I have never seen James Carville, a Democrat and political pundit, go speechless.

But the other night when he was on one of the late night talk shows he was asked what he thought about the things happening at the White House and in Congress these days. He sat there quietly for a minute or two and then he said, “I just don’t know, I just can’t figure it out.”

And I suppose that is how many of us feel these days.

When Texas filed a lawsuit to get the votes of 4 states thrown out, South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem was right there to support this stupidity. Senator Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and Congressional Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota) were right there with Noem while Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) finally had the courage to state the obvious: Joe Biden is President-Elect.

After Republicans made virtual asses of themselves since November 3, it was finally all over on Monday when the Electoral College named Joe Biden as the President-Elect. Someone needs to sit Noem and our Republican delegation down and teach them how to count. When one gets more votes than another, the one getting the most votes is the winner. We learned this when we voted for our class president in high school. How could our supposedly intelligent elected officials forget this?

I can remember when South Dakotans voted for the person and not the Party. I can’t imagine former Senators Tom Daschle, Jim Abdnor, Jim Abourezk, Tim Johnson or former Congressional Rep. Stephanie Herseth allowing themselves to be caught up in this mass stupidity that now rules the U. S. Congress.

The door will be hitting Donald Trump in the ass as he leaves the White House on January 20. He is so small and petty that he will not be there when Joe Biden is sworn in, but instead will be holding a rally of his own that day in an effort to show that he still matters. Well, he doesn’t. His days of fame are over and he can go back to selling real estate.

It will take President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris many years to clean up the mess Trump made of Congress and the White House. But just bringing back honesty and integrity will be a big start.

Like James Carville, I have no idea of how the once stable GOP will ever rebound from 4 years of following a lunatic. They hitched their wagons to this misfit in a big way and it will take them a long time to free themselves from his apron strings.

And what about Governor Kristi Noem? She chose to follow a loser and even crisscrossed the country campaigning for him while hundreds of her constituents died from a pandemic. Trump said the coronavirus was a hoax and our mindless governor agreed. Can she be trusted to ever hold a political seat in South Dakota again?

I have to admit that I reached the point where I could not stand to see Trump’s face or hear his voice on television any longer. National television allowed him to lie to the American people without question. They totally forgot that there were American children, impressionable children, forced to listen to their president tell lie after lie until it became normal. The national media has had much to do with the mess we find ourselves in today. By allowing this man to lie on national television without question has made a mockery of freedom of expression.

But Trump still has several more days left in office and we can never be sure of the damage he can do to this country in that short time.

My daughter Troy Louise said it best. She said she has a smart TV. It changes channels whenever Trump comes on. And unless national television continues to provide a platform for Trump’s lying face, maybe the honesty of the next administration can help us forget.

I look forward to January 20 when our new president and vice president are sworn in and the little orange man is escorted from the White House. It is only fitting that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris be the Person of the Year on the cover of Time Magazine. For the first time in the history of America a woman of color will be the Vice President of the United States.

Trump’s collection of Republican cowards are going to have a hard time finding their spines again, but that is the price they must pay for blindly following the dictates of an imbecile.

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Tim Giago (Oglala Lakota) is the founder of the Native American Journalists Association and of Indian Country Today. Contact him at najournalist1@gmail.com.

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Note: Content © Tim Giago