And Sleepy Joe Will Get The Credit: US Politics January 2021

Good piece on yesterday.

love me some mike davis in the morning thanks

xpost and keep it there folks

JUst reading through the bits of the thread I missed lastnight by being asleep. Seeing the bit where some of the insurrctionists are crossing a room that is largely roped off by one of those tour roped off area ropes. I saw a clip of that same room from a different perspective on the BBC footage last night where one of the people crossing the room was shifting teh ropes outwards. Which struck me as something that people from other ethnic groups would probably have got hassle for in itself.

Extreme double standard.

THough what also struck me at the time was what was the purpose of taht rope. Seems to be rather extremely accommodating of a crowd that they would be allowed into a room like thatjust as long as they stayed within the silk ropes. Like please if you are trying to overthrow teh country don't make a mess.,
Is taht set up for guided tours or did people make precautions for this particular event?

sorry i was never like a huge fan or anything so i never looked at that thread xp

Is taht set up for guided tours or did people make precautions for this particular event?

iirc the capital building is pretty accessible, you just have to go through security

I am not very awake today

So 43% of Republicans think yesterday’s coup attempt was just grand? Sounds about right.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/01/06/US-capitol-trump-poll

So Trump's got away with _everything_ his entire life and now he's about to get away with inciting a mob of fascist morons to attack the heart of American democracy, one of whom got shot dead... because now is not the time for partisanship? Or something? Jesus Christ. Good lunck USA.

wouldn't be so sure of this anymore. he probably would've gotten away with everything up to this point but mainly because this is the shit that the GOP has been getting away with for decades. inciting a literal insurrection leading to the breach of the Capitol building is like the one thing even Trump wouldn't be able to get away with. the entire Republican party looks like terrorists right now and I think a lot of them are gonna start turning hard against him

too late. Pottery Barn policy. you break it you bought it.

iirc the capital building is pretty accessible, you just have to go through security

early-80s my dad took us down to DC from New Jersey and we just wandered the halls...we passed Bob Dole's office and for some reason we walked in and my dad told them we were Kansas constituents. Then he came in and chatted us up and shook (left) hands with each of us

So 43% of Republicans think yesterday’s coup attempt was just grand? Sounds about right.

can't wait to work constructively with these people on a bipartisan basis

The House isn't coming back into session until after the inauguration.

The Senate has adjourned until Jan. 19.

Surreal cap to yesterday.

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) January 7, 2021

have a nice vacation guys, we'll take care of all this while you're away

As I understand it the capitol is relatively unique for being accessible, at least once you go through security (which iirc is not that different from, say, the Smithsonian). I heard a journalist say yesterday that once you are in you are relatively free to move about. Funny story. Once, some years ago, my wife and I had a day to kill in Brussels, so figured, well, might as well check out the EU. We hop on the train, get to the EU, get in line and head in with what seemed like dozens and dozens of other people. We're given a blue goodie bag with a pen and some other stuff in it, get seated in a room, given a translator headphone, and assigned to a tour group (everyone thinks we're Canadian, for some reason; they put us in a tour group with Hungarians, with the explanation iirc that there are very few Hungarian translators on hand so they just talk to them in English). We have no idea what's going on and think nothing of it. Then we learn we just happened to show up the *one day* the EU is open to the public, every four years or something. At least that's how I remember it.

wouldn't be so sure of this anymore. he probably would've gotten away with everything up to this point but mainly because this is the shit that the GOP has been getting away with for decades. inciting a literal insurrection leading to the breach of the Capitol building is like the one thing even Trump wouldn't be able to get away with. the entire Republican party looks like terrorists right now and I think a lot of them are gonna start turning hard against him

And how will this 'turning hard against him' manifest itself exactly?

Wait, so Elizabeth from Knoxville, who claims she was maced after storming the Capitol, was dabbing her eyes with an onion towel? pic.twitter.com/99UvDcS0Rj

— Mike P Williams (@Mike_P_Williams) January 7, 2021

So, uh, some follow-up on that Elizabeth lady posted yesterday.

xp they won't whine as hard about him getting arrested & prosecuted and can't play the whole "oh THAT'S that way it's gonna be from now on huh" card

I wouldn't be shocked if she was so stupid that someone told her that rubbing onions in your eyes protects them from tear gas and she believed them.

Aaaarrrgh, I'm getting drawn into US politics again even though Trump getting off scot free every single fucking time is what completely destroyed my engagement with it in the first place.

xpost - Or she wanted to fake the getting maced part for media attention?

can Congress reconvene for a 25th amendment vote (stfu about 'it's not gonna happen', I'm just literally asking a question)?

Impeachment obviously out cos that would require the House to be there almost every day between now and then.

I'm guessing though that Congress is reacting to Trump promising a peaceful transfer, which.....come on. He'll change his mind on that tomorrow.

Time to get back to Johnson getting away with it instead!

xpost

actually I think Congress is only needed for 25th IF Trump challenged his fitness for office, which he has the right to do.

I mean, given that the Senate has adjourned, my hopes for any consequences beyond a handful of low level staffers resigning is essentially gone. He's gonna walk away from this one unscathed too.

hoping he gets prosecuted at state and federal levels after he leaves office. at least state would be pardon-proof (by the President, at least)

oh good:

Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, says rioters who ransacked his office at the US Capitol building Wednesday stole a laptop that was on a table.

In a video posted to his Twitter page early morning, Merkley says rioters “smashed the door virtually off its hinges.” He said the door was unlocked.

Merkley said rioters “tore things off the walls,” including art from a renowned artist, showed a Trump 2020 flag that was left behind and stole a laptop that sitting on a table. He also show a cigarette butt that was stamped out.

“So count this office is trashed. You can see the debris is all over the floor,” he says.

also...(from CNN)

President Trump's dark-of-night statement vowing an "orderly transition" was designed in part to prevent a wave of resignations from the West Wing and broader administration, according to a person familiar with the matter.

At least one person, who was believed to be considering resigning on Wednesday, is now planning to remain in the administration. National security adviser Robert O'Brien has told aides he now intends to remain in his post until Trump leaves office, though his plans could still change depending on how Trump approaches the day. He made his decision before Trump released the statement.

O'Brien was persuaded to stay by other senior staffers who expressed concern about the national security implications of a vacant post in the final days of the administration.

The statement from the President, released through his deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino's twitter account at 3:50 a.m. ET, said "there will be an orderly transition on January 20th" even though he disagreed with the outcome of the election.

Trump agreed to the statement after being advised of the dismay and disgust among many of his aides, though the person familiar said it was not the sole reason for its release. It also came after reports that early discussions were underway about evoking the 25th Amendment and restarting impeachment proceedings.

It was meant as a signal from Trump that the next 13 days will proceed without incident. But it came months after Joe Biden won the election and hours after Trump urged his supporters to protest at the Capitol. Even among his team and close allies it is viewed as coming far too late and offering far too little condemnation for what happened at the Capitol building.

A WH official says this AM that Trump still plans to award the Medal of Freedom to 3 golfers today during an 11:30a East Room ceremony.

He'll award the medal to Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player, and Babe Zaharias (posthumously), the official said.

It's not open to the press.

— Ben Gittleson (@bgittleson) January 7, 2021

There is literally zero chance Asshole will make it 13 days without doing something equally stupid and dangerous.

Jesus fucking Christ. Nothing is going to happen to him, what's even the point? No consequences for storming the Capitol because you fucking lost? That just means that next time this happens they will be better organized and more well armed.

it's absolutely insane to me that he hasn't been 25th'd or impeached again already. what the fuck is the point of leaving him in office for 2 more weeks

I mean, even if 25th'ing or impeaching him will procedurally take longer than 2 weeks, it is still vital to show that this is a fucking line that shouldn't have been crossed. But, no? Just, wag a few fingers and move on? Unbelievable.

‘But then you’d turn him into a martyr!’

Basically how you justify him getting away with literal murder, over and over again.

And you know, not impeaching and removing him means he and his supporters just roll right into the 2024 campaign.

Jesus fucking Christ. Nothing is going to happen to him, what's even the point? No consequences for storming the Capitol because you fucking lost? That just means that next time this happens they will be better organized and more well armed.

... at the Inauguration.

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 7 January 2021 15:29 (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

‘But then you’d turn him into a martyr!’

Basically how you justify him getting away with literal murder, over and over again.

It's the 17th century, you can't kill the king.

Mitt says we've just got to hold our breath for the next two weeks. It's all good!

Good morning!

anyone who'd think he's a martyr already thinks he's a martyr of sorts after his "landslide win" was "stolen" so manacle the bastard already

I can’t help but laugh, with utmost mirthlessness, every time I come across phrases such as ‘at least US institutions have held’. No they fucking haven’t; they’re due for an emergency overhaul. You have not passed the stress test, and it can only get worse from here on out.

i keep seeing mention that Trump agreed to an orderly transition, but I cant actually see any articles about it specifically, that CNN article just mentions it in passing. Where is the statement he released?

Also, when are Warnock and Ossoff sworn in? the 19th?

he issued a statement through scavino at 3:50am lol

i know reasonable people disagree about whether trump should be banned from twitter, but i think his absence from twitter last night legitimately did stop the situation from escalating further.

So, no consequences and the dry run worked really well for them. I am now absolutely terrified for inauguration day.

I mean, even if 25th'ing or impeaching him will procedurally take longer than 2 weeks, it is still vital to show that this is a fucking line that shouldn't have been crossed. But, no? Just, wag a few fingers and move on? Unbelievable.

― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0

once the process starts Pence is temp president

Here you go:

Statement by President Donald J. Trump on the Electoral Certification:

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our...

— Dan Scavino🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) January 7, 2021

...fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

— Dan Scavino🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) January 7, 2021

still a hero to some

Trump called into private breakfast of members of RNC this AM in Florida. Was put on speaker and received a loud & overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction, per people in room. Spoke briefly to say hi & sorry to miss it. “One minute.” No discussion of yesterday. No speech tonight.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 7, 2021

yeah nothing about that statement leads me to believe he's going to actually behave himself for the next two weeks

Look, it doesn't matter how used to it everybody is by now, saying "the greatest first term in presidential history" about yourself isn't normal. *slaps everybody out of it*

Further Brownshirt unrest is a foregone conclusion at this point.

I don't know why everyone is reporting that shit as 'Trump agrees to orderly transition' just because he included the phrase 'orderly transition' when literally the entire rest of the statement undermines that narrative.