Tag: Trump

Hoisted with his own Petard

Trump returned to Washington for the first time Tuesday, July 26, after leaving office to give a speech to the right-wing America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit, which aired live on Newsmax.

What he said was terrifying: he wants the U.S. to be more like China with police on every corner, with “Very short trials and mass executions. Trump praised the way crime is handled in the Philippines, where over 12,000 people have been executed for drug-related crimes.

In reference to the January 6 insurrection, Trump said, “We may just have to do it again.” With these words, Trump is admitting to instigating the January 6 attempted insurrection. What more could the Justice Department or a jury need to convict Trump?

Trump said major drug traffickers are responsible for about 500 deaths each and should be executed upon conviction for those lost lives.

“If you look at countries throughout the world, the ones that don’t have a drug problem are those that institute a very quick trial and death-penalty sentence for drug dealers,” Trump told the crowd.

“It doesn’t take 15 years in court. It goes quickly,” Trump said. “You execute a drug dealer and you save 500 lives because they kill on average 500 people.”

Trump cited Singapore and China as examples of countries with no drug problems where drug dealers are put to death.

“It’s terrible to say, but you take a look at every country in this world that doesn’t have a problem with drugs, [and] they have a very strong death penalty for people who sell drugs,” Trump said.

Predicting that the death sentence would be a deterrent to major drug dealers,

Trump complained at length about how unsightly homeless people spoil the view of cities. He advocated for all homeless people to be rounded up and forced from the cities, to “large parcels of inexpensive land.” Trump is America’s worst nightmare.

“A friend of mine said recently that I was the most persecuted person in the history of our country,” Trump said. “I said he may very well be right.”

The Secret Service Has Gone From Protection to Criminality

The Secret Service revealed that it had erased the messages on their cell phones on the dates of January 5 and 6.  This reminds us of Rosemary Woods deleting key tapes of Richard Nixon’s tapes in the Oval Office. Unlike the Woods situation in which it could not be proved that she or someone did it intentionally, the Secret Service obviously intended to delete what they did. As I understand federal criminal law, this was – on its face – an unlawful act.

Inspector General Joseph Cuffari notified Congress earlier this month that text messages from the agency on Jan. 5 and 6 appeared to have been erased as part of a device replacement program – leaving lawmakers peeved he waited months to alert them. Lawmakers then asked the inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security to step aside from an ongoing investigation into “erased” text messages at the Secret Service.

“We are writing to express our grave concerns with Inspector General Cuffari’s failure to promptly notify Congress of crucial information while conducting an investigation of the Secret Service’s preparation for and response to January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol,” House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter.

So far they have turned up only one text message was a plea from then Capitol Police Steven Sund asking for help. Texts sent by Secret Service agents during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 seem to have been erased. Coupled with testimony that raises questions about the Service’s response to the events of that day, a shadow has been cast on the agency. A retired agent wrote this. Donald J. McHaley.  This episode that turned into a full-blown scandal has become a criminal investigation into ten Secret Service personnel. Their phones contain metadata showing text messages that were sent and received around January 20 but were not preserved.

The agency deleted text messages on government employees’ work-issued phones on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, the day before and the day of the insurrection at the US Capitol. In a July 2022 statement(Opens in a new window), Anthony Guglielmi, Chief of Communications for the Secret Service, said it “reset its mobile phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration” before the Department of Homeland Security and lawmakers requested any information. “In that process, data resident on some phones was lost.” Apple likes to tout the security of iMessage, but it may be a bit too secure for the Secret Service.

It is not the Secret Service that has been flouting the law. It includes the Department of Homeland Security, and high-level Pentagon officials within the Trump administration. This is corruption that eats into the heart of government.

That didn’t sit well with lawmakers investigating the attack. As a result, the agency may restrict employees from using iMessage on work-issued phones to prevent such a loss of critical evidence in the future, Politico reports

The suspicion of criminal behavior is suggested by the fact that Trump appointed  Anthony Ornato, an official with the Secret Service, as his White House  Chief  Operations. Ornato returned to the Secret Service after serving Trump. In accepting this appointment, Ornato politicized the Secret Service and the chain of willful disobedience to lawful requests demonstrates this.

The Secret Service has a policy requiring employees to back up and store government communications when they retire old electronic or telephonic devices, but in practice, staff do not consistently back up texts from phones.

The Secret Service has had a history of important records disappearing under cover of night and agency staff members refusing to cooperate when investigators came calling seeking information.

A further indication of criminal behavior is that the erasures came “after” the Office of Inspector General requested copies of the text messages for its own investigation and signaled that they were part of a pattern of DHS resistance to his inquiries, so there was no excuse for not backing up the phones.

The Secret Service claims many U.S. Secret Service (USSS) text messages, from January 5 and 6, 2021 were erased as part of a device-replacement program.

Normally, phones clearing or deleting messages on a cell phone doesn’t mean the data is permanently gone, it’s just been filed away differently. If law enforcement. Law enforcement can get any data they want from cell phones with the right court order.

The Secret Service is so severely compromised that a total investigation should turn up several indictments. It’s interesting to note that with the blowback following the disclosure of the destruction of cell phone data, they have suddenly claimed to be cooperating. Let us not forget they denied the events described by Cassidy Hutchinson. Only the testimony of the DC Capitol police substantiated what she told the nation.

The Media Can Do a Better Job of Informing the American People

Is the national news media, everyone from CNN to Fox, laying the groundwork for the Republicans taking back the Congress and White House? Not just by observing that off-year elections favor the party out of power, but by covering disgraced President Trump’s view on every issue that gets people’s attention.

I don’t think most news people like Trump. They are appalled as we with his dissembling and selfish behavior. I think they are intimated by their corporate owners to be overly “fair.” Former President Obama was not quoted seven days a week on the networks. Yes, MSNBC and CNN do run videos produced by the Lincoln Project critical of Trump, but well-produced but subtle critiques don’t touch on the bread-and-butter issues people relate to.

What people relate to is what bothers them in their daily lives – the high cost of gasoline and rising inflation. People are tolerant of gays and Black Lives Matter movements but are bothered by what they perceive as extreme actions like removing statues of Thomas Jefferson  Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Francis Scott Key. It’s one thing to remove, relocate, or rename statues of Confederate generals, but it’s another to suggest children should choose their sexual preferences in grade school or that public safety needs to be compromised by defunding the police.

The right tried to capitalize on Rittenhouse’s acquittal, but he is not going along with it. He says he supports “Black Lives Matter” and is no longer represented by the lawyers who raised money for his bail from right-wing donors. His attitude reflects the fundamental decency most Americans have.

The news media needs to let Democrats declare their opposition to extreme policies and actions while declaring in positive their values in positive terms. Republicans, like Josh Hawley, are allowed to occupy core values.

When the networks question Republican congressmen and Senators, they let them get away with criticizing Biden and his policies without asking them basic questions like “Would people in your district or state not benefit from roads, bridges, lead-free water pipes, airport and seaport improvements, childcare” or “improved bridges?” For decades these were matters of bipartisan agreement because they are the backbone of the American economy. Representative Fred Upton (R-Mich.) released audio of a voicemail threatening his life as well as his family and staff this week for having voted for the infrastructure bill.

How often do we watch news programs where interviewers don’t ask crucial questions? That brings out the critical importance of investing in infrastructure. The Build Back better bill pays for items needed for the economy to recover from the pandemic like childcare, eldercare, and paid family leaves.

A movement that started in schools has rapidly expanded to public libraries, accounting for 37 percent of book challenges last year, according to the American Library Association. Conservative activists in several states have joined forces with like-minded officials to dissolve libraries’ governing bodies, rewrite or delete censorship protections, and remove books outside of official challenge procedures.  Such actions show no regard for freedom of choice.

It takes time to change a culture and most Americans want to be tolerant.

The Fascists are in our Midst – on Your Block, in Your Neighborhood, in a Car Driving Down the Street

They are closer than you think. In a community a few miles from where I live, ruffians robbed and desecrated a health food store, painting swastikas and profanity on the walls. The Coffee Cantina has been a community gathering place that has recently changed hands.

Meanwhile, two men have been charged in an alleged plot to firebomb the California Democratic Party’s headquarters in Sacramento, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. These men, Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland were “prompted by the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election” and believed their attack would spark a “movement.

In July, the components for 50 homemade bombs were found in Virginia in the home of a man who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. In Long Beach, California, police are investigating graffiti on a statue Martin Luther King Jr. statue as a hate crime. (CNN).

A Danish man armed with a bow and arrow killed five people in a Norwegian town in what’s classified as a “terrorist act.”

The pandemic worked as a boon for right-wing extremists. Researchers are finding that as the pandemic put more people online for greater periods of time, the recruitment pool for extremists grew. Capitalizing on the “environment of heightened anxiety,” communities formed on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, 4chan, Gab, Iron March, and Fascist social media channels.

These acts are part of an alarming rise in domestic extremist violence in the United States. According to a Washington Post analysis of data compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the number of domestic terrorism incidents hit an all-time high in 2020, with right-wing extremist attacks and plots greatly eclipsing those from the far left and causing more deaths.

Just before 11 a.m. on January 6, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer told the crowd “Let’s have trial by combat.” The ensuing assault left five people dead, and nearly 140 officers were attacked with ax handles, bats, metal batons, wooden poles, hockey sticks, and other weapons. You can see this vicious attempt to overthrow the government on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=january+6+insurrection.

We now know that our worst fears were also held by people at the helm of our military. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saw parallels between Trump’s rhetoric about election fraud and Adolf Hitler’s insistence to his followers at the Nuremberg rallies that he was both a victim and their savior. “This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley told aides. “The gospel of the Führer.” This is chronicled in a new book on Trump’s last year in office by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig entitled

I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.

That day in his speech on the Ellipse, Trump said, “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will ‘stop the steal.’ Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election, and we won it by a landslide. We’re going to try and give our Republicans — the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help — we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”   These are the words of a would-be tyrant.

The officer who shot January 6 insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt as she tried to break through a broken window in the Capitol building did nothing wrong. An internal Capitol Police review not only found that the officer didn’t violate internal policy but that his actions almost certainly saved the lives of lawmakers and staffers. By shooting Babbitt, the officer might have l kept the insurrection from spiraling completely out of control.

Threats and disinformation spread across the country in the wake of the Capitol siege, shaking the underpinnings of American democracy.

Upstanding Republicans are decrying this behavior. We have to hope the police, the national guard, the sheriffs across the country care more for the Constitution and basic human decency to provide us protection against this fifth column, numbering more than the original Revolutionary Army. What we are experiencing is eerily like the scenes in paranoid thrillers and conspiratorial dramas like The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days In May, The Parallax View, The Conversation, Three Days of the Condor, Marathon Man, Blow Out, Absolute Power, Wag the Dog, The X-Files, and Enemy of the State, among others.

The pandemic worked as a boon for right-wing extremists. The pandemic put more people online for greater periods of time, the recruitment pool for extremists grew. Capitalizing on the “environment of heightened anxiety,” communities formed on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, 4chan, Gab, Iron March, and Fascist social media channels. Minority communities—in particular Asians—have been subject to increased hate crimes and harassment.  Right-wing groups are connected into a broader international English language extremist ecosystem.

The  Capitol Hill bomb threat in August suggests January 6 siege was a beta test of more to come.  Reports of other acts both in the U.S. and in Europe are coming to light.

Major social media platforms are failing to block 84 percent of antisemitic content that was reported to them through their own measurement tools.  Facebook and Twitter, in particular, showed the “poorest rate of enforcement action.”Rumble has emerged over the last year as one of the most prominent video sites for right-wing viewers. It has positioned itself as the right-wing alternative to YouTube.  It refuses to remove false medical misinformation such as casting doubt on vaccines during a pandemic that has killed more than 4 million people around the world.

Social media platforms need to do much more than they already have to curtail the festering of right-wing hate and violence.

We tell ourselves it could not happen here. Polls tell us 30 percent of Republicans actually believe that the government put microchips inside the coronavirus vaccines to track and otherwise control the American people.  But as the testimony from officers who protected the Capitol on January 6 has come in, we know it can. Officer Daniel Hodges, a white member of the Metropolitan Police Dept. “It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection.” Another testified, “It was an attempted coup that was happening at the Capitol that day, and if it had been in another country, the U.S. would have had sent help.”

Here is a sampling of bald-faced lies coming from right-wing radio  One America News (OAN

  • COVID-19 vaccines have killed 10,000 to 12,000 people and can make you magnetic.1,2
  • President Biden is a “brain-dead zombie puppet” being controlled by George Soros and the Chinese Communist Party.3
  • The participants in the deadly white supremacist attempted coup on January 6 were actually the victims of a “setup.”4
  • That Black people fighting for civil rights are “race hustlers.”5
  • That the LGBTQ community is “perverted” and that Pride Month should be replaced by a celebration of “white history month.”6

Domestic extremists are adapting their online strategies to push disinformation and conspiracies despite a crackdown by social media platforms in the year since the attack by a pro-Trump mob on the Capitol.

Online extremist groups, such as Parler, Gab, and Telegram. The Department of Homeland Security also warned far-right influencers are using more coded language to slip through gaps in mainstream content moderation enforcement.  Activity on alternative platforms has risen in popularity since the January 6, 2021 riot.

The road to fascism is lined with people telling you to stop overreacting. The latest subpoenas show the Jan. 6 probe is ‘rapidly becoming a criminal investigation’: MSNBC analyst

I guess the Republican National Committee considers the January 6 insurrection that included smearing feces on walls as “ legitimate political discourse.”  Can you remember any time when a tragedy has been so minimalized?

Since the Capitol insurrection, the Department of Justice has arrested more than 725 defendants in relation to the storming of the building. Federal prosecutors have charged 225 with assaulting, resisting, or impeding police officers, including over 75 charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily harm to an officer. This includes Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who coordinated for weeks with key organizers of the protest.

In the last few years, we’ve been told that using Hitler analogies was taking it too far but then bad actors on the right slipped in behind us and started equating vaccine mandates with Nazi tactics and themselves with Jews in concentration camps. Dr. Fauci has been compared to Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who conducted unimaginably cruel experiments on Jews with a special focus on twins. I think that’s part of the problem—much of what the Nazis did was unimaginable, just as much of what whites did to the Blacks they enslaved was unimaginable, that most of us just can’t quite wrap our heads around the seriousness of what we’re facing. Ignorance makes this possible and this malign forces on the right know this.

I used to wonder if the people who wielded swastikas and Confederate flags understood what the symbols they embraced really stood for. Now I have no doubt. They know the Confederate flag stands not for the nobility of Southern heritage (which never existed), but for support of those who believed in their right to enslave, torture, and, in some cases, murder the Black people they enslaved.  The insurrectionists who wore “6MWE”(Six Million Wasn’t Enough”) t-shirts on January 6th, 2021 know they’re championing the annihilation of Jews.

The subpoenas being issued by the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection suggests that the probe is “rapidly becoming a criminal investigation,” according to former acting U.S. solicitor general Neal Katyal.

The committee subpoenaed retired Army Col. Phil Waldron, the author of an infamous PowerPoint presentation outlining how former President Donald Trump could stay in power despite losing the 2020 election. The PowerPoint presentation was handed over to the committee by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

However, Katyal told MSNBC that the committee’s decision to subpoena Waldron is about more than the PowerPoint presentation, which has been likened to “a blueprint for a coup.”

“I think the documents are really important, but I think it’s a lot more than the documents,” Katyal said. “Actually, what this suggests to me is they are now circling around key individuals in power, both in Congress, the White House, and most specifically, Mark Meadows.”

Katyal noted that the letter from the committee to Waldron states that, according to public reporting, he claims to have visited the White House on multiple occasions, spoken to Meadows eight to ten times, and briefed members of Congress on election fraud theories.

“What Congress is doing here is they are really trying to get information not about Waldron per se, but about Waldron’s contacts with Trump, with Meadows, and with members of Congress, and any of those individuals could violate that criminal statute … obstruction of an official proceeding,” Katyal said, adding that the letter also references language from the statute.

“So this is now rapidly becoming a criminal investigation, and a criminal investigation that looks not just at some of these low-level kooks, but people in positions of power,” he added.

The attempted insurrection wasn’t simply financed by Republican donors (like Clarence Thomas’ wife), it was meticulously planned. There are memos laying out legal justifications for overturning the results of a free and fair election.

There were pressure campaigns against Mike Pence, and now the existence of a PowerPoint presentation has come to light. In addition, we’ve just found out that former chief of staff Mark Meadows—using his personal email and phone—wrote to an unnamed individual that, according to the Committee’s report, on January 6th, “the National Guard would be present to ‘protect pro-Trump people’ and that many more would be available on standby.” Separately and together these are above-the-fold, 80-point font stories. But, yes, let’s do keep talking about inflation and how it’s going to destroy Joe Biden’s presidency.

Former President Donald Trump has announced suggested he will pardon the rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol if he is elected president in 2024.

Trump, who has teased but not confirmed another run for president, has repeatedly criticized the prosecution of individuals who violently stormed the Capitol to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president. But his comments at a Texas rally on Saturday marked the first time he dangled pardons, an escalation of his broader effort to downplay the deadly events of Jan. 6.

Some of those involved in the riot held out hope for a Trump pardon before he left office 14 days later, but none were granted.

The Ottawa roadblocks at the Canadian border make clear that extreme elements supporting fascism and white nationalism are  visible in the appearance of neo-Nazi and Confederate flags and an abundance of QAnon logos emblazoned on trucks, signs, and stickers.  Over $8 million as of February 7, may have come from right-wing sources in the United States.  Funding from interests in the United States has so alarmed members of the New Democratic Party that they have called it “an attack on Canada’s democracy” and have asked the U.S. ambassador “to testify before the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.   A similar attempt at a trucker demonstration in Washington, D.C. fizzed with only about six vehicles driving the D.C. freeways.

The House select panel on the Jan. 6 attacks meets to consider criminal contempt charges against Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, who worked for former President Trump. It is hoped the committee will Ginni Thomas, activist wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, to testify as part of the investigation.

Did Trump cross the line of inciting his minions to violence?

On December 18 Trump tweeted “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”

What has resulted is conservative social media promoting at least four rallies in the capital on Wednesday, starting at 7 a.m. The National Park Service, confirmed it has issued that at least three permits. Those three permits allow a maximum of 15,000 protesters.

Has Trump crossed the line of 18 U.S. Code Chapter 115 – TREASON, SEDITION?  The Supreme Court in the case of Brandenburg vs. Ohio limited the enforcement of this crime to applying it only to speech or conduct that advocates “imminent lawless action.”

If violence erupts on the streets of Washington, D.C., “imminent” gives way to actual lawless action. The three elements of this test are intent to speak, the imminence of lawlessness, and the likelihood of lawlessness.

If violence occurs, Trump may be subject to prosecution for “sedition.”

Trump owns a golf course in Scotland. His trip may be complicated because members of the Scottish Parliament are asking that their first minister for a probe into the financing of Donald Trump’s business interests in Scotland.. Scottish.  First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday said that President Donald Trump will not be allowed to visit Scotland to play golf in January.

Top Democrats, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (Calif.) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.), have suggested Trump’s actions were potentially criminal or even impeachable.

Gunfire from Trump’s Troops Cause Evacuation of the Capitol  

Hordes of Trump supporters estimated to be in the thousands traveled to Washington on Wednesday to pressure lawmakers and Vice President Pence to overturn the results of the election. Pence noted earlier in the day that he does not have the power to object to electors.

Hundreds of these Trump supporters stormed the barricades of the Capitol and marched toward the building. They overpowered the police on Capitol steps, forced their way into buildings, and security was overrun. The Capital police trying to hold them back.

The U.S. Capitol Police on Wednesday locked down the Capitol building and evacuated multiple congressional buildings amid increasingly violent protests outside.

Buildings being evacuated included the Library of Congress’s Madison Building across from the Capitol as well as the Cannon House office building. This is a massive building. In an alert sent to Hill staffers, police ordered occupants of the Madison building to “move in a safe manner to the exits” and “close doors behind you but do not lock.”

Capitol police just went door by door, running down hallways. Capitol police also told those in the Cannon House building to “take visitors, escape hoods, and Go Kits.”

Vice President Pence was taken from the Senate chamber after protesters entered the Capitol to protest the results of President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

Trump supporters overpowered police on the Capitol steps and forced their way into buildings, overrunning security, rampaging, and pillaging.

The Madison Library of Congress building is being evacuated after Trump supporters breached security and ran past police. The looters and rioters breached the actual Capitol building. After knocking down four layers of the security fence, with the police trying to force them back behind a temporary fence. This is exactly what Donald Trump promised his supporters. This is exactly what he wanted.

Asked how long the lock-down might last, the officer said it will depend on the behavior of the protestors.

“Let me be very clear — the scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect a true America, do not represent who we are. What we are seeing is a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent. It’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition and it must end now,” Biden said.President-elect Joe Biden condemned the violence in the nation’s capital as “insurrection” and demanded an end to the “chaos.”

“It’s not protest. It’s insurrection,” Biden said.

Trump late in the afternoon issued a statement to the terrorists saying: “I love you. You’re very special. I know how you feel.” He continues to reiterate his false claims that his election defeat was “fraudulent,” which was the basis for the protest in the first place. Trump finally urged his supporters to disperse.

In a court of law, can Trump absolve himself of guilt for the looting and violence by seeking to call back his fanatical supporters that he summoned to the Capitol?

Although the American public watched in shock and dismay as the disturbing series of events unfolded, Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.)Katko insists the riots were far worse than reported on television. During an interview with Syracuse.com, Katko shared details about the day of the deadly U.S. Capitol riots.

“I’ve had a lot of classified briefings on it, and it’s deeply troubling,” Katko told Syracuse.com. “I was left with a profound sense that it was much worse than people realized.”

Katko’s latest remarks come just weeks after he spoke out against Trump’s rhetoric and antics. He noted the president’s misinformation campaigns on social media and his speech during the “Save America” rally that provoked the Capitol siege as he stressed the importance of holding the president accountable for his actions, according to Newsweek.

He insisted that the former president “deliberately promoted baseless theories that created a combustible environment of misinformation and division.”

Katko added, “To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequence is a direct threat to the future of our democracy and to our security.”

While the former president has departed from Washington, D.C., he still has a number of legal investigations to contend with in the coming months.

 

Trump is inviting criminal prosecution

Trump is inviting criminal prosecution when his term as President expires on January 20.  Consider the trail of criminal charges he potentially faces, including the 3 p.m. Saturday, January 2  call to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State.

He repeatedly made criminal solicitations in the hour-long phone conversation. That he allowed the conversation to be tape-recorded indicates his contempt for both the democratic process and the laws governing elections. Trump repeatedly urged Raffensperger  to alter the outcome of the presidential vote in the state.

Raffensperger is an unlikely Trump target. First, Georgia is a state run entirely by Republicans. Second, he has been a Trump supporter and one of most talkative secretaries of state on potential voter fraud.  This just shows how Trump is willing to roll anyone under the bus.

A week before Trump’s call to the Secretary of State, The Washington Post has reported that Trump called Georgia’s lead investigator for voter fraud a week earlier, and told him he could be a “national hero” if only he just happened to find some fraud that favored Trump.

Here is the Georgia statute Trump violated:

2015 Georgia Code
Title 21 – ELECTIONS
Chapter 2 – ELECTIONS AND PRIMARIES GENERALLY
Article 15 – MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES
§ 21-2-604 – Criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; penalties

Universal Citation: GA Code § 21-2-604 (2015)

(a) (1) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.

(2) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the second degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a misdemeanor under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.

(b) (1) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years.

(2) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the second degree shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.

(c) It is no defense to a prosecution for criminal solicitation to commit election fraud that the person solicited could not be guilty of the crime solicited.

(d) The provisions of subsections (a) through (c) of this Code section are cumulative and shall not supersede any other penal law of this state.

Trump may have also violated  52 U.S. Code 20511,:

U.S. Code Title 52 (Voting and Elections), Section 20511 

A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office-

(1) knowingly and willfully intimidates, threatens, or coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person for-

(A) registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to register or vote;

(B) urging or aiding any person to register to vote, to vote, or to attempt to register or vote; or

(C) exercising any right under this chapter; or

(2) knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by-

(A) the procurement or submission of voter registration applications that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held; or

(B) the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held,

shall be fined in accordance with title 18 (which fines shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury, miscellaneous receipts (pursuant to section 3302 of title 31), notwithstanding any other law), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

Since we know he is obsessed with denying his defeat, he may well have made other calls that day and on other days to officials in other states.

There are numerous other criminal investigations that have been delayed by Trump being office. Here are some:

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is investigating allegations of tax, business, and insurance fraud under New York law.

  • Campaign conspiracy and Trump Organization finances
  • Inauguration funding
  • Trump super PAC funding
  • Foreign lobbying

Investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia:

  • Maria Butina and the NRA.

Investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia:

  • Michael Flynn’s plea agreement

Investigations by New York City, New York State and other state attorneys general:

  • Tax case: In the wake of an N.Y. Times investigation that found Trump had benefited from more than $400 million in tax schemes, city officials said they were investigating Trump’s tax payments, as did the New York State Tax Department.
  • The Trump Foundation
  • Emoluments lawsuit: The attorneys general for Maryland and D.C. sent out subpoenas earlier this month for Trump Organization and hotel financial records relating to their lawsuit that the president is in breach of the “Emoluments Clause” of the Constitution, which appears to prohibit the president from accepting payments from foreign powers while in office.

Sedition is a term some people are using to describe Trump’s conduct, but. Trump’s conduct to date has not risen to produce the likelihood of violence. Sedition is a felony (18 U.S. Code Chapter 115 – TREASON, SEDITION) punishable by fines and up to 20 years in prison. It refers to the act of inciting revolt or violence against a lawful authority with the goal of destroying or overthrowing it.  The Supreme Court has interpreted this law applying only to the “imminent lawless action” test under the First Amendment.

However, you slice it, Trump’s behavior is outside the pale, that is outside the bounds of morality, acceptable behavior, or good judgment.

Trump moved to his next option—staging an attempted coup d’état,  on January 6, risking the life of his vice-president.

Is it fair to ask if Trump’s belligerence about staying in office is owing to his fear of prosecution, both federal and state. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is pursuing allegations of tax, business, and insurance fraud under New York law.

 

Each Day We Draw Closer to a Fascist Takeover

"a picture of domestic tranquility" by Andrew // is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0In Trump’s latest assault on domestic tranquility, the White House ordered the end of ‘Un-American’ racial sensitivity training at federal agencies.” He rails against “training’ government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda.” He refers to press reports that say federal employees “have been required to attend training where they are told that ‘virtually all White people contribute to racism’ or where they are required to say that they ‘benefit from racism.’ This is one more step in redirecting a government to his own ends.

Brave people and institutions are calling it out for what it is:

 Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently said, “I have held off using the f word for three and a half years but there is no longer any honest alternative. Trump is a fascist, and he is promoting fascism in America.”

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon, “The fascist speech Donald Trump … delivered [a reference to his first public address since the killing of George Floyd sparked protests and riots across the country verged on a declaration of war against American citizens. I fear for our country tonight and will not stop defending America against Trump’s assault.”

Journalist Masha Gessen “I don’t think we have a fascist rule in this country, but what we have is a fascist leader. We have a nativist, nationalist leader who is devoting all of his energy into portraying a group of people as a super dangerous enemy, both sort of subhuman – animals, infestation – and superhuman at the same time…that is fascism.”

In a Washington Post article entitled  Twelve signs Trump would try to run a fascist dictatorship in a second term

In Trump’s own words

Donald Trump opened his first speech of the Republican National Convention today by telling the live crowd chanting the usual “four more years,” “If you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years.” When he jokes about something enough, it becomes serious.

“I’m proud to have that German blood — there’s no question about it.”

Trump  has referred to “an American SS.” Of course, that can mean “Secret Service,” but was this an accident, or a gaff, or a clear signal to his supporters and his allies.   Trump is telling us who is he and what he wants.

In 2020, there is apparently no longer any need for Trump to pretend to dislike domestic terrorism carried out against his political enemies.  “Law and order” as Trump uses it does not mean law and order. Do daily and nightly demonstrations feel like law and order?

In fact, he is signaling to his most rabid followers that he wants more of it. Trump continually eggs on more violence. He has been for five years now, complimenting rightists at every opportunity. In Kenosha, Trump insists Kyle Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense.

Trump responded to a Tweet, “critical race theory is the greatest threat to western civilization and it’s made its way into the US federal government, the military, and the justice system.” His response, “Not any more!”

Meanwhile, books are coming out from a family member, his former lawyer, and one of the most respected American journalists that reveal more and more about Trump:

There’s a disturbing article entitled by Amanda Marcotte , “Trump has a plan to steal the election — in fact, he has at least 5 of them.

Trump has said that he would “very quickly” stifle riots on election night if Democrats organize protests against his potential victory, suggesting he would do so by employing a law allowing him to deploy active-duty troops domestically.

Roger Stone, the convicted the political “dirty trickster” and former adviser to Donald Trump calls for Trump to declare ‘martial law’ if he loses the election, and order the arrest of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and “the Clintons.” Once underway the list would go on and on. . In a second Trump administration, Trump could make Roger Stone his Herman Goering.

What makes it possible for a demagogue like Trump to gain power?

Wild conspiracy theories can spring from any stressful or disruptive event or catastrophe, as people seek tangible explanations for the invisible or the inexplicable.

Crazy ideas like “the U.S. government covered up its role in the Twin Towers destruction” or “global warming is a hoax” operate like infectious diseases.

About 30% of U.S. adults think the coronavirus was created and spread on purpose. This sounds like Trump’s base. Such beliefs threaten public health, as when people won’t wear masks in a pandemic or refuse vaccinations against deadly diseases. Health experts have faced death threats over Covid-19 distrust of experts.

How can we avoid taking this tortured journey to authoritarianism?

I believe the vocabulary for describing “law and order” problems needs to be softened. Using a phrase like “systemic racism” is too nominalized a way of describing this overwhelming problem.

We can be more persuasive by identifying constitutional principles like due process, fair play, and equal protection of the law. The unfairness.in the way we maintain public order can be solved by bringing as many parties as possible to the table to produce bipartisan legislative reform.

En Route to Trumpistan – Can the U.S. Avoid Becoming an Authoritarian State?

America resisted the efforts of the German American Bund in the 1930s to mobilize and win World War II. But now in 2020, we are on our way to an authoritarian state.

Trump began misusing federal forces to separate children from their families seeking asylum in the USA. Asylum seekers and families are protected by and international federal law which forbids the government to simply send them back. Federal courts stopped this administration from holding families for months without justifying the decision to keep them in detention.

A federal judge said he believed that if the allegations against the administration were true, they might very well be unconstitutional. Some courts have found this is implicitly part of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of “liberty” without due process of law. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Ms. L.; et al., Petitioners-Plaintiffs, v. U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”); et al., Respondents-Defendants. Case No.: 18cv0428 DMS (MDD) violates their due process rights,

Millions of people were outraged but no articles of impeachment arose from this abuse of power.

On June 1,  in Washington, Trump deployed federal law enforcement personnel using riot control tactics and munitions against nonviolent protesters to clear a path for President Donald Trump to walk from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square for a brief photo op. Within days, anonymous federal forces began to appear on D.C. streets.

In July, federal forces from the Department of Homeland Security were deployed in Portland, Oregon Kansas City and Seattle using unmarked cars and officers in camouflage wearing no badges, and with the power to abduct people from the streets.  President Trump has threatened future deployments to other cities “run by liberal Democrats,” including Chicago, Oakland, and New York.  The Mayor of Portland was gassed.

These deployments generated national outcry and lawsuits.

In June 2020, the Trump administration began deploying federal law enforcement forces to some cities in the United States, in response to rioting and monument removals amid the George Floyd protests. Federal law enforcement elements have been deployed under Operation Legend, Operation Diligent Valor, and the Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has cited an executive order regarding “monuments, memorials, and statues” as allowing federal officers to be deployed without the permission of individual U.S. states. The latest deployment he’s announced is to Kenosha, Wisconsin.

We know he’s worried about the coming election and the closer it gets, the more erratic and despotic his behavior! Trump says he’ll send law enforcement officials to monitor voting in November.

Trump repeatedly claims voter fraud will undermine November’s election results even as fellow Republicans acknowledge mail-in ballots are safe.  In an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, e would send law enforcement officials to polling locations to guard against voter fraud in November’s election. “We’re going to have sheriffs, and we’re going to have law enforcement, and we’re going to have, hopefully, US attorneys, and we’re going to have everybody and attorney generals (sic),” Trump said during an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity. “Not helpful” is the way the postmaster general on Monday described Trump’s attacks on mail-in ballots.

Federal law prohibits any conduct that intimidates voters. Several states expressly forbid law enforcement presence at the polls. Department of Defense and National Guard personnel must also refrain from conducting “operations” at polling places. Furthermore, the President does not have the authority to send local sheriffs anywhere, and sending armed federal law enforcement to the polls could result in violations of US criminal code.

We’re experiencing a creeping martial law one step at a time. Martial law isn’t declared like in the movies – one which is all too easy to normalize and accept because it proceeds in slow steps.

President Trump operates from petulance. Upset when he heard that  Goodyear factory workers were prohibited from wearing  MAGA HATS at work,  tweeted August 19th: “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES.

The following day a Trump campaign event featuring  “Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!” featured tires from Michelin (French), Bridgestone (Japanese), and Continental (German), but not Goodyear (American).

Do Americans understand that Trump is undoing our constitutional right to a free election?  A right millions of Americans have died protecting. Concerns are voiced by politicians and civil liberties groups that these deployments are unconstitutional and a red flag of authoritarian measures or the beginning of martial law. Trump is instituting martial law now in the time-honored way that authoritarian-fascists do.  We need to remember “The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”

Each Day We Draw Closer to a Fascist Takeover

"Constitutional Principles" by kyteacher is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0In Trump’s latest assault on domestic tranquility, the White House ordered the end of ‘Un-American’ racial sensitivity training at federal agencies.” He rails against “training’ government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda.” He refers to press reports that say federal employees “have been required to attend training where they are told that ‘virtually all White people contribute to racism’ or where they are required to say that they ‘benefit from racism.’ This is one more step in redirecting a government to his own ends.

Brave people and institutions are calling it out for what it is:

  • Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich recently said, “I have held off using the f word for three and a half years but there is no longer any honest alternative. Trump is a fascist, and he is promoting fascism in America.”
  • Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator from Oregon,: “The fascist speech Donald Trump … delivered [a reference to his first public address since the killing of George Floyd sparked protests and riots across the country verged on a declaration of war against American citizens. I fear for our country tonight and will not stop defending America against Trump’s assault.”
  • Journalist Masha Gessen “I don’t think we have fascist rule in this country, but what we have is a fascist leader. We have a nativist, nationalist leader who is devoting all of his energy into portraying a group of people as a super dangerous enemy, both sort of subhuman – animals, infestation – and superhuman at the same time…that is fascism.”
  • In a Washington Post article entitled  Twelve signs Trump would try to run a fascist dictatorship in a second term

In Trump’s own words:

  • Donald Trump opened his first speech of the Republican National Convention today by telling the live crowd chanting the usual “four more years,” “If you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years.” When he jokes about something enough, it becomes serious.
  •  “I’m proud to have that German blood — there’s no question about it.”
  • Trump  has referred to “an American SS.” Of course, that can mean “Secret Service,” but was this an accident, or a gaff, or a clear signal to his supporters and his allies.   Trump is telling us who is he and what he wants.
  • In 2020, there is apparently no longer any need for Trump to pretend to dislike domestic terrorism carried out against his political enemies.  “Law and order” as Trump uses this phrase does not mean law and order.   For five years, he has been complimenting rightists who support him at every opportunity. In Kenosha, Trump insists Kyle Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense.
  • Trump responded to a Tweet, “critical race theory is the greatest threat to western civilization and it’s made its way into the US federal government, the military, and the justice system.” His response, “Not anymore!”
  • Trump regularly reposts roughly 20 more Twitter messages from conservative media or other accounts praising his new move.

Democrats have been concerned for months about Trump’s efforts to sow doubt about mail-in voting despite the coronavirus pandemic. Fearing that the combined force of President Trump’s warnings of voter fraud and the expected influx of mailed-in ballots will lead to a bitter and protracted fight over the election’s results.

There’s a disturbing article entitled by Amanda Marcotte , “Trump has a plan to steal the election — in fact, he has at least 5 of them.

How can we fight this tortured journey to authoritarianism?

I believe campaign rhetoric needs to be transformed. Using a phrase like “systemic racism” is too nominalized a way of describing this overwhelming problem. We can be more persuasive by identifying constitutional principles like due process, fair play, and equal protection of the law that are being trampled by the incidents that propel wells of anger deep in the American soul. The unfairness.in the way we maintain public order can be solved with bipartisan legislative reform and people engaging in local communities.

It’s time to call out the local criminals, right-wing and Nazi sympathizers who are responsible for most of the looting and burning, as evidenced by the fact that Gov. Tim Walz said 80 percent of the people involved in the violence and destruction in Minneapolis were from outside the state.  ao Seth G. Jones, director of the transnational threats project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies says most of the violence was committed by “local hooligans, sometimes gangs, sometimes just individuals that are trying to take advantage of an opportunity.” White supremacists have been hyperactive using social media to increase tensions between protesters and law enforcement by calling for acts of violence.  Equal justice means they get prosecuted.

Paul Edwards