WHAT’S IN A NUMBER ?
- Regarding the curse of 232 by Raymond Alcide Joseph
Not many people thought about it and two friends with whom I broached the subject were dumbfounded because they never saw what I told them or, if they saw it, it never registered as something unusual: The number 232 in the present context of America, which was to be MAGA (Make America Great Again), under the leadership of a self-styled “GENUIS” of a President. But America is a MESS now, under siege by homegrown terrorists who have caused the militarization of all 50 States to defend the ritual of renewing Democratic governance that hopefully will lead to MASA (Make America Sane Again).
So, what has 232 to do with it? Everything! This goes back to Monday, December 19, 2016, at the meeting of the Electoral College, when the 38 votes of the Texas delegation provided the Republican candidate the number of votes to cross the threshold of 270 needed from the total of 538 to be declared the winner of the presidential sweepstakes. An elated Donald Trump was aglow because the 270 kept increasing until, in the end it became 306 for him and 232 for the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.
While Mr. Trump kept repeating “it’s a landslide,” there was an outcry, especially from Democratic circles, that the Electoral College should be abolished because it does not represent the will of the majority. As it was, their candidate had won 65.8 million votes, or 48.2% compared to 62.9 million, or 46.1% for the declared winner. But No one could change the established rules. Winning the popular vote, especially in the major metropolitan areas, is not sufficient. Winning enough smaller battleground States, especially in more rural regions, is key.
Anyway, everything went smoothly, just as stipulated in the Constitution. The legislators of the two Congressional branches met jointly, on Friday, January 6, 2017, with then Vice-President Joseph “Joe” Biden officiating, for the ritual of certifying the report of the Electoral College. Vice-President Biden even had to rule against the objection of certain Democratic legislators who were still objecting the Trump mp win. “It’s over,” Mr. Biden stated.
Whereupon Congress went through the routine of certifying the work of the Electoral College and officially declared Citizen Donald J. Trump President of the United States and Michael “Mike” Richard Pence Vice-president. Then it was all pomp and circumstance on January 20, 2017, for the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. He even got a bonus in that the electors gave him a Republican Senate to do his bidding, though the House remained under Democratic control.
Four years later, following the November 3, 2020 elections, the number 232 reappeared. On Mon day, December 14, 2020, the Electoral College certified the votes cast in the 50 States of the Union. This time, the 55 votes of California, the State from which Senator Kamala Harris comes, cemented the victory of Joe Biden, as the count crossed the 270- threshold required for victory. As in 2016, the numbers kept increasing, not for Donald Trump this time. In the final analysis it was 306 for Joe Biden and 232 for Donald Trump, who lost exactly by the same numbers of 2016, however inversely.
Considering that Biden also had won the popular vote by more than seven (7) million, or 81.2 million votes, against 74.1 million for Trump, the 46th President of the United States could have been crowing about the double landslide, in Donald Trump’s parlance. No! He was very reserved as he called for healing and let others, especially the press, dwell on his making history, drawing a record of more than 80 million voters.
Whereas in 2017, the joint Congressional meeting to certify the winner went smoothly, we all know what happened on Monday, January 6, just two weeks ago, when terrorists, egged on by President Trump and his acolytes, assaulted the Capitol, causing mayhem, including five dead, among them a Capitol police officer. The situation would have been more tragic, if the legislators and Vice President Pence had not been spirited away by Capitol security and the Secret Service to safety. Anyway, the slogan “Hang Pence” was being shouted and a hanging stand had already been erected. Weapons and bombs discovered by the Police and the FBI, as well as “democratic handcuffs” made of plastic tell of the intention of the terrorists to cause harm and proceed with arrest.
Finally, order was restored, following the arrival of National Guard units, on orders from Vice-President Pence, not President Trump. Thus, late that evening, the legislators began to trek in on the Senate floor to continue the session, still being officiated by a Vice-President Pence, shaken but defiant, saying “violence will not win.” By 3:41 a.m., Thursday, January 7, he declared officially that Joe Biden is President and Kamala Harris Vice-President. And the cursed number 232 will reappear again. Following such blatant attempt at staging a coup d’état, eliciting the moniker of “Banana Republic” for his country by former President George W. Bush, swift action has been taken to deal with Donald J. Trump. Thus, did the House, under the leadership of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, in a special session, on Wednesday, January 13, impeach President Trump. It’s a presidential record, twice impeached. Interestingly, the vote for impeachment was 232, including ten (10) Republicans who joined 222 Democrats, against 197 diehard Republicans.
Certainly, the Senate won’t de liberate on the issue before Wednesday, inauguration day. By then, the Senate, just as the House, will be under Democratic control. But 17 Republican senators must break rank and join the Democratic majority in the Senate to condemn Citizen Trump, who will then lose much, especially his right to seek any public office. Still, we are not out of the woods because on Wednesday, January 20, the 21,000 U.S. troops currently securing Washington, D.C., will be boosted by another 4,000, and thousands more are being dispatched to all 50 States. For, the terroristic partisans of Donald Trump announced that they plan to disrupt the inauguration of the Biden-Harris team who, they claim, got that far from a “rigged” and “stolen” election.
While Mike Pence announced that he will be at the inauguration, on Wednesday, Donald Trump has asked for a special send-off from the White House, on red carpet, with fanfare, that morning, as he heads to his swanky residence at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is not welcomed by many of his neighbors. At the end of the day, the Pentagon rejected his request. Stay Tuned!
Cet article est publié par l’hebdomadaire Haïti-Observateur (New York) VOL. LI No. 3, édition du 20 janvier 2021, et se trouve en P. 7, 12, 13 à : http://haiti-observateur.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/h-o-20-janvier-2021.pdf
