in the days since the attack on the us capitol, we've witnessed many republicans recanting their earlier condemnations of the actions of trump and his followers. josh hawley, who had promoted the "big lie" that the election was stolen by president biden and those who supported him, has appeared on television to talk of how noble his actions were in calling for a commission to investigate the election, leading to a reversal of its results. he has said that his only motive was to insure free and fair elections in our country, yet before the storming of the capitol he had said that president biden's win was the result of massive fraud. similarly, kevin mccarthy, the leader of the house republicans, reversed his early stance that trump was responsible for what happened and now says that all of us bear responsibility. he went so far as to make a trip to florida to meet with trump and plot strategy with him.
republicans forget that most americans voted against trump when he was elected in 2016 and even more voted against him in 2020. he was a president who won office because of our electoral college system, not because a majority voted for him. he never enjoyed widespread support nationwide, and his approval numbers in the polls were never very good. it appears that most repubicans who hold national office are more fearful of the wrath of trump's diehard supporters than they are of the majority of american voters. many of them may be re-elected and some of those who spoke out and who voted against trump in the house and senate may lose their positions in the next election, but this is only because they live in districts or states where trump's base is powerful, not because their position enjoys national support. there will be others who supported trump who will lose as voters see trumpism for what it is: corrupt, narrow-minded, misogynistic, isolationist, and contrary to american values.
as we learn more about trump's behavior during the election season, we may find that his perfidy was far greater than we knew earlier, causing more of his former supporters to turn against him. already there have been reports that as many as 30,000 americans have changed their voter registration from republican to independent or democrat. american businesses are refusing to contribute to elected officials who sought to overturn the election. his impeachment defense team has resigned en masse because he still refuses to abandon his insistence on widespread voter fraud. each day we see more clearly that his was a house of cards rather than one built on a strong foundation of popular support.
most americans support president biden's agenda of reversing the effects of climate change, of combating systemic racism in our society, of insuring the survival of and strengthening of the social safety net, of vigorously working to bring the pandemic under control, of ending trump's racist immigration policy and replacing it with one that is humane, of stopping the running america's prisons for profit and abandoning the use of the death penalty. we want our elected officials to work together to solve our problems, putting aside partisan politics for all our good, rather than appealing to a narrow base of voters and constantly looking to the next election. we applaud president biden's insistence that he is the president of all the people, not just those who voted for him.
may we turn from the rhetoric of division and hate. may we become one people, listening to and caring for one another. may we lift those who cannot life themselves. may the wealth of our country be shared equitably with all our people. may we once again be a force for democracy and freedom throughout the world, no longer a country of "america first." shalom.
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