Maggie Haberman at the NY Times has written one of the last pieces on the Trump presidency and holy sh-t, it’s f–king wild. It’s all about how Trump spent his Wednesday – it’s basically the treason tick-tock, a summary of every single thing he did. His day started with a meeting with Mike Pence, before Pence went to the Capitol to oversee the certification of Joe Biden’s win. At this point, Trump still believed that Pence could wave a magic wand and somehow NOT certify Biden’s victory. Per the Times: “Mr. Trump listened, and stewed and chastised Mr. Pence as soft. He accused Mr. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, of being responsible for Mr. Pence’s position, and told his own aides that Mr. Short, who was working at the White House complex before the joint session of Congress began, was “not welcome” there.”
After that, Trump was driven to his little Sedition rally full of white supremacists, many of them violent and armed. He whined about a “stolen election” and incited his supporters to march down to the Capitol, which they did almost as soon as he was done speaking. Then he was taken back to the White House while the violent chaos descended upon the Capitol:
Mr. Trump monitored the scene as it unfolded on television, according to administration officials and people close to the White House. He continued to disparage Mr. Pence and told people that he was glad that the two Republican incumbents in Georgia, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, lost their Senate races, saying they had not done enough to defend him.
The president holed up in the Oval Office, speaking with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, who was said to have been rattled by the day, and Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel. Donald Trump Jr. posted a tweet urging supporters to stop the violence. Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser, denounced the violence and corrected an initial tweet in which her reference to “patriots” made her intention unclear. There was silence from the first lady, Melania Trump, and the president’s son Eric Trump tweeted about how many people at the rally sang to him for his birthday.
…The president resisted repeated appeals from advisers, some made directly to him, others to Mr. Meadows and other aides. Mr. Trump initially rebuffed requests to mobilize the National Guard, according to a person with knowledge of the events. It required intervention from Mr. Cipollone, among other officials, according to the person. About 1,750 National Guard troops from the District of Columbia and Virginia were to deploy Wednesday night, a National Guard spokesman said. As allies of the president began to go public with their disgust about what was taking place at the Capitol and urged him to speak out, White House aides finally coaxed Mr. Trump into a tweet in which he did not condemn the violence.
Then they convinced him he needed to make a video statement. Opening with another declaration that the election had been “stolen,” Mr. Trump told his supporters to “go home,” ending with the words “I love you.” Facebook removed that video, and Twitter later did as well. Then he made clear that he viewed the day as an expression of his grievances. “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,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!” Twitter also removed that tweet and said around 7 p.m. that it would lock his account for 12 hours.
The defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff conferred with Mr. Pence, not Mr. Trump, about sending support to reel in the riots. The national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, condemned the “mob” and praised Mr. Pence.
[From The NY Times]
Throughout the piece, it’s clear that far from being disgusted by what was happening at the Capitol, Trump was pleased and he saw it as his supporters’ devotion to him. He didn’t want to authorize the National Guard because the terrorists were literally doing what he wanted them to do, and what he incited. The fact that DOD and the Joint Chiefs were consulting, conferring and seeking Pence’s okay on issues is quite interesting, because even though the 25th Amendment has not been invoked formally, the administration officials are behaving like it has been invoked. Democrats – and a handful of Republicans – are now saying that Trump needs to be immediately impeached TODAY, all while Republicans and business groups are telling Pence to convene the Cabinet and invoke the 25th Amendment.
It definitely feels like there’s a window to remove Trump from office by impeachment or by the 25th Amendment today, and I’m curious what will be done. I think this statement from Speaker Pelosi is quite interesting too.
Today’s shameful assault on our democracy — anointed at the highest level of government — must not deter us from our responsibility to the Constitution. Tonight, we will move forward with the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 7, 2021
TRUMP INCITES MOB
RAMPAGE IN CAPITOL FORCES EVACUATIONS; IT’S ‘PART OF HIS LEGACY,’ A REPUBLICAN SAYS
— Banner headline on Thursday’s @nytimes Page One pic.twitter.com/BjOab3dhOb— Cliff Levy (@cliffordlevy) January 7, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
He needs to be removed, arrested, tried and sent to jail. And all his actions post-election (pardons, gas and oil concessions etc) need to be revoked.
Yes!
Absolutely!
“… was pleased and he saw it as his supporters’ devotion to him. …” I’m very glad you said this, Kaiser – these were the words spinning around in my head as I was reading. Talk about chaos from within. Realistically, what do you guys think will happen next? We’ve been hearing it all day here in Australia; it’s utter madness. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour, even for someone who is world-famous for disgusting behaviour. As for his moronic followers, they’re white, so they might get a slap on the wrist. This is how he intended to make America great again?
Trump was sitting in the WH and enjoying the chaos because it fed his ego. They were doing this FOR HIM and that is all he needed. One can easily understand this after four years but also his statement released during the rioting. I picture him sitting in front of the TV like the scene in Goonies where sloth sits there laughing at what he sees. DISGUSTING.
Seriously. Yesterday was the happiest day of his life. He watched people literally die for him. This is the pinnacle of success and respect in his mind.
Confiscate his passport. He has nothing to lose now but his freedom. If he seeks asylum in another county he’ll have plenty to offer in terms of military and security secrets.
I wish that were possible but I don’t think it is.
I want that the 25th Amendment was invoked, but doing so will give Trump the opportunity to be forgiven by Pence. But I want too much that orange’s ass will to be hanging out in jail.
I doubt Pence is playing Trumpian Risk anymore. He’s done with Trump. Any further assistance or association completely scuttles his career.
@paranormalgirl. I know you don’t do armchair diagnosis. But I keep hearing that Trump is experiencing a “psychotic break.” What does that entail?
@Midnight@the Oasis – I don’t think Trump is having a true psychotic break, he’s glorying in the chaos and hero-worshiping of the MAGAt masses too much. A true psychotic break can involve anything from depression to suicidal thoughts to hallucinations to paranoia. I do think his malignant narcissism disorder is now verging on sociopathic behaviour because he’s losing control and we all know Trump can’t stand losing. In fact he rages like a toddler whose candy has been taken away.
@paranormalgirl – I’d enjoy hearing your take on this.
A relative of mine had Narcisstic Personality Disorder, so, my 2 cents worth – I don’t think he’s having a psychotic break, because that implies some kind of psychosis, where Trump is completely out of touch with reality (i.e. literally thinks he is Jesus).
He is under threat and stress though, because he is facing losing his role and perhaps some of his followers, and to a narcissist (who has very little inner self) the idea of loss of these external sources of validation is like him losing everything. It’s like him staring into some great, dark abyss of nothingness. He probably feels like he doesn’t exist unless he has external support (called ‘narcisstic supply’) propping up his identity, moment to moment.
Trump needs to attack anyone who refuses to be his narcissistic supply (as he did to Pence yesterday), and he needs to pander completely to people who continue to offer themselves up as supply (his followers). It is all just awful to watch – someone like this should never be in a position of power over an assistant, nevermind a whole country.
I think Pence is DONE. One account I read was that a protester got dangerously close to him, threatening him before he was whisked away.
I too wonder if there is a de facto 25th Amendment in place. Because at first there was no National Guard approval them suddenly there was. And statements were coming from everyone else except Trump.
Will we ever know? I don’t know. Maybe they fear more MAGAts getting triggered and they wanted to make sure the Capitol was secured, Biden was confirmed and that the National Guard was firmly in place. Also, that Trump’s social media was cut off.
I will be eagerly watching the news today.
Oh wow, I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense with the way things played out. A 25th amendment kept under wraps from the public to not incite more violence. I’m crossing my fingers that is the case!
If Pence was really done, he would have talked to Schumer and Pelosi. He didn’t. He’ll go down in history as an enabling T-rump kisser. Doing the right thing in the last days of the crisis when you could have prevented it altogether is not really doing the right thing. It hope he’s really screwed himself over on both sides.
@Line, I was reading last night that even if they invoke the 25th, he can claim he is fine and take back powers. It would devolve into a multi-week process, which would take him past Jan 20, when he would be succeeded by Biden. The more expeditious option would be to impeach him, although if he has cronies in Congress who want to delay the spectre and introduce more evidence/witnesses, that could be a longer process as well. There were so many calls for impeachment last night among the press, I imagine it is a serious option now that Congress is considering, weighing how long it would realistically take. The good news is that if they impeach AND convict (Convict isn’t the right word but I can’t remember what the right one is), he can never run again for government office.
If Pence and the cabinet invoke the 25th and Trump appeals it, then Pence and the cabinet reassert their belief and Congress reviews and makes a decision within 20 days, while Pence takes charge as President. Congress would just have to sit on the orange menace’s appeal and run out the clock on his wretched “presidency.”
Can someone tell me why there weren’t more arrests?? Armed, seditious terrorists were allowed to just walk in the Capitol and its cool, totally cool, no consequences at all?
ETA: I see the FBI is investigating, and they are expected to charge most (many?) of the people there. I know racism was 100% a factor, but it’s absolutely jarring to see terrorists walk away from their crime scene, so I wondered if something else was in play. Especially when, if their skin color had been different, it would have been an absolute massacre of dead people and the National Guard would have been invoked in seconds. Infuriating beyond belief.
Because these “protesters” are white.
And also because a lot of the police are sympathetic to them. Someone on Twitter put this far better than I could yesterday, and apologies for the poor paraphrasing, but the point was that when Hannah Montana is on stage, you don’t go asking, “where’s Miley?”
It’s just so… Brazen AF. Some real 1917 October Revolution garbage. Like I can believe it, but cops taking selfies with terrorists and letting them into the Capitol, and then crying to CNN about how they were outnumbered and they knew these “protestors” wouldn’t be violent… And the only arrests were people violating curfew, basically. 🤮
It’s like I wonder what made you guys think they could be trusted to “peacefully” invade the Capitol??? What could it be, what could it be… 🤔 If BLM had done this, the death count would be incalculable.
It’s because they are white. Period. I want to know what that woman who was shot and killed did to actually be fired on. I mean the Capital police all but rolled out the red carpet for these terrorists. I will never forget seeing them just waltz right through the rotunda in a single file through those velvet ropes. The Capital Police were in on this coup on the orders of Donald J. Trump.
Yeah, you’d think they would have made more of a pretense about invoking law and order, but no. Terrorists were literally welcomed into the building, because they were Trump supporters and because they were white.
I couldn’t believe they were all just waltzing around down there like it was nothing. They should’ve been running from rubber bullets, crying from being gassed, and afraid for their lives. It’s absolutely sickening how they were practically treated like royalty and welcomed in.
@Jess, did you see the video of “Elizabeth” who was in shock and upset that she was maced? Like, total utter shock that something bad would happen to HER.
Yup. In the 60s firehoses were used pretty effectively. I’m guessing there were only sprinklers in the building itself. Although if someone had thought creatively, they could have called in firetrucks.
I do think if I had been a capitol policeperson, I wouldn’t have wanted to try to arrest the mob without the National Guard backing me up. Remember 50 of them were injured. I think that was a huge factor in it.
Yes, racism was the most prominent reason, probably some general support for the cause, etc. But I do think a small part of it was bc the protestors were BSC and some were heavily armed. The capital police, initially, were not in riot gear, and there were not enough of them.* When you’re going up against people who may have bombs, Molotov cocktails, some big ass guns – and you’re just in your normal police gear, maybe with a bullet proof vest – its going to change your approach.
Of course, the next question is – why weren’t they in riot gear? Why weren’t they better prepared? Why did it take so long for the police to fight back (there are videos on twitter of the night shift CP being a lot more, um, aggressive, with the terrorists.) And the answer to those questions is all racism, so it circles back to the main answer anyway.
ITA.
I’m hoping they’ll wait to arrest and charge until after Biden’s inaugeration, so Trump can’t pardon any of the sedititous slimes before his term is over.
I was so disgusted hearing the senate Republicans talking yesterday after all this, like SO EFFING SHOCKED and appalled this happened, acting like it came out of nowhere. Just shut the fu-k up. No cookies for anyone. Also, I hope photos of the rioters are circulated far and wide, and each one of their lives utterly destroyed, each piece of sh!t who thought it was funny to take selfies in the capitol halls charged to the max and forced to sit in big kid real life prison for as long as possible. I only knew about the one woman who died – couldn’t have happened to a better person – but the look of righteousness on those senators face was appalling. Lindsey grahams good ol boy jokes made me want to vomit. What a great day if each of those enablers had to face the same charges for the insidious campaign of quiet sedition. As one democratic senator said, trump didn’t and couldn’t have done this alone.
You’re SO right about Lindsey Graham’s demeanor yesterday. But Ben Sasse, maniacally grinning and joking his way through his five minutes last night… There’s a special place in hell for him and anyone else who thinks the Capitol building last night was the appropriate place for a treasonous stand up comedy routine.
Or anyone who used the riots to fundraise (Hawley, looking at you.) At least the Kansas City Star called him out pretty strongly.
Thank you. The way they were yukking it up in the chamber in between certifying the votes was surreal. Ben Sasse clearly is enamored with himself. Gaetz got a standing ovation for saying Antifa was responsible. Meanwhile Tammy Duckworth was reduced to tears and Cory Booker was righteously angry. It was a crazy episode.
I’ve been doing my fair share of tweeting any photos that identify the rioters to the FBI. The Metro Police Department in DC has put out a call for citizens to send them photos and help in identifying any of them. I want these criminals to be tried and jailed for what they did yesterday. I’d be much happier if the Orange menace were on his way out, since he is the cause of all of this.
Everyone hoping for the invocation of the 25th amendment should probably just set that little pipe dream aside right now. If it were going to get any real traction from both sides, it would have done so last night, and considering that after everything that went down, Republicans were still throwing down challenges and acting like the violence came out of nowhere, the Democrats will never get the support they need to push it through.
They can posture all they want, but the reality is that not much is going to change and we all get to continue to be terrified of what horrible thing might still be coming in the final two weeks.
Unfortunately, I think you’re correct. I was hoping to wake up to news that he had been removed. Instead there were stories about how R’s in the House were still contesting – and almost had a brawl. And the R’s in the Senate were trying to justify their sedition. And all I can think of is that Russia’s long-game of destroying democracy has worked.
Yes. Putin is absolutely gleeful right now.
I am really fearful for whether they will be adequately prepared for the inauguration. Not even sure what it’s going to look like? You don’t want another superspreader event!
I wonder how much the administration’s failure to replace vacated positions in various agencies has to do with the piss-poor response Wednesday. Biden and Harris are basically going to have to rebuild the Federal Government.
I agree, grabbyhands. It sounds like Pence was/is our acting President for all intents and purposes because Trump is completely unable to function and STILL no 25th invoked.
He said “We love you” to domestic terrorists. Treason. Sedition. He has to go now.
He told the terrorists he LOVEs them, like, wtf. Hate that this is our melting pot country; growing up I was so proud to be an American, now I’m ashamed.
This is the same man who referred to white supremacists and Neo Nazis in Charlottesville as “fine people” .
Trump basically said he loves anyone willing to die for him. Sick, sick fucker. Trump is Georgetown all over again.
Jonestown. Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and nowhere near where the Jonestown compound was.
Yes, but the temple HQ was Georgetown.
He resisted appeals because this was always intended. He bragged it would be “wild” and always meant for them to do this. He didn’t want them stopped. He really meant a serious seige to disrupt Democracy.
Honestly, I bet he’s disappointed that it wasn’t worse. It’s all about ego with him.
My MIL called them “true patriots”…
I’ve been watching how the National Guard dealt with them and they were not there to play nice and take selfies – they were pissed and it showed. The poor white snowflakes where shook – you could hear it in their shrieks.
That was weird to see. All my life the military and the police were mostly Republicans. I expected the national guard’s reaction to be closer to that of the police and wasn’t entirely sure if they would actually help. I’m glad they showed up with their heads on straight. Everyone should be pissed that these “patriots” are trying to destroy our democracy. The cognitive dissonance these people have is truly mind boggling.
There is a far right group called American Patriots USA. One of them came to Atlanta yesterday looking for the Georgia SOS. Ivanka knew exactly who she was tweeting to. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-07/ex-klan-member-just-misses-visit-with-georgia-secretary-of-state
Funny how none Trump and none of his unfortunate looking offspring have offered their condolences to the families of the four lives lost. They are okay with inciting violence and then hiding their hands. They should all be rounded up and put in jail along with Guilani and the senators and congressmen who have supported this.
It’s not like this rally was a secret. It’s not like no one knew they were going to assemble minutes from where they were certifying the election results. The fact that the National Guard wasn’t on those steps the moment they started certifying those results tells me all I need to know about this being sanctioned by the orange dictator.
It won’t happen but he needs to rot in solitary in jail for the rest of his life. I read yesterday that Muriel Bowser as mayor of DC doesn’t have the power to activate the National Guard herself in DC, that apparently that power lies with the president. And Trump dragged his feet on activating them. They were only activated two HOURS into the ordeal while frightened aides and lawmakers hid in various offices/places around the Capitol. In the end, I don’t know how many Guardsmen were DC or Virginia Guardsmen. But the fact she couldn’t activate them herself is so egregious and that rule needs to be changed asap.
Is there any one of us surprised? We’ve been singing his burn-it-to-the-ground song since 2016.
I was surprised. I expected a lot of noise, shouting, and commotion, but not violence, and not a breach of the Capitol, or direct threat to Congress. It’s something we’ve never seen. To Congress as well I’m sure it was inconceivable.
But I’m glad it happened. The threat was serious and now we know without question, real. No moron running for office anywhere can claim lies, disinformation and rhetoric are just words, without potential dire consequences.
I’m glad too for the total failure of the Capitol police to prevent this (not to mention, opening barriers and taking selfies with the rioters), and glad also there was very little loss of life or serious injury to distract from the several takeaways: the clear difference with how BLM demonstrations were handled; the likelihood all would have turned out very differently if the rioters weren’t white; and the real possibility this attack had inside cooperation.
So much for the silver lining. Just hope we can survive until the 20th without anything more happening.
Get him out. Don’t dither, don’t worry about being fair. I saw someone on TV (I didn’t catch their name) saying that they could remove him in a minute, so all this crap about it taking too long is exactly that—he was more diplomatic about it, but that was his message.