It is late in the day for former Attorney General Bill Barr to rehabilitate his reputation, but he apparently gave journalist Jonathan Swan an inside view of why he quit in December. He knew that Trump was lying about the election. He tried to convince him that all the claims of election fraud were B.S., but Trump got angry when Barr told him the truth. Of course, when Barr resigned, he wrote an obsequious letter about how great Trump was, which in itself robs him of any glory for repudiating Trump after the failed putsch.
Swan begins:
Attorney General Bill Barr stood behind a chair in the private dining room next to the Oval Office, looming over Donald Trump. The president sat at the head of the table. It was Dec. 1, nearly a month after the election, and Barr had some sharp advice to get off his chest. The president’s theories about a stolen election, Barr told Trump, were “bullshit.”
White House counsel Pat Cipollone and a few other aides in the room were shocked Barr had come out and said it — although they knew it was true. For good measure, the attorney general threw in a warning that the new legal team Trump was betting his future on was “clownish.”
Trump had angrily dragged Barr in to explain himself after seeing a breaking AP story all over Twitter, with the headline: “Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud.” But Barr was not backing down. Three weeks later, he would be gone.
The relationship between the president and his attorney general was arguably the most consequential in Trump’s Cabinet. And in the six months leading up to this meeting, the relationship between the two men had quietly disintegrated. Nobody was more loyal than Bill Barr. But for Trump, it was never enough.
The president had become too manic for even his most loyal allies, listening increasingly to the conspiracy theorists who echoed his own views and offered an illusion, an alternate reality.
What follows is fascinating.
His inner circle knew he was lying. Barr had the audacity to say that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, certainly not enough to change the outcome of the election. But Trump became committed to his Big Lie. The lies about voter fraud were good enough to set off thousands of Trump’s most avid supporters, who gathered on January 6 to set siege to the U.S. Capitol and to threaten the lives of legislators, both Democrats and Republicans. We now know that the nation barely missed witnessing a massacre of our Congress, with a wild and bloodthirsty mob roaming unconstrained through the Capitol for hours. Did Barr know the plan? Is that why he quit?
So . . . Bar “got religion.” A little late but . . . “At times like this, a good memory is unpardonable” (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice).
On the other hand, Bar’s lateness is terribly similar to Mitch’s speech of late. . . just for a minute, you think all will be well. Sigh . . . .
They all know the election wasn’t stolen, fraudulent, or anything beyond a few bad statistically insignificant bad signatures.
The follow up to this story is the news that the the EX (I love that) President conspired with some DOJ lackey to fire the Interim Director and replace him with the DOJ lackey to go after Georgia one more time. The interim gets other DOJ high profiles together and they all say they’ll resign and the EX president had this Apprentice-like show down. More evidence to impeach him!
If guaranteed anonymity every elected official in DC (except the certifiable conspiracy ones) would say the election was one of the safest ever. Even cruz and sleazy hawley know better but they are convinced the found a loop hole in some state law somewhere to reverse 150 million votes.
I hope that mainstream television (not cable or other media but good old tv that regular folk watch) produces step by step specials about the voting process illustrating in 5th grade language that it was fair.
Step by step – – The count, the recounts, the process (bi-partisan commissions in states), the leaders of the states’ vote counts (I loved listening them tell the truth and were so proud, the GOP governors and others who validated, the 60 courts that dismissed the baseless lawsuits (with GOP appointees on the bench), and the Supreme Court saying in all it’s simplicity – “Nope – no case here.”
If this is the “wait, what?”Jon P from CT I signed your petition for guv! You have a lot of fans. If not, please ignore!
Definitely a self-serving account by William Barr. He has a long history of covering up and normalizing Trump’s crimes (does anyone still remember that Trump’s call with Ukraine STILL hasn’t been totally revealed – just a “summary” – as Barr’s minions mysteriously locked it up as top secret?) So Barr draws the line when he knows a court of law will look at evidence and therefore Barr can’t just hide incriminating evidence, ibut would have to manufacture evidence that could stand up in a court of law, which is much harder.
The best thing to say about Barr is that he is smarter and less deluded than Rudy Giuliani. I’ll give him that. There is no evidence his ethical and moral compass surpasses Rudy’s however.
I didn’t post it, but there is an amazing story today in the New York Times about Trump’s last minute effort to overturn the election by ousting the acting Attorney General and replacing him with a lower-level attorney in the Department of Justice who would help him stop the certification of the election. The only thing that stopped him was that the top employees of the Department of Justice and his own counsel, Pat Cippolone, threatened to resign en masse if he pulled this stunt.
I did read that and it was fascinating.
I did see a subtext in the article, however. Those complicit Justice Department officials didn’t push back against doing Trump’s bidding because they felt it was immoral or unethical. They pushed back only because they thought that they couldn’t get away with it or it wouldn’t work because far more ethical people in Georgia had recorded a phone call that made Trump look bad. I suspect Rosen and Richard P. Donoghue would have gone along with any plot that they thought Trump could get away with doing.
William Barr, Rosen and Donoghue have the same ethics as Jeffrey Clark, the guy who was supposed to replace Rosen as Acting Attorney General to stop the certification of Biden’s win. The only difference is that Trump and Jeffrey Clark believed that their way would work, and Rosen and Donoghue did not believe it would work.
Barr spent the entire summer and fall being one of the very loudest voices claiming that mail in voting would create huge amounts of voter fraud. Barr spent months giving credibility to the idea of voter fraud occurring. Even after the election, he let Trump rant on about voter fraud for weeks, and waited until December to actually state that there was no voter fraud that changed the outcome. So as far as I can see, Barr only stepped down when those innuendoes would have to be proven in court, and he had nothing. It’s much easier to make false innuendos and mischaracterizations in press conferences, as Barr did, when you don’t have to present sworn testimony and evidence under penalty of perjury.
I have no doubt that if they thought Trump could get away with it and stay in power (which is what Jeffrey Clark thought) Barr and Rosen and other DOJ officials who are now scrambling to pretend they have some ethics would have remained silent and complicit or joined Jeffrey Clark in helping to overturn the election.
I have no respect for Bill Barr after he spent so much time defending Trump’s lies.
Apparently he realized he did not want to go down with Trump’s sinking ship.
The Trumptanic
Excellent word.
The Barr is Closing
To Barr-tend on Trumptanic
Requires a certain type
You can’t be prone to panic
With iceberg in your sight
But when the ship is sinking
You’ll follow all the rats
And leave the captain drinking
Alone with just the cats
Cuz, of course, cats don’t like water
NYC Parent I think you are right about Barr . . . he’s just like Mitch . . . they both are political animals . . . both waited until they could plainly see that the light in the tunnel was the train coming towards them. They both make me sick to my stomach with their foxhole conversions. Mitch has already gone back to his old ways . . . . gridlock. CBK
Very credible……………………………………………….
So, wait, someone who has been a complete sleaze throughout Trump’s term finally had a pang of conscience and quit in protest at the finish line? That doesn’t square with the picture that’s been painted of him on this blog. Maybe the actual truth is more like all the people who loyally served for four years suddenly realized their fortunes lay elsewhere, so they jumped ship like the opportunist rats they’ve always been.
But I guess there is no limit to who gets rehabilitated as long as they say mean things about Trump (witness Dubya Bush for starters).
dienne77 writes: “But I guess there is no limit to who gets rehabilitated as long as they say mean things about Trump (witness Dubya Bush for starters).”
Nope. It’s about what truth we can find in what they say and do. If it’s good or bad, complimentary or damning, so be it.
In this case, Barr chose to say what was, in fact, true about Trump’s efforts to hijack the election in Georgia. It’s truth was recorded on phone calls for all to hear, and now reported by the New York Times, and evidenced by the entire Justice Department who threatened to quit if the bogus claims and bully-bargain actually went forward. And that’s a good thing, whatever Barr’s reasons were for it.
What’s so difficult about that for you? CBK
” the
newlegal team Trump was betting his future on was “clownish.”Fixed.
Betty bar the door!
Barr is here again
Tell him “Nevermore!”
Barr is not your friend
So quoth the Raven
Disbarred
Bill should be dis-barred
In which case he’d be Bill
And contact would be hard
Cuz Bills are run of mill
Barr should be dis-barred
Agree SomeDAM Poet. “Barr should be DISBARRED.”
Liars Barr none
Barr knew Trump was lying
Cuz twitter finger moved
And really no denying
That William Barr approved
“Bill Barr quit because he knew Trump was lying….” If that were true he would have quit long before he did.
Maybe he heard the talk of martial law or a coup and didn’t want to part of it.
Or he realized the attempted coup or martial law wasn’t going to work. If the media had not finally found some integrity but instead had done their usual bang up job of “both sides equally valid” reporting that gave lies and truths equal weight, Barr might have remained, seeing that it would work just like it worked when he lied about the Mueller Report and his office helped cover up Trump’s wrongdoing with regards to Ukraine before and during impeachment.)
Darrell We can only guess here; but my guess is that he LATER saw as way-too-dangerous what was EARLY oh-so-enamored . . . in his mind. CBK
Yes, he lied about the Mueller Report which dealt with Trump’s entry into the oval office, but when measuring his loyalty barometer regarding Trump’s exit, country or Trump. country took precedence . Redemption?
Darrell I’m glad he dropped out. But redemption? Nawwwww. I don’t think so. Like Moscow Mitch, it just shows him to be a political animal . . . and ONLY a political animal. CBK
There were a few whose consciences kicked in after the election – but the number is miniscule. And, what is sickening is that it took a violent, murderous attack on the Capitol to get those people to speak up. 400,000 covid deaths and 20,000 documented presidential lies and statement of hate didn’t make them flinch.
Barr’s is an outlier (again, no pun intended) because he was staunch in his stance of the EXpresident and doing his dirty work. At least if the crazy people which includes the GOP legislators had to stop and think, “If Barr quit – maybe there is something to allllll of these allegations against the president.”
Two thoughts –
1. History and facing up to their grandchildren when they ask, “What did you do?” will expose these people for who and what that are.
2. We – and Bloomberg’s campaign # and the Lincoln Project- better not forget all of this in November, 2022.
Wait, what, I like your idea of exposing these people “for who & what they are” as it aligns with the goal of Diane’s blog. While we’re exposing tRump enablers & GOP neo-fascists let’s not forget these trump enablers:
SPOTTED: GEORGE W. BUSH and TUCKER CARLSON having dinner at the private home of a neighbor on the exclusive Gasparilla Island, Fla., where they both have homes.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/01/19/the-washington-trump-leaves-behind-491443
I don’t put much faith in The Lincoln Project to slow the GOP’s raw pursuits of power. They seem curiously ignorant of the dark money corruption poisoning the country.
I wish I could have heard the conversation between Tucker Carlson and W.
Trump made W look good by comparison. Trump was very vicious towards the entire Bush family. I vividly recall HW Bush funeral, where Trump was visibly angry because they weren’t talking about him.
Biden was standing with no one near him during this cello performance and this is the response from the far R. What a bunch of A-holes. They never stop trying. Carol
RenewedRight.com
Joe Biden was caught on video doing one thing that caused a scandal on Day One
Joe Biden’s first day in office ended in scandal and embarrassment.
This was not how things were supposed to go.
But Joe Biden was caught on video doing one thing that caused a scandal on Day One.
Democrats across the country like California Governor Gavin Newsome and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi caught flak for their coronavirus hypocrisy.
They tell Americans to obey lockdown orders and wear masks and then get caught flouting their own rules.
Now you can add Joe Biden to the list.
Biden made a big deal about how one of his first acts in office would be to sign a federal mask mandate requiring anyone on federal property to wear a mask at all times.
It only took a matter of hours for Biden to violate that new mandate as he was filmed at the Lincoln Memorial standing around not wearing a mask as he listened to cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform.
There are two main reasons Americans developed “COVID fatigue” and now routinely ignore so-called “public health” measures.
First, they were told this was 15 days to stop the spread.
That is now over 300 days with no end in sight.
Second, the Democrats like Newsom, Pelosi, and Biden who tell Americans these lockdowns and mask mandates are a matter of life death routinely demonstrate that they do not believe this to be the case by not obeying them when they think no one is looking.
Biden claimed wearing masks could save 50,000 lives.
Biden also claimed he wears a mask to set an example for the American people.
That’s just what he says.
How he acts tells you what he really thinks and at the first opportunity Joe Biden ditched his mask.
Renewed Right will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) Tweeted:
https://t.co/XfckyfxI6E
Safely distanced, he chose to enjoy a bowl of cello without a mask, knowing that maskless terrorists would sneak cameras into his bathroom and find it scandalous that he was sitting on the john without a mask were he to wear one here.
Compared to a Trump rally, what are the number of cases traced to Pelosi, Biden, and other carefully thought out decisions not to wear a mask.
Is that Yo-No Mask on cello?
You are SomeDAM Poet!
This GOODIE comes from PatriotPulse THE TRUE VOICE OF THE AMERICAN RIGHT [The BS never stops. Trump was never the brightest bulb on the block.]
………………………..
Now that the election is over the media is reporting one scary fact about Joe Biden
All hell is now breaking loose.
The cover-up that protected Joe Biden is no more.
And now that the election is over the media is reporting one scary fact about Joe Biden.
Throughout the Presidential campaign it became clear to many Americans that Joe Biden was not all there.
Biden would forget where he was.
The former Vice President would oftentimes not remember what office he was running for.
And on one occasion, Biden could not tell his wife apart from his sister.
The Fake News Media claimed it was a conspiracy theory to question Biden’s declining mental faculties.
But now that the election is over, even left-wing outlets are reporting the obvious: Joe Biden’s mental capabilities are fading.
A story in POLITICO contained an anecdote about how Biden could not remember what he said in speeches and needed constant reminders from his staff about what he previously spoke about.
“For higher-profile remarks, [Biden would] obsessively rehearse portions until he committed them to memory. And at times through the various iterations of outlining remarks, Biden could grow downright ornery.
“I would never say this,” Biden once snapped at an aide, aghast over the prepared remarks he was reviewing, according to a person in the room during a speech prep session last year. “Where did you get this from?’”
These stories will likely continue to trickle out over the coming weeks and months because now Kamala Harris is Vice President.
Before, if the American people learned about Biden’s apparent decline it would have cost Democrats the election.
But now if word gets out that Biden is no longer mentally competent, he can easily be replaced with Kamala Harris.
Many Trump voters argued this was the plan all along.
And now it looks like the arrangement to move Biden out and replace him with Kamala Harris is in motion.
………………
PULSE POLL: Will Joe Biden resign the Presidency due to his mental decline?
Yes…….83%
No……..17%
carolmalaysia Somehow, they always forget to tell their listeners and readers that BIDEN HAS HAD A SPEECH IMPEDIMENT since he was a kid. He’s mostly overcome it, but THAT is why he slurs his words sometimes . . . . not from “mental incompetence.”
You want to read examples of self-inflicted mental and moral incompetence? Read right-wing propaganda. It’s another example of what Hannah Arendt called: the banality of evil. CBK
These idiots don’t realize that Trump is using their money for his own purposes.
…………………………
Pro-Trump Group Launches Genius Plan To Undermine Biden
NEWS
January 21, 2021
We The People Daily
As President Trump leaves the White House, no matter if you agreed with his behavior or not, it is a really sad day for the United States.
But that does not mean pro-Trump and pro-MAGA groups have stopped all their efforts. According to Fox, one the largest groups is a super PAC that brought in millions of dollars for President Trump. This group has changed its name and its goal, vowing to combat Biden’s expected incoming far-left legislation.
The Super PAC, called The Committee to Defend the President, is filing to change its name to The Committee to Defeat the President.
On their website, they’ve funnily marked out “defend” from their logo and replaced it with “defeat,” while displaying a message promising to prevent Biden’s socialist agenda.
Thanks to true Trump supporters, the group was able to bring in a whopping $16 million during Trump’s time in office and spend around $14 million defending him during that time.
Now with Donald Trump not in office, the PAC is energized to increase their efforts, saying to Fox News that they intend “to publicly expose Biden for his liberal plans” with a large seven-figure fund.
The group will also change its messaging to focus on research for the 2022 midterms, new advertisements and a big push using social media.
“Biden will work 24/7 to reverse the huge progress of Donald Trump’s presidency. From the onset, we must fight that. It is our duty to strive nonstop to fight them—before the damage becomes too much,” said the PAC’s chairman and former GOP state senator (Co), Ted Harvey.
The Super PAC was started in 2013 when it was called the “Stop Hillary” PAC. It would later on alter its name in support of President Trump after he took office in Jan. 2017.
As Trump worked 24/7 to reverse the huge progress of Kenyan-born Obama’s presidency, Biden will attempt to reverse the damage done by conspiracy-theorist Trump.
Seriously, Darrell? You are still clinging to the birther conspiracy stuff? That’s hilarious. But hey, would you be interested in buying some superb property on Mars? Get it before the rush! And how about some hydroxychroloquine silver solution oleander MAGIC COVID CURE? And your own personal reading by my psychic girlfriend Darlene? And this just in: International cabal led by George Soros puts chemicals in water to turn high-school kids transgender! And all pizza parlors are run by Democratic pedophiles! And unborn baby sings like Elvis. And the tooth fairy is upping the amount left per tooth! And boy, do I have a GENUINE zironium Trump memorial locket for you, containing an actual piece of the totally completed border wall that Mexico paid for. LOL.
There is literally nothing so stupid that members of the Cult of Trump won’t believe it, if that is, it is presented as QAnonsense and part of The Plan. Aie yie yie. The birther conspiracy, still!!!
These people are hopeless. Completely immune to reason and evidence. Completely ignorant of history and science, just like Glorious Leader Who Shines More Orange than Does the Sun!
I was trying to say that Trump’s reversals of Obama’s policies needed to be reversed just because Trump’s motivation was his blind hatred for Obama, especially after his birther conspiracy hadn’t worked.
I finally read your post past the first line. I thought the election of Biden ended the need to ridicule the Trump cult of losers.
“These people are hopeless. Completely immune to reason and evidence. Completely ignorant of history and science, just like Glorious Leader Who Shines More Orange than Does the Sun!”
It seems to me this places them beyond any attempt at reaching them through ridicule. Perhaps through informing them of history and science, not likely.
A stone wall eventually collapses. I believe we will see that in the next two years after a complete exposure of Trump crimes, coupled with a successful Biden campaign to better their existence.
It seems to me this places them beyond any attempt at reaching them through ridicule. Perhaps through informing them of history and science, not likely.
You are absolutely right, Darrell. I long ago gave up on trying to reach Trump supporters. The best that we can do is to try to reach their children–to educate them about democratic processes and the characteristics and dangers of fascism.
Agreed, Darrell. We are at a crossroads. This will be the most important four years in our history, with the possible exception of those years consumed by the Civil War.
Darrell There is no such thing as quick education.
A horizon is just that — the place where the sky meets the earth . . . so we can think, and the framework for our thinking. I wish I could convey to them . . . that to change our horizon, we need to walk aways so that, in time, we can look back and see BOTH what we did not see before, AND that the horizon we thought in before was incomplete, if not wholly inadequate to our good purposes. CBK
My apologies, Darrell. I thought you were a different Darrell who has been posting Trumpy nonsense lately.
And no, I don’t think that the end of the war against Trumpism is at hand. 75 million people voted for The Loser after the utter catastrophe of the past four years. That’s disturbing.
” I thought you were a different Darrell who has been posting Trumpy nonsense”
That was his brother Darrell
Bob It comes down to this: All those people believed, and still believe, the big lie. If you or I thought the lie was not a lie but true, and the election results WERE actually fraudulent, we’d feel the same way they do and rail against it in our different ways, as they are doing.
But it IS a lie: Even if it weren’t clear by all the reasons you have posted here, including all of the judges’ statements . . . judges who were appointed by Trump himself, . . . we have the Trump pattern and record . . . of always acting out of supreme selfishness . . . of being capable of doing ANYTHING just to GET HIS WAY, regardless of who he hurts by getting it, . . . and of NOT “learning his lesson,” but just going forward, doing whatever he can get away with.
But about the judges and all of the lists of lawyers and businesspeople, and organizations who have signed letters, lost their jobs, and spoken out. . . but really it’s the judges.
Trump obviously expected that all of those different judges in different courts would act in concert . . . that they would conspire to act like he does . . . that they ALL would find it oh-so easy to betray their oaths of office, and to the rule of law, to the Constitution, to their profession, and to God, . . . just like Trump does, . . . to conspire about the lie and show their gratitude to Trump for being appointed by him. It’s all about transactions and payback, isn’t it?
All those individual judges, in different states, working in different situations, must throw out their own sense of integrity OR, like Pence, be thought of as a betrayer, deserving of no less than being murdered.
What suckers they are, Trump says, to uphold the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution, and to be faithful to their oaths to God and to their own integrity . . . instead of DOING WHAT I WANT.*
But Trump got that wrong. Those judges are not in a conspiracy together to dump Trump. They are vastly different people, working in vastly different states and court scenarios . . . if they ARE conspiring, it’s about finding the singular truth that they all have recognized in their different contexts: Trump Lied and expected all those different judges to trash the law and the rules of evidence, to capitulate to his illegal WANTS, and sometimes to the fear of being murdered by his followers.
Trump was even willing to trash all of our votes in this, our long-standing republic, just to GET WHAT TRUMP WANTS. Screw those judges’ oaths to God.
The abiding question is only this: whether the lie continues to work, and whether or not truth keeps getting buried under it in his followers’ minds; or if his followers can find their way out into its light. CBK
Darrell, I get your sarcasm but it’s a hard message to understand in print alone when we can’t see your wry smile.
Especially with a mask on. Mirror neurons are at a disadvantage.
Readers of this blog might remember that Bill Barr auditioned for the post of AG by writing a truly crazy memo arguing that the Mueller investigation was unjustified. Here’s the post I wrote about that at the time:
Trump Attempts to Impede Mueller Investigation by Appointing Attorney General Who Wrote Memo Opposing That Investigation
Such synchronicity! Trump’s pick for Attorney General, Bill Barr, just “happens” to have written a memo suggesting that the Mueller investigation was an overreach.
Wow! What. a. Coincidence!
Barr wrote a 19-page memo arguing that the Mueller probe was not justified, legally, because the Justice Department is relying upon an expansion of the meaning of obstruction to include any act knowingly done to impede an investigation, beyond impairing evidence. I’m not a lawyer, but Barr’s reading seems, well, fanciful. It’s difficult to believe that the intent of the law was to allow people, with impunity, simply to fire anyone who might work on, assist, or bring a case against them until they got someone who wouldn’t do that. LOL.
The meaning of the law is, I think, quite clear. It reads, in part,
(c) Whoever corruptly—(1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so [is guilty of the crime of obstruction].
Section (c)(2) seems pretty clear to me. Firing someone (Comey) who is assisting or working on an investigation of you to stop him from doing that is clearly “corruptly . . . imped[ing an] official proceeding.”
So Trump appointed Barr to shut down the investigation. Isn’t that obvious?
As a competent, though clearly disreputable and ambitious, attorney, he knew that Trump’s lawyers were incompetent and that he had no case for election fraud and no chance of succeeding in his attempt to overturn a fair and democratic election. So, Barr saw that the ship was sinking and jumped off, attempting to rehabilitate his trashed reputation. Ghouliani’s, ofc, will never recover. Barr can, because he jumped ship, hope to get paid spots on newscasts in the future. And now let’s bring in former Attorney General Bill Barr for his perspective. (Cue the bagpipe music.)
I still, after all this time, cannot get over the fact that Barr’s reading of that law was so OBVIOUSLY WRONG that he
a) clearly was intentionally misreading it,
b) should have been jeered off the stage for doing so, and
b) should never have been confirmed as AG.
But after he wrote his absurd memo, Trumpy Repugnicans fell in line, as they always did, and praised his legal brilliance.
Aie yie yie.
Bob “aie yie yie.” It’s head-smacking, isn’t it. The present situation certainly has exposed the cracks and even gaping holes in the foundations of not only our political life as a democracy, but our culture as well.
We certainly cannot be defensive about the place of education in all of this mess and its conflictive conversations; nor can we let our legislators go back to sleep, or remain unaccountable for their neglect and/or their allowing corrosive intrusions into an educational system that is so essential to the future of our democratic-republican political life.
I don’t know what to do about the present situation–just keep trying to be and talk reasonably, and not to abuse the freedoms that we still have. But it seems to me that those who are responsible for the direction of education in this country and, indeed, the world, should be able to see from the present the writing on the wall that point to the future? This cannot last the way it is. CBK
Years ago, Catherine, when I was just a kid and learning about democracy, a troubling thought occurred to me: A democracy is a type of government in which people are free to choose their leaders by voting, and so they can choose leaders who would do away with democracy altogether. Even as a child, I saw that this political system contains a potential seed for its own destruction. 75 million Trump voters. Trump, who imagined himself being president for life (he actually tweeted about this possibility) and believed he could rerun elections until they turned out his way.
Bob Yes, . . . Trump is so vacuously self-centered, he doesn’t even understand what a child can follow the logic to easily understand. CBK
He has words which are very descriptive of what Trump’s four years meant for the majority of people.
……………………………………………
Why I Took Part in the Biden-Harris Inauguration
By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hollywood Reporter
23 January 21
“I felt honored to be an active part of the relaunching of the ship of state with a real captain at the helm,” says the Hollywood Reporter columnist, who helped introduce the new leaders with words first recited by Abraham Lincoln.
The last year has been like a horror movie in which a terrified family battles relentless brain-eating zombies all night, but finally emerges victorious into the bright sun of the dawn. For me, the inauguration of Joe Biden is like that hopeful dawn in which those with brains still intact emerge from the darkness to reclaim our country and everything it stands for.
Being a participant in President Biden’s inauguration ceremony, I felt honored to be an active part of the relaunching of the ship of state with a real sea-worthy captain at the helm (think salty Capt. Lee of Below Deck), not a sea-sick imposter who stole the uniform and bluffed his way into the wheelhouse. My role in the inauguration was simple: I was one of several celebrities who would each read sections of various presidents’ inaugural addresses with the entire compilation presented during the Celebrating America special hosted by Tom Hanks. In 1854, Lincoln spoke of “the monstrous injustice of slavery,” so I couldn’t help but wonder what he might think about a Black man reading his words to the entire nation he so ably defended against insurrectionists.
It’s appropriate that the Biden inauguration takes place in the same week as Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, because Dr. King dared us to dream big by sharing his own dream for a unified and equitable America. Our country has always encouraged dreamers who just want a chance to develop their full potential on an even playing field. Dr. King was optimistic that Americans would continue to strive for a place where everyone had an equal opportunity to follow those dreams. But he was also a realist and knew that even the most well-meaning people sometimes needed a push to do the right thing. I’m hoping the inauguration, with its display of diversity, inclusion and eager hopefulness, will be that inspirational nudge for some skeptics.
For many Americans, the last four years have felt like we were jammed into a tight barrel with a small breathing hole while someone tried to plug up the hole. It was hard to dream, or even encourage others to dream, because the Trump administration worked so hard to suppress the basic rights of so many groups, including women, LGBTQ+, Muslims, Blacks, Latinx and immigrants. Worse, his lies, foot-dragging and incompetence during the pandemic led to 400,000 American deaths, many preventable. Even his economic plan resulted in billionaires (about 200 people) adding $1 trillion to their bloated portfolios while average American incomes languished…
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67443-why-i-took-part-in-the-biden-harris-inauguration
If Trump starts up a third party it will split the Republican party so Democrats will win. Trump will be busy fighting all the state law suits against him. Loser.
Is he going to put out the Patriot party only long enough to scare moderates into not voting for his impeachment?
………………………………………….
Trump jumps into a divisive battle over the Republican Party — with a threat to start a ‘MAGA Party’
By
Josh Dawsey and
Michael Scherer
Jan. 23, 2021 at 5:10 p.m. CST
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former president Donald Trump threw himself back into politics this weekend by publicly endorsing a devoted and divisive acolyte in Arizona who has embraced his false election conspiracy theories and entertained the creation of a new “MAGA Party.”
In a recorded phone call, Trump offered his “complete and total endorsement” for another term for Arizona state party chairwoman Kelli Ward, a lightning rod who has sparred with the state’s Republican governor, been condemned by the business community and overseen a recent flight in party registrations. She narrowly won reelection, by a margin of 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent, marking Trump’s first victory in a promised battle to maintain political relevance and influence after losing the 2020 election.
In recent weeks, Trump has entertained the idea of creating a third party, called the Patriot Party, and instructed his aides to prepare election challenges to lawmakers who crossed him in the final weeks in office, including Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), according to people familiar with the plans.
Multiple people in Trump’s orbit, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, say Trump has told people that the third-party threat gives him leverage to prevent Republican senators from voting to convict him during the Senate impeachment trial. Trump advisers also say they plan to recruit opposing primary candidates and commission polling next week in districts of targeted lawmakers. Trump has more than $70 million in campaign cash banked to fund his political efforts, these people say…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-republican-split/2021/01/23/d7dc253e-5cbc-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html
The nut cases are out in full force on conservative sites. Greene supports QAnon.
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House Republican Launches Impeachment Against Joe Biden
Conservative Freedom Network
A House Republican officially filed articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden on his second day in office. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) — infamous for supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory on a blog before running for Congress — launched a Quixotic attempt to impeach Biden over the Hunter Biden-Burisma scandal.
“President Joe Biden is unfit to hold the office of the Presidency. His pattern of abuse of power as President Obama’s Vice President is lengthy and disturbing. President Biden has demonstrated that he will do whatever it takes to bail out his son, Hunter, and line his family’s pockets with cash from corrupt foreign energy companies,” Greene said in a statement on Thursday after filing the articles.
“President Biden is even on tape admitting to a quid pro quo with the Ukrainian government threatening to withhold $1,000,000,000 in foreign aid if they did not do his bidding. President Biden residing in the White House is a threat to national security and he must be immediately impeached,” the congresswoman insisted.
Greene’s impeachment effort is unlikely to gain any traction, but it does once again point out the notorious Burisma scandal.
While Biden served as former President Barack Obama’s point-man on Ukraine, his son Hunter took a lucrative job at the notoriously corrupt Ukrainian gas firm Burisma, and the firm’s founder was already under investigation at the time. Joe Biden would later go on to brag about how he threatened to withdraw $1 billion in Ukraine aid to pressure then-Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was overseeing an investigation into Burisma. Biden’s defenders claim that the VP wanted Shokin gone because Shokin was insufficiently effective at rooting out corruption, but the investigation into Burisma was indeed dropped following Shokin’s ouster.
Officials in the Obama State Department worried about the probity of Hunter Biden’s position at Burisma while Joe Biden led the administration’s efforts against corruption in Ukraine.
Greene laid out the case against Biden in six bullet points:…
Check it out: https://conservativefreedomnetwork.com/house-republican-launches-impeachment-against-joe-biden/
I want Marjorie Taylor Green to run for Governor against Stacey Abrams in Georgia.
Stacey wins, MJT leaves Congress.