<b>January 25, 2021</b>
The Wreckage left behind
Whether Donald Trump will be a force or even a continuing focus of attention for very long after this month is unknown. However, there grew up around him a political and cultural malaise which may persist without his help. This is not due to anything created by him; he is the epitome of negative leadership. In effect, he removed a dam which held back a reservoir of antisocial tendencies which have flooded the landscape. His effect on the country was epitomized by the mob scene at the Capitol on January 6.
There are numerous manifestations of the Trump disorder.
1. Stupidity of opinion leaders
There really is no other way to describe the statements and attitudes of some of Trump’s defenders, including lawyers who have served him in one capacity or another. L. Lin Wood hinted at armed rebellion, calling on the soon-to-be-former-president’s supporters to “stock up on Second Amendment supplies.”1 Last year Joseph DiGenova was more explicit: he advised us to buy guns because we “are in a civil war.” He declared that there would be no “civil discourse in this country for the foreseeable future;”2 certainly there will be none by him. Lest anyone think that he had come to his senses, he offered this in late November: "Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity. That guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot."3 DiGenova and Wood are embarrassments not only to the legal profession, but to the educational system; Trump uncovered quite a few of those.
Sidney Powell, although ousted from the elite Trump team led by — more examples— Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, turned up on Lou Dobbs’ show to agree with him that “this president has to take, I believe, drastic action, dramatic action to make certain that the integrity of this election is understood or lack of it, the crimes that have been committed against him and the American people.” Picking up on Dobbs’ compliant about the failure of the Justice Department to uncover imaginary fraud, she sad: “ I'm about to think the entire FBI and the entire Department of Justice need to be hosed out with Chlorox [sic] and fire hoses.”4
The following day, Dobbs decided that Attorney General William Barr, having failed to find all of that alleged fraud, was part of the “deep state” who “joined in with the radical Dems.” Referring to some charge or other about vote tallying, Dobbs wondered: “Could it be that antifa was running the election for Democrats in that room?”5
One of Rudy’s witnesses, Melissa Carone, not content with her foolishness at a hearing, declared on sarahpalin.com: “The Obamas funded that Wuhan lab to make COVID.”6
At the recent pro-Trump rally in DC, Alex Jones, apparently having tuned in to QAnon, bleated this: “We will never back down to the satanic pedophile globalist new world order and their walking-dead reanimated corpse Joe Biden.”7
Another speaker at the rally, Republican Congressman-elect Bob Good, offered up the freedom-is- ignorance line. Addressing a maskless crowd, he declared: “This looks like a group of people that gets it. This is a phony pandemic.” “It’s great to see your faces, you get it. You stand up against tyranny. Thank you for being here today, thank you for saying ‘no’ to the insanity.”8
Incoming Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon fan, said that Republicans who don’t continue to contest the election results are supporting “the Chinese Communist Party takeover of America.”9 (That was one of her more rational comments). Lin Wood, in a series of tweets on January 1, proclaimed the following:
(1) For two months we have focused on accusing the Democrats of attempting to steal the 20/20 election for Biden. . . . Over time, we have learned that the Democrats were joined by CCP & other foreign countries.
(2) We have also learned that the Globalists like George Soros & the Elitists like Bill Gates were involved. CIA too . . .It all seemed so clear we overlooked one of the main participants in the theft of the election: THE REPUBLICANS.
(3) These groups aspire to the goals of Communism. A ruling elite & an oppressed class of people who exist to serve those in power.
When arrests for treason begin, put Chief Justice John Roberts, VP Mike Pence . . ., & Mitch McConnell . . . at top of list.10
2. Conspiracy theories.
The use of convoluted tales to explain, or explain away, developments is not new. Conspiracy theories long have been a part of American politics, the claims of Senator Joseph McCarthy being a prime example. “False flag” stories have been used to explain away inconvenient events, such as school shootings; more recently, the Capitol invasion has been so dismissed. (See below, at footnote 32). The Trump years have seen an explosion of conspiracy mongering, the evidence-free claims of election fraud being the most widespread and the most dangerous.
3. Lying.
Falsehoods in the service of political advantage also hardly are novel, but Trump lied so constantly that he encouraged the same conduct by his aides and supporters. Consider this, offered by his staff as cover for Trump’s playing golf in Florida while the pandemic raged, after vetoing the defense bill, and after his veto threat put the aid bill in jeopardy and threatened a government shutdown: “As the Holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American People.”11
Much of what I described as stupidity also falls under this category if we assume, as I think we must, that some of those who say foolish things or spread tales of evil conspiracies realize that their statements are ignorant or false. Trump has encouraged this tendency to say whatever seems to advance an agenda. Certainly the repeated, ludicrous claims of election fraud straddle these categories.
In another sense a lie has come to the fore, the pretense of the Republican Party to a principled theory of governance. The pretense, and its falsity, were described by Stuart Stevens in his recent book: ”Donald Trump did not change the Republican Party as much as he gave the party permission to reveal its true self. . . . We were only now seeing what they always were, freed from any need to pretend.” “A party rooted in decency and values does not embrace the vicious hate that Donald Trump peddles as patriotism.12 I discuss this further under item 9 below.
4. Public ignorance.
If the leaders are fools, it’s hardly surprising that followers are. At a rally in Michigan on September 10, Trump shamelessly boasted: “We brought you a lot of car plants, Michigan! We brought you a lot of car plants. You know that, right?” The crowd roared its assent. As one observer put it, any “member in good standing of the ancient ‘reality-based community’ could have told you that since the coming of Trump no new car plants had been built in Michigan, that since his ascension not less than three thousand Michiganders had lost jobs in the vital auto sector.”13 Perhaps Trump was citing alternative facts.
The crowd’s response illustrates a category of foolishness: willful ignorance. Millions going maskless is a major example. Denial of the reality of climate change and human contributions thereto is another. As with the auto plant issue, people have been misled, but the capacity for credulity or rejection of facts was there to be used. Anti-vaccine agitation no doubt will arise again as the coronavirus vaccines become widely available.
5. Faux populism.
Trump has tapped into, pandered to, and encouraged feelings on the part of many that their world is disappearing, that they are being left behind, that they are ignored — when not harmed — by ill-defined “elites.” Believing, somehow, that he was on their side, they became his base, or part of it. As Trump and Republicans have no intention of serving their interests, of making their lives better, this is a false populism, a swindle. Hacker and Pierson have labeled this “plutocratic populism,” an alliance between “organized money and organized outrage.”14
An abiding question about the popular support for Trump is whether it really is primarily by the “working class.” Those who attend his rallies may fit that description, but, assuming that we define the class by income, those who vote for him do not. Exit polls show that Biden won the votes of those making under $100,000 per year, and Trump won those making more than that.15 The makeup of the mob at the Capitol demonstrates that many of his followers do not fit the supposed model.
6. Tribalism; terror of liberalism.
The success of the populist ploy has been aided by the increasing tribalism of American politics. It is a factor in the willingness of Trump’s followers to believe, or at least claim, that the election was stolen. Tribalism has been fed by both sides; it will be interesting to see whether Biden can suppress that tendency among Democrats sufficiently to achieve the unity he aims for.
A factor in the tribalism of the right, and of Republican success in creating a pseudo-p0pulist revolt, is a resentment of liberalism, and hence of Democrats. There are legitimate and strong differences of view between conservatives and liberals, but resentment often is disproportionate to real differences and degenerates into claims that liberals are un-American (and communist; how quaint!), a tendency manipulated by the right into irrational fear and hatred. Trump constantly played the victim, culminating in his claims that the election was stolen, which reenforced a sense of victimhood in the base.
7. Race-related bias and inequality.
It is no secret that racial bias and inequality persist, the former seemingly embedded in police departments. Trump refused to acknowledge the problem, demanded “law and order,” denigrated racial-justice protesters and underlined his disdain by insisting that Confederate names remain on military bases. The agitation by white supremacist groups suggest that racial tensions will endure and may even be exacerbated by efforts of the Biden administration to improve conditions for minorities.
8. Religious delusions.
In a recent column, Michael Gerson aptly noted that supporting and justifying Trump’s attempts to overturn a fair election “has driven some Trump evangelicals to the edge of blasphemous lunacy.”16 He offered as an example the mumblings of a radio talk-show host named Eric Metaxas, who has said: “This is a fight for everything. God is with us. Jesus is with us in this fight for liberty.” Also: “Trump will be inaugurated. For the high crimes of trying to throw a U.S. presidential election, many will go to jail.” Another example is Guillermo Maldonado, a Florida pastor and Trump supporter, who has advised his congregation not to receive a COVID-19 vaccination, but to “believe in divine immunity” instead. He claims that God warned him about a “satanic global agenda” that is trying to “bring the Christian church under governmental control.” These evil forces “want to stop President Trump because he’s against that agenda.”17
That’s our Donald: defender of the faith.
9. Decline of the Republican party and conservatism: repudiation of democracy; authoritarianism.
In the comments that follow, I will refer to characteristics of Republicans or the Republican Party. There are exceptions to the negative picture I’ll paint, including election officials who would not be intimidated, members of Congress who rejected plans to manipulate the electoral vote and those who voted to impeach. There are numerous Never Trumpers and other critics, some of whom, in a sense, aren’t exceptions, having left the Party. Senator Romney projects honesty and sense, but Senator Ron Johnson, peddling election-fraud theories,18 Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene babbling about the Biden Crime Family, and the last proposing to impeach President Biden,19 are more typical.
The decline of the party has been underway for decades. A <i>Washington Post</i> article in 2002 by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein summed it up: “The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.”20 Trump’s presidency was made possible and supported by that condition, which grew worse.
A tendency to manipulate elections has been part of the Republican playbook for some time, utilizing such tools as gerrymandering and closure of polling places. Refusal to accept the recent election result built on that tendency. It is not just partisan fervor or ignorance; it is an abandonment or an active rejection of democracy, of the right of the people to elect their leaders. Beyond a point, long since reached, claims of fraud are an attempt to undermine the system.
On Dec. 1, Michael Flynn, newly pardoned, put forward a plan in authoritarian form to overturn the election.21 He tweeted a link to a lengthy paid advertisement placed in the Washington Times by a group named We The People Convention. The ad spoke of “the current threat to our United States by the international and domestic socialist/communist left.” We face, it said, “well-funded, armed and trained marxists [<i>sic</i>] in ANTIFA and BLM strategically positioned in our major cities acting openly with violence to silence opposition to their anti-American agenda.”22 Of course, Trump’s loss was due to fraud. His enemies used “this corrupt and provably fraudulent” election “to illegally and un-constitutionally deny the American people their most sacred honor, right and privilege - which is the right to elect their Representatives!” Irony obviously is lost on this group.
What is the remedy for this crime? “When the legislators, courts and/or Congress fail to do their duty under the 12th Amendment, you must be ready Mr. President to immediately declare a limited form of Martial Law, and temporarily suspend the Constitution and civilian control of these federal elections, for the sole purpose of having the military oversee a national re-vote.” Undo a fictional election theft with a real one.
L. Lin Wood also endorsed the ad, and Sidney Powell retweeted a call for military tribunals and for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act.23
A Republican Washington State Representative waved the flag of rebellion. He, declared that “Joe Biden is not now, nor will ever be my President.” That led him to ponder: “Is the ‘coup’ against the sitting President the start of a second ‘Civil War’ here in the USA?” Stand up: “This is about America. It’s being destroyed by evildoers. Patriots, will you join with me? I need to know. Lets [sic] raise the banner.”24 Other GOP state lawmakers endorsed martial law and use of the Insurrection Act to keep Trump in power.25
One of the stranger attempts at overturning the election was a motion by Texas in the Supreme Court for leave to file a complaint designed to overturn the results in other states. The exact relief requested was that the Court “Declare that any electoral college votes cast by such presidential electors appointed in Defendant States Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin are in violation of the Electors Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and cannot be counted.”26 Trump filed a motion to intervene in support of the complaint, and 106 House Republicans submitted a brief in support. Texas rather obviously did not have standing to challenge elections in other states and, on December 11, the Court denied Texas’ motion to file on that ground.27
Stranger yet was a suit filed in a US District Court in Texas by Republican Representative Louie Gohmert of that state, supported by some Republicans from Arizona, attempting to force Vice President Pence, as presiding officer in the Senate, to throw out Biden electoral votes and, apparently, replace them with self-appointed Trump electors. Again, not surprisingly, the complaint was dismissed.28
Most of the lawsuits alleging fraud were frivolous, but at least they stayed, barely, within the constitutional system. Efforts to persuade legislatures to appoint Trump electors in place of those pledged to the winner of the election in swing states (i.e., Biden electors) cited a provision of the Constitution, but misused it. Trump pushed this remedy in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania.29 His aide Stephen Miller also backed that scheme.30
The same ploy was endorsed in an open letter, signed by many alleged conservatives: It demanded that legislatures in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Michigan “exercise their plenary power under the Constitution and appoint clean slates of electors to the Electoral College to support President Trump.” Standing alone, that would accomplish nothing. Therefore, “both the House and Senate should accept only these clean Electoral College slates and object to and reject any competing slates in favor of Vice President Biden from these states.”31 No such “clean” slates were submitted by states, so the alternative would be to accept self-appointed electors, as blatant repudiation of an election as could be imagined.
In order for this ploy to succeed, one member of the House and one Senator had to challenge electoral votes from several states. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Alabama) announced his intention to challenge, and was joined some days later by Senator Josh Hawley (R- Missouri). Hawley’s political stance had been dubbed “performative populism,” <i>i.e</>., populism for show; his electoral ploy certainly fell into that category. Eleven more Republican Senators and more than one hundred Republican Representatives then jumped on the anti-democratic bandwagon-to-nowhere.
This scenario began to play out, but the assault on the Capitol disrupted the session. Upon resumption,some objectors backed down, but Senator Hawley, apparently still believing that following Trump will lead to the White House, went ahead with his challenge to the Pennsylvania votes, joined by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on the path to nullification. They lost, 92 to 7, a fitting end to another show of pretended indignation at pretended electoral fraud. The House, where Republican opposition to democracy is stronger, defeated the challenge 282-138.32
The invasion of the Capitol encouraged by Trump caused a good deal of soul-searching on the part of Republican officeholders, but that appears to have been a temporary phenomenon. The assault wasn’t enough to test the loyalty those attending a meeting of the Republican National Committee two days later. “Party members, one after another, said in interviews that the president did not bear any blame for the violence at the Capitol and indicated that they wanted him to continue to play a leading role in the party.”33 The Oregon Republican Party organization issued this exercise in irresponsible fantasy: “The violence at the Capitol was a ‘false flag’ operation designed to discredit President Trump, his supporters, and all conservative Republicans; this provided the sham motivation to impeach President Trump in order to advance the Democratic goal of seizing total power.”34
10. Disregard for public welfare.
Republicans have not, for some time, demonstrated any concern for the lives of ordinary people which, of course, makes their populist ploy stunningly dishonest. Tax cuts for the rich and deregulation are not benefits to the average citizen. Economic inequality and the concentration of wealth at the top have increased over time, aided by Republican policies. Tables appended to Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Piketty, demonstrate the changes. As of 2010, the top 10% of the population by income received 47.9% of total income, the top 1% 1received 19.8% of the total, and the top .1% 9.5%. The corresponding figures for 1980 were 34.6%, 10.0% and 3.4%.35 Not surprisingly, charts of marginal tax rates for the wealthy show a change in the opposite direction.36 The 2017 tax cuts will make matters worse.
A table showing the full distribution of income further demonstrates the degree of inequality: rounding off the Piketty figures, in 2010, the top 10% received 50% of total income (the top 1% received 20%), the next 40% received 30% of the total, and the bottom 50% received 20%.37
Another measure of the failure of equitable distribution of income is the minimum wage. In real terms, the federal minimum wage peaked in 1968 at $8.68 (in 2016 dollars). It was last raised in 2009 to $7.25 per hour but, by 2017 had lost about 9.6% of its value to inflation.38 The House passed a bill in 2019 to raise the federal minimum to $15 by 2025. Mitch McConnell responded with the usual excuse: “Research shows that hiking the minimum wage to $15 would kill jobs and depress the economy at a time when it’s thriving for the American people. We are not going to be taking that up in the Senate.”39
Trump and the Republican Senate acted irresponsibility regarding the pandemic. Trump’s principal contributions have been inaction, in which he was joined by some Republican governors, combined with dangerously inane suggestions. As part of his flirtation with herd immunity as a substitute for useful action, Trump reportedly mused: “Why don’t we let this wash over the country?” In other words let the coronavirus spread unchecked. As Dr. Fauci pointed out, many would die.40 As I noted earlier, Senator Rand Paul and a Republican state representative also toyed with that “solution.” A tragic part of Trump’s legacy is the death toll from covid, which passed 400,000 on his last full day in office. To be sure, he could not have prevented all of the deaths, but sensible, responsible attention to the crisis could have saved many, especially if he had set the right example, rather than reenforcing strong tendencies toward dangerous behavior.
For months, the Republican Senate also responded to the coronavirus crisis with inaction, then demonstrated its policy priorities during debates in December on the aid bill by demanding an employer-liability shield and a meal/entertainment deduction for businesses, while refusing to aid struggling states and cities. No doubt this approach to lawmaking would have persisted had the Republicans retained a majority, and may still do so through obstruction.
The Party had nothing left but floundering attempts to overturn the election. It has no principles, not even a program other than pandering to the Trump base while serving the interests of the rich.
11. Political violence; mob rule.
The potential for violence in the streets has been with us for a long time due to political polarization and the ready availability of guns, but tribalism and supremacist impulses have made it far worse. Violence, occupation and vandalism are not unknown to demonstrations on the left, but it is primarily on the right that volence exists as a deliberate tactic and as an automatic reaction. Louie Gohmert provided an example of the reaction; after the District Court dismissed his complaint he, in keeping with the right-wing mood, pronounced: “Basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you got to go to the streets and be as violent as antifa and BLM (Black Lives Matter).”41 Steve Bannon mused about putting the heads of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Dr. Anthony Fauci on pikes “as a warning to federal bureaucrats.”42 The gathering of armed protesters outside the home of the Michigan Secretary of State, protesting non-existent fraud, is an example of the tactic. Proud Boys prowling Washington DC was a more dangerous manifestation, as was a protest in Olympia, Washington; several people were stabbed in DC, one shot in Olympia.
Trump encouraged violent, anarchic behavior by his claim of a rigged election — which prompted threats to election workers — and more directly by some of his comments, such as calling for followers to “liberate” states which annoyed him and, more recently, encouraging protests against the counting of electoral votes, tweeting on Dec. 19: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”43 That succeeded, bringing protesters to Washington who, with Trump’s further encouragement in his speech to the crowd, became a mob which invaded the Capitol.
There may be more such events. The Capitol mob may have been Trump fans but, even if he fades away in disgrace, there will be many ready to carry on the destruction. The mob, and the base generally, seem to epitomize the line from an old movie: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Never mind whether the grievances are real; the heart of Trumpism is simply grievance — real, exaggerated or imaginary — and increasingly it is accompanied by violence..
12. Repudiation of the Union.
The Civil War did not end thoughts of disunion. Several states have taken a step in that direction by toying with nullification of federal laws. The League of the South is a “Southern nationalist organization . . . whose ultimate goal is ‘a free and independent Southern republic’.“44 Refusal by Republicans and by Trump’s fans to accept the result of the election taps into this secessionist mood, shown by the waving of Confederate flags at protests, including the occupation of the Capitol, and by explicit threats. After the Supreme Court rejected the ploy by Texas, talk of secession surfaced. Among those suggesting it was Texas GOP Chairman Allen West, who said that “perhaps” it’s time for “law-abiding states to bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.”45 A Republican Texas state representative announced that he is “committing to file legislation this session that will allow a referendum to give Texans a vote for the State of Texas to reassert its status as an independent nation.”46 The chairman of the Wyoming Republican Party mused: “Many of these Western states have the ability to be self-reliant, and we’re keeping eyes on Texas too, and their consideration of possible secession.”47 If this gained traction, it would be the final repudiation of its history, tradition and character by the party of Lincoln.
<br>__________________
<br>1. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lin-wood-firearms-stock-up-trump_n_5fd8124ac5b 62f31c1ffb41d
<br>2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-america-talk-turns-to-something-unspoken- for-150- years-civil-war/2019/02/28/b3733af8-3ae4-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html? utm_term =.c87d3f657d86
<br>3 https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/30/politics/joe-digenova-attorney-trump-campaign-chris-krebs-violence/ index.html
<br>4. www.mediamatters.org/lou-dobbs/lou-dobbs-urges-trump-take-drastic-action-over-alleged- election-fraud
<br>5. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-lou-dobbs-trump-election_n_5fc94c2cc5b68691fc 380d38
<br>6 https://archive.is/e6228
<br>7 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alex-jones-joe-biden-trump-rally_n_5fd625fbc5b62f31 c1fe0b72
<br>8. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bob-good-congressman-elect-pandemic-phony-trump-lrally_n_5fd58c8 bc5b6218b42e9c2949g
<br>9. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/16/trump-mcconnell-election-biden-president/?utm_ campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics
<br>10. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/l-lin-wood-pence-execution-treason_n_5fef9625c5b6fd33110 de8de
<br>11. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-golfs-in-florida-while-covid-relief-hangs-in-the-balance_n_ 5fe6268bc5b6ff747980ffea
<br>12 It Was All a Lie, pp. 199, 201
<br>13. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/11/19/the-con-he-rode-in-on/
<br>14. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/07/republican-party-uses-populist- politics-advance-plutocratic-policy/
<br>15. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/exit-polls-president.html
<br>16. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/prominent-evangelicals-are-directing- trumps-sinking-ship-that-feeds-doubts-about-religion/2020/12/07/5ad8eb0c-38c3-11eb- 9276-ae0ca72729be_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2d64530%2F5fcfadae9d2fda0efb8267bd%2F5b65de00ade4e2779564ed94%2F18%2F69%2F5fcfadae9d2fda0efb8267bd
<br>17. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/guillermo-maldonado-covid-19-vaccine-evangelicals _n_5fcfef83c5b 6787f2a9b8cc3
<br>18. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/16/weve-finally-identified-source-fraud-2020-election-its-ron-johnson/
<br>19. https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/marjorie-green/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign= 6366
<br>20. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html
<br>21. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michael-flynn-martial-law-new-election_n_5fc7d3e6c5b6f3 fe59724a45
<br>22. https://wethepeopleconvention.org/articles/WTPC-Urges-Limited-Martial-Law
<br>23 https://www.mediamatters.org/voter-fraud-and-suppression/right-wing-media-figures-call-trump-use-military-overturn-election
<br>24. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/prepare-for-war-a-local-gop-official-goes-all-in- with-election-conspiracy-theories/
<br>25. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/16/north-carolina-republican-trump-insurrection/ ?utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics
<br>26. https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2020/Press/ SCOTUSFiling.pdf
<br>27. https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/121120zr_p860.pdf26
<br>28. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/texas-judge-dismisses-ghomert-suit-against-aimed- overturning-election-n1252658
<br>29. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-overturn-pennsylvania-2020-election_n_5fceebf0c5b63 a15345453e727
<br>30. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephen-miller-alternate-elector-fox-friends_n_5fd77e00c5b 62f31c1ff0b9f
<br>31. conservativeactionproject.com/conservatives-call-on-state-legislators-to-appoint-new-electors-in-accordance-with-the-constitution/
<br>32. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/06/us/electoral-vote
<br>33. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/08/us/politics/trump-republican-national-committee.html?action= click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
<br>34. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/01/26/oregon-republican-false-flag- capitol/
<br>35. http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014FiguresTablesSuppLinks.pdf. Table S 8.2
<br>36. http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014FiguresTablesLinks.pdf. Figure 14.1
<br>37. http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014FiguresTablesLinks.pdf. Table 7.3, column 3 (High Inequality)
<br>38. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/
<br>39. https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1151885990862237697?s=12
<br>40. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-task-forces-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/04/11/5cc5a 30c-7a77-11ea-a130-df573469f094_story.html
<br>41. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pence-louis-gohmert-lawsuit-tossed-out_n_ 5feffffcc5b6fd33110e0652
<br>42. https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/steve-bannon-and-his-co-host-discuss-beheading-dr-anthony-fauci-and-fbi-director
<br>43. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-inciting-chaos-on-jan-6-both-in- and-outside-the-capitol/2020/12/30/7c4196b0-4ad2-11eb-839a-cf4ba7b7c48c_story.html
<br>44. https://leagueofthesouth.com/
<br>45. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-secession-supreme-court-election-case-allen-west_n_5fd42d47c 5b62f31c1fd43a3
<br>46. https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/529713-texas-lawmaker-to-file-bill- calling-for-vote-on-secession-from
<br>47. https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-gop-chair-western- states-paying-attention-to-texas-effort-to-secede/article_0f06d7df-6351-555e-89fc-11e2f4841e31.html
