The Conversation

[MeDotOrg]

While President Trump was watching the televised occupation of the Capitol of his country, he received a phone call from the GOP leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy tells Trump that he should make a statement calling off his supporters. Trump initially says initially that the protestors are ANTIFA. McCarthy isn't buying it. Trump's next words to Kevin McCarthy, his loyal acolyte and fellow GOP Party member, while Trump's supporters crash through the barricades:

Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.

A couple of things become clear from that statement:

• Trump never thought it was ANTIFA. ANTIFA was the ruse to disassociate himself from what was happening. So the President of the United States, knowing the Capitol is under attack, chooses to blame a group he knows is not responsible. The only possible explanation is that the President wants to deflect blame from the real culprits.
• Trump never says that what they are doing is wrong. He says they are more upset. He knows that their rage is his last chance to hold on to power.

At this point McCarthy knows that Trump values his protestors' rage more than McCarthy's safety. This is the way democracy ends. McCarthy tells the President that rioters are breaking the windows to his office. "Who the “F” do you think you're talking to?" He asks the President.

The President's answer was what he did, or more precisely, what he did not do. He did not call the Capitol Police, the Defense Department or the National Guard. He did nothing to protect his loyal lieutenant.

El Presidente was not going to call off a coup happening in his name.

For anyone who has watched the deconstruction of democratic norms under Trump, none of the above is surprising, but given the knowledge of this specific conversation, the idea of McCarthy going to Mar a Lago to kiss the ring was a spectacularly craven display of obsequious fealty.

The conversation and its aftermath show Trump's sympathy for the coup attempted in his name, and McCarthy's acceptance of this as the status quo.

[Gunnar]

And despite this and other equally damning evidence, apparently a majority of Republican Senators are too craven and/or corrupt to convict Trump. The house impeachment management team presented a case that is so unassailable, and Trump's defense team's case is so pathetically weak by comparison, that if this were an ordinary criminal trial with honest and impartial jurors, the defense would have had no viable option better than trying for a plea deal and/or an insanity defense. Some, if not most, of the Republican Senators not only obsequiously support Trump, but sympathized with the goal of the insurrection to stop the certification of Biden's victory and overturn the election, and apparently were even complicit in it to some degree. It is as bad as if some of the jury members in a criminal trial were not only on the side of the accused, but actively offered advice to the defense attorney to how to win his case, as some of the Republican Senators openly did for Trump's lawyers.

Trump's legal team was so bad and ill prepared, in part, because they knew from the start that they didn't have a good or well prepared case to get an acquittal, because they were confident that the majority of the Republican Senators were already determined to acquit no matter how weak their case was compared the prosecution's case. I get the impression that they could have limited their presentation to merely demanding that Trump be acquitted, without even attempting to present any exculpatory evidence, and still have been confident of winning.

[Moksha]

CNN reports on January 6th via a phone call from House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy to Trump:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy1FPNluoOE

... the idea of McCarthy going to Mar a Lago to kiss the ring was a spectacularly craven display of obsequious fealty.

This shows how dangerous Trump is and how venal and obsequious the Republican Party has become (except for Mitt).

[ajax18]

El Presidente was not going to call off a coup happening in his name.

If you're going to call this an actual coup and an insurrection, what were these rioters armed with? What kind of weapons did they have?

And what exactly did Democrats do to call of their violent protesters this past summer after inciting the violence through their hate speech against law enforcement? As I remember Kamala Harris was working to insure they had no cash bail and were free to continue their violent protest night after night. Trump sending in national guard was criticized as sending storm troopers.

The right has stood above these tactics for too long. Any Republican not willing to seek impeachments of current and former Democrat public officials for their roles in the violent riots this past summer need to be primaried out of office. The left needs to know they will not always enjoy a double standard in this.

[Bret Ripley]

El Presidente was not going to call off a coup happening in his name.

If you're going to call this an actual coup and an insurrection, what were these rioters armed with? What kind of weapons did they have?

Fabulous question! I'm not really 'up' on what weapons are de rigueur for coups this season, but let's see what's on the list -- well, this one guy was carrying a podium that would probably hurt if he dropped it on your foot. Then there was the guy with a crossbow -- he also had several guns, Molotov cocktails, and smoke bombs, but a crossbow deserves special mention not only because crossbows are cool but also because they sublimely encapsulate the cultural milieux from which the gentleman's politics emerge. That sort of attention to subtle detail deserves recognition.

Pistols and tasers were reportedly carried by some, but that's nothing you won't see being toted around at your local Walmart. (Tip: pay close attention to those folks -- nothing says 'I know how to spot a bargain' like a Sig Sauer P365.)

(We will note but quickly pass over the pipe bombs; they carry too much of a radical '60s leftist vibe to merit serious consideration as a proper patriot's 'coup weapon.')

Honorable mention goes to the wrist-restraints and gallows, but aesthetically they don't really bring anything to the table that has not already been more elegantly stated by the crossbow.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

What Xanax thinks is going to happen within the next three years:



- Doc

[ajax18]

If you're going to call this an actual coup and an insurrection, what were these rioters armed with? What kind of weapons did they have?

Fabulous question! I'm not really 'up' on what weapons are de rigueur for coups this season, but let's see what's on the list -- well, this one guy was carrying a podium that would probably hurt if he dropped it on your foot. Then there was the guy with a crossbow -- he also had several guns, Molotov cocktails, and smoke bombs, but a crossbow deserves special mention not only because crossbows are cool but also because they sublimely encapsulate the cultural milieux from which the gentleman's politics emerge. That sort of attention to subtle detail deserves recognition.

Pistols and tasers were reportedly carried by some, but that's nothing you won't see being toted around at your local Walmart. (Tip: pay close attention to those folks -- nothing says 'I know how to spot a bargain' like a Sig Sauer P365.)

(We will note but quickly pass over the pipe bombs; they carry too much of a radical '60s leftist vibe to merit serious consideration as a proper patriot's 'coup weapon.')

Honorable mention goes to the wrist-restraints and gallows, but aesthetically they don't really bring anything to the table that has not already been more elegantly stated by the crossbow.

A coup would have been 40,000 marines with heavy artillery taking over the capital and arresting everyone in Congress. This was just a riot by a few idiots. In the words of Nancy Pelosi, "People do what they do."

[Gunnar]

A coup would have been 40,000 marines with heavy artillery taking over the capital and arresting everyone in Congress. This was just a riot by a few idiots. In the words of Nancy Pelosi, "People do what they do."

What!?! You're claiming that you can't call a riot to unlawfully overturn an election or government a coup, unless it involves tens of thousands of troops armed everything including heavy artillery, and arresting everyone in congress? Surely, even you cannot believe that nonsense, do you?

[Chap]

A coup would have been 40,000 marines with heavy artillery taking over the capital and arresting everyone in Congress. This was just a riot by a few idiots. In the words of Nancy Pelosi, "People do what they do."

What!?! You're claiming that you can't call a riot to unlawfully overturn an election or government a coup, unless it involves tens of thousands of troops armed everything including heavy artillery, and arresting everyone in congress? Surely, even you cannot believe that nonsense, do you?

What on earth would the point of the heavy artillery have been in ajax's imaginary mission? There would have been no enemy armor or fortifications to destroy, and you can't arrest people by dropping great big shells on top of them. And what would all those 40,000 infantrymen have been doing, given that the only opposition was a few policemen with side-arms and batons?

Yup, just a great big wet dream of proxy violence from Ajax the Barbarian Optometrist ... no surprise.

[Gunnar]

Yeah, Seriously, ajax, can you really not see what a laughingstock you have made of yourself by comments like that? It is far from the first time you have done so!