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A very strange rift has opened in Washington between the peaceful atmosphere and the shocking developments that are underway. The surface was calm because the Republican presidential candidate won the election. And the Democrats, the only of the two major parties, are committed in principle to upholding the legitimacy of the election results. admit defeat and are working together to achieve a peaceful transition of power. Whatever energy chastened Democrats can muster right now is focused on the division’s fight over their future direction.
Meanwhile What really happened in the capital By any reasonable standard Worryingly, Donald Trump is filling his administration with “loyalists,” a privilege that his opponents grudgingly accept as his deadline. But he is defining loyal In the highest sense, this includes the belief that Trump legitimately won the 2020 election and was justified in trying to seize power. The victors are rewriting the history of the uprising. and their version of history is the acquisition of the power of law.
Consider three developments from last weekend.
on Saturday The New York Times Reported that Trump’s transition team is asking candidates for top positions in the Defense Department and intelligence agencies three questions: Which candidates have they supported in the last three elections? What do they think about January 6th and do they believe the 2020 election was stolen? Among the “wrong” answers, the candidates said, were admitting that Trump lost the election or that his supporters should not have tried to overturn the election results.
The purpose of sifting through these issues is not simply to ensure that Trump benefits from advisers who are committed to his success and have always wanted for it. In the end Many Republicans voted for Trump multiple times without supporting his efforts. autoclave– The purpose is to eliminate anyone who disagrees with Trump’s belief that he has the right to govern, regardless of what the Constitution says. Trump believes, irrationally, that his first term was ruined by the insufficient loyalty of his underlings. Most famously, Mike Pence (of “Hang Mike Pence!” fame).
Then yesterday at interview Speaking to NBC, Trump reiterated his promise to release the insurgents on January 6th. He justified this promise by claiming that J6 criminals are currently being held in a “hell hole” (better known as the “Holy Hole”). D.C. prison name) and their guilty pleas were forced with the threat of a longer prison sentence if they went to trial. (These are, of course, routine features of the criminal justice system that Trump typically describes as being.) too soft.) He denies the well-documented fact that some rioters attacked police officers. It even went so far as to claim that police invited rioters into the Capitol before unjustly arresting them. And he said members of the parliamentary committee investigating Jan. 6 are criminals who should go to prison. Accused without any basis that the committee “removed and destroyed” evidence that Nancy Pelosi is responsible for the rebellion.
It remains highly unlikely that this rhetoric will result in jail time for members of the January 6 committee. What Trump’s comments mean is the complete political reversal he has made since January 2021. After the riots, Trump was disgraced. Insurgent groups face legal responsibility for their attempts to seize power. And this is a measure of how far that distance is. The post-J6 period of litigation now feels like American companies withhold financial donations from Republican-backed Republicans
Within next month The rebels might be free. and the opponents of the rebellion will be the hunted. Whether their punishment is a spurious criminal charge or merely a political exile remains to be seen. (Which is the price most Democratic Republicans have already paid) remains to be seen.
Finally last night Trump announces he will appoint Michael Anton is the Director of Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This announcement attracted little attention. And considering that Anton is already in his first term as Trump, Even those (in communications roles) can hardly move the needle. But Anton’s appointment underscores the prevalence of authoritarian thinking in Trumpide Republicans.
Anton is best known for an article published eight years ago called “The Flight 93 Election.” dispute Conservatives should support Trump. Even though they had serious reservations about his character. Because another term in democratic office would be the final death of the republic. (Hillary Clinton, like the 9/11 hijackers, would lead the country to fiery death.) At the time, Anton’s argument stood out for its existential tone and metaphor. Hysterical Life and Death Now, his logic—that letting a Democrat win a single national election is tantamount to national suicide which prevents compliance with any measures Whether legal or otherwise—it is a belief necessary to serve the Department of Energy. Anton was once just another Trump bureaucrat who subscribed to the party’s rule-or-perish ideology.
Of course, how this belief system will play out over the next four years is an open question. which those of us who don’t subscribe to don’t want to contemplate. In the meantime, we are in the midst of an uncomfortable transfer of legitimate democratic power to a party whose leader does not have to seize power by force, at least for the time being. this
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