — was a disaster.
The only people in America who could have possibly liked that debate were the Republicans and the president. They are gleeful and even more certain that re-election is in their immediate future.
In short, the Democrats continue to act as Democrats — that is the world in which they do their best to destroy each other instead of focusing on the real object of their disaffection, which is a White House determined to further erode our democracy and the Constitution upon which it was formed — and it remains to be seen if they can actually blow a sure thing: That is, the defeat of Donald Trump in 2020. Their chances are getting slimmer with each debate.
So, as the caravan moves toward South Carolina and into the unknown, the best I can say is we shouldn’t be surprised at anything the Democrats will do to each other. They are often the Republicans’ best allies when it comes to managing their own presidential defeats. If you are unsure about what I am saying, I can refer you to 2016, 2000, 1984, 1972, etc., etc. …
But here’s the point.
Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, are entitled to be as ignorant, interfering, ridiculous, silly and stupid as they want when it comes to the way they run their elections, treat their fellow candidates or tell their stories. That is our right, plain and simple.
Do you know who doesn’t have a right to take part in America’s election process?
You guessed it — Russia. Or any other country that isn’t called the United States of America.
That is why what is happening right now is so dangerous to our country and our future. And why it is so puzzling that the one person who is supposed to stand up to Vladimir Putin and his Russian bots and troll farms who are interfering in the 2020 election as we speak — the president of the United States — is doing absolutely nothing!
Well, that isn’t entirely true. Trump is doing something.
He is doing everything possible to keep the American voters from knowing what is going on and taking retribution on all those hard-working, honest and dedicated civil servants who are raising the alarm about this great threat to the sanctity of our elections.
And just as it is the Democrat’s right to eat their young in an effort to lose almost every presidential election — no matter how stupid and harmful their actions are to children and other living things — it is absolutely wrong for the commander in chief to protect the Russians when they interfere on his behalf and punish American patriots who send up the warning flags.
By the way, if you don’t really know what I am talking about, I refer you to any news outlet that doesn’t rhyme with Pox Views so you can get on the same page as the rest of America.
Getting excited to the point of distraction over a candidate and his or her vision during the election process is part of the American political and civic fabric. As messy and ugly and scary as it seems to be all too often, it is ours to do with and abuse as we wish.
And our democracy has managed for over 230 years to figure out how to succeed despite our failures.
What we haven’t managed to deal with, though, is Russian interference in the business of our free and fair elections, which is the foundation stone of this republic.
We have always stood out to the rest of the world as a beacon for democracy, the hallmark of which is our free and fair elections. Right now, the world is watching as the president of the United States stands back against overt Russian interference.
A bad app or lack of paper ballots or even Republican suppression of minority voters are issues we can overcome in this country. What may be impossible to fix, though, is a president fixated so much on his own re-election that he allows Russia to walk right in, sit right down and dictate to America who will be our next president.
If nothing else, consider this a wake-up call. And wake up, America.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun
