Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

The willow is too close to the house.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans in disarray!

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Preparing to Take Out the Trash

Monday Morning Open Thread: Preparing to Take Out the Trash

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Consequences?!? gasps Lelie Stahl, for a *Republican*?

Consequences, Speaker Pelosi asserts grimly.

Or then again, suggests Rep. Clyburn, we could let the sorry bastid twist in the wind, while we do the most important stuff first…


And this four-year gap in your resume?
I was in prison.
You *sure* you weren’t working for the Trump administration?
Nope. Prison!

Reader Interactions

202Comments

  4. 4.

    Matt McIrvin

    If my lifelong experience is any guide, history, as taught in US high schools a hundred years from now, will record all this as just some good ole boys never meanin’ no harm, and add that it was probably something about tariffs.

    (Trump does love those tariffs.)

  5. 5.

    Baud

    President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to name William J. Burns, a career diplomat who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, to run the CIA. The choice marked Biden’s last major personnel announcement as he prepares to enter the White House on Jan. 20.

  6. 6.

    debbie

    Stupid program listings had 60 Minutes as a repeat. I am ticked off I missed this interview, but good on Nancy and fuck Leslie for her insipid questions.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Quick scan of Politico indicates that they have begun implementing their plan to shift the blame for the pandemic to the Dems.

  8. 8.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @Baud: Fuck Tiger Beat on the Potomac, fuck their stupid both-sides bullshit framing, and fuck the horse they rode in on.

    Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.

  9. 9.

    MJS

    Wait 100 days? Mark me down for a firm “no” on that. This seems to be something that requires a little more urgency than getting around to it on May 1.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    @Matt McIrvin:

    You gotta also love his latest regulation about forcing banks to stop discriminating and start making loans to gun manufacturers and payday loans companies.  //

  11. 11.

    TS (the original)

    Well Morning Joe has gone all in against the insurgents this morning including the president* & those who spoke with him on Wednesday in front of the crowd.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    re: Clyburn

    No.

    Don’t squander momentum, giving the infection leave to fester further. Don’t actively keep Dolt 45 politically relevant a moment longer than the absolute minimum the process allows.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    I wonder if a twitter ban and second impeachment just days before retirement might feel familiar to the man who insisted on firing Andrew McCabe the day before his pension vested— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) January 11, 2021

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    we could let the sorry bastid twist in the wind, while we do the most important stuff first…

    More important? Righting the ship of state is Job 1 before setting course.

  23. 23.

    MJS

    @debbie: This country does not have a 100 day span of attention. The media certainly does not. I’m not saying it needs to be January 20th at 1:00 p.m., but addressing an attempted coup, and the attempted execution of sitting Senators and Representatives, should be a priority that is addressed concurrently with the pandemic and the economy.

  25. 25.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    It’s one of many fires that the fucker is setting while going out the door – Pompeo is in overdrive.

    They are literally having to triage what to tackle first.

  26. 26.

    TS (the original)

    @raven:  Also a good discussion now as to how little information has been given to the public as to what LE/the army etc were or were not doing when this mob attacked.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    @MJS:

    Clyburn isn’t talking about dropping impeachment until later. I’m sure he and Nancy will keep a bright light on it those entire 100 days.

  28. 28.

    syphonblue

    Delaying any action against the President Who Started A Coup for 100 days is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard. By that point you’ve lost all political willpower for getting it done. There is absolutely no way that at that point it doesn’t just look like petty politicking. You’ve absolutely lost any possible Republican votes (Romney, Murkowski, Toomey) and you’ve probably even lost some Democrat votes as well. This is so beyond stupid I’m actually flabbergasted that anyone on the Dem side uttered it aloud. My flabs have been gasted.

  29. 29.

    Punchy

    This Twitter ban is amazing.  Havent heard shit from Diaper Don in days.  The realization that he’s completely silenced is great for reducing stress.

  35. 35.

    MJS

    @debbie: See my comment re: the attention span of the American people and the media. Republicans are already trying the “unity” card. That card will be more effective the longer this goes. We can’t simultaneously raise the alarms over how serious this was, and slow walk the political consequences. Also, as the Senate is slow walking the political process, there will be hearings, charges, etc., for those arrested. If nothing is being done with Trump, that will set the narrative of, “Those responsible are being held to account. No need for anything else.”

    Lastly, should the Senate wait 100 days to do anything about Cruz and Hawley? If not, then there is no good reason to wait 100 days on Trump.

  36. 36.

    hells littlest angel

    He should leave the White House without a pension, without Secret Service protection, without an office budget — well, in short, he should leave naked and in chains.

  37. 37.

    JPL

    @Punchy: trump is choosing to be silenced.   There is nothing stopping him from going into the press room and taking questions.   (whoops) There is something stopping him, he’s a coward.

  42. 42.

    TS (the original)

    @raven:  Haven’t heard him so lucid in years – and he hasn’t once mentioned “when I was in congress” or “but this is what is wrong with the Clintons”.

    I am suitably amazed.

  43. 43.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @debbie: My anger finally started easing last night.

    But I just read the report about an R House member being positive for COVID while sheltering with other members on Wednesday. So I’m not sure how long I’ll be more mellow

  44. 44.

    debbie

    @MJS:

    I don’t support slow walking, but I don’t think Wednesday will be fading from anyone’s mind any time soon. YMMV.

  45. 45.

    Ken

    @JPL: Is it possible that trump thinks he’s going to the Alamo?

    We’ll know if he’s standing there in Alamo TX and starts talking about Davy Crockett making his last stand on this very spot.

  46. 46.

    Wag

    @syphonblue:   I disagree. Impeach him now, then spend the first 100 days building an airtight case before taking the case to the Senate for trial and conviction.  Makes complete sense to me.

  50. 50.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @JPL: Oh Trump is off to Texas to day for a rally at Alamo, Texas, because apparently him and idiots around him didn’t realize that’s the not the Alamo Mission. After that it’s a farewell tour of hate for the next 8 days.  So a stupid rage filled a-hole tell the end.

    I think Trump wants Twitter and not say Fox and Friends is with Twitter Trump can keep on throwing out insults with Twitter all day and keep changing the conversation.

  52. 52.

    Punchy

    @JPL: this just highlights what a absurd Admin this has been.  They’re paralyzed without Twitter.  They dont know how to use the typical means of WH communication, like press briefings.   After 4 years of policy-by-tweet, it’s all Donny knows and nows he’s fucked.

  53. 53.

    NickM

    I rarely criticize Speaker Pelosi but she should not have conceded Trump can pardon himself. It’s a open question and I think less than likely he can.

  55. 55.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @MJS: Vanilla Isis is still out there doing acts of terror, they are moving the Guard into the Capital because there is supposed to be an attack the 17th and 20th. Calls for unity are horribly tone deaf in a situation like that.

  57. 57.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @hells littlest angel:

    he should leave naked and in chains

    What has the rest of the country (apart from Trump voters) done to deserve being subjected to such a sight? I’ll sign off on this punishment only if it’s like the scene from Game of Thrones, where he’s trailed by people shouting “Shame! Shame!” But if it’s broadcast on TV, there’d better be large censor bars. There are some sights I don’t want seared into my brain.

    Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.

  58. 58.

    Wag

    @syphonblue:   They don’t have ALL the details.  Until the full truth comes out we won’t have full support of the moderate GOP members.  The moderate members will need time and solid details to give them backbone, and without them, we won’t get to 2/3.

  59. 59.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @NickM: My brother in law said something as a joke that actually might apply; Trump might not be able to issue pardons because the people who wrote them quit and Trump doesn’t know how do anything himself.

  61. 61.

    Spanky

    @NickM: Her opinion really has no bearing on how that legal question plays out.

    Bear in mind that the Speaker emailed her colleagues notifying them that articles of impeachment would be voted on nlt This Wednesday, if I read last night’s bj post correctly.

  63. 63.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It sure seems that way, What’s next rallies at “The Bunker Hill mattress store”? “Valley Forge Auto Body Repair”? The possibilities are endless.

  64. 64.

    debbie

    Inquiring minds need to know: Was that photo of a makeup-less Kelly McEnaney a Photoshop and if it wasn’t, did she appear on Fox like that?

  65. 65.

    Amir Khalid

    I sense that the Republican party as a whole, not just Trump, knows a big come-to-Jesus moment is upon it, and is trying to wriggle out of it. What Trump has done makes him a danger to the republic and warrants his removal from office, one way or another. But too few Republicans are willing to say that in so many words. The Republicans in Congress who stoked the “election fraud” lie, abetting his insurrection, should resign in disgrace, but none of them seems willing to consider doing that.

  67. 67.

    Matt McIrvin

    @syphonblue: I’ve been calling for as-fast-as-possible action myself, but I’m reluctant to go looking for ways that any of this is Democrats’ fault. They’ve been faced with an outrageous, violent attack at the heart of constitutional government in the face of which they’re expected to act like normal politicians, and they’re just trying to figure out how to manage the crisis. Meanwhile the Republicans are busy disclaiming all responsibility and trying to deflect criticism. It’s on them, and we should never forget that.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    Al Sharpton had a guest on who explained in detail all the steps & planning with Capitol police they had to do for the protests this summer. Including insurance coverage, safety stuff etc. Clearly a choice to treat the terrorist crowd differently.— Alicia "I like your mask!" Lewis (@sosaysalicia) January 11, 2021

  70. 70.

    RandomMonster

    Waiting 100 days doesn’t mean it isn’t a hot topic that entire time. Investigations, deposing witnesses, collecting evidence.

  72. 72.

    Spanky

    @Amir Khalid: That’s because they’re all spineless weasles in thrall to a tinpot strongman. Now that he’s proven to be toothless they’re all going to ground. You won’t hear a peep.

    ETA Yeah, they’re also in fear for their lives from the more dangerous True Believers.

  81. 81.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    And isn’t there also the issue that as soon as the impeachment is transmitted to the Senate, the Senate has to take it up and shove aside everything else? Moscow Mitch won’t waste an opportunity to throw sand into the gears of the Biden Administration, even as Minority Leader. There’s like three and a half metric shitloads of work that needs to get through the House and the Senate, between pandemic stuff and economic rescue packages and, hell, getting Biden’s Cabinet into place.

    Yes, this is an emergency, but Twitler’s left Biden so many emergencies to handle that, hard as it is to believe, there are priorities even more urgent than impeachment.

  83. 83.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    rikyrah: Fuck her feelings, to coin a phrase.

    @Baud: Yeah, can’t have anyone attributing agency to anyone but Democrats. That would be a textbook violation of Murc’s Law, even after the highest-profile case of domestic terrorism in our country since Oklahoma City.

    Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.

  84. 84.

    Butter emails

    @NickM: @syphonblue: 
    There’s no choice but to do anything but delay until at least the 20th as McConnel has made it fairly clear that impeachment isn’t happening until after the inauguration.

    After that point the choice is between pushing Biden’s agenda, things like fighting Covid, additional relief and things like filling cabinet positions or Impeachment. The reason you can’t do both is that once articles of impeachment are sent to the Senate, that’s it. Work on everything else must stop.

    I guarantee that with a 50-50 split this wouldn’t be a lightning impeachment trial. Republicans would drag the impeachment on forever.

    So here is the choice. You get as quick an impeachment trial as possible, but lose the bulk of Biden’s first hundred days or you get Biden’s first 100 days which are generally the most productive of any administration. You can’t choose both.

  86. 86.

    hueyplong

    @Butter emails: I think the House should drop it in McConnell’s lap immediately and make him the guarantor that Jan 6 doesn’t happen again, or the owner of a Jan 6 repeat.

  88. 88.

    Zzyzx

    If you feel like entering the fever swamps of the right, go to this thread on Free Republic and read people praying for martial law and the arrest without trial (and death) of people who don’t agree with them, all in the name of FREEDOM!

     

    https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3923698/posts?q=1&;page=1

     

    Even the objections are rarely, “This is wrong!!” but more along the lines of, “Sigh, I wish, but I don’t see evidence this is happening.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    @debbie:

    Yes, you are wrong to wish for that. Qaddafi’s suffering ended when he was shot; the Republicans deserve some more drawn-out individual and collective agony. But I forgive you.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @Butter emails

    but lose the bulk of Biden’s first hundred days

    Realistically, less, leaving 98, or 95, or 90, without a thundercloud hovering overhead. A cost worth paying; 100 is not a magic number.

  94. 94.

    Denali

    Forgive me, but I just can’t get my head around this. The President planed and incited a coup attempt that included murdering the Vice President, and the Speaker, while allowing a mob to vandalize the Capitol, and we are waiting for what? I understand that some Republicans may have continued their plan to disrupt the vote because they did not know the gravity of events, but now they know. How can they justify what happened? Yes, there is going to be violence. They have to pick a side. Do they really support the overthrow of the government?

  95. 95.

    Jinchi

    Melania has broken her silence to condenm the vile actions of last week.

    “I find it shameful that surrounding these tragic events there has been salacious gossip, unwarranted personal attacks, and false misleading accusations on me“

    It’s been obvious for a while now, but she is a true Trump.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @Butter emails: It’s not binary.  It need not be 100 days. 100 days is three plus months — it would be May before transmittal.  I do think getting Biden’s appointees approved should come before an impeachment trial.  Perhaps the roll back of all regulations implemented in the last 60 days if possible.  Then to the trial.

    If there is a 100 day wait, there will be 100 days of news organizations, politicians, and lefty folks screeching about playing games with such an important issue.  AND we have no idea what other crisis will demand our attention over that three months.

    Also, the further the trial is from the midterms, I suspect, the better.  So, for my vote on the topic (ha like any of us have one) I say get the Senate to do critical business first, then impeachment trial.  Maybe a month, tops.

  99. 99.

    Jinchi

    @NotMax: 100 is not a magic number.

    Thank you.

    The Republicans spent the last 2 months aggressively trying to overturn the election and sent a mob to Capitol Hill. They aren’t going to sit back and watch for the first 100 days of Biden’s presidency.

  100. 100.

    trnc

    @MJS: Wait 100 days? Mark me down for a firm “no” on that.

    Agreed. I like Clyburn, but that would be a mistake.

  101. 101.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: I was amused seeing flags of Georgia – the country. Dollars to donuts some yahoos said “Imma get me flag of Georgia” and are too stupid to know the difference.

  102. 102.

    syphonblue

    @Butter emails: why would holding impeachment now mean you lose Biden’s 100 days? Congress can do two things at the same time, and the trial isn’t going to last 100 days.

  103. 103.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: A Canadian friend of mine, whose commentary on US politics always focuses on how the evil Republicans are abetted by the useless, feckless Democrats, jumped in with snark about how kind it was of the Democrats to give Trump another weekend to plan his coup, and it was a bit much. (To be fair his commentary on Canadian politics sounds generally similar, just with more useless parties.)

  104. 104.

    Jinchi

    @Butter emails: So here is the choice.

    This is not actually a choice anyone of us have.

    And it’s kind of absurd to think that the people having a hissy fit about Trump’s twitter ban will sit around kindly during the first 100 days of Biden’s presidency, while waiting for the impeachment trial to start.

  106. 106.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @Zzyzx: To them (as to any peasant, as to any infant) freedom can only mean unaccountability.  Gresham’s Law applies to concepts as well as to coins.  “Freedom” is no longer a legitimate human aspiration.

  107. 107.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @syphonblue: Because once the impeachment gets sent to the Senate for trial, the Senate can only conduct the impeachment trial until it wraps up. There isn’t really any way around this that I’m aware of. (Of course I’m not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, so it’s possible there’s a solution that I haven’t been made aware of yet.)

    @hueyplong: I… don’t think that helps any.

    Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.

  109. 109.

    The Fat White Duchess

    Hoping it’s okay to copy here my own comment on a WaPo editorial this morning before work. (I have not read anything here yet, sorry):

    But I also think there’s danger in choosing not to publish a useful contribution to public debate on a vital subject, as Simon & Schuster must have believed the manuscript to be, because you now disapprove of the author.

    Mr. Hiatt, your “half a point” is void, insofar as you elide an important difference between the Post and Simon&Schuster:  Whatever their rhetoric, S&S (like most other publishers) does not sign a book because they believe it to be “a useful contribution to public debate on a vital subject,” but because they believe it will be profitable to the publishing house. In this case, they appear to have calculated that Seditious Hawley’s book would be a liability rather than an asset to them, and so they dropped it.  As book-publishers do.

  111. 111.

    Skepticat

    @syphonblue: Delaying any action against the President Who Started A Coup for 100 days is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard. By that point you’ve lost all political willpower for getting it done. There is absolutely no way that at that point it doesn’t just look like petty politicking. You’ve absolutely lost any possible Republican votes … and you’ve probably even lost some Democrat votes as well.

    @MJS: This country does not have a 100-day span of attention.

    These are my concerns as well. I also fear that in the next few weeks, we’ll have much more, perhaps even more egregious, violence. That at least might make it more difficult even for the most shameless toadies to ignore the issue. Ah, but that’s predicated on their being sane, so nah.

  115. 115.

    rp

    Unless the Senate is going to try and convict Trump this week (and it isn’t), impeaching him now and waiting to send the articles makes perfect sense. In addition to giving Congress time to implement Biden’s agenda, it also allows Schumer et al to plan a thorough trial with lots of witnesses instead of whatever BS McConnell would cook up. And this is the perfect opportunity to do a lot of digging and fact-finding on the coup attempt.

  117. 117.

    H.E.Wolf

    @debbie: I fantasize about Trump and his sycophants meeting Quadaffi-style ends. Is that wrong of me?

    @Zzyzx: If you feel like entering the fever swamps of the right, go to this thread on Free Republic and read people praying for martial law and the arrest without trial (and death) of people who don’t agree with them, all in the name of FREEDOM!

    We report. You decide.

    ETA: Following the example of our violent, delusional adversaries seems like an unwise idea to me.

  120. 120.

    topclimber

    @syphonblue: Perhaps you have confused impeachment (which Dems control) with Senate vote for conviction (which they don’t). Otherwise you have magically discovered the 17 GOP votes we need. Great news!

    Some of us think it is a good idea to allow Biden a fresh start, addressing the many red alarm situations in our country while avoiding any more spotlight on Trump bytchery. We think it is worth the risk that somehow Americans will move on from being pissed about his insurrection anytime soon. And less than the risk of the Senate acquitting Trump and empowering him while  his influence is still considerable.

    Others disagree, with good reason. Neither position is idiotic.

  121. 121.

    MattF

    @rp: Tend to agree. It’s notable that anger about the Capitol insurrection is only increasing over time as more information emerges.

  122. 122.

    satby

    @Skepticat: In the next few weeks we’re going to see the initial results of investigations that will uncover the names of GOP officials, law enforcement and military personnel who took part in the coup attempt. The impeachment will be just the start, and if any Congressional staffers or Congressional members had larger roles than known right now, it will affect the Senate trial. The GOP is afraid of what the investigators may uncover. More than the traitortot will be twisting in the wind.

  123. 123.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    I was so worried about what had happened to him. The video I saw didn’t show that he kept luring them until he got to where there was backup.

  125. 125.

    Skepticat

    @debbie: I fantasize about Trump and his sycophants meeting Quadaffi-style ends.

    I like to think we’re all better than that, but … . Could you settle for a Napoleon-style exile to St. Helena (not Elba, as he returned and screwed up again)? I’d like all of them just somewhere unpleasant and far, far away (with no net connection).

  128. 128.

    Princess

    I’m agnostic about whether they should wait 100 days or not. It is true that we still have only the vaguest outlines of the extent of the conspiracy and more damning info will be coming in. But what we do have to remember is that it will be Schumer, not McConnell who will be controlling the calendar in the Senate. He’s not going to let everything grind to a halt or to let the impeachment hearing take weeks and weeks.

  134. 134.

    Skepticat

    @debbie: I specifically used the word “fantasize” for a reason.

    That’s because you’re a rational person. Sorry; I understood and should have acknowledged that. We all need to vent!

  135. 135.

    Keith P.

    Anyone else heard of this?  Supposedly, Parler’s authentication service dropped them, so hackers got in, took admin access, and gained access to full user records, including the front and backs of drivers licenses of their verified users along with “deleted” posts (they do “logical” deletes rather than physical deletes)

  136. 136.

    dww44

    @raven:  I agree with this rationale,  plus the very fact that this can be done when tempers have been allowed to cool and investigations can be more thoroughly done.

    Also could you reshare  the link from a couple of days ago to the Towns County news article on the BLM protest  and the MAGA guy?

  137. 137.

    gene108

    @debbie:

    fuck Leslie for her insipid questions.

    Insipid is asking Speaker Pelosi if she coordinates the flavor ice cream she eats to match the color of what’s she’s wearing.

    Stahl’s questions threw down a marker. They were insidious.

    1. President Biden will be judged on tone by Stahl, “60 Minutes”, and CBS News. So if he gets angry and criticizes any Republican for any reason he broke his campaign promise, despite how Wednesday “changed everything”.

    2. Speaker Pelosi is the culprit for obstructing and delaying the current stimulus package, and any future packages.

  141. 141.

    MattF

    @Keith P.: I read that deleting a post on Parler set the ‘deleted’ bit in their database to ‘true’. I also suspect that they’ve been subpoenaed by various government agencies, so staying away from Parler was an excellent idea.

  142. 142.

    topclimber

    @MJS: I don’t believe it takes a 2/3rds vote and halting all other Senate business to censure those two. Unlike a Senate impeachment conviction.

  143. 143.

    Butter Emails

    @syphonblue:

    why would holding impeachment now mean you lose Biden’s 100 days? Congress can do two things at the same time, and the trial isn’t going to last 100 days.

    The problem is that from my reading this isn’t true. While the House can continue to pass legislation, but the Senate must focus solely on the trial once the Articles of Impeachment are submitted to it and it’s back in full session.

    For the legal eagles out there. Georgia doesn’t need to fully certify the election until the Jan 22. If Impeachment is submitted and the trial beings before than, would the Impeachment Trial language prevent Ossoff and Warnock from being seated?

  144. 144.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @The Fat White Duchess: Exactly. Here’s a “morality clause” that Simon and Schuster included in their contracts two years ago (via Crooks and Liars).

    While we do not [have] any direct knowledge of Hawley’s publishing contract, when PL reported on publishers’ morality clauses two years ago, we found that Simon & Schuster’s boilerplate language would provide broad latitude in a situation like this. That wording notes that if an author “… is otherwise accused of libel, slander, or defamatory conduct, or any other conduct that subjects, or could be reasonably anticipated to subject Author or Publisher to ridicule, contempt, scorn, hatred, or censure by the general public or which is likely to materially diminish the sales of the Work,” the publisher has the option of both terminating the contract and recovering any unrecouped funds. That language also includes a provision stating that the termination option “shall be exercised, or not, in the Publisher’s sole discretion at any time during or after the occurrence of any or all of the foregoing.”

    Before morality clauses became widespread, Simon & Schuster was sued by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos when they cancelled his book. Yiannopoulos eventually withdrew his suit. In pre-trial filings, S&S’s attorneys cited extensive case law showing that “courts interpreting New York law have consistently concluded that publishing agreements similar to the Agreement here provide publishers with significant discretion to terminate based on their subjective judgment.”

  145. 145.

    JPL

    The president is suppose to make a statement today, and hopefully MSM won’t air the statement.   The odds of the president saying something that doesn’t incite violence are low.

  149. 149.

    BC in Illinois

    1. Pass the Articles of Impeachment this week.
    2. Inaugurate President Biden, VP Harris and the new Senate next week.
    3. Begin all the work that needs to be done to Make America America Again. [Required reading: Let America be America Again by Langston Hughes.]
    4. There is so much to un-do !
    5. While this is going on, hold hearings, investigations, make reports, make arrests, issue indictments, building up to the day when there will be a solemn handing of the Articles of Impeachment with accompanying documentation, to the Senate.
    6. The Senate holds a trial, at the end of which Trump is either convicted with GOP support [Unity!] or the GOP stands with him to the end.

    Let America be America again.
    Let it be the dream it used to be.
    Let it be the pioneer on the plain
    Seeking a home where he himself is free.

    (America never was America to me.)

    I am old enough to remember the days of the Watergate hearings and the stories that came out — week after week — from June 1972 to August 1974. Yeah, it took two years. But the result of the drip, drip, drip of that slow process, was the growth of the national conviction [Unity!] that “This can’t go on. This can’t stand.” It did bring us together. (At least against Nixon.)

    Do the process for Trump. Impeach him, expose him — [Freedom of Information Act, anyone] — and then convict him and send the notice of his conviction to wherever he is hiding in exile.

  150. 150.

    citizen dave (aka mad citizen)

    @raven: “They keep showing the fucking ARVN flag,”

    I’m 3 episodes into the Burns doc right now, so my ears perked up.  I can’t find any pics of a trumper with the ARVN flag, but take your word for it.  Why in the heck would someone now/here fly that?  Was the store out of Gadsden flags?

    Also, which ARVN flag?  Google brings up 12 different versions of it.  (I love the doc when it mentions something like 10-12 South Vietnamese governments over a little more than a year–just glosses over it, like it was no big deal.  The 1964-65 period).

  151. 151.

    hueyplong

    If we’re fantasizing about bad endings for Trump, incarcerated, alone and ignored by a right wing that has moved on to another shiny object is probably something he’d fear more than death itself.

    As for the violent among his lunatic followers, I’d be more than satisfied with felony convictions and the consequent loss of the right to gun ownership (along with the gainful employment that would support furtive illegal purchases).

  152. 152.

    Jeffro

    It popped into my head today that all those times in history when some mad king or deranged emperor would send his mob of supporters after a rival (the Duke of Whatever, or Senator Crabbex Imperioso)…this will be one of those events to future readers.

    And when we’re in a relatively peaceful and prosperous time, too.  Unreal.

  153. 153.

    debbie

    Glenn Beck is talking about moving his network to a host that supports freedom and free speech. Nyet, comrade.

  154. 154.

    moonbat

    @rp: This. We still don’t know for sure which government actors were in on the delay of assistance to capitol police. He still don’t know what Trump was trying to get the armed forces to do that provoked Cheney et al to write that letter.

    Impeaching Trump so he can never hold office again is important but rounding up all the traitors within the government is just or even more important. Keep the issue alive in the press as more and more traitors are identified in the government and arrest and by the time the Senate has to vote on impeachment you’d look like a freakin’ insurrectionist if you voted no.

  158. 158.

    gvg

    @rikyrah: We don’t want Trump getting another appointment. Wait till after the 20th to start making this fuss. Also gather evidence for then.

  159. 159.

    marcopolo

    So about that Parler app/website–anyone need some Monday morning schadenfreude?

    In addition to it having been deplatformed over the past couple of days, now it looks like everything that its users have ever posted has apparently been scraped to third party servers by hackers. Everything. Because they built Parler using WordPress, which is maybe not the most secure foundation upon which to build your product. Thank you Mercers.

    First there is this:

    Every Deleted Parler Post, Many With Users’ Location Data, Has Been Archived

    In the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by scores of President Trump’s supporters, a lone researcher began an effort to catalogue the posts of social media users across Parler, a platform founded to provide conservative users a safe haven for uninhibited “free speech” — but which ultimately devolved into a hotbed of far-right conspiracy theories, unchecked racism, and death threats aimed at prominent politicians.

    The researcher, who asked to be referred to by their Twitter handle, @donk_enby, began with the goal of archiving every post from January 6, the day of the Capitol riot; what she called a bevy of “very incriminating” evidence. According to the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, among others, Parler is one of a number of apps used by the insurrections to coordinate their breach of the Capitol, in a plan to overturn the 2020 election results and keep Donald Trump in power.

    Operating on little sleep, @donk_enby began the work of archiving all of Parler’s posts, ultimately capturing around 99.9 percent of its content. In a tweet early Sunday, @donk_enby said she was crawling some 1.1 million Parler video URLs. “These are the original, unprocessed, raw files as uploaded to Parler with all associated metadata,” she said. Included in this tranche of data, now several terabytes in size, @donk_enby confirmed the raw video includes GPS coordinates, which point to the locations of users when the videos were filmed.

    And then there is this:

    Remember how people were dunking on Parler for being built on WordPress? Well, through a plug-in exploit, literally all the user data (including photos of verified state id cards) has been retrieved by hackers and is being posted online. Lmao ♾️https://t.co/w1yexoUOxq pic.twitter.com/h2Mf7Fn1Sc— Classic Bird Respecter (@BirdRespecter) January 11, 2021

    It’s not apparent to me atm that these two things are linked, but this will definitely make law enforcement’s job easier

    Edited: appears Keith first mentioned this at 135.

  160. 160.

    hueyplong

    @NotMax: Seems like Gitmo would require less costly conversion work.

    I for one would be tolerant of a touch of overcrowding in these difficult times.

  162. 162.

    Citizen Alan

    @rikyrah:  What a silly question. Clarence Thomas wouldn’t recuse himself in Bush V Gore even though his bitch wife worked on the case! Why would he show ethical character now 20 years later?

  164. 164.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Hawley can just take his shit to another publisher and get rejected over and over again by the respected ones until some lunatic right wing publisher takes it on. I’m glad he has to return his money. Piece of shit.

  165. 165.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Butter Emails:

    but the Senate must focus solely on the trial once the Articles of Impeachment are submitted to it and it’s back in full session.

    Senate rules can be changed by [drumroll] the Senate. This requirement is not in the Constitution.

  167. 167.

    Immanentize

    @marcopolo: If I were the Parler folks, I would have “hacked” myself so I could keep all that sweet user info. when the whole place is seized.  Any later uses — hackers!

  169. 169.

    NotMax

    @hueyplong

    Among other intrinsic problems, it’s not a civilian facility. Way too much opportunity for nefarious finagling by the (to put it mildly) disaffected within the military.

    The plum on the pudding of Alcatraz is they’d be incarcerated in the soshulist hell of California.

    ;)

  170. 170.

    Ken

    @marcopolo: ultimately devolved into a hotbed of far-right conspiracy theories, unchecked racism, and death threats

    “Ultimately devolved” is inaccurate; it implies a gradual change of some duration. Parler had that stuff since day one.

  172. 172.

    Jinchi

    @NickM: I rarely criticize Speaker Pelosi but she should not have conceded Trump can pardon himself.

    Well Trump “can” pardon himself, and almost certainly will. The outstanding question is whether that will be considered legitimate by the courts. I think Pelosi’s argument is that we want him out before he gets the chance to test the question.

  174. 174.

    prostratedragon

    Once the Dem majority is seated they can approve a couple of very relevant nominations, Defense and Attorney General, then if they can also secure that rule change, move on to COVID mornings and impeachment trial afternoons or something. This thing concerning the President*s role in the insurrection does not, imop, require extensive investigation of all aspects of what happened. That can come later, but the head should be dealt with as soon as possible, and definitely before 100 days, regardless.

  178. 178.

    SFAW

    @RedDirtGirl:

    To be honest, I don’t think the censor bars will need to be that big. (Apologies if someone else already went there.)

    It appears you’re thinking of censor-barring only his teeny-tiny eenie-weenie. However, I (and perhaps others) would probably “blow chunks” (as those darn kids used to say) were I to see the bloated thing that passes for his body, unclothed.
    Unless of course, he’s been wearing a rubberized fat suit all this time, and his body really does look like Rocky Balboa’s.

  182. 182.

    topclimber

    @Jinchi: I agree about 100 days. There’s no reason it can’t be a year–lots of time to uncover the hidden seditionists, try the ones we know of, censure Hawley and Cruz, let GOP Senators twist in the wind between mainstream condemnation of Trump and the deplorables’ demand that they defend him. Good times.

    Oh, and more time for good governance and the public interest as first priority to take root in Washington.

    As for violence, no one is going to be surprised by it now. And how is it going to be less if Trump is being tried in the Senate and either convicted (reichwingers are pissed) or acquitted (they are emboldened)? Don’t give Trump a platform. Give him death by 1,000 cuts (metaphorically speaking) instead.

  183. 183.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Skepticat: Could you settle for a Napoleon-style exile to St. Helena (not Elba, as he returned and screwed up again)?

    How about to Polyp, 17th moon of Hisanus? :^D

    Spot him a small dome and, oh, 90 days of food, water and O2 – let the mortar-forker crowd- mob-fund the rest. If nothing else it’d jumpstart the development of interplanetary travel…

  184. 184.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Skepticat: St. Helena seems like kind of a nice place, really. They have an airport now, though their big plans to make the place a major tourist destination haven’t worked out–the airport has wind-shear issues that make it hard to land big planes there.

  185. 185.

    Amir Khalid

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    Hawley should go straight to Jerome Corsi’s publisher. Maybe they’ll publish him.

    A quick Google search tells me that Corsi is published by — Simon & Schuster. So I guess that won’t work after all.

  186. 186.

    stinger

    Sorry, haven’t read the thread yet, but…

    In response to the last tweet in the OP, I’d amend Mikel Jollett’s “No” to “Nyet” so that more of them would understand.

  187. 187.

    DesertFriar

    My thought on the Trump’s defense when his trial for insurrection comes up, will be that he wasn’t in his right mind due to the COVID cocktail he received.

    Which will be interesting to see if the pardons he hands out from now would be valid?

  189. 189.

    Ruckus

    Impeachment is to remove him from office. In 9 days he will be out of office and have no power. Does anyone think this will happen in less than 9 days? Mitch will be neutered by his having lost control of the senate, so impeachment after he’s out of power will be to right the wrongs and neuter shitforbrains. The fact is that he will not be impeached before the 20th no matter what, because Mitch will slow roll the process for the seven or eight days till he’s out and that will change nothing. Yes shitforbrains needs to wear this for the rest of his miserable fucking life, the republicans need to wear this for the rest of their miserable fucking lives, but in reality Mitch slow walking this or impeaching shitforbrains after next Wednesday will make no difference in the outcome. And there are more important things to deal with. Now do not misunderstand, I want shitforbrains in chains and would love nothing more than seeing him frog marched out of the WH and right into a jail cell. But that isn’t going to happen and we know this, even if we hate it with the heat of a thousand suns. Do you think this makes Nancy Pelosi happy? I’d bet not and I’d bet that all of the people here don’t think it will either. We watched the assault on our government, she was the focus of that assault. Those people went there to assault and “arrest” her more than anyone else. Who do you think those zip cuffs were for, the clowns or the democrats?

  190. 190.

    LadySuzy

    @Denali: McConnell’s fault. He refuses to reconvene the Senate for an impeachment trial before the Inauguration. Knowing full well that President Biden wants to hit the ground running with Covid Relief and other measures, and of course the confirmation of his Cabinet.

    In short, McConnell is STILL playing the obstruction game.

    On the other hand, if Trump and his allies at the Pentagon have CONSPIRED to delay the intervention of the National Guard, more time is needed to establish the proof of this and with that proof, conviction is assured in my opinion.

  191. 191.

    LadySuzy

    The attempted coup and the incitation by Trump are a big scandal, an international embarrassment. But the fact that the 25th hasn’t been used yet is a SECOND scandal. This is beyond the pale. I sympathise with Pence but President Biden could order more SS protection for him and his family. Same for the Cabinet members. Those republicans who are so quick to wrap themselves in the flag don’t have a fraction of the courage of the American soldiers who put their life on the line.

  192. 192.

    Ruckus

    Others have said it, I’ll repeat.

    How good a trial in the senate do you think Mitch will do? Even if he did a trial in the next 9 days. First he’d delay, delay, delay and it would be 8 or 9 days of that. He’s already closed the senate till the 19th, do you think he did that because he wants an impeachment trial? He’ll keep many of his members out of chambers and then complain that the president will be unfairly represented. Etc, etc, etc. He’s not dumb, he knows he can delay until he’s no longer in charge and he will do every trick in the book and then some.

    There is not going to be any impeachment trial in the senate until after the new senate is in session.

    It really is that simple. Dems in congress know this, like it or not. The clock is going to run out, like it or not. The republicans have/can run out the clock, like it or not. This is how politics works, at least now, in this country. The party out of power gets hosed and we are out of power in 2/3 of the government.

    We get to make the best of it we can, that is the best that can be done.

    We’ve done our part, we elected a new government, a democratic government, that takes effect in 8 days, 23 hrs, 19 minutes from now.

  194. 194.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ruckus: If the clock runs out, with no further major events, that’s actually OK with me. What I really wanted either a snap impeachment/conviction or a 25th invocation for was as an emergency measure to keep Trump from doing something else catastrophic in the next… now it’s 9 days, since the guy is clearly decompensating even by Trump standards.

  196. 196.

    Ruckus

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I really wanted that as well. But reality is a bitch. And I don’t know about anyone else but I almost never get what I want.

    The reality is that our government is really close to the unspeakable. But it’s not there and there is a rather good chance that it will stand, bloodied and weakened but not gone. There are going to be a few people that are going to be fully responsible for saving it. And for all the things that people think she hasn’t done, think of the things she, Nancy Pelosi has done and is still doing. There are going to be many heroes pulling this out of the shit, she is one of the real leaders. That black cop that led the seditionists away from representatives, and many others like him, who did the best they could, those 2 cops that got killed, hell at least one of them was a trumper and still did his job to try and stop the seditionists. It came down to a number of people, stopping a mob, anyway they could, slowing down the destruction of the government so that we haven’t lost everything.

    If we only look for perfection, we will never find good enough.

    We found good enough. Let’s rejoice in what we have, what we’ve gained over the last few days, let’s move forward, towards good enough.

  198. 198.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    I can’t imagine what he’ll be saying at his Alamo (TX) appearance tomorrow.

    Well. I certainly hope he’s stupid enough to further incriminate himself again in his public speaking in Alamo, TX. Or anywhere, really!

  199. 199.

    No One You Know

    @rikyrah: There ought to be a permanent recognition of his service. Even if it’s a stainless steel disk where he stood. To say nothing of a job where that kind of moral courage is needed but rarely tested… such as the House security detail.  And the thanks of the nation from President- Elect Biden.

  200. 200.

    No One You Know

    @rikyrah: There ought to be a permanent recognition of his service. Even if it’s a stainless steel disk where he stood. To say nothing of a job where that kind of moral courage is needed but rarely tested… such as the House security detail.  And the thanks of the nation from President- Elect Biden.

     

    @Warblewarble: If the flag has a gold fringe,  I think?

  201. 201.

    J R in WV

    @Jeffro:

    I used to advocate for tarring and feathering him, but it’s not nearly enough at this point.

    Doesn’t that depend upon how HOT the TAR is when you start the process? ‘Cause room temperature tar is a hard solid, and needs to be quite hot to spread well upon the guilty party!

  202. 202.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    @Gin & Tonic:

    181.

    Immanentize
    January 11, 2021 at 10:13 am

    1. @Gin & Tonic: Acceptable.  Parchman is horrific.

     

    Actually, Parchman is horrific if you’re black, or hated by the prison’s administration and guards. They would probably assign Trump and his associates to nice cottages on the riverbank, though. With black trustees to wait on him. Like the warden’s home…

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