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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel

Trump Crime Cartel

Insurrection Open Thread: There Is No Reasoning With These People

by Anne Laurie|  January 7, 202112:15 am| 214 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Goddamned Traitors, GOP Death Cult, Trump Crime Cartel, Lock Him Up...Lock Them All Up

45% of Republicans approve of the storming of the Capitol building. https://t.co/th0ldyK1IC pic.twitter.com/JnFFsZ4obo

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) January 7, 2021

show full post on front page

Also, a majority of Republicans blame *Joe Biden* for the storming of the Capitol pic.twitter.com/t3ijBDFely

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) January 7, 2021

Got that? Per Republicans, the storming of the Capitol was good and right and done by patriots, but also was somehow that guy Joe Biden's fault

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) January 7, 2021

Trump is a danger to his own country. He shouldn't be president for one more minute. #ImpeachAgain – Now. https://t.co/qUurJ4NEFi via @usatoday

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 6, 2021

I dislike being forced to agree with Tom Nichols, but… “Trump is a danger to his own country. He shouldn’t be president for one more minute”

… First, Trump is an imminent danger to the safety of the country. The Capitol was overrun by a mob at his behest. By late afternoon, Trump had called on the protesters to go home — while telling them that they were indeed right that the election had been stolen, thus pouring more fuel on the flames even while pretending to calm the waters. There is no responsible argument for leaving such a man in command of the armed forces, for leaving the security of the American nation in his hands for one more minute.

Second, even after this attempt at a violent overthrow of the political order is defeated, Trump is not going to stop. He created the situation in the Capitol, and he will gladly create another diversion — perhaps with a last-ditch attempt to use the U.S. military at home or as part of a desperate attempt to embroil America in a foreign conflict — if he thinks it is the only way to protect himself from the legal and financial peril he will face on Jan. 21.

Finally, impeachment for multiple crimes against the Constitution and the American people is the only course left for lawmakers, especially Republicans of the president’s own party, who want to demonstrate their fidelity to the Constitution and protect the supremacy of the rule of law in the United States. The Constitution has to mean something. If the president of the United States goes unpunished after unleashing a mob against elected legislators merely because he wishes to invalidate an election, then this is a far larger problem than a day of protest that got out of hand.

We should never have come to this point. Of course, now that all is lost, born-again constitutionalists like Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (soon to become minority leader) have rediscovered the notion of duty and strict obedience to the Constitution. They are too late, and it is to their shame that they did not act sooner. Trump has made it clear for months, even years, that he would never accept a defeat and that he would never voluntarily leave office. They knew the danger and they chose to take their chances in order to keep their grip on power…

Democrats, whatever the limits of their usual disorganization, have tried for four years to stop Trump from running roughshod over our system of government. Biden ran a campaign that took the high road and called for national unity. They have done their part. Now it is time for the Republicans to do theirs…

Another guy I don’t trust, but he does have a reputation as a competent/skillful lawyer:

This is key. The text is poorly drafted on this point, but when you think about it, it's the only sensible construction. https://t.co/FoZdnFkUHA

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 7, 2021

Anyway, once Trump objects, the VP and cabinet within the four days can notify Congress that they still think Trump unfit, and that triggers a period during which the VP remains acting president while the Congress decides whether (by a 2/3 vote of both houses) …

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 7, 2021

Ideally, Congress would sumultaneously proceed with expedited impeachment and removal proceedings that would result in an impeachment conviction that would not only totally remove Trump from office, but—this is the added value—prohibit him from ever holding federal office again.

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 7, 2021

Insurrection Open Thread: There Is No Reasoning With These PeoplePost + Comments (214)

Insurrection Open Thread: Disgraceful

by Anne Laurie|  January 6, 20216:22 pm| 125 Comments

This post is in: domestic terrorists, Goddamned Traitors, GOP Death Cult, Open Threads, Trump Crime Cartel, Lock Him Up...Lock Them All Up

Trump repeats claims about the election being stolen from him but says, "We can't play into the hands of these people…So go home. We love you. You're very special…I know how you feel, but go home & go in peace." His former chief of staff said many are "domestic terrorists."

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 6, 2021

It would be shameful, but these people — and particularly their Dear Leader — are incapable of shame.

show full post on front page

Trump is in the private dining room off the Oval Office watching news on the protesters on television, sources tell @SalehaMohsin and me.

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) January 6, 2021

White House adviser tells @Acosta some aides around Trump are furious the president won't do more… but "he doesn't want to”

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) January 6, 2021

Dan Lamothe is on the ‘military beat’ for the Washington Post:

BREAKING: The entire D.C. National Guard will be activated today, putting about 1,100 guardsmen on duty tonight, defense official tells me. Comes after breach of Capitol by pro-Trump protesters.

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) January 6, 2021

So, unarmed protesters in the streets last summer get the military and tear gas and men in unmarked outfits armed to the teeth, but an invasion of the Capitol gets "sorry, we're not home, please leave a message." https://t.co/a123O0U2Zj

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 6, 2021

The D.C. National Guard is not controlled by the Mayor; it’s controlled by the President.

The lack of a military response right now is a failure by the *federal* government to respond to an assault on one of its most important institutions engaging in its most important duty.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) January 6, 2021

This tracks with previous reporting: Request was made and did not get an immediate response. https://t.co/kX75XyaPNH

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) January 6, 2021

This is nuts. The Acting Secretary of Defense acknowledging that he and the Joint Chiefs Chairman did not discuss deploying the National Guard with President Trump – but rather with VP Pence and Congressional leaders. pic.twitter.com/b8gAT9bnSC

— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) January 6, 2021

Cops are taking selfies with the terrorists. pic.twitter.com/EjkQ83h1p2

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 6, 2021

still can’t wrap my head around how the MAGA terrorists broke through this wall of heavily armed national guardsm- *taps earpiece* -ah I’m being informed this treatment was for racial injustice protesters pic.twitter.com/c1voc9cv7G

— kilgore trout, brad r’s brother (@KT_So_It_Goes) January 6, 2021

Never forget. Never forgive.

They evacuated Pence out of an "abundance of caution" or to put it in plain English, he's been removed in reaction to a coordinated attack at the direction of the president. https://t.co/RpFBrgruFH

— Natasha Rothwell (@natasharothwell) January 6, 2021

News with @karoun @mikedebonis —> effort underway to persuade Cruz, Hawley and the objectors to stand down from their objections after the pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol today https://t.co/SDPa3yir05

— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 6, 2021

Sedition. https://t.co/kYEiMIr7Fr

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 6, 2021

From our Francis Chung, Sen. Josh Hawley greeting protesters in the east side of the Capitol before riots began. pic.twitter.com/I8DjBCDuoP

— Manuel Quinones (@ManuelQ) January 6, 2021

Huh. Weird. Almost like he thought this was all for show and was too dumb to realize he was coddling fascists. https://t.co/33FXKXAWmx

— Chuck Enderlin (@Vote_Chuck) January 6, 2021

"Violence is always unacceptable. But it's also really fun to think about and kind of tacitly encourage, it gets people fired up. But also it's unacceptable. So that's a complicated thing. Anyway I'm in a bunker right now for unrelated reasons." https://t.co/gJrmlkdb5l

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) January 6, 2021

THIS MORNING at the rally Giuliani called for "trial by combat."

Don Jr. told Congressmen who weren't going to vote to overturn the election: "We're coming for you."

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 6, 2021

A law enforcement source has confirmed to CNN that pipe bombs were found at the headquarters for the DNC, RNC and grounds of the United States Capitol. All of the devices were safely detonated by the police, the source tells @evanperez.

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) January 6, 2021

Insurrection Open Thread: DisgracefulPost + Comments (125)

Trump’s Georgia Phone Tape: Some Early Reactions

by Anne Laurie|  January 4, 20218:51 am| 342 Comments

This post is in: 2020 Elections, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel

Pretty impressive @nytimes headline for a @washingtonpost scoop. https://t.co/MA9kifCFlu

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 4, 2021

show full post on front page

not a hero for democrats, but for democracy. this isn't a one party vs another party thing https://t.co/AYjjmFc3Iz

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) January 4, 2021

ICYMI — The Washington Post’s full transcript here.

Audio of the full 62 minute phone call in which the president repeatedly presses the Georgia secretary of state to “find” 12,000 votes to overturn the election. https://t.co/EAw7uzrO96

— Rosalind Helderman (@PostRoz) January 3, 2021

A look at some of the false claims President Trump put forth in an extraordinary phone call to Georgia's secretary of state seeking a reversal of his election defeat to Joe Biden. #APFactCheck https://t.co/TCjAbyuLW1

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 3, 2021

Invoking the ‘f*ck around & find out’ clause:

Officials in Brad Raffensperger’s office recorded his call with President Trump on Saturday, but Georgia's secretary of state said he did not want it released unless Trump attacked him or misrepresented it, per @JMOCNN. Trump tweeted today attacking him.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 4, 2021

Chris Krebs, whom Trump fired for saying the elections were secure. https://t.co/NqvB1MRHKj

— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) January 4, 2021

Trump flunky:

President @realDonaldTrump has filed two lawsuits – federal and state – against @GaSecofState. The telephone conference call @GaSecofState secretly recorded was a “confidential settlement discussion” of that litigation, which is still pending.

— David Shafer (@DavidShafer) January 3, 2021


Experts disagree!

I think my favorite part is when the president of the United States told the Georgia secretary of state and his lawyer that they had legal exposure, on the call that they were recording on their end in Georgia, a one-party consent state

— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) January 3, 2021

he needs to go to jail or the next time it’ll be a competent fascist who won’t fail https://t.co/oY1dpeY0OB

— kilgore trout, brad r’s brother (@KT_So_It_Goes) January 3, 2021

the president of the united states asking if maybe we could get some shit to fall off the back of a truck

tremendous country we’ve carved out for ourselves. good stuff. https://t.co/DxOsXtrMdN

— Normie Transition Team (@CalmSporting) January 3, 2021

"i won by hundreds of thousands of votes so find me exactly the number I need to win" is definitely something that someone who won by hundreds of thousands of votes would say

— Russ Bengtson (@russbengtson) January 3, 2021

We do get numb to outrageous stuff, so it’s important to take a minute and shake four years of normalized criminous un-American morally treasonous behavior out of your head and recognize this for the lawless lowlife thuggery that it is — historically bad behavior by bad people.

— LawlessHat (@Popehat) January 3, 2021

The president's call with Georgia election officials is hard to listen to. We spend billions of dollars to make the president the best-informed person on Earth, but the information he's parroting about the election is total bullshit.

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) January 3, 2021

Reading the transcript and it really is amazing how steeped the president is in the details of fantastical, fictional, utterly untrue claims that the election he lost was rigged. He's clearly following the play-by-play of this drama, even though it's entirely made-up.

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) January 4, 2021

Counter-argument (which I, personally, find unconvincing):

I'm listening to this full tape & my creeping realization is he wanted this leaked bec he is literally stating ballot numbers, describing video, describing photos in a deluge of lies upon lies uninterrupted for huge amounts of time. He's propagandizing to a captured audience!

— G.deGuzman (@gdeguzman99) January 3, 2021

my initial reaction is that it's so much more incriminating and obvious in its intent than the call where Blagojevich was shopping an open Senate seat. https://t.co/DIaTF1zUzp

— Zeddy (@Zeddary) January 3, 2021

Notable though that it didn't happen, suggesting Trump was never as powerful as people thought. https://t.co/4o7TbnsGms

— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) January 3, 2021

“Trump sounded at turns confused and meandering. At one point, he referred to Kemp as “George.” He tossed out several different figures for Biden’s margin of victory in Georgia and referred to the Senate runoff as happening “tomorrow” and “Monday” https://t.co/QS8AXyczKf

— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) January 3, 2021

"I am big! It's the vote totals that got small!" https://t.co/bDpsv9pYOO

— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) January 4, 2021

“Find more votes for me.”
“No.”
“There will be consequences.”
“I’m sure there will. Is this a secure line, Mr. President?”
“It’s my 1993 car phone. I know what I’m doing, OK?”

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) January 3, 2021

Trump’s Georgia Phone Tape: Some Early ReactionsPost + Comments (342)

Late Night Open Thread: Medal of Dishonor

by Anne Laurie|  January 3, 202111:05 pm| 175 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Venality, Trump Crime Cartel, Our Failed Media Experiment

Wikipedia entry, 2050: "The Medal of Freedom was retired in 2020 after U.S. President Donald Trump renamed it the 'Fuck You Medal' and gave it to two congressmen, three colonels in the Russian GRU, the head of the Gambino crime family, a rabid bat, and a toxic dump site." https://t.co/kf20kwsZ6Q

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 3, 2021

Politico will love it, of course…

show full post on front page

*GOP Rep takes a dump on the floor of the House*

Dem Reps: WTF are you doing? That's disgusting. Clean that shit up.

Unbiased Politico politics reporter: Looks like congress is quarreling again. More of the same Washington behavior people hate. pic.twitter.com/qA9yknblqz

— Centrism Fan Acct ?? (@Wilson__Valdez) January 3, 2021

Late Night Open Thread: Medal of DishonorPost + Comments (175)

Jake Tapper is Over Your Shit

by John Cole|  January 3, 20216:57 pm| 85 Comments

This post is in: Trump Crime Cartel

I’ve had some issues with Tapper in the past, but he is clearly fucking OVER Jason Miller and similar right wing hacks:

Jake Tapper is Over Your Shit

That’s a thing of beauty.

Jake Tapper is Over Your ShitPost + Comments (85)

The Devil Went Down to Georgia

by John Cole|  January 3, 20215:10 pm| 169 Comments

This post is in: Trump Crime Cartel

I know Tamara has already covered this briefly, but this really is THE most astonishing thing I have ever heard short of the Nixon tapes.

You owe it to yourself to listen to this entire hour long piece of lunacy. And remember, anyone in the House and the Senate who tried to prevent the 6 January proceedings is complicit with this nutjob.

The Devil Went Down to GeorgiaPost + Comments (169)

This Is Madness: Trump On Tape With GA SOS ETA: Full Hour Published

by TaMara (HFG)|  January 3, 20211:45 pm| 347 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Politics, Trump Crime Cartel

ETA: Here’s the full hour:

FOLKS: Full audio published here. Please retweet far and wide. https://t.co/QqIsaNw5pA

— Amy Gardner (@AmyEGardner) January 3, 2021

I think this deserves its own post.  h/t Jim, Foolish Literalist

ETA: Here’s the audio if you can’t access WaPo

Wow. WaPo just released a recording showing President Trump attempting to blackmail Georgia's Secretary of State to overturn the election.

Listen: pic.twitter.com/33SO6Tyx8u

— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) January 3, 2021

Audio: Trump berates Ga. secretary of state, urges him to ‘find’ votes – The Washington Post https://t.co/2y9OmBJsjK

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 3, 2021

It is a WaPo link, but I’m assuming it will be available elsewhere soon.

👀
"Trump did most of the talking… calling Raffensperger a “child” and “either dishonest or incompetent”— and twice calling himself a “schmuck” for endorsing Kemp"

"He was already tripping the emergency meter…so we were at 12 on a scale of 1 to 10, and now we're at 15."👇 pic.twitter.com/I8DzG4CLSv

— Peabody's not sleeping well (@PeabodyA) January 3, 2021

It’s going to be a long, looong two weeks. Buckle up!

 

ETA: It took me a while to access the story (for some reason my subscription wasn’t working)

President Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that election experts said raised legal questions.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”

Throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the president is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.

 

This Is Madness: Trump On Tape With GA SOS ETA: Full Hour PublishedPost + Comments (347)

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