"Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace."
Had Mitch McConnell fought for the Presidency, like he should have, there would right now be Presidential Vetoes on all of the phased Legislation that he has proven to be incapable of stopping. Not to mention, he lost two Senatorial seats in Georgia, making the Republicans the Minority in the Senate. He never fought for the White House and blew it for the Country. Too bad I backed him in Kentucky, he would have been primaried and lost! Based on press reports he convinced his buddy, Bill Barr, to get the corrupt (based on massive amounts of evidence that the Fake News refuses to mention!) election done, over with, and sealed for Biden, ASAP!
A Legislative Oversight Committee led by Republicans in Michigan looked closely at the Michigan election and reported that the claims of irregularities in Michigan were examined closely and found to be untrue. Trump called their investigation "a cover up, and a method for getting out of a Forensic Audit for the examination of the Presidential contest." Trump published the office phones of the GOP senators who issued the report and urged people to "call those two Senators now and get them to do the right thing, or vote them the hell out of office!"
Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has been critical of Republican efforts to overturn Biden's election, calling it "anti-democratic and anti-conservative." Trump responded by issuing a statement saying,
Paul Ryan has been a curse to the Republican Party. He has no clue as to what needs to be done for our Country, was a weak and ineffective leader, and spends all of his time fighting Republicans as opposed to Democrats who are destroying our Country.
Trump's telephone calls to the Arizona Governor and the Georgia Secretary of State are on the record. We saw him cajole leaders of the Michigan and Pennsylvania legislatures urging that they simply ignore the popular vote and name their own slate of electors. Trump issued a statement saying
The PEOPLE of Georgia should SUE the State, and their elected officials for running a CORRUPT AND RIGGED 2929 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
In Tweets, in speeches in Georgia prior to the January 6 Congressional vote certification, and in D.C. immediately prior to the insurrection riot, Trump called on Mike Pence to refuse to accept electoral votes cast for Biden. If Pence "does the right thing, we win this election" he told the "Stop the Steal" crowd.
American have been advised to take Trump seriously, but not literally. One could imagine Trump doesn't mean any of this. The word in punditry circles is "performative," with Trump doing the current version of his schtick, a tycoon political rock star doing material that keeps crowds cheering. In a serious-but-not-literal paradigm, Americans have a giant excuse for letting Trump be Trump: It's just an act.
In that understanding of Trump, there wasn't a coup d'état, not really. It was and is a gesture, a symbol of frustration. Our democracy was never at risk any more than it is in a movie about an invasion of space aliens.
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Trump's private Oval Office fury with his Attorney General makes clear that this isn't a game. In his real-life role as the president, Trump expected Republicans to help him void the election to stay in power. Americans need to confront that reality. Key people at key times refused him, but this was a failure, not a false alarm. Trump's wrath at people who defied him is serious and literal, too. It is ongoing and it shapes public policy today. People who might oppose Trump are lying low. Silence is consent.
They need to speak up. It isn't enough to defend democracy by waving a big flag.
5 comments:
Changed your last sentence, eh? I've taken to archiving your posts at interval so I can look back.
* Lowest primary votes until Super Tuesday
* Losing to Bernie and the guy who drank liquor by a playground with shirtless blacks to gain street cred
* Winning primary by superdelegates because not enough delegates
* Chooses most unpopular running mate in the primaries
* Campaigns from basement
* Losing at end of election day, wins at 4 am next morning
* Confirmed in the midst of the night
* Protected by thousands of troops at empty inauguration
* Anyone who questions any of this is a threat to democracy
Oh and William Barr got a tell all book deal two months ago and what do you know CNN is talking about it just before he gave his election fraud talk. Sounds like he writes pretty fast.
Anyways only 14 states are changing their election laws right now to stop what happened. You can debate the use of the word "fraud" all you want and that is fine, but something is broken when you have millions more votes than registered voters when district margins are often in the low 5 digits. We'll see how your Michigan claims hold up.
It's unusual for an ex-president to wield so much influence.
Parties typically reform and move on after a loss. The disarray in the Republican party is evident, but the full extent won't be known until next year's elections. In the meantime we are watching Republicans walking a tightrope over an alligator pit. We wonder why they still embrace Trumpism, when it has shown to be a disastrous failure, but the fact is they have no alternative.
We have learned that a significant minority live in an alternate reality, of vast elaborate conspiracies, racial paranoia and delusional rationalizations for their failure to achieve the material success they are told they deserve by Republicans who have pandered to this minority for a generation. Their fantasies are cinematic and grandiose, as if the Marvel movies they voraciously consume have come to life, and this distorted worldview is tailor made for an unscrupulous charlatan to exploit.
It's clear that if prosecutors had paid more attention to Trump's financial misdeeds we wouldn't have had to suffer through this ordeal.
Now, finally, they are bringing some accountability, though the impact will be blunted by politics. However, it should be noted that so far, no Republicans have rushed to Trump's defense and that is telling. Yesterday, Jr. was on FOX decrying in effect, "we are just being picked on for doing what everybody does", which sort of sounds like a confession, yes?
Rick's 3rd paragraph is quite astute in describing what we are up against.
I'm assuming, Peter, that posting your first visitor this morning was as a heads up as to what not just Progressives, but many Independents and the remnants if sane Republicans are up against in the next Election Cycle, if we get that far ?
It seems there are so many messages, both implicit and explicit, that reinforce the narrative of Trump as the nation's rightful leader. I belong to a sportsmen's club so I can use the range. Here's the email they sent to members on Memorial Day:
To honor this Memorial Day, I am sharing a quote from President Trump:
“Americans owe all that we are, and everything we ever hope to be, to these unrivaled heroes. Their memory and their legacy is immortal. Our loyalty to them and to their families is eternal and everlasting.” Thank you President Trump.
They could have cited parts of President Biden's Speech where he even quotes the Bible. The entire non-partisan speech was about remembering and honoring those who sacrificed to preserve American ideals. It was what any good presidential speech writer would write.
But the sportsmen's club decided to quote a former president (who is known to have referred Veterans as "suckers"). My assumption is that they think the majority of members are big 2A supporters and they see Biden as the enemy so they quoted their hero instead. Membership dollars talk.
Trump is the undisputed leader of the Republican Party, making it the first party since the Confederacy that tried to overthrow our government. If Republican politicians denounced his stupid lies, white nationalist madness and treason, they wouldn’t have a party.
Lindsey Graham sums it up best. When Trump won the nomination in 2016, he said, “My party’s gone batshit crazy!” Truer words were never spoken. After Trump’s armed thugs attacked our Capitol, Graham announced that “We can’t move forward without him.” The GOP has become indistinguishable from Trump and his neo-Nazi base.
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