Tested
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
Our U.S. Constitution was tested this week.
As you most of South Dakota now knows, on January 6th, I voted to uphold the 2020 election results that were certified, recounted, and audited from various states across the nation.
Like many South Dakotans, I am frustrated with how certain states handle their elections, and in the weeks following the 2020 election, I supported the president’s right to his day in court. Legal challenges were filed in dozens of state and federal courts, but failed to overturn any votes. Despite claims, the evidence was not there.
The Constitution is more important than my personal political views or my political popularity.
There is no constitutional basis for Congress to substitute its judgement for that of the states and the courts. There is only one sentence in the Constitution that addresses Congress’s role on Jan 6. In Article 2, Section 1, Clause 3 the U.S. Constitution states:
“The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted.”
The only person performing an official act is the President of the Senate, who counts the votes. Other than being present, there is no constitutional role for Congress in the January 6 process. I cannot assume powers that are not legally provided to me.
I did not take this decision lightly. I heard from thousands of my fellow statesmen, friends, and long-time political allies. Ultimately, my duty to the Constitution is greater than any political favor voting against it may have provided me. Tough votes such as this one are never easy, and I can only hope this constitutional foundation does not fall on deaf ears.
South Dakotans would raise hell if the Nancy Pelosi-controlled House overturned South Dakota’s election results for President Trump, and I’m grateful we saw no such attempt on January 6. Our founders knew well the grave risks associated with concentrating power in Washington, D.C., especially the power to select our President. They placed that power with the states, and just as I would resolutely defend the results of South Dakota’s elections from federal interference, I cannot overturn the legally certified election results of another state and its voters.
Johnson – you either weren’t really paying attention, your staff is too timid to dig into the truth, or you are not fit to have managed through this present un-american process.
Best of luck to you in 2022. I’m looking forward to seeing who might run against you .. should be easy.
“Dusty Johnson left the gate open and China got in .. remember in November – vote for Howard Purtrude Smiggel because I saw the evidence of fraud and I would have stood up for America. I will stand up for America next time, I promise.”
*facepalm*
Did you even LOOK at the evidence? BTW, did you get your shot yet? I never heard how your survey came out. Like Mr. Dale, I am looking forward to someone to oppose you. We are looking for someone who has a pair. You do not fit that bill.
Thanks to the morons who linked the certification to an investigation of election fraud, there will never be an investigation. What a tool of the left you have become.
Not that it could happen because Trump made the Georgia election about him and not the actual candidates.
P.S. there is no evidence thanks to the incompetence of the Trump campaign. It is just hearsay which is why every lawsuit has been thrown out without a trial, even by Trump appointed judges including all three of his appointments.
Well said, Dusty.
Donald Trump is the most blessed politician in US history, and the most cursed. He succeeded in many things he was elected to do, and he also spectacularly failed us.
His blessedness is revealed in the wave that made him the only outsider with the gravitas and ability to burst through the beltway barrier and make a serious run at the political-entitlement class on our behalf. The outraged gyrations he put them through were by themselves worth the price of electing him. He also revealed, over and over, the brutal depth and craven criminality the beltway class would employ behind the scenes to protect their own and crush their enemies. We needed to see it laid bare and we did. Thanks sir.
Trump’s major failures stand out when you compare him to the previous outsider-insurgent president, Ronald Reagan. Numerous factions came together to support him, yet Reagan’s focus in his pronouncements and policies was to speak to the great middle class, and their shared concerns and worries, and when he spoke of government he spoke how government should do better. Trump by comparison, played to his base in a constant series of rallies and events, and really never displayed an overarching vision; he really never left the echo chamber very often. Trump constantly failed to see the forces aligned against him, and failed to see how far they’d go to destroy him. I’m glad he was president but I’m really going to have to think about how he fell and what we should take away from these final events.
Very well said. And one more thing: Trump expected more loyalty than he ever gave which never ends well.
“Dusty Johnson” – Sounds like the name of an out-of-work porn actor
Dusty isn’t a Trump zombie?
I am with Dusty. The totally fabricated election fraud ruse was a blatent attempt to bamboozle all those who have imbibed the kool aid. And you all fell for it. Despite the good things Trump may have done, he also further divided the people of this country, and a house divided cannot stand. We are Americans. We march under the American flag. Those who march under the Trump flag are not Americans, but something else. Get your priorities straight and drop out of the cult before this country burns.