Trump has endorsed around 140 candidates for the Republican primaries across the United States, primarily because those candidates have agreed the presidential election in 2020 was stolen. Yet every time Trump tried to bring this to trial, it was thrown out. I would hope more moderate Republicans can put this to rest forever, but voting his candidate picks out.
Now a grand jury in Georgia has been impaneled to look at his "alleged" interference in the ballot count of that state.
The results of the most recent primaries are coming in. The Senate races have been discussed elsewhere, but there were other state office candidates Trump endorsed. From my vantage point, it looks like it is going to be a mixed bag for Trump. Nevertheless, the rubber really hits the road during the General Election when the Trump endorsed nominees will be up against Democratic opponents.
The results of the most recent primaries are coming in. The Senate races have been discussed elsewhere, but there were other state office candidates Trump endorsed. From my vantage point, it looks like it is going to be a mixed bag for Trump.
With two exceptions, all of Trump’s choices, win or lose, get around 32% of the Republican primary vote.
That works out very well if you're in a race with multiple credible opponents (hey there, J. D. Vance!) but not so well if you have only one other serious contender (sorry, Madison Cawthorn). This kind of mirrors Trump's own performance in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. The fact that the Republican field was so divided and that Republican primaries are decided on a winner-take-all basis meant that his usual 30%-35% of the vote allowed him to collect all the delegates.
Trump didn’t turn the Republicans into a party of ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians. He just figured out the Republicans were a party of ethno-nationalist, conspiracy theory-believing authoritarians before anyone else. Trump’s political strategy is the modern version of the famous (likely apocryphal) adage from French politician Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin:
There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.
Trump did not lead the Republican base to MAGA-Land. He followed them there. He did to the Republican Party what he has done to countless buildings and brands — slapped his name on an existing structure and then pretended he built it.
In other words, even those Republicans not endorsed by Trump will still enact the kind of ethno-nationalist, proto-fascist agenda that we associate with Donald Trump.
Looking for some good news on a bleak morning (but thank you Lord for Ascension Day tomorrow) I saw that David Perdue, one of Trump's favoured candidates, had been 'trounced' in Georgia.
I this a cause for 'A New Hope,' or is the Republican Party as a whole still in thrall to the Dark Side?
Looking for some good news on a bleak morning (but thank you Lord for Ascension Day tomorrow) I saw that David Perdue, one of Trump's favoured candidates, had been 'trounced' in Georgia.
The same is true of Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State who declined to "find" more votes for Trump in the 2020 presidential election. He beat his Trump-endorsed opponent, Jody Hice, by about 20 percentage points. About the only Trump-endorsed major Georgia candidate who won their primary yesterday was Herschel Walker, who's running to unseat first term U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, and Walker's success could just as easily be attributed to his background as a football player.
I this a cause for 'A New Hope,' or is the Republican Party as a whole still in thrall to the Dark Side?
As I noted earlier, too much attention is being paid to Trump the man, rather than Trumpism the idea. Even Republicans not endorsed by Donald Trump are still very Trump-like in their positions.
As I noted earlier[/url], too much attention is being paid to Trump the man, rather than Trumpism the idea. Even Republicans not endorsed by Donald Trump are still very Trump-like in their positions.
Yeah, I'm actually in the minority view, that Trump will NOT be the GOP nominee in 2024, and I've held that opinion for awhile(ie. before the recent losing-streak for his endorsees). But I don't think that will make any significant difference to the ideology put forth by the campaign.
And I'm not even convinced that it's Trumpism that's the culprit, as I believe anyone who coulda won the nomination in 2016 woulda governed the same, maybe with SLIGHTLY less incompetency on covid(or maybe not, government is the problem, not the solution, after all).
As I noted earlier[/url], too much attention is being paid to Trump the man, rather than Trumpism the idea. Even Republicans not endorsed by Donald Trump are still very Trump-like in their positions.
Yeah, I'm actually in the minority view, that Trump will NOT be the GOP nominee in 2024, and I've held that opinion for awhile(ie. before the recent losing-streak for his endorsees). But I don't think that will make any significant difference to the ideology put forth by the campaign.
And I'm not even convinced that it's Trumpism that's the culprit, as I believe anyone who coulda won the nomination in 2016 woulda governed the same, maybe with SLIGHTLY less incompetency on covid(or maybe not, government is the problem, not the solution, after all).
I think by the time 2024 rolls around he will probably be charged with inciting a riot an insurrection.
As I noted earlier[/url], too much attention is being paid to Trump the man, rather than Trumpism the idea. Even Republicans not endorsed by Donald Trump are still very Trump-like in their positions.
Yeah, I'm actually in the minority view, that Trump will NOT be the GOP nominee in 2024, and I've held that opinion for awhile(ie. before the recent losing-streak for his endorsees). But I don't think that will make any significant difference to the ideology put forth by the campaign.
And I'm not even convinced that it's Trumpism that's the culprit, as I believe anyone who coulda won the nomination in 2016 woulda governed the same, maybe with SLIGHTLY less incompetency on covid(or maybe not, government is the problem, not the solution, after all).
I think by the time 2024 rolls around he will probably be charged with inciting a riot an insurrection.
What a piece of fucking scum that fucker is. He makes Putin look civilized.
Ooh, my ears are burning. Are you referring to the speech he gave to the National Rifle Association? He is certainly tone deaf.
His power is waning. He lost big in Georgia. Other primaries are coming up which will help gauge his loss of power influence.
I don't think he's tone deaf. He's just a one-trick pony. I think he has an exquisitely finely-tuned ear (and a dead-eyed accuracy) for the particular audience he speaks to &/or for (which may not include all those present for his NRA speech). He has no interest (and perhaps no ability) to adjust / modify his utterances to appeal to any audience (or circumstance) beyond the very narrow perspective of Me. Want. Be. Big. Boss.
What a piece of fucking scum that fucker is. He makes Putin look civilized.
I am somewhat relieved that subsequent posts imply this invective applies to Trump and not (forgive the twee phrase, it just slipped out (pace George Harrison])) 'My Lord'!
But though The Power of Trump may be waning, other posters suggest, the malaise of Republican party is systemic. That is they is all a bunch of folk worthy of 'Turd of the Day'.
Rather like our present UK Conservatives.
Aye @Gramps49. Spot on @Ohher. And sorry @RockyRoger, no way! Jesus and I might be estranged, on nodding terms over the sky, but I miss Him like crazy.
Maybe. The DoJ hasn't indicted Mark Meadows or Dan Scavino for contempt, despite their referrals having happened before Navarro's. Most indications ("a source familiar with . . . ") are that the DoJ is going to take a pass on those two. Apparently subpœnas are now optional, at least for some.
I think Navarro was just a particularly egregious case. He'd been flapping his gums into every microphone in the DC area about January 6 and then claiming that executive privilege prevents him from doing the same into the microphones at the Select Committee.
Beginning 9 June the House of Representatives Select Committee on 6 Jan 2021 will have public hearings on what they discovered over the last few months. The hearing will begin 2000 hours Eastern Time (0000 GMT).
The first public hearings of the January 6 Select Committee were held yesterday (9 June 2022). A full video of the proceedings can be found here. Did anyone else watch it live?
The first hour (approximately) was devoted to chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and ranking member Liz Cheney (R-WY) laying out their findings. Luckily this was not just the two of them talking but was punctuated with various pieces of video evidence; mostly testimony previously given to the committee behind closed doors, but also a chronologically sequenced series of video clips of the assault on the Capitol.
Thompson took the role of laying out the big picture, that this was a deliberate attack on American democracy and constitutional government. Cheney's role was explaining Donald Trump's individual responsibility/culpability for trying to overturn the presidential election and inciting a mob to attack the Capitol.
Some key interesting moments:
Trump's former attorney general, Bill Barr, recounting three conversations where Trump allegedly told him to have the Justice Department claim there was significant fraud in the 2020 presidential election and Barr telling Trump that was "bullshit".
-
Ivanka Trump saying she believed Bill Barr that the 2020 presidential election was legitimately won by Joe Biden, and that she made that case to her father.
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Jared Kushner saying that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone's threats to resign over allegedly illegal actions being undertaken or contemplated by the president* was "just whining". Kushner also claimed he was too busy working on pardons to be involved in anything related to January 6. And speaking of pardons . . .
-
Multiple House Republicans asked Trump for pre-emptive pardons after January 6.
That last bullet point is the most interesting. So far the committee is not giving further details, but as House members themselves it's unlikely they'd make that allegation unless they had the receipts to back it up.
The second hour was testimony from Caroline Edwards, an officer of the Capitol Police who was present (and injured) during the January 6 attack, and Nick Quested, a documentary filmmaker who was following the Proud Boys on January 5 and 6.
The next public hearing by the committee will be on Monday (13 June 2022) at 10:00 am EDT.
Any thoughts from anyone else who watched the hearing?
I was much impressed by Caroline Edwards: intelligent, dedicated, heroic (and also beautiful). The committee could probably find a dozen such to testify. I hope the committee's recommendations will include ways to offer better support to the capital police.
I watched it last night. It was only 5 pm where I was and over by 7 pm. I thought Cheney was pretty damning of her fellow Republicans. The same Republicans are now threatening to investigate the investigation once they regain the house.
Caroline Edwards' testimony was riveting. Her memorable line was: "I was trained in crowd control, but not combat. We were in hand to hand combat." She talked about slipping on fellow officers' blood.
They also showed parts of General Milley's deposition describing how the Vice President was trying to order the military to intervene. Trump, though, was silent. Finally Milley took it on himself to order the National Guard to the capitol.
Then there was Nick Quested, a British documentarian, that was embedded with the Proud Boys. His video of the Proud Boys marching in formation to the capitol was unnerving. In another segment when some of the rioters were interviewed they all said they believed Trump had ordered them to the capitol and also ordered them to seize it.
The video of the attack was very graphic too.
It is pretty clear the committee thinks Trump conspired to overthrow the government. Ultimately, it is up to the Department of Justice to bring charges.
In the intrinsically second rate democracy that is America, the judiciary and justice, including social, is entirely subordinated to, negated by, party politics cloaked in the tyranny of the white supremacist, plutocrat, NRA fundamentally anti-democratic constitution.
In the intrinsically second rate democracy that is America, the judiciary and justice, including social, is entirely subordinated to, negated by, party politics cloaked in the tyranny of the white supremacist, plutocrat, NRA fundamentally anti-democratic constitution.
In the intrinsically second rate democracy that is America, the judiciary and justice, including social, is entirely subordinated to, negated by, party politics cloaked in the tyranny of the white supremacist, plutocrat, NRA fundamentally anti-democratic constitution.
Today's hearing pointed out how Trump would not listen to the advisors who were telling him he had lost. They also explained that while the early count did show Trump ahead in several areas, but later lost them because of the mail in ballots which were counted last. The ballots that are counted early tend to be Republican, absentee and mail in ballots tend to favor democrats. Another point: after the election, Trump set up a Save America PAC that was supposed to help him fund recounts and legal challenges. $250,000,000 was collected. I think only $5 million has been accounted for. The question is, where is the rest of the money.
Today's hearing pointed out how Trump would not listen to the advisors who were telling him he had lost. They also explained that while the early count did show Trump ahead in several areas, but later lost them because of the mail in ballots which were counted last. The ballots that are counted early tend to be Republican, absentee and mail in ballots tend to favor democrats. Another point: after the election, Trump set up a Save America PAC that was supposed to help him fund recounts and legal challenges. $250,000,000 was collected. I think only $5 million has been accounted for. The question is, where is the rest of the money.
Today's hearing pointed out how Trump would not listen to the advisors who were telling him he had lost. They also explained that while the early count did show Trump ahead in several areas, but later lost them because of the mail in ballots which were counted last. The ballots that are counted early tend to be Republican, absentee and mail in ballots tend to favor democrats. Another point: after the election, Trump set up a Save America PAC that was supposed to help him fund recounts and legal challenges. $250,000,000 was collected. I think only $5 million has been accounted for. The question is, where is the rest of the money.
in Russia?
Interesting notion, though tRump has not previously been noted for funding help/favors/support up front. Or, in fact, post-receipt either.
They also explained that while the early count did show Trump ahead in several areas, but later lost them because of the mail in ballots which were counted last.
This was always fairly transparently the Republican strategy in 2020: count on an early lead from in-person ballots, declare victory, and then argue that any later-counted ballots were a form of "cheating". It's not even that original. It's essentially the same playbook they ran in Florida in 2000.
They also explained that while the early count did show Trump ahead in several areas, but later lost them because of the mail in ballots which were counted last.
This was always fairly transparently the Republican strategy in 2020: count on an early lead from in-person ballots, declare victory, and then argue that any later-counted ballots were a form of "cheating". It's not even that original. It's essentially the same playbook they ran in Florida in 2000.
Partial results are misleading. They should avoid declaring any official result until the count has been completed (in-person and mail-in counts) in each area. I understand that some results are published before ballots are closed in other areas which seems likely to affect the result.
That the most powerful country on Earth cannot stop thirty thousand of its citizens a year from being shot and had an attempted coup by a neo-fascist failed president, eighteen months ago, despite voter suppression, makes America the greatest failed and most dangerous state of all time. He cannot be prosecuted and he will be back in power in 30 months. Russia let alone China, DPRNK, Iran are nothing.
Partial results are misleading. They should avoid declaring any official result until the count has been completed (in-person and mail-in counts) in each area. I understand that some results are published before ballots are closed in other areas which seems likely to affect the result.
I've always thought that veiling the vote counting process in secrecy invites more mischief than it prevents.
That the most powerful country on Earth cannot stop thirty thousand of its citizens a year from being shot and had an attempted coup by a neo-fascist failed president, eighteen months ago, despite voter suppression, makes America the greatest failed and most dangerous state of all time. He cannot be prosecuted and he will be back in power in 30 months. Russia let alone China, DPRNK, Iran are nothing.
Would you fucking stop it?
We don't go on all your political threads and give you shit about Boris Johnson. We sympathize from a distance, and consider our own weaknesses.
And we don't blow out the faint coals of hope you might have remaining.
That the most powerful country on Earth cannot stop thirty thousand of its citizens a year from being shot and had an attempted coup by a neo-fascist failed president, eighteen months ago, despite voter suppression, makes America the greatest failed and most dangerous state of all time. He cannot be prosecuted and he will be back in power in 30 months. Russia let alone China, DPRNK, Iran are nothing.
Would you fucking stop it?
We don't go on all your political threads and give you shit about Boris Johnson. We sympathize from a distance, and consider our own weaknesses.
And we don't blow out the faint coals of hope you might have remaining.
Stop it. Stop it now.
Well put. Johnson is undoubtedly cut from the same cloth.
Comments
Now a grand jury in Georgia has been impaneled to look at his "alleged" interference in the ballot count of that state.
And who would those be? No Republican with any power is willing to say the 2020 election was fairly decided.
Well, there is Gov. Kemp of Georgia....
The results of the most recent primaries are coming in. The Senate races have been discussed elsewhere, but there were other state office candidates Trump endorsed. From my vantage point, it looks like it is going to be a mixed bag for Trump. Nevertheless, the rubber really hits the road during the General Election when the Trump endorsed nominees will be up against Democratic opponents.
Blogger Digby noticed a pattern among Trump-endorsed candidates:
That works out very well if you're in a race with multiple credible opponents (hey there, J. D. Vance!) but not so well if you have only one other serious contender (sorry, Madison Cawthorn). This kind of mirrors Trump's own performance in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. The fact that the Republican field was so divided and that Republican primaries are decided on a winner-take-all basis meant that his usual 30%-35% of the vote allowed him to collect all the delegates.
On the other hand Dan Pfieffer argues that the focus on Trump misses the big picture.
In other words, even those Republicans not endorsed by Trump will still enact the kind of ethno-nationalist, proto-fascist agenda that we associate with Donald Trump.
Murc's law is a harsh mistress.
This. This. A thousand times this. There must be a UK equivalent too.
I see your Murc's Law, and raise you Joe Manchin.
I this a cause for 'A New Hope,' or is the Republican Party as a whole still in thrall to the Dark Side?
The same is true of Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State who declined to "find" more votes for Trump in the 2020 presidential election. He beat his Trump-endorsed opponent, Jody Hice, by about 20 percentage points. About the only Trump-endorsed major Georgia candidate who won their primary yesterday was Herschel Walker, who's running to unseat first term U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, and Walker's success could just as easily be attributed to his background as a football player.
As I noted earlier, too much attention is being paid to Trump the man, rather than Trumpism the idea. Even Republicans not endorsed by Donald Trump are still very Trump-like in their positions.
Yeah, I'm actually in the minority view, that Trump will NOT be the GOP nominee in 2024, and I've held that opinion for awhile(ie. before the recent losing-streak for his endorsees). But I don't think that will make any significant difference to the ideology put forth by the campaign.
And I'm not even convinced that it's Trumpism that's the culprit, as I believe anyone who coulda won the nomination in 2016 woulda governed the same, maybe with SLIGHTLY less incompetency on covid(or maybe not, government is the problem, not the solution, after all).
I think by the time 2024 rolls around he will probably be charged with inciting a riot an insurrection.
From your keyboard to God's Inbox..
Oh, this is priceless!! How about, "from your outbox to God's inbox"!
Two things bother me:
1. God will have a very active spam filter and, no doubt, a full 'junk email' box.
2. My grandchildren tell me that nobody, like, you know, nobody, does emails.
Perhaps I will find my Lord more easily on Tinder?
Whatever. If God actually existed as advertised, She'd surely be present throughout Her creation, including the electronic inbox, not so?
Ooh, my ears are burning. Are you referring to the speech he gave to the National Rifle Association? He is certainly tone deaf.
His power is waning. He lost big in Georgia. Other primaries are coming up which will help gauge his loss of power influence.
I don't think he's tone deaf. He's just a one-trick pony. I think he has an exquisitely finely-tuned ear (and a dead-eyed accuracy) for the particular audience he speaks to &/or for (which may not include all those present for his NRA speech). He has no interest (and perhaps no ability) to adjust / modify his utterances to appeal to any audience (or circumstance) beyond the very narrow perspective of Me. Want. Be. Big. Boss.
But though The Power of Trump may be waning, other posters suggest, the malaise of Republican party is systemic. That is they is all a bunch of folk worthy of 'Turd of the Day'.
Rather like our present UK Conservatives.
Back to my prayers .......
Doublethink, Temporary Purgatory Hosting
Maybe. The DoJ hasn't indicted Mark Meadows or Dan Scavino for contempt, despite their referrals having happened before Navarro's. Most indications ("a source familiar with . . . ") are that the DoJ is going to take a pass on those two. Apparently subpœnas are now optional, at least for some.
I think Navarro was just a particularly egregious case. He'd been flapping his gums into every microphone in the DC area about January 6 and then claiming that executive privilege prevents him from doing the same into the microphones at the Select Committee.
Rep. Louie Gohmert complained about the unfairness of this situation.
Reminds me of the infamous Neil Diamond lyric: "...and no one heard at all, not even the chair."
The first hour (approximately) was devoted to chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and ranking member Liz Cheney (R-WY) laying out their findings. Luckily this was not just the two of them talking but was punctuated with various pieces of video evidence; mostly testimony previously given to the committee behind closed doors, but also a chronologically sequenced series of video clips of the assault on the Capitol.
Thompson took the role of laying out the big picture, that this was a deliberate attack on American democracy and constitutional government. Cheney's role was explaining Donald Trump's individual responsibility/culpability for trying to overturn the presidential election and inciting a mob to attack the Capitol.
Some key interesting moments:
-
-
-
That last bullet point is the most interesting. So far the committee is not giving further details, but as House members themselves it's unlikely they'd make that allegation unless they had the receipts to back it up.
The second hour was testimony from Caroline Edwards, an officer of the Capitol Police who was present (and injured) during the January 6 attack, and Nick Quested, a documentary filmmaker who was following the Proud Boys on January 5 and 6.
The next public hearing by the committee will be on Monday (13 June 2022) at 10:00 am EDT.
Any thoughts from anyone else who watched the hearing?
Caroline Edwards' testimony was riveting. Her memorable line was: "I was trained in crowd control, but not combat. We were in hand to hand combat." She talked about slipping on fellow officers' blood.
They also showed parts of General Milley's deposition describing how the Vice President was trying to order the military to intervene. Trump, though, was silent. Finally Milley took it on himself to order the National Guard to the capitol.
Then there was Nick Quested, a British documentarian, that was embedded with the Proud Boys. His video of the Proud Boys marching in formation to the capitol was unnerving. In another segment when some of the rioters were interviewed they all said they believed Trump had ordered them to the capitol and also ordered them to seize it.
The video of the attack was very graphic too.
It is pretty clear the committee thinks Trump conspired to overthrow the government. Ultimately, it is up to the Department of Justice to bring charges.
Pond war, anyone?
No thanks.
in Russia?
Interesting notion, though tRump has not previously been noted for funding help/favors/support up front. Or, in fact, post-receipt either.
This was always fairly transparently the Republican strategy in 2020: count on an early lead from in-person ballots, declare victory, and then argue that any later-counted ballots were a form of "cheating". It's not even that original. It's essentially the same playbook they ran in Florida in 2000.
Partial results are misleading. They should avoid declaring any official result until the count has been completed (in-person and mail-in counts) in each area. I understand that some results are published before ballots are closed in other areas which seems likely to affect the result.
I've always thought that veiling the vote counting process in secrecy invites more mischief than it prevents.
Would you fucking stop it?
We don't go on all your political threads and give you shit about Boris Johnson. We sympathize from a distance, and consider our own weaknesses.
And we don't blow out the faint coals of hope you might have remaining.
Stop it. Stop it now.
Well put. Johnson is undoubtedly cut from the same cloth.