DL Open Thread: Saturday, February 13, 2021
Trump Defense Goes Trumpian. Bellicosity and falsehoods in equal measure. Although shorter than the average Trump campaign event. Designed to appeal to one person:
Former President Donald J. Trump’s legal team mounted a combative defense on Friday focused more on assailing Democrats for “hypocrisy” and “hatred” than justifying Mr. Trump’s own monthslong effort to overturn a democratic election that culminated in last month’s deadly assault on the Capitol.
After days of powerful video footage showing a mob of Trump supporters beating police officers, chasing lawmakers and threatening to kill the vice president and House speaker, Mr. Trump’s lawyers denied that he had incited what they called a “small group” that turned violent. Instead, they tried to turn the tables by calling out Democrats for their own language, which they deemed just as incendiary as Mr. Trump’s.
BTW, was anything more painful to watch than that so-called ‘Q and A’ session? More softballs than at an octogenarian strippers’ convention.
Report: McCarthy And Trump Had Shouting Session Over Trump’s Refusal To Stop Riot. Trump’s lawyers avoided any attempt to explain Trump’s actions as the riot was proceeding. I think Sheldon Whitehouse has the right idea: Call McCarthy and Tuberville to testify. It’ll clarify everything. Won’t stop the Rethugs from voting against conviction, though. Remember, kids, they are no longer a political party, they are an anti-democratic horde of fascists.
‘He’s A Labradoodle Dandy’. Ex-Trump health advisor, labradoodle breeder, ponders run for open House seat. I admit it’s not the most-earthshaking of events. But could you pass up the chance to write that headline?:
In the West Wing, a handful of his detractors derisively referred to Harrison as “the dog breeder” — a reference to the labradoodle-breeding family business that he helped run prior to joining the Trump administration. On Friday, an anonymous Twitter account was created appearing to mock Harrison and his potential run for Congress.
Trump Just Part Of The Hired Help In Mar-A-Lago? He’s breaking a legal agreement by living there. Looks like he’s gonna have to hire himself. Food-taster, perhaps? Here’s the issue:
Trump acquired the Mar-a-Lago—built in 1927 as a home for Marjorie Merriweather Post, the wealthy cereal heiress—in the 1980s and used it as a residence. But by the 1990s, after doing serious renovations, he began pushing the idea of turning the 128-room mansion into a private club. Neighbors, who had already protested an earlier plan to subdivide the property, revolted, and Trump made a number of concessions in the 1993 agreement with the town of Palm Beach to win his detractors over. Among other things, the agreement stipulated that the property could not be a private residence and a private club, so if it was a club, it could not be Trump’s house. Specifically, the agreement said that while guests could stay at the property, no one could spend more than 21 nights a year in its guest rooms.
The Rise And Fall Of The Proud Boys? Turns out that touting their ‘accomplishments’ on social media doesn’t really fly when Trump’s no longer President. An interesting article:
Since their foundation in 2016 by the far-right Canadian media personality and entrepreneur Gavin McInnes, the all-male group – who wear uniform clothing, enforce bizarre initiation rituals, eschew masturbation, and reward violence with higher degrees of membership – have been an outsized presence on the landscape of pro-Trump extremism, and successful in promoting themselves as the most militant part of his coalition.
But their role in the Capitol insurrection especially has brought far less welcome attention.
Law enforcement agencies have connected at least 10 Capitol arrestees with the Proud Boys in criminal complaints and affadavits. Those charged include leaders like the Florida combat veteran and conspiracy theorist Joe Biggs and Washington state’s Ethan Nordean, whose prominence rose in the group after he was caught on film attacking an antifascist during a 2018 riot in downtown Portland, Oregon.
If ‘eschew masturbation’ means what I think it means, betcha they had more than bloodstains to bleach out of their jeans when they returned home from DC.
What do you want to talk about?
Reading about how Trump’s legal team had to eventually adopt the position that the election was “stolen” from Trump which means any Senator that votes to acquit is voting to keep this lie alive for the foreseeable future.
That there is some classic GOP patriotism, for ya America!
” I think Sheldon Whitehouse has the right idea: Call McCarthy and Tuberville to testify. It’ll clarify everything. Won’t stop the Rethugs from voting against conviction, though.”
Agree. The point is to create a complete record.
Trumps legal team could have spent 8 hours doing pantomime and the outcome would be the same
Witness(es)!
At least one–GOP Rep. Herrera Beutler, who overheard shouting match between McCarthy and Trump–and who voted to impeach.
Dems surrender on witnesses. Simply one written deposition from Beutler. That’s it.
Pathetic.
I suspect pressure from the White House.
It is times like this that HATE being a member of the sorry ass loser party.
Dems: No witnesses
Dems: Ok, witnesses.
Dems: Ok, no witnesses.
Classic own goal.
Her full statement: https://jhb.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=402083
“”In my January 12 statement in support of the article of impeachment, I referenced a conversation House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy relayed to me that he’d had with President Trump while the January 6 attack was ongoing. Here are the details:
“When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol. McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters. That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said: ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.’
“Since I publicly announced my decision to vote for impeachment, I have shared these details in countless conversations with constituents and colleagues, and multiple times through the media and other public forums.
“I told it to the Daily News of Longview on January 17. I’ve shared it with local county Republican executive board members, as well as other constituents who ask me to explain my vote. I shared it with thousands of residents on my telephone town hall on February 8.
“To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time.”