Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

A consequence of cucumbers

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

T R E 4 5 O N

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Not all heroes wear capes.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

As long as McCarthy is Speaker, the House will never be in order.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Insurrection Open Thread: Disgraceful

Insurrection Open Thread: Disgraceful

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It would be shameful, but these people — and particularly their Dear Leader — are incapable of shame.

Dan Lamothe is on the ‘military beat’ for the Washington Post:

Never forget. Never forgive.

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  2. 2.

    Nora Lenderbee

    THIS MORNING at the rally Giuliani called for “trial by combat.”

    This 58-year-old woman is ready to meet you one on one, Rudy.

  3. 3.

    jl

    Repeating my comment from previous  thread:

    Omar should be able to  get the bill of impeachment written up in time for the Senate to get the trial over by tonight and kick Trump out. McConnell should be talking with House to get that done, or his name goes down in even more infamy than it does already.

    I’ve heard talk that some in Congress are asking for a quick 25th amendment procedure. OK with me, need to two track this and get the criminal president out asap.

  5. 5.

    patrick II

    I suppose there is some logic to Trump’s motivation to what is happening today, but for the last few weeks he has been trying to get back at Georgia and today the country. Vindictiveness, regardless of outcome, is the motivator for Trump.

  6. 6.

    Chyron HR

    This Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence.

    The tweets are what’s causing the violence, you fuckers!

  7. 7.

    banditqueen

    The fascist orange brute told his brownshirts to stand down and stand by, then he told them to come–and neither he nor they are finished with their attempted coup.

  8. 8.

    jl

    I surmised to someone, or maybe commented on this blog, that Trump may have come back to DC to agitate and pep talk and cajole and threaten his Congressional flunkies to do whatever necessary for what he envisioned as his last stand on Jan 6. Wonder if he did anything else. That should be investigated. Let his lawyer flunkies run to court and try to argue again that the president, as a tin pot dictator, can never even be investigated.

  10. 10.

    Martin

    I’m seeing members of Congress calling for the expulsion of their fellow members for their support of this. I’m sure there will be motions, I hope to hell they succeed.

  12. 12.

    Jerzy Russian

    If we can’t have arrests and convictions of various offenders, I would settle for Ted Cruz getting his face punched repeatedly on national TV.

  13. 13.

    Josie

    Interestingly enough, I received an email from Beto O’Rourke this morning asking me to join his organization, Powered by People, in their mission to register voters and stay in touch with them in preparation for the next election.  I am determined to do so and do everything in my power to see that Ted Cruz no longer represents the state of Texas.  I have always disliked him intensely, but now I feel a white hot hatred that is hard to describe.

  19. 19.

    MattF

    Apparently, Congress is staying in session this evening– at an undisclosed location–  so who knows what might happen… No point in speculating, but nothing would surprise me at this point.

  20. 20.

    jl

    @Wapiti: What I heard on the news is just that the talk about doing the 25th is currently coming from Congress. But you are correct, it is Pence’s and the cabinet’s job. Why aren’t they doing their clear duty?

  21. 21.

    John S.

    The national disgrace continues. With a curfew in effect, these scumbag traitors are still on the streets and the police are not doing a fucking thing about it.

  22. 22.

    L85NJGT

    Hawley and Cruz should have a slap fight at the top of the Capitol steps to determine who is “the successor”. Neither has the C list Q rating, or reality show chops to pull it off, but they seem to believe it’s there for the taking.

  24. 24.

    banditqueen

    @lamh36:  Ms Ivanky-vank will never be Senator Barbie–she can keep on keeping on with her hair flipping and rictus smiles for her twitter selfies–that’s as much limelight as she’ll get.

  25. 25.

    Benw

    Breaking that apparently Pence deployed the DC NG – not Trump! Holy shit

    Pelosi says the House will reconvene tonight

  26. 26.

    jl

    Pence apparently knows whether Trump refused to do his duty, and he almost certainly  refused. He should start 25th amendment process. Congress should impeach, convict and remove from office asap.

    @nytimes

    ” Vice President Mike Pence, not President Trump, approved the order to deploy the D.C. National Guard on Wednesday, defense and administration officials said. It was unclear why the president, who is still the commander in chief, did not give the order. ”

    https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1346951431195144200

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @jl: I want to see Congress finish counting the Electoral votes and certify Biden’s win before they do anything else. But it sounds like that is happening now.

  32. 32.

    jl

    Just heard a reporter, on a national news broadcast, say that Trump’s behavior has ‘certainly raised eyebrows’.

    Edit: some of the media commentary has provided me grim black comedy relief today.

  34. 34.

    VOR

    I keep thinking about the cleanup. They will have to check everywhere to see if any pipe bombs or IEDs were left behind. The mob breached Congressional offices, I wonder if any classified information was not secured. Were any SCIFs breached? Were any of these useful idiots acting as agents for a foreign country?

  35. 35.

    Leto

    @lamh36: fucking, preach!

     

    ALSO WHY THE FUCK ARE THE INSURRECTIONISTS STILL OUT AND ABOUT? THERE’S A FUCKING CURFEW; ARREST THEM!

  36. 36.

    banditqueen

    @jl: I hope this means that Pence the dominionist is in effect acting prez while the Fascist-with-orange-on-his-face is lost in his tweets–and I hope the Fascist is impeached and removed from office before Biden/Harris are sworn in.

  39. 39.

    Rusty

    The entire leadership of the capitol police should be fired.  Gross incompetence at best, malfeasance or active collusion at worst.  We really are a failing country.

  43. 43.

    Patricia Kayden

    Make no mistake, the so-called leader of our country, who swore to protect and defend the Constitution, directed a horde of white supremacist domestic terrorists to stage a coup to overturn a legitimately decided election. He isn't just encouraging them, he IS them. #traitor— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) January 6, 2021

  44. 44.

    jl

    @banditqueen: Pence knows what happened, and he should act. He can’t do it all by himself, but he can do his duty and start the process. Even looking at it from a completely selfish point of view, it will look better for him when he gives testimony and has to answer questions.

  47. 47.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @chopper: Facebook put me in FB jail for thirty days for telling someone they had an overactive imagination on a public thread INSIDE OF TWO MINUTES. So timely response IS possible.

  48. 48.

    Subsole

    @Leto: This too. That park looks incredibly crowded for a curfew.

    Really just highlights that non-conservatives are second class citizens.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    “Your call from an undisclosed location is very important to us. Please stay on the line.”

    //

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @MattF: The CNN report you link to is pretty good. Has some details from the gathering of Senators still at the Capitol. Joe Manchin:”We’re not letting those thugs run us off.”

  51. 51.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @debbie: Yep. If Georgia can replace its Republican Governor with a Democrat, we can let them in the Blue State club.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    @Cheryl Rofer: I’ll say it again.

    Kamala Harris adovcated for suspending Chumps accout in 2019 on the debate stage.   Folks on the same stage laughed at her.  Chris Hayes tried to make her out to be disingenuously pushing a gimmick.

    Imagine if twitter had done that then and Chump at the very least had some idea that there was a consequence to his tweeting and inciting violence and shit

  55. 55.

    Spanky

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Twitter just deleted Trump’s video justifying the insurrection.

    Careful! That tweet needs to be preserved in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.

    (Also for evidence at his trial.)

  56. 56.

    counterfactual

    @VOR: Ars Technica has an article about an idiot tweeting that since Pelosi’s staffers were evacuated so suddenly they left their computers on, he was going through the office emails.

  59. 59.

    MisterForkbeard

    The effort underway to get Cruz to back down must have failed miserably. I see that he’s out attacking Beto and others for noting his obvious encouragement of sedition and violence and says that Democrats need to calm down and not be violent.

  60. 60.

    lamh36

    Imagine getting shot to death trying to defend that P.O.S. who’s gonna be gone in 2 weeks anyway.

    Chide me if you want to, but what a stupid reason to die for…

  61. 61.

    MCA1

    @jl:  Whoa. That’s…a problem. I really haven’t given much credence to the 25th Amendment talk today, focusing on the need for Congress to impeach again instead, but damn. If Pence is actually in charge right now, wow.

  64. 64.

    Suzanne

    @lamh36: I hope Ivanka and Jared bought some property abroad. I hope they never feel safe in this country again. My contempt for them is overflowing.

  65. 65.

    jl

    @Baud: Enough time to 25th the guy and get that part over with before the do the count. Besides all the evil and criminality, Trump has clearly gone insane if he thought this vile stunt would work.

    Same for Giuliani and other Trumpster die-hards, but how to deal with them is another matter.

  68. 68.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    It’s a real shame the White Nationalist group Proud Boys goes by that name because every time they are referred to on television, their name makes them sound completely unserious. In my mind, I always hear “Proud Boys!” shouted out to the tune of Duran Duran’s Wild Boys.

  72. 72.

    Spanky

    So, what is going on with the DC police? There’s a curfew that’s not being enforced. Over half the force is non-white. I’d really like someone to ask some of these mooks exactly what orders they were given.

    If only there was some profession where someone could gather information, then organize it and  present their written report to the public …

  73. 73.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Just Some Fuckhead: I told someone on facebook that they were “insane” after they started talking about conspiracy theories and how this was really the left causing all the problems and so on.

    They reported me and facebook gave me a warning for “harassment”. I’m contesting it. That warning happened within 10 minutes and was approved by an actual human being.

  74. 74.

    jl

    @NotMax: ” To which someone must ask of Pence, by what authority? He is not vice commander-in-chief. ”

    Jefferson wrote that in some dire emergencies, an official’s first duty is to save the country, and if not legal, then afterward put himself (or these days, herself) at the mercy of the nation.

  76. 76.

    Danielx

    Remembered this evening –

    From The Coming Fury, Bruce Catton:

    …The War Department had gone to great lengths to build up a thoroughly loyal home guard in the District of Columbia to prevent a seizure of power by secessionist sympathizers, and Winfield Scott had remarked that the general tension was such that “a dogfight might cause the gutters of the capital to run with blood”. Just before Lincoln let Springfield, a citizen visited the old general to ask if precautions had been taken to make sure that Congress could formally count the electoral vote; it was being rumored that a mob would rise and prevent it, thus (presumably) making it impossible for Lincoln to take office.

    “I supposed that I had suppressed that infamy,” said General Scott. “Has it been revived? I have said that any man who attempted by force or unparliamentary disorder to obstruct or interfere with the lawful count of the electoral vote for the President and Vice President of the United States should be lashed to the muzzle of a twelve pounder and fired out a window of the Capitol. I would manure the hills of Arlington with the fragments of his body, were he a Senator or chief magistrate of my native state!” Subsiding a little, the general added” “While I command the army there will be no revolution in the city of Washington.”

  77. 77.

    jl

    @Spanky: Video evidence that the police are split, some trying to do their duty while greatly outnumbered, others don’t care to do anything or are collaborating with the rioters and insurrectionists. That is surely complicating things.

  78. 78.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Spanky: The onsite reports I saw were journalists wondering who was going to clean this mess up before the inauguration in two weeks.

  79. 79.

    Mrs. D. Ranged in AZ

    I’m just now seeing what is going on because I’ve been buried in work all day.  I am incandescently angry!  How TF did the Capitol Police allow this to happen?!  There is NO way (as Adam said earlier) that they didn’t know this was a possibility.  No matter what, whether they underestimated the threat or they knew and didn’t act to secure the Capitol, some heads need to roll.  In addition, every mothereffer officer who took selfies with the insurrectionists needs to be fired.  And they better round up the terrorists, hell they have their faces on video ffs, and put them in jail…every damn one of them.  So far as I’m concerned only one dead traitor so far is far too few.

  80. 80.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @MisterForkbeard: In my experience, you get more time in FB jail if you don’t accept their initial decision. I’m up to 41 days in the last two months. My inquiries to them go unanswered. I report other commenters who are guilty of far worse and they reply back that they don’t violate their community standards and I can block them if I want.

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    @debbie: fuq W.  At least Mittens said the work “brought on by the President of the United States”…W couldn’t even manage to even fuq’n directly mention that fuq’er

  82. 82.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Immanentize: It sounds like some of Trump’s cabinet are pretty aghast that he won’t even pretend to care about this, and is still encouraging the seditionists.

    If congressional leaders from both sides tell Pence to pull the trigger, he might do it. He’d do it as a “more in sorrow than in anger” thing, but maybe.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    @jl

    Addressed the weaknesses of the 25th downstairs.

    Biggest problem is the initial successful invoking of it is reversed simply by a subsequent letter from the president saying “Nope, I’m okay.”

  84. 84.

    Mary G

    Welp, this has caused a miracle. My housemate’s day client is a wealthy long-term Republican crazy lady who worshipped the ground Twitler walked on when he was elected. The housemate is not someone who keeps her mouth shut, so they agreed not to discuss politics. I just got a text from her saying the client told her she was getting out of the Republican Party based on today’s news they’ve been watching all day. I suspect having her taxes go way up after the “tax cut” bill passed a couple of years ago may have been a factor. I know Mimi Walters, her prior GOP rep had been telling her that they would get that fixed and she’s been souring ever since.

  86. 86.

    Leto

    So for people who were alive during the 60s: does this have the same existential feel? One of the things that a former boss condescendingly told me almost 5 years ago was that America now (2015/2016) was nowhere near the same level as the 1960s. Does that still hold true? Trying to get a gauge here.

  87. 87.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Yeah. I’m not actually in facebook jail, but they did give me a warning. I’m clicked the “I disagree with this decision and want it reviewed by somebody else” button.

    If they uphold the warning, fuck ’em. Not like I’m going to stop telling insane cultists that they’re insane cultists. Not an insult when it’s true and when they’ve just attacked the capitol building.

  89. 89.

    jl

    @NotMax: IANAL, but IIRC,  VP and cabinet can veto president’s ‘I’m OK, FU’ letter and then it goes to Congress. Not sure by what procedure Congress decides the matter though.

  90. 90.

    Suzanne

    When HILLARY called them DEPLORABLE…. I knew she was right, but I didn’t realize it was the truest thing ever said.

  92. 92.

    mrmoshpotato

    His former chief of staff said many are “domestic terrorists.”

    Which Dump maladministration scumbag called these fascist shitpiles “domestic terrorists?”

  94. 94.

    Leto

    Per MSNBC, Trumpov’s shitter account (twitter) has been locked, warns it could be suspended because he keeps inciting violence. Fucking suspend it already OMFG

  96. 96.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Wapiti: You think mebbe the reason he replaced so many Cabinet members with “acting” flunkies recently is he was afraid the originals would 25th him in response to something he was planning?

  97. 97.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Twitter has locked Trump’s account for inciting violence. Good christ, that only took four fucking years.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @Leto

    It’s of a different level. Off the cuff,

    The 60s were a protracted expression of protest and unrest seated in the frontal lobes.

    Today (and the protracted simmerings and eruptions leading up to it) are an expression of unrest and protest seated in the limbic lizard brain.

  103. 103.

    jl

    Trump needs to be removed from power right now. He still can can cause a huge constitutional crisis by trying to order the military to pull some BS, declare martial law, try to do some BS invoking of the insurrection act (on the pretext of controlling his own supporters? Or maybe declaring that the police who actually did their jobs today are traitors?) Who knows what that criminally insane moron will try next?

    Maybe Pence is running things and everyone is pretending that Trump delegated his powers to him? Who knows?

  104. 104.

    catclub

    @MisterForkbeard: It sounds like some of Trump’s cabinet are pretty aghast that he won’t even pretend to care about this

     

    is it to the level of Collins furrowed brows, yet?

  105. 105.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @NotMax

    What if the letter from the president is written in the Vice President’s blood?

  107. 107.

    VOR

    @NotMax: Yes, but the 25th has some delays built in. The President can object immediately, but the VP (acting President) has something like 4 days to respond. Then IIRC Congress has up to 21 days to act (i.e. vote) on the President’s request. So it may be possible to simply run out the clock until Trump’s term expires.

  108. 108.

    NotMax

    @jl

    Yes, the V.P. and cabinet must repeat the exercise within four days following the president’s letter (during which interim the president resumes his office – and during which time he/she presumably could fire cabinet members before they repeat their participation), and then both chambers of Congress must assent within 21 days following that.

    As I mentioned in the link, it’s a clunky vehicle.

  110. 110.

    KenK

    @Leto: @86 No, this is far worse, IMO.

    This is far more existential because of the number of people willing, if not eager to assume the cape of autocracy.

  111. 111.

    Zelma

    @Leto:

    Actually, this feels much worse than 1968-76.  Except for the assassinations.  I never felt that the Republican supporters of Nixon were as numerous or as nutty as Trumpsters.  And, say what you will about Nixon, he was not interested in destroying the Constitution.  And he never called for an attack on the Congress.  I never thought I’d see something like this.

  113. 113.

    VOR

    @NotMax: Yes it was. Nobody thought about a President like Trump.

    IANAL, but the text is fairly clear. Per the amendment, the President can object immediately and the VP & cabinet have 4 days to confirm their initial vote. If they confirm, then Congress has to vote and needs a 2/3rd vote of both Houses to uphold the VP’s determination, which is a pretty high bar. However, Congress has “twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration”, I assume for debate, before taking the vote. So that’s 25 days. If Congress is not in session then they must assemble within 48 hours and then has 21 days before the vote.

    The bar for upholding the 25th is actually higher than impeachment, but it seems like you could simply run out the clock for the remaining 14 days of the Trump administration.

  117. 117.

    Skepticat

    I want a medal given to the alert Senate staffer who rescued the hard-copy Electoral College ballots, which almost were left behind when they evacuated the chamber. However, it ought not be the Presidential Medal of Freedom, because that’s been utterly devalued.

  119. 119.

    Kattails

    Well I just tried to call Traitorous Ted Cruz to tell him that I’ve scraped dog shit off my shoe that was less odious than he is, but oddly enough the mailbox was full.

  120. 120.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    I fucking beg the Repiglicans to proceed with their objections and tomorrow deny they are part and parcel of that whole shit scene today.

  121. 121.

    sab

    @Leto: This feels much worse than the 60s, and I spent all of high school going to protests and working on political campaigns. ( Most of the adults volumteering on those campaigns were returned Vietnam vets.)

    Nixon was awful but he wasn’t batshit insane. His cabinet people were strong-willed and competent.

  122. 122.

    NotMax

    @VOR

    I will repeat that upon receipt of the letter of competency from the president, the status of the v.p. as Acting President ends and all the authority and power of the office is restored to the president, who *could” immediately fire all or any of the cabinet, effectively putting a halt to the subsequent procedure outlined in the rest of the amendment.

  123. 123.

    topclimber

    @NotMax: Get rid of the cabinet and Pence becomes a majority of one. He repeats the finding of incapacity and then lets the 21-day cooling off period run, with Biden taking office along the way. This assumes acting cabinet members can’t vote and that the Senate refuses to ratify any new ones in time for Trump to prevail.

    Another possibility: Those cabinet members who vote him out are unreachable (for security reasons) and do not get the news of their firing before they vote him out again. Naturally, they don’t accept email or tweets as appropriate notification. If they insist Trump delivers the news in person, they can delay for weeks while his lard ass moves around DC. Those letters of resignation they signed upon taking the job–make him prove they are legit.

    Personally I prefer impeachment. Even without conviction, the Loser-in-Chief gets the YUUGE distinction of being the only President impeached twice.

    Congress has no obligation to hold hearings or give him a chance to respond to charges (these are mere norms, which we now know are irrelevant). Impeach him for sedition and incitement to riot –should take no more than 15 minutes to pass that. Then slow walk the trial in the Senate. Adjourn it as moot when Biden takes office.

    Yes, I agree this is all wonderful fantasy. But the endgame is the same. He is done as President. Let us count the ways.

  124. 124.

    Kattails

    @Leto: I just wrote a bunch of shit and deleted it.  Thread’s probably dead now, but WTH. The outward demonstrations during the 60’s were certainly more in number and intensity as the decade wore on and the body count kept rising, with no sense of victory in sight.

    You can’t compare the two.  The 60’s had an external enemy that was Godless Communism and the overrunning of the entirety of Asia. It was a convenient smokescreen for a shit ton of evil goings-on in our own government.  There were three major news networks and newspapers to get your information from, all spouting the same thing.

    The last number of years have not seen anywhere near the level of demonstrations and violence, until this past year, and those for different reasons.  Yet more news, in depth, is available through so many more sources.  which also leaves it all wide open to so much more propaganda. The threat from our own government then and now is something most people don’t see or care to believe. Back then it was more obvious  because the government was actively perpetuating a horror that directly affected a lot of lives. People’s kids were coming home in body bags or with terrible wounds or PTSD and it went on and on and there was a lot of it.  There was a draft, no one could say “Well they knew what they signed up for”. We’re not going to go back to the 60’s. The domestic threats are similar, but the environment is completely different.

    But as I see Sab said, Nixon wasn’t batshit insane either. Remember, he had great support right up until the end.

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