January 6, 2021In a sorry scene not witnessed in this country since 1860, and not discouraged by the sitting President, a crowed opposing the lawful transition of the Presidency occupied Federal ground.
Wyoming's Cynthia Lummis was part of the group that helped set this matter in motion, through her support of a doomed effort lead by Ted Cruz of Texas to oppose the acceptance of the vote. Wyoming's Liz Cheney opposed it. After some doubt about his position, Vice President Pence did not act out against it. Senator Barrasso did not join in it.
The Governor issued the following statement.
Statement from Governor Gordon on Today's Events in Washington DC
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has issued the
following statement on today's events in Washington DC.
The United States of America is
resilient. It has weathered many storms because of our form of government and
our remarkable Constitution. The violence that we are witnessing in the U.S.
Capitol dishonors our legacy and denigrates the “Shining City on the Hill”
Ronald Reagan spoke of. Interfering with the peaceful transfer of power is an
affront to the very Constitution that has made our country what it is. I
believe America will not – cannot – stand for this assault on our democracy. I
am heartbroken.
I encourage the entire country to follow
the example that we have demonstrated here in Wyoming, a proper and peaceful
expression of dissent – the cornerstone of free speech.
January 7, 2021
Last night the nation endured the shameful spectacle of in an insurrection in Washington D.C., as noted in our companion blog.
2021 An insurrection aimed at retaining President Trump in office, and encouraged by his rhetoric, took place in Washington D.C.
The insurrection followed a Trump speech encouraging his supporters with the concept that in spite of losing the election, that somehow political machinations would keep him in office, and that soon he'd "walk down" a Washington D. C. street of their choice. This followed weeks of delusional legal efforts and outright lies based on the claimed thesis that he somehow lost the election.
The effort created open fissures in an already divided Republican Party. At the same time as the riot was forming the House and Senate were receiving the electoral vote, a matter that's usually a routine formality. In this instance, however, a group of eleven Republican Senators joined with over 100 Republican Congressmen to attempt to challenge the electoral vote in several states. Newly elected Wyoming Congressman Cynthia Lummis was part of this group, which undertook this action knowing it would fail and therefore did this to serve political goals. Wyoming Congressman Liz Cheney had strongly opposed the action.
Before the process on Arizona, the first state to be challenged, could be finished, the assault commenced. Legislative work had to cease for hours until Capitol Police regained the ground. Four people died as a result of the events. When the combined houses resumed their work the objectors in part withdrew their objections, including Senator Lummis, although Arizona was still objected to by the group of Senators, with some withdrawing their objections during the vote.
Not since 1860 has such an open rebellion taken place against the legal transfer of power in the United States and, for the first time in the nation's history a sitting President has openly acted against the democratic transfer of power. Also, not since 1860 have members of Congress openly conspired against the democratic transfer of power.
Leading up to the event, what was occurring was strongly condemned by Congressman Liz Cheney. The doomed and falsely based parliamentary move was supported and participated in by Senator Cynthia Lummis, who only backed away from it after the insurrection occurred. She condemned the insurrection after it occurred and abandoned her fellow travelers, almost all of whom likewise abandoned the effort as to Arizona, but was still one of eight Senators who opposed certification of Pennsylvania's result. Sen. Barrasso condemned what occurred after it occurred, but was silent leading up to it.
Also leading up to the riots Washington D. C. asked for assistance from the Virginia National Guard. Nothing occurred until Vice President Pence and the Joint Chiefs of Staff went around the President, an illegal move but one that was necessary, to go to D.C.'s aid. Following the riots its known that members of the cabinet met to discussion invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the President, but no action was taken as of the time of posting this.
Four people died, three of medical conditions arising during the insurrection and one being killed by police and 52 were arrested as a result of the insurrection.
A newly elected state legislator from West Virginia was spotted in the mob. Calls have been made for that person's resignation.
A gathering in Cheyenne that occurred during the day featured some Wyoming legislators who praised Lummis prior to the insurrection and demanded that Senator Barrasso and Congressman Cheney appear at the legislature to explain themselves.
Rumors were widely circulating of mass resignations in the Administration following the event, but as of last night only four minor figures had resigned.
President Trump's Twitter account was blackouted by Twitter temporarily after he issued a statement that expressed sympathy to the insurrectionist. Given that, an announcement following the acceptance of the electoral vote was issued by an aid, as follows:
...fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
This lead to press reports in the morning that he would provide for an "orderly transfer of power" but it continued to preserve the lies that he had actually won the election. It also made the absurd claim, irrespective of what a person previously though of Trump one way or another, of it being "the greatest first term in presidential history" as Trump will now forever be defined by his last three months in office.
The Washington Post urged Congress to impeach the President for sedition and it wasn't the only one. Prior to the insurrection, a large business organization urged the cabinet to consider removing him under the 25th Amendment.
For the second time in the nation's history foreign powers are questioning the American position in the world and its stability as a democratic country.
Regarding that, President Trump's actions almost certainly resulted in the loss of Georgia's Senatorial seats, which were both won by Democrats. This means that the Senate will now be controlled by the Democrats. After the November election it was widely felt that the Republican's would retain both seats, or at least one, and thereby retain the the Senate. Now that's over and the country will have an undivided Democratic government which will be part of Trump's legacy. Ironically, the Republicans had done extremely well down ballot until Trump's post election actions destroyed their control of the Senate.
Cont:
A trickle of resignations from the Trump Administration that started yesterday started yesterday has become a steady stream as the day has gone on.
An earlier, but recent, resignee, William Barr, called Trump's reaction to the storming of the capitol a "betrayal to his office and his supporters" and further accused the President of being complicit in events through his actions. Barr was up until recently one of Trump's strongest supporters.
January 8, 2021
The fallout from the January 6 insurrection continued to increase yesterday, January 7.
A capitol policeman died of injuries received during the insurrection.
Betsy Devos, Secretary of Education, and Margaret Chou, Secretary of Transportation and wife of Mitch McConnell resigned from the cabinet. DeVos called the riots "unconscionable". Chou has also condemned it. Vice President Pence is reportedly angry with the President.
Some news outlets have reported that the Vice President and his family were potentially set up during the rioting by the lack of security combined with the President's incitements. His family was present and had to take shelter with him. Insurrectionists chanted "where's Pence?" while in the capitol.
Numerous individuals, including business figures and one Republican Senator, and many Democrats, called on President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from power. Democratic figures in Congress stated that if he failed to do so, they would act to impeach the President if no action was taken by today.
Cynthia Lummis claimed in a statement that her reason for being one of eight Senators to oppose Pennsylvania's certification was to draw attention to certain things in the state's vote but not to overturn it. The concerns she noted were instructions to clerks to be careful in checking ballots so that voters with signature errors could be contacted if their ballots had deficiencies in order that they could be corrected, something that occurred in other states as well due to the large number of mail in ballots due to COVID 19. Lummis expressed concerns over the procedures legality under Pennsylvania law, something that was vehemently objected to by Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who defended his state's election.
Wyoming actually used a similar procedure to some extent during the election by way of a simple directive from the Secretary of State which would mean that if Pennsylvania's votes were illegally counted that the entire Wyoming vote might also be by implication.
The Wyoming GOP, whose leader was at the Washington D. C. protests, issued a statement that maintained that the public should "wait for the facts" and urged the press to report the matter truthfully, something which pretty much ignores the reality of what occurred. It's head stated that he'd only observed a peaceful crowd before retiring mid afternoon prior to the insurrection occurring.
Conservative columnist Cal Thomas joined George F. Will in condemning President Trump.
Ted Cruz, who was complicit in the events that lead to the insurrection, has been facing calls for his resignation. Yesterday he found himself on the downside of a blistering Twitter spat with AOC in which he came across looking like a hypocrite. A sample of that is here:
4:22 PM · Jan 7, 2021·Twitter for iPhone
Your complete refusal to acknowledge any of the above harm, wrongdoing, or even misjudgement; & your lack of any self-reflection in how these acts contributed to yesterday’s chaos is alarming. It is unbecoming of any elected official and makes you unfit for the office you occupy.
Cruz started spinning his self declared "fight to reject key electors from key states" prior to Tuesday when it became increasingly clear that the effort was not being well received. Those following him generally started taking the same verbal quest that they were not actually challenging the results, just assuring that the process would be respected. Cruz, who barely won over Beto O'Roarke during his last Senatorial race is likely now in real career trouble as his chances of being elected as President, which were never strong, have likely evaporated and his chances of beating a Democrat in the next Senatorial race are diminished.
Chances are high that none of this will have any long-term impact directly on Cynthia Lummis, who is somewhat laying low right now, but the present fact is that the Trumpist wing of the party she endorsed for political reasons is now reeling. This is not presently evident in the state, where it had been insurgent, but it soon will be as the national party sorts out what occurred here. Chances of revenge against the eight by the Democratic Party, which will soon be making committee assignments, and the establishment GOP, which opposed what Cruz backed, are really high.
Cont:
Several European law enforcement or defense intelligence personnel interviewed anonymously by a Business Insider correspondent reported that they have determined that the insurrection was a failed administration coup attempt that had the support of some in Federal law enforcement agencies.
January 9, 2021
While there has been a good deal of talk, and still is, of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump, apparently Vice President Pence opposes the move which means it will not occur, or at least its not likely to occur soon.
In terms of soon, Democrats in the House intend to introduce a Bill of Impeachment next week. At this point there are only eleven days left in the Trump Presidency which is almost an impossibly short amount of time for such an effort, but it is none the less their intent to make President Trump the only President of the United States to be impeached twice.
Whether the Senate will convene a trial is presently unknown, and if it does, whether it will vote to remove the President for "high crimes and misdemeanors" is also unknown and right now unknowable. A growing number of Republicans have condemned Trump the past few days with a couple of Senators demanding he resign, which he shows no signs of doing.
A Capitol policeman who was injured during the insurrection last week died.
It's been revealed that during the period of time during which Senators had been evacuated from the floor due to the insurrection President Trump and Rudy Giuliani called Senator Tommy Tuberville to try to persuade him in the electoral vote opposition effort to make additional objections.
Trump, who has finally conceded defeat, announced he will not be attending the inauguration. President Elect Biden announced that this was a good decision on Trump's part.
President Trump has been permanently banned from Facebook and Twitter.
President Biden, in speaking to reporters, cited Joseph Goebbels and the "big lie" when speaking of Senator Josh Hawley and Senator Ted Cruz. Hawley tried to seize on the moment to little effect. Biden's actual argument is that Hawley and Cruz deserve to go down into defeat in their next election, but Hawley claimed that they'd been called "Nazis". The protest was to little effect as the criticism of both men is now so strong any defense of that type tends to be viewed as self indicting.
Hawley's lost a book deal since the insurrection and a mega donor who contributed heavily to his campaign in 2016 expressed regrets for doing so. Former Senator John Danforth called his prior support of Hawley "the worst mistake of my life". Hawley is up for reelection in 2022. Ted Cruz, who faced stout opposition from Beto O'Roarke the last time he ran, had hoped to run for President in 2024 and is likewise seeing his chances of success in that race or in a Senatorial reelection result evaporate.
January 10, 2021
Efforts at controlling the fallout from last weeks' insurrection continue on, as efforts to address it also do.
Numerous arrests of the insurrectionist have now taken place and its highly obvious that a series of prosecutions will follow. A West Virginia legislator who participated has resigned his post. Some policemen from Seattle on are on leave pending an investigation of their role.
Over the past 24 hours those associated with or supporting the administration have come around to the position of condemning the insurrection in ways that are not wholly comfortable for those making them. Kellyanne Conway, who was a spokesman for the Administration for much of the past four years, came out with this condemnation.
Not surprisingly, the reaction to her post wasn't sympathetic.
Wyoming's Cynthia Lummis gave a long interview to the Tribune and claimed that it was never her intent to overthrow Pennsylvania's results, which she voted to toss out, but rather to "shine a light" on what she maintained were election irregularities in Pennsylvania which Pennsylvania's Senator argued didn't exist. She also maintained that this was the only thing that could be done as fixing election problems is a state's task, not the Federal governments.
This argument was one that started being developed by Ted Cruz and his companions some days prior to the elector vote taking place as it became increasingly obvious that public hostility was developing towards it. None the less, Cruz was caught by AoC in a tweet that directly indicated that the effort was, in his view, one to prevent the votes from being counted with that tweet taking place during the voting process. Cruz's political fortunes have appeared to tank in the past few days and Joe Hawley's have more or less ended. Lummis is unlikely to have this problem, but it's notable that a number of letters to the editor today uniformly condemned her.
At this point it appears very unlikely that the 25th Amendment will be invoked and Mitch McConnell has indicated that an impeachment will only reach the Senate, if passed by the House, the day prior to the inauguration. An NPR analysis took the position that a trial of impeachment can still occur after the inauguration, but that would be awkward, if correct, in the extreme. So its very doubtful at this point that the full process will occur.
Having said that, new reports maintain that Vice President Pence hasn't ruled out the 25th Amendment but is concerned that if it is invoked Present Trump may take some erratic action. Indeed, these sources report that he's essentially keeping the amendment in his back pocked in case the President becomes increasingly erratic.
There are now fears that second insurrection effort could take place on January 19 or 20. No doubt plans are being made to counter that.
January 11, 2021
Actor and former Governor of California released a long video condemning President Trump's pre insurrection actions and comparing what occurred to the rise of Nazism.
The House of Representatives will take up a Bill of Impeachment today.
Vice President Pence will attend Joe Biden's inauguration.
January 12, 2021
A bill of impeachment was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday charging President Trump with "incitement of insurrection". It will be voted on tomorrow.
This is regarded as quick action in Congress, with the Senate perhaps taking the probable passed bill for a trial on Tuesday, but its hardly quick in real terms and there are real questions if this does anything at all. It now seems widely accepted in some circles that a trial of impeachment can occur after a person has left office, but frankly, this is highly questionable legally and in my view cannot actually occur.
The House is also going to vote on a bill calling for Vice President Pence to remove President Trump through the 25th Amendment.
A bill so censure Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks has been introduced. The bill pertains to a speech he gave prior to the insurrection in which he suggested people might need to give their lives to defend the election, when of course there was nothing wrong with the election.
Bills are being considered to sanction the 147 members of the House who voted to question the electoral results. One freshman Republican has indicated that she will consider voting for them noting that four years of Republican progress have been wiped out overnight. The Congressman, Nancy Mace, flipped a House seat for the Republicans in the November election.
President Trump declared a state of emergency in Washington D.C. ahead of next week's inauguration in order to provide resources for the anticipated potential violence that may occur at the event.
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