Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

No Justins, No Peace

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

People are complicated. Love is not.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Cole is on a roll !

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Late Night Trump Insurrection Open Thread: It Only Gets Uglier

Late Night Trump Insurrection Open Thread: It Only Gets Uglier

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Rep. Sherrill, of the Blue Dog Caucus, was a Navy pilot and a federal prosecutor. She has an M.Sc.from the London School of Economics, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Since I’m not on Facebook, I’ve only seen the clip above, plus the breaking news reports, about her comments this evening… but she does not seem like the sort to throw around allegations she doesn’t fully understand.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, as the saying goes, but I can certainly imagine some of Rep. Sherrill’s colleagues deciding to do a little ‘constituent service’, some of them possibly under the impression they were all LARPing for the lulz. From Politico:

… In a 13-minute Facebook video billed as an address to her constituents about the House’s efforts to hold President Donald Trump accountable for inciting the riot, Sherrill included the allegation as part of a call to hold Trump’s allies in Congress accountable as well…

Sherrill did not identify the lawmakers she was referring to, how she was able to describe their activities as “reconnaissance” and how she knew they were connected to the riots that consumed the Capitol the following day. Sherrill’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The startling allegation comes as lawmakers are still seeking answers about the extent of planning and coordination behind the Jan. 6 Trump rally that became the violent assault on the Capitol. Federal investigators say they’re pouring enormous resources into unearthing details of a potential “seditious conspiracy” and that some of the undisclosed evidence about what happened inside the Capitol will be “shocking.” …

Of course, there’s also a brand-new batch of dedicated GOP Death Cultists like gunbunny Lauren Boebert, or would-be firebrand Madison Cawthorpe…

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  2. 2.

    Edmund Dantes

    I didn’t watch but there are comments about AOC’s Instagram live stream from tonight included AOC talking about having a personal encounter during the insurrection (I believe) that she didn’t believe she was going to survive.

    There is apparently a lot more out there than we currently know.

  3. 3.

    piratedan

    Presume that in some of the briefings given to the MoC that she was able to connect dots. Guessing there is phone pings and video evidence supporting this. Wouldn’t expect a former Military Prosecutor to get out over her skis on this.

  4. 4.

    kindness

    You know who is going to howl bloody murder when they find out what happens to them?

    Congressional Republicans…

  5. 5.

    Mary G

    Here’s a scary little tidbit:

    Sarah Groh, chief of staff to “Squad” member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, tells the Boston Globe that when she hid from the howling mob, she discovered that “every panic button in my office had been torn out.”

    Sure hoping for an innocent explanation for this.https://t.co/1NbNmIcB3H
    — Helen 0️⃣8️⃣ Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) January 13, 2021

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Of course, there’s also a brand-new batch of dedicated GOP Death Cultists like gunbunny Lauren Boebert, or would-be firebrand Madison Cawthorpe…

    I still can’t believe the Capitol Police let her and other Republican fuckers into the House chambers after they skipped the metal detectors

  10. 10.

    mrmoshpotato

    some of them possibly under the impression they were all LARPing for the lulz

    Attacking the Capitol for fun.  Enjoy rotting in prison for fun!

    In the words of a wise man, fuck ’em!

  14. 14.

    feebog

    @Keith P.:

    Shouldn’t be hard to prove – cameras are everywhere, and drive storage space is dirt cheap.

    Has she gone to the FBI? Did they brush her off? Inexplicable to me why she would reveal this now otherwise.

  15. 15.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jay:

    She faked her “packing” vid, because she damn well knows that she’s not legally allowed to carry in DC.

    It’s performative bs for the rubes.

    You don’t know this.  She really could be that stupid and crazy.  We do have a few nutters and Nazis in this new Congress.

  16. 16.

    Geoduck

    The acting Attorney General has evidently decided midnight a week late was a good time to release a YouTube speech about the Capitol invasion.

    And in WA state news, I was rather stunned to learn that GOP secure backbencher-for-life Jaime Herrera Beutler has officially jumped on the impeachment train.

  18. 18.

    ballerat

    Obviously there was reconnaissance before the operation. Or in bank heist terms, a casing of the joint.

  20. 20.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @piratedan:

    Timothy Blodgett was sworn in as the replacement two days ago

    @Jay:

    She faked her “packing” vid, because she damn well knows that she’s not legally allowed to carry in DC.

    It’s performative bs for the rubes.

    This might be why. They still should’ve been ejected for being defiant and breaking the rules.

  21. 21.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Starting to sound like a few Members of Congress need to be less worried about getting primaried from the MAGA/QAnon right wing, and start to worry about being booked for an appointment in Terre Haute, Indiana, with a needle.

  22. 22.

    The Dangerman

    Damn. I just read on Snope’s that Mr. Taze Myself In The Jewels didn’t  pass away that way. The Darwin Award for 2021 remains in play since frying your own balls would have been the winner, close the nominations and turn off the lights.

  23. 23.

    CaseyL

    I thought I had heard that many of the cameras had been ripped out, as were the panic buttons in certain selected MOC offices.

    This is shaping up to be very much an inside job, which would sicken me anyway, and is even more nauseating considering one of the Capitol cops trying to keep the mob out was beaten to death.  Agents in place, moles, call them what you like, but it sounds like a lot of enemy agents were on the Capitol Police payroll.

    I do hope the press conference today by the FBI and US Attorney means they’ll continue to dig, and not just arrest/charge the obvious perps.

  24. 24.

    marcopolo

    @bluehill:  I don’t remember being worried in 2009.  Needless to say, for Biden’s inauguration there will be more law enforcement & National Guard folks than we currently have stationed total in both Iraq & Afghanistan (~15,000).  I’m going to assume they will do a fair amount of vetting of who they assign to this mission.

  26. 26.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @CaseyL: 

    Cameras ripped out, too?!

    Agents in place, moles, call them what you like, but it sounds like a lot of enemy agents were on the Capitol Police payroll.

    When you say “enemy agents”, do you mean foreign enemy agents?

  27. 27.

    marcopolo

    @CaseyL:   Please don’t contribute to hyping things too much.  I have read one story that Ayanna Pressley’s CoS said the panic buttons in her office has been ripped out.  That’s it.  I have read nothing about security cameras, which I think would have gotten a fair amount of press this many days after.  Anyway, Pressley carried over her office from last term so that does seem odd but let’s wait until the investigation plays out.

    On the other hand if you have links to reporting please provide them–as opposed to “I heard so and so.”

  28. 28.

    Msb

    Jesus. Has she told the FBI?
    Has she told Nancy? I’ve seen that D’s are considering going nuclear on the Sedition Caucus: no cooperation on anything. Sounds like a damn good idea, if expulsion under the 14th Amendment or prosecution doesn’t happen.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @The Dangerman

    Not terribly surprising, there was something a bit fishy about it all along. That model has a large bright yellow safety cap that must be swung open to expose the trigger.

  30. 30.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Msb: What does “no cooperation” mean in this context, anyway? It’s not like they were voting with us.

    Does it just mean that we don’t recognize them in any way?

  31. 31.

    Kattails

    Don’t know if anyone checks out Malcolm Nance on twitter, but he’s replaying parts of an interview he did on Bill Maher’s show back  in November. (I gave up on Maher ages ago)–but Nance was comparing the current situation with that of Baghdad in 2003; and is now stating that we need to buckle up because we are headed into a full blown insurgency that could last for years.  Another reason to step on this as hard as possible as fast as possible.  And put as much evidence as feasible out in front of the public. There’s a set of people who voted for Trump, like my mother, who aren’t cultists but just old Republicans and the sort who just can’t bring their imaginations to bear on this.

    I just dreadfully thought of all these calls to make nice-nice.  These same people were fine with a cop summarily executing a black man, without trial, for the alleged crime of passing a $20 bill.

    I hope someone was keeping a close eye on Boebert and checking the videos afterwards. NO ONE should be admitted to that building without a full checkup.

  32. 32.

    Danielx

    @feebog: 
    Off the top of my head, I’d guess she has a family for whom she is legitimately concerned and further that she wanted time to calm down and arrange her thoughts before making her statement.

    A proposition with which I agree, in both cases. Plus possibly making arrangements for security, because the wingnuts are going to be in her face immediately.

    For something this important – guessing here – someone as intelligent and professionally trained as she appears to be would want to organize her thoughts and recollections as clearly as possible before making a statement. Bearing in mind she might have to give sworn testimony and keeping a thought out as to what scenes and people present she could personally attest.

    “I cannot swear to their thoughts and intentions, except they were screaming they wanted to hang that nebbish Mike Pence.”

  33. 33.

    CaseyL

    @marcopolo:

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I may be wrong, as I can’t now find any reference to missing cameras. I thought I had heard about cameras being disabled.  My apologies: I don’t mean to overhype things.

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No, I don’t mean foreign agents, but I don’t know what else to call people who get jobs as Capitol Police and then join the insurrectionists.  Did they take the job with the purpose of committing treason?  Were they suborned after years of faithful service?

  36. 36.

    Kent

    @mrmoshpotato:You don’t know this.  She really could be that stupid and crazy.  We do have a few nutters and Nazis in this new Congress.

    She is that stupid and crazy.  But they do generally have staff who aren’t.  Who try to make sure they don’t get too far out over their skis.

  37. 37.

    bluehill

    @marcopolo: Yeah, I know I’m being paranoid, but some of the pictures and videos suggested that some of the insurrectionists had specific objectives and there’s Sherrill’s allegations that they received help from some congressmen. And then there’s that whole invasion of the Capitol event. Trump’s entire term is marked by a failures of imagination.

  40. 40.

    smike

    You know what? Making excuses for the rethugs who voted against certification is a bridge too far. They were afraid for their families? Fuck that. Besides betraying their oath, they don’t seem to have been afraid for anyone else or their families. cowardly action, that.

  41. 41.

    Chetan Murthy

    @smike: If I were afraid for my family and my skin, I wouldn’t keep doing my job; I’d bundle them up and flee.  Fuck these dingleberries.

  42. 42.

    TS (the original)

    @bluehill:

    I’m more worried about this inauguration, than I was for Obama’s.

    And I can well remember the worry felt for President Obama.

  47. 47.

    JoyceH

    @VeniceRiley:

    Rep Ayanna Pressley says someone had the panic buttons torn out of her office!

    What strikes me about this is that none of the conspirators could even conceive of the notion that this insurrection might fail. So it also strikes me that the inside help is going to be fairly easy to identify.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    @smike: And they seemed to think the risk to their families would go down? All they were doing was cranking up the pressure.

  50. 50.

    scott (the other one)

    @marcopolo: The problem there, of course, is that state capitols are also rumored to be targeted, and are likely to need a significant National Guard presence themselves.

  51. 51.

    Sloane Ranger

    To be fair, it might be difficult to prove mens rea in regard to those MOC who Sherrill saw showing insurrectionists around the day before. In the UK it’s quite normal for MP’s to show delegations from their constituency parties or organisations active in them around the House and treat them to tea on the Terrace afterwards and I assume something similar happens in Congress?

    If that’s the case, absent other evidence, the MOC concerned can claim that’s all they were doing. How were they to know these supporters were planning anything more than to exercise their 1st Amendment rights to peacefully protest?

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    @Sloane Ranger

    I assume something similar happens in Congress?

    One thing Spark Matsunaga (rep and then senator from Hawaii) was known hereabouts for was “giving good lunch,” regularly treating any visitors to his offices from Hawaii to a meal in the Senate dining room.

    ;)

  53. 53.

    karen marie

    Admiral Mike Mullen, who served as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2011:

    “As the commander of military forces in E Africa, [in 2011] I asked the American Forces Network (TV) to replace Fox news during meal hours. Why? Because they were inimical to America’s outreach overseas. Put troops in jeopardy. Made my job harder. And they now have accomplices.”

     

    From replies, it’s clear that the military has a “Fox problem.” Though Mullen gets some credit for “pulling the plug on Fox in East Africa,” one has to wonder why he asked rather than ordered that to happen and why, as Chairman, he didn’t stop what was apparently a services-wide practice of having the US military on a daily Fox diet.

  54. 54.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @CaseyL: No, I don’t mean foreign agents, but I don’t know what else to call people who get jobs as Capitol Police and then join the insurrectionists.

    A Fifth Column?

    Or maybe in this case Filth Column.

  55. 55.

    Martin

    @Sloane Ranger: If they investigate this as a conspiracy, I think they’ll have trouble avoiding that. The Republican members of congress would need to have been extremely compartmentalized, and so far there’s not much evidence they are that bright.

  58. 58.

    Shalimar

    @Jay: “Admitted” she wasn’t really carrying is also denying that she broke the law.  There is only her staffer’s word for that, and no reason to believe they’re telling the truth.  I do not believe the woman who was irate at having to go through a metal detector was really worried about the D.C. law before she filmed a promotional video.

  60. 60.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Sloane Ranger: Until, y’know, telecoms analysis shows that the MoC was in contact both before and after the visit, and …. y’know, some emails or texts show up with incriminating content.  One wonders what the NSA has in its “recording of the entire Internet” tapes.

  63. 63.

    Warblewarble

    Beware the Fog of War. Jumping to confusions ,magical thinking ,means we lose ourselves chasing the next shiny object. Back up ,keep what is proven in clear sight. This is serious and dangerous shit , It needs more than speculation to confront and defeat the traitors. Think twice before posting.

  64. 64.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I still can’t believe the Capitol Police let her and other Republican fuckers into the House chambers after they skipped the metal detectors

    That one just has me flummoxed. After all that has happened, …

    Words fail.

  65. 65.

    Kent

    @JoyceH:What strikes me about this is that none of the conspirators could even conceive of the notion that this insurrection might fail. So it also strikes me that the inside help is going to be fairly easy to identify.

    Which means they are really fucking stupid.  Because I can’t conceive of how it could ever succeed.  Nor can any rational people.

    This is one thing that the FBI is REALLY fucking good at.  This is RICO investigation 101.  You grab someone low on the food chain with lots to lose, you sweat them until they squeal.  Then you just methodically pull on string after string after string until you roll up the whole conspiracy.  It’s how they deal with the mob and drug cartels and terrorist organizations.  It will be child’s play doing it with MAGA congressional staff and principals and capitol police.  It takes time and effort.  But you better fucking believe the Merrick Garland is going to clear up a whole lot of agent’s plates to get on this.

    These are not drug cartel sicarios or hard core ISIS terrorists. They are dumb lazy MAGA faithful who have a HELL of a lot to lose.

    We might not find out all the details, but THEY will.

  66. 66.

    Kent

    @Chief Oshkosh: Word is that they put the metal detectors up before the House had written clear command instructions and procedures and protocol.  So they kind of got ahead of themselves.  And the Capitol Police didn’t have clear directives on how to proceed with assholes.  Asshole spectators, sure.  But not asshole Congressmen.

    I’m sure they won’t make that same mistake again.  Pelosi will get it sorted out.

  67. 67.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Tony Jay: Engineer came yesterday and sorted me. As a bonus I also got an equipment upgrade. He looked at my router and hub and laughed!

  70. 70.

    JPL

    I woke a few hours ago with a feeling of angst.   The orange grifter in chief will continue causing us harm.

  71. 71.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @JPL: We all just have to make it through the next seven days and seven hours. After that, the traitor becomes a private citizen subject to arrest for conspiracy to commit insurrection and sedition.

  72. 72.

    trnc

    @Sloane Ranger: I don’t know what the protocol is for visiting MoC, but the questions is whether a visitor log is kept, and do any listed visitors match rioters charged.

  74. 74.

    raven

    @Kent: I replied to you last night (at 3am). I wasn’t saying that Nam vets were heavily represented at the attack, just in MAGA world. As fat as your numbers, I’m 71 and fairly young for that group.

  75. 75.

    Joey Maloney

    @Msb: I too would like to know what form total noncooperation will take with the Sedition Caucus. Not recognizing them on the floor? Not accepting their committee assignments? Beating them nearly to death with a silver-headed cane?

  76. 76.

    Martin

    @Joey Maloney: Well, expulsion is ⅔ vote, which I doubt they can get. This is why I told my reps to refer for seditious conspiracy.

    Though, I will note, if they can get ⅔ for the most egregious members, once they are expelled, the ⅔ standard gets easier for each subsequent one because you just made the denominator smaller.

    But other than expulsion, they can censure them with a simple majority, which I think they can easily get. And they can do a LOT with a censure. Loss of seniority, loss of committee membership, loss of floor privileges, etc.

    If they pulled all of them from committees, the remaining members are going to be hella busy as they’ll have to serve on at least twice as many committees. It gets to a point that the remaining members would be VASTLY better off expelling their safer seat members so that they could get some functional reps back in.

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    I’m 71 and fairly young for that group.

    Hell, you’re fairly young for this group, too. Except fcompared to Goku, of course.

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @Tony Jay:

    My router is just an empty case with an asthmatic gerbil inside wielding semaphore flags.

    Does the gerbil keep adding that useless extra “u,” the way you furriners spell things? Might be slowing down data transmission even more.

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