Elected government officials are busy upholding the right to protest while condemning and repudiating the violence displayed at the country’s capitol. Not addressed is the Big Lie that the election was massively fraudulent, the root of the Capitol Hill violence on January 6th. The Big Lie was pre-announced by President Trump, repeated by him on the night of the Nov. 3rd election, and enabled by many of these same government officials who now remain silent on the matter. This Big Lie is what drove both the protest and the violence and, without addressing it, we are likely destined to argue about it for the duration of Biden’s presidency. Our destiny may even include yet another insurrection, an unwelcome holdover from Donald Trump’s presidency. Unless elected officials do something, the Big Lie, the thing that Trump has unleashed on us all, will likely stand as an ongoing threat to our nation.
It’s one thing for this to be debated by citizens and the media - it is everyone’s right to express their opinion. But, because we narrowly avoided a coup, it’s quite another thing for elected government officials, sworn to uphold the Constitution, to perpetuate Trump’s fabricated claims. At this point, elected officials who stay silent or play cute with the Big Lie likely enable insurrection by others.
More than 60 judges, including many appointed by Republicans, rejected various versions of the Big Lie. Trump's own lawyers were careful to make no claims of fraud in court because they had no evidence and did not want to risk being disbarred. There is no evidence -- the claim of massive election fraud in the 2020 Presidential election was and is a Big Lie.
Any elected official who continues to further Trump's Big Lie is deliberately and knowingly eroding the trust Americans place in the most basic of democratic expressions - our collective vote. Continuing this falsehood after blood has been shed and our Capitol desecrated, is a reprehensible betrayal of the oath taken by every elected official to protect and defend the Constitution. Trump and the nearly 150 members of Congress who persist in this fiction must be held accountable for the damage done not only to the Capitol building but to the perceived legitimacy of our government.
Intruders in the Capitol building can be expelled. Members of Congress can hold their peers who supported and aided the intruders to account using a variety of negative consequences. It’s harder to expel a lie that is firmly planted in our collective consciousness. Because Trump’s Big Lie so jeopardized our democracy, it is a duty for our elected political leaders -- leaders of our democracy -- to go on record as leaders standing for the truth and upholding our Constitution.
As President John F. Kennedy reminded us, real patriots ask what they can do for their country. Right now our country needs all elected officials from the federal to the state and local level to unequivocally condemn and repudiate the Big Lie that capped Trump's Presidency. If they cannot stand up to this lie by denouncing it, they are leaving the door open to another insurrection. If condemnation and repudiation does not happen, elected officials are ignoring their patriotic duty and perpetuating a misguided insurrection.
It’s time for elected officials at all levels of the government, local, state and federal, to show their constituents that they are patriots who serve their country when it needs them the most.
Be a patriot. Please sign here, if you agree that the Big Lie needs to end, now!
I hereby recognize that President Trump exercised all of his legal opportunities to challenge the outcome of the 2020 election and his claims of fraud were rejected by judges in more than 60 state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court. I pledge to condemn, repudiate, and challenge any perpetuation of the Big Lie that inspired thousands of my fellow citizens to storm the Capitol and endanger Congress. I will also send this pledge to all of my elected leaders and demand that they, too, sign this pledge.
