Tag: Trump failed coup

Before His Mob Stormed Capitol, Trump Participated In Security Planning

President Donald Trump met with top military officials and gave his approval to activate the D.C. National Guard three days before he encouraged a mob of angry protesters to take their grievances to the U.S. Capitol.

A Pentagon memo released Friday offers these insights, as well as the first detailed timeline of the bungled law enforcement response to Wednesday’s insurrection.

The timeline shows that the planning started at least as far back as Dec. 31 and included discussion with select Cabinet members of the potential need for Pentagon reinforcements.

But it also leaves many questions unanswered, including why the U.S. Capitol Police declined repeated offers of assistance from military officials and the full extent of how much Trump knew about the security planning or was involved in decision-making. Continue reading.

Arnold Schwarzenegger compares US Capitol mob to Nazis

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger compared the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol to the Nazis and called President Donald Trump a failed leader who “will go down in history as the worst president ever.” 

The Republican said in a video he released on social media on Sunday that “Wednesday was the Night of Broken Glass right here in the United States.” In 1938, Nazis in Germany and Austria vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses during an attack that became known as Kristallnacht or “the Night of Broken Glass.”

“The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol. But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol, they shattered the ideas we took for granted,” he said. “They trampled the very principles on which our country was founded.” View the post here.

Campaign finance system rocked as firms pause or halt contributions after election results challenged

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Several major companies on Monday said they planned to cut off political donations to the 147 members of Congress who last week voted against certifying the results of the presidential election, while other major corporations said they are suspending all contributions from their political action committees — a sign of corporate America’s growing unease with the election doubts and violent attacks encouraged by President Trump.

Companies that collectively pour millions of dollars each year into campaigns through employee-funded PACs are registering their worry and anger about last week’s chaos with a reexamination of their role in powering the nation’s fractious politics.

AT&T’s PAC decided Monday to suspend donations to the eight Republican senators and 139 Republican House members who voted against certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win, according to a company spokesman. Continue reading.

Analysis: A GOP reckoning after turning blind eye to Trump

WASHINGTON — At the heart of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was a lie, one that was allowed to fester and flourish by many of the same Republicans now condemning President Donald Trump for whipping his supporters into a frenzy with his false attacks on the integrity of the 2020 election. 

The response from some of those GOP officials now? We didn’t think it would come to this. 

“People took him literally. I never thought I would see that,” said Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff. Mulvaney resigned his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland last week after the riots. Continue reading.

The Memo: GOP and nation grapple with what comes next

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“This is the beginning of the divorce,” former GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo told The Hill on Friday as aftershocks from insurrectionary violence two days before reverberated across the nation.

Curbelo, who represented Florida’s 26th District from 2015 to 2019, was predicting a final and permanent split between President Trump and the Republican Party.

His assessment took another step toward reality a few hours later when Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) became the first GOP senator to call for Trump’s resignation, even though there were then only 13 days left in his White House tenure. Continue reading.