Here it is kids, in all of its glory, a recording made last night of Trump berating Brad Raffensberger for an HOUR, wanting him to “find” 11,780 votes so he could win Georgia.  Let’s be clear here – it is a federal CRIME for a federal employee or member of an agency to interfere in any way to change election results.  This is exactly what Trump did, LAST NIGHT.

Trump is desperate, couldn’t care less about the rule of law, and most certainly doesn’t care if you live or die.

Welcome to January, 2021.

Here is what Lin Wood, the lawyer who’s advocating for Trump to overturn the election and steal the presidency for himself, was tweeting today:

That’s right folks, Wood is spinning a wild tale for how Trump is supposedly going to steal the election.  This wild tale contains several blatant falsehoods including:

• The Vice President, who also serves as President of the Senate, controls the Electoral College procedures in the House and Senate.  This is blatantly false.  The Vice President’s role is largely ceremonial.  McConnell controls the Senate, Pelosi the House.  In order to challenge the Electoral College votes in the states, one Senator and one Representative are required to both object.  That objection then causes a debate and vote separately in the House and Senate.  Both houses must agree by simple majority or the objection fails and the original electoral votes stand.  The Vice President has NO ROLE in the House vote, and an objection will fail.  Period.
• Wood is fantasizing that somehow, Pence is going to be jailed for somehow for treason, therefore forfeiting his Vice Presidency.  Then Pompeo would somehow ascend to that office and take control of the Electoral College process, which, as explained above, is not possible.
• Wood then says that Pence will be shot, and Meadows, and McConnell will then be arrested for treason.
• Lastly, the military will then side with Trump, take control of the Congress and the courts, awarding him the presidency.

In ordinary times, these would be the ravings of an unhinged madman, but in these times, there are millions of Americans who are actually following along on this lunacy and backing the notion that Trump can singlehandedly overthrow the US government and install himself as President dictator.

Fortunately for our democracy, this will never come to pass, but it’s terrifying we even have to consider its possibility.

The NY Times is reporting that Trump just signed the pandemic relief bill with funding for the federal government through September ’21.  To be continued.

Trump blew out of town on Christmas Eve, headed for Hide-a-Lago to thrash the little white ball and wait out the subpoenas to start pouring in from New York.  On the way out the door, he released yet another weird video, this time calling the joint appropriations and coronavirus response bill “a disgrace” for its spending and $600 per month relief payments to Americans, calling for $2,000 per month, which is what the House Republicans proposed IN MAY.  The problem?  Trump’s WH, through Steve Mnuchin, demanded the $600 per month and wouldn’t budge.  Like most things Trump, what’s going on now doesn’t make any sense unless you look at the world through Trump’s ME ME ME lens.

McConnell, as usual, was the cause of the months-long delay in a new relief bill.  Like Trump, McConnell really doesn’t care if you live or die, and is always happy to use you and me as hostages for no other reason than another political win that is only important to him and his circle of criminals. The one constant with McConnell is that he ALWAYS plays brinksmanship, holding legislation until the very last second, using those who need help as leverage to extract concessions from the Democrats and exact pain on the American people.  This time, though, McConnell may have outsmarted himself by waiting so long.

Historian and Boston College history professor Heather Cox Richardson posted a very interesting piece yesterday on Facebook about she believes is going on.  Her premise is that Trump is exacting revenge against his perceived enemies, including all of us as Americans for voting him out.  He’s also furious with McConnell, Thune, and other Republicans who have recognized Biden as the legal and official President Elect.  Apparently he actually did believe that he could bend reality and the courts and his party to his will to illegally seize power outside of any Constitutional authority.  When our fragile democracy held (at least so far), he has determined to burn down as much as he can, including throwing boxes of nails out of the wagon on his way out of town.

How did McConnell outsmart himself, you ask?  Richardson posits this:  Under the rules, during a Congressional session, the President has 10 days (not counting Sunday) to sign or veto a bill.  However, at the end of a session, though, if that 10 days runs beyond the end date, the bill just dies, called a “pocket veto”.  The current congressional session closes on January 3rd.  Richardson believes Trump received the bill to sign on the 24th, so that gives him until January 4th to sign.  If Trump doesn’t sign by the 3rd, the bill dies, the government shuts down, and millions of Americans suffer.  Millions.

This is the likely end game now for Trump.  The voters said no; the states said no; the Electoral College said no; the courts, including the SCOTUS, said no; the military said no; and the Congress has said no (so far).  If Trump burns it all down, there’s a fair chance that the Dems take the Senate by winning the Georgia runoffs.  The mess he leaves behind will take years for Biden to fix, if ever.  Trump’s stated plan is to run in 2024, and he’ll use the disaster of his own making as the reason to re-elect him to “fix” it.  Our only chance, short of Republicans growing spines, is Trump being convicted of a felony in New York or having one of his thousands of scandals finally stick.

These will be the only things (short of his physical health problems) that can stop him.

Trump is now in Mar a Lago for Christmas.  I can only hope they changed the locks on the White House and have started the deep clean and fumigation.  On his way out the door, Trump granted another 26 pardons, mostly for more of his allies, corrupt congressmen, and murderers who he really enjoys pardoning.  Included on yesterday’s list was Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner (Jared’s father) who plead guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, 1 of retaliating against a witness, and 1 for lying to the FEC.  Nice guy.  The congressmen were felons Steve Stockman (fraud and money laundering), Chris Collins (securities fraud) , along with Duncan Hunter along with his wife (misuse of campaign funds).  He also pardon George Papadapoulos and Alex Van De Swaan, snared by Robert Mueller.  He also pardoned the Blackwater mercenaries who killed 14 innocent Iraqis and wounded another 17.

During his time in office, Trump has turned the President’s pardon power on its head.  Envisioned by the Founders as a tool for mercy, to right wrongful sentences or false charges, the pardon power depends on the President actually using these powers for those purposes.  There have been some isolated abuses of this power, like when Clinton pardoned Mark Rich, but those instances are rare.  Trump has used the power almost exclusively to pardon his friends and fellow criminals, those endorsed by Hollywood stars, and criminals who committed their crimes against those who Trump doesn’t like.  They are overwhelmingly white and male.

These pardons are so corrupt that even a few Republicans have been able to stand vertically, sans backbones, to condemn them. Even conservative Been Sasse of Nebraska called these pardons to be “Rotten to the Core.”  That’s an understatement, way too little, way too late.

Now that the election is over, the DOJ’s active investigations are coming to light.  A few weeks ago, Hunter Biden’s attorney announced that he’d been notified that Biden’s tax returns are being investigated.  More importantly (and seriously) word is leaking out that prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have “an active” investigation into Rudy Giuliani’s activities, especially his attempts to dig dirt on the Bidens in Ukraine.  They’ve already interviewed multiple witnesses including associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, arrested on multiple federal charges.  Now it seems that Rudy has (or is going to) get subpoenaed for his electronic communications and financial records.  It’s unlikely Trump will pardon him before leaving office because a pardoned person loses his 5th amendment rights to those crimes and could be compelled to testify against Trump.  Looks like 2021 is not going to be a good year for Rudy.  It’s been painful to watch his slide from “America’s Mayor” to playing the role of Luca Brasi to Trump’s Vito Corleone.  We know how that script played out.