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The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

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• The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

• The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Michael > January 17th, 2022, 02:20 AM

  This is adapted from a thread posted to Twitter by Asha Rangappa, a former FBI Special Agent, a lawyer who teaches at Jackson Institute of Yale University. I'm not going to embed Tweets directly. I'll quote the thread here and link to it below. I really don't like embedded Tweets. I'm not sure the forum software would allow that anyway.
  
  

  Quote:THREAD. Since there’s so much [waves hands everywhere] crazy coming up all of a sudden, let me break down the theory of how the overturning of the election was supposed to go down:
  
  11:08 AM · Jan 15, 2022·Twitter for iPhone
  
  Asha Rangappa

  
  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  STEP 1: John Eastman concocts a “legal blueprint” whereby VP Pence elides the requirements of the Electoral Vote Act based on 7 states submitting dual slates of electors, allowing Pence to either count the alternate slate or not count those states at all
  
  LINK: https://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2021/images/09/2...n.memo.pdf

  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  STEP 2: GOP operatives/officials in those 7 states in fact create a false slate of electors and submit them as official, so they can be used in the scenario above
  
  CNN Story: "Trump allies' fake Electoral College certificates offer fresh insights about plot to overturn Biden's victory"
  
  LINK: https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/12/politics/...index.html

  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  STEP 3: DOJ, meanwhile, submits letters to each state, indicating (falsely) that they have reason to believe that there has been election fraud. This creates perception that results are actually in question, bolstering VP’s ability to discount their votes
  
  Description: Jeffrey Clark draft letter, leaked to The Guardian
  LINK: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/...aft-letter
  

  
  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  ***I should note here that, as with the quid-pro-quo with Ukraine, it wouldn’t have mattered if these states did not actually investigate voter fraud — the DOJ letters would have been enough to create *the appearance* that the outcome in these states was still in the air
  

  
  
  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  STEP 4: The Big Lie is repeated in rallies and social media, saturating information space to rile up base and give momentum to “Stop the Steal” movement
  
  Just Security Blog: #StopTheSteal: Timeline of Social Media and Extremist Activities Leading to 1/6 Insurrection
  
  LINK: https://www.justsecurity.org/74622/stopt...urrection/
  

  
  
  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  STEP 5: Plan for all of these angry and agitated individuals to come to D.C. on January 6, the day that Eastman’s plan will be put into effect. The protesters are sent to march on the Capitol, to further put pressure on VP Pence and lawmakers, as stated in Oath Keeper indictment
  
  Screen capture (text)
  
  https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status...015094282/
  

  
  
  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  
  STEP 6: Since mob attack is intended to keep up pressure on Pence/lawmakers, they must be able to remain in Capitol as long as possible. So: 6a) Purge top DOD and replace with loyalists; and 6b) delay LE/National Guard response as long as possible
  
  Esquire article: "Never Forget That Trump Purged the Pentagon Leadership Between the Election and January 6"
  LINK: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/po...officials/

  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  STEP 7: ??? I’m not sure what was supposed to happen at this point. Presumably, Pence would somehow declare Trump the winner, or if not, the Capitol would remain occupied until they found a way to make him do it. Seems like they planned to continue the siege
  
  2 screen captures
  LINK: https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status...485729796/

  
  

  Quote:Jan 15, Replying to  @AshaRangappa_
  The point is that there are a lot of moving parts and evidence surfacing in a lot of different areas but they are all connected to one overarching goal: Keep Trump in power by subverting the counting of the electoral votes and preventing the transfer of power to Biden  /END

  
  She took the timeline from this article in The Guardian by Sidney Blumenthal:
  LINK: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...epublicans
  
  You can browse her thread here:
  LINK: https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status...4433313795
  
  Here are MY thoughts.
  
  While they would have to prove this all in court in order to convict anyone of sedition or some similar charge, they've already begun charging people with Sedition. Stewart Rhodes, the head of the Oathkeepers, has been arrested and charged with Sedition. One of the documents the FBI has released so far includes a quote from him where he allegedly says that his people "went totally off mission" when they began rioting.
  
  LINK: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/oath-k...ar-AASKvBu
  
  However, he apparently meant for them to enter the Capitol and "send a message":
  
  LINK: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/oath-k...ar-AASKJZs
  
  It appears to me the plan that Trump's team put together in 2020 was supposed to go down like this:
  

  • Fake electors were to be submitted, initiating FBI investigations
    
  • Chuck Grassley was supposed to handle the elector certification in Congress (in place of Mike Pence)
    
  • Grassley was to use the objections raised by GOP members of Congress (and supported by the fraud investigations) to stop the certification
    
  • The House would then have voted (by state delegation) to decide the election. Republicans dominated 26 state delegations
    
  • Trump would then be certified President, and his political appointees in various departments would ensure there were no investigations
    

  On the day of the attack, I said on Facebook that the lack of appropriate response had to come from the top. There were so many warnings that something was up in the days leading up to the attack that I didn't see any way mere incompetence and surprise.
  
  The House Select Committee appointed to investigate the attack has yet to attribute the planning and coordination to President Trump or anyone close to him, but there are many ties between Roger Stone and both the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. I'm not making any predictions, but given how hard Trump has pushed this fairy tale of a stolen election, it seems to me that he is continuing a narrative that was intended to mask the real fraud.
  
  Fortunately for the country, Mike Pence didn't allow anyone to take his place, and despite the rioters chanting "Hang Mike Pence" and putting up a gallows on the National Mall he went ahead and did his job and got the legitimate electors certified by Congress.
  
  Also, despite Trump putting political allies into top positions at the Department of Justice, they didn't play ball the way the plan called for. Christopher Wray (a Trump appointee) didn't go along with the scheme. So the FBI didn't raise a big enough stink to support the Big Lie about election fraud. In fact, some people have speculated that Bill Barr resigned as Attorney General because he wanted no part of this - and that is why he came out and said there was no evidence of widescale fraud. [Barr's statement contradicts the premise of this theory - so more fact-finding is needed.]
  
  And if the riot really wasn't supposed to take place, then thankfully (despite the hundreds of injuries and deaths that resulted from it), it did occur, so that investigations followed and these facts are being brought to light.
  
  Donald Trump will go down in history as the first (and hopefully only) President who attempted to undermine our constitution and deprive the entire nation of our democratic rights. He's not the first racist President to abuse his authority. Nor is this the first generation where a political party has acted in concert to deprive millions of Americans of access to voting. But this is an unusual event in history because prior to now even our most corrupt Presidents did not attempt to overthrow the government.
  
  MODERATOR NOTE: I have removed the comments that caused offence. --Michael
  
  There won't be any freedom under a dictator who can't be removed from office by the peaceful transfer of power after an election. We either stand by the constitutional process or we lose everything.
  
  Anyway, that's how I see it. I probably won't reply if people choose to disagree with me. I doubt I'm changing any minds. I just hope the investigations are thoreough enough to ensure this can never happen again.

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Bacchus > January 28th, 2022, 03:10 AM

  Yikes. Ok, MM, I’ve known you for a couple of decades, so this isn’t the first time we’ve clashed in opinion.
  
  Trump was a buffoon. I’ve voted for exactly one Democrat in my entire voting life (34 years), and in 2016 I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Trump (I wrote in my vote). In 2020, my calculus changed and I did vote for him.
  
  January 6 is rapidly approaching Reichstag Fire status with the American Left. Thank God we aren’t a Parlimentarian system. As riots go, it wouldn’t make the back page of the Seattle newspaper. Trump hinted around at theoretically legalistic circumventions of the law’s obvious meaning (gee, where have I seen that tactic before? Emanations and penumbras and all) but what everyone seems to forget is that across the board the system worked. The checks and balances built into the system stymied Trump. Republicans stymied Trump.

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Bacchus > January 28th, 2022, 03:29 AM

  Let’s openly debate a few things, MM. Your slur of the Koch’s is absolutely out of bounds, and I’d have sanctioned you as moderator of this board if you didn’t outrank me. Reducio ad Hitlerem is below you.
  
  Let’s actually define what we mean by “undermining voting rights”. In Georgia, who lost the All Star Game because of fake gov Abrams, it means allowing absentee voting without excuse for 10 more days than Delaware. Why Delaware? Cause that’s where President “”you’re on the side of Bull Connor” lives.
  
  Do you oppose voter ID? If so, do you oppose vaccine passports? Can you reconcile the two?

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Bacchus > January 28th, 2022, 03:39 AM

  What is sad is that this is just another step towards the coming civil war. I do t want it to happen, but I see it coming nonetheless. I pray every day that I’m misreading the signs, but I do t think I am.

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Michael > January 28th, 2022, 01:09 PM

  (January 28th, 2022, 03:29 AM)Bacchus Wrote: Let’s actually define what we mean by “undermining voting rights”.

  
  In Georgia, Republicans in the state legislature (they control it and can pass any law they agree on) have stripped local election boards of final authority over certification of ballots. They did this in reaction to the overwhelming minority turnout in Fulton County.
  
  Several local county election systems have also (over the past few years) closed down polling stations that served minority voters, requiring them to go farther to vote than their fellow white constituents in the same counties.
  
  Most evening and night jobs in this state are performed by people of color. They sleep during the day when regular voting occurs. They relied extensively on mail-in ballots and ballot drop boxes to vote in 2020. The Republicans in the legislation have now made those options virtually impossible, knowing the greatest impact would be felt by people of color.
  
  This isn't about voter ID. This is about depriving people of color of the freedom and ability to vote so that they cannot in the future vote Republicans out of state and local offices.

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Michael > January 28th, 2022, 01:11 PM

  (January 28th, 2022, 03:39 AM)Bacchus Wrote: What is sad is that this is just another step towards the coming civil war. I do t want it to happen, but I see it coming nonetheless. I pray every day that I’m misreading the signs, but I do t think I am.

  
  There will be no civil war. So far the only people whom I've seen claim to want one are the people trying to end our constitution and our way of government. They call themselves conservatives, but as someone who voted for conservative policies most of my life, I don't recognize them as anything like conservatives. They are fascist radicals in my opinion.

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Michael > January 28th, 2022, 03:37 PM

  I have edited my original post and removed the comments about the Koch family.

• RE: The Current Theory of How Trump Tried to Overthrow the U.S. Government

  Michael > January 30th, 2022, 03:51 PM

  Here is the latest news story about voter suppression in Georgia.
  
  Georgia county purges Democrats from election board and cancels Sunday voting
  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/...d=msedgntp
  
  Here are the opening paragraphs:
  

  Quote:The judges met, in private, over a two-day period in May, for what might seem like a minor task: to choose the fifth member of an elections board in rural Spalding county, Georgia.
  
  But the meetings were by no means routine. There is no record of their vote or their discussions. The interviews with Democratic and Republican applicants were conducted in private, via Zoom calls. And the position was only vacant because of a new law, specific only to Spalding county, recently introduced by the area’s two Republican state lawmakers.
  
  In the end, the judges chose a Republican, someone who had never served in a government position related to elections, to be the fifth and deciding vote for the Spalding county board of elections and registration. Almost immediately, that Republican, James Newland, cast that deciding vote to cancel Sunday voting – a historically heavy turnout day for Black, largely Democratic voters.

  
  Now, people who are familiar with Georgia politics can fairly point out that this is the kind of thing Democrats did generations ago when they were suppressing the minority vote.
  
  But this isn't acceptable regardless of which political party is or has done it. Every citizen has a right to vote and the government we pay for shouldn't be misused to prevent people from participating in the governing process.
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