DL Open Thread: Thursday, January 21, 2021
Perhaps Joy Reid said it best…a return to ‘aggressive normalcy’. Sure felt different.
Proud Boys To Sad Boyz. He summoned them to Washington, lit the fuse, and abandoned them:
As Mr. Trump departed the White House on Wednesday, the Proud Boys, once among his staunchest supporters, have also started leaving his side. In dozens of conversations on social media sites like Gab and Telegram, members of the group have begun calling Mr. Trump a “shill” and “extraordinarily weak,” according to messages reviewed by The New York Times. They have also urged supporters to stop attending rallies and protests held for Mr. Trump or the Republican Party.
The comments are a startling turn for the Proud Boys, which for years had backed Mr. Trump and promoted political violence. Led by Enrique Tarrio, many of its thousands of members were such die-hard fans of Mr. Trump that they offered to serve as his private militia and celebrated after he told them in a presidential debate last year to “stand back and stand by.” On Jan. 6, some Proud Boys members stormed the U.S. Capitol.
But since then, discontent with Mr. Trump, who later condemned the violence, has boiled over. On social media, Proud Boys participants have complained about his willingness to leave office and said his disavowal of the Capitol rampage was an act of betrayal. And Mr. Trump, cut off on Facebook and Twitter, has been unable to talk directly to them to soothe their concerns or issue new rallying cries.
The Proud Boys’ anger toward Mr. Trump has heightened after he did nothing to help those in the group who face legal action for the Capitol violence.
Ah, well. They’ll always have their opioid dependencies and their memories. And perhaps some jail time to afford them the chance to reflect.
QAnon Members To Form QAnonymous Withdrawal Groups? You. Must. Read. This. OK, an excerpt:
For believers of QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory that holds Donald Trump as a deity-like figure secretly battling a “deep state” cabal of pedophiles who control the government, things weren’t supposed to go down this way. Month after month, year after year, they had been told by “Q,” the group’s shadowy online leader, and Q’s army of social media influencers, that a symbolic “storm” was coming. The mythology held that on Wednesday, at long last, the Bidens, Obamas and Clintons would be rounded up and executed for child sex trafficking, treason and other crimes. Trump, having finally conquered evil, would remain in power.
The Army Lied: Michael Flynn’s Brother Was Deep Into Planning DOD’s Non-Response To Rioters. Heads must roll. I think they will:
So much for the golden age of the QAnon idiots and the hated Proud Boys. Joe is not a cure all for these bad actors, but certainly a start. As for Trump’s pardons it makes a case for restricting or ending the practice, the potential for abuse is too great. As for Vaccine Distribution this not quit 65 year old says Get Your Shit Together! and get it done. Knew in advance it would be a shitshow and it remains one.
The long arm of karma finds Peter Robb. Robb was the Trump-appointed lead counsel for the NLRB. Being a Trump appointee, naturally his purpose was to oppose unions and generally wreak havoc.
President Biden requested his resignation. Robb protested, saying that norms dictated that he should complete the 10 months remaining in his term. Biden fired him on the spot.
It is especially delicious that that Peter Robb represented the Reagan Administration in busting the PATCO union in 1981.
Yeah, Biden also put that lawyer that Trump tried to place in the NSA on administrative leave:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/535153-gop-operative-ordered-to-be-installed-as-nsa-top-lawyer-placed-on
AND fired the Trump appointee who turned the Consumer Protection Agency into a business protection agency, and replaced him with this guy who is an ally of Elizabeth Warren:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/biden-picks-rohit-chopra-lead-consumer-protection-agency-n1254562