McConnell's statement could have served as a really short synopsis of the 1/6 commission's investigation. I remember vividly cheering on McConnell as he gave this speech on the senate floor. First time ever, but.... At least Cheney and Raskin stayed the course. A whole whopping two GOP congressional members. That is a crystal clear indictment of the entire GOP political establishment.
"All my GOP friends" and family of which I keep at arms length nowadays cannot bring themselves to admit TFG's criminality and the GOP's complicity on what happened January 6th 2021. The door cracks open ever so slightly on introspection, but closes back up with comments like, they were all bad candidates, the lesser of two evils(re: bad mid-term outcome). Only one family member has admitted openly to me that voting for TFG was a mistake. Their version of reality is not my version of reality. We all saw on national tv what happened on that fateful day. All norms of civility and our seat of government, the Capitol building itself was shit on. I have a list of people that I cast to outer darkness and will no longer speak with because of their support of TFG and repubs. Those that speak to me I make no overtures to call them.
The last paragraph of the NYT article on the report states that Ginni Thomas would not be referred, because her involvement was "tertiary." Looking specifically at the fake electors scheme, if she is tertiary, Eastman is secondary. Who would be primary, do you think? Well, one schemer is married to Clarence Thomas and the other is his former law clerk and family friend. If he was not involved, I'm an astronaut.
Like Dec. 7, 1942 and Sept. 11, 2001, Jan. 6 is a day that shall live in infamy. Donald Trump told his people to always remember this day, and so we shall, for the reasons perfectly summed up by Mitch McConnell at the time. The then-President lied incessantly and whipped up his followers to try to overturn an election he lost, watched them attack the very seat of our government, and was loathe to tell them to stop. That Mitch, Lindsey Graham, and their ilk can stomach even the thought of risking going through that again is unbelievable. They cannot be patriots.
I hadn’t thought about civics classes in a long time. Gary Hart has a good point. I’m supposing that the MAGA Republicans would be as opposed to them as they are to CRT.
I feel sure that if I cut and pasted Mitch McConnell's remarks into an email and sent them to all my GOP friends, I would be accused of everything from Trump Derangement Syndrome to bearing false witness against their Dark Lord. I'd hope, though, that McConnell would not disavow his own words.
An article to save for the History books! Around 2010, I was a Reading & IT consultant for a well known firm working in CT. Since understanding the lesson required a basic knowledge of “Government”, I posed the question of “What is Government” to the 7th Grade class. Absolute Silence prevailed. In my mind we really need to bring back Civics classes. How can our young people, many of whom have trouble reading, understand Democracy if they have no idea what Government means?
27 minutes in, no comments. Sure, part of it is it is a day off for a lot of people, but to me the takeaway from the above is that there isn't anything else to say. The events of that day and those (plural!) responsible are so obvious that it takes willful blindness not to see it. I need look no further than highly placed elected Republicans for all the confirmation that I need that what my own eyes and ears observed during the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 matches the reality that the Jan6 committee laid out. What else is there to say? What more of a judgement do we need on those who are now minimizing and deflecting from that day?
Perhaps a minor point given all the material in today's Morning Shots, but NC public schools require civics to graduate. My daughter is taking it now. I just read that only 8 states require a specific course (and for my son, civics was embedded in another social studies class, but it was the same material covered in my daughter's class). Daughter's class has discussed the Trumpist malfeasance wrt the constitution. Perhaps that's because we are in a mostly blue area. Might not be done the same way in the redder parts. Sadly.
It’s noteworthy to me that Mitch McConnell referred to the events of Jan. 6 as a “foreseeable consequence” of Donald Trump’s actions. His wording recalls Senator Sam Ervin’s remarks at the Watergate hearings, “All men are presumed to intend the natural consequences of their acts.” What was Trump’s intent? Well, what were the foreseeable consequences of his actions?
How these loathsome political actors can look in the mirror, is beyond me. The facts speak for themselves. Your post should be required reading by all. Of course, that is a pipe dream.
Now it is the crazies v. Jack Smith. It is the crazies against the rule of law. It is the crazies propped up by the very enablers like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, the Koch, et al, against the average American that struggles to make a good life. It stinks. The whole rotten thing stinks. And yet, it persists.
This is, for me, in some ways the most telling detail thus far. Never heard of this guy, but he literally says the thing to do is divide America in two so that they can make an illegal power play to retain the presidency:
"Vince Haley, deputy assistant to the president for policy, strategy and speechwriting, also was communicating about such a plan less than a week after the election, the report said.
“ 'Imagine if every red state legislature slated zero electors,' Haley wrote. “It would reveal that we are a red country. To do this we would have to jack this to the nth degree as a battle of tribes.” Haley pressed the strategy in texts and emails, including to Johnny McEntee, assistant to the president and director of presidential personnel, whom Haley cast as a “direct conveyor to Boss with ideas.”
"Haley told McEntee they “should baldly assert” that state lawmakers “have the constitutional right to substitute their judgment for a certified majority of their constituents,” if it prevents socialism, the report said."
McConnell's statement could have served as a really short synopsis of the 1/6 commission's investigation. I remember vividly cheering on McConnell as he gave this speech on the senate floor. First time ever, but.... At least Cheney and Raskin stayed the course. A whole whopping two GOP congressional members. That is a crystal clear indictment of the entire GOP political establishment.
"it doesn’t outweigh crime, inflation, COVID, school closures, etc."
Precisely the kind of logic that caused many Italians to support Mussolini after the March On Rome.
"All my GOP friends" and family of which I keep at arms length nowadays cannot bring themselves to admit TFG's criminality and the GOP's complicity on what happened January 6th 2021. The door cracks open ever so slightly on introspection, but closes back up with comments like, they were all bad candidates, the lesser of two evils(re: bad mid-term outcome). Only one family member has admitted openly to me that voting for TFG was a mistake. Their version of reality is not my version of reality. We all saw on national tv what happened on that fateful day. All norms of civility and our seat of government, the Capitol building itself was shit on. I have a list of people that I cast to outer darkness and will no longer speak with because of their support of TFG and repubs. Those that speak to me I make no overtures to call them.
The last paragraph of the NYT article on the report states that Ginni Thomas would not be referred, because her involvement was "tertiary." Looking specifically at the fake electors scheme, if she is tertiary, Eastman is secondary. Who would be primary, do you think? Well, one schemer is married to Clarence Thomas and the other is his former law clerk and family friend. If he was not involved, I'm an astronaut.
Like Dec. 7, 1942 and Sept. 11, 2001, Jan. 6 is a day that shall live in infamy. Donald Trump told his people to always remember this day, and so we shall, for the reasons perfectly summed up by Mitch McConnell at the time. The then-President lied incessantly and whipped up his followers to try to overturn an election he lost, watched them attack the very seat of our government, and was loathe to tell them to stop. That Mitch, Lindsey Graham, and their ilk can stomach even the thought of risking going through that again is unbelievable. They cannot be patriots.
I hadn’t thought about civics classes in a long time. Gary Hart has a good point. I’m supposing that the MAGA Republicans would be as opposed to them as they are to CRT.
Also, nice thread by Amanda. 👏
I feel sure that if I cut and pasted Mitch McConnell's remarks into an email and sent them to all my GOP friends, I would be accused of everything from Trump Derangement Syndrome to bearing false witness against their Dark Lord. I'd hope, though, that McConnell would not disavow his own words.
An article to save for the History books! Around 2010, I was a Reading & IT consultant for a well known firm working in CT. Since understanding the lesson required a basic knowledge of “Government”, I posed the question of “What is Government” to the 7th Grade class. Absolute Silence prevailed. In my mind we really need to bring back Civics classes. How can our young people, many of whom have trouble reading, understand Democracy if they have no idea what Government means?
SallyJones
27 minutes in, no comments. Sure, part of it is it is a day off for a lot of people, but to me the takeaway from the above is that there isn't anything else to say. The events of that day and those (plural!) responsible are so obvious that it takes willful blindness not to see it. I need look no further than highly placed elected Republicans for all the confirmation that I need that what my own eyes and ears observed during the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 matches the reality that the Jan6 committee laid out. What else is there to say? What more of a judgement do we need on those who are now minimizing and deflecting from that day?
The f***ers put the coup in writing. How, HOW??!!, did we ever let these nimrodians ever gain an ounce of power?
Perhaps a minor point given all the material in today's Morning Shots, but NC public schools require civics to graduate. My daughter is taking it now. I just read that only 8 states require a specific course (and for my son, civics was embedded in another social studies class, but it was the same material covered in my daughter's class). Daughter's class has discussed the Trumpist malfeasance wrt the constitution. Perhaps that's because we are in a mostly blue area. Might not be done the same way in the redder parts. Sadly.
It’s noteworthy to me that Mitch McConnell referred to the events of Jan. 6 as a “foreseeable consequence” of Donald Trump’s actions. His wording recalls Senator Sam Ervin’s remarks at the Watergate hearings, “All men are presumed to intend the natural consequences of their acts.” What was Trump’s intent? Well, what were the foreseeable consequences of his actions?
How these loathsome political actors can look in the mirror, is beyond me. The facts speak for themselves. Your post should be required reading by all. Of course, that is a pipe dream.
Now it is the crazies v. Jack Smith. It is the crazies against the rule of law. It is the crazies propped up by the very enablers like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, the Koch, et al, against the average American that struggles to make a good life. It stinks. The whole rotten thing stinks. And yet, it persists.
I often ponder how the whole Trump presidency would have played out if McCain hadn't died...
The GOP does not care for the USA. Period.
This is, for me, in some ways the most telling detail thus far. Never heard of this guy, but he literally says the thing to do is divide America in two so that they can make an illegal power play to retain the presidency:
"Vince Haley, deputy assistant to the president for policy, strategy and speechwriting, also was communicating about such a plan less than a week after the election, the report said.
“ 'Imagine if every red state legislature slated zero electors,' Haley wrote. “It would reveal that we are a red country. To do this we would have to jack this to the nth degree as a battle of tribes.” Haley pressed the strategy in texts and emails, including to Johnny McEntee, assistant to the president and director of presidential personnel, whom Haley cast as a “direct conveyor to Boss with ideas.”
"Haley told McEntee they “should baldly assert” that state lawmakers “have the constitutional right to substitute their judgment for a certified majority of their constituents,” if it prevents socialism, the report said."