Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

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

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You are here: Home / Jan 6: Insurrection / Tik-Tock MOFOs: Final Report Is Released

Tik-Tock MOFOs: Final Report Is Released

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I figured we might need a thread to discuss this…

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79Comments

  1. 1.

    eclare

    I cannot believe how much work the J6 committee accomplished and how successfully the findings were presented.  Nancy truly knew what she was doing when she selected people to serve, I know I shouldn’t be surprised.

  2. 2.

    Spanky

    WaPo:

    AG William Barr said Trump cited ‘complete nonsense’

    By Patrick Marley

    Former attorney general William P. Barr told congressional investigators that President Donald Trump spouted “complete nonsense” about voting machines during a Nov. 23, 2020, meeting.

    Barr said he found Trump’s false claims about Dominion Voting Systems machines disturbing because there was “absolutely zero basis for the allegations,” according to the report.

    Dominion is going to own Fox, lock, stock, and bottom of the barrel.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    Post:

    Congress should consider barring former president Donald Trump and others from holding office again, according to the recommendations section of the committee’s report.

    The 14th Amendment allows barring people from office who “engaged in insurrection” or gave “aid and comfort to the enemies” of the Constitution.

    “The Committee believes that those who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and then, on January 6th, engaged in insurrection can appropriately be disqualified and barred from holding government office — whether federal or state, civilian or military — absent at least two-thirds of Congress acting to remove the disability pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the committee wrote in its report.

    The mental image of Kevin McCarthy knifing Trump in the back by pushing such a (fully merited) disqualification is vastly amusing yet sadly will have to remain a fantasy.

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ken: In the context of a defamation lawsuit, it will cause the gin and Xanax portion of the defense legal bills to skyrocket.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Wyatt Salamanca: Even though Trumpenstein will never spend a day in prison nor will his henchmen John Eastman, Mark Meadows, or Rudy Nosferatu Ghouliani,

    Pure cynicism on your part.

  13. 13.

    Jackie

    Lawrence O’Donnell is frantically trying to get input on the just released Report. So much for a boring dead news holiday wknd!

    Plus Faux News trying to distance themselves from the Dominion lawsuit!

    I’m going to be wrapping Xmas gifts with guaranteed entertainment!😂

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    @rikyrah:

    I think it was Kevin the minority leader who did that: first by nominating obviously unsuitable Republicans whom Pelosi had to reject, then by refusing to nominate any Republicans at all.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    Even though Trumpenstein will never spend a day in prison nor will his henchmen John Eastman, Mark Meadows, or Rudy Nosferatu Ghouliani

    I really wish some of you guys would stop with this shit.

    How do you know that?

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amir Khalid: Yup, McCarthy stepped on his own dick, not for the first or last time. If he hadn’t insisted on naming bomb-throwers, Pelosi probably wouldn’t have rejected them. She only rejected, as I recall two of seven (?) names he proposed, so he pulled them all. The committee might well have been less effective with a few “Very Serious” Republicans, who could at least play normal for CNN.

    I still think McCarthy will be Speaker, but for less than a year.

  20. 20.

    patrick II

    I thought it was a false story but reported it anyway

    is just as true about Covid immunization — but the way the law works it is much easier for Dominion to prove a loss than for individuals. Who would have gotten sick and died anyway? The loss cannot be assessed for any individual, but collectively the losses are statistically sure and the losses enormous.
    I wonder if a large enough corporation could provide the burden of proof by a preponderance of evidence or clear and convincing standards.
    Life insurance companies, for instance, paid out billions in claims and losses would amount to what I think would be a statistically clear and convincing standard.
    But, since I am not a lawyer at all, my wish for some sort of punishment is probably not legally reasonable.

  22. 22.

    patrick II

    Another thing that I have felt funny about mentioning — John Cole and I have several things in common, both overweight white guys whose short beard has turned white and who tested positive for Covid this week.  I don’t wear a Santa Claus hat though.

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Ryan J. Reilly @ryanjreilly

    Cassidy Hutchinson’s QAnon aunt and uncle thought about refinancing their house so she didn’t have to go back to Trump world to pay her legal bills, and she begged her Trump-supporting biological father for help.

    He said no. Charlie Savage said on the Alex Wagner program that Repuplicans are already talking about making Hutchinson the target of their “investigation” of the 1/6 Committee. I feel sorry for her, but I suspect she’ll be able to raise money for her lawyers. And she’ll probably also need security.

  24. 24.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Elizabelle:

    How do you know that?

    It’s been *seven years* now that these chuckleheads have been criming away, and aside from low-level guys, all the rest have gotten away with it.  We have  good reason to think that that won’t change, and that the J6 Report is just the Muller Report, only for 2022.  I mean,  we remember Fitzmas.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    And I expect that when House Republicans get tired of playing with Kevin and toss him aside, the House will remain Speakerless for a while; none of them will be keen to accept the obviously poisoned chalice.

  27. 27.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Amir Khalid: Huh, I’d expect that there’d be too many pretenders to the throne: between “David Duke without the baggage” Scalise, Marge Three Toes, Gym Jordan, and who-knows-how-many-others.  I’d expect they’d have a long fistfight to decide who gets the job.

    P.S. After all, it’s not like they’re planning on passing any legislation: it’ll be all hearings all the time, right?  That’s gotta be fun times for those numbnuts.

  28. 28.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Elizabelle:

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Trump’s unprecedented arrogance and incompetence resulted in 500,000 Covid-19 deaths and as we sit here today, he’s the leading candidate to be the Republican nominee in 2024.

    If tens of millions of Americans are willing to give Trump a free pass for his horrific mishandling of Covid, how the fuck am I supposed to believe that he or any of his scumbag sycophants could ever be convicted for the January 6th insurrection?

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    Stating with certainty that there will be no consequences is as foolish as the incessant predictions of the red wave and the total trashing of democrats in November.

  41. 41.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    Trump will spend no jail time for Jan 6th.  Too hard to prove he knew what would happen rather than just spouting hot air.

    His less violent efforts to overturn the election, I’m not sure.  I don’t know anything about the law there.

    But he’s fucked on the document theft.

    EDIT – The ‘one Trump supporter on the jury’ hasn’t been doing him or any other arch-conservative much good lately.

  44. 44.

    CaseyL

    I admit I’m surprised Hannity et al. said they didn’t believe what they were saying was true, in so many words.

    That goes directly to actual malice and reckless disregard.

    I wonder what their defenses are going to be.

  48. 48.

    jonas

    @Wyatt Salamanca: ​
     

    he’s the leading candidate to be the Republican nominee in 2024.

    That’s not what the latest polling among likely Republican primary voters is showing. The frontrunners are Ron DeSantis and “anyone but Trump”. Even his erstwhile diehard fans are realizing that he’s dead weight and think he should bow out. The lackluster performance of his endorsed candidates in the midterm and his stupid NFT card stunt were really the last straw. Murdochworld, esp. the NYPost, has already begun to turn on him. Trumpism, to be sure, is still the GOP brand. But I think Trump himself will be relegated to irrelevance in the coming year and that if he’s on tv at all, it will be in a courtroom listening to the prosecution read indictments.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @CaseyL: My thought on that is that they don’t want to go to jail on a “Martha Stewart” charge of lying under oath.

    I’m guessing that the consequences if they admit that they knew it was bullshit will not fall on them personally, so that looks to be the better choice.

    Waiting for an attorney who wants to tell me I’m wrong about that.

  51. 51.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Wyatt Salamanca: You can believe what you want to believe.   I am not going to change your mind, but I will point out that those of us who didn’t think Dems were doomed this last election, who thought that Judge Cannon’s decision was going to be overturned, and so on have had a better record recently than the cynically savvy.

  53. 53.

    piratedan

    well, if there are trials about the events of J6, won’t they take place in DC, in a federal court since they are Federal Crimes?  I would think the likelihood of finding a MAGA to serve on a federal court would be…. remote.

     

    I could be fully into GEICO Insurance Commercial zone here… that’s not how any of this works…..

  54. 54.

    jonas

    @CaseyL: Either he’s trying to deflect responsibility upward: “Lachlan Murdoch made me say stuff! I didn’t believe it, though!” Or they’re going back to the ol’ Fox playbook about how the primetime pundits like Hannity and Ingraham are just infotainment clowns whose pronouncements aren’t intended to be taken as actual facts. “So I didn’t believe Trump’s election claims or the stuff about Dominion’s machines! Wev! I was just funnin’ is all!” (*Plays a playful note on slide whistle*)​

  55. 55.

    Leslie

    @WaterGirl: There was that Fox lawsuit years ago that produced the ruling that news organizations have no legal obligation to tell the truth. They’ve been using that as their get out of jail free card ever since. So you are likely right that they won’t, individually, suffer legal consequences for admitting that they knew it was all a pack of lies.

  57. 57.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @jonas:

    Trump himself will be relegated to irrelevance in the coming year and that if he’s on tv at all, it will be in a courtroom listening to the prosecution read indictments.

    I’d love to see Trump in a courtroom and would celebrate it with popcorn and champagne.

  60. 60.

    jonas

    @Leslie: ​
      IIRC, the case involved the murder of Seth Rich and Hannity’s crusade to gin up some conspiracy linking it to Hillary Clinton or something. Rich’s family sued Fox for defamation. The case turned on whether or not pundits like Hannity were to be regarded as actual journalists, who are supposed to report verified information, or just clowns who spout bullshit opinions and shouldn’t be taken literally.

    IOW, they’re serious analysts and opinion makers when on the air, but in the court room, they’re all “Hey, we’re just like Stephen Colbert or Trevor Noah! We’re comedians just riffin’ on the news and stuff! You shouldn’t take us at our word!”

  61. 61.

    CaseyL

    @jonas: ​

    @Leslie: ​
     

    I do remember that previous case, where the Court agreed Carlson couldn’t be held responsible for anything he said.

    But this matter has some important differences from that one.

    For one thing, IIRC, they already tried to get the lawsuit dismissed on the basis that they were just giving opinions – and the Court ruled that wouldn’t fly this time because of the damage done to Dominion.

    For another, this is a defamation case, where the elements are actual malice (repeating something you know to be untrue as if it was true) and reckless disregard (the damage done to Dominion and its employees).

    I’m not sure you can defend against those elements by saying “I was only kidding” or “everyone knows I lie all the time.”

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @piratedan: criminal trials are complicated by more than just juries. Bill Cosby is a free man. When Harvey Weinstein was convicted by an LA court the other day, it got me curious about the timeline of his trials. It’s all on his Wiki page, but the short version: He was arrested in NY in May, 2018 (a year after enough credible allegations had been made that he was booted from his own company and the American Academy of Motion Pictures), convicted in Feb, 2020. He was extradited to LA in July, ’21, and just convicted last week, after a year and a half, when presumably his NY convictions were pretty strong evidence in every step of the CA trial. (I studied law by watching old David E Kelly shows 20 years ago, so I couldn’t even speculate about the reasons for various delays, that probably included Covid)

    Different charges, different courts, et cetera, but my point is that criminal trials are complicated, even when the defendant is pretty obviously guilty, and especially when the defendant is rich and totally immoral. And this is why I have no patience with the blog-comment lawyers who say things like “I don’t need to know the facts and the law to know that Garland is useless!” This is a very difficult and important case, and one where the prosecution, should it come to pass, best not miss.

    All that said, I would not be surprised to see Eastman, that would-be AG/oil spill lawyer whose name is escaping me and Giuliani convicted. Not betting it will happen, but Eastman likes to write things down, even trump’s people seem to hate that would-be AG, and Giuliani is a nasty buffoon. More than criminal conviction, I’d like to see Giuliani have to turn over every dime he has left to Ruby Freeman and Shae Moss.

  66. 66.

    jonas

    @Frankensteinbeck: ​
     

    Too hard to prove he knew what would happen rather than just spouting hot air.

    I haven’t read the whole report of course, but my impression of what I’ve seen so far is that they’ve laid out a pretty clear-cut case that Trump knew exactly what he was doing. He knew he had lost. Everyone around him except for a few utter nutcases told him he had lost and it was time to move on. And still, he decided to incite his followers to attack the Capitol to stop the electoral vote certification and, as the minutes and hours ticked by, closely watched and monitored what was happening, and refused to intervene until it became clear that the mob hadn’t succeeded in stopping the count.

    IANAL, but I can’t think of very many cases where the evidence of criminal intent in a conspiracy like this is mapped out in such compelling detail. They literally have a minute-by-minute timeline of what Trump knew, when he knew it, and what his responses were. And it all adds up to the irrefutable conclusion that he believed he was launching a coup to keep himself in power despite knowing he had lost the election and was totally fine with it because he’s a megalomaniac who thinks he’s America’s anointed Führer and no stupid, piddly election “outcome” can change that.

  67. 67.

    Leslie

    @West of the Rockies: Happy holidays to you too!

     

    @CaseyL: We can hope! I would love to see it happen. (I would also love to see a law passed that news organizations do have to tell the truth, or else include a prominent disclaimer every hour that everything they say is made up. I’m sure one of the lawyers here can tell me why that’s a bad idea.)

  69. 69.

    jonas

    @Chetan Murthy: ​
      l’m aware that charging Trump and his closest associates is a politically fraught decision for the DOJ and also have a little bit of the bitten-once-twice-shy post-Mueller wariness about whether we’ll ever see some accountability for Trump and his circle of thugs. But I also am comforted by the fact that 1. Trump’s no longer president, so the DOJ and Special Counsel aren’t hamstrung by the “no indicting a sitting president” rule. 2. the DOJ isn’t in the hands of a completely corrupt political hack who will use his power to bury the commission report (or any future SC recommendations) and issue a “summary” clearing Trump of all wrongdoing.

  70. 70.

    Fake Irishman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Yeah, but you were also one of the Pollyannas who naively thought Schumer could get Sinema and Manchin on board to salvage important parts of Build Back Better.

    How’d that work out for you all?

    ….

    Oh well, yeah, it worked out pretty well for me too. Thanks for asking.

  71. 71.

    Ruckus

    I am not a lawyer but I have seen court cases take a very, very long time to get from crime to the last bang of the gavel. And all of this federal stuff we are discussing is really rather rare, with a lot of big names and big (or at least biggish) money. It takes a fair amount of time to put it all together, then decide  what to charge, or if there is a case that can be made (just because we all think there is doesn’t make it true). Add in the amount of things that have gone on, Jan 6 being just one of the things that we’ve never seen in this country and the amount of people that think that was a normal or good thing. I’ll be amazed if it all comes together in a couple more years. Yes a number of the rioters of Jan 6 have been tried but there are a lot of people possibly left to charge, people who had anything to do with planning it.

    In my estimation this may be one of the biggest bits of law breaking or even actual treason this country has ever seen, and even attempting to fix this is a huge deal.

  72. 72.

    mrmoshpotato

    The Dominion lawsuit against Fox is something to keep your eye on. Multiple Fox employees – on air and off air talent – testified under oath they did not believe claims of election fraud in 2020 but aired it anyway.

    Cave in some faces, Lady Justice.

    (I’m being optimistic here, Ruckus.)

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: Speaker Pelosi only rejected 2 of McCarthy’s nominees. He then withdrew the other three. I recall that a certain stable genius pressured McCarthy not to cooperate in any way, and the malleable McCarthy complied.

    So, as H.L. Mencken* would say, Trump ended up ended up getting what he wanted, good and hard.

     

    *I recently learned of this Mencken bon mot from another jackal. So thanks!

  74. 74.

    Gvg

    It doesn’t do any good to give up ahead of time. Our country started with slavery legal and no real womens rights. We have progressed but boy has it been long and grim with many slow backward slides after progress. I think it is also relevant to think of anti corruption progress at various times and anti mob and crime times. We are fighting another gilded age of rich bastards and peons too at the same time.

    Biden concentrating on appointing judges looks really smart when I think about this. Wish we could do some more about the Supreme Court.

    Telling everyone there is no hope of Trump being jailed demoralizes them. Don’t do it.

  75. 75.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    To steal a line from the late Tom Clancy, if I were defending Fox News in the Dominion lawsuit, testimony like Hannity’s would put me at high risk for Excedrin Headache #357.

    We’re approaching Steve Dallas defending Bill the Cat against espionage charges here.

    And I’m wishing them all every milligram of the consequences barreling down onto them.

  77. 77.

    vigilhorn

    At the very least, the judge in the Dominion case should rule that all Fox news and “entertainment” programs have a permanent disclaimer at the bottom of the screen stating “This show not to be taken seriously”.

  79. 79.

    PaulWartenberg

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’ve read somewhere that the Speakership could open up to the leader of the party in minority if enough Congresspeople do not show up to vote for the Speakership. There’s a numbers game where if more Dems show up than GOP, Jeffries could get set up as the Speaker.

    Granted, legislation would still be borderline impossible to pass if enough Republicans vote against it, but I think Jeffries as Speaker controls committee assignments and what can be brought to the floor for votes, so the whole Hunter Biden fishing expedition could get shut down for example.

    What’s hilarious is how the possibility of LOSING the Speakership while in majority control of the House still isn’t enough to force the Republicans to unite – however briefly – behind McCarthy as a show of solidarity.

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