User Controls
THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty's
-
2021-07-13 at 6:25 PM UTCdats not very current
-
2021-07-13 at 6:29 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 6:37 PM UTCMaking
America
Ghastly
Again
Esquire
This Video of Trump's January 6 Lies Over Footage of What Actually Happened Is the Whole Ballgame
Jack Holmes
In a new excerpt from I Alone Can Fix It, a chronicle of Donald Trump's final year as president, Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Phillip Rucker offer a fascinating behind-the-scenes account of how the then-president's push to reject the results of the 2020 election began on Election Night. Rudy Giuliani, we learn, was the most honest—in a way—about the strategy: "Just say we won," he suggested with regard to any state that remained in dispute, and even some they'd already lost. So what if Fox News, which Trump reportedly regarded as an extension of his campaign, had already called Arizona for Biden. Just say you won. What actually happened in reality has never been important. All that matters is what you want to happen, and whether you can make it so.
What the excerpt doesn't get at—though it might be a feature of the larger book—is that all this was not some reaction to things going south on Election Night. Or rather, it did not emerge organically as some sort of Trumpian defense mechanism against bad news. The president made it blindingly obvious for months leading up to the election that he would yell and scream that the election was rigged if he lost. Four years earlier, he was completely transparent about the fact that he would only accept the results if he won. It was always going to be the same in 2020. And even when it became clear that, out in the realm of observable reality, he had lost, it was similarly clear that he would stop at nothing to overturn the result. He did not hide this at the time, even if he would dependably lie about it later.
Everyone saw what happened.
On November 19, 2020, I suggested the president would need to be impeached on the basis he would never stop trying to steal the election. By that point, he was personally calling members of a Michigan elections board trying to get them to decertify results they'd already certified, an attempt to make a first domino fall. His campaign was in a Pennsylvania court asking for the results of that state's election to simply be thrown out. By the first days of the new year, he was on the phone with elections officials in Georgia, begging them to "find" him the exact number of votes he'd need to win that state. This development was so obviously coming—not just because of Trump's generalized corruption, but again, because he telegraphed this specifically—that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office knew to record the call. They knew that the President of the United States would come to them soon enough and demand they become party to his assault on the republic. They knew he would lie about what was said, and that they would need some corroborating evidence to fight back against the great power of his lies.
Trump was engaged in a sprawling behind-the-scenes campaign to steal the Electoral Votes he needed to reverse the result, while in public he was beginning to summon his supporters to Washington, D.C., for an event to coincide with Congress doing its constitutional duty in ratifying the election results on January 6. Maybe this was harder to grasp in the lead-up, as what arrived that day was simply inconceivable. But this was Trump's last-chance saloon with regard to his campaign to remain in power in contravention of the will of the American people. Having failed to win the election, and having failed to secure his preferred result through political pressure exerted on local officials, then federal ones, he turned to outright force. Fed a steady diet of lies about fraud and vague "irregularities" for weeks and weeks, his street goons attacked the Legislative Branch to try to keep him in control of the Executive Branch.
The effort failed, just about. But this was never going away, and it won't be going away now, and not just because these phony "audits" are springing up in states across the nation. The architecture of lies is so sprawling now, the alternate reality so exhaustively crafted with so much sunk-cost buy-in from the die-hards, that accountability is impossible. It's only a surprise that it took this long for Trump to emerge peddling an entirely fabricated account of what happened on January 6. He is beginning to add this to the MAGA folklore, in which the election was stolen and brave patriots who went to Washington in an attempt to right this grave moral wrong—peacefully, without guns, with hugs and kisses—were beaten back by shadowy figures at the gates. Ashli Babbitt, the woman shot and killed while trying to breach the last line of defense between the rioters and members of Congress, is fast becoming a martyr. The audacity of this great fabrication was laid bare by some great editing work on Mehdi Hassan's show last night:
We all saw what happened. We saw the MAGA gear and heard the chants. We watched the people wearing that stuff and saying that stuff attack police officers and call for the Vice President of the United States to be lynched because he'd refused to do something for Trump that he did not even have the power to do. There is video evidence of all of this: the mob attacking officers who tried to secure doors to the Senate gallery. Body cam footage showcasing the outright brutality of the street violence. Much of it happened on national television.
But the potency of Trump's lie is not that anyone could realistically have seen all that and still buy what he's selling. As Ruth Ben-Ghiat said elsewhere on Hassan's show, the transparency of his corruption is an invitation to the faithful to bind themselves to him further, to enter willingly into the false world of his creation because, in theory, it might lead to a more palatable reality than the present. What Trump is selling is not an argument about what happened but a path back to power and dominance, towards control over a country that is changing rapidly in a world changing faster still. The election wasn't stolen, the nation was stolen. Anything is permitted if it means getting it back. Anything can be excused, minimized, distorted, outright fabricated. The larger goal is a noble one, even if it requires the birth of America's own stabbed-in-the-back myth to get there.
So Trump was always going to reappear lying about January 6, which was itself a spasm of authoritarian violence predicated on a whole sprawling structure of lies. He is now casting the rioters as very fine people. When that phrase first appeared after Charlottesville in 2017, there was fairly widespread agreement that the president had suggested good people march alongside neo-Nazis in the street. But as the months and years went by, a movement sprung up on the right to simply deny this happened. And the attempted insurrection Trump fomented, in front of the whole world, is headed in the same direction. This is the swirling maelstrom around a degenerate narcissist, where the bullshitter is constantly spinning tales of his own victimhood, and also his greatness. It is impossible to discern whether he has convinced himself along with his followers, or whether he is truly capable of believing anything at all. It seems just as likely that what he claims about the world isn't connected to reality in any recognizable epistemological sense. Everything exists as a means to his ends, as more and more of the actual world is dragged into the orbit of his ghastly being. -
2021-07-13 at 6:42 PM UTC
Originally posted by POLECAT dats not very current
This? About how insane Trump is?
Originally posted by stl1
Business Insider
Trump raged that whoever leaked that he'd hidden in the White House bunker during anti-racism protests should be 'charged with treason' and 'executed,' book says
ssheth@businessinsider.com (Sonam Sheth)
Trump was furious after someone leaked that he'd hidden in the White House bunker during protests, a new book says.
He said the leaker should be "charged with treason" and "executed," the book says, according to CNN.
He reportedly became "obsessed" with finding out who'd leaked that information.
President Donald Trump was furious after reports last year said he and his family hid in the White House bunker during the George Floyd protests, and he said whoever leaked that information should be executed, according to a new book by The Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender.
In "Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost," Bender wrote that Trump seethed about the bunker story during a meeting with military and law-enforcement officials and West Wing advisors, according to CNN, which published excerpts from the book on Tuesday.
According to CNN, Bender wrote that the president "boiled over about the bunker story as soon as they arrived and shouted at them to smoke out whoever had leaked it."
"It was the most upset some aides had ever seen the president," the book continued, according to CNN. "'Whoever did that, they should be charged with treason!' Trump yelled. 'They should be executed!'"
Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff, tried to calm the president down, while other aides avoided making eye contact with him, the book said, according to CNN. In the following days, it said, Trump became "obsessed" with discovering who had leaked the story, and those who had witnessed his reaction saw it "as a sign of a president in panic."
Trump tried to downplay the bunker visit in an interview with Fox News' Brian Kilmeade, saying he'd been there to inspect it, not to hide.
"I was there for a tiny, short little period of time," Trump said. "They said it would be a good time to go down and take a look because maybe sometime you're going to need it."
The president added that he'd visited the bunker "two and a half times" before for various "things" related to inspections.
Trump had previously suggested that his perceived opponents be executed.
In May 2019, Trump indicated that he thought senior FBI officials who investigated his campaign's ties to Russia during the 2016 election had committed treason and should be put to death.
"Sir, the Constitution says treason is punishable by death. You've accused your adversaries of treason. Who specifically are you accusing of treason?" NBC's Peter Alexander asked Trump at a White House event.
"Well, I think a number of people" in the bureau "have unsuccessfully tried to take down the wrong person," Trump replied, pointing to former FBI Director James Comey; former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe; Peter Strzok, a former FBI agent; and Lisa Page, a former FBI lawyer.
In September of that year, Trump said Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, should be arrested for treason. At the time, Schiff was spearheading an impeachment inquiry into Trump's efforts to strong-arm the Ukrainian government into launching bogus investigations targeting the Bidens while he withheld military aid and a White House meeting.
"Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people," Trump tweeted on September 30. "It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?"
A few days earlier, Trump had suggested that the whistleblower who used legal avenues to alert Schiff's committee to his Ukraine efforts was a "spy" and had committed treason, reports said.
"I want to know who's the person, who's the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that's close to a spy," he reportedly said at a private breakfast in New York.
Trump added: "You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now." -
2021-07-13 at 7:10 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 7:27 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 7:41 PM UTCLooks like a bunch of Dems are going to get their dumb asses thrown in jail.
-
2021-07-13 at 8:07 PM UTCits just the beginning
-
2021-07-13 at 8:08 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 8:17 PM UTCMake
Americans
Glad to allow every American the right to vote
Always
ABC News
Biden steps up fight for voting rights: 'The big lie is just that -- a big lie!'
President Joe Biden stepped up the fight for voting rights on Tuesday, speaking in the nation's birthplace of Philadelphia and invoking history, saying, "We the People began as a story that's neither simple nor straightforward.
"But some things in America should be simple and straightforward. Perhaps the most important of those things, the most fundamental of those things is the right to vote, the right to vote freely," he said in a high-profile speech at the National Constitution Center.
He wasted no time taking a shot at former President Donald Trump and his supporters, homing in on the 2020 election as the "most scrutinized election in American history.
"More than 80 judges, including those appointed by my predecessor heard the arguments. In every case, neither cause nor evidence was found to undermine the national achievement of administering the historic election," he said.
"The big lie is just that -- a big lie!" he declared.
"In America, if you lose, accept the results. Follow the Constitution. Try again. You don't call facts fake and try to bring down the American experiment just because you're unhappy," he continued. "That's not statesmanship -- that's selfishness."
He called passing national voting legislation "a national imperative."
"Republicans opposed even debating, even considering the For the People Act. Senate Democrats stood united to protect our democracy and the sanctity of the vote. We must pass the For the People Act," Biden said to applause.
Biden also raised the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as a dangerous and unprecedented consequence of Trump's "big lie" about the 2020 election.
"Because of the extraordinary courage of elections officials, many of them Republicans, our court system, those brave Capitol Police officers -- because of them -- democracy held. Look how close it came," he continued. "We're going to face another test in 2022 new wave of voter suppression and raw and sustained election subversion. We have to prepare now."
He later said the even Confederate soldiers didn't breach the Capitol and that "we're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War."
"So, hear me clearly: There is an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to express and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are as Americans," he said.
His use of the bully pulpit comes as his administration wades more aggressively into the fight over ballot access at the urging of civil rights groups and Democrats as Republican-led legislatures advance new voting restrictions in places like Texas and Congress remains deadlocked over proposed legislation.
It also comes as Democrats in the Texas State Legislature have fled their state for Washington, D.C., the second such effort in recent weeks in an attempt to prevent a vote on legislation they say will roll back voting rights in the state.
The state lawmakers said in a press conference earlier Tuesday outside the Capitol that they're there to pressure Congress to pass federal voting rights legislation and call for an exception to the Senate's filibuster rule blocking Democrats from moving forward with a measure, they say, would stop GOP-led efforts to restrict voting in Texas and nationwide.
In March, House Democrats advanced the For the People Act, an expansive package that would transform federal elections, voting and congressional redistricting -- but it has stalled in the Senate after failing to advance in a procedural vote late last month, over opposition from all Republicans.
In light of the GOP opposition, Democrats have pushed for the Senate to reform the legislative filibuster, with House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a key Biden ally and endorser during the 2020 Democratic primary, suggesting Democrats create an exception to the 60-vote threshold for election reform and other constitutional issues. Because of their opposition to ending the filibuster, Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona play a pivotal role in the ongoing congressional negotiations over a national voting rights bill.
Biden did not directly mention Manchin, Sinema or the filibuster in his remarks Tuesday.
Sixteen states have enacted 28 laws that would restrict voting access, out of hundreds that have been introduced throughout the country, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. -
2021-07-13 at 8:23 PM UTCOnly fucking Americans would believe something so dumb that it's wrong to ask people ID to vote.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire!
-
2021-07-13 at 8:51 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 9:17 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 9:35 PM UTCThe Wall Street Journal.
Biden Blasts New State GOP Voting Restrictions
Alexa Corse, Tarini Parti
PHILADELPHIA—President Biden blasted efforts in Republican-controlled states to tighten voting rules and called on Congress to advance stalled legislation in a speech Tuesday, as he faces pressure from some Democrats and activists to do more to curb GOP-backed election-law changes.
Mr. Biden likened the efforts in some states to enact tougher election rules to Jim Crow laws that prevented Blacks from voting and labeled them as undemocratic. He also criticized Republicans who oppose Democratic-sponsored voting legislation in the Senate.
“Hear me clearly: There’s an unfolding assault taking place in America today—an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote and fair and free elections,” Mr. Biden said. “An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are as Americans.”
“We’ve got to act,” Mr. Biden said as he ended his speech at the National Constitution Center, knocking his fist against the podium.
Voting issues have become a top priority in both parties this year. Republicans say the changes they have pushed in states such as Georgia and Texas, which include new limits on mail ballots and more identification requirements for voters requesting a mail ballot, are aimed at improving election security. They also say the federal government shouldn’t interfere with voting rules set by states.
Democrats say the GOP changes in the states are efforts to make it harder to vote, particularly for minority groups.
The Biden administration has limited options to alter voting rules without Senate Democrats getting rid of the filibuster—a rule that requires 60 votes in order to pass most legislation—and is looking outside of Washington in hopes of building pressure on lawmakers ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“We’ll be asking my Republican friends in Congress, in states and cities and counties to stand up for God’s sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote,” Mr. Biden said. “Have you no shame?”
Mr. Biden particularly criticized changes that would curb the authority of local election officials, which he said represented partisan efforts to subvert elections. One of the most controversial changes has been in Georgia, where a new voting law would enable the State Election Board to, under certain conditions, remove and replace local election superintendents. Proponents say the board could only take such action if there is a clear record of wrongdoing or incompetence in a county and that it will help hold local election officials accountable.
Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last week met with civil rights groups following setbacks to Democrats’ voting efforts. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority recently upheld a pair of Arizona rules governing the collection of mail ballots and disallowing votes cast in the wrong precinct. Senate Republicans also blocked Democrats from moving ahead with a sweeping package of voting changes, which called for 15 consecutive days of early voting nationally, automatic voter registration and more.
This week, a fight over voting access escalated in Texas, where dozens of Democratic state lawmakers left the state to deny the Republican-controlled Legislature the quorum necessary to pass voting legislation during a special session. They flew to Washington and were planning meetings with Democratic senators in Congress to push for a federal voting bill. Ms. Harris also plans to meet with the lawmakers, a White House official said.
Several Democrats have called for changing Senate rules to get around the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, but they would need the support of all 50 Democratic senators to do it, and some centrists in the party have resisted such proposals.
Mr. Biden has said he would support changing the filibuster to require that senators must be present and talking on the floor to block bills, but he doesn’t want to get rid of it. He didn’t call for altering the filibuster Tuesday.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, leader of the civil-rights group National Action Network, said he was glad that Mr. Biden directly addressed race and voter suppression in his speech, but he said he is still waiting for Mr. Biden to talk about the filibuster. Mr. Sharpton said he questioned the president about that after his speech. “He said, ‘Well, we’re working on our position on that,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna stay on that.’ ”
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.), who has proposed creating a carve-out from the filibuster for legislation related to constitutional issues including voting rights, said on Monday that it was up to senators to change the chamber’s rules, not the president. “I just believe that the president is committed to getting this done,” said Mr. Clyburn, the House Democratic whip and a veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus, in an interview.
Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Pa.) said the president set the tone through his speech for Democrats to build a coalition of support and to put pressure on Senate Republicans. “The way forward is now on the grass-roots organizing—block by block, every neighborhood, every community,” he said. “This has to be done from the bottom up.”
Republicans were united in opposition to the sweeping Democratic voting bill, known as the For the People Act. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it “an assault on the fundamental idea that states, not the federal government, should decide how to run their own elections.”
Some proposals initially included in the legislation, including measures that would effectively nullify state voter ID requirements and would allow absentee voting for any reason, also faced opposition from Democratic centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.).
A separate Democratic proposal named after the late Rep. John Lewis (D., Ga.), which more narrowly focuses on reinstating parts of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously overturned, also faces a challenge in the 50-50 Senate.
Mr. Biden signed an executive order in March telling federal agencies to expand voter-registration efforts, and the Biden Justice Department said it would expand its civil-rights division. Last month, the Biden administration sued Georgia over its new voting law.
Former Republican President Donald Trump has claimed that voter fraud caused his election loss to Mr. Biden, though Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department found no evidence of widespread problems that could have changed the result. Mr. Biden pushed back against efforts by Mr. Trump and other Republicans to question the results, calling such claims the “big lie” and saying that recounts confirmed his victory. -
2021-07-13 at 9:40 PM UTCthat nigger above me don't even know the shit is about to hit the fan for his people
-
2021-07-13 at 9:41 PM UTCAren't you ashamed of yourself for posting such ridiculous articles?
-
2021-07-13 at 9:45 PM UTC
-
2021-07-13 at 9:54 PM UTC
Originally posted by stl1 The Wall Street Journal.
Biden Blasts New State GOP Voting Restrictions
Alexa Corse, Tarini Parti
PHILADELPHIA—President Biden blasted efforts in Republican-controlled states to tighten voting rules and called on Congress to advance stalled legislation in a speech Tuesday, as he faces pressure from some Democrats and activists to do more to curb GOP-backed election-law changes.
Mr. Biden likened the efforts in some states to enact tougher election rules to Jim Crow laws that prevented Blacks from voting and labeled them as undemocratic. He also criticized Republicans who oppose Democratic-sponsored voting legislation in the Senate.
“Hear me clearly: There’s an unfolding assault taking place in America today—an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote and fair and free elections,” Mr. Biden said. “An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are as Americans.”
“We’ve got to act,” Mr. Biden said as he ended his speech at the National Constitution Center, knocking his fist against the podium.
Voting issues have become a top priority in both parties this year. Republicans say the changes they have pushed in states such as Georgia and Texas, which include new limits on mail ballots and more identification requirements for voters requesting a mail ballot, are aimed at improving election security. They also say the federal government shouldn’t interfere with voting rules set by states.
Democrats say the GOP changes in the states are efforts to make it harder to vote, particularly for minority groups.
The Biden administration has limited options to alter voting rules without Senate Democrats getting rid of the filibuster—a rule that requires 60 votes in order to pass most legislation—and is looking outside of Washington in hopes of building pressure on lawmakers ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“We’ll be asking my Republican friends in Congress, in states and cities and counties to stand up for God’s sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote,” Mr. Biden said. “Have you no shame?”
Mr. Biden particularly criticized changes that would curb the authority of local election officials, which he said represented partisan efforts to subvert elections. One of the most controversial changes has been in Georgia, where a new voting law would enable the State Election Board to, under certain conditions, remove and replace local election superintendents. Proponents say the board could only take such action if there is a clear record of wrongdoing or incompetence in a county and that it will help hold local election officials accountable.
Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last week met with civil rights groups following setbacks to Democrats’ voting efforts. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority recently upheld a pair of Arizona rules governing the collection of mail ballots and disallowing votes cast in the wrong precinct. Senate Republicans also blocked Democrats from moving ahead with a sweeping package of voting changes, which called for 15 consecutive days of early voting nationally, automatic voter registration and more.
This week, a fight over voting access escalated in Texas, where dozens of Democratic state lawmakers left the state to deny the Republican-controlled Legislature the quorum necessary to pass voting legislation during a special session. They flew to Washington and were planning meetings with Democratic senators in Congress to push for a federal voting bill. Ms. Harris also plans to meet with the lawmakers, a White House official said.
Several Democrats have called for changing Senate rules to get around the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, but they would need the support of all 50 Democratic senators to do it, and some centrists in the party have resisted such proposals.
Mr. Biden has said he would support changing the filibuster to require that senators must be present and talking on the floor to block bills, but he doesn’t want to get rid of it. He didn’t call for altering the filibuster Tuesday.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, leader of the civil-rights group National Action Network, said he was glad that Mr. Biden directly addressed race and voter suppression in his speech, but he said he is still waiting for Mr. Biden to talk about the filibuster. Mr. Sharpton said he questioned the president about that after his speech. “He said, ‘Well, we’re working on our position on that,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna stay on that.’ ”
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.), who has proposed creating a carve-out from the filibuster for legislation related to constitutional issues including voting rights, said on Monday that it was up to senators to change the chamber’s rules, not the president. “I just believe that the president is committed to getting this done,” said Mr. Clyburn, the House Democratic whip and a veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus, in an interview.
Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Pa.) said the president set the tone through his speech for Democrats to build a coalition of support and to put pressure on Senate Republicans. “The way forward is now on the grass-roots organizing—block by block, every neighborhood, every community,” he said. “This has to be done from the bottom up.”
Republicans were united in opposition to the sweeping Democratic voting bill, known as the For the People Act. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it “an assault on the fundamental idea that states, not the federal government, should decide how to run their own elections.”
Some proposals initially included in the legislation, including measures that would effectively nullify state voter ID requirements and would allow absentee voting for any reason, also faced opposition from Democratic centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.).
A separate Democratic proposal named after the late Rep. John Lewis (D., Ga.), which more narrowly focuses on reinstating parts of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously overturned, also faces a challenge in the 50-50 Senate.
Mr. Biden signed an executive order in March telling federal agencies to expand voter-registration efforts, and the Biden Justice Department said it would expand its civil-rights division. Last month, the Biden administration sued Georgia over its new voting law.
Former Republican President Donald Trump has claimed that voter fraud caused his election loss to Mr. Biden, though Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department found no evidence of widespread problems that could have changed the result. Mr. Biden pushed back against efforts by Mr. Trump and other Republicans to question the results, calling such claims the “big lie” and saying that recounts confirmed his victory.
Originally posted by stl1 The Wall Street Journal.
Biden Blasts New State GOP Voting Restrictions
Alexa Corse, Tarini Parti
PHILADELPHIA—President Biden blasted efforts in Republican-controlled states to tighten voting rules and called on Congress to advance stalled legislation in a speech Tuesday, as he faces pressure from some Democrats and activists to do more to curb GOP-backed election-law changes.
Mr. Biden likened the efforts in some states to enact tougher election rules to Jim Crow laws that prevented Blacks from voting and labeled them as undemocratic. He also criticized Republicans who oppose Democratic-sponsored voting legislation in the Senate.
“Hear me clearly: There’s an unfolding assault taking place in America today—an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote and fair and free elections,” Mr. Biden said. “An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are as Americans.”
“We’ve got to act,” Mr. Biden said as he ended his speech at the National Constitution Center, knocking his fist against the podium.
Voting issues have become a top priority in both parties this year. Republicans say the changes they have pushed in states such as Georgia and Texas, which include new limits on mail ballots and more identification requirements for voters requesting a mail ballot, are aimed at improving election security. They also say the federal government shouldn’t interfere with voting rules set by states.
Democrats say the GOP changes in the states are efforts to make it harder to vote, particularly for minority groups.
The Biden administration has limited options to alter voting rules without Senate Democrats getting rid of the filibuster—a rule that requires 60 votes in order to pass most legislation—and is looking outside of Washington in hopes of building pressure on lawmakers ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“We’ll be asking my Republican friends in Congress, in states and cities and counties to stand up for God’s sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote,” Mr. Biden said. “Have you no shame?”
Mr. Biden particularly criticized changes that would curb the authority of local election officials, which he said represented partisan efforts to subvert elections. One of the most controversial changes has been in Georgia, where a new voting law would enable the State Election Board to, under certain conditions, remove and replace local election superintendents. Proponents say the board could only take such action if there is a clear record of wrongdoing or incompetence in a county and that it will help hold local election officials accountable.
Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last week met with civil rights groups following setbacks to Democrats’ voting efforts. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority recently upheld a pair of Arizona rules governing the collection of mail ballots and disallowing votes cast in the wrong precinct. Senate Republicans also blocked Democrats from moving ahead with a sweeping package of voting changes, which called for 15 consecutive days of early voting nationally, automatic voter registration and more.
This week, a fight over voting access escalated in Texas, where dozens of Democratic state lawmakers left the state to deny the Republican-controlled Legislature the quorum necessary to pass voting legislation during a special session. They flew to Washington and were planning meetings with Democratic senators in Congress to push for a federal voting bill. Ms. Harris also plans to meet with the lawmakers, a White House official said.
Several Democrats have called for changing Senate rules to get around the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster, but they would need the support of all 50 Democratic senators to do it, and some centrists in the party have resisted such proposals.
Mr. Biden has said he would support changing the filibuster to require that senators must be present and talking on the floor to block bills, but he doesn’t want to get rid of it. He didn’t call for altering the filibuster Tuesday.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, leader of the civil-rights group National Action Network, said he was glad that Mr. Biden directly addressed race and voter suppression in his speech, but he said he is still waiting for Mr. Biden to talk about the filibuster. Mr. Sharpton said he questioned the president about that after his speech. “He said, ‘Well, we’re working on our position on that,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna stay on that.’ ”
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.), who has proposed creating a carve-out from the filibuster for legislation related to constitutional issues including voting rights, said on Monday that it was up to senators to change the chamber’s rules, not the president. “I just believe that the president is committed to getting this done,” said Mr. Clyburn, the House Democratic whip and a veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus, in an interview.
Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Pa.) said the president set the tone through his speech for Democrats to build a coalition of support and to put pressure on Senate Republicans. “The way forward is now on the grass-roots organizing—block by block, every neighborhood, every community,” he said. “This has to be done from the bottom up.”
Republicans were united in opposition to the sweeping Democratic voting bill, known as the For the People Act. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it “an assault on the fundamental idea that states, not the federal government, should decide how to run their own elections.”
Some proposals initially included in the legislation, including measures that would effectively nullify state voter ID requirements and would allow absentee voting for any reason, also faced opposition from Democratic centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.).
A separate Democratic proposal named after the late Rep. John Lewis (D., Ga.), which more narrowly focuses on reinstating parts of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court previously overturned, also faces a challenge in the 50-50 Senate.
Mr. Biden signed an executive order in March telling federal agencies to expand voter-registration efforts, and the Biden Justice Department said it would expand its civil-rights division. Last month, the Biden administration sued Georgia over its new voting law.
Former Republican President Donald Trump has claimed that voter fraud caused his election loss to Mr. Biden, though Mr. Trump’s own Justice Department found no evidence of widespread problems that could have changed the result. Mr. Biden pushed back against efforts by Mr. Trump and other Republicans to question the results, calling such claims the “big lie” and saying that recounts confirmed his victory.
lol quoted twice -
2021-07-13 at 9:57 PM UTCTHE KING OF MAR-A-LAGO
'Anarchy and chaos': Michael Bender book describes turmoil in Trump White House
Matthew Brown, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Furious arguments, abrupt decision changes, perpetual dismay and "anarchy and chaos" defined the finals days of the Trump administration, according to The Wall Street Journal's senior White House correspondent, Michael Bender.
Bender's book, “‘Frankly, We Did Win This Election’: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost," compiles interviews with dozens of former Trump staffers and allies, as well as two interviews with former President Donald Trump himself.
The book depicts the inner workings of a White House and presidential campaign in turmoil, as Trump's subordinates fought each other for influence and grappled with obeying presidential orders that often contradicted basic democratic and constitutional norms.
Bender recounted that Trump called for whoever "leaked" information on him staying in a bunker during protests in 2020 to be "executed" for their actions.
Trump was infuriated after The New York Times reported he, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, had been put in a bunker beneath the East Wing as racial justice protests in Lafayette Square, near the White House, were cleared by federal, local and military police.
At a meeting with top law enforcement, military and policy aides, Trump "boiled over as soon as they arrived," according to Bender. "It was the most upset some aides had ever seen the president."
The book recounts: “‘Whoever did that, they should be charged with treason!’ Trump yelled. ‘They should be executed!’” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who "repeatedly tried to calm the president as startled aides avoided eye contact," Bender wrote, promised Trump the officials present would find whoever leaked the story.
In 2018, Trump casually praised the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, for his economic policies and popularity within the fascist regime, according to the book.
"Well, Hitler did a lot of good things," Trump reportedly remarked to White House chief of staff John Kelly, a former four-star Marine general. "You cannot say anything supportive of Adolf Hitler," an astounded Kelly replied, "You just can't."
Much of the chaos of the Trump campaign and White House in 2020, Bender wrote, centered on the administration's missteps in its pandemic response and the subsequent economic downturn and the social upheaval brought by the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis Black man murdered by a police officer.
Trump had a visceral response to the Floyd video, calling the event "terrible." He tweeted his support for the Floyd family, promising that "justice will be served." His tone shifted rapidly as protesters calling for racial justice filled the streets of cities and towns.
Bender's work depicts frantic scenes of Trump administration aides deeply concerned over the president's cavalier desire to deploy military troops against peaceful protesters and rioters alike.
"The country had turned into a tinderbox. And inside the Oval Office was a president who liked playing with matches," Bender wrote, describing aides he spoke with as horrified by the president's behavior.
Trump calls for military intervention
Multiple times, Trump called for the military to be deployed and to use live ammunition against protesters, aides said.
In one tense exchange, senior adviser Stephen Miller, an ardent Trump ally, told a group of aides that "these cities are burning," which justified intense military intervention.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly told Miller to shut up, using expletives.
"Let me show you what I can do with the National Guard before we make that next jump," said Milley, who was unnerved by the prospect of U.S. troops being deployed against civilians, according to Bender.
Campaign in disarray
In the weeks approaching the presidential election, the Trump campaign was beleaguered in internal disputes and self-confidence issues, Bender wrote.
After a story pitched by Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Robert Costello about Joe Biden's son Hunter failed to catch steam in the media, followed by Trump's hospitalization with the coronavirus, the campaign became insular and doubtful, according to the book. At rallies, Trump lamented his poor polling among constituents such as suburban women.
"I didn't love it," Trump conceded to Bender on his experience with the coronavirus. Bender described the Trump campaign's data and media advertising campaigns in disarray despite a $2 billion war chest.
The replacement of campaign manager Brad Parscale with Bill Stepien in the fall led to further financial mismanagement, the book says. Bender quoted Stepien as complaining in the run-up to Election Day that he "has $65 million to spend on digital, and I don't know whether to put it in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and at what levels."
"Bill is locked in decision paralysis," Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and a senior adviser, told Katie Walsh, White House deputy chief of staff, offering Walsh the job to replace Stepien.
Post-election chaos
The disorganization of the campaign bled into efforts to contest the election after the president's loss, the book says. A defiant Trump ordered aides to pursue dozens of lawsuits and to pressure government aides and allies at the state and federal levels to help him overturn the election results.
Officials at the Justice Department were horrified, Bender wrote, when department attorney Jeffrey Clark aided Meadows in concocting a plan to oust acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and overturn the election results in Georgia.
In addition to pressuring Georgia Attorney General Brad Raffensperger, Trump leaned on Supreme Court justices in North Carolina and pressured aides to convince GOP lawmakers in swing states to help overturn the election.
The insurrection by Trump supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and its aftermath further demoralized those closest to Trump, Bender wrote, though many saw the attack as a "horrifying but inevitable conclusion" to the president's time in office.
Bender described an aggrieved and somewhat directionless Trump determined to win back power.
"What am I going to do all day?" Trump asked one aide upon landing at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after leaving the White House. The former president's future remains unclear, though his power within conservative politics is unquestioned.
"Trump was in transition. Weeks earlier he'd been the leader of the free world. Now he was King of Mar-a-Lago," Bender wrote. -
2021-07-13 at 10:07 PM UTC
