Trump Spends Final Days Focused on GOP Defectors, Senate Defense

[TomCADem]

Source: Washington Post

WASHINGTON—Shortly after becoming the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, President Trump summoned political advisers and demanded to know more about the 10 Republicans who had voted against him.

Mr. Trump, who had feared an even larger number of defections, wanted to know who the lawmakers were and whether he had ever done anything for them, according to people familiar with the meeting. He also inquired who might run against them when they face re-election in two years, the people said.

The president has grown increasingly concerned with defections against him within his own party, aides say. Now, he must plot his defense in a second Senate trial that will hinge on his level of GOP support, with far fewer legal and political allies than the last time he was impeached. Mr. Trump has called several Republicans on Capitol Hill in recent days to seek their advice on who he should recruit, as the personal attorneys who defended him last time and White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, have made clear to associates they don’t intend to serve on his team, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Advisers have urged the president not to tap Rudy Giuliani, his personal attorney who—to the chagrin of several Trump advisers—led the campaign to overturn the results of the election, telling Mr. Trump that he needs a sophisticated attorney who can stick to the facts. Some advisers have discussed John Eastman, a conservative constitutional law professor who was one of the few legal experts who told Mr. Trump that Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to block certain electors from being counted on Jan. 6, as a possible defense attorney, according to a person familiar with the conversations.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-spends-final-days-focused-on-gop-defectors-senate-defense/ar-BB1cNjQW?li=BBnb7Kz

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Even as cases go up and the U.S. grapples with the right wing terrorists that are responding to Trump's calls to fight the transition of power, we need to keep in mind how Trump could never have done this much damage without a whole right wing media infrastructure willing to radicalize millions of Americans and Republican public officials who were ready to turn their backs on oaths of office.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/01/covid-19-deaths-are-25-percent-higher-any-other-week/617686/

The Worst Week for Deaths Since the Pandemic Began

For 16 weeks, throughout the fall and then straight through the data disruptions around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day, the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 has risen. On October 13, there were 36,000 people with COVID-19 in U.S. hospitals. Yesterday, on January 13, there were 130,000.

This week, after two weeks of holiday-muddled death data, the inevitable consequence of these rising hospitalizations arrived. States reported 23,259 COVID-19 deaths this week, 25 percent more than in any other week since the pandemic began. For scale, the COVID-19 deaths reported this week exceed the CDC's current estimate for flu-related deaths during the entire 2019–20 season.

Cases were up this week after stabilizing relatively quickly from holiday data disruptions. That said, an unknown proportion of both cases and deaths reported this week are likely part of a holiday-related backlog. After two weeks of very low reporting, tests appear to be finally coming back online. (Case and test data travel along different public-health pipelines, so it’s not especially surprising or a cause for concern to see them stabilize from holiday disruptions at different speeds.)

[LeftInTX]

1. Good, it will keep him out of trouble!

[riversedge]

3. Lack of twitter is what is keeping trump out of trouble. With twitter he was always incriminating

himself-getting himself into more trouble day by day.

[Talitha]

2. Just go golfing for a week, you useless moron!

[Corgigal]

4. How doesn't he blow out some of

hi blood vessels is beyond me. His blood pressure readings must be insane. The only thing he can feel is anger. What a waste of time.

[twodogsbarking]

5. Pillow Guy came to the WH Friday

to discuss more insurrection. I am not making this up. Who do you think I am, Trump?

[BobsYourUncle]

29. I see this becoming a part of our everyday language.

“Would I lie to you? Who do you think I am, trump?”
“Do you think I’d rob you blind? WDYTIA...trump?”

[twodogsbarking]

30. He's nearly as big of an

asshole as Trump.

[Ford_Prefect]

6. ...The people who engineered, directed and paid for the Right-Wing media machine ...

Putin, the Mercers, Koch Bros, Adelson Group, the Real Estate, Financial, Oil, Extraction and Weapons industries and the entire GOP Dark Money machine, along with many others including Saudi Prince MBS, and Netanyahu's RW Israeli cohort. Rupert Murdoch and his evil spawn. All of them had one goal in mind: the
enabling of a ruthless oligarch along with a Senate, Congress and Judiciary whose allegiance is to their class and himself rather than the Constitution, and the disabling of US legal restraints and government institutions.

...Trump could never have done this much damage without a whole right wing media infrastructure willing to radicalize millions of Americans and Republican public officials who were ready to turn their backs on oaths of office.

[jaxexpat]

7. You left out the untaxed mega fortunes of the televangelism hierarchy.

Their weekly exaltation to unquestioning worship of Trump was/is fundamental for the fascist cause.

[Ford_Prefect]

9. Oh My, yes! I tend to think of them as part of the RW propaganda machine.

But they do influence and shape the Dogma and agenda of Right Wing media.

[jaxexpat]

13. It's hard to understate the responsibility of "religion", generally, for any nation's faults.

Simple solutions to complex social problems have bad results.

Just ask Northern Ireland or the whole middle east. In both those cases, Britain's dismissive, top-down solutions brought ongoing decades of disaster. It was no little the cause of a self-satisfied, sanctimony engendered, to a great extent, by worshipping the "right" god the "right" way.

[Lonestarblue]

12. Josh Hawley is a right-wing religious nut who follows a powerful group.

The right-wing Christian leaders are determined to see the United States becoming a Christian country. They didn’t care about Trump’s corruption because they could exert power through him because he has no principles of his own. The NYT had a long article about Hawley and the Christian right’s goals last week. They claim the US was founded by Christians and therefore it is a Christian country that should be rules by their Christian dogma. They seek to turn the US into the Christian version of Saudi Arabia, where the wealthy rule and social laws are strictly enforced.

These groups are actually more frightening to me than the white supremacists, primarily because law enforcement cannot go after them and they are respected because they are religious leaders. Like the ayatollahs of Iran, they can freely do a lot of damage as they use the Bible to radicalize their flocks of religious sheep.

Edited to add this link that explains what the Christian coalition is doing to remove the barriers between church and state.
https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/project-blitz?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

[SWBTATTReg]

21. And believe me, here in Missouri, folks' eyes have been opened when hawley did his fist salute

to the protesters. He damaged himself immeasurably. Perhaps this is a good thing, that someone in MO will stand up and run against the POS.

[Lonestarblue]

23. I wonder if Claire McCaskill would run again, and if she would be well received.

I like her a lot, though of course I’m from Texas and have no say in the matter.😀

[SWBTATTReg]

28. Well, she has said that she is happy to be out of the business (politics). Which, you know,

I respect her decision. It's a rough and tumble business, as we can see. She's said that she is happy as a commentator, and as a former senator of mine, and I really liked her, I got to respect that. She is a doer/was, and I really miss her.

[ancianita]

19. Anyone who takes money from those with international business must register as a foreign agent.

These named entities are no more interested in American Democracy than are hostile nation states.

When international money insurgency is their strategy, legally confirm them as stateless foreign interests, and force anyone who takes their money to register as a foreign agent.

[Ford_Prefect]

24. If they washed the money through a 3rd or 4th party cut-out Like the NRA was,

or the outfit the Saudi money was dry-cleaned by, the source is thus obscured and difficult to accurately trace. Foreign investment in a bank or real estate venture when handed through an LLC holding company, or a string of such firms becomes hard to see, though illegal all the same. This is how the Trump organization operates. Russian or drug cartel money which needs to be washed is spent on Trump vacation properties or other ventures and returns as investment dividends with a deduction for services rendered.

[ancianita]

26. Yes, very true.

If I'm not mistaken, there's a bill that passed the House that forces transparency on the routing and ultimate source of dark money. The bill eliminates dark money. Even if laundering goes on in global business, it won't be allowed in government. If I can find the post on DU or elsewhere I'll link it.

Thanks for your post.

[myohmy2]

8. authoritarians...

"...whole right wing media infrastructure willing to radicalize millions of Americans..."

...their goal is to permanently change America from a democracy to an authoritarian state that they control...

...the sooner everyone realizes this the sooner we'll be able to take strong defensive measures...

...America must remain a democracy, these fascists be damned...

...we must challenge this evil, not compromise with it...

[BlueStater]

10. Shithead won't have time to focus on this pathetic, petty revenge when he leaves office.

He’ll mostly be focused on staying out of prison.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. "advisers..discussed John Eastman..who..told Trump that..Pence had..authority to block..electors"

and that in response to this -

he needs a sophisticated attorney who can stick to the facts.

[groundloop]

14. What the hell is an idiot like that doing teaching constitutional law ?!?!?!?!

[BumRushDaShow]

15. It boggles the mind.

[efhmc]

22. Eastman out at CU Boulder.

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/01/13/john-eastman-cu-boulder-classes-canceled/

[ancianita]

20. I hope he gets the job. If he lets Trump testify, they'll both up the odds of a Senate conviction.

Thanks, you read my mind.

[Wicked Blue]

16. T-rump's own Witch hunt nt

[riversedge]

17. Hope trump oNLY has crazy Rudy for senate defence. Dems will tear his "evidence' to streads

[dalton99a]

18. +1

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

25. Fuck him

[mdbl]

27. Has he pardoned Hitler yet?