Well, we now know that a postal worker received more than $130K to lie about election fraud. All similar claims will, of course, come from purchased prevaricators. These false claims will play a key role in the ongoing coup.
The legal credibility of these claims does not matter. I cannot emphasize that point strongly enough. This is not about proof, logic or mere reality. Trump intends to drive his followers toward blind rage and violence.
Trump does not need to impress a judge. He needs to persuade his followers to kill for him. To kill you and me. This moment is the culmination of a decades-long dehumanization campaign, which Malcolm Nance has correctly likened to the dehumanization campaign which led to the Rwanda massacre.
I'll say it again: Trump has an army. We don't have a Hulk.
The closest thing we have to a "Hulk" is the power of money. Money is blue; the blue states tend to be rich and the red states tend to be poor. The financial powers-that-be may call a halt to Trump's coup if ordinary citizens participate in a general strike. Wall Street does not want chaos.
The only way to win this fight is to embrace pessimism -- which is not the same thing as defeatism. I am not asking you to be prey; I'm asking you to be a predator. The panther stalking the forest at night is always wary, his senses tuned to any possible threat.
You do not have the luxury of a positive thought. Do not listen to anyone who offers a comforting spin on any new development. If you allow yourself to believe what you want to believe, your guard will be down. Never underestimate the enemy. Always visualize the worst possible outcome and prepare for it.
The following comes from a DU contributor -- who, I hope, will not mind my republishing his words. Keep in mind that Trump has strategies open to him beyond those outlined below.
* * *
Notes from the Front. My son is one of Biden's lawyers in GA and he says a coup is in progress.
My son is a partner of Bondurant, Mixson, and Elmore which is the
law firm in Georgia that Biden chose to counter Trump’s election
challenges based on both state and constitutional law. We had a 30 min.
conversation on the phone last night. I outlined the plan below to him
and he agreed with every part. He also added nuances (there are more
ways to get the issue to SCOTUS) and told me of problems Trump faces
(like state laws in PA and GA).
The Plan
Step 1. Barr instructs DOJ to pursue issues of voting irregularities and possible fraud prior to state certification.
Step 2. The DOJ argues that key states' counts cannot be certified because they remain under investigation. They should be listed as “under audit.” A Republican brings a suit and the court invalidates the Dec. 8 deadline for certification based on the “under audit” classification so they can extend the deadline especially if Step #3 is taking time.
Step 3. Republican state legislators, claim that due to credible charges of fraud and irregularities, it’s their constitutional duty to certify a different slate of electors even though their Secretaries of State have certified the slate chosen by voters.
Step 4. Congress accepts the bogus slate as reflecting that state’s election outcome.
or
Step 4b. It gets appealed to the Supreme Court rules which then decides which slate Congress must accept.
The Nuances:
According to my son Trump’s lawyers can appeal a number of rulings to get one or more to the Supreme Court at earlier points in the chain.
Trump’s Major Problem(s):
My son pointed out that both Pennsylvania and Georgia have passed laws in recent times which denies power of their state legislatures to chose a ballot of Electoral College electors contrary to the one chosen by the electorate. So both PA and GA would have to call their legislatures back into session and pass a law countermanding the one on the books. Watch for PA and GA calling special legislative sessions! My son told me there was no move on Governor Kemp’s part to do so up until we spoke last night since no GA Democrat has yet been informed (and they must be by law).
In a lovely aside my son told me that this in Georgia all might come down to parking space in Atlanta. Before a special session (or any session) can proceed, the legislators have to, by law, be assure there are enough free parking places for them near the capitol. This might not be possible. (I’m guessing here: perhaps the parking garages have a contract for only a fixed number of days.)
The Outcome (according to my son):
My son told me he worked all yesterday countering the plan as I put it forward above. He cited many laws and court interpretations, many of which seemed a high hurdle for Trump, yet he told me that the arguments (giving too many details for me to remember) Trump's lawyers will use (which were feeble, he said) and realized a given court my rule in Trump's favor. It would be an aberration, a violation of the law, but it would be possible, especially with what's on the bench.
Bottom line. My son thinks Biden will prevail, but because of Republican legislators and judges, Trump could still win.
The Plan
Step 1. Barr instructs DOJ to pursue issues of voting irregularities and possible fraud prior to state certification.
Step 2. The DOJ argues that key states' counts cannot be certified because they remain under investigation. They should be listed as “under audit.” A Republican brings a suit and the court invalidates the Dec. 8 deadline for certification based on the “under audit” classification so they can extend the deadline especially if Step #3 is taking time.
Step 3. Republican state legislators, claim that due to credible charges of fraud and irregularities, it’s their constitutional duty to certify a different slate of electors even though their Secretaries of State have certified the slate chosen by voters.
Step 4. Congress accepts the bogus slate as reflecting that state’s election outcome.
or
Step 4b. It gets appealed to the Supreme Court rules which then decides which slate Congress must accept.
The Nuances:
According to my son Trump’s lawyers can appeal a number of rulings to get one or more to the Supreme Court at earlier points in the chain.
Trump’s Major Problem(s):
My son pointed out that both Pennsylvania and Georgia have passed laws in recent times which denies power of their state legislatures to chose a ballot of Electoral College electors contrary to the one chosen by the electorate. So both PA and GA would have to call their legislatures back into session and pass a law countermanding the one on the books. Watch for PA and GA calling special legislative sessions! My son told me there was no move on Governor Kemp’s part to do so up until we spoke last night since no GA Democrat has yet been informed (and they must be by law).
In a lovely aside my son told me that this in Georgia all might come down to parking space in Atlanta. Before a special session (or any session) can proceed, the legislators have to, by law, be assure there are enough free parking places for them near the capitol. This might not be possible. (I’m guessing here: perhaps the parking garages have a contract for only a fixed number of days.)
The Outcome (according to my son):
My son told me he worked all yesterday countering the plan as I put it forward above. He cited many laws and court interpretations, many of which seemed a high hurdle for Trump, yet he told me that the arguments (giving too many details for me to remember) Trump's lawyers will use (which were feeble, he said) and realized a given court my rule in Trump's favor. It would be an aberration, a violation of the law, but it would be possible, especially with what's on the bench.
Bottom line. My son thinks Biden will prevail, but because of Republican legislators and judges, Trump could still win.
11 comments:
I suspect that the Republican Establishment, and the majority of its wealthy donors, actually want Benedict Donald gone, but must go along with him in order to keep his minion voters in Georgia happy, lest they lose those two Senate seats which, in these unusual circumstances, are both up for grabs in the same year.
"Trump has an army."
These dudes?
99% of them would soil themselves and run at the first whiff of grapeshot.
The real danger will come from the 1% who do have the foul courage of their monstrous convictions. Don't think masses of storm troopers, though. Think Tim McVeigh-wannabes and "lone nuts" with assault rifles.
Yeah, THOSE dudes. Tim McVeigh probably looked just like them before he did what they did. If anything, McVeigh seemed LESS threatening.
Imagine THOSE dudes if they were told that it was open season, that they could hunt libs without fear of retribution.
Ever read about the Spanish Civil War?
Ever read about the hold of Big Business on the GOP?
Civil wars are bad for business.
And THOSE dudes would mostly disperse at the first whiff of grapeshot. The states do have armies, if need be. They're known, collectively, as the National Guard.
The real dangers from the "militias" (the actual "militia" in this country is the National Guard. Those Dudes are just gangs.) come from the handful of McVeighs among them.
Our generals seem reluctant to support Benedict Donald, or do you postulate mass mutinies among the National Guards and/or the Federal regulars?
However, if it makes our host feel better, I will admit I am not 100% sure whoever is doing Donnie Two Scoops's thinking for him can't pull it off without the Federal Regulars--that, just maybe, the mysterious mastermind(s) could do it with Barr's pickup team of Federal Fuzz, and the wingnut gangs (aka "militias"). Not that they could come to power and keep it, mind you, but rather, they might succeed in starting an abortive Civil War 2.0--until enough Federal Regulars could be brought home from overseas.
For the record, that post by the DUer was deleted. I didn't buy it; my b.s. detector went off when I read it early today. The OP decided to delete the post and the thread was locked.
Maybe. But I have some experience with the DU adminstrators. They censor everything that isn't 100 percent "Victory is Assured!"
I HATE enforced optimism. Have you ever had to work for a boss who was one of those positive thinkers who insists that everyone else must ALSO be a positive thinker? It's galling. And exhausting. When I was in that situation, I felt like someone had applied duct tape to my cheeks to keep my mouth in a smiling position.
Think of the great cynics, like Twain or Mencken or Wilde. Would they be allowed to publish anywhere on today's internet?
I have inside information that the law office was contacted about the post. Some lawyer may lose their job.
Just a thought here as a long time reader... We are indeed seeing a lot of “enforced optimism.” Pretty much every major newspaper has the same script issued to them, especially the NYT and the WP. If you read those rags you would think Joe’s win has already been certified. It’s quite a disservice to the nation to so purposefully present the situation that way. The fact is that in AZ and GA in particular Joe’s margin is razor thin. I think we have to assume that Joe will lose AZ and GA once a recount and audit happens. The recount and audit won’t add votes to Joe’s total. The audit portion won’t help as it will identify various votes (provisional or Mail-in) that weren’t done in letter perfect compliance with state law and those ballots will be thrown away. I hate to say it but Joe isn’t going to win those states, and he probably has less than a 50% chance of remaining the overall winner. We all need to keep this in mind, and ask ourselves why the news media is handling it this way.
Anonymous 10:05 pm, the margin in Ga has grown-- 14k is a pretty large hurdle for a recount. I just worry about GA getting the hand recount (only of the mail in votes) done on time.
Jones Day, one of Trump's firms, is usually considered a powerhouse law firm, but they are working with bad facts and the arguments they have are weak. Arguments like (1) the voter did not include their address with their signature on the outside of the ballot envelope (no requirement to include the address and the address is ascertainable from the ballot itself); (2) out-of-state voters in Nevada, a large number of which are military families allowed to vote in their home state; (3) 10,000 alleged mail-in votes that did not come from a voter, which became 1 mail-in vote that came from a voter, who changed her mind when the election office pointed out the signature on the vote matched hers.
The above list does not include the would be poll watcher Giuliani introduced at The Four Seasons, who was not a resident of the state and was a convicted child molester.
Can you imagine trying to get a story like this published as fiction?
Please discuss the Pennsylvania issues. I know nothing about law but from reading various articles on the issue it sounds like the PA Supreme Court and PA Secretary of State exceeded their authority in telling people that ballots could be received after 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. Apparently, PA’s written election laws are very clear about the deadline. So the PA Supreme Court and Secretary of State seriously erred when they directed otherwise. Reason being that they don’t get to make the laws, the PA legislature does. So, if that plays out all the way all of the ballots received after that time will be pitched (or so the story goes). I have to imagine that the majority of those ballots were for Joe Biden and would probably be enough to tip the scale. Will PA end up in Trump’s column? Also, how could the PA Supreme Court make such a mistake? They are supposed to be the best lawyers in their state, shouldn’t they know that they don’t write the laws?
Anon 7:14 PM.........there were less than 10,000 ballots statewide in PA that fall under what you are talking about (received after election day but postmarked before). Not enough to tip the balance (since it's assumed they are mostly Biden votes anyway). They have also been segregated and I'm not sure they've even been counted yet. Also, the PA legislator is dominated by Republicans, many of whom just won reelection and DO NOT want a recount or audit of the election (because they won their races). They want an audit of the election process, but only for future reforms, not for anything relating to the current election. They don't want their own wins put in jeopardy by any recounts or votes getting thrown out.
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