When West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey chose to support not one, but two lawsuits that sought to overturn the presidential election results, he put his political future ahead of American democracy.
We’ve already discussed Morrisey’s support for a Pennsylvania lawsuit, but now he has joined in on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit to invalidate the Electoral College votes of battleground states President Trump lost.
Not all states — just the battleground states. And not all battleground states — just the ones Trump lost.
Morrisey’s statement regarding the suit echoes the same vague yet loaded rhetoric making the same unsubstantiated claims of mass voter fraud that have been consistently disproven as well as rebuffed by the courts: “… one report after another outlining the many, many problems with the 2020 elections”; “… the many irregular, highly problematic and unconstitutional actions that have occurred in the states during the 2020 elections”; “America and West Virginia deserve to get to the bottom of these really troubling issues.”
No, what’s really troubling is that so many Republican elected officials are putting their political careers ahead of upholding American democracy.
There is no chance the presidential election results will be overturned. As Trump’s own administration said, the 2020 General Election was the most secure in history. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a statement in November declaring, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised.” Even U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, who has been Trump’s yes-man, stated that “we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” And Forbes reports that the Trump camp has lost or withdrawn more than 50 post-election lawsuits.
Suits like the ones Morrisey has supported will not prevent Biden from becoming president on Jan. 20. So why do it? The Republicans behind the frivolous and failed court battles are betting that Trump remains a key player in the GOP — a kingmaker, so to speak. If current officials can curry Trump’s favor now by supporting his narcissistic delusions, perhaps he will support them later when they are up for reelection. Conversely, if Trump continues to wield significant power in the party, he can handpick opponents to beat detractors in the primaries.
As the attorney general in a heavily Trump-supporting state, Morrisey probably thinks he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing Trump’s games. But that is shortsighted and selfish.
Morrisey’s actions are deliberately picking away at American democracy. He is undermining faith in our election systems; he is actively trying to disqualify votes for the opposition; and he is assisting in a political coup that intends to disenfranchise millions of voters. If Morrisey is truly dedicated to preserving constitutional freedoms the way he claims — like when proclaiming the governor cannot administer penalties for violating the mask mandate — then he needs to stop aiding Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results.
