Amid riots, SLO County Republican leaders still refuse to condemn Trump. That’s unacceptable

Enough.

It’s past time for all Republican leaders — including those in San Luis Obispo County — to stop pretending the election was “stolen” from Donald Trump.

Here’s what those lies have led to:

A woman shot dead inside the Capitol.

A Confederate flag paraded through the halls of Congress.

Camouflage-clad rioters breaking windows and scaling walls to occupy the Senate Chamber.

Our elected leaders huddling in fear.

A mob ignoring the most basic of tenets of democracy — the right to free elections.

These are acts of treason — against our republic, the American people and their legitimately elected leader.

How did we get here?

Of course, the fault lies, first and foremost, with Donald Trump.

His refusal to acknowledge that Joe Biden is the legitimate president-elect will go down as one of the most un-American acts in our history.

On Wednesday morning, he spoke in person to his supporters and incited their attack on the seat of American government.

When they predictably followed through, his weak statement urging rioters to go home achieved nothing.

Meanwhile, his delusional insistence that the election was “stolen from us,” with absolutely no proof, only continues to fuel his mob of followers.

Even Sen. Mitch McConnell — one of the staunchest Trump supporters — acknowledged Wednesday that the election was legitimate.

“If this election was overturned by allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral,” he warned. “We would never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost.”

At least McConnell had enough decency to acknowledge that, although it only came at the 11th hour after weeks of silence.

Yet our local Republican leaders have been mostly unaccountable.

Given what’s happened today, that’s shocking, and it won’t be forgotten.

These are people who should be condemning this attack on democracy in the harshest of terms. They should be urging fellow Republicans to accept that Donald Trump lost in a fair election and has exhausted all of his appeals.

Yet Randall Jordan, the chair of the local Republican Party, did not have the courage to even acknowledge our emails.

County Supervisor John Peschong, one of the most prominent Republicans in the county, condemned the violence, but when asked whether he believes the election was stolen, he spoke only in the narrowest of terms.

“I believe Joe Biden won SLO County, and I don’t believe there was any election fraud here,” he said.

That’s not enough.

Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham released a statement imploring everyone to remember that we are Americans “first and foremost” and Sheriff Ian Parkinson let it be known that he opposes violence “no matter what the cause.”

Again, not enough.

District Attorney Dan Dow offered an anemic Tweet: “Violent and unlawful means of protest must not be tolerated and violators must be held accountable for their actions. We are the #USA, we must always continue to show the world how to have peaceful transfer of power.”

It’s a little late for that.

We’ve shown the world that one of strongest, proudest, most successful democracies in history is vulnerable to mob rule — and that some of its most respected citizens lack the courage to condemn not just the rioting but also all the lies, all the wild conspiracy theories and the insistence that Donald Trump is the rightful future president.

That must change, or as Sen. McConnell predicted, we will never again see the entire nation accept the results of an election.

So here are the facts: The election is over. Trump lost. His court challenges failed.

Nothing was stolen, no matter how much you want to believe it.

You may not like that. You may even hate it, but it’s time to accept it.

Our democratic way of life depends on it.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 3:58 PM.