On Monday, we learned that after last year’s election, John Eastman, a well-connected lawyer advising former president Donald Trump, outlined a six-point plan to overturn the outcome of the election and install Trump as America’s leader. They planned to cut the voters’ actual choice, Democrat Joe Biden, out of power: as Trump advisor Steve Bannon put it, they planned to “kill the Biden presidency in the crib.” This appears to have been the plan that Trump and his loyalists tried to execute on January 6.
It is time to call this out as what it is - a well-documented attempt to overthrow the government, led by people too unconcerned or too stupid to worry about leaving a paper trail.
The January 6th sheep currently in court are not the problem. It's time to round up the ringleaders of this attempted coup and prosecute them on an open and shut case of treason.
Reasonable people insist on framing this coup as a robust political debate, but reasonable people are wrong. It is a naked power grab, an assault on the popular will, and blatantly illegal. Three evidence is there, in the seditionists' own hands.
A crime has been committed, even if it was unsuccessful. Failed bank robbers don't get to walk because they got no money. Failed murderers are still prosecuted. The evidence is there for all to see, and the alleged criminals aren't denying it. They're doubling down, and we're letting them. Either prosecute them, or remove the treason laws from the books since they're clearly meaningless and unenforceable.
There is now, and has been for many, months, a mountain of criminal evidence as to Trump's clear intention of overthrowing our democratically elected government.
So when does Attorney General Merrick Garland and the entire Department of Justice plan to INDICT Trump? When does "the rule of law," so fundamentally important in our democracy, begin to get the attention it deserves?
My first thoughts went to Hemingway but John Donne (1572-1631), first wrote the line 'for whom the bell tolls' in "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII":
"Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
The bell is indeed tolling for each of us and for democracy.
I remember the joy of Nov 7, 2020 (sitting on the lawn watching my grandchildren when people began driving around honking horns - the AP had called the election for Biden). It seemed like we as a nation had turned the corner and would finally emerge into the daylight of a Biden presidency.
Since that joyous day, there have only been 2 days that I can consider “bright days” for our nation - Dec 14, 2020 when the Electoral College met in the various state capitols and voted for President and Vice President, and Jan 20, 2021 when Biden and Harris were sworn in. The joy of those days is a distant memory.
The anticipated calm of a nation led by rational, compassionate adults is shattered almost daily with new revelations about the actions of the former president and his enablers. Each day reveals how close to the abyss the careening Trump train brought us. If Stephen King had submitted a manuscript for his next novel based on actual events since the election, his publisher would have rejected it out of hand claiming it too far fetched.
For the sake of my young grandchildren, I pray that we will come to our senses and rid this nation of the evil stain of oligarchy and authoritarianism spreading over it.
Go to https://choosedemocracy.us/ to learn how to stop a coup or power grab using non-violent techniques. Took a webinar with George Lakey on non-violent resistance which was invaluable. He's amazing and has been doing this all over the world since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Highly recommend his book on How We Win.
Thanks HCR, but the only takeaway I can see from your summation of the crimes and misdemeanors of the current Ghastly Old Party is that they are cowardly, greedy, despicable opportunists who would happily destroy their own constituents--which they are actually doing--rather than take a principled stand, protect our democratic system, or vocalize any criticism of the Deranged Former "President." That sounds like the same old same old to me. But the added spice of the fact that their own constituents are dying of COVID by the hundreds, if not thousands, and they persist in this benighted and immoral decision to "stand firm" against anything a Democratic president and congress might try to do to ameliorate the situation of their. own. constituents. simply underscores the moral vacuum and ethical black hole they all occupy. I'm disgusted but I am not surprised.
We were all so naive. We thought the election of Joe Biden would be a repudiation of Trumpism.
Yet a scant few hours after a violent insurrection of our Capitol, a majority of the House GOP members sided with the insurrectionists and voted against certifying a clearly legitimate election.
That should have been enough to realize that Trump's attempt to steal the election was not just the desperate flailings of a defeated candidate and a few of his "whack-job" supporters. Nope, we had no idea how deep were the roots to this insidious threat to our Democracy.
Todays letter illustrates just how well-organized and structured was the plan to steal the election. Their effort has been years in the making. All that was needed was the right person to light the fuse... to "release the kraken". They found their candidate in Donald Trump, a narcissistic svengali. He is the "messiah" they sought to wrest power from the majority, and reinstate the rules that keep political and economic power in the hands of the rich.
We keep hearing about adhering to the rule of law. But the RAGA crowd is working to create dozens of laws to protect their social status. How do we reconcile this?
Infrastructure and climate change are certainly important pieces of legislation. But nothing is more important than passing voting rights legislation. Nothing.
Knew about RAGA but never ever fathomed that all of the Repub AG’s were huddled together! Abhorrent behavior by the most corrupt party of our time. I imagine that Garland and staff are extremely busy with preparing their lassoes to round the cattle up. But should they do it one lousy fascist at a time or a bunch together? I have this ongoing dream that a large bird swoops down and picks them all up, holds them hostage until their cells are prepared, then releases them to face their miserable music.
Let’s talk about that weasel, Pence. He goes to Budapest to spew his garbage about abortions and “family values”. His plan is to run for Prez in 2024. Can you imagine having this Ken doll-with-no-balls as your president??
We have to fight hard and press our leaders to do the same. So tired of rhetoric. We need ACTION!
Holy hand grenades, for the first time ever I feel the impact of the expression "bombshell revelations" and it makes me even more determined that for the next few years or even the rest of my life we must do as much as we can to save our way of life, and recruit others to this cause.
This quote says it well:
"In the fight against bigotry, we stand together and we must. In the fight against injustice, we stand together and we must. In the fight against intimidation, we stand together and we must. After all, a regime that would steal an election right before our very eyes will do anything to all of us.
As a quick read of Richard Hofstadter's 1954 opus on "the Pseudo-conservative Revolt" will show, the people we look "askance" at now that they are full-out Trumpers have been around a long time, but they were largely under control (though the Godwater campaign was the first time they broke through the gates) but it wasn't till they were allied with their Confederate traitor brothers-in-arms after Nixon invited the Confederacy into the "big tent" in 1968 that the real change started. We're now literally up against the same enemy we were up against in 1860.
Quick question: what's 10,000 Trumpers dead of COVID stacked in refrigerator trucks?
It is way past time to get serious about prosecuting all those who plotted, led, and participated in an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States following the 2020 election. The crime is much greater than the January 6, Capitol riot. Let’s get this right and move it forward. Here is the specific crime:
18 U.S. Code § 2385 - Advocating overthrow of Government
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
I try hard to stay up to speed but totally missed the report about the robocalls, RAGA & the staffers meeting. This is very disturbing & escalating too fast. I know the cases against the 1/6 organizers is ongoing & will take time. But hurry up!
“But the fact that Republican lawmakers have ignored the Eastman memo, which outlines the destruction of our democracy, suggests that the party, which organized in the 1850s to protect the nation against those who would destroy it, has come full circle.”
As Professor Richardson states, it’s a full circle moment.
What shall be our response? What say our unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? Given to us by the Creator and the inspiration of governments formed to protect.
So check yourself, lawmakers. And look behind you from where we came.
"If this is not a hair-on-fire, screaming emergency, what is?"
Exactly, Prof. HCR! If the Biden administration and the DOJ don't take steps to put a stop to this Republican plot post haste, our democracy will wither and die. Their conniving conspiracy is too dangerous to be ignored! No one should sit idly by, put their head in the sand, and think that totalitarianism will never wash onto these shores!
I feel we are in a territory that no one thought we would be in even 2 years ago. I think the GOP are as surprised that they could pull this rather seamless coup off as we are that they have gotten away with it thus far.
The release of written proof of the attempt of the destruction of Democracy and the physical take over of the government has gotten nothing more than a whimper from the Administration is what I find most distressing.
In the Country I remember the United States once was, this would have been breaking news, covered 24/7 with heads on a stick by now.
Yet, it goes by with nary a mention. This is abysmal, at best.
"Establishment Republicans who are now out of power are not on board the Trump train. They are quietly backing anti-Trumpers..."
There are two ways the United States of America escape a downward spiral to authoritarian government. 1. Republicans opposed to Trump and the machinations to keep him in 2020/01 and the plans to distort the election of 2024 need to oppose Trump and authoritarianism OUT LOUD. Two Members of Congress are not enough. 2. Democrats need to persuade the majority of people of all parties of the danger we are facing so that, even in Alabama, say we defeat characters like Mo Brooks.
As important as the hard and soft infrastructure bills we are working on, more important is protecting our right to vote. Let's not give up on the America that once earned the admiration of the world.
It is time to call this out as what it is - a well-documented attempt to overthrow the government, led by people too unconcerned or too stupid to worry about leaving a paper trail.
The January 6th sheep currently in court are not the problem. It's time to round up the ringleaders of this attempted coup and prosecute them on an open and shut case of treason.
Reasonable people insist on framing this coup as a robust political debate, but reasonable people are wrong. It is a naked power grab, an assault on the popular will, and blatantly illegal. Three evidence is there, in the seditionists' own hands.
A crime has been committed, even if it was unsuccessful. Failed bank robbers don't get to walk because they got no money. Failed murderers are still prosecuted. The evidence is there for all to see, and the alleged criminals aren't denying it. They're doubling down, and we're letting them. Either prosecute them, or remove the treason laws from the books since they're clearly meaningless and unenforceable.
In short: lock them up.
There is now, and has been for many, months, a mountain of criminal evidence as to Trump's clear intention of overthrowing our democratically elected government.
So when does Attorney General Merrick Garland and the entire Department of Justice plan to INDICT Trump? When does "the rule of law," so fundamentally important in our democracy, begin to get the attention it deserves?
What are we waiting for ?
My first thoughts went to Hemingway but John Donne (1572-1631), first wrote the line 'for whom the bell tolls' in "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII":
"Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
The bell is indeed tolling for each of us and for democracy.
I remember the joy of Nov 7, 2020 (sitting on the lawn watching my grandchildren when people began driving around honking horns - the AP had called the election for Biden). It seemed like we as a nation had turned the corner and would finally emerge into the daylight of a Biden presidency.
Since that joyous day, there have only been 2 days that I can consider “bright days” for our nation - Dec 14, 2020 when the Electoral College met in the various state capitols and voted for President and Vice President, and Jan 20, 2021 when Biden and Harris were sworn in. The joy of those days is a distant memory.
The anticipated calm of a nation led by rational, compassionate adults is shattered almost daily with new revelations about the actions of the former president and his enablers. Each day reveals how close to the abyss the careening Trump train brought us. If Stephen King had submitted a manuscript for his next novel based on actual events since the election, his publisher would have rejected it out of hand claiming it too far fetched.
For the sake of my young grandchildren, I pray that we will come to our senses and rid this nation of the evil stain of oligarchy and authoritarianism spreading over it.
Go to https://choosedemocracy.us/ to learn how to stop a coup or power grab using non-violent techniques. Took a webinar with George Lakey on non-violent resistance which was invaluable. He's amazing and has been doing this all over the world since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Highly recommend his book on How We Win.
Thanks HCR, but the only takeaway I can see from your summation of the crimes and misdemeanors of the current Ghastly Old Party is that they are cowardly, greedy, despicable opportunists who would happily destroy their own constituents--which they are actually doing--rather than take a principled stand, protect our democratic system, or vocalize any criticism of the Deranged Former "President." That sounds like the same old same old to me. But the added spice of the fact that their own constituents are dying of COVID by the hundreds, if not thousands, and they persist in this benighted and immoral decision to "stand firm" against anything a Democratic president and congress might try to do to ameliorate the situation of their. own. constituents. simply underscores the moral vacuum and ethical black hole they all occupy. I'm disgusted but I am not surprised.
We were all so naive. We thought the election of Joe Biden would be a repudiation of Trumpism.
Yet a scant few hours after a violent insurrection of our Capitol, a majority of the House GOP members sided with the insurrectionists and voted against certifying a clearly legitimate election.
That should have been enough to realize that Trump's attempt to steal the election was not just the desperate flailings of a defeated candidate and a few of his "whack-job" supporters. Nope, we had no idea how deep were the roots to this insidious threat to our Democracy.
Todays letter illustrates just how well-organized and structured was the plan to steal the election. Their effort has been years in the making. All that was needed was the right person to light the fuse... to "release the kraken". They found their candidate in Donald Trump, a narcissistic svengali. He is the "messiah" they sought to wrest power from the majority, and reinstate the rules that keep political and economic power in the hands of the rich.
We keep hearing about adhering to the rule of law. But the RAGA crowd is working to create dozens of laws to protect their social status. How do we reconcile this?
Infrastructure and climate change are certainly important pieces of legislation. But nothing is more important than passing voting rights legislation. Nothing.
Knew about RAGA but never ever fathomed that all of the Repub AG’s were huddled together! Abhorrent behavior by the most corrupt party of our time. I imagine that Garland and staff are extremely busy with preparing their lassoes to round the cattle up. But should they do it one lousy fascist at a time or a bunch together? I have this ongoing dream that a large bird swoops down and picks them all up, holds them hostage until their cells are prepared, then releases them to face their miserable music.
Let’s talk about that weasel, Pence. He goes to Budapest to spew his garbage about abortions and “family values”. His plan is to run for Prez in 2024. Can you imagine having this Ken doll-with-no-balls as your president??
We have to fight hard and press our leaders to do the same. So tired of rhetoric. We need ACTION!
Holy hand grenades, for the first time ever I feel the impact of the expression "bombshell revelations" and it makes me even more determined that for the next few years or even the rest of my life we must do as much as we can to save our way of life, and recruit others to this cause.
This quote says it well:
"In the fight against bigotry, we stand together and we must. In the fight against injustice, we stand together and we must. In the fight against intimidation, we stand together and we must. After all, a regime that would steal an election right before our very eyes will do anything to all of us.
- CYNTHIA MCKINNEY"
As a quick read of Richard Hofstadter's 1954 opus on "the Pseudo-conservative Revolt" will show, the people we look "askance" at now that they are full-out Trumpers have been around a long time, but they were largely under control (though the Godwater campaign was the first time they broke through the gates) but it wasn't till they were allied with their Confederate traitor brothers-in-arms after Nixon invited the Confederacy into the "big tent" in 1968 that the real change started. We're now literally up against the same enemy we were up against in 1860.
Quick question: what's 10,000 Trumpers dead of COVID stacked in refrigerator trucks?
Answer: a good start.
It is way past time to get serious about prosecuting all those who plotted, led, and participated in an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States following the 2020 election. The crime is much greater than the January 6, Capitol riot. Let’s get this right and move it forward. Here is the specific crime:
18 U.S. Code § 2385 - Advocating overthrow of Government
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.
I try hard to stay up to speed but totally missed the report about the robocalls, RAGA & the staffers meeting. This is very disturbing & escalating too fast. I know the cases against the 1/6 organizers is ongoing & will take time. But hurry up!
“And the seasons, they go round and round.
And the painted ponies, they go up and down.
We’re captive on the carousel of time.
We can’t return, we can only look.
Behind from where we came.
And go round and round and round in the circle game.”
Joni Mitchell “The Circle Game”
https://youtu.be/V9VoLCO-d6U
“But the fact that Republican lawmakers have ignored the Eastman memo, which outlines the destruction of our democracy, suggests that the party, which organized in the 1850s to protect the nation against those who would destroy it, has come full circle.”
As Professor Richardson states, it’s a full circle moment.
What shall be our response? What say our unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? Given to us by the Creator and the inspiration of governments formed to protect.
So check yourself, lawmakers. And look behind you from where we came.
"If this is not a hair-on-fire, screaming emergency, what is?"
Exactly, Prof. HCR! If the Biden administration and the DOJ don't take steps to put a stop to this Republican plot post haste, our democracy will wither and die. Their conniving conspiracy is too dangerous to be ignored! No one should sit idly by, put their head in the sand, and think that totalitarianism will never wash onto these shores!
Thank you Heather.
I feel we are in a territory that no one thought we would be in even 2 years ago. I think the GOP are as surprised that they could pull this rather seamless coup off as we are that they have gotten away with it thus far.
The release of written proof of the attempt of the destruction of Democracy and the physical take over of the government has gotten nothing more than a whimper from the Administration is what I find most distressing.
In the Country I remember the United States once was, this would have been breaking news, covered 24/7 with heads on a stick by now.
Yet, it goes by with nary a mention. This is abysmal, at best.
Be safe, be well.
"Establishment Republicans who are now out of power are not on board the Trump train. They are quietly backing anti-Trumpers..."
There are two ways the United States of America escape a downward spiral to authoritarian government. 1. Republicans opposed to Trump and the machinations to keep him in 2020/01 and the plans to distort the election of 2024 need to oppose Trump and authoritarianism OUT LOUD. Two Members of Congress are not enough. 2. Democrats need to persuade the majority of people of all parties of the danger we are facing so that, even in Alabama, say we defeat characters like Mo Brooks.
As important as the hard and soft infrastructure bills we are working on, more important is protecting our right to vote. Let's not give up on the America that once earned the admiration of the world.