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Official Election Month Thread: COUP falls short, nothing to see here

I had been assuaged that at the end of the day Biden would take the oath on Jan 20 but I'm back to nervous and I will be until Joe puts his hand on the bible.
 
All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory

Opinion by Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld

All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory


As former secretaries of defense, we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party.

American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy. With one singular and tragic exception that cost the lives of more Americans than all of our other wars combined, the United States has had an unbroken record of such transitions since 1789, including in times of partisan strife, war, epidemics and economic depression. This year should be no exception.

Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.

As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.

Transitions, which all of us have experienced, are a crucial part of the successful transfer of power. They often occur at times of international uncertainty about U.S. national security policy and posture. They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation.

Given these factors, particularly at a time when U.S. forces are engaged in active operations around the world, it is all the more imperative that the transition at the Defense Department be carried out fully, cooperatively and transparently. Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates — political appointees, officers and civil servants — are each bound by oath, law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration, and to do so wholeheartedly. They must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election or hinder the success of the new team.

We call upon them, in the strongest terms, to do as so many generations of Americans have done before them. This final action is in keeping with the highest traditions and professionalism of the U.S. armed forces, and the history of democratic transition in our great country.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...23d52e-4c4d-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html
 
Listened to the whole thing. Man it's gotta be exhausting to be arguing with him. It's like arguing with some of our more prolific posters.
 
Newenglanddeac said:
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And yet she just got reelected in a mostly blue state by a comfortable margin. That, to me, is more frightening and telling than anything Trump has done himself. There is simply no apparent backlash, no political price, that most of these Trump enablers, bootlickers, and ass-kissers in Congress or across the country have paid. And as long as they don't face any blowback it's just going to get worse. The only way they've faced any backlash is to turn against Trump (like Flake, Amash), work in his cabinet or personal staff and eventually resign/get fired, or make the mistake of being in the way of Trump getting something he wants (GA Governor, AZ Governor, GA Secretary of State, etc.) In terms of paying a real political price at the polls there's no sign that anything is ever going to materialize, and in fact Trump probably helped many Republicans across the country get elected in November. It's depressing, that's for sure.
 
Jason Miller tweeted a quote from Trump 2020 Senior Advisor Jason Miller?
 
Silver lining: hope of overturning the election results might protect the country against some of trumps worst impulses. He’s only going to go so far if he thinks there’s still a chance. And obviously he does based on this phone call. The greatest danger comes after reality sets in. Hopefully that is a very short period of time.
 
Highland Deac said:
A former GOP county chairman in Wisconsin who has turned against Trump and spoken out against him took a surprise half-hour phone call from Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, and was so troubled by it that he wrote an article about their conversation on The Bulwark website. A quick summary of the article is that "Senator Johnson knows that Joe Biden won a free and fair election. He is refusing to admit it publicly and stoking conspiracies that undermine our democracy solely because it would be “political suicide” to oppose Trump. I find this unconscionable."

"Senator Johnson then asked me if I had ever been to a Trump rally. I chuckled and responded that I had not. He said that I should have gone because if I did, I would have seen that the one constant throughout all his rallies was, “the people there absolutely love America.” I reminded him that in every speech I gave as a Republican county chairman, I asked those in attendance to stop calling Democrats the “enemy.” I would say, “Democrats aren’t the enemy. We both love our country and want to make it a better place. We just have different ways to achieve that goal.” And I told him that “I would be willing to bet that at any rally Bernie Sanders or AOC held, you would see a crowd who loved America just as much.” Johnson scoffed and said, “Absolutely not. Bernie Sanders and AOC want to fundamentally change our country. And you can’t love something you want to fundamentally change.” I disagreed and believe this is a toxic way to look at our politics."

"Senator Johnson said that he knew and accepted the fact that Joe Biden had won. I asked why he wouldn’t say so at a moment when Trump was taking a sledgehammer to the very foundation of our democracy. Senator Johnson replied that the institutions of our democracy are strong enough to withstand what is going on. This response shocked me, since it suggested that the truth was ultimately unimportant and that Sen. Johnson viewed what the president was doing as someone else’s problem. Here’s the thing. Ron Johnson knows that this is BS. Because five years ago he said so. In 2015 he introduced legislation streamlining the transition process, saying “the peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. It is also an enormous undertaking requiring months of planning in order to be successful.” Here he was five years later on the phone with me saying that he knows Biden won. But simultaneously refusing to publicly congratulate Biden and standing in the way of his transition."

"After dismissing the notion that being honest with his constituents about election integrity was important, Sen. Johnson said that although Biden had won, he was, “the worst candidate for president in the history of the country.” He said that Biden won strictly because of all the hatred for Trump that was advanced by the media every single day. We spoke of organizations such as the Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump. Johnson said that he loathed these organizations because “they are money-grubbing pieces of shit.” He said that these organizations and the media refused to accept all the good things Trump has done, “even though he [Trump] is an asshole, he was right on so many things.”

"The senator talked about Trump being right on the First Step Act, right on China, and right on the economy. He said that Trump had so many accomplishments but that nobody wants to talk about them because everyone hates his guts. He said that with him, “it’s really about what’s right and what’s wrong,” and in his mind Trump was right on so many things. I asked him that if it truly is about right versus wrong, why doesn’t he call out what Trump does wrong? His answer: In essence, that it would be political suicide."

"Our discussion was mostly based in reality. (With the one exception being Johnson’s assertion to me that Joe Biden “has Lewy body dementia.”) The senator understands Joe Biden’s victory. The problem is he refuses to live in that reality publicly, because of political considerations."

But remember folks, as soon as Trump leaves office everything will go back to normal and his influence over the GOP will end.

Link: https://thebulwark.com/my-call-with-ron-johnson-he-knows-biden-won-but-wont-admit-it/
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This has been the case for national and (most) state Republican policy and politics for some time now.

Decent and informed people should no longer be supporting Republicans apart from possibly some local offices.
 
Fuck voters!

Fuck the Electoral College!

Fuck Congress validating anything!

We should have Simon Cowell, Ken Jeong and Katy Perry vote the next POTUS through.
 
Also clear from that call, Trump really doesn't have the patience to let women speak
 
Wonder if Ron Johnson will take one for Chip Roy. Sacrificing one Ron Johnson to knock out several Democrats is probably worth it.
 
ConnorEl said:
This has been the case for national and (most) state Republican policy and politics for some time now.

Decent and informed people should no longer be supporting Republicans apart from possibly some local offices.
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That was my philosophy. Now, it needs to burn ALL the way to the ground.
 
Republicans are proving their belief true that Washington turns people into scum. The local and state level Republicans have been much more ethical and reasonable than the federal ones.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
Republicans are proving their belief true that Washington turns people into scum. The local and state level Republicans have been much more ethical and reasonable than the federal ones.
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SmallSampleSizeDeac approves of this message. You're talking about fewer than 1% of elected Republicans who have pushed back on this. There's just far more state and local elected Republicans.
 
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