Has the MAGA mob done its worst, or are they just getting warmed up?

Cannon here. We must scroll quickly through some important developments...

 

• WP reporter Amy Gardner says that Trump made another call to a Georgia elections official, and that this chat was even more legally questionable than the one we've all heard. It has also been established definitively that Trump forced U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak -- Trump's own choice for that position in Georgia -- to step down because Pak would not go along with Trump's plot to change the election results.

 

• According to this investigator, one of the organizers of the violent fascist insurrection has confessed that he conspired with three congressmen: Andy Briggs of Arizona, Paul Gosar of Arizona, and Mo Brooks of Alabama. If this claim is true, all three should be charged with treason, and arguably should face the death penalty.   

 

• The WSJ is setting the stage for charging Trump & co. with incitement to riot. The case against Lin Wood looks like a slam dunk: In very clear language, he urged the fascists to kill Mike Pence. His words inspired Ashli Babbitt, the vile QAnon cultist shot while attempting to fulfill Wood's vision. One might say that she was Susan Atkins to Wood's Charlie Manson. 

 

• True to form, some Trumpers are now falsely claiming that Babbitt was an Antifa mole. Gimme a break! An infiltrator isn't gonna charge a cop holding a gun. Only a brainwashed right-wing zealot does a thing like that.

 

• Although there is still not one molecule of proof that any member of Antifa took part in the insurrection, there is some evidence that Russians were involved. According to the WP, one of the arrested rioters needed a Russian interpreter; this site claims that she was female. It has also been claimed that a Putin propagandist named Sirhiy Dybynyn was photographed standing next to Jake Angeli, the horned QAnon freak recently charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct -- although to be honest, I don't find the evidence totally convincing. Still...take a close look at the odd relationship between the mystery man's nose and mouth...

 

• Chris Klebs, a former Trump official fired for accurately reporting on the Russian threat, warns of further bloodshed before the inauguration. He may well be correct. It should be noted, however, that some fascists are turning on Trump, due to his undeniable cowardice. Three influential far-rightists -- Nick Fuentes (noted racist), Cassandra Fairbanks (noted faux BernieBot -- remember 2016?) and Jacob Wohl (noted hoaxer, dirty trickster and idiot) -- were not pleased to find their comrades on the receiving end of a Trumpian bus-toss.

 

• Seth Abramson offers a hyper-detailed analysis of Trump's pre-coup speech to this thugs. This thread explains Trump's legal predicament. 

 

And now, I hand things over to D-Jay. This one's particularly good.

 

*  *  *

The Deprogramming Dilemma – 7
Has the MAGA mob done its worst, or are they just getting warmed up?

By D-Jay

Have we dodged the bullet, at least for now?

Or has an unstoppable slide into long-term insurrection - if not civil war - begun?

One police officer and one rioter died violent deaths in our capitol, and the world was shocked to see hordes of Trump-loving domestic terrorists rampaging through the most sacred building in the country.

But it could have been much worse.  Much.

Thank heavens that while Trump might match the narcissism and lust for power of Lenin, Hitler or Mao, he and his cronies seem to lack the leadership and organizational skills of these authoritarian icons.

If they had similar sets of evil intelligence and takeover skills, the MAGA marauders would have been better armed and would have had a workable plan in place to kill or capture most of the members of the House and Senate. Not exactly the same, but pretty much the playbook of Lenin and Trotsky in October 1917 when they overthrew the provisional post-czar government and went full-on Bolshevik.

Wouldn’t that have been a nice situation? 

As a back-up if that failed, they would have had some sort of false-flag operation in place so that the whole affair could have been more plausibly blamed on Antifa or BLM. 

So what’s next?  Having been banned from Twitter and Facebook, will Trump quietly slink off to Mar-a-Lago and spend the next few months golfing and fuming about Melania’s remodelling plans?

Now that anyone with eyes can clearly see who they really are, will the Proud Boy crowd back off in the face of greater scrutiny and widespread condemnation?

Or….

?

What?

Bombings and assassinations?

Armed takeovers of State capitols and governors’ mansions?

Kidnappings of elected leaders?

Attempts to disrupt Biden’s inauguration?

Sabotage of critical infrastructure?

Increased infiltration and corruption of law enforcement and the military?

Interference with coronavirus vaccinations?

Make no mistake, these people are Nazis – literally.  Look at some of the T-shirts they were proudly wearing: “Camp Auschwitz” and “6MWNE” (Six million were not enough) for example.  Clear enough for you?  Is there any length to which they will not go? 

Hint – They follow Trump and believe in QAnon.

We’ve heard in some quarters that, “We couldn’t imagine this would happen.”  Well…now is the time to awaken your inner Disney and start imagining the impossible.

Because, in the wake of Wednesday’s travesty, one thing we ought to be sure of is that when it comes to Trump and the malignant MAGA crowd, anything is possible.

Most Cannonfire readers are probably familiar with Yale University professor Timothy Snyder, widely regarded as one of the world’s leading expert on how democracies fail and are transformed into authoritarian states.  In a powerful interview on The Rachel Maddow show the day after the MAGA invasion of the Capitol, he told us that all of the chatter he was seeing indicate that large numbers of the marauders themselves and their supporters regarded Wednesday’s event as a huge success and that they are eager for more.  In the professor’s words, “If you’re going to get away with this, what’s the next thing you’re going to do?”

He elaborated further on the dynamic, and a potential countermeasure, in a must-read Twitter stream, which I’ve taken the liberty of copying here as a single passage:

The claim that Trump won the election is a big lie.

A big lie changes reality.  To believe it, people must disbelieve their senses, distrust their fellow citizens, and live in a world of faith.

A big lie demands conspiracy thinking, since all who doubt it are seen as traitors.

A big lie undoes a society, since it divides citizens into believers and unbelievers.

A big lie destroys democracy, since people who are convinced that nothing is true but the utterances of their leader ignore voting and its results.

A big lie must bring violence, as it has.

A big lie can never be told just by one person.  Trump is the originator of this big lie, but it could never have flourished without his allies on Capitol Hill.

Political futures now depend on this big lie.  Senators Hawley and Cruz are running for president on the basis of this big lie.

There is a cure for the big lie.  Our elected representatives should tell the truth, without dissimulation, about the results of the 2020 election.

Politicians who do not tell the simple truth perpetuate the big lie, further an alternative reality, support conspiracy theories, weaken democracy, and foment violence far worse than that of January 6, 2021.

The time has come for any Republican leader with an ounce of patriotism left to loudly proclaim the truth – again and again and again – that Trump’s delusions that he won the election and that it was somehow rigged are nothing but lies. Big Lies.

Every news and media outlet, starting with Fox News, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal, needs to do the same.

Mitt Romney and Prof. Snyder have it right. 

On Friday’s Lawrence O’Donnell show, Psychoanalyst Dr. Lance Dodes, one of the authors of the 2017 examination of Trump’s terrifying psychological condition, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, offered several other cheery thoughts:

The more desperate he becomes, the more delusional he is, the more he needs to prove to himself ultimately that he is still a god, so the less power he has, the more stress he’s under, the more dangerous he is.

He never becomes depressed, only more delusional.

All of which is to say, Trump first of all needs to be prevented from causing any more mayhem in the few remaining days left before Biden is sworn in. 

On this score, good things are in the works.

It appears that Pence lacks the fortitude to invoke the 25^th, so, IMHO, impeachment proceedings are essential.  Unless something changes, Moscow Mitch has indicated that he won’t let them be taken up by the Senate before the 19^th, citing the need for unanimous consent to move more quickly.  Even so, the gun would be loaded and if another round of serious shenanigans seems to be in the works, some sort of emergency session could be called, ignoring proper parliamentary procedures.  Let Trump try to sue about it after Biden is sworn in. 

Three added benefits of a second impeachment would be that it could make the particular issue of fomenting insurrection pardon-proof (since the Constitution carves out impeachment matters from the nearly unlimited power), a conviction would probably prevent Trump from ever holding office again (although Lawrence Tribe says there is some debate about this) and it would help cement Trump’s place in history as the worst president ever, having been the only one ever impeached twice.

It should also be noted that, again according to Prof. Tribe, who ought to know, conviction in an impeachment case require only two-thirds of the Senators present for the vote…not two thirds of the full complement of 100.  Republican Senators fed up with Mr. T, but not quite ready to publicly vote against him could simply stay home.

Also on the good news front, Facebook and Twitter have banned Trump, along with some of his more egregious followers, and seem – at long, long last – to be taking some actions aimed at making the dissemination of QAnon type idiocy more difficult.

All good.

One more critical thing in immediate need of deep investigation is how exactly the MAGA marauders were able to penetrate the Capitol defenses so easily.  Was it in some way an inside job, or was there at least some sort of de facto complicity involved?  In numerous interviews, General Russell Honeré seemed to think so.  And he ought to know.  He was personally involved in the security planning for numerous situations like this at the Capitol.

If he’s right, heads need to roll – now.

Pleasant dreams my friends….

 

**************************************************************

Contributing factors to our democratic decline:

From the Right

Truth Decay – Destruction of the Ability to Distinguish Fantasy from Reality

Ever Worsening Demonization of the Media

Manufactured Distrust of Science and Expertise

The Iron Bubble of Disinformation

The Dark Money Conspiracy

Information Warfare Aimed at Us

Domestic Terrorism

Emergence of a Full-blown Cult of Personality

Ongoing Voter Suppression and Gerrymandering

Election Security

Continued Weaponization of Social Media

Toxic Right-wing Pseudo-Christianity

Racism

Sexism and a Pseudo-Macho Mentality

Putinism and the International Neo-Fascist Movement

Lack of Education in Civics and Critical Thinking Skills

Destruction of Crucial Democratic Norms

The Collapse of Good Manners and Propriety

Radicalization

Sedition

From the Left (and Sometimes the Center)

OTT PC (Over-The-Top Political Correctness)

Inept Messaging

Lack of Media Investment

Arrogance

Surrender of Rural America Without a Fight

Failure to Call Out and Counteract Toxic Right-Wing Christianity

Failure to Call Out Right-Wing Racism, Sexism and Fascism for what it is, and Counteract it in Time

Framing Too Many Issues as Being Rooted in Race Rather than Economics and Class

Failure to Recognize Just How Bad Things Can Really Get

Forever Bringing Beanbags to a Knife Fight

Failure to Protect Critical Norms