Trump Is Now the Only President To Be Impeached Twice: A Closer Look
by Seth Meyers
Jan 13, 2021
Seth takes a closer look at the House voting to impeach President Trump for inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, making him the first and only president in history to be impeached twice.
Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certification
Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
by admin » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:05 am
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
by admin » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:17 am
Donald Trump Is Still a Danger to Our National Security
by John Bellinger
Lawfare
Sunday, January 10, 2021, 1:04 PM
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
In December 2015, I wrote a post for Lawfare entitled “Donald Trump Is a Danger to Our National Security,” in which I argued that Trump not only lacked “the qualifications to be president, he is actually endangering our national security right now by his hate-filled and divisive rhetoric.” I concluded “Donald Trump not only would be a dangerous president, he is making us less safe as a candidate.” At the time, I may have been the first national security official to write publicly that Trump was and would be a threat to the United States. Tragically, more than five years later, Trump is still a danger to our national security.
Eight months after my Lawfare post, in August 2016, I joined with 49 other former Republican administration national security officials to issue a statement arguing that “Trump would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.” We said: “Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President. He weakens U.S. moral authority as the leader of the free world. He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.” We concluded that if Trump were elected, “he would be the most reckless President in American history.” My former colleague Bob Blackwill persuaded me to add the statement that Trump’s erratic behavior, impetuousness and lack of self-control were “dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commander-in-Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.” At the time, I resisted this statement, which I thought was melodramatic. I could not imagine that any president would brag about the size of his “nuclear button.”
In fact, Trump’s presidency was even worse than many of us had feared, both from a domestic and national security perspective. To the delight of his authoritarian soul mate Vladimir Putin, Trump devoted four years to destroying the social fabric of the United States, fomenting division along political, religious, and geographic lines, and undermining trust in governmental institutions and the press. It should have been abundantly clear from early in his presidency that he would incite his supporters to riot and mayhem. At a discussion sponsored by the Atlantic magazine and the French Embassy in May 2017 on the rise of populism, I publicly expressed grave concern that Trump would encourage his supporters to come to Washington and engage in violent acts against the government if he were required to leave office. I am sure that the other participants thought I was suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome at the time. In a subsequent exchange with Steve Clemons, who had moderated the discussion, in which I apologized if I sounded alarmist, Clemons responded, “What you sketched out is not fearmongering but rather what I fear will really happen. I think there is a thuggishness brewing in America that Trump is calling forward. These are very bad times, and I do fear that violence could be part of the equation.”
Concerned that our democracy could not withstand four more years of a Trump presidency, in August 2020, an even larger group of former national security officials who had served in Republican administrations paid for full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and numerous regional newspapers arguing that Trump should not be reelected and that we would vote for Joe Biden. Listing 10 reasons how Trump had failed as president, we said that he had “demonstrated that he lacks the character and competence to lead this nation and has engaged in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as President.” Ken Wainstein (who organized the statement with me) and I were heartened that so many former senior officials joined the statement condemning Trump’s actions and were willing to place country over party. I was especially pleased that two of my own former bosses—former Senator and Secretary of the Navy John Warner and former FBI and CIA Director Bill Webster—both of whom I admire greatly, joined the statement, as did Chuck Hagel, Mike Hayden, John Negroponte, Rich Armitage and many others. All of us were dismayed, however, that the vast majority of elected Republican members of Congress remained silent in the face of Trump’s assault on the federal government and our democracy.
With 10 more days left in his presidency, Donald Trump remains a clear and very present danger to our national security. It’s regrettable that the vice president and the Cabinet will apparently refuse to act under the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, although I acknowledge that the issue is legally complicated. It would certainly be appropriate for the House of Representatives to impeach him for high crimes and misdemeanors, although this step would unfortunately saddle the incoming Senate with a trial of a departed president. The Senate’s time would be better spent confirming President-elect Biden’s national security team. Although it would be a much lesser punishment than Trump deserves, the House should also pass a strong resolution of censure, which the Senate should be asked to endorse before Trump leaves office. All Republicans in the House and the Senate should be required to vote for or against a censure of the president for his role in inciting a violent assault on our government. In the meantime, senior White House and senior agency officials have a responsibility to ensure that Trump takes no further executive actions to endanger our national security.
by John Bellinger
Lawfare
Sunday, January 10, 2021, 1:04 PM
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
In December 2015, I wrote a post for Lawfare entitled “Donald Trump Is a Danger to Our National Security,” in which I argued that Trump not only lacked “the qualifications to be president, he is actually endangering our national security right now by his hate-filled and divisive rhetoric.” I concluded “Donald Trump not only would be a dangerous president, he is making us less safe as a candidate.” At the time, I may have been the first national security official to write publicly that Trump was and would be a threat to the United States. Tragically, more than five years later, Trump is still a danger to our national security.
Eight months after my Lawfare post, in August 2016, I joined with 49 other former Republican administration national security officials to issue a statement arguing that “Trump would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.” We said: “Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President. He weakens U.S. moral authority as the leader of the free world. He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.” We concluded that if Trump were elected, “he would be the most reckless President in American history.” My former colleague Bob Blackwill persuaded me to add the statement that Trump’s erratic behavior, impetuousness and lack of self-control were “dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commander-in-Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.” At the time, I resisted this statement, which I thought was melodramatic. I could not imagine that any president would brag about the size of his “nuclear button.”
In fact, Trump’s presidency was even worse than many of us had feared, both from a domestic and national security perspective. To the delight of his authoritarian soul mate Vladimir Putin, Trump devoted four years to destroying the social fabric of the United States, fomenting division along political, religious, and geographic lines, and undermining trust in governmental institutions and the press. It should have been abundantly clear from early in his presidency that he would incite his supporters to riot and mayhem. At a discussion sponsored by the Atlantic magazine and the French Embassy in May 2017 on the rise of populism, I publicly expressed grave concern that Trump would encourage his supporters to come to Washington and engage in violent acts against the government if he were required to leave office. I am sure that the other participants thought I was suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome at the time. In a subsequent exchange with Steve Clemons, who had moderated the discussion, in which I apologized if I sounded alarmist, Clemons responded, “What you sketched out is not fearmongering but rather what I fear will really happen. I think there is a thuggishness brewing in America that Trump is calling forward. These are very bad times, and I do fear that violence could be part of the equation.”
Concerned that our democracy could not withstand four more years of a Trump presidency, in August 2020, an even larger group of former national security officials who had served in Republican administrations paid for full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and numerous regional newspapers arguing that Trump should not be reelected and that we would vote for Joe Biden. Listing 10 reasons how Trump had failed as president, we said that he had “demonstrated that he lacks the character and competence to lead this nation and has engaged in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as President.” Ken Wainstein (who organized the statement with me) and I were heartened that so many former senior officials joined the statement condemning Trump’s actions and were willing to place country over party. I was especially pleased that two of my own former bosses—former Senator and Secretary of the Navy John Warner and former FBI and CIA Director Bill Webster—both of whom I admire greatly, joined the statement, as did Chuck Hagel, Mike Hayden, John Negroponte, Rich Armitage and many others. All of us were dismayed, however, that the vast majority of elected Republican members of Congress remained silent in the face of Trump’s assault on the federal government and our democracy.
With 10 more days left in his presidency, Donald Trump remains a clear and very present danger to our national security. It’s regrettable that the vice president and the Cabinet will apparently refuse to act under the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, although I acknowledge that the issue is legally complicated. It would certainly be appropriate for the House of Representatives to impeach him for high crimes and misdemeanors, although this step would unfortunately saddle the incoming Senate with a trial of a departed president. The Senate’s time would be better spent confirming President-elect Biden’s national security team. Although it would be a much lesser punishment than Trump deserves, the House should also pass a strong resolution of censure, which the Senate should be asked to endorse before Trump leaves office. All Republicans in the House and the Senate should be required to vote for or against a censure of the president for his role in inciting a violent assault on our government. In the meantime, senior White House and senior agency officials have a responsibility to ensure that Trump takes no further executive actions to endanger our national security.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
by admin » Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:39 am
Removal of panic buttons from Ayanna Pressley’s office being reviewed by House committee
by Jazmine Ulloa and Jess Bidgood
Globe Staff
Updated January 14, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
WASHINGTON — The removal of panic buttons from Representative Ayanna Pressley’s Capitol Hill office before an armed insurrection overran the complex is under review by the House Administration Committee, as Congressional Democrats push to determine whether the mob had inside help.
“The American people do deserve to know if these assailants were at all enabled by the very people who are responsible for stopping them and how we can ensure that attack like this will never happen again,” Pressley said in an interview.
“Congress needs to immediately launch comprehensive, transparent investigations into what happened, and how our law enforcement agencies failed to protect the Capitol and members of Congress,” she said.
In the days since last week’s deadly attack, House Democrats have called for investigations into security breaches and raised increasingly pointed questions about whether Capitol police officers and and Republican members of Congress played any role in advising or encouraging the mob.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do to find out how things went so wrong, and one part of that is going to have to be, how organized was this and who participated in it?” asked Representative Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania. “There’s going to have to be a massive reckoning.”
Since the attacks, an atmosphere of distrust and unease has settled over the Capitol. Metal detectors were installed outside the House chambers before Wednesday’s impeachment vote — a measure intended to protect lawmakers not from the public, but from each other — while the National Guard, Secret Service, and Capitol Police have established an enormous security perimeter that stretches for blocks around the People’s House.
Inside, lawmakers have been grappling with the question of how the rioters — armed with racist symbols like the Confederate flag as well as zip-ties and weapons — were able to access the Capitol and to find their way through the byzantine building so easily once they were inside.
One group of Democrats wrote to the acting House Sergeant at Arms to say they saw groups of people who appeared to be associated with the rally touring the Capitol the day before.
“We haven’t seen tour groups in the Capitol for months,” Scanlon said. “That’s why it was noticeable.”
New Jersey Representative Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, said on Facebook Live that those tours appeared to be for the purpose of “reconnaissance.” Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina said rioters somehow found his unmarked office, indicating “that something untoward may have been going on.”
And Pressley’s office raised a new series of questions about the run-up to the attack with its revelation that panic buttons, which they had tested and used previously, had been torn out before the attack.
When Pressley learned the buttons were gone, she “found it immediately disturbing,” she said in an interview. “Not wanting to rush to any sort of judgment or conclusion.... my chief [of staff] began the necessary running it through the proper channels to better understand why that was the case, and again, now the matter is being investigated by the relevant agencies.”
Representative Jamaal Bowman, a new member of Congress from New York, said his office also lacked panic buttons during the attack. They weren’t installed until Wednesday.
Multiple requests for comment from Capitol Police and the House Sergeant of Arms since Wednesday have gone unanswered. The FBI directed all questions about the security breaches to Capitol Police.
An aide with the House Administration Committee could provide no further information on the removed panic buttons in Pressley’s office except to say that it was under review.
“The breach today at the U.S. Capitol raises grave security concerns,” Representative Zoe Lofgren, the committee’s chairwoman, said in a statement on the day of the attack. “I intend to have the Committee on House Administration work with the bipartisan House and Senate leadership to address these concerns and review the response in coming days.”
Capitol Hill has remained on edge since the attack and some members have reported an increase in threats. An e-mail sent from the House Administration Committee to members on Monday, and obtained by the Globe, listed the various options they could use to pay for any security-related expenses and upgrades to their offices.
Lawmakers are also pushing for probes into the incident by the Government Accountability Office and the inspector general of the Capitol Police. In a letter to the GAO, Representative Jason Crow of Colorado and more than 100 members requested a wide-ranging investigation, including inappropriate conduct by law enforcement; the impact of elected officials’ rhetoric on inciting the mob; and efforts by government and congressional leaders to limit police preparation, coordination, and response.
“In the aftermath of one of the darkest days in our nation’s history, we are forced to reconcile with difficult truths about failures of leadership and preparation,” the letter states. “The failures of security are far more easily corrected than the failure to lead and the abuse of the public trust.”
A spokesman with the GAO said it would need to go through a formal review process to determine what exactly the probe will cover.
Several members of the Massachusetts delegation told the Globe that they had received multiple assurances from Capitol police that they would have the crowds of Trump protesters under control ahead of the electoral vote count certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. But Representative Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran, has emerged as one the harshest critics of officers’ unprepared response, saying, “My platoon of 18-year-olds showed more professionalism every day than the Capitol police do.”
Among those who faced the most harrowing experiences were members of Congress who have been the direct targets of vitriol from President Trump and his supporters, including Pressley, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, faced calls for her to resign after she tweeted out Pelosi’s location as security agents rushed her away to a secure location.
On Instagram Live late Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez told viewers she had feared her colleagues would give away her location and that she had “a close encounter where I thought I was going to die.” But she said she didn’t know yet whether she could disclose the full details of the traumatizing event.
“I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive,” she said. “Not just in a general sense, but also in a very, very specific sense.”
Pressley spent part of the siege on the floor of her darkened office, gas mask in hand, with her husband and her chief of staff. They had barricaded her door with office furniture and water jugs, and as the time ticked by, they began to realize they could face threats from more than just the rioters.
When they arrived in a space that had been designated as a safe room, Pressley noticed some of the members in there weren’t wearing masks.
“I turned to my husband, and I said, I want to leave,” Pressley said. “I learned later that my chief was told ...when we exited that room, ‘You’re on your own. If there’s an evacuation, you know, we’re not, we’re not coming for you.’”
A person familiar with the situation said a member of her staff stayed in touch with security officials, but decided to limit her communication as the day progressed—just in case they were part of the danger, too.
Globe Columnist Yvonne Abraham contributed to this report.
by Jazmine Ulloa and Jess Bidgood
Globe Staff
Updated January 14, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
WASHINGTON — The removal of panic buttons from Representative Ayanna Pressley’s Capitol Hill office before an armed insurrection overran the complex is under review by the House Administration Committee, as Congressional Democrats push to determine whether the mob had inside help.
“The American people do deserve to know if these assailants were at all enabled by the very people who are responsible for stopping them and how we can ensure that attack like this will never happen again,” Pressley said in an interview.
“Congress needs to immediately launch comprehensive, transparent investigations into what happened, and how our law enforcement agencies failed to protect the Capitol and members of Congress,” she said.
In the days since last week’s deadly attack, House Democrats have called for investigations into security breaches and raised increasingly pointed questions about whether Capitol police officers and and Republican members of Congress played any role in advising or encouraging the mob.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do to find out how things went so wrong, and one part of that is going to have to be, how organized was this and who participated in it?” asked Representative Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania. “There’s going to have to be a massive reckoning.”
Since the attacks, an atmosphere of distrust and unease has settled over the Capitol. Metal detectors were installed outside the House chambers before Wednesday’s impeachment vote — a measure intended to protect lawmakers not from the public, but from each other — while the National Guard, Secret Service, and Capitol Police have established an enormous security perimeter that stretches for blocks around the People’s House.
Inside, lawmakers have been grappling with the question of how the rioters — armed with racist symbols like the Confederate flag as well as zip-ties and weapons — were able to access the Capitol and to find their way through the byzantine building so easily once they were inside.
One group of Democrats wrote to the acting House Sergeant at Arms to say they saw groups of people who appeared to be associated with the rally touring the Capitol the day before.
“We haven’t seen tour groups in the Capitol for months,” Scanlon said. “That’s why it was noticeable.”
New Jersey Representative Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot, said on Facebook Live that those tours appeared to be for the purpose of “reconnaissance.” Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina said rioters somehow found his unmarked office, indicating “that something untoward may have been going on.”
And Pressley’s office raised a new series of questions about the run-up to the attack with its revelation that panic buttons, which they had tested and used previously, had been torn out before the attack.
When Pressley learned the buttons were gone, she “found it immediately disturbing,” she said in an interview. “Not wanting to rush to any sort of judgment or conclusion.... my chief [of staff] began the necessary running it through the proper channels to better understand why that was the case, and again, now the matter is being investigated by the relevant agencies.”
Representative Jamaal Bowman, a new member of Congress from New York, said his office also lacked panic buttons during the attack. They weren’t installed until Wednesday.
Multiple requests for comment from Capitol Police and the House Sergeant of Arms since Wednesday have gone unanswered. The FBI directed all questions about the security breaches to Capitol Police.
An aide with the House Administration Committee could provide no further information on the removed panic buttons in Pressley’s office except to say that it was under review.
“The breach today at the U.S. Capitol raises grave security concerns,” Representative Zoe Lofgren, the committee’s chairwoman, said in a statement on the day of the attack. “I intend to have the Committee on House Administration work with the bipartisan House and Senate leadership to address these concerns and review the response in coming days.”
Capitol Hill has remained on edge since the attack and some members have reported an increase in threats. An e-mail sent from the House Administration Committee to members on Monday, and obtained by the Globe, listed the various options they could use to pay for any security-related expenses and upgrades to their offices.
Lawmakers are also pushing for probes into the incident by the Government Accountability Office and the inspector general of the Capitol Police. In a letter to the GAO, Representative Jason Crow of Colorado and more than 100 members requested a wide-ranging investigation, including inappropriate conduct by law enforcement; the impact of elected officials’ rhetoric on inciting the mob; and efforts by government and congressional leaders to limit police preparation, coordination, and response.
“In the aftermath of one of the darkest days in our nation’s history, we are forced to reconcile with difficult truths about failures of leadership and preparation,” the letter states. “The failures of security are far more easily corrected than the failure to lead and the abuse of the public trust.”
A spokesman with the GAO said it would need to go through a formal review process to determine what exactly the probe will cover.
Several members of the Massachusetts delegation told the Globe that they had received multiple assurances from Capitol police that they would have the crowds of Trump protesters under control ahead of the electoral vote count certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. But Representative Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran, has emerged as one the harshest critics of officers’ unprepared response, saying, “My platoon of 18-year-olds showed more professionalism every day than the Capitol police do.”
Among those who faced the most harrowing experiences were members of Congress who have been the direct targets of vitriol from President Trump and his supporters, including Pressley, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, faced calls for her to resign after she tweeted out Pelosi’s location as security agents rushed her away to a secure location.
On Instagram Live late Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez told viewers she had feared her colleagues would give away her location and that she had “a close encounter where I thought I was going to die.” But she said she didn’t know yet whether she could disclose the full details of the traumatizing event.
“I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive,” she said. “Not just in a general sense, but also in a very, very specific sense.”
Pressley spent part of the siege on the floor of her darkened office, gas mask in hand, with her husband and her chief of staff. They had barricaded her door with office furniture and water jugs, and as the time ticked by, they began to realize they could face threats from more than just the rioters.
When they arrived in a space that had been designated as a safe room, Pressley noticed some of the members in there weren’t wearing masks.
“I turned to my husband, and I said, I want to leave,” Pressley said. “I learned later that my chief was told ...when we exited that room, ‘You’re on your own. If there’s an evacuation, you know, we’re not, we’re not coming for you.’”
A person familiar with the situation said a member of her staff stayed in touch with security officials, but decided to limit her communication as the day progressed—just in case they were part of the danger, too.
Globe Columnist Yvonne Abraham contributed to this report.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
by admin » Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:28 am
'Can't Stop Me': GOP Lawmakers Refuse to Pass Capitol Metal Detectors After Pro-Trump Riot
by Aila Slisco
Newsweek
1/13/21 AT 12:22 AM EST
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
A host of Republican members of the U.S. House or Representatives on Tuesday evening angrily refused to go through metal detectors that had been installed outside the chamber as a security measure.
Security measures were upgraded to include metal detectors on Tuesday due to the breach of the building last week, which was instigated by an angry mob of extremists supporting President Donald Trump's false claims that the presidential election was "stolen." Multiple GOP members reacted to the new measures with outrage and demanded that they be exempted from the rules, which applied to all who entered the House chamber.
GOP Representatives Louie Gohmert (Texas), Steve Stivers (Ohio), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Van Taylor (Texas), Debbie Lesko (Ariz.) and Larry Bucshon (Ind.) were among those who refused to comply with the screening or vocally protested its implementation, according to NBC News.
Gohmert said "You can't stop me; I'm on my way to a vote" as he walked by Capitol Police, according to HuffPost. At least 10 other Republicans walked around the detectors.
Boebert, an enthusiastic gun rights advocate known for her past support of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, had previously boasted that she planned to regularly carry her handgun around the Capitol after being sworn in as a new member on January 3. Although members of Congress and aides are legally allowed to carry weapons on Capitol grounds, House rules prohibit them being taken inside the chamber.
Capitol Police are pictured installing a metal detector outside the U.S. House of Representatives chamber at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 2021.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY
Boebert has recently been under fire for tweeting that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was no longer in the House chamber while the Capitol insurrection was happening. On Tuesday, she tweeted that Pelosi was pulling "another political stunt" by allowing the metal detectors, which were placed directly outside the chamber and not outside the grounds. Boebert was eventually allowed inside the chamber after a short confrontation with police during the screening process.
"I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex," Boebert tweeted. "Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week — it's just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi."
Lesko also blamed Pelosi for members "being wanded like criminals" in a dramatic tweet that complained "we now live in Pelosi's communist America!" Other Republicans who took particular issue with the security measure included Rep. Steve Womack (Ark.) and Rep. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.), who loudly protested "I was physically restrained" at Capitol Police following the screening, according to CNN. Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.) told the outlet that the detectors represented "political correctness run amok."
"The metal detector policy for the House floor is unnecessary, unconstitutional, and endangers members," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who took a "social media sabbatical" after most platforms banned Trump over fears he could incite further violence, said in a statement. "I did not comply tonight. I will not comply in the future."
Newsweek reached out to the House Office of the Sergeant at Arms for comment.
by Aila Slisco
Newsweek
1/13/21 AT 12:22 AM EST
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
A host of Republican members of the U.S. House or Representatives on Tuesday evening angrily refused to go through metal detectors that had been installed outside the chamber as a security measure.
Security measures were upgraded to include metal detectors on Tuesday due to the breach of the building last week, which was instigated by an angry mob of extremists supporting President Donald Trump's false claims that the presidential election was "stolen." Multiple GOP members reacted to the new measures with outrage and demanded that they be exempted from the rules, which applied to all who entered the House chamber.
GOP Representatives Louie Gohmert (Texas), Steve Stivers (Ohio), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Van Taylor (Texas), Debbie Lesko (Ariz.) and Larry Bucshon (Ind.) were among those who refused to comply with the screening or vocally protested its implementation, according to NBC News.
Gohmert said "You can't stop me; I'm on my way to a vote" as he walked by Capitol Police, according to HuffPost. At least 10 other Republicans walked around the detectors.
Boebert, an enthusiastic gun rights advocate known for her past support of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, had previously boasted that she planned to regularly carry her handgun around the Capitol after being sworn in as a new member on January 3. Although members of Congress and aides are legally allowed to carry weapons on Capitol grounds, House rules prohibit them being taken inside the chamber.
Capitol Police are pictured installing a metal detector outside the U.S. House of Representatives chamber at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 2021.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY
Boebert has recently been under fire for tweeting that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was no longer in the House chamber while the Capitol insurrection was happening. On Tuesday, she tweeted that Pelosi was pulling "another political stunt" by allowing the metal detectors, which were placed directly outside the chamber and not outside the grounds. Boebert was eventually allowed inside the chamber after a short confrontation with police during the screening process.
"I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex," Boebert tweeted. "Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week — it's just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi."
Rep. Lauren Boebert
@RepBoebert
I am legally permitted to carry my firearm in Washington, D.C. and within the Capitol complex.
Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week -- it's just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi
6:47 PM Jan 12, 2021
Lesko also blamed Pelosi for members "being wanded like criminals" in a dramatic tweet that complained "we now live in Pelosi's communist America!" Other Republicans who took particular issue with the security measure included Rep. Steve Womack (Ark.) and Rep. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.), who loudly protested "I was physically restrained" at Capitol Police following the screening, according to CNN. Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.) told the outlet that the detectors represented "political correctness run amok."
Congresswoman Debbie Lesko
@RepDLesko
For members of Congress to enter the floor of the U.S. House, we now have to go through intense security measures, on top of the security we already go through. These new provisions include searches and being wanded like criminals. We now live in Pelosi's communist America!
5:38 PM Jan 12, 2021
"The metal detector policy for the House floor is unnecessary, unconstitutional, and endangers members," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who took a "social media sabbatical" after most platforms banned Trump over fears he could incite further violence, said in a statement. "I did not comply tonight. I will not comply in the future."
Newsweek reached out to the House Office of the Sergeant at Arms for comment.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
by admin » Fri Jan 15, 2021 11:49 am
Constitutional Lawyer: Trump Is a Clear & Present Danger, a Senate Impeachment Trial Is Needed Now
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
January 14, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
GUESTS
John Bonifaz, constitutional attorney and president of Free Speech for People.
LINKS
John Bonifaz on Twitter
"Trump's Solicitation of Election Fraud Is His Highest Crime"
"The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump"
The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, and Trump will end his term in office with the distinction of being the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in the 232-197 vote to impeach, and Trump now faces a trial in the Senate. Constitutional attorney John Bonifaz says the House “did its duty” and that the Senate must move quickly to take up impeachment proceedings. “Those who did not vote to convict last time are responsible, in part, for allowing this president to stay in office, someone who has clearly abused his power time and time again, leading to this violent attack on the U.S. Capitol,” says Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, making Trump the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. Wednesday’s vote was 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats. It’s the most bipartisan impeachment in history.
It was one week ago today, the morning after the insurrection, that Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a former refugee, the first Somali American to serve in Congress and also the first to wear a hijab in U.S. Congress, first unveiled a resolution to impeach Trump. During Wednesday’s proceedings, she called Trump a “tyrant.”
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Let us not mince words about what happened last week. It was a violent attempt to interrupt our democratic process. It was a targeted blow at the most essential process that makes us a democracy. It was a direct and specifically incited by the president of the United States. For years, we have been asked to turn a blind eye to the criminality, corruption and blatant disregard to the rule of law by the tyrant president we have in the White House. We, as a nation, can no longer look away.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2019, President Trump was also impeached by the House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. This is Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado, who [is serving] as an impeachment manager […] this year, speaking on Wednesday..
REP. DIANA DEGETTE: Just over a year ago, I stood right there, where you’re standing today, as we took the solemn step of impeaching the president of the United States for pressuring a foreign leader to take unlawful actions to help him in his reelection. And now, just one week ago, almost to the hour, I laid right there, on the floor of the gallery above us. I heard gunshots in the speaker’s lobby. I heard the mob pounding on the door. And what they were trying to do, they were all an angry mob, incited by the president, trying to stop certification of a legitimate election. It’s clear the president learned nothing in the last year. Yesterday, the president said again he did nothing wrong. This man is dangerous. He has defied the Constitution. He has incited sedition. And he must be removed.
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump now faces an impeachment trial in the Senate, which Republican leader Mitch McConnell has adjourned until January 19th, making it unlikely the trial will take place before Joe Biden is inaugurated.
For more, we’re joined by John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, co-author of The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.
John, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this second impeachment of Donald Trump and what it means and what will happen in the Senate?
JOHN BONIFAZ: Thank you, Amy, for having me.
This is a significant, historic vote. The House of Representatives did its duty to pass this article of impeachment against Donald Trump for inciting insurrection, a violent, seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol to overthrow constitutional government. And as Speaker Pelosi said, he is a clear and present danger to the nation. He must be removed immediately. So, we do not accept the idea that Senator McConnell has put forward, that somehow the Senate cannot act immediately to hold this impeachment trial and convict and remove him. There is a procedure for enacting emergency rules to reconvene the U.S. Senate, and Senator McConnell ought to do that.
The fact of the matter is that members of the Republican-led Senate are responsible. Those who did not vote to convict last time are responsible, in part, for allowing this president to stay in office, someone who has clearly abused his power time and time again, leading to this violent attack on the U.S. Capitol just last week.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, John Bonifaz, I mean, it seems that McConnell is not likely to reconvene the Senate. Could you talk about what the significance and the effects, consequences, would be of impeaching a president, carrying out a trial in the Senate for a former president? What would be the consequences of that?
JOHN BONIFAZ: Well, the consequences are that there is a basis for disqualifying a member of the public who has held public office before and has been convicted from ever running for office and holding office again. And that disqualification has to happen here. Not only should he be convicted for having engaged in this insurrection, inciting this insurrection, but he should be barred from ever holding future federal office. And that can happen even if he has already left office. And that’s significant because, of course, the president has said that he intends to consider running for office again, has suggested that he might run in 2024. And there’s no basis for him to be able to hold office again if he’s convicted. And, in fact, the 14th Amendment, Section 3, makes clear that anyone who is engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States may not hold public office in the future.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, could you elaborate on that, John, the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? In a recent piece in The Washington Post, American historian Eric Foner advocated invoking that section, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, as a more expeditious way of getting rid of Trump and also a more appropriate one. He wrote — and I’ll just quote ver briefly — that “Invoking a constitutional provision meant to limit the political power of Confederate leaders would mark an appropriate end to the career of a president who so closely identified himself with the memory of the Confederacy and with a culture of White resentment.” John Bonifaz?
JOHN BONIFAZ: I agree. I agree with Eric Foner and, in fact, you know, with respect to invoking this provision of the 14th Amendment. And, in fact, that provision is cited in the article of impeachment that the House of Representatives passed yesterday.
But it doesn’t mean that we only do that. We have to proceed with this impeachment trial. This president must be held accountable for the charges that have now been issued by the U.S. House of Representatives for inciting insurrection. And impeachment means anything. It means that this president be held accountable for his crimes, his high crimes that he has committed. So, I think we ought to make sure that the Senate does its job, that it holds this impeachment trial immediately, that it convicts and removes this president from public office, while at the same time invoking that provision of the 14th Amendment.
And frankly, it ought to be invoked not only against the president, but against those members of Congress who participated in seeking to overthrow a free and fair election last November. Even after this violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, you had 140 members of the U.S. House, you had seven members of the U.S. Senate, voting, after that attack, to overthrow this free and fair election. They participated in helping to incite this insurrection. They participated in spreading the big lie that somehow this was a fraudulent election. It was not. And the idea that they get to stay in office after having participated in that action is antithetical to our democracy and to that provision of the 14th Amendment.
AMY GOODMAN: John Bonifaz, if President Trump were found guilty in the Senate, and there are serious questions of — with the crises that are being faced, from the economy and COVID, of course, to continue to deal with Donald Trump, it’s not automatic that he wouldn’t be able to run again. Is that right? It would have to be a sanction decided by the Senate, if they found him guilty.
JOHN BONIFAZ: That’s correct. And this has happened in prior impeachments of judges, where, following the conviction vote, there is another vote that is taken, and it only requires a simple majority of the Senate to disqualify the person from ever holding federal office again. And that’s what would have to happen here. First the Senate would have to hold this impeachment trial, convict the president — or, if he’s no longer president, the ex-president — and then pass, by simple majority vote, the disqualification. All of that can take place very quickly, and it should.
And honestly, again, Senator Schumer has called on Senator McConnell to invoke emergency rules to reconvene this Senate now, not to have it stay adjourned until January 19th. And the reason is that we know, as Congressman Jamin Raskin has said, that on right-wing militia sites there are statements being made, discussions of another attack on Washington leading up to the inauguration. And this president has incited all that. And he ought to be held accountable, and he ought not to be in public office any longer.
AMY GOODMAN: John Bonifaz, we want to thank you for being with us, president of Free Speech for People, co-author of The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.
Next up, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University professor, on “The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency.” Stay with us.
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Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor: Impeachment Is Late Attempt to Curb Violence & Racism at Heart of Trump Era
We look at the fight for accountability after a white supremacist mob attacked the U.S. Capitol and as President Trump is impeached for a historic second time for his incitement of violence. Supporters who took part in the January 6 attack — including current police officers — have been arrested across the U.S. for their involvement in the insurrection. Ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration, the FBI is warning police chiefs around the country to be on high alert for right-wing domestic terror attacks. The Pentagon said it’s increasing the number of National Guard soldiers deployed to the nation’s capital to 20,000 — twice the combined number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — in stark contrast to the response to last week’s riot. “The impeachment yesterday is a culmination of sorts of the kind of violence and racism that has been at the heart of the Trump administration that finally boiled over,” says Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University and contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine. “We have a government that has completely spun out of control at the hands of Donald Trump.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, as we continue to look at President Trump’s second impeachment. It’s historic. The House voted 232 to 197 to charge Trump with inciting last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol, making him the first president to be impeached twice. During Wednesday’s debate, newly sworn-in Congressmember Cori Bush of Missouri called Trump a white supremacist president.
REP. CORI BUSH: Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise in support of the article of impeachment against Donald J. Trump. If we fail to remove a white supremacist president who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it’s communities like Missouri’s 1st District that suffer the most. The 117th Congress must understand that we have a mandate to legislate in defense of Black lives. The first step in that process is to root out white supremacy, starting with impeaching the white-supremacist-in-chief. Thank you, and I yield back.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS: [booing]
SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: And from your wishes to reserve, the gentleman from Ohio…
AMY GOODMAN: After Cori Bush’s remarks, some House Republicans booed. Congressmember Bush has said her first resolution in Congress will be to, quote, “call for the expulsion of the Republican members of Congress who incited this domestic terror attack on the Capitol.”
As Trump was impeached Wednesday, more of his supporters who took part in last week’s attack were arrested, including current police officers from around the country. In Queens, New York, the FBI arrested Eduard Florea, a leader of the far-right Proud Boys group, for allegedly plotting another attack on the U.S. Capitol. The FBI also confirmed the arrest of Douglas Allen Sweet in Virginia, who was photographed with the mob in the Capitol wearing a shirt that read “Camp Auschwitz” in reference to the Nazi death camp. In Virginia, two police officers from the town of Rocky Mount were arrested, after they boasted online about joining the insurrection last week. One is an Army veteran and trained sniper. And a Houston police officer was placed on administrative leave and will likely face felony charges, after he was filmed joining riots at the Capitol.
This comes as the FBI is warning police chiefs across the country to be on high alert for right-wing domestic terror attacks before, and during, Joe Biden’s inauguration next week. The Pentagon said it’s increasing the number of Guard soldiers deployed to the nation’s capital to 20,000 — twice the combined number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. This massive mobilization stands in stark contrast to last week’s riot. NPR reports despite open planning of the violent attack on social media, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security filed no security report ahead of January 6, even though they produced similar intelligence bulletins ahead of demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter marches and the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America.
For more, we’re joined by the renowned scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University, contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine. Her latest piece there is headlined “The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency.”
Professor Taylor, welcome back to Democracy Now! Why don’t you respond to the impeachment yesterday and what you saw this insurrection — what underlies it?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I think the impeachment yesterday is a culmination of sorts of the kind of violence and racism that has been at the heart of the Trump administration that finally boiled over. And, you know, this is an effort to, I think, reassert some kind of authority and control in a situation that seems to have spiraled out of control politically at an incredibly dangerous time. I mean, if we think about all of the things that are happening in the United States right now, with the exponential spread of COVID, with the disintegration of the U.S. economy, with millions of people — it is not hyperbole to say millions of people stand on the precipice of eviction and foreclosure at the end of January. And we have a government that has completely spun out of control at the hands of Donald Trump. And I think that the impeachment procedures are an effort to regain control, which is why you’ve seen some — not many, not a significant number, but some Republicans who have finally grasped the depths of depravity of this Trump administration and really the danger that it represents.
And I think that this has gotten to this point because it has been allowed. The Trump administration has been allowed to court white supremacists and white extremists from before Donald Trump won the presidency, and certainly well into his presidency, that all of his comments, his racist comments, his comments encouraging violence against his political opponents, both in politics and both in the population at large, have been downplayed, have been ignored, or, in some cases, have been egged on. And all of that has brought us to this point, has brought us to this point today.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Keeanga, could you elaborate on that point, what you said about the House Republicans who broke with the party and voted to support in favor of impeachment? Do you see that as indicative of where the party might go after Trump? I mean, many have said, in fact, that 10 is nothing, that everybody should have voted to impeach him, given what happened. Where do you see the party going once Trump is out?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I think, given that Donald Trump not only received 74 million votes, but he significantly increased his voter turnout even at the most hysterical part of his presidency, the most unhinged part of his presidency — towards the end, he still continued to grow his voter base. And so I think the idea that this is either the end of the Republican Party or the Republican Party has learned from its mistakes is sadly mistaken.
I think that the Republican Party, for most of them, feel as if they have benefited from the rancor of Donald Trump. And I think what will really make the difference in terms of whether they continue to embrace this kind of unvarnished white extremism in the heart of their party or whether they try to put the cloak back over it — which I think is an important thing to say, that even for those people, those Republicans who have come out and finally said that this is a bridge too far, I mean, this is pretty dramatic for the bridge too far to be this. If we think about all of the things that Donald Trump has said and done in his very short, one-term presidency, for it to get to this point — insurrection, riot in the Capitol building, that resulted in the deaths of two police officers — one officer was killed in the Capitol, another committed suicide days after the riots in the Capitol. If that’s what it takes for you to break with Donald Trump, it speaks to the rot at the core of the Republican Party. And I think that because they have been so successful embracing this politics of racism, of extremism, of xenophobia, of Islamophobia, of political violence, of the idea that only Republicans are entitled to win elections, that there will have to be some demonstration that those politics are no longer popular among a certain strain in the population for them to abandon that strategy.
So it remains to be seen what Donald Trump’s influence will be, whether the corporate titans jumping off the Titanic will be enough to get the attention of the Republican Party. But that so many of them continue to cling to this demagogue even after the deaths of police officers, even after the mayhem at the Capitol, is both astounding and speaks to the utter corruption of the Republican Party writ large.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about the comments of people like Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, who, along with many others, like Norma Torres, Ayanna Pressley, have talked about the horror — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — these women of color fleeing this mob, not to mention some of the African American Capitol police, who felt completely unprotected themselves from their leadership as they were being chased by the mob. But you had Pramila Jayapal bringing these two issues together. She is the third congressmember to test positive for COVID-19, that we know of — the New Jersey Congressmember [Watson Coleman] also tested positive, 75 years old, African American, cancer survivor — because of sequestering with Republican congressmembers who refused to wear masks. Jayapal said, “Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic — creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack.” Now Pramila Jayapal’s husband has tested positive, as has Ayanna Pressley’s husband. Can you talk about the coming together of these two issues, now Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats demanding that these Republicans wear masks or be fined, and having those fines deducted from Republicans’ paychecks if they don’t wear them in the House, but both this attack last week and the disproportionate effect COVID has on people of color?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I mean, it is just utterly disgusting, and it shows something about the selfishness, the hypocrisy of the Republican Party to put these people at risk for the sake of their political brand. And, you know, I think that there’s something much more pernicious to this, when we think about the ways that these people are responsible, have a political obligation to make determinations about how the country responds to this virus, to be responsible for creating the provisions to mitigate the worst aspects of this virus, and are now in political control of how the vaccine is disseminated in response to the virus.
And so, I think that when you look at the absolutely astounding, appalling response of the most powerful nation on Earth to the coronavirus, you get some insight into why the political response has been so completely bungled. With the Republican Party in charge of the Senate and the presidency, they have had absolutely no interest in pursuing an aggressive strategy to try to contain this virus. I think that, early on, the Republican Party took the stance that was imposed on meat workers in the meatpacking industry, that they would force people to work, that they would create a situation where there were no public provisions so that people could safely shelter in place at home, which has been the only real known way to curb the virus. But we know that the only way that is possible is if you make sure that people’s rent is paid, that if you make sure people are able to afford groceries, that if you make sure people are able to provide for their families, that is the only way that you can stay at home. And so, the Republicans led the effort to take that off of the table to force people to go to work, which has resulted in the disastrous death toll that we have in this country, all on the hedge that Americans would become immune to thousands of people dying, and that would be the way that they would get away with it.
And so, their personal politicization of wearing the mask, of taking preventative measures, also underlies a political approach to not containing this virus, as it has had a disproportionate impact on Indigenous people, on Black people, on Latinx people, who are forced to work in the public sector. And these people simply don’t care — this party, disproportionately millionaire, disproportionately white male — do not care about the impact, right down to putting their colleagues, the people that they work with, at risk. It speaks to something deranged within the individuals that compose that party. It is disgusting.
AMY GOODMAN: And a correction on the congresswoman’s name from New Jersey: It’s Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman. And we’re going to link to her op-ed piece in The Washington Post, “I’m 75. I had cancer. I got covid-19 because my GOP colleagues dismiss facts.” Nermeen?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Keeanga, as you’ve just outlined this, really, litany of abusive policies that the Trump administration has carried out right to this moment, despite that, as you’ve written about extensively, he received over 70 million votes. And as you’ve also said, there was an increase in the people who voted for him among demographics that one would not — demographic groups that one would not expect to support him. So there are these 70 million people who are Trump supporters, and we’re going into the Biden-Harris administration next week. What’s going to happen to all these people? How should the Biden-Harrison administration engage with them, if at all, and in what ways?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: So, I think there are two things here. One is, you know, I think Trump increased his overall voting turnout, to the shock of many people, but I don’t think that the 74 million people that voted for Trump are all white supremacists, white extremists, who are chomping at the bit to overrun the Capitol and kill people in the Democratic Party. Clearly, there is a stratum of that among those people, but I think that there’s a more complicated set of issues going on here. I think that Trump increased his voter totals among Latinx people, among Black voters, including Black women. There was much more talked about his increase among Black male voters, but, you know, he also increased his turnout, or his total voting totals, among Black women. So I think that there is a much more complicated story to tell about, really, the collapse in the credibility of both parties, in that people feel like the world is falling apart around them and that there has been an anemic response from the political parties involved.
And in some ways, you know, there are lots of things, I think, that motivate Trump voters, one of them being registering one’s disappointment, disapproval with government itself. I mean, Trump has become this absurd symbol of anti-government. Even as the president, the most powerful elected position not just in this country, but in the world, he still registers as a kind of anti-government figure. I think that people feel that his boorishness, his behavior, is also a rebuke of the kind of buttoned-up political theater that most other elected officials engage in.
And so, what I think that really speaks to is the lack of political options and alternatives for people in this country. And that’s why when people talk about “Is this the end of the Republican Party? Is the Republican Party going to dissolve over this?” — I mean, people were saying the same thing in 2015, when Donald Trump became the candidate for the Republican Party, which seemed ridiculous, and the Republicans were somewhat of a laughingstock as result of that, until they actually won the presidency. And so, when there are two parties, you know, it limits your ability to really register opposition, and it leaves people to vote for one or the other.
That being said, I think that there is an opportunity for the Biden and Harrison administration to actually be able to demonstrate government that can be effective. They have to seize this opportunity that has been dropped in their lap because of the activism and work of Black activists and other voting rights activists in Georgia that helped flip the Senate seats in that state. That means, officially, once Joe Biden is inaugurated, that there are no more excuses, that the Democratic Party has control of the Senate, and that should very quickly open up a period of intense legislation. The $2,000 checks, we want to see them. Relief for renters in this country, stopping evictions, we want to see that. Healthcare, a real plan around the distribution of this vaccine, I think all of those things and more — canceling student loan debt — all of these things are now plausible. The Democrats do not have the Republicans as an excuse for why they can’t get things done.
And so, I think it means that the Biden and Harris administration are going to have to abandon this plan of bipartisanship, of trying to appeal to the discredited and disgraced Republican Party in the name of some false unity, and instead they must plow ahead with a plan that can actually fix the not just deep problems, but problems that seem and appear to be completely out of control in this country. They have to use this authority to do so. And, you know, we know that from Joe Biden’s —
AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: — Joe Biden’s history that that will be a hard thing for him to do. And so, it means that the social movements that were most activated through the summer around Black Lives Matter have to reemerge to force the Biden-Harris administration to follow through on the promises that were made.
AMY GOODMAN: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, we want to thank you so much for being with us, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University, contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine. We’ll link to her most recent piece, “The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency.”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
January 14, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
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GUESTS
John Bonifaz, constitutional attorney and president of Free Speech for People.
LINKS
John Bonifaz on Twitter
"Trump's Solicitation of Election Fraud Is His Highest Crime"
"The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump"
The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, and Trump will end his term in office with the distinction of being the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in the 232-197 vote to impeach, and Trump now faces a trial in the Senate. Constitutional attorney John Bonifaz says the House “did its duty” and that the Senate must move quickly to take up impeachment proceedings. “Those who did not vote to convict last time are responsible, in part, for allowing this president to stay in office, someone who has clearly abused his power time and time again, leading to this violent attack on the U.S. Capitol,” says Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: The House of Representatives has voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, making Trump the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. Wednesday’s vote was 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats. It’s the most bipartisan impeachment in history.
It was one week ago today, the morning after the insurrection, that Congressmember Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a former refugee, the first Somali American to serve in Congress and also the first to wear a hijab in U.S. Congress, first unveiled a resolution to impeach Trump. During Wednesday’s proceedings, she called Trump a “tyrant.”
REP. ILHAN OMAR: Let us not mince words about what happened last week. It was a violent attempt to interrupt our democratic process. It was a targeted blow at the most essential process that makes us a democracy. It was a direct and specifically incited by the president of the United States. For years, we have been asked to turn a blind eye to the criminality, corruption and blatant disregard to the rule of law by the tyrant president we have in the White House. We, as a nation, can no longer look away.
AMY GOODMAN: In 2019, President Trump was also impeached by the House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. This is Democratic Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado, who [is serving] as an impeachment manager […] this year, speaking on Wednesday..
REP. DIANA DEGETTE: Just over a year ago, I stood right there, where you’re standing today, as we took the solemn step of impeaching the president of the United States for pressuring a foreign leader to take unlawful actions to help him in his reelection. And now, just one week ago, almost to the hour, I laid right there, on the floor of the gallery above us. I heard gunshots in the speaker’s lobby. I heard the mob pounding on the door. And what they were trying to do, they were all an angry mob, incited by the president, trying to stop certification of a legitimate election. It’s clear the president learned nothing in the last year. Yesterday, the president said again he did nothing wrong. This man is dangerous. He has defied the Constitution. He has incited sedition. And he must be removed.
AMY GOODMAN: President Trump now faces an impeachment trial in the Senate, which Republican leader Mitch McConnell has adjourned until January 19th, making it unlikely the trial will take place before Joe Biden is inaugurated.
For more, we’re joined by John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, co-author of The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.
John, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this second impeachment of Donald Trump and what it means and what will happen in the Senate?
JOHN BONIFAZ: Thank you, Amy, for having me.
This is a significant, historic vote. The House of Representatives did its duty to pass this article of impeachment against Donald Trump for inciting insurrection, a violent, seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol to overthrow constitutional government. And as Speaker Pelosi said, he is a clear and present danger to the nation. He must be removed immediately. So, we do not accept the idea that Senator McConnell has put forward, that somehow the Senate cannot act immediately to hold this impeachment trial and convict and remove him. There is a procedure for enacting emergency rules to reconvene the U.S. Senate, and Senator McConnell ought to do that.
The fact of the matter is that members of the Republican-led Senate are responsible. Those who did not vote to convict last time are responsible, in part, for allowing this president to stay in office, someone who has clearly abused his power time and time again, leading to this violent attack on the U.S. Capitol just last week.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, John Bonifaz, I mean, it seems that McConnell is not likely to reconvene the Senate. Could you talk about what the significance and the effects, consequences, would be of impeaching a president, carrying out a trial in the Senate for a former president? What would be the consequences of that?
JOHN BONIFAZ: Well, the consequences are that there is a basis for disqualifying a member of the public who has held public office before and has been convicted from ever running for office and holding office again. And that disqualification has to happen here. Not only should he be convicted for having engaged in this insurrection, inciting this insurrection, but he should be barred from ever holding future federal office. And that can happen even if he has already left office. And that’s significant because, of course, the president has said that he intends to consider running for office again, has suggested that he might run in 2024. And there’s no basis for him to be able to hold office again if he’s convicted. And, in fact, the 14th Amendment, Section 3, makes clear that anyone who is engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States may not hold public office in the future.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, could you elaborate on that, John, the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment? In a recent piece in The Washington Post, American historian Eric Foner advocated invoking that section, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, as a more expeditious way of getting rid of Trump and also a more appropriate one. He wrote — and I’ll just quote ver briefly — that “Invoking a constitutional provision meant to limit the political power of Confederate leaders would mark an appropriate end to the career of a president who so closely identified himself with the memory of the Confederacy and with a culture of White resentment.” John Bonifaz?
JOHN BONIFAZ: I agree. I agree with Eric Foner and, in fact, you know, with respect to invoking this provision of the 14th Amendment. And, in fact, that provision is cited in the article of impeachment that the House of Representatives passed yesterday.
But it doesn’t mean that we only do that. We have to proceed with this impeachment trial. This president must be held accountable for the charges that have now been issued by the U.S. House of Representatives for inciting insurrection. And impeachment means anything. It means that this president be held accountable for his crimes, his high crimes that he has committed. So, I think we ought to make sure that the Senate does its job, that it holds this impeachment trial immediately, that it convicts and removes this president from public office, while at the same time invoking that provision of the 14th Amendment.
And frankly, it ought to be invoked not only against the president, but against those members of Congress who participated in seeking to overthrow a free and fair election last November. Even after this violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, you had 140 members of the U.S. House, you had seven members of the U.S. Senate, voting, after that attack, to overthrow this free and fair election. They participated in helping to incite this insurrection. They participated in spreading the big lie that somehow this was a fraudulent election. It was not. And the idea that they get to stay in office after having participated in that action is antithetical to our democracy and to that provision of the 14th Amendment.
AMY GOODMAN: John Bonifaz, if President Trump were found guilty in the Senate, and there are serious questions of — with the crises that are being faced, from the economy and COVID, of course, to continue to deal with Donald Trump, it’s not automatic that he wouldn’t be able to run again. Is that right? It would have to be a sanction decided by the Senate, if they found him guilty.
JOHN BONIFAZ: That’s correct. And this has happened in prior impeachments of judges, where, following the conviction vote, there is another vote that is taken, and it only requires a simple majority of the Senate to disqualify the person from ever holding federal office again. And that’s what would have to happen here. First the Senate would have to hold this impeachment trial, convict the president — or, if he’s no longer president, the ex-president — and then pass, by simple majority vote, the disqualification. All of that can take place very quickly, and it should.
And honestly, again, Senator Schumer has called on Senator McConnell to invoke emergency rules to reconvene this Senate now, not to have it stay adjourned until January 19th. And the reason is that we know, as Congressman Jamin Raskin has said, that on right-wing militia sites there are statements being made, discussions of another attack on Washington leading up to the inauguration. And this president has incited all that. And he ought to be held accountable, and he ought not to be in public office any longer.
AMY GOODMAN: John Bonifaz, we want to thank you for being with us, president of Free Speech for People, co-author of The Constitution Demands It: The Case for the Impeachment of Donald Trump.
Next up, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Princeton University professor, on “The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency.” Stay with us.
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Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor: Impeachment Is Late Attempt to Curb Violence & Racism at Heart of Trump Era
We look at the fight for accountability after a white supremacist mob attacked the U.S. Capitol and as President Trump is impeached for a historic second time for his incitement of violence. Supporters who took part in the January 6 attack — including current police officers — have been arrested across the U.S. for their involvement in the insurrection. Ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration, the FBI is warning police chiefs around the country to be on high alert for right-wing domestic terror attacks. The Pentagon said it’s increasing the number of National Guard soldiers deployed to the nation’s capital to 20,000 — twice the combined number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — in stark contrast to the response to last week’s riot. “The impeachment yesterday is a culmination of sorts of the kind of violence and racism that has been at the heart of the Trump administration that finally boiled over,” says Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University and contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine. “We have a government that has completely spun out of control at the hands of Donald Trump.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh, as we continue to look at President Trump’s second impeachment. It’s historic. The House voted 232 to 197 to charge Trump with inciting last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol, making him the first president to be impeached twice. During Wednesday’s debate, newly sworn-in Congressmember Cori Bush of Missouri called Trump a white supremacist president.
REP. CORI BUSH: Madam Speaker, St. Louis and I rise in support of the article of impeachment against Donald J. Trump. If we fail to remove a white supremacist president who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it’s communities like Missouri’s 1st District that suffer the most. The 117th Congress must understand that we have a mandate to legislate in defense of Black lives. The first step in that process is to root out white supremacy, starting with impeaching the white-supremacist-in-chief. Thank you, and I yield back.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS: [booing]
SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE: And from your wishes to reserve, the gentleman from Ohio…
AMY GOODMAN: After Cori Bush’s remarks, some House Republicans booed. Congressmember Bush has said her first resolution in Congress will be to, quote, “call for the expulsion of the Republican members of Congress who incited this domestic terror attack on the Capitol.”
As Trump was impeached Wednesday, more of his supporters who took part in last week’s attack were arrested, including current police officers from around the country. In Queens, New York, the FBI arrested Eduard Florea, a leader of the far-right Proud Boys group, for allegedly plotting another attack on the U.S. Capitol. The FBI also confirmed the arrest of Douglas Allen Sweet in Virginia, who was photographed with the mob in the Capitol wearing a shirt that read “Camp Auschwitz” in reference to the Nazi death camp. In Virginia, two police officers from the town of Rocky Mount were arrested, after they boasted online about joining the insurrection last week. One is an Army veteran and trained sniper. And a Houston police officer was placed on administrative leave and will likely face felony charges, after he was filmed joining riots at the Capitol.
This comes as the FBI is warning police chiefs across the country to be on high alert for right-wing domestic terror attacks before, and during, Joe Biden’s inauguration next week. The Pentagon said it’s increasing the number of Guard soldiers deployed to the nation’s capital to 20,000 — twice the combined number of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. This massive mobilization stands in stark contrast to last week’s riot. NPR reports despite open planning of the violent attack on social media, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security filed no security report ahead of January 6, even though they produced similar intelligence bulletins ahead of demonstrations after the police killing of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter marches and the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America.
For more, we’re joined by the renowned scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University, contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine. Her latest piece there is headlined “The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency.”
Professor Taylor, welcome back to Democracy Now! Why don’t you respond to the impeachment yesterday and what you saw this insurrection — what underlies it?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I think the impeachment yesterday is a culmination of sorts of the kind of violence and racism that has been at the heart of the Trump administration that finally boiled over. And, you know, this is an effort to, I think, reassert some kind of authority and control in a situation that seems to have spiraled out of control politically at an incredibly dangerous time. I mean, if we think about all of the things that are happening in the United States right now, with the exponential spread of COVID, with the disintegration of the U.S. economy, with millions of people — it is not hyperbole to say millions of people stand on the precipice of eviction and foreclosure at the end of January. And we have a government that has completely spun out of control at the hands of Donald Trump. And I think that the impeachment procedures are an effort to regain control, which is why you’ve seen some — not many, not a significant number, but some Republicans who have finally grasped the depths of depravity of this Trump administration and really the danger that it represents.
And I think that this has gotten to this point because it has been allowed. The Trump administration has been allowed to court white supremacists and white extremists from before Donald Trump won the presidency, and certainly well into his presidency, that all of his comments, his racist comments, his comments encouraging violence against his political opponents, both in politics and both in the population at large, have been downplayed, have been ignored, or, in some cases, have been egged on. And all of that has brought us to this point, has brought us to this point today.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Keeanga, could you elaborate on that point, what you said about the House Republicans who broke with the party and voted to support in favor of impeachment? Do you see that as indicative of where the party might go after Trump? I mean, many have said, in fact, that 10 is nothing, that everybody should have voted to impeach him, given what happened. Where do you see the party going once Trump is out?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I think, given that Donald Trump not only received 74 million votes, but he significantly increased his voter turnout even at the most hysterical part of his presidency, the most unhinged part of his presidency — towards the end, he still continued to grow his voter base. And so I think the idea that this is either the end of the Republican Party or the Republican Party has learned from its mistakes is sadly mistaken.
I think that the Republican Party, for most of them, feel as if they have benefited from the rancor of Donald Trump. And I think what will really make the difference in terms of whether they continue to embrace this kind of unvarnished white extremism in the heart of their party or whether they try to put the cloak back over it — which I think is an important thing to say, that even for those people, those Republicans who have come out and finally said that this is a bridge too far, I mean, this is pretty dramatic for the bridge too far to be this. If we think about all of the things that Donald Trump has said and done in his very short, one-term presidency, for it to get to this point — insurrection, riot in the Capitol building, that resulted in the deaths of two police officers — one officer was killed in the Capitol, another committed suicide days after the riots in the Capitol. If that’s what it takes for you to break with Donald Trump, it speaks to the rot at the core of the Republican Party. And I think that because they have been so successful embracing this politics of racism, of extremism, of xenophobia, of Islamophobia, of political violence, of the idea that only Republicans are entitled to win elections, that there will have to be some demonstration that those politics are no longer popular among a certain strain in the population for them to abandon that strategy.
So it remains to be seen what Donald Trump’s influence will be, whether the corporate titans jumping off the Titanic will be enough to get the attention of the Republican Party. But that so many of them continue to cling to this demagogue even after the deaths of police officers, even after the mayhem at the Capitol, is both astounding and speaks to the utter corruption of the Republican Party writ large.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about the comments of people like Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, who, along with many others, like Norma Torres, Ayanna Pressley, have talked about the horror — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — these women of color fleeing this mob, not to mention some of the African American Capitol police, who felt completely unprotected themselves from their leadership as they were being chased by the mob. But you had Pramila Jayapal bringing these two issues together. She is the third congressmember to test positive for COVID-19, that we know of — the New Jersey Congressmember [Watson Coleman] also tested positive, 75 years old, African American, cancer survivor — because of sequestering with Republican congressmembers who refused to wear masks. Jayapal said, “Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic — creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack.” Now Pramila Jayapal’s husband has tested positive, as has Ayanna Pressley’s husband. Can you talk about the coming together of these two issues, now Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats demanding that these Republicans wear masks or be fined, and having those fines deducted from Republicans’ paychecks if they don’t wear them in the House, but both this attack last week and the disproportionate effect COVID has on people of color?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I mean, it is just utterly disgusting, and it shows something about the selfishness, the hypocrisy of the Republican Party to put these people at risk for the sake of their political brand. And, you know, I think that there’s something much more pernicious to this, when we think about the ways that these people are responsible, have a political obligation to make determinations about how the country responds to this virus, to be responsible for creating the provisions to mitigate the worst aspects of this virus, and are now in political control of how the vaccine is disseminated in response to the virus.
And so, I think that when you look at the absolutely astounding, appalling response of the most powerful nation on Earth to the coronavirus, you get some insight into why the political response has been so completely bungled. With the Republican Party in charge of the Senate and the presidency, they have had absolutely no interest in pursuing an aggressive strategy to try to contain this virus. I think that, early on, the Republican Party took the stance that was imposed on meat workers in the meatpacking industry, that they would force people to work, that they would create a situation where there were no public provisions so that people could safely shelter in place at home, which has been the only real known way to curb the virus. But we know that the only way that is possible is if you make sure that people’s rent is paid, that if you make sure people are able to afford groceries, that if you make sure people are able to provide for their families, that is the only way that you can stay at home. And so, the Republicans led the effort to take that off of the table to force people to go to work, which has resulted in the disastrous death toll that we have in this country, all on the hedge that Americans would become immune to thousands of people dying, and that would be the way that they would get away with it.
And so, their personal politicization of wearing the mask, of taking preventative measures, also underlies a political approach to not containing this virus, as it has had a disproportionate impact on Indigenous people, on Black people, on Latinx people, who are forced to work in the public sector. And these people simply don’t care — this party, disproportionately millionaire, disproportionately white male — do not care about the impact, right down to putting their colleagues, the people that they work with, at risk. It speaks to something deranged within the individuals that compose that party. It is disgusting.
AMY GOODMAN: And a correction on the congresswoman’s name from New Jersey: It’s Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman. And we’re going to link to her op-ed piece in The Washington Post, “I’m 75. I had cancer. I got covid-19 because my GOP colleagues dismiss facts.” Nermeen?
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Keeanga, as you’ve just outlined this, really, litany of abusive policies that the Trump administration has carried out right to this moment, despite that, as you’ve written about extensively, he received over 70 million votes. And as you’ve also said, there was an increase in the people who voted for him among demographics that one would not — demographic groups that one would not expect to support him. So there are these 70 million people who are Trump supporters, and we’re going into the Biden-Harris administration next week. What’s going to happen to all these people? How should the Biden-Harrison administration engage with them, if at all, and in what ways?
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: So, I think there are two things here. One is, you know, I think Trump increased his overall voting turnout, to the shock of many people, but I don’t think that the 74 million people that voted for Trump are all white supremacists, white extremists, who are chomping at the bit to overrun the Capitol and kill people in the Democratic Party. Clearly, there is a stratum of that among those people, but I think that there’s a more complicated set of issues going on here. I think that Trump increased his voter totals among Latinx people, among Black voters, including Black women. There was much more talked about his increase among Black male voters, but, you know, he also increased his turnout, or his total voting totals, among Black women. So I think that there is a much more complicated story to tell about, really, the collapse in the credibility of both parties, in that people feel like the world is falling apart around them and that there has been an anemic response from the political parties involved.
And in some ways, you know, there are lots of things, I think, that motivate Trump voters, one of them being registering one’s disappointment, disapproval with government itself. I mean, Trump has become this absurd symbol of anti-government. Even as the president, the most powerful elected position not just in this country, but in the world, he still registers as a kind of anti-government figure. I think that people feel that his boorishness, his behavior, is also a rebuke of the kind of buttoned-up political theater that most other elected officials engage in.
And so, what I think that really speaks to is the lack of political options and alternatives for people in this country. And that’s why when people talk about “Is this the end of the Republican Party? Is the Republican Party going to dissolve over this?” — I mean, people were saying the same thing in 2015, when Donald Trump became the candidate for the Republican Party, which seemed ridiculous, and the Republicans were somewhat of a laughingstock as result of that, until they actually won the presidency. And so, when there are two parties, you know, it limits your ability to really register opposition, and it leaves people to vote for one or the other.
That being said, I think that there is an opportunity for the Biden and Harrison administration to actually be able to demonstrate government that can be effective. They have to seize this opportunity that has been dropped in their lap because of the activism and work of Black activists and other voting rights activists in Georgia that helped flip the Senate seats in that state. That means, officially, once Joe Biden is inaugurated, that there are no more excuses, that the Democratic Party has control of the Senate, and that should very quickly open up a period of intense legislation. The $2,000 checks, we want to see them. Relief for renters in this country, stopping evictions, we want to see that. Healthcare, a real plan around the distribution of this vaccine, I think all of those things and more — canceling student loan debt — all of these things are now plausible. The Democrats do not have the Republicans as an excuse for why they can’t get things done.
And so, I think it means that the Biden and Harris administration are going to have to abandon this plan of bipartisanship, of trying to appeal to the discredited and disgraced Republican Party in the name of some false unity, and instead they must plow ahead with a plan that can actually fix the not just deep problems, but problems that seem and appear to be completely out of control in this country. They have to use this authority to do so. And, you know, we know that from Joe Biden’s —
AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.
KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: — Joe Biden’s history that that will be a hard thing for him to do. And so, it means that the social movements that were most activated through the summer around Black Lives Matter have to reemerge to force the Biden-Harris administration to follow through on the promises that were made.
AMY GOODMAN: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, we want to thank you so much for being with us, assistant professor of African American studies at Princeton University, contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine. We’ll link to her most recent piece, “The Bitter Fruits of Trump’s White-Power Presidency.”
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
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“American Abyss”: Fascism Historian Tim Snyder on Trump’s Coup Attempt, Impeachment & What’s Next
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow.org
JANUARY 13, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
GUESTS
Timothy Snyder, author, professor of history at Yale University and fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
LINKS
Timothy Snyder on Twitter
"The American Abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next"
"On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century"
"Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary"
As the House votes to impeach President Trump, the FBI warns there could be a repeat of the violent insurrection he encouraged on January 6, with Trump loyalists planning to hold armed protests nationwide ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. We speak with Timothy Snyder, a historian of fascism, who says the riot at the U.S. Capitol was “completely and utterly predictable” given President Trump’s record of stoking extremism and undermining democratic institutions. “The American republic is hanging by a thread because the president of the United States has sought to use violence to stay in power and essentially to overthrow our constitutional system,” says Snyder.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, history is being made today in Washington, D.C., as the House is voting to impeach President Trump for a second time. That’s one week after he encouraged a violent mob to “fight like hell” and attack the Capitol as members of Congress voted to ratify Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election. The deadly siege so enraged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he’s now reportedly privately backing impeachment, along with a growing number of Republicans, including Congressmember Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican in the House. On Tuesday, Vice President Pence rejected a call from the House to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump from office.
Meanwhile, several Republican lawmakers bypassed metal detectors to enter the House floor that were installed after last week’s deadly attack, including the newly elected Colorado Republican QAnon supporter, Congressmember Lauren Boebert, who vowed in a viral video to carry a gun in the Capitol.
Far from the commotion, President Trump surrounded himself with supporters during a visit to the border wall in Alamo, Texas. In his first public appearance since the violence at the Capitol, he continued to deny any involvement with or responsibility for the violent insurrection.
This comes as The Washington Post reports the FBI explicitly warned of violence and “war” at the U.S. Capitol in an internal report issued one day before last Wednesday’s deadly Capitol invasion, and police officers from Seattle to New York are under investigation for participating in storming the Capitol, along with members of the New York Fire Department and apparently seven Philadelphia transit police officers. Two Black officers who defended the Capitol during the attack confirmed to BuzzFeed News that some of the insurgents they came face to face with were off-duty cops. Others were reportedly former military servicemembers. On Tuesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a reminder to members of the armed forces that, quote, “The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection,” unquote.
The FBI has opened some 170 cases on individuals involved in the assault and says hundreds more will be opened in the coming weeks. Over 70 people have been charged so far.
Now the FBI is warning Trump loyalists plan to hold armed protests nationwide ahead of Biden’s inauguration next week. Screenshots of archived content appear to show plans for mass armed actions in Washington, D.C., this weekend.
For more, we’re joined by Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale University, fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, where he now joins us from. He is the author of several books, including On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. His new essay in The New York Times Magazine is headlined “The American Abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next.”
Professor Snyder, welcome back to Democracy Now! We are glad that you are physically doing well. We’ll talk about that later. But let’s talk about what happened. From your vantage point in Vienna, Austria, if you can talk about what you watched last week and why you see race at the core of this Trump-inspired insurrection?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Right. I mean, number one, it’s kind of you, Amy, to mention the article. The reason why I could publish a big article about this part about the coup attempt right after it happened was that this was completely and utterly predictable. I already had the article drafted before the 6th of January because it was obvious to me what was going to happen. And so, I just want to underline the points you were suggesting earlier about just how strange it was that this kind of thing could happen so easily.
As to race, I mean, this is a classic historian’s point. The point I make in the article is about the big lie. You know, I say that these are the kinds of things that happen if a charismatic leader with a big megaphone, with a lot of reach, is able to consistently tell one thing which is simply not true, but which deeply matters, like, for example, I won an election that I lost. That has to lead to violence. But as you rightly suggest, the big lie has to be rooted in a particular society. And in the United States, the big lie is going to be rooted in race. Let’s count the ways.
Number one, what Mr. Trump is saying, when he won the election, is that there was fraud. And by fraud, he means the reality that African Americans are allowed to vote. When he speaks in Milwaukee or Atlanta or Detroit, what he’s saying is Black voters, right? When he’s saying, “I won,” he’s saying, “I won if you only count the votes of the real Americans.”
Number two, think of Senator Cruz and his invocation of 1877. As every historian of the U.S. knows, and as lots of African Americans know, but maybe not everybody knows, the Compromise of 1877 is the very moment when the American South was allowed to build up a basically American apartheid. The Compromise of 1877 is what allowed American states to push African Americans away from the voting booths and into a Jim Crow condition, which was going to last for nearly a century and which we’re still dealing with today.
Number three, look at the people who actually invade the Capitol. These are — and this has not been covered enough, this has not been hit hard enough — these people are basically white supremacists. The white supremacists are leading, right? They’re leading the way, and they’re making the argument that “this is our house.” In other words, what we think is that American government should be in the hands of white people who are willing to be violent about Black people.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Professor Snyder, I wanted to ask you, in terms of — you characterize it more as an attempted coup than perhaps maybe insurrection, because a coup assumes that there was an actual — it seems to me, an actual plot afoot by the coup makers. And in this situation, it appears to be that Trump egged on the mob, clearly, and that it seems to me there’s always been a right-wing, fascist movement in the United States in search of a leader. I mean, if you go back to Father Coughlin in the '30s, Huey Long, George Wallace, there's always been a significant portion of the American population that has lent itself or seen itself in right-wing and anti-democratic terms. And now they actually have a leader in the White House. So, to what degree was this really an opportunism that Trump took advantage of to unleash the mob, as opposed to a coup, where military leaders or key officials got together to plan an overthrow?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Yeah, I take that point. I mean, I would emphasize, Juan, that it’s important that we not get too lost in definitional disagreements about whether we’re going to say “coup” or “putsch” or “insurrection.” The American republic is hanging by a thread because the president of the United States has sought to use violence to stay in power and essentially to overthrow our constitutional system. There’s broad agreement about that.
I’ve been calling it for a coup for a long time, actually, I mean, for months, for the following reasons — or a coup attempt, to be precise, because it’s been clear for a long time, because Mr. Trump has said so himself, that he intends to stay in power after losing the election. That’s been his language for more than six months. He has been trying to bring the military into it. That was clear on June the 1st, Lafayette Square. And it’s also clear from these repeated statements, from today, the Joint Chiefs of Staff; a few days ago, the 10 former secretaries of defense. The reason why these people have to make these statements is that they’re aware that Mr. Trump is trying to get or has a certain amount of support in the military, right? So, it’s a coup attempt, in my view, because Mr. Trump has said he was going to try to change the nature of the American regime, and he’s been trying to use instruments inside American institutions.
Now, beyond that, I would point out that this wasn’t just a mob. I mean, as you know very well and as you just said, these aren’t just people who happened to be there. These are several different kinds of white supremacist and extreme right-wing paramilitaries who are appearing at the Capitol. They are getting mixed in now with members of the police. And this is extremely dangerous, because it’s that mixture of outside-the-state, outside-the-law paramilitaries and police forces, or policemen who start to go over on the other side, which is very characteristic of the way fascist regimes come to power.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I wanted to follow up specifically on that issue of the military, because, obviously, those who know the history of the rise of Hitler know that a lot of his base was embittered and disillusioned veterans of World War I who felt that they had been unjustly treated or had no economic opportunities under the Weimar Republic. The United States military today is 40% people of color. To what degree are the progressives of this country not paying enough attention to actually organizing and reaching out to the enlisted troops of our country in terms of what’s going on? Because, clearly, back in the days of the Vietnam War, it was organizing among the military that really finally convinced this government that they could no longer continue to move forward with the war.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: That’s a really interesting question. I mean, I think, looking back at the last half-century, 60 years of U.S. history, the integration of the military is one of the most significant things that happened, not just in terms of obvious justice — you know, as everyone knows, we fought the Second World War against racism with an Army which was organized by race — but not just ethically, but also politically. I mean, before even getting to the point that you’re making, I think it’s very much the case that the commanders of our armed services are perfectly aware what it means to have integrated services. It means that any kind of attempt to get involved in politics in a Trumpian way would be extremely divisive. But it also means that people in the military, perhaps more than other walks of life— or, to be specific, white people in the military, perhaps more than other walks of life, are actually in contact with, and sometimes share points of view of, folks who have different backgrounds and different experiences than themselves.
I would agree completely with your point. I mean, it’s not always easy to be in contact with people who are in the military. They could be overseas. They could be on a base. But I certainly take your point that folks on the left sometimes have a certain tendency to pigeonhole all institutions and miss some openings.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you, Professor Snyder, about who was involved in this attack. Some have called it the “Coup Klux Klan.” That’s C-O-U-P, Coup Klux Klan. And you make no apologies about referring to white supremacists leading this. Let’s talk about the military and police involvement. It’s just coming to light right now. It looked like this sort of disorderly array of people who took an opportunity last week. But now as more and more video is coming out, it may well be that the frontlines were quite well ordered, and now this latest news that the Seattle police were involved, that New York police officers were involved, that Philadelphia transit officers came down en masse, that a PSYOPS person, at least one, was involved, psychological operations. Talk about this.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: OK. Well, I mean, number one, when we talk about the coup plotters, just to make the obvious point, the most important is Donald Trump himself, who has been creating an — he’s been creating the psychological and the moral environment that makes this possible by telling a big lie in which he is a victim and people who voted for him are victims.
I think, in the second rank, we have to put Senators Cruz and Hawley. It’s extremely important that these senators decided to make of January 6th a kind of carnival of mendacity, in which they were going to exploit their official position in order to tell the big lie, in an occasion which should be formal and solemn. I think that makes them the second ranks of the plotters.
Number three, as you say, there was a good deal of organization taking place. And the Anti-Defamation League and other nongovernmental organizations were tracking this but not able to get very much of a hearing, it seems to me, from government institutions. I mean, as a spectator from a long way away, it was obvious to me, as I say, that something like this was going to happen.
I think, Amy, what follows from this is that in this interval between impeachment, which is going to now happen, and a trial, which I’m going to bet is going to happen after Biden’s 100 days, there should be something like an independent blue-ribbon commission of forensics experts, digital forensics experts, historians, national security people, lawyers and activists, who put together a beautiful and organized and fact-based report about what happened, so that three months from now when there’s a Senate vote, which I believe there will be, there will also be this document that makes it clear how people should vote, but also a document which can go down in history, because, I mean, other days in infamy, compared to this one, don’t compare. I mean, this, the January putsch, is the day in infamy which we have to get right for historical purposes. If this becomes a myth of victimhood, if this becomes, as Mr. Trump says, something we should treasure, then the country is in trouble. We need to get the facts right and the history right and the story right on this one.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor Snyder, where do you see the Republican Party and Donald Trump going after Biden is inaugurated? Clearly, the party had hitched its star to Trump, and now there is enormous upheaval within it in terms of the road ahead.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Yeah, I mean, not many people think this, but, you know, I’ll go out on a limb and say it: I think it’s going to be hard for Mr. Trump to continue to reside in the United States of America. He has a lot of debt, and he’s facing — even before the 6th of January, he was facing a number of criminal charges — or, not facing directly, but being investigated for a number of criminal charges in New York. I think it’s going to be hard for him to keep his feet in the United States of America. Perhaps I’m wrong.
As for the Republican Party, I mean, my way of seeing it, as I lay out in that article, “American Abyss,” is that the largest group of Republicans are people that you could call the gamers, the ones who work the system with the gerrymandering, with the dark money, with the voter suppression, who are in favor of the, quote-unquote, “democracy” that we have in America now, the unfortunately very limited democracy we have, because they know how to work it.
Then there’s a smaller faction, which in the article I call the breakers. Those are people like Trump or Cruz or Hawley, who have understood that one could actually come to power in the United States by entirely nondemocratic means, by way of the mob, by way of throwing an election and lying about it. And I think that faction is going to be there.
Then there’s a third, still smaller group, which you could call the honorable few, the people who have positions that I might disagree with, but who believe in the rule of law and who believe in telling the truth — right? — like Kinzinger or like Cheney or like Mitt Romney.
I think the interesting thing to watch for is whether the center of power in the Republican Party now shifts from being the breakers and the gamers together to being the gamers and the honorable few together. I think that’s now likely to happen. And it would be, frankly, a very good thing for the Republican Party, because the Republican Party, by way of generations of voter suppression, has now got itself into a cul-de-sac. It’s got itself into a dead end, where what’s happening now is, honestly, the only thing which can happen. If you don’t try to win campaigns with policy, but you try to win them by gaming the system, eventually there are going to be people who say, “Hey, let’s not game the system anymore. Let’s just break the system.” And that happened in January 2021. And there’s nowhere to go from there except further down into chaos and blood. So, I think — I mean, the Republican Party is not my party, but I think this is an opportunity for them to regroup. And I hope a number of them will see it that way.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about what’s going to happen in the coming days, what you expect, the word of all 50 capitals, state capitals, deeply concerned about attacks, the FBI warning about those attacks right through Inauguration Day. Then you have congressmember — as you mentioned, third in line in the House Republican leadership, Congressmember Cheney, who said, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I will vote to impeach the President.” Many are asking why it took her so long. But then, privately, McConnell speaking with Biden and working out what would happen. Like, today he will be impeached by the House. But then a trial could determine — if they convict President Trump, they could decide the sanctions, like he can never run again for public office or for president, could end the pensions and the millions of dollars — people don’t realize former presidents get that kind of thing — but working out this bifurcation deal, where Senate will work both on approving Cabinet members but then also holding a trial, whether it goes from the leadership of McConnell to the leadership of Schumer. Can you explain what will be taking place and if you expect this time, unlike last time when Trump was impeached, that he will be convicted in the Senate?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: No, you know, you’re asking a historian. I’m just going to answer as an American who doesn’t know any more than you do, probably a lot less. I mean, my gut feeling about this is that it works very well for both Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell to have impeachment now and trial after a hundred days of Biden.
It works very well for Biden, because he’s got a hundred days of stuff that he really needs to pass, and he needs to get his appointments made as quickly as possible, especially after this terribly chaotic transition.
It works well for McConnell, because it gets Republicans out of the heat of the moment, gives them some time to think about what happened. Right now, of course, Mr. Trump is very popular. Three months of Twitter silence, he probably will be less so. Probably some other things will happen in the meantime to make him less popular.
I mean, for me, as a historian, for someone who’s concerned about facts, a very important element of this is, in three months, we could have a really good, nonpartisan, expert-based investigation of what happened in the Department of Defense, in Homeland Security, in the FBI, in police departments and on Capitol Hill that day, a report which could then be used in April, or whenever, when the trial happens, to make sure that people see, at least people of any amount of reasonability see, that what’s happening is a trial based upon the finding of fact, and not some kind of emotional, partisan exercise.
So, I can see how both sides have an interest in working it that way: impeachment now and a trial later. And yes, I think the Republicans — what I feel is that the Republican gamers, as I think of them, I think they’re shifting towards conviction. I think conviction is now a reality.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, I wanted to ask about your new book, Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary. In it, you write, “The word freedom is hypocritical when spoken by the people who create the conditions that leave us sick and powerless. If our federal government and our commercial medicine make us unhealthy, they are making us unfree.” Since we last spoke, Professor Snyder, you almost died, on New Year/Christmas Eve in 2019. If you can link what happened to you then, and describe what happened, to what we’re seeing — this was pre-pandemic — today?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Well, I think there’s a big misunderstanding in America about what freedom is. And you can see that in the behavior and comportment of a lot of the people who stormed the Capitol. A lot of us seem to think that freedom is just about believing whatever we want to believe, even if it’s not true, and freedom is just about acting on our impulses. We don’t seem to understand that you can’t really be a free person unless there’s some factual world that you share with other people. We don’t seem to understand that you can’t really be a free person unless there are values that you can talk about out in the world.
One of the things which has been clear for a long time in the U.S., and it’s only been clearer — it’s even been clearer in the last year, is that if you deny people healthcare, you’re making them less free. If you put people in unnecessary risk and make them more subject to disease or the fear of disease, you’re making them less free. You’re also making them more vulnerable physically and mentally to various kinds of demagoguery.
So, what happened on January 6th is partly the result, I would say, of a sick country. When you look at the people who carried this out, I mean, when you have a hard look at their comportment, at their faces, at the way they carried themselves, I mean, apart from all moral judgments, you’re not looking at a healthy society there.
So, I think part of the renewal of American freedom in 2021 has to be the concept that we all have health as a human right, that Americans, people living on this territory of the United States of America, should have access to health as a human right, that health is one of the things that should come before profit. If we do that, we’ll not only feel better and be freer, we’ll recognize each other better as Americans, because we’ll be sharing in this together. So, that’s a way to bring it together. Thanks for the question.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, thanks so much, Timothy Snyder, and thank God you recovered from your appendicitis, misdiagnosed, from where you were to right here in the United States. Timothy Snyder, Yale University professor, fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria, where he’s speaking to us from. He’s got the cover story of New York Times Magazine, “The American Abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next.” We will link to it at democracynow.org.
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow.org
JANUARY 13, 2021
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GUESTS
Timothy Snyder, author, professor of history at Yale University and fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.
LINKS
Timothy Snyder on Twitter
"The American Abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next"
"On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century"
"Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary"
As the House votes to impeach President Trump, the FBI warns there could be a repeat of the violent insurrection he encouraged on January 6, with Trump loyalists planning to hold armed protests nationwide ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration. We speak with Timothy Snyder, a historian of fascism, who says the riot at the U.S. Capitol was “completely and utterly predictable” given President Trump’s record of stoking extremism and undermining democratic institutions. “The American republic is hanging by a thread because the president of the United States has sought to use violence to stay in power and essentially to overthrow our constitutional system,” says Snyder.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, history is being made today in Washington, D.C., as the House is voting to impeach President Trump for a second time. That’s one week after he encouraged a violent mob to “fight like hell” and attack the Capitol as members of Congress voted to ratify Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election. The deadly siege so enraged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he’s now reportedly privately backing impeachment, along with a growing number of Republicans, including Congressmember Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking Republican in the House. On Tuesday, Vice President Pence rejected a call from the House to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump from office.
Meanwhile, several Republican lawmakers bypassed metal detectors to enter the House floor that were installed after last week’s deadly attack, including the newly elected Colorado Republican QAnon supporter, Congressmember Lauren Boebert, who vowed in a viral video to carry a gun in the Capitol.
Far from the commotion, President Trump surrounded himself with supporters during a visit to the border wall in Alamo, Texas. In his first public appearance since the violence at the Capitol, he continued to deny any involvement with or responsibility for the violent insurrection.
This comes as The Washington Post reports the FBI explicitly warned of violence and “war” at the U.S. Capitol in an internal report issued one day before last Wednesday’s deadly Capitol invasion, and police officers from Seattle to New York are under investigation for participating in storming the Capitol, along with members of the New York Fire Department and apparently seven Philadelphia transit police officers. Two Black officers who defended the Capitol during the attack confirmed to BuzzFeed News that some of the insurgents they came face to face with were off-duty cops. Others were reportedly former military servicemembers. On Tuesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a reminder to members of the armed forces that, quote, “The rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition and insurrection,” unquote.
The FBI has opened some 170 cases on individuals involved in the assault and says hundreds more will be opened in the coming weeks. Over 70 people have been charged so far.
Now the FBI is warning Trump loyalists plan to hold armed protests nationwide ahead of Biden’s inauguration next week. Screenshots of archived content appear to show plans for mass armed actions in Washington, D.C., this weekend.
For more, we’re joined by Timothy Snyder, professor of history at Yale University, fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, where he now joins us from. He is the author of several books, including On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. His new essay in The New York Times Magazine is headlined “The American Abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next.”
Professor Snyder, welcome back to Democracy Now! We are glad that you are physically doing well. We’ll talk about that later. But let’s talk about what happened. From your vantage point in Vienna, Austria, if you can talk about what you watched last week and why you see race at the core of this Trump-inspired insurrection?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Right. I mean, number one, it’s kind of you, Amy, to mention the article. The reason why I could publish a big article about this part about the coup attempt right after it happened was that this was completely and utterly predictable. I already had the article drafted before the 6th of January because it was obvious to me what was going to happen. And so, I just want to underline the points you were suggesting earlier about just how strange it was that this kind of thing could happen so easily.
As to race, I mean, this is a classic historian’s point. The point I make in the article is about the big lie. You know, I say that these are the kinds of things that happen if a charismatic leader with a big megaphone, with a lot of reach, is able to consistently tell one thing which is simply not true, but which deeply matters, like, for example, I won an election that I lost. That has to lead to violence. But as you rightly suggest, the big lie has to be rooted in a particular society. And in the United States, the big lie is going to be rooted in race. Let’s count the ways.
Number one, what Mr. Trump is saying, when he won the election, is that there was fraud. And by fraud, he means the reality that African Americans are allowed to vote. When he speaks in Milwaukee or Atlanta or Detroit, what he’s saying is Black voters, right? When he’s saying, “I won,” he’s saying, “I won if you only count the votes of the real Americans.”
Number two, think of Senator Cruz and his invocation of 1877. As every historian of the U.S. knows, and as lots of African Americans know, but maybe not everybody knows, the Compromise of 1877 is the very moment when the American South was allowed to build up a basically American apartheid. The Compromise of 1877 is what allowed American states to push African Americans away from the voting booths and into a Jim Crow condition, which was going to last for nearly a century and which we’re still dealing with today.
Number three, look at the people who actually invade the Capitol. These are — and this has not been covered enough, this has not been hit hard enough — these people are basically white supremacists. The white supremacists are leading, right? They’re leading the way, and they’re making the argument that “this is our house.” In other words, what we think is that American government should be in the hands of white people who are willing to be violent about Black people.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But, Professor Snyder, I wanted to ask you, in terms of — you characterize it more as an attempted coup than perhaps maybe insurrection, because a coup assumes that there was an actual — it seems to me, an actual plot afoot by the coup makers. And in this situation, it appears to be that Trump egged on the mob, clearly, and that it seems to me there’s always been a right-wing, fascist movement in the United States in search of a leader. I mean, if you go back to Father Coughlin in the '30s, Huey Long, George Wallace, there's always been a significant portion of the American population that has lent itself or seen itself in right-wing and anti-democratic terms. And now they actually have a leader in the White House. So, to what degree was this really an opportunism that Trump took advantage of to unleash the mob, as opposed to a coup, where military leaders or key officials got together to plan an overthrow?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Yeah, I take that point. I mean, I would emphasize, Juan, that it’s important that we not get too lost in definitional disagreements about whether we’re going to say “coup” or “putsch” or “insurrection.” The American republic is hanging by a thread because the president of the United States has sought to use violence to stay in power and essentially to overthrow our constitutional system. There’s broad agreement about that.
I’ve been calling it for a coup for a long time, actually, I mean, for months, for the following reasons — or a coup attempt, to be precise, because it’s been clear for a long time, because Mr. Trump has said so himself, that he intends to stay in power after losing the election. That’s been his language for more than six months. He has been trying to bring the military into it. That was clear on June the 1st, Lafayette Square. And it’s also clear from these repeated statements, from today, the Joint Chiefs of Staff; a few days ago, the 10 former secretaries of defense. The reason why these people have to make these statements is that they’re aware that Mr. Trump is trying to get or has a certain amount of support in the military, right? So, it’s a coup attempt, in my view, because Mr. Trump has said he was going to try to change the nature of the American regime, and he’s been trying to use instruments inside American institutions.
Now, beyond that, I would point out that this wasn’t just a mob. I mean, as you know very well and as you just said, these aren’t just people who happened to be there. These are several different kinds of white supremacist and extreme right-wing paramilitaries who are appearing at the Capitol. They are getting mixed in now with members of the police. And this is extremely dangerous, because it’s that mixture of outside-the-state, outside-the-law paramilitaries and police forces, or policemen who start to go over on the other side, which is very characteristic of the way fascist regimes come to power.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I wanted to follow up specifically on that issue of the military, because, obviously, those who know the history of the rise of Hitler know that a lot of his base was embittered and disillusioned veterans of World War I who felt that they had been unjustly treated or had no economic opportunities under the Weimar Republic. The United States military today is 40% people of color. To what degree are the progressives of this country not paying enough attention to actually organizing and reaching out to the enlisted troops of our country in terms of what’s going on? Because, clearly, back in the days of the Vietnam War, it was organizing among the military that really finally convinced this government that they could no longer continue to move forward with the war.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: That’s a really interesting question. I mean, I think, looking back at the last half-century, 60 years of U.S. history, the integration of the military is one of the most significant things that happened, not just in terms of obvious justice — you know, as everyone knows, we fought the Second World War against racism with an Army which was organized by race — but not just ethically, but also politically. I mean, before even getting to the point that you’re making, I think it’s very much the case that the commanders of our armed services are perfectly aware what it means to have integrated services. It means that any kind of attempt to get involved in politics in a Trumpian way would be extremely divisive. But it also means that people in the military, perhaps more than other walks of life— or, to be specific, white people in the military, perhaps more than other walks of life, are actually in contact with, and sometimes share points of view of, folks who have different backgrounds and different experiences than themselves.
I would agree completely with your point. I mean, it’s not always easy to be in contact with people who are in the military. They could be overseas. They could be on a base. But I certainly take your point that folks on the left sometimes have a certain tendency to pigeonhole all institutions and miss some openings.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you, Professor Snyder, about who was involved in this attack. Some have called it the “Coup Klux Klan.” That’s C-O-U-P, Coup Klux Klan. And you make no apologies about referring to white supremacists leading this. Let’s talk about the military and police involvement. It’s just coming to light right now. It looked like this sort of disorderly array of people who took an opportunity last week. But now as more and more video is coming out, it may well be that the frontlines were quite well ordered, and now this latest news that the Seattle police were involved, that New York police officers were involved, that Philadelphia transit officers came down en masse, that a PSYOPS person, at least one, was involved, psychological operations. Talk about this.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: OK. Well, I mean, number one, when we talk about the coup plotters, just to make the obvious point, the most important is Donald Trump himself, who has been creating an — he’s been creating the psychological and the moral environment that makes this possible by telling a big lie in which he is a victim and people who voted for him are victims.
I think, in the second rank, we have to put Senators Cruz and Hawley. It’s extremely important that these senators decided to make of January 6th a kind of carnival of mendacity, in which they were going to exploit their official position in order to tell the big lie, in an occasion which should be formal and solemn. I think that makes them the second ranks of the plotters.
Number three, as you say, there was a good deal of organization taking place. And the Anti-Defamation League and other nongovernmental organizations were tracking this but not able to get very much of a hearing, it seems to me, from government institutions. I mean, as a spectator from a long way away, it was obvious to me, as I say, that something like this was going to happen.
I think, Amy, what follows from this is that in this interval between impeachment, which is going to now happen, and a trial, which I’m going to bet is going to happen after Biden’s 100 days, there should be something like an independent blue-ribbon commission of forensics experts, digital forensics experts, historians, national security people, lawyers and activists, who put together a beautiful and organized and fact-based report about what happened, so that three months from now when there’s a Senate vote, which I believe there will be, there will also be this document that makes it clear how people should vote, but also a document which can go down in history, because, I mean, other days in infamy, compared to this one, don’t compare. I mean, this, the January putsch, is the day in infamy which we have to get right for historical purposes. If this becomes a myth of victimhood, if this becomes, as Mr. Trump says, something we should treasure, then the country is in trouble. We need to get the facts right and the history right and the story right on this one.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor Snyder, where do you see the Republican Party and Donald Trump going after Biden is inaugurated? Clearly, the party had hitched its star to Trump, and now there is enormous upheaval within it in terms of the road ahead.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Yeah, I mean, not many people think this, but, you know, I’ll go out on a limb and say it: I think it’s going to be hard for Mr. Trump to continue to reside in the United States of America. He has a lot of debt, and he’s facing — even before the 6th of January, he was facing a number of criminal charges — or, not facing directly, but being investigated for a number of criminal charges in New York. I think it’s going to be hard for him to keep his feet in the United States of America. Perhaps I’m wrong.
As for the Republican Party, I mean, my way of seeing it, as I lay out in that article, “American Abyss,” is that the largest group of Republicans are people that you could call the gamers, the ones who work the system with the gerrymandering, with the dark money, with the voter suppression, who are in favor of the, quote-unquote, “democracy” that we have in America now, the unfortunately very limited democracy we have, because they know how to work it.
Then there’s a smaller faction, which in the article I call the breakers. Those are people like Trump or Cruz or Hawley, who have understood that one could actually come to power in the United States by entirely nondemocratic means, by way of the mob, by way of throwing an election and lying about it. And I think that faction is going to be there.
Then there’s a third, still smaller group, which you could call the honorable few, the people who have positions that I might disagree with, but who believe in the rule of law and who believe in telling the truth — right? — like Kinzinger or like Cheney or like Mitt Romney.
I think the interesting thing to watch for is whether the center of power in the Republican Party now shifts from being the breakers and the gamers together to being the gamers and the honorable few together. I think that’s now likely to happen. And it would be, frankly, a very good thing for the Republican Party, because the Republican Party, by way of generations of voter suppression, has now got itself into a cul-de-sac. It’s got itself into a dead end, where what’s happening now is, honestly, the only thing which can happen. If you don’t try to win campaigns with policy, but you try to win them by gaming the system, eventually there are going to be people who say, “Hey, let’s not game the system anymore. Let’s just break the system.” And that happened in January 2021. And there’s nowhere to go from there except further down into chaos and blood. So, I think — I mean, the Republican Party is not my party, but I think this is an opportunity for them to regroup. And I hope a number of them will see it that way.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about what’s going to happen in the coming days, what you expect, the word of all 50 capitals, state capitals, deeply concerned about attacks, the FBI warning about those attacks right through Inauguration Day. Then you have congressmember — as you mentioned, third in line in the House Republican leadership, Congressmember Cheney, who said, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution. I will vote to impeach the President.” Many are asking why it took her so long. But then, privately, McConnell speaking with Biden and working out what would happen. Like, today he will be impeached by the House. But then a trial could determine — if they convict President Trump, they could decide the sanctions, like he can never run again for public office or for president, could end the pensions and the millions of dollars — people don’t realize former presidents get that kind of thing — but working out this bifurcation deal, where Senate will work both on approving Cabinet members but then also holding a trial, whether it goes from the leadership of McConnell to the leadership of Schumer. Can you explain what will be taking place and if you expect this time, unlike last time when Trump was impeached, that he will be convicted in the Senate?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: No, you know, you’re asking a historian. I’m just going to answer as an American who doesn’t know any more than you do, probably a lot less. I mean, my gut feeling about this is that it works very well for both Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell to have impeachment now and trial after a hundred days of Biden.
It works very well for Biden, because he’s got a hundred days of stuff that he really needs to pass, and he needs to get his appointments made as quickly as possible, especially after this terribly chaotic transition.
It works well for McConnell, because it gets Republicans out of the heat of the moment, gives them some time to think about what happened. Right now, of course, Mr. Trump is very popular. Three months of Twitter silence, he probably will be less so. Probably some other things will happen in the meantime to make him less popular.
I mean, for me, as a historian, for someone who’s concerned about facts, a very important element of this is, in three months, we could have a really good, nonpartisan, expert-based investigation of what happened in the Department of Defense, in Homeland Security, in the FBI, in police departments and on Capitol Hill that day, a report which could then be used in April, or whenever, when the trial happens, to make sure that people see, at least people of any amount of reasonability see, that what’s happening is a trial based upon the finding of fact, and not some kind of emotional, partisan exercise.
So, I can see how both sides have an interest in working it that way: impeachment now and a trial later. And yes, I think the Republicans — what I feel is that the Republican gamers, as I think of them, I think they’re shifting towards conviction. I think conviction is now a reality.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, I wanted to ask about your new book, Our Malady: Lessons in Liberty from a Hospital Diary. In it, you write, “The word freedom is hypocritical when spoken by the people who create the conditions that leave us sick and powerless. If our federal government and our commercial medicine make us unhealthy, they are making us unfree.” Since we last spoke, Professor Snyder, you almost died, on New Year/Christmas Eve in 2019. If you can link what happened to you then, and describe what happened, to what we’re seeing — this was pre-pandemic — today?
TIMOTHY SNYDER: Well, I think there’s a big misunderstanding in America about what freedom is. And you can see that in the behavior and comportment of a lot of the people who stormed the Capitol. A lot of us seem to think that freedom is just about believing whatever we want to believe, even if it’s not true, and freedom is just about acting on our impulses. We don’t seem to understand that you can’t really be a free person unless there’s some factual world that you share with other people. We don’t seem to understand that you can’t really be a free person unless there are values that you can talk about out in the world.
One of the things which has been clear for a long time in the U.S., and it’s only been clearer — it’s even been clearer in the last year, is that if you deny people healthcare, you’re making them less free. If you put people in unnecessary risk and make them more subject to disease or the fear of disease, you’re making them less free. You’re also making them more vulnerable physically and mentally to various kinds of demagoguery.
So, what happened on January 6th is partly the result, I would say, of a sick country. When you look at the people who carried this out, I mean, when you have a hard look at their comportment, at their faces, at the way they carried themselves, I mean, apart from all moral judgments, you’re not looking at a healthy society there.
So, I think part of the renewal of American freedom in 2021 has to be the concept that we all have health as a human right, that Americans, people living on this territory of the United States of America, should have access to health as a human right, that health is one of the things that should come before profit. If we do that, we’ll not only feel better and be freer, we’ll recognize each other better as Americans, because we’ll be sharing in this together. So, that’s a way to bring it together. Thanks for the question.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, thanks so much, Timothy Snyder, and thank God you recovered from your appendicitis, misdiagnosed, from where you were to right here in the United States. Timothy Snyder, Yale University professor, fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria, where he’s speaking to us from. He’s got the cover story of New York Times Magazine, “The American Abyss: A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next.” We will link to it at democracynow.org.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
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America Has Entered the Weimar Era: Walden Bello on How Neoliberalism Fueled Trump & Violent Right
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow.org
JANUARY 12, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
GUESTS
Walden Bello, senior analyst at the Bangkok-based think tank Focus on the Global South, as well as an international adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 2009 to 2015.
LINKS
Walden Bello on Twitter
"America Has Entered the Weimar Era"
"Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right"
Democrats in Congress are pushing ahead with impeachment following the violent insurrection that killed five people at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The single article of impeachment against President Trump cites his incitement of insurrection and accuses him of subverting and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. This comes as authorities are warning of more right-wing violence around Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, with possible armed far-right protests planned at all 50 state capitols as well as the U.S. Capitol. We speak with Walden Bello, an acclaimed sociologist, academic, environmentalist and activist, whose latest column argues the United States has entered a “Weimar Era,” in which democratic elections are increasingly delegitimized as street violence becomes the norm. “This is not something that’s unusual that has happened in the Capitol. Right-wing groups, when they begin to lose electorally, … they resort to the streets and to violence in order to stop that process,” says Bello.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn right now to what’s happening in the Capitol. The Democratic-led House of Representatives plans to vote to impeach President Trump as soon as Wednesday, unless Trump resigns or Vice President Mike Pence first invokes the 25th Amendment to remove him, which looks unlikely. On Monday, House Democrats unveiled a single article of impeachment against the president for incitement of insurrection against the government of the United States, a week after Trump’s supporters violently attacked the Capitol. Trump is also accused of subverting and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. The article of impeachment states, quote, “Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.”
This comes as authorities are warning of more right-wing violence around Joe Biden’s inauguration January 20th. The FBI has warned of possible armed far-right protests being planned in all 50 state capitals, plus the U.S. Capitol, beginning January 16th. In Washington, 15,000 members of the National Guard are expected to be deployed ahead of the inauguration. The New York Times reports Pentagon officials are preparing for a number of nightmare scenarios, including snipers targeting attendees of the inauguration, drone attacks and “suicide-type aircraft.”
Authorities have also expressed concern about the number of active-duty soldiers and veterans, as well as police officers, who took part in the insurrection last week. Commanders at Fort Bragg are investigating the role of a PSYOPS Army captain — that’s a psychological operations Army captain — who led a group from North Carolina to D.C. last week to rally for President Trump. Meanwhile, two Capitol Hill police officers have been suspended, and at least a dozen others are under investigation, for aiding the attack that left five people dead, including a Capitol Hill police officer, who supported Donald Trump.
For an international perspective on the crisis facing the United States, we go to the Philippines to speak with Walden Bello, the acclaimed sociologist, academic, environmentalist and activist. His latest column for Foreign Policy in Focus is headlined “America Has Entered the Weimar Era.” Walden Bello is also a senior analyst at the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, as well as an international adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Bello is the author or co-author of 25 books. Part of his book Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right looks at the social roots of Trumpism. Bello served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 2009 to 2015. He’s the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize.
Walden Bello, welcome back to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. If you can talk about what you thought as the insurrection unfolded last week? If you could put this in a global context?
WALDEN BELLO: Yes. Well, Amy, thanks a lot, and Juan, for inviting me to your program.
Well, let me just say that the first thing that came to mind was, of course, shock at this insurrection right at the very heart of the American political system. But, on the other hand, having studied counterrevolutions, it was sort of something that, although I did not expect it to take this dramatic form, you know, that this kind of street-type warfare, mobilization of the streets, you know, that the right wing, or the far right, in the United States would resort to this.
And, you know, things that came back, came to my mind, were, for instance, the right-wing gangs in Chile that created the chaos that resulted in the military intervention that ousted President Allende back in 1973. And, you know, we had these groups like Patria y Libertad that pretty much were like this, the Proud Boys in the United States and the other right-wing gangsters.
Another image that flashed into my mind was the fascist squadristi of Mussolini, you know, that took power first by taking over the streets. And because the socialists in Italy at that time were becoming quite popular at the ballot box, the ruling class fought back mainly by promoting the fascist squads in their very violent ways of repressing the left.
And, of course, the other image that came to my mind was, you know, in the late ’20s, the last years of the Weimar Republic, where basically there was a strong political polarization that was taking place, and the fascists, or the Nazis, wanted to resolve the stalemate, parliamentary stalemate, by basically taking over the streets and beating up people, beating up social democrats, beating up the communists, and using that surge from the streets to be able to push Hitler to power, both through electoral as well as the street terrorist means.
So, this is not something that’s unusual that has happened in the Capitol. Right-wing groups, when they begin to lose electorally, when they begin to see that their opponents are gaining the upper hand in terms of being able to win elections and electorally, they resort to the streets and to violence in order to stop that process.
So, those are the things that came to mind. It was very dramatic. But, on the other hand, it was something that I, having studied counterrevolutions, expected something like it would happen at some point in the United States, given the developments over the last few years, which has really resulted in this move to the far right of significant sectors of the population that are allied to the Republican Party.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Walden Bello, I wanted to ask you. In another article you wrote back in May, titled “The Race to Replace a Dying Neoliberalism,” you write — and I’m quoting you — “Crises do not always result in significant change. It is the interaction or synergy between two elements: an objective one, meaning a systemic crisis, and a subjective one, that is, the people’s psychological response to it that is decisive.” And you go on to say, “Unfortunately, it is the extreme right that is currently best positioned to take advantage of the global discontent.” And you mention that in both the Global North and the Global South. Could you explain why that is?
WALDEN BELLO: Well, OK, I was referring to the fact, you know, that the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008 dragged on and on without any real resolution, because the steps were not taken to really control the banks, save homeowners and bring a significant employment back to the United States. You know, that was a very alienating process. So, that neoliberalism, as I said, you know, helped create this situation. So, if in 2008 you did not yet have the conditions for radicalization, by the time COVID-19 erupted in 2020, the conditions were there for this polarization, this radicalization, to increase even more.
Now, when I say that the extreme right has been the one that has been able to benefit from this more than the left, I mean mainly that — several things, you know, that there was this appeal to racism, a dog whistle-type Republican politics that started with Richard Nixon with the Southern strategy, you know; so, the second one was, of course, the impact of neoliberalism that created so much unemployment, deindustrialization. And especially among workers, including white workers, you had significant unemployment and deindustrialization hitting their communities, and then the fact also that so much of the working class, of the white working class, began to no longer see the Democratic Party as the party that was carrying their interests, because of a sense that somehow the Democratic Party had begun to buy into the neoliberal narrative, starting, for instance, with Clinton and up to Obama.
And so, there was this mass of people, white workers, that was ready to be mobilized someplace, and it was Trump and the right in the United States that took advantage of that, mobilized them, but in a right-wing direction, in a racist direction, basically. So, that’s when basically you had this process of right-wing mobilization, that which said, you know, “You have liberals taking away what should be yours and giving that to the minorities,” so explaining the economic crisis of workers in racist terms, you know? So, this is the kind of base, this is the kind of hidden mass, that Trump was able to cultivate. And let me just say that with respect to Trumpism, you know, that Trump is as much a creature as the creator of that base. There’s this synergy that’s taking place there.
So, on the other hand, when you look at the left, the left was the one that recognized the critique of globalization. And unfortunately, that came from the independent left. But the broad left, with social democrats in Europe, the Democratic Party in the United States, was pretty much seen as complicit with neoliberal, pro-Wall Street policies. OK? And so, you know, an alternative that would come from the mainstream left and the Democratic Party, that wasn’t coming at all. And so, what we saw happening in this process was, yes, there were great ideas coming from the left — you know, deglobalization, degrowth — fantastic ideas that were for an alternative society; the unfortunate thing is that it wasn’t gaining any political traction. Right down to the grassroots, it was just — you know, the progressives were just not gaining that kind of mass base that was very necessary.
And that’s why I said that, and especially during that Trump years, it was the right, it was people like Trump, that was cherry-picking anti-globalization and other elements that had been offered by the left, cherry-picking them, but putting them —
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, if I can —
WALDEN BELLO: — in a right-wing gestalt. Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, if I can ask you about another issue that you’ve focused on? And you say that the COVID-19 pandemic has really accelerated the decline of the United States as a worldwide power and the rise of China as — the continued rise of China as the industrial heartland of modern capitalism.
WALDEN BELLO: Yes. Well, I think that, to link that to what I said earlier, so much of the deindustrialization, the shipping of jobs that took place, you know, was carried out by corporate America, and a lot of those jobs and industrial processes were shifted to China. And it was the U.S. corporate, transnational class that carried this out, you know? Now, of course, China played a role there, but China was seeking developmental objectives, whereas the TNCs, the U.S. TNCs, were using it purely for exploitative purposes.
So, what happened, basically, was China became the workshop of the world. You had a massive industrial base that was created, that produced value and became the new center of global accumulation, whereas what happened to the United States was deindustrialization, people thrown out of jobs, communities deindustrialized and the economy financialized, so that it became — the United States economy basically began to run mainly on financialization and speculation. So, that core of a healthy economy, that was centered on industry and the creation of value, that disappeared. And so, this is the background of my comment, that you had the creation of a strong center of capital accumulation in China that paralleled the collapse of the industrial capacity of the United States.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how has the failure of our government to deal with COVID accelerated that?
WALDEN BELLO: Well, you know, when you look at what happened with COVID, was when it hit, because so much of the supplies, even of personal protective equipment, had been sourced to China, and the United States was no longer capable of producing this because so much of its manufacturing capacity had been shifted over to China, OK, that you saw that, in addition to the pandemic, you also had this crisis of global supply chains, that began to stop because the Chinese economy in the first few months of 2020 also stopped, you know? So, basically, you had this interaction of an economic crisis and a pandemic coming together, especially in the United States, which was, of course, accelerated by the fact that Trump never took COVID-19 seriously. And so you had this concatenation of events, economic, political and ideological, that just created this tremendous crisis of leadership in the United States and an economic crisis at the same time.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Walden Bello, you were a young student in Chile on another September 11th: September 11, 1973, when the Pinochet forces rose to power, overthrowing the democratically elected president of Chile. If you can talk about — I mean, you’re talking about the pandemic now. Three thousand people die a day in the United States alone, by far the worst death toll in the world. Three thousand people, that’s a 9/11 every single day in the United States. What does the Pinochet years have to teach us, in Chile? What does the Marcos years in your home country of the Philippines, and even what’s happening with Duterte today, have to teach us about President Trump and what you talk about as the crises to come in this country? I mean, the FBI just warned that in the next days we could face violent attacks in all 50 state capitols. What lessons should we understand?
WALDEN BELLO: Well, you know, several things, Amy. Firstly, key lesson that we should understand here is that when the forces of reaction, when the right, begins to lose at the ballot box, begins to lose in terms of voting in parliaments, it resorts to street warfare to be able to stop the democratic process. And this is what happened in Chile, basically. You know, we had a duly elected government, and the right tried to stop it, in terms of legislatively and bureaucratically. And when it couldn’t do that, then the right-wing mobs came and basically took over the streets and beat up the left and created a new situation, you know, that then invited military intervention. And that’s where Pinochet came in, quote-unquote, “for the sake of political stability,” but really in a process that favored the right.
The second thing that comes from that is that Chile had a very proud tradition of military nonintervention in politics from the early days of the Chilean republic. But in 1973, when you had a situation of political polarization, the military came in and intervened in favor of the right. Now, what I’m saying here is that we should not underestimate or overestimate the strength of political institutions like civilian control of the military. You know, at some point, if there’s great political polarization that takes place, then those sort of principles begin to become more loose, and we should expect that there will be elements within the security forces, within the agencies of the state, that would say, “Hey, the civilians can’t work it out. The political elite is divided. We have to be the ones to stabilize the country. And we stabilize it by eliminating democracy.” OK? So, basically, this is the same thing that happened in the Philippines in 1972. Marcos basically said, “Democracy is now stalemated. We have to move forward. And therefore, we have to declare an authoritarian regime.”
So, that’s what I’m saying at this point in time, you know, that do not overestimate the strength of American political institutions, because Trump has shown over the last four years how he could easily violate so many U.S. traditions, and we have not seen the end of that. In fact, I’m thinking, at this point in time, you know, that since the demographic balance is going against the white population in the United States, since the political balance is going against the Republican Party, and we just saw, for instance, how Georgia and a number of other states, Arizona, through political mobilization, have gone over to the Democrats — we saw how the popular vote was won by Biden with over 7 million votes — so, basically, the political, electoral weight is shifting over to the left, to the broad left, to this coalition of progressives, liberals and minorities. And I think — given that, I think you should be expecting more street warfare being waged by the right in the United States at this point in time. And I think this is something that people should just be prepared for, because if they can’t win electorally, they’ll win through trying to control the streets. And if that happens, then that creates the possibility or the opening for military intervention.
So, I think they enter — the U.S., in fact, I think, is entering what I call the Weimar period, which is basically the period of both electoral and street struggle and chaos that characterized the last days of the Weimar Republic and ended with the elevation of Hitler in 1933 to the chancellorship. So, you know, of course things may not happen exactly the same, OK, and we should always remember that history never repeats itself in quite the same way. But at the same time, there are lessons that we should be taking from the rise of counterrevolutionary movements in the 20th century and in this century, and that the United States is not exempt from this. The United States is no longer the kind of exceptional society. The United States, as events have shown over the last few years, and especially the last few months and the last few days, is becoming more and more like the rest of the world. So, this is the end of American exceptionalism.
AMY GOODMAN: Walden Bello, we want to thank you so much for being with us, acclaimed Filipino scholar, activist, author of many books, including Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right. We’ll also link to your latest piece, “America Has Entered the Weimar Era,” and also encourage people to go to our conversation with Allan Nairn last week, who talked about what’s happened in the Capitol as a mild version of what the U.S. has supported abroad, for example, in Chile, in Guatemala, in El Salvador.
Oh, and this breaking news: Billionaire casino owner and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson has died at the age of 87. Adelson was Donald Trump’s largest single donor during the 2016 race. Since 2015, he donated more than $250 million to Republican candidates and right-wing super PACs. He was also an influential political power in Israel, where he used his news outlets to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. He will be buried in Israel.
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow.org
JANUARY 12, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
GUESTS
Walden Bello, senior analyst at the Bangkok-based think tank Focus on the Global South, as well as an international adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. He served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 2009 to 2015.
LINKS
Walden Bello on Twitter
"America Has Entered the Weimar Era"
"Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right"
Democrats in Congress are pushing ahead with impeachment following the violent insurrection that killed five people at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The single article of impeachment against President Trump cites his incitement of insurrection and accuses him of subverting and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. This comes as authorities are warning of more right-wing violence around Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, with possible armed far-right protests planned at all 50 state capitols as well as the U.S. Capitol. We speak with Walden Bello, an acclaimed sociologist, academic, environmentalist and activist, whose latest column argues the United States has entered a “Weimar Era,” in which democratic elections are increasingly delegitimized as street violence becomes the norm. “This is not something that’s unusual that has happened in the Capitol. Right-wing groups, when they begin to lose electorally, … they resort to the streets and to violence in order to stop that process,” says Bello.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn right now to what’s happening in the Capitol. The Democratic-led House of Representatives plans to vote to impeach President Trump as soon as Wednesday, unless Trump resigns or Vice President Mike Pence first invokes the 25th Amendment to remove him, which looks unlikely. On Monday, House Democrats unveiled a single article of impeachment against the president for incitement of insurrection against the government of the United States, a week after Trump’s supporters violently attacked the Capitol. Trump is also accused of subverting and obstructing the certification of the 2020 election. The article of impeachment states, quote, “Donald John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law.”
This comes as authorities are warning of more right-wing violence around Joe Biden’s inauguration January 20th. The FBI has warned of possible armed far-right protests being planned in all 50 state capitals, plus the U.S. Capitol, beginning January 16th. In Washington, 15,000 members of the National Guard are expected to be deployed ahead of the inauguration. The New York Times reports Pentagon officials are preparing for a number of nightmare scenarios, including snipers targeting attendees of the inauguration, drone attacks and “suicide-type aircraft.”
Authorities have also expressed concern about the number of active-duty soldiers and veterans, as well as police officers, who took part in the insurrection last week. Commanders at Fort Bragg are investigating the role of a PSYOPS Army captain — that’s a psychological operations Army captain — who led a group from North Carolina to D.C. last week to rally for President Trump. Meanwhile, two Capitol Hill police officers have been suspended, and at least a dozen others are under investigation, for aiding the attack that left five people dead, including a Capitol Hill police officer, who supported Donald Trump.
For an international perspective on the crisis facing the United States, we go to the Philippines to speak with Walden Bello, the acclaimed sociologist, academic, environmentalist and activist. His latest column for Foreign Policy in Focus is headlined “America Has Entered the Weimar Era.” Walden Bello is also a senior analyst at the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, as well as an international adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Bello is the author or co-author of 25 books. Part of his book Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right looks at the social roots of Trumpism. Bello served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines from 2009 to 2015. He’s the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize.
Walden Bello, welcome back to Democracy Now! It’s great to have you with us. If you can talk about what you thought as the insurrection unfolded last week? If you could put this in a global context?
WALDEN BELLO: Yes. Well, Amy, thanks a lot, and Juan, for inviting me to your program.
Well, let me just say that the first thing that came to mind was, of course, shock at this insurrection right at the very heart of the American political system. But, on the other hand, having studied counterrevolutions, it was sort of something that, although I did not expect it to take this dramatic form, you know, that this kind of street-type warfare, mobilization of the streets, you know, that the right wing, or the far right, in the United States would resort to this.
And, you know, things that came back, came to my mind, were, for instance, the right-wing gangs in Chile that created the chaos that resulted in the military intervention that ousted President Allende back in 1973. And, you know, we had these groups like Patria y Libertad that pretty much were like this, the Proud Boys in the United States and the other right-wing gangsters.
Another image that flashed into my mind was the fascist squadristi of Mussolini, you know, that took power first by taking over the streets. And because the socialists in Italy at that time were becoming quite popular at the ballot box, the ruling class fought back mainly by promoting the fascist squads in their very violent ways of repressing the left.
And, of course, the other image that came to my mind was, you know, in the late ’20s, the last years of the Weimar Republic, where basically there was a strong political polarization that was taking place, and the fascists, or the Nazis, wanted to resolve the stalemate, parliamentary stalemate, by basically taking over the streets and beating up people, beating up social democrats, beating up the communists, and using that surge from the streets to be able to push Hitler to power, both through electoral as well as the street terrorist means.
So, this is not something that’s unusual that has happened in the Capitol. Right-wing groups, when they begin to lose electorally, when they begin to see that their opponents are gaining the upper hand in terms of being able to win elections and electorally, they resort to the streets and to violence in order to stop that process.
So, those are the things that came to mind. It was very dramatic. But, on the other hand, it was something that I, having studied counterrevolutions, expected something like it would happen at some point in the United States, given the developments over the last few years, which has really resulted in this move to the far right of significant sectors of the population that are allied to the Republican Party.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Walden Bello, I wanted to ask you. In another article you wrote back in May, titled “The Race to Replace a Dying Neoliberalism,” you write — and I’m quoting you — “Crises do not always result in significant change. It is the interaction or synergy between two elements: an objective one, meaning a systemic crisis, and a subjective one, that is, the people’s psychological response to it that is decisive.” And you go on to say, “Unfortunately, it is the extreme right that is currently best positioned to take advantage of the global discontent.” And you mention that in both the Global North and the Global South. Could you explain why that is?
WALDEN BELLO: Well, OK, I was referring to the fact, you know, that the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008 dragged on and on without any real resolution, because the steps were not taken to really control the banks, save homeowners and bring a significant employment back to the United States. You know, that was a very alienating process. So, that neoliberalism, as I said, you know, helped create this situation. So, if in 2008 you did not yet have the conditions for radicalization, by the time COVID-19 erupted in 2020, the conditions were there for this polarization, this radicalization, to increase even more.
Now, when I say that the extreme right has been the one that has been able to benefit from this more than the left, I mean mainly that — several things, you know, that there was this appeal to racism, a dog whistle-type Republican politics that started with Richard Nixon with the Southern strategy, you know; so, the second one was, of course, the impact of neoliberalism that created so much unemployment, deindustrialization. And especially among workers, including white workers, you had significant unemployment and deindustrialization hitting their communities, and then the fact also that so much of the working class, of the white working class, began to no longer see the Democratic Party as the party that was carrying their interests, because of a sense that somehow the Democratic Party had begun to buy into the neoliberal narrative, starting, for instance, with Clinton and up to Obama.
And so, there was this mass of people, white workers, that was ready to be mobilized someplace, and it was Trump and the right in the United States that took advantage of that, mobilized them, but in a right-wing direction, in a racist direction, basically. So, that’s when basically you had this process of right-wing mobilization, that which said, you know, “You have liberals taking away what should be yours and giving that to the minorities,” so explaining the economic crisis of workers in racist terms, you know? So, this is the kind of base, this is the kind of hidden mass, that Trump was able to cultivate. And let me just say that with respect to Trumpism, you know, that Trump is as much a creature as the creator of that base. There’s this synergy that’s taking place there.
So, on the other hand, when you look at the left, the left was the one that recognized the critique of globalization. And unfortunately, that came from the independent left. But the broad left, with social democrats in Europe, the Democratic Party in the United States, was pretty much seen as complicit with neoliberal, pro-Wall Street policies. OK? And so, you know, an alternative that would come from the mainstream left and the Democratic Party, that wasn’t coming at all. And so, what we saw happening in this process was, yes, there were great ideas coming from the left — you know, deglobalization, degrowth — fantastic ideas that were for an alternative society; the unfortunate thing is that it wasn’t gaining any political traction. Right down to the grassroots, it was just — you know, the progressives were just not gaining that kind of mass base that was very necessary.
And that’s why I said that, and especially during that Trump years, it was the right, it was people like Trump, that was cherry-picking anti-globalization and other elements that had been offered by the left, cherry-picking them, but putting them —
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, if I can —
WALDEN BELLO: — in a right-wing gestalt. Yes.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, if I can ask you about another issue that you’ve focused on? And you say that the COVID-19 pandemic has really accelerated the decline of the United States as a worldwide power and the rise of China as — the continued rise of China as the industrial heartland of modern capitalism.
WALDEN BELLO: Yes. Well, I think that, to link that to what I said earlier, so much of the deindustrialization, the shipping of jobs that took place, you know, was carried out by corporate America, and a lot of those jobs and industrial processes were shifted to China. And it was the U.S. corporate, transnational class that carried this out, you know? Now, of course, China played a role there, but China was seeking developmental objectives, whereas the TNCs, the U.S. TNCs, were using it purely for exploitative purposes.
So, what happened, basically, was China became the workshop of the world. You had a massive industrial base that was created, that produced value and became the new center of global accumulation, whereas what happened to the United States was deindustrialization, people thrown out of jobs, communities deindustrialized and the economy financialized, so that it became — the United States economy basically began to run mainly on financialization and speculation. So, that core of a healthy economy, that was centered on industry and the creation of value, that disappeared. And so, this is the background of my comment, that you had the creation of a strong center of capital accumulation in China that paralleled the collapse of the industrial capacity of the United States.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how has the failure of our government to deal with COVID accelerated that?
WALDEN BELLO: Well, you know, when you look at what happened with COVID, was when it hit, because so much of the supplies, even of personal protective equipment, had been sourced to China, and the United States was no longer capable of producing this because so much of its manufacturing capacity had been shifted over to China, OK, that you saw that, in addition to the pandemic, you also had this crisis of global supply chains, that began to stop because the Chinese economy in the first few months of 2020 also stopped, you know? So, basically, you had this interaction of an economic crisis and a pandemic coming together, especially in the United States, which was, of course, accelerated by the fact that Trump never took COVID-19 seriously. And so you had this concatenation of events, economic, political and ideological, that just created this tremendous crisis of leadership in the United States and an economic crisis at the same time.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Walden Bello, you were a young student in Chile on another September 11th: September 11, 1973, when the Pinochet forces rose to power, overthrowing the democratically elected president of Chile. If you can talk about — I mean, you’re talking about the pandemic now. Three thousand people die a day in the United States alone, by far the worst death toll in the world. Three thousand people, that’s a 9/11 every single day in the United States. What does the Pinochet years have to teach us, in Chile? What does the Marcos years in your home country of the Philippines, and even what’s happening with Duterte today, have to teach us about President Trump and what you talk about as the crises to come in this country? I mean, the FBI just warned that in the next days we could face violent attacks in all 50 state capitols. What lessons should we understand?
WALDEN BELLO: Well, you know, several things, Amy. Firstly, key lesson that we should understand here is that when the forces of reaction, when the right, begins to lose at the ballot box, begins to lose in terms of voting in parliaments, it resorts to street warfare to be able to stop the democratic process. And this is what happened in Chile, basically. You know, we had a duly elected government, and the right tried to stop it, in terms of legislatively and bureaucratically. And when it couldn’t do that, then the right-wing mobs came and basically took over the streets and beat up the left and created a new situation, you know, that then invited military intervention. And that’s where Pinochet came in, quote-unquote, “for the sake of political stability,” but really in a process that favored the right.
The second thing that comes from that is that Chile had a very proud tradition of military nonintervention in politics from the early days of the Chilean republic. But in 1973, when you had a situation of political polarization, the military came in and intervened in favor of the right. Now, what I’m saying here is that we should not underestimate or overestimate the strength of political institutions like civilian control of the military. You know, at some point, if there’s great political polarization that takes place, then those sort of principles begin to become more loose, and we should expect that there will be elements within the security forces, within the agencies of the state, that would say, “Hey, the civilians can’t work it out. The political elite is divided. We have to be the ones to stabilize the country. And we stabilize it by eliminating democracy.” OK? So, basically, this is the same thing that happened in the Philippines in 1972. Marcos basically said, “Democracy is now stalemated. We have to move forward. And therefore, we have to declare an authoritarian regime.”
So, that’s what I’m saying at this point in time, you know, that do not overestimate the strength of American political institutions, because Trump has shown over the last four years how he could easily violate so many U.S. traditions, and we have not seen the end of that. In fact, I’m thinking, at this point in time, you know, that since the demographic balance is going against the white population in the United States, since the political balance is going against the Republican Party, and we just saw, for instance, how Georgia and a number of other states, Arizona, through political mobilization, have gone over to the Democrats — we saw how the popular vote was won by Biden with over 7 million votes — so, basically, the political, electoral weight is shifting over to the left, to the broad left, to this coalition of progressives, liberals and minorities. And I think — given that, I think you should be expecting more street warfare being waged by the right in the United States at this point in time. And I think this is something that people should just be prepared for, because if they can’t win electorally, they’ll win through trying to control the streets. And if that happens, then that creates the possibility or the opening for military intervention.
So, I think they enter — the U.S., in fact, I think, is entering what I call the Weimar period, which is basically the period of both electoral and street struggle and chaos that characterized the last days of the Weimar Republic and ended with the elevation of Hitler in 1933 to the chancellorship. So, you know, of course things may not happen exactly the same, OK, and we should always remember that history never repeats itself in quite the same way. But at the same time, there are lessons that we should be taking from the rise of counterrevolutionary movements in the 20th century and in this century, and that the United States is not exempt from this. The United States is no longer the kind of exceptional society. The United States, as events have shown over the last few years, and especially the last few months and the last few days, is becoming more and more like the rest of the world. So, this is the end of American exceptionalism.
AMY GOODMAN: Walden Bello, we want to thank you so much for being with us, acclaimed Filipino scholar, activist, author of many books, including Counterrevolution: The Global Rise of the Far Right. We’ll also link to your latest piece, “America Has Entered the Weimar Era,” and also encourage people to go to our conversation with Allan Nairn last week, who talked about what’s happened in the Capitol as a mild version of what the U.S. has supported abroad, for example, in Chile, in Guatemala, in El Salvador.
Oh, and this breaking news: Billionaire casino owner and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson has died at the age of 87. Adelson was Donald Trump’s largest single donor during the 2016 race. Since 2015, he donated more than $250 million to Republican candidates and right-wing super PACs. He was also an influential political power in Israel, where he used his news outlets to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories. He will be buried in Israel.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
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From Charlottesville to the Capitol: Trump Fueled Right-Wing Violence. It May Soon Get Even Worse
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
JANUARY 15, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
GUESTS
A.C. Thompson, staff reporter at ProPublica, where he covers right-wing extremism.
LINKS
A.C. Thompson on Twitter
"Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot"
As security is ramped up in Washington, D.C., and state capitols across the U.S., the FBI is warning of more potential violence in the lead-up to Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. Federal authorities have arrested over 100 people who took part in last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol, and The Washington Post reports that dozens of people on a terrorist watch list — including many white supremacists — were in Washington on the day of the insurrection. “This was something that had been coming for a long time,” ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson, who covers right-wing extremism, says of the January 6 riot. “If you looked at the rhetoric online … it was all about revolution, it was all about death to tyrants, it was all about civil war.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
Security is being ramped up in Washington, D.C., and state capitols across the United States as the FBI is warning of more “potential armed protests” in the lead-up to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s inauguration, following last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol. By Wednesday, 21,000 National Guard troops are expected to be in Washington, D.C. FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke publicly for the first time, more than a week after the insurrection, Thursday.
CHRISTOPHER WRAY: We’re concerned about the potential for violence at multiple protests and rallies planned here in D.C. and at state capitol buildings around the country in the days to come, that could bring armed individuals within close proximity to government buildings and officials.
AMY GOODMAN: Federal authorities have arrested over a hundred people who took part in last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol that left five — actually, six [sic] people — dead. Police and federal agents continued to round up rioters Thursday. That’s five people dead. Among the latest arrests, Kevin Seefried, who was photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag through the Capitol; former U.S. Olympic medalist Klete Keller, who wore his Olympic swim team jacket to the riots; Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter who was filmed throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police officers, striking three of them in the head; and Peter Stager, an Arkansas man filmed beating a police officer at the Capitol with an American flag.
In Arizona, prosecutors say they’ve uncovered evidence that the intent of some of the rioters was to, quote, “capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government.” Prosecutors revealed the QAnon conspiracy theorist Jacob Chansley, who is also known as Jake Angeli, left a note for Mike Pence in the Senate, warning, quote, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” Chansley faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct, after he was filmed posing shirtless, wearing buffalo horns and holding a spear on the Senate dais.
And in Texas, a federal prosecutor has revealed more details about its case against retired Air Force officer Larry Brock, who was seen inside the Capitol dressed in military gear, holding zip ties. Prosecutors claim that Brock was prepared to take hostages and, quote, “perhaps execute members of the U.S. government.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports dozens of people on a terrorist watch list — mostly white supremacists — were in Washington on the day of the insurrection.
We go now to A.C. Thompson, staff reporter with ProPublica, who has covered the rise of the right-wing extremist and white supremacist groups for years, his latest piece headlined “Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot.” He’s joining us from Lansing, Michigan.
A.C., thanks so much for coming back to Democracy Now! Can you start off by responding to what happened last week in Washington, D.C.? Did it surprise you, this mass insurrection, after President Trump had for weeks been calling for this protest and addressed them before they marched to the Capitol? And who was behind it?
A.C. THOMPSON: One of our contacts in the far-right movement said to us, “Hey, I think this is going to go in a very extreme direction. And, in fact, I’m not going to mobilize my people to participate, because I think it’s going to be very violent.” And that was a signal to us that this was going to be quite extreme.
We had seen this building over the past year, though. If you go back to January 2020, in Richmond, Virginia, 20,000 armed people showed up at the state House there. In the spring, there were protests that were armed in Michigan at the state House, including one in which people stormed the building and intimidated legislators with weapons, with AR-15 assault rifles. We saw the Idaho state House get stormed. We saw the Oregon state House get stormed. We saw, in Olympia, Washington, by the Capitol there, there were shootings in the street two weeks in a row. Two people were shot, one each week. And so, this had been building for a long time.
I personally was at an armed rally at the Virginia state House a couple months ago, where about 50 men with weapons showed up and basically dared the police to arrest them, because they were in violation of the law. So, this was something that had been coming for a long time. And if you looked at the rhetoric online and you looked at what had been said by members of these groups for a long time, it was all about revolution, it was all about death to tyrants, it was all about civil war, for a long time.
On the day of the event, we saw militia groups like the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers, who were playing a big role. We saw the conspiracy theorists, like the QAnon people, who were there. We saw, I think, a significant role played by the Proud Boys, who you could call an ultranationalist street-fighting gang or group. And I think we saw a lot of military vets and some current military there. And there were also people who belong to straight-up white supremacist or white nationalist groups.
AMY GOODMAN: You mentioned Virginia. We reported earlier this week that two of the rioters were off-duty Virginia police. And this goes to the issue of police and military from all over the country. You know, people were saying, “Where were the police?” Well, they were part of the riot, the insurrection, a number of them. You have police from Seattle, apparently New York, Philadelphia transit officers, a number of them, two Virginia officers. Now, this is just people who were identified. Can you talk about the — a PSYOPS guy, a military psychological operations. Can you talk about the significance of this?
A.C. THOMPSON: You know, I think there is a big concern that what we’ve seen in recent years is a lot of members of police departments, or at least some members of police departments, being radicalized in this right-wing direction. And in part, I think, what that’s been a product of is they’ve seen the rise of the racial justice movements and police accountability movements, and they say, “I feel under attack. The person who’s sticking up for us is Donald Trump, who’s super law and order, and so I’m going to get deep into the Donald Trump world.” And I think that’s part of what’s happened.
What’s happening now, though, is different. And what’s happening now is, when I was in D.C. at “Stop the Steal” protests and other protests in recent months, you would see the right-wing protesters did not want to fight with the police. They would say, “We’re the law-and-order people. We’re the pro-police people. We’re not going to fight with the police. We want to fight with the police, but we’re going to back off.” That has changed. That has pivoted. And now what you’re seeing in the chatter amongst the right-wing groups is, “We are at war with the police. The police are in bed with the reds. The police are a tool of this socialist takeover, which we believe magically is happening, without any facts. We believe that the police are subverting democracy. And we are now going after the police.” And that’s what you saw at the Capitol.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about the lack of preparation at the Capitol. You see these police officers, the Capitol Police, some help by the Metropolitan Police, fending for themselves. And we got the reports this week of the level of threat assessment reports that would come before each Black Lives Matter protest. Nothing like that was issued now, and yet you have this coming together of all of these people from — and if you can explain what the terrorist watch list is? It’s not a no-fly list. And for many progressives, they may be very concerned about who makes up this list, but the fact is, scores of people on the FBI’s own list had gathered, and yet the FBI issued no reports, and there was so little preparation. We saw African American Capitol police essentially running for their lives, saying they didn’t have the support from the top, and they were being chased by the mob.
A.C. THOMPSON: Right. So, there’s a few things that I want to touch on here. And a few years ago, you and I were talking about Charlottesville. And what we had seen there was an intelligence breakdown, where, really, the intelligence analysts and the law enforcement personnel, who should have really been monitoring the online channels and the chatter, missed what was going on and what was going to develop. And then you saw multiple law enforcement agencies who were supposed to be there coordinating, working together, who really didn’t have a plan, and cooperation totally broke down. And when violence and rioting broke out, the people with the tactical gear, with the shields, with the helmets, with the riot gear, were nowhere near the violence.
You saw a lot of that happen at the Capitol, a lot of the same things happening over again, years later, with basically some of the same people showing up at both events. This is what’s baffling to me. The FBI has gotten very good in recent years at tracking and arresting and building cases against right-wing extremists, white supremacist extremists, anti-government extremists. In the run-up to the election, they built a lot of very complicated, important cases against people who were bent on violence against public officials, the kidnapping plot against Gretchen Whitmer, the governor in Michigan. They were very, very busy. And what I don’t understand is how that knowledge from the field agents out in the field doesn’t seem to have translated, as far as we can tell at this point, into intelligence products that would have gone out and been disseminated more broadly to other law enforcement agencies. That’s a thing.
Another thing is just simply the lack of personnel and the lack of preparation by the Capitol Police on the day of the event. I’ve been watching the D.C. Metropolitan Police for months now, and I think that they’ve been very professional, very sophisticated, in allowing protesters at these right-wing events in D.C. to express themselves, but not to harm people and not for violence to break out. That is clearly not the case with the Capitol Police. They did not evince that level of professionalism and sophistication.
AMY GOODMAN: The Washington Post reported earlier this week the FBI explicitly warned of violence and “war” at the U.S. Capitol in an internal report issued one day before last Wednesday’s deadly invasion. The report cited online posts, including one which said, quote, “Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die.”
So, A.C. Thompson, I mean, how much more explicit can you get? And, I mean, we’re not only talking about let’s do a postmortem on last week’s event — and “postmortem” is the right word. I mean, you’re talking about a number of people dead: two police officers — the Capitol Hill police officer, Sicknick, who died, and then one who took his own life — and then you have three people who died in medical emergencies, apparently. But we’re not only talking about the past; we’re talking about whether this is prologue to this weekend. I mean, Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King’s federal birthday, which is official — his birthday was today. But for years, white supremacists marched on state capitols to prevent it from being recognized as a national holiday. And then, of course, Wednesday, the inauguration.
A.C. THOMPSON: Yeah, I think I don’t want to be alarmist, and I don’t want to be the person who says the sky is falling, but I do think we have to be vigilant. I think we have to be looking forward. I think we have to be very, very careful in the months ahead. And this is why.
We were out on the campaign trail filming for Frontline at Trump rallies and at Trump speeches. And when we’d meet people, they would all say, “The only way the president is going to lose the election is if there’s massive fraud, and it’ll be probably massive fraud orchestrated by those nefarious globalists.” There are millions of people who believe, because of Trump’s incessant false messaging, that the election was fraudulent, that the election was stolen from him. And if you have just a very small percentage of those millions of people who are inclined to take violent action because they believe that we are on the cusp of a massively undemocratic transition of power, built around fraud, of course some of those people are likely to take very violent action to save, in their mind — you know, in their minds, to save this republic.
And that is the thing we must be concerned about. In America, it does not take very much money and very much skill to create a mass casualty event with a bomb or a gun. And that is something we’re going to have to be very vigilant about, while at the same time ensuring that people have a right to protest, that people have a right to express themselves.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m wondering if you can talk about the alliances between all of these groups and current sitting members of Congress. You’ve got Utah Republican Congressmember John Curtis, who showed reporters a death threat left on his door on Thursday, a poster with skulls and crossbones pasted over his eyes, and the caption, “Wanted for treason! For resisting the true electoral victor Trump.” Now, here is a congressman who, of course, was voicing concern about the fact that Republicans were not accepting the election of Joe Biden, but you’ve got other ones who led the charge about doing this. Can you talk about whether — the congressmembers and what should happen to them now? Even in President Trump’s latest video, he will not acknowledge this election of Joe Biden. And does it actually encourage the violence, the fact that he’s not showing up for the inauguration? Many may be deeply relieved that Trump won’t be there, but does that send a message it’s OK to target?
A.C. THOMPSON: I think there’s a couple things going on here. And the first thing is that we have not acknowledged the scale of threats, intimidation and violence against public leaders that’s occurred over the past year. We have so many public health officials in this country, at county and state levels, who have been threatened — at federal levels, as well — been threatened, who have been terrorized, who have had to get extra security, who have been doing their jobs and are in fear for their lives. And we, basically, as a society, have not grappled with that.
Now we’ve got elections officials, Republican and Democrat, who are dealing with that. We’ve got members of Congress who are dealing with that. We’ve got law enforcement leaders who are dealing with that. You know, in California, we had two law enforcement officials who were shot by an extremist group, allegedly, during the spring. Somebody is now facing federal charges for that. So I think there’s been a —
AMY GOODMAN: Boogaloo bois.
A.C. THOMPSON: Yeah, the boogaloo bois, exactly. So I think there’s been a level of violence and aggression towards public officials and government leaders that we have not seen in decades. And I don’t think we’ve reckoned with that at all. It’s a scary time to be a public leader.
Now, when you’re talking about Congress, this is a thing that we’re going to have to understand deeply, and we’re going to need serious, serious investigations about what was the role of sympathetic members of Congress in possibly fomenting or even enabling this insurrection, because I don’t think we’ve gotten to the bottom of that. We’ve heard names thrown out as potential members of Congress, from Arizona and Alabama, who may have aided and abetted these groups, but we don’t know yet. I think that’s a very concerning thing, as well. We also —
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, you have Mikie Sherrill — right? — the New Jersey congressmember, who said she — they called the sergeant-of-arms the day before, saying, “What are all these tour groups?” they now recognize were the people who were part of this insurrection being taken around. I mean, COVID times, they’re not doing tours there, so they could only get in through a congressmember or their staff.
A.C. THOMPSON: Exactly. And that is a big concern. I’ll tell you, from interviewing members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, they said to us — you know, we had a Democratic congressman say to us, “I’m worried that we have empathizers and sympathizers within the ranks of the Capitol Police.” That was Rep. Andre Carson from the Indianapolis area. We had a GOP congresswoman, Nancy Mace, who said, “Look, I could tell, days before this happened, that it was going to be ugly, because I was getting relentless threats online and through all different channels. And I’m a Trump supporter, but I had said I’m not going to try to overturn this election. And so then I was the one targeted.” And it doesn’t sound like she got a lot of help with that. She sent her children home to South Carolina because she was scared for their lives. We have not even begun to grapple with how serious this problem is.
AMY GOODMAN: If you could very quickly — we only have a minute to go, but you detail in your pieces, and you just talked about, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers, boogaloo bois, Proud Boys. Tell us who some of these people are. Many people haven’t even heard of these groups before.
A.C. THOMPSON: Right. So, the boogaloo bois are an anti-government group who joined the Capitol insurrection, who have been tied to murders, kidnapping plots and the rest. The Proud Boys are an ultranationalist street gang or street-fighting group that have been at many of these events and seem to have been a key player here. The Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters are militia groups that sort of are traditional, longtime anti-government groups. And QAnon is the conspiracy theory followers who believe that there’s a vast cabal of globalists and satanists who are trying to take over America.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, you have Ali Alexander, and this from The Washington Post, who organized the so-called Stop the Steal movement, who said he hatched the plan for this insurrection with the support of the three Republican lawmakers — you alluded to them, but — Congressmembers Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Paul Gosar of Arizona, all hard-line Trump supporters.
A.C. THOMPSON: Yeah. And that’s the thing. That’s going to be a really key investigative point there. And honestly, like, looking at Mr. Alexander and how he raised money and what his role in all this was, as well, is going to be a key thing to look at.
AMY GOODMAN: A.C. Thompson, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Keep up your great investigation. Staff reporter with ProPublica who’s covered the rise of right-wing extremist and white supremacist groups for years. We’ll link to your latest piece, “Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot.”
****************
Dozens of Capitol Rioters Were on FBI Terrorism Watch List
Dozens of people on an FBI terrorist watch list were in Washington, D.C., on January 6, when President Trump incited a violent mob of insurrectionists to attack the Capitol. That’s according to The Washington Post, which reports most of the rioters flagged by the national Terrorist Screening Database are white supremacists. The FBI says more than 100 insurrectionists have been arrested so far, with more than 200 other suspects identified. Among the latest arrests are Kevin Seefried, who was photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag through the halls of Congress; former U.S. Olympic medalist Klete Keller, who wore his Olympic swim team jacket to the riots; and Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter who was filmed throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police officers, striking three of them in the head.
QAnon Insurrectionist Jacob Chansley, Who Threatened VP Pence, Seeks Trump Pardon
In Arizona, the lawyer for rioter Jacob Anthony Chansley said he will seek a pardon from President Trump. Chansley faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct after he was filmed posing shirtless, wearing buffalo horns and holding a spear on the Senate dais. In a court filing unveiled Thursday, federal prosecutors in Phoenix wrote that Chansley left a note for Vice President Mike Pence reading, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” They added, “Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government.” Video from January 6 posted to the now-defunct social media site Parler shows Chansley boasting about his role in the insurrection.
Reporter: “How did you get out?”
Jacob Chansley: “How did I get out of what?”
Reporter: “How did you get out?”
Jacob Chansley: “Of the Senate?”
Reporter: “Yeah.”
Jacob Chansley: “The cops walked out with me.”
Reporter: “They just let you go?”
Jacob Chansley: “Yeah.”
Reporter: “And what’s your message to everybody now? Like, what are you yelling now?”
Jacob Chansley: “Oh, Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said it. He just put out a tweet. It’s a minute long. He asked everybody to go home.”
Reporter: “Why do you think so?”
Jacob Chansley: “Because, dude, we won the [bleep] day!”
The Washington Post reports the National Park Service will close the National Mall on Inauguration Day amid fears of domestic terror attacks. Michigan Congressmember Peter Meijer said Thursday he purchased a bulletproof vest — and will have the expense reimbursed by Congress — after he joined nine other Republicans and House Democrats voting for Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday.
**********************
Color, COVID and the Coup
by Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan
JANUARY 14, 2021
President Donald Trump’s second impeachment was swift and decisive, just one week after he incited a violent white supremacist mob attack on the U.S. Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Accounts of the insurrection from several elected Congresswomen of color capture the chaos of the moment, and the many dangers they faced:
“I was one of 12 trapped in the House Gallery. I heard the shot being fired. I saw the smoke from the tear gas....I watched one officer with no protective equipment face a raging mob just outside the chamber,” Norma Torres, Democratic Representative from South Los Angeles, said at a House Rules Committee meeting this week. “I answered my phone to my son, Christopher. The call lasted 27 seconds. All I could say, ‘Sweetheart, I’m okay. I’m running for my life.’ And I hung up.”
Also trapped in the upper Gallery was Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. “The insurrectionists were domestic terrorists, many armed and many associated with white nationalist groups,” Jayapal said in a statement. “Tear gas was being used and we had to get down on the ground for cover. Capitol Police barricaded the doors with furniture and had their guns drawn.”
New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortéz, known as AOC, said on a livestream the night before the impeachment vote, “I thought I was going to die.” She explained why she felt she needed to avoid a secure extraction location: “There were QAnon and white-supremacist sympathizers and, frankly, white-supremacist members of Congress in that extraction point who I know and who I have felt would disclose my location and would create opportunities to allow me to be hurt [or] kidnapped.”
Ayanna Pressley, the first African American Congresswoman from Massachusetts, did go to the secure room, with people sheltering shoulder to shoulder. “The second I realized our ‘safe room’ from the violent white supremacist mob included treasonous, white supremacist, anti masker Members of Congress who incited the mob in the first place, I exited,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “Furious that more of my colleagues are testing positive.” Her husband, who was with her at the Capitol, has since tested positive for COVID-19.
Pramila Jayapal has also contracted COVID-19, likely in the same, cramped, multi-hour lockdown with unmasked Republicans during the siege. “Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic — creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack,” Jayapal said in a statement. Her husband, who was not at the Capitol, has also tested positive.
Congress’ attending physician, Brian Monahan, said in an email four days after the attack, about that secure room, “The time in this room was several hours for some and briefer for others…individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection.”
New Jersey Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman was there, and later tested positive. The 75-year-old African American is a recent cancer survivor. “I am angry that after I spent months carefully isolating myself, a single chaotic day likely got me sick,” she wrote in a Washington Post op-ed piece this week. “I am angry that the attack on the Capitol and my subsequent illness have the same cause: my Republican colleagues’ inability to accept facts.” Her case highlights the potentially-lethal risks that mask-deniers selfishly pose on others around them.
Detroit Congressmember Rashida Tlaib was not on the Capitol grounds during the assault, as she wasn’t feeling great after receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination shot. She tweeted on Tuesday, as new security measures were implemented at the Capitol, “Just had to go through a metal detector before entering the House floor. Some colleagues are frustrated (guess which ones) by this requirement. Now they know how HS students in my district feel. Suck it up buttercups. Y’all brought this on yourselves.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set fines of up to $10,000 for Congressmembers who refuse to pass through the metal detectors.
People of color in the United States are more likely to die of gun violence. They are also more likely to contract COVID-19, and when they do, disproportionately suffer more serious consequences, including death. The violent white supremacist insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th put the ugly realities of racism and inequality in this country in stark relief. Taking these on, remains the urgent challenge of our time. Trump’s departure from the Oval Office is only the first step.
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow
JANUARY 15, 2021
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YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
GUESTS
A.C. Thompson, staff reporter at ProPublica, where he covers right-wing extremism.
LINKS
A.C. Thompson on Twitter
"Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot"
As security is ramped up in Washington, D.C., and state capitols across the U.S., the FBI is warning of more potential violence in the lead-up to Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. Federal authorities have arrested over 100 people who took part in last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol, and The Washington Post reports that dozens of people on a terrorist watch list — including many white supremacists — were in Washington on the day of the insurrection. “This was something that had been coming for a long time,” ProPublica reporter A.C. Thompson, who covers right-wing extremism, says of the January 6 riot. “If you looked at the rhetoric online … it was all about revolution, it was all about death to tyrants, it was all about civil war.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
Security is being ramped up in Washington, D.C., and state capitols across the United States as the FBI is warning of more “potential armed protests” in the lead-up to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s inauguration, following last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol. By Wednesday, 21,000 National Guard troops are expected to be in Washington, D.C. FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke publicly for the first time, more than a week after the insurrection, Thursday.
CHRISTOPHER WRAY: We’re concerned about the potential for violence at multiple protests and rallies planned here in D.C. and at state capitol buildings around the country in the days to come, that could bring armed individuals within close proximity to government buildings and officials.
AMY GOODMAN: Federal authorities have arrested over a hundred people who took part in last week’s deadly insurrection at the Capitol that left five — actually, six [sic] people — dead. Police and federal agents continued to round up rioters Thursday. That’s five people dead. Among the latest arrests, Kevin Seefried, who was photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag through the Capitol; former U.S. Olympic medalist Klete Keller, who wore his Olympic swim team jacket to the riots; Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter who was filmed throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police officers, striking three of them in the head; and Peter Stager, an Arkansas man filmed beating a police officer at the Capitol with an American flag.
In Arizona, prosecutors say they’ve uncovered evidence that the intent of some of the rioters was to, quote, “capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government.” Prosecutors revealed the QAnon conspiracy theorist Jacob Chansley, who is also known as Jake Angeli, left a note for Mike Pence in the Senate, warning, quote, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” Chansley faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct, after he was filmed posing shirtless, wearing buffalo horns and holding a spear on the Senate dais.
And in Texas, a federal prosecutor has revealed more details about its case against retired Air Force officer Larry Brock, who was seen inside the Capitol dressed in military gear, holding zip ties. Prosecutors claim that Brock was prepared to take hostages and, quote, “perhaps execute members of the U.S. government.”
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports dozens of people on a terrorist watch list — mostly white supremacists — were in Washington on the day of the insurrection.
We go now to A.C. Thompson, staff reporter with ProPublica, who has covered the rise of the right-wing extremist and white supremacist groups for years, his latest piece headlined “Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot.” He’s joining us from Lansing, Michigan.
A.C., thanks so much for coming back to Democracy Now! Can you start off by responding to what happened last week in Washington, D.C.? Did it surprise you, this mass insurrection, after President Trump had for weeks been calling for this protest and addressed them before they marched to the Capitol? And who was behind it?
A.C. THOMPSON: One of our contacts in the far-right movement said to us, “Hey, I think this is going to go in a very extreme direction. And, in fact, I’m not going to mobilize my people to participate, because I think it’s going to be very violent.” And that was a signal to us that this was going to be quite extreme.
We had seen this building over the past year, though. If you go back to January 2020, in Richmond, Virginia, 20,000 armed people showed up at the state House there. In the spring, there were protests that were armed in Michigan at the state House, including one in which people stormed the building and intimidated legislators with weapons, with AR-15 assault rifles. We saw the Idaho state House get stormed. We saw the Oregon state House get stormed. We saw, in Olympia, Washington, by the Capitol there, there were shootings in the street two weeks in a row. Two people were shot, one each week. And so, this had been building for a long time.
I personally was at an armed rally at the Virginia state House a couple months ago, where about 50 men with weapons showed up and basically dared the police to arrest them, because they were in violation of the law. So, this was something that had been coming for a long time. And if you looked at the rhetoric online and you looked at what had been said by members of these groups for a long time, it was all about revolution, it was all about death to tyrants, it was all about civil war, for a long time.
On the day of the event, we saw militia groups like the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers, who were playing a big role. We saw the conspiracy theorists, like the QAnon people, who were there. We saw, I think, a significant role played by the Proud Boys, who you could call an ultranationalist street-fighting gang or group. And I think we saw a lot of military vets and some current military there. And there were also people who belong to straight-up white supremacist or white nationalist groups.
AMY GOODMAN: You mentioned Virginia. We reported earlier this week that two of the rioters were off-duty Virginia police. And this goes to the issue of police and military from all over the country. You know, people were saying, “Where were the police?” Well, they were part of the riot, the insurrection, a number of them. You have police from Seattle, apparently New York, Philadelphia transit officers, a number of them, two Virginia officers. Now, this is just people who were identified. Can you talk about the — a PSYOPS guy, a military psychological operations. Can you talk about the significance of this?
A.C. THOMPSON: You know, I think there is a big concern that what we’ve seen in recent years is a lot of members of police departments, or at least some members of police departments, being radicalized in this right-wing direction. And in part, I think, what that’s been a product of is they’ve seen the rise of the racial justice movements and police accountability movements, and they say, “I feel under attack. The person who’s sticking up for us is Donald Trump, who’s super law and order, and so I’m going to get deep into the Donald Trump world.” And I think that’s part of what’s happened.
What’s happening now, though, is different. And what’s happening now is, when I was in D.C. at “Stop the Steal” protests and other protests in recent months, you would see the right-wing protesters did not want to fight with the police. They would say, “We’re the law-and-order people. We’re the pro-police people. We’re not going to fight with the police. We want to fight with the police, but we’re going to back off.” That has changed. That has pivoted. And now what you’re seeing in the chatter amongst the right-wing groups is, “We are at war with the police. The police are in bed with the reds. The police are a tool of this socialist takeover, which we believe magically is happening, without any facts. We believe that the police are subverting democracy. And we are now going after the police.” And that’s what you saw at the Capitol.
AMY GOODMAN: So, let’s talk about the lack of preparation at the Capitol. You see these police officers, the Capitol Police, some help by the Metropolitan Police, fending for themselves. And we got the reports this week of the level of threat assessment reports that would come before each Black Lives Matter protest. Nothing like that was issued now, and yet you have this coming together of all of these people from — and if you can explain what the terrorist watch list is? It’s not a no-fly list. And for many progressives, they may be very concerned about who makes up this list, but the fact is, scores of people on the FBI’s own list had gathered, and yet the FBI issued no reports, and there was so little preparation. We saw African American Capitol police essentially running for their lives, saying they didn’t have the support from the top, and they were being chased by the mob.
A.C. THOMPSON: Right. So, there’s a few things that I want to touch on here. And a few years ago, you and I were talking about Charlottesville. And what we had seen there was an intelligence breakdown, where, really, the intelligence analysts and the law enforcement personnel, who should have really been monitoring the online channels and the chatter, missed what was going on and what was going to develop. And then you saw multiple law enforcement agencies who were supposed to be there coordinating, working together, who really didn’t have a plan, and cooperation totally broke down. And when violence and rioting broke out, the people with the tactical gear, with the shields, with the helmets, with the riot gear, were nowhere near the violence.
You saw a lot of that happen at the Capitol, a lot of the same things happening over again, years later, with basically some of the same people showing up at both events. This is what’s baffling to me. The FBI has gotten very good in recent years at tracking and arresting and building cases against right-wing extremists, white supremacist extremists, anti-government extremists. In the run-up to the election, they built a lot of very complicated, important cases against people who were bent on violence against public officials, the kidnapping plot against Gretchen Whitmer, the governor in Michigan. They were very, very busy. And what I don’t understand is how that knowledge from the field agents out in the field doesn’t seem to have translated, as far as we can tell at this point, into intelligence products that would have gone out and been disseminated more broadly to other law enforcement agencies. That’s a thing.
Another thing is just simply the lack of personnel and the lack of preparation by the Capitol Police on the day of the event. I’ve been watching the D.C. Metropolitan Police for months now, and I think that they’ve been very professional, very sophisticated, in allowing protesters at these right-wing events in D.C. to express themselves, but not to harm people and not for violence to break out. That is clearly not the case with the Capitol Police. They did not evince that level of professionalism and sophistication.
AMY GOODMAN: The Washington Post reported earlier this week the FBI explicitly warned of violence and “war” at the U.S. Capitol in an internal report issued one day before last Wednesday’s deadly invasion. The report cited online posts, including one which said, quote, “Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die.”
So, A.C. Thompson, I mean, how much more explicit can you get? And, I mean, we’re not only talking about let’s do a postmortem on last week’s event — and “postmortem” is the right word. I mean, you’re talking about a number of people dead: two police officers — the Capitol Hill police officer, Sicknick, who died, and then one who took his own life — and then you have three people who died in medical emergencies, apparently. But we’re not only talking about the past; we’re talking about whether this is prologue to this weekend. I mean, Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King’s federal birthday, which is official — his birthday was today. But for years, white supremacists marched on state capitols to prevent it from being recognized as a national holiday. And then, of course, Wednesday, the inauguration.
A.C. THOMPSON: Yeah, I think I don’t want to be alarmist, and I don’t want to be the person who says the sky is falling, but I do think we have to be vigilant. I think we have to be looking forward. I think we have to be very, very careful in the months ahead. And this is why.
We were out on the campaign trail filming for Frontline at Trump rallies and at Trump speeches. And when we’d meet people, they would all say, “The only way the president is going to lose the election is if there’s massive fraud, and it’ll be probably massive fraud orchestrated by those nefarious globalists.” There are millions of people who believe, because of Trump’s incessant false messaging, that the election was fraudulent, that the election was stolen from him. And if you have just a very small percentage of those millions of people who are inclined to take violent action because they believe that we are on the cusp of a massively undemocratic transition of power, built around fraud, of course some of those people are likely to take very violent action to save, in their mind — you know, in their minds, to save this republic.
And that is the thing we must be concerned about. In America, it does not take very much money and very much skill to create a mass casualty event with a bomb or a gun. And that is something we’re going to have to be very vigilant about, while at the same time ensuring that people have a right to protest, that people have a right to express themselves.
AMY GOODMAN: I’m wondering if you can talk about the alliances between all of these groups and current sitting members of Congress. You’ve got Utah Republican Congressmember John Curtis, who showed reporters a death threat left on his door on Thursday, a poster with skulls and crossbones pasted over his eyes, and the caption, “Wanted for treason! For resisting the true electoral victor Trump.” Now, here is a congressman who, of course, was voicing concern about the fact that Republicans were not accepting the election of Joe Biden, but you’ve got other ones who led the charge about doing this. Can you talk about whether — the congressmembers and what should happen to them now? Even in President Trump’s latest video, he will not acknowledge this election of Joe Biden. And does it actually encourage the violence, the fact that he’s not showing up for the inauguration? Many may be deeply relieved that Trump won’t be there, but does that send a message it’s OK to target?
A.C. THOMPSON: I think there’s a couple things going on here. And the first thing is that we have not acknowledged the scale of threats, intimidation and violence against public leaders that’s occurred over the past year. We have so many public health officials in this country, at county and state levels, who have been threatened — at federal levels, as well — been threatened, who have been terrorized, who have had to get extra security, who have been doing their jobs and are in fear for their lives. And we, basically, as a society, have not grappled with that.
Now we’ve got elections officials, Republican and Democrat, who are dealing with that. We’ve got members of Congress who are dealing with that. We’ve got law enforcement leaders who are dealing with that. You know, in California, we had two law enforcement officials who were shot by an extremist group, allegedly, during the spring. Somebody is now facing federal charges for that. So I think there’s been a —
AMY GOODMAN: Boogaloo bois.
A.C. THOMPSON: Yeah, the boogaloo bois, exactly. So I think there’s been a level of violence and aggression towards public officials and government leaders that we have not seen in decades. And I don’t think we’ve reckoned with that at all. It’s a scary time to be a public leader.
Now, when you’re talking about Congress, this is a thing that we’re going to have to understand deeply, and we’re going to need serious, serious investigations about what was the role of sympathetic members of Congress in possibly fomenting or even enabling this insurrection, because I don’t think we’ve gotten to the bottom of that. We’ve heard names thrown out as potential members of Congress, from Arizona and Alabama, who may have aided and abetted these groups, but we don’t know yet. I think that’s a very concerning thing, as well. We also —
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, you have Mikie Sherrill — right? — the New Jersey congressmember, who said she — they called the sergeant-of-arms the day before, saying, “What are all these tour groups?” they now recognize were the people who were part of this insurrection being taken around. I mean, COVID times, they’re not doing tours there, so they could only get in through a congressmember or their staff.
A.C. THOMPSON: Exactly. And that is a big concern. I’ll tell you, from interviewing members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, they said to us — you know, we had a Democratic congressman say to us, “I’m worried that we have empathizers and sympathizers within the ranks of the Capitol Police.” That was Rep. Andre Carson from the Indianapolis area. We had a GOP congresswoman, Nancy Mace, who said, “Look, I could tell, days before this happened, that it was going to be ugly, because I was getting relentless threats online and through all different channels. And I’m a Trump supporter, but I had said I’m not going to try to overturn this election. And so then I was the one targeted.” And it doesn’t sound like she got a lot of help with that. She sent her children home to South Carolina because she was scared for their lives. We have not even begun to grapple with how serious this problem is.
AMY GOODMAN: If you could very quickly — we only have a minute to go, but you detail in your pieces, and you just talked about, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers, boogaloo bois, Proud Boys. Tell us who some of these people are. Many people haven’t even heard of these groups before.
A.C. THOMPSON: Right. So, the boogaloo bois are an anti-government group who joined the Capitol insurrection, who have been tied to murders, kidnapping plots and the rest. The Proud Boys are an ultranationalist street gang or street-fighting group that have been at many of these events and seem to have been a key player here. The Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters are militia groups that sort of are traditional, longtime anti-government groups. And QAnon is the conspiracy theory followers who believe that there’s a vast cabal of globalists and satanists who are trying to take over America.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, you have Ali Alexander, and this from The Washington Post, who organized the so-called Stop the Steal movement, who said he hatched the plan for this insurrection with the support of the three Republican lawmakers — you alluded to them, but — Congressmembers Andy Biggs of Arizona, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Paul Gosar of Arizona, all hard-line Trump supporters.
A.C. THOMPSON: Yeah. And that’s the thing. That’s going to be a really key investigative point there. And honestly, like, looking at Mr. Alexander and how he raised money and what his role in all this was, as well, is going to be a key thing to look at.
AMY GOODMAN: A.C. Thompson, we want to thank you so much for being with us. Keep up your great investigation. Staff reporter with ProPublica who’s covered the rise of right-wing extremist and white supremacist groups for years. We’ll link to your latest piece, “Members of Several Well-Known Hate Groups Identified at Capitol Riot.”
****************
Dozens of Capitol Rioters Were on FBI Terrorism Watch List
Dozens of people on an FBI terrorist watch list were in Washington, D.C., on January 6, when President Trump incited a violent mob of insurrectionists to attack the Capitol. That’s according to The Washington Post, which reports most of the rioters flagged by the national Terrorist Screening Database are white supremacists. The FBI says more than 100 insurrectionists have been arrested so far, with more than 200 other suspects identified. Among the latest arrests are Kevin Seefried, who was photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag through the halls of Congress; former U.S. Olympic medalist Klete Keller, who wore his Olympic swim team jacket to the riots; and Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter who was filmed throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police officers, striking three of them in the head.
QAnon Insurrectionist Jacob Chansley, Who Threatened VP Pence, Seeks Trump Pardon
In Arizona, the lawyer for rioter Jacob Anthony Chansley said he will seek a pardon from President Trump. Chansley faces charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct after he was filmed posing shirtless, wearing buffalo horns and holding a spear on the Senate dais. In a court filing unveiled Thursday, federal prosecutors in Phoenix wrote that Chansley left a note for Vice President Mike Pence reading, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” They added, “Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government.” Video from January 6 posted to the now-defunct social media site Parler shows Chansley boasting about his role in the insurrection.
Reporter: “How did you get out?”
Jacob Chansley: “How did I get out of what?”
Reporter: “How did you get out?”
Jacob Chansley: “Of the Senate?”
Reporter: “Yeah.”
Jacob Chansley: “The cops walked out with me.”
Reporter: “They just let you go?”
Jacob Chansley: “Yeah.”
Reporter: “And what’s your message to everybody now? Like, what are you yelling now?”
Jacob Chansley: “Oh, Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said it. He just put out a tweet. It’s a minute long. He asked everybody to go home.”
Reporter: “Why do you think so?”
Jacob Chansley: “Because, dude, we won the [bleep] day!”
The Washington Post reports the National Park Service will close the National Mall on Inauguration Day amid fears of domestic terror attacks. Michigan Congressmember Peter Meijer said Thursday he purchased a bulletproof vest — and will have the expense reimbursed by Congress — after he joined nine other Republicans and House Democrats voting for Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday.
**********************
Color, COVID and the Coup
by Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan
JANUARY 14, 2021
President Donald Trump’s second impeachment was swift and decisive, just one week after he incited a violent white supremacist mob attack on the U.S. Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Accounts of the insurrection from several elected Congresswomen of color capture the chaos of the moment, and the many dangers they faced:
“I was one of 12 trapped in the House Gallery. I heard the shot being fired. I saw the smoke from the tear gas....I watched one officer with no protective equipment face a raging mob just outside the chamber,” Norma Torres, Democratic Representative from South Los Angeles, said at a House Rules Committee meeting this week. “I answered my phone to my son, Christopher. The call lasted 27 seconds. All I could say, ‘Sweetheart, I’m okay. I’m running for my life.’ And I hung up.”
Also trapped in the upper Gallery was Washington Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. “The insurrectionists were domestic terrorists, many armed and many associated with white nationalist groups,” Jayapal said in a statement. “Tear gas was being used and we had to get down on the ground for cover. Capitol Police barricaded the doors with furniture and had their guns drawn.”
New York Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortéz, known as AOC, said on a livestream the night before the impeachment vote, “I thought I was going to die.” She explained why she felt she needed to avoid a secure extraction location: “There were QAnon and white-supremacist sympathizers and, frankly, white-supremacist members of Congress in that extraction point who I know and who I have felt would disclose my location and would create opportunities to allow me to be hurt [or] kidnapped.”
Ayanna Pressley, the first African American Congresswoman from Massachusetts, did go to the secure room, with people sheltering shoulder to shoulder. “The second I realized our ‘safe room’ from the violent white supremacist mob included treasonous, white supremacist, anti masker Members of Congress who incited the mob in the first place, I exited,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “Furious that more of my colleagues are testing positive.” Her husband, who was with her at the Capitol, has since tested positive for COVID-19.
Pramila Jayapal has also contracted COVID-19, likely in the same, cramped, multi-hour lockdown with unmasked Republicans during the siege. “Only hours after President Trump incited a deadly assault on our Capitol, our country, and our democracy, many Republicans still refused to take the bare minimum COVID-19 precaution and simply wear a damn mask in a crowded room during a pandemic — creating a superspreader event on top of a domestic terrorist attack,” Jayapal said in a statement. Her husband, who was not at the Capitol, has also tested positive.
Congress’ attending physician, Brian Monahan, said in an email four days after the attack, about that secure room, “The time in this room was several hours for some and briefer for others…individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection.”
New Jersey Congressmember Bonnie Watson Coleman was there, and later tested positive. The 75-year-old African American is a recent cancer survivor. “I am angry that after I spent months carefully isolating myself, a single chaotic day likely got me sick,” she wrote in a Washington Post op-ed piece this week. “I am angry that the attack on the Capitol and my subsequent illness have the same cause: my Republican colleagues’ inability to accept facts.” Her case highlights the potentially-lethal risks that mask-deniers selfishly pose on others around them.
Detroit Congressmember Rashida Tlaib was not on the Capitol grounds during the assault, as she wasn’t feeling great after receiving her first COVID-19 vaccination shot. She tweeted on Tuesday, as new security measures were implemented at the Capitol, “Just had to go through a metal detector before entering the House floor. Some colleagues are frustrated (guess which ones) by this requirement. Now they know how HS students in my district feel. Suck it up buttercups. Y’all brought this on yourselves.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set fines of up to $10,000 for Congressmembers who refuse to pass through the metal detectors.
People of color in the United States are more likely to die of gun violence. They are also more likely to contract COVID-19, and when they do, disproportionately suffer more serious consequences, including death. The violent white supremacist insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th put the ugly realities of racism and inequality in this country in stark relief. Taking these on, remains the urgent challenge of our time. Trump’s departure from the Oval Office is only the first step.
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
by admin » Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:15 am
QAnon Shaman’s Alleged Note to Mike Pence: ‘It’s Only a Matter of Time, Justice is Coming’. A new federal court brief describes Jacob Anthony Chansley — aka Jake Angeli — as “the most prominent symbol of a violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government”
by Tim Dickinson
Rolling Stone
January 15, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
A protester screams "Freedom" inside the Senate chamber after the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob during a joint session of Congress on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images
In striking, unvarnished language, the federal government is now describing the events of January 6th as a “violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government” and alleges that “the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials.”
These shocking phrases feature prominently in a new court brief (embedded below) that was filed in the case of Jacob Anthony Chansley — better known as Jake Angeli, or the QAnon Shaman. Chansley participated in the day’s events shirtless, carrying a flag-draped spear, and wearing red and blue face-paint and a horned helmet. As seen in now-famous photographs from the storming of the Capitol, Chansley reached the dais in the Senate chamber. There, the government now alleges, he left a menacing note for Vice President Mike Pence that read: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”
The court filing is the government’s “brief in support of detention,” and it argues that Chansley is dangerous and should remain locked up until trial. Written by Michael Bailey, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, the document describes Chansley as “repeated drug user” who “demonstrates scattered and fanciful thoughts, and is unable to appreciate reality.” It characterizes him as “the shaman of a dangerous extremist group,” QAnon, who “has made himself the most prominent symbol of… a violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government.” It concludes: “His history and characteristics require detention.”
This government brief marks a significant escalation in the rhetoric used to describe the January 6th storming of the Capitol, although Acting U.S. Attorney for
by Tim Dickinson
Rolling Stone
January 15, 2021
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.
A protester screams "Freedom" inside the Senate chamber after the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob during a joint session of Congress on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Win McNamee/Getty Images
In striking, unvarnished language, the federal government is now describing the events of January 6th as a “violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government” and alleges that “the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials.”
These shocking phrases feature prominently in a new court brief (embedded below) that was filed in the case of Jacob Anthony Chansley — better known as Jake Angeli, or the QAnon Shaman. Chansley participated in the day’s events shirtless, carrying a flag-draped spear, and wearing red and blue face-paint and a horned helmet. As seen in now-famous photographs from the storming of the Capitol, Chansley reached the dais in the Senate chamber. There, the government now alleges, he left a menacing note for Vice President Mike Pence that read: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”
The court filing is the government’s “brief in support of detention,” and it argues that Chansley is dangerous and should remain locked up until trial. Written by Michael Bailey, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, the document describes Chansley as “repeated drug user” who “demonstrates scattered and fanciful thoughts, and is unable to appreciate reality.” It characterizes him as “the shaman of a dangerous extremist group,” QAnon, who “has made himself the most prominent symbol of… a violent insurrection that attempted to overthrow the United States Government.” It concludes: “His history and characteristics require detention.”
This government brief marks a significant escalation in the rhetoric used to describe the January 6th storming of the Capitol, although Acting U.S. Attorney for
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Re: Trump lashes out at Gov. Doug Ducey following certificat
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Mitch McConnell reportedly never wants to speak to Trump again after the Capitol riot
by Sonam Sheth
Business Insider
Jan 8, 2021, 8:07 AM
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he never wants to speak to President Donald Trump again following a violent insurrection at the US Capitol on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
The president incited the riot by urging his supporters at a rally on Wednesday "to fight" and march to the Capitol, where Congress was counting electoral votes and finalizing Joe Biden's victory in the November election.
Trump has spent months spinning bogus conspiracy theories about voter fraud and election rigging, while falsely insisting that the race was "stolen" from him and that he is the rightful winner. At Wednesday's rally, the president reiterated those claims. "We will never concede," he said as his supporters cheered.
Throngs of them subsequently stormed the Capitol, clashed with police, broke into the building, ransacked lawmakers' offices, and made it as far as the House and Senate floors.
Lawmakers were debating a Republican challenge to Arizona's electoral votes, but both chambers were forced to go into recess as members, Hill staffers, and reporters sheltered in place or behind makeshift barricades. The attempted coup by the pro-Trump mob left five people dead, including one Capitol Police officer.
After the building was secured and Congress reconvened more than six hours later, McConnell forcefully condemned the rioters.
"The United States Senate will not be intimidated," he said. "We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. We are back at our posts. We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation."
McConnell added: "Even during an ongoing armed rebellion and the Civil War, the clockwork of our democracy has carried on. The United States and the United States Congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today."
"They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed," he said, adding, "This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic."
Congress finished counting the electoral votes shortly before 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, cementing Biden's victory.
On Thursday evening, Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney in Washington, DC, indicated that federal prosecutors were investigating Trump's role in inciting the insurrection.
"We are looking at all actors here, not only the people that went into the building, but ... were there others that maybe assisted or facilitated or played some ancillary role in this," Sherwin told reporters in a phone call.
The Post reported that when Sherwin was pressed on whether that included Trump, he responded: "We are looking at all actors here, and anyone that had a role, if the evidence fits the element of a crime, they're going to be charged."
After Sherwin's comments, the president released a video condemning the violence at the Capitol. The New York Times reported that the president had resisted taping the message and caved when he realized he could face legal trouble because of the riot.
by Sonam Sheth
Business Insider
Jan 8, 2021, 8:07 AM
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he never wants to speak to President Donald Trump again following a violent insurrection at the US Capitol on Wednesday, The Washington Post reported.
The president incited the riot by urging his supporters at a rally on Wednesday "to fight" and march to the Capitol, where Congress was counting electoral votes and finalizing Joe Biden's victory in the November election.
Trump has spent months spinning bogus conspiracy theories about voter fraud and election rigging, while falsely insisting that the race was "stolen" from him and that he is the rightful winner. At Wednesday's rally, the president reiterated those claims. "We will never concede," he said as his supporters cheered.
Throngs of them subsequently stormed the Capitol, clashed with police, broke into the building, ransacked lawmakers' offices, and made it as far as the House and Senate floors.
Lawmakers were debating a Republican challenge to Arizona's electoral votes, but both chambers were forced to go into recess as members, Hill staffers, and reporters sheltered in place or behind makeshift barricades. The attempted coup by the pro-Trump mob left five people dead, including one Capitol Police officer.
After the building was secured and Congress reconvened more than six hours later, McConnell forcefully condemned the rioters.
"The United States Senate will not be intimidated," he said. "We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. We are back at our posts. We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation."
McConnell added: "Even during an ongoing armed rebellion and the Civil War, the clockwork of our democracy has carried on. The United States and the United States Congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today."
"They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed," he said, adding, "This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic."
Congress finished counting the electoral votes shortly before 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, cementing Biden's victory.
On Thursday evening, Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney in Washington, DC, indicated that federal prosecutors were investigating Trump's role in inciting the insurrection.
"We are looking at all actors here, not only the people that went into the building, but ... were there others that maybe assisted or facilitated or played some ancillary role in this," Sherwin told reporters in a phone call.
The Post reported that when Sherwin was pressed on whether that included Trump, he responded: "We are looking at all actors here, and anyone that had a role, if the evidence fits the element of a crime, they're going to be charged."
After Sherwin's comments, the president released a video condemning the violence at the Capitol. The New York Times reported that the president had resisted taping the message and caved when he realized he could face legal trouble because of the riot.
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