Opinion: Benninghoff needs to move on, accept facts and election results
Pennsylvania’s House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff and 63 of his fellow legislators need to accept some facts. Joseph R. Biden accumulated 306 Electoral College votes to Donald J. Trump’s 232. Biden won the popular vote by 81.3 million to 74.2 million. He won Pennsylvania by 3.46 million votes to 3.38 million votes, garnering the commonwealth’s 20 electors. Our sovereign vote makes Mr. Biden the lawful next president of the United States of America.
Republicans for the Rule of Law and other conservative organizations recognize this fact. They know that Trump’s cult of personality has overridden their party’s sense. To restore the party’s soul, they recently posted videos recognizing and celebrating Republican leaders who made the election work for all Americans. One video focuses on Pennsylvania. “The results of the election were conclusive,” they say, “and the people’s votes (to elect Joe Biden) will stand. ... Thank you for running an election we can trust.”
Benninghoff is one of the first Pennsylvania Republican leaders to appear in the video. They should remove him.
Last week, President Trump asked Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler to select the electors and flip the election Trump lost. Cutler declined. But Reps. Cutler, Bennninghoff and 62 others since asked Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators and Representatives to “object, and vote to sustain such objection, to the Electoral College votes received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” on Jan. 6, 2021.
This seditious request assaults the basis of our sovereign government — your vote. It merely serves Trump’s ego and amplifies his dishonest rhetoric to undermine Pennsylvanians’ trust in one another and in democracy. Further, Benninghoff and company enable future politicians of any party to do the same. Be careful what you ask for.
In October, citizens demanded Benninghoff keep his and the legislature’s hands off the election. He agreed. He wrote that the General Assembly “will not have a hand in choosing the state’s presidential electors or deciding the election.” The popular vote amounts to the people’s constitutionally enshrined voice. He affirmed that “(The General Assembly) will have no role post-election in changing outcomes.”
But since the Nov. 3 election, Rep. Benninghoff has done the opposite. He filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) with Rudy Giuliani and the Trump campaign for one of the most cartoonish court cases in a season of such cases. They claimed that complaints by two individuals in two different counties should nullify and render void nearly 7 million legally cast and legally counted votes.
Trump-appointed Judge Matthew Brann heard the case in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He ruled that Giuliani and his team put forward an incoherent “Frankenstein’s Monster” argument that lacked “compelling legal arguments (or) factual proof of rampant corruption.” Former federal prosecutor Ken White called it “one of the most embarrassing performances by a lawyer I’ve ever seen.” Brann found the proposed remedy to deal with complaints by two voters — once again, throwing out several million legal votes — would “violate the Constitution.” He dismissed it. That was one of the 42 cases refused or dismissed by courts, including one on Tuesday evening by the conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
We could call this a waste of time and money. The truth though? These are flagrant attempts to steal an election to defend the wounded ego of a man who can’t act like an adult and walk away like every other president in history.
On Nov. 4, I conceded to and congratulated Rep. Benninghoff for his victory. We texted about sportsmanship. During the election, I was hard on him. But I respected him as my opponent. I am disappointed that he has participated in a damaging mission he had to know would fail. And all of it for Trump, a man who shows no ability to be honorable or sportsmanlike.
Joseph R. Biden is the President-elect. Mr. Benninghoff would do well to accept the loss and move on.