Chronicles of a Stillborn Zombie Coup

[JimC]

Putsch...?

Maybe, but more likely people will remember why they voted the cunts out.

Some will for sure, but if all the sleazy political manoeuvring the Republicans are doing to corruptly control enough electoral processes works, it won't matter...

[Joe]

Putsch...?

Maybe, but more likely people will remember why they voted the cunts out.

Some will for sure, but if all the sleazy political manoeuvring the Republicans are doing to corruptly control enough electoral processes works, it won't matter...

Perhaps, but as I asked before, then what? The GOP is good at gaining power through demonization, spin, and legal chicanery, but their record of holding it is not so good. Remember, Democratic power is in the cities. They have strong support in unions and on Wall Street. They aren't helpless, as their times in the minority have shown, and they have their share of ultra rich backers to fund a bunch of lawsuits, which at worst will slow the process down until fortune swings their way.

My big worry is violence. Other than sacking the capital, the maneuvering has all been sufficiently within the law and precedent to maintain a patina of legitimacy. If that holds, it's likely that the unspoken bargain between the parties will prevail. The losers will live to fight another day, and only the little people will go to prison.

If violence prevails, history shows that all bets are off.

[Brian Peacock]

Then what? A bit of judicious lawmaking perhaps? Trump's tax Bill is still on the books: most of his executive orders haven't been countermanded; changes to electoral systems will persist for at least one cycle even if overturning them is simply a matter of majority control. The page count of the statute book rarely goes down.

All I'm saying Joe is that looking to the trend is one way to see where things might be or are heading. The idea that there's some kind of inherent balance in the system is important in the technocratic sense, but doesn't account for those things which might, have, or are shifting the political fulcrum.

[Joe]

Then what? A bit of judicious lawmaking perhaps? Trump's tax Bill is still on the books: most of his executive orders haven't been countermanded; changes to electoral systems will persist for at least one cycle even if overturning them is simply a matter of majority control. The page count of the statute book rarely goes down.

All I'm saying Joe is that looking to the trend is one way to see where things might be or are heading. The idea that there's some kind of inherent balance in the system is important in the technocratic sense, but doesn't account for those things which might, have, or are shifting the political fulcrum.

Yeahbut, we're driving along in the Zombie Coup thread, so I'm thinking more in the context of a coup than the shift of the political fulcrum. That seemed to be the thrust of Jim's comment, so I responded to that. Maybe, I read him wrong.

As I said, I fear violence more than the GOP maneuvers. My point is that within the system as it is, the Democrats have plenty of resources to overturn, blunt, and delay the GOP's efforts, as long as the contest is within the system. Additionally, should the GOP win this round, the Democrats have the power and ability to win the next one.

And as I've pointed out before, there's the People to be reckoned with. Every so often, they manage to weigh in.

Does that make sense?

[Brian Peacock]

Yeah, that makes sense. In fact, you could read the coup on the 6th as an attempt to do politics outside the system.

[Joe]

Yeah, that makes sense. In fact, you could read the coup on the 6th as an attempt to do politics outside the system.

I absolutely do, and it was the violence that made it so. Other than Trump's call to the Georgia Secretary of State asking him "to find 11,780 votes," most of what was done had some remote legal precedent.

• The objections to certifying the Arizona electors based on "irregularities" are on firm ground under an 1887 law, and the process and been used a couple of times before, the latest being 2004. So far, no electors have been rejected.
• The multiple slates of electors thing happened before in the election of 1876. That was behind Giuliani's fraudulent presentation to the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee, and the pressure for the other contested state legislatures to rule the election failed and send Trump slates. This was based on a sketchy reading of the law I mentioned above.
• Neither candidate making it to 270 electors happened in 1824, and the House of Representatives picked the President, in accordance with the 12th Amendment.
• As Eastman mentioned in his memo, getting Pence to toss votes was based shakily on a legal analysis by the Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe.

Without the violence, it's just another embarrassing footnote in our politics, an over-lawyered dipshit making a fool of himself.

[Brian Peacock]

Happy Insurrection Day.

[pErvinalia]

[Tero]

trump coup.jpg (25.96 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

[Sean Hayden]

What a thrill for that guy though, eh. He not only got away with it, he may get to try it again.

[Joe]

And people are giving him tons of money. You gotta know he's loving that!

[L'Emmerdeur]

A look at some religious underpinnings of the Trumpist assault on the US Capitol, including the 'Jericho March' of Dec. 12, 2020.

'How Christian nationalism drove the insurrection: A religious history of Jan. 6'

"It was evident to anyone watching that there was this religious character to what was going on, both in the Trump movement writ large but particularly in the leadership of the 'Stop the Steal' movement," said religious studies scholar Jerome Copulsky, co-director of a new website, Uncivil Religion, dedicated to collecting "digital artifacts" of Jan. 6 religiosity and exploring what it means for, say, violent protesters to dress up like Captain Moroni — a legendary warrior from the Book of Mormon — or sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" alongside fellow protesters carrying Confederate flags. "It wasn't just the Stop the Steal rally, then the assault," Copulsky continued. "People really wanted to display their religious commitments, literally wearing them on their sleeves."

...

Not all speakers at the Jericho March were religious leaders in the traditional sense. Stewart Rhodes, the devoutly Christian founder of the militia group the Oath Keepers, was on hand to urge police and military members to prepare to fight Chinese "proxies" in the U.S., who he claimed were working to install Joe Biden as their "puppet." Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, freshly pardoned by Trump for lying to federal investigators, appeared in a flag bandana to talk about spiritual war and lead the crowd in an "Our Father." And conspiracy-theory talk-show host Alex Jones delivered a barn-burning near-sermon, proclaiming, "This is the beginning of the great revival before the Antichrist comes. World government, implantable microchips, Satanism — it's out in the open. The Bible is fulfilled, Revelation is fulfilled."

And there was Ali Alexander, the bombastic founder of the Stop the Steal movement, who appeared frequently on stage alongside Metaxas, vowing that if Biden was installed as president, Alexander and his supporters would return to "occupy D.C. full of patriots," adding, "We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us."

In the following weeks, Alexander repeatedly underscored the religious dimensions of his mission. In late December, he told the Epoch Times-affiliated NTD television network, "We are in a fight of good versus evil, of light versus the darkness, and a global order over sovereign citizens. … I believe that this is a metaphysical fight and we are channeling all energy in heaven and on earth towards a favorable outcome."

On New Year's Eve in 2020, Alexander announced on Twitter that he was converting to Catholicism, in part, he explained, because he'd become convinced that the Catholic Church had been "infiltrated" by an "earthy [sic] order that works in concert with Satan himself against the Church," and that he had been personally called to join the battle. And when the Jericho March returned to Washington on Jan. 5, for a slate of protest events leading up to the following day's MAGA march, Alexander spoke again, whipping the crowd into a chant of "Victory or death."

[Brian Peacock]

I guess when your nominated deity is an narcissistic authoritarian with poor impulse control and self-esteem issues you look for somebody who embodies those virtues wherever you can.

[JimC]

He's a vicious old cunt, for sure...

[L'Emmerdeur]

Latest news from pillow-land:

Mike Lindell has never been more confident about his plan to overturn the 2020 election: "We have enough evidence to put everyone in prison for life, 300 and some million people." Is he planning to imprison basically the entire US population?

- Right Wing Watch · Jan 12, 2022