Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/Senate/Counting of Electoral Ballots/Pennsylvania Objection Debate/Blumenthal Speech
Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. President, today was a stomach-turning, gut-wrenching moment in our history. Truly, it was an assault on the heart of our democracy.
I want to join in thanking the first responders and the police.
I also want to thank others who have been heroes of our democracy—unsung in many instances. First, they are all of the election officials, all of the poll workers, all of the members of boards of election who actually counted the votes—who went to the polls and made sure that votes could be cast—and who, ultimately, stood firm for the integrity of that voting system.
I want to thank the judges. There are now about 90 of them who, except for one or two who ruled the other way on a technicality, have stood firm for the integrity of that voting system. In those 60 to 70 cases, except for that one who ruled on a technicality, they went with the integrity of our voting system and the rule of law.
Today was, indeed, disgusting and sickening. It was shocking and despicable. It was heartbreaking, but it was not surprising. In fact, today’s assault on our democracy—the mob violence, the riots, the thugs and goons who were inspired and incited by the President of the United States—all were of a piece, in these past 4 years, of a President who has no respect for the truth or the rule of law.
Donald Trump’s Presidency is coming to a close in the very same way it began—with an attack on our democracy. In 2016, the Trump campaign welcomed hostile foreign interference with our election. The President refused to acknowledge that he would accept the results of the election if he lost. Then, again and again, he demonstrated his contempt for the rule of law and for laws themselves. He obstructed justice, and he would have been charged with it had he not been the President of the United States. He invited a foreign government to interfere in our elections and find dirt on his political opponent.
Most disturbingly, these actions by a President who demonstrated that contempt for the rule of law were met with silence from many political leaders, our colleagues here in the Senate among them—silence in the face of that contempt for the rule of law and disrespect for the law enforcers.
So we could have seen today coming. In fact, we did. I warned about it, and others did because the fantasies and falsehoods that drove those rioters—not protesters but the mob who assaulted the temple of democracy—were fueled by the President’s misstatements and lies and contempt for the truth, and he was enabled. He had enablers.
Today, we are stopping, in one instance, that enabling, but we must also make sure to stop it going forward. The political stunt that brought us here today offers no great solace that it will. These stunts have consequences. We say words have consequences, and the actions today will have significant consequences. They are an attack on our democracy that undermines the core tenets of our American Government and a disrespect for the will of the people and a peaceful transition of power. The political stunts themselves, driven by opportunism, blaze a path that can be followed by more competent challenges just as the dictatorial instincts and actions of this President can be followed by more effective would-be tyrants intent on destroying our Republic.
Yes, we have more important tasks that we should be addressing as well—the pandemic, the economic revival. Yet, today, we must be mindful of the threat to our democracy that we face down and come together on a bipartisan basis, but silence is never excusable in the face of lawlessness at the very top of our political structure.
I yield the floor.