Two Revelations in the Massive Sea of News About Trump's Coup Attempt

[aubiefifty 16,706]

Don't Miss These Two Revelations in the Massive Sea of News About Trump's Coup Attempt

 

 

 

Jack Holmes

Fri, March 25, 2022, 10:34 AM

 

 

 

Photo credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI - Getty Images

It's easy to get caught up on the news that the spouse of a sitting Supreme Court justice went full QAnon regarding the 2020 election, parroting conspiratorial delusions around how "the Biden crime family" would be "living in barges off GITMO to face a military tribunal" for the grievous crime of getting more votes than "This Great President." (Scattergun capitalization appears to be a hallmark of the politically unhinged.) Granted, Thomas seemed to legitimately believe Trump really won, likely because she boiled her own brain in a vat of right-wing Internet. But within its sterling writeup of Ginni Thomas's communications with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—as Donald Trump's coterie attempted to overturn the results of an election he lost so that he could stay in power in contravention of the will of the American public—the Washington Post flagged an important detail.

Trump spoke publicly during this period about his intent to contest the election results in the Supreme Court. “This is a major fraud on our nation,” the president said in a speech at 2:30 the morning after the election. “We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

This was the same speech in which Trump declared victory, which most people processed as a shock despite the fact that, just like in 2016, he'd been saying for months before the election that if he lost it would be because the election was rigged. In both cases, the actual outcome of the vote was secondary: if, as in 2016, he triumphed in the Electoral College, then the results were to be trumpeted. (And in that case, he still said there was massive voter fraud, of which he could provide zero evidence, as an excuse for losing the popular vote.) When, in the early morning of November 4, 2020, it did not look as if the actual votes were going his way, he immediately declared them Fake and declared himself the winner.

 

But the really interesting reminder the Post provides is that from the first moment, Trump's plan was to take this fight to the Supreme Court. There, the election would not be decided by the 158 million Americans who voted, but by nine people in black robes—three of whom he personally put there. (And wherever did he get that idea?) Of the six remaining justices, Samuel Alito is probably the most dependable right-wing vote possible, a true ideologue who starts at his preferred conclusion and backfills the justification from there, even if it means taking the question at issue in a case and treating your preferred answer as a premise of the argument. And the last, fifth vote he'd need was...Clarence Thomas, husband to GITMO Ginni. This doesn't mean all five would have delivered for Trump, but he certainly thought they would.

The beauty of Republicans pulling the battering ram out to get Amy Coney Barrett on the Court in almost comic disregard of their previously stated principles regarding the appointment of Supreme Court justices in an election year was that Trump no longer needed RINO Chief Justice John Roberts, who seems to still harbor some concern for the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as an institution. Like it or not, Notorious R.B.G. fans, but this is part of her legacy. When you play the Game of Robes, you resign under a normal president or you wait long enough to hand over your seat to The Windmill Guy.

Speaking of which, Ol' Donny Windmills is, if we can believe a word of what his erstwhile ally Congressman Mo Brooks has to say, even farther off his rocker than could once be imagined. The two had a falling out where Trump withdrew his endorsement of Brooks in the Alabama Republican senate primary, probably because Brooks is floundering in the polls. Some payback for the kind of friend who wears body armor to your pre-riot shindig and tells the frothing crowd, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Now, our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives … Are you willing to do the same? My answer is yes. Louder! Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America?"

Anyway, Brooks repaid this repayment by airing what he claims is Trump's dirty laundry. It smells significantly more foul than when we last checked in on it.

President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that Jan. 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.

OK so the most recent former president is still engaged in an active campaign to seize the presidency without getting elected. It is a feckless and delusional one, as it seems it ran through a single backbench congressman until Brooks's defection, but it continues nonetheless.

But the real illustration here is how Brooks has taken up the less extreme position within the Trumpist fever swamps and it is still completely detached from reality. Brooks trumpets that he's a lawyer, yet he describes January 6 as "the final election contest verdict." No it was not! Nothing was decided on January 6! The election was decided by people voting months earlier. Congress and Vice President Mike Pence played no role in determining the outcome of the election because that was not within their power. It wasn't their job. Brooks and Trump and the rest of these disgraces to the American democratic republic attempted to overturn the election results on January 6. That is all. Nothing was legitimately contested by that point. It was settled from a legal and democratic perspective, which is why these people required a violent mob to storm the legislature. They failed to seize power through legal chicanery, so they turned to force.

Anyway, it's probably fine that Brooks is now considered a reasonable guy and Clarence Thomas will not only refuse to resign, but will also probably refuse to recuse himself from January 6 cases.