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Daily thread - United States 2021 transition of power - January 12
This thread is posted daily - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.
This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.
Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol
This is the first article I've read which recounts the day from Trump's perspective. It should surprise no one to learn that Trump was more interested in watching the chaos unfold on TV than attempting to quell the riot, rebuffing pleas from desperate lawmakers (of his own party!) and former aides in the meantime.
Hell, Trump didn't even bother to check on Pence.
Ultimately Trump took some action only after realizing he might lose allies in contesting the electoral count, not out of concern for their safety. And even then he resisted distancing himself from the insurrectionists.
As heinous as it was for Trump to send a mob of terrorists to kill Pence, it's hard for me not to have a "you reap what you sow" attitude towards him.
JFC. The leading member of the House, of the president's own party, had to resort to going on TV and hoping that the president saw him, so that maybe the president would tell the armed mob outside the Capital to go home.
Sheldon Adelson died on Monday. He was a massive donor for Republican and conservative groups ($218 million in the 2020 cycle), and the largest Trump donor.
Honest question: Do you (you reading of this question, not only Deimos) think that this news really means anything (strictly speaking about politics, I don't want to get into a debate about the value of human life or morality)? I assume most of his money is staying within the family, and his wife is a Trump Megadoner. Does his death mean anything? I guess this also makes me wonder politically speaking, does there become a point where you're so wealthy your monetary value eclipses any individual political belief you hold because your wealth will be handed down for generations?
From a scan of her wikipedia article, it looks like Miriam's interest is much more focused on Israel and medicine than on Trump in particular. Beyond that, it's hard to say what her goals will be separate from her late husband.
I do think it's gross to celebrate other people's deaths, but I'll put it this way: 2021 is looking up already.
What a timing, too. He's like the human representation of the Trump party, and he's dying alongside it.
McConnell is said to be pleased about impeachment, believing it will be easier to purge Trump from the G.O.P.
I have to say I'll be pretty surprised if this is true. Even with Mitch's support do you guys think they could whip enough other Republicans to vote for conviction?
Seems completely believable to me. They got what they wanted from Trump (a 6-3 SCOTUS majority & hundreds of lower court judges, tax cuts for the rich, massive deregulation / administrative law rollbacks). Now that he's political deadweight they're going to use this as an excuse to cut him loose.
edit:
Credit to Jamelle Bouie on twitter for this - another benefit from McConnell's POV is that they can prevent Trump from running in 2024. That would divide the Republicans into two factions similar to what we saw in the 2016 primary. Taking him out of the equation allows them to unify around a message of "nope, no fascism here, we got rid of that and we're a totally normal political party again..."
Another way to read it is that he can be pleased about the Democrats impeaching while not planning to vote and convict.
That said, there is enough upside for Republicans, especially the Senate, in opting for a clean break. It's definitely possible they have the numbers.
Add Liz Cheney to the mix as well. Here is what she had to say:
Edit: And John Katko. Estimates are between 10-20 Republicans will vote to impeach tomorrow.
McConnell is a sleezy scumbag who will do anything and everything to enable the worst of the Republican agenda. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have blocked Obama's Supreme Court nominations.
This impeachment, at least for the Republicans, is just posturing to distance themselves from Trump in his last grasps to retain power. If it wasn't, they would have supported the first impeachment, or at the bare minimum given it a proper review.
I would have said it wasn't likely or even possible, however Trump and his cohorts are being such rampant asshats about all of this that the republicans may have to do it just to protect themselves from reprisals.
Another factor here is the ongoing investigations. The FBI can and will ask representatives to match their timing to the investigation. If for example they believe there's a credible threat that impeachment may trigger something, they may ask for a delay. On the other hand, immediate impeachment torpedoes Trump's use of pardons to shield these people, so they could press the other way on those grounds. It really depends on what the bureau is thinking, and they aren't sharing that information with the general public.
We're so far from anything resembling normal right now that everything is truly up in the air.
I’m worried that this will fuel motivation to ban encryption-based messaging.
GitHub is facing employee backlash after the firing of a Jewish employee who suggested 'Nazis are about' on the day of the US Capitol siege
Joint Chiefs Remind U.S. Forces That They Defend The Constitution (NPR)
NY Judge’s Son Pictured at Capitol Riot in Fur Pelts, Police Gear Is Arrested
He gave an interview inside the Capitol where he admitted to taking police property.
YouTube suspends Trump's channel after violating policy on inciting violence
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-youtube-trump/youtube-suspends-trumps-channel-after-violating-policy-on-inciting-violence-idUSKBN29I0F9
Since it's a pandemic and there shouldn't be crowds anyway, I'd love to see the inauguration stage completely deserted and the ceremony take place somewhere else. Let the idiots storm the stage and attack a stage full of mannequins or something.
PayPal Dumps GiveSendGo, the 'Christian' Crowdfunding Site Used By Proud Boys
Trump says ‘tremendous anger’ in nation over impeachment
Curiously, I haven't seen this covered in Fox News or OANN yet.
There are still many places they can go to, but what has been done has helped. The 16th - 20th will really show how much they have been impacted.
Here are some of the places:
gab, minds, and some reddit feeds. Minds says that they avoid their kind of content but I have seen a lot of the hate speech hidden in memes.
Isn't that just how criminal prosecution generally works in the US though? I.e. Initial charges are almost always just for the most obvious and easy to prove crimes, so they can quickly make arrests, and justify warrants to collect more evidence... but afterwards they will typically add more serious charges to the list if/when they uncover enough evidence to justify them.
Yup, it's called a superseding indictment.
Was curious, so I looked up the penalties for sedition. The relevant US title code is 18 US 2384, which lists a maximum of 20 years in prison, along with a fine. There's an interesting history of people accused/convicted of "seditious conspiracy" on Wikipedia. The more broad page on sedition in general has some additional history which includes some examples of people who where accused/charged, who where either acquitted or their sentences later commuted.