Where to even begin. Sidney Powell is one of Donald Trump’s election lawyers. She was the “Kraken” in what will be known as the “Trump Kraken lawsuits,” which were the series of 50-odd nuisance lawsuits following the election. Sidney Powell is also somehow in league with Mike Flynn, the traitor and double-agent who was recently pardoned by Donald Trump, and who (even more recently) says that Trump should declare martial law and simply refuse to accept the election results. So, with that background, here you go – an update which belongs in the furthest depths of hell.
President Trump on Friday discussed making Sidney Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed a series of conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States, a special counsel investigating voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion. It was unclear if Mr. Trump will move ahead with such a plan.
Most of his advisers opposed the idea, two of the people briefed on the discussion said, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, who in recent days sought to have the Department of Homeland Security join the campaign’s efforts to overturn Mr. Trump’s loss in the election.
Mr. Giuliani joined the discussion by phone initially, while Ms. Powell was at the White House for a meeting that became raucous and involved people shouting at each other at times, according to one of the people briefed on what took place.
Ms. Powell’s client, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser whom the president recently pardoned, was also there, two of the people briefed on the meeting said. Some senior administration officials drifted in and out of the meeting.
But the idea that Mr. Trump would try to install Ms. Powell in a position to investigate the outcome sent shock waves through the president’s circle. She has repeatedly claimed there was widespread fraud, but several lawsuits she filed related to election fraud have been tossed out of court. Mr. Trump has been in contact with Ms. Powell in recent days, despite the fact that the campaign last month sought to distance itself from her as she aired wild and baseless claims about Dominion Voting Systems machines, which were used in some states, somehow being connected to a Venezuelan plot to control the election. Dominion officials have demanded that Ms. Powell retract her claims.
Part of the White House meeting on Friday night was a discussion about an executive order to take control of voting machines to examine them, according to one of the people briefed. Mr. Giuliani has separately pressed the Department of Homeland Security to seize possession of voting machines as part of a push to overturn the results of the election, three people familiar with the discussion said. Mr. Giuliani was told the department does not have the authority to do such a thing.
So, long story short, Mr. Declare Martial Law Because You Lost An Election was somehow there in the White House with Ms. Kraken Failure. Farty Giuliani called in, somehow they were all trying to out-crazy each other with various conspiracy theories and the White House counsel was like “hollllly sh-t.” Also: all of this is why Trump fired Bill Barr. Trump was demanding that Barr appoint a special counsel to investigate the Bidens, and investigate the election. And now Trump is trying to get Sidney Powell appointed as that “special counsel.” Just layers and layers of delusion, corruption, authoritarian cult behavior and fascism.
Speaking of the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone must have run to the Times AND Axios, because Axios is reporting much of the same thing as the Times, but they’re framing it as “senior Trump administration officials are increasingly alarmed that President Trump might unleash — and abuse — the power of government in an effort to overturn the clear result of the election.” Apparently senior Trump officials are worried that Trump is spending too much time with “crackpots or conspiracy theorists and flirting with blatant abuses of power.” Axios quotes a a senior administration official who said that when Trump is “retweeting threats of putting politicians in jail, and spends his time talking to conspiracy nuts who openly say declaring martial law is no big deal, it’s impossible not to start getting anxious about how this ends.”
Last thing: this is the Trumps’ Christmas photo. Mel is aiming for Marlene Dietrich and failing miserably.
Merry Christmas from President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. @realDonaldTrump & @FLOTUS are seen December 10, in their official 2020 Christmas portrait,on the Grand staircase of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks) pic.twitter.com/PA63RYGSKE
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) December 18, 2020
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
He will attempt a coup before on on 20th Jan 2021 – we already know he had the head of the proud boys visit the WH last week, so he is clearly going to incite violence on or after inauguration day that ties in with his threats to refuse to leave the WH. He’s not only whipping up his base he’s actively working with home terrorists and probably working with the brother of that Davos women who has the private army.
He will try and keep the Presidency by force!!! And GOP are supporting him.
If this continues and he is not removed NOW, this country will have major violence and repercussions for years down the road from letting this continue. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And what the GOP does not realize is they are slowing bringing about their own party’s demise.
1 month until he is gone. Too long to wait. Its not too late to invoke the 25th. It needs to be done NOW. He’s clearly unfit for office, he’s not doing his job AT ALL, and he’s actively trying to destroy the country. He needs to be locked up.
Violence that will erupt whenever there is an election, esp if the MAGATs don’t get the result they want. He’s setting things up for when he does try to run again he can try the whole ‘fake votes’ troupe again.
The boomers who make up the most of the current GOP base are dying and many more youngsters are now able to vote – GOP is too ‘white old men’ to attract their votes.
I fear the demise might take awhile. There are plenty of Trump supporters that are there because they are as awful as he is. What I’ve run into more often is people who seem brainwashed. Like could totally agree with me on things. Recognized that Trump should have done more to help people who have lost their jobs and homes because of the pandemic even if it’s only for the economy’s sake. Then say things like “I don’t know why he didn’t do that, but I know he has a plan that will save us.” There is a wall of blind faith in conspiracies that I just can’t break through. I just don’t understand how they got that way.
Let’s not devolve into our own conspiracy theories. The head of the Proud Boys was on a public White House Christmas tour. Tickets are free and available at the White House Visitors Center. For all the threats of violence, there have been a few isolated incidents. I went to both of Clinton’s and Obama’s inaugurations. You can’t begin to comprehend security until you see it for yourself. If MAGAs think they can disrupt the inauguration they are going to be sorely disappointed while sitting in their jail cells.
Mac, you’re correct about the head of the Proud Boys. He was on a public tour and got a deceptive picture of himself standing outside posing alone. Even the WH quickly denied his claim. Also, if Trump wants pictures of his fat ass being physically removed from the WH, making himself a worldwide laughingstock, so be it. He’s too chicken and adverse to one-on-one conflict to have that happen.
@Seraphina He’s the president until the 20th. There’s no removing him until then.
Flynn was there. His pardon is DATED!! All of these NEW actions are sedition . He should be charged as such, his rank stripped & his pension forfeited as his behavior (always) is unbecoming an officer.
As for Trump & Powell, they are both bat shit crazy. Please remember all of those who have aided & assisted this monster & his attack & demoralizing of democracy
I totally agree Kaiser and Digital Unicorn. I think Trump is sailing over he edge and our checks and balances framework never put into place anything to deal with a president who has lost all sense of reality or who is a traitor using the White House to spread sedition. I think we are in a very dangerous situation right now and it needs to be taken seriously. POLITICO just came out with an excellent article on Trump going over the edge, entitled: “Is Trump Cracking Under the Weight of Losing?”: “He’s never been in a situation in which he has lost in a way he can’t escape from,” Mary Trump, his niece and the author of the fiercely critical and bestselling book about him and their family, told me. “We continue to wait for him to accept reality, for him to concede, and that is something he is not capable of doing,” added Bandy Lee, the forensic psychiatrist from Yale who’s spent the last four years trying to warn the world about Trump and the ways in which he’s disordered and dangerous. “Being a loser,” she said, for Trump is tantamount to “psychic death.”
Very scary times. But, Digital Unicorn —- Please don’t label an entire generation as proTrump. I am a baby boomer and I am not on board with any of this.
@LowCountryLady, thank you for referencing the article in Politico. It drove home all we have stated, speculated and prophesized for what will come, not only in January, but years down the road. And the psychologist said it best: letting Trump continue in “this kind of unregulated state…….he’ll do kind of desperate things to maintain that being the center of attention.” Reading the medical professions’ point of view is fascinating. The GOP needs to come to terms they are dealing with a man who has a broken psyche and he is on the road to self destruction and will destroy everything in his path. As a result, they are accomplices to this countries demise as well and should be stripped of the public office.
Mac – you cannot take a White House public tour on a whim today. You do not just show up at the visitors center and bounce off to the tour.
You have to request through your member of Congress at least 21 days in advance. Once the Member of Congress makes the request, you have to pass a background check before permission for the tour is issued. A background check for the Poor Boy guy would have revealed he has felony convictions at the very least, and he would have failed the background check.
Somebody in an official capacity at the White House had to intervene to get him through the door. We don’t know who he met with or where or if he met anyone, but he definitely had to have the help of someone high enough up in the White House to take any tour.
He isn’t flirting with a coup, he is actively attempting one and encouraging his minions to rise up and harm others
Absolutely. And they are listening. My husband overheard some nut openly talking about a ‘civil war’ that they believe is about to happen. And at the local sporting goods store, these crazies seem to know when new shipments of ammo come in, because they line up at the door on those days and buy up all the ammo. The clerk told us its the same 10-20 people every day they get a shipment. Stockpiling ammo. I lose sleep thinking about it.
Holy shiiiit. Isn’t there a limit on ammo? There freakin should be.
His Twitter account, the Twitter accounts of his minions like Papadapoulus, who served time for him, Jason Miller, Bongino, Saavedra, Junior, Kirk, Nagini are all signaling they intend to hold the White House and they are calling their minions to fight. Parler accounts are openly calling for war.
I took my Biden/Harris yard sign down today. I wanted to leave it up until Inauguration Day but now I’m scared. I don’t necessarily think there will be martial law or a civil war, but I’m worried about some random red neck deciding to go around shooting up houses with Biden signs. This is utterly insane.
@Juls: JFC that is terrifying
@FHMom I know nothing about guns but there should absolutely be a limit on ammunition— that seems like a no-brainer even for gun “enthusiasts.”
Yes and if there ever was a time to invoke the 25th Amendment, it is right now. I don’t understand why more people are not running up and down the halls sounding the alarms. We also have the new senator-football coach Tommy Tuberville saying he will support a challenge the the election results, too. This is extremely dangerous territory.
It’s his cabinet that would invoke the 25th
Do you seriously see Pence doing that?
Agree, LightPurple. He is actively committing treason as a sitting president. If we, as a nation, don’t deal with this immediately this could get unbelievably dangerous. The other two branches of our government, need to take this seriously. The press revealing Trump’s treason is good, but it cannot force the government to respond. Congress and the Supreme Court needs to act on the 25th Amendment now.
The problem is there are not enough of his base who will stand up and fight. Sure, they will bitch on Parler but pick up a gun and maybe die? Nope, they are at heart cowards. Not saying there aren’t a few nutbags who won’t, but National Guard should be able to handle them. I do expect unrest closer to inauguration day and January 5th after election results. I’m hoping the Secret Service is on the ball protecting Joe and Kamala.
I agree. These people are too whiney to wear a mask to the Piggly Wiggly so I don’t see them fighting a war. It’s the lone wolf psychos out there that scare me.
I’ve lived through the assassination of one President and the attempted assassination of another (putting him in critical condition in the hospital). It only takes one person to be willing to risk their life for the cause. Just one person.
This is why it is so important to not give the illusion that such violence is acceptable and desired. Trump has been inciting such violence since the 2016 campaign started. The Secret Service had to have some serious talks with the Trump staff after Trump suggested his “Second Amendment people” (gun toters) would “take care” of President Hillary Clinton and anybody she appointed to the Supreme Court. His message to any potential assassin of his “enemies” has always been that he welcomes it and that the community is full of others who would consider the assassin a hero. This makes it far more likely that there will be that one person who will try to make it happen and possibly succeed.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric resulted in schoolyard bullies going after children who were Muslim, immigrant, or refugees. After his election, we saw a clear increase in harassment of women and anybody perceived as Muslim or immigrant. The racists who used to hold their tongues were going ballistic at cashiers and restaurant staff who looked too brown. Not to mention the people who are shooting anybody looking too brown or black while proudly supporting Trump.
When Trump talks, a significant number of people listen and then act on what he says. It will not be hard to find at least one person who will go further than harassment.
He’s a complete disaster who better enjoy the weekends he has left, all four of them.
I know people are worried and are upset the press seems to be ignoring the seriousness of this. I think they’re at the point of “drunk uncle-ing” him and are too busy erroneously both-siding the stimulus stuff. I have no doubt he’s going to fling every piece of sh-that the wall but nothing will stick… it will however leave many dents and that’s the damaging part.
Can’t wait to see that diapered ass leave and waddle off to his retirement and legal troubles.
Ooph, how long before he starts yelling “Burn them all” and Jamie has to stab him in the back?
Hahaha Thanks for the laugh.
Lol…by the old Gods and the new!
Declare Martial law? Really?? The leaders of the military don’t have to go along with this, do they? Can’t they refuse and tell him to kick rocks (preferably while laughing at him hysterically)?
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville issued a joint statement saying there “is no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election.”
Thank God. But Trump has his Proud Boys, the KKK, and all those crazy paramilitary nuts who have been drooling to overthrow the government for years. Also, let’s remember that Trump still has his finger on the launch button.
A command can be refused if it is illegal or immoral. I think both apply here.
Thank you. I’m former military and unless you are a disgraced general named Flynn, I can’t think of any military person who would obey a command like that from Trump.
When does Flynn get court martialed for treason? Because he needs to be in jail.
When Roodles, the president of the Four Seasons Total Lawn and Gardening society, thinks something is too batsh-t cray cray to fly, you’re in trouble.
No kidding. The only people who will meet with him are Flynn, Rudy and the lawyer they fired for being too crazy. He is going to do everything he can to make things a mess before he goes, but he will go. Praying we aren’t at 400k Covid deaths and 100 proud boys marches before he goes. He is the embodiment of pure evil.
The new Covid # is just under 600K by APRIL.
*SIX * HUNDRED * THOUSAND *. And those are ONLY the ones we’ve counted/know. How many other 10s/100s of thousands died of “related” deaths (heart attack /stroke brought about by clots due to covid, pneumonia crystalized by Covid etc, underlying conditions that caused death due to Covid infection, etc).
And these wackadoodles will cry “HOAX” until their dying breaths, and “Mah FREEDUUUMS!” and wave their guns. It may not be “charitable” or “nice”, but I don’t CARE if Covid takes them ALL out. I almost wish it would. Darwinism at its finest, weeding out the exceedingly selfish and stupid.
Ok the whole situation is alarming.
On a side note that Christmas card is like totally next level Kardashian photoshop insanity. Did they just assemble him from different body parts and took a face from 15 years ago?
IKR 😂 it looks like a corporate reception hors d’oeuvre server standing next to a cardboard cutout of trump
I saw a source for his original photo, it looks like his image was taken from when he was with the royals at an official function
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-christmas-card-photoshop-melania-b1776744.html%3famp
I am genuinely worried that there will be an assassination attempt on Biden. I don’t think his outdoor swearing in ceremony is a good idea at all.
What can the law do to hold Trump accountable for the continued threat of violence against our elected officials by his supporters?
I was so afraid that something would happen to Barak at his swearing in ceremony. I was practically waiting for the sound of the shot. One of those rare times I’ve felt both so happy and so terrified at the same time.
@Lady D, I had the exact same fear. Also, on election night during his acceptance speech. Michelle’s dress terrified me that night with the bright red near-splotches across the bodice, that’s how scared I was.
Funnily enough, I was also concerned about a possible President Biden, considering his more conservative tendencies, should the worst have happened at either event. Flash forward eight years to find me willingly voting for him.
The world is a crazy place, yes, I’ve always known that – but I never imagined it would be THIS crazy.
The big loser is terrified to leave the wh!
He fears AG James. As would I if she had even a parking ticket with my name on it let alone 60 some odd charges ready to go.
Yeah… he’s not slinking off for Christmas as some have predicted. He’s gonna attempt to mess with congressional approval of the electoral college. And he will fail. And he will attempt to declare martial law. And fail.
Then he will refuse to leave the white house. And be forcibly removed.
This is an embarrassment.
Maybe he is weighing the odds of a coup verses leaving the country.
All of this is so deeply embarrassing. The US looks worse every day and we are running on autopilot.
I have to admit I haven’t been following this closely in recent weeks because it’s just too upsetting and stressful, but are the Democrats doing anything about this? ANYTHING at all??
Lorelei -the Dems have no power here – they’ve already impeached him but the Republican-controlled senate refused to do anything (thanks, Mitch McConnell), the law says he’s there until Jan. 20th and unless one of his Cabinet members invokes the 25th Amendment, that’s where we are. Frankly, the Republicans are the ones who need to step up. The constitutional check on the president is Congress, but the Democratically-controlled House cant do anything without the Republican-controlled Senate. This is also why the GA senate run-off is so important!
One month to go.
I figure he’s planning to tell his proud boys to start some trouble, and he’ll claim it’s an armed insurrection and try to have martial law declared. He can’t do anything without the military and right now I don’t think the military is too happy with him (you aren’t supposed to call our honored dead, the veterans and active service people “suckers and losers” as a rule). People need to stay home and away from those proud boy clowns, like they are covid itself.
Trump really is that dictator in that Twilight Zone episode now. Seeing enemies in mirrors (or in Trump’s case, everywhere), and the paranoia etc.
Trump is already tweeting for the Proud Boys to come to DC and violently protest on Jan 6 when Congress certifies the Electoral College. Someone up thread said Trump just met with the leader of the PB at the White House. If true that is horrific. A sitting president actually encouraging — on the record — violence! I understand that Twitter just changed its message under Trump’s and other’s tweets from, “this is a false statement, to Biden won the election.” Everyone needs to start demanding that Trump stand down.
Can we rebrand as Loserpalooza?
Let’s also remember the leak about the martial law stuff was a convenient shift in conversation from the cyber attack discussions that were pointing fingers at Russia… with Comrade Trump proving his allegiance to Putin by blaming China instead, and contradicting his own Seascape.
Trump would rather have people talking about him declaring martial law instead of talking about A) Russia stealing valuable intel B) trump refusing to acknowledge that A actually happened and C) that A got worse when Trump fired the cybersecurity chief…for saying the election was legit (or maybe on Putin’s suggestion?)
Very good point Rapunzel. Putin must be absolutely thrilled with Trump right now. I see a Russian medal in this for Trump.
Yes, I said this before. Drumpf is opening up avenues to make russian infiltration easier while he still has the chance and can do it ever more blatantly now that he will no longer hold office. It has been obvious to anyone with eyes that he has an “association” with putin.
It brings to mind Hitler in the bunker at the end of WWII in Europe.
Yes that is a good assessment. He just issued a denial of the story so we know it is true.
“…only the best people…”
Yep, I remember those days he hired =he filled that swamp
I hate to be bitter, but I find it amusing how many people are freaking out now when a month ago I was told I was overreacting when I was ringing these alarm bells because our checks and balances were going to kick in at any moment, and that it wrong to call it a coup attempt. And yet here we are.
Also, I’m tired of the argument that the founding fathers never dreamed like something like this could happen. They did anticipate the possibility. What they didn’t see coming was that so many other people within the government would be complicit in it. They probably also didn’t anticipate the collective stupidity and laziness of the American public that would set the stage for it.
I don’t know, I have gone back and forth between being cautiously dismissive of Trump’s coup attempts and extremely alarmed. For example, their ineptitude with all their legal challenges to the election and the judiciary holding firm gave me hope that his efforts would be successfully thwarted. I was hopeful and relieved when Bill Barr said that there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Yet every day brings something new and frightening, it’s just relentless. So now I’m being back to red alert levels of scared for us.
I agree with your entire last paragraph. Republicans have played the long game with cultivating a culture of anti-intellectualism, and combined with this new era of technology-assisted disinformation, have created a perfect storm for this chaos.
@Grabbyhands I’m with you. I’ve been telling my husband for YEARS that he would refuse to leave no matter what and that his armed supporters were going to be a problem. He always thought I was overreacting and when it came down to it, things would’ve okay. But he’s not on Twitter and doesn’t read nearly as much as I do about this sort of thing and I’m annoyed that he hasn’t been more concerned all along.
He’s a cornered rat and what do cornered rats do when they’re cornered? They come out fighting with everything they’ve got. At the heart of his sociopathic narcissism is a total chicken afraid to face the hard truth that he’s a f*cking loser with a bunch of f*cking losers for supporters, AND that Letitia James is gunning for him with all of her legal might. He’s facing years of lawsuits, possible incarceration, bankruptcy, and public humiliation. New York doesn’t want his ass back, Palm Beach won’t tolerate his permanent residence at Mar-a-Lago as he can only spend 21 days a year there, no more than 7 days per visit according to the 2 legal agreements he signed when he turned it into a members only club.
Yes there will be more violence as he tries to cling to the sinking ship that is his presidency, but no matter how many proud boys and nutbar lawyers he conscripts, unless he manages to flip the military there will be no coup and the military has already stated they have no reason to get involved. If Trump attempted to remain, Biden would have the authority, as the new commander in chief, to order the military or Secret Service to physically remove Trump from the premises…something I would pay to see. As far as invoking the 25th, it requires Mike Pence plus a 2/3 majority vote from congress which could take, at minimum, 25 days. I can’t see Congress going along with that at the 11th hour.
Thanks for the sensible take on the situation! Also, I think a lot of people (including Trump and his fan boys) don’t understand how a military coup works. It’s an illegal action, after all, so there’s no rule book. If the military were to take over, they might not side with Trump. They could install Biden, or they could install someone else, someone they thought would be a more neutral figure for the time being. Or they could just go whole hog and install a bunch of generals. I absolutely don’t believe that there will be a coup, but if Trump is expecting that it would go well for him, he is an idiot.
Michael Cohen in his testimony ? Last year.
Indeed given my experience working for Mr. Trump I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power, and this is why I agreed to appear before you today
I hope the Secret Service and the FBI are monitoring this insane social media chatter outside and inside the White House. I think this is why Barr bounced: he was getting whiffs of this and he was not about to co-sign on treason. If the evidence presents itself DOJ may break its practice and charge Trump and crew.
I sadly have a 30 something friend who truly believes that there was a miscarriage of justice and such widespread voter fraud that Trump should be the true president. I wonder once the pandemic is over whether I should be friends with her anymore.
There can be no coup without the Military. Now, were DJT a retired General then I’d be worried because at least he’d have an idea how coups actually work. He seems relevant and powerful now simply because he has the entire apparatus of the US govt at his disposal, however, once it’s 12:01 on 1/20/21 he will be dragged from the WH should he refuse to leave.
There will be no coup. That said, it’s very likely that the country will break up and probably sooner than we think.
Just trying to figure out what these so called “Proud Boys” have done to be proud of themselves. I live in the South and I don’t know anyone who is calling themselves that name. Are they from a certain state/states? The Supreme Court really needs to get Trump out of the White House by any means necessary. This is beyond bizarre.
The parallels between Trump’s rise to power and Putin’s are obvious. This article below was written in 2016 before Trump was elected and it is terrifyingly accurate.
When he has been in legal battles before where he faces loss -he comes out unscathed. He self admittedly thrives in these situation. I dont think he feels like a loser right now, and he’s definitely not going to slink off. I think he’s going to follow Putins playbook…
https://www.macleans.ca/news/world/trumputin-the-disturbing-parallels-between-donald-trump-and-vladimir-putin/