Trump loyalists in Congress to challenge Electoral College results in Jan. 6 joint session (Update: Insurrectionists storm Congress)(And now what?) (1 Viewer)

[superchuck500]

I guess it's time to start a thread for this. We know that at least 140 members of Congress have pledged to join the objection. Under federal law, if at least one member of each house (HOR and Senate) objects, each house will adjourn the joint session for their own session (limited at two hours) to take up the objection. If both houses pass a resolution objecting to the EC result, further action can take place. If both houses do not (i.e. if one or neither passes a resolution), the objection is powerless and the college result is certified.

Clearly this is political theater as we know such a resolution will not pass the House, and there's good reason to think it wouldn't pass the Senate either (with or without the two senators from Georgia). The January 6 joint session is traditionally a ceremonial one. This one will not be.

Many traditional pillars of Republican support have condemned the plan as futile and damaging. Certainly the Trump loyalists don't care - and many are likely doing it for fundraising purposes or to carry weight with the fraction of their constituencies that think this is a good idea.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32717.pdf

 

[MT15]

This is a fascinating story, it details just how much pressure was being brought to bear on a few individuals involved in the election. It should be bigger news than it is, IMO:

Kanye West publicist pressed Georgia election worker to confess to bogus fraud charges

Weeks after the 2020 election, a Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West traveled to the suburban home of Ruby Freeman, a frightened Georgia election worker who was facing death threats after being falsely accused by former President Donald Trump of manipulating votes. The visitor...

news.yahoo.com

What’s not clear from the headline is that this took place on January 5th, when Trump desperately needed confirmation of wrongdoing, anything, in order to put his plan into motion.

His plan, as we now know from Mark Meadows, involved calling out the National Guard and US Marshalls to take over voting precincts and throw out any ballots deemed “fraudulent” and do the election over, counting only those ballots they deemed to be “valid”.

All he needed was a delay the next day, which Cruz was already proposing in his objection to certifying the electoral votes. I honestly think he was hoping for counter-protestors to start enough violence on Jan. 6 that he could declare a state of emergency. But, he wasn’t relying on that. As we saw, his own supporters were more than capable of providing violence, it just wasn’t wide spread enough.

Another piece of information that I was recently reminded of: Senator Grassley had said before the 6th that he would preside over the counting of electoral votes because he didn’t expect Pence to be there. He also said his mind wasn’t made up and he would listen to objections carefully. During the insurrection, the Secret Service tried to get Pence to leave the Capitol complex and he refused. He flat out told his chief security officer that while he trusted him, he wasn’t the one behind the wheel of the armored limo. And he didn’t trust the Secret Service to not remove him from the premises against his orders.

 

[MT15]

Saying the quiet part out loud.

 

[Kerry Won Ohio]

Saying the quiet part out loud.

If Meadows really sent that email, the the Jan 6 committee needs to be talking about this every single day. Meadows should go to jail for the rest of his life.

The Jan 6 committee and Democratic leaders must be much more vocal about what happened than they have been so far. If the Democrats want to save democracy in Nov 2022, then they simply must terrify every Democrat and Independent voter and get record turnout in Nov 2022.

And even that might not be enough to overcome the odds stacked against them by Republican voter suppression, gerrymandering, and Trump cult election officials.

 

[coldseat]

Nobody should be surprised. In words and deeds, Republicans have made it abundantly clear that they are only out to protect their power and they do that by only caring about and protecting their voters interest and wild desires. They're not out to look after all Americans and they don't care about democratic representation or the state of our democracy. Totally fine with authoritarians, as long as it's their authoritarians.

And their voters reward them for it by not caring about anything other than sticking it to the libs and their pet issues like abortion and guns. And thanks to our system of government and the way the radically conservative SC has interpreted the law to allow the politicians to pick their voters, thus enshrining minority rule, they are rewarded for these actions. This is a plus for Medows in the right wing biosphere.

And to add the cherry on top, independents are poised to giver Republicans control of everything next year because of inflation. So more of the same. Yay, America!

 

[samiam5211]

Nobody should be surprised. In words and deeds, Republicans have made it abundantly clear that they are only out to protect their power and they do that by only caring about and protecting their voters interest and wild desires. They're not out to look after all Americans and they don't care about democratic representation or the state of our democracy. Totally fine with authoritarians, as long as it's their authoritarians.

And their voters reward them for it by not caring about anything other than sticking it to the libs and their pet issues like abortion and guns. And thanks to our system of government and the way the radically conservative SC has interpreted the law to allow the politicians to pick their voters, thus enshrining minority rule, they are rewarded for these actions. This is a plus for Medows in the right wing biosphere.

And to add the cherry on top, independents are poised to giver Republicans control of everything next year because of inflation. So more of the same. Yay, America!

Yea, they aren't leaders.

Leaders don't bend to the desires of their followers, they convince their followers to do the right thing.

Our Politicians (especially Republicans) are at the mercy of their most outspoken supporters.

Their most outspoken supporters are being manipulated by algorithms that are trying to drive clicks.

So our politicians (especially Republicans) are serving the will of algorithms that are hard coded to drive clicks.

So through applying the transitive property i have concluded that we're forked.

 

[SamAndreas]

I read the report about Meadows. Now I'm having a problem having been left speechless.

 

[J-DONK]

Yea, they aren't leaders.

Leaders don't bend to the desires of their followers, they convince their followers to do the right thing.

Our Politicians (especially Republicans) are at the mercy of their most outspoken supporters.

Their most outspoken supporters are being manipulated by algorithms that are trying to drive clicks.

So our politicians (especially Republicans) are serving the will of algorithms that are hard coded to drive clicks.

So through applying the transitive property i have concluded that we're forked.

This is where I am, look at the covid vaccine. 99.9% of Republican leaders got the vaccine, all Fox News anchors did, and Donald Trump was booed when telling supporters at a rally to go get it. That's not a top-down opinion, but something that came from Facebook. What social media did was give Republican leadership an opportunity to act with impunity. Trump should have been drive out of his party after his failed coup, and American politics. The mere fact he is still around is the most outward sign of a rot that will prove fatal to our Republic.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Cheney wasn't playing. She reads texts from Hannity, Ingrahm, and Don Jr. himself imploring for Trump to do something to stop the insurrection. Only problem, the ones who need to hear it (the FNC and OAN watchers) more than likely won't hear a blip about it.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Cheney wasn't playing. She reads texts from Hannity, Ingrahm, and Don Jr. himself imploring for Trump to do something to stop the insurrection. Only problem, the ones who need to hear it (the FNC and OAN watchers) more than likely won't hear a blip about it.

My Girlfriend made a great point

that newsmax and OAN watchers will hear about it

“off camera and behind closed doors the Fox hosts are really with the libs, they’re just pretending to be with you and are playing you all for a bunch of saps. Start watching us instead”

 

[Kerry Won Ohio]

Cheney wasn't playing. She reads texts from Hannity, Ingrahm, and Don Jr. himself imploring for Trump to do something to stop the insurrection. Only problem, the ones who need to hear it (the FNC and OAN watchers) more than likely won't hear a blip about it.

Damn....that was good! This is what the Jan 6 committee needs to start doing on a much more frequent basis. Keep calling out Trump and these Repug fascists for this coup attempt. The Democrats must keep delivering gut punches like this if they want to have any chance of winning in Nov 2022.

And I love how Cheney worked in the text messages from the Fox News hypocrites as well!! They'll have some explaining to do to their idiot listeners.

 

[JRad]

Cheney wasn't playing. She reads texts from Hannity, Ingrahm, and Don Jr. himself imploring for Trump to do something to stop the insurrection. Only problem, the ones who need to hear it (the FNC and OAN watchers) more than likely won't hear a blip about it.

It's not surprising, but that is still wild.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Personally, I'm waiting for the names of the lawmakers who texted Meadows to leak. It's gotta happen soon.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Genius behind the coup PowerPoint
====================

……Not for the first time, we are reminded that American democracy was saved by Team Trump’s buffoonery.

They had the will, and possibly the means, to overthrow the 2020 election, but the would-be coup was attempted by clowns: Sidney “Kraken” Powell, the MyPillow guy, Rudy Giuliani of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, and now one Jovan Hutton Pulitzer.

The New York Times reported that the Meadows PowerPoint “appears to be based on the theories” of Pulitzer, a “Texas entrepreneur and self-described inventor.”

Pulitzer told my Post colleagues that he contributed material for the PowerPoint, which was circulated by a retired colonel who has worked in cybersecurity, firearms and distilleries — an example, the Post reported, of the “cast of fringe personalities” Trump deployed “to sabotage the U.S. democratic process.”


When it comes to eccentricity, Pulitzer takes the prize. Years ago, under the name Jeffry Jovan Philyaw, he invented the CueCat, a feline-shaped bar code scanner that was a brief sensation before it collapsed amid savage reviews by tech writers and earned a spot on Time magazine’s “50 worst inventions” and PC World’s “25 worst tech products of all time.”


Philyaw/Pulitzer then became a treasure hunter for the Lost Ark and landed on the History Channel for his claims about a Roman sword in Nova Scotia that many believe to be a hoax.

He also sold quartz crystals of “powerful spiritual significance" and wrote a series of books called “Commander’s Lost Treasures,” including one titled “How to Cut Off Your Arm and Eat Your Dog: Plus, Other Recipes for Survival.”

He kept up with his prolific career as an inventor, too (or at least as a patent applicant), proposing things we never knew we needed, such as “a vibrating finger cuff for use in performing a finger meanie.”


But his greatest invention came after the 2020 election, when he pronounced himself a voting expert, claiming he could identify fraudulent ballots by detecting, among other things, Chinese ink and fibers.

Trump allies in Georgia invited him to testify before the state legislature, where he claimed to have hacked into Georgia’s voting system. Georgia’s (Republican) secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, called Pulitzer a “failed treasure hunter” and his claims “patently false.”……..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/13/mark-meadows-powerpoint-coup-plot-trump-crackpot/

 

[Saintman2884]

Yea, they aren't leaders.

Leaders don't bend to the desires of their followers, they convince their followers to do the right thing.

Our Politicians (especially Republicans) are at the mercy of their most outspoken supporters.

Their most outspoken supporters are being manipulated by algorithms that are trying to drive clicks.

So our politicians (especially Republicans) are serving the will of algorithms that are hard coded to drive clicks.

So through applying the transitive property i have concluded that we're forked.

That's a very bold, commendable but somewhat naive view of how power politics works. If leaders or elected politicians don't consider or take their constituents views on hot-button issues and most of them are pretty hard-core on their takes on these issues, I'm sorry no amount of moral lecturing, sermonizing or cajoling or subtle, gentle condescension is going to change their minds.

You can vote your conscience as many times as you please, but lets not pretend there's not serious consequences for going against the wishes of majority of your constituents. They own you and can vote your arse out far more easily then you can try and change their minds.

 

[Saintman2884]

This is where I am, look at the covid vaccine. 99.9% of Republican leaders got the vaccine, all Fox News anchors did, and Donald Trump was booed when telling supporters at a rally to go get it. That's not a top-down opinion, but something that came from Facebook. What social media did was give Republican leadership an opportunity to act with impunity. Trump should have been drive out of his party after his failed coup, and American politics. The mere fact he is still around is the most outward sign of a rot that will prove fatal to our Republic.

As long as Trump is still the uncontested leader of the authoritian far-right, MAGA cult of personality faction within the GOP, I'm afraid him being banned or driven out of American politics is not a realistic scenario, and Trump knows his MAGA crowds also are responsible for getting a large minority of current GOP congressmen and senators elected, so abandoning him for his planning and actions after Jan. 6 insurrection/coup attempt would only cause a schism to occur within the GOP, the very power vacuum/civil war thats in the process of happening anyway due to Trump's unassailable control of the GOP.

Trump used his MAGA crowds to browbeat angry, determined GOP senators to either not convict him in his second impeachment trial last February because if they didnt, they get primaried, lose their jobs or a Dem would win their seat. He's been using these factors as leverage to strengthen his stranglehold his hold over the GOP to force or push through draconian, unconstitutional voting laws and procedures in Republican-controlled state legislatures, state houses, voting commissions, Trump MAGA personnel in high-ranking positions who can control the auditing or certification of presidential elections in numerous conservative, deep red states.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Still seems like he should have gotten more time
=========================

A federal judge sentenced Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr. to more than two years in prison on Tuesday – the endpoint of what his family described as a years-long descent into political extremism and the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Meredith, 53, pleaded guilty in September to one felony count of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. According to charging documents and his own admission of guilt, the Georgia man drove to D.C. on January 6 with a vehicle full of weapons and ammunition intending to join former President Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally — but arrived too late to participate.

Instead, prosecutors said, Meredith proceeded to text family members threats toward House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser while driving around D.C. over the next day.

In one exchange, when a family member told him Trump wanted him to go home, Meredith responded, "Bull****. He wants heads and I'm going to deliver."

In other messages sent the following day – while Pelosi and Bowser were making public remarks about the riot – Meredith texted, “I may wander over to the Mayor’s office and put a 5.56 in her skull, FKG c***.” Meredith then sent a similar text about Pelosi, saying he was, “Thinking about heading over to Pelosi C****’s speech and putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV.”

Meredith's lawyer, attorney Paul Kiyonaga, attempted to portray his comments as hyperbole and "blather." He described Meredith as someone who talked a big game, but never would have followed through on any of his threats..............

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[samiam5211]

That's a very bold, commendable but somewhat naive view of how power politics works. If leaders or elected politicians don't consider or take their constituents views on hot-button issues and most of them are pretty hard-core on their takes on these issues, I'm sorry no amount of moral lecturing, sermonizing or cajoling or subtle, gentle condescension is going to change their minds.

You can vote your conscience as many times as you please, but lets not pretend there's not serious consequences for going against the wishes of majority of your constituents. They own you and can vote your arse out far more easily then you can try and change their minds.

There isn't a district in this country where a clear majority of voters have the same views on any 5 political issues.

Most people don't care at all about the issues that the loudest people are complaining about, it just that they are the only ones getting attention, and in the absence of leadership, people will follow anyone.

 

[Saintman2884]

There isn't a district in this country where a clear majority of voters have the same views on any 5 political issues.

Most people don't care at all about the issues that the loudest people are complaining about, it just that they are the only ones getting attention, and in the absence of leadership, people will follow anyone.

The loudest ones usually are the ones with most organized, higher earners in terms of donation, potential to cause trouble if their well-funded by outside pressure groups, on both the left and right. And buddy, most people do care or have opinions about inflation, gun rights/gun control, abortion/pro-life, or anti-death penalty/support death penalty in most districts in this country. Maybe they don't advertise it as loudly or less likely to tell people like me or you, but they do care and enough of them will vote out their congressmen/senators if they go against their wishes, a bit too much. Its hard to be an effective leader when you have a polarized, politicized community like this nation has been turning into for over 20 years now and you're shouted down as a smug, self-centered elitist too busy to be bothered to listen to angry voters and you ignore them.

Your analogy might've been accurate 40-45 years ago but the overall political atmosphere, across the board, has changed tremendously. There was a time political scientists really did believe that overall majority of Americans didnt have opinions on major issues and that gross assumption and mischaracterization of reality was disproven roundly.

In conservative, deep red states, a clear majority of voters who do agree on pro-life, gun control, or support the death penalty, even in congressional.districts in blue states which are more conservative, they can make voting for your conscience costly for your political future.