Trump’s next 48 hours

Written By: - Date published: 11:18 am, January 6th, 2021 - 66 comments
Categories: democracy under attack, Donald Trump, Politics, uncategorized, us politics, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags:

The next 48 hours could be the most significant for America at least for the next decade or so.

First up is the Georgian election.  Voting is underway now and polls will close at 1 pm New Zealand time.  Early results can be accessed from the Guardian here.

Polling suggests the results will be close.  And recently in an attempt to gain belated support the Republican candidates, Kelly Loeffler of insider trading fame and David Perdue have come out and said they would support Trump in the attack on the election result that will be made in Congress tomorrow.

The stakes are extreme.  The result could tilt control in the senate and give Biden a much stronger mandate to actually do something.

And tomorrow Congress meets to formally receive the election results.  This should be a foregone conclusion but Trump is not giving up as the leaked tape of his hour long call with Georgia’s chief election official Brad Raffensperger shows.  He was caught urging Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes for him, enough to flip the result at least in Georgia.

Of course he would have to do this in a number of other states as well.  I think it is pretty likely that similar calls are being made to other swing state officials.

As described by Peter Baker in the New York Times:

The President has gone well beyond simply venting his grievances or creating a face-saving narrative to explain away a loss, as advisers privately suggested he was doing in the days after the November 3 vote. Instead, he has stretched or crossed the boundaries of tradition, propriety and perhaps the law to find any way he can to cling to office beyond his term that expires in two weeks. That he is almost certain to fail and that President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated January 20 does not mitigate the damage he is doing to democracy by undermining public faith in the electoral system.

Trump’s hour-long telephone call over the weekend with Georgia’s chief election official, Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in that state only brought into stark relief what the President has been doing for weeks. He has called the Republican governors of Georgia and Arizona to get them to intervene. He has summoned Michigan’s Republican Legislature leaders to the White House to pressure them to change their state’s results. He called the Republican speaker of the Pennsylvania House multiple times seeking help to reverse the outcome there.

Trump and his staff have floated the idea of delaying Biden’s inauguration, even though it is set in stone by the Constitution, and the President met with a former adviser who has publicly urged him to declare martial law to “rerun” the election in states he lost. Trump’s erratic behaviour has so alarmed military commanders who fear he might try to use troops to stay in the White House that every living former defence secretary — including two he appointed himself — issued a warning against the armed forces becoming involved.

Trump has gone even further and claimed that Pence still has the power to overturn the result.  From David Smith in the Guardian:

… defying norms to the end, Trump falsely insists that Pence can intervene and change the outcome. At a rally in Dalton, Georgia, ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Senate runoff elections, the president said: “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us … He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”

He followed up with a tweet on Tuesday that wrongly claimed: “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” Experts were quick to point out that the vice-president has no such power and there is no evidence of election fraud.

Of course one should not implicitly trust Trump’s grasp of figures or reality for that case.  He recently tweeted the wrong phone number for Lee Chatfield, who Trump had mistakenly thought was the Speaker of the Michigan State House.  Dear reader he was the former speaker.

The actual owner of the phone number was in for a surprise.  From Kenya Evelyn at the Guardian:

In the president’s latest attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election, campaign officials called on Twitter and Facebook users to contact the Michigan state senate majority leader, Mike Shirkey, and former state house speaker Lee Chatfield to decertify its presidential election ballets and threaten Joe Biden’s victory. Biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes.

The campaign posted what they believed to be Chatfield’s phone number. Instead, they had mistakenly given the phone number for O Rose, who goes by a shortened first name. Rose told the Petoskey News-Review their phone began ringing nonstop soon after.

“I told them I was not Lee Chatfield, but they would still not believe me,” they said. “It was just a string of people progressively denying reality.”

Big rallies are being proposed and Ted Cruz is clearly lining up another run at the Presidential nomination by backing Trump to the hilt despite the egregious way his family was treated by the Orange coiffured one.

I am not sure if it will be a day of high drama or high pathos or both.  But I can safely claim that America will not be the same again.

Update (lprent): The democratic senators from Georgia are called as victors. A riot pushed by an irresponsible President Trump happened at the Capitol building with people dead. Congress subsequently made a determined proclamation that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are confirmed a the newly elected president and vice-president. As for Donald Trump – goodbye to unstable rubbish..

66 comments on “Trump’s next 48 hours ”

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  1. woodart 1
    6 January 2021 at 11:52 am

    the one thing we can all take away from the circus that is american politics is, that the american electoral system is well overdue for an update, but wont get it, as entrenched money and power dont want change. its either, tails, I win, or heads, you lose. relying on a 250yr old constitution for a country that has changed in all ways since, is a fools paradise. sad….

  2. alwyn 2
    6 January 2021 at 4:02 pm

    Fivethirtyeight (the polling and forecasting site) is currently reporting that, although the Republican candidates are both leading by 51/49, the remaining votes are going to come from Blue leaning counties and that they and the NYT forecasts are leaning toward the Democrats winning both races. Nobody is really willing to stick their neck out though.

  3. Anne 3
    6 January 2021 at 4:47 pm

    Pundits reporting at the Guardian are claiming a Democrat victory.

    If its true I predict this will be the tipping point where widespread violence erupts.

  4. WeTheBleeple 4
    6 January 2021 at 7:12 pm

    Goodbye Loeffler you cancerous cankerous corrupt stock dumping pro-Trumping bible thumping nazi humping fuckwit.

  5. Mad Plumber 5
    6 January 2021 at 11:09 pm

    Do each of the Senators just represent part of the state and does that part vote for them or does the whole of Georgia vote for both of them.

    • Andre 5.1
      7 January 2021 at 4:51 am

      Senators in the US Senate represent the entire state. The whole of Georgia has voted for both seats.

      It can get confusing because most state governments are also structured with some sort of more numerous chamber like the US House of Representatives and a less numerous chamber structured like the US Senate, which is usually called the State Senate. In those states, the State Senators represent and are elected by districts within the state.

  6. mosa 6
    6 January 2021 at 11:38 pm

    " Biden a much stronger mandate to actually do something. "

    No Mickey Biden and the Democratic party are already owned by the usual suspects like the Republicans which is why Bernie and his progressive supporters were neutered before the primaries were concluded.

    Any hope of real lasting change is an aberration but Bernie's movement will make sure that the struggle for millions of Americans goes on.

    • Andre 6.1
      7 January 2021 at 5:11 am

      There's the simple matter that the Senate Democratic caucus includes members such as Joe Manchin (West Virginia), Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona), Jon Tester (Montana). Ideologically they're in the space that overlaps with moderate Republicans, or where there used to be moderate Republicans before they all went fukn nuts.

      There simply won’t be a Senate majority for any kind of bold progressive action. It’ll be baby steps at best.

      They kinda have to be that conservative in order to get elected and re-elected in the states they represent. Even being that conservative isn't enough for re-election in the cases of Senators like Doug Jones (Alabama), Claire McCaskill (Missouri), Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota).

      They really only got elected in the first place when the local Repug activists nominated some sort of troglodyte gargoyle that was too repugnant for even the local population to hold their noses and vote for (and that's sayin' something). Then those Dem senators lost when the local Repugs backed off and nominated someone that at least looked vaguely human, from a distance and if you squint hard enough.

    • Gabby 6.2
      7 January 2021 at 3:09 pm

      Joe'll have to be a bit more creative in coming up with excuses for doing nothing.

  7. Ad 7
    7 January 2021 at 5:27 am

    Alrigjtie Georgia!

    • Andre 7.1
      7 January 2021 at 6:28 am

      Wall Street likes the result. In particular, the Russell 2000 has shot up a lot more than the indices made up of fewer bigger businesses like the Dow and S&P 500.

  8. Sanctuary 8
    7 January 2021 at 6:27 am

    The fact the Georgians are even allowed to vote in a US election just shows how far left commie Biden is.

  12. WeTheBleeple 12
    7 January 2021 at 8:45 am

    So they've stormed the Capitol building. Here's the play. Evacuate civilians via tunnel network/safe rooms in place and let the Maggots push in and fill the building, but make it look like a fight. As police finally leave the building They, along with national guard coordinating outside, lock the mob in and teargas and stun-grenade the shit out of them.

    This is an attempted coup. Hit it fast and hard.

    • Andre 12.1
      7 January 2021 at 8:56 am

      The authorities are being remarkably gentle. Especially compared to what went on when the tangelo turdgoblin wanted a fake-pious photo of himself posing outside a church he is not a member of and may have never attended a service at.

      • WeTheBleeple 12.1.1
        7 January 2021 at 9:16 am

        A suspicious person might say the police are being suspiciously gentle. Thin blue line and all that.

  13. mickysavage 13
    7 January 2021 at 9:18 am

    Wow the Pentagon has refused to allow the National Guard to be called and the scenes around Capitol Hill are crazy. The comparison of treatment with BLM protests is jarring.

    https://twitter.com/MartyOropeza/status/1346906852173312000

  14. Andre 14
    7 January 2021 at 9:43 am

    Kinda curious now what the next 48 hours will bring. Coz one thing we've learned for sure over the last five years is that de-escalation is not a thing, there is only escalation.

  15. Anne 15
    7 January 2021 at 9:47 am

    National Guard is finally on its way!

    I bet if they had been Black Lives Matter protestors the full force of the state would have been depolyed at the get go…

    Edit: Oops, just spotted the photo from mickysavage. Yep, what a difference in responses!

    • Poission 15.1
      7 January 2021 at 9:31 pm

      The difference in responses is what happened the night before in DC (june 1 2020)

      • WeTheBleeple 15.1.1
        8 January 2021 at 7:48 am

        Cos burning buildings to protest widespread state-led murder is a terrible crime compared to having the states leaders cowering in fear as an angry mob armed with both guns and bombs storm the building.

        Those incorrigible black folks, with their cries for equality. Sheesh.

  16. Andre 16
    7 January 2021 at 9:57 am

    An oldie but goodie:

    • Grafton Gully 16.1
      7 January 2021 at 9:20 pm

      Benito did actually make Italy great again (conquered Abyssinia with poison gas attacks on civilians, occupied Albania, drained the pontine marshes, "trains ran on time" etc) but after the Treaty of London betrayal picked the wrong side.

      https://www.firstworldwar.com/source/london1915.htm



      Achieved far more for his country than Donald has and attracted larger crowds, but he needed to suspend democracy to get there. Don and his mates are working to fix that – if media reports are to be believed.

      • Morrissey 16.1.1
        8 January 2021 at 8:38 am

        In fact, the trains ran no more punctually than they had before that fascist took power. He did not make Italy great at all.

  17. Andre 17
    7 January 2021 at 10:27 am

    Now it comes clear. Apparently Oozi Ghouliani called for things to be settled by "trial by combat".

    https://www.salon.com/2021/01/06/rudy-giuliani-called-for-trial-by-combat-and-then-chaos-descended-on-capitol-hill/

  18. Sanctuary 18
    7 January 2021 at 10:33 am

    360,000 Union soldiers gave their lives to stop the Confederacy from taking Washington.

    Today the Confederate battle flag was waved inside the senate of the United States while a cosplay lunatic Q-Anon conspiracy theorist in a Buffalo headdress chanted from the speakers chair.

    What would Grant or Sherman make of it? The humiliation to the authority of the senate and the blow to the prestige of the United States today is incalcuable. I think Trump has finally over-played his hand. The logic of his baseless conspiracy theories and Fascistic denial of facts has come to conclusion with a farcical beer-hall putsch attempt by a deranged mob. I suspect Trump will be impeached immediately by a two thirds majority of both houses as early as tonight NZ time – he simply cannot be allowed to call on a fascist mob to disrupt the swearing in of Biden and "defend" the White House on January 20th. Him and his gang need to be imprisoned before then.

    • Anne 18.1
      7 January 2021 at 10:47 am

      Interestingly a former CIA chief was interviewed on al Jazeera just now.

      He said he wasn't surprised at today's insurrection and he claimed… 25 plus years ago the CIA recognised the biggest danger to America's democracy came from right-wing terrorism but "the Republicans" would not allow them to publicly say so. But they were allowed to publicly accuse Muslim groups of plotting terrorist acts.

      I hope this spells the end of the Republican Party.

    • RedLogix 18.2
      7 January 2021 at 10:51 am

      Yup. Time to end it, kind of like a prison riot really.

      I suspect authorities were caught off guard with this finally happening so late in the piece, but a firm response is needed now.

  19. Sanctuary 19
    7 January 2021 at 10:57 am

    VP Pence has unfollowed Trump on Twitter and it looks like the call is for the 25th Amendment to be invoked by an emergency meeting of the cabinet, which would be called by Pence. I think the chances of Trump still being president in 24-48 hours is dropping by the minute.

    • RedLogix 19.1
      7 January 2021 at 11:06 am

      In the immediate aftermath of this mess the US needs to implement a bipartisan commission tasked with reforming their electoral system to conform with modern standards of transparency and consistency.

      If nothing else Trump has exposed a chronic lack of trust in the system and exploited it ruthlessly. This has to be fixed, doing nothing is not an option here.

      • Adrian Thornton 19.1.1
        7 January 2021 at 11:47 am

        Yeah, except that will never happen as it works for the rich just perfectly…and as the US political class on both sides are brought and paid for by those same rich people, where's the problem?

    • Andre 19.2
      7 January 2021 at 11:46 am

      Invoking the 25th would require the overboiled cauliflower to sacrifice whatever delusions he may still have about his political future, to do the right thing for the country. I really doubt he's got it in him.

      • Craig H 19.2.1
        7 January 2021 at 4:42 pm

        The VP and cabinet can do it for him.

        • Andre 19.2.1.1
          7 January 2021 at 4:56 pm

          You might be mistaken as to whom I refer to as the overboiled cauliflower. Perhaps I should have called him the flybait. Nah, still too ambiguous. Perhaps "Mother's little boy"?

  20. Reality 20
    7 January 2021 at 11:03 am

    Trump is deranged and needs certifying by mental health specialists and taken to a secure hospital.

    • In Vino 20.1
      7 January 2021 at 9:34 pm

      Back at the time, I thought Reagan was pretty much the same.

      Then I enjoyed the utter idiocy of Bush's Bushisms. ("They have misunderestimated me")

      Now this from Trump.

      Where do Americans get these people from, and promote them to leadership??

  21. Ad 21
    7 January 2021 at 11:26 am

    This is the hard right symbolic and visual triumph that the new militant movement needed.

    They are going to rise fast now in 2021 – House majorities be damned.

    Maybe Albright's commentary on rising fascism was right.

  22. Sabine 22
    7 January 2021 at 12:00 pm

    oh well, really no know could have foreseen this….

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/6/2006463/-Insurrectionists-intended-to-take-members-of-Congress-hostage-hold-show-trials-as-police-stood-by

    https://twitter.com/Rebexem/status/1346924689101213696

    and yes, of course they were thinking of taking hostages and executing them, they said so. And yes, some of hte police will help them, its that white economic anxiety that forces them to break their oath to the public and the state that pays them, and yeah, no one could have foreseen that Donald J. Trump is going to be the disaster he has been all his live. Is the world not lucky that the lady with the emails did not get elected because she would have been sooo much worse.