January 6: Domestic Terrorists’ Attempted Coup – ‘ A Day in Infamy’

Today was the most horrific day for the United States since 9/11/01 when 3,000 people were killed by foreign terrorists. Thus far, only one person was directly killed in a domestic insurgency by white supremacists, and three other people died in the vicinity. Yet thousands of domestic terrorists attacked the U.S. Capitol, climbing walls, smashing windows, and crawling into the building to violently destroy the workings of Congress as it proceeded to complete the 2020 election under the guidance of the U.S. Constitution.

Worse than this insurrection that attempts to keep the current occupant of the Oval Office in the White House, he and 153 GOP members of Congress—a majority of Republicans elected to Congress—abetted the violent attack on the nation’s capitol for the first time in 206 years by the British during the War of 1812. Thugs paraded throughout the U.S. Capitol and waved the Confederate flag instead of the flag of the United States. Congressional members who couldn’t be safely removed from the building hid under desks and behind barricaded doors, terrified for their lives.

Many hours of unbelievable scenes from Washington, D.C. show a police force failing to stop white supremacists take over the chambers of Congress and the offices of congressional members, including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). One elected representative in the U.S. House reported she had called her husband last night last night to tell him where to find her will if she didn’t survive today.

Last summer, Washington police came out in full riot gear against Black Lives Matter, and federal agents physically attacked protesters in Portland (OR) for attempting to set fires outside a federal courthouse. On the steps of the Capitol over two years ago, police arrested 300 people peacefully protesting the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of them soon to be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 

Today, police in Washington opened the gates to let in the insurgents and made few arrests of people who blocked congressional procedures by physically threatening congressional members and driving them out of the Capitol. Inside the building, police took selfies with terrorists; outside, the police passively looked at the people who had committed criminal acts at the Capitol. 

The insurrection could not have come as a surprise. Between January 1 and January 4, QAnon supporters made at least 1,250 posts calling for violence on January 6, which they called “Independence Day,” claiming “politicians…raping and killing children…won’t be able to walk down the street.” Dictator Donald Trump has repeatedly supported QAnon tweets. Instead of blocking the insurrection, he told the insurgents that they should go home but he “loved them” and found them “very special.” He still sits in the White House after his rhetoric caused the insurgency although social media has blocked the video inciting violence.

Dictator Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been blocked for 12 hours because of “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy” with the threat of permanent suspension for more violations. Twitter adviser Danielle Citron, a law professor at the University of Virginia, tweeted, “He has deliberately incited violence, causing mayhem with his lies and threats.” Dictator Donald Trump, who also bragged about being for “law and order,” had tweeted:

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.”

At the inauguration almost exactly four years ago, Dictator Donald Trump excoriated the “American carnage.” His term is ending with the “carnage” he predicted—the legacy for the man labeled the worst president in U.S. history.

As the constitution mandates, the two chambers of Congress returned hours later to debate the GOP to overturn the legal election for Joe Biden on what may have become the worst day in U.S. democracy during more than a century. The challenge to Arizona votes was voted down in the Senate with only six votes because seven of the original 13 had dropped out. Those six Republicans are Ted Cruz (TX), Josh Hawley (MO), Cindy Hyde Smith (MS), John Kennedy (LA.), Roger Marshall (KS), and newly-elected Tommy Tuberville (AL). In the House, 121 Republicans voted to overturn the election; 303 representatives turned down the challenge.

Using the disaster for fundraising, Hawley, thrusting his fist in the air, continued to lead the election overturn attempt which forces more long hours for debate in the Senate and House. After midnight in the early hours of January 7, he supported the challenge to Pennsylvania, skipping over the intended Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada; he could also object to votes from Wisconsin. With little discussion, the Senate voted, losing Kennedy and picking up Cynthia Lummis (WY) and Rick Scott (FL) to overturn the election in Pennsylvania. The House took much longer with much posturing from the overturners and a final vote of at least 138-282. All overturners are Republicans.

When Congress completes its task and confirms the Electoral College vote, they go home, returning on January 19. The “dear leader” remains to further destroy the United States within his next 14 days before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20. And insurgents may return, as they threaten, with “muskets.”

During the insurrection against the U.S. government on January 6, the daily number of COVID-19 deaths hit a new high of 4,100.

 

January 5: Georgia Turns Bluer, GOP Plans Coup

Democrat Democrat Warnock has been declared winner of the Georgia senate seat to replace Kelly Loeffler, and Democrat Jon Ossoff has a small lead against David Perdue. Dictator Donald Trump (DDT), who always wants instant gratification, won’t be happy. Just like he wasn’t happy with his 62-minute telephone call to Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to beg and demand the 11,780 votes to flip the state for him. He expects Raffenperger to “find” the votes and “recalculate.”

No knows who leaked the tape. Raffensperger admitted to taping the call, and several people participated in the conversation from DDT’s end. One source stated Raffensperger had said he wouldn’t release the tape of the call unless DDT “attacked him or misrepresented the call.” In a tweet, DDT accused Raffensperger of being “unwilling, or unable, to answer questions” about election fraud conspiracy theories, a falsehood according to the tape. When Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called Raffensperger earlier this year and asked him to destroy ballots, Raffensperger said he was glad he had a tape of the call to prove Graham’s lying denial to ask for certification of Georgia for DDT. No matter who leaked the conversation between DDT and Raffensperger, DDT may have committed a crime. Steve Benen wrote:

“Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes were obviously a turning point in history. By most measures, these new revelations are considerably worse. The abuse is direct and unambiguous. The corruption is overt and deliberate. The recording is a bit like a glorified confession. We’ve known for weeks that Trump has been engaged in a lobbying effort, targeting state officials in the hopes that they’ll overturn election results he doesn’t like, but it wasn’t until yesterday that we heard the precise nature of his perverse pitch—which includes elements of madness, extortion, and fraud.”

GOP response? They have no problem with DDT’s criminal interference in a presidential election, but they are outraged by the leaking of the tape.

Since the general election, DDT’s followers believed the lies about election fraud, including a large number of congressional members—140 in the House and a baker’s dozen in the Senate—who then claim people who believe the GOP leadership lies about the concern regarding election fraud “deserve to be heard.” Like in 60+ losing court cases?  The only “reason” provided for widespread election fraud is that DDT couldn’t possibly lose the election. Fox network’s Tucker Carlson blames DDT’s loss on “virtually every power center on Earth [including] big business, Wall Street, the defense establishment, pharma, the permanent bureaucracy in Washington and above all, Silicon Valley.”

On January 6, congressional members hope to keep DDT in the Oval Office by protesting the states’ legal certification of Electoral College votes, forcing each chamber into a two-hour session for each protest. If one chamber—such as the House with a Democratic majority—accepts election votes, they remain valid. Several Republicans in the Senate have indicated disgust and dismay with the 13 trying to overturn the election in favor of DDT and promise to vote against the conservative opposition to democracy.

When the 117^th House of Representatives was convened, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) challenged “the seating of members-elect from the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.” (North Carolina’s vote was closer than Michigan’s, but the GOP doesn’t mind because DDT won North Carolina.) Roy pointed out the claims of election fraud could also taint the elections of representatives and senators from these states because the same process was used to elect them.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), elected as an independent after her state’s GOP ran another candidate, opposes the coup because she “swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution“:

“I will vote to affirm the 2020 presidential election. The courts and state legislatures have all honored their duty to hear legal allegations and have found nothing to warrant overturning the results.”

On his Facebook page, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) posted:

“When we talk in private, I haven’t heard a single Congressional Republican allege that the election results were fraudulent – not one. Instead, I hear them talk about their worries about how they will ‘look’ to President Trump’s most ardent supporters…

“The president and his allies are playing with fire. They have been asking—first the courts, then state legislatures, now the Congress – to overturn the results of a presidential election. They have unsuccessfully called on judges and are now calling on federal officeholders to invalidate millions and millions of votes. If you make big claims, you had better have the evidence. But the president doesn’t and neither do the institutional arsonist members of Congress who will object to the Electoral College vote.

“We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage. But they’re wrong—and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions. Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) mourned, “Has ambition so eclipsed principle?”

Other GOP congressional members are coming out to vote against the challenge, including Sens. Jim Inhofe (OK), Jerry Moran (KS), Tim Scott (SC), and Tom Cotton (AR).  

Leaders of the attempted coup to overturn the presidential election struggled to provide rationales for their seditious behavior. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who has lost court cases to reverse the election, said that if legal elections are not nullified, “it will mean the end of our republic, the end of the experiment in self-government.” About his defeats, he called for violence, for the losers to “be as violent as antifa and [Black Lives Matter].”

A coup leader, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) attacked Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) for “shameless personal attacks” and “unfounded claims” about many court cases and AG Bill Barr’s statement disproving election fraud. Toomey also wrote about democracy being “the right of the people to elect their own leaders.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) criticized people for their opposition in overturning a legal election. He told them to “calm down” and “tone down the rhetoric.”

Members of the coup who appeared on television like Hawley and Rep Clay Higgins (R-LA) cannot cite any evidence of “election crimes.” Two of them—Cruz and Hawley—aim at a 2024 run for the White House if DDT ever gets out of the way. Even VP Mike Pence, another presidential wannabe, said he “welcomes” the opposition to Biden’s win. 

Monday, DDT told a rally audience “if [Pence] doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much” after he told the crowd Pence would overturn the election results in DDT’s favor. At a lunch with DDT, Pence tried to explain he may not have the power to block the electoral votes for Joe Biden’s victory despite DDT’s false claim “the Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” Pence knows his role on January 6 is to preside over the counting of the vote and read them without changing them. Yet DDT maintains:

“The Vice President and I are in total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.”

DDT prefers people believe the election was stolen from him instead of thinking he lost. Initially, DDT knew he lost, according to advisers, but a small group of insiders fed his delusion about erasing Biden’s win. Cleta Mitchell, an attorney advising DDT during his telephone call, left the law firm Foley & Lardner because its policy is not to represent “any parties seeking to contest the results of the election.”

The pro-coup Republicans in Congress use their MO of beating down the opposition with illegitimate arguments to destroy the reputations of Democrats. The GOP had ten hearings, one of them 11 hours long, about Hillary Clinton after four deaths at the diplomatic outpost at Benghazi. House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) blatantly stated the reason was to lower Clinton’s poll numbers. Now Republicans want a commission to audit already audited election results already examined in 60+ court cases where 80 judges, including some appointed by DDT, ruled no fraud.

Overturning the election doesn’t appeal to supporters of states’ rights who are opposed to the federal government making decisions, especially the U.S. president. Business leaders also know that this attempt decreases the stability of the nation: 200 leaders of the biggest companies signed a letter of protest to “thwart or delay” the electoral process.

Arrests of DDT supporters in Washington, D.C. for assault and carrying weapons started on Tuesday. The leader of the Proud Boys is banned in D.C. after his arrest for destroying a Black Lives Matter banner at an historic Black church in the city and carrying two “high-capacity firearm magazines.” D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser mobilized 340 National Guard members to help police after permission from the city’s National Guard commanding general Maj. Gen. William J. Walker and acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller. Guns are also banned “within 1,000 feet of First Amendment Activities” (aka protests) on January 4-7. The city also blocks openly carrying firearms, and licensing for concealed carry must be from the District of Columbia.

And the ignored COVID-19 surges. On January 5, 15 days before the inauguration, new infections in the U.S. are 226,593 and new deaths 3,543. Total deaths are 365,664—closing in on the 400,000 expected on Inauguration Day.

Biden Going Moderate, Republicans Face Litigation

Traditionally, transitions, except for the Florida fight leading to the Supreme Court, produce little news except when the incoming and outgoing administrations sat down together and talked. The year 2020, fitting Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) and his “new normal,” attempts to overcome DDT’s vicious malevolence. Today was a move toward granting President-elect Joe Biden the rights he deserved over two weeks ago.

After Michigan formerly certified its votes for Biden, Emily Murphy, head of the GSA, caved and wrote him she will begin the formal presidential transition—two weeks late. Michigan certified its votes with 16 Electoral College votes for Joe Biden in a 3-0 vote by the Board of State Canvassers. One Republican abstained. DDT lost in Michigan by over 155,000 votes. Murphy said DDT had nothing to do with her decision, but DDT tweeted he told Murphy to write the letter. Murphy had wallowed in self-pity because people were angry about her not following the law.

Fear of appearing before Congress may have frightened Murphy. She said she wouldn’t show up at a briefing, but her deputy could be there next week. She was told she would receive a subpoena if she didn’t appear tomorrow. For two weeks, Murphy failed to meet the law for her to “ascertain” the “likely” winner and hand over mandated funds and facilities for Biden’s transition.

Today’s Michigan vote certification plus Georgia’s certification of 16 electoral college votes last Friday gave Biden over the required 270 votes to take the presidency although DDT is still firing off salvos in the form of lawsuits, bribes, threats, and surrogates making demands. The final electoral college vote is on December 14, but Biden could be officially declared the winner in contested states by December 8 if they certify the votes by then. States must settle their disputes by that date.

Biden will get another 20 electoral college votes from Pennsylvania, another swing state. DDT’s personal lawyer and legal team leader Rudy Giuliani wants GOP-controlled legislatures to disregard the popular vote with the legislator’s own slate supporting DDT. Pennsylvania law prevents that action, and Wisconsin, another swing state with 10 votes for Biden, does not give that role to the legislature.

GOP legislators have largely kept quiet about Biden being the next president with only a few admitting the possibility before today. Fed up with the senators’ complicity with DDT’s refusal to concede, Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward’s sidekick in All the President’s Men, sent out this tweet about “closeted” senators:

“The 21 GOP Senators who have privately expressed their disdain for Trump are: Portman, Alexander, Sasse, Blunt, Collins, Murkowski, Cornyn, Thune, Romney, Braun, Young, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Rubio, Grassley, Burr, Toomey, McSally, Moran, Roberts, Shelby.”

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) urged Murphy today, before she acquiesced, to begin the transition. Yesterday, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) said on Meet the Nation Biden was the “likely” winner although he did it in a blizzard of lies which host Chuck Todd failed to question. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), not running in 2022, issued a statement the election “is rapidly coming to a formal end,” and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), also not running in the next round, admitted Biden was the winner after DDT was the loser in last Saturday’s Pennsylvania court case. Both Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) quit lying today. Earlier, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) openly recognized Biden as winner, and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was the first to congratulate Biden. That leaves over 80 percent of the senators to stay mum.

Before the election, Fox network pushed GOP support with fake predictions about Biden’s appointments for his Cabinet, should he win, destroying any perception of journalism on a network calling itself “News.” 

Biden has released his first nominees, all seasoned and crisis-tested. Confirmation requires at least half the Senate votes. With a GOP majority until the results of two senatorial contests in Georgia, Biden needs GOP votes. Collins, Murkowski, and Romney said they would vote in favor of Biden’s Cabinet appointments.

Antony Blinken, Secretary of State: Part-time resident of Paris who speaks French like a native and whose stepfather survived the Holocaust; President Clinton’s chief foreign policy speechwriter before serving as staff director for Biden when he was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and then joining VP Biden’s staff. Deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state for President Obama. Unified in Biden’s goals of rejoining rejoin the Paris climate agreement, reversing the U.S. exit from the World Health Organization, and resuscitating the Iran nuclear deal with a reputation of a nonideological consensus-builder.

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security: the first Latino and immigrant for the position dealing with immigration; former director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and former DHS deputy secretary of Homeland Security who oversaw the creation and implementation of DACA. With five DHS directors in fewer than four years and a strict anti-immigration policy, the new DHS goal is to not only build communication with immigrant communities but also return to the department’s other responsibilities of dealing with terrorism and natural disasters.

Avril D. Haines, Director of National Intelligence: the first woman in charge of 17 intelligence agencies who served as deputy director of the CIA and principal deputy national security adviser under former President Obama.

Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary: former successful leader of the Federal Reserve, earlier confirmed by Senate and willing to challenge corporate power and big banks. In her experience with George W. Bush’s recession, she gave time for the economy to heal and boost employment before raising interest rates.

Jake Sullivan, national security advisor: A Rhodes scholar who worked for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and helped Biden develop the Build Back Better, key to Biden’s economic message.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. ambassador to the UN: A Black woman with a long career of Foreign Service officer; former Secretary of State Madeline Albright was Thomas-Greenfield’s mentor.  

John Kerry, special envoy for climate: Former Secretary of State who successfully negotiated the Paris Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal. (This position does not require Senate confirmation.)

Reema Dodin and Schuwanza Goff, Deputy Directors of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs: Dodin – Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) Deputy Chief of Staff; Goff – first Black woman to serve as a Floor Director when she worked for Rep. Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD).

Highly progressive publications have disapproved of some nominations, but the general Democratic approval supports his moderate perspective in policy. An important part of Biden’s policies will be rebuilding the destruction of government and global order from DDT’s ruling.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, smeared by DDT’s lies contrary to her country’s success, has offered to help Biden and VP Kamala Harris tackle the pandemic immediately after the inauguration. She emphasized “the importance of organizations like the World Trade Organisation,” the recipient of more DDT lying smears. Ardern’s country has twice eliminated COVID-19, recording only 5 deaths and 406 cases per 1 million since the virus’s invasion instead of the 795 deaths and 38,465 cases per 1 million in the U.S. With the same rate of coronavirus disasters as New Zealand, the U.S. would have had 134,386 cases and 1,655 deaths instead of its 12,777,174 infections and 263,687 deaths as of November 23, 2020. Last summer, DDT said New Zealand was struggling with the virus on the day it reported nine new cases, compared to the 40,612 in the U.S. on that day.

Michigan’s AG Dana Nessel is exploring officials’ possibility of committing crimes by following DDT’s wishes to block vote certification for Biden, specifically Wayne County’s GOP members of the canvassing board. They tried to rescind their certification of votes after a call from DDT. That was before state GOP legislative leaders accepted a visit to the White House and were royally wined and dined at DDT’s hotel nearby. They seemed to indicate they wouldn’t interfere with the certification, but afterward one of them told the Fox network he wants “transparency” by Republicans looking into “irregularities” and “reports of fraud.” 

On behalf of Black Michigan voters, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is suing DDT and his campaign in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. for violating the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit argues DDT is using false allegations about election fraud to push election officials into not certifying votes in Michigan for the purpose of suppressing votes, specifically those of Black voters. DDT’s tactics include “dog whistles,” coded or suggestive language in political messaging, to suggest Black voters’ votes are illegitimate. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 “protects against efforts to intimidate or coerce officials to disenfranchise Black voters,” according to Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

After talking nonstop for almost a month before Election Day, DDT is relatively silent. In 20 days since the election, 13 have no events for him. Tomorrow DDT and Melania add a public event by introducing the National Thanksgiving Turkey at 11:00 PST. Thus far, he has appeared at public events four times, played golf at his own Virginia course six times, and taken no questions from reporters. And he’s gone from speaking 8,398 words per day in 2020, 55,000 words on the last day of his campaign, to a daily average of only 454 words. In 2020, he daily averaged 48 minutes on camera; since November 3, his total camera time has been 50 minutes. Other than the stress of his lawsuits, the quiet has been comforting.

Just 58 more days before DDT can’t even tweet lies!