The GTP Unofficial 2020 US Elections Thread

[Danoff]

Whether it would end up in full blown war, I don't know.

Riots more like.

Being as white as one can be, living in a peaceful suburban area, working from my basement and not traveling due to COVID as i used to I'm not confronted directly with these issues apart from the occasional full size pickup with (typically 3) larger-than-life "** Biden and ** who voted for him" flags. Of course, as soon as I open my mouth, it becomes clear that I'm an immigrant, a legal one at that who has never been an illegal one at all, not even for a second - but I'm bound to meet at one point people who won't be particularly tolerant. Of course, I'm 5'11' and 290 pounds, let's just say, I have a presence but that won't keep everyone away from being an idiot. I hope nothing like that happens but it doesn't look good.

If I get to be citizen, I will put in my vote to not let these people anywhere close to power.

Hang in there. I continue to believe that Trump and similar seditious republicans cannot win the white house. But it's pretty important that they don't.

 

[TexRex]

Riots more like.

Hang in there. I continue to believe that Trump and similar seditious republicans cannot win the white house. But it's pretty important that they don't.

White House shmite house. Look at what Republican-led state legislatures are pulling to ensure such a win.

 

[Imari]

There's not going to be a civil war. Whoever controls the military controls the country. The important part is to not let pro-dictatorship republicans control the military.

I think the point at which the ruling party is having to use the military to control their own citizens is so close to civil war that it's largely a moot point. Yeah, the side with F15s and nukes is always going to win so it's not a fair fight. But when it devolves from democracy and political process (no matter how corrupt) to "who has the most physical force" is the point where I'd say you're functionally in a civil war regardless of whether both sides actually have a realistic chance to prevail.

Riots more like.

We've already seen significant riots and large gatherings, in which both state and non-state actors have used force. Maybe it scales back, or maybe the continued inflammatory rhetoric does what it's intended to do and inflames the situation. It's hard to say when there are people actively working to create a certain atmosphere, one that feels awfully like they'd like a few million of their followers to pick up arms and start assassinating anyone who disagrees with them.

 

[Danoff]

I think the point at which the ruling party is having to use the military to control their own citizens is so close to civil war that it's largely a moot point. Yeah, the side with F15s and nukes is always going to win so it's not a fair fight. But when it devolves from democracy and political process (no matter how corrupt) to "who has the most physical force" is the point where I'd say you're functionally in a civil war regardless of whether both sides actually have a realistic chance to prevail.

Then January 6th was civil war. I can see an argument for that, but I have it down as a riot in my imaginary notebook.

I think we're already in a state where who has the most physical force is what is dominating the nation. Republicans would like to do away with the country, it seems, as a party collectively (not down to the individual member). If you handed them the military today, the results would be the elimination of the nation politically. I think if the military had backed Trump at the end of his term, that is what would have happened.

 

[TexRex]

Weird.

Arizona Senate wants to keep nearly 2,900 audit-related documents from public view

Among the records are most, if not all, of the communications between lawmakers who ordered the unprecedented election audit.

amp.azcentral.com

The Arizona Senate is continuing its fight to keep secret nearly 3,000 emails and text messages sent by lawmakers and others that relate to the Maricopa County election audit, their lawyer told a judge Wednesday.

The Senate turned over thousands of pages of communications on Tuesday after ordered to do so by two judges. But the Senate also provided a log of approximately 2,900 messages that were withheld or redacted because the Senate does not believe turning them over is required under the state Public Records Law.

Among those are most, if not all, of the communications between lawmakers who ordered the unprecedented election audit and Cyber Ninjas, the Florida company hired to conduct the audit.

"Our view of the legislative privilege, and I can tell you for decades the Legislature's view of legislative privilege, is that when there are internal communications between legislators or their agents about legislative business, those are subject to legislative privilege," Senate lawyer Kory Langhofer said during a court conference Wednesday.

That means the Senate will fight to prevent the disclosure of anything Senate President Karen Fann or other Republicans who ordered the audit have written to Cyber Ninjas or the various subcontractors on the audit.

Langhofer has previously argued, unsuccessfully, that Cyber Ninjas and the other contractors are not public officials and therefore not subject to the Public Records Law, which makes nearly all communications among elected officials public documents in Arizona.

But two Superior Court judges and an Appeals Court panel have said the contractors records are subject to the Public Records Law, and the Arizona Supreme Court is listening to the Senate's appeal of those decisions.

Now, Langhofer is arguing that the records should remain private because of "legislative privilege," which would mean they are protected from such disclosure.

"After all, the entire premise of this case is the vendor is functioning as the Legislature," Langhofer said. "If we are going to treat the vendor as a Legislature, then its communications with the Legislature are part of the legislative privilege."

American Oversight, the left-leaning group that sued the Arizona Senate for records from the election audit, will challenge many of the documents the Senate has not turned over, said the group's attorney, Roopali Desai.

She said the group substantially disagrees with the Senate's claims that so many of the records can be withheld.

"Of course we disagree with that and I think getting that teed up before this court sooner rather than later is important," Desai said.

Judge Michael Kemp asked Langhofer when the Cyber Ninja's preliminary report on the audit would go to the Senate and whether the Senate would seek to protect that from disclosure through legislative privilege as well.

Fann announced last week that the preliminary report was delayed because Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan and two other members of his team contracted serious cases of COVID-19.

Langhofer said the preliminary report is expected to come in three volumes, and one volume is not written yet. He said it will be "at least two weeks" before a final report is produced.

"I have a feeling there will be some substantial disagreements over whether documents are privileged or not," Kemp said.

Kemp suggested the court may need a "special master" for the case. That normally is another official appointed to individually review the records in question and recommend to the judge whether to release them.

Langhofer said the Senate will oppose any request to have documents reviewed in such a way without an "adequate showing" as to why American Oversight thinks the document is not subject to legislative privilege.

 

[TexRex]

Watchdog group seeks ethics probe over McCarthy's Jan. 6 comments

A public interest group is calling for an ethics investigation into House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) after he told communications companies that the GOP “will not forget” if they turn phone and email records over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The complaint from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) argues that both McCarthy and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) violated House rules by threatening to retaliate against companies that comply with legal requests.

The House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol sent letters to 35 tech and communications firms Monday asking for a trove of documents, including for personal communications of those involved with the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 — a group likely to include lawmakers.

“If these companies comply with the Democrat order to turn over private information, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States,” McCarthy wrote.

“If companies still choose to violate federal law, a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law,” he said.

McCarthy did not cite which law prohibits telecommunications companies from complying with the committee’s request.

While communications companies often seek to alert those whose records will be turned over, it's not clear if complying with the request would violate the law given Congress’s investigative authority.

“House rules require members to uphold the laws of the United States and to conduct themselves at all times in a manner that reflects creditably on the House. The threats of Reps. McCarthy and Greene do neither. Threatening retaliation for complying with legally valid document demands and preservation requests appears to violate 18 U.S.C. § 1505, which prohibits obstructing congressional investigations, and does not reflect creditably on the House,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder wrote in a complaint filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Like McCarthy, Greene told Fox News this week that companies would face ramifications for compliance with the requests.

"If these telecommunications companies, if they go along with this, they will be shut down. And that's a promise," she told Fox's Tucker Carlson on Tuesday.

Greene’s records have reportedly been requested by the committee, according to CNN. The news outlet also found the committee would seek the phone records of GOP Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Madison Cawthorn (N.C.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Jody Hice (Ga.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio), whom Republicans once tapped to serve on the committee.

Following McCarthy’s comment, the committee said it would not be deterred in its work.

“The Select Committee is investigating the violent attack on the Capitol and attempt to overturn the results of last year’s election," a committee spokesperson said Tuesday.

"We’ve asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the American people. The committee’s efforts won’t be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of January 6th, or obstruct our investigation.”

The Office of Congressional Ethics declined to comment while representatives for McCarthy and Greene did not immediately respond to The Hill.

Oh and this is just so awesome. It's also really profane as you scroll down (warning for those who head to Twitter to view it), so I'm going to let this site's profanity filter intervene as I transcribe it below.

The Democrats have stuck a deep, painful nerve with this request for phone records from a number of 1/6 figures.

As the Aged Elder (my grandmother, long since departed) would say, "The cut hog squeals loudest."

Well, we've got a whole lot of cut hogs, from Qevin on down.

Now I'm going to tell you what the GOP is going to do to try and kill this line of investigation. Because it's EXACTLY what will happen.

They'll find a couple Members who aren't raging lunatic MAGAs.

Those Members will go to Pelosi, Schiff, et al.

And in reasonable, quiet tones, they'll talk about working together. About bipartisanship. They'll privately hint at their disappointment over 1/6.

They'll say, "Sure, maybe Brooks and Greene, but not Kevin...not X and Y and Z. He's a good guy."

They'll work it hard.

Now, Democrats being Democrats, y'all couldn't draw blood in butcher shop as a rule, so I'm going to give you rules here.

This is the answer: "**** you."

If you must, "**** you, my honorable colleague."

Their guilt is rolling off them in waves. They're drowning in an ocean of flopsweat.

This isn't an exercise in adding more metal detectors or Capitol Cops.

This is about a planned insurrection that had help from Members of Congress.

You should go for broke.

Mo Brook and the rest of the mutant parade were on the side of the people who came there to overthrow an election.

Revealing the network of comms between them, the Trump WH, Stop the Steal, and the rest of the Plot is enormously good, both for the county and politically.

The GOP -- were this jackboot on the other foot -- would ignore the rules, the law, comity, tradition, and everything else to ****ing incinerate your party, its candidates and its 2022 prospects.

They'd never, ever, ever, ever stop rat****ing you. Ever.

And with that, please don't **** up.

If you do, enjoy what happens in January of 2023 when the 5000 hearings on COVID, Afghanistan, and Biden's dog become an endless spectacle.

Oh, and the endless revanchist impeachments.

Toughen up. Draw blood.

You also need to drag Trump and his entire staff to hearings. Raise the costs (financially and politically) of their actions.

Stop ****ing around and do it.

You never understand the value of spectacle and intensity.

Also, drag the degenerate weirdos like Roger Stone, the criminals like Ali Ackbar, the blowhards like Alex Jones, Trumpjugend head Charlie Kirk, and the masterminds like Steve Bannon in front of the committee.

Many were paid to be there and to organize this. It's GREAT TV.

 

[McLaren]

House Republicans wrote a letter to Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer not to comply the Jan. 6th related-records request. Except Mayer hasn't been CEO since 2017.

House Republicans wrote a letter to Marissa Mayer — who they described as "President and Chief Executive Officer" of Yahoo — warning her of legal action should the company hand over private data to a committee investigating the January 6 riot.

However, Mayer hasn't been CEO of Yahoo since 2017, when she resigned after spending five years attempting to pull the media giant back from a steady demise. She also stepped down from the company's board and now runs a startup called Lumi Labs.

The letter is one of 13 that GOP congressional leaders sent to telecommunication giants, threatening "legal remedies" should they comply with the House Select Committee, which is investigating the early January insurrection at the US Capitol.

House Republicans wrote a letter to Yahoo 'Chief Executive Officer' Marissa Mayer, but she hasn't been CEO since 2017

House Republicans sent letters to 13 telecom giants, including Facebook, urging them not to comply with January 6-related private records requests.

www.businessinsider.com

And yes, the letter is signed by the usual names you'd suspect.

 

[Liquid]

"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about"

 

[TexRex]

It's amazing that someone as butt fugly as MTG can have an attractive signature.

 

[Liquid]

I absolutely endorse the idea of the Democratic Party absolutely going turbonovocaine on the Republican Party over this but they're just so wet blanket. Even 30 years ago:

 

[ryzno]

It's amazing that someone as butt fugly as MTG can have an attractive signature.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

 

[Liquid]

Don't judge a book by its cover.

This book was ghostwritten by Slimer.

 

[Famine]

Don't judge a book by its cover.

My youngest said that the other day. Always found it an odd saying; book covers have the title and the author on the front, and on the back there's usually a description of the plot in a couple of paragaphs. Publishers also spend thousands on getting illustrators - or photographers - to provide imagery that suits the tones and themes of the book, and sometimes a plot point.

Covers do really rather seem to be quite a decent way to judge a book, or at least judge whether it's one you'd like to read or not...

 

[ryzno]

My youngest said that the other day. Always found it an odd saying; book covers have the title and the author on the front, and on the back there's usually a description of the plot in a couple of paragaphs. Publishers also spend thousands on getting illustrators - or photographers - to provide imagery that suits the tones and themes of the book, and sometimes a plot point.

Covers do really rather seem to be quite a decent way to judge a book, or at least judge whether it's one you'd like to read or not...

I was thinking back to school days. The rich/smart kids(I'm not saying only rich kids are smart) funny enough my dumbass was in AP pre-algebra, geometry and algebra 1 before I dropped out... When I took the GED I aced math and was asked to take additional testing cause they thought it was a prank)I never studied calculus or trigonometry, so I never got a chance to understand it) sorry for the useless bit I just posted) in the AP classes(advanced placement) would get the new books while the other classes got old books. At the end of the day, they were the same book. One just looked worse if It even had the hard cover still attached to the spine of the book.
And funny enough the old books would have notes written in them that would sometimes be helpful, if they were correct...

 

[Hayden]

At my school, our hand me down books only ever had giant penises scrawled all through them.

Oh and that superman S thing you can make by drawing little lines.

 

[Keef]

Oh and that superman S thing you can make by drawing little lines.

The Cool S!

There's a company in California called Liquid Nostalgia that started a dope 90s-themed Instagram account. I followed it for like 6 months. Then they started a really weird viral campaign where they photoshopped classic 90s photos of people with a drink in their hand and kept asking what it was. Turns out they were marketing a new hard seltzer lol, of course, because us millennials can't get enough of it. Anyways, they made the Cool S their logo. The whole marketing campaign revelation was so freaking weird, I had no idea, I was just soaking up these 90s vibes like crazy. Kind of amazing that it took any company this long to latch onto that symbol in their marketing. Literally everybody I know my age has an odd attachment to that thing dumb symbol.

 

[ryzno]

At my school, our hand me down books only ever had giant penises scrawled all through them.

Oh and that superman S thing you can make by drawing little lines.

 

[TexRex]

I absolutely endorse the idea of the Democratic Party absolutely going turbonovocaine on the Republican Party over this but they're just so wet blanket. Even 30 years ago:

I don't want them to copy Republicans' deceitful practices, as satisfying as it would be in the short term, but I would sure like to see some claws come out.

 

[Tornado]

Judge orders Capitol riot defendant remain jailed after lashing out over 'Foxitis' assertion

 

[UKMikey]

Looks like the militant wing of the Trumpies have learnt from the events of January 6 if the super-low turnout at yesterday's Justice For J6 rally is anything to go by. The ones that aren't stuck in jail or hospital, that is.

Amid high security, small pro-Trump crowd rallies at U.S. Capitol

Police and media vastly outnumbered protesters around the U.S. Capitol on Saturday at a sparsely attended rally by supporters of the people who breached the building on Jan. 6, trying to overturn former President Donald Trump's election defeat.

www.reuters.com

 

[TexRex]

Edit:

The Eastman Memo: Poor Lawyering for a Disreputable Cause (Updated)

CNN has obtained a copy of a memo authored by former law professor John Eastman outlining a strategy to have Donald Trump declared the victor of the 2020

reason.com

CNN has obtained a copy of a memo authored by former law professor John Eastman outlining a strategy to have Donald Trump declared the victor of the 2020 election. The Washington Post had previously reported on the memo's existence and circulation to Republican Senators by the White House.

The memo, reportedly authored and distributed in advance of the January 6 electoral vote count, suggests a scenario under which Vice President Pence excludes the electoral votes of seven states—on the false pretense that competing slates of electors had been submitted by those states—so as to give Trump a majority of the electoral votes cast. This false claim is apparently one reason why GOP Senators did not endorse the strategy.

From the Post account (which draws from the new book, Peril by Robert Costa and Bob Woodward):

[Utah Republican Senator Mike] Lee knew dueling electors were merely Trump loyalists putting themselves forward in certain states, in a move the authors describe as "a social media campaign — an amateur push with no legal standing." Electors are generally bound by the popular vote in each state; because they sum to 538, an absolute majority of 270 is needed to clinch the presidency.

The authors suggest the senator, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., was surprised this theory had been circulated by Eastman, a professor at the Chapman University School of Law and former law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas. Document in hand, and bewildered that theories about dueling electors were still coming from Trump's legal team, Lee made "phone call after phone call" to officials in some of the relevant states, such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, he told constituents in a Jan. 27 online town hall, appearing to refer to the Eastman memo without naming its author. A spokesman for Lee did not respond to a request for comment.

No one seemed poised to certify a new slate of electors. "At that point, I believed that we had reached the end of the process, as indeed we had," Lee said during the town hall.

The senator also explained his interpretation of the limited role the Constitution gave to Congress and the vice president in counting electoral votes — an interpretation in conflict with the one outlined by Eastman, who argued Pence could be the "ultimate arbiter" and either name Trump the president-elect or send the matter to the House.

Eastman even anticipated what "Peril" describes as "certain outrage and worry of a coup." In the memo, however, he dismissed these concerns as, "Howls, of course, from the Democrats."

Fortunately, Senator Lee and Vice President Pence rejected this cynical and mendacious strategy.

On the Election Law Blog, Derek Muller dissects the memo and, among other things, notes how the 2021 Eastman memo contradicts the arguments Eastman made during the 2000 Election controversy (when the Vice President's alleged power to control the counting of Electoral Votes would have been in the hands of Al Gore). As Muller notes, the 2021 memo makes some controversial assumptions (such as that the Electoral Count Act is unconstitutional) and overlooks important facts, such as that the 117th Congress independently adopted the ECA's rules for the counting of electoral votes on January 3, which would have constrained the Vice President's ability to unilaterally control the vote count.

Also on the Election Law Blog, Ned Foley points out some other important legal and practical points the Eastman memo missed that would have doomed the strategy to failure. Among other things, Foley notes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have halted the joint session of Congress and, if necessary, could have stalled proceedings until January 20, when Pence would no longer be Vice President and could no longer seek to manipulate the proceedings as President of the Senate.

Readers may recall Eastman also filed a Supreme Court brief on behalf of Trump's failed effort to overturn the 2020 election results. I discussed that brief here.

 

[TB]

Do I have this right?

"That guy we wanted to hang, turns out he's Trump's last hope."

 

[TexRex]

Do I have this right?

"That guy we wanted to hang, turns out he's Trump's last hope."

If you lump a fringe (to whatever degree it's actually fringe and not representative of the whole) extremist faction within the group in with the group as a whole, which is the norm in modern political discourse, then yes.

 

[TexRex]

 

[UKMikey]

:facepalm emoji: 🤦🏽

Jewish space lasers...

 

[Joey D]

:facepalm emoji: 🤦🏽

Jewish space lasers...

I still keep asking my wife about the space laser and even bought her this to bribe her:

Secret Jewish Space Laser Corps Enamel Mini Pin — Dissent Pins

Our best-selling pin is now a mini! This quarter-sized enamel pin Now that Marjorie Taylor Greene has revealed the existence of the secret Jewish Space Laser, we're making the official Secret Jewish Spacer Laser Corp enamel pins available to the public. Bonus: your purchase helps raise funds to...

dissentpins.com

 

[UKMikey]

I still keep asking my wife about the space laser and even bought her this to bribe her:

Secret Jewish Space Laser Corps Enamel Mini Pin — Dissent Pins

Our best-selling pin is now a mini! This quarter-sized enamel pin Now that Marjorie Taylor Greene has revealed the existence of the secret Jewish Space Laser, we're making the official Secret Jewish Spacer Laser Corp enamel pins available to the public. Bonus: your purchase helps raise funds to...

dissentpins.com

"Mazel Tough"

I love how they weaponised the badges' sale against the qampaigns of qongressional qandidates like Lauren and Marge.

 

[Danoff]

Do I have this right?

"That guy we wanted to hang, turns out he's Trump's last hope."

I think it went the other way - Guy who is trump's last hope refused to attempt a coup, therefore we should hang him.

 

[TexRex]

I think it went the other way - Guy who is trump's last hope refused to attempt a coup, therefore we should hang him.

Eastman, who absolutely looks like someone you'd expect to have a backyard littered with children's skeletons, outlined a plan for Pence that hinged on the January 6th joint session of Congress that was interrupted. Remember, it wasn't pure chance that the rally that evolved to riot and then terrorist attack (like...actual literal definition) was scheduled for that day.

 

[Jezza819]

Damn that Mike Lindell!!!! He's finally caught me. I thought I had gotten away with it. I guess now is the time to confess my crime. Back in November 2020 in the Presidential election I committed voter fraud, I didn't vote for Trump. Turns out when I marked my ballot for Biden it was supposed to be for Trump. I thought surely since Trump won Alabama 62% to 37% that my crime would be covered up and I could just go on committing voter fraud in the next Presidential elections by not marking my ballot for those Republican candidates either. And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for that meddling Mike Lindell.

But that Mike is a sharp one. He's got a face... I mean a nose like a bloodhound.

Mike Lindell alleged widespread voter fraud in Alabama. The GOP secretary of state says he's dead wrong. | CNN Politics

Long after even many of the stalwart election deniers have given up, Mike Lindell is still at it.

www.cnn.com