Voter Readiness Test - November 5, 2024

 

Voter Readiness Test – November 5, 2024.

The former president.

Dear American Citizen: In order to vote in this presidential election, you must post a passing grade on this test. Feel free to use any resources you might need to find the answers – since you don’t want to be numbskull, and make bad choices when you vote. Circle your answers. In some cases you may need to mark more than one letter on multiple choice questions. Good luck, future voters. The fate of democracy rests in your hands.

Also: the fate of the U.S. Constitution.

 

1. How many wives has Donald Trump cheated on? And really: You trust this guy?

A) 0     B) 1     C) 2     D) 3.

 

Okay, moving on:

 

2. Mr. Trump first claimed a presidential election in ___ was a disgrace, and the people should “march on Washington.” And the whole world was laughing at us. Also, the winner wasn’t born in this country, but in Wakanda.

A) 2008     B) 2012     C) 2016     D) 2020.  

 

3. President Trump and several of his shadiest lawyers claimed the 2020 election was rigged. Which statement/s are true?

A) His lawyers won every lawsuit they filed, proving the election was stolen, and Biden voters hated America.

B) Jenna Ellis, one Trump attorney, had to admit to ten specific lies regarding the “Stolen Election,” and her law license was suspended in Colorado for three years.

C) Ellis also admitted committing a felony, while trying to steal Georgia’s electoral votes for Trump.

D) Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony of his own, related to the Georgia plot.

E) Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors and was fined $8,700 and placed on probation for six years. 

 

4. Rudy Giuliani and right-wing news outlets accused two Georgia poll workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, of stealing tens of thousands of votes. Which statement/s are correct?

A) Freeman and Moss are currently serving ten year sentences in the Georgia penitentiary.

B) The women were inundated by death threats. One caller told Freeman he fantasized about seeing her hang, and hearing her neck snap. He added a few “N-words,” to make his point.

C) Donald Trump condemned such threats, as any decent American would. (Don’t be a dolt. Of course he didn’t.)

D) The two women filed a defamation suit against Rudy; a jury heard the evidence and awarded them $148.2 million. 

Ruby Freeman.

 5. During his first run for president, Trump was defeated in the Iowa caucuses by Sen. Ted Cruz.

A) Donald handled defeat maturely, and congratulated Sen. Cruz.

B) Donald said “Lyin’ Ted” didn’t win. He “stole” the election.

C) Donald complimented Sen. Cruz’s wife on her beauty and said he’d like to grab her p***y.

D) Donald insisted that leprechauns disguised themselves as caucus voters and on Fox News, Sean Hannity backed up his claim, and viewers bought more guns and got ready to hunt leprechauns if Sean issued a call to action. 

 

6. Evidence that leprechauns voted in Iowa proved that illegal immigrants vote all the time in every U.S. election.

A) TRUE     B) FALSE. 

 

7. It is already illegal for illegal immigrants to vote in every state – so Congress must pass a law to make it illegal-er. We must stop the leprechauns with their infernal Lucky Charms and their irritating singing!

A) TRUE    B) FALSE. 

(Real patriots only eat corn flakes.)

 

8. When Vice President Joe Biden narrowly won the popular vote in Wisconsin, Team Trump demanded a recount in the two most populous Democratic counties, Milwaukee and Dane. At a cost of $3 million:

A) Forty thousand illegal votes – all by dead people – were uncovered.

B) Trump’s legal wizards proved the voting machines were rigged and would never come up, three “7’s” in a row.

C) Biden gained votes.

D) Tucker Carlson admitted his incessant claims of voter fraud were nonsense, and apologized to Fox News viewers for making them measurably dumber. 

 

9. Fox News hosts repeatedly claimed the election was stolen, and blamed Dominion Voting Systems. What happened when Dominion filed a defamation suit?

A) Fox News prevailed, and Fox lawyers were allowed to give Dominion lawyers wedgies. Fun was had by all.

B) Lawyers for Dominion were sanctioned for bringing a “frivolous” case into court.

C) Trump celebrated the Fox News victory, and insisted he won the popular vote in all 53 states, and also Narnia.

D) Fox News hosts were shown to have been lying, and Fox settled with Dominion and paid $787.5 million. 

 

10. Even after Mr. Biden took office, Mr. Trump continued to claim the Arizona election was rigged. Cyber Ninjas, a data company run by Doug Logan, an avid Trump supporter, was paid $6 million to uncover the massive fraud that all the MAGA faithful believed occurred.

Which statement or statements are true?

A) Cyber Ninjas proved that 50,000 illegal immigrants crossed the border from Mexico, dressed as Trump supporters and voted for Biden.

B) President Biden blocked the effort to uncover fraud. Also, he hid Hunter’s laptop.

C) Cyber Ninjas discovered that Trump lost 99 votes in the recount. Biden gained 261.

D) Cyber Ninjas discovered that zombies voted in Arizona, and also ate the brains of thousands of potential Trump voters. 

 

11. President Trump screamed about machines changing votes and cited Antrim County, Michigan as a perfect example. He insisted 6,000 votes were switched in Antrim. How many votes did he gain, out of 15,000, when a hand recount was completed?

A) 0     B) 12     C) 6,000     D) Ten gazillion. 

 

12. President Trump repeatedly pressed Attorney General Bill Barr to use the Department of Justice to uncover voter fraud in the 2020 election.

A) Barr later testified under oath that Trump’s claims of significant voter fraud were “bullshit.”

B) Barr resigned and suggested that his replacement should be Stormy Daniels.

C) Barr admitted he only worked for Donald as long as he did, because Melania was hot, and he harbored lustful thoughts about her. But not “grab her p***y,” lustful thoughts, because Barr was not completely classless.

D) Barr ordered all leprechauns deported. 

 

13. In December 2022, former President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, insisting that since he had been robbed in the 2020 election, “all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” could be terminated and claimed he should be reinstated.

A) TRUE    B) FALSE. 

 

14. Transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports are a much bigger threat to the rule of law than a former president suggesting that the Constitution can be terminated if he loses an election.

A) TRUE     B) FALSE. 

 

15. A curious Republican member of Congress decided to carry out a recount in his own district in three precincts, to see how much voter fraud he could find in the 2020 election. In the first count, Trump got 2,526 votes, Biden 1,502.

What was the result?

A) There was zero change in the totals.

B) Trump gained 496 votes.

C) The First Lady was so proud of her husband that she agreed to sleep with him for the first time in six months.

D) One voting machine let loose in a creepy computer voice, like HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Computers will rule the world after November 5, because we shall elect one of the Transformers as president.” 

 

16. With the MAGA faithful still fuming in 2023, Republican officials in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania decided to spend a pile of taxpayer cash on a hand recount of all 59,374 votes – from 2020.

A) The recount proved again that there had been massive fraud, as illegal immigrants from Canada kayaked across Lake Erie, and voted by the millions.

B) There were a lot of kayaks!

C) The same creepy computer voice (as above) warned that a Transformer was going to be elected on November 5, and Victoria’s Secret models would serve as sex slaves for the robot overlords.

D) Donald netted a measly eight votes, or one for every 7,422 ballots. He still didn’t win the election, though. 

 

17. After Attorney General Barr resigned, Mr. Trump agreed to meet with three top officials from the Department of Justice. Which of these men or men refused to sign a letter saying DOJ had uncovered significant fraud, and instead threatened to resign?

A) Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Barr’s replacement.

B) Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Donoghue.

C) Stephen Engel, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.

D) All of the above. 

 

18. Which of these individuals, all of them Republicans or members of the Trump administration, told Trump there was no significant voter fraud during the 2020 election, and that he lost?

A) Jeffrey Rosen, Richard Donoghue and Stephen Engel – them again.

B) White House Chief Counsel Pat Cipollone.

C) White House lawyer Erich Herschmann.

D) Derek Lyons, another White House lawyer.

E) Bill Stepien, the Trump campaign chair for 2020.

F) The Ghost of Christmas Past.

G) Alex Cannon, 2020 Trump campaign lawyer.

H) Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia.

I) Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan.

J) Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

K) Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona.

L) Rusty Bowers, Arizona Speaker of the House.

M) Mike Shirkey, Majority Leader of the Michigan Senate.

N) All of the above, except “F.” And we could list many more. But we’d run out of alphabet letters, and have to go from “Alpha” to “Omega,” and the question would look like a list of fraternities and sororities. 

 

19. Donald Trump never complains if states like Texas, Florida and Ohio vote by mail, because he wins those states. Isn’t that odd, don’t you think?

A) TRUE    B) FALSE. 

 

20. Texas Attorney General Ted Paxton claimed he could prove that 58,000 undocumented voters cast ballots in his state. All 254 counties were sent lists of these illegal voters. McClennan County had 366 names. After cross checking records, they found zero illegal voters. The whole effort to prove there were all those undocumented voters was so embarrassing, Paxton dropped it.

A) TRUE     B) FALSE. 

 

21. Well, Paxton wasn’t done. He later filed suit with the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming the 2020 election was totally rigged. As proof, he cited the fact that no candidate who lost both Florida and Ohio had ever been elected president – proving that Joseph Biden could not have prevailed in his race against Donald Trump.

This simple blogger, who taught American history for decades, and now looks like a withered prune, realized instantly that this was balderdash. Name the other president who lost both states but was still victorious.

A) George Washington.

B) Abraham Lincoln.

C) John F. Kennedy.

D) Franklin Pierce (admit it you didn’t even know he was a president). 

 

22. Paxton’s lawsuit was crafted by Dr. John Eastman, a California lawyer and college professor. Dr. Eastman has since been disbarred in California for all kinds of lying about the 2020 election.

A) TRUE     B) FALSE. 

 

23. A day before the January 6, 2021, attack, the ten living former secretaries of defense signed a letter saying:

A) President Trump was a threat to the U.S. Constitution.

B) The U.S. military would love to seize voting machines in states Trump lost, just as Trump allies were suggesting. For example, Mike Lindell.

C) The U.S. military would be thrilled if Trump ordered them to shoot American citizens who would protest.

D) All ten men agreed serving in the Trump administration was (2), or would have been (8) awesome, because Donald was twice as cool as Vladimir Putin. 

 

24. Election denying is now a GOP sport. Republicans who were defeated in the 2022 primaries began claiming elections were rigged – by other Republicans. So far, no recount, not for Kari Lake, not for Mark Finchem, not for Laura Loomer, and not for any other candidate, has proven significant voter fraud occurred during midterms.

A) TRUE     B) FALSE. 

 

25. Kandiss Taylor is the second most delusional election denier. After she lost the GOP primary to incumbent Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, she claimed the vote was rigged. What percentage of the vote did she actually receive?

A) 3.4%     B) 18%     C) 44%     D) 48.1%. 

 

BONUS QUESTION #1: The former president was twice sued for defamation by E. Jean Carroll, who said he raped her in a department store dressing room – by digitally penetrating her. Trump paid the best lawyers he could find (actually his MAGA fans paid, by donating to his defense fund). The cases were civil, so juries did not have to be unanimous. Each jury had nine members. 

How many jurors (total), believed the defense Trump’s lawyers offered? 

Write total here: ____.

 

(Face it: That is some really pitiful lawyering.) 

 

BONUS QUESTION #2: Donald is not known for sticking to the truth, regardless of topic. When his future second wife, Marla Maples, was pregnant with their child, Tiffany, Donald pretended to be his own publicist. As “John Miller,” he phoned several New York gossip columnists. “Miller” said “Donald” would never marry Marla. What 90s supermodel did “Miller” claim “Donald” was dating, instead? 

Place model name here: _______________________.

 

That supermodel has since made clear she would have rather dated an armadillo than have been seen on Donald’s arm.

 

SCORING: Feel free to score yourself – but no cheating. Seventeen correct answers is a passing grade, and you are ready to vote.

Each bonus question makes up for one other miss.

 

(ANSWERS FOLLOW THE SUPERMODEL’S PICTURE.)

Name this supermodel.

 

Answers: 1. B     2. D     3. B, C, D, E    4. B, D     5. B     6. A     7. B     8. C     9. D    

10. C     11. B     12. A     13. A     14. B     15. A     16. D     17. D     18. N     19. A    

20. A     21. C     22. A     23. A     24. B     25. A.    

Bonus #1. 0, zero, none. 

Bonus #2. Carla Bruni.

Vice President Kamala Harris.

FEEL FREE TO FACT CHECK THE BLOGGER’S ANSWERS. ALSO FEEL FREE TO POST YOUR TEST SCORES IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. AND REMEMBER: THE FATE OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION IS IN YOUR HANDS.

December 14, 2020: A Murder-Suicide Pact at the White House

 

12/14/20: This has been a hard day for the President of the United States. The trouble begins when the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects his fourth and final appeal to overturn the state’s November results. Two hours later Wisconsin electors cast their votes (10) for Joseph R. Biden Jr. 

That has to sting. And the hornets keep stinging. Georgia’s votes (16) also go for Biden; then Pennsylvania’s (20). Michigan electors ignore “credible threats” of violence and record their votes (16) for the former Vice President. One elector wears a bulletproof vest on the way to vote. 

New York’s electors, including Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, tally 29 votes for Joe Biden. 

Just before dinner time in Washington D.C., the State of California’s electors certify their votes (55), giving Mr. Biden 302 total, more than the 270 needed to become the next President of the United States.

Jeffrey Clark of the Department of Justice.

 

* 

AS FOR THE PRESIDENT, he spends most of his day tweeting angrily about how the election was rigged; and he won by a mile. 

It gives him something to do with all his free time (see: 12/13/20). A winter storm is threatening the Eastern U.S., and it’s too cold for golfing. 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Here’s an oddity of a minor sort. Since Election Night, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has devoted most of her efforts to turning up on Fox News and insisting her boss actually won. 

She’s paid by taxpayers, like you and me. Yet, in her paid role, she has talked with reporters only twice in six weeks. 

Rather, she has devoted her time to appearing on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News (19 visits) to make the case Trump was robbed.

 

Asked by one well-known political blogger to justify this imbalance, McEnany replied via email: “As White House Press Secretary, there are a variety of ways to communicate with the American People that don’t involve being shouted at by activists, including the manner in which I’m communicating with you right now.”

So, if you think Trump is unworthy of a second term, you are paying this banshee to claim that he is. 

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: We won’t learn this until two days after Joe Biden takes over, but four top Department of Justice officials inform The New York Times that in the waning days of the Trump presidency, a new plot was afoot. On December 14, Attorney General Bill Barr resigned his position, rather than push unfounded “stolen election” investigations, as the president said he must. Not to be denied the chance to deny he had been thumped at the polls, Trump called in Acting AG Jeffrey A. Rosen and Deputy Attorney General Richard P. Donoghue, the following day. Again, he made it clear. He wanted investigations. He wanted DOJ to fight harder for him. 

For justice? 

No. Him. 

When Rosen balked – because, you know – the U.S. Constitution – Trump began working out a way to get rid of him, and put a more malleable lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, in charge of DOJ. With storm clouds gathering, top officials at Justice decided to hold a conference call and determine what they would do if Rosen were fired. The agreed unanimously. They would resign.

 

Mr. Clark insisted, in talking with the Times later, that he had not been part of any plot to get rid of Rosen; but a Trump advisor did comment. Trump, the advisor insisted, had been talking about combating “rampant election fraud that has plagued our system for years.” 

He complained to Justice Department leaders that the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, Byung J. Pak, was not trying hard enough to find evidence for false election claims pushed by Mr. Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and others. Mr. Donoghue warned Mr. Pak that the president was fixated on his office, and that it might not be tenable for him to continue to lead it. 

Mr. Clark was also focused on Georgia. He drafted a letter that he wanted Mr. Rosen to send to Georgia state legislators. That letter stated wrongly that the Justice Department was investigating serious accusations of voter fraud in their state, and that they should move to void Mr. Biden’s win. 

Clark met separately with Trump, who said he planned to replace Rosen -with Clark. Clark told Rosen about the plan, but said he could stay on as his deputy.

 

A meeting was eventually arranged at the White House. Steven Engel, head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel was there. By this time, Trump’s illegal phone call to Georgia officials had been revealed by the free press. Engel and Donahue were blunt. If Rosen were fired, they would quit, as would others, leaving Clark to run DOJ by himself. 

White House Council Pat Cipollone also advised Trump not to fire Rosen. After three hours of discussion, the president backed off his plan. 

As for Clark, he seemed miffed, not because Trump had wanted to trample the rule of law into the turf, but because others involved in the meeting had talked about it openly. “There was a candid discussion of options and pros and cons with the president,” he admitted. Then he added, “It is unfortunate that those who were part of a privileged legal conversation would comment in public about such internal deliberations, while also distorting any discussions.” 

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE #2:  We learn once again, if we need to learn, that The New York Times does not deal in “Fake News.” 

The above account is verified in all important details when, in the fall of 2021, a Senate Judiciary Committee report is released. 

This blogger is still digesting the report, but the Washington Post does provide insight. Rosen, Clark, and Donoghue had a tense meeting in the Oval Office on January 3. The president made clear he wanted to replace Rosen with Clark. 

Donoghue was brutal in response: 

At some point during the meeting, Donoghue ... made clear that all of the Assistant Attorneys General would resign if Trump replaced Rosen with Clark. Donoghue added that the mass resignations likely would not end there, and that U.S. Attorneys and other DOJ officials might also resign en masse.

 

As the Post explains, “Not only that, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy said that they, too, would resign. Cipollone called Clark’s [proposed] letter to legislatures [asking them to appoint new slates of electors] a ‘murder-suicide pact.’” 

Trump finally backed down. 

Still, he had a plan. He shifted, over the next three days, to pressuring Vice President Pence to thwart the final electoral count.

July 30, 2021: Trump's Own Officials Told Him He Lost

 

7/30/21: What lessons, if any, did we learn about Team Trump, Loser Don, and life in general in July?

 

____________________ 

If you fail to grasp the acute danger represented by this call, you should jump on a plane and go live in an authoritarian state. Russia or North Korea would be happy to welcome your dumb ass.

____________________

Vice President Pence, Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley.

Only one man in this picture believed the election was stolen.

  

We learned that while president, Donald J. Trump called the Department of Justice and asked top officials to declare the whole November election “corrupt.” The House Oversight Committee has just released notes from that call. 

As ABC News explains, 

At one point in the conversation, the notes show, Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen told Trump that the Justice Department “can’t + won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election, doesn’t work that way.”

 

Trump responded by saying: “Don’t expect you to do that, just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” according to the notes taken by Richard Donoghue, who was then Rosen’s deputy and who was also on the call.

 

“We have an obligation to tell people that this was an illegal, corrupt election,” the president insisted.

 

This call, logged on December 27, came even after Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr had made it clear there was no evidence the election was determined by fraud. Then he resigned. 

Fox News has the same story, but adds a bit more detail. The Acting Attorney General and other officials on the call reassured the president – if he actually cared about fair elections. “Sir we have done dozens of investigations, hundreds of interviews, major allegations are not supported by evidence,” Rosen and Donoghue said according to the notes. “We are doing our job.”   

“Much of the info you’re getting is false,” they added.  

There’s nothing in the notes to indicate Trump cared whether or not his information was correct.

 

In fact, the most ill-informed man ever to be elected president – and then remain ill-informed after four years in office – insisted people were “angry,” which was true. Mostly because he kept telling his equally ill-informed followers that the entire election was a giant cheat. “You guys may not be following the internet the way I do,” he added. Yes. Twitter. Facebook. QAnon chat rooms. Just where you’d look first for evidence that the outcome of an election was determined by fraud. 

(These DOJ notes are consistent with accounts offered by Republican officials in Georgia and Arizona, indicating corrupt intent on the part of the president, when he told them to “find” enough votes in Georgia to give him the state’s electoral votes, and in Arizona, where he wanted GOP officials in Maricopa County to stop the vote counting with him ahead.)

 

We don’t usually quote Democrats on this blog to support our points, but in this case the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, nails the point: “These handwritten notes show that President Trump directly instructed our nation’s top law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency.” 

The Justice Department has approved six witnesses, including Rosen and Donoghue, to appear before the House Oversight panel and provide “unrestricted testimony.” DOJ cites public interest in the “extraordinary events” of those critical weeks when a defeated president tried to steal back an election that wasn’t stolen. 

Still don’t get it? 

You could purchase a one-way ticket from Cincinnati to Moscow for $716. I swear, if you promise never to come back, I might buy you one.

*

“I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.”

It’s possible, if you’re a hardcore Trump fan, that you still won’t; and we’d hate to lose you to the Russians. 

You might end up with a lethal nerve agent smeared in the seams of your underwear if you criticize Vladimir Putin. 

So, consider the supporting evidence. According to two reporters for the Washington Post,  Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, in the days leading up to the 2020 election, with the president already insisting the vote would be rigged, the Joint Chiefs of Staff began planning how to respond if Trump and his allies tried to stage a coup. 

If you are a hardcore Trump supporter, of course, you no doubt saw the words “reporters” and “Washington Post,” and your eyes glazed over, and your brain shorted out.

 

But we had already had signs of concern in August 2020, when Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, first sounded alarm. When Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee asked about any role the military might play in the coming election, Milley responded pointedly. 

I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military. In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes [emphasis added] not the U.S. military. I foresee no role for the U.S armed forces in this process.

 

And let’s be frank. Joe Biden wasn’t howling about how the coming election was going to be “rigged.” 

And no chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had ever felt the need to reassure lawmakers and, if they were listening, members of the American public. 

No, the U.S. military would not interfere in any election if ordered…by the only person in position to order them. 

TRUMP.

 

* 

The Joint Chiefs would resign, by order of rank. 

NOW, reporters from the Post were adding depth to the story. The Joint Chiefs, they said, had discussed a plan to defeat any takeover by resigning in order of rank if Trump ordered the military to interfere in the election. Gen. Mark Milley, as chairman, would refuse to carry out such orders and resign. Then the other members would resign in protest, by order of rank. 

Or as Gen. Milley reportedly put it during one conversation with top officers, referring to Trump and his minions and any plan for a coup: “They may try, but they’re not going to f****** succeed,” he said. “You can’t do this without the military. You can’t do this without the CIA and the FBI. We’re the guys with the guns.” 

Concern increased after the election, with the president stirring up supporters with a litany of stolen election claims. “This is a Reichstag moment,” Milley warned top military leaders. In the days leading up to the attack on Capitol Hill, he believed the president was preaching, “the gospel of the Führer.”

 

As has often been true, the ex-president responded heatedly once the story broke. He wouldn’t plan a coup, he said. But if he did, he wouldn’t rely on Gen. Milley. “I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government. So ridiculous! Sorry to inform you, but an Election is my form of ‘coup,’ and if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley,” he fumed. 

No. He’d call the DOJ and have them declare the election corrupt. 

He’d pressure Republicans in charge of the Georgia and Arizona elections to switch the necessary votes to his column. Then he’d rely on members of Congress, like Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Josh Hawley, men of zero principles, to help block the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. He’d call in Gen. Michael T. Flynn, and men of that kind, to take command of the troops. 

Mike Lindell, his MyPillow pal, would probably grab a gun and join the coup. 

That last is supposition, of course. But when asked by reporters about the story of the planned resignation of the Joint Chiefs, Milley’s spokesman, Army Col. Dave Butler, declined to comment.

 

For hardcore Trumpers, you need to understand that the U.S. military has historically stayed out of politics. Thank you, Gen. George Washington, for setting that precedent back in 1782. It had been suggested by some of his young officers that he might make an excellent king. 

George declined.

 

* 

“Not to any individual at all.” 

A few days later, Gen. Milley was pressed to respond. His non-answer was really a fairly obvious answer. It’s an answer that had never before been necessary in the long history of the United States. 

I, the other members of the Joint Chiefs, and all of us in uniform, we take an oath, an oath to a document, an oath to the Constitution of the United States, and not one time do we violate that. The entire time, from time of commissioning to today, I can say with certainty that every one of us maintained our oath of allegiance to that document, the Constitution, everything that’s contained within it.

 

I want you to know, and I want everyone to know, I want America to know, that the United States military is an apolitical institution – we were then, we are now – and our oath is to the Constitution, not to any individual at all. And the military did not and will not and should not ever get involved in domestic politics. We don’t arbitrate elections.

 

“We don’t arbitrate.” That’s the same answer the officials at DOJ gave, when they said, “we don’t snap our fingers.”

 

*

 

TO SUM UP: Decent and good men and women had chilled the worst instincts of the worst president in American history. Trump was no George Washington, turning down a chance to be king. Trump desperately wanted to serve a second term, even though his own officials were telling him he hadn’t won.

 

His evidence was “false.” Attorney General Barr had told Trump so. Rosen and Donahue said the same. State and federal courts turned back fictitious claims of a “stolen election” in more than sixty cases.

 

Trump knew on December 27, that he was running out of options, and top military leaders feared he would resort to violence.

 

See: January 6.