This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated December 18, 2020
The December Holiday season is upon us. Hanukkah began last week and concludes the day this column is published. As we near the end of a turbulent 2020, it is a reminder that even a small amount of light can drive out the darkness. The approaching winter is looking to be a very dark time, but there have been glimmers of light recently.
In the month-and-a-half since the election, Joe Biden has appeared to win the presidency every few days, as President Trump and his allies have lost 59 of 60 legal challenges. Last week, 17 Republican-controlled states sued to overturn the certified election results in four states that Biden won. 126 GOP members of Congress signed on to this Texas-led lawsuit to subvert the will of the people. After the Supreme Court rejected it, the Chairman of the Texas GOP proposed that the states not accepting the results consider seceding to form a new union.
There is no other way to describe any of this, other than to say it is just plain crazy. Just how Republican state lawmakers from six states that Biden won holding fake electoral college votes on Monday, December 14 to cast ballots for Trump was crazy. While they held their pretend proceedings, the real electoral college votes were cast in all 50 states and Joe Biden was officially elected the next president, again.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. A recent survey showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans agree that the election has been settled and President-elect Biden has made clear he plans to represent all Americans, even the eight in ten Trump supporters who believe Trump really won.
It has been despicable to see so many officials on the Right, either give full-throated support to Trump’s post-election behavior or provide tacit approval of these actions by equivocating or remaining silent. Last weekend, after white nationalist supporters of Trump gathered in Washington, the streets of D.C. saw multiple instances of violence and black churches had property of theirs torn down and burned.
“Hanukkah… is a reminder that even a small amount of light can drive out the darkness. The approaching winter is looking to be a very dark time, but there have been glimmers of light recently.”
On the same day as the electoral college votes, Sandra Lindsay, an ICU nurse from Queens, became the first American to receive the coronavirus vaccine. It was truly a sign of light after nine dark pandemic months. Unfortunately, with COVID spreading like a wildfire that shows no signs of abating, the upcoming winter may be the darkest time in our nation’s history.
Last week, there were multiple days where more Americans died from coronavirus than we lost on 9/11. COVID fatigue is real and it seems more and more people are either making lapses in judgement or simply do not care.
As New York’s rates of positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths have been on the rise, the decision was made that indoor dining would need to close in New York City. Undoubtedly, this will be devastating to restaurants and bars that have already been struggling and will be the deathblow to many that have been barely hanging on.
This past spring has taught us that when the virus begins to spread exponentially, proactive steps need to be taken early. The focus right now should be to finally get federal pandemic relief to everyone in the food service industry while their businesses face extreme hardships to keep our communities safe.
Republicans in Washington continue to do nothing but blame Democrats, despite the Democratic-controlled House passing the HEROES act in May, which the Republican-controlled Senate did nothing with. After the GOP spent five months complaining that the House bill’s price tag was too high, Democrats negotiated against themselves and passed a new version in October, cutting the cost by over a third.
Republicans continue to claim that the Democrats who have passed two bills, the most recent of which included $120 billion in aid for small restaurants and bars, are the ones doing nothing to get relief to people and I have come across many people parroting this absurdity. Like denying the reality of the election results, it is crazy. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot reach it if many of us refuse to deal in reality.
