US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2903

On December 20 2020 04:45 Nevuk wrote:
We're entering extremely dangerous times with regards to Trump wanting to cling to power.

The NYT's Haberman has a story on it, with Haberman also putting out a series of tweets outlining an insane meeting last night.

Highlights :
1. Trump wants to appoint Sidney Powell as special counsel for election results.
2. Michael Flynn was present for the meeting pushing his idea of a military coup.
3. Giuliani and others are pushing the idea of outright seizing voting machines.
+ Show Spoiler +

On December 20 2020 04:45 Nevuk wrote:
We're entering extremely dangerous times with regards to Trump wanting to cling to power.

The NYT's Haberman has a story on it, with Haberman also putting out a series of tweets outlining an insane meeting last night.

Highlights :
1. Trump wants to appoint Sidney Powell as special counsel for election results.
2. Michael Flynn was present for the meeting pushing his idea of a military coup.
3. Giuliani and others are pushing the idea of outright seizing voting machines.


https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1340350060731789313
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1340353369660076035
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1340363388988354570

On December 20 2020 07:56 Danglars wrote:

I'm gonna wait and see this one, since it appears the reporting is both anonymous and stemming from people not present in the meeting. There's been too many stories in the NYT anonymously sourced and reported third-hand that never came to fruition.

On December 20 2020 07:56 Danglars wrote:

I'm gonna wait and see this one, since it appears the reporting is both anonymous and stemming from people not present in the meeting. There's been too many stories in the NYT anonymously sourced and reported third-hand that never came to fruition.

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.

Why it matters: These officials tell me that Trump is spending too much time with people they consider crackpots or conspiracy theorists and flirting with blatant abuses of power.

The big picture: Their fears include Trump's interest in former national security adviser Michael Flynn's wild talk of martial law; an idea floated of an executive order to commandeer voting machines; and the specter of Sidney Powell, the conspiracy-spewing election lawyer, obtaining governmental power and a top-level security clearance.

A senior administration official 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."

"People who are concerned and nervous aren’t the weak-kneed bureaucrats that we loathe," the official added. "These are people who have endured arguably more insanity and mayhem than any administration officials in history."

At Friday's meeting, first reported by The New York Times, Trump discussed making Powell a special counsel for election fraud.

The ideas included commandeering voting machines, with Powell as a special counsel to inspect the machines, according to a source familiar with the meeting.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone and chief of staff Mark Meadows "pushed back strenuously and repeatedly against the ideas put forth by Sidney Powell,” the source said.
The meeting included Flynn, who was pardoned by Trump in November and is a celebrity with election-denying Trump supporters.

On December 20 2020 07:58 KwarK wrote:

Care to name some of them?

A Canadian’s gruesome account as an Islamic State executioner in Syria, which was the subject of the “Caliphate” podcast by The New York Times, was fabricated, officials say. A Times review found no corroboration of his claim to have committed atrocities.

Canadian law enforcement officials, who conducted an almost four-year investigation into Mr. Chaudhry, say their examination of his travel and financial records, social media posts, statements to the police and other intelligence make them confident that he did not enter Syria or join ISIS, much less commit the grievous crimes he described.

On December 20 2020 08:38 Nevuk wrote:

Go by reporter rather than paper: Gabriel Sherman, for instance, has a history of really good leaks from Fox News. It doesn't matter what paper he's at.

In this case, Haberman has been an extremely reliable WH source. She's even one of the people Trump himself has used to leak.

She's been frequently criticized for being too close to the Trump WH in order to get these type of scoops.

Note that these meetings are described as having had a lot of attendees (ie it's not just 5-6 people, it seems more like 15-20) , and she's said she has at least 3 different sources so far (2 later ones added the Flynn part to the initial Sydney Powell stuff).

Johnathan Swan is also backing this up: he has multiple sources backing it. He also has one noting that it isn't the normal Trump critics in the administration sounding the alarm.


https://www.axios.com/trump-officials-alarmed-overturn-election-results-a844d1d2-acb2-47a9-87ce-ac579458b1ea.html?

On December 20 2020 06:24 Gorsameth wrote:
No election fraud investigation matters. The results have all been certified and Electors have voted.
Nothing short of a full military coup can keep Trump in power at this point.

Seizing voting machines does nothing, even if they were to find rampant voting fraud that does not exist. That ship has sailed.

On December 20 2020 10:37 JimmiC wrote:

That was not a unnamed source. That was guys lying to get famous.

On December 20 2020 12:15 Danglars wrote:

Thank you. Jonathan Swan from Axios gives much more likelihood that the leak is accurate.

On December 20 2020 16:13 iPlaY.NettleS wrote:

It was a brand new example of the NYT failing to do the absolute basic background checks of a source that ended up being a false story.

If you want an older story from a few months ago try the 'Losers and Suckers' story which was all from unnamed sources and disappeared pretty quickly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/opinion/trump-losers-suckers-military.html

On December 20 2020 14:42 Belisarius wrote:
The defeated president appointing a "Special Counsel for Election Fraud" in order to commit election fraud is the newest of the many twists that would have been left on the southpark cutting room floor.

It's worrying, but it's also pretty clear by now that the creaking scaffold of American democracy has withstood Trump's attempt to tear it down. It's still an embarrassment that there was ever doubt about this, but I think it will weather the last few hail-marys.

To me, the biggest remaining risk is one of America's enemies convincing Trump to blow something up in a fit of pique on the way out, both literally and figuratively.

On December 20 2020 16:46 iPlaY.NettleS wrote:
Hard to disprove 'she said he said ' heresy but considering it was from anonymous sources with no video or audio evidence it wasn't worthy of being published.

On December 20 2020 23:54 JimmiC wrote:

It is just the stages.

Trump would never do that don't be crazy, that is Trump derangement syndrome to even suggest it, can't trust that story with anonymous sources, can't trust those people (even though they were the best people when Trump hired them), sure he did it but it was to fight the deep state, yeah he did it but its not a big deal.

Rinse and repeat over and over. With seemingly no awareness of the pattern.

On December 20 2020 21:07 farvacola wrote:
I am personally quite happy the parties have reached a compromise on avoiding the shutdown and passing some Covid relief, but this bullshit does not bode well for the next four years. Maybe Biden will get hip.