Eight Scary Days

What, Me Worry?  One indication that the insurrection is not over is that FBI Director Wray and Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen haven’t held a press conference.  That’s particularly notable, at best an indication that dealing with the crisis has them overwhelmed, not an excuse, we need to hear from them, but with many already arrested, 150 more under investigation and upwards of 40,000 tips to sort through, they probably really are busy.  According to a piece published overnight by the Huffington Post, late yesterday the new leaders of the Capitol police told members of Congress that they are closely monitoring three separate plans that could pose serious threats to them and to Biden and Harris in the run up to and during the inauguration.  Those plans include assassinating Democratic politicians as well as a few of those Republicans who haven’t been sufficiently loyal to Trump and “neutralizing” the Supreme Court to insure that Trump remains in office. The police are so worried that they asked the briefed members to not share all of what they were told with the public over concerns that doing so would just help those crazies who would like to show up for the “fun” but aren’t yet in the insurgency loop. The HuffPo reporter said that as a result he only included what he could in his article so there’s more that we aren’t even being told.  Notably the police are even worried that one or more members of Congress may be dangerously aligned with the thugs, a fair assumption given that Colorado’s GOP newbie Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a Glock toting gun enthusiast, tweeted out information about Speaker Pelosi’s whereabout during last week’s attack even after she and her colleagues were told not to share any information about where they were sheltering; her justification was that some of the “patriots” marauding through the halls with weapons and plastic cuffs were her constituents.  Boebert is only the tip of the crazy berg, another new Republican Representative is QAnon advocate member Marjorie Taylor Greene and then of course there’s Alabama Mo Brook, the one who initiated the vote decertification push in the first place. That same crowd refused to wear masks while sheltering and now two Democratic Congresswoman who were being cautious, Pramila Jayapal and 75 year old cancer survivor Bonnie Watson Coleman have tested COVID positive, possibly as a result of their colleagues’ behavior.   

Another Big Lie:  Yesterday, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy who appears to be starting to wake up to the reality that the tide is turning, that his close adherence to all thing Trump is now a wee bit problematic, had a conversation with Trump where the Loser continued to insist that he won the election while also saying that reports that MAGA maniacs were responsible for the January 6 attack and anything that follows are wrong, that it was actually those amorphous Antifa guys who did all the bad things. Trump may be delusional but even he  knows that’s false, however, having gotten tens of millions of his fans to believe the Big Lie that he won the election, why wouldn’t he think that he could get them to believe that last week and what’s to come in the run up to the inauguration, and probably even afterwards, are the deeds of the left?  One more thing on the protest front, yesterday the FBI warned that violent protests are planned in all fifty state capitals raising additional concerns that Governors, especially those who’ve sent some of their National Guard units to help bolster Washington DC’s defenses, may find themselves exposed at home.  Also Chad Wolf, the acting Homeland Department Secretary who should be working on all this resigned yesterday, he insists that he did so because of recent court rulings that questioned the legitimacy of his appointment not because of recent events.  Before leaving he authorized additional protection for the Washington DC area, but since just last week he insisted that he would be staying until Biden was in office, his early departure is odd, particularly given that he criticized Trump’s rhetoric last week.

Follow the Money: As to the Republican crowd, Kevin McCarthy, whose hopes to become Speaker in 2022 may be circling the drain, isn’t the only one now facing headwinds.  More and more major corporations now say that they won’t make political contributions to any of the Republican House or Senate members that voted against the certification of the Electoral College votes. That’s not only a bigly problem for anti-confirmation voters McCarthy and his side kick Steve Scalise who as House Republican leaders are tasked with bringing in the bucks to maintain their positions and to fund the 2022 midterms but it’s a problem for the Senate as well where Florida’s Senator Rick Scott who also voted against certification was recently put in charge of the Senate’s campaign arm, a role he sought to bolster his presidential ambitions. He is now facing calls from that suddenly “concerned” crowd to pass his campaign role on to someone else.  Two notable additions to the list of companies that will no longer be funding the Republican crowd are Hallmark and Deutsche Bank.  Hallmark, based in Missouri, specifically mentioned their disgust with hometown Senator, newest pariah Josh Hawley.  Deutsche said that they will no longer do any business with Trump or his family, a position also announced by the lesser known Signature Bank. Signature bank which has a long term relationship with the Kushners, also called for Trump to step aside early. It’s not just money, Trump has also lost football’s Bill Belichick, last night the New England Patriots coach who was due to receive a presidential medal of honor from Trump on Thursday, said due to last week’s events and his commitment to things like patriotism, freedom, democracy and racial equality, Trump can take that medal and stuff it.  Well he didn’t use those words, but that’s what he meant.

Impeach, Impeach:  It doesn’t appear that Trump plans to follow Signature’s advice to step down.  Reports are that Trump and Pence finally sat down for a tete a tete yesterday afternoon.  The White House press office reported that it was a very pleasant meeting, it wasn’t but it also doesn’t appear that Pence is going to trigger the 25^th Amendment so impeachment number two is on, unless of course Pence is stealthier than anyone thinks he is.  After all Trump standing idly by while his fanboys called for Pence’s neck in a noose, why do something about that?  As to the impeachment, this time around it’s far more likely that some House Republicans will cross the aisle and vote with their Democratic colleagues, even third in line Replublican Liz Cheney appears to be impeachment curious.  The articles of impeachment are narrow, specifically focused on Trump inciting violence against the US government rather than things like all that new information that’s come to light about his continuing efforts to find election fraud in Georgia or the voicemail message that Rudy G, who will probably be kicked out of the New York Bar Association shortly, accidentally left on the wrong Senator’s voicemail. That’s the message that was supposed to go to Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville, urging him to hold up the confirmation of four more states’ votes.  The reason for the narrow impeachment narrow focus is to make it more palatable for some of those “curious” Republicans to vote with their Democratic colleagues.  As to what happen next, despite earlier reports that Speaker Pelosi might hold back refering the impeachment to the Senate until after Biden takes office and gets some of his priority legislation passed, the talk now is about getting articles over to the Senate immediately. 

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