Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Trump reportedly considered using the military to carry out his coup

Just when we thought things couldn't get any more insane and when it couldn't become any more obvious that Trump is engaging in a coup attempt--this happens.

In a news recap post from a few weeks ago, I covered a story about how retired General Flynn, Trump's former National Security Advisor who was convicted for lying to the FBI about his collusion with Russia, advocated for imposing martial law to carry out a 'new' election. Flynn advocated for this about a week after Trump pardoned him for his crimes!

If you aren't seeing the gravity of this, let me make it more clear. Wikipedia defines martial law as "the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government." Flynn is a retired Army General and previously worked at the highest levels of the Trump administration. This isn't a whacko blogger casually advocating for martial law. Flynn understands the gravity and meaning of his words.

Now, Trump himself is reported to have considered the possibility of enacting martial law, according to a story published in the New York Times on December 19th. This story is buried within an article whose headline is about deranged lawyer Sidney Powell (more on this in a moment).


Here's the relevant section of the New York Times article:

"In a meeting at the White House on Friday...

[...]

Ms. Powell’s client, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser whom the president recently pardoned, was also there, two of the people briefed on the meeting said. Some senior administration officials drifted in and out of the meeting.

During an appearance on the conservative Newsmax channel this week, Mr. Flynn pushed for Mr. Trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. At one point in the meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/politics/trump-sidney-powell-voter-fraud.html

Other media outlets are wondering why the headline isn't about Trump's consideration of martial law.

"Here is the front page of the New York Times at the moment:

Down below the fold, just barely beating out “Biden Introduces His Climate Team,” is a story headlined “Trump Weighed Naming Election Conspiracy Theorist as Special Counsel.” The conspiracy theorist in question is Sidney Powell, who is indeed a complete loon. However, if you click the link and read down to the sixth paragraph, you learn this about Friday’s meeting at the White House:

Ms. Powell’s client, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser whom the president recently pardoned, was also there….During an appearance on the conservative Newsmax channel this week, Mr. Flynn pushed for Mr. Trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. At one point in the meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea.

Now, I’m not a Times editor with decades of experience with this stuff, but doesn’t this seem a wee bit more important than whether a nutter is appointed special counsel for a few weeks? And also perhaps more important than “Britain Tightens Lockdown” at the top of the page?

It does to me! The president of the United States asked a bunch of his advisors about the feasibility of imposing martial law and having the Pentagon run a new election. In other words, staging a military coup."

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/12/report-trump-asked-about-imposing-martial-law-to-run-a-new-election/

December 19:

"Trump Reportedly Asked Advisors About Deploying Military To Overturn Election.

[...]

President Donald Trump reportedly inquired about an idea raised by his former (and now pardoned) national security adviser, Michael Flynn, that the U.S. military be deployed to overturn the results of the presidential election—a claim shot down by his advisors at a meeting where the president appeared to embrace increasingly fringe notions about his election loss."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/12/19/trump-reportedly-asked-advisors-about-deploying-military-to-overturn-election/

December 20, once again, non-American media are reporting on this. Every time US-based journalists try to deny a coup is happening, non-Americans must shake their heads with pity for the insanity sane Americans have to endure.

"Trump discussed ‘bringing military in to overturn election result’ and calls for ‘wild’ protest on 6 January.

[...]

And there is another protest planned to take place on 6 January, the day Congress meets to officially recognise Joe Biden as president following the 14 December EC vote.

As the coronavirus continues to ravage vast swathes of the country, the outgoing president called on his legion of loyal fans to descend on the capital and join the demonstration.

"Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," he tweeted on Saturday. "Be there, will be wild!""

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-martial-law-us-election-result-b1776750.html


On December 18, before the New York Times story was published, a journalist received a response from military leaders regarding their thoughts on Flynn's advocacy for a military-backed coup:

Just in: @SecArmy Ryan McCarthy and @ArmyChiefStaff Gen. McConville respond to former Gen. Flynn's remarks urging Trump to declare martial law to overturn the election results: “There is no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election.”

https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/1339985580785086466

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/19/sidney-powell-trump-special-counsel-448694

December 21:

"Is It Time to Impeach Now That the President Is Reportedly Discussing Martial Law in the Oval Office?

Seems like we could have seen this coming based on every single thing Donald Trump has said and done in public life.

On November 19, we suggested the president may need to be impeached and removed from office in the lame-duck period on the basis he will never stop trying to steal the election and, even if he fails, that he will do untold damage to the country leading up to January 20. This kind of thing was considered alarmist by the Calm, Savvy Observer crowd, who seem to have been asleep for many years, or who at the very least refuse to see—perhaps as a sort of defense mechanism—what is right in front of them, and who certainly lack imagination with regard to what still may come screaming down the pike. It seems bad, for instance, that the Secretary of the Army just felt compelled to issue a statement declaring the U.S. military won't be doing Coup Things.

[...]

Nobody ever went broke betting that Donald Trump will attempt the next most deranged and dangerous stunt on the sliding scale of depravity that forms the backbone of his earthly existence, all in ceaseless servitude to his own pathological self-interest.

[...]

And so we arrived this weekend at the next mile-marker on the road to ruin. The president descended to the next level of right-wing loony-toon hell and summoned Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani to the Oval Office for a meeting of the minds, wherein this cavalcade of traitors to the American republic discussed instituting martial law and seizing voting machines by Executive Order for "investigation." (Let's pause here for the mandatory, if grating question: WHAT IF OBAMA DID ANY OF THIS SHIT? OK, let's move on.)

[...]

But the real cream of the crop is retired Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, a true American patriot who in 2016 served as senior adviser to an American presidential campaign and transition team while simultaneously on the payroll of the Turkish government. He also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians, for which, along with "any and all possible offenses" related to the Mueller probe, the American president pardoned him. Now, Flynn is returning the favor by going on one of the TV channels for people who think Fox News is too squishy-liberal and calling for the president who pardoned him to institute martial law and do a mulligan election, this one run by the military."

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a35030462/trump-martial-law-oval-office-michael-flynn-sidney-powell/

The time to impeach him was on January 21, 2017. He's been violating the Constitution and breaking laws every day since then. Since he is never punished for any of his wrong-doings, he continues to push the envelope and do worse things each time. While Republicans are the ones who successfully carried out a self-coup in order to operate outside of the laws of our nation for the entire 4 years of the Trump presidency, almost as much blame deserves to be placed on the Democrat party, since, realistically, they are the only ones who had any hopes of holding Trump accountable. Instead, they let him and his lackeys get away with everything. Instead of playing hardball and jailing Trump cronies for contempt of Congress when they refused to comply, Democrats just gave up and didn't bother pursuing justice. They blew their chance to impeach after the release of the Mueller Report, and the best they could come up with to impeach Trump was his mafia boss "perfect" phone call to Ukraine.

Let that sink in. If Trump wasn't such an imbecile and decided to lay low after Attorney General Barr miraculously covered up the Mueller Report and Democrats somehow completely dropped the ball, there wouldn't even have been an impeachment.

Every president since Nixon got away with all their crimes. Every president since Nixon has been emboldened to commit even greater crimes than the previous president. This must end. We must have a Crimes Commission and punish every single person who aided and abetted the Trump administration's crimes, to the fullest extent of the law. If we don't, America may never recover.

"The Calm, Savvy types are by this point apoplectic. But none of this will work! The coup is stupid! Which brings us, again, to two points: even a Stupid Coup can work, and even if it doesn't, it will cause huge damage to the republic. It already has, even as the president's legal eagles have caught losses in 50-plus court cases. 126 House Republicans signed onto that ludicrous Texas suit seeking to simply throw out the election. This is now mainstream Republicanism—that elections which end in the other party winning power simply do not count. ... Absent massive, transformative change to law and political economy with the next administration, we are well down a path to tyranny. Trump has opened the door, and if nobody finds a way to close it, somebody else will walk through it."

If a majority of lawmakers vote to throw out the election, is that not just another aspect of democracy? All the loopholes of checks-and-balances can't save us when the majority of the populace is morally bankrupt. Trump's term in office has shown us that both Republican and Democrat politicians view the Constitution and laws as merely a "gentleman's agreement" that isn't worth the paper it's printed on when the majority of the populace and majority of politicians are dishonorable scumbags.

This dangerous instability and race-to-the-bottom, which the popularity contest of voting causes, is the reason some Founding Fathers like Alexander Hamilton believed the President and Senators should serve for life (although they would be removed if they failed to meet the standard of "good behavior"--meanwhile our democracy can't even manage to remove Trump and others for blatant Constitutional violations...)

"Under Hamilton's system, senators and a national "governor" would be chosen by special electors, and would serve for life. Members of an assembly would be elected directly by citizens; each member would serve a three-year term. State governors would be chosen by the national governor."

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-hamilton-and-us-constitution/

As it stands, members of Congress basically serve for life already. Reelection rates have been over 80-90% for at least the past lifetime. (e.g. Biden was a Senator since 1973, stepping down only to become Vice President. McConnell has been a Senator since 1985. 87-year-old Dianne Feinstein just won another 6-year term to the Senate, despite going senile.)

The criteria for 'winning' office is not having a noble quality of character, good judgment, or wise policy planning. 'Winning' office is a popularity contest where they say literally anything they need to in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator to win votes, and prostitute themselves out to corporate interests in order to take in the campaign funds they need to run propaganda election campaigns.

Hamilton's plan would have at least selected Presidents and members of Congress based on the quality of their character and ability to wisely and selflessly enact policies which benefit Americans as a whole. This is much closer to an actual Republic. (Plato's Republic was certainly did not involve voting. In fact, Plato wisely viewed democracy as the most corrupt form of government besides outright tyranny).


Only when the criteria to hold office is quality-based rather than popularity-based will our government reach a tolerable standard of functionality. It is only then that we will be able to achieve lasting justice and fairness for all Americans.

Federal judges (not just on the Supreme Court) are appointed for life. As intended, this elevates them above the race-to-the-bottom of political election cycles. Even the far-right hyperpartisan judges Trump appointed to the courts have been throwing out his baseless lawsuits rather than help him carry out the coup. And for everyone who wants to abolish the Electoral College--electors were originally autonomous individuals who cast their votes based on their own reasoned judgment. They were supposed to be a "check and balance" against the low-information and reactionary mobs of popular voters. Had the Electoral College been functioning as intended, they would have rejected Trump by a far stronger margin than a 48% vs 46% popular vote margin.

***

Sidney Powell was on the Trump campaign's legal team, but they publicly distanced themselves from her once she started railing on about how dead Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez and communists were somehow the ones "rigging" the US election. She was too crazy to be publicly associated with them, but it seems Trump still likes her. At the same time as Flynn, she advocated for setting up "military tribunals" in order to carry out a new election under martial law.

Ctrl+F for Powell in my previous blog post to read more about this.


She was kicked off the Trump campaign's legal team, but Trump wants to let her lead a witch hunt to overturn the election in his final month in office:

"Trump Weighed Naming Election Conspiracy Theorist as Special Counsel.

In a meeting at the White House on Friday, President Trump weighed appointing Sidney Powell, who promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, to investigate voter fraud.

[...]

Most of his advisers opposed the idea, two of the people briefed on the discussion said, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer. In recent days Mr. Giuliani has sought to have the Department of Homeland Security join the campaign’s efforts to overturn Mr. Trump’s loss in the election.

[...]

Mr. Trump tends to think of Justice Department appointees when he describes special counsels, but those briefed on the meeting said the idea was for Ms. Powell to serve as a special counsel within the White House, appointed by the president, according to those briefed on it.

Mr. Trump also asked about Ms. Powell being given security clearances to pursue her work, two of the people briefed on the meeting said.

Ms. Powell accused other Trump advisers of being quitters, according to the people briefed.

But the idea that Mr. Trump would try to install Ms. Powell in a position to investigate the outcome sent shock waves through the president’s circle. She has repeatedly claimed there was widespread fraud, but several lawsuits she filed related to election fraud have been tossed out of court.

[...]

Mr. Giuliani has separately pressed the Department of Homeland Security to seize possession of voting machines as part of a push to overturn the results of the election, three people familiar with the discussion said. Mr. Giuliani was told the department does not have the authority to do such a thing."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/politics/trump-sidney-powell-voter-fraud.html

***

The following articles give a brief timeline of Trump's actions in the coup since the election ended.

December 21:

"Inside Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the election.
No president has ever made such expansive and individualized pleas.

In total, the president talked to at least 31 Republicans, encompassing mostly local and state officials from four critical battleground states he lost — Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. The contacts included at least 12 personal phone calls to 11 individuals, and at least four White House meetings with 20 Republican state lawmakers, party leaders and attorneys general, all people he hoped to win over to his side. Trump also spoke by phone about his efforts with numerous House Republicans and at least three current or incoming Senate Republicans.

And it all occurred in parallel to his campaign’s quixotic efforts to launch recounts and file lawsuits demanding ballots be tossed.

Trump’s efforts to cling to power are unprecedented in American history. While political parties have fought over the results of presidential elections before, no incumbent president has ever made such expansive and individualized pleas to the officials who oversee certification of the election results. Trump even used his presidential perch to compel officials to talk with him, summoning state officials to the White House on a few-hours notice and insisting that his outreach was simply part of his presidential duties."

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/21/trump-pressure-campaign-overturn-election-449486

December 21:

"Trump personally pressured more than 150 Republicans to overthrow election for him, report says

[...]

Despite the electoral college announcement, Mr Trump continues to challenge the results. He is now backing a plan by Republican House members and potentially at least one senator – Tommy Tuberville –  to object to the election results when Congress meets on 6 January to accept the election results."

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-throw-election-republicans-b1777377.html

***

Trump told his supporters to "stand back and stand by" until January 6th, but it looks like they're not going to wait.

December 21:

"Heavily Armed Far-Right Mob Floods Oregon Capitol.

The crowd was a loose collection of members of the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and others far-right groups, many of them are armed with pistols and rifles. It got ugly fast.

SALEM, Or.—A group of about 300 demonstrators attempted to force their way into two separate entrances of the Oregon State Capitol on Monday, outraged lawmakers were holding a special session closed to the public.

The crowd was a loose collection of members of the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer and other far-right groups, many of them are armed with pistols and rifles. At one point during the demonstration, which began around 9 a.m., a woman tried to climb in a window on the west side of the government building. Oregon State Troopers, however, repelled her—before two more troopers showed up to insist that she get off the ledge.

Those troopers were quickly chased off by screaming protesters, many of them toting long black rifles.

Minutes later, the crowd moved to the building’s north entrance and attempted to push their way in. A dozen more troopers arrived at the door, declared it an unlawful assembly, and pushed the crowd back, using some kind of deterrent in a series of “pop” sounds, at which point the protesters swarmed back out again, their eyes watering and coughing.

[...]

Protesters, however, quickly changed course. Three men with long guns moved to the west side of the building and encouraged everyone to open a door there. Once successfully opened, the protesters demanded to be let inside, but troopers forced everyone to remain outdoors.

[...]

“We’re not gonna give up this easily, everybody come in!” said one protester with a knife on his belt and a bulletproof vest as he entered the lobby. “This is our state. This is our building.”

Tensions also ran high during the legislative session. According to OPB, Republican state Sen. Dallas Heard objected to a state-wide mask requirement—and accused his colleagues of being involved in a “campaign against the people and the children of God.” The stunning accusation came after Heard spoke to protesters outside the Capitol, where he also expressed his frustration with the mask mandate and insisted he is for the “people.” The lawmaker asked residents to vote out his Democratic colleagues."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/heavily-armed-far-right-mob-descends-on-oregon-capitol

"SALEM, Ore. – Oregon State Police declared a protest at the Capitol an unlawful assembly on Monday morning and arrested four people while lawmakers met for a special session.

The protest, billed as a "Reopen Oregon" rally, began Monday morning as lawmakers started a special session to offer Oregonians more relief amid the coronavirus pandemic."

katu.com/amp/news/local/protest-at-oregon-capitol-declared-unlawful-assembly


I will remind everyone that a few months ago far-right terrorists tried to incite a civil war by kidnapping and murdering the governor of Michigan. Their plot was foiled and the Michigan governor directly blamed Trump for inciting far-right terrorism. This will probably continue to get worse in the coming months.

***

More news articles related to the ongoing coup.

As expected, the Electoral College cast their votes on December 14th, confirming Biden's victory. But the coup is still not over. The next calendar milestone is on January 6th, when Congress meets to count the electoral votes. This is a mere formality and will change nothing, but Trump and his co-conspirators will continue to stoke the flames.

As covered above, on December 19th the New York Times published an article claiming Trump asked about the feasibility of using the military to back the coup. Stephen Miller said he is going to continue to pursue lawsuits to overturn the electoral vote. Trump told his followers to stage massive riots on January 6th to prevent the final certification of the electoral votes.

This isn't going to be over until January 20th when we get a new president. In fact, Trump supporters will likely continue to riot long after January 20th, and the Republicans in Congress will do all they can to sabotage the Biden administration to prevent it from carrying out a Crimes Commission to bring them to justice. The self-coup Republicans successfully carried out will remain in effect in the Senate and Supreme Court even after the Biden administration takes office. We have a long road ahead.


December 14:

"Electoral College Rejects Trump Coup and Confirms Biden as President.

[...]

Given the claims of the Trump campaign and Trump supporters that the president actually won by a landslide in various states carried by Biden, there have been legitimate fears of angry protests against these pro forma Electoral College proceedings. Threats of violence were credible enough in Michigan that state legislative offices were closed in Lansing until the 2 p.m. vote there had taken place. And one Michigan Republican legislator was actually stripped of his committee assignments by the GOP leadership after he publicly refused to rule out violence in protests against the electoral college vote.

As the electoral college repudiations rolled in, Team Trump unveiled a new wrinkle in its strategy to overturn the election. Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Fox & Friends that “alternative electors” pledged to the president would “vote” today in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

And sure enough, as the hardline pro-Trump Epoch Times reported, Trump-selected would-be electors gathered in those three states and in Arizona to cast what one called “conditional” electoral college votes for the president. That sounds better than “imaginary.”

The idea here is that in theory Trump slates could be recognized either by some future action in the courts (though his campaign has pretty much exhausted its legal remedies after the abrupt dismissal of the Texas lawsuit by the U.S. Supreme Court late last week) or by Congress when it meets to formally count electoral votes on January 6.

[...]

So we proceed with two parallel elections taking place: a fake election conducted by the Trump campaign without any legal authority, and the real election that is leading inexorably to Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, 2021."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/electors-are-meeting-today-to-ratify-bidens-win.html

December 14:

"Stephen Miller, an influential White House official, appeared on Fox News this morning and assured the hosts, "[W]e have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election."

I'll confess, seeing Miller say there's "more than enough time" immediately brought to mind Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the scene in which the Black Knight keeps insisting he can prevail against King Arthur, even as he's slowly dismembered.

But that's not all Miller said.

"As we speak, today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we're going to send those results up to Congress," he continued. "This will ensure that all of our legal remedies remain open. That means that if we win these cases in the courts, that we can direct that the alternate state of electors be certified.""

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/stephen-miller-eyes-alternate-electors-distinct-real-ones-n1251139

"The fantasy narrative has spilled out of the internet and into the streets. In Georgia, pro-Trump Republicans claimed to cast the state’s Electoral College votes for Trump. (Biden won Georgia by 12,000 votes.) In Nevada, the chair of the state’s Republican Party held a press conference to “certify” Nevada’s six electoral votes for Trump. (Biden won Nevada by 34,000 votes.) In Michigan, a crowd of would-be electors demanded to enter the statehouse to cast their votes for Trump, but were refused because the actual Electoral College members were already inside."

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/paulmcleod/electoral-college-trump-supporters

December 14:

"On Monday, the state’s 11 electors met, as required by law, and cast their votes for Democrat Joe Biden, as required by law given the fact that he … you know … won the election.

Also on Monday, the state GOP’s 11 fake electors met, as required by no one, and cast their non-existent votes for Trump, as required by their desperate need to continue to live in fantasyland.

The party even sent out a press release – headlined Arizona Republican Presidential Electors Convene To Cast Votes For President Trump, Vice President Pence – along with an all-smiles picture of the 11 fake electors.

Then came the three-page "Joint Resolution of the 54th Legislature", asking Congress to accept the 11 "alternate" electoral votes for Trump or “to have all electoral votes nullified completely until a full forensic audit can be conducted.”"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fake-arizona-electors-vote-for-trump-and-real-arizona-legislators-ask-congress-to-accept-them/ar-BB1bVxFj


Mitch McConnell has publicly accepted Biden's victory now that the electoral college has officially voted, but "libertarian" Rand Paul is helping to keep the coup going.

December 16:

"Sen. Rand Paul falsely claims presidential election was 'stolen', siding with Donald Trump."

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/16/sen-rand-paul-falsely-claims-presidential-election-stolen/3923681001/


Although people like Paul claim to hold principles advocating for liberty and rooting out corruption in the government, it has long been obvious Paul is just as crooked and devoid of principle as the rest. In March 2017, just months after the Trump administration began, John McCain said, referring to Paul, "The Senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin."


A year later, Paul was hand-delivering letters to Putin, taking great pride in this.

"“I was honored to deliver a letter from President Trump to President Vladimir Putin’s administration. The letter emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchanges,” Paul wrote in a Twitter post.

The White House said the Republican president had provided Paul with a “letter of introduction” for his trip at the senator’s request.

“In the letter, the president mentioned topics of interest that Senator Paul wanted to discuss with President Putin,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-idUSKBN1KT1RV

"By now, practically everyone has seen that picture of the two guys at President Trump's weekend rally in Ohio wearing T-shirts that said: "I'd Rather be a Russian than a Democrat!"

Many have also seen the visuals of Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul hobnobbing in Moscow this week with members of the Russian Council, sometimes called his "counterparts.""

https://www.npr.org/2018/08/09/636982295/is-it-springtime-for-putin-and-republicans

This came a month after 8 Republicans went to Russia during the 4th of July:

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/395719-gop-senators-visited-moscow-on-july-4

I pointed out back in early 2019 how obvious it was that Republican love for Russia was a clear signal that our government had been compromised. Looking back, this is probably some of the earliest clear-cut evidence of the successful Republican self-coup, where the Republican administration operated with total disregard to both the letter and spirit of our Constitution and laws with impunity.


December 9: Russian state media has suggested Trump should go into exile in Russia once his term is over. Heading to a country which supported your regime in order to escape punishment is, you know, something leaders of failed coups often do.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-media-wants-moscow-to-grant-asylum-to-trump-to-help-him-dodge-prosecutions

December 16: Trump wants to fire FBI director for not helping him with the coup, but Trump's lawyers talked him out of it:

"The White House counsel's office has advised President Trump against firing FBI Director Christopher Wray, warning of potential legal consequences for the move, NBC News reported.

[...]

Administration lawyers reportedly told the president the move would make explicit that he expected the personal loyalty of anyone appointed to the position, adding that it could create a ripple effect similar to the 2017 dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey, which led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone and other White House attorneys have also told the president the firing would likely be viewed as retaliation for Wray's failure to announce investigations the president has called for into his political enemies, according to NBC News."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-counsels-office-advised-trump-against-firing-fbi-director-report/ar-BB1bYush

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Democrat politicians are now calling Republicans out for their coup attempt!

This is an extremely significant development. No longer is it just dozens of mainstream media outlets (including non-American media outlets!), but now a sitting politician is acknowledging the coup attempt. And not just any politician, but one of the highest-ranking members of the Democrat party.

This milestone deserves its own post, so I will be posting all subsequent updates regarding the Republican coup attempt on this page. Please see the previous post, where I give an account of the dozens and dozens of mainstream journalists and media outlets who were willing to call the coup attempt out.


House Majority Whip James Clyburn:

"This is an attempt to overthrow our government.
You may not call it a coup, but this is an attempted coup.

Some people say Trump is trying to steal the election.
He is not trying to steal the election.
He is in your face trying to overthrow the will of the people." -James E. Clyburn, December 8, 2020

https://twitter.com/WhipClyburn/status/1336313614249189378

(Click the Twitter link to see the full 9 minute interview. Relevant section starts at 3:55.)

"Now, some people say he is trying to steal the election. He is not trying to steal the election. That denotes some kind of unknown activity when you are stealing. No. That’s not what he’s doing. He is in your face trying to overthrow the will of the people. But right here on your network, I said three years ago that this man did not plan to give up this White House."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/12/08/dem_rep_jim_clyburn_trumps_election_challenges_are_an_attempted_coup.html


If Clyburn can step up and tell us this is a coup attempt, journalists and media outlets no longer have any excuses when they try to gaslight us and tell us this isn't a coup and isn't a big deal. This is a coup.

***

The following are additional news articles related to the still-ongoing coup attempt. Please see my previous post covering dozens of other articles on this subject. (Again, I do not necessarily endorse the analyses in any of these articles. I am posting them to demonstrate the vast number of journalists willing to correctly call this a coup. Years from now, when people try to gaslight us and downplay the coup, we can refer to these articles so we never forget the unshakable fact that the majority of the Republican party endorsed and aided Trump's coup attempt.)

We may have thought the coup is over now that all 50 states have certified their election results showing Biden is the clear winner. We would be mistaken. 126 Republican members of the House and 18 state Attorneys General have openly supported a (failed) last-ditch attempt to get the Supreme Court to carry out the coup and throw out the election results in swing states which voted against Trump.


In the wake of the failed lawsuit, Allen West, chairman of the Texas Republican party suggested pro-Trump states secede. (This is called sedition, by the way).

"Texas GOP chair Allen West issued a statement saying that “perhaps” it’s time for “law-abiding states to bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had called on the court to overturn the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, four states that were key to Biden’s victory. Attorneys general in 17 states and more than 100 Republican members of Congress backed the lawsuit that was shot down by the Supreme Court that said Texas doesn’t have the right to get involved in elections of other states.

West made his anger clear shortly after the Supreme Court issued its brief order tossing out the lawsuit. The Supreme Court “has decreed that a state can take unconstitutional actions and violate its own election law,” West wrote. “This decision establishes a precedent that says states can violate the US constitution and not be held accountable. This decision will have far-reaching ramifications for the future of our constitutional republic.” West went on to say that the “Texas GOP will always stand for the Constitution and for the rule of law even while others don’t.”"

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/texas-gop-chair-allen-west-secession-supreme-court.html

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/529926-texas-gop-chair-appears-to-suggest-secession-after-scotus-rejects


Regarding the failed lawsuit:

December 11:

"Trump’s Republicans are not just attempting a coup — it’s worse than that.

When Texas attorney general Ken Paxton first filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court demanding that all the votes of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — 10.4 million votes in total — be thrown out completely, the general media response was to call it a stunt. Paxton is under investigation for an alleged bribery scheme, and observers speculated that, by filing this ridiculous lawsuit, he is trawling for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, whose recent pardon of his crony Michael Flynn has instilled hope among other GOP lowlifes that they can bribe Trump to do the same for them.

Yet even though this suit is widely dismissed as a joke, a slew of other elected Republicans joined the lawsuit on Thursday, lending support to Paxton’s argument that red states should be able to overturn the results of an election that didn’t end well for Republicans. So far, 17 Republican state attorneys general and 106 Republicans in the House of Representatives — more than half the GOP caucus — have signed onto amicus briefs supporting Paxton’s absurd demands that all the votes of the residents of these four states be destroyed. Six states have asked to join Paxton’s lawsuit directly. On Monday, only a couple of House Republicans — mainly Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama — were willing to openly support Trump’s efforts to steal the election. Now it’s the majority of the House GOP caucus.

[...]

And while Republicans in the Senate have not formally signed onto this assault on the concept of democracy, many have done so informally.

[...]

As Amber Phillips of the Washington Post notes, “Paxton is literally arguing that the Supreme Court overturn an election because states counted their votes.”

It only makes sense if you assume, say, that the entire state of Michigan’s votes are inherently tainted because Detroit’s voters were included in the total. There is no non-racist way to assume that.

It’s tempting to write off this entire situation as another Trump-flavored clown show. The fact that Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who never turns down an opportunity to make a fool of himself, has offered to argue the case in front of the Supreme Court is just further proof. (Free drinks to the justice who asks Cruz if Trump was right to accuse his father of murdering JFK.)"

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/12/trumps-republicans-are-not-just-attempting-a-coup-its-worse-than-that/

The Supreme Court rejected the Texas lawsuit, because it had no standing.


That didn't stop 126 Republicans in the House (and counting?) of supporting this last ditch coup attempt. Their names are published in the following article. Please familiarize yourself.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/list-republican-house-members-overturn-election


As I keep saying, even when Biden takes control of the presidency, we are still going to have to deal with the fallout of the (successful) Republican self-coup in the Judicial and Legislative branches of government. There are currently 197 Republicans in the House. 64% of them openly supported Trump's coup by voicing support for the Texas lawsuit to throw out all votes in swing states that Trump lost.

Among them are House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (who was one of the first people to follow Trump's lead and call the Mueller report a "coup attempt" years ago--of course, we see now that Trump and him were attempting to control the narrative to distract from the Republican self-coup that was unfolding and ultimately succeeded), Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Steve King, and many of the other usual suspects.


December 10 [note, this article is old, the number of has risen to 126]:

"106 House Republicans Back Trump’s Bid to Overthrow the Government. Nothing to see here, just an attempted coup by the president and half of all Republicans in the House.

[...]

So we don’t actually have to worry about him successfully overthrowing the results of the election, but what we should probably be concerned with are the dozens of Republicans happily, publicly trying to help him execute his coup.

On Thursday, a whopping 106 House Republicans signed their names to an amicus brief sent to the Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton. Paxton, who is reportedly under investigation by the FBI for bribery and abuse of office—allegations he of course denies—falsely claims in his suit that Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin violated the Constitution by counting invalid votes, and has asked the court to force all four states to throw out every vote cast and, while they’re at it, appoint electors who support Trump.

[...]

This followed Wednesday’s equally insane decision by 17 Republican attorneys general to file their own brief in support of Paxton’s suit. While the Supreme Court is not going to actually grant these people their wish, if it did it would, as Slate put it yesterday, “commit the single biggest act of vote nullification in American history, voiding millions of ballots to hand Trump an unearned second term.”"

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/donald-trump-house-gop-coup

"GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy Signs On To Election Coup Lawsuit

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) became one of the latest House Republicans Friday to sign on to a lawsuit to invalidate the election results, marking a new low point of depravity for the GOP leader and the Republican conference.

[...]

McCarthy had initially resisted signing on to the petition, which is being led by Republican Study Committee chairman Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

Johnson sent an email to every Republican in the House warning them that Trump would be “anxiously awaiting the final list” of signatories. And when No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise, the minority whip from Louisiana, signed, McCarthy apparently made the decision to follow suit, not to be outflanked on his right by one of the only Republicans who could beat McCarthy in a race to be Speaker.

With both men signed on, House Republicans are being led by two men who support overthrowing the will of the people in service to Trump — or lack the courage to stand up to the president or his supporters."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-leader-kevin-mccarthy-signs-on-to-election-coup-lawsuit/ar-BB1bRlcr

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kevin-mccarthy-donald-trump-election-coup-lawsuit_n_5fd3dff0c5b68256b1153faa

Democrats may control the House of Representatives since their party has over 50% of its members. However, Republicans continue to operate outside of the Constitution in the House and are awaiting the day when they can retake the majority of its membership.


Beyond the coup's support among Republicans in the federal government, 17 state Attorneys General filed a brief with the Supreme Court showing support for this coup attempt.


December 9:

"Despite dozens of judges and courts rejecting challenges to the election, Republican attorneys general in 17 states on Wednesday backed President Trump in his increasingly desperate and audacious legal campaign to reverse the results.

The show of support, in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, represented the latest attempt by Trump loyalists to use the power of public office to come to his aid as he continues to deny the reality of his loss with baseless claims of voter fraud."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/09/us/politics/trump-texas-supreme-court-lawsuit.html


Their names are the following:

Eric C. Schmitt - Missouri (main author of the briefing).
Steve Marshall - Alabama
Leslie Rutledge - Arkansas
Ashley Moody - Florida
Douglas J. Peterson - Nebraska
Wayne Stenehjem - North Dakota
Mike Hunter - Oklahoma
Curtis T. Hill, Jr. - Indiana
Derek Schmidt - Kansas
Jeff Landry - Louisiana
Lynn Fitch - Mississippi
Tim Fox - Montana
Alan Wilson - South Carolina
Jason R. Ravnsborg - South Dakota
Herbert H. Slatery III - Tennessee
Sean D. Reyes - Utah
Patrick Morrisey - West Virginia

Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, filed the original lawsuit. So that makes 18 state Attorneys General who openly support this coup attempt.


December 11:

"Republicans Back Trump’s Coup Attempt, Ask Supreme Court to Overturn 2020 Election.

Even before the 2020 election, President Donald Trump was telegraphing that he could use a legal strategy that would send contentious presidential results to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately for Trump, if the results of his seemingly countless election lawsuits are any indication, the results haven’t been nearly as contentious as he had hoped. But he’s still ready to bet it all on the big one, and he’s not alone. Republicans have lined up behind the president’s attempted coup."

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/republicans-trump-coup-attempt-supreme-court-overturn-2020-election

December 11:

"Editorial: Trump’s court won’t join his coup"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/editorial-trump-e2-80-99s-court-won-e2-80-99t-join-his-coup/ar-BB1bRAVm

The courts may not have supported the coup, but never forget that Trump and Republicans packed the courts in preparation for this coup attempt. Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court after 60 million Americans had already voted, only a week before the end of the election. What would we have done if she and the rest of the court backed the coup?


December 10:

"Editorial: The enduring cost of Trump’s attempted coup.

[...]

The case dismissed in Washington, however, is being succeeded by an even more dubious attempt to bring the high court into the fray. Unlike the Pennsylvania case, which at least was led by a Republican congressman and a losing congressional candidate from that state, the latest complaint comes from Texas, a state whose electoral votes are being awarded to Trump without dispute. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is reportedly under federal investigation, is asking the court to throw out more than 10 million votes in four other states — Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — based on a collection of false and baseless claims.

It’s outlandish, though not too outlandish to have been joined by 17 other state attorneys general. Likewise, a Washington Post survey of Republican members of Congress found that more than 200 — nearly 9 out of 10 — still haven’t acknowledged Biden’s victory."

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/Editorial-The-enduring-cost-of-Trump-s-15789752.php

December 6:

"Only 27 of 249 Republicans in Congress are willing to admit Joe Biden won the presidential election, a survey found on Saturday.

[...]

Most Republicans seem committed to saying nothing: 12 of 52 senators and 15 of 197 representatives have recognised Biden’s win"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/05/house-republicans-trump-election-defeat-joe-biden

***

This article provides a decent summary of some of the major events in the coup attempt. Refer to the full article for more detail. I obviously disagree with much of the author's analysis, however.

December 11:

"Don't look past Trump's coup attempt: This is a dark moment in American history.

[...]

There is a man who keeps trying to rob banks. But he cannot write a legible ransom note. When he tries to verbally demand money from the teller, he gets nervous, starts mumbling, is scared and runs away.

The police and other law enforcement agents would pursue such a person with great diligence. If that person was eventually apprehended, he could not claim incompetence as a defense. Attempting to commit a crime is a crime in and of itself.

Donald Trump is a political criminal. He is attempting a fascist* coup against American democracy and the American people. That Trump and his gang have technically not succeeded in no way means that he and they are innocent of their crimes.

Moreover, the fact Trump has publicly announced his plans to stay in power by any means necessary, however stupid, illegal or ineffective his scheme may be, also does not make him innocent of committing major crimes against the democratic order and the rule of law.

There are too many examples to count.

After losing to Joe Biden in the 2020 election by at least 7 million votes, Donald Trump has encouraged the crime of insurrection by his supporters, including armed paramilitaries, to keep him in power.

Trump's agents (most notably, now-pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn) have publicly called for a military coup to keep the Trump regime in power against the will of the American people. Trump has continued to purge senior officials deemed to be "disloyal" from their positions at the highest levels of the national security state. Trump is also placing loyalists in other positions throughout the government in an effort to sabotage the incoming Biden administration."

https://www.salon.com/2020/12/11/dont-look-past-trumps-coup-attempt-this-is-a-dark-moment-in-american-history/

* As I have explained before, Trump is not a fascist and calling him one is counterproductive to left-wing anti-Trump and anti-racist rhetoric.


"America's democracy is a house built on top of a sinkhole. Donald Trump, his successors and followers and their movement will continue to burrow beneath it, trying to make the whole structure collapse. On top of that rubble they hope to build not a shining city on a hill but an ugly monument to white supremacy, Christian fascism and kleptocratic depravity."

The author goes on and on about how great US democracy is (despite empowering Trump and the Republican party--and, you know, democratically upholding slavery and Jim Crow for centuries, etc.). Yet the author also says democracy is a sinkhole that is going to continue to erode (a position which I agree with). False Leftists don't seem to realize they often engage in cognitive dissonance and doublethink as much as rightists.

Why oh why should we be content to continue to keep our nation on top of a sinkhole that could completely collapse at any moment? A sinkhole which could, in the author's words, give way to white supremacy at any moment? (It's already been giving way to white supremacy for the entire Trump presidency, and our government has officially endorsed white supremacy from the beginning all the way to the Civil Rights era...)

How about we move our nation and government to a more firm foundation that can actually ensure liberty and justice for all? This is the hubris of Western Civilization's fetishism for the so-called "Enlightenment era" principles of government. False Leftists would rather keep us on top of a "sacred" sinkhole instead of formulating a better attempt at a system of government... Tyranny of the majority never has been, and never will be, a satisfactory system of government.

***

December 8:

"Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers ask how many times Trump has to lose before he quits his 'coup attempt'

Despite "Typhoid Rudy" Giuliani's "serious illness, the president has vowed to continue the fight against democracy," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. In "yet another huge blow to the president's coup attempt," he added, Georgia just "re-certified its presidential election results, once again finding Joe Biden as the winner following three counts of ballots. Well, like the saying goes, third time's the same as the first and the second time, only much more humiliating. But don't feel left out, Mr. President. Biden may have won the Peach State, but you got impeached, and that will never go away."

[...]

"Trump actually called up the governor of Georgia and asked him to overturn the election results — also known as coup calling, because if you're not calling this an attempted coup, then what are you calling it?" Meyers asked. "Just because it's a dumb, lazy coup that won't work doesn't mean it isn't still an attempted coup." That's also true for Trump's many legal losses, he added. "I mean, how many times does Biden have to win these states to prove to people that it's real?""

https://theweek.com/speedreads/953905/stephen-colbert-seth-meyers-ask-how-many-times-trump-lose-before-quits-coup-attempt


December 10:

"I realize I’m just a simple newspaper columnist, but it seems having a lame-duck U.S. president openly advocating a coup is a really bad and insane thing, yet the people who most loudly call themselves patriots don’t appear to give a whit.

[...]

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Roy Blunt and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, during a meeting of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, all voted against a standard and symbolic resolution that would have affirmed Biden as president-elect.

Sen. Ted Cruz threw up his hand this week and offered to argue a ludicrous Pennsylvania election case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court, of course, rejected the case, because it was patently absurd.

Cruz is smart and had to know that would happen. Why does he, and others such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, debase himself over and over again at the altar of a man so clearly destined to be condemned by history?

The time for lame excuses (“We just need to give Trump room to work through this loss”) and tacit approval of frivolous lawsuits (“The president has every right to pursue all legal avenues”) is over.

[...]

We don’t stop this craziness from happening again by downplaying or excusing it all."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rex-huppke-crybaby-trump-has-gone-e2-80-98coup-coup-e2-80-99-and-gop-nods-along-call-it-what-it-is-crazy-stupid-and-dangerous/ar-BB1bN47x

December 11:

"Arizona Republican Party asking if followers are willing to die for Trump, openly beefing with GOP governor.

PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey spent much of Donald Trump’s presidency trying not to provoke a confrontation with the president or his fervent defenders. He almost made it through.

But when state law required Ducey to certify Arizona’s presidential election results and sign off on Trump’s defeat last week, four years of loyalty wasn’t enough to protect him from the president. “Republicans will long remember!” Trump tweeted in anger at the governor.

Since then, the episode has spiraled into a public and politically damaging dispute between Ducey and influential Trump loyalists in his own party. Those who believe Trump’s unproven claims of fraud and support his effort to undermine the will of voters say Ducey betrayed his party and are asking on Twitter whether supporters are willing to die for the president. His defenders have dismissed the critics as “nuts.”"

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-arizona-republican-party-rift-twitter-20201211-fxq7ys4shnapbgmbv27ucvtjqy-story.html

December 10:

"Every Republican in Congress May Have to Vote on Trump’s Coup

[...]

The president also has enlisted Vice-President Pence to reach out to governors and other party leaders in key states to see what else can be done to help the president. A person familiar with the calls said Pence has not exerted pressure on lawmakers to take specific actions and sees them as “checking in.”

Earlier, Trump was trying to talk Republican legislators in several states, namely Michigan and Pennsylvania, into just disregarding the popular vote and appointing electors pledged to him, but he found no takers. Once the doomed Texas petition asking the Supreme Court to overturn the results fails — which it will — Team Trump will be nearly out of options. But the one remaining option will put Republican members of Congress in the spotlight with nowhere to hide.

Alabama representative Mo Brooks is planning to take advantage of an obscure provision of the Electoral Count Act of 1877 law to mount a final challenge to Biden’s win, as I noted last week:

To make a very long and tedious story short, the last step in any presidential election is the certification of electoral votes by the newly elected Congress in early January. This is normally a rubber-stamp of the results everyone knows on or shortly after Election Night. But the above-mentioned Electoral Count Act provides a way to “pause” the certification if one House and one Senate member protest the award of electors in one or more states. In that event, the two chambers separate and hold a two-hour debate before voting on the electoral votes for disputed states. Only if both Houses disapprove the initial results are they changed.

So far Brooks hasn’t publicly identified a senator who is willing to help him trigger this last resort, but there are plenty of likely suspects, ... The ostensible strategy for the caper isn’t entirely clear: Normally you’d challenge electors in states with multiple, disputed slates that have been sent to Congress (that’s what led to the adoption of the Electoral Count Act, which followed the disputed 1876 presidential election). With all 50 states having already certified electors and the “safe harbor deadline” for replacing them in Congress having already passed, that doesn’t seem to be an option."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/every-republican-in-congress-may-have-to-vote-on-trump-e2-80-99s-coup/ar-BB1bP2Rr


More of the talking heads on TV are joining in. December 9:

"Tapper Goes Off on ‘Clownish’ GOP Coup Attempt: ‘It Is Absolutely Disgraceful’"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jake-tapper-blasts-clownish-gop-coup-attempt-says-it-is-absolutely-disgraceful

Old article (November 10):

"Trump Attempting a Coup With Republican Support Doesn't Have to Work to be Dangerous."

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/trump-attempting-coup-republican-support-dangerous

*****

December 11:

"Democrat asks Pelosi to refuse to seat lawmakers supporting Trump's election challenges

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) is asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to refuse to seat members of the next Congress who back President Trump’s effort to challenge the election.

[...]

“Stated simply, the men and women who would act to tear the United States Government apart cannot serve as Members of the Congress,” Pascrell said in a statement posted to Twitter.

“These lawsuits seeking to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by invalidating the clear results of the 2020 presidential election undoubtedly attack the text and the spirit of the Constitution, which each Member swears to support and defend,” he added.

Today I’m calling on House leaders to refuse to seat any Members trying to overturn the election and make donald trump an unelected dictator.
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) December 11, 2020

Pascrell argues that the 14th Amendment prohibits members of Congress from rebelling agains the U.S., and “trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that.”

The text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids Members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that.
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) December 11, 2020

[...]

Pelosi’s office didn’t comment on Pascrell’s request, but in a Dear Colleague letter sent Friday evening, Pelosi said the Republicans are “subverting the Constitution by their reckless and fruitless assault on our democracy which threatens to seriously erode public trust in our most sacred democratic institutions, and to set back our progress on the urgent challenges ahead.”"

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/529883-rep-pascrell-jr-asks-pelosi-to-refuse-to-seat-lawmakers-supporting-trumps

Pelosi had to be dragged into supporting impeachment and has been continuously unwilling to play hardball against all the criminal activities of Trump and Republicans (i.e. she has been enabling them), so it is unlikely she will actually do this.

Pascrell had previously joined Eric Swalwell in calling for a Crimes Commission to take place to root out all the criminal activity and corruption that occured during the Trump administration. Americans must do everything we possibly can to ensure the Crimes Commission actually gets carried out, or else our nation will never heal.

***

The chickens are coming home to roost as more and more far-right Trumpist voters are trying to tear down the "establishment" Republicans who aided and abetted Trump for his entire 4 years, but are not willing to carry out his coup.


December 12:

"MAGA Protesters Chant ‘Destroy the GOP’ at Pro-Trump Rally

A motley crew of pro-Trump figures was in attendance, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Trump’

[...]

In his speech, Flynn tried desperately to keep hope alive that the president would somehow manage to overturn the democratically chosen President-elect Biden, despite the fact that thus far every one of his attempts has been thwarted. The speech was Flynn’s first public remarks since Trump pardoned him in late November.

[...]

He continued, “The courts aren’t going to decide who the next president of the United States is going to be. We the people decide.”

[...]

Even minor MAGA celebrity Mike Lindell, AKA the My Pillow guy, tried to inject hope into the crowd. “Last night, about two in the morning, I got a text from [Trump lawyer] Sidney Powell’s team, and the Texas lawsuit [rejected by the Supreme Court] had nothing to do with what she’s been working hard on,” he said. “And she filed her lawsuits with the Supreme Court for Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona… I have seen it, the fraud is 100 percent, and Donald Trump will be our president for four more years!”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/protesters-chant-destroy-the-gop-at-pro-trump-rally-1102967/

Recently Flynn called for Trump to declare martial law in order to throw out the election and carry out the coup.


"After Supreme Court dismisses Texas case, Trump says his efforts to challenge election results are ‘not over’.

[...]

In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday morning, Trump repeated his false claims of election fraud and said his legal team will continue to pursue challenges, despite the Supreme Court’s recent dismissal of a long-shot bid to overturn the results in four states Biden won.

[...]

A CBS News poll released Sunday shows that 62 percent of registered voters believe that the election is over and that it is time to move on. But, notably, 75 percent of Republicans said that they believe the election is not over and that it should still be contested. Just 18 percent of those who voted for Trump in 2020 said they consider Biden the legitimate winner.

Attorney General William P. Barr, who was appointed by Trump, said earlier this month that he has “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” undercutting Trump’s claims of widespread and significant voting irregularities."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/after-supreme-court-dismisses-texas-case-trump-says-his-efforts-to-challenge-election-results-are-not-over/ar-BB1bTxFC


I see a lot of liberal people celebrating this chaos among Republicans, but this isn't good news.

The astroturfed Tea Party movement swept through the Republican party from 2009-2014. In essence, it emboldened Republican voters to move farther to the right and they were successful at replacing "moderate" Republicans with far-right Tea Partiers (like Michele Bachmann, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz). The Tea Party movement paved the way for Republican voters to move even further to the right, allowing for the rise of the Alt-Right. Now, with Trump's open support of white supremacy and other extreme right-wing views (which received no pushback from "mainstream" Republicans), the Overton Window has been pushed so that the Alt-Right is mainstream conservatism.

Alt-Right and Trumpist voters are extremely dedicated and zealous to their "cause" and so-called principles. Like the Tea Partiers, Trumpist Republicans will challenge non-Trumpist Republicans in the primaries and unseat them. If the "mainstream" wing of the Republican Party doesn't push back strongly against Trumpist voters, then Trumpist Republicans could very well become the vocal policy-setting wing of the party, just as the Tea Partiers were only a few years ago.

Again, this is bad news for leftists and sane people. After the Republican party absorbed Tea Party attitudes, they went to never-before-seen lengths to create government dysfunction and have driven partisanship to the highest levels in American history. Now that the party has moved even more dramatically to the right, the Alt-Right and Trumpist Republicans make people like George W. Bush look like liberals in comparison. (Indeed, the psychological trauma from Trump has been so extreme that one can easily find plenty of examples of Democrat voters longing for the "good ol' days" of the "sane" Republicanism of war criminal George W. Bush...)

Trump supporters may try to cause chaos for the Republican party leading up to the Georgia Senate election, but this is only to give them leverage over the party. Trump will leave, but all these millions of fervent Trump voters will remain. They will still be here during the next election, and the one after that, and the one after that. They will run for office and show up to vote. They will not allow Democrats or "mainstream" Republicans to rule unopposed.

The Republican party is very unlikely to reject such a reliable voting bloc, especially due to the fact that Democrats have a growing demographic advantage as the Baby Boomer generation dies off. So brace yourself for the likelihood the Republican party fully embraces Trumpism sooner or later.

In 2016 many people had the fantasy that Trump's chaotic character would end up destroying the Republican party. It didn't. Instead, his chaos and unapologetic corruption allowed the Republican party to successfully commit a self-coup and operate outside of the Constitution for 4 entire years in all 3 branches of government. The internal disputes among right wing voters at the moment won't destroy the Republican party either. When the dust settles, we will likely have to deal with a much stronger and exponentially more dangerous enemy instead.