teaser

Opinion: Dunleavy’s subservience to Trump continues

What’s profoundly frightening for America is that Dunleavy and most of his fellow Republicans have imposed silence on themselves.

  • By Rich Moniak
  • Sunday, May 16, 2021 2:30am
  • Opinion

By Rich Moniak

A few weeks ago, Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld the tech company’s decision to suspend Donald Trump’s account after the now former president stirred up the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Gov. Mike Dunleavy called the decision “frightening.” Because “If they can silence a former president, any of us could be next.”

What’s profoundly frightening for America is that Dunleavy and most of his fellow Republicans have imposed silence on themselves in the face of Trump’s unrelenting lies that the presidential election was stolen.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., isn’t one of them. She’d been the third-highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives until she repeatedly called out Trump for his lies.

“I am a conservative Republican and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law,” she said on the House floor on Tuesday. “The Electoral College has voted. More than 60 state and federal courts, including multiple judges he appointed, have rejected the former president’s claims. The Department of Justice in his administration investigated the former president’s claims of widespread fraud and found no evidence to support them. The election is over. That is the rule of law.”

And to her colleagues who refuse to tell Republican voters the truth, Cheney warned, “Remaining silent, and ignoring the lie, emboldens the liar.”

That’s exactly what happened between Election Day and Jan. 6.

Facebook was part of the problem. On Dec. 2, Trump used the platform to deliver a speech in which he made numerous false accusations about voter fraud. None of them stood up to scrutiny.

He spoke about massive vote dumps in Michigan and Wisconsin. And tens of thousands of people who went to vote for him in person but were told at the polling station that they had already voted.

Despite the fact it had been thoroughly debunked two weeks earlier, he repeated a claim that 67 counties in Michigan had more registered voters than voting age citizens.

The evidence of “fraud that we’ve collected in recent weeks is overwhelming,” he claimed near the end of his 46-minute rant.

But Trump’s own attorney general had gone on the record a day earlier stating that U.S. attorneys and FBI had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

And a week later, he submitted no evidence of fraud with the brief he filed on the election lawsuit pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, his attorney argued it wasn’t necessary “to prove that fraud occurred.” The main “constitutional issue is not whether voters committed fraud but whether state officials violated the law by systematically loosening the measures for ballot integrity so that fraud becomes undetectable.”

Dunleavy foolishly backed that lawsuit. But the Supreme Court unanimously refused to consider it.

That didn’t stop Trump from whining about voter fraud between then and Jan. 6. After greeting his supporters that day, he told them his “election victory” was being “stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats.” He explained the evidence he had would prove “we won this election and we won it by a landslide.”

Then, while Congress was preparing to certify the election, his supporters stormed the Capitol.

For Cheney, who had held her tongue for two months, it was the final straw.

“There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution,” she said before voting to impeach Trump.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski had also been silent about his election lies.

“I allowed myself to refrain from speaking my truth,” Murkowski said. “And I can’t just be quiet right now.”

She called on Trump to resign. When he didn’t, she voted to convict him on the impeachment charges.

The Alaskan Republican Party censured Murkowski for that vote. And pledged to recruit a primary challenger to oppose her in 2022.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, however, has said he’ll support Murkowski if she runs again.

Don’t expect Dunleavy to back her though. Especially if Trump follows through with his promise to come here and campaign against her. Because Dunleavy seems to think his own reelection bid depends on obedience to a party that’s chosen to be totally subservient to a delusional, compulsive liar.

Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.

More in Opinion

A state plow truck clears snow from the Kenai Spur Highway on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Use of the brine shows disregard for our community

It is very frustrating that the salt brine is used on the Kenai Peninsula often when it is not needed

Therese Lewandowski. (Photo provided)
Point of View: Inflation, hmmm

Before it’s too late and our history gets taken away from us, everyone should start studying it

A cherished "jolly Santa head" ornament from the Baisden Christmas tree. (Photo provided)
Opinion: Reflections of holidays past

Our family tradition has been to put up our Christmas tree post-Thanksgiving giving a clear separation of the holidays

Screenshot. (https://dps.alaska.gov/ast/vpso/home)
Opinion: Strengthening Alaska’s public safety: Recent growth in the VPSO program

The number of VPSOs working in our remote communities has grown to 79

Soldotna City Council member Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL candidate forum series, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: I’m a Soldotna Republican and will vote No on 2

Open primaries and ranked choice voting offer a way to put power back into the hands of voters, where it belongs

Nick Begich III campaign materials sit on tables ahead of a May 16, 2022, GOP debate held in Juneau. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: North to a Brighter Future

The policies championed by the Biden/Harris Administration and their allies in Congress have made it harder for us to live the Alaskan way of life

Shrubs grow outside of the Kenai Courthouse on Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Vote yes to retain Judge Zeman and all judges on your ballot

Alaska’s state judges should never be chosen or rejected based on partisan political agendas

A vintage Underwood typewriter sits on a table on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, at the Homer News in Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Point of View: District 6 needs to return to representation before Vance

Since Vance’s election she has closely aligned herself with the far-right representatives from Mat-Su and Gov. Mike Dunleavy

The Anchor River flows in the Anchor Point State Recreation Area on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, in Anchor Point, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
Opinion: Help ensure Alaskans have rights to use, enjoy and care for rivers

It is discouraging to see the Department of Natural Resources seemingly on track to erode the public’s ability to protect vital water interests.

A sign directing voters to the Alaska Division of Elections polling place is seen in Kenai, Alaska, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Vote no on Ballot Measure 2

A yes vote would return Alaska to party controlled closed primaries and general elections in which the candidate need not win an outright majority to be elected.

Derrick Green (Courtesy photo)
Opinion: Ballot Measure 1 will help businesses and communities thrive

It would not be good for the health and safety of my staff, my customers, or my family if workers are too worried about missing pay to stay home when they are sick.