It’s been nearly a month since the 2020 presidential race was called for Joe Biden, which is to say it’s been nearly a month since his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, has refused to concede. For weeks, the outgoing commander-in-chief has brayed unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, though he and his Keystone Kops legal team have yet to produce a shred of evidence to back their claims. And just this afternoon Trump’s own attorney general, Bill Barr, announced that after several investigations, the Justice Department has found no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
There’s been fear that the Trump gang’s baseless accusations could erode democracy or inspire violence. And after a young voting machine worker in Georgia was sent death threats, a high-ranking election official has said enough is enough.
As per The New York Times, Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, held a press conference after a contractor for Dominion, the voting machine company that has been the subject of debunked conspiracy theories floated by Trump and his legal team, was sent a noose, plus a note saying he should be hanged for treason. The contractor was transporting a report for batches in Gwinnett County. The news made Sterling livid.
“It. Has. All. Gone. Too. Far,” says @GabrielSterling with Georgia Sec of State after a Dominion tech’s life was threatened with a noose. “Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language….all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.” pic.twitter.com/OnHaxgpJx6
— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) December 1, 2020
“It’s all. Gone. Too. Far,” Sterling told reporters. “Mr. President, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop. We need you to step up, and if you’re going to take a position of leadership, show some.”
Sterling’s words come the day after one of Trump’s lawyers, Joe DiGenova, called for violence against former White House cybersecurity official Chris Krebs, who was fired by Trump after calling the election the safest in history. DiGenova said he should be “drawn and quartered” and taken out at dawn and shot.”
As threats of violence by Trump allies and supporters have rose, Republican lawmakers have largely been quiet as Trump has made called the election “rigged” and challenged courts in multiple states to overturn Biden ballots. All but one of those has resulted in defeat.
Sterling called for an end to all this. He’s Republican, like Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, who has been singled out for attack by Trump and his allies. But that didn’t stop him from saying he should stop the madness and let America move forward without him.
“Mr. President. It looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia,” Sterling said. “We’re investigating. There’s always a possibility. I get it. And you have the rights to go through the course. What you don’t have the ability to do — and you need to step up and say this — is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. ”
Someone is going to get hurt,” he added. “Someone is going to get shot. Someone’s going to get killed. And it’s not right. It’s not right.”
Sterling continued:
“Mr. President, as the secretary said yesterday, people aren’t giving you the best advice what’s actually going on on the ground. It’s time to look forward. If you want to run for re-election in four years, fine, do it. But everything we’re seeing right now, there’s not a path. Be the bigger man here. And stop. Step in. Tell your supporters: don’t be violent. Don’t intimidate. All that’s wrong. It’s un-American.”
Of course, we all know how pleas of decency go over with Trump and his minions.
(Via The New York Times)