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When it was all said and done, approximately seven million more Americans chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump to lead the country in its next chapter.
Shawn Nowlin
shawn.nowlin@ourvalley.org
In all the decades that Roanoke County resident John Robinson, 79, has followed politics, he admits he never thought he would experience a political spectrum quite like today. History has been made in recent weeks. Not all of it, however, will be viewed favorably by historians.
In November, Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes went to Joe Biden, making him the first Democrat to win the Peach State since 1992. Two months later, the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both mentored by longtime Georgia representative John Lewis, won their Senate races against Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, on January 5.
Voting rights activist and former Georgia House of Representative Stacey Abrams was instrumental in helping the Democrats secure their victories. Fair Fight, her national voting rights organization, raised over $100 million for both candidates. Georgia’s results give Democrats a 50-50 tie in the Senate and control of the chamber because of Vice-President elect Kamala Harris.
As votes were being counted, Abrams sent out a tweet calling on Americans to “celebrate the extraordinary organizers, volunteers, canvassers and tireless groups that never stopped going. Across the state, we roared.”
It didn’t take long before Republicans started pointing a frustrated finger towards Donald Trump for the GOP losses.
Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia top election official, said, “it falls squarely on the shoulders of President Trump and his actions since November 3. When you tell people that your vote doesn’t count and has been stolen and people start to believe that — and then you go to the two senators and tell them to ask the secretary of state to resign and trigger a civil war inside the Republican Party when you need Republicans to unite — all of that stems from his decision-making since Nov. 3.”
After weeks of calling the 2020 Presidential Election “fake news” and trying to overturn its outcome, thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington D.C. on January 6 and demanded that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject Biden’s victory, echoing the exact sentiments of the President.
More than 100 Republican lawmakers, including several from Virginia, still refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden fairly won the November 3 election.
“When people say there is no evidence to prove voter fraud, just know that they are wrong. This is a criminal enterprise. There has never been anything like this. This is a matter of national security. Today is not the end, it’s just the beginning,” Trump said to his supporters before they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol.
Once inside the People’s House, the violent crowd sent petrified lawmakers hiding and ransacked the building. Reports that Antifa were responsible for the damage caused were immediately debunked.
In addition to leading to the lockdown and evacuation of the Capitol, the assault also led to five deaths and numerous injuries. The FBI says it’s involved in a wide-ranging investigation that “will leave not one stone unturned.”
Loeffler, after the mob of Trump supporters stormed the US capital, dropped her challenge to the presidential election results during the congressional certification.
Several Trump cabinet members and administration officials resigned following his rhetoric that led to the Capitol Hill riots: US Education Secretary Betsy Devos, US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolfe, just to name a few.
President Trump has credited Twitter with launching his political trajectory. On January 9, the social media platform, along with many others, permanently suspended his account, saying, “After a close review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
As of press time Wednesday morning, the House of Representatives were debating impeaching President Trump for a second time.
