Weekly Letter to President Obama

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Weekly Letter to the President

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INAUGURATION, January 20, 2009

Drunk in its stale air
For two hundred years.
Fettered in mind and body,
The soul, the safe escape

To let me breathe the cries
Of my heart singing
Tears of mel-an-choly.

The tears flow free today
Washing the stains of blood
And sweat in brotherhood.

Raise the curtain then an'
Let the world look in
On this promised land --
We breathe free today.... almost.

--- Arshad M. Khan

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
--- Native American proverb

December 4, 2020

Mr. President: Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am. Rene Descartes' philosophical
dictum comes to mind at Trump's extraordinary claims. Prominent among them
originally is the 'birther' issue, the charge that Barack Obama was not born in Hawaii
or any other US state and therefore not a legitimate US president. This time the issue
concerns Trump personally. He claims he was not defeated in the November
election.

In a 45-minute speech posted on YouTube, he repeats the assertion adding that he
has proof. The mercurial president now promises to abide by the electoral college
vote on December 14. At the same time he is busy exerting pressure to persuade the
electors to change their votes. In Georgia, for example, Trump has not accepted
defeat. Joe Biden is the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since
1992 when Bill Clinton ran from the nearby state of Arkansas.

Holding his first rally there after the election, Trump alleged voter fraud making
numerous unsubstantiated claims and attacking Governor Brian Kemp. Earlier Trump
had criticized the governor on Twitter for refusing to act. The widespread voter fraud
claim rests on his repeated allegations of a postal vote dump of hundreds of
thousands of votes about which he says he has proof but has yet to provide it. He
made similar assertions in other battleground states like Pennsylavania. But Biden's
margin of victory, 306 electoral votes versus Trump's 232 can withstand losing
Georgia, and now the issue there is about senate control.

Georgia is an unusual state in requiring a run-off election, if in a winning plurality the
candidate does not achieve over 50 percent of the vote. It harks back to the days
when the white community feared a single black candidate against several whites
splitting the white vote might win a plurality. Hence, the run-off for Georgia's senate
seats, one of which was up for election and the other because the incumbent decided
to resign.

Another last-ditch effort by the president and his allies is to mount an assault in
Congress. The Electoral College may cast the vote on December 14 but it is up to
Congress to certify it and federal law allows members of the House or Senate to
challenge the results from the floor.

The Democratic led House is likely to reject the challenge. But what about the
Senate? Well, Senator Rand Paul has already repeated some of Trump's allegations
of fraud in key states like Michigan. Should the challenge pick up a senator to join
the effort, it would force votes in the House and Senate -- a toxic vote putting
Republicans up to scrutiny in 2022 and a prospect unlikely to be looked upon by
favor for the majority leader Mitch McConnell.

Thus the House is going to certify Biden's victory and Trump's so-called 'win' will end
up in the rubbish dump of history. Trump himself will be out there twittering away --
he wants to run again in 2024 when he feels he will have no difficulty in beating then
Vice President Kamala Harris.