caulfield12

With Blunt (and Danforth by extension), it has only been the last 2-3 weeks, and in the face of Hawley's assault on democracy. As for Scott, he's been consistently outspoken/forthright on racial issues throughout Trump's tenure, although he hardly is deserving of deification. One name not mentioned in Liz Cheney. And that Rep. Kinzinger, whose name has been in the news nearly every day this last month. Justin Amash from MI. Charlie Dent from PA. If there's any quibble about Romney, and this is almost impossible to prove/quantify, it's that he has so much support in the state of Utah that it would be pretty hard for him to lose...and even then, it wouldn't come at much personal cost at this point in his life, as he's already set for life financially. He is needed by the Senate more than he needs it, in other words. But he's also not jeopardizing his family's future by taking the stance he took against Trump. With all that said, he was the ONLY one, the lone voice is the wilderness or desert, willing to take on Trump that wasn't already out of office or leaving elected office. He has his moral code, which is derived from his religious beliefs, and he is at least consistent...even though I will never applaud a venture capitalist all that much.

National security adviser Robert O'Brien, deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell were all considering resigning as soon as Wednesday night, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Pottinger's resignation appeared to be imminent while the others may sleep on the decision. By evening, as sirens wailed on Capitol Hill and Washington entered a 6 p.m. ET curfew, even some of his top allies were critical -- though, after four years of equivocation and appeasement of his violent base, unsurprised -- by the President's response. One top Republican ally called the President's video a "piece of sh*t." In it, Trump sought to empathize with the rioters based on the lies he's spread about a fraudulent election. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/donald-trump-capitol-mob/index.html

Bane Capital. Or Bain Capitol.

Profiles in Courage, lol. Of course, history will remember Romney, Flake, Sasse, Toomey, Thune, Cornyn, Blunt, Scott, Collins and Murkowski and some of the GOP governors more fondly.

Lankford is already backtracking as well... The Kansas City Star writes: "No one other than President Donald Trump himself is more responsible for Wednesday’s coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol than one Joshua David Hawley, the 41-year-old junior senator from Missouri, who put out a fundraising appeal while the siege was underway. This, Sen. Hawley, is what law-breaking and destruction look like. This is what mobs do. This is not a protest, but a riot. One woman was shot and has died, The Washington Post reported, while lawmakers were sheltering in place. No longer can it be asked, as George Will did recently of Hawley, 'Has there ever been such a high ratio of ambition to accomplishment?' Hawley’s actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed." At the request of the US National Guard, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is deploying 1,000 members of the New York National Guard to Washington, DC, “to aid and facilitate peaceful transfer of power,” Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. The troops will be deployed for up to two weeks. The decision was made at the request from the US National Guard. Cuomo said the deployment “will not impact our state's ongoing efforts to contain and combat the Covid virus.”

For most of THAT night, Trump and his family believed he'd actually won...until Arizona was called by FOX. UPDATE: the woman shot earlier in the day (circumstances still unclear) is dead and they're back in the Capitol resuming the electoral vote count One MIGHT think Hawley and Cruz would have the sense to shut up at this point. "History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation. But we’d be kidding ourselves if we treated it as a total surprise," Obama said. Obama added: "I’ve been heartened to see many members of the President’s party speak up forcefully today. Their voices add to the examples of Republican state and local election officials in states like Georgia who’ve refused to be intimidated and have discharged their duties honorably. We need more leaders like these — right now and in the days, weeks, and months ahead as President-Elect Biden works to restore a common purpose to our politics. It’s up to all of us as Americans, regardless of party, to support him in that goal."

Acting Secretary of Defense: D.C. National Guard activated after speaking with VP Pence, Pelosi Jan 6, 2021 Updated 1 hr ago Acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, shared a statement on the U.S. Department of Defense’s website stating after he spoke with Vice President Pence, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Senator Schumer and Representative Hoyer about the situation at the U.S. Capitol, they decided to fully activate the D.C. National Guard. The full statement from the U.S. Department of Defence website: "Chairman Milley (JCS) and I just spoke separately with the Vice President and with Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Senator Schumer and Representative Hoyer about the situation at the U.S. Capitol. We have fully activated the D.C. National Guard to assist federal and local law enforcement as they work to peacefully address the situation. We are prepared to provide additional support as necessary and appropriate as requested by local authorities. Our people are sworn to defend the constitution and our democratic form of government and they will act accordingly." https://www.khq.com/elections/acting-secretary-of-defense-d-c-national-guard-activated-after-speaking-with-vp-pence-pelosi/article_d0453d0f-9a51-5eca-99a9-f787d33092f6.html

Goodbye, political careers, at least on a national basis! Hawley Cruz Lankford Daines Kennedy Hagerty (TN) Tuberville Loeffler (adios) Blackburn (already attempting a political U-turn) Braun (IN) Lummis (WY) Marshall (KS)

Some foreign governments, including Turkey, also warned citizens to be wary of potential further violence. "We believe that the USA will overcome this domestic political crisis in maturity. We recommend that our citizens in the USA stay away from crowded places and places where shows are held," said the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement. You know your country has real problems when Turkey is punking you...and that’s also pretty much the end of any “moral high ground” the political right had in terms of accusations about protesters contributing (supposedly) to Covid-19 super-spreader events.

“They had more security at the Holocaust Museum when we visited a few years so. Literally one guy with a baton? God save the USA.”

Of course, that Antifa “violent protester” would be shot down before he ever got close...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/opinion/trump-republicans-election.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage Never Forget the Names of These Republicans Attempting a Coup This time they’ll fail. But their disloyalty to America is clear. Wonder how much money has been fundraised today on the backs of all this? Surreal. Unreal. Not even sure that words can describe it. Of course, in many ways, none of this is particularly surprising, either. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/opinion/jeff-flake-trump-republicans.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage Opinion Jeff Flake: My Fellow Republicans, Trump Is Destroying Us There is power in standing up to the rank corruptions of a demagogue.

Smoke grenades being deployed on Senate side of the US Capitol From CNN's Kristin Wilson, Ted Barrett, Manu Raju, Ali Zaslav and Sarah Fortinsky Smoke grenades are being deployed on the Senate side of the US Capitol, as Capitol police work to clear the building of rioters. Windows on the west side of the Senate have been broken, and hundreds of officers are amassing on the first floor of the building. CNN reporters working in the US Senate, have been told by the Capitol Police that they are being evacuated from the Senate, to an undisclosed location. The Capitol Police also say the Senate won’t be in session in the Capitol building today or anytime soon, saying the building was “trashed.” While the officers appear to be speaking with authority, CNN has not independently confirmed that the Senate leadership has made that decision.

President-elect Joe Biden called on President Trump to appear on national television and condemn his supporters who breached the US Capitol. “The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is. At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite. Therefore, I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said in an address to Americans. Biden called the mob an “insurrection.” “Threatening the safety of elected officials, it’s no protest. It's insurrection,” Biden said. “The world's watching. Like so many other Americans, I am shocked and saddened that our nation, so long the beacon of light and hope for democracy, has come to such a dark moment.” "President Trump: Step up," Biden added. The work of the next four years will be restoring democracy, Biden says President-elect Joe Biden addressed the pro-Trump riots happening right now at the Capitol, saying the work of the next four years will be rebuilding democracy. "The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of democracy – of decency, honor, respect, the rule of law. Just plain, simple decency," Biden said. The President-elect said he is "shocked and saddened" that the country has come to "such a dark moment," but added that like other moments in history, America will prevail. "Through war and strife, America's endured much. And we will endure here and we will prevail again and we'll prevail now," Biden said. "Today's reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile and to preserve it requires people of good will," he said. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/congress-electoral-college-vote-count-2021/index.html

Biden: "Our democracy is under unprecedented assault" From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury President-elect Joe Biden addressed the riots that erupted at the US Capitol building, calling it an "assault" on democracy. "At this hour, our democracy's under unprecedented assault. Unlike anything we've seen in modern times. An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself. An assault on the people's representatives and the Capitol Hill police, sworn to protect them. And the public servants who work at the heart of our Republic... Let me be very clear. The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect a true America. Do not represent who we are. What we're seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent. It's disorder. It's chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end now," Biden said. Cnn.com A White House adviser said some aides around President Donald Trump are becoming furious that the President won't do more to stop the insurrection at the Capitol. The adviser said aides have been all but begging Trump to come out and make a statement to begin to calm the situation. "He doesn't want to" to do more than what he is doing right now, the adviser said. "If we could throw him to the angry mob, we'd throw him to the angry mob now," the adviser said.

The woman who was shot is in critical condition, fwiw...if this was Antifa or BLM, the casualty count would be in the teens and likely 100’s with Trump authorizing deadly force to National Guard, who undoubtedly would have been called in a matter of minutes. This does make me even more proud of those like Stacey Abrams who didn’t quit but took their voter suppression battle to the American streets/neighborhoods and then the ballot box in Georgia and Wisconsin. PS. Growing up watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970’s early 80’s, this is a scene one could never have possibly conceived of on Schoolhouse Rock.

The Seige? Bruce Willis as occupying general? Where’s our Denzel Washington and that Monk guy?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/07/us/stacey-abrams-georgia-voter-suppression-trnd/index.html

Cotton has already been cast out of the group, seemingly...but then there’s always Pompeo, Rubio, Cruz and Pence vying for those same voters in 2024, assuming Trump is done. IMO, Ivanka would be better off running for an office in Florida to start out with, but how much of the MAGA crowd would automatically except her? Don, Jr., Eric and Lara, no way. Stephanie Guilfoyle will go down as one of the Top Ten reasons for Trump losing this year, so she gets crossed off as well. (Plus, Trump will do something idiotic like try to “pre-pardon” all of his family members over the next two weeks.) Nikki Haley or Paul Ryan seem so obvious they’ll probably figure out some new way to screw things up. And of course, you have Hogan/Baker/DeWine as anti-Trumpers.

The obvious thing for Abrams to do is take on Kemp again, except there’s a good chance he doesn’t even get the nomination. Then again, for some reason, he has 60% approval in terms of Covid response so who knows. Would like to see her get years of experience in Washington but she’s done so well in organizing GA the last two years that another run seems almost inevitable. She’s certainly not likely to run against Warnock for the former Isakson seat. (Thought this was interesting....”When compared to his Republican peers in the Senate, Isakson was neither more liberal than average nor more conservative than average. Won with 54.6% in 2016.)

At the same precinct, Jim Earwood, a 67-year-old retiree, said he appreciated Trump’s ceaseless commentary on the Georgia election, from his early and uncorroborated claims of fraud to his weekend call to the secretary of state. “I’m glad he’s involved,” Earwood said. “Everybody says he’s not presidential, and that’s what I like about him.” As he left the Christian church that served as a polling place, Earwood said he voted all Republican. “I wouldn’t vote for a Dem here lately unless they let Jesus on the ticket,” he said. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/perdue-ossoff-loeffler-warnock-georgia-senate/2021/01/05/7d7b5afe-4f5d-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html

Fulton and DeKalb still have 23,000 to go... Black voters again comprised 29% of the electorate, almost exactly approximating their turnout in November, which is frankly unheard of for a January runoff. And it's not just that. Ossoff was beating Perdue 93% to 7% among Black voters, nearly a double-digit improvement on Biden's performance. What explains the Black turnout? One factor may well be Rev. Raphael Warnock's candidacy. Warnock, the head of Ebenezer Baptist Church, took considerable incoming from Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) during the runoff for his ties to the Black church community -- including controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It's uniquely possible those attacks backfired on Loeffler (and Perdue) -- serving as an impetus for the Black community to turn out in droves to vote for the two Democrats. Trump won suburban Georgia voters by 3 points in November; Perdue is ahead of Ossoff by just 2 points. And perhaps as importantly, suburban voters turned out in similar numbers in the Senate runoffs as they did in the November general election. In November, suburbanites were 61% of the overall electorate, while on Tuesday they were also 61%. Assuming those numbers hold, it suggests that Trump has done damage to the Republican brand among suburban voters that goes well beyond just races where he is on the ballot. And extrapolating further, if the suburbs are now a pure toss-up across the country, that would be, generally speaking, scary news for Republicans. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/05/politics/georgia-senate-runoff-elections/index.html

NY Times meter has it ending at 1.9% for Warnock and 1.1% for Ossoff. How much does this impact Trump negatively...at least in terms of GOP electoral politics? Obviously, he's not going to take/assume/accept any responsibility for the loss, but it's hard to imagine him not being in the Top 3 reasons. If for no other reason than the $200 million he's soaked up after the election. With all the soft money flying into this, it seems the Dem advantage wasn't as pronounced in the end, but the GOP could have had a significant spending margin on advertising if they'd not gotten sidetracked. Quite a few unforced errors by both sides. For Dems, Antifa, defund the police, identity politics, embrace of "socialism" (or not differentiating enough from democratic socialism of the AOC/Squad variety) and Bernie's comments on socialism/Castro/Cuba... For the GOP, there are too many to name, but going to war with the governor of the state as well as the Secretary of State where you're trying to win two runoff elections doesn't seem to be the wisest election strategy.

https://www.ajc.com/news/distrust-and-worry-help-fuel-voter-turnout-in-east-georgia/MG5BAVXYUZEG5BDLOC6LRPFI4Q/