Legitimacy and Skepticism
Today marks the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. Two and half months ago, most of the country believed that Donald Trump was a significant long shot to occupy the Oval Office. Of course, most of the country was wrong. And of course, most of the country didn’t vote for the next President. As always, drama abounds in the political arena.
The inauguration is a significant symbol in the peaceful transition of power that exemplifies all that we hold dear in our American system of government. However, many Democrats have decided to boycott the inauguration. Most notably, civil rights hero John Lewis decided to skip this inauguration due to his view that Donald Trump is an illegitimate president. Due to the quite apparent attempts by Russia to influence the election combined with some sources claiming connections between Russia and Trump’s campaign, John Lewis and others believe that the soon-to-be President has a tenuous claim to the title. As usual, this suggestion riled up the President-elect and created a Twitterstorm from all sides.
The analysis of this has been thorough, but something has bothered me about it. There are seemingly two factions here. One which claims that those boycotting the inauguration have failed to respect the electoral process and lost sight of the peaceful transition of power. The second group believing that Trump has no legitimate claim to the Presidency because he lost the popular vote and used Russian influence to help sway votes in his direction.
I have problems with the dichotomy here. There are other options available. I have immense respect for the electoral process. I value the vote with the highest regard. The right to vote and elect our leaders is one of the greatest principles of our government. This is why I fight for automatic voter registration, greater early voting, the elimination of voter ID laws, and independent redistricting commissions. All of these things uphold the electoral process by including everyone in the process. It’s the same reason I oppose the Electoral College. Yet I understand that the Electoral College is part of our Constitution. I believe the President should be chosen by the people, not by the (mostly) arbitrary lines that divide us into 50 states. I respect the electoral process and believe that the voters in California and New York are just as valuable as the voters in Montana and Wyoming.
I can simultaneously view the electoral process as legitimate and express my skepticism over the current state of our electoral process.
I respect that Donald Trump won by the rules formulated by the Constitution. I think the rules are antiquated and represent a view that limited the voice of the people. However, Donald Trump won by the rules we have in place.
But here’s the bigger issue: if Russia did attempt to influence the election, then we should do everything in our power to find out more information. I have no idea if there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, but the American people deserve to know. There are a lot of unknowns in regards to the Russian influence, and we should encourage our leaders to eliminate the unknowns. If there was some collusion, then it could make the election illegitimate. We don’t know enough to make that decision, and it may be some time before we do.
Some would like to paint my harboring concerns over Russian influence in our election as un-American and an affront to the very Constitution. But the real affront to our electoral process is the apparent desire by some to treat Putin and Russia as compatriots and sweep all the facts and allegations under the rug.
I can simultaneously respect the electoral process and view Donald Trump’s victory as legitimate while expressing skepticism about the extent of Russian influence into the same electoral process.
These are not mutually exclusive positions. In fact, I believe that to ignore the Russian influence shows a blatant lack of respect for the electoral process. If an outside party, especially a foreign state, impacted our election, then we shouldn’t stand idly by. Many of those ignoring Russian influence lead the rallying cry for the false narrative of rampant voter fraud. (Seriously, 31 instances of voter fraud out of the one billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014.) We’re attacking a problem that doesn’t exist and ignoring one that, if true, would undermine the outcome of our election.
As of now, I view Trump as the legitimate President of the United States. It is important for our country to have a smooth transition of power. It is just as important to ensure that a foreign power didn’t improperly influence our election.
Legitimacy and skepticism. I rightfully look at Trump and the next administration with both.
Originally published on the Politics for Tomorrow blog at peachpod.org.
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