CNN: Trump Refused to Call Off Attackers

[Kid Berwyn]

25. Lucian K. Truscott IV: How Trump's conspiracy failed

A great journalist observes...

Donald Trump's last stand: How his desperate attempt to overturn the election failed

Republicans cowered in terror until he was decisively beaten — then, at last, just enough of them stood up

By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
FEBRUARY 13, 2021

Many things have confounded me about Donald Trump over the last five years, but perhaps most confounding has been the spectacle of so many Republicans cowering and shivering in fear of his almighty tweets. I simply could not understand why they were so afraid of him. Yeah, I read all of the analysis pointing to the likelihood that if Republicans didn't go along with Trump's every little whim, he would insure they were "primaried" the next time they came up for election. They were in fear for their political careers, it was said. I got it. I've watched many men during my lifetime exhibit abject cowardice in the face of nothing more fearsome than an unreasonable asshole of a boss. Some of them had wives and kids and mortgages and didn't want to lose their jobs. Others simply got comfortable where and were willing to put up with crap from their superiors so they could stay put. So it's understandable, if hardly commendable, that so many Republicans lived in dread of the fearsome Tweeter in Chief.

I waited in vain for some Republican, any Republican to stand up to him. In the end, it took losing re-election for Trump to appear wounded enough that Republicans, or at least a few of them, began to show some backbone. After he was beaten and on the ground, a few of them finally decided it was safe to give him a few kicks.

This week, Democratic House managers described Trump's campaign to intimidate Republicans around the country into helping him overturn the election.. They showed how a few of them stood up to him, as if suggesting to the senators in his party that they could risk his wrath and survive, too.

Trump fired his first shot at the courts. His campaign, and outside forces friendly to him, filed no fewer than 61 lawsuits aimed at overturning the presidential election in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. When he began to lose the lawsuits one by one, Trump ramped up his tweeting, trying to intimidate the judges, some of whom were Republican appointees, who consistently and repeatedly ruled against him. He turned loose his house hit man, Rudy Giuliani, in appearances such as the notorious Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference, and in hearings held by rogue legislative committees in Michigan and elsewhere, trying to intimidate the local judges who were hearing his cases. When his campaign of intimidation didn't work, he simply ignored adverse rulings and filed new cases in the same states — in different jurisdictions, and based on marginally different claims. When he had lost 60 of the 61 cases, he sent his lawyers directly to the U.S. Supreme Court, which he apparently thought was bought and paid for. When the Supreme Court slapped him down in two or three sentences, he erupted in rage.

Continues...

https://www.salon.com/2021/02/13/donald-trumps-last-stand-how-his-desperate-attempt-to-overturn-the-election-failed/

Historic times, ours, Raine!