Chronicles of a Stillborn Zombie Coup

[L'Emmerdeur]

I remember reading about this story at the time, but lost track of it in the swirl of righteous resistance to Biden's egregious theft of the presidency. One for the sideshow clown folder.

'A former Houston police captain was indicted for trying to prove voter fraud conspiracy theories'

A Harris County grand jury indicted a former Houston police captain for assault on Tuesday, after he was accused of running a man off the road and pointing a gun at his head in an attempt to prove a bogus voter fraud conspiracy.

Mark Aguirre is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and could face up to 20 years in prison.

Aguirre was arrested last December after prosecutors say he ran his SUV into the back of the truck of an air conditioning technician. Aguirre allegedly told police he believed the victim was behind a massive voter fraud scheme and that there were 750,000 fraudulent ballots in his truck.

After the victim got out of his vehicle, Aguirre allegedly aimed a pistol at his head and ordered the man to get on the ground, according to the DA. Two additional vehicles then pulled up, with Aguirre ordering an unidentified person to search the truck, according to previously filed court documents.

After the truck was found to be clear, prosecutors allege one of the other unidentified people abandoned the truck a few blocks away, where it was later found by police.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said while nobody else has yet been charged, the investigation is still ongoing.

"We've been investigating the other individuals involved with former Captain Aguirre. There was at least one other person on the scene who fled," Ogg said. "Aguirre has not cooperated. So there’s been a review of many different types of records to determine who the other individuals are."

According to Ogg, Aguirre was allegedly paid more than $250,000 by conservative activist Steve Hotze to investigate voter fraud through Hotze's group Liberty Center for God and Country.

"Aguirre victimized an innocent guy,” Ogg said. “He made this victim feel like he was going to die. And the fellow was not involved in any type of voter fraud, but instead was just an air conditioning repairman with a box truck.”

[JimC]

I hope that the air conditioning repairman sues the arse off Aguirre in a civil suit...

[L'Emmerdeur]

I hope that the air conditioning repairman sues the arse off Aguirre in a civil suit...

Ah, that may happen, but what will the jury decide. I offer an alternative timeline: Aguirre gets himself elected sheriff of some Real American county or other.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The item below is alarmist (recall the 'Mother of All Rallies') but well-armed right wing ideologues are part of the political landscape in America.

'Millions of Angry, Armed Americans Stand Ready to Seize Power If Trump Loses in 2024'

Mike "Wompus" Nieznany is a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran who walks with a cane from the combat wounds he received during his service. That disability doesn't keep Nieznany from making a living selling custom motorcycle luggage racks from his home in Gainesville, Georgia. Neither will it slow him down when it's time to visit Washington, D.C.—heavily armed and ready to do his part in overthrowing the U.S. government.

Millions of fellow would-be insurrectionists will be there, too, Nieznany says, "a ticking time-bomb" targeting the Capitol. "There are lots of fully armed people wondering what's happening to this country," he says. "Are we going to let Biden keep destroying it? Or do we need to get rid of him? We're only going to take so much before we fight back." The 2024 election, he adds, may well be the trigger.

Nieznany is no loner. His political comments on the social-media site Quora received 44,000 views in the first two weeks of November and more than 4 million overall. He is one of many rank-and-file Republicans who own guns and in recent months have talked openly of the need to take down—by force if necessary—a federal government they see as illegitimate, overreaching and corrosive to American freedom.

The phenomenon goes well beyond the growth of militias, which have been a feature of American life at least since the Ku Klux Klan rose to power after the Civil War. Groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, which took part in the January 6th riot at the Capitol and may have played organizational roles, have grown in membership. Law enforcement has long tracked and often infiltrated these groups. What Nieznany represents is something else entirely: a much larger and more diffuse movement of more-or-less ordinary people, stoked by misinformation, knitted together by social media and well-armed. In 2020, 17 million Americans bought 40 million guns and in 2021 were on track to add another 20 million. If historical trends hold, the buyers will be overwhelmingly white, Republican and southern or rural.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Representative Jim Jordan's recipe for overturning the 2020 election in the US:

Multiple sources confirmed to me & @ryanobles this was the full text Jordan sent to Meadows:

"On January 6, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all -- in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial prededence. 'No legislative act,' wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, 'contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.' the court in Hubbard v. Lowe reinforced this truth: 'That an unconstituional statute is not a law at all is a proposition no longer open to discussion.' 226 F. 135. 137 (SDNY 1915), appeal dismissed, 242 U.S. 654 (1916). Following this rationale, an unconstitutionally appointed elector, like an unconstitutionally enacted statute, is no elector at all."

- Zachary Cohen · Dec 15, 2021

[L'Emmerdeur]

'You see what it was, was, we were making sure the Guard would not be used to carry out the coup. Yeah, that's what it was.'

It's a convenient narrative, and maybe it's even accurate. Seems reasonable to doubt that though, given it's coming from people who are in a position to cover their own arses.

'Crisis of Command: The Pentagon, The President, and January 6'

One of the most vexing questions about Jan. 6 is why the National Guard took more than three hours to arrive at the Capitol after D.C. authorities and Capitol Police called for immediate assistance. The Pentagon’s restraint in allowing the Guard to get to the Capitol was not simply a reflection of officials’ misgivings about the deployment of military force during the summer 2020 protests, nor was it simply a concern about “optics” of having military personnel at the Capitol. Instead, evidence is mounting that the most senior defense officials did not want to send troops to the Capitol because they harbored concerns that President Donald Trump might utilize the forces’ presence in an attempt to hold onto power.

According to a report released last month, Christopher Miller, who served as acting Secretary of the Defense on Jan. 6, told the Department’s inspector general that he feared “if we put U.S. military personnel on the Capitol, I would have created the greatest Constitutional crisis probably since the Civil War.” In congressional testimony, he said he was also cognizant of “fears that the President would invoke the Insurrection Act to politicize the military in an anti-democratic manner” and that “factored into my decisions regarding the appropriate and limited use of our Armed Forces to support civilian law enforcement during the Electoral College certification.”

Miller does not specify who held the fears that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act, and he wasn’t asked by Congress. However, it’s now clear that such concerns were shared by General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as former CIA Director and at the time Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Before Nov. 3, Milley and Pompeo confided in one another that they had a persistent worry Trump would try to use the military in an attempt to hold onto power if he lost the election, the Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker reported. “This military’s not going to be used,” Milley assured Pompeo.

[Brian Peacock]

Not sure what the military bods were thinking here - would officers on the ground be swayed by their commander-in-cheif making a TV appeal for representatives to be taken into protective custody and driven to a secret location for their own protection etc, counter to the orders of their immediate superiors? Wouldn't something like that have to be organised well in advance? Are they admitting that Trump could/would have abused the chain of command and already had something in place?

In the absence of further explanation it all seems a bit conspiratorial to me.

[L'Emmerdeur]

A report on Republican moves to make more elections fall their way, regardless of the will of the voters.

'Democracy Crisis in the Making Report Update: 2021 Year-End Numbers'

Our first report focused on efforts to sabotage or subvert elections in this country and ultimately to take power away from the American people. We identified and analyzed a dangerous trend underway in state legislatures: many were taking up proposals that would politicize, criminalize, and interfere in election administration. Then, in June, we released an update, warning that “the commitment of many state legislatures to attacking the foundations of our democracy appears to have deepened.”

Today, election subversion concerns are not limited to bills introduced or enacted into law. The nature of the threat has metastasized beyond proposing or passing bills. As we look toward 2022, we anticipate the anti-democratic strategy will consist of four key pillars: (i) changing the rules to make it easier to undermine the will of the voters; (ii) changing the people who defend our democratic system by sidelining, replacing, or attacking professional election officials; (iii) promoting controversial constitutional theories about our elections to justify partisan takeovers; and (iv) eroding public confidence and trust in elections. These four pillars are the foundation for election sabotage, contrary to the will of the voters.

We have already seen elements of this strategy at play in 2021. And in the coming year, which will feature heated election battles for control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, state legislatures, and state and local positions up and down the ballot, it is likely that the use of this anti-democratic strategy will accelerate.

[laklak]

GOP stealing elections. Dems stuffing ballot boxes. OUR DEMOCRACY IS IN DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!

For every claim one side makes the other side makes an equal and opposite claim. Each side produces "unbiased sources", which the other side rejects. Neither has any actual evidence of anything, it's all just smoke and mirrors. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

It's all bullshit, designed to keep you from realizing that the loose association of millionaires and billionaires (and trillionaires) who actually run things don't give a single shit about you or the 99% of the world that isn't them. We're just fuel for their engines.

As Tiny Doctor Tim said years ago - tune in, turn on, drop out. It's the only way to be sure.

[L'Emmerdeur]

According to the pompous twit Peter Navarro (perennially full of shit Trump advisor) if those goldang redhats had just gone home after the speeches, the plan he and Steve Bannon had cooked up to challenge electors from swing states and pressure Pence to refuse to certify Biden's victory would have worked; Trump would have eventually been successfully installed back in the White House.

'Trump Advisor Peter Navarro Lays Out How He and Bannon Planned to Overturn Biden’s Electoral Win'

A former Trump White House official says he and right-wing provocateur Steve Bannon were actually behind the last-ditch, coordinated effort by rogue Republicans in Congress to halt certification of the 2020 election results and keep President Donald Trump in power earlier this year, in a plan dubbed the “Green Bay Sweep.”

In his recently published memoir, Peter Navarro, then-President Donald Trump’s trade advisor, details how he stayed in close contact with Bannon as they put “Green Bay Sweep” in motion with help from members of Congress loyal to the cause.

But in an interview last week with The Daily Beast, Navarro shed additional light on his role in the operation and their coordination with politicians like Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).

“We spent a lot of time lining up over 100 congressmen, including some senators. It started out perfectly. At 1 p.m., Gosar and Cruz did exactly what was expected of them,” Navarro told The Daily Beast. “It was a perfect plan. And it all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill. We didn’t even need any protestors, because we had over 100 congressmen committed to it.”
...

This idea was weeks in the making. Although Navarro told The Daily Beast he doesn’t remember when “Brother Bannon” came up with the plan, he said it started taking shape as Trump’s “Stop the Steal” legal challenges to election results in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin fizzled out. Courts wouldn’t side with Trump, thanks to what Navarro describes in his book as “the highly counterproductive antics” of Sydney Powell and her Kraken lawsuits. So instead, they came up with a never-before-seen scheme through the legislative branch.

[Tero]

Well, the 14th amendment gave Congress the power to make sure citizens are represented.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxiv

[L'Emmerdeur]

Meanwhile back in the courtroom, the free speech rights of brave Proud Boys are being trampled upon ...

'Judge rejects Proud Boys' First Amendment claims in January 6 conspiracy case'

A federal judge is allowing a major January 6 conspiracy case against four Proud Boys leaders to move forward, rejecting their bid to throw out the charges.

Judge Timothy Kelly, in a 43-page opinion issued Tuesday, sided with the Justice Department on several key legal questions, giving momentum to prosecutors as they prepare for the first wave of US Capitol riot-related trials beginning in February.

Kelly greenlit prosecutors' use of a felony obstruction charge, among several other charges, against Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Charles Donohoe and Zachary Rehl. (They have all pleaded not guilty.) The judge also rejected the defendants' claims that the riot could have been a protected First Amendment demonstration.

"No matter Defendants political motivations or any political message they wished to express, this alleged conduct is simply not protected by the First Amendment," Kelly wrote.

"Defendants are not, as they argue, charged with anything like burning flags, wearing black armbands, or participating in mere sit-ins or protests," Kelly added. "Moreover, even if the charged conduct had some expressive aspect, it lost whatever First Amendment protection it may have had."

Kelly also wrote: "Quite obviously, there were many avenues for Defendants to express their opinions about the 2020 presidential election, or their views about how Congress should perform its constitutional duties on January 6, without resorting to the conduct with which they have been charged."

[L'Emmerdeur]

Upthread, I mentioned the cunning plan hatched by inveterate bozo Peter Navarro and living portrait of Dorian Gray, Steve Bannon. Recall as well, Tucker Carlson told the world that the MAGA attack on the US Capitol was an FBI false flag.

In the clip below, Navarro claims that the FBI's machinations weren't just to make the Shitbird in Chief and his redhats look bad, oh no. It was the deep state playing 3D chess to prevent the Navarro/Bannon coup scheme from succeeding. That FBI is really something. It all makes sense now.

'Peter Navarro suggests FBI incited MAGA riot to stop his coup attempt from working'

Navarro appeared on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast to explain his last-ditch plan to keep Trump in power -- and he went so far as to claim that the only reason it failed was because the FBI incited the Capitol riots to disrupt the plot.

As evidence, Navarro pointed to one MAGA rioter who allegedly incited violence at the Capitol but who was apparently not charged by law enforcement officials.

"The only explanation that would make sense is if he were working for the FBI to instigate that violence, and the only reason they would try to instigate that violence is to try to stop Donald Trump from getting a legal accounting of what happened," he said. "So instead of Donald Trump in the White House, we've got Joe Biden!"

In my opinion, Navarro is an odious sleazeball--genuinely repulsive, just as his Dear Leader is. This clip is just short of 100 seconds long, and that's too long.

[Brian Peacock]

Discussion of Democracy has been split to here.

[L'Emmerdeur]

From the Associated Press, generally considered a non-partisan news agency. Of course the Trumpists consider any press that doesn't fawn over their Dear Leader and bleat right wing propaganda to be horribly biased.

'"Slow-motion insurrection": How GOP seizes election power'

In the weeks leading up to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a handful of Americans — well-known politicians, obscure local bureaucrats — stood up to block then-President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempt to overturn a free and fair vote of the American people.

In the year since, Trump-aligned Republicans have worked to clear the path for next time.

In battleground states and beyond, Republicans are taking hold of the once-overlooked machinery of elections. While the effort is incomplete and uneven, outside experts on democracy and Democrats are sounding alarms, warning that the United States is witnessing a “slow-motion insurrection” with a better chance of success than Trump’s failed power grab last year.

They point to a mounting list of evidence: Several candidates who deny Trump’s loss are running for offices that could have a key role in the election of the next president in 2024. In Michigan, the Republican Party is restocking members of obscure local boards that could block approval of an election. In Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the GOP-controlled legislatures are backing open-ended “reviews” of the 2020 election, modeled on a deeply flawed look-back in Arizona. The efforts are poised to fuel disinformation and anger about the 2020 results for years to come.

All this comes as the Republican Party has become more aligned behind Trump, who has made denial of the 2020 results a litmus test for his support. Trump has praised the Jan. 6 rioters and backed primaries aimed at purging lawmakers who have crossed him. Sixteen GOP governors have signed laws making it more difficult to vote. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll showed that two-thirds of Republicans do not believe Democrat Joe Biden was legitimately elected as president.

The result, experts say, is that another baseless challenge to an election has become more likely, not less.

“It’s not clear that the Republican Party is willing to accept defeat anymore,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and co-author of the book “How Democracies Die.” “The party itself has become an anti-democratic force.”

American democracy has been flawed and manipulated by both parties since its inception. Millions of Americans — Black people, women, Native Americans and others — have been excluded from the process. Both Republicans and Democrats have written laws rigging the rules in their favor.

This time, experts argue, is different: Never in the country’s modern history has a major party sought to turn the administration of elections into an explicitly partisan act.