“Self-governance cannot sustain itself if the whims of Congress replace the will of the people.”- Paul Ryan (R), former Speaker of the House

   Trump’s disgraceful legacy can be summed up in very few words. He was the President who attempted to kill democracy. And he came very close.

  Trump got his way, fomenting a rebellion in our Capitol. Trump encouraged violent rioters, many armed, to storm our capitol to unconstitutionally keep him in power. He also succeeded in showing the world that we have a very flawed democracy, led since 2016 by an authoritarian dictator.

  We must never forget how Trump …  and his many GOP enablers including Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, as well as many of our Georgia Senators and Congressmen … subverted our electoral process, democratic traditions and the will of the American people.

  Let’s quickly summarize Trump’s recent actions:

•Trump encouraged people to go into the streets to commit treason to stop Congress from fulfilling its Constitutional duty to certify Biden as our next President.

•Trump asked Mike Pence to throw out the electoral votes of states which had voted for Biden, unilaterally deciding who would be the next President, regardless of the Electoral College.

•He called the Georgia Secretary of State, Raffensperger, to demand he “find 11,780 votes”, enough to throw the election to Trump. He repeatedly threatened him with criminal prosecution if he did not.

•Trump encouraged supporters in the House and Senate to override the will of the voters and refuse to certify the election results. He succeeded in getting a large number of Georgia Congressmen to embrace this unwelcome excursion into authoritarian fascism.

•Trump implied to senior officials that he might use the military to overturn the election. Disgraced former General Michael Flynn brought declaring martial law to force rerunning elections in swing states that Trump lost. All 10 former Defense Secretaries, Republicans and Democrats, have come out firmly against it in a joint declaration in the Washington Post, stating use of the military would bring us into “dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”

•Trump openly stated that he wanted Amy Coney Barrett to be approved by the Senate before the election was held so that she could help swing the election for him if it came to SCOTUS (note: it did not help him).

  The positive side of this abysmal situation is that certain of our democratic institutions held firm. Regardless of the political affiliation of judges, the Federal and state courts threw out dozens of spurious suits brought by Trump supporters. Honorable state-level conservative Republican officials, like Governor Kemp and Secretary of State Raffensperger in Georgia, were able to withstand threats and intimidation. They chose honor and democracy, even at their political peril. Our military stayed loyal to the Constitution versus one authoritarian man. And the mob rebellion against our democracy and Constitution was eventually put down, although it was obvious the Capitol Police management treated the white insurgents with kid gloves, permitting them to disrupt Congress.

  However, there has still been lasting damage to our nation. An astounding number of our elected officials would not certify the results of a fair and honest election, even after Trump-inspired rioters halted the initial vote. Those actions come close to sedition. Georgia voters should remember these traitors to democracy and vote them out of office.

  However, due to Trump’s brainwashing of his followers, an amazing 77% of Republicans still wrongly believe that the election was fraudulent (per Quinnipiac polling). Even with the losses of the court cases and the complete lack of proof as to widespread wrongdoing, they still doubt the legitimacy of Biden’s being our incoming President. And we had a President who did not believe in the Constitution spurring on the brainwashed armed mob assaulting our Capitol.

  How this unfortunate state of affairs translates into future US politics is uncertain. But one thing is for certain, the lasting effects of Donald Trump’s dictatorial authoritarian reign will be very negative for our beloved nation.

  Jack Bernard was the first Director of Health Planning for Georgia and served two terms on the Jasper County Board of Health. He retired as a Senior Vice President with a national healthcare corporation. He is now a widely published, nationally known expert on healthcare reform.