Rep. Katie Porter (D-Ca) points out a blatant example of corruption in Washington:

When I came to Congress, I knew I had a responsibility to pull back the curtain for the American people and expose corruption in real time. So, I’m filling you in on Senator McConnell’s attempts over the last 8 days to tank a *bipartisan* COVID relief bill.

You may have heard that Democrats and Republicans have agreed upon spending $900 billion to fund another round of small business loans, support hospitals and essential workers, and help the 10 million people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. 

The same McConnell who said that President Txxxx is “100% within his rights” to pursue baseless lawsuits alleging election fraud is now refusing to pass urgently-needed relief unless it strips those same rights from the most vulnerable among us. This must be exposed. 

From Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post:

President Txxxx’s legal team, cheered on by grossly irresponsible Republican officeholders and activists, vowed to fight on to the bitter end on Tuesday. That had extra significance because Tuesday was “safe harbor day,” after which any slate of electors certified by states must be considered valid by Congress and the courts, according to federal law. But Txxxx’s lawyers, who have lost more than 50 cases for absolute want of evidence, insist they will press on beyond the safe harbor date. Should we expect them to cease and desist even after the electors meet on Dec. 14 to cast their votes? Please.

Txxxx continues to put pressure on state officials, most recently the Republican House leader in Pennsylvania, to overturn the will of voters. . ..This is a coup attempt, plain and simple — however far-fetched. A lonely Republican, Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), who already announced he will not run for reelection, denounced such efforts. “It’s completely unacceptable and it’s not going to work and the president should give up trying to get legislatures to overturn the results of the elections in their respective states,” Toomey said.

Most Republicans remain mute, but at least one was champing at the bit to join in Txxxx’s preposterous abuse of the legal system. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) “volunteered” to argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) to throw out mail-in ballots. Kimberly Wehle at the Bulwark, . . . excoriated the Texan: “You got that right. Cruz — the strict constructionist — is eager to stand before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that the Pennsylvania legislature had no power to allow universal mail-in voting, but does have the power to throw out every single vote cast in Pennsylvania and impose its own political will on the citizens of Pennsylvania, who chose Joe Biden for president by a nearly 82,000-vote margin over Dxxxx Txxxx.” Thank goodness, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal on Tuesday with no dissents.

Txxxx has no incentive to stop his efforts to overturn a valid election. To the contrary, with blowhards like Cruz available to provide a patina of respectability, and nearly all elected Republicans refusing to recognize the election results, he has every reason to hit up his fans for more donations and to continue insisting he is the rightful winner. When three Republican members of the inauguration committee refuse to recognize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, and when the Arizona Republican Party retweets a right-wing extremist’s declaration that he is “willing to give up my life for this fight,“ we see that far from being isolated, Txxxx is right at home in today’s deranged Republican Party.

The willingness to overturn the most sacred element in our democracy, a free and fair election, to engender favor with a losing president defines the pathetic state of the GOP. The actions from Republicans indicate that they stand for nothing but keeping power at all costs. They promote cynicism, inspire armed protesters (as we saw in Michigan), lend legitimacy to those threatening state officials (in Georgia, for instance) and set a new standard for every losing president . . .

My ongoing plea to level the Republican Party so that an authentic, pro-democracy party can emerge in its place has unfortunately been entirely vindicated. It is not only Txxxx who must leave office but all those aiding and abetting his unlawful attempts to retain power.