Fiona Hill: "The president was trying to stage a coup"

annabenedetti said:

It’s Mid-October and 22 Percent of Republicans STILL Think Trump Will Be Reinstated as President This Year

Nearly a quarter of Republicans believe that former President Donald Trumpwill be “reinstated” to the presidency this year, even as the fantastical August 13 “deadline” for that event has long passed, and the end of the year is just weeks away.

It has been more than four months since the political media world was set abuzz after The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman first reported that Trump was telling confidants that he believed he’d be reinstated to the presidency in August, reporting that was later confirmed by other outlets — and fed by delusions floated by Trump allies like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and attorney Sidney Powell.

And Trump himself appeared to confirm this in June when he told a crowd in North Carolina that “we’re gonna take back the White House, and sooner than you think.”

According to Lindell, the date of Trump’s miraculous ascension was to be August 13 — more than two months ago.

But according to a new poll from YouGov, a not-insignificant chunk of Republicans still think it is “likely” that Trump will be reinstated this year.

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annabenedetti said:

It’s Mid-October and 22 Percent of Republicans STILL Think Trump Will Be Reinstated as President This Year

Nearly a quarter of Republicans believe that former President Donald Trumpwill be “reinstated” to the presidency this year, even as the fantastical August 13 “deadline” for that event has long passed, and the end of the year is just weeks away.

It has been more than four months since the political media world was set abuzz after The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman first reported that Trump was telling confidants that he believed he’d be reinstated to the presidency in August, reporting that was later confirmed by other outlets — and fed by delusions floated by Trump allies like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and attorney Sidney Powell.

And Trump himself appeared to confirm this in June when he told a crowd in North Carolina that “we’re gonna take back the White House, and sooner than you think.”

According to Lindell, the date of Trump’s miraculous ascension was to be August 13 — more than two months ago.

But according to a new poll from YouGov, a not-insignificant chunk of Republicans still think it is “likely” that Trump will be reinstated this year.

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Arthur Brain said:

No wonder the RP is in such disarray. It's like an ultra slow motion car crash...

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annabenedetti said:

... a white Christian nationalistic minority ...

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ok doser said:

72% of Americans identify as white
65% of Americans identify as Christian

Not sure how you get a "minority" out of that

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annabenedetti said:

By not discarding "nationalistic," as you just did.

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annabenedetti said:

Heather Cox Richardson issues a thoughtful, nuanced newsletter called Letters from an American. This is from her latest:

October 18, 2021
Today, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol recommended that the House of Representatives find Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon in contempt of Congress. Bannon is refusing to cooperate with a subpoena for documents and testimony about the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection. Now the House will take up the question of contempt.

The committee report is a lot more interesting than that topline suggests (political historian here: although people tend to watch what happens before the TV cameras, committee reports are often where the action is).

The report starts by stating that the attempt of “a violent mob” to “halt the lawful counting of electoral votes and reverse the results of the 2020 election” was, according to “the words of many of those who participated in the violence, ...a direct response to false statements by then-President Donald J. Trump—beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through January 6, 2021—that the 2020 election had been stolen by corrupted voting machines, widespread fraud, and otherwise.”

The committee is laying the events of January 6 on Trump.

Congress established the committee, the report says, “to identify how the events of January 6th were planned, what actions and statements motivated and contributed to the attack on the Capitol, how the violent riot that day was coordinated with a political and public relations strategy to reverse the election outcome, and why Capitol security was insufficient to address what occurred.”

The committee is saying that the riot was coordinated ahead of time, and it appears to suggest that Capitol security was compromised.

Then the report explains why Bannon is an important witness. Its account of his actions in that crisis is an illuminating roundup of what we have seen in pieces in many other places. It concludes that Bannon knew specifically about the events of January 6 ahead of time.

On his January 5 podcasts, for example, he said:

“It’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. OK, it’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is, strap in. [. . .] You made this happen and tomorrow it’s game day. So strap in. Let’s get ready.”

“All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. [. . .] So many people said, ‘Man, if I was in a revolution, I would be in Washington.’ Well, this is your time in history.”

Bannon said that the country was facing a ‘‘constitutional crisis’’ and ‘‘that crisis is about to go up about five orders of magnitude tomorrow.’’

And: “It’s all converging, and now we’re on the point of attack tomorrow.”

So, the committee report suggests there was high-level planning for the January 6 insurrection. And it goes on:

The report says that it appears Bannon joined others eager to overturn the election “who gathered at the Willard Hotel, two blocks from the White House, on the days surrounding the January 6th attack…. The group that assembled at the Willard Hotel is reported to have included members of the Trump campaign’s legal team (including Rudolph Giuliani and John Eastman), several prominent proponents of false election fraud claims that had been promoted by Mr. Trump (e.g., Russell Ramsland, Jr. and Boris Epshteyn), as well as Roger Stone, who left the hotel with Oath Keeper bodyguards, and campaign spokesman Jason Miller.”

Then the report blows up the idea that Bannon had an excuse not to testify.

Bannon refused to honor the subpoena because he claimed that Trump was going to invoke executive privilege, but “Trump has had no communication with the Select Committee.” “This third-hand, non-specific assertion of privilege, without any description of the documents or testimony over which privilege is claimed, is insufficient to activate a claim of executive privilege,” it says. In any case, as a private citizen at the time of the events in question, Bannon would not be covered by executive privilege anyway.

This is a powerful document, laying out the direction the committee report is likely to go...


More at the link.

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annabenedetti said:

... the violent riot that day was ...

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ffreeloader said:

That's it. Quote a far left Marxist loon and present her as an unbiased source.

And you deny you're a Marxist.

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annabenedetti said:

That's it. Call a historian you probably never even heard of before a "far left Marxist loon" ...

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US Capitol Police Officer Still Recovering From Insurrection Injuries​

annabenedetti said:

It’s Mid-October and 22 Percent of Republicans STILL Think Trump Will Be Reinstated as President This Year

Nearly a quarter of Republicans believe that former President Donald Trumpwill be “reinstated” to the presidency this year, even as the fantastical August 13 “deadline” for that event has long passed, and the end of the year is just weeks away.

It has been more than four months since the political media world was set abuzz after The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman first reported that Trump was telling confidants that he believed he’d be reinstated to the presidency in August, reporting that was later confirmed by other outlets — and fed by delusions floated by Trump allies like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and attorney Sidney Powell.

And Trump himself appeared to confirm this in June when he told a crowd in North Carolina that “we’re gonna take back the White House, and sooner than you think.”

According to Lindell, the date of Trump’s miraculous ascension was to be August 13 — more than two months ago.

But according to a new poll from YouGov, a not-insignificant chunk of Republicans still think it is “likely” that Trump will be reinstated this year.

Click to expand...

User Name said:

Former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short denounced a memo from a legal scholar arguing Pence could unilaterally overturn President Joe Biden's Electoral College win as "boneheaded analysis" in an interview for a new book.

Short spoke to Washington Examiner journalist and author David Drucker for his forthcoming book "In Trump's Shadow: The Battle for 2024 and the Future of the GOP," a copy of which Insider obtained ahead of its October 19 publication from Twelve Books.

In his interview with Drucker, Short blamed a power vacuum in the White House that created an opening for conspiracy theory-wielding lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, in addition to figures like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, to fill Trump's head with the false belief that the 2020 election was stolen and the incorrect notion that his vice president could unilaterally reverse his election loss.

"Unfortunately, I think the president had some really, really bad advice," Short told Drucker. "The way the White House was structured at that point was that those people giving that really, really bad advice were given carte blanche access to the president, and I think there were no safeguards in the way the White House was being run at that point."

Mike Pence's chief of staff trashed a memo calling for him to overturn the election as 'boneheaded analysis'

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annabenedetti said:

Heather Cox Richardson issues a thoughtful, nuanced newsletter called Letters from an American. This is from her latest:

October 18, 2021
Today, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol recommended that the House of Representatives find Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon in contempt of Congress. Bannon is refusing to cooperate with a subpoena for documents and testimony about the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection. Now the House will take up the question of contempt.

The committee report is a lot more interesting than that topline suggests (political historian here: although people tend to watch what happens before the TV cameras, committee reports are often where the action is).

The report starts by stating that the attempt of “a violent mob” to “halt the lawful counting of electoral votes and reverse the results of the 2020 election” was, according to “the words of many of those who participated in the violence, ...a direct response to false statements by then-President Donald J. Trump—beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through January 6, 2021—that the 2020 election had been stolen by corrupted voting machines, widespread fraud, and otherwise.”

The committee is laying the events of January 6 on Trump.

Congress established the committee, the report says, “to identify how the events of January 6th were planned, what actions and statements motivated and contributed to the attack on the Capitol, how the violent riot that day was coordinated with a political and public relations strategy to reverse the election outcome, and why Capitol security was insufficient to address what occurred.”

The committee is saying that the riot was coordinated ahead of time, and it appears to suggest that Capitol security was compromised.

Then the report explains why Bannon is an important witness. Its account of his actions in that crisis is an illuminating roundup of what we have seen in pieces in many other places. It concludes that Bannon knew specifically about the events of January 6 ahead of time.

On his January 5 podcasts, for example, he said:

“It’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. OK, it’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is, strap in. [. . .] You made this happen and tomorrow it’s game day. So strap in. Let’s get ready.”

“All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. [. . .] So many people said, ‘Man, if I was in a revolution, I would be in Washington.’ Well, this is your time in history.”

Bannon said that the country was facing a ‘‘constitutional crisis’’ and ‘‘that crisis is about to go up about five orders of magnitude tomorrow.’’

And: “It’s all converging, and now we’re on the point of attack tomorrow.”

So, the committee report suggests there was high-level planning for the January 6 insurrection. And it goes on:

The report says that it appears Bannon joined others eager to overturn the election “who gathered at the Willard Hotel, two blocks from the White House, on the days surrounding the January 6th attack…. The group that assembled at the Willard Hotel is reported to have included members of the Trump campaign’s legal team (including Rudolph Giuliani and John Eastman), several prominent proponents of false election fraud claims that had been promoted by Mr. Trump (e.g., Russell Ramsland, Jr. and Boris Epshteyn), as well as Roger Stone, who left the hotel with Oath Keeper bodyguards, and campaign spokesman Jason Miller.”

Then the report blows up the idea that Bannon had an excuse not to testify.

Bannon refused to honor the subpoena because he claimed that Trump was going to invoke executive privilege, but “Trump has had no communication with the Select Committee.” “This third-hand, non-specific assertion of privilege, without any description of the documents or testimony over which privilege is claimed, is insufficient to activate a claim of executive privilege,” it says. In any case, as a private citizen at the time of the events in question, Bannon would not be covered by executive privilege anyway.

This is a powerful document, laying out the direction the committee report is likely to go...


More at the link.

Click to expand...

annabenedetti said:

I'd call it a slow-rolling coup. The base is outnumbered by disgusted establishment Republicans, Democrat-leaning independents and Democrats, but the base is just as gaga over Trump and just as full of conspiracy and disinformation-fueled rage as they were when he was in office and significantly, they're willing and able to play dirty at all levels, from local school boards to filibustering the senate. What happens in 22 and 24 is going to be historically significant, as to whether a white Christian nationalistic minority can tighten its grip on the American narrative.

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annabenedetti said:

That's it. Call a historian you probably never even heard of before a "far left Marxist loon" and then pretend you're not unhinged.

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annabenedetti said:

US Capitol Police Officer Still Recovering From Insurrection Injuries​

The strain, stress and trauma of the vicious fighting at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 continues to impact the men and women of the police department, a sergeant told the News4 I-Team. At least 75 of members have retired or left the agency since the insurrection.

U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was part of the front-line battle against the violent mob in the U.S. Capitol west tunnel, remains off the job with foot, hand and shoulder injuries. Gonell is one of the 10 Capitol Police employees who remained on leave with injuries as of late summer, according to a News4 I-Team review.

“This was not just an attack on police officers,” Gonell told the News4 I-Team, “It was an attack on our government, the seat of democracy.”

Gonell, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq in 2004, said the violence and horrors he saw at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 were unlike anything he witnessed at war. He said the mix of chemical spray, rioters wielding stolen police equipment and military gear, and the flashing lights and sirens from the fire alarms were disorienting and unnerving.

“It was claustrophobic. You have the tear gas, the bear spray, the fire alarm system going off and the yelling,” Gonell said.

“This happened at home and by my own fellow citizens,” he said. “They were chanting to overturn and overthrow the government.”

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