The Electoral College vote was another mile marker on the road of the endless election. The one significant development here is that now several Senate Republicans — including Mitch McConnell — have publicly recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect.
This seems to me to be a reasonably clear signal to Donald Trump that these Senate Republicans do not want him to push his overturn-the-election efforts further. They certainly don’t want to get the Senate involved in the scheme floated recently to use Congress to overturn the election results.
One, it’s doubtful Senate Republicans have the votes to overturn the election. After yesterday’s EC vote, several old establishment GOP senators, including Roy Blunt and Majority Whip John Thune, came out and said it’s over; Biden is the president-elect; time to move on. Even before the EC vote, a few senators had already signaled they were not going to get on the overturn-the-results bandwagon.
Two, after watching Proud Boys chant “Destroy the GOP!” on the streets of Washington last weekend, I suspect Mitch McConnell does not want to force any of his senators to go on record being for or against a second term for Trump. Nothing good could come of that for the Republican Party. Mitch may also be worried that the Trumpers are hurting Republican chances in the Georgia runoff elections. Mitch’s congratulation to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was a big, fat signal to Trump that the Senate would not be dragged into his schemes, and also to Republican senators not to try anything stupid.
McConnell’s comments should have the effect of taking some pressure off his colleagues, but they also matter practically speaking. The position of the Senate GOP leader is now clear, pretty much negating any chance that Senate Republicans would participate in some kind of unlikely end-run not to accept the verdict of the electoral college. …
… The Senate was the best shot Trump had to at least gum up the works Jan. 6. If one House member and one senator object to accepting a given state’s slate of electors, Congress has to consider it. If a GOP senator does that now, they’ll be acting expressly in opposition to what their leader says. It might still happen, but McConnell’s statement should let some air out of the balloon. The gambit was never going to succeed, mind you, but it could have created some heartburn in our body politic; McConnell is basically signaling he won’t participate in such shenanigans.
It’s not ending, however. Trump is raving that the Republican governor and secretary of state of Georgia should be thrown in jail. Yesterday Stephen Miller was on Fox promising that the Trump team supported “alternate” electors who would send their votes to Congress, neener neener, but that seems to have fizzled out.
And, of course, right-wing media are still pushing “stop the steal.” Just today Trump seized on a new claim of fraud involving Dominion voting machines in Michigan. Although Trump is over the “boy who cried wolf” limit for most folks, the True Believers are lapping it up. As the Arizona electors voted yesterday, an Arizona state legislator called on consituents to “buy more ammo.”
Last night in Missouri, a Republican-led state House committee voted to approve a resolution that declared Missouri lawmakers “have no faith in the validity” of 2020 election results in six battleground states President Donald Trump lost this year. Rudy Giuliani was there, virtually.
Giuliani, who testified via Zoom, outlined examples of what he characterized as fraud in other states, which he said have not been fully investigated — not by election officials nor by courts.
That testimony drew an angry response from Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, who referenced GOP officials who have certified the results of the presidential election. Merideth also cited statements by U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who said there was no evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome of the national election.
“Are all these Republicans lying?” Merideth asked Giuliani. “Are they complicit? Are they incompetent?”
Giuliani told Merideth to “calm down”; Merideth responded, “I am tired of your lies. America is tired of your lies. And they are dangerous, sir. They are dangerous.”
Well, good on you, Rep. Merideth. I’m glad to see there’s someone sensible in Jefferson City. Just don’t drink the water there, dude. I think it rots brain cells.
Missouri state Representative Peter Merideth, a Democrat who represents a district within the city of St. Louis. His district includes The Hill (Italian neighborhood; home of Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola) and the Botanical Garden.
The resolution carries no weight, and the Republican chair of the state House Rules Committee has already said his committee isn’t going to take it up.
And Vladimir Putin has congratulated Joe Biden already. Maybe Trump will get a clue that it’s over. Melania should be done packing by now.
See also:
Jonathan Last, Everyone Trump Touches Dies: The List
Jonathan Swan: Scoop: Trump’s frenetic, fanciful, bitter final plea
Adios, adieu, trumpster. Don't let the door hit your big fat ass on the way out.
When do they bring in the fumigators to the White House?
P.S. Excuse my English!
An item that I think is significant, Trump has been fundraising for the GA Senate runoff election but siphoning off the money for himself.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/14/trump-republicans-georgia-fundraising-445207
That means Trump is giving Mitch the middle finger because McConnell's job is on the line. Surprise, Mitch – it's all about Trump. Trump wants his cultists to bring presents to the POTUS pity party. "Stabbed In The Back" will be the headlines, as Trump turns the Senate rejection into proof that Mitch is part of the deep state who has been opposing Trump all along. If Trump s going to be defeated, he will take Mitch down with him.
The "betrayal" by Mitch may trigger Trump into pulling his support for the Senate candidates. It's bad politics to give the Senate to Democrats solely for revenge, but it's part of Trump's character. Trump doesn't expect his people to follow him over the cliff – he wants them to go first. Barr wouldn't go over the cliff by asserting massive fraud which Barr could not prove. What does that say about Trump's relationship with Mitch?
"When you are in business you need to get even with people who screw you. You need to screw them back 15 times harder. You do it not only to get the person who messed with you but also to show the others who are watching what will happen to them if they mess with you."
Knowing Trump I wouldn't be surprised if he wants the GOP to be as weak and divided as they possibly can be. Not for revenge, but it would allow Trump to position himself as the potential savior who can make the GOP great again. By targeting those who don't go along as infidels who need to be purged because they don't share his vision of America's greatness.
Trump has already referred to himself as the golden goose and believes that all of the 80 million votes cast for him are rightfully his based solely on his greatness, and have nothing to due with the existing GOP infrastructure. Like a money grubbing evangelist Trump will blame his political misfortunes on a lack of faith among his followers and sell them on the idea that if they work hard enough and invest in him they can have the America they dream of. It's them who failed. But Trump is willing to bear the blows on their behalf to restore America to its greatness.
I agree that Trump wants to position himself as savior but I doubt he will run again. IMO, Trump would rather be the Godfather and call in with edicts to the Oval Office from the golf course. Trump might back Ivanka in a bid in 2024. True or not, I hear she may run against Rubio (Florida) for Senate in 2022. Whether Trump runs or Ivanka runs, the Trumps want the establishment wing of the GOP as weak as possible in 2024 because that's where the source of a primary election threat lies.
Here's the story of another name that can be added to the list of everyone Trump touches dies. It reads like an episode from American Horror Story. It really makes me wonder how anybody can get so caught up in Trump's conspiracy fantasies that they would just throw their life away. I guess the bright side to this lunacy is that this Trump minion didn't act to administer divinely inspired 2nd amendment justice to the poor air conditioning repairman for his nonexistent evildoing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/former-houston-police-captain-paid-to-hold-up-air-conditioner-repairman-over-crackpot-voter-fraud-theory-cops/ar-BB1bXnNb
Seen on Markos Moulitsas’ twitter feed:
This isn’t some rogue election fraud vigilante in Houston. He was paid $266K by a prominent group in the state run by a QAnon believer. That group’s lawyer is the former head of the Houston GOP.
I think what finally shamed the almost always completely shameless Moscow Mitch McConnell today, is that tRUMP's boss, Vladimir Putin, publicly called Joe Biden the "President-elect" before his other hireling, Ol' Moscow Mitch himself, did!
Please, Oh Great FSM, if we ever do end-up having a dictator here in America, would it be too much to ask that that individual at least be competent, semi-sane, and relatively quiet, instead of the crazed whining and shrieking fat orange male banshee with bouncy man-boobs, a bad toupee, and tiny, tiny hands, like the wannabe DICKtator who's currently occupying the Awful Orifice in the White (Power) House until noon on January 20th, 2021?!??
OY!!!!! The last four years feel like half a century, and the last year, a decade!
Hopefully, tRUMP and Rudy are done pulling their KKKrazee KKKoo-KKKoo KKKoup attempts!!!
But since tRUMP's clearing out lifetime civil servants in the Defense Department and DHS, and replacing them with inexperienced clue-free political sycophants, I worry he's still got something up his mayo and ketchup-stained sleeves.
Swami,
It sounds like "FloriDUH man" has some competition from "TexASS man!"
And the dolt was an ex-cop!?!
But I gotta admit, man, THAT ex-cop sure showed us libs, huh?!?!?
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know…you've got to get up pretty early in the morning to out do Floriduh man.
I mean, just off the top of your head name another state where a contestant ends up dying in a cockroach eating contest?