Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

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

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

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

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

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

In after Baud. Damn.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Another Jan6 Committee Open Thread: Takin’ Notes On A Criminal F*cking Conspiracy

Another Jan6 Committee Open Thread: Takin’ Notes On A Criminal F*cking Conspiracy

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… Which was, after all, Cassidy Hutchinson’s job…


Seems like a pretty good insta-summary:

… Hutchinson, who served as executive assistant to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, provided five stunning revelations about former president Donald Trump’s coup attempt.

1- Meadows and Trump knew there could be violence on Jan. 6 and enabled the mob...
This is the closest we have come to confirming that Trump wanted the armed crowd to march on the Capitol. His attempt to facilitate an armed mob storming the Capitol will be a critical fact in the decision whether to charge him.

When Hutchinson warned Meadows that the mob was getting close to the Capitol, he ignored her — even apparently slamming a car door twice as she tried to speak to him. When she finally did convey the information, she said Meadows had a “lack of reaction.” All Meadows wanted to know was how much longer Trump had left in his speech…

2- Trump’s advisers knew that Trump could be exposed to criminal charges.
Hutchinson testified that Cipollone tried to edit Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech both for legal reasons and for how it would be perceived. The inflammatory elements remained.

Cipollone also weighed in on Jan. 3 against Trump’s request to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hutchinson said Cipollone told her, “We need to make sure this doesn’t happen. We have serious legal concerns.” He again pleaded to make sure Trump didn’t go up to the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6 because, as Hutchinson recalled him saying, “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.”

3- Trump went ballistic when he was told he couldn’t go to the Capitol.…

4- Trump’s ring leaders asked for pardons.
Hutchinson testified that Giuliani and Meadows both requested pardons from Trump after the insurrection. This follows revelations from the committee last week that a number of Republican members of Congress also sought pardons. Any prosecutor would use this as evidence of guilt.

5- Other Trump aides are cowards and dissemblers.
Hutchinson’s appearance before the committee placed a spotlight on the list of Trump aides who have refused to come forward with their eyewitness testimony, including Meadows, Ornato, Cipollone and others. In fact, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the committee, read statements from unnamed witnesses that they had been warned by others to be “loyal” to Trump, suggesting the possibility of witness tampering…


The rioters broke into the Capitol. She sees Cipollone go to Meadows’ office (who is on his phone) and tells him about the riots. Mark said: “Trump doesn’t want to do anything.”

Pat told Mark that something needed to be done or else there would be blood on their hands.

A few minutes later Jim Jordan calls back Meadows. She goes to dining room to tell Meadows Jordan called back. Meadows took the phone w/door propped open to talk to Jordan. She could hear Trump & others talking about the “Hang Mike Pence” chants.

Then, Pat said “Mark we need to something more. They’re literally calling for the VP to be f****g hung.”

Meadows: “You heard Trump. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”

Hutchinson: Trump also said to Meadows that Pence “deserved it.”

At 2:24 p.m. on 1/6, Trump tweeted that Pence didn’t have the “courage to do what needed to be done.”

Hutchinson: “As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic, unAmerican. We were watching the Capitol being defaced over a lie.”

1. FRANKNESS: Saying all you know

2. TRUTH: Speaking what you know to be true

3. CRITICISM: Criticizing those in positions of power

4. DANGER: Speaking truth despite a risk to your safety

5. DUTY: Feeling obliged to tell the truth, despite the risk

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  4. 4.

    Jerzy Russian

    I don’t see how acknowledging that the transition should be peaceful would be self incriminating, but I am not a lawyer.  As noted before the general should be recalled to service, kicked in the nuts, busted to PFC, hauled in front of a court marshal (is that how it is spelled?), kicked in the nuts, and taken to Leavenworth.

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   Recall that apparently a documentary film crew was present for many of these events.  Once you can learn to talk freely in front of a film crew, talking freely in front of someone’s assistant isn’t that big of a leap.

  6. 6.

    Anne Laurie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s possible they talked frankly in front of her because they saw her as an underling who didn’t count.

    Also, they’ve all clearly strongly internalized the message “If a Republican does it, that is not a crime.”

  8. 8.

    Jeffro

    I am still trying to figure out how I’d like to take my victory lap after six straight years of telling my RWNJ dad and brother that trump had no bottom, and would continue to lead them and their party down an endless spiral of depravity.

    Not that they’d ever admit it.

    Maybe just knowing I’m not only right, but on the right side of history, will have to be enough.

  11. 11.

    Kent

    @Jeffro: Trust me, they will never admit it.  My RWNJ relatives have all already deflected on to the horror that is LGBT rights and the direct linkages between CRT and communism.  Oh, and that Biden is responsible for inflation and windmills are causing high gas prices or something.

    But they will snap right back the minute Trump is on the ballot again.

    The only hope is that there are fewer and fewer of them every month that passes and more and more of us.

  14. 14.

    Kent

    @Anne Laurie: They all thought they were untouchable because they always have been.  And it’s about “what the boss wants” always.  Not what is right or wrong.  Those are foreign concepts for Republicans.

  15. 15.

    bbleh

    There seem to be a lot of people saying, and nobody denying, that Meadows was/is a lying weasel, unusually bad even for DC, even for a Republican, and even for the “Tea Party” generation.

    What I take away from this is, he’s a lying weasel not because he’s evil or has an agenda, but because he’s a weakling.  And it’s hardly surprising that a weakling would be what TFG would want as a CoS.

    See also McCarthy, Kevin.

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @Kent:

    The only hope is that there are fewer and fewer of them every month that passes and more and more of us.

     

    Now I feel bad rooting against Covid.

  17. 17.

    Jinchi

    Hutchinson testified that Giuliani and Meadows both requested pardons from Trump after the insurrection.

    It would really be great if Congress would clarify that the president can’t pardon people for crimes he ordered them to commit.

  18. 18.

    Nicole

    Man, that bit at the end about witness tampering.  I can’t stand Cheney; she’s still A) a Republican and B) a Cheney, but that couldn’t have been played any better if it had been serialized television.  I was left fuming that I have to wait until JULY for the next episode?  Hell yes, I’ll be tuning in.

    And yeah, I know this is real life, but I really do give props to the Jan 6 committee for offering up hearings that, dare I say, can hold the attention of the average American.

  19. 19.

    Kent

    @CaseyL: @Jerzy Russian: I am anxiously awaiting that day of hearings.  Hutchinson didn’t mention seeing the film crew around, though.

    She wasn’t asked.  At least in this particular public hearing.  They asked her a very specific set of questions to reinforce a very specific narrative.  She might well have discussed it during her other hours and hours of taped private testimony.  We have no way to know.

  22. 22.

    Jinchi

    @Kent: ​Trust me, they will never admit it. My RWNJ relatives have all already deflected on to the horror that is LGBT rights and the direct linkages between CRT and communism.

    One of my in-laws is wondering why we keep talking about TFG, as though he is long gone and forgotten.

    Same in-law is also planning to buy a new book describing how Democrats smuggled ballots into voting machines.

  23. 23.

    Kent

    @Baud:Now I feel bad rooting against Covid.

    Well, in the case of my kin it is mostly that they are old and obese and have horrible diets and take cars and mobility scooters EVERYWHERE.

  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jerzy Russian:

    It might not be incriminating as such, but maybe Flynn feared that saying he supported a peaceful transition of power might sound to MAGAts’ ears like he wasn’t all in for the insurrection, and might lead to them excommunicating him from the movement. Or maybe he’s just still scared shitless of Trump. Or maybe he’s unware that his Trumpy lawyer is working for Trump and not him.

  28. 28.

    CaseyL

    @Kent: Presumably the Committee has watched all of the footage, quite possibly frame by frame. And whatever was on it is surely informing their strategy about what questions to ask of whom.

    Oh, and on top of everything else: Mark Meadows was Ginni Thomas’ conduit to Trump & Co.   I’m not sure what good it would do for him to give her up (he’s so deep in shit at this point) but one can hope.

    ETA:

    @HumboldtBlue:  And right on cue, Ginni is suddenly not so happy to talk to the Committee.

  29. 29.

    Ken

    @HumboldtBlue: I have to think she’s not been watching the hearings, because that is practically inviting them to broadcast what they know about her role.

  34. 34.

    JWR

    Just checked my near daily podcast listen, Background Briefing with Ian Masters, and his first guest is Paul Campos from LG&M. So… first question on today’s hearing:

    Ian Masters:: Why is this guy not in jail?

    Paul Campos: Because Merrick Garland is a wuss!

    He’s just going after the little guys, etc., and it goes on like that. Fortunately, the next guest is Lance Dodes, one of the people behind The Dangerous Case of DJT. Should be far better than the last.

  35. 35.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    @HumboldtBlue: ​
      They all do that. Remember how Dump was eager to show his tax returns and eager to testify to Mueller.

    They say one thing to the public and another thing to the prosecutors.

  37. 37.

    nevsky42

    I actually thought there was something wrong with the Baier video because the last ten seconds were just the talking heads frozen in stunned silence…

  41. 41.

    zhena gogolia

    This vile pig was the President of the United States. And might be again.

    that’s “vile pig,” not “bio pic,” voice recognition

  42. 42.

    Citizen_X

    @HumboldtBlue: Her lawyer is asking “the Committee to provide a better justification for why” her “testimony is relevant to the Committee’s legislative purpose,”

    I think “We were trying to fulfill that purpose when you motherfuckers tried to murder us” should be enough.

  44. 44.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I predicted this on day one. She absolutely should NOT testify and her saying she was eager to is just evidence of what a dummy she is. That statement is not 5th amendment privileged.

    So now, perhaps, a subpoena.

    I really hate her after the Anita Hill drunk dial.

  47. 47.

    Ken

    @zhena gogolia: You need to use “vile pig” more often to train the algorithm. (The technique is known as “santorumization”.)  Make it a habit to say “vile pig” whenever you want to refer to TFG, and the algorithm will pick it up in a couple of days.

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Your application to the Normie Consortium has been rejected with the following advice:

    “Do not reapply”

  51. 51.

    raven

    So they knew there were dudes strapped with 9’s and AR’s. What did they do, just let them go on? I asked already but, if they confiscated a bunch of weapons at the Mags, there is no accounting of them? What the fuck-over?

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @Nicole:

    I was saying in another thread that I suspect Liz Cheney assumed all of the talk about an insurrection was just the usual Republican dick-swinging and was pissed when she realized the assholes had actually done it.

  57. 57.

    ian

    They talked in front of the staff and documentary crew because they assumed they would pull it off.  They figured their bestest buddies on the SC would have their backs, the congresscritters would be too cowed, and they would control DOJ on 1/21/21.  These people are not very bright, and things got out of hand.

  58. 58.

    Scout211

    @Immanentize:

    True. Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an attorney who is a dummy.

    But according to the internet, she is also a political activist, a lobbyist and a public policy analyst.

    I guess Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas found an attorney who isn’t a dummy to represent her.

  59. 59.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Nicole: And yeah, I know this is real life, but I really do give props to the Jan 6 committee for offering up hearings that, dare I say, can hold the attention of the average American.

    Someone on this committee or their staff REALLY understands television.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    @raven: I think they:
    1) did not get to the big guns because those guys did not enter the protected area. Not that they could not have happily sprayed from beyond the perimeter. And
    2) let them leave rather than surrender.

    Time will tell

  61. 61.

    ThresherK

    I’m so stealing this from Mistermix a few posts ago:

    There’s nothing like the private, not-for-attribution, off-the-record moral courage of a House Republican

  62. 62.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    @raven: ​
      Open carry is illegal in DC and concealed carry needs permits. Plus all weapons must be registered.

    These people should have been arrested.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @raven:

    I’m not sure if they confiscated them or let people go back to their trucks and stash them. There was at least one report of some guys getting pulled over with a carload of guns, so I suspect that they were allowed to just bring them back to their cars.

  72. 72.

    raven

    @David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch: That’s what I’m talkin bout! Plus they said in the hearing today that all kinds of shit was confiscated at the Mags at the rally. When someone gets popped with a weapon at an airport it’s all over the news with pictures.

  74. 74.

    Immanentize

    @raven: Yes they generally are. And those laws kept a lot of guns getting to the Capitol that day.

    But there are “laws” and there are vibes that Trump wanted his security people to feel. I will not be surprised if lenience was the order of the day.

    Look at how prepared the Cap. Police were compared to the BLM protests

  77. 77.

    raven

    Several thousand members of the crowd refused to go through the machines to enter the rally space, and instead watched from the lawn near the Washington Monument, Ms. Cheney said. Those who chose to go through the detectors had various weapons confiscated, including pepper spray, knives, brass knuckles, tasers, body armor, gas masks, batons and blunt weapons.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    @ian: I talk about Gage in crim. law. Think of every juvenile/adolescent as Phineas Gage. Same brains.

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    @Scout211: it certainly happens often. I suspect Hutchinson’s first lawyer had divided interests and was, to her, a big dummy.

  84. 84.

    Dan B

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Schiff seems to me to be aware of how media works.  I also seem to recall he felt the hearings needed to reach the general public because TFG would have to be tried in the court of public opinion before either the establishment or justice would move.

    Also the former ABC producer seems to have had a huge influence.  This surprise hearing is just what TV news uses to drive up the eyeball count.

  86. 86.

    Immanentize

    @raven: True, but there is a difference between letting them in and confiscating and turning back. You’ve been to enough concerts to know this! Some are harsh, some are kind.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Someone on this committee or their staff REALLY understands television.

    One of the less-great things about Adam Schiff is that he represents the major studios, but that also gives him a pipeline to some really talented volunteers and consultants. That’s my assumption, anyway.

    ETA: And my assumption was right. Yay! (ABC = Disney, one of Schiff’s major corporate constituents.)

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne

    @Immanentize:

    Gay mouse is still pretty pissed, as are us allies. We were all very amused when the scorpion De Santis immediately stung our CEO just like we all knew he would.

    There are probably photos of me at one of the protests floating around somewhere, though I was wearing a mask and sunglasses.

  91. 91.

    Mike in NC

    Donald Trump must die behind bars wearing an orange jumpsuit. Nothing else is acceptable.

  93. 93.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JWR: The Merrick Garland hate is strong at LGM, as is the general doomism and “nothing will matter” pronouncements. I get entrained in it sometimes.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @Mike in NC:

    Donald Trump must die behind bars wearing an orange jumpsuit. Nothing else is acceptable.

     
    Disagree. I would accept the traditional black and white striped suit.

  95. 95.

    Tony G

    Stating the blindingly obvious here — but it’s shocking that a person like Trump was in ANY position of authority, let alone the president of the United States.  What kind of person over the age of two throws food at a wall?  (My own adult sons never did anything like that, even when they were in diapers.).  What kind of person assaults a Secret Service agent who has the duty to protect him (and can therefore not effectively defend himself)?   Yet, tens of millions of Americans support and love that pile of garbage.  We’re in deep trouble because of Trump’s cult members, even if Trump were to disappear tomorrow.

  97. 97.

    zhena gogolia

    @Tony G: Absolutely.

    With all my excitement and laughter today, it’s a deeply sad and terrifying story she told.

  98. 98.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mnemosyne: Liz Cheney assumed all of the talk about an insurrection was just the usual Republican dick-swinging and was pissed when she realized the assholes had actually done it.

    Nah, Liz has been pissed at the MAGAts going back forever.  They broke the Republican brand, and it wasn’t their brand!

    The insurrection just gave her the tools to weaponize her contempt.  Which, as I’ve said:  I wouldn’t trust her very far, but better right now that she’s inside the tent pissing out…

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    This has been one of the craziest weeks in political life in my memory. I am so glad the blog is back so I can rehash it to death.

  100. 100.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mnemosyne: I poke around the theme-park-fandom community a lot and everyone seems to agree that Disney has been making a lot of stupid decisions lately with regard to the parks–but it’s hard to discuss it because someone in the conversation is always going to take that hard right turn into complaining about Woke Disney and the groomers who want to show us gay ladies kissing and won’t let us watch Song of the South.

  101. 101.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    speaking orange jumpsuits

    New York (CNN) — Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Tuesday

  102. 102.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Someone on this committee or their staff REALLY understands television.

    As was mentioned in the AP extract I posted last night / this morning, the Committee hired a well-respected television professional to help ‘stage’ their hearings.

    Certain social-media Politics Knowers considered this a sign of weakness, until the ketchup started streaming down the walls…

  103. 103.

    bbleh

    @Anne Laurie: They broke the Republican brand, and it wasn’t their brand!

    And perhaps even worse, zey refuse to follow ordersss!

    I’m sure it’s unfair, and ALL due respect (!) for her relentless-prosecutor role in the 1/6 hearings, but Liz is a natural for a black high-collared uniform and an armband.

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jerzy Russian: Once you take the Fifth, you can’t choose which questions you will or won’t answer.  You invoked your right to remain silent.  You have to be silent.

  109. 109.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Anne Laurie: Thanks to you and the others who reminded me of this. I’d totally forgotten about the ABC producer.

    He really knows his audience, particularly the members of the media, even the Fox-y ones. You keep hearing about how surprisingly riveting it is for a congressional hearing. That’s definitely the hand of the TV producer.

    Many years ago when I lived in the DC area, I used to get really annoyed that the WaPo would have their TV critic “review” serious political events as if they were meant to be entertainment. But I guess Tom Shales was just ahead of his time.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    @Matt McIrvin:  Woke Disney and the groomers who want to show us gay ladies kissing

    That’s not Disney, that’s the entire porn industry.  Well, the part geared to heterosexual males.

  112. 112.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @raven: Difference between being a witness at a hearing and a defendant at a trial.  The witness still can forced to take the stand

  113. 113.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: This is what surprises me about these viddys. You take the fifth, you are done! Even more important, you answer some questions and it may mean you didn’t actually take the fifth. It is confusing me. Is the Congressional rule about answering different than DOJ’s?

  116. 116.

    ian

    @bbleh: I recently switched my registration to republican so I can vote for her in the primary.  It makes my skin crawl and my soul hurt to think about a) being a registed republican and b) voting for Cheney.

    I need a shower.

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    ‘@raven

    The real magic trick was how this same throng of armed (and dis- or unarmed) people cheering the speakers on the Ellipse morphed (in Republispeak) into a mob of Antifa over the course of walking 12 blocks.

    That’s some nth level prestidigitation, that is.

    //

  118. 118.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: many jurisdictions in criminal cases do not allow a witness to be compelled to testify only to assert the fifth. The Onion Field case/movie is absolutely a great example of why this should not be allowed

  120. 120.

    Delk

    Richard Irvin conceded. Republican running for Illinois governor. He had the worst tv ads.

  127. 127.

    NotMax

    No Open Thread on the horizon, seemingly, so dropping in an OT.

    Amazon is limiting customers to three units of emergency contraceptive pills a week in response to a spike in demand after the Supreme Court ended federal abortion rights, the company told CNBC.

    Other retailers are also limiting purchases of drugs like Plan B and Aftera — CVS and Rite Aid are likewise limiting customers to three pills per customer. The companies say there is enough supply of the drugs but that they’re trying to keep them on the shelves consistently. The drugs, often called the morning-after pill, can prevent pregnancy if taken after unprotected sex. Source

  129. 129.

    Jim Appleton

    First, my way of referring to TFG is iDJT, small i plus his initials, pronounced “idjit.”

    Second, where we are now is not good but hopefully getting better.

    We had him for four years thanks to millions, many of whom still see him as some kind of stalwart hero, with or without illegitimate help.  This despite all that’s become clear lately which proves otherwise.

    He nearly pulled off a coup which current members of Congress supported at the time and continue to support, despite the tightening noose of evidence of their own culpability.

    My thin reed of hope is that the cumulative weight of evidence, such as provided today by Cassidy Hutchinson and ongoing, turns enough doubters into understanders.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Anne Laurie: I happened to be studying a “Proud member of Do Something Twitter” when it was reported that the Committee was hiring the TV producer. Hmm, I said, I wonder what will come of this?

    Then I checked on Mr. Do Something, and he already knew! “Hiring a TV producer?!! Democrats are doing it WRONG! This is what they did in the second impeachment and LOOK HOW THAT TURNED OUT!”

    So after the first two hearings I checked out Mr. Do Something again, to see if maybe he was eating a little crow. Not a chance. “This is all well and good,” he said, “but just imagine how powerful it would have been if the Democrats had impeached Trump the night of January 6, and these hearings had been staged that February!”

    Just a bonehead.

  134. 134.

    Tenar Arha

    SWTG I forgot what it was like to not check your news feeds for a few hours & come back & EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE is . Also too, wow, this is why it was good for me to get rid of the Twitter app on my phone.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Magic Key has been kind of a fiasco out here, and people are kinda pissed about FastPasses going away. I haven’t been since before quarantine, so I don’t even know how things work anymore.

  139. 139.

    Skepticat

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s possible OBVIOUS they talked frankly in front of her because they saw her as an underling who didn’t count.

    She most certainly counts now, though I fear for her.

  142. 142.

    Alison Rose

    LOL Seth Meyers referred to complaining people in their YouTube comments as “a bunch of jackals” and I was like…………he reads Balloon Juice???

  143. 143.

    Jim Appleton

    Serious question I’ve not seen asked or answered:

    What did TFG intend by going to the Capitol with an armed mob?

    Why did he think it was a good idea?

    What was he going to do once he got there along with violent, armed people he incited who he thought were doing no wrong?

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jim Appleton:

    He was trying to overthrow the government. I am not joking or exaggerating.

    Fortunately, there was still enough infrastructure that he failed, but that’s honest to God what that fucker was trying to do: install himself as president for life.

  147. 147.

    Alison Rose

    @Jim Appleton: He thought they would all cheer for him, and that’s not something he can possibly avoid. If there’s a chance a crowd of amped-up angry white people will yell his name and clap for him, he’s gotta have it. Honestly, I wish he had been there, because then he might actually be in prison right now.

  148. 148.

    Immanentize

    @Steve in the ATL: maybe if I offer a couple of younguns an opportunity to hear me sing “Jenny was a Friend of Mine” they will sign up for the cause?

    PS nice to see your post here

  149. 149.

    SFBayAreaGal

    A few days after the riot, there was an article stating Ginni Thomas had provided buses for some of the rioters to come to TFG rally/rioters party.

  150. 150.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jim Appleton: There was apparently buzz about him “making a speech” there. I think he thought he’d literally waltz in with his armed mob, take Congress hostage, give them a tough-guy talk with guns pointed at their heads and force them to make him President again, kind of like Hitler at the Reichstag.

  151. 151.

    Immanentize

    @Mnemosyne: I agree. And frankly (I was thinking about this a lot today) I am not sure he would have failed if he had gone to the Capitol. The dynamic would have been completely different.

  152. 152.

    Kropacetic

    I thought I lost the ability to be shocked by Trump. I always bigly suspected, but the details…

  153. 153.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Immanentize: I don’t think Congress would have knuckled under without a shot being fired. Not the Democrats, at least. I think it would have turned into a massacre of Congress, and then we’d have an even more interesting crisis on our hands.

  154. 154.

    Anne Laurie

    @brendancalling: I’m a regular commenter at LGM, and I like their posts, but the constant “we’re doomed” gets tiring.

    On the other hand, I’ve had commentors complain that they’re switching to LGM because Balloon-Juice, these days, is too ‘happy-clappy Democrat-machine supporting’…

  155. 155.

    Geminid

    Illinois had two Rep on Rep primaries today. Up in Chicagoland, Democrats Marie Newman and Sean Casten competed for the 6th CD nomination, and it appears that Casten has won. Earlier in the evening he led 59% to 36% with half the vote counted.

    Things were closer downstate where Republicans Rodney Davis and Mary Miller are going at it for the 15th CD nomination. With 57% of the vote counted, Miller led Davis 56.7% to 43.3%. Miller had Trump’s endorsement, which he reiterated at a rally with her three days ago.

  156. 156.

    kalakal

    In more bad news for the MAGATs: Tina Peters has lost the GQP primary  to become Colorado Secretary of State. Now she just has the court case to look forward to, Lindell blew a lot of cash on her, and even Boebert thinks she’s toxic. Sad!

  158. 158.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Immanentize: having a big time in Alabama!  Here’s a quick summary of broadcast radio in the state:

    1. White men lying about politics;

    2. White men lying about religion;

    3. White men lying about college football; and

    4. White men playing bro country

     

    God help us!

  160. 160.

    Bill Arnold

    @Matt McIrvin:
    Since Trump wasn’t thinking clearly, one could also imagine him trying to find Pence and then something even more ludicrous like having his Secret Service detail attack Pence’s Secret Service detail. Pence did not trust the Secret Service in general, though he trusted his personal detail.
    I suspect Trump just wanted to be there, though, present and inspiring the rioters.
    They are lucky that it fizzled. They would all be dead or in jail, otherwise. The Capital Police were armed with firearms unlike almost all of the rioters (thanks to DC gun laws), and probably had enough ammunition to kill a lot of rioters.

  163. 163.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Immanentize:

    I am not sure he would have failed if he had gone to the Capitol. The dynamic would have been completely different.

    I had that thought. Not sure thing, but as you say, a completely different dynamic. Napoleon on 18 Brumaire.

  165. 165.

    James E Powell

    We need to start making the case against each of the elected Republicans who supported & continue to support Trump & the insurrection. The connections are clear to use, but are not to the low-info voters who will decide the midterms.

    I don’t know if anyone has a database or a list or a chart, but none of them have been shy about their support. The whole Republican brand needs to be smeared with this. We hear may think that it is, but to those voters, it is not

    We cannot expect the press to make the case for us. We have to do it.

  170. 170.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mnemosyne: There’s all kinds of crazy stuff going on at the Florida resort–aside from all that Genie stuff, they cancelled the very popular Magical Express bus service from the airport, then they got pissed off that this Brightline train that’s under construction might take a route that would actually service Universal and SeaWorld, and the upshot of that seems to be that they won’t get a Brightline stop on property at all (one had been planned).

    And they’re losing their bizarre pocket government, but that’s for the worst imaginable reason, because they’re not homophobic enough for DeSantis.

  171. 171.

    JoyceH

    Something that struck me from earlier in the testimony was what Giuliani said to Hutchinson – asked if she was excited about the 6th, and when she seemed puzzled, he said the president was going to the Capitol and ‘he’s going to look so powerful’. These guys are off in some other dimension, but sometimes I get the feeling that someone in their orbit has watched The West Wing, and knows from the reaction of others which plot elements really resonated, though they lack the wisdom and the humanity to understand WHY. Jed Bartlett went to the Capitol and somehow that changed everything. So hey, we’ll get Trump to go to the Capitol!

  172. 172.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JWR: Nope.  No fucking way I’m listening to Campos.  He’s been one of the worst commentators on how Garland Must Resign!!1! From the jump.  Ignoring everything DOJ has been doing at every turn and never addressing the way cases are built, investigated and prosecuted per former DOJ attorneys.

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    @JoyceH: That worship of POWER as a value in itself is the thing that just makes the entire American right unacceptable. I know everyone who plays politics at a high level has to be kind of a megalomaniac. But they think you see someone else who radiates POWER and you immediately have to admire them and obey them. Born toadies.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    I went with my sister to Obama’s 2nd inaugeration and the teenagers who climbed trees to get a better look were so cute up there- stradding limbs with their legs hanging down – bunches of them. Just a really joyful celebration. We met an entire huge family from Utah who joked that they were the only Democrats in Utah so it was 100% attendance out of Utah. It was bitter cold and my sister had a thin city jacket so they lent her one of the blankets they were sitting on to wear.

    I thought about it about it watching the hearing today with the police transmission about how one of the Trump rioters was in a tree with a gun.

  175. 175.

    Matt McIrvin

    …you see it in their religion too, always emphasizing the POOOWRRRRR of the LORRRD above just about any other property he might have.

  176. 176.

    brendancalling

    @Anne Laurie: I’ve heard the same. That’s why I read both. My blog list is short: Balloon-Juice, LGM, Daily Kos for Ukraine coverage mainly, and Progress Pond (where I used to write—Martin Longman is one of my best friends). And it’s because the substance is good. Sometimes I disagree w/ a specific BJ (or LGM/DK/PP) post, but it’s always well thought out, sincere, and real. Unlike some blogs (ahem atrios) where it’s nothing but “everything is bad, Dems suck.”

  177. 177.

    frosty

    @Steve in the ATL: ​
      Better you than me. Of course, we left Oregon a week or so ago and have been spending time in Idaho (campground owner strapped, WTF is she worried about?), Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Misery, rural Illinois and now Indiana. I can’t wait to get back to Blue Country … oh, shit, I’m going home to South PA. Damn!

  178. 178.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Brenden Moore @brendenmoore13 59m

    Breaking: Rep. Rodney Davis concedes to Trump-backed Rep. Mary Miller in the #IL15 GOP primary. 

    Manu Raju @mkraju 7m

    A big shakeup in House GOP with Rodney Davis — a McCarthy ally who would have been a committee chairman — losing to a House Freedom Caucus member. Davis’ sin: Voting to establish a bipartisan outside commission (with joint subpoena power) to probe Jan 6

    ETA: she’s the one who said the Dobbs ruling was a triumph for “white life” at a trump rally

  180. 180.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Matt McIrvin: I’m staying away during these hearings because the place was downright insufferable on anything related to DOJ/Garland.  There are much better places to read the thoughts of actual former prosecutors make sense of what we are seeing or not seeing and what is likely going on in DOJ investigations.  #SistersInLaw podcast and the hosts’ Twitter feeds, Renato Marriotti, etc.  For a place that is relatively good about understanding the structural constraints of politics LGM has been astoundingly lacking at having that same realistic insight into Federal investigations/prosecutions.  It’s kind of sad, tbh.

  181. 181.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @brendancalling: Every political blog is a lot of navel-gazing to some extent, but shit, at least here people are trying to do something to save our Democracy with Watergirl’s great organizing and DougJ’s fundraising threads rather than just endless complaining.

  182. 182.

    JWR

    @UncleEbeneezer: Hey, Unc! Just a note to say that I saw and appreciated your comments re LGM. As for Ian Masters, he usually doesn’t stoop to the Paul Campos level of stupid politics, but oh well.

  183. 183.

    Dopey-o

    @UncleEbeneezer: For a place that is relatively good about understanding the structural constraints of politics LGM has been astoundingly lacking at having that same realistic insight into Federal investigations/prosecutions.  It’s kind of sad, tbh.

    LGM amazes me. A short 3 or 4 paragraphs on any topic quickly devolves into tangled snarls of comments and endless circularity. Nested comments within tangled threads within inside discussions and third-rate puns.

    ETA: Most days the puns are the only take-away worh the effort.

  184. 184.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kent: ​

    Trust me, they will never admit it. My RWNJ relatives have all already deflected on to the horror that is LGBT rights and the direct linkages between CRT and communism.

    That last bit reminded me of this dialogue between B.D. and Zonker in Doonesbury, right after Zonker joined the huddle for the first time.​

  187. 187.

    Geminid

    @AxelFoley: The IL 15th CD primary was a good test of strength between the Republican establishment and its radicals. Rodney Davis had the support of just about every county party chairman, and groups like the Farm Bureau and the FOP. Much of the new district overlapped with his old one. But Mary Miller beat him, and it wasn’t very close.

    Upstate, Democrat Sean Casten knocked out Marie Newman in the Democratic 6th CD primary. Casten is in the “moderate” New Democratic Coalition, while Newman is a member of the Progressive Caucus, but the race probably did not turn on ideology. Newman was hampered by an ethics investigation. After she narrowly lost to the younger Lipinski in their 2018 primary, Newman made a deal with a potential 2020 rival where she promised him a job. He ended up suing her, they settled, and she put him on her campaign payroll. The House Ethics Committee has an open investigation into this.

    I like both Newman and Casten, but I was rooting for Casten. He was one of the 40 Democrats who flipped red seats in 2018, and he has a good background in clean energy.

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