Trump's infamous Georgia call

Trump's bullying, threatening call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is obviously major news from Sunday. The full audio is here: Audio: Here's the full transcript and audio of the call between Trump and Raffenperger Washington Post 01/03/2021.

Allie Bice reports on it in Trump’s pressure on Georgia election officials raises legal questions Politico 01/03/2021.

I just listened to the whole interview. It obviously shows that Trump is a cheap thug. (Gosh! Who knew?) Any Republicans serving in Congress who are actually serious about their oath to support the Constitution should be in front of the TV cameras on Monday demanding an immediate new impeachment and a 25th Amendment removal process by the Vice President and criminal referrals to the Justice Department against Trump.

I'll preface this with the automatic disclaimer for the next four years of, "Yes, Biden and Harris are not-as-bad-as-Trump." But on the Democratic side, today would also be a good day for the President-elect to publicly "embarrass" everyone involved in this clown coup including Republican Senators participating.

Kamala Harris came out late Sunday and said the call was an "bald, bald-faced, bold abuse of power" by Trump, but not calling it a crime or sedition or anything that might "embarrass" the Trumpistas.

.@KamalaHarris on Trump’s call pressuring Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to flip the Georgia election: "It was a bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States." #gapol pic.twitter.com/JAwvzfzhUN

— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) January 3, 2021

Republicans admire abuse of power by Their Side. They think it's "bold", too, and they love it! I don't believe the Republicans in Congress or Republican base voters will see Harris' comment as anything but a gesture of weakness.

Biden himself really needs to address this directly. Today. And with a standalone statement, not a throwaway line in a campaign speech like Harris yesterday.

My own Congresswoman made her position clear:

A mobster would say “find me the votes I need” to win. Oh, forgive me, that’s our President saying that. He is asking an elected official to commit a crime. Why aren’t more people screaming about this corrupt act?

— Jackie Speier (@RepSpeier) January 4, 2021

Further reports:

Greg Bluestein, Trump demands Georgia elections official overturn his defeat in hourlong call Atlanta Journal-Constitution 01/03/2021

Tia Mitchell, Democrats denounce Trump’s call to Raffensperger as criminal, GOP mostly silent Atlanta Journal-Constitution 01/03/2021. Actually, the only Democrat they quote using the word "criminal" in regard to it is ... Democratic Senate Whip Dick Durbin! About the last Senator I would have expected to say that!

Stephen Collinson, Trump's bid to steal Georgia exposes GOP election ruse CNN 01/04/2021

John Bowden, Trump asked Georgia secretary of state to 'find' 11.7k ballots, recalculate election result The Hill 01/03/2021

Nathan Layne, Georgia election guardian Raffensperger faces heat as Trump contests defeat Reuters 01/04/2021

Martin Pengelly in New York and Richard Luscombe, 'I just want 11,780 votes': Trump pressed Georgia to overturn Biden victory Guardian 01/03/2021

Trump ramps us the conspiracy talk and demented clown-coup ranting on his way out the White House door

Trump's clown coup has only the smallest of chances of succeeding at this point. But he is keepi9ng up the doomed effort and using it to propagate the most toxic Republican Party claims intended to undermine faith in the integrity of the vote and to justify anti-democratic voter suppression measures.

Yesterday the Orange Clown himself gave what may be the most dishonest, demented Presidential speech in the history of the country. And that's saying a lot!

President Trump gives UPDATE on voter fraud claims The Hill 12/02/2020:

Heather Cox Richardson in a 12/02/2020 Facebook post wrote:

Let me take a step back here for a minute to emphasize that this is dangerous, unprecedented… and crazy. The president of the United States is trying to undermine an election for which there is no evidence there was any irregularity, in order to stay in power. He might be doing so for the money—he has raised $170 million so far on promises to challenge this election—or because he is worried about the lawsuits he can expect as soon as he is not protected by the presidential office.

Or, perhaps, he is simply escalating his rhetoric to continue to grab headlines as he feels the focus of the world slipping away from him and he cannot stand it. For the focus of the world is indeed slipping away from him. [my emphasis]

But she emphasizes how genuinely despicable and anti-democratic Trump's Wednesday speech actually was:

Still, for all that Trump’s posturing seems like a sign that he sees power slipping away from him as the country confronts the pandemic and the recession without him, his words are a deadly assault on our democracy by the man who swore an oath to defend it. This attack cannot be dismissed as Trump being Trump. It strikes at the very heart of who we are.

For all that attacking the election might be reality television for Trump, his supporters take it very seriously indeed. At a rally in Georgia, Trump’s ally, lawyer Lin Wood, insisted he had seen the “real” results of the election, and that Trump won “over 410” electoral votes. “He damn near won every state including California!” The crowd blamed Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, for the fact that the state’s recount did not go to Trump. “Lock him up!” they chanted. [my emphasis]

But as demented as Trump's own message is, he is expressing the general position of the Republican Party. This is an obviously prepared speech - it's a safe bet that a lot of it came from Stephen Miller - packed with a litany of the claims that Republicans nationally have been making in support of their dishonest "voter fraud" claims they use to justify greater and greater restrictions on voting by minorities and lower-income people. Although some Republicans like the Georgia secretary of state are unwilling to go along with the increasingly desperate and hysterical Trump's clown coup attempt, what Trump is defending in this speech is the position of the Republican Party nationally.

The speech contains a litany of claims that his own attorneys have been completely unable to demonstrate in court, repeatedly earning scornful rebukes from federal judges, including Trump appointees to the bench.

This speech of Trump's was so unhinged that even the Associated Press called it out bluntly for what it was:

This is good to see. And it only took for years to happen. 😑 https://t.co/xKYJYyvcjA

— Joan McCarter (@joanmccarter) December 3, 2020

The full article by Aamer Madhani and Kevin Freking is In video, Trump recycles unsubstantiated voter fraud claims 12/03/2020. They also report:

Julian Zelizer, a professor of political history at Princeton University, said the nation has seen close elections before — 1800, 1876 and, most recently, 2000. But this year’s election does not fit in that category.

“This is just a random baseless attack on the entire election,” Zelizer said. “Trump has no turning point. I often say there are parallels or precedents, but there aren’t in this case. He keeps bending norms.” [my emphasis]