The "Non-Battle Stations!" Mini-Edition
Just a short piece to make sure you're braced before January 6.
The Big/Only Idea
I intended on publishing this week’s MSU after the Joint Session of Congress meets to confirm the vote of the Electoral College on January 6, making Joe Biden President and Kamala Harris Vice President. Be assured, despite all the sturm und drang, that still will happen. Enough is going on right now, however, that I felt it important to touch on a few things right now, before the Joint Session.
First, if you live in DC, please listen to Mayor Muriel Bowser and stay off the streets on Wednesday. The thugs and goons Second Confederate President Donald Trump is inciting to come to town to protest the Session will be very dangerous; but, since they’ll also be totally ineffective, there is no reason for us to confront them in the streets, even non-violently—and remember, as we’ve seen from this crowd before, they don’t have a “non-violent” setting.
What might make this particularly dangerous is that, for the first time, Proud Boys and other protesters are talking about bringing guns into DC. I’ve always said the First and Second Amendments don’t mix; but thus far the armed extremists at events in other places have hidden behind lax gun laws. I suspect their local police actually appreciate that, since it gives them an excuse not to try disarming angry mobs.
That will not work in DC, where open carry of any firearm is illegal, concealed carry permits are heavily regulated, and out-of-state permits aren’t accepted. Thus, any appearance of a firearm is an automatic confrontation with police, with dire consequences either for violence or a serious de-legitimizing of both the police and local laws overwhelmingly supported by the population.
Since this set of presidentially-organized riots will fail in its purpose, there is no reason for pro-democracy forces to come out and add oxygen to this blaze. I would feel differently if this mob had a chance of success, but they don’t.
If you haven’t heard Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, I urge you to listen to the whole thing, and I simultaneously apologize, because it’s excruciating to listen to Trump’s senile ramblings. Aside from its sheer criminality, what’s most striking is this is clearly no mere con to Trump: he sincerely believes what he is saying to Raffensperger. He really does think he was robbed.
What, then, should we believe about the GOP senators and congresspersons who will attempt to prevent the certification of the Electoral College on Wednesday? We need to accept they are also sincere, though in two different ways: many if not most of them sincerely think Trump won and is being robbed, especially among the newly-elected. Even the congresspeople voting against their own states’ electoral certifications probably sincerely believe that the voters in their districts are good, honest, “real” [white white WHITE!] Americans, while the fraud was perpetrated by “those” people in “urban areas.” More cynical people like Cruz and Hawley sincerely don’t care about democracy and just want to win, no matter what.
Why shouldn’t GOP legislators make this move? The overwhelming majority of Republicans believe Trump really won. If the duty of a legislator is to represent their constituents, these people are doing so. It’s the Republicans opposing them who are out of sync with the party that elected them—and they’ll likely pay a price for that in 2022. It is they who are the “fringe” of the GOP today.
There may have been a time when the Republican Party and/or FOX told GOP voters what to think, but that time has passed. The Party’s faithful have self-radicalized now, and God help the politician or institution who stands in their way.
It is fortunate but disturbing that the ten living secretaries of defense felt a need to sign a joint op-ed about respecting the election's outcome. It is flabbergasting that the instigator of this note was Dick Cheney. Dick Mother-F-ing Cheney is in the Resistance. I guess we can waterboard Trump supporters now?
There is a weird grab-bag of officials now lining up to support democracy in the GOP: Vote-suppressing Brad Raffensperger is an unlikely Resistance hero, to say the least. Tom Cotton, who has his own fascistic desires, acknowledges that our elections are run by the states, not by Congress, and that the Vice President certainly doesn’t preside over his own election. Chip Roy, a new Texas congressman who once worked for Ted Cruz, called on the House to refuse to seat legislators from the states in dispute, on the entirely-correct grounds that their elections can’t be more legitimate than the presidential election in their state was. He and some other very-conservative congresspersons even made this extraordinary statement that said the quiet part out loud: since the Electoral College skews Republican, attacking its legitimacy is a really bad idea going forward for the GOP. Refreshing candor! I doubt there’s much room for an alliance with most of these people beyond this particular event, but we should be open to talks if they reach out further.
I’ll check in with you all after the 6th. Be safe!