JANUARY 6th REPORTS: AFTERMATH—One desperate despot and 147 shameless Republicans
In the last edition of this series, we reviewed how Donald Trump and his gutless gang of Republicans did nothing to protect Congress while the mob he sent to attack it was busy ransacking the Capitol.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Trump and sycophantic sidekick Rudolph the Red-Faced Giuliani continued to pressure members of Congress to delay certification.
In the days that followed, the shameless Republicans would relentlessly promote the Big Lie, never admitting that the stories they had told to bring about the attack were false.
There is truly no doubt that Trump fully understood the effect that his lies and rhetoric would have.
His own supporters and the people who worked most closely with him knew this, and it is evident in their communications:
· Hours before the attack, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio posted an eighteen-second video of a man (presumably him) in front of the Capitol with a mask and cape on and dark music playing. It was simply titled “Premonition.” As the attackers were first busting into the building, Tarrio wrote on Parler, “Do what must be done.”
· During the attack, conservative organizer Ali Alexander texted, “POTUS is not ignorant of what his words will do.”
· Also during the attack, White House Communications Director Hope Hicks texted Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff, Julie Radford, “We all look like domestic terrorists now.” She wrote to Trump attorney Eric Herschmann, “So sad and so predictable.”
· Brad Parscale, a former Trump campaign manager, messaged Katrina Pierson, who helped organize the Ellipse “rally” that Trump’s actions amounted to a “sitting president asking for civil war.” He expressed guilt for having helped Trump, since a woman (Ashli Babbitt) now lay dead because of the president. Pierson responded, “You do realize this was going to happen.”
· Even Trump Jr. knew it was within his father’s power to do something, since it was his father who had sent the mob. He texted Chief of Staff Mark Meadows twice, asking him to tell his father to “condem [sic] this shit” at 2:53 p.m. on the day of the attack, then at 4:05 p.m. told Meadows that “We need an oval address. He has to lead now. It’s gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
After Trump finally made a video just after 4 p.m. (when the attack was essentially over and the building was being cleared) and asked his supporters to go home (though still claiming the election had been stolen), Red-Faced Rudy had a conniption fit.
He started calling the White House, desperately trying to get through to Dumb Caesar.
As the report details on page 608, after multiple attempts, he finally got Trump on the phone at 5:07 p.m. and the two had a twelve-minute conversation, after which Giuliani proceeded to call various members of the House and Senate to ask them to delay certification, including Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-GA).
Trump, for his part, spent the next several hours speaking to members of his communications staff, lawyers, and – just after 11 p.m. – with Sean Hannity.
Of all the evil idiots in all the world, donald trump picked Rudy the Hair Dye Leaking Covid Farter Giuliani to be in charge of his plot to overthrow the United States government.
It’s shocking it didn’t work isn’t it?
— Jo (@JoJoFromJerz) January 2, 2023
The Senate reconvened a few minutes after 8 p.m. and Pence recommenced the electoral vote counting.
When the attack began, both chambers had been debating an objection to counting Arizona’s electors, though no true evidence of fraud existed.
As the night progressed, an objection would be raised against Pennsylvania’s slate of electors, though, again, there were no true grounds for rejecting them.
Eight Republican senators and 139 GOP House members voted in favor of at least one of these objections and against certifying, including Rick Scott (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and Cruz.
After the election was finally certified, Dirty Donald would continue to make false claims about the vote, especially in regards to Georgia.
To this day, he has not admitted his lies nor faced any responsibility for the attack that he caused.
Maybe we should do something about that.
What say you, Mr. Garland?
Lindsey, Lyin’ Ted, Dirty Donald, and Little Donny all have something in common: they all hate Ross. But you can help him go after them all by joining him on Twitter! @RossRosenfeld
