tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63180841595511238562024-03-17T20:00:20.059-07:00A Different WashingtonNotes on politics, law, the culture and the newsGerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.comBlogger317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-75594593642616122252024-03-14T14:23:00.000-07:002024-03-14T14:30:30.098-07:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>March 13, 2024</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>Is Trump fading? (episode four)</u></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">I have suggested several times[1] that Trump’s appeal to voters might be fading. I may have been too optimistic; he has won most of the primary contests and his opponents have dropped out.. However, his legal troubles, while they may establish him as a martyr to some, should be a net negative. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The stunning verdicts in the E. Jean Carroll cases, finding “sexual abuse” and defamation[2], (and awarding huge damages)[3] should give any supporter pause. In addition he faces serious criminal charges.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Also, Trump’s apparent popularity may be in part illusory. He had little positive influence on the 2022 midterm election and observers have pointed out that Trump’s vote totals in the early primaries were not impressive and that not all Republican voters are ready to support him.[4]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump has shown lapses that may raise concerns about his mental ability. He attacked Nancy Pelosi for an imagined failure on January 6, but referred to her repeatedly as “Nikki Haley.” Often he seems confused, making mistakes.[5] Niece Mary Trump pointed to this gaffe by Trump at a Fox News town hall: ’”Were going to take over Washington, D.C. We’re going to federalize. We’re going to have very powerful crime, and you’re going to be proud of it again,”[6] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Unfortunately. President Biden has shown lapses as well, and his seem to show declining mental acuity, whereas Trump’s are buried in shouted blather, so he can seem strong even while revealing confusion. The special counsel’s comment on Biden’s memory has made matters still worse. Biden’s performance at the State of the Union address should help to dispel fears: he fumbled at times but gave a vigorous, combative speech. On policy, he took the initiative on the border issue and proposed a project to get more aid to Gaza. He should go farther and take a harder line with Israel on its attacks</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump at times seems to be self-destructive. After winning the New Hampshire primary, instead of trying to maintain Party solidarity, he attacked Governor Haley. Driving away potential Republican voters doesn’t seem bright, but Trump did that while showing a vindictive streak, referring to “Birdbrain” Nikki Haley and threatening her supporters: “Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them.”[7] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Haley returned the favor, exposing Trump’s weakness while again potentially driving away Republican votes. One of her ads said, of Trump, “He just can’t help himself, the ranting and raving. . . . Chaos follows him, and he’s getting older.” Trump is only “running to settle old scores” because “it’s about him, not you,” the voter.[8] She referred to him as “unhinged.”[9]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Another Haley ad raised the issue of Trump’s deference to Putin. “Every time he was in the same room with him, he got weak in the knees,” Haley told a Fox News town hall in South Carolina. “We can’t have a president that gets weak in the knees with Putin. We have to have a president that’s going to be strong with Putin in every sense of the word.”[10]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Trump has underscored the issue of weakness toward Russia by suggesting that he would encourage it to attack a NATO member. He recently recalled (or imagined) a conversation during his presidency. Referring to financial contributions toward military preparedness by NATO members, he said:</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> One of the presidents of a big country stood up and said, “Well sir, if we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?” I said, “You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?” He said, “Yes, let’s say that happened.” “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”[11] . </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">All of this may persuade enough voters that Trump is a risky bet. As Jennifer </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Rubin put it, past presidential candidates “did not have the extra hurdle to prove they were sane, law-abiding and pro-democracy. Trump does, and he reinforces those concerns whenever he opens his mouth.”[12]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to Trump’s weaknesses, the GOP is in disarray, as demonstrated by the antics, divisions and general uselessness of the House Republicans; that may drag its presidential candidate down. Goaded by Trump, who wants border troubles as a campaign issue, they have lost interest in border enforcement after claiming that action there was critical. Those voters who backed Trump because he vowed to close the border should be offended by his maneuvering to keep it open so he can complain about it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Trunp’s cruise to the nomination is not necessarily bad news; in the two previous campaigns he lost the popular vote. Despite all of Biden’s troubles, including too-critical news media, I think (hope?) that voters will see that they must back him. As Robert Reich put it, "When Americans actually focus on the presidential election and the stark reality of choosing between Biden and Trump, I expect they will once again choose Biden.”[13]</span><br /></div><div>______________<br /><br />1. See notes of 1/26/22, 11/26/22, 8/20/23<br />2. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/1174975870/trump-carroll-verdict<br />3. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/nyregion/trump-defamation-trial-carroll- verdict.html<br />4. https://www.alternet.org/trump-2024-campaign/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=Feb.26.2024_1.59pm<br />and https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeff-timmer-trump-weak_n_65dee6cde4b005b858323206<br />and<br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/06/super-tuesday-nikki-haley-republican-campaign/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_opinions&utm_campaign=wp_opinions<br />5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/23/new-hampshire-primary-2024- scene-trump-phillips-haley/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source= newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most<br />6. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-freudian-slip-powerful-crime_n_65d863a7e4b0e 4346d51f8b3<br />7. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-nikki-haley-donor-threat_n_65b2198ee4b 0166fc 770d5e2<br />8. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-new-ad-donald-trump-2024_n_65c1db10e 4b093b2e780cda7<br />9. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-calls-donald-trump-unhinged-and-more- diminished_n_65cd017ce4b0087d43c8bcec<br />10. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-donald-trump-putin_n_65d30b8de4b043f1 c0abc5a7 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nikki-haley-donald-trump-putin_n_65d30b8de4b043f1 c0abc5a7<br />11. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-russia-attack-nato-allies_n_65c7e443e4b 069b665dfb762<br />12. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/26/trump-overrated-2024-biden- newsletter<br />13. https://www.alternet.org/nikki-haley-trump-2667064331/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=Jan.23.2024_1.57pm<br /></div>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-20728072548430480942024-01-02T14:56:00.000-08:002024-01-02T14:56:38.223-08:00<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>December 31, 2023</b><br /><u>A dangerous situation</u><br /> Republicans refuse to support gun-control laws, pretending with the confused and doctrinaire Supreme Court that the Second Amendment is a blanket license to be armed and arguing that letting everyone carry a gun somehow improves safety. One evasive response to mass shootings is that the problem is mental health, not guns. An example is the comment by newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).<br /> In an interview</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[46]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> a day after eighteen people were killed in a mass shooting in Maine, he said guns aren’t the problem: “At the end of the day, the problem is the human heart. It’s not guns. It’s not the weapons. At the end of the day, we have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves, and that’s the Second Amendment, and that’s why our party stands so strongly for that . . . This is not the time to be talking about legislation.“ That time never seems to come, even at the end of the day.<br /> Johnson said the House should focus on mental health legislation. “I believe we have to address the root problems of these things. And mental health, obviously, as in this case, is a big issue, and we have got to seriously address that as a society and as a government.”<br /> That, it seems to me, is an excuse for inaction rather than a practical solution to the problem of gun-related violence. However, In one sense, Johnson is right: violent, antisocial behavior is so common that it is appropriate to say that there is a behavioral issue. However, the problem is only in small part one of the mental health of some individuals; there is a widespread condition of alienation, tribalism and the rejection of authority and of standards of behavior. The cause and the cure are not medical but political, not the need for mental health counseling but for a new and responsible public attitude. The tendency of some on the right to fabricate issues, stir resentment, encourage divisiveness, claim that the government is the enemy, and that liberals want to destroy the American way of life encourages antisocial behavior. Arming the angry and disaffected completes the destructive circle.</span><br /></p><p> _________________ <br />46. https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/mike-johnson-gives-first-interview-after -being-elected-house-speaker-transcript; <br />https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4279085-speaker-johnson-says-now-not-the-time-to-discuss-gun-control-problem-is-the-human-heart-not-guns/<br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-25346634942939286102023-10-17T14:20:00.000-07:002023-10-17T14:20:18.479-07:00<div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 16, 2023</b><br /><u>Whither the Court</u><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A rogue, irrational, anti-democratic Republican Party is bad enough; a politicized Supreme Court may be worse. It remains to be seen whether the Court, now with six conservatives, will move drastically to the right, but there is reason to worry. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Even before the advent of the supermajority, the Court already had made a number of bad decisions. They include District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago on gun control, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission on political spending, Shelby County v. Holder on discriminatory redistricting, Rucho v. Common Cause on gerrymandering, and Bucklew v. Precythe on the death penalty. Together they made the nation less safe, less democratic and less civilized.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[40]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Court’s record was not all bad. It rejected efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election and denied his attempt to prevent the January 6 Committee from obtaining records from his tenure. However, on the whole, it was moving to the right, a move which now may accelerate.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">One of the devices employed to justify conservative decisions is originalism, the notion that the Constitution must be interpreted as it would have been at the time the provision in question was written, or adopted, or ratified. This does not make sense; the Constitution, in addition to creating a structure, sets out a set of principles; There is a difference between principles and applications or interpretations. The latter are artifacts of the time, but the former are guides for decision or action in different times and different contexts. Originalism pretends that the creators of the Constitution intended that we be trapped in their time. In effect it denies the possibility of intellectual and moral progress and even of changed circumstances. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition originalism is an invalid theory of interpretation because of its history and because its underlying premise is flawed. The underlying premise of originalism is that the original understanding of a passage can be found; however, “For the vast majority of constitutional issues that arise, there is not a clear original meaning. With so many people involved in drafting and ratifying any given provision, there cannot be.”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[41]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Originalism has a dark history. It underlies the infamous Dred Scott decision. which held that </span><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">neither slaves nor free Black people could be citizens. . . . Dred Scott relied on what later would be called “originalism”. . . .[Chief Justice] Taney picked through founding era documents, laws passed in the early republic, and views of the framers to claim they intended the United States to grant rights only to white people throughout the country.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[42]<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In the Court’s hands, originalism is a flexible instrument; the Justices are selective as to what precedent to cite. Heller is an example. The opinion allegedly adopts this principle: "Constitutional rights are enshrined with the scope they were understood to have when the people adopted them . . . .” However, rather than finding the intent, the scope, of the Second Amendment in its text, the opinion dismisses part of it as a mere preface and instead finds the alleged original intent in an English statute of 1689. <br /><br />Heller was extended and originalism employed in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which limited gun-licensing laws by the practices allegedly common at the time the Second Amendment was adopted. <br /><br />A recent development which does nor bode well is the frequent use of the shadow docket, orders issued without briefing or argument. These began as procedural orders, but have become vehicles for substantive decisions. <br /></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> . . . Since the mid-2010s, there has been a radical shift in how (and how often) the justices use the shadow docket — not just to manage their workload, but to change the law both on the ground and on the books. From immigration to elections, from abortion to the death penalty, from religious liberty to the power of federal administrative agencies, the Supreme Court has, with increasing frequency, intervened preemptively, if not prematurely, in some of our country’s most fraught political disputes, through decisions that are unseen, unsigned, and almost always unexplained.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[43]<br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Thus far, the supermajority’s record has been mixed. On the plus side, the Court upheld a decision that threw out Alabama’s maps for its seven congressional districts, which included only one with a majority of Black voters.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[44]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> It was a notable ruling for a court which has not been friendly to the Voting Rights Act. The Court also stayed a lower court’s ruling which struck down a government regulation of ghost guns.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[45]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> On the negative side, in addition to Bruen, the Court went out of its way to overturn Roe. . </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Hovering over the Court is the question of ethics, both in terms of questionable behavior and the absence of rules.</span><br /></div>______________<br /></div><div>40. My more extended comments on these decision are here: Heller July 6, 2008 and December 19, 2015; McDonald July 14, 2010; Citizens United February 6, 2010; Shelby County July 1, 2013; McCutcheon May 13, 2014; Rucho October 8, 2019; Bucklew April 13, 2019.<br />41. Erwin Chemerinsky, Worse than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism, Yale University Press (2022), p. 51.<br />42. Michael Waldman, The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, Simon & Schuster (2023) p. 22<br />43. Stephen Vladeck, The Shadow Docket Basic Books (2023), pp. 12-13<br />44. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/08/supreme-court-alabama- redistricting-voting-rights/<br />45. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-temporarily-allows-ghost-gun- regulations_n_64d271a0e4b0677e5044cfc1<br /><br /></div>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-87497514170527446702023-09-22T15:51:00.000-07:002023-09-22T15:51:31.001-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September 22, 2023</b><br /><u>The house is crumbling</u><br /> Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>against itself </span><span style="font-size: medium;">will stand. . . <br /> Matthew 12:25<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Lincoln used the house-divided metaphor in describing the situation of the United States prior to the Civil War. It applies as well today. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the division is so great today that our society, our culture, our democratic political system are in danger of collapse. There is no consensus on basic facts, let alone policies, and the Republican philosophy (stance, attitude) is one of opposition based on fantasy. The resort to fantasy is partly of necessity, as they have few legitimate complaints about the Biden administration, but that has not prevented the move to impeach him. Having no positive program, they indulge in destructive posturing. As Speaker McCarthy said of some of his colleagues, they “just want to burn the whole place down.”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[37]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><br />Much of the political Right is trapped in a self-imposed flight from reality. a sort of self-imposed insanity. Pretending that there is no climate change or that it has no role in current climate extremes or that the glut of guns is not a major factor in mass shootings is daffy enough. Opposing Covid vaccines in the face of evidence that they save lives is not only ignorant; it is suicidal.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[38]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> What sort of political philosophy leads people to refuse life-saving medical aid? <br /><br />A weekly newsletter from Media Matters lists claims by media figures or politicians on the right which are so ludicrous that it seems impossible that they believe what they say. The newsletter includes, appropriately, the categories “This week in stupid”, “This week in scary” and “Excuse Me?” listing comments especially inane. A column in The Washington Post</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[39]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> set out many examples from Republicans in the House, some offered during a “hearing” which praised January 6 rioters.<br /><br />The craziness reaches one of its peaks in talk of separation and even civil war. Much of this is prattle, but it feeds feelings of resentment and oppression, and there are too many people out there who will take such talk seriously. Another peak is the tendency on the right toward authoritarianism, aided by vote suppression<br /><br />The Donald, apparently proud of his mug shot, is using it as a fund-raising vehicle. He has posted it on the site mysteriously known as X. The brief text includes “ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” no doubt intended as a claim that the indictment damages his re-election campaign. Ironically, it also refers to the charges against him. Apparently he thinks that the head-lowered, scowling pose portrays strength and determination, the image of a strongman, the leader of the new authoritarian state. What it really shows is a petulant, defiant child saying “you can’t make me.” <br /><br />If enough voters see that, we may not elect him. However, some of the crazies might take his defeat as the trigger for violent overthrow. We have a long way to go to rebuild that house. <br /></span></p><p>________________<br />37 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/21/government-shutdown-latest- spending-vote-mccarthy-republicans<br />38 The same actually could be said of the first two as well.<br />39. Dana Milbank, “As Trump is arrested, Republicans honor the insurrectionists." <br /><br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-42353034851871326212023-08-23T15:41:00.002-07:002023-09-11T16:19:55.860-07:00<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>August 20, 2023</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>Is Trump fading? (episode three)</u></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Although Trump continues to dominate the Republican primary field, that is as much due to the lack of serious competition as to his continued appeal. Despite his attempts to paint the indictments as political revenge, I think that they will have some negative effect on his popularity. His legal troubles make him even more prone to outbursts, some of which may drive people away. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The news media, for all of their supposed liberal bias, have not been especially kind to Biden and have not been optimistic about his chance of reelection. However, recent polls shows him at least even with Trump, and it seems to me that the trend will be away from the Donald. He hopes to use the indictments and trials to play the martyr, rallying outraged fans. Many will so respond, but he may lose others who will finally realize that he is not going to change the world for them..</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The rigged-election story is beginning to fade; numerous leading Republicans, including presidential candidates, acknowledge that Trump lost.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[34]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> A Newsmax host announced this month that “Newsmax has accepted the election results as legal and final.”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[35]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The Special Counsel will attempt to show that Trump knew that he lost which, if successful, should further undermine his support as well as aiding the prosecution. According to testimony to the January 6 Committee, Trump acknowledged to staff that he had lost. He is quoted as saying, referring to Biden: “can you believe I lost to this effing guy?”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[36]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> There may be more such evidence and the Georgia indictment creates even more peril, legally as well as politically. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">I may be too optimistic in predicting a decline in Trump’s support, but it does seem that he is nearing the point at which his image will collapse and at least some of his popularity with it. </span><br /><br /><br /></div><div>________________________<br />34. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/08/gop-trump-2020-loss/?utm_campaign=wp_ politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics<br />35. https://www.mediamatters.org/eric-bolling/after-airing-interview-donald-trump-newsmax-host-clarifies- network-has-accepted<br />36. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/13/trump-admission-election-aides-january-6-panel<br /></div>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-69758672486919636132023-07-20T15:50:00.000-07:002023-07-20T15:50:43.050-07:00<div><span style="font-size: medium;">July 20, 2023<br />The Trump enigma<br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">All of the accounts of the decline of the Republican Party and the rise of Trump, enlightening as they are, have left me still wondering how so many people could have supported Trump. That many still do, even after his post-election behavior and indictment is still more puzzling.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Chris Christie recently offered this description: Trump is “a petulant child when someone disagrees with him.”[25] His reference was to Trump’s tendency to vilify former aides and supporters, for example saying that his White House chief of staff John Kelly “pretended to be a ‘tough guy,’ but was actually weak and ineffective, born with a VERY small ‘brain’.”[26] Trump also attacked Bill Barr as a “ ‘disgruntled former employee’ & lazy Attorney General who was weak & totally ineffective,” and a “Gutless Pig.”[27] Barr responded, in terms similar to Christie’s: “[Trump is] like a 9-year old, a defiant 9-year-old kid who’s always pushing the glass towards the edge of the table, defying his parents from stopping him from doing it.” Barr added that “our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.”[28]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Why do people follow someone like that? There are the insurrectionists, who seem to see Trump as an autocratic leader, but they are (I hope) a small fraction of his followers. There are many unhappy, resentful people who are uninformed politically and willing to believe that the system is rigged against them — that no one is on their side[29] — who therefore will follow a demagogue, but the question remains: why would they see Trump as their champion? According to one pollster, “the fighting back, I found, is what attracts [Trump] to Republican primary voters.” Again, referring to the contest for the GOP nomination, Trump has “the edge, because it looks like he’s this tough guy, and the other Republican candidates just don’t have what it takes.”[30] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It is true that he strikes the pose of a brawler, one who will fight for all those unhappy people but does he really help them? In no small part it’s simply that he has been willing to play to their fears and resentments, and has some skill in doing so. The fact that he is, or at least once was, an outsider may appeal to their sense that government is the enemy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A recent variation on the theme is that he is in legal trouble because he is protecting the people. His campaign website proclaims: “They’re not after me, they’re after you … I’m just standing in their way!”[31] In a recent speech he charged: “Every time the radical-left Democrats, Marxist [sic], communists and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of courage. I’m being indicted for you, and I believe the you is more than 200 million people that love our country.”[32] </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">One description, if not quite an explanation, is this: “Fervent enthusiasm for Trump has never been about logic, however often Trump and his allies try to backstop his assertions with hastily constructed rhetoric. Trumpism is an emotional movement and that fireproofs it against things like” Barr’s comment that the documents indictment ‘came about because of reckless conduct of the president.’ ”[33] It seems that some follow Trump, without in any way admiring him, simply because he has become the symbol of opposition to the liberal establishment they imagine is ruining the country.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The remaining question is why there are so many unhappy, resentful, suspicious, gullible people, so many potential Trump followers. Explanations usually focus on race, on white fears of loss of status and control. That is an element, but it doesn’t strike me as an full explanation. Another reason almost certainly is fear and resentment of cultural change, a belief that society is falling apart. The “woke”nonsense is designed to play on those feelings.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Whatever the explanation, unrest among many ordinary Americans is a political fact, and Democrats must concentrate on persuading voters that they, and the government, are on the people’s side, working for their benefit, making their lives better, along with demonstrating that the Republicans, for all their pretense, are not. </span> <br /></div><div>____________________<br />25. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chris-christie-donald-trump-petulant-child-024_n_648f440be4b025 003ee4fa0f<br />26. https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4053954-trump-fires-back-at-kelly-after-scared-s-less- remarks/<br />27. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/12/trump-barr-analysis/<br />28. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/william-barr-trump-child-cbs-interview_n_648fcea3e4b027d92f94 5386<br />29. One writer refers to it as a sense of abandonment: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/17/donald-trump-gop-voters-2024-race/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_opinions&utm_campaign=wp_opinions<br />30. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3978590-why-gop-voters-are-so-loyal-to-trump/<br />31. https://www.donaldjtrump.com/<br />32. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/26/trump-republicans-indictment-gop-base/? utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics<br />33. See footnote 3.<br /></div>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-59814156826312933342023-06-14T15:50:00.001-07:002023-06-14T15:50:59.723-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>June 11, 2023</b><br /><u>How far we have strayed</u><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, <br /> establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common <br /> defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty <br /> to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for <br /> the United States of America. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What a quaint idea: domestic tranquility in a perfect union. Instead we have division, agitation, resentment, suspicion and threats. </span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A more apt description of our present state was set out in 1907 by Henry Adams: “Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.”[20] Until recently, I would not have thought that to be a fair description, but now it fits, at least when applied to the Right. The Left has contributed to the polarization of our politics through controversial policies and attitudes. Whatever their merit, the Right has used them in stirring up resentment of liberals, of elites (carefully selected), of government, of “the system,” descending into that systematic organization of hatreds.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A politics of hatred leads to insurrection and violence, as we discovered on January 6. Leaders of the mob believed they were commencing a revolution, reflected in slogans like “1776,” or “Winter Palace,” the latter referring to the storming, in 1917, of the seat of the provisional government of Russia by the Bolsheviks.[21] </span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Political violence is encouraged by casual, irresponsible references to firearms, such as the assault-rifle pins worn by some Republicans or the proposal by Republican Representatives that the AR-15 be designated the national gun.[22] </span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An irony of our present situation is that conservatives want control but have little in the way of a program, and that little largely is hidden, as it favors the wealthy. Lacking a constructive agenda, they have substituted opposition, obstruction and inane “investigations” feeding fuel, however artificial, to the blaze of hatreds. This is not a new development; as one recent author put it, referring to the Clinton years, “With a Democrat in the White House, congressional Republicans adopted a politics of destruction, concerned less with legislation than with investigation and obstruction.”[23]</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Public knowledge and understanding of politics and government have declined, partly a result of the attacks on government, partly an educational failure. This is a potentially fatal trend; a democracy requires informed citizens. It depends on voters operating with a common set of facts, but the tribal attitude on the right, and the tendency to find conspiracies to explain events, have polluted the political atmosphere to the degree that a majority of Republicans believe, on no evidence, that Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 election. </span><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We must somehow find our way back.<br /></span>____________________<br /></p><p>20. Henry Adams; Oxford Dictionary of Thenmatic Quotations, p.296<br />21. The January 6th Report, pp. 512, 511<br />22. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/02/26/lauren-boebert-george-santos-co-sponsor-bill-to- make-ar-15-the-national-gun/?sh=448db8006432<br />23. Hemmer, Partisans, p. 8 (2022)<br />24. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/03/14/republicans-increasingly-realize-theres-no- evidence-of-election-fraud-but-most-still-think-2020-election-was-stolen-anyway-poll-finds/?sh=68fd965028ec<br /><br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-1399646108829172752023-05-10T15:33:00.002-07:002023-05-10T15:33:54.174-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>May 10, 2023</b><br /><u>Steps toward and away from the brink</u><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In mid-April, I referred to several shooting incidents which seemed to represent the ultimate in our firearm insanity. Almost immediately it became clear that it could, and did, get worse. <br /> There were more mass shootings in public places. They happen so often that any list of them is almost immediately out of date. According to The Gun Violence Archive, there have been 208 this year. This must stop. As an email from Gabby Giffords put it, “Americans should not have to live in fear of a mass shooting when they are going about their Saturdays, shopping, running errands, and living their lives.”<br /> Other incidents were, in a way, even more indicative of social breakdown because they were impulsive reactions to perceived intrusions onto the shooter’s property, yet another extreme in firearm madness. Stand-your-ground statutes and similar laws, NRA propaganda, repeated claims that criminals are all about us, and a general tendency to divide into hostile camps all help to plant the notion that one must have a gun; in short: we live in a dangerous society. That the glut of guns is a large factor in creating the danger doesn’t seem to penetrate, nor does the fact that many who own guns obviously are not competent to have them.<br /> We cannot continue down this path.<br /> Small steps from the brink have been taken. In Washington Governor Inslee has signed HB 1240, which generally prohibits “the manufacture, importation, distribution, selling, and offering for sale of assault weapons,” although it will not prohibit possession by those who already have such guns, and House Bill 1143 “requiring a permit to purchase firearms, firearms safety training, and a 10-day waiting period, prohibiting firearms transfers prior to completion of a background check, and updating and creating consistency in firearms transfer and background check procedures.”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[16]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> In Michigan, the Governor signed bills that will “create universal background checks for all firearms and mandate safe storage requirements around children.”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[17]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> In Colorado, two “new laws will raise the age to buy any firearm from 18 to 21 and install a three-day waiting period between the purchase and receipt of a gun. A third will strengthen the state’s red flag law . . . .”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[18]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> This state-by-state movement is important, but we need legislation at the federal level.<br />Following the most recent mass shooting, in Allen, Texas, President Biden made the case:<br /> Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough.<br /> Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. We need nothing less to keep our streets safe.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[19]<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">______________________________<br />16. https://www.governor.wa.gov/office-governor/official-actions/bill-action<br />17. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/politics/governor-gretchen-whitmer-gun-violence-prevention- michigan/index.html<br />18. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/colorado-governor-signs-gun-control-bills-after-massacre_n_ 644bf673e4b03c1b88cd0d3c<br />19. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/07/<br />statem ent-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-shooting-in-allen-texas/</p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-46885792215809018702023-04-15T16:35:00.000-07:002023-04-15T16:35:03.081-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>April 15, 2023</b><br /><u>The brink of collapse</u> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> There are clear signs that American society is in danger of a fall from which it will not recover. One indicator is the continuing cost of our love affair with firearms.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Another school shooting occurred on March 27 in Nashville. There the attacker fired 152 rounds, killing three 9-year-old students and three adults. The awfulness of that incident was enhanced by the fact that it is only one in an endless series. Before we could absorb the horror of that event, another mass shooting occurred on April 10, this time in Louisville, where five people were killed at a bank where the shooter worked. According the The Gun Violence Archive, there have been 155 mass shootings in the U.S. this year.[13]</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Perhaps the ultimate demonstration of the gun menace occurred in Newport News, Virginia on January 6, where a six year old child brought a gun from his home to school and shot his teacher.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> In a rational world, such events would cause us to conclude that, since we cannot remain peaceful and safe with so many guns in private hands, we should start limiting that number and restricting their use and availability. However, the Republican response to these shootings has been, for the most part, indifference or active worsening,</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Taking another step toward the edge, Governor DeSantis of Florida signed a bill on April 3 which allows carrying a concealed gun without a permit.[14] Again, this development is made worse by its not being original. Florida becomes the twenty-sixth state to allow that. In Kentucky. a bill to
make that state a “Second Amendment sanctuary” has been enacted; it
prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing “any
federal laws or regulations enacted on guns, ammunition and accessories
since Jan. 1, 2021.”[15] </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Right on cue, the NRA convention opened, with potential Republican presidential candidates in attendance.</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span> </span></span>_____________<br /></p><p>13. https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/<br />14. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-concealed-carry-no-permit-ron-desantis/<br />15. https://www.wtvq.com/bill-to-make-ky-a-second-amendment-sanctuary-becomes- law/</p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-31308541019735320282023-04-03T14:45:00.000-07:002023-04-03T14:45:16.484-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>April 2, 2023</b><br /><u>Woke</u> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The constant use of “woke” by the right as a way of describing the evils of liberalism is an indication of their lack of real ideas and of desperation. However, it’s also a sad reminder of how debased our political discourse has become.<br /> Although “woke” is tossed around so casually as to become meaningless, it has been defined. When I first came across it in 2018,</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[10]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> I found that The Urban Dictionary advised us that “Being Woke means being aware. . . Knowing what[‘]s going on in the community.” More recently. Merriam Webster offered this definition: “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” However, its current use has less to do with definition than with political warfare; it is used merely as an all-purpose insult and declaration of virtue. <br /> A thoughtful recent article by Solomon D. Stevens</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[11]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> noted that “woke” is used to refer to a baffling range of perceived social or political sins. Because of that muddle, “[t]he word ‘woke’ has no clear meaning, but to those who use it to condemn others, that doesn’t matter because the word is just a way of announcing one’s membership in a kind of club or gang. It is a culture war badge.” <br /> Stevens refers to George Orwell’s 1945 essay “Politics and the English Language.” <br /></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"> Orwell points out that when we use sloppy, imprecise language, our thinking becomes sloppy and imprecise. In that respect, he says, our words can be both a cause and an effect. Our language “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” And that is the problem with using the word “woke.”<br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span> </span>Orwell noted that much writing in his day was characterized by “staleness of imagery” and “lack of precision.” One falling into such habits may be “almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not.”</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">[12]</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> So with the use of “woke.” As Stevens puts it, “It is “employed to vilify others; ‘they’ are not simply wrong, they are enemies of civilization. Those who are ‘woke’ are portrayed as a threat to everything decent and good.” It is a variation on the old theme on the right that liberals are not real Americans.</span><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">________________________<br /></p><p>10. See my note of October 6, 2018<br />11. https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/we-could-use-george-orwells-help-today-with-the-war-on-woke/<br />12. <span style="font-size: small;">“Politics and the English Language,” <i>George Orwell: Essays</i>, Everyman’s Library (2002), p.956</span> <br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-58980164024903418482023-03-23T14:19:00.000-07:002023-03-23T14:19:18.162-07:00<div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>March 23, 2023<br /></b><u>The January 6th Report</u><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> I’ve just finished reading The January 6th Report, more formally titled Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. <br /> Following forewords by Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Thompson and Vice Chairwoman Cheney, there is an Executive Summary. It lists the findings made by the Committee based on its investigation, then provides a 90-page Overview of the Evidence Developed. In the next section of the Executive Summary “the Committee makes . . .criminal referrals to the Department of Justice’s Special Counsel.” <br /> The last section is a list of witnesses; of those for whom a party affiliation is noted, nearly all were Republicans. In his foreword, Committee Chairman Thompson pointed out that the plan to overturn the election “faltered at several points because of the courage of officials (nearly all of them Republicans) who refused to go along with it.” Those two facts are beacons of hope in an otherwise dark night for that Party.<br /> The material which follows the Summary, described as The Narrative, is a further review of evidence, divided into eight chapters. Because the chapters are topical rather than chronological, it is difficult to keep track of the sequence of events. There is a good deal of overlap and repetition and a lack of overall scheme. However, both the Executive Summary and the Narrative add to the record in numerous ways. <br /> The Report is massively end noted —there are 762 endnotes to the Executive Summary — which will provide material for scholars.</span><br /></div>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-68534525781387601572023-02-06T15:43:00.000-08:002023-02-06T15:43:05.452-08:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>February 6, 2023</b><br /><u>State of the GOP: origins</u><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Commentary on the fallen state of the Republican Party is unanimous that the decline did not begin with Trump, that he merely amplified tendencies already present. Accounts vary, though, as to when the slide began, or when a crucial change occurred. Recent books and columns illustrate this. David Corn, in American Psychosis,[<span style="font-size: x-small;">6</span>] sees a turning point in the hostility to Nelson Rockefeller by Goldwater supporters and John Birchers at the 1964 GOP convention. He refers to “two mobs,” the hecklers at that convention and the rioters on January 6, 2021. “What happened on Capitol Hill was a continuation of the Republican Party’s decades-long relationship with extremism.” Dana Milbank, in The Destuctionists,[<span style="font-size: x-small;">7</span>] dates the change to 1994 and the influence of Newt Gingrich, who emphasized attacks on the opposition and moved politics toward tribalism. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">In a New York Times column last month,[<span style="font-size: x-small;">8</span>] Charles Blow traced it to John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008: “Palin exposed a dangerous reality about the Republican base: that it was starving for disruption and spectacle, that it would cheer for anyone who annoyed liberals, that performance was far more important than competence.” David Von Drehle, in a Washington Post column in December,[<span style="font-size: x-small;">9</span>] pointed to 1992: “Many Republicans remember it as the year Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot flew a suicide mission into George H.W. Bush’s reelection campaign. But the first fatal blow to Bush Sr. was dealt by hard-right pundit Patrick J. Buchanan. His angry populist campaign carried all the way to the convention, where he traded a grudging endorsement of Bush for influence over the opening-night program. Buchanan anchored an evening of hatreds and resentments that presaged the politics of today.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Another sign of decay was the absence of a Republican Party platform in 2020. There might be several reasons for that. They might have looked at the 2016 platform and concluded, as I did, that it was an extended statement of why the GOP should not be in charge of government. That’s not likely, but they might, in an unusual burst of understanding, have realized that a majority of voters would so decide. Again, not likely; self-awareness has not been characteristic of the Party in recent years. They might have decided that there was no point. Party platforms often are ignored in practice and, with Trump as President, no statement of principle would have much significance. They may simply have confessed that the only goal of the election was to hold power, not to govern, so why bother with a statement of principles when you have no intention of recognizing any? In that sense, the absence of a platform could be regarded as a rare burst of candor.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Some of the specific claims made by Trump were echos. Republicans had made claims of voting fraud during the 2000 and 2008 elections. They long have exploited grudges, fears and imagined oppression of ordinary folk while serving business. Gingrich referred to an America in trouble and to a catalogue of catastrophes; Trump spoke of American carnage. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Most of the accounts note that elements of the present attitudes on the right have even older roots, including the hunt for communists by Joseph McCarthy and others; a recurring theme is the claim that liberals —you know, socialists (now “globalists”) — are not real Americans. </span><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">It’s been a long slide. <br /></span></p><p>___________<br />6. <i>American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy</i> (2022).<br />7.<i> The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party</i> (2022)<br />8. “The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus,” Jan. 4, 2023<br />9. “The GOP is stuck in a doom loop begun 30 years ago,” December 2, 2022</p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-78008983018409788172023-01-08T16:18:00.000-08:002023-01-08T16:18:30.233-08:00<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>January 7, 2023</b> </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>Decline, and the way back</u></span><br /><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that we are a culture in decline. There are elements of decline, such as the corruption of the language (look at the daily crosswords) which have no connection to politics, but important problems relate to policies, biases and behavior on the right.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A president attempts to retain power illegally, relying on lies about fraud, a mob attacks the Capitol and 147 Congressional Republicans vote to reject legitimate electoral results. Politicians and others on the right play on fears and resentments, making them worse, encouraging tribalism. The Republicans are so much in thrall to their right wing that it takes fifteen ballots and numerous concessions to elect a Speaker of the House.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The economy has rewarded business, not working people, as shown by charts published by the EPI.[1] One reveals that, beginning in the early 1980s, wages have lagged behind productivity. Another shows that “fatter profit margins have played a historically outsized role in driving price inflation.” A third reveals that the federal minimum wage today is worth 27% less than in 2009, 40% less than in 1968. (Not surprisingly, another is captioned: “Without government programs, millions more would be in poverty.”) Republicans, serving business and only pretending to aid ordinary folks, will do nothing to change this pattern.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">A serious contribution by the right to societal illness is its opposition to gun control. There were more than six hundred mass shootings last year. A chart published in The New York Times illustrates an especially appalling development: “Gun violence recently surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children.”[2] A measure of the flood of guns is the number detected by TSA at airports; it reached a new high in 2022. As of December 16, TSA had intercepted 6,301 firearms — more than 88% were loaded — up from 5,972 the previous year.[3] Another measure is the number of states, now 25, which allow carrying a gun without a license.[4] The right’s love of guns turns its tendency toward separatism into a looming menace. Republicans will not do anything to solve that problem; indeed, they are determined to make it worse An article in The New York Times last May illustrated their orientation: “ more than 100 television ads from Republican candidates and supportive groups have used guns as talking points or visual motifs this year. . . .as candidates praise the Second Amendment, vow to block gun-control legislation or simply identify themselves as ‘pro-gun.’ ” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">These trends cannot be allowed to continue, and the GOP will not reverse them. Democrats must regain control of Congress, but to do so, they must find a way to persuade voters that they are on their side, that they are not the privileged elites of right-wing propaganda, that government is not the enemy.</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">_____________<br /></p><p>1. https://www.epi.org/blog/epis-top-charts-of-2022-epis-most-popular-charts-tell-the-story-of-how- pandemic-setbacks-in-income-inequality-were-mitigated-by-pandemic-relief/?mc_cid=d26a73574b&mc_eid=faa04e9f25<br />2. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/14/magazine/gun-violence-children-data-statistics.html? campaign_id=52&emc=edit_ma_20221216&instance_id=80273&nl=the-new-york-times-magazine&regi_id=22748210&segment_id=120008&te=1&user_id=3c8ad60682fc8ebf910291b2246ab6c0<br />3. https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/releases/2022/12/16/tsa-breaks-record-number-firearms-security- checkpoints-announces-new<br />4. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/constitutional-carry-half-states_n_63a4beeee4b0d2fe765111df<br /><br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-83243713008687998632022-12-29T14:00:00.002-08:002022-12-29T14:00:54.204-08:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>December 29, 2022</b><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Christmas is a time to reflect on many things, including where we are as a society and what Christianity means to us, which are not unrelated. Whie watching a Christmas Eve church service (streaming on my computer), it occurred to me how tragic it is that Christianity’s message of love and forgiveness is so often lost in the misuse of the faith for political ends, where it has become a force for division, aggression and domination. </span> <br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-58346234980473626412022-12-13T15:10:00.000-08:002022-12-13T15:10:17.418-08:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>December 12, 2022</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>Parallel downward paths; one may be near the end</u>.</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The plunge into darkness by Donald Trump and the Republican Party dominate the political picture. The Party has been unraveling for many years, but its attachment to Trump accelerated its decline through endorsement of his methods and lack of principles. One effect was his encouraging the worst Republicans to be still worse. Now he is weakened politically and the Party must decide whether to abandon him, in the sense of opposing his renomination, but also whether to repudiate the positions and attitudes which came to dominate Republican politics during his presidency. The former is looking increasingly likely, the latter much less so. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">The move toward rejection of Trump the candidate accelerated after his meeting with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, due to their anti-Semitic views and West’s praise of Hitler. Mitt Romney’s reaction to that meeting was brutally frank: “I think it has been clear that there’s no bottom to the degree to which President Trump will degrade himself and the nation.”[66] Some of the critics drew a line between Trump’s behavior and the Party; Senator Cassidy put it this way: “President Trump hosting racist antisemites for dinner encourages other racist antisemites. These attitudes are immoral and should not be entertained. This is not the Republican Party.”[67] RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel did not criticize Trump, but declared: “There is no place for Kanye, Fuentes, or their views inside the Republican Party.”[68] They may be right that the Party, as an institution, does not tolerate such bias, but holding the GOP up as a model of political virtue is a stretch. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Dismissing Trump is complicated by Republican attacks on those attempting to call him to account, including the January 6 Committee, the DOJ and state prosecutors. It is an exercise in opposing Trump with one hand while defending him with the other. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Full repudiation became somewhat more likely when Trump moved to the next-to-last position in his bizarre attempt to regain the presidency: proposing that we abandon the Constitution. (The last position would be armed insurrection, already hinted at by many of his supporters and rehearsed on January 6). Here is Trump’s proposal, referring, of course, to the imaginary election fraud in 2020: “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”[69] That radically irresponsible proposal drew immediate criticism, so Trump attempted to back out, babbling in his usual fashion: </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to “terminate” the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS. What I said was that when there is ‘MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,’ as has been irrefutably proven in the 2020 Presidential Election, steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG. Only FOOLS would disagree with that and accept STOLEN ELECTIONS. MAGA![70]<br /></span></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Of course he said more than that, but never mind. Again an attempt was made to separate Trump from the GOP; Senator Romney: “Well, the Republican Party is the Constitution party. So when he calls to suspend the Constitution, he goes from being MAGA to being RINO.”[71] At some point, leading Republicans must take as hard a look at their Party as at Trump.</span></p>__________________<br /><p></p><p>66. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mitt-romney-donald-trump-degrade-kanye-west-nick-fuentes_n_ 638608ebe4b006c42d429d55<br />67. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-cassidy-trump-nick-fuentes-kanye-west_n_6384f725e4b082d8e6d 3a20a<br />68. https://sports.yahoo.com/gop-chairwoman-condemns-antisemitism-twitter-011033799.html<br />69. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html<br />70. https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109462304115605769</p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-81693886560589678722022-11-26T11:22:00.000-08:002022-11-26T11:22:31.762-08:00<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>November 26, 2022<br /></b><u>Is Trump fading? (Episode 2)</u><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He has announced that he is running again. The threshold question is why. He has lost two popular elections, likely would lose again, and can’t count on the peculiarities of the electoral college to rescue him a second time. Even he must know that the stolen-election gambit won’t work. His fragile ego would be damaged by another loss, so why risk it? Two reasons occur to me.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The first is the hope that re-election, or even candidacy, would insulate him from his legal exposure, including potential indictments. The former might well have that result, but the latter is likely to be, at best, only partially effective. However, Trump could use his candidacy to claim that the suits and prosecutions are politically motivated, that evil liberals are out to get him, that fairness requires dismissal..<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The second reason is that, even though he might lose again, from now until election day, or at least until he loses the nomination, he can hold rallies, be the center of attention and bask in the adulation of his fans. That seems to be his greatest need. (If he fails to be nominated, he might run as an independent or third-party candidate for the same reasons).<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What are his chances of being nominated? There are signs that his support is declining. An early November poll which asked “Do you consider yourself to be more of a supporter of Donald Trump or more of a supporter of the Republican Party?” found 62% choosing the Party, 30% going for Trump. In August 2021, the corresponding numbers were 50% Party, 40% Trump; in January 2021, it was 46% each; in January 2019, 51% Trump, 38% Party.[53] <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The much-hyped red wave failed to materialize in this month’s elections, and many are blaming Trump, whose favored candidates did not fare well. Some of his prominent allies have abandoned him or waffled. Rep. Mo Brooks declared recently that it would be a mistake for Republicans to nominate Trump again, adding “Donald Trump has proven himself to be dishonest, disloyal, incompetent, crude and a lot of other things that alienate so many independents and Republicans.”[54] Much of Trump’s support was transactional, so it is no surprise that his weakness has led to second thoughts. <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">He has lost the support of the Murdoch media empire,[55] and some donors have backed away. Losing the support of evangelicals would be especially damaging, and there is some indication that may be happening.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We may be rid of him eventually, but that’s not enough; the Party needs to change.</span> <br /></p><p>_____________________ <br /></p><p>53. https://thehill.com/homenews/3722608-record-number-of-republicans-support-party-over-trump-nbc- poll/<br />54. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mo-brooks-dishonest-trump_n_6371c58fe4b0290136437c7f<br />55. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/15/murdoch-press-turns-on-donald-trump-in-favour- of-defuture-ron-desantis</p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-2870944792319666532022-10-31T15:49:00.000-07:002022-10-31T15:49:16.573-07:00<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 31, 2022</b><br /><u>Boredom, then a bombshell</u><br /><br />The final broadcast session of the January 6 Committee on October 13 was not a hearing — there were no live witnesses — but, as specified by Chairman Thompson, they held “a formal committee business meeting so that, in addition to presenting evidence, we can potentially hold a committee vote on further investigative action based upon that evidence.”. It was designed as a summary of the information presented during the hearings as a basis for the surprise (to me, at least) vote at the close to subpoena Donald Trump to testify.<br /><br />Commentary about the meeting has been generally favorable, but I thought that it was poorly organized and repetitious. There were some new facts, but mostly the Committee offered a recapitulation of evidence presented at prior hearings. Presenting it in segments by several Committee members created overlap and confusion, some of the references were obscure, and it all went on for so long that it took some determination to stay until the end. <br /><br />The most significant new information indicated that Trump knew and, on a few occasions, admitted or let slip that he had lost. <br /> Alyssa Farah, White House Director of Strategic Communications: “I remember maybe a week after the election was called, I popped into the Oval just to like give the President the headlines and see how he was doing. And he was looking at the TV and he said, can you believe I lost to this effing guy?<br /> Three comments by Cassidy Hutchinson: <br /> On December 11, 2020, in a meeting with Trump and Meadows: “the President said I think — so he had said something to the effect of, I don't want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. I don't want people to know that we lost.” <br /> On the 18th of December, 2020, “I said [to Mark Meadows] look, does the President really think he lost? And he said, you know, a lot of times he'll tell me that he lost, but he wants to keep fighting it. He thinks that there might be enough to overturn the election, but you know, he — he pretty much has acknowledged that he — that he's lost.” <br /> In a meeting after Trump’s January 2, 2021 call to Secretary Raffensperger: “I said, Mark, you can't possibly think we're going to pull this off. Like, that call was crazy. And he looks at me and just started shaking his head. He was like, no, Cass, you know, he knows it's over. He knows he lost, but we're going to keep trying. There's some good options out there still. We're going to keep trying.”<br /><br />The Committee has issued its subpoena.[53] It was accompanied by a letter, signed by the Committee Chair and Vice Chair, which is an odd combination of deference and accusation. The former is in the polite salutation: “Dear President Trump.” The rest of the letter reads like an indictment. Here is a sampling:<br /></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power. This multi-part effort included, but was not limited to:</span><br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> • Purposely and maliciously disseminating false allegations of fraud related to the 2020 presidential election in order to aid your effort to overturn the election and for purposes of soliciting contributions;</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> • Attempting to corrupt the Department of Justice, including by soliciting and enlisting Department officials to make false statements and aid your effort to overturn the presidential election;</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> • Without any evidentiary basis, illegally pressuring state officials and legislators to change the results of the election in their states:</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> • Orchestrating and overseeing an effort to obtain and transmit false electoral certificates to Congress and the National Archives;</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> • Despite knowing specifically that it was illegal, corruptly pressuring your own Vice President to unilaterally refuse to count electoral votes during Congress's joint session on January 6th; . . </span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After summing up with a reference to “your central role in the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power,” the letter ends with what must be taken as another courtesy, as it certainly was not a realistic hope: “The Select Committee looks forward to your cooperation with this subpoena.” <br /><br />The subpoena calls for Trump’s appearance on November 14, and demands production by November 4 of a wide range of documents pertaining to the election, the events of January 6, contacts with Committee witnesses and “fundraising efforts based on claims of election fraud or a stolen election.” <br /><br />Leaving the oddity of the letter aside, issuing a subpoena to Trump seems to me to have been a questionable move. It is unlikely that he will appear or produce documents, and already he has taken the opportunity, in a letter to Chairman Thompson, to denounce the Committee and play the martyr. Here is the muddled opening of his letter: <br /> THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN! <br /></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The same group of Radical Left Democrats who utilized their Majority position in Congress to create the fiction of Russia, Russia, Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, the $48 Million Mueller Report (which ended in No Collusion!), Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, the atrocious and illegal Spying on my Campaign, and so much more, are the people who created this Committee of highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs whose sole function is to destroy the lives of many hard-working American Patriots, whose records in life have been unblemished until this point of attempted ruination. . . . [54]</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">If Trump were to appear, he would make the same sort of speech; giving him a platform might undermine what the Committee has accomplished. On the other hand, Trump might make boasts that amount to confessions; he isn’t know for subtlety or caution. On balance, though, I think that the Committee should not have issued the subpoena. The case against Trump is clear enough.</span><br /></p><p>_______________________<br />53. https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/21/politics/read-january-6-committee-subpoena-trump<br />54. https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23132276/830-am-final-january-6th-committee-letter14446.pdf</p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-80826609113950859242022-10-21T14:38:00.002-07:002022-10-21T14:38:58.046-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>October 21, 2022</b><br /><u>The new nationalism</u><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Nationalism” has a bad name today, thanks in part to various forms of misuse on the American right, including “white nationalism.” It needn’t be so and, at times, the term has had a positive connotation.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">An example is the New Nationalism proclaimed by Theodore Roosevelt in a speech in 1910. His program has been described as follows: “[A]n espousal of active federal intervention to promote social justice and the economic welfare of the underprivileged. . . . His program called for a great increase of federal power to regulate interstate industry and a sweeping program of social reform designed to put human rights above property rights.”<span style="font-size: x-small;">[48]</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Nationalism is not merely a set of policies, but an attitude toward one’s country and its people. An illustration was set out in a recent column by David Brooks, referring to Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion: “They are winning because they are fighting for a principle which has two parts: The first is liberalism, which promotes democracy, individual dignity, a rule-based international order. The second idea is nationalism. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a nationalist. He is fighting not just for democracy but also for Ukraine — Ukrainian culture, Ukrainian land, the Ukrainian people and tongue.”<span style="font-size: x-small;">[49]</span> <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Combining liberalism and nationalism seems illogical today; we think of them as political opposites. That view is not entirely without foundation but, as Brooks points out, there are two kinds of nationalism: “the illiberal nationalism of Vladimir Putin and former President Donald Trump,” and the liberal nationalism of Zelenskyy. “The latter nationalism is forward-looking, inclusive and builds a society around the rule of law . . . .” <br /> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The alleged nationalism of the contemporary American right is, rather, a form of tribalism. It does not include us all, but is divisive, resentful and frequently involves racial, religious or ethnic bias. It has two forms. The first is essentially insurrectionist, aiming to seize or retain power by deceit, falsehood or force. The events surrounding January 6, 2021 illustrate this form. <br /> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The second is separatist, either by preference or as a fall-back if controlling the country proves impossible. This form is, in no small part, the old South in modern dress: exclusive, defiant, rebellious, ready to separate and set up a rival regime. Several states have taken a step in that direction by toying with nullification of federal laws. The League of the South combines faux nationalism with tribalism: it is a “Southern nationalist organization . . . whose ultimate goal is ‘a free and independent Southern republic’.“<span style="font-size: x-small;">[50]</span> Some Republican politicians have talked of secession.<span style="font-size: x-small;">[51]</span> It is not a coincidence that January 6 rioters carried Confederate flags; at times we seem to be reliving the mid-nineteenth century. <br /> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> However, it is not only those on the right who have given up on America. Polls show that Democrats and independents also toy with the idea of seceding. Rather than reforming the nation, too many people are ready to destroy it. <br /> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Liberals should not reject the concept of nationalism. In their better moments, they revere the Constitution, but often fail to remember that it created not merely a set of individual rights, but a society, a more perfect union. We must somehow recapture that view and save that union. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">______________</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">48</span>. https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Nationalism</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">49</span>. https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/the-triumph-of-the-ukrainian-idea/</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">50</span>. https://leagueofthesouth.com/</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: small;">51</span>. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/wyoming-gop-chairman-secession-cheney-votes-impeach-trump </span><br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-35942187987206022042022-10-01T13:42:00.000-07:002022-10-01T13:42:52.837-07:00<p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">September 30, 2022</span></b><br /><u><span style="font-size: medium;">Another challenge for the left</span></u><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Two or three sermons I have heard recently have emphasized stewardship. It is an element of religious belief which is important in many ways, notably in the current climate as a way of directing attention outward, toward helping others, rather than inward, focusing on grievance. Unfortunately, too much of what currently passes for Christianity in the public arena follows the latter path. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> I’ve noted my puzzlement at the willingness of so many people to follow Trump. The tendency of many Christians to do so seems even odder, but the explanation may be the same as for others: a rebellion against a culture that no longer reflects their values and beliefs. As Michael Gerson puts it:, “From one perspective, the Christian embrace of populist politics is understandable. The disorienting flux of American ethical norms and the condescension of progressive elites have incited a defensive reaction among many conservative religious people — a belief that they are outsiders in their own land. . . .They fear their values are under assault by an inexorable modernity, in the form of government, big business, media and academia.”[46] As I noted on September 23, I think that criticisms of liberal culture are to some degree valid, but have been exaggerated and manipulated by politicians on the right, in this case with aid from some religious leaders.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Another possible explanation for the support of Trump by some evangelicals is simply that they are political conservatives first, Christians second or, as John Danforth put it, “We have a strong inclination to let our politics determine our faith rather than the other way around.”[47] </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> In any case, following Trump has a price: Gerson refers to “the perverse and dangerous liberties many believers have taken with their own faith. Much of what considers itself Christian America has assumed the symbols and identity of white authoritarian populism — an alliance that is a serious, unfolding threat to liberal democracy.” </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> It might be tempting for those on the left simply to dismiss or denounce religious belief because of its politicization, but that would be a mistake. As with working families, Democrats need to reconnect to those of faith, and do so with a message of stewardship toward each other, toward future generations and toward the planet. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">__________________</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">46. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/michael-gerson-evangelical-christian-maga- democracy/?utm_campaign=wp_opinions_pm&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_popns&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F37ce5a1%2F63110860ab732227d003cec6%2F5b65de00ade4e2779564ed94%2F9%2F66%2F63110860ab732227d003cec6&wp_cu=2a4d9a84cac09584de627c38a40f6710%7C7782ec94-65f6-11e0-bbea-12313d08a5d6 <br /></span></p>47 <i>Faith and Politics</i> (2006), p. 213<br />Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-24875103773768758192022-09-23T16:30:00.000-07:002022-09-23T16:30:05.616-07:00<p><b>September 23, 2022</b><br /><u>The road to Trumpism, and away</u> <br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-size: medium;"> How did we get to the point where millions back someone as unworthy as Donald Trump? It has seemed a mystery to me, but perhaps it’s not, given the nature of political movements and the history of national politics since the mid-twentieth century.<br /> There are three levels in the structure of the modern American political right (and, I suppose, of any movement): leaders (including elected officials), molders of opinion (now, often mass-media agitators), and followers. Complicating the picture, there are factions within the right, with their own three-part structure, and those factions collectively act as agitators. Given a sufficient level of grievance, many of the followers — the voters — will accept and support, even if they do not fully believe, almost anything that seems to lead toward improving their lives, or which at least attacks those alleged to be at fault. Popular complaints have carried an anti-elite attitude, although it’s not clear to me how much of that is natural to those complaining and how much has been injected by those stirring the resentment. The same question arises about anti-government attitudes. <br /> Recent books[41] have shed light the first two levels. Trump was not the first right-wing demagogue, nor was his message entirely novel. Precursors to Trump include George Wallace, who played on cultural grievance. The Tea Party, while it emphasized economic issues, apparently fostered a general willingness to believe that politics was rigged against ordinary Americans. Voters certainly did not turn to the GOP because of its economic policy. However, once persuaded to vote Republican, they seem able to ignore policies that favor the rich, even though the latter are among the elites supposedly denounced. <br /> Trump’s followers believe, or are willing to be persuaded, that the fault lies with liberals. One theory is that working people turned against liberals and Democrats years ago because of disgust at the counterculture, including protests against the Vietnam war (bringing out the famous hardhats) and campus demonstrations, and because anti-discrimination policies, including affirmative action, were perceived as biased against whites. Immigration has added to concerns about status among whites. His legions see an American culture in decline, standards eroded or denounced. While the complaints against liberals, and by extension against Democrats, are exaggerated and at times silly, there is no doubt that attitudes held and actions by liberals pushed many to the right. <br /> Conservatives long have claimed to be the party of true Americans and have alleged that liberal ideas are subversive. That tendency was at its height in the McCarthy era, but even today, some on the right will accuse liberals of being communists. Leaving aside such excesses, claims that only conservatives are true Americans has an effect. Conservative parties always have an advantage in appealing to national identity. <br /> There is abundant irony in the claims from the right; it now is pushing a subversive agenda — overturning elections and sowing division — and is waging a culture war. Democrats could point out that the support among Republicans for the January 6 insurrection and for an ex-President who encouraged that uprising and attempted to cling to power after defeat, is truly un-American and violates the rule of law, turning the usual conservative argument against them. <br /> Democrats should point out to Trump’s followers that they are being used, that the politics of the right is a scam, a means of electing Republicans who will serve other interests. As Hacker and Pierson put it,[42] it is plutocratic populism, far from a movement helping ordinary folk. <br /> Democrats must reconnect with ordinary Americans, and must do so before those voters become even more convinced that the deck is stacked against them. “A movement turns to violence when all hope is lost,”[43] and violence already is being practiced or suggested by many on the right. <br /> Although Trump’s followers have not focused on economics, Democrats should remind them that Republicans are funded by, and will serve the interest of, the rich, while Democrats will adopt policies that will help them, such as the Affordable Care Act (which Republicans have tried to repeal), an increase in the minimum wage and encouraging American manufacturing. The last is critical, to erase the image of a Party interested only in the professional class. Democrats also must support labor unions and find ways to facilitate unionization.[44]<br /> Hillary Clinton’s reference to “a basket of deplorables” has been cited as an example of the supercilious attitude of liberals. Actually, her full comment may reveal some of that, but it also describes the positive attitude Democrats need.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. . . . The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it. . . . Now some of those folks, they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America.</span><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> . . . But that other basket of people who are people who feel that government has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they are just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.[45]</span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> The next two elections are of critical importance. As a campaign ad by Senator Patty Murray puts it: “Democracy is on the ballot.”<br /></span></p><p>________________________<br />41. Continetti, The Right (2022), which provides an interesting history of developments in conservative politics over many years; Peters, Insurgency (2022); Karl. Betrayal (2021).<br />42. See their book Let Them Eat Tweets (2020).<br />43. Walter, How Civil Wars Start (2022) p. 155<br />44. A discussion of that issue is here:<br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/01/labor-day-democrats-unions-shared-history/?utm_campaign=wp_opinions_pm&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_popns&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F37ce5ab%2F63110860ab732227d003cec6%2F5b65de00ade4e2779564ed94%2F38%2F66%2F63110860ab732227d003cec6&wp_cu=2a4d9a84cac09584de627c38a40f6710%7C7782ec94-65f6-11e0-bbea-12313d08a5d6<br />45. https://www.npr.org/2016/09/10/493427601/hillary-clintons-basket-of-deplorables-in-full-context-of- this- ugly-campaign<br /><br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-60989771617586103202022-08-15T11:41:00.074-07:002022-09-23T15:35:05.887-07:00
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia;">August 15, 2022</span></b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia;">January 6 hearings: some parallels, some contrasts</span></u></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here
are my thoughts about the first eight<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>hearings by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I. As
the hearings on the events of January 6, 2021 proceeded, dealing with efforts
by Trump to overturn the 2020 election, it was difficult not to think of
Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal, which involved another Republican
President running for re-election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
evidence emerged, Republicans reluctantly turned against Nixon. By contrast,
Trump’s support among voters and in Congress has remained bafflingly strong. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Liz
Cheney has been a notable exception to the pattern of loyalty to Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her opening remarks at the first broadcast
hearing of the Select Committee, Representative Cheney left no doubt as to
responsibility for the riot at the Capitol: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Those who invaded our capital and battled law
enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them,
that the election was stolen and that he was the rightful President. President
Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. .
. .</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">. . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
the morning of January 6th, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain
President of the United States despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election
and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power. . . . </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Later, she gave this warning: “Tonight I say this
to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come
a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">There
have been other exceptions to Republican support for Trump, including those who
voted to impeach or convict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
hearings identified others outside Congress; its case against Trump was made by
Republican witnesses.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
first hearing described the presentation to be made in later hearings and
anticipated a few points, one of which was that Trump had been told that his
claims were baseless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee
played a tape of an interview with former Attorney General William Barr: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I had three discussions with the president that I
can recall. One was on November 23rd, one was on December 1st, and one was on
December 14th. . . . I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying
the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president
was bullshit. . . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I observed, I
think it was on December 1st, that, you know, how can we — you can't live in a
world where — where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its
view, unsupported by specific evidence, that the election — that there was
fraud in the election.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Barr again: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations,
but they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing
a lot of people, members of the public, that there was this systemic corruption
in the system and that their votes didn't count and that these machines
controlled by somebody else were actually determining it, which was complete
nonsense. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I told them that it
was — that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that. And it
was doing a great, grave disservice to the country. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
hearing also anticipated coverage of the events of January 6 by noting Trump’s
tweet on December 19, part of which read: ”Big protest in D.C. on January 6th.
Be there, will be wild!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Committee played a tape of Steve Bannon saying, on January 5, “All hell is
going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this. All hell is going to break
loose tomorrow.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">As
these examples show, the evidence relevant to the events of January 6 was not
presented in an entirely systematic fashion, resulting in some repetition and
some matters presented out of chronological sequence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The case against Trump was no less convincing for that. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">II. At
the second hearing, the Committee, in the words of Rep. Zoe Lofgren, examined
“the false narrative that the 2020 election was ‘stolen.’ "<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump's “plan to overturn the election
relied on a sustained effort to deceive millions of Americans with knowingly
false claims of election fraud.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump
claimed fraud before votes were counted; Barr: “Right out of the box on
election night, the President claimed that there was major fraud underway. I
mean, this happened as far as I could tell before there was actually any
potential of looking at evidence.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Committee pointed out that Trump referred to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>fraud well before the election, including at a speech in Wisconsin on
August 17, where he alleged: “The only way we're going to lose this election is
if the election is rigged.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An article
on Politico quotes his claims of fraud from July 30 through September 24, 2020,
a comment on July 19 of that year that he might not accept the results of the
election, and a refusal on September 23 to “commit here today for a peaceful
transferral of power after the November election.”<b>[27]</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump babbled about fraud at the first 2020 presidential
debate on September 29.<b>[28]</b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
pattern goes back still further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
2016, his campaign website pleaded: “Help me Stop Crooked Hillary From Rigging
This Election!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an interview, he
declared: “that election is going to be rigged.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the last 2016 debate, he refused to say whether he would
accept the result if he lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Already
during that campaign, he had convinced many that elections were not to be
trusted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“A Politico/Morning consult
poll<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>carried out in mid-October [2016]
found that . . . 73 percent of Republicans believed that the election could be
stolen from Trump.”<b>[29]</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The electoral college saved him from defeat but, embarrassed by his loss
in the popular vote, he trotted out allegations of fraudulent voting to explain
that result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">III.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the opening of the third hearing, Ms.
Cheney summarized its theme: “Today we're focusing on President Trump's
relentless effort to pressure Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on
January 6<sup>th</sup>”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
hearing drew a sharp contrast between the behavior of Trump and that of his
Vice President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump tried to persuade
Pence that he had the right and duty to interfere with the counting of the
electoral votes, but the hearing made clear that the arguments offered to
support interference by the Vice President were false.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The principal theorist and supporter of
Trump’s ploy, John Eastman, acknowledged to Greg Jacob, counsel to Pence, that,
if his argument were presented to the Supreme Court, it would be rejected
unanimously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Jacob was asked
whether Eastman ever said that he would want other vice presidents to have the
power to decide the outcome of the election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jacob reported his question and Eastman’s baffling response: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I mean, John, back in 2000, you weren't jumping up
and saying Al Gore had this authority to do that. You would not want Kamala
Harris to be able to exercise that kind of authority in 2024 when I hope
Republicans will win the election. And I know you hope that too, John.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he said, absolutely. Al Gore did not
have a basis to do it in 2000, Kamala Harris shouldn't be able to do it in 2024,
but I think you should do it today.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
Vice President refused to play along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
video clip was shown in which he said, in part, “President Trump is wrong. I
had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American
people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more
un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American
President.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump
continued until the last moment to claim that Pence could and should reject the
certified votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During his speech at
the Ellipse on January 6 he said this: “All Vice President Pence has to do is
send it back to the states to recertify and we become president.”<b>[30]</b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">When
Pence did not do so<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump, of course,
turned on him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee transcript<b>[31]</b>
refers to but does not include the exact text of this tweet by Trump at 2:24 PM
on January 6, minutes after rioters had entered the Capitol: “Mike Pence didn’t
have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and
our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts,
not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously
certify. USA demands the truth!”<b>[32]</b> </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">IV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the opening of the fourth hearing Rep.
Cheney described the effort to reverse results in several states: “Today we
will begin examining President Trump's effort to overturn the election by
exerting pressure on state officials and state legislatures. Donald Trump had a
direct and personal role in this effort, as did Rudy Giuliani, as did John
Eastman. In other words, the same people who were attempting to pressure Vice
President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes illegally were also
simultaneously working to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election at the state
level.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
hearing illustrated another exception to the continuing Republican support for
Trump: the principled action of elected officials. Two of them, Russell Bowers,
Speaker of the Arizona House<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of
Representatives, and Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia,
described their refusals to go along with Trump’s attempts to alter state
electoral results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Rep.
Adam Schiff read a statement by Trump which, referring to a conversation in
November 2020<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bowers, claimed: "During the
conversation he told me the election was rigged and that I won
Arizona."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bowers denied saying
that and confirmed that Biden won his state.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Giuliani
proposed to Bowers that somehow Arizona “remove the — the electors of President
Biden and replace them” with Trump electors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He proposed that Bowers assemble “an official committee” for that
purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bowers declined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his attempts to pressure Bowers,
Giuliani appealed to him as a fellow Republican; as Bowers put it, Giuliani
“would say, aren't we all Republicans here? I — I would think we would get a better
reception. I mean, I would think you would listen a little more open to my
suggestions, that we're all Republicans.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Eastman
also contacted Bowers, proposing that “we would in fact vote — to take a vote
to overthrow or — I shouldn't say overthrow, that we would decertify the
electors . . . .”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bowers refused.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
comment by Giuliani sums up the phoniness of the Trump scheme; Bowers recalls
that Giuliani said “we've got lots of theories. We just don't have the
evidence.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a
phone call to Raffensperger, Trump made various false claims about fraud in
Georgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Raffensperger stood by
the election count, Trump resorted to threats, as shown by this video played at
the hearing:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I think you're going to find that they are
shredding ballots because they have to get rid of the ballots because the
ballots are unsigned, the ballots are — are corrupt and they're brand new and
they don't have seals and there's a whole thing with the ballots, but the
ballots are corrupt and you're going to find that they are — which is totally
illegal.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>It's — it's more illegal for you than it is for
them. Because you know what they did and you're not reporting it. That's a —
you know, that's a criminal — that's a criminal offense. And you know, you can't
let that happen. That's — that's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.
And that's a big risk. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Ultimately
Trump’s attempt to alter the outcome came down to this plea: “So, look, all I
want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes. . . . “ Again: “ So — so
what are we going to do here? Because I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need
11,000 votes. Give me a break.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
“find” enough votes to reverse the outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Secretary Raffensperger told the Committee: “There were no votes to
find. That was an accurate count that had been certified.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
Trump quotes above were taken from an hour-long call he made to Raffensperger
on January 2, 2021, to which Ryan Germany, General Counsel to the Secretary of
State, among others, was a party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump
went on and on about imaginary fraud and made nonsensical claims, such as
these:“As you know, every single state, we won every state. We won every
statehouse in the country.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“And we won
the House. . . .”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There’s no way I
lost Georgia. There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”<b>[33]</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
testimony by Bowers and Raffensperger was made more powerful and their stand
more praiseworthy by their general support for Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They acknowledged that they wanted President Trump to win the
2020 election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bowers went further. The
day before the hearing, he said this about 2024: “If he [Trump] is the nominee,
if he was up against Biden, I’d vote for him again.”<b>[34]</b> </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">According
to the Committee, Trump ”posted messages on Facebook, listing the contact
information for state officials and urging his supporters to contact them to
‘Demand a vote on decertification.’ " Whether or not the result of those
messages, the principled stand by these officials earned them threats and
accusations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a description by
Speaker Bowers: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">[W]e received, my secretaries would say, in excess
of 20,000 emails and tens of thousands of voicemails and texts which saturated
our offices. . . . [A]t home, up till even recently, it is the new pattern or a
pattern in our lives to worry what will happen on Saturdays because we have
various groups come by and they have had video panel trucks with videos of me
proclaiming me to be a pedophile and a pervert and a corrupt politician and
blaring loudspeakers in my neighborhood and leaving literature both on my
property, and — but arguing and threatening with neighbors and with myself.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="line-height: 130%; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -16.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">This was Secretary Raffensperger’s experience: </span></p><p style="line-height: 130%; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -16.35pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span> </span> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Well, after the — after the election, my email, my cell phone was
docked [<i>sic</i>, doxxed]. And so I was getting texts all over the country.
And then eventually my wife started getting the text and hers typically came in
a sexualized attacks which were disgusting. . . . And so they started going
after her I think just to probably put pressure on me. . . . And then some
people broke into my daughter in law's home and my son has passed and she's
widow and has two kids. And so we're very concerned about her safety also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">In
testimony before the Committee, Gabriel Sterling, Chief Operating Officer in
the Georgia Secretary of State's office, related this incident: a contractor
for Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines to Georgia,
received threats; a video had been posted which ”had his name, [said] you committed
treason, may God have mercy on your soul,” and had an image of a slowly
twisting noose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The committee showed a
video of Mr. Sterling, in a December 1 press conference, addressing some of his
remarks directly to Trump: “Mr. President, . . . you have the rights to go to
the courts. What you don't have the ability to do, and you need to step up and
say this, is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.
Someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get
killed, and it's not right. . . .” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Another
Republican official, Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler, received daily
voice mails from Trump's lawyers in the last week of November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mr. Speaker, this is Rudy Giuliani and
Jenna Ellis. We're calling you together because we'd like to discuss obviously
the election. . . . Hey, Bryan. It's Rudy. I really have something important to
call to your attention that I think really changes things.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee noted that “Cutler felt that
the outreach was inappropriate and asked his lawyers to tell Rudy Giuliani to
stop calling.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, he persisted:
“I understand that you don't want to talk to me now. I just want to bring some
facts to your attention and talk to you as a fellow Republican.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Eventually, there were protests; Trump ally
Steve Bannon announced this plan: “We're getting on the road and we're going
down to Cutler. We're going to start going to offices. And if we have to we're
going to go to homes and we're going to let them know what we think about
them.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Cutler
testified: “There were multiple protests. I actually don't remember the exact
number. There was at least three, I think, outside of either my district office
or my home. . . . All of my personal information was doxxed online. It was my
personal email, my personal cell phone, my home phone number. In fact, we had
to disconnect our home phone for about three days because it would ring all
hours of the night and would fill up with messages.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
threats were directed not only to high-level officials; ordinary election
workers were subjected to unconscionable pressure and calumny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two election workers, mother and daughter,
testified and clips were shown of the abuse they received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s Rudy Giuliani claiming that a video
showed that they engaged in fraudulent activity: “Tape . . . of Ruby Freeman
and Shaye Freeman Moss and one other gentleman quite obviously surreptitiously
passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine. I mean,
it's our — it's obvious to anyone who's a criminal investigator or prosecutor
they are engaged in surreptitious illegal activity again that day, and that's a
week ago, and they're still walking around Georgia lying.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Presumably
Rudy meant they were passing around thumb drives, no doubt concluding, in the
inane manner of all of the election-fraud nonsense, that they were somehow
introducing false information into election machines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(In fact, one was handing the other a ginger mint).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rudy ranted on: “They should have been —
they should have been — should have been questioned already. Their places of
work, their homes, should have been searched for evidence of ballots, for Ellis
— evidence of USB ports, for evidence of voter fraud.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
Donald piled on during his call with Secretary Raffensperger, making as little
sense as usual: ”We had at least 18,000. That's on tape. We had them counted
very painstakingly, 18,000 voters having to do with the Ruby Freeman. That's —
she's a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Shaye
Moss referred to “a lot of threats wishing death upon me, telling me that, you
know, I'm — I'll be in jail with my mother . . . .”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She received a call from her grandmother “saying that there are
people at her home and they, you know, they knocked on the door and of course
she opened it seeing who was there, who it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they just started pushing their way through, claiming that
they were coming in to make a citizen's arrest. They needed to find me and my
mom. They knew we were there. . . . “</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Ms.
Moss summarized the effect of the attacks: “This turned my life upside down. I
no longer give out my business card. . . . I — I don't want anyone knowing my
name. I don't want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name
out over the grocery aisle or something. I don't go to the grocery store at
all. I haven't been anywhere at all.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Similarly,
Ruby Freeman testified: “Now I won't even introduce myself by my name anymore.
I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who says my
name. I'm worried about who's listening. I get nervous when I have to give my
name for food orders. I'm always concerned of who's around me. I've lost my
name, and I've lost my reputation.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">It was
so bad for her that, “[a]round the week of January 6th, the FBI informed me
that I needed to leave my home for safety.. . . . I — I stayed away from my
home for approximately two months. It was horrible. I felt homeless. . . . I
can't believe this person has caused this much damage to me and my
family.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She summed up the experience
powerfully: “Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United
States to target you? The President of the United States is supposed to represent
every American, not to target one. But he targeted me, . . . a small business
owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who [stood] up to help Fulton County
run an election in the middle of the pandemic.”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Representative
Cheney summed up the threat to the country: “We cannot let America become a
nation of conspiracy theories and thug violence.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">V.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>
The presentation at the fifth hearing was primarily by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the
only Republican on the Committee apart from Rep. Cheney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was no more reluctant than she to point
out failings by members of his Party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He quoted several of them supporting the stolen-election claim, with
this comment:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Republican Congressman
amplified the stolen election message to the American public.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">At<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this hearing, we learned of a plan by Trump
to replace the honest leader of the Justice Department with someone he thought
would support his claims of fraud, providing an echo of Watergate, of the
Saturday Night Massacre in which the Special Counsel was fired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump
wanted to appoint Jeffrey Clark, a Department of Justice lawyer with no
relevant experience, to replace the Acting Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen, who
had been appointed on the resignation of Attorney General Barr. That plan was
prompted by Trump’s desire to send a letter to the leadership of the Georgia
state legislature, with variations for other swing states.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As summarized by Rep. Cheney, the letter,
drafted by Clark, claimed that the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Department of Justice's investigations "identified significant
concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states,
including the state of Georgia. . . . In light of these developments, the
department recommends that the Georgia General Assembly should convene in
special session," and consider approving a new slate of electors.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Mr.
Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, had informed Trump that no fraud had
been found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is Mr. Donoghue’s
summary: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">As we got later in the month of December, the
President's entreaties became more urgent. He became more adamant that we
weren't doing our job. . . . And he had this arsenal of allegations that he
wanted to — to rely on. And so I felt in that conversation that it was
incumbent on — on me to make it very clear to the President what our
investigations had revealed, and that we had concluded based on actual
investigations, actual witness interviews, actual reviews of documents that
these allegations simply had no merit.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Accordingly, Mr. Rosen and Mr. Donoghue refused to
issue the letter, leading to Trump’s plan to appoint Clark.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Notes
taken by Mr. Donoghue recorded that Mr. Rosen said to Trump, "DOJ can't
and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donoghue described Trump’s reply: “He
responded very quickly and said essentially that's not what I'm asking you to
do. What I'm just asking you to do is to say it was corrupt and leave the rest
to me and the Republican Congressmen.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">On
December 31, Trump proposed seizing voting machines from state
governments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rosen: “we had seen
nothing improper with regard to the voting machines. And I told him that the —
the real experts that had been at DHS and they had briefed us, that they had
looked at it and that there was nothing wrong with the — the voting
machines.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donoghue: “Toward the end of
the meeting the President again was getting very agitated and he said people
tell me I should just get rid of both of you. I should just remove you and make
a change in the leadership. Put Jeff Clark in, maybe something will finally get
done.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
issue came to a head in a meeting on January 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>White House counsel Pat Cipollone was present, along with Rosen
and Donoghue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump complained that
DOJ wasn’t doing what he wanted; “You don't even agree with the — the claims of
election fraud, and this other guy [Clark] at least might do something.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Donoghue put it, “the conversation at
this point was really about whether the president should remove Jeff Rosen and
replace him with Jeff Clark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And
everyone in the room I think understood that that meant that letter would go out.
So, that was the focus.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">They
warned Trump that appointing Clark would result in mass resignations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donoghue added, perhaps sensing Trump’s
vulnerable spot, “Mr. President, within 24, 48, 72 hours, you could have
hundreds and hundreds of resignations of the leadership of your entire Justice
Department because of your actions. What's that going to say about you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Donoghue testified: “And I think at that
point Pat Cipollone said, yeah, this is a murder suicide pact, this
letter.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump relented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clark was not appointed.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Rep.
Kinzinger commented: “So, in today's hearing, we've showcased the efforts of
the Americans before us to stand up for democracy. Mr. Rosen, Mr. Donoghue
stayed steadfastly committed to the oath they take as officials in the Department
of Justice. . . . My colleagues and I . . . also take an oath. Some of them
failed to uphold theirs, and instead chose to spread the big lie. Days after
the tragic events of January 6th, some of these same Republican members
requested pardons in the waning days of the Trump administration.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">In a
closing comment, Rep. Kinzinger captured Trump’s character: “[W]e're here today
because the facts were irrelevant to President Trump. It was about protecting
his very real power and very fragile ego, even if it required recklessly
undermining our in — our entire electoral system by wildly casting baseless
doubt upon it. In short, he was willing to sacrifice our republic to prolong
his presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can imagine no more
dishonorable act by a president.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">In her
closing, Rep. Cheney appealed to Trump’s followers: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">[L]et me also today make a broader statement to
millions of Americans who put their trust in Donald Trump. In these hearings so
far, you've heard from more than a dozen Republicans who've told you what
actually happened in the weeks before January 6th. You will hear from more in
the hearings to come. Several of them served Donald Trump in his
Administration, others in his campaign. Others have been conservative
Republicans for their entire careers. It can be difficult to accept that
President Trump abused your trust, that he deceived you. Many will invent
excuses to ignore that fact. But that is a fact. I wish it weren't true, but it
is.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">VI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sole witness at the sixth hearing was
Cassidy Hutchinson, principal aide to the White House Chief of Staff, Mark
Meadows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She revealed what was
happening in the White House on and before January 6. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">On
January 2, Rudy Giuliani met with Meadows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Ms. Hutchinson walked with Giuliani as he left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said: “Cass, are you excited for the
6th? It's going to be a great day. I remember looking at him saying, Rudy,
could you explain what's happening on the 6th? He had responded something to
the effect of, we're going to the Capitol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It's going to be great. The President's going to be there. He's going to
look powerful. He's — he's going to be with the members. He's going to be with
the Senators. Talk to the chief about it, talk to the chief about it. He knows
about it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">She
returned to Meadows’ office and reported Giuliani’s comments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meadows “said something to the effect of,
there's a lot going on, Cass, but I don't know. Things might get real, real bad
on January 6<sup>th</sup>.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">There
was talk of potential violence on January 6. Ms. Hutchinson:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I recall hearing the word Oath Keeper and
hearing the word Proud Boys closer to the planning of the January 6th rally
when Mr. Giuliani would be around.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>received a call from Robert
O'Brien, the National Security Advisor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“He had asked if he could speak with Mr. Meadows about potential violent
— words of violence that he was hearing that were potentially going to happen
on the Hill on January 6<sup>th</sup>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Describing a meeting between Meadows and Tony Ornato, Deputy Chief of
Staff, she said: “I just remember Mr. Ornato coming in and saying that we had
intel reports saying that there could potentially be violence on the 6<sup>th</sup>.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">On
January 6, Trump gave a speech at the Ellipse, south of the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those entering the Ellipse were screened for
weapons by magnetometers (“mags”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
weapons were detected, and some of the potential audience remained outside the
Ellipse, not wanting to surrender them. </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump
was angry that those with weapons were not admitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms. Hutchinson: “He was furious because he wanted the arena that
we had on the Ellipse to be maxed out at capacity for all attendees.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She recalled Trump saying: “I don't effing
care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. Take that effing mags
away. Let my people in.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">According
to Ms. Hutchinson, Trump was told that those outside “don't want to come in
right now. They — they have weapons that they don't want confiscated by the
Secret Service. And they're fine on the mall. They can see you on [from?] the
mall and they're — they want to march straight to the Capitol from the
mall.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">People at the White House were aware of
the situation at the Capitol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms.
Hutchinson: “It was becoming clear to us and to the Secret Service that Capitol
Police officers were getting overrun at the security barricades outside of the
Capitol building. And they were having short — they were short people to defend
the building against the rioters.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump’s
chief legal counsel was worried about Trump’s plan to go to the Capitol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ms. Hutchinson: “On January 3rd, Mr.
Cipollone had approached me knowing that Mark [Meadows] had raised the prospect
of going up to the Capitol on January 6th. Mr. Cipollone and I had a brief
private conversation where he said to me we need to make sure that this doesn't
happen. This would be a legally a terrible idea for us. We're — we have serious
legal concerns if we go up to the Capitol that day.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">She
reported a further conversation on the 6<sup>th</sup>: “Mr. Cipollone said
something to the effect of please make sure we don't go up to the Capitol,
Cassidy. Keep in touch with me. We're going to get charged with every crime
imaginable if we make that movement happen.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Asked what crimes Cipollone referred to. Ms. Hutchinson replied: “In the
days leading up to the 6th, we had conversations about potentially obstructing
justice or defrauding the electoral count. . . . And he was also worried that
it would look like we were inciting a riot or encouraging a riot to erupt on
the Capitol — at the Capitol.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Ms.
Hutchinson testified that, on the 6<sup>th</sup>, she was informed by Ornato
that Trump had attempted to go to the Capitol, not by accompanying marchers,
but by car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Tony proceeded to tell me
that when the president got in the beast [the presidential limo], he was under the
impression from Mr. Meadows that the . . . movement to the Capitol was still
possible and likely to happen . . . . So, once the president had gotten into
the vehicle with Bobby [Engel, a Secret Service agent], he thought that they
were going up to the Capitol. And when Bobby had relayed to him we're not, we
don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the West
Wing, the president had a very strong, a very angry response to that.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">As the
riot developed, Cipollone tried to persuade Meadows to tell Trump to intervene.
Ms. Hutchinson described his response: “I remember Pat saying something to the
effect of, Mark, we need to do something more. They're literally calling for
the vice president to be f'ing hung. And Mark had responded something to the
effect of, you heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think
they're doing anything wrong . . . . I understood ‘they're’ to be the rioters
in the Capitol that were chanting for the vice president to be hung.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">All of
this apparently happened in the general time frame of Trump’s tweet at 2:24
PM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The text of that tweet bears
repeating in full: “Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have
been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance
to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones
which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is Ms. Hutchinson’s reaction when she
saw that tweet: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">As a staffer that worked to always represent the
administration to the best of my ability and to showcase the good things that
he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated and disappointed,
and really it felt personal. I — I was really sad. As an American, I was
disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol
building get defaced over a lie, and it was something that was really hard in
that moment to digest, knowing what I've been hearing down the hall and the
conversations that were happening. Seeing that tweet come up and knowing what
was happening on the Hill, and it's something that I — it's still — I still
struggle to work through the emotions of that.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">She was a loyal aide, thought the administration
had done good things for the country, but knew that the election-fraud claim was a lie, and the tweet
disgusting and unpatriotic.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">VII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is Rep. Cheney’s summary of the seventh
hearing: “Today's hearing will take us from December 14th, 2020, when the
Electoral College met and certified the results of the 2020 presidential
election, up through the morning of January 6<sup>th</sup>. . . . We will also
see today how President Trump summoned a mob to Washington and how the
president's stolen election lies provoked that mob to attack the Capitol. . .
.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Rep.
Stephanie Murphy stated that “members of President Trump's Cabinet and his
White House staff . . . told President Trump that it was time to concede the
election to Mr. Biden.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She ran a tape
of Secretary of Labor Gene Scalia: “So I had to put a call into the President.
. . . We spoke, I believe, on the 14th [of December, 2020] in which I conveyed
to him that I thought that it was time for him to acknowledge that President
Biden had prevailed in the election.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Videos
were run of interviews of Pat Cipollone, the former White House counsel: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Q: “I want to start by asking if you agree, Mr.
Cipollone, with the conclusion of Matt Morgan and Bill Barr, of all of the
individuals who evaluated those claims that there is no evidence of election fraud
sufficient to undermine the outcome in any particular state?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">A:“Yes, I agree with that.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Q: “Did you in your mind form the belief that the
President should concede the election loss at a certain point after the
election[?] </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">A;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“]I]f
your question is did I believe he should concede the election at a point in
time? Yes, I did.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">He also
commented on one of the wilder ideas put forth by some of Trump’s allies, that
the Secretary of Defense seize voting machines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“To have the federal government seize voting machines? That's a
terrible idea for the country. That's not how we do things in the United
States. There's no legal authority to do that. . . .”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">That
proposal had been put forth in a contentious, six-hour meeting on December 18
attended by Trump supporters and White House counsel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outcome, as Rep. Jamie Raskin put it, was that “President
Trump turned away from both his outside advisers' most outlandish and
unworkable schemes and his White House counsel's advice to swallow hard and
accept the reality of his loss.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, Donald Trump issued a tweet that would galvanize his followers,
unleash a political firestorm, and change the course of our history as a
country.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The transcript contains part
of the text of the tweet, sent at 1:42 AM on the 19<sup>th</sup>, which in full
is as follows: “Peter Navarro releases 36-page report alleging election fraud
'more than sufficient' to swing victory to Trump https://t.co/D8KrMHnFdK . A
great report by Peter. Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election.
Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”<b>[35]</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
Committee played some reactions to Trump’s message:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Alex
Jones: “It's Saturday, December 19th. The year is 2020, and one of the most
historic events in American history has just taken place. President Trump, in
the early morning hours today, tweeted that he wants the American people to
march on Washington DC on January 6th, 2021. . . . H e is now calling on we the
People to take action and to show our numbers.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Matt
Bracken: “We're going to only be saved by millions of Americans moving to
Washington, occupying the entire area, if — if necessary storming right into
the Capitol. You know, they're — we know the rules of engagement. If you have
enough people, you can push down any kind of a fence or a wall.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Tim
Pool: “This could be Trump's last stand. And it's a time when he has
specifically called on his supporters to arrive in DC. That's something that
may actually be the big push Trump supporters need to say this is it. It's now
or never.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Rep.
Raskin described the situation: “While Trump supporters grew more aggressive
online, he continued to rile up his base on Twitter. He said there was
overwhelming evidence that the election was the biggest scam in our nation's
history. As you can see, the president continued to boost the event, tweeting
about it more than a dozen times in the lead up to January the 6<sup>th</sup>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is one of the tweets, from December 26,
2020: "The Justice Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020
Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation’s history,
despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never
give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th."<b>[36]</b> </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">According
to White House visitor logs obtained by the Committee, Republican members of
Congress visited Trump on December 21st.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rep. Murphy: “We've asked witnesses what happened during the December
21st meeting, and we've learned that part of the discussion centered on the
role of the vice president during the counting of the electoral votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These members of Congress were discussing
what would later be known as the Eastman theory,” about Vice President Pence’s
alleged right to refuse to certify electoral votes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Mr.
Cipollone was asked about the issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
responded: “My view was that a vice president had — didn't have the legal
authority to do anything except what he did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He added: “I thought that the vice president did not have the authority
to do what was being suggested under a proper reading of the law. I conveyed
that. . . . I think the vice president did the right thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he did the courageous thing. . . . I
think he did a great service to this country. And I think I suggested to
somebody that he should be get — given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for —
for his actions.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Returning
to the events leading up to January 6, Rep. Murphy said: “The committee has
learned from the White House phone logs that the president spoke to Steve
Bannon, his close adviser, at least twice on January 5<sup>th</sup>. . . .
Listen to what Mr. Bannon said that day after the first call he had with the
President: ‘All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It's all converging and
now we're on, as they say, the point of attack, right, the point of attack
tomorrow. I'll tell you this, it's not going to happen like you think it's
going to happen, Ok? It's going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all
I can say is strap in.’ ”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">There
was a preliminary rally in Washington on January 5 by Trump supporters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are some of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>statements they made:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Roger
Stone: “This is nothing less than an epic struggle for the future of this
country, between dark and light, between the Godly and the godless, between
good and evil. And we will win this fight or America would step off into a
thousand years of darkness.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Michael
Flynn: “The members — the members of Congress, the members of the House of
Representatives, the members of the — of the United States Senate, those of —
those of you who are feeling weak tonight, those of you that don't have the
moral fiber in your body, get some tonight because tomorrow we the people are
going to be here. And we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie. We
will not stand for a lie.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Ali
Alexander: “I want them to know that 1776 is always an option. These
degenerates in the deep state are going to give us what we want or we are going
to shut this country down.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Alex
Jones: “It's 1776, 1776, 1776, 1776.”</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Rep.
Murphy referred to a tweet by Trump at 5:05 PM on January 5, about that rally,
in which he said:: “Washington is being inundated with people who don't want to
see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our
Country has had enough, they won't take it anymore! We hear you (and love you)
from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” [<b>37</b>]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was more fuel on the fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trump’s January 6 speech at The Ellipse
contained these lines, further goading his followers: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">. . . And after this, we're going to walk down, and
I'll be there with you, . . .we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're
going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're
probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because you'll never take back our country
with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have
come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who
have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.<b>[38]</b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">He ended the speech with this: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I think one of our great achievements will be
election security. Because nobody until I came along had any idea how corrupt
our elections were. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we fight.
We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have
a country anymore. . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we're going
to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. . . . [W]e're going to try
and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any
of our help. We're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness
that they need to take back our country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">President
Trump's former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, recognized the impact of the
speech; this is what he said on January 6th in excerpts from text
messages:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“[T]his is about Trump
pushing for uncertainty in our country". . . . A<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sitting President asking for civil war." </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">VIII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Witnesses at the eighth hearing were Matthew
Pottinger, Deputy National Security Advisor to the President and Sarah
Matthews, Deputy Press Secretary and Special Assistant to the President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
hearing was designed in part to show that Trump not only failed for hours to
call off the rioters, but that he ignored advice and pleas to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee did a careless job of
establishing the latter, often noting only that his advisors, staff and family
wanted hin to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there
were enough references to conversations with Trump to make the point.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Reps.
Elaine Luria<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and Adam Kinzinger<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>led the discussion. According to Rep. Luria,
“A White House employee informed the President as soon as he returned to the
Oval about the riot at the Capitol. . . . At 1:25, President Trump went to the
private dining room off the Oval Office. From 1:25 until 4:00, the President
stayed in his dining room.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There he
watched Fox News coverage of the events at the Capitol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee showed this excerpt from the
broadcast, apparently at about 1:43 PM:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The President, as we all saw, fired this crowd up.
They've all — tens of thousands, maybe 100,000 or more have gone down to the
Capitol or elsewhere in the city and they're very upset. Now I jumped down as
soon as we heard the news that Bret gave you about Mike Pence. I started
talking to these people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said, what
do you think? One woman, an Air Force veteran from Missouri said she was quote,
disgusted to hear that news and that it was his duty to do something. And I
told her, I said there's nothing in the Constitution unilaterally that Vice
President Pence could do. She said, that doesn't matter. He should have fought
for Trump.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The low
point in Trump’s behavior on January 6 came in his tweet at 2:24 PM.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The temporal context is interesting; rioters
had broken into the Capitol at 2:13. The tweet was cited in earlier hearings,
but deserves restatement in full: “Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do
what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving
States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or
inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the
truth!” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">This
was Matthew Pottinger’s reaction to that tweet: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I — I read it and was quite disturbed by it. I — I
was disturbed and worried to see that the President was attacking Vice
President Pence for doing his constitutional duty. So the tweet looked to me
like the opposite of what — what we really needed at that moment, which was a
de-escalation. And that's why I had said earlier that it looked like fuel being
poured on the fire.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">So that was the moment that I decided that I was
going to resign, that that would be my last day at the White House. I — I
simply didn't want to be associated with — with the events that were unfolding
on the Capitol.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">According to Rep. Kinzinger, in the time
prior to 2:24, Trump’s ”staff repeatedly came into the room to see him and
plead that he make a strong public statement condemning the violence and
instructing the mob to leave the Capitol.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The transcript does not contain direct evidence of that but a tape of
Pat Cipollone’s cautious testimony indicates that he so told Trump after
learning of violence at the Capitol:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">UNKNOWN: [I]t sounds like you from the very outset
of violence at the Capitol, right around 2:00, were pushing for a strong
statement that people should leave the Capitol. Is that right?</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">PAT CIPOLLONE: I was, and others were as well.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">UNKNOWN: Pat, you said that you expressed your
opinion forcefully. Could you tell us exactly how you did that?</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">PAT CIPOLLONE: Yeah, I can't — I don't have, you
know, I have to — on the privilege issue, I can't talk about conversations with
the President, but I can generically say that I said, you know, people need to
be told, there needs to be a public announcement fast that they need to leave
the Capitol.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">The
transcript also includes a reference to a video which includes this comment by
Mark Meadows: “I've already talked to the president. I called him. I think we
need to make a statement, make sure that we can calm individuals down.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>video shows Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher making this statement:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mr. President, you have got to stop this.
You are the only person who can call this off. Call it off. The election is
over. Call it off.” </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump
did eventually issue two tweets calling for the mob to be peaceful: “Please
support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of
our Country. Stay peaceful!” (2:38 PM). “I am asking for everyone at the U.S.
Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law
& Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
(3:13 PM).<b>[39]</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump
eventually, at 4:17 PM, told the rioters to go home, but laced his request with
stolen-election nonsense, ensuring that the election result would not be
accepted by his followers:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I know your pain. I know you're hurt.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">We had an election that was stolen from us. It was
a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you
have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We
have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt.
It's a very tough period of time. There's never been a time like this where
such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me,
from you, from our country.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play
into the hands of these people. We have to have peace.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">So go home. We love you. You're very special.
You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad
and so evil.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I know how you feel. But go home and go home at
peace.<b>[40]</b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Sara Matthews had this reaction to Trump’s
statement: </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">I was struck by the fact that he chose to begin the
video by pushing the lie that there was a stolen election. And as the video
went on, I felt a small sense of relief because he finally told these people to
go home. But that was immediately followed up by him saying, we love you,
you're very special. And that was disturbing to me because he didn't
distinguish between those that peacefully attended his speech earlier that day
and those that we watched cause violence at the Capitol.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">Instead, he told the people who we had just watched
storm our nation's Capitol with the intent on overthrowing our democracy,
violently attack police officers, and chant heinous, things like, hang Mike
Pence, we love you, you're very special. And as a spokesperson for him, I knew
that I would be asked to defend that.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">And to me, his refusal to act and call off the mob
that day and his refusal to condemn the violence was indefensible. And so I
knew that I would be resigning that evening. . . .</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">In her
closing remarks, Rep. Cheney added to the evidence that claims of fraud were
not something that materialized after the election, but were part of the
strategy, She played a video of Steve Bannon speaking on October 31, 2020:</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 16.35pt; margin-right: 16.35pt; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 16.35pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: medium;">And what Trump's going to do is declare victory,
right? He's going to declare victory, but that doesn't mean he's a winner. He's
just gonna say he's a winner. The Democrats — more of our people vote early
that count. Theirs vote in mail. And so they're going to <span>have a natural
disadvantage and Trump's going to take advantage — that's our strategy. </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">He's gonna declare himself a winner. So when you wake up
Wednesday morning, it's going to be a firestorm. Also — also if Trump is — if
Trump is losing by 10 or 11:00 at night, it's going to be even crazier. Because
he's gonna sit right there and say they stole it. If Biden's winning, Trump is
going to do some crazy shit.<span> </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Rep.
Cheney also offered a theory as to why Trump’s followers have swallowed his
lies.<span> </span>The usual explanations look to
gullibility, fear of loss of status, partisanship, tribalism, separatism,
hostility to government, etc.<span> </span>Rep.
Cheney suggested that Trump “is preying on their patriotism. He is preying on their
sense of justice.<span> </span>And on January 6th,
Donald Trump turned their love of country into a weapon against our Capitol and
our Constitution.”<span> </span>He accomplished that
by creating “the false impression that America is threatened by a foreign force
controlling voting machines or that a wave of tens of millions of false ballots
were secretly injected into our election system or that ballot workers have
secret thumb drives and are stealing elections with them.”<span> </span>That’s an interesting theory, and it
probably is accurate in adding a factor to the mix, but other influences must
be at work to persuade people that Trump speaks for patriotism and
justice.<span> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">_________________________</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">27. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/24/trump-casts-doubt-2020-election-integrity-421280</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">28 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/24/trump-casts-doubt-2020-election-integrity-421280</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">29. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">Levitsky and Ziblatt,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i>How Democracies Die</i> (2018), p. 61</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">30. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-
trial</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 119%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">31. I have used the
transcripts furnished by NPR.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">32.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time: 19:24:22. That source uses a
twenty-four hour system — so 2:24 PM Eastern Time would be 14:24 — and uses
Universal Time Coordinated, which is 5 hours ahead of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ET. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">33. Transcript at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-
vote/ 2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">34. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/22/arizona-rusty-bowers-jan-6-trump-vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Continuing to support Trump in the
circumstances baffles me, and Bowers has had second thoughts, saying in late
July, “I’ll never vote for him.” <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rusty-bowers-donald-trump-"><span class="SYSHYPERTEXT">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rusty-bowers-donald-trump-</span></a>arizona-gop_n_
62e7a6fbe4b00fd8d8411100 </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">35. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-19-2020.
Time: 06:42:42. A <i>Washington Post</i> article
described Navarro’s “report” thus: “This might be the most embarrassing
document created by a White House staffer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/18/this-might-be-most-
embarrassing-document-created-by-white-house-staffer/</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">36. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-26-2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time: 13:14:54</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">37. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-5-2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time 22:05:56</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">38. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-
trial</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">39. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time: 19:38:58, 20:13:26.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">40.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/videotaped-remarks-during-the-insurrection-the-united-
states-capitol</span></p>
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><sup>1</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/24/trump-casts-doubt-2020-election-integrity-421280</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><sup>2</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/09/30/trump-unleashed-torrent-disinformation-about-
voter-fraud-debate/</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><sup>3</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Levitsky and Ziblatt,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>How Democracies Die</i> (2018), p. 61</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><sup>4</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn5" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn5;" title=""><sup>5</sup></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I have used the transcripts furnished by NPR.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn6" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn6;" title=""><sup>6</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time: 19:24:22. That source uses a
twenty-four hour system — so 2:24 PM Eastern Time would be 14:24 — and uses
Universal Time Coordinated, which is 5 hours ahead of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ET. </span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn7" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn7;" title=""><sup>7</sup></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Transcript at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/
2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn8" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn8;" title=""><sup>8</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/22/arizona-rusty-bowers-jan-6-trump-vote.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Continuing to support Trump in the
circumstances baffles me, and Bowers has had second thoughts, saying in late
July, “I’ll never vote for him.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rusty-bowers-donald-trump-arizona-
gop_n_62e7a6fbe4b00fd8d8411100 </span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn9" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn9;" title=""><sup>9</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-19-2020.
Time: 06:42:42.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">A <i>Washington Post</i> article described Navarro’s
“report” thus: “This might be the most embarrassing document created by a White
House staffer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/18/this-might-be-most-
embarrassing-document-created-by-white-house-staffer/</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn10" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn10;" title=""><sup>10</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-december-26-2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time: 13:14:54</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn11" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn11;" title=""><sup>11</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-5-2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time 22:05:56</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn12" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn12;" title=""><sup>12</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn13" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 130%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn13;" title=""><sup>13</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Time: 19:38:58, 20:13:26.</span></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn14" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%; margin-bottom: 12pt; tab-stops: 20.85pt 35.25pt 49.65pt 64.05pt 78.45pt 92.85pt 107.25pt 121.65pt 136.05pt 150.45pt 164.85pt 179.25pt 193.65pt 208.05pt 222.45pt 236.85pt 251.25pt 265.65pt 280.05pt 294.45pt 308.85pt 323.25pt 337.65pt 352.05pt 366.45pt 380.85pt 395.25pt 409.65pt 424.05pt 438.45pt 452.85pt 467.25pt 481.65pt 496.05pt 503.9pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn14;" title=""><sup>14</sup></a>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/videotaped-remarks-during-the-insurrection-the-united-
states-capitol</span></p>
</div>
</div>
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</xml><![endif]-->Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-65125125646392584372022-06-11T16:16:00.001-07:002022-06-11T16:16:59.840-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>June 11, 2022</b><br /><u>The wealthy rule</u><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Some time ago I referred to the label Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson have applied to Republican politics: “plutocratic populism.” That insight is the theme of their 2020 book, <i>Let them Eat Tweets</i>, the title reflecting the level of concern politicians on the right have for the real needs of their manipulated followers. Republicans’ concern is to protect and advance the interests of the wealthy. As that obviously is a minority view, they needed to mobilize a majority (or at least the version of a majority our system recognizes), and did so by appealing to and stoking fears and resentments of white voters. “In short, Republicans used white identity to defend wealth inequality. They undermined democracy to uphold plutocracy.”[27] <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Part of the program is common to right-wing politics elsewhere, but part is peculiar to American conservatism. “In other rich countries where right-wing populists are challenging for power, animus toward immigrants and minorities gets coupled with a fervent defense of social benefits for white citizens. Republicans . . . have the animus part down. The defense of social benefits not so much. On the contrary, what they have done on economic matters has been consistently, breathtakingly plutocratic.”[28] <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Wealth and income in this country have become increasingly concentrated at the top. Faux populism is the device the wealthy and their Republican servants use to divert attention to non-economic issues and forestall any attack on that concentration, protecting the wealthy from democratic challenge.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Pointing out the unfairness of extreme economic inequality doesn’t seem to have any effect on the right wing. Pointing out its undemocratic nature is equally ineffective despite the right’s populist pretense. The deficit, about which conservatives claim to be worried, would be reduced by taxing the wealthy, but again there is no response. To the contrary, taxes were cut in 2017, most of the reduction going to corporations and upper-income individuals.[29] Perhaps this report by the Economic Policy Institute will finally get some attention: <br /></span></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rising inequality has had serious economic and fiscal effects. Key among them: It has hurt economic growth. . . . Rising inequality constrains overall economic growth by reducing economywide spending: Spending falls as inequality redistributes income from lower-income households (that need to spend more of their income to meet living expenses) to higher-income families (that have the luxury to save money).[30] <br /></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not likely, though.</span><br /></p><p><br>_____________________<br /><br>27. Hacker and Pierson, <i>Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules In An Age of Extreme Inequality</i>, p. 4<br /><br>28. <i>Id</i>., at p. 5<br /><br>29. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/20/789540931/2-years-later-trump-tax-cuts-have-failed-to-deliver-on- gops-promises<br /><br>30. https://www.epi.org/publication/inequalitys-drag-on-aggregate-demand/?utm_source=Economic+ Policy+Institute&utm_campaign=902fedfd0f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_6_1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e7c5826c50-902fedfd0f-60271117&mc_cid=902fedfd0f&mc_eid=faa04e9f25<br /></p>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-58008218191661417122022-05-27T14:09:00.000-07:002022-05-27T14:09:23.737-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>May 26, 2022</b><br /><u>Money speaks</u><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not surprisingly, the draft opinion on abortion has been the focus of recent commentary about the Supreme Court. However, the opinions in a case recently decided also deserve attention. <br /><br />In <i>Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate</i>, the Court continued its assault on the regulation of political spending. The decision, apart from its own demerits, is the offspring of <i>Citizens United</i>, which not only endorsed the dubious money-equals-speech formula, but was so far removed from proper standards of adjudication that it should be repudiated, not extended.[1] The <i>Cruz</i> decision was by vote of six to three, the all-too-familiar conservative bloc making up the majority.<br /><br />The case involves a challenge to a statute, Section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, dealing with loans by candidates to their campaign committees. Here is the majority’s summary of the background: “In order to jumpstart a fledgling campaign or finish strong in a tight race, candidates for federal office often loan money to their campaign committees. A provision of federal law regulates the repayment of such loans. Among other things, it bars campaigns from using more than $250,000 of funds raised after election day to repay a candidate's personal loans.” The majority held that the statute violates the right of candidates and their campaigns to engage in political speech.<br /><br />Cruz and the Committee set up this challenge to the regulation by his lending $260,000 to the Committee and their complaining that he was barred from receiving the last $10,000. The early part of the opinion is devoted to a convoluted discussion of whether Cruz and the Committee had standing to sue, an issue raised in part by their intentional creation of the issue. They had stipulated in District Court that "the sole and exclusive motivation behind Senator Cruz's actions in making the 2018 loan[s] and the [C]ommittee's actions in waiting to repay them was to establish the factual basis for this challenge." The government contended, as the majority put it, “that appellees lack standing because their injuries were ‘self-inflicted.’ . . . Because appellees knowingly triggered the application of the loan-repayment limitation, the Government says, any resulting injury is in essence traceable to them, not the Government.” That argument was rejected.<br /><br />Limiting reimbursement from post-election donations to $250,000 hardly is an oppressive measure, but the majority declared any limit to be an interference with speech: “By restricting the sources of funds that campaigns may use to repay candidate loans, Section 304 increases the risk that such loans will not be repaid. That in turn inhibits candidates from loaning money to their campaigns in the first place, burdening core speech.” That burden, they held, is not justified. Their conclusion is encapsulated in two passages which echo <i>Citizens</i>: “This Court has recognized only one permissible ground for restricting political speech: the prevention of ‘quid pro quo’ corruption or its appearance.” However, “the Government has not shown that Section 304 furthers a permissible anticorruption goal, rather than the impermissible objective of simply limiting the amount of money in politics.” <br /> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Contrary to the majority’s argument, the statute is not designed to limit the amount of money in politics. It deals with repayment of candidates’ loans and, to use the majority’s formula, it “furthers a permissible anti-corruption goal.” The source of funds for repayment would be donors. Might they wish and assume that a successful candidate, now elected, would be grateful and would favor the donors’ causes? Is this not a form of corruption or could it not lead to corruption? <i>Citizens United</i>, offering no authority for its sweeping conclusion, decided not: “Ingratiation and access . . . are not corruption." It must be comforting to live in a world so free of evil. As the majority put it here, reports relied on by the Government "merely hypothesize that individuals who contribute after the election to help retire a candidate's debt might have greater influence with or access to the candidate. . . . That is not the type of <i>quid pro quo</i> corruption the Government may target consistent with the First Amendment.” <br /><br />Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the three dissenting liberals, offered a succinct explanation of why reimbursement from post-election contributions to a successful candidate raise the issue: <br /></span><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Political contributions that will line a candidate’s own pockets, given after his election to office, pose a special danger of corruption. The candidate has a more-than-usual interest in obtaining the money (to replenish his personal finances), and is now in a position to give something in return. The donors well understand his situation, and are eager to take advantage of it. In short, everyone’s incentives are stacked to enhance the risk of dirty dealing. At the very least — even if an illicit exchange does not occur — the public will predictably perceive corruption in post-election payments directly enriching an officeholder.</span><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br />Even if we accept the majority’s insistence upon <i>quid pro quo</i>, this case satisfies the majority’s test. As Justice Kagan put it, “The recipe for quid pro quo corruption is thus in place: a donation to enhance the candidate's own wealth (the <i>quid</i>), made when he has become able to use the power of public office to the donor's advantage (the <i>quo</i>).”<br /><br />The dissent, while pointing out flaws in the majority’s analysis, also nods to the money-is-speech formula by arguing that the regulation has only an indirect and minor effect on political speech. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The majority's argument . . . focuses not on the restriction Section 304 actually imposes, but on the indirect effects the provision might have. The majority does not dispute that Section 304 places no limits on the amount a candidate can spend for expression. . . . Nor does (or could) the majority even claim that the provision caps what a candidate can lend his campaign. Instead, the majority argues that the law "may deter" a candidate from making large loans because it curtails a potential source of repayment--i.e., post-election donations. . . . In that way, the majority insists, the law — though concededly regulating only the use of contributions — functions to "restrict[ ] a candidate's speech." . . . But every contribution regulation has some kind of indirect effect on electoral speech, and we have still understood them to impose only minimal burdens.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It would be better to abandon that fiction, under which, if we take the theory to its logical extreme, a bribe of a public official is political speech under the First Amendment which can be regulated only because of the magic power of the<i>quid pro quo</i> rule.<br /></span></div><div><br>_____________________<br /><br>1. My comments on <i>Citizens</i> are in a post of 2/6/10.<br /><br /></div>Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6318084159551123856.post-56575069248807916222022-05-07T14:50:00.000-07:002022-05-07T14:50:15.884-07:00<div><p>
</p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>May 6, 2022</b></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>A drift toward authoritarianism</u></span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> It’s well established that the decline of the Republican Party is not a recent development, but began many years ago. A book published in 2018[16] adds to our understanding of politics on the right by demonstrating that anti-democratic demagoguery is not new to this country. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> The authors focused on the dangers of authoritarianism. They listed “Four Key Indicators of Authoritarian Behavior,” which are </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Rejection of (or weak commitment to) democratic rules of the game</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Denial of the legitimacy of political opponents </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Toleration or encouragement of violence </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including media.[17] </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Later events, such as the assault on the Capitol, certainly have proved them right as to the dangers to responsible democratic government, and their list of factors describes politics on the right.</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> Referring to “America’s authoritarian tendency,”[18] the book discusses the influence of several divisive political figures from the 1930s through the 1960s: Father Coughlin, Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy and George Wallace, and notes that they had large, enthusiastic followings. It summarizes that history in two ways: “extremist figures have long dotted the landscape of American politics,”[19] and, as to their reception, “Americans have long had an authoritarian streak.”[29] The former seems clear enough, but I think that the latter may be an exaggeration. However, the point isn’t important; the tendency of large numbers of Americans to follow irresponsible leaders opens up the potential for an authoritarian takeover, and the attempts by Trump and a wide swath of Republicans to overturn the 2020 election certainly reveals authoritarian impulses; some even spoke of imposing martial law. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> What prevented an explosion of authoritarian influence in the past? According to the authors, the “real protection against would-be authoritarians has not been Americans’ firm commitment to democracy but, rather, the gatekeepers — our political parties.”[21] The advent and career of Donald Trump demonstrate the abandonment of the gatekeeping function by the Republican Party. “Democratic institutions depend crucially on the willingness of governing parties to defend them — even against their own leaders.”[22] That hardly is the pattern with the current GOP; Trump dislikes the Commission on Presidential Debates, so the Republican National Committee has severed ties with it.[23]</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> The authors refer to a pattern and practice of comity, respect and cooperation between Parties which existed in the past but has vanished. Mitch McConnell’s declaration, shortly after the election of President Biden — "One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration”[24] — is a mild example of the present attitude. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> What can be done? The authors suggest coalitions of citizens nominally in different camps but having some common goals, willing to set aside disagreements on other issues.[25] Such arrangements might succeed in affecting policies, and could foster understanding and open lines of communication that might be more long-lasting. However, the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, if it becomes a decision, may make abortion an unbridgeable issue, and may exacerbate the tendency of voters to divide into hostile camps. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"> I return to where I always end up when considering the sad state of our politics and culture: the key to a solution is leadership from conservatives. There have been numerous shows of principled independence by Republicans, most notably from Rep. Liz Cheney, but there needs to be something approaching a complete break by a significant number or by a few with great influence. Failing that, we will continue down the same path. </span><br /></div><br>______________________<br /></div><div><br>17 How Democracies Die, pp. 23-24<br /><br>18. Id., at 35<br /><br>19. Id., at 34<br /><br>20. Id, at 36<br /><br>21. Id., at 37<br /><br>22. Id., at 188<br /><br>23 https://www.npr.org/2022/04/14/1092916451/republicans-say-theyre-quitting-the-biased-commission- on-presidential-debates<br /><br>24 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/mcconnell-says-he-s-100-percent-focused-stopping- biden-s- n1266443<br /><br>25 Id., at 218-20<br /><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>March
20, 2022</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>Another pandemic</u><b> <br /></b></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Virtually every day’s news brings
a story of gun-related violence, something which would not be tolerated, or
even exist, in a rational society.<span> </span>The
muddled opinions of the Supreme Court in <i>Heller</i> and <i>McDonald</i> to
the contrary notwithstanding, there is no general right to possess a gun found
in the Constitution.<span> </span>However, the
Second Amendment has become an excuse for mass possession of guns (the U.S. has
far more guns per capita than any other country) and irresponsible use (TSA
reported that more people tried to carry guns onto planes in 2021 than in any
previous year).[1]</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">In addition to the potential for
irresponsible and felonious use of guns by citizens, there is a serious problem
regarding their use in law enforcement.<span>
</span>It is necessary for police officers to be armed, at least part of the
time (although that would be less true if the country weren’t awash in guns).<span> </span>However, there are so many instances of
irresponsible use of firearms by police that it is clear that more careful
hiring,<span> </span>better training, greater
accountability, and more rational policies regarding the use of arms are
required.<span> </span>Laws enacted last year in
Washington should help to address that issue in this state[2].</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is a third major problem
created by our lax gun policies.<span>
</span>Increasingly, people and groups with extreme views are engaging in or
threatening political violence.<span> </span>The
fact that they are, or easily can be, armed turns what might be ignorant
political chatter into deadly menace.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There is little chance that the
number of guns in private hands will be reduced any time soon, but some control
measures are possible.<span> </span>Restricting
where guns may be carried is one way to lessen their menace.<span> </span>The Washington Legislature addressed that
issue in a bill passed last year.[3]<span>
</span>The Legislature made additional moves this year.<span> </span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Senate Bill 5078 provides: “No person in
this state may manufacture, import, distribute, sell, or offer for sale any
large capacity magazine,” defined as “an ammunition feeding device<span> </span>with the capacity to accept more than 10
rounds of ammunition.”<span> </span>The bill exempts
sales, etc. to US armed forces, the state, law enforcement agencies and
out-of-state buyers. It does not ban possession of such magazines.[4] </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">House Bill 1705, in the usual
opaque language, addresses the “ghost gun” issue; it prohibits the manufacture
or assembly of an “untraceable firearm” and, after March 10, 2023, and with
some exceptions, prohibits “knowingly or recklessly” possessing, transporting,
or receiving an untraceable firearm.</span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Small steps are better than none.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>_________________________</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%;"><br>1. <span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/18/tsa-gun-seizures-airport-security/?utm_
campaign
=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics&carta-url=https
%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F36582f2%2F62346e523e6ed13ade2c8cbb%2F5b65de00ade4e2779564ed94%2F11%2F59%2F62346e523e6ed13ade2c8cbb</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br>2.
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">See
post of July 6, 2021.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 110%;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br>3.</span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Senate Bill 5038, singed by the Governor
5/12/21.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>See post of July 8, 2021.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><br>4.</span>
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Here is commentary by the Washington Attorney
General’s office:</span> https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/washington-senate-passes-legislation-ban-sale-high-capacity-magazines-historic</p>
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</p><br />Gerald G. Dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18272770512487580818noreply@blogger.com0