Pfluger Wants Election Certitude Via Your SSN

 

Newly elected Congressman August Pfluger wants to "being certitude" to every American voter.  He also wants your Social Security Number on federal election ballots.

Requires voters to produce a matching SSN printed on their ballot in federal elections.

My SSN is not on my Tom Green County Voter Registration Certificate or my Texas Drivers License, documents used to ensure I am the person voting in my name. 

I don't understand how my SSN printed on my ballot provides certitude to every American. It sounds like an intrusive government regulation, something a Republican should oppose.

Certitude:  something that someone firmly believes is true

President Trump firmly believes victory was stolen from him.  The facts, recounts and numerous court challenges do not bear him out.

As Trump will continue to claim the election was stolen there will never be certitude for every American.  Continuing to undermine American's confidence in the 2020 election will bring more division, inspire more violence like the Capital Riot (which Pfluger condemned)..

Pfluger owes his constituents the truth, as Senator Romney implored the night of the Capital attack. 

The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. That is the burden, and the duty, of leadership. The truth is that President-elect Biden won this election. President Trump lost. Scores of courts, the President’s own Attorney General, and state election officials both Republican and Democrat have reached this unequivocal decision.

People once wanted leaders to be honest.  Did that change with custom news feeds that prioritize information that fits with an individual's interest?  Did dopamine fueling shots steer people away from a shared reality?

“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor."-- Max Dupree

The Trump Ego World Tour nears its end.  Brand new Congressmen should not emulate or imitate Donald J. Trump's abysmal model of human insecurity, arrogance, vengefulness and ignorance.  Nor should they blindly follow him.. 

President Trump sent a violent mob to the U.S. Capital to interrupt the certification of President Elect Joe Biden. Rep. Pfluger was there as a Joint Session of Congress certified the Electoral College results.

One definition of certify could apply to the Donald Trump mesmerized by the mob violence and now raging alone in the White House.

Certify -  officially declare insane

Rep. August Pfluger hung his political ambitions on a presidential nebula, permeated with dysfunctional fog and toxic smoke.  The Trump Nebula consists of remnants from a dying star.  One could get lost in such an environment.

Nine in 10 Americans oppose the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seven in 10 say Donald Trump bears at least some responsibility for it and a majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll – 56% – favors efforts in Congress to bar him from holding elected office again.

Fifty-four percent in the national survey also say Trump should be charged criminally with inciting a riot for having encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. More, 66%, say he has behaved irresponsibly, more broadly, in his statements and actions since the election.

I shouldn't have to put my SSN on a federal ballot because Trump lied. 

Update:  Former Cruz staffers expressed disgust for their boss' behavior.  Rep. Pfluger is a Cruz acolyte.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's former staffers are "pretty disgusted" by the recent actions of their former boss, according to New York Magazine's Intelligencer.

At least six of Cruz's former aides have expressed their distaste at the senator's political stance in recent weeks, the magazine reported.

This behavior, which has included peddling election misinformation, leading the objection to the Electoral college certification, and sending out a fundraising email while a pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol, has left a soured impression of those who have previously worked for him.

One former aide told Intelligencer: "Most of Cruzworld is pretty disgusted."

Another told the magazine: "Everyone is upset with the direction things have gone, and the longer they've been with the senator, the more distaste they are expressing."

Update 1-18-21:   Walgreens and Pfizer are two of the most recent companies to suspend PAC contributions to the 147 Republican lawmakers who opposed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden as the next president.  They join Amazon, Marriott, AT&T and others in suspending donations to GOP lawmakers who tried to overturn the election.  AT&T donated to Rep. August Pfluger's campaign.

Update 1-19-21:  The vast majority of states (44) have constitutional provisions guaranteeing secrecy in voting, while the remaining states have statutory provisions referencing secrecy in voting.  The U.S. Constitution gives states wide authority to conduct elections.  

Texas Attorney General website states:  "You have the right to vote your ballot by yourself, in secret."  Putting my SSN on the ballot negates this constitutional right.

It would behoove Rep. Pfluger to remember how elected officials in the South suppressed the African-American vote.  

The new mechanisms of voter suppression display all of the ingenuity of their racist forebears, though expressed in race-neutral language that promises to safeguard against election fraud. 

Pfluger's SSN requirement for federal ballots could be viewed in such a light.

Update 1-21-21:   In an interview Rep. Pfluger said he was pursuing the Gold standard for elections but never explained why he wants your SSN on a federal ballot.

Update 1-22-21:   Fiery Rep. Pfluger said he never heard candidate Joe Biden decry violence last summer,  August is flat out wrong, 

On August 30, Joe Biden condemned violence at protests in Portland (here) by releasing a statement on his campaign website (here), which said, “The deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable […] as a country we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash. It is not a peaceful protest when you go out spoiling for a fight.” (More here )

After George Floyd’s death, Joe Biden repeatedly condemned violent protests. In a May 31 post on his blog shortly after George Floyd’s death, he wrote, “Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not.” ( here , here ).

Besides lying, Pfluger said he would "wake up tomorrow to socialism."   President Joe Biden's record is anything but socialism.  Corporations cut funding to the Pflugers of Congress, not to the new Chief Executive.    

Update 1-27-21:  Post Capital Riot more Republicans dropped their party affiliation, over 30,000 in six states.

Update 1-31-21:  Lawmakers in 28 states proposed 106 bills that would reduce voting access for citizens.

Republicans have been talking out of both sides of their mouths, at once decrying the violence over false allegations of election rigging, and at the same time using false allegations of voter fraud to make it harder for people to vote. 

None of these laws actually correct an existing problem – because, as we learned through a great many court cases brought by the Trump administration, there simply was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. And there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in elections before that one, either.

Update 2-1-21:  Dozens of former Bush officials (W.) quit the Republican Party calling it a Trump cult.  

Update 2-4-21:  Rep. Pfluger did not have to put his SSN on his ballot regarding House Leader Liz Cheney:

The conference voted 145-61 in a secret ballot

Update 4-5-21:  Texas Senator Bryan Hughes talked about the importance of the secret ballot in Texas while a new proposed law allows poll watches to video voters getting assistance. 

Inciters of U.S. Capital Violence, Murder

Yahoo News reported:

Nine in 10 Americans oppose the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seven in 10 say Donald Trump bears at least some responsibility for it and a majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll – 56% – favors efforts in Congress to bar him from holding elected office again.

Fifty-four percent in the national survey also say Trump should be charged criminally with inciting a riot for having encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. More, 66%, say he has behaved irresponsibly, more broadly, in his statements and actions since the election.

Brand new Congresswoman Boebert tweeted the 1776 code word used in planning the attack, which targeted elected members for capture and assassination.   

 

January 6th was the day Trump incited a violent insurrection targeting Congress as it undertook duties specified in the U.S. Constitution (adopted June 21, 1788).   The Constitutional Convention went from May 14 to September 17, 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Many members of Congress fueled the flames of Trump's outright lies and distortions.  However, Rep. Boebert tweeted the code word for violent insurrection.  Six people, two of whom were Capital Police officers, died as a direct result of the insurrection.  

Update 1-16-21:

 

Other 1776 inciters include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R_NC) and InfoWars Alex Jones. 

Update 1-17-21:  Rep. Boebert's Communications Chief resigned after less than two weeks into the job.

Update 1-18-21:  NBC News reported:

An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their states, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed by a pro-Trump mob.

“At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording.

Texas AG Ken Paxton spoke at Trump's Save America warmup to insurrection the morning of Jan.6.  Paxton said "We will not quit fighting.” 

Update 1-19-21:  Trump's words that day are worth the read.  There is nothing perfect about them. 

Update 1-31-21:  Red team fealty to Trump remains strong.  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was summoned by the Wizard of Ego.  Republicans apply Cancel Culture to Representatives who voted to impeach President Trump.

Update 2-6-21:  Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Trump bears at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including half who say he bears a great deal or quite a bit. 

Add Trump dirty trickster Roger Stone to the list of inciters:

“This is nothing less than an epic struggle for the future of this country between Dark and Light, between the godly and the godless, between Good and Evil,” Stone bellowed to the crowd on January 5. “And we will win this fight—or America will step off into a thousand years of darkness. We dare not fail!” 

“I will be with you tomorrow—shoulder to shoulder!” he added.

The day of the riot Stone met with members of the group Oath Keepers, several of whom have been charged with conspiracy in planning the Capital attack.

Longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone was captured on a video obtained by ABC News flanked by members of the right-wing extremist Oath Keepers the morning of the storming of Capitol that cost five lives.

Update 2-10-21:  Politico has a list of all the speakers at Trump's Save America Rally on January 6th.

Update 2-24-21:   It was bizarre watching Capital riot inciters Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley question law ad order officials regarding the events on Jan. 6th.

Update 3-4-21:   As a horrified nation watched the Capital insurrection President Donald Trump cheered, while his Pentagon appointees sat on their hands for over 3 hours.

Pentagon officials did not answer a request to deploy troops during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 for more than three hours, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard testified Wednesday.

“Immediately after the 1:49 p.m. call with Chief Sund, I alerted the Army Senior Leadership of the request,” Walker said. “The approval for Chief Sund’s request would eventually come from the Acting Secretary of Defense and be relayed to me by Army Senior Leaders at 5:08 p.m. — three hours and 19 minutes later.”

Donald Trump's will was done. 

Update 3-8-21:  Senator Ted Cruz's CPAC event was wild.  He was the opening act for El Jefe's stream of consciousness grievance listing.

Update 3-17-21:  Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) tried to redefine Trump's middle aged wilding.  Johnson described the largely white pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 as people who "truly respect law enforcement" and "loved this country."  Complete horse hockey.  The Trump cult wanted their way.  That's not democratic.

Update 3-20-21:  Former President George W. Bush said that the Capitol riot left him sick to his stomach, and he branded the followers of President Donald Trump who stormed the building "hostile forces."

Update 3-30-21:  The mother of Capital Hill Policeman Michael Fanone said this of Trump's enablers.  “For me to say anything to Trump would be — it wouldn’t matter because he just can’t hear. It’s all the other people that are so complicit in this. That’s who I would speak to,” Fanone said. “How dare you? How dare you? How dare you take advantage of these people who were defending and fighting for their lives that day, to save these people, preserve democracy, civility, to restore the Capitol to what it’s supposed to be? Where are you? With all of these officers stood with you, why don’t you stand with them?”

Update 4-2-21:  Two U.S. Capitol Police officers have filed a federal lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that blames him for physical and emotional injuries they sustained during the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The lawsuit lays the blame on Trump by outlining the then-president’s efforts to deny and overturn Joe Biden’s election victory. Trump repeatedly told his supporters on Twitter and elsewhere that ballots had been tossed out and fraudulently cast for his opponent, though there was no evidence of widespread election fraud. 

Update 1-13-22:  Red Team members refuse to cooperate with the Jan. 6th Committee.  

Rep. Liz Cheney said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was trying to "cover up" what happened at the Capitol riot by refusing to work with the House committee investigating it.

How deep is the rabbit hole?  The public has no right to know.

Update 5-29-22:  Trump called the insurrection "a hoax" at a Wyoming rally.  Seven people died as a result of Trump's right wing middle-aged wilding.

Update 6-11-22:  Riot inciter Senator Ted Cruz said he'd rather comb his hair than watch the January 6th Committee hearings.  I suggest he do just that as he is likely to be in footage showing those who incited the insurrection.  Revolting Ted.

Update 8-14-22:  The Red Team "once stood staunchly for law-and-order has dramatically reversed course, stirring up opposition to the FBI and tapping into political grievances and far-right conspiracies that fed the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.  Escalating rhetoric comes amid stark warnings of violence against law enforcement."

Update 8-30-22:  Next round of Jan. 6ths is encouraged by Senator Lindsey Graham:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that if former President Donald Trump is prosecuted, there will be “riots in the streets.”  

Tea Party, 1776 ....

Update 3-26-23:  Trump's dangerous "lie filled" rhetoric could easily incite more violence. 

Update 4-4-23:  Trump's lawyer stated before Donald's indictment that Monday was like the "eve of destruction."

Update 10-17-23:   Insane Red Jim Jordan is up for Speaker of the House.   Jordan helped plan the January 6th insurrection.

Trump Disparages Democracy

President Trump incited a mob to attack the U.S Capital after disparaging free and fair elections for months.  In the midst of the Trump Team encouraging "trial by combat" the President took the time to disparage his followers, calling them low class.  

Update 1-12-21:

Trump watched the attack live on television.

President Donald Trump was too busy watching the Capitol insurrection violently unfold on TV to help quell it, advisors told The Washington Post.

Several lawmakers trapped in the Capitol during the siege told The Post that they tried reaching out to the president for help but that their calls went unanswered. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he called the president's daughter Ivanka Trump when the president failed to pick up the phone.

Trump was described as mesmerized by footage of his followers storming the Capitol and, perhaps, reluctant to turn away from the screen.

Rep.Liz Cheney (R-WY), the 3rd ranked Republican in the House indicated she will vote to impeach Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection.

Cheney: I Will Vote To Impeach The President

Washington - Wyoming Congresswoman and House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) released the following statement ahead of votes in the House this week:

"On January 6, 2021 a violent mob attacked the United States Capitol to obstruct the process of our democracy and stop the counting of presidential electoral votes. This insurrection caused injury, death and destruction in the most sacred space in our Republic.

"Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough. The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.

"I will vote to impeach the President."

Update 1-13-21:  President Donald Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly told a Des Moines audience Tuesday that his former boss can’t admit to making a mistake because “his manhood is at issue here.”

“You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump told VP Mike Pence, according to two people briefed on the conversation, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.”

Once Pence became a pussy in Trump's eyes did the President grab him?  Violent toddler Trump needs to go.

Trump served 1,453 days as a divider.  On day 1454, the date of second impeachment, President Trump released a scripted video calling for unity.  Risk management?  

Update 1-17-21:  Business leaders want Trump out, gone:

In a survey of roughly 40 CEOs of major US companies just hours before the House of Representatives voted, 96% said Trump should be impeached and removed from office.

"We're at a point where an attack on our system requires our system to respond," one of the CEOs, speaking anonymously, told Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, who conducted the survey as founder of Yale's Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI).

"Impeachment is an imperative," the CEO added.

Every respondent to the institute's survey answered "yes" to the questions "is Donald Trump unfit to be President?" and "did President Trump help incite last week's violent attack on Congress?"

President Donald Trump's approval rating stands at 29%, a historic low, heading into his last week in office, a new Pew Research Center survey found. 

Update 2-6-21:  Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Trump bears at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including half who say he bears a great deal or quite a bit. 

Update 2-8-21:  House Minority Leader Keving McCarthy went from blaming MAGA to "all of us."  McCarthy also showed his fealty to the titular head of the Republican Party.

Update 2-13-21:  During the Capital Riot Mr McCarthy called and begged Mr Trump to intervene,

“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” replied Mr Trump said, according to lawmakers briefed later by Mr McCarthy.

The California congressman lost his cool and told the president that rioters were trying to break into his office, and asked him, “Who the f*** do you think you’re talking to?”

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin......

WSJ Editorial Board said Trymp is forever stained by the January 6th insurrection:

Trump’s legacy “will be forever stained” by the deadly violence that rocked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and “by his betrayal of his supporters in refusing to tell them the truth” about his 2020 election loss in the weeks leading up to the insurrection, said the newspaper’s conservative editorial board.

Update 10-13-21: Former President Donald Trump remains in firm control of the Red Team.

Update 10-15-21:  Trump asked his followers not to vote in 2022 and 2024 unless the Red Team goes full throttle on his election fraud fiction.  Those who don't get the job by vote may do so by force.

Update 1-3-22:   House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is calling the committee investigating January 6th a "partisan political weapon."  The Sunday letter to his colleagues came after the public learned President Trump sat on his keister in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the Capital attack on television, ignoring two requests from daughter Ivanka to intervene.  

Update 6-19-22:  Among self-described independents, 62% think Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in Jan. 6th and 61% think he bears a "great deal" or a "good amount" of responsibility.

Update 2-18-23:  Trump called into Fox News as the insurrection unfolded but the network refused to put him on the air.  Tucker Carlson referred to Trump as "demonic" in an e-mail that day.

Trump's Middle Aged, Right Wingnut Wilding

 

How many people bring ladders to peaceful protest, one President Trump assured would be WILD?

President Trump knew exactly what he was doing.  I'm sure he enjoyed the mayhem he caused.  I would guess Sir Elton John was dismayed.

The Trump riot at the U.S. Capital disturbed former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah.

“Condemn this now, @realDonaldTrump,” she tweeted at her former boss. “You are the only one they will listen to. For our country!” Her tone was increasingly pleading.

A former Capital Police officer said the most basic precautions,outer perimeter, use of horses, massive police presence on the steps of the Capital, were not taken  He said it looked like security was designed to fail.  

Citizens and the media seemed more aware of the threat of Trump inspired violence than the National Security Agency.  Had the administration ordered the NSA to stand down on violent right wing extremists?  

During Black Live Matter protests security officials monitored cell phone activity in real time for threats.  Trump love got his people a free pass from security officials.  That led to their Capital invasion, a forever remembrance according to Trump.

Update 1-9-21:  Laura Branigan's estate objected to Trump's use of her song "Gloria" during his last ditch "save his presidency" via violence event.  

Twitter banned Trump permanently.  Social media algorithms put many nutjobs together, then helped them stay in inflammatory touch.  

Update 1-10-21:  The Trump White House refused for days to lower the flag in respect for Capital Police Officer Brian Sicknick, the policeman killed by Trump's followers on 1-6-21.  It finally lowered the flag this afternoon as a motorcade honoring Sicknick drove through Washington. D.C.

Update 1-18-21:   Nearly a month after the presidential election, former attorney general Bill Barr told Donald Trump that his repeated claims of a stolen election were “bullshit,” according to a new report in Axios.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone and a few other aides were there to witness the back-and-forth, in which Barr told the president that the legal team he had brought on to validate his baseless claims was “clownish.”

Update 2-1-21:  Trump lawyers prepared the Texas lawsuit attempting to overturn Biden's win at the Supreme Court..  An answer to my question asked earlier in this post:

Former President Donald Trump's baseless warnings about antifa and far-left extremist threats caused federal authorities to divert their attention from credible right-wing threats. 

Trump's aides attempted to suppress the use of the phrase "domestic terrorism" and White House and Justice Department officials stopped efforts to talk about right-wing threats publicly

Update 2-4-21:  Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman funded more than one Republican working to overthrow the election on Trump's behalf.

Update 2-6-21:  Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Trump bears at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including half who say he bears a great deal or quite a bit. 

Update 2-7-21:  Many Capital Hill arrestees "were middle-class and middle-aged – with an average age of 40. Almost 90% of them had no known links with militant groups. Some 40% were business owners or with white-collar jobs, and they came from relatively lucrative backgrounds as “CEOs, shop owners, doctors, lawyers, IT specialists, and accountants”. 

Update 3-4-21:   As a horrified nation watched the Capital insurrection President Donald Trump cheered, while his Pentagon appointees sat on their hands for over 3 hours.

Pentagon officials did not answer a request to deploy troops during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 for more than three hours, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard testified Wednesday.

“Immediately after the 1:49 p.m. call with Chief Sund, I alerted the Army Senior Leadership of the request,” Walker said. “The approval for Chief Sund’s request would eventually come from the Acting Secretary of Defense and be relayed to me by Army Senior Leaders at 5:08 p.m. — three hours and 19 minutes later.”

Donald Trump's will was done.  

Update 3-8-21:  A Proud Boy communicated with someone inside the Trump White House hours before the wilding.

Update 3-20-21:  Former President George W. Bush said that the Capitol riot left him sick to his stomach, and he branded the followers of President Donald Trump who stormed the building "hostile forces." 

Update 3-30-21:  The mother of Capital Hill Policeman Michael Fanone said this of Trump's enablers.  “For me to say anything to Trump would be — it wouldn’t matter because he just can’t hear. It’s all the other people that are so complicit in this. That’s who I would speak to,” Fanone said. “How dare you? How dare you? How dare you take advantage of these people who were defending and fighting for their lives that day, to save these people, preserve democracy, civility, to restore the Capitol to what it’s supposed to be? Where are you? With all of these officers stood with you, why don’t you stand with them?” 

Update 4-2-21:  Two U.S. Capitol Police officers have filed a federal lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that blames him for physical and emotional injuries they sustained during the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The lawsuit lays the blame on Trump by outlining the then-president’s efforts to deny and overturn Joe Biden’s election victory. Trump repeatedly told his supporters on Twitter and elsewhere that ballots had been tossed out and fraudulently cast for his opponent, though there was no evidence of widespread election fraud. 

Update 5-16-21:  Red team members of Congress unleashed a campaign diminishing the horrific violence of January 6th.  A newly elected Georgia congressman compared it to a standard tour.  A Capital police officer called the campaign "a slap in the face."  It comes from more middle aged white men.

Update 6-1-21:  Texas elected officials from the Red Team attended a conference put on by a prominent QANON follower.  General Michael Flynn spoke and supported a Myanmar style military coup to reinstate Trump.  Trump, aka "Biff", wants his Presidency back and is telling friends he'll be reinstated as U.S. President by August.  

Insurrection is corporate, according to Mother Jones:

(The conference founder) "revealed that he was talking to Flynn about turning these events into “a collaboration.” He added, “This is a business now. The Patriot Voice is a corporation.”

Update 10-6-21:  Trump strategist Steve Bannon called for 20,000 shock troops to storm the federal government should the Red Team take back the White House in 2024.  How many of the 20.000 shock troops will be middle aged white men prone to violence?

Pathological former President Trump called January 6th a legitimate protest against a rigged election.  It was that way only in his mind.  Me thinks he wants another wilding.

Update 10-26-21:  Did then President Trump help plan his middle aged wilding?  Former President Donald Trump reportedly called into a “war room” at the Willard hotel in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

Update 11-1-21:  Trump's January 6th insurrection might repeat as "almost one-third of Republicans say they think violence may be necessary to solve the problems facing the United States."   

Update 11-12-21:   Threatening to hang V.P. Mike Pence was "just common sense", according to former President Donald Trump.  

Update 12-4-21:  Wingnuts are so emboldened they are running for office. Legislative agendas are not needed for the Red Team, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Update 12-12-21:  More than the average citizen was disturbed by Trump's wilding.  Don Jr. and numerous Fox News hosts sent White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows concerning texts on Jan. 6th.  All asked the President to do something about it.  Trump did nothing for hours.

Update 12-16-21:  Esquire reported:

They (Fox News hosts and Donald Trump Jr.) knew something fundamental: Trump was watching this unfold on TV and doing nothing to stop it. The Capitol of the United States was under attack, and the president didn't lift a finger.

Update 12-18-21:  AP reported on one member of Trump's middle aged, right wingnut wilding:

A Capitol rioter who attacked police officers working to hold back the angry pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6 was sentenced Friday to more than five years behind bars, the most so far for anyone sentenced in the insurrection.

Robert Palmer, 54, of Largo, Florida, wept as he told U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that he recently watched a video of his actions that day and could not believe what he was seeing.

Update 1-2-22:  Former President Trump plans to hold a press conference from Maro Lago on January 6th, the one year anniversary of his white, middle aged Capital wilding.  Lord, help us all.

Update 1-3-22:   House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is calling the committee investigating January 6th a "partisan political weapon."  The Sunday letter to his colleagues came after the public learned President Trump sat on his keister in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the Capital attack on television, ignoring two requests from daughter Ivanka to intervene.  

Update 1-6-22:  It's the one year anniversary of Donald Trump's Middle Aged Wilding at the Capital.   Many Red Team leaders walked back their initial assessment that Trump bore responsibility for the carnage. 

Update 1-8-22:  "The Shock of January 6th" program by the University of Virginia Center for Politics had a number of interesting guests, members of Red and Blue political teams.  UVA Law grad and U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Red Team-Texas said he had no plans to memorialize the day, and he doesn’t think others should, either.  “This thing has already become way too politicized, and that would just further exacerbate it,” he said.  Trump’s false claims of voter fraud have continued to foment division, met mostly with silence from Republicans in Congress unwilling to contradict his version of events.

Update 1-9-22:  Red Team strategist Karl Rove wrote "There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy. Love of country demands nothing less.  That’s true patriotism.”

Update 1-13-22:  Red Team members refuse to cooperate with the Jan. 6th Committee.  

Rep. Liz Cheney said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was trying to "cover up" what happened at the Capitol riot by refusing to work with the House committee investigating it.

How deep is the rabbit hole?  The public has no right to know.

Update 2-10-22:  The RNC wants to take out all the violence and criminal behavior displayed on January 6th.  In their rush to fluff up Pormer Fresident Tonald Drump's ego the RNC failed to follow basic procedures in approving the resolution that termed January 6th as legitimate political discourse.  So incompetence was used to promote arrogance.   Do they actually listen to themselves?

Update 5-29-22:  Drump called the insurrection "a hoax" at a Wyoming rally.  Seven people died as a result of Trump's right wing middle-aged wilding. 

Update 6-5-22:  Watergate journalist Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein weighed in on the January 6th insurrection.

“What we have is really a seditious president of the United States trying to foment insurrection to keep his successor from taking office, staging a coup,” said Carl Bernstein.

“What the Jan. 6th committee is doing ... is establishing a timeline that will show definitively how Donald Trump, his lawyers, and those closest to him attempted to stage this coup so there would be no real election of the president of the United States, and Trump would continue to be in office,” he added.

“It is a crime to subvert the lawful function of government,” said Bob Woodward. “It is not ambiguous. It goes back 100 years ... this is exactly the sort of trickery and deceit that is a crime.”

“We have in hand all the evidence, and the Justice Department realizes this, as does the Jan. 6th committee, to show that this was an organized conspiracy to subvert democracy. Can’t say it any more directly,” he added.

Update 6-19-22:  Among self-described independents, 62% think Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in Jan. 6th and 61% think he bears a "great deal" or a "good amount" of responsibility. 

Update 6-20-22:  “There is violence in the future, I’m going to tell you,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on ABC’s “This Week” program. “And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can’t expect any differently.” 

Update 9-24-22:   Elton John performed a concert on The White House lawn, saying this is icing on the cake.  Sir Elton John was honored "for raising the soul of our nation."  Contrast this with the Trump team's use of Elton John's music to incite an insurrection.

The Trump team asked rally supporters to drop the QAnon one finger salute as it looks similar to the Nazi salute.  Trump shared a Truth Social post that had the former President second only to Jesus.  Investors backed out of their $139 million stake in the company that planned to merge with Trump's media enterprise.

Meta could allow Trump back on Facebook and Instagram come January 2023.  

Update 1-2-23:  Senior Trump aide Hope Hicks wrote after Jan. 6th:

"...We all look like domestic terrorists now.”

That they did.  Many still do. 

Update 1-16-23:  Trump called the Capital rioters "great patriots" and their deserved prison sentences "a disgrace."  Spoken like a Chief Domestic Terrorist.

Update 1-23-24:   Insurrection Inc. involved millions in donations.

Update 3-19-24:  Trump flip flopped on the Jan. 6th rioters.  Strangely, nobody cares that a petty, vengeful, easily distracted, sexual predator has a shot at returning to our country's seat of power.  The list of former Trump aides working against that very notion continues to grow.

Trump's campaign has gone full delusional with its portrayal of Jan. 6th.  The televised horror of that day is seared in my mind.  Trump celebrates his cult of violence and for that America suffers.

Trump, Giuliani and Gohmert Incite Riot at The U.S. Capital Building

 

 

Trump's fighting words were followed by fight songs.

Repugncants spoiled for a fight.

Trump followers took Gohmert, Giuliani and Trump at their word. 

 Clearing the way for Trump to cross the street and hold a Bible?

Preview for Trump family leaving White House?

Not sure this person wants to make that gesture in federal prison.

This boy has no pride as he dangles in the revered Senate Chamber. 

"Look Ma.  I took the self guided tour with thousands of my friends.  President awarded me a flag for beating up the guard.  He called me special."

One fly on the giant stinking crap Trump pinched on America's democracy.

Are these Republican or Democratic Congressmen fleeing Trump's Raiders? 

I would guess either is equally afraid of Trump's loons.

President Trump remains in the White House, which is a complete travesty for the man who incited the riot with his lies and language of dominance/violence.  He should resign immediately.  This would cease his sinful pardons.

Trump asked his followers to go home.  Many should go straight to their new home, jail.

Update 1-7-21:  Trump asked his storm troopers to "Remember this day forever "  Former President George W. Bush said “This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) called for Trump's removal from office.

"The president not only abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people's house, he invoked and inflamed passions that gave fuel to the insurrection we saw here," Kinzinger said in a video posted to Twitter. "When pressed to move and denounce the violence he barely did so, while of course victimizing himself ... all indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, or even his health, but from reality itself."

"It is for this reason that I call for the vice president and members of the cabinet to ensure that the next few weeks are safe for the American people, and that we have a sane captain of the ship," Kinzinger said.

Former Attorney General William Barr said that “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.” 

White House aides were astonished at Trump's slow response to the violence he incited, with the official calling the president a "total monster."

Monster Trump incited the death of Capital Police officer.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening (January 7, 2021), United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty. 

Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters.

Some of Trump's patriots killed a police officer during their rampage..  

Update 1-10-21:   How did the NSA miss this post on January 5th?

A digital flyer advertising "Operation Occupy the Capitol" on Jan. 6 publicly made its way around Facebook and Instagram as the use of extremist hashtags surged.

Did Trump order hands off his violent, white nationalist followers? 

Update 1-12-21:  The rumor of President Trump accepting some responsibility turned out to be another Trump lie. “People thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” Trump said of his speech to supporters shortly before the riot.  Not his Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.  “The rhetoric last week was unacceptable,” Azar said.

One senior Trump administration official described the activity around the outgoing president as a prolonged act of “babysitting” a “violent toddler” 

A very masculine violent toddler.

Update 1-13-21:  A timeline for violence shows the lead up to the Capital insurrection. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz know the law but won't explain it to their constituents.  They remain complicit in the Big Lie.

Update 1-14-21:  President Donald Trump considered creating an account on Parler, the social-media app popular with his followers, under the pseudonym "Person X," Parler CEO John Matze said in a court filing Wednesday.  Should Trump and White House Advisor Stephen Miller join Gab I offer the following suggestions:

Update 1-28-21:  A violent Trump follower had a White Privilege card at his home.

Update 2-6-21:  Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that Trump bears at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including half who say he bears a great deal or quite a bit. 

Update 3-4-21:   As a horrified nation watched the Capital insurrection President Donald Trump cheered, while his Pentagon appointees sat on their hands for over 3 hours.

Pentagon officials did not answer a request to deploy troops during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 for more than three hours, the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard testified Wednesday.

“Immediately after the 1:49 p.m. call with Chief Sund, I alerted the Army Senior Leadership of the request,” Walker said. “The approval for Chief Sund’s request would eventually come from the Acting Secretary of Defense and be relayed to me by Army Senior Leaders at 5:08 p.m. — three hours and 19 minutes later.”

Donald Trump's will was done. 

Update 4-27-22:  A year later the Trump White House almost immediately shifted blame for the Capital Insurrection.  

Leaked texts have unveiled a Trump aide's plan to help the then-president deflect anger over the Capitol riot.  Jason Miller outlined tweets for Trump to send out, blaming "ANTIFA" and "crazed leftists" for the violence.  Miller also proposed a tweet accusing the "fake news media" of demonizing "peaceful and innocent MAGA supporters."

Update 6-11-22:  Riot inciter Senator Ted Cruz said he'd rather comb his hair than watch the January 6th Committee hearings.  I suggest he do just that as he is likely to be in footage showing those who incited the insurrection.  Revolting Ted. 

Update 1-2-23:  Senior Trump aide Hope Hicks wrote after Jan. 6th:

"...We all look like domestic terrorists now.”

That they did.  Many still do.

Update 1-9-23:   One member of the Insane Red Team attended a ceremony remembering those killed and injured on Jan. 6th.  

Jan. 6 hero cop Harry Dunn was dumbfounded Sunday that Donald Trump helped Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) win the battle to become speaker of the House — yet couldn’t be bothered to pick up a phone to end the insurrection.

Our Insurrectionist in Chief mostly ignored the day.  He had cookies and MAGA hats sent to the 40 supporters holding a Jan. 6th rally outside Mar-a-Lago. 

Update 1-16-23:  Trump called the Capital rioters "great patriots" and their deserved prison sentences "a disgrace."  Spoken like a Chief Domestic Terrorist.

Update 2-12-23:   Trump claimed election fraud after "a team of professional researchers he paid to try and find evidence of fraud came up empty-handed."  He got the report before January 6th.

Update 2-18-23:  Trump called into Fox News as the insurrection unfolded but the network refused to put him on the air.  Tucker Carlson referred to Trump as "demonic" in an e-mail that day.

Update 4-29-23:  America's Mayor Giuliani used voter suppression tactics against Hispanics in NYC to get elected.

Two "No Evil" Monkeys Attend Trump Rally

A strange group of people arose behind President Trump as he held a rally for himself in Georgia.  My mind saw a person with their hands over their eyes, See No Evil, and another with their hand over their ears, Hear No Evil.  On stage stood the Speaker of Evil.  

Update 1-10-21:  Two days after I published this post, the Speaker of Evil incited followers to riot at the U.S. Capital.  It's day four Post Trump Riot and WaPo offered:

“This is everything that everyone’s been blocking for four years, the role of buffering Trump,” said one of the president’s advisers. “It’s horrible. People are miserable. They can’t wait for the two weeks to be over. Everyone’s taking one day at a time trying to get him through the next two weeks without massive problems.”

The portrait that emerged from interviews with administration officials and Trump advisers and associates, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, is of a president indignant, unmoored and psychologically fragile — one who some aides believe has sabotaged his legacy and threatens the orderly transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden.

One administration official described Trump’s behavior as that of “a total monster.” Another said the situation was “insane” and “beyond the pale.”

“He is alone. He is mad King George,” said a Republican in frequent touch with the White House. “Trump believes that he has these people so intimidated they wouldn’t dare mess with him. I think Trump doesn’t understand how precarious his situation is right now.”

Trump doesn't care about anything other than himself.  The nation witnessed yet again his dual need for glory and revenge.  Trump's niece weighed in:

The storming of the Capitol still shocked her. “What struck me first was how degrading it was. That amount of desecration. The tawdriness of it. Tawdriness is who Donald is, but playing out in the halls of Congress.” She describes the people vandalising offices, carrying Confederate flags, wearing Camp Auschwitz T-shirts – and yet Trump’s message to them was how much they were loved.

“It was the last four years in real time, distilled to its very essence, proving how much the very worst people among us have been so enabled and emboldened. It hit me later that the next people in line for the presidency were in the same room, and how unfathomably dangerous that was.”

The ramifications need addressing now, she says. “This is not a time to deliberate. It’s time to act quickly.”

Trump is incapable of learning lessons.  In his mind he gives lessons and takes what he wants. 

Update 1-15-21:  Americans are opening up their eyes and ears to Trump's evil:

Nine in 10 Americans oppose the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, seven in 10 say Donald Trump bears at least some responsibility for it and a majority in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll – 56% – favors efforts in Congress to bar him from holding elected office again.

Fifty-four percent in the national survey also say Trump should be charged criminally with inciting a riot for having encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol. More, 66%, say he has behaved irresponsibly, more broadly, in his statements and actions since the election.

Update 2-4-21:  The Red Team remains firmly in the palm of Donald Trump

Update 2-13-21:  WSJ Editorial Board said Trump is forever stained by the January 6th insurrection:

Trump’s legacy “will be forever stained” by the deadly violence that rocked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and “by his betrayal of his supporters in refusing to tell them the truth” about his 2020 election loss in the weeks leading up to the insurrection, said the newspaper’s conservative editorial board.

Update 7-4-21:  The Trump show held a rally in Sarasota, Florida.  Thousands turned out to worship their leader.

Update 8-30-22:  Next round of Jan. 6ths is encouraged by Senator Lindsey Graham:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Sunday that if former President Donald Trump is prosecuted, there will be “riots in the streets.”  

Tea Party, 1776 ....

Update 5-13-23:  It's now speak no evil.  The Insane Red Team won't speak about their titular leader's cascade of lies, scandals and legal jeopardy.  Head down, say nothing. 

Title that Could Have Been

The picture above is of my creation.  I altered a headline from our local conservative news source on the "dishonest presidential election."    

Three days after being sworn in to Congress August Pfluger (R-TX) and many of his peers plan to vote against the certification of President Elect Joe Biden.  This act should be much harder after WaPo released President Trump's phone attempt to strong arm Georgia election officials.  However almost none of Trump's egregious conduct has come back to bite him in our nation's capital.  

Republican Senator Mitt Romney offered the following response:

“The congressional power to reject electors is reserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. These are far from it.  More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed. The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence.”

“This has the predictable potential to lead to disruption, and worse.  I could never have imagined seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world. Has ambition so eclipsed principle?”

Republican Senator Ben Sasse criticized the move.

"Let’s be clear what is happening here: We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage," Sasse said. "But they’re wrong – and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions. Adults don’t point a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government."

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan warned: 

"All our basic rights and freedoms flow from a fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law. This principle is not only fundamentally American but a central tenet of conservatism. Under our system, voters determine the president, and this self-governance cannot sustain itself if the whims of Congress replace the will of the people. I urge members to consider the precedent that it would set.

"Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic. It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans. The fact that this effort will fail does not mean it will not do significant damage to American democracy.

"The Trump campaign had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence. The legal process was exhausted, and the results were decisively confirmed. The Department of Justice, too, found no basis for overturning the result. If states wish to reform their processes for future elections, that is their prerogative. But Joe Biden’s victory is entirely legitimate."

Trump was the champion in 2016.  Voters reversed his earlier landslide.  He can't handle the truth and the truth is he lost in a free and fair election.  

Rep. August Pfluger need not listen me, a constituent who has voted for candidates from both the Red and Blue teams.  However, he might listen to elected Republican officials who've remained independent of the Trump mob, which has at least one Congressman espousing violence..     

Update 1-4-20:

President Trump's plans for inauguration day are "up in the air."  Scotland maybe?

 

 

Update 1-5-20:  Brand new Congressman August Pfluger plans to challenge President Elect Biden's election certification as his duty is "to protect the Constitution."  Other Republicans might view Pfluger as an firefighter throwing gasoline on a Constitutional blaze started by and continually fanned by President Donald Trump.  

John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator and paragon of the party establishment, denounced the electoral challenge, calling it part of a “populist strategy to drive America even farther apart by promoting conspiracy theories and stoking grievances.”

“Lending credence to Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen is a highly destructive attack on our constitutional government,” Danforth, a mentor to Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the instigator of the effort in the Senate, said in a statement. “It is the opposite of conservative; it is radical.”

Pfluger spent decades in the U.S. Military as a fighter pilot.  Ten living Defense Secretaries sent a warning letter against use of the military to change election results.

“Efforts to involve the US 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.”

Pfluger is brand spanking new to Congress and taking the most radical act against a President Elect in the last 140 years. 

Update 1-6-21:   Local conservative news source reported on the Trump riot at the U.S. Capital.

During the debate over Arizona a recess was called after a crowd of President Trump supporters who were outside of the building gained access inside.

The story did not mention our new Congressman August Pfluger or his need to flee with other members of Congress from the Trump mob.

Former President George W. Bush gave the following statement regarding today's disturbing developments:

I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement. The violent assault on the Capitol -- and disruption of a Constitutionally-mandated meeting of Congress -- was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.

Insurrection could do grave damage to our Nation and reputation. In the United States of America, it is the fundamental responsibility of every patriotic citizen to support the rule of law. To those who are disappointed in the results of the election: Our country is more important than the politics of the moment. Let the officials elected by the people fulfill their duties and represent our voices in peace and safety.

May God continue to bless the United States of America."

Update 1-7-21:  An administration official described Trump’s behavior on Wednesday as that of “a monster,” while another said the situation was “insane” and “beyond the pale”. Our local conservative news source had nothing more to say about the Trump inspired insurrection at the U.S. Capital yesterday.  It did offer this on a small Trump rally in Midland, TX:

"As chaos overtook the nation's capital on Wednesday Trump supporters in Midland had a much calmer and lawful approach."

One wonders if Yantis Green made the trip to D.C. for the "Stop the Steal" sedition event.  Pfluger condemned the violence from a protected area during yesterday's insurrection.  Our brand new Representative found fault with Arizona and Pennsylvania's election handling.  The U.S. Constitution grants states the rights to manage their elections.

White House aides were astonished at Trump's slow response to the violence he incited, with the official calling the president a "total monster."

Monster Trump incited the death of Capital Police officer.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. this evening (January 7, 2021), United States Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty. 

Officer Sicknick was responding to the riots on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol and was injured while physically engaging with protesters.

Some of Trump's patriots killed a police officer during their rampage..  

Update 1-9-21:  Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are under fire for their roles in inflaming the violent Capital mob.  Rep. August Pfluger, an Air Force veteran, followed Ted Cruz in objecting to vote counts in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

A viral photo of Hawley entering the Capitol before the riot, showing the senator in a slim-fitting suit, hair perfectly coiffed and raising his fist toward the gathered crowd, has already become a lasting image of a day that won't soon be forgotten.

"It was like a Dukakis-on-the-tank moment," one Republican strategist told NBC News in reference to a famous attack ad on the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, "in that he just looked phony and out of place and like a doofus."

Josh Hawley's Republican mentor says his biggest mistake was helping Hawley 

Update 1-10-21:  Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) had this to say about his Republican peers who lied to constituents.  Those lies and President Trump's incitement caused death and destruction on 1-6-21.

“They’ve been lying to people, lying to millions,” Crenshaw added. “They’ve been lying that January 6th was going to be this big solution for election integrity, and it was never going to be. It was never going to solve anything and it was always unconstitutional.”

The former Navy SEAL also told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday that he believes “people have been lied to en masse by the millions.”

“In the sense that they were led to believe Jan. 6 was anything but a political performance for a few opportunistic politicians to give a five-minute speech. That is all that it ever was,” he said. “People were lied to.”

 Update 1-11-21:  Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) said:

Cruz and Hawley were “going to have a lot of soul searching to do and the problem is they were complicit in the big lie, this lie that Donald Trump won the election in a landslide and it was all stolen.

“They compounded that with this notion that somehow this could all be reversed in the final moments of the congressional proceedings. So that’s, that’s going to be, that’s going to haunt them for a very long time.”

Meanwhile President Trump has revenge on his mind.  Our local conservative news source has been silent on post riot revelations, other than one opinion piece and a story about a lady from Midland who videoed the Speaker of the House office breakin.  

Update 1-12-21:  Our local conservative news source ignored the many Republican voices speaking out and ran a story defending new Rep. August Pfluger's bad week.  The piece stated   "What happened next no one could predict. A crowd of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol."  It was highly predictable.  

In the lead up to January 6th, in the days and weeks ahead of the riots at the Capitol, is they (threats of violence) moved from becoming aspirational and a little bit more cryptic to very specific.”

"There was a ‘Patriots watch party’ on ‘TheDonald.win,’ a website that is obviously pro-Donald Trump. We saw commands to ‘start shooting, patriots’ and ‘kill these … traitors.’

The FBI's Norfolk, VA office found the following on 1-5-21 and shared the information with D.C. officials:

‘Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal.”

I was so shocked by Trump's playing Elton John's "Staturday Night is Alright for Fighting" song between speakers at this Save America rally that I took a screenshot of the crowd.  Exhortations of "Kick Ass", "Trial by Combat", "Fight for Me" were based on bald faced lies.

As blowback builds, the question is whether Hawley – now an overnight pariah in Washington – will suffer politically for his wild gamble to pander to a minority of Americans who are diehard Trump supporters, and include Qanon conspiracy theorists. His decision to cast his lot with would-be insurrectionists, if only indirectly, may have been a bridge too far for many Americans. 

August Pfluger followed Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley.  That contributed greatly to his really bad week.

Update 1-14-21:  Rep. Pfluger lost corporate donor ATT for his votes against certifying President Elect Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania.  

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy plays a major role in raising money for the NRCC and CLF and Florida Sen. Rick Scott is the chair of the NRSC. Both men voted to overturn the results of the election. 

Update 1-15-21:  Pfluger stands to lose more financial support as Amazon and Walmart cut off donations to Republicans voting against the Biden certification.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Walmart family members made large contributions to the With Honor Fund that provided major support to Pfluger.

Open Secrets reported:

Another candidate supported by With Honor Fund is August Pfluger, a former fighter pilot and Air Force lieutenant colonel. Pfluger is running in Texas’s open 11th Congressional District, following the retirement of Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas). Pfluger was endorsed by President Trump, and has significantly outraised his opponents. So far he has raised over $1.2 million, and has roughly $900,000 more in cash on hand than any other candidate. With Honor Fund has spent about $214,000 supporting Pfluger. 

Big donors to With Honor Fund include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who gave more than $10 million in 2018; members of the Walton family, who are heirs to the Walmart fortune; and Abigail Wexner, who is married to Les Wexner, the founder of fashion company L Brands. Billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg also contributed to the group in 2018. 

It remains to be seen how much funding Pfluger will lose due to following President Trump's lies.

Update 1-21-21:  Many corporations stopped political donations post Capital insurrection.

Rep. Pluger said he could "wake up tomorrow to Socialism" in a piece titled, "Socialism begins today."   He didn't say why he wants your Social Security Number on your next federal ballot.

Update 1-27-21:  Add Google to the list of companies not donating to Pfluger and his ilk.  Post Capital Riot more Republicans dropped their party affiliation, over 30,000 in six states.

Update 1-29-21:  Republican group asks for resignation of Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for their role in pushing Donald Trump's big lie.  After endangering members of Congress by his participation in the Big Lie Congressman Pfluger was appointed to two national security committees.

Update 2-1-21:  Dozens of former Bush officials (W.) quit the Republican Party calling it a Trump cult

Update 2-8-21:   Former Senator John Danforth said the Republican Party is "a grotesque caricature" of its former self.  Former Senator Jeff Flake said the Trump fever is slowly breaking.

Update 3-1-21:  Former Liar-in-Chief Donald Trump continued his string of dishonest statements at the Trump Cult PAC.

Update 3-5-21:  It turns our Republican super-spreaders caused many to believe the big lie.  Trump and his offspring are the biggest of liars.

Update 3-8-21:  According to Senator Lindsey Graham former President Trump is a combination of Jesse Helms (racist), Ronald Reagan and P.T. Barnum (conman).  Graham said Trump has "magic."  Is that of the warlock kind?  Former CPAC head called Republican Party "a cult whose members are living in an alternate reality."

Update 3-11-21:  "As for the Republicans, they have a moral cancer, and are likely beyond redemption." 

Update 3-20-21:  Former President George W. Bush gave a blunt "No" to the question of whether he thought the election was stolen from Trump.

Update 3-29-21:  Former President Donald Trump's relentless lie of a stolen election has inspired an avalanche of bills nationwide, as GOP lawmakers around the country seek to add restrictions to mail voting and other electoral practices. By all accounts, the 2020 election was secure and the results accurate.  One of the lie spinners was Trump attorney Sidney Powell.  In her $1.3 billion Dominion defamation suit Powell’s own lawyers claimed that “no reasonable person” would believe the conspiracy theories spun by Powell.  Those unreasonable conspiracy theories were of Trump's "stolen" election.  

Update 3-30-21:  The mother of Capital Hill Policeman Michael Fanone said this of Trump's enablers.  “For me to say anything to Trump would be — it wouldn’t matter because he just can’t hear. It’s all the other people that are so complicit in this. That’s who I would speak to,” Fanone said. “How dare you? How dare you? How dare you take advantage of these people who were defending and fighting for their lives that day, to save these people, preserve democracy, civility, to restore the Capitol to what it’s supposed to be? Where are you? With all of these officers stood with you, why don’t you stand with them?”

Update 4-12-21:  Corporate CEOs gathered by conference call to strategize how best to fight voter suppression bills proffered by the Red Team. 

Update 5-12-21:  Congresswoman Liz Cheney said “Today we face a threat America has never seen before. A former president, who provoked a violent attack on this Capitol in an effort to steal the election, has resumed his aggressive effort to convince Americans that the election was stolen from him.  He risks inciting further violence.”  For telling the truth she was removed from her House Leadership position on the Red Team.  Former Liar-in-Chief Donald Trump continued to distort reality in his attack on Cheney.  Trump boot-lickers win.

Update 5-16-21:  Congressman Adam Kinzinger said “Standing up and being sane in the Republican party, that’s not anything heroic.  That’s just what people expect of us and unfortunately there’s not many of us doing that at the moment.”  

Update 6-3-21:   Facebook will keep former President Trump banned until January 7, 2023.  The former president blasted the tech giant's move while repeating his false claims that the 2020 election was "rigged," claims that social media platforms have repeatedly condemned.  “Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election,” Trump said.

Update 6-13-21:  A Florida Red team operative said “In the past, party elders, party leaders … exploited the crazies in order to win elections and then largely ignored them after the elections,” he said. “What has happened since then is that Trump opened Pandora’s box and let them out. He not only let them out, he affirmed them and provoked them. And so now they’re running wild and they are legitimatizing these delusions.”

Update 10-21-21:   Pathological liar Trump sold Trump Media Technology Group and its TRUTH Social to an SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Company.  Watch founders and ex-President Trump mine it for cash.  Start countdown to bankruptcy.

Update 10-24-21:  TRUTH Social prohibits any unwanted information about pathological liar Donald Trump.  By doing so it may be in violation of the terms of the open software it is based upon.   

Update 11-10-21:  Rep. August Pfluger touted his endorsement from former President Trump.  Former aides privately compared the Presidential Personnel Office under President Donald Trump to the Gestapo in Nazi Germany or the East German Stasi.  That's not a great endorsement.

Update 1-4-22:  Trump intends to lie about January 6th, his national disgrace. Trump's ego maintenance is endangering our democracy.  The Red Team is all in. 

Update 1-16-22:  Trump's Red Meat Arizona Rally threw raw lies to his rabid followers.  He said the FBI was behind the Jan. 6th insurrection.  So the FBI said to the crowd "If you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore"?  Did the FBI pick the rally music too?  Elton John could not have been happy with Trump's use of "Saturday night is alright for fighting" to whip up the crowd.

Update 1-16-22:  Chief political garbageman and former President Donald Trump offered a bunch of nonsense to his fans on the Red Team in Arizona.  Did people actually pay for that?  

Update 2-13-22:   Pormer Fresident Tonald Drump's picture book sold 300,000 copies to date.  He characterized the book as "glamorous" and reflecting a "romantic period".  Glamor and romance did not make the list of people's expectations of leaders.  Drump is a whimsical liar.

Update 2-14-22:  Mazars USA, the Trump Organization’s trusted outside accounting firm ditched its client, explaining that the former president’s family company has a decade of financial statements that can’t be trusted.

Update 3-5-22:  I can't imagine any elected official endorsing Roger Stone's tactics on behalf of Trump which included violence and overturning an election.

Update 5-16-22:  Trump told Texas rallygoers he would write a book about the election in which he lost.  His title?  The Crime of the Century.  That would be serial perjury from a disgraced former President.

Update 5-29-22:  Trump called the insurrection "a hoax" at a Wyoming rally.  Seven people died as a result of Trump's right wing middle-aged wilding.

Update 6-13-22:  Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said calls of voter fraud on 2020 election night were not "honest." Stepien also described the events that unfolded after 2020 election night as unprofessional.  Dishonest and unprofessional, that's our Donald.

Update 6-15-22:  Trump wanted to promote to U.S. Attorney General a man who said China changed votes with thermostats. 

Update 6-16-22:  Retired conservative Judge Luttig said this of Trump:

“For the past six years, I have watched and listened in disgust that not one single leader of ours with the moral authority, the courage and the will to stand up and say, ‘No, this is not who we are, this is not what America is and it’s not what we want to be,’ has done so.”

That more Republicans aren’t standing up to “this nonsense, this utter madness,” he said, is “the definition of failed leadership.”

Update 6-19-22:   Rep. Adam Kinzinger said the Red Team isn't delivering truth to the American people.

Update 6-29-22:  A young White House staffer had the courage to tell the truth about Trump's role in the January 6th insurrection.  Every person who has publicly testified before the committee is on the Red Team.  August Pfluger hung his political hat on a horrific person.

Update 8-10-22:  Pfluger remains tied to a most unethical former President.  An informant clued the FBI that President Trump had classified documents from his Presidency at Mara Lago in violation of federal law.  Red Team officials are not calling for Trump to be locked up.

Update 8-12-22:  The FBI searched Trump's home for classified nuclear weapons documents.

Update 8-14-22:  Trump’s style of handling White House documents has been described by people who worked for him as slapdash and ad hoc.  “It worried people all the time,” John Bolton, one of Trump’s former national security advisers.  A close Trump insider informed the FBI on the presence of confidential and top secret documents at Mara Lago.  This occurred after a Trump lawyer signed a document saying all classified documents had been turned over.

More verbal heat for the Trump snake came from Red Team Senator Rick Scott:

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan described the comparisons of the FBI to Nazi Germany’s secret police, made by Florida senator Rick Scott, as “very concerning to me, it’s outrageous rhetoric.”

Update 8-16-22:   Trump's history of abusing national security information is long.  Trump vowed to prosecute national security violators like himself.

Update 8-22-22:  The final episode of Reliable Sources highlighted the "accelerated decline of local media."  It stated that local media had been hollowed out by the likes of hedge funds and private equity underwriters (PEU).  A guest said without good local journalism local politicians run wild as there is no accountability.

Update 8-25-22:  A former FOX News editor acknowledged the network deceived viewers in catering to the Insane Red Team.

Update 9-1-22:  A columnist painted Trump as a flailing liar surrounded by lackeys.  He fits the bill perfectly.

Update 9-2-22:  Trump and his legal time are throwing multiple defenses against the wall, however contradictory.  Their aims are to confuse the public and hope one of the legal defenses will find a friendly judge and stick.  It's not hard for Trump to defend the defenseless, the unethical, the corrupt.  

Update 9-10-22:   Trump's former White House lawyer Ty Cobb said former President Donald Trump risks not just prosecution, but disqualification from office under the 14th Amendment over the January riots.  

Update 11-19-22:  Some evangelical leaders found their discernment skills regarding former President Donald Trump, often the least observable Christian in any room. 

Update 2-12-23:   Trump claimed election fraud after "a team of professional researchers he paid to try and find evidence of fraud came up empty-handed."  He got the report before January 6th.

Update 2-17-23:  Fox News Tucker Carlson called Trump a "demonic force" 

Update 3-10-23:  There's a long list of people who supported Trump's election lies and got promoted for doing so.

Update 5-13-23:  The Insane Red Team won't speak about their titular leader's cascade of lies, scandals and legal jeopardy.  Head down, say nothing.  

Update 6-9-23:  Donald Trump informed the public via social media that he has been indicted for his handling of classified documents.

Update 6-18-23:  Two former Trump cabinet members said the former President's handling of classified documents problematic.  Former Attorney General Bill Barr eviscerated Trump calling him a consummate narcissist.  Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper branded Trump a security threat.

Update 6-28-23:  Continual liar Trump characterized his recently released recorded confession of holding classified documents as "bravado."  Recall his taped description of sexually assaulting women as "locker room talk."  Boys will be boys, especially the selfish, spoiled ones.

Update 9-24-23:  A former White House staffer said of Trump:

“He is dangerous for the country. He is willing – and has showed time and time again willingness – to proliferate lies, and to vulnerable American people, so he could stay in power.

“To me, that is the most un-American thing that you can do.”

Update 9-28-23:  People standing behind Trump as he gave a speech at a nonunion auto parts plant held signs that misrepresented, i.e. lied about their actual status.   

Update 10-7-23:  Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said of President Chump:

"I believe political leaders should strive to be honest, ethical and moral people and should try to set a standard for the rest of the country. Donald Trump doesn’t do any of that. He frankly does the opposite of that. That’s one of the reasons why I think he’s unfit for office.”