Tag: presidential transition
Donald Trump at rally.

Trump Calling Supporters To Capitol For ‘Wild Time’ When Electoral Vote Is Ratified

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

On Jan. 6, Mike Pence is scheduled to sit down in front of the Senate in his role as president of that body. Pence will open up the box of votes. Then Joe Biden officially wins. It's an absolutely ceremonial role, defined under the Twelfth Amendment in these terms:

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;-The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President.

Despite the lawsuit filed by … sigh … Louie Gohmert, there is absolutely nothing in this amendment to suggest that Pence has a choice about opening that box, or any agency in determining what states get counted. The Electoral Count Act of 1887 only serves to underline this fact. Meanwhile, outside the doors of the Senate, Donald Trump has declared that the Wild Rumpus must begin! And really, there is no doubt that he is king of the monsters. What's concerning is that Trump has spent weeks urging his supporters to come to Washington on that date for a protest that he insists will be "wild" and is definitely yet another swing at defeating democracy.

It's recently become clear that some people who have had COVID-19 emerge from the disease with severe psychosis. But it's hard to blame Trump's actions on the virus. He was always this way.

As Rachel Maddow notes at MSNBC, Trump hasn't made it clear exactly what he expects when he gathers together every white supremacist Proud Boy, every Hawaiian shirt wearing Boogalooer, and every other variety of neo-Nazi in one place. But Washington insiders are worried that Trump is leaning into the suggestion by disgraced former general Michael Flynn that he dust off the Insurrection Act, declare a national emergency, and order up a revote until the states he doesn't like get it right.

As CNN reported back on Dec. 20, even Trump's own staff is worried that he's taking Flynn's nonsensical suggestion too seriously. And as the last of the equally ridiculous lawsuits and challenges in state and federal courts fizzle out, getting Pence to simply not count the votes seems like the only move left in the Subverting Democracy Handbook. After all, nothing says peaceful transition like an outgoing executive encouraging armed insurrectionists to mass around the capitol for a "wild" time.

The "March for Trump" website (deliberately not linked) is calling for a cross-country bus trip that touches such sacred spots as the Alamo and Trump's wall. They'll also be driving across Georgia. But even though they have their bus route planned out and press conferences scheduled along the way, the main event in Washington, D.C. remains to be described. The best the site can give is "details coming soon." That may be in part because the group behind the protest still doesn't have an approved permit. The group "Women for America First" had originally scheduled their members to interfere with Biden's inauguration before amending their request based on Trump's out-of-the-blue tweet about the wild protest on Jan. 6.

It's unclear just how many people will show up for Trump's latest gig. An attempt to gather the faithful on Nov. 14 brought only about 10,000 people to town—making Kayleigh McEnany an even bigger liar than Sean Spicer. It's quite possible that the only thing wild about this event is how wildly McEnany has to lie to make it seem as if there are still people who care enough to come when Trump calls. On the other hand, if Pence is only looking for an excuse, a single busload of Trump supporters will probably serve as well as thousands.

With no information about what Trump has planned for Jan. 6, it's hard to see where on the scale of "Hamberders for all!" to "Burn it down! Burn it all down!" this event can be expected to fall. All that can be said for sure is that Trump intends this event to threaten the completion of the election process, and that it's not too late for those attending to work on their costumes
Tommy Tuberville

Alabama’s Ignorant New Senator May Disrupt 2021 Transition

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Donald Trump may have found the senator he needs to challenge the election results in Congress—and it's the guy who can't name the three branches of government. Alabama Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville said Thursday he might join with some far-right members of the House to challenge the results as Congress certifies the results of the Electoral College. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is not going to like this, having already warned Senate Republicans that it would be a "terrible vote," forcing them to look anti-Trump by voting to uphold the election results.

But Tuberville's plan to try to help overturn the election results had the intended effect: a barrage of glowing tweets from Trump. Tuberville is "a great champion and man of courage. More Republican Senators should follow his lead," according to one tweet. "We had a landslide victory, and then it was swindled away from the Republican Party - but we caught them. Do something!" Every part of this is false, of course.

Less than an hour later: "Tommy will be more popular than ever before - a hero!" And "Thank you!" And then a barrage of retweets of Trump supporters exulting in Tuberville's plan. A little later, "I am very disappointed in the United States Supreme Court, and so is our great country!" The man was really in a desperate false hope/grief/rage/denial spiral Thursday evening.

Around the same time Trump went off on this tear, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany put on her campaign hat and lied about the election, insisting that the results had been suspicious in ways they simply were not and holding out hope to supporters that "litigation is ongoing"—despite those multiple rejections from the Supreme Court and dozens of rejections from lower courts.

Tuberville can definitely complicate the vote certification process in Congress, making it take hours longer and creating kind of a mess. He can't stop Joe Biden from becoming president, given McConnell's refusal to go along. But Trump's refusal to acknowledge reality is getting new fuel, priming the country for weeks more ugliness and for Trump's supporters to continue digging in in the belief that Biden's presidency will not be legitimate. The only good that can come out of this is if Trump's base turns against congressional Republicans who vote to uphold the will of the voters, and even that is not what you'd call a good outcome.

Biden Team Rapidly Filling Posts To Foil McConnell's Obstruction

Biden Team Rapidly Filling Posts To Foil McConnell's Obstruction

Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

President-elect Joe Biden's transition team is well aware that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is unlikely to do anything to ease the path for the new administration if he remains the majority leader after the Georgia Senate runoffs. The confirmation process for Biden nominees is likely to proceed at a crawl, and because of the horrendous mess Trump has created, Biden can't afford delays. So the team is furiously staffing from the bottom up.

They're racing to tap appointees for all the lower-lever jobs that don't require Senate confirmation, especially in national security positions. That will allow his administration to start implementing his agenda—and cleaning up Trump messes—immediately, without having to wait for the top leadership to be confirmed. It will also ensure that there's time for security clearances to be done where necessary by Jan. 20. Andrew Bates, a transition spokesman, said that the team is working on two tracks—identifying the nominees for confirmed positions while staffing everything else up. "We are working with both parties in Congress to confirm qualified, experienced nominees while hiring senior agency leaders to be ready on Day One to overcome the pandemic and the recession while safeguarding American national security."

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Donald Trump

Until He’s Out Of Office, Trump Will Be Very Dangerous

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

America is entering a very dangerous time. For his next 11 weeks in office, Donald Trump will be in a position to exact revenge, a word that by his own account is his entire life philosophy. We should all hope that he goes into one of his down emotional periods for an extended time so that lethargy, not blind rage, dominates his behavior until Jan. 20.

Through phony charges of ballot-box stuffing, firing officials, issuing pardons to friends and family and other acts Trump can do great damage between now and Inauguration Day, when his shield against criminal prosecution vanishes. He can also hobble the transition to a Biden administration.

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