Trump's end game? Power at all costs by Ruth Ben-Ghiat CNN Opinion Updated 6:16 AM ET, Thu January 7, 2021
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Ruth Ben-Ghiat (@ruthbenghiat), a frequent contributor to CNN Opinion, is professor of history at New York University and the author of "Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present." The views expressed here are her own. Read more opinion on CNN.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
It's a scene that has repeated itself for over a century: A man appears on the political landscape who seems to stand for something new and grand. Skilled in the arts of self-presentation and emotional manipulation, he captures the hearts and minds of millions, telling them he will clean up the country. Soon, a personality cult forms around him. Religious figures embrace him as a savior who will bring order to a disordered world. And yet, day after day, he courts the most extremist elements in society, encouraging them to see him as a victim of his many enemies. When his power is threatened, he summons them to defend him, throwing his country into chaos -- or even dragging it into civil war.
This is the authoritarian playbook, a mode of governance and set of tactics that President Donald Trump has followed since he ran for office and has been relying on more than ever since he was defeated in the November 3rd election. The events of January 6th, when armed Trump supporters stormed Congress, fit this pattern perfectly.
Leaving office quietly is not a hallmark of leaders like Trump, who live in fear of the loss of adulation and power that defeat brings -- and the prospect of prosecution for their misdeeds once they no longer have presidential immunity. Trump had reportedly explored a variety of options to pull off a "self-coup" and stay in office illegally. He was reportedly advised to consider martial law -- though General Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had previously disavowed military involvement in politics -- and electoral manipulation (pressuring state officials to "find votes," as Trump did with Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and trying to get Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the Electoral College results). Nothing worked -- stealing an election proved to be hard to pull off.
So the President played his last hand, one he'd prepared carefully: activating the far-right groups and militias he'd long supported. His comment during a September presidential debate to the Proud Boys to "Stand back and stand by" let them and groups like them think that he'd likely call on them one day. He had already tweeted an invitation to his followers to convene in Washington DC on Wednesday, and at a rally stoked their anger and played the victim, telling them the election had been rigged and they should not "take it anymore" -- an implicit invitation to action.
As for his followers, the history of authoritarianism tells us that those who feel their leader is endangered can become extremely volatile. Here the highly effective propaganda war waged by Trump and his allies matters: Although Trump lost the election two months ago, for his followers, he was the winner who had unjustly been deprived of what was rightfully his. Add in the culture of armed insurgency and the anti-democratic, extremist beliefs many of these groups espouse, and the solution of "direct action" -- namely, an armed takeover of the halls of power to save the leader -- becomes compelling. Thus did men and women, some armed, breach the Capitol building, forcing the evacuation of lawmakers and staff.
Kyle Chapman, a California activist arrested earlier this month in a clash in Berkeley between anti-fascist protesters and pro-Trump demonstrators, announced this week he is forming the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights (cleverly called “FOAK").
Chapman, who uses the Internet meme “Based Stick Man,” says his new militant, highly-masculine group will be the “tactical defensive arm” of the Proud Boys, another group that shows up at pro-Trump rallies looking to rumble with counter-protesters.
“We don’t fear the fight. We are the fight,” Chapman said in a recent social media post announcing FOAK’s formation....
Although there initially aren’t any overt racist themes, the new group of street fighters sounds quite similar to a neo-Nazi “fight club” called the “DIY Division.” Members of that white supremacist group showed up last month in Huntington Beach, California, mingling with an estimated 2,000 Trump supporters.
The Proud Boys reportedly have a four-step initiation process. It starts with a prospect declaring himself a “Proud Boy,” suiting up in Fred Perry polo shirts with yellow stripes—similar to those worn by skinheads.
The second degree is a “cereal beat-in” during which the new member is punched and beaten by current members until the plebe can rattle off the names of five cereals (you know, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheerios!)
The third degree reported involves “adhering to the masturbation regimen and getting a tattoo,” blogger Will Sommer wrote in a recent post.
Since then, a fourth-degree has been added to the initiation ritual – brawling with antifascists at public rallies.
Chapman said his Proud Boys’ affiliate, Alt-Knights, are ready to take it to the streets.
“Our emphasis will be on street activism, preparation, defense and confrontation,” he said. “We will protect and defend our right wing brethren when the police and government fail to do so.”
Chapman says his organization “is for those that possess the Warrior Spirit. The weak or timid need not apply.”
Trump, of course, was not in the building. He set the fire, but was careful not to be in a position to get burned by it or control it. Only hours after the Capitol was stormed did Trump issue a statement telling his supporters to "Go home now," but doubling down on his claim of a fraudulent election "that was stolen from us." This is not a statement meant to bring peace, but rather to continue his politics of resentment and keep his followers angry -- and tied to him.
I will not easily forget the sights -- the Capitol building filled with armed extremists, or a man occupying Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's office, triumphantly sitting in her chair. Nor should any America who cares about our republic. Trump promised "law and order" but delivered lawlessness. His extremist rhetoric and attempts to undo the voice and will of American voters were aided and abetted by the Republican Party, an organization that, thanks to Trump, has left democracy behind. Today the mask is finally off and Americans can see the true ideology of Trump and his allies: power, to be held onto any at cost.
New "Fight Club" Ready for Street Violence: A new fight club “fraternity” of young white, pro-Trump men is being formed, its organizers claim, to defend free-speech rights by “Alt-Right” leaders and engage in street fighting. by Bill Morlin Southern Poverty Law Center April 25, 2017
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[Rudy Giuliani] Hello! Hello, everyone! We’re here, just very briefly, to make a very important: two points: No. 1: Every single thing that has been outlined as the plan for today, is perfectly legal....SO LET’S HAVE TRIAL BY COMBAT!...hey picked states where they had crooked Democratic cities, where they could push everybody around, AND IT HAS TO BE VINDICATED TO SAVE OUR REPUBLIC. This is BIGGER THAN DONALD TRUMP! It is BIGGER than you and me....This has been a year in which they have invaded our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, our freedom to move, our freedom to live, AND I’LL BE DARNED IF THEY’RE GONNA TAKE AWAY OUR FREE AND FAIR VOTE! AND WE’RE GOING TO FIGHT TO THE VERY END TO MAKE SURE THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN!
[Donald Trump, Jr.] HELLO, PATRIOTS! Hey, guys. You actually all did something, I didn’t realize was possible. I’m looking at the crowd here, and the tens of thousands – probably 100,000 plus people here – AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT BURNING DOWN BUILDINGS? YOU DID IT WITHOUT RIPPING DOWN CHURCHES?! WITHOUT LOOTING?! I didn’t know that that was possible! According to the media, when you have a large gathering of peaceful protesters, they are supposed to burn it all down! [Crowd laughs] So guys, we can do it right....
So to those Republicans, many of which may be voting on things in the coming hours: you have an opportunity today. You can be a hero, or you can be a zero! And the choice is yours, but we are all watching! The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely, because if you just roll over, if you don’t fight in the face of glaring irregularities, and statistical impossibilities –
[Crowd] FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP!
[Donald Trump, Jr.] That’s right, guys! That’s the message! These guys better fight for Trump, because if they’re not, guess what? I’M GOING TO BE IN YOUR BACK YARD IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS. [Points] Guys like Scott, here. Look at – wow, okay, I can’t go through the whole list, because I don’t have 45 minutes to go through all the patriots that have been fighting, have been on the ground, that have mobilized to put good Republicans in those positions. GUESS WHAT, FOLKS? IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE THE ZERO, AND NOT THE HERO, WE’RE COMING FOR YOU, AND WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A GOOD TIME DOING IT!
WE’VE GOT TO START FIGHTING like the Democrats do. Right? We gotta play their game. We gotta take their fight to them their way...
SO STAY IN THIS FIGHT! STAY LOUD! DON’T BE SUPPRESSED! DON’T BE PUT IN YOUR CORNER! DON’T LET THEM CANCEL YOU!...SO STAY IN THIS FIGHT! STAY LOUD! DON’T BE SUPPRESSED! DON’T BE PUT IN YOUR CORNER! DON’T LET THEM CANCEL YOU!
[President Donald Trump] We’re going to have to fight much harder and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our constitution. Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down any one you want, but I think right here. We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong...
The Republicans have to get tougher. You’re not going to have a Republican party if you don’t get tougher. They want to play so straight, they want to play so, “Sir, yes, the United States, the constitution doesn’t allow me to send them back to the States.” Well, I say, “Yes, it does because the constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our constitution and you can’t vote on fraud,” and fraud breaks up everything, doesn’t it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules. So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do...
And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore...
So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give… The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.
Kyle Chapman, a California activist arrested earlier this month in a clash in Berkeley between anti-fascist protesters and pro-Trump demonstrators, announced this week he is forming the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights (cleverly called “FOAK").
During the years of the Third Reich, the term Volk became heavily used in nationalistic political slogans, particularly in slogans such as Volk ohne Raum – "(a) people or race without space" or Völkischer Beobachter ("popular or racial observer"), an NSDAP party newspaper. Also the political slogan Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer ("One nation or race, one realm, one leader"); the compound word Herrenvolk, translated as "master race"; the "Volksjäger" jet fighter, translated as "people's fighter"; and the term Volksgemeinschaft, translated as "people's community".
The term Volk, in the vision of Nazis, had a broad set of meanings, and referred sometimes to the entirety of German nation and other times to the Nordic race. In the writings of leading Nazi thinkers, such as Alfred Rosenberg and Hans Günther several Völker or "peoples" made up a Rasse or "race", so these two terms did not always denote the same concept.
-- Volk, by Wikipedia
Chapman, who uses the Internet meme “Based Stick Man,” says his new militant, highly-masculine group will be the “tactical defensive arm” of the Proud Boys, another group that shows up at pro-Trump rallies looking to rumble with counter-protesters.
“We don’t fear the fight. We are the fight,” Chapman said in a recent social media post announcing FOAK’s formation.
A fan's photoshop edit of an image of Chapman.
“I’m proud to announce that my newly created Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights will be partnering with Proud Boys,” Chapman said, with the “full-approval” of its founder, Gavin McInnes.
McInnes is a co-founder of Vice (although he and the magazine severed ties 10 years ago) and more recently has been a frequent guest on FOX News and a contributor for the racist site VDARE where he denigrated Muslims and called Asian Americans “slopes” and “riceballs.”
Now described as a “neo-masculine reactionary,” McInnes calls his Proud Boys a “pro-West fraternal organization.”
Others describe it as the military arm of the Alt-Right.
And now there’s “FOAK,” which Chapman proudly describes as a “fraternal organization,” a Proud Boys affiliate chapter, “with its own bylaws, constitution, rituals and vetting processes.”
Although there initially aren’t any overt racist themes, the new group of street fighters sounds quite similar to a neo-Nazi “fight club” called the “DIY Division.” Members of that white supremacist group showed up last month in Huntington Beach, California, mingling with an estimated 2,000 Trump supporters.
The Proud Boys reportedly have a four-step initiation process. It starts with a prospect declaring himself a “Proud Boy,” suiting up in Fred Perry polo shirts with yellow stripes—similar to those worn by skinheads.
The second degree is a “cereal beat-in” during which the new member is punched and beaten by current members until the plebe can rattle off the names of five cereals (you know, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Cheerios!)
The third degree reported involves “adhering to the masturbation regimen and getting a tattoo,” blogger Will Sommer wrote in a recent post.
Since then, a fourth-degree has been added to the initiation ritual – brawling with antifascists at public rallies.
Chapman said his Proud Boys’ affiliate, Alt-Knights, are ready to take it to the streets.
“Our emphasis will be on street activism, preparation, defense and confrontation,” he said. “We will protect and defend our right wing brethren when the police and government fail to do so.”
Chapman says his organization “is for those that possess the Warrior Spirit. The weak or timid need not apply.”
Fight Club at 20: A vision of Trump’s United States: David Fincher’s film, starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, was eerily prescient by Scott Tobias Guardian Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 06:00
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Fight Club: Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in David Fincher’s 1999 film
When Fight Club was released, 20 years ago, it was a crystal ball that was mistaken for a cultural crisis, much like Do the Right Thing had been a decade earlier and perhaps Joker is now.
Film-makers who were trying to identify a violence nesting in American culture were accused of trying to incite it – or at least clumsily juggling lit sticks of dynamite. No less an authority than Roger Ebert opened his review of David Fincher’s film by calling it “the most frankly and cheerfully fascist big-star movie since Death Wish”, echoing widespread concern that impressionable men would lock into the empowering brutality of Tyler Durden and the army that gathers around him. Viewed from a certain angle, it looked like a recruitment film.
What Fight Club missed in 1999 – and comes oh so close to getting – is how much the rage it identifies is connected to white supremacy
What cannot be predicted, however, is how items like Fight Club will shift during flight. It becomes easier to appreciate the ambiguities of the film when it no longer feels like a clear and present danger. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Fincher’s point of view isn’t confusing or contradictory all these years later, but the culture tends to move quickly from threat to threat, and it’s helpful to have enough distance to see the world it’s depicting more clearly. Whatever you think about Fight Club in 2019, it’s probably not exactly what you thought about it in 1999, if only because so much of what it describes has manifested itself in the real world or been distorted beyond recognition.
Let’s begin at the end, as the film does, when a series of detonations leads to the collapse of downtown office buildings. It wouldn’t even be two years later that a terrorist cell would bring down the World Trade Center towers, those symbols of American financial might, and the motives of al-Qaeda and the film’s Project Mayhem are not that dissimilar. Both were attacking the soft centre of the United States as they understood it, except in Fight Club the idea was to raze the country and start over, because consumerism had anaesthetised it and hollowed out its soul.
Fight Club: Edward Norton in David Fincher’s 1999 film
The final image of two people holding hands as the Pixies’ Where Is My Mind? blares on the soundtrack could be seen as nihilistic, but it’s secretly thrilling to imagine the possibilities of starting over after a hard reboot. (It also helps to know that the explosions are about taking down institutions, not people, more The Weather Underground than Osama bin Laden.)
It all begins, as many terrible things do, with the pissy aggrievement of a young white male. Much like Ron Livingston in Office Space, another cult classic from the same year, Edward Norton’s unnamed narrator has tired of the deadening routines that define his life. The difference is that what’s bothering Norton isn’t cubicle culture alone but also his realisation that he’s a cog in a terrible corporate machine.
His day job is to calculate the necessity of automobile recalls under a formula: “Take the number of vehicles in the field A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.”
Many of his later actions are explained by the emptiness of being defined by the things he buys – most famously, the Ikea catalogue that accounts for the interior of his apartment – but his work matters, too. He knows first-hand that capitalism will let people die if it’s better for the bottom line.
What are the Proud Boys if not a roving gang of Project Mayhem thugs? Or the tiki-torch-bearers of Charlottesville? Fight Club saw it coming
The Narrator’s need to feel something at all draws him first to terminal-disease support groups at the local Episcopal church and later to the anarchist philosophy of Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), who makes him feel the old-fashioned way – by punching him hard in the gut. The twist of Tyler’s true identity – fully earned, incidentally, by the many times Fincher hints at it – says a lot about the conversation the Narrator has with himself about what he thinks he needs and how it develops into a messianic vision that completely gets away from him. But those first punches are an expression of brute masculinity that hit him like a cold splash of water to the face. Men are simple creatures in that way.
As the fight clubs metastasise around the United States, Tyler’s prebrawl speeches shift from stating the rules to spouting off about his generation being “the middle children of history”, without a World War or a Great Depression to give it purpose. (“Our Great War is a spiritual war,” he says. “Our Great Depression is our lives.”) The implication is that all that masculine energy needs an outlet, and as Generation X hasn’t been provided with one, it will have to find some other way to channel its inchoate rage. And it’s here where the film’s meaning can get a little slippery: how much of what Tyler is saying is to be understood as nonsense? And if it’s not nonsense, then how much does the film implicitly endorse?
What we may be witnessing in not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. This is not to say that there will no longer be events to fill the pages of Foreign Affairs's yearly summaries of international relations, for the victory of liberalism has occurred primarily in the realm of ideas or consciousness and is as yet incomplete in the real or material world. But there are powerful reasons for believing that it is the ideal that will govern the material world in the long run...
Kojève sought to resurrect the Hegel of the Phenomenology of Mind, the Hegel who proclaimed history to be at an end in 1806. For as early as this Hegel saw in Napoleon's defeat of the Prussian monarchy at the Battle of Jena the victory of the ideals of the French Revolution, and the imminent universalization of the state incorporating the principles of liberty and equality. Kojève, far from rejecting Hegel in light of the turbulent events of the next century and a half, insisted that the latter had been essentially correct. The Battle of Jena marked the end of history because it was at that point that the vanguard of humanity (a term quite familiar to Marxists) actualized the principles of the French Revolution. While there was considerable work to be done after 1806 -- abolishing slavery and the slave trade, extending the franchise to workers, women, blacks, and other racial minorities, etc. -- the basic principles of the liberal democratic state could not be improved upon...
The state that emerges at the end of history is liberal insofar as it recognize and protects through a system of law man's universal right to freedom, and democratic insofar as it exists only with the consent of the governed. For Kojève, this so-called "universal homogenous state" found real-life embodiment in the countries of postwar Western Europe -- precisely those flabby, prosperous, self-satisfied, inward-looking, weak-willed states whose grandest project was nothing more heroic than the creation of the Common Market. But this was only to be expected. For human history and the conflict that characterized it was based on the existence of "contradictions": primitive man's quest for mutual recognition, the dialectic of the master and slave, the transformation and mastery of nature, the struggle for the universal recognition of rights, and the dichotomy between proletarian and capitalist. But in the universal homogenous state, all prior contradictions are resolved and all human needs are satisfied.
Fight Club: Brad Pitt in David Fincher’s 1999 film
The fact that the fight clubs lead into Project Mayhem, a full-on terrorist organisation, should lay the second question to rest. In his efforts to satisfy a personal need, the Narrator/Tyler has set off a bush fire that rages out of control, and he’s powerless to keep it from consuming the world. Working from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, Fincher and his screenwriter, Jim Uhls, only identify with their hero(es) up to the point when the Narrator/Tyler still has some control over the situation.
The film does recognise a phenomenon where men are waking in anger from a culture intended to numb or emasculate them, but it also sees in that the presence of sickening misogyny and the potential for fascism. And, contrary to Ebert’s review, it panics right alongside the Narrator, who goes so far as to shoot himself in the head to stop it.
What Fight Club missed in 1999 – and comes oh so close to getting – is how much the rage it identifies is connected to white supremacy. But the world it anticipated is now upon us, with a host of Tyler Durdens marshalling attacks on perceived enemies and twisting the meaning of “snowflake”, a term used in Palahniuk’s book and popularised in the movie (“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake”), to taunt the vulnerable. What are the Proud Boys if not a roving gang of Project Mayhem thugs? Or the tiki-torch-bearers of Charlottesville? Fight Club saw it coming, with thrilling vividness and wit and technical panache. Just don’t shoot the messenger.
Facebook's fight club: how the Proud Boys use the social media platform to vet their fighters: Want to join the far-right group the Proud Boys? Simply apply to your nearest regional vetting page on the world’s largest social network, Facebook. by Southern Poverty Law Center August 02, 2018
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[Rudy Giuliani] Hello! Hello, everyone! We’re here, just very briefly, to make a very important: two points: No. 1: Every single thing that has been outlined as the plan for today, is perfectly legal....SO LET’S HAVE TRIAL BY COMBAT!...hey picked states where they had crooked Democratic cities, where they could push everybody around, AND IT HAS TO BE VINDICATED TO SAVE OUR REPUBLIC. This is BIGGER THAN DONALD TRUMP! It is BIGGER than you and me....This has been a year in which they have invaded our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, our freedom to move, our freedom to live, AND I’LL BE DARNED IF THEY’RE GONNA TAKE AWAY OUR FREE AND FAIR VOTE! AND WE’RE GOING TO FIGHT TO THE VERY END TO MAKE SURE THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN!
[Donald Trump, Jr.] HELLO, PATRIOTS! Hey, guys. You actually all did something, I didn’t realize was possible. I’m looking at the crowd here, and the tens of thousands – probably 100,000 plus people here – AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT BURNING DOWN BUILDINGS? YOU DID IT WITHOUT RIPPING DOWN CHURCHES?! WITHOUT LOOTING?! I didn’t know that that was possible! According to the media, when you have a large gathering of peaceful protesters, they are supposed to burn it all down! [Crowd laughs] So guys, we can do it right....
So to those Republicans, many of which may be voting on things in the coming hours: you have an opportunity today. You can be a hero, or you can be a zero! And the choice is yours, but we are all watching! The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely, because if you just roll over, if you don’t fight in the face of glaring irregularities, and statistical impossibilities –
[Crowd] FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP! FIGHT FOR TRUMP!
[Donald Trump, Jr.] That’s right, guys! That’s the message! These guys better fight for Trump, because if they’re not, guess what? I’M GOING TO BE IN YOUR BACK YARD IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS. [Points] Guys like Scott, here. Look at – wow, okay, I can’t go through the whole list, because I don’t have 45 minutes to go through all the patriots that have been fighting, have been on the ground, that have mobilized to put good Republicans in those positions. GUESS WHAT, FOLKS? IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE THE ZERO, AND NOT THE HERO, WE’RE COMING FOR YOU, AND WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A GOOD TIME DOING IT!
WE’VE GOT TO START FIGHTING like the Democrats do. Right? We gotta play their game. We gotta take their fight to them their way...
SO STAY IN THIS FIGHT! STAY LOUD! DON’T BE SUPPRESSED! DON’T BE PUT IN YOUR CORNER! DON’T LET THEM CANCEL YOU!...SO STAY IN THIS FIGHT! STAY LOUD! DON’T BE SUPPRESSED! DON’T BE PUT IN YOUR CORNER! DON’T LET THEM CANCEL YOU!
[President Donald Trump] We’re going to have to fight much harder and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our constitution. Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. After this, we’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you. We’re going to walk down. We’re going to walk down any one you want, but I think right here. We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong...
The Republicans have to get tougher. You’re not going to have a Republican party if you don’t get tougher. They want to play so straight, they want to play so, “Sir, yes, the United States, the constitution doesn’t allow me to send them back to the States.” Well, I say, “Yes, it does because the constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our constitution and you can’t vote on fraud,” and fraud breaks up everything, doesn’t it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules. So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do...
And we fight. We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore...
So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give… The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.
The fraternal order of “Western chauvinists” received one of its biggest promotional boosts since its founding when Ethan Nordean — who goes by the nickname “Rufio Panman” — delivered a knockout blow to an antifascist protester in the streets of Portland, Oregon, at a rally on June 30.
Six of the Proud Boys’ largest private “vetting pages” on Facebook — groups where administrators review applicants for approval into a private chatroom where local chapters are organized — have experienced an explosion in recruits in the last 30 days since the melee in Portland, jumping nearly 70 percent according to the metrics Facebook makes public. This represents 823 potential new members (including international members).
These private vetting pages serve as ideological echo chambers and as spaces for planning and putting out calls for action, helping place Proud Boys on the ground. The Proud Boys once attempted to set up their own private web forum called the “Proud Boards” but it failed.
“Seeing that soy boy antifa scum get knocked the f--- out has been the highlight of my year. Ive [sic] watched it over and over,” wrote one new member in a vetting page on Facebook. “[If] you want to find out about the Proud Boys, looks [sic] at the dozens of videos of the Portland Rally when antifa attached the March and got streamrolled and some of them put in the hospital," wrote another member. "Here's a slogan for you, f--- around and find out."
“Our vetting page has 100 plus guys being vetted atm,” wrote a page administrator last week.
Nordean’s now viral punch was not the only violence that occurred during the rally that descended into a riot. Multiple gang beatings were caught on video and one person reportedly suffered a cranial hemorrhage.
Nor was Nordean’s brawling the first time a member of the Proud Boys publicly engaged in violence or made serious threats of violence to political enemies.
• In May, a Proud Boy appeared at the home of a video editor in an effort to intimidate him. The video editor had published videos lampooning the group and its founder, Gavin McInnes. • On June 3, Donovan Flippo, a Proud Boy, and Allen Puckett of the rabidly anti-LGBT Hells Shaking Street Preachers, were filmed attacking a man outside of a parking garage. • On June 8, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, a Proud Boy and muscle for U.S. Senate candidate Joey Gibson of another far-right group Patriot Prayer, emerged from a group of men in a truck who were shouting “support Trump build the wall!” and punched a man in the face, according to the victim. • After the Portland riot on June 30, a freelance journalist was threatened on Twitter by a Proud Boys who wrote “We aren’t going to let you lie about us anymore and we are going to beat the ever living shit out of every single one of your douche-bag comrades who assaults us from now on.”
Fighting is part of the group’s DNA, which reserves the “fourth degree” of its membership to those who engage in street brawls with antifascists. McInnes, no stranger to physical altercations, uses his podcast to gin up rage about “antifa” and muse about violence.
“[O]ur adversaries want to not silence speech, [but] kill the person talking," McInnes said in a recent episode discussing the far-right free speech martyr Tommy Robinson. "And that will be a huge victory for them. So the reaction has been very good on our side of things. We’ve said ‘no you’re not going to kill Tommy - we’re going to kill you! We’re going to fight back!’"
Recruiting, planning on Facebook
This escalating rhetoric should be a concern for Facebook. While Twitter has received significant criticism for verifying Proud Boys accounts, it’s Facebook that appears to provide the recruitment machinery for the group. Nordean, for example, is a member of the “Northwest PB Vetting Page and Trans Positive Safe Space” private group on Facebook. In the past 30 days Nordean’s group has posted 603 times and added 190 new members.
In April, Facebook released its formerly internal Community Standards in an effort to reassure its users and the public that the company was committed to creating a safe social media platform.
In a section titled “Credible Violence” the company outlines its goal to “prevent potential real-world harm that may be related to content on Facebook.” There are subsections on “Promoting or Publicizing Crime,” and “Coordinating Harm,” which state that Facebook “prohibits people from facilitating or coordinating future criminal activity that is intended or likely to cause harm to people, businesses, or animals.”
In a recent interview with Recode, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reiterated the company’s hard line on content and users that promote violence.
The principles that we have on what we remove from the service are: If it’s going to result in real harm, real physical harm, or if you’re attacking individuals, then that content shouldn’t be on the platform.
Asked for comment, Facebook responded that Nordean's private vetting group did not violate its community standards. "In evaluating content, we look closely at context. In deciding whether to remove or leave up references to violence, we look at numerous factors, such as the source, the specific speech in question, the target, and other considerations." The company added:
We are always thinking about how we can improve our policies and be more nuanced with our enforcement. When it comes to enforcement of our Community Standards against Pages, for example, we hold both Pages and Page admins responsible for the content they post. Similarly, we recently introduced nuance into our Groups enforcement policies – now, in determining whether a Group violates, we don’t just look at the content posted to the Group; we take additional signals into account when determining if an entire Group violates. For example, if a group admin is involved in the violating behavior, that will serve as a strong signal that the group's motivation is hateful/incendiary.
More violence in Portland?
In the view of the Proud Boys, the violence they inflict is a defensive measure against violent counter protesters and without a doubt, counter protestors have also engaged in violence.
But reporters who’ve covered their rallies have documented how weak this argument is. It is clear that the Proud Boys show up to fight. As Hatewatch correspondent David Neiwert wrote recently for The Baffler:
Listening to them bait the counter-protesters with ugly speech, and talk among themselves about fighting tactics, it was clear the “free speech” they wanted to defend was bigoted and threatening. The lofty constitutional principles were little more than a pretext: they were there mostly to bash some “leftist” heads. That was plain enough in the Facebook posts promoting the latest Patriot Prayer rally, which warned in faux-biblical cadences that “the liberal-occupied streets of Portland will be CLEANSED. “Recourse will be swift,” it went on to intone, “for those who wish to oppress our freedoms . . . And the hands of Justice shall smite them with a vengeance heretofore to these ne’er-do-wells.” And if this were somehow less than clear, another post advertised a $25 T-shirt bearing the legend “Better Dead Than Red,” with a headstone reading “RIP Rose City Antifa,” above a #LetthePatriotGamesBegin hashtag.
The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer are planning another rally for Saturday, August 4 in Portland and the groups are again ramping up their violent rhetoric on Facebook. “WE’RE READY FOR COMBAT AND ANYBODY WHO CHALLENGES US IS GONNA GET IT,” reads a comment on Patriot Prayer’s private Facebook page. “Wear Kevlar and conceal carry for those licensed to do so,” reads another.
All the details for the rally can also be found on Facebook, the same company whose new mission it is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”
Why Arrest Warrants Should Issue for Trump, Don Jr., Rudy & Others for the Jan. 6 US Capitol Riot by Glenn Kirschner Jan 11, 2021
Donald Trump and others encouraged, instigated and incited the riot at the US Capitol on January 6. Worse yet, Trump made sure there were no executive branch law enforcement resources deployed to protect those in the Capitol building (given that the US Capitol Police are an agency controlled by Congress, not the executive branch). Trump, Don Jr., Rudy Giuliani and others incited the crowd to march on and, in a very real sense, attack, the US Capitol, putting EVERYONE in the building - janitorial staff, administrative staff, members of Congress and even Vice President Pence - at imminent risk of serious injury or worse.
There generally are three ways to initiate a criminal case: a probable cause arrest, an arrest warrant and/or a grand jury indictment. Here's an explanation of the difference among the three and why an arrest warrant is the best approach at this moment in time for Trump and the others.
Michael Moore: The Terrorist Attack Is NOT Over. Rumble with Michael Moore podcast EP. 153 Premiered Jan 9, 2021
Many of the attackers are still in D.C. They were aided and abetted by certain members of the police, military and Republican party. And Wednesday's terror attack was just a dry run for what they are planning next. Michael Moore shares his latest, urgent thoughts on the terror attack that occurred this week and the one we must prepare for.
TRANSCRIPT:
[Michael Moore] Hello, everyone. This is Michael Moore here. My apologies for interrupting your Saturday night. I’m sure there are much better things to be doing right now than listening to me on a facebook live. But I was going to wait and do this tomorrow, but the sense of urgency I have about what I think is going on right now, and why I believe that Wednesday was not the end of what we’re going to be dealing with between now and inauguration day.
In the last couple of days there have been posters plastered all over Washington, D.C.s and across many of our state capitols, calling for an armed march – AN ARMED MARCH – a march where you come with your guns, a march on the Capitol in D.C. And I don’t want to give it any attention in some sense, so I’m just going to say it’s scheduled for a day during inauguration week, and they are calling upon all patriots to march on the U.S. Capitol and on all 50 state capitols with guns, and take back our country.
I was first shown this poster that they created – it’s been now over two days – and it was given to me by two members of Congress who shared it with me as they are very frightened about what may be happening in the next week and a half. And we all discussed whether or not we should post it. I posted it on my Instagram finally today, and Instagram took it down. They don’t want to promote this potentially violent march. And I don’t blame them. But I think it’s important that you, the public, know about it.
I’ve been watching the news here today. I don’t see a whole lot of mention of it. They’re certainly not showing the poster that’s plastered all over the country, and all over online. But that’s the plan.
And so I thought that I wanted to do two things tonight, and I’ll try not to take too much time right here. One is to alert you to what I think is going to be happening, and the second thing is I want to talk about how Wednesday happened, so that we can learn from that. We’ll learn quickly from that so that perhaps we can avoid some of what’s being planned in the next 10 or 11 days.
Now I’m not doing this because I want to scare you. I’ve received a lot of mail from all of you this week, and a lot of posts on social media, about how depressed and despondent and horrified you are, and of course, if we are stuck in that place, it will be very hard to beat back these threats. It doesn’t have to end up like this the way they want it to end up. And as I’ve often said, there’s far more of us than there are of them, even though I realize 74 million votes for Trump are a lot of votes. But those 74 million, they’re not all armed, and they’re not all going to D.C. or the state capitol to cause trouble.
But I do just want to take a look and give you my thoughts. And a lot of this is just my hunch. So this isn’t a work of journalism, although I have interviewed and spoken to, online or on the phone, with a number of people that we call “leaders” in this country, people who are in Congress, people who work on Capitol Hill, ex-military, ex-cops, people that got out because they didn’t want to participate in a system that simply wasn’t right. So I’ve gotten a lot of insight, and I’ve been told a lot of things, and I want to share them with you.
And some of this is stuff you’re not hearing on the mainstream media, but they’re supposed to be giving you the news. I’m going to give you my hunch of what I think is going on, and what happened on Wednesday.
We all know who instigated the riot, the insurrection. His words were very clear there down by the Washington monument, with a massive crowd that had to have been 40 or 50,000 people, who he asked to come to D.C. to fight these people on Capitol Hill, who were going to give the election to the person who won the election. And it was an amazing crowd in terms of its size. And Trump and Giuliani and Don, Jr. were vicious in their language about how this had to be stopped. Giuliani said this has to be a trial by battle. Don, Jr. said that we’re going to march up Pennsylvania Avenue and take care of all the zeros up there, because there are no heroes, they’re just zeros on Capitol Hill. And of course Trump saying, now we’re going to march up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Building, and I’m going to march with you – this is just minutes before he went and got in his limousine and went back two blocks to the White House to hide out. He sends everybody out to do his dirty work, but if you’ve been in the military or if you’ve lived a life in this country, you know that the working people, the poor, are always the ones being used by those in power, those with money, to go do their dirty work.
And so the thousands were sent off and up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol building, fired up to have the insurrection that had been promised to them for weeks.
Let me tell you something. I have filmed numerous times in the U.S. Capitol building, and in the Congressional offices for both the House and the Senate. I’ve done this for over 30 years. I can tell you first of all, it is impossible to get into these buildings. It is extremely difficult. Don’t think I haven’t tried to get my crew and my camera and everything in there. It is just virtually impossible. So there is a system to follow. If you’re bringing a crew and equipment in, everything has to be gone through. And it isn’t easy, and it takes time, and there are a ton of police there, Capitol police. And last Wednesday, there’s about 2,300 Capitol police that exist on the Capitol police force. There were less than 500 who were called into work that day, on a day when for weeks it was known that tens of thousands of angry people who said they were going to stop the vote count, the counting of the votes of the American people, the electoral votes, they were going to go to D.C. and stop it by any means necessary – that was their mission. And everybody knew it. So much to the extent that I have spoken to a number of members of Congress and their staff, and every single person that I’ve spoke to said that on Tuesday, the day before, they told their staff not to come into work on Wednesday because they didn’t feel it was going to be safe. And so much of the staff of many members of Congress were not there on Wednesday. They were home, to protect themselves.
So it was known! It was known by the members of Congress that this was going to be a potentially dangerous day. And when these members showed up to work early Wednesday morning, I can’t tell you how many have commented to me, or have commented to the media, how bizarre it seemed that when they pulled into the parking lot there behind the Capitol building, or when they walked through the grounds to go into work, how few police were around, knowing this was going to be such a huge protest day, and yet it felt like, as one person told me, it felt like a Saturday on Capitol Hill. That’s what it looked like.
So right away somebody made the decision to pull back, and not have the proper amount of police there. Jim Clyburn who is the third in command in the democratic party there in the House of Representatives, he said he pulled in and he said it looked bizarre. That’s the word he used: it looked” bizarre” to him that there just wasn’t much of a presence there.
So they all knew. They all knew. And they trusted that the Capitol Police somehow had a plan, they were going to be there to protect them, and everybody went into work and assumed nothing was going to happen, until it did.
I want to tell you too, that having worked in there, and having filmed in there, it is so difficult to get your bearings straight, to know where you’re at, to find anything. As I sit here right now, I cannot tell you where Nancy Pelosi’s office is, as many times as I’ve been in there. I cannot give you directions right now to the Speaker of the House’s office. There are so many tunnels underneath the Capitol building. They go out to five or six office buildings where the members of Congress and the Senators have their personal offices. Each of those buildings have five or six floors, at least. It’s very hard to find your way. You know that if you’ve ever gone there to drop in to see your member of Congress.
The one thing that is good about Capitol Hills is that if you are a citizen who wants to see your representative, you can do that. You can go look at the, “Okay, it’s in that building and it’s that office number,” and then you walk there. You go through the Police, you go through the metal detector, you go through the wanding – everything they do – and then you can go see your representative the way it should be in a democracy. It should not feel like a police state. It should feel like it’s open to any of us to go in there.
How did they find Nancy Pelosi’s office? How did they find Jim Clyburn’s secret office? As the majority whip, he has a unmarked office. They didn’t go to his real office that his name is on the door – they found his secret office that the majority whip uses. They found places in there that even I, who have worked there for so many years as a filmmaker, I could not tell you where they are at. I didn’t know Clyburn had a secret office. I mean, it’s that hard.
And why I’m saying all this is that it’s clear to me that this was a bit of an inside job, that Republicans who are either members of the House or Senate of their staff, or some of them, helped the leaders and the instigators of this mob. The mob knew right were to go. The mob did not walk in there like a bunch of yahoos, like “Well, Jesus, firs time I’ve been in here. Look at all the marble. No. NO! They knew right where to go, they knew the doors to find the floor of the chamber of the House and the Senate, how to get there, they knew the tunnels – they knew it all! And when there is an investigation of this and how it happened, we’re going to find out the truth. And hopefully we’ll find out who helped them. Because I’m tell you, this crowd could not have done it on their own. And I’m not saying they hadn’t done their own reconnaissance in the weeks leading up to this. I’m sure they did. But take my word for it, no average citizen could do what they did and get to where they got as quickly as they got without some help, without knowing, and without having police and law enforcement turn their heads and look the other way, or open the door for them. You’ve seen the footage. Or, what was the one with the New York Times, one of them said, “Where’s Chuck Schumer’s office,” and the cop showed them the way.
Over and over, you hear these stories the last couple of days on how helpful law enforcement was, once these people had broken in, and were already committing felonies, were already violating the law, were already knocking over statues, busting doors, busting windows! “Hey, could you tell me where Chuck Schumer’s office is?” “Well, yes I can, you just go down that hallways there, make a right, then a left, and it’s door 362.” Hmmm.
There were a lot of police that didn’t aid and abet, actual everyday Capitol police who fought back, who tried to block some of these doors, who got caught in the doors – you’ve seen the footage of the one young police officer bleeding. They were violently trying to come into the floor of the House, of the Senate, they wanted to grab the boxes with the electoral votes, and destroy them, they wanted to stop – you and me – our votes from being counted, as we prepared to inaugurate the next President of the United States. They wanted that not to happen.
And afterwards, they’re like – some who got out of there – “They maced me! They maced me!” Have you seen that woman? Yes, there were a lot of women there. Remember, when I say men or women, we’re talking about white people here. All right? Let’s just be honest. That’s the only reason they got away with it. Had they been black or brown people, they never would have got two steps in the door. But there were a number of the white women – 55% of the white women who voted for Trump – were there representing the majority of white women who wanted four more years of Donald Trump, and then were shocked that the police were trying to fight back and keep them from stealing the boxes with the electoral votes.
But there were many cops, and there are members of Congress, Congresswoman Jayapal and others have already said there was something wrong, something fishy going on here. They personally witnessed police helping the mob, helping the terrorists who have come into the building to destroy the election of 2020.
As far as terrorist acts go, other than maybe taking a human life, is there any worse crime that a terrorist could do than to prohibit us from deciding who are going to be our elected representatives in our Congress and in the White House?
Think about this too. You’ve seen the footage now, or you were watching it that day, not only were the police hardly there, you’ve seen these scenes in the movies where the Mob pays off the cops to kind of disappear for an hour or so, turn their heads the other way, there were no barricades set up, even though 50,000 people were coming down Pennsylvania Avenue toward them. There were no police horses. I’m telling you, I’ve been to demonstrations there since Nixon’s inauguration, and there are horse at every demonstration in D.C. There are police on horses, and they are aggressive with it to block you from going down this street or that street. There were no horses! Only 500 of the 2,300 police present. What is that? What is that: 1/5th? Four-fifths of the cops not showing up to work! Let’s be very clear about this.
Oh, watch any of the footage from those hours – and remember it was hours – it was from 1:00 until the National Guard arrived after dark! That’s how long those members and their staff and people had to hide in closets and safe rooms in holy shit terror for their lives. Nobody showed up! Up in the sky, not a single helicopter. No helicopters! Aren’t there usually police helicopters ALWAYS at a protest, at a demonstration? This was not a protest or a demonstration! This was a mob terrorist attack on our Capitol building! And they were there to cause harm and to kill if necessary, and they did kill a police officer. So they weren’t just terrorists then, they were cop killers! These very people who we’ve listened to all year chant “Blue Lives Matter.” And what they ended up truly being, with the mask ripped off their face, a cop-killing terrorist mob.
How do I know some of these terrorists were police or ex-police, military or ex-military? Well, we already know a number of them – they’ve been identified. In fact, the woman who was trying to break through the door of the Speaker’s door of the floor of the House of Representatives who was shot in the neck by the police and killed, she was an Air Force veteran. There were many veterans in this crowd, proud veterans, ex-military who knew exactly what they were doing. The way they were rappelling off of the walls, up the walls on the outside of the Capitol building. You saw that. Have you ever seen that? Demonstrators “rappelling” on ropes that they brought with them, all the equipment to do the rappelling?
And there’s a great picture of one of these ex-cops who was part of the terrorist mob, he had a huge thing of handcuff zip-ties on his belt. You can’t get these at the supermarket. You can’t get these zip ties with your Ziploc bags. These were the real deal. They had police gear attached to the armor or the uniforms that they had on, so that they could arrest, possibly kidnap – we know something about that in Michigan – they had lead pipes, some of them had pipe bombs, some of them had other explosives, some of them carried semi-automatic weapons , and you wonder why you hear this “Defund the Police” thing. Yes, this is probably the wrong term, because what we need to do is we need to have REAL law enforcement, and REAL justice, and when we need protection, REAL protection. Do you know why people are angry at the police? Because on a day like that, when the police are not at work, they’re told to stay home, and then they allow a mob of thousands into the building. Are they calling for backup? Where’s the backup? No backups coming!
Now the Mayor of D.C. tried to call the President and ask for him to send in the National Guard, because D.C. isn’t a state, so she hasn’t the power of a governor – they’re not real citizens if you live in D.C., a majority Black city – so she can’t get Trump to send in the National Guard. Right there, that alone, him not sending in the Guard to protect the police, and to protect the elected representatives who are there serving us, and counting our votes. They’re not in the middle of discussing a farm bill. They are counting our goddamned votes as to who is going to be the next President and Vice-President of the United States! And this whole chaotic apparatus that took place on Wednesday was to stop that, and they succeeded for a number of hours! That alone is a crime that Trump didn’t send in that – the Mayor had to call the Governor of Virginia and Maryland to beg them to send in their National Guard, which they did. Virginia did. I think Maryland send in some state police.
Whew!!! All the other things – think about this -- that aren’t right about this. Where’s the press conference that we always see whenever there’s an event, a big event like this, a horrible event: a school shooting, something happens in a shopping mall, whatever, you have within an hour or two all the cops – the sheriff, the police chief, the mayor, the state representative, everybody’s at the big microphone speaking to the press and answering questions as to what happened. The Nashville bombing, right? Within hours, they are all there talking to the press. We haven’t had that press conference yet! Do you realize that, that none of them together have stood at a microphone? No Capitol police chief – who has now been fired? No D.C. police chief, no National Park police, no FBI, no Secret Service, no CIA, no military police – nobody has stood! And what are we in here now, day four of this? Day four, and no press conference. You know the one we’re used to when there’s a school shooting, or whatever, and they all get there, and get their face time in front of the microphone? Nobody in authority has stood there to tell us what was really going on! And the reason they’re not doing that is because by now they know. They’ve done their own work, and they know who the rogue cops and the rogue military, and the ex-military are, and were part of this, and it’s shameful for them – they don’t want to admit they – they want to get their story, a new story, they want to create a new narrative, and they’re not ready to tell us what that narrative is yet. So that’s why you’ve seen zero press conference. There’s been one press call that some FBI guy was on, and press could call into that number and listen to what he had to say. That’s it! You think that’s a little strange? Do you understand why I think they don’t want to talk to us, to the public? They don’t want to talk to the press? Because they got to get their freekin story straight. That’s why. I’ve been around this enough; I’ve been around all these bullshitters, these politicians, the police chiefs and the sheriffs and everybody. It’s all political; it’s all political. You know that. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know.
They wouldn’t even tell us who the dead are! Do you remember? We had to go two or three days. They would just say five were dead, and we knew one them, sadly, was a police officer. But where were the rest of the names? Who else died? Remember, they kept saying four died, then five died? Okay! Who are they? Again, with any other incident like this around the country, we are told this within hours. It wasn’t till Friday that they gave us some inkling that other than the police officer and the woman trying to break in to Nancy Pelosi’s area there on the floor, there were three others. And then on the third day they finally gave their names. But they really would not say how they died!
So I made a lot of calls here in the last 24 hours of people, you know, my contacts on Capitol Hill, whatever. And I’ve been told a number of things. Now I don’t know whether these are true or not, but more than one person told me more than one of these stories, so we’ll know eventually. You know, they said they died of medical emergencies. I’ve been told by two people that one of the men who died, he brought a taser gun with him into the Capitol to, I guess, taze the police or the members, whoever got in his way, and I guess he had it on his belt. And maybe didn’t know how to use it, and he ended up tasing himself. I was told he tased himself in his groin, which then sent him into cardiac arrest, and he died. I heard another person was climbing the tower that’s been built for the cameras for the inauguration in a couple of weeks, fell off the tower and died. There were two men, and then there was another woman, and she was carrying a flag that said, you know, the famous flag “Don’t tread on me,” and she was essentially crushed to death. You’ve seen the shots of the mob pressing and pressing and pressing to get in the door. She was crushed to death, and then trampled with her flag “Don’t tread on me” laying beside her. Okay, I know! We get the irony! But I always think it’s sad when anybody dies, and you don’t want to see that, and it’s sad that they couldn’t have found a better way to protest peacefully.
So there’s the five we know about, as much as I know about it. And everything I just said could be completely wrong, because I don’t have any way to verify this. I don’t have what the police have. I have what people who work on the Hill have told me. So take what I just told you with that degree of –
So now they’ve started to arrest some people. They hadn’t arrested anybody that day. That day, most of the arrests on Wednesday were for curfew violations, because the Mayor established a 6:00 p.m. curfew. That was the majority of the arrests that particular day. ALL THOSE PEOPLE BREAKING INTO THE CAPITOL BUILDING, CAUSING THE DAMAGE AND DESTRUCTION, PUTTING PEOPLE IN FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES, AND THEY WALKED OUT AT THE END! You can see the footage! JUST WALK OUT! AH, IT’S GREAT TO BE WHITE IN AMERICA, ISN’T IT?! If any of them had been Black, or Brown, there would have been a bullet in every one of their heads! You know it; I know it! And if you’re Black or Brown, I didn’t even have to say that, because you’ve known it your entire lives! It must look like a very bizarre movie if you’re Black or Brown when you watch what happened on Wednesday, thinking how NOBODY of color would ever live through that experience.
So they’ve arrested a few people that look like the media stars of this event: the guy with his feet up on the desk of Nancy Pelosi, the guy with the Viking helmet, the state representative from West Virginia – they’ve arrested a few of these to make it look like they’re doing something. And go online and look at the charges that they’ve been charged with: trespassing; forced entry; destruction of property – it reads like that. I have yet to see one of them charged with committing an act of domestic terrorism. That’s what this was! And yet none of them are being charged, right now at least, with a terrorism charge. What if it had been 10,000 Muslims rushing that building? And four days later there’s not a single terrorism charge?
A federal grand jury indicted Chansley on January 11, 2021. (See Att. A, Indictment.) The indictment charges two felonies and four misdemeanors arising from Chansley’s actions in the Capitol on January 6. Count One, a felony in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3), alleges that Chansley “committed and attempted to commit an act to obstruct, impede, and interfere with a law enforcement officer lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties incident to and during the commission of a civil disorder, and the civil disorder obstructed, delayed, or adversely affected the conduct and performance of a federally protected function.” (Att. A at 1-2.) Count Two, also a felony, alleges that Chansley “attempted to, and did corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, that is, a proceeding before Congress, by committing an act of civil disorder, and threatening Congressional officials, and unlawfully remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, and engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct,” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2). (Att. A at 2.)
Well, I’m just telling you things that you already know, and White people, I’m just reminding you of our privilege. And the privilege applies not just to being able to drive down the road and not get pulled over for no reason whatsoever. Our privilege doesn’t just apply to walking through Home Depot and not having somebody follow us, because you gotta watch the White people when they’re in the store, you know. No, not that privilege. Not the privilege of getting to go to a better school. Not the privilege of having just a bit of a leg ahead than the descendants of slaves. No, this is the privilege, as we saw on Wednesday, of you can break into the most sacred building of American democracy, and trash it, destroy things, steal things, and most importantly have the members hiding under their desks, hiding in closets thinking they could die at any minute. And it felt so good! And they got to walk out! And as we are speaking here on Facebook Live, they are still, to this day, they went home – those who went home – happy as a lark! Nothing happened to them. They didn’t feel like they had to cover their face. In fact, they had no COVID mask on, because that’s who they are. It’s amazing!
Maybe I learned something I didn’t know about one of the privileges of being White: I could literally smash up the United States Capitol! What else? The White House? What else could I do, and nothing would happen to me? Man! I mean, that’s a high bar. Nothing. No terrorism charges. Trespassing, illegal entry, stealing Nancy Pelosi’s mail, stealing Jim Clkyburn’s tablet, his Ipad is gone. That’s a felony.
And then the footage later that night of some of these same protesters – they had a shot of them back at the Willard Hotel smoking cigars and having a good laugh. First of all, if you’re not familiar with the Willard Hotel, it’s maybe the most expensive hotel to stay in in D.C. It’s right across from the White House. Right across from Lafayette Park. It’s right there on the corner on 16th street where it dead ends at Lafayette Park, and there’s the White House right there. And they are sitting there in the – I don’t know if they have a cigar bar or a lounge, or whatever, and they’re smoking cigars, and having a great laugh! Wow!
Willard Intercontinental Hotel
Willard Intercontinental Hotel
Every single person who broke into the Capitol building and caused any of that damage should be arrested. They need to arrest every single one of them. And most importantly, Trump has to be removed immediately. They’re going to propose impeachment on Monday. They’re going to file the impeachment resolution and have a vote on it by midweek. That’s too late.
I hear tonight from the news that Trump, now encased in the White House there, is upset that he was talked into going out and giving that one minute video to tell the rioters and the mob to go home, saying “we love you; you’re special to us.” That’s what he said. But “okay, you’ve done your job for today; go home.” He regrets even doing that, because he doesn’t want to pull back from this one inch. He’s not ashamed of anything. He’s happy that the mob went and did his bidding. He incited a riot; he encouraged an insurgency, and an uprising against the government of the United States of America, and for that he has to go! And you’re saying, “Well, how’s the Senate going to” – well, read the rules. The next Senate, the Democratic one, they can vote to convict him afterwards, because the key here is that once he’s convicted in the Senate, he can never run for federal office again. That’s the rule.
But the main reason the House has to impeach, and the Senate has to deal with this now, is that as one of our former national security directors said this week, he is our No. 1 national security threat! We are in danger because of him, and because of the mob that he rules. And any time that you have a situation like this, the head of it has to be taken off. The person who is responsible for this has to be stopped, has to be arrested, has to be imprisoned until there’s a trial.
And the people who enabled him, the 138 House members, Republicans, all of them who voted AFTER this awful riot was over, they came back in after midnight and voted to deny the people of Arizona and Pennsylvania the right to have their votes counted! 138 Republicans did that! It’s an act of sedition! It’s an act of treason to prohibit the counting of the votes, the legitimate votes, that every court, including the Supreme Court, including Trump’s Justices, said “these votes are real; they’re legitimate; and they must be counted.” And yet tens of thousands, and Trump and Don, Jr., and Giuliani, were all there to see that that didn’t happen. And for a good 8 hours they succeeded! They succeeded in bringing the United States of America to a halt! That’s exactly what they did! And they felt good! They felt real good!
So many White supremacists were part of this. And you understand how many White supremacists are also police officers. You know this. You’ve read all the data. White supremacist right wingers – they were all part of this. The ones either that turn their heads, or the ones who were there participating in the mob violence, the White supremacists who were wearing their t-shirts, one that had letters [6MWE] on that stood for “Six Million is Not Enough,” referring to the 6 million Jews who died in the holocaust. Another guy had a t-shirt on that said, “Auschwitz summer camp.” [Camp Auschwitz] And there was a lot more of that. When they find out how many of these were police, or ex-police, or ex-military, the number of White supremacists that are in our military – the Pentagon knows they have a big problem with this, and they’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with it.
But these are White men mostly that are there to protect White privilege, White society, White culture, the White country that this was founded on.
And I was watching Joe Biden on Friday announce the rest of his cabinet members, and before he did so he said, “I just would like to point out, because I promised you that my cabinet would look like America. 50% of the cabinet are men, and 50% are women.” Wow! That’s never happened. And then he said this: “And the majority are people of color.” The majority of Joe Biden’s cabinet is NOT White. This is the last thing these crazies need to hear! But Biden wouldn’t back down. Biden made it clear he’s coming after them: “You will not break the law like this; you will not commit acts of treason in this country; there are consequences to your actions.” And I pray to God that he follows through on this. I know what he said is true, the No. 1 priority is stopping COVID and saving lives – absolutely! And then we’ve got to get money in people’s pockets, whether it’s jobs or whether it’s $2,000 a month, or whatever it is, people are suffering right now, and he’s got to take care of that. And I’m sure he doesn’t want the Congress having to deal with this. That’s why they should just deal with it. It’s a voice vote, my friends in Congress. “All those in favor of impeaching Donald Trump for encouraging an act of insurrection, say ‘Aye’. All those opposed ‘nay’. The ‘ayes’ have it.” “I want a roll call.” “Okay, good.” I do too. I want their names on this.
And then the Senate, McConnell, if you stand for anything, you need to let this go through. There needs to be a trial. The trial needs to last a day or two. That’s it.
WE ALL SAW IT! THE EVIDENCE WAS THERE ON DISPLAY! We all were not on the Ukraine call that led to his impeachment, his first impeachment, BUT WE ALL SAW THIS! WE ALL SAW OUR PRESIDENT TRYING TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY DOWN! And that, to the vast, vast majority of us, is unacceptable.
Don’t wimp out on this President Biden. Don’t wimp out on this Vice-President Harris! If there are not consequences to these actions, this will happen again and again and again and again, and there will be four years of the Biden administration where he’s having to fight numerous acts of domestic terrorism. And people will die because we didn’t stop it at first.
As I said to Representative Kelly on my podcast yesterday – you know, we’re both Michiganders – we should have done something when those Michigan militia took over our State Capitol back in the Spring. Remember that? With long guns? And then at Christmas time they showed up at the house of our secretary of state and she was there with her small children decorating for Christmas, and they are all out there on her lawn and sidewalk with these semi-automatic weapons threatening her? NOT ONE OF THEM ARRESTED! NOT ONE OF THEM WHO TOOK OVER THE CAPITOL ARRESTED! And I said to Dan, I said, “I think we’re responsible in part for this because we were the dry run in Michigan back in the Spring. AND NOTHING HAPPENED. THE ONES WHO WILL DO HARM TO US NEED TO SEE THAT THOSE WHO DID THIS THIS WEEK, THEY HAVE TO BE PUNISHED TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT EVERYBODY WITH HALF A BRAIN WILL THINK TWICE BEFORE DOING THIS AGAIN. THE DEMOCRATS CANNOT WIMP OUT ON THIS.
Tonight, Jake Tapper, Jake Tapper from CNN, posted a tweet, and he wanted to sum up, like “this says it all.” He says, “The big tell here in D.C. tonight, is that as flags are flying at half mast all across the city and at the Capitol building” -- because of the police officer who was shot because our democracy was attacked, so the flags are all at half-mast – he said “the big tell tonight is that there is one flag that is NOT flying at half mast, and that is the flag on top of Trump’s White House.” He won’t even lower the flag to honor the deceased police officer.
Because he incited it, he is a cop killer. That’s how the law looks at it. You participate; you set it up; you don’t have to be the one to pull the trigger, or commit the actual act that kills the cop. You set everybody up to go do this violence that killed the police officer, that makes you, Trump, a cop killer. Stop it with your “blue lives matter” bullshit. You don’t believe it. You’ve never believed it. Because you’d have to believe in law. And you’ve avoided the law. Every crime you’ve committed in your lifetime you’ve gotten away with it. You’ve never spent a night in jail, which is just STUNNING to me! You can’t even lower that flag halfway down to honor the dead; to honor our democracy.
It’s okay. I get it.
In closing here, I just want to read you what I wrote and posted today in case you didn’t get a chance to see it. And Facebook still has the poster up that’s all around town in D.C. and it is in many State capitols across the country, calling for the armed march. So let me just read this to you and then we’ll be done for the night. Thanks for staying with me. I know it’s late. I had to do it tonight. I love my country and most of all I love the people in it. I remember when I was a kid. I suggested to one of my nuns that maybe we could write a better pledge of allegiance. And she said, “what would it sound like?” And I said: “I pledge allegiance to the people” – “oh, the people.” “Oh, yeah, the flag is I mean, it’s a symbol, I get it. It’s a piece of cloth. I pledge allegiance to the people of the United States of America, and to this Republic, for which we all stand, one nation, part of one world, with liberty and justice, for ALL.”
I was a precarious sixth grader. This is what I wrote, and then we’re done.
“Friends. The terrorist attack is not over. Thousands from Wednesday’s terrorist mob assault on the Capitol have not been arrested, and have not left Washington, D.C. They are planning more attacks. This post – that I’ve included here on my Facebook site – it’s being displayed all over. It’s even been circulated among the members of Congress. It calls for an armed march three days before the inauguration. And not just in D.C., but in our 50 State Capitols. Some leaders, whether they’re politicians or in the media, they’re afraid to say straight up to all of you, exactly what I’ve been telling you here tonight. They’re afraid. And I get it. They don’t want you to panic. They don’t want to help publicize these crazies in their next march, or whatever they’re going to do. And that’s understandable. I get that. But the public – you – needs to be told, and you need to be told now. And that’s why I wanted to do this tonight. Law enforcement knows that there’s more violence ahead. They know it right now. Trump and his inner circle, his crime family, have called for this uprising, and they are pleased with what they have seen, and they know what’s going on. Unless these White terrorists are arrested now in mass, there will be people killed between now and inauguration day. I can’t stress this enough. WAY TOO MANY POLICE ARE SYMPATHETIC TO THEIR WHITE TERRORIST BRETHREN. THEY WILL STAND DOWN AGAIN, just like they did on Wednesday, and allow the violence to continue.
I keep hoping in the back of my mind that this isn’t really going to happen. I pray it isn’t going to happen. But we have to treat this seriously. They’ve already issued the threat! Just like they did for the weeks leading up to Wednesday. We have to treat it seriously, and demand action. The terrorists saw on Wednesday that they could get away with this. They are empowered, and they are excited. They believe that this is their moment. My friends, we are all in danger. I ask that you listen to me, please. Me, me, the person who warned you that Trump would win in 2016. The person who warned you that there would be no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq, and that the premise for the invasion was a lie. I’m the guy that warned you that Columbine would be only the first of many, many mass school shootings.
And on and on. I only recite this litany of my failures, my failures to convince the public that we are in serious danger in the hopes that you will listen to me today. Impeachment is scheduled to happen before Thursday, is what they’re saying. That’s too late. That’s too late. We must remove the head of the terrorist action today. He’s at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His co-conspirators are in the Republican caucus of the House and the Senate. And their mob – they’re everywhere! They often wear red hats and have no COVID masks on their face. Some carry weapons; some make bombs; a few kill cops; all of them know they are protected by their White skin, and believe nothing will happen to them. All of them want to stop our votes from being counted. And they want to stop the new President from taking his oath of office.
Here’s their only problem. There’s more of us than there are of them. And they know it. And it infuriates them even more. A strong show of legal force, and the removal of their leader, is the only thing that will stop what we are about to experience. And I don’t mean just experience it in the next week, or 10 days. We are going to have to live with this throughout the Biden administration. And I refuse to live with it. For the sake of peace, I ask you to join me in demanding action. We must stop this madness. There is no other alternative.
Make your voice heard. Let your representatives know. Demand the arrest and prosecution of everyone who did this. And let’s do our best to try to remove Donald J. Trump from the office of President of the United States. Don’t fall for this, “Come on, Mike, it’s just a few more days. We can get through a few more days.” We saw on Wednesday that it only took one day to see how precarious and how fragile our democracy is.
We have a job to do. I will do mine; you do yours. We’ll do it together. We’ll get through this. And let’s make everything I just said here during this Facebook Live not happen. Wouldn’t that be great if two weeks fro now, you guys just all wrote me and said, “Dude, you said all that awful stuff was going to happen; it didn’t happen.” Well, it didn’t because you and I got busy, made our voices heard, and insisted that the people responsible for this act of terrorism were dealt with. And because we did that, we protected ourselves. But it’s on us. Because too many of the so-called “people in charge”, too many of the people in law enforcement, too many rogue members of our great and wonderful military, are off the reservation. And they are looking forward to these next 10 days.
Don’t give up. Easy for me to say after all that, but what else are we going to do?
God bless all of you. Have a great rest of your Saturday night. I’m going to go to a virtual movie watch with a friend or two. I don’t know who is watching. We try to do this on Saturday nights, have a little virtual movie watch. We gotta keep our spirits up. So please, don’t sink into your despair. Act as a member of a great democracy. I’ll talk to you soon here in the next few days. I’ll stay on top of everything that’s going on. And I’ll let you know what I know so that you’re not in the dark about a lot of this stuff.
Be well, and thanks for letting me talk to you tonight. Take care.
The Terrorist Attack is NOT Over. by Michael Moore Medium.com 1/9/21
Friends –
The terrorist attack is NOT over. Thousands from Wednesday’s terrorist mob assault on the Capitol have not been arrested and have NOT LEFT the DC area. They are planning more attacks. A poster advertising an “ARMED MARCH ON CAPITOL HILL & ALL STATE CAPITOLS” on January 17th is being displayed all over. It has even been circulated among the members of Congress. Some leaders are afraid to say straight up what I’m telling you. They don’t want a panic. They don’t want to help publicize it (understandably). But the public needs to be told — and now. Law enforcement knows that there’s more violence ahead. Trump and his inner circle, his crime family, have called for this uprising and they are pleased with what they’ve seen and they know what’s going on. Unless these white terrorists are arrested NOW — en masse — there will be people killed between now and Inauguration Day. I can’t stress this enough. Way too many police are sympathetic to their white terrorist brethren. They will stand down again and allow the violence to continue. NOTE: This poster circulating on the internet is calling for an ARMED March on January 17th. And they are calling for it to take place not just in DC but in EVERY state Capitol in all 50 states. I keep hoping in the back of my mind this poster isn’t real. But it was sent to me by a Member of Congress. We HAVE to treat it seriously and demand action. The terrorists saw on Wednesday that they could get away with it. They are empowered and excited. They believe this is their moment. We are all in danger. I ask that you listen to me — me, the person who warned you Trump would win in 2016, who warned you there would be no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq and that the premise for the invasion was a lie. I’m the guy who warned you that Columbine would be only the first of many, many mass school shootings. And on and on. I only recite this litany of my failures to convince the public we are in serious danger in the hopes you will listen to me today. Impeachment is scheduled to happen by Thursday? Too late. Too late. Remove the head of this terrorist action TODAY. He’s at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His co-conspirators are in the Republican Caucus of the House & Senate. The mob is everywhere. They often wear red hats and have no Covid masks on their face. Some carry weapons, some make bombs, and a few kill cops while chanting “Blue lives matter!” All of them know they are protected by their white skin and believe nothing will happen to them. All of them want to stop our votes from being counted — and stop the new President from taking office. Their only problem: there’s more of us than there are of them. And that only infuriates them more. A show of strong legal force and the removal of their Leader is the only thing that will stop what we are about to experience. For the sake of peace — DEMAND ACTION! Stop this madness.
*****************
FBI warns 'armed protests' being planned at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC By Zachary Cohen and Whitney Wild CNN Updated 7:45 PM ET, Mon January 11, 2021
(CNN)The FBI has received information indicating "armed protests" are being planned at all 50 state capitols and the US Capitol in Washington, DC in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, according to an internal bulletin obtained by CNN.
The news comes as security measures are being stepped up ahead of Inauguration Day, with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies preparing for the possibility of more violence after rioters stormed the US Capitol last week leaving five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer.
Even as federal investigators continue to track down suspects from last week's attack, the bulletin highlights concerns that the US Capitol siege was perhaps just the beginning of potentially violent actions from supporters of President Donald Trump who have been animated by his lies about a stolen election.
"Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January," the FBI bulletin states. It also suggests there are threats of an "uprising" if Trump is removed via the 25th Amendment before Inauguration Day.
"On 8 January, the FBI received information on an identified group calling for others to join them in 'storming' state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event POTUS is removed as President prior to Inauguration Day. This identified group is also planning to 'storm' government offices including in the District of Columbia and in every state, regardless of whether the states certified electoral votes for Biden or Trump, on 20 January," the bulletin adds.
The FBI is also tracking reports of "various threats to harm President-Elect Biden ahead of the presidential inauguration," the bulletin states. "Additional reports indicate threats against VP-Elect Harris and Speaker Pelosi."
ABC News was first to report the FBI bulletin.
The FBI said in a separate statement that its "efforts are focused on identifying, investigating, and disrupting individuals that are inciting violence and engaging in criminal activity," and that its "focus is not on peaceful protesters, but on those threatening their safety and the safety of other citizens with violence and destruction of property."
The government, meanwhile, held Continuity of Government Operations -- a standard practice in the event that someone tries to disrupt the transition that took on new urgency in light of threats surrounding this year's inauguration.
According to a senior administration official, the interagency rehearsal aimed to ensure a seamless chain of command in the event of a national emergency in the days leading up to the inauguration and on that day itself. Monday's rehearsal focused heavily on "readiness in the event that somebody tries to disrupt or stop the inauguration," the official said.
The calls for new protests in Washington and states across the country have law enforcement and local officials bracing for more possible violence in the coming days.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday urged Americans to avoid the city during Biden's inauguration next week and to participate virtually following last week's deadly domestic terror attack on the US Capitol.
Speaking at a news conference Monday, Bowser, a Democrat, stressed that she was concerned about more violent actors potentially coming to the city in the run-up to the inauguration, saying, "If I'm scared of anything, it's for our democracy, because we have very extreme factions in our country that are armed and dangerous."
"Trumpism won't die on January 20," said Bowser, who has asked Trump and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to declare a pre-disaster declaration for DC. The White House said in a statement Monday night that Trump approved the emergency declaration requested by Bowser.
The mayor had told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that she will also ask the Department of Homeland Security to begin a "national special security event" timeline sooner than planned, as well as include the US Capitol in their coverage area for the inauguration.
DHS Secretary resignation
Security preparations were further complicated when Wolf, one of the key figures coordinating the effort, resigned on Monday.
In one of his last acts, Wolf said Monday that he had instructed the US Secret Service to begin the National Special Security Event operations for Biden's Inauguration on Wednesday, instead of January 19, the day before Biden is set to be inaugurated.
"In light of events of the past week and the evolving security landscape leading up to the inauguration and at the recommendation of Secret Service Director James Murray, I have instructed the U.S. Secret Service to begin the National Special Security Event operations for the 2021 Inauguration effective Wednesday, January 13th instead of January 19th," Wolf said in a statement.
"Our federal, state, and local partners will continue to coordinate their plans and position resources for this important event," he added.
A Department of Homeland Security official told CNN that the breach of the Capitol will sharpen the response and planning for inauguration.
"Now that it happened people will take it much more seriously," the official said, referring to last week's violence. "Now, the planners, they are all going to take it much more seriously."
Additional security personnel are expected to arrive in Washington to help with the inauguration, CNN has learned.
Law enforcement agencies in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey that deployed to the US Capitol Wednesday to assist propel pro-Trump rioters expect to send officers to Washington, DC, for the inauguration.
The New York Police Department will also be sending 200 officers to Washington to assist with the effort, according to Detective Christopher Pisano, a spokesperson.
The National Guard has plans to have up to 15,000 National Guard troops to meet current and future requests for the inauguration, Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said Monday. The dramatic increase in troops comes as law enforcement in the nation's capital and around the country brace for further extremist violence amid the transition of power.
Security ramping up across the country
Law enforcement agencies are also ramping up security at the state level in preparation for potentially violent demonstrations leading up to Biden's inauguration.
Shanon Banner, spokesperson for Michigan State Police, said they are aware of the march on state capitols that is being promoted online, and they will continue watching for security threats.
"Our security planning is fluid and adjustments are made as needed, from day-to-day," Banner said. "Security enhancements that can be put in place include both seen and unseen measures. In general, we don't discuss security measures, but I can confirm that out of an abundance of caution, we are increasing our visible presence at the Capitol for the next couple of weeks starting today."
The Michigan State Capitol Commission on Monday also banned the open carry of firearms inside the state's Capitol building, effective immediately.
The policy change only affects public areas inside the building and does not change policy on the Capitol grounds, nor does it prohibit licensed concealed pistol carry that follows state laws, according to the commission policy.
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, citing armed protests at the Michigan state Capitol building in April and the recent violence at the US Capitol, said the commission should recognize the need for a ban on all weapons.
This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.
CNN's Vivian Salama, Geneva Sands, Barbara Starr, Christina Carrega and Devan Cole contributed to this report
Former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal: On The Options Left For For Removing Trump by Katie Couric Jan 11, 2021
I chatted with Supreme Court lawyer and former US Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on impeachment, the 14th amendment and 25th amendment. We discussed which option would be the fastest or the most practical. “I think the case for impeaching and disqualifying Trump from future office holding it is not that this guy could win in 2024,” Katyal said. “It’s really like what are our most basic values? Is this someone who should be entitled to run for office or should we make that statement that people like this are off the table from ever running.”
In the midst of the Capitol siege, Trump tried calling Tommy Tuberville but got the wrong senator by Julie Gerstein Business Insider Jan 7, 2021, 11:34 PM
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Tommy Tuberville, the football coach turned senator who now seems to be the most popular wrong number in Washington. AP Photo/John Minchillo, File
It seems that nobody can get Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama on the first try.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani left a long, rambling, and rather revealing voicemail that was meant for Tuberville but instead was sent to a different, unnamed politician. The voicemail, which urged Tuberville to slow down the Electoral College vote certification as much as possible, was sent to The Dispatch and transcribed in full.
It seems President Donald Trump also attempted to reach Tuberville on the same day.
This time, the call reportedly went to Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who happened to be hunkering down near Tuberville in the Senate chamber of the US Capitol that was under siege by a pro-Trump mob.
Lee told the Deseret News of his strange call with the president.
"How's it going, Tommy?" he recalled the president asking.
Lee told Trump he wasn't Tommy.
"Well, who is this?" Trump asked.
"It's Mike Lee," the senator said.
"Oh, hi, Mike. I called Tommy."
Lee told the Deseret News he then handed his phone to Tuberville, who he said spoke with the president for about 10 minutes. In the midst of their phone call, Lee said, the police began evacuating lawmakers from the area.
Lee said he then asked Tuberville for his phone back.
"I don't want to interrupt your call with the president, but we're being evacuated and I need my phone," he recalled saying.
Lee told the Deseret News that, based on a conversation with Tuberville a bit later, he didn't think the president was aware the siege was happening during the call.
Tuberville was one of several Republican senators — including Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas — who voted to overturn election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Those efforts failed, and after Congress reconvened following the siege it certified Joe Biden as president-elect.
In December, Tuberville received praise from Trump after he said he would not rule out objecting to the election results during the Electoral College certification process.
Following the siege of the Capitol, Tuberville tweeted condemnation of the mob of Trump supporters.
"Yesterday was a sad day for our great country," he wrote. "I strongly condemn the violence and actions we saw from those who stormed the Capitol. It undermines the freedoms we enjoy as Americans, and it has no place in our democracy."
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Giuliani to Senator: ‘Try to Just Slow it Down’: The president’s lawyer tries to block the count of the Electoral College votes. by Steve Hayes The Dispatch Jan 6, 2021
Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer and top adviser to President Donald Trump, is calling Republican lawmakers urging them to delay the electoral vote count by at least one day to allow the president and his team to present more evidence of alleged election fraud. Giuliani was making calls this evening, as late as an hour before Congress reconvened, in a desperate attempt to block the final count of Electoral College votes.
At approximately 7 p.m., Giuliani called newly sworn-in Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a staunch Trump ally, imploring him to stall the process. “I want to discuss with you how they're trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” Giuliani said in a voicemail. “And I know they're reconvening at 8 tonight, but it ... the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow. I know McConnell is doing everything he can to rush it, which is kind of a kick in the head because it's one thing to oppose us, it's another thing not to give us a fair opportunity to contest it.”
Giuliani tells Tuberville that McConnell wants to narrow the objections to just three states and explains that the Trump team wants to object to 10. “So if you could object to every state and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every state, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today.”
The problem for Giuliani? He left his message on the voicemail of another senator, who shared it with The Dispatch.
It’s not clear whether Giuliani—who opens the call by referring to himself as “the president’s lawyer”—was directed to call Tuberville by President Trump. Requests for comment to Giuliani’s cell phone and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows went unanswered. One longtime Trump adviser still talking to top White House officials says Trump is in constant communication with Giuliani. Asked if such a call is something Trump would know about, he said: “Oh, yeah, 100 percent.”
Giuliani, speaking at the rally for Trump earlier today, urged Trump supporters to keep fighting, promising that more evidence would soon come to light. “Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots that are fraudulent and we’re wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we’re right, a lot of them will go to jail.”
Here is the complete audio. The transcript of Giuliani’s voicemail follows below.
Senator Tuberville? Or I should say Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the president's lawyer. I'm calling you because I want to discuss with you how they're trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you. And I know they're reconvening at 8 tonight, but it … the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrow—ideally until the end of tomorrow.
I know McConnell is doing everything he can to rush it, which is kind of a kick in the head because it's one thing to oppose us, it's another thing not to give us a fair opportunity to contest it. And he wants to try to get it down to only three states that we contest. But there are 10 states that we contest, not three. So if you could object to every state and, along with a congressman, get a hearing for every state, I know we would delay you a lot, but it would give us the opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today. It angered them, because they have written letters asking that you guys adjourn and send them back the questionable ones and they'll fix them up.
So, this phone number, I'm available on all night, and it would be an honor to talk to you. Thank you.
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About The ReidOut with Joy Reid: Joy Reid conducts one-on-one conversations with politicians and newsmakers while addressing provocative political issues both inside and outside of the beltway. Reid, who is also a best-selling author and public speaker, joined MSNBC in 2011 as a contributor. Drawing from her decades-long experience in politics, passion for addressing the intersection of race, justice and culture, as well as her signature tenacious interviewing style, Reid kicks off MSNBC’s primetime lineup by delving into American politics as it unfolds.
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