Trump’s Attempt At A Coup
I was doing some Angry Bear housecleaning and ran across this post by Barkley questioning whether trump would leave the presidency upon after his loss. This post was written by Barkley November 10th. In keeping with his requirements to wait on posting Econospeak’s commentaries, AB was to wait a day or two.
Barkley had a series of posts along similar lines about trump.
Of course, we all know trump did not attempt a Coup. Indeed, he incited an insurrection at the capitol on January 6th. Two years later and he is still roaming around. As well as others, Barkley’s prediction on an attempted coup was correct. According to Mary Trump, Donald trump will never be held responsible for his crimes.
I do not believe trump will ever see a day in prison for this or other things he incited.
Barkley Rosser, Econospeak Blog, “Is Trump Going To Attempt A Coup?“
I realize that Joe Biden just held a press conference where he basically dismissed the refusal of Trump and a lot of other Republicans to concede the presidential election to Biden as “embarrassing,” laughing at Secretary of State Pompeo who earlier today talked about a transition to a second Trump term, and said it will all be over and fine by Jan. 20. Maybe, but I am somebody who has taken seriously for a long time words from people like Michael Cohen and more recently Mary Trump who have said he simply will not go willingly and will continue to refuse to accept defeat. I have watched various commentators supporting him from time to time thinking, “Will they support him if he declares martial law?” Unfortunately, I think a lot of them will.
He certainly is laying the groundwork for making an attempt. The obvious such sign was yesterday’s firing of SecDef Esper. Reportedly because Esper made it clear in June he would not order US troops to move on peaceful civilian demonstrators in Washington. Rumor has it he is about to replace the FBI and CIA directors also. And the UnderSec of DOD is also out. It certainly looks like he is trying to stock the top levels of the military and intelligence establishment with total toadies who will do his bidding. If he makes the move and invokes the Insurrection Act or simply declares a National Emergency, which, frankly, is in his legal power. Will these newly installed flunkies stand up to him? Who will?
I am seriously worried about this, and the more I see people like Mitch McConnell and Sean Hannity just spouting rank lies about the election, my concern grows. I hope I am wrong, but I am now afraid we may be facing a very serious showdown over this, and I see the refusal of certain foreign authoritarian leaders friendly to Trump, such as Putin, not accepting the result, as a sign that they would support him if he made such a move, and we know he really likes and admires those guys. This is a very bad situation.
Barkley Rosser
Is Trump Going To Attempt A Coup? Angry Bear, Barkley Rosser @ Econospeak.
I don’t know what to make of this statement:
“Of course, we all know Trump did not attempt a Coup. Indeed, he incited an insurrection at the capitol on January 6th. Two years later and he is still roaming around.”
(Dems apparently still believe, or would have us believe they believe, that Things are not quite as bad as they seem as far as the 2024 Election is concerned.)
The Dems are lately taking a certain tone that reminds me of the 2016 Election, when Hillary Clinton was the Certain Winner, and I still remember telling Mrs Fred late that night that she had lost.
OK, I just signed up for a monthly contribution with ActBlue to support Biden/Harris for 2024.
” . . . I still remember telling Mrs Fred late that night that she had lost.”
Actually, she won by nearly 3 million votes. Trump was appointed by the electoral college against the will of the American voters.
US Congress certifies Trump’s Electoral College victory
Reuters – Jan 6, 2017
The U.S. Congress on Friday certified the Electoral College vote that gave Republican Donald Trump his victory in the contentious 2016 presidential election after a raucous half-hour joint session punctuated by Democratic challenges.
The Republican businessman, whose presidential campaign was his first bid for public office, garnered 304 electoral votes, compared with 227 won by his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, according to the vote tally read by Vice President Joe Biden.
The electoral votes were opened before a joint session of Congress in what is considered a formality for most presidential elections.
Members of the House of Representatives objected to the electoral tally in states including Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Texas, Mississippi and the Carolinas in a symbolic move that exposed lingering dismay over a contentious election campaign.
Some members complained about long lines at polling stations while others cited concerns over Russian attempts to influence the result in Trump’s favor.
“I object because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our election,” said Representative Barbara Lee of California before being overruled.
Biden denied the objections one by one, at times jocular and apparently determined to finish the tally. “It is over,” he said at one point, to laughter from Republicans. …
… there’s still lots of voter suppression to be done by the GOP in the 30 Red states over the next 18 months.
Not all of Trump’s supporters are racist authoritarian pigs. Very many of them (at least that I happen to know) are only nihilistic anarchists.
Ron,
I suspect I may be a nihilistic anarchist. Depends what you mean. Also to some extent suffer from “lack of empathy” at least when i was very young, and even today while i die in empathy at every story of tragedy, injustice, or heroism, I still fail to “feel with” most people and cannot anticipate their emotional reactions or feelings.
On the other hand, i have come to understand the need for “authority” while I almost never agree with it and only submit to it when i can see that it is harmless and much more efficient than letting the cats herd themselves. but I am so much of an anti Trump, anti Desantis, non maga personality that I put up with Biden and the whole “play by the rules Democracy” thing…because there is nothing I can do about them or the idiocy that flows from that.
I submit that the people on both sides are the same…not too bright followers of leaders who know how to reach their deepest feelings, which themselves are shaped by the crowd they happen to have been born into, endlessly repeating the mantras of their crowd without ever questioning or even trying to actually think about they are saying.
Coberly,
Yes sir. Understood and agreed. However, there is an important distinction between empathy and sympathy which should be observed. I have quite a bit of the former and very little of the latter. I also lack the time now necessary to finely parse out that distinction. So, I just hope that you understand that distinction.
Ron
I have watched people figt over words so often i almost never take for granted I know what they mean…or even what I mean. on a hot day in July i think sympathy means something like feeling sorry for, while empathy means something like “i know how you feel. but neither means “our hearts go out to the families…” or even “we feel your pain.”
oh, it’s not July? coulda fooled me. been up on a hot tin roof trying to seal some leaks that should never have happened except for the holes in my head when i started the project.
waiting for the rain.
Not all of Trump’s supporters are racist authoritarian pigs. Very many of them (at least that I happen to know) are only nihilistic anarchists.
[ Would that be, say, 5 or 10 or 15 or 20 … million American citizens? Then what would that mean socially? ]
ltr,
Actually, “only nihilistic anarchists” was intentionally facetious cynical humor. There is at least some anecdotal evidence (e.g., the real life back-story of C.P. Ellis and Ann Atwater recounted in the best selling book by Osha Gray Davidson and the subsequent film based on that book) to the effect that racial bigotry can effectively be overcome. OTOH, rejection of authority which underlies nihilistic anarchism is deeply rooted in early developmental psychology similar to the lack of empathy from which flows the general spectrum of anti-social behavior. This is to say that an individual may leave one tribe for another at times in life, but may only pass through childhood once.
The Best of Enemies by Osha Gray Davidson
Genre: Nonfiction
Length: 320 pages
Audiobook Length: 8 hours and 59 minutes
First Published: 2018
Publisher’s Description
C. P. Ellis grew up in the poor white section of Durham, North Carolina, and as a young man joined the Ku Klux Klan. Ann Atwater, a single mother from the poor black part of town, quit her job as a household domestic to join the civil rights fight. During the 1960s, as the country struggled with the explosive issue of race, Atwater and Ellis met on opposite sides of the public school integration issue. Their encounters were charged with hatred and suspicion. In an amazing set of transformations, however, each of them came to see how the other had been exploited by the South’s rigid power structure, and they forged a friendship that flourished against a backdrop of unrelenting bigotry.
Rich with details about the rhythms of daily life in the mid-twentieth-century South, The Best of Enemies offers a vivid portrait of a relationship that defied all odds. By placing this very personal story into broader context, Osha Gray Davidson demonstrates that race is intimately tied to issues of class, and that cooperation is possible–even in the most divisive situations–when people begin to listen to one another.
Be honest, I don’t think any of ’em have the chops to be either.
You’re giving ’em way too much credit …
TB,
I can only speak to what I know. With respect to converted racists, then there is notably CP Ellis along with my dad and my surviving best friend’s dad. I also knew of Marion DuPont Scott of Montpelier Station VA who had a significant effect on eliminating racism both in Orange County, VA, and in horse racing more widely. My dad knew her more personally, but not well. Since moving to central VA I have met a few people here who also either knew her or know of her and revere her memory highly.
It takes a lot of reading to fully grasp developmental psychology, but the most simple and fundamental of concepts is the formation of the intimate empathetic bond between mother and suckling child. There is no substitute and only a brief window in which to affect the imprinting process. Bottle feeding is a poor second substitute as it provides no external bio-feedback to the child which still gets fed, but without any ouch empathy during teething. We must learn to feel another’s pain to deepen empathetic response. That is not where empathy ends, but it is where it gets its best start. Subsequent abuse or neglect by care givers or just with care givers unable to protect the child can shatter that empathy bond at any time through childhood up to adolescence.
So, my advice to you would be “Grow up.”
Ron
sometimes a clever turn of words can be taken badly.
i knew a mother once who could not nurse. her kids turned out to vote the way i do, and socialize better than i do. she wasn’t bad at providing something like love to her kids, but her heart wasn’t really in it…having had a poorly socializing mother herself….who was a bit of a socialite…not the same thing.
be careful what you read. i spent a long time learning from the experts. to be fair they provided me with a structure to hang all the things i eventually learned out of class on my own that disagreed with them fundamentally.
Coberly,
Point taken. Confirming ones sources in theoretical endeavors is a long and arduous journey, one in which I am now old enough to have taken.
Perhaps you took my “best start” example as meaning the only way. If “best start” meant the same as “only way”, then the world would be even more screwed up than it is already. Any form of pain or suffering that one experiences can trigger an empathy response when observed in another. Second best may be the fear of death once one is mature enough to embrace it for themselves.
best start is the best we can hope for. i don’t spend a lot of time confirming my sources i get some ideas from them worth thnking about, but nothing i would “believe-in.” they are like the rest of us. only know what they know, and don’t know what they don’t know. I know Aristotle* (for example) was a smart guy, but I have advantages he didn’t have. Life is more interesting that way.
*he was Alexander’s teacher. later in life he took to wandering around muttering “buy em books, buy em books, and they just eat the covers.”
I was more worried about TB taking “grow up” wrong
Coberly,
Yeah, understood. My “grow up” was just my Dear Abbie retort to TB’s “Be honest”. Realistically, I do not actually care enough to be anything but honest. I take great pride in my forlorn cynicism while placing all my dwindling hope on a few simple principles.
Firesign Theatre had a great one embedded in I think we are all Bozos on this bus. It was called Thud’s first law, “Push something hard enough and it will fall over.”
actually, she lost.
you don’t seem to think that the 70 million people (or so) who didn’t vote for her have no rights. The framers disagreed with you. they seemed to feel that the people in different states had different needs and perspectives, so they gave the smaller states an advantage in the electoral college that compensated for the fact that a simple majority takes all system would have deprived the people in the smaller states of ever having a say in who became president.
it has become fashionable for the people who lose in the electoral college what they would have won by majority-take-all to call the electoral college a “mistake”, even a “racist” mistake. but the small states in 1788 were not slave states (generally). what the Left has forgot was how to win in small states, leaving them entirely to the Right. FDR won in small states as well as big.
suggests to me that if you were able to get rid of the electoral college, the Right would just learn quickly how to win in the big cities. and while you might think that cosmic justice would be achieved by having our government forever in the hands of people who understood only city life, I think you would be cruelly disappointed.
glad to hear that. i thought i had been pushing long enough, but now you tell me i haven’t been pushing hard enough.
i thought your “grow up” was a friendly joke referring to the developmental psychology you had been discussing. just as i thought TB’s “be honest” was not meant to mean “let’s be honest about what we face,” not “stop lying.”
or as they tried to teach us in physics class: no matter how hard or long you push, if you haven’t moved it you haven’t done any work.
typo
cancel the first not. TB’s “be honest” was meant to mean…