Part III: Helping MAGA Folks Face Reality (Steps 165-212)

Part III: Helping MAGA Folks Face Reality.

(Steps #165-212.)

 

__________ 

More than a whiff of fascism.

__________ 

 

WITH THE DECISION of the U.S. Supreme Court to deny legal remedy to President Trump for his imaginary wrongs, he believes he suffered in the 2020 election, deep desperation sets in. (See: Part II, #164). The crazies begin to multiply and coalesce, their fury fueled by Trumpian lying.

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Tiananmen Square (1989): When governments send in the tanks.

 

165. December 12, 2020: Diamond and Silk, two buffoons who host a show on Newsmax, offer up a new plan to help Donald remain in the White House. “If the Supreme Court can’t save our Republic,” they tweet, “then where is the Military?” (In March 2021, the two women will elevate their buffoonery, suggesting that the military should remove President Biden from office, and “get to the bottom of what the American people saw in the 2020 election.”) 

166. Decent Republicans are not amused. Sen. Lamar Alexander says he hopes Trump will put country first and congratulate President-Elect Biden. 

167. Sen. Bill Cassidy tells reporters that on January 20, 2021, Mr. Biden will be taking over. He has the necessary electoral votes. “As we’re a nation of laws, and this is the Constitution, and this is the law,” the senator explains, “and this is how it breaks out, and the courts have ruled[.]” 

168. December 13, 2020: Attorney General Barr meets with Trump and tells him for a third time that DOJ has uncovered no proof of significant voter fraud in the recent election. Barr will later testify, as part of a congressional investigation, that he told Donald his repeated claims to the contrary were “bullshit.” 

Barr decides to resign. 

 

169. By law, electoral votes must be certified on December 14. The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects Team Trump’s fourth appeal to overturn November results. In Michigan, electors ignore “credible threats” and record sixteen votes for Biden. One elector wears a bulletproof vest on the way to vote. 

170. Trump retweets a post by L. Lin Wood, who suggests jail time for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Their crime? Counting the popular votes in their state three times and reporting that Mr. Biden won. 

Three times. 

 

171. December 13-15, 2020: Trump supporters rally in Washington D.C. Now they’re furious with the U.S. Supreme Court (see: December 8). Calls are heard to lock up the justices. Having already suggested that Trump declare martial law and hold a new election, Gen. Michael T. Flynn speaks from the steps of the Court. Once again, Flynn advocates sending in tanks. 

172. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), responds:

 

Since Election Night, a lot of people have been confusing voters by spinning Kenyan Birther-type, “Chavez rigged the election from the grave” conspiracy theories, but every American who cares about the rule of law should take comfort that the Supreme Court – including all three of President Trump’s picks – closed the door on the nonsense. 

 

173. Meanwhile, a Trump appointee to the federal bench throws out another challenge to the November voting results. Describing the latest lawsuit as “extraordinary,” U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig rules that Wisconsin officials followed state law when they conducted the 2020 election.  

174. On the flip side, L. Lin Wood offers up a new strategy. If lawsuits won’t suffice, gunfire might. He suggests that like-minded “patriots” who love America so much they’d be happy to kill fellow Americans to save a second term for Trump, stock up on “Second Amendment supplies.” 

He’s just one of many Trump allies who will suggest a turn to violence to overcome a loss at the ballot box. 

 

“Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me.” 

175. Trump pressures the Department of Justice, under new leadership, to officially announce an investigation into voting irregularities in Antrim County, Michigan. He has seen a report that “proves” there was a 68% error rate in Antrim. That would only be possible if voting machines were rigged. (See: #136 above and #180 below.) 

176. Mike Lindell, the unhinged MyPillow guy, visits Trump in the Oval Office. Lindell urges his God-chosen leader to deploy the military to remain in power.

Lindell at the White House.

 

177. Behind the scenes, other Trump allies are drafting a plan which would allow him to seize voting machines in several states in an attempt to prove the election was rigged. A draft report states, in part:

 

I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, find that the forensic report of Antrim County, Michigan voting machines, released December 13, 2020, and other evidence submitted to me in support of this order, provide probable cause sufficient to require action… (See: #180.) 

 

178. The idea of grabbing voting machines is broached to the Department of Defense, but shot down by people Donald appointed. 

179. Russell Ramsland, a Texas entrepreneur, emails a different plan to seize the voting machines. He suggests that the job be handled by the Department of Homeland Security. Top officials at DHS also pass on the chance to murder democracy. 

180. December 18: The story that Trump was cheated out of 6,000 votes in Antrim County now implodes. The Republican-controlled Antrim County Board of Elections completes a hand recount of all 15,000-plus votes. Donald doesn’t gain 6,000 votes. He gains eleven. And Biden loses one. 

(Dear MAGA folk: Donald is off by only a little!) 

 

181. We won’t know until June 2021, but a Republican-controlled Michigan Senate committee will make clear there was no massive voter fraud in Antrim – or anywhere else in that state. As the committee chair explains, “We must all remember: ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof’ and ‘claiming to find something extraordinary requires first eliminating the ordinary.’” 

182. On December 19, 2020, Trump announces that Peter Navarro, his top economic advisor, has handed him a 36-page report. According to Navarro it was, “Statistically impossible [for Trump] to have lost the 2020 Election.” 

Donald issues a call for action. “Big protest in D.C. on January 6,”  he exclaims. “Be there, will be wild!” 

 

183: Navarro will eventually refuse to comply with a subpoena from congressional investigators regarding his knowledge of events leading up to the January 6, 2021, attack. He will be found guilty of contempt by a jury of his peers. 

184. He will appeal his conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court but still get sent to the slammer. 

185. December 20, 2020: Down in Texas, Mark A. Aguirre, 63, a former Houston police captain, is working for a conservative group on high alert to ferret out massive ballot fraud. He starts his morning by ramming the cargo truck of air-conditioner installer David Lopez-Zuniga and forcing it off the road. Lopez-Zuniga is suspected of transporting 750,000 fake ballots – the very kind of fraud that Texas Attorney General Paxton loves to talk about but never actually finds. 

A search of the truck reveals zero ballots, neither fake nor real. 

 

186. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows puts out a tweet amplifying his boss’s “Stolen Election” claims – inadvertently revealing a troubling gathering, just concluded. “Several members of Congress,” he wrote, “just finished a meeting in the Oval Office with the President @realDonaldTrump, preparing to fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud. Stay tuned.” 

187. Talk of violence is spreading online. In an email sent to the F.B.I. by a source, a Trump supporter is telling friends, “We must all join/link forces and be ready to leave our lives behind…Blood is the price of freedom.” 

Or you could try voting – and not talk about shooting just because you lost. 

 

188. December 23, 2020-January 3, 2021: Barr’s replacement, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, fields daily calls (save Christmas) from the mercurial President of the United States. Trump wants the Justice Department to make a public statement supporting claims of widespread voter fraud. 

189. Rosen rebuffs the president’s entreaties. “We did not think they were appropriate based on the facts and the law as we understood them [emphasis added throughout],” he later tells congressional investigators. 

190. Christmas Eve, 2020: The President of the United tweets angrily: “VOTER FRAUD IS NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY. IT IS A FACT!” He goes on to say that the nation has suffered “an act of war.” 

It’s not an act of war. 

It’s not even a fact. 

 

191. December 27: Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue has a 90-minute phone conversation with the president, during which he takes notes. Trump again brings up the Antrim claim, and airs a number of allegations. All have been discredited, Donoghue tells him. He says that he was “very blunt.” He says he “tried to correct him in a serial fashion,” knocking down the president’s multiple misconceptions.” A hand recount of the more than 15,000 votes in Antrim, for example, had shown the machines were off by a single vote, (the final tally was off by twelve) not by 68% as Trump insisted. “What people are telling you is not true.” Donoghue says he “tried to educate the president,” for Trump’s own good. 

(Like trying to teach a goat to play the piano.) 

 

192. Trump brings up the tale of a truck driver who claims to have delivered a truckload of ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. (The same driver is a ghost hunter in his spare time, so there’s that.) Donoghue explains that that allegation has been investigated. The story of haunted votes is false. 

193. Trump insists that 200,000 Pennsylvania ballots have not been certified. He is told, again, that investigations revealed no evidence of serious fraud – almost none in fact – in any of the cases he has mentioned. 

194. Trump grows agitated. He wants DOJ to investigate, to do his bidding. Donoghue tells him Justice cannot just “snap its fingers” and change election results. According to Donoghue, Trump responded, “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressman.” 

195. Those are the very lawmakers who met with Chief of Staff Meadows on December 21 (See: #186). They are the same folks who will, as the clock runs out on the Trump presidency, seek blanket pardons. 

196. Balked once more, Trump insisted that DOJ had “an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election.” Donoghue later told investigators that that was a direct quote. He had it in his notes. Trump, he added, wanted DOJ to “put the stamp of approval” on the “Stolen Election” lie. 

197. Actually, DOJ has an obligation to uphold the rule of law. 

198. Election officials in Georgia conduct a spot check of voter signatures in Cobb County to test how the signature check system worked. Biden won 56% of 387,000 votes in Cobb County. An audit of 15,000 absentee ballots turns up, only two signature mismatches. 

Two. 

 

199. New Year’s Eve, 2021: A new plan to keep Trump in power is taking form. On January 6, 2021, allies of the president will contest the certified electoral votes of several battleground states. In the U.S. House of Representatives, only one lawmaker is needed to make a challenge, and Lou Gohmert is ready. 

200. Gohmert has an interesting, one-man-rule kind of theory about how to count electoral votes. That is: a vice president can decide what to do. Ohio cast its 18 electoral votes for Trump. Mike Pence counts them. 

Pennsylvania cast its 20 for Biden. Pence doesn’t feel like counting those. 

“Under the Constitution, he has the authority to conduct that proceeding [the tally of the votes on January 6] as he sees fit,” Gohmert argues. “He may count electoral votes certified by a state’s executive, or he can prefer a competing slate of duly qualified electors. He may ignore all electors from a certain state [emphasis added]. That is the power bestowed upon him by the Constitution.”

Rep. Gohmert and his weird one-person-rules theory.

 

 

201. Jumping ahead, as the 2024 election fast approaches: Even a nitwit like Gohmert has to realize that this same argument could be applied by Democrats, in January 2025, regarding Kamala Harris. All that would be required would be for Vice President Harris to throw out electoral votes from one or two states – say Texas – if she loses – and she could ensure that she herself would be our next president. 

(Fortunately, Harris is not a devious nitwit.) 

 

In the Senate, like the House, only one member is needed. Sen. Josh Hawley announces he will challenge the vote.

 

202. As for the 2020 election, Sen. Rob Portman (who is about to retire) tells a reporter, “I think we need to respect this process the Founding Fathers established, and we must respect the will of the voters. The orderly transfer of power is a hallmark of our democracy.” 

203. Sen. Sasse warns that “the president and his allies are playing with fire. Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government.” 

204. In a very, very rare act of courage, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasts Hawley. “I’m finishing 36 years in the Senate and I’ve cast a lot of big votes,” McConnell says. This “will be the most consequential I have ever cast.” He understands that the Constitution is at stake. 

(As per normal practice, we are only quoting Republicans to bolster our points.) 

(McConnell has since returned to his wimpy ways, and supports Trump in 2024.) 

 

January 1, 2021: President Trump now pins his hopes on blocking the counting of electoral votes, on January 6. “Massive amounts of evidence will be presented on the 6th,” he promises. “We won, BIG!” 

The next day, Trump continues to fan the fury of the MAGA faithful. There has been, “An attempt to steal a landslide win,” he tweets. 

“Can’t let it happen!”      

 

205. L. Lin Wood also has a plan to keep Donald in power. “When arrests for treason begin, put Chief Justice John Roberts, VP Mike Pence & Mitch McConnell at [the] top of the list. Pence will be in jail awaiting trial for treason. He will face execution by firing squad. He is a coward & will sing like a bird & confess ALL.” 

(These people are f**king crazy!) 

 

206. January 3, 2021: Acting Attorney General Rosen, and other top officials at the Department of Justice have refused to sign a letter that says DOJ has uncovered serious evidence of voter fraud. 

A new plot to install Jeffrey Clark as Acting Attorney General, and dump Rosen, has taken shape. In an Oval Office meeting, called for by Rosen, President Trump announces that he plans to elevate Clark. 

“What have I got to lose?” he asks. 

 

207. Rosen later testifies before a congressional panel, and explains that he refused to do Trump’s bidding, because the Department functions on the basis of “facts, evidence, and the law [emphasis added].” None of which supported the Trump/Clark plan. Rosen made clear: He had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution. 

208. In the same meeting, Acting Attorney General Donoghue was blunt. He and Rosen had consulted with other top officials. Donoghue announced that he wouldn’t work “one minute for this guy,” pointing to Clark. 

If the president fired Rosen, he would also resign. 

 

209. Stephen Engel, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, was also in attendance. He later testified, under oath, noting that the Department had examined all credible allegations, and to “this date” (the date he testified before Congress, he meant) there had been no evidence of widespread voter fraud. 

Trump wondered, “Steve, you wouldn’t resign, would you?” Engel had worked for the administration for four years. 

“I couldn’t be part of this,” he replied. 

 

210. Five other top officials at Justice had assured Donoghue. If Rosen was out, and Donoghue and Engel were out, they were out too. None had any hesitation. Those five were Assistant Attorney Generals Eric Dreiband, Claire Murray, Jeff Wall, David P. Burns and Makan Delrahim. All five had been appointed by Trump, with Delrahim, a native of Iran, being gifted a red baseball cap with the words, “Makan Antitrust Great Again,” when he was sworn in. 

211. A sixth Assistant AG, in charge of national security affairs, had also said he would resign, but given the nature of his duties, Rosen and Donoghue asked him to remain in his post. 

(That’s nine Trump appointees ready to resign.) 

 

212. Donoghue went further. He warned the president that there would be a wave of resignations among U.S. District Attorneys, and that others at DOJ, and in district offices – likely hundreds – would “quit in a cascade.” Clark, he said, would be “leading a graveyard.” 

With that, Clark’s chance of becoming Acting Attorney General died an ignominious death. Trump backed down – but we know now he wasn’t done. He had one last part of the plot that might work. He would redouble efforts to convince Vice President Pence to break the law.

Clark wanted to be Acting Attorney General.