House Republicans meet with Trump to discuss overturning election results

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

Source: Politico.com

President Donald Trump huddled with a group of congressional Republicans at the White House on Monday, where they strategized over a last-ditch effort to overturn the election results next month, according to several members who attended the meeting.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) — who is spearheading the long-shot push to overturn the election results in Congress — organized the trio of White House meetings, which lasted over three hours and included roughly a dozen lawmakers. The group also met with Vice President Mike Pence, who will be presiding over the joint session of Congress when lawmakers officially certify the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, as well as members of Trump’s legal team.

“It was a back-and-forth concerning the planning and strategy for January the 6th,” Brooks said in a phone interview.

In addition to the “dozens” of House Republicans who are committed to objecting to the election results, Brooks said there are “multiple” Senate Republicans who are now receptive to the effort, though he declined to name names. Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), whom Trump has repeatedly praised on Twitter recently, has said he is considering the idea. "More and more congressmen and senators are being persuaded that the election was stolen,” Brooks said, who claimed that momentum for the effort is growing.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/21/trump-house-overturn-election-449787

---

If people (including President Carter) deem Trump as an illegitimate president because of Russian interference in the 2016 election, what is going to be said about a presidency gained by using every dirty trick in the book. Sure, his base will support him, but what about the overwhelming majority of us who voted for Biden? How do we cut the balls off a person who has not been duly elected?

I have faith that on January 20 Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office. I just can't believe the rigmarole Trump and his enablers -- especially the Repugs in the House and Senate -- are putting this country through because of Trump's ego and the multi-million dollar con Fat Donnie is running to get his base to stuff his pockets with more cash.

[CatMor]

1. It's not going to happen even the idiot trump knows that..

he can keep getting money from his base so he'll play it to the end. On January 20th Joe Biden will be the prrsident.

[olegramps]

16. He is just mining the same people the religious conmen have been robbing for years.

Just a pack of ignorant suckers that makeup the majority of the Republican Party constituency. They are easy prey for every ripoff from the NRA, politicians and preachers to any scam.

[Bayard]

2. I'm assuming Dem leadership has a plan

To shut down any bullshit on the 6th, or the 20th for that matter.

Is there nothing that can be done to knock trump and his minions back on this farce? I know Dems are just trying to run out the clock, and I'm sure Biden/Harris will be sworn in on the 20th, but I'm worried about the crazies here and now. This talk of declaring martial law is disturbing. That would require military cooperation, right? I don't think they'd get that.

This is like beating a dead horse after he's 6 feet deep, and overgrown with grass.

[PSPS]

6. Relax. This is all meaningless theater intended only to further squeeze the MAGA wallets.

Trump cannot declare martial law. Nothing can stop the acceptance of the electoral votes. In short, just change the channel and take a break until the 20th. Don't get addicted to the outrage porn that consumes the media.

[Rustynaerduwell]

28. Don't kid yourself. Trump does not want to lose.

This is not just meaningless theater. He could as easily squeeze MAGA wallets without the help of these Repugs. This is a serious attempt at an autogolpe. I'm not saying he will succeed, but this attempt at staying in power is real. Pretending it is not only helps him.

[marie999]

30. He loses because the Democrats have a majority in the House and will vote down

any attempt the Republicans try.

[SoFlaBro]

88. This. Exactly.

There will be no coup unless the House Democrats allow it. The Orange Bastard has no path left except facefirst into a shit-filled fetid toilet bowl.

[Thekaspervote]

55. It is meaningless theater! So..he wants to stay in power, everyone gets that

He has no path..none!
Why give him anymore attention? It’s what he wants

[paleotn]

66. It's actually kabuki theater for many. Stupidity for Donnie and a few congressional rubes.

Sure, Donnie wants to stay in power, because he knows if he doesn't, he may very well go to jail in the state of NY and the fines will be astronomical for a long history of insurance and bank fraud. He and a handful of hick congress critters might think it's possible, but it's not. Those who've been around a while, and have a few more neurons in their brains know it's just theater. He's like rat caught in a trap, struggling to get away, when in reality, all that exertion is futile.

[Maxheader]

15. Time for barney fife...

to put his bullet in the chamber...lock and load...

[DownriverDem]

26. And you know

this inside info about the Dems, how?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

29. As I understand, House would block each challenge, Senate disagree, then Governor's certs rule

As I understand it, each state's Electoral College certification would have to be challenged, one by one, by a Representative and a Senator. Any state that is challenged gets thrown to the whole House and whole Senate to debate and vote on the certification by full member vote.

If the House and Senate disagree (as might be expected), then the certification signed by the Governor is not blocked and becomes the EC vote. Expect the House to uphold all state's certifications. What the Senate would do is hard to fathom, but if they vote to block a certified EC vote it will have no effect and the certified EC vote will stand.

There is a lot of talk and many, especially dimwit MAGAts, think that all it takes is one Rep and one Senator to throw the whole US election into a "one state one vote" scenario. It does not work like that.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/15 (emphasis added, note esp. last bolding)

3 U.S. Code § 15 - Counting electoral votes in Congress

Congress shall be in session on the sixth day of January succeeding every meeting of the electors. The Senate and House of Representatives shall meet in the Hall of the House of Representatives at the hour of 1 o’clock in the afternoon on that day, and the President of the Senate shall be their presiding officer. Two tellers shall be previously appointed on the part of the Senate and two on the part of the House of Representatives, to whom shall be handed, as they are opened by the President of the Senate, all the certificates and papers purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes, which certificates and papers shall be opened, presented, and acted upon in the alphabetical order of the States, beginning with the letter A; and said tellers, having then read the same in the presence and hearing of the two Houses, shall make a list of the votes as they shall appear from the said certificates; and the votes having been ascertained and counted according to the rules in this subchapter provided, the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if any, elected President and Vice President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the Journals of the two Houses. Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received. When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this title from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment has been so certified. If more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State shall have been received by the President of the Senate, those votes, and those only, shall be counted which shall have been regularly given by the electors who are shown by the determination mentioned in section 5 of this title to have been appointed, if the determination in said section provided for shall have been made, or by such successors or substitutes, in case of a vacancy in the board of electors so ascertained, as have been appointed to fill such vacancy in the mode provided by the laws of the State; but in case there shall arise the question which of two or more of such State authorities determining what electors have been appointed, as mentioned in section 5 of this title, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given of those electors, and those only, of such State shall be counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its law; and in such case of more than one return or paper purporting to be a return from a State, if there shall have been no such determination of the question in the State aforesaid, then those votes, and those only, shall be counted which the two Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful electors appointed in accordance with the laws of the State, unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide such votes not to be the lawful votes of the legally appointed electors of such State. But if the two Houses shall disagree in respect of the counting of such votes, then, and in that case, the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted. When the two Houses have voted, they shall immediately again meet, and the presiding officer shall then announce the decision of the questions submitted. No votes or papers from any other State shall be acted upon until the objections previously made to the votes or papers from any State shall have been finally disposed of.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 644, 62 Stat. 675.)

[LiberalFighter]

45. And the way I read it. It is specified what can be objected.

and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this title from which but one return has been received shall be rejected,

[Thekaspervote]

58. Both houses have to agree to the objections, we all know that isn't going to happen

• A senator would have to join a House member in objecting to a state’s slate of votes, and the narrow Republican majority in the Senate would have to stick together to approve the objection. But even if both of those things occurred, the Democratic-held House would not go along, and because both chambers must agree to an objection, the effort would fail.

More at the link

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/10/casting-and-counting-electoral-votes-roadmap/

[IsItJustMe]

72. I think at least two or three Republican senators would not go along with this insanity.

[BumRushDaShow]

80. CSPAN has an archive of how it went down in 2016

as an example. What is different is that when the Democratic House members "objected", none had a corresponding Senator who "signed off" on their objection and Biden (who was then VP and thus presided over the joint session as President of the Senate) basically nullified the objection. I expect in the case when they do this in 2021, they will probably have some clueless loser GOP Senators "sign off on" what the loons in the House present, which would probably trigger some kind of debate period (not sure of the rules for debate in this special session and what the time frame would be for that) after which they would vote (and not sure how they handle the votes when you have both chambers meeting jointly - the House members use some kind of "electronic card" to vote -





so they have the roll call names quicker, but the Senate usually does a verbal "roll call" for voting.

So there would be the theatrics of this but when it all comes down to it, the House is NOT going to go along with overturning any state certification. I expect the objections would be limited to the same 6 states that have been the subject all all the failed lawsuits (AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, WI).

In any case, the below is instructive for how the process would play out in general -

[paleotn]

57. Yes.

[IsItJustMe]

71. Yes! This is indeed insane shit! But look at the Republican party. Look at people like Sarah

Palin! These people have always been insane fucks. Look at the crazy evangelicals that support the Republican party. These people have all jumped the shark and have boarded the crazy train. At the end of the day however, even these crazy mofo know that they can't go against the true will of the people. If they did that, their own gig would be over. No fun in being crazy if everyone is crazy.

None if the judges flipped. That tells me the military won't either. I do think their will be a Republican freak show on January 6 when they vote to certify the electorate. We will see how many traitors we have at that time. It won't go anywhere however.

[onetexan]

76. the martial law nonsense ain't gonna happen. The military have already confirmed this.

[RVN VET71]

81. I agree the military will not cooperate

But Trump will have his violent confrontations between his boys and the law. In some cases there will be gun-fire and death, in others looting and conflagrations, in still others both. The police in Oregon used rope-a-dope on the irate white fascist citizens by withdrawing into the building and avoiding a confrontation (which I doubt would have been the case had the attackers been African American, but I make an obvious digression). The police will attempt this "passive" enforcement of law as far as possible, but these fascists have no respect or love for the police (their number have been responsible numerous police murders, you may recall) and are likely to provoke the police into serious retaliation beyond mere gas and mace.

Still, the eruptions will be in small pockets and hardly signs of a civil war. Of course, too, there will be pipe bombs and bombs of the sort baby-killer Timmy McVeigh used against the Federal building in OKC. And the bombers will be hunted down, caught, tried, and emprisoned or, as in the case of the baby-killer, executed.

But gradually -- maybe a decades worth of gradually -- the willful violence will peter out. I may not live to see the day when one American can turn to another and say "Remember how bad things were during the plague and how violent things got after Biden's inauguration?" with a kind of sad nostalgia because things will have gotten so regular, so normal, so blessedly boring. But such a day will get here. If you're young enough (I'm 75, alas) and patient enough, you'll live to see it.

[DFW]

3. What never ceases to amaze me is this:

The astounding number of members of Congress willing to sign on to a blatant attempt to nullify the effects of an election. That they see no horribly dangerous precedent in this is just scary. Maybe if some similar efforts were mounted to nullify their own elections, they‘d get the hint?

[They_Live]

8. good idea! n/t

[luvtheGWN]

22. But weren't there Repubs elected in some of those swing states

that Trump wants nullified? If those elections were overturned, so would they be!

None of it makes any sense whatsoever. Hard to believe this is even going on.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. They keep trying to cherry-pick what votes on the ballots they want to overturn

in order to ONLY "nullify" the votes for President/Vice President, but leave all the other votes intact, including Congress and any state/county/local offices, that were on the SAME DAMN BALLOTS.

[PatSeg]

35. Must be nice

to be able pick which votes you accept and which ones you reject. I wonder if they have any idea how totally ridiculous they sound.

[BumRushDaShow]

40. I'm wondering if they are being blackmailed and/or threatened (from Putin or someone else)

so badly that they'll do anything to show they made the attempt.

I do also know that since 2010, they have gradually introduced more and more extreme members to Congress by primarying the more "moderate" ("normal" ) Republicans, so they have a broader baseline of nuts nowadays... thanks to the long-time philosophy of Gingrich (who is still in the background, no doubt directing some of these game plays).

[PatSeg]

68. Oh yes

That has dawned on me as well. Their behavior often resembled people who are being threatened or blackmailed.

Newt Gingrich did more damage to the republican party than anyone I can think of in recent years. I believe he made a "President Trump" possible. Of course, republicans can be such sheep, it is often easy to get them to follow if it means winning.

[BumRushDaShow]

70. I have posted an excerpt on Gingrich from an Atlantic interview multiple times

but it is really enlightening -

The Man Who Broke Politics

Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise. Now he’s reveling in his achievements.

Story by McKay Coppins
November 2018 Issue

Updated on October 17, 2018

[snip]

On June 24, 1978, Gingrich stood to address a gathering of College Republicans at a Holiday Inn near the Atlanta airport. It was a natural audience for him. At 35, he was more youthful-looking than the average congressional candidate, with fashionably robust sideburns and a cool-professor charisma that had made him one of the more popular faculty members at West Georgia College. But Gingrich had not come to deliver an academic lecture to the young activists before him—he had come to foment revolution.

“One of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty,” he told the group. “We encourage you to be neat, obedient, and loyal, and faithful, and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around the campfire but are lousy in politics.” For their party to succeed, Gingrich went on, the next generation of Republicans would have to learn to “raise hell,” to stop being so “nice,” to realize that politics was, above all, a cutthroat “war for power”—and to start acting like it.

The speech received little attention at the time. Gingrich was, after all, an obscure, untenured professor whose political experience consisted of two failed congressional bids. But when, a few months later, he was finally elected to the House of Representatives on his third try, he went to Washington a man obsessed with becoming the kind of leader he had described that day in Atlanta. The GOP was then at its lowest point in modern history. Scores of Republican lawmakers had been wiped out in the aftermath of Watergate, and those who’d survived seemed, to Gingrich, sadly resigned to a “permanent minority” mind-set. “It was like death,” he recalls of the mood in the caucus. “They were morally and psychologically shattered.”

But Gingrich had a plan. The way he saw it, Republicans would never be able to take back the House as long as they kept compromising with the Democrats out of some high-minded civic desire to keep congressional business humming along. His strategy was to blow up the bipartisan coalitions that were essential to legislating, and then seize on the resulting dysfunction to wage a populist crusade against the institution of Congress itself. “His idea,” says Norm Ornstein, a political scientist who knew Gingrich at the time, “was to build toward a national election where people were so disgusted by Washington and the way it was operating that they would throw the ins out and bring the outs in.”

[snip]

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/newt-gingrich-says-youre-welcome/570832/

[PatSeg]

85. That certainly explains a lot

He taught republicans how to be "nasty" and succeeded spectacularly, possibly beyond even his own expectations. I'm sure he looks at the results of his efforts and is very proud of what he has accomplished. Sometimes, it is hard to understand what makes some people tick. Most people would like to leave a mark in the world, something to remind history that they'd existed. Why on earth would anyone want to leave such chaos and dysfunction as their legacy?

There are a lot of relatively worthless people in the world, but people like Gingrich are worse than worthless.

[BumRushDaShow]

87. The simple answer

is that these types of people are narcissists who have no moral values, and would not hesitate to stoke chaos, envisioning themselves being able to easily ride the wave above the discord because "they" initiated it.

What they don't understand is that they are not so infallible and as is often used as an analogy, the "Frankenstein Monster" will be the result, where the ability to control it is eventually lost once it takes on a life of its own (as the GOP is experiencing now).

[PatSeg]

89. Yes

and a well educated person like Gingrich knows what happened to the Frankensteins throughout history, yet he still persisted in creating his own monster. The desire to be famous and powerful tends to override all reason and logic.

People like Gingrich remind me of the ridiculous super villains in Saturday Morning Cartoons. Actually he kind of looks like one as well.

[PatSeg]

24. Same here

I expected some initial noise and resistance, but these people are taking this charade to the bitter end. So is this what we should anticipate every presidential election from now on? Personally, I had hoped that a lot of the screwballs would eventually retire or be voted out, but now I wonder if we will stuck with them for a long time.

[DownriverDem]

27. There was a

messaging problem.

[Thekaspervote]

59. There were objections raised in 2000, 2004, and 2008

[PatSeg]

69. Yes

It seems to get worse with each election. We are starting to see how far they will go. I hate to think it could get worse, but I've learned to never underestimate how low they will go.

[Under The Radar]

4. This will only end in great humiliation for the Republican Party.

I am all for them raising the maximum anticipation and to make the largest possible spectacle, because that what makes the most spectacular crashes.
I would like two front row seat tickets please.

[Guilded Lilly]

5. Cretin and his enablers will go down as an indelible stain in history...

that will stick to their names like tar.

I just cannot fathom that our government has come down to these vile traitors so easily crapping on the Constitution without ANY accountability.
THAT damage cannot be repaired.
Such a fraud.

[msongs]

7. the new house will have fewer dems so they better ALL be there for the vote or trump might

pull it off

[Turin_C3PO]

9. No chance they pull it off.

The Dems will be there and it won't get out of the House.

[StevieM]

10. Terrible though the Russian interference was, it paled in comparison to what James Comey did. (eom)

[SergeStorms]

11. How many "last-ditch efforts" are they allowed?

This is about their 20th "last-ditch effort" if I'm not mistaken. This has gone waaaaaaaaaaaaay past ludicrous and is firmly in psychotic territory.

Give up, Donny. You fucking lost. Not only did you lose, you got massacred. Losing by over 7 million votes (and 74 electoral votes) is proof positive the American people are sick and tired of your incompetent, lying ass.

JUST GO AWAY!

[oldsoftie]

12. Democrats control the House. How do they not know this would FAIL?

Or are they just trying to appease trump knowing it.

[beachbumbob]

13. what is all the blah blah? House GOP have NO way to stop Biden becoming president

I tire of all this

[Lonestarblue]

14. The Republican Party is officially anti-democracy.

Their elected leaders have clearly shown over the months that their oaths to uphold the Constitution are meaningless, as they repeatedly ignored the violation of the Constitution by not holding a president accountable for unethical and illegal actions. They treated Trump’s impeachment trial as a circus, smirking about calling no witnesses and ramming through a foregone conclusion in the face of known bribery of a foreign leader.

And now, knowing that 60 or so courts have thrown out Trump’s lawsuits because no credible evidence of election fraud was produced, Republicans still meet with Trump to overthrow a fair and legal election. Their actions undermine democracy and they know it. When you undermine your country, you’re a traitor and you deserve to be labelled as such. We need the Lincoln Project to start showing these Republicans as banana republic goons, not part of a political party that supports the US Constitution and the laws of a democratic country.

[ancianita]

86. There IS NO Republican Party.Only a former party. Their platform is who they are -- Trumpfascists.

They are (sorry, Prince) the Trumpfascists-formerly-known-as-GOP, now the wholly owned subsidiary of Big Corps that wants government gone so they can take over.

[rawhideal]

17. ALABAMA

Alabama is one of the poorest states and damn near dumbest.

[gab13by13]

18. This Tuberville must be a 1st cousin of Louie Gohmert.

The House has the votes to deny a challenge and McConnell doesn't want a challenge in the Senate which will force Republicans to vote for democracy or authoritarianism.

[Nikki28]

19. we need something

because this can't stand. They need to give them all together 2 minutes because we will be complicit as the Senators. Time for some big dogs to go off. Where is Ted Lue? He does not play.Where is the BLM guy who was voted in? He sure knows how to speak up because if we do not put this back in the bottle coming in,Biden/Harris will have a hard time.

I am so sick of Trump and what he has done to this country.This man needs to stroke out like yesterday.Enough of this. I pray we win Georgia and finally get this country back on track by first prosecuting Proud Boys-Trump and his other mobsters and get things done with voting rights-add more SC justices and past legislative processes to make sure we never deal with another Trump ever.He need to be in jail not in the White House ever. Come on Georgia!!

[TigressDem]

20. He can declare a "state of emergency" and activate "military power" to remain in office.

Think about how "buddy-buddy" he has been with dictators and ruthless rulers and how mad he was when he was refused to use the military to take down BLM in Minneapolis.

He also holds the "football" and does anyone believe an insane tRump who stops at nothing won't threaten to aim a nuke at his own people's home state or home town?

I HOPE that his own people get fed up and tie him up in his sleep and make sure he wakes up in a rubber room but some of them seem as ruthless and crazy as he is.

The inmates have taken over the asylum.

[marie999]

31. Stop before you drive yourself crazy. You can't be a dictator unless you control the military.

He does not control the military or nuclear weapons, the military does. Do you think the military will follow an order to nuke the US?

[TigressDem]

34. Commander In Cheif. He does not have to actually DO IT, just act insane enough ...

He has booted out everyone who says, "No" to him.

Maybe he is just threatening to kill their families. I don't know. He's grasping at straws. He is out of his mind but literally has the codes to nuclear launch at his fingertips.

He treats the military like absolute shit, and HOPEFULLY someone will decide to wrap him up and put him in a rubber room, but UNTIL THEN, until then tRump IS the greatest threat to this nation EVER.

[marie999]

38. Do you think he would send the codes and the military would nuke the US?

[TigressDem]

41. I sincerely HOPE NOT. THAT IF he tries, it gives them 25th Ammendent proof of his unfitness....

But he is SO unhinged right now, I do not put ANYTHING past him.

He is talking about seizing voting machines.

https://abovethelaw.com/2020/12/trump-plots-to-seize-the-means-of-election-finds-that-coups-are-hard/

[Thekaspervote]

62. Oh stop! Read up on martial law

It changes nothing in this case. The military would only enforce local and state laws that are being broken..this is not the case. Or, if we did not have functioning courts. Neither apply.

The military brass has said a multitude of times they would not get involved in this nonsense

[RVN VET71]

21. Name them and remember their names

They are traitors and seditionists. If the law doesn't permit their punishment, the Dems need make history knows who they were and what they wanted to do.

Actually, have their names been published or do they hide in the shadows (except for the 2 inbred morons from Alabama, that is)?

[BumRushDaShow]

23. "spearheading the long-shot push"

It's NOT a "long-shot push". It's a fucking NO-SHOT, DOA "push". Come on Politico. Get off the RW gravy train.

Dear Politco - in order to do this supposed "long-shot" would be for BOTH chambers to go along with this and vote to do it.

And the House is controlled by guess who (even with the adjusted membership sworn in 3 days before)?

I hate to agree with someone like Thune but here is his quote in the article -

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), however, told reporters Monday that the House GOP’s effort is “going down like a shot dog.”

[onetexan]

77. it's clickbait - that's why the use of "long shot"

[BumRushDaShow]

83. Exactly!

[marie999]

32. Are all these doomsday posters really Democrats or are they trolls.

[Paladin]

33. Anybody who's optimistic at this point hasn't been paying attention the last 4 years. (nt)

[TigressDem]

37. Yah. I don't want to sound like a crazy person, but I am worried about his crazieness nt

[Paladin]

49. There's nothing crazy about seeing what trump's gotten away with.

He's got worshipful republican support, a bunch of hesitant Democrats in D.C., unchecked influence from Russia, a candy-ass national media, and tens of millions of well-armed, brain-dead supporters from coast to coast. I refuse to be even guardedly optimistic until Biden is in the White House and trump is effectively and forever gone.

[TigressDem]

52. I want tRump GONE ASAP. I don't even care how.

ONE well placed lightening bolt, Lord. Come on, it would be a mercy to put US out of our misery.


Give him COVID again. tRump on a ventilator until, oh January 3oth would be nice.


Some rabid MAGA thinking he has gone soft tackling him at the Christmas party.


I don't care.

OK 25th Amendment would be fine.

[Paladin]

56. I'm with you. Whatever works. (nt)

[Thekaspervote]

64. One has to wonder! Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary they continue to want to be

Right!

What does that say?? To me...it screams nonsense

[TigressDem]

36. They are also talking about SEIZING the voting machines and forcing a DO OVER. CNN nt

[marie999]

39. There isn't a do over in the Constitution.

[TigressDem]

42. Yeah, well tRump shits on the Constitution twice before breakfast.

https://abovethelaw.com/2020/12/trump-plots-to-seize-the-means-of-election-finds-that-coups-are-hard/


Options discussed include declaring martial law, seizing voting machines, and appointing Powell as Special Counsel to investigate her claims of rampant fraud. Or, as it’s known colloquially, a coup.

But coup-ing is hard. First you have all those annoying Deep State advisors telling you stuff like, “Sir, that’s totally against the law.” As the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows pushed back during the loud and contentious meeting.

Mr. Cipollone told Mr. Trump there was no constitutional authority for what was being discussed, one of the people briefed on the meeting said. Other advisers from the White House and the Trump campaign delivered the same message throughout the meeting, which stretched on for a long period of time.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. So you assume that all 2 million federal workers would go along with that?

(let alone probably twice as many government contractors)

IMHO, the media needs to just stop with their "if it leads it bleeds" nonsensical attempts and making Mt. Everests out of anthills. They have been the biggest magnifiers of the nonsense, in many case because too many of their clueless reporters don't know Civics 101.

I literally watched and followed a year's worth of their reporting of the ACA, from the start in February 2009, through the hearings over that summer in multiple committees, in both chambers of Congress (each producing their drafts), and finally to the last reconciliation bill that completed the process, and was signed in March 2010, and their reporting of what they kept insisting was "the bill" (as if some committee's draft was the final one) was not only completely wrong, but truly highlighted their ignorance about the legislative process.

[TigressDem]

48. I just want tRump OUT of the WHITEHOUSE - NOW. Waiting until Jan 20th seems pointless.

He is delusional and dangerous.

He has THE most powerful position in the Nation, possibly the World.

He wants to keep that power.

He's pardoning murderers and convicted liars under oath.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-issues-multiple-pardons-in-war-crime-cases-overruling-military

AND THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTE LOTS TO REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGNS OR MURDERS OR WHITE COLAR CRIMES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Donald_Trump

Since taking office as the 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2017, Donald Trump has granted executive clemency to 28 individuals charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses, as authorized under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.[1] Ordinarily, all requests for executive clemency for federal offenses are directed to the Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA) in the U.S. Department of Justice for review; however, Trump has frequently bypassed the OPA, and the majority of his executive clemency grants have been to well-connected convicted persons who did not file a petition with the OPA or meet the OPA's requirements.[2]

[BumRushDaShow]

60. I think everyone on DU who is not a FReeper, wants the same.

His issue is that with all that "power", he can't escape the state of NY and what is waiting for him.

Link to tweet

TEXT

NY AG James
@NewYorkStateAG
#BREAKING: A judge just ruled that the Trump Organization must turn over additional documents related to my office's ongoing investigation.

We will continue to follow the facts wherever they may lead us.
3:41 PM · Dec 15, 2020

What you are drowning yourself in is his literal "temper tantrum" (his meltdown of which was expected). Remember those pardons only apply to "federal charges". None of that applies to state ones and I'm sure many of them will be snared (assuming they have different charges at the state level so as not to cause "double jeopardy", although NY state just signed a law that DOES allow for it).

Much of this "freak out" has to do with his "legacy" through his organization that is under the gun.

[TigressDem]

50. AND not to burst your bubble, but how things "worked" in 2009 and 2010 is not how it works today.

I ABSOLUTELY WANT TO BELIEVE YOUR VERSION.

BUT IT ISN'T JUST THE MEDIA MAKING SHIT UP.

HE IS DANGEROUS AND NEEDS TO GO - NOW.

[BumRushDaShow]

63. There is no "bubble"

There is no difference in how "government" works now than it did a decade ago except "the media" now includes "social media" and its disinformation, along with a desperation for generating income for "views" and "clicks".

Have you ever worked for the federal government before?

(hint: I did for 30+ years)

On January 20th, 2021, just after noon, I know the current Presidential photo portraits that hang on the walls in the lobby of the government building that I used to work in before I retired, will be summarily ripped down and the space where they were hung will be left blank until they are issued, and hang the Biden ones. I went through 6 Presidents and the same procedure happened.

[BumRushDaShow]

43. What would "seizing a voting machine" do

exactly?

All of the states/territories have counted and certified the votes and copies of the signed Ascertainments have been given to Congress and the National Archives.

[TigressDem]

46. AH you, talking that REALITY stuff.

I do NOT want to even THINK about this stuff, but his key people are sitting with him nursing his delusions.



AND YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT.....

THIS MAN IS INSANE AND TALKING ABOUT DOING STUFF THAT IS SO ILLEGAL HE SHOULD BE WRAPPED UP IN A STRAIGHT JACKET while the 25th Amendment him AND BE TAKEN TO THE NEAREST RUBBER BUNKER AND ONLY RELEASED WHEN HE STOPS THINKING HE RULES THE WORLD.


WILL the military cooperate with him? Probably not. But will he just keep firing people until he gets what he wants? I don't know. I don't want to give him any more time to destroy our country. I AM SO TIRED of tRump. I WANT HIM OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE NOW.


https://abovethelaw.com/2020/12/trump-plots-to-seize-the-means-of-election-finds-that-coups-are-hard/

Even Ken Cuccinelli, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, told Giuliani that DHS has no authority to march in and unilaterally seize voting machines for Powell’s discredited witnesses to take apart looking for evidence of hacking. Yes, the same Ken Cuccinelli who tried to ban oral and anal sex as Virginia’s Attorney General. So if that guy says the government doesn’t have the power to do something, you can bet it’s pretty far outside the Overton Window.

But aside from the blatant illegality of snatching up voting machines by fiat or perhaps via executive order, there’s the minor matter of how the president and his allies think this might work.

Do they plan to send in the army? Because Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville just put out a statement confirming that “there is no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election.”

Homeland Security probably has the manpower, but Cucinelli already said they were out.

[BumRushDaShow]

53. You are linking to the blog post of a part-time lawyer writer

who used to write for (maybe still does) "Wonkette". I would rather go with the people (like Marc Elias) who have literally been involved in all the court cases that have come through (he left the count at 1 - 59 because he decided not to "double count" all the subsequent "re-dos" in various state courts).

Link to tweet

TEXT

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
Joe Biden becomes president at noon on January 20.
LittleStar-Proud DEM
🇺🇲
@LoveNmusic22
Replying to @marceelias
Hey Marc, what happens if all the Republicans challenge the results on Jan 6th....what happens next? Thanks for all your help!
8:36 PM · Dec 21, 2020

All those people "threatened with firing" or "getting fired", WILL BE "fired" in 29 days.

[TigressDem]

61. It's NOT a secret. A LOT of valid news agencies are reporting on it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/barr-trump-special-counsel-voter-fraud-hunter-biden/2020/12/21/4d85f060-439c-11eb-b0e4-0f182923a025_story.html



https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-entertains-desperate-schemes-overturn-election/story?id=74845068


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/21/sidney-powell-conspiracy-theorist-white-house


The lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell was back at the White House on Sunday night, reportedly to pitch Donald Trump on a plan to seize voting machines as the US president continues to dispute the result of November’s election, which he lost.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/us/politics/trump-sidney-powell-voter-fraud.html

Mr. Giuliani has separately pressed the Department of Homeland Security to seize possession of voting machines as part of a push to overturn the results of the election, three people familiar with the discussion said. Mr. Giuliani was told the department does not have the authority to do such a thing.

The conversation between Mr. Giuliani and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the acting deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department, took place in the past week, according to the people familiar with the discussion, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to describe the conversation.Mr. Giuliani has separately pressed the Department of Homeland Security to seize possession of voting machines as part of a push to overturn the results of the election, three people familiar with the discussion said. Mr. Giuliani was told the department does not have the authority to do such a thing.

The conversation between Mr. Giuliani and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the acting deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department, took place in the past week, according to the people familiar with the discussion, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to describe the conversation.

[Thekaspervote]

65. You are ignoring the facts of how the process works. Yes yes "all the new agencies"

They want sensational news to keep ppl tuned in be it print or msm

[BumRushDaShow]

67. OFFS. Just because they are (hearsay) reporting it

doesn't mean it will ever happen.

And again, what would "seizing voting machines" do? Especially if, has also been reported, by a "2 - 1" margin, the GOP was using voting machines rather than the using the mail-in ballots... or so we have been told by many states.

Does that mean they will throw out the voting machine votes and thus mostly GOP votes?

And Ghouliani has some more important stuff that he needs to be worrying about - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/feds-have-discussed-making-legal-request-giuliani-s-electronic-communications-n1250714

My take is that on Inauguration Day, there will be a "yuge bigly 2024 campaign kick-off rally" somewhere (maybe in D.C. since the Inauguration will probably be mostly "virtual" )... at the same time that Biden is being sworn in.

[RobinA]

73. This Has Me Baffled

too. So they've got a whole bunch of warehouses full of voting machines in some DC suburb. They're going to run a new election? They can't even get masks to hospitals. Trumpian nonsense.

[BumRushDaShow]

82. I think some of this came from the an attempt to do this for SOME of Georgia's machines

specifically certain counties that came in big for Biden. That way they couldn't "wipe" them to get them ready for the runoffs that would occur just before the final Congressional certification of the Electoral College, and with less machines available, it would essentially disenfranchise voters in those counties because there would need to be some alternate way for them to vote.

Since then, motions to dismiss have been filed related to the voting machine issue and they at least have until January 5th to get it resolved (which is the runoff election date), but it will probably be thrown out well before then. Meanwhile a new suit was filed a couple days ago and the DSCC is right there with it -

Link to tweet

TEXT

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
🚨
NEW: On behalf of the @DSCC we have again intervened to protect Georgia voters from disenfranchisement.
🚨ALERT: DSCC MOVES TO DISMISS LAWSUIT IN GEORGIA
DSCC and DPG move to dismiss Republican lawsuit aimed at Georgia runoffs.
democracydocket.com
11:04 AM · Dec 22, 2020

I suppose that idea of impounding voting machines in general, got thrown into the cacophony of ludicrousness that is going on right now.

At least more are getting on the bandwagon to sanction the looney Sidney Powell -

Link to tweet

TEXT

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
🐙
⚖️
👀
Jonathan Oosting
@jonathanoosting
NEW: Michigan AG Dana Nessel says she will seek professional sanctions against Sidney Powell, Trump campaign attorneys who made “what we believe to be an intentional misrepresentation” of facts in recent election lawsuits.
12:15 PM · Dec 22, 2020

And a funny comment on that -

Link to tweet

TEXT

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
But I thought she already released the Kraken.
🐙
Maggie Haberman
@maggieNYT
Four people briefed on events said Sidney Powell was back at the White House again today, for third time in four days.
5:30 PM · Dec 21, 2020

[seta1950]

47. Shameful

These house members are paid with taxpayer dollars and are working against this country,shame on them

[concretebluetwo]

51. Seems like a longshot at best, as many have said

BUT........
Everyone needs to be ready for what may happen. Anything could happen. ANYTHING.
If you have weapons and know how to use them, make sure they are clean and functional and have plenty of ammo.
If you don't like guns, make sure you have food and a full tank of gas. Be ready to render aid in emergency situations if they arise.
Have somewhere safe to be if things go really south.
Know who your friends are and discuss preparedness with them. Many heads and bodies are better than one.
Etc.
As to a question asked by OP: "How do we cut the balls off a person who has not been duly elected?"
With a knife?

[IronLionZion]

54. House Republicans should be charged with treason or insurrection

or something like that and removed from office.

[onetexan]

78. Exactly. any idea of how many and who they are? Are they the same 116 who joined Paxton's lawsuit?

They should all be charged with sedition.

[riversedge]

74. It is astounding that 7M actually voted for idiot, selish Trump.

[MarcA]

75. He and his sycophant followers want to see how far they can go,

how much chaos and destruction they can get away with and, of course, $$$.

[nwduke]

79. A gathering

of the wing nut brigade!

[Kablooie]

84. Kind of scary. If Reps had won both houses Trump would be crowned president again.

It seems our whole system is essentially based on honor, not laws.
if dishonorable partisans gained control of both houses, the opportunity of a legal coup would be dropped in their lap.

Boy do we need a rethink of a lot of our laws and procedures.