Go away, Never Trumper

Actor Jonathan Harris created the prototype of the Never Trumper with his character Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost in Space in the 1960s, a campy little sci-fi TV series. Dr. Smith was a self-serving conniver and doomsayer who was hellbent on demoralizing the rest of the crew. He had no purpose other than to annoy others.

Naturally he was the star of the show. Villains are always way more interesting than heroes.

Which brings me to Erick-Woods Erickson (as he calls himself now) who was a conservative back when conservatives got nothing done.

He began his latest piece, "Just over a decade ago I was tweeting bad things about David Souter. I had readers from RedState send so much rock salt to Olympia Snowe for siding with the Democrats in a committee vote on Obamacare that it made the Wall Street Journal. I sent balls to Mitch McConnell. I was a tea partier when it wasn’t cool (not that it ever got to be cool). I stood in front of the state capitol in South Carolina with Sarah Palin to introduce Nikki Haley for the Palin endorsement."

Well, that's amusing, but what did it accomplish?

Tweeting bad things about Justice Souter, sending rock salt to Senator Snowe, and mocking Mitch McConnell were self-promotional pranks that did nothing but make people feel good about losing. Sarah Palin was not elected vice president. The Tea Party was all noise and no action as Obamacare remains the law of the land.

Five years ago, Erickson bailed on conservatism by joining the Never Trump crowd, which made sense because their cries of doom were the kind of nonsense he likes.

President Trump delivered with three justices who are way better than Souter, with the opting out of the Paris climate crapola, with shutting down the border, with an embassy in Jerusalem instead of Tel Aviv, with fewer regulations, with Obamacare gutted, with tax cuts, and with the first addition of factory jobs in 30 years as we gained 600,000 until covid 19 hit.

President Trump did what Erickson said he wanted done.

And now that the president and his 80 million supporters could use a little moral support, Erickson is running around shouting, "We're doomed! We're doomed!"

He wrote, "I have a lot of people yelling at me for refusing to accept the election was stolen. Frankly, I don’t even think the Trump team really believes it. His lawyers sure as hell don’t or they wouldn’t have screwed up so may cases with late filings, missing paperwork, missing fees, and erroneous affidavits. I know of a call wherein they told some folks I am very familiar with that they really were just going to scream and holler and refuse to concede. It is all payback for 2016. They’ve lost about 50 lawsuits and in their latest, in state court in Georgia, they forgot to pay the court filing fees and fill out the right paperwork. That got their lawsuit thrown out.

"That’s not even considering the batshit crazy lawsuit from Sidney Powell and her insane claims. I’m sorry some people take that stuff seriously. I’m sorry some people really believe Ware County, Georgia had machines seized. I’m sorry there are up and coming grifters on the right who don’t really believe it but get clicks, followers, and money by convincing you that they do. I’m sorry some people will take at face value the claims of some without thinking through or seeking rebuttal."

Who would bother to yell at him?

When he calls someone a grifter, he is projecting.

The man is a phony. He pretended to be a conservative and when conservatives began winning under President Trump, Erickson lost it. We're doomed? No, the counterfeit conservatives are doomed. There is no place left for them. We won't take them back, and the Democrats don't need them.

As for Sidney Powell's lawsuits, of course Obama judges would toss out lawsuits sight unseen. That is a given. And the judiciary so far is pretty good at 86-ing election fraud lawsuits.

But Trump supporters figured a way around the lower courts. Texas sued 4 states over their rigged elections. The Supreme Court has ordered the 4 states to respond, and 8 states have joined Texas in this legal action. I am told this is the likeliest path to success because Texas will get to enter evidence before the justices, rather than quibble over lower court rulings.

Hang in there.

This is the messiest presidential election since 1876, when Democrat Sam Tilden received a majority of the popular vote, and a majority of the Electoral College votes. But a dispute over 20 electors led to Congress passing a law that appointed a commission to settle the dispute. On January 29, 1877, the commission decided Rutherford B. Hayes won all the disputed electors, which made him president.

In exchange, Republicans withdrew all federal troops from the South after more than a decade of occupation. Nearly a century of segregation took hold. That is the ugliness of compromise. Had Tilden won, the troops would have been pulled anyway.

Back in those days, the inauguration was on March 4, which gave them more time to barter. I doubt the election will go to a commission this time. The court will have state legislatures appoint electors, as Colorado did in 1876 (which was the last time this was done by any state).

1876 taught us two things, the first being that the deadline is Inauguration Day, not December 14.

The second lesson was no matter how painful the compromise is, we must preserve the nation. These men knew what happened when you cannot meet an agreement. Hayes was a general in the Civil War. He saw the price young men pay when old men refuse to budge.

There is also a lesson to be learned from Dr. Zachary Smith: don't listen to doomsayers. They do not want you to succeed. Watch them like a hawk if you must, but never listen to them. They talk nonsense.

He sent rock salt to Olympia Snowe? Oh good grief. What is his solution to this one? Will he call Biden and ask him if his refrigerator is running?