Before his treasonous Jan. 6, 2021 speech before the Senate was interrupted by an invading mob, Sen. Rafael “Ted” Cruz (R-Texas) was in the process of explaining the rationale for his dereliction of duty by contesting certification of the electoral votes that would have declared Joe Biden the winner.

This traitorous-interruptus homily will forever be remembered in infamy. “Look for door number three,” he said, and citing potential election fraud, he made a disingenuous case for “a 10 day emergency audit” of so-called contested states by an “electoral commission” (arbiters) consisting of House, Senate, and SCOTUS members.

This would have been fashioned along the lines of one that nefariously decided the contested 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes v. Samuel J. Tilden contest in favor of “Rutherfraud” Hayes.

Spineless as he is Cruz, had studied his history. Democrat Tilden had won the popular vote, yet Republican Hayes’ party alleged fraud in three states he narrowly lost.

I wonder if that’s sounding familiar. The so-called commission stepped in and brokered a deal between the parties for a promise that the Republicans would end the postwar military occupation of the South (Reconstruction), and Hayes would be declared the winner.

Not unlike Cruz, for which this was the hoped-for outcome, Republicans essentially abandoned the then-100-year-old fight for civil rights, creating a vacuum filled by segregation, Jim Crow and white supremacist hate groups.

Again, I wonder if that sounds familiar.

Jon St. Laurent, North Bridgton

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