Any Republican not calling out Trump at this point is a traitor:
President Trump has invited the leaders of Michigan’s Republican-controlled state legislature to meet him in Washington on Friday, according to a person familiar with those plans, as the president and his allies continue an extraordinary campaign to overturn the results of an election he lost.
Trump’s campaign has suffered defeats in courtrooms across the country in its efforts to allege irregularities with the ballot-counting process, and has failed to muster any evidence of the widespread fraud that the president continues to claim tainted the 2020 election.
Trump lost Michigan by a wide margin: At present, he trails President-Elect Joe Biden in the state by 157,000 votes. Earlier this week, the state’s Republican Senate majority leader said an effort to have legislators throw out election results was “not going to happen.”
Remember when Republicans lost their shit about Clinton talking to the Attorney General?
Open Thread: Biden and Harris Live
debbie
Still won’t be enough to win.
Elizabelle
Terry Gross interviewed President Obama today. She brought up the Republicans and their horrible behavior, with many questions.
Obama was very even-tempered, but he called them out too, albeit in a way that will not alert the mouth-breathers. He pretty much said that Trump was Trump, but the complicity (not his word) of the Republicans surprised him.
debbie
Will there be Big Macs?
bbleh
No no NO. Didn’t you get the memo? Only Republicans are allowed to use the word “traitor,” because Republicans are the True Heartland Americans™. This is why they stick little American flags on everything and act like they own it, and why they carry little copies of the Constitution in their pockets that they’ve never read.
And besides, bothsides something something, and what about the tan suit?
bbleh
@debbie: Lol, I was actually wondering who was gonna pay for the plane flights. And as for the Hatch Act implications of using the White House, well, I guess we’re kinda past that at this point.
scav
There’s also this. Trump administration in ‘staggering’ isolation at UN on health issues
Our “only consistent allies were Russia, Belarus, Syria, Qatar and the Pacific island states of Nauru and Palau” in similar failed votes.
debbie
@scav:
Bibi has much ‘splaining to do.
bbleh
@debbie: Bibi has seen the writing on the wall. He called Biden a few days ago.
Heywood J.
@debbie: Biden needs to initiate a countersuit for attempted voter fraud.
Heywood J.
They passed that point a long, long time ago.
ant
I tried to explain this to my nonpolitical husband two weeks ago.
I put it in simple terms that I could get out fast before he changed the subject. Something like:
Republicans are not excepting the results of the election. They may have the power to not do so, if they don’t there will come a day in the near future when they do. America with elections that don’t matter is a new chapter for this country, and this is kind of a big thing.
He immediately changed the subject, and had no thoughts on the matter what-so-ever.
Life goes on I guess.
Johnny Gentle (famous crooner)
There’s no point accusing them of hypocrisy. For republicans it’s never been about “if we cross this line, it means Democrats will be able to do it too.” That’s because they are fascists. Their belief in governance is simply “we can always do this, you never can.” So, it’s not that “a president” talked to the Attorney General, it’s that a Democrat did it.
To them, Democrats are sub-humans and Democratic presidents are automatically illegitimate. You can overturn an election because Democrats should never be allowed to vote. The fantasies about autocratic rule and gunning down Democrats isn’t some fringe thing, it’s their core belief at heart.
I really don’t see how this ever walks itself back. Once you realize that you can disenfranchise people, destroy their rights, de-humanize them and manipulate political power to remove them from the process, why would you ever stop? Especially when your view becomes the view of the republican party? I honestly wonder if in another decade or so, OANN will be the Hutu Power of America and outright eliminationist rhetoric and violence won’t be the norm.
Keith P.
Million dollar question – what does Trump plan on offering the Michigan legislators to trash the will of the people? I’m already pretty sure he’d outright offer a SCOTUS seat to any judge willing to throw a major case his way, so what can he offer state legislators, other than – dare I say – a cabinet post?
Splitting Image
I need to watch that movie again sometime soon. A dozen great performances, gorgeous costumes, and as timely as ever.
J R in WV
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner):
Could be… but if they start on the gunning down parts, they will quickly discover that many, many Democrats are ex-military, grew up in hunting households, or are otherwise no willing to go quietly into that bad night.
Many of us will shoot back, and I’ll bet my accuracy is better than most.
bbleh
@Keith P.: He’ll offer them whatever they want. But he certainly won’t deliver if he doesn’t somehow manage to hang on to the office, and he probably wouldn’t anyway.
One assumes that, even though they’re state legislators, they’re still smart enough to know that (if not, FSM help the Sovereign State of Michigan), and so about all they’ll be looking for are the photos (which they should have the brains to get up-front) and the bragging rights, which one assumes will serve them well with the local Cultists in their next election
One also assumes that either the Trump people paid for their flights upfront or they’re using campaign funds, and that their lawyers have advised them that they probably won’t be charged as accessories to violation of the Hatch Act.
Ksmiami
@Johnny Gentle (famous crooner): we can flip it back on them though.
kindness
I’m wondering when the crazy right wingers are going to burn down the Halls of Congress for their own Reichstag fire.
Ksmiami
@J R in WV: drone them out of existence- without leaving the comfort of home
VOR
I used to think conservatives wanted to go back before the New Deal. More and more, I’m thinking they want to go back before the Enlightenment. Feudalism with King Donald.
bbleh
@J R in WV: It has surprised me how many Dem friends who never fired a round in their lives have mentioned to me unprompted that they are buying weapons. And they’re taking it seriously — doing safety/handling courses and everything.
You know how the pollsters under-weighted the “WWC” vote in 2016, and the paranoid/”Q” vote in 2020? I’m starting to see some subpopulations that I’ll bet they’re gonna under-weight the next time around …
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Splitting Image: Ive never seen it, but I read all three of Mantel’s Cromwell novels. I gather I’m doing it backwards
Mai Naem mobile
We could look up what the GOP said about Bill Clinton running into Loretta Lynch at an airport and spending a few minutes talking to her. I am betting even Mittens won’t say anything as critical. Forget these people.
geg6
@J R in WV:
THIS. They will be in for a big surprise at my house.
Yarrow
@Elizabelle:
I find this disappointing. He had to deal with them for eight years. He should know who they are. Maybe there’s some strategy in him saying this but at this point the gloves need to be off. Call them traitors to the country.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: I will put up the transcript when it’s posted. Maybe tomorrow. Obama definitely spoke of the GOP’s obstruction during his presidency; he had no illusions there.
Mary G
@kindness: They’re getting there:
Pharniel
@bbleh: I’ve gotten mine in for servicing and made sure the ammo’s fresh.
I suspect the MI GOP heads, who have been consistent that “Trump Lost, get Over IT” – not because they are moral, but because they don’t have the votes – are going to show up, extract payments up front to their own PACs, walk out and go “We talked about what the Feds can do for hard hit Michigan” take the money and then go home.
@Mary G: Plan B is what got them called in. They were planning on gunning down LEOs & Republicans as ‘acceptable losses’ and that’s when they got popped.
Let it not be said that the MI GOP doesn’t understand the nature of crazy they are stoking and will crush it if it is ever an actual threat to them.
Keith P.
@bbleh: Apparently, they’re heading over to Trump to beg for COVID funds, so that’s their opening. All in the interest of public health.
Bokonon
The fact that they are finding no fraud won’t end things. Earlier today, I overheard two people listening to some right-wing podcast where a woman was droning about how “experts” and “people all over the world” were doing a deep dive into the numbers to show the election was stolen with “massive fraud” by Biden. The fact that these intrepid lawyers and investigators haven’t found any actual fraud in real investigations and recounts won’t convince the Trump people of anything other than how MASSIVE and DEVIOUS it all was.
They aren’t backing down.
Uncle Omar
Totally off topic…A question for Mr. Silverman. Are there any whisperings in the intelligence community of which you are aware that “Q” is a Russian intelligence operation? From the results it certainly smells like one from this corner of Colorado.
WaterGirl
@Keith P.: Does anyone actually believe that???
bbleh
@Keith P.: @WaterGirl: Lol, presumably it’s enough to justify their use of public funds for travel, since it’s state government business, yessir.
Given their past public statements and the level of media attention, I’m guessing little will come of it (being at the WH, they might get COVID, but whatever), so I assume by now it’s just another bit in The Big Trump Circus. But they’ll get their photos and their street cred with the Crazies, so win-win.
WaterGirl
@bbleh: Knowing Trump, even if they already told him “no dice” he wanted them to come anyway to stir some more shit and add uncertainty.
I hope these guys get smeared with the Trump shit and can’t get it off no matter how hard they try.
J R in WV
@Pharniel:
If you can’t disassemble, clean, and lube your weapons, you shouldn’t be shooting them. And ammo doesn’t need to be fresh.
ETA: Youtube has video of most common OTC firearms being broken down, cleaned, lubricated and reassembled.
jonas
Yeah, but they could not give less of a shit.
glory b
@J R in WV: As that ancient African American saying goes, “Fcuk around and find out.”
AxelFoley
@glory b: LOLOLOLOL