A Peaceful Transfer of Power
Also, an anniversary for the podcast and a recipe for Thanksgiving.
I got in trouble on Monday after writing a post called “Why Donald Trump Lost”. Apparently, in certain circles, it is considered extremely problematic to say that Joe Biden is the president-elect. Why? Because it’s not “official.”
There were calls for me to be fired, people telling me to take a “long walk off a short pier,” and accusations that I was a RINO, liberal, NeverTrumper, and even a long-lost member of the Romney clan. All because I said Trump had lost the election.
I do not see where Donald Trump’s supporters think the votes to swing the election back are going to come from. To steal the number of votes that were “stolen” to make Biden the winner is an impossible task, and if someone was able to do it, I think the responsible thing to do is to accept that there is an all-powerful oligarchy that can and does control the country.
But, the President is not conceding the election. He is instead fighting the results, challenging what he can in court, and raising concerns (some valid and some not) over “shady” incidents that have been reported since the election took place last week. Several of these have been debunked. Some are still floating around out there. Some even claim the Clintons are somehow involved in the CIA hacking voting machines.
As a result, if you say the race is over, you are shouted down with cries of “Journalists/Media don’t decide the election! The Electoral College does!” That, too, is a silly premise, because we have declare all sorts of elections - including the 2016 election where Trump won - before the Electoral College officially weighed in. Maybe Joe Biden isn’t officially the president-elect, but Trump’s path to keeping his job is getting thinner by the minute. To think that there are enough votes that were stolen, corrupted, or miscounted that could have kept Trump from quitting? That is silly.
There are some things that need to be investigated, like Fulton Country, Georgia, saying they were done counting at 10:30 p.m. the night of the election but actually working until 1 a.m. There are also some affidavits from postal workers about some orders they were given. These things should be investigated.
The President is within his rights to seek investigations into the voting process. It is right and proper for the most important process in our country’s political structure - voting - to be made transparent, accountable, and free from bad actors/actions. Do I think that Trump’s campaign will be able to prove enough votes were tainted that the election would have to be done over again? No. But that is beside the point. We should always want the voting process to be checked and double-checked. We should want allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression to be investigated.
But the idea that the President refusing to concede and instead challenge the results of the election is somehow blowing up the “peaceful transfer of power”? That’s ridiculous. There is no Constitutional obligation to concede even if you don’t feel you have lost. In fact, there are means woven in that can directly challenge the results you don’t like. That, too, is part of the democratic process, and to deny Tump his right to protect it if he thinks it’s been violated is to invite future presidents to do the same no matter what.
Trump isn’t preventing a “peaceful transfer of power.” He is fighting what he thinks is a corrupt system. It isn’t a refusal to give up his power, but going through legal processes to try and keep it. You may not agree with some of his arguments, but he has the right to make them.
And the claims that Trump is firing people at the Pentagon in order to make a move or launch a coup against the United States government is so insane that I really don’t want to talk about it because I believe it’s a waste of air. But, we have to discuss this crazy conspiracy theory because major network correspondents are actually reporting on this “possibility”. In their minds, and in the minds of several people I know, it’s a distinct possibility that Trump will refuse to leave the White House and will use the military to stay President of the United States.
All this despite the fact that some fringe conservatives were convinced that Barack Obama was going to do the same thing four years ago and these same people were mocking those conservatives for thinking it. Now, though? Totally rational. Even though it’s really no more or less rational this time around.
Everyone in the online and pundit world just seems so broken after five years of chaos, and no matter how many cries for unity there are, it really doesn’t seem like we’re going to get it.
Homestyle: Weddings and Pandemics
On this week’s episode of Homestyle, my co-host Leigh Guidry and I discuss how 2020 somehow ended up being a year of wedding and a year of pandemic all at the same time.
We both had to go to or take part in weddings this year, some canceled and some not, and it’s been a struggle to keep up with all the restrictions and rules. But, there is something about weddings that we can’t help but enjoy and talk about.
If you want to hear more, you can always go back and listen to previous episodes, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast here, and if you have cooking, crafting, or family activity ideas, you can find us on Facebook and on Instagram (@Homestylepod).
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The Homestyle Podcast is a joint venture between myself and one of my best friends, education reporter Leigh Guidry. Throughout each episode, we discuss cooking, crafting, and other hobbies as well as how we make sure to spend time with our families despite how insanely busy life can be. The goal of the podcast has always been to take a moment to focus on what’s really important because, at the end of the day, family and life is more important than whatever distractions are going on in the world around us.
Recipe of the Week: Cornbread Dressing, Louisiana Style
I’ve shared this one before, but with Thanksgiving approaching, I wanted to share it again as a great dressing for the family when it comes time to gather ‘round the table.
Let’s start with the cornbread.
One 6-inch cast iron skillet
Two large eggs
5/8 (1/2 and 1/4) cup whole milk
1/8 cup whole milk
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
5/8 (1/2 and 1/4) cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tbsp. baking powder
One stick butter, melted
1/2 tbsp. Cajun seasoning
Preheat the oven to 350 and put the skillet in the oven to get hot along with it.
Sift and whisk your dry ingredients together in one bowl and whisk your eggs, honey, and milk together in the other bowl. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Don’t whisk it too long, though. Overworking the batter will result in it being too dense, and you don’t want that, especially for the dressing.
Add the melted butter, whisk until mixed together.
Pull out the skillet and pour the batter in. Set it in the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes.
Crawfish Cornbread Dressing
And while that is cooking, get the dressing started.
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
One medium onion, diced
One bell pepper, diced
One stick celery, diced
Five cloves garlic, minced
One pound cooked crawfish (if you find it frozen at the store, be sure to wash it thoroughly!)
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 ground black pepper
1/4 ground red pepper
2 cups stock (chicken or seafood)
Cornbread you are currently baking
Whenever your cornbread is done, pull it out of the oven and let it begin to cool down a bit.
In your Dutch oven, melt 1 tbsp. of the butter and add the trinity (onion, celery, bell pepper). Let it brown and get very soft. It needs to practically dissolve in the broth later.
Stir in the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes.
Stir in the crawfish, salt, pepper (black and red), and add the stock. I cannot stress enough how much you need to wash the crawfish if it’s store-bought and frozen. That briny flavor will overpower the dish if you don’t (as I learned the first time).
Bring the mixture to a simmer for a few minutes and then remove it from the heat. At the remaining butter and stir until it’s melted.
Crumble your cornbread and add it to the mixture in the Dutch oven. How well you incorporate it is entirely up to you. If you like chunkier, clumpy dressing, don’t mush it all together. If you like it smoother, do.
Final Thoughts…
At the end of the day, regardless of who is President of the United States, life will go on. Love your family, talk to your friends, break bread with others. Nothing that happens in Washington D.C. is worth losing friends and family over.