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Peter Wehner versus Steve Bannon: The Battle Is Engaged

June 23, 2024
by Peter Feinman
God's Anointed (https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1373822500)

There are so many civil wars going on it is hard to keep track of them. And that is just the civil wars in the United States. As a resident of the 16th Congressional District in New York State, I live at Ground Zero for the battle for the future of the Democratic Party. The amount of money being spent for the Democratic primary in a reliably Democratic district is off the Richter scale. After June 25, peace and quiet should return to the shire. The reverberations of the battle will last for weeks, months, and years to come.

In the meantime, the battle for the soul and votes of the Republican Party continues full throttle. It also will continue to do so for months if not years to come until one side throws in the towel and perhaps creates a new political party. After all, that is how the Republican Party first emerged in the era of the Third Party System. As the Whigs disintegrated over slavery, a multitude of parties emerged including the Republican Party with Abraham Lincoln as the candidate for President. Quite an auspicious start.

Now let’s see how Peter Wehner and Steven Bannon are faring in the battle for the Republican Party today.

THERE IS A WAY OUT OF MAGA DOMINATION

So read the headline of an op-ed piece by Peter Wehner and Jonathan Rauch in The New York Times way back on April 10, 2024 (print). In the piece, they approvingly quote former Vice President Dick Cheney:

‘There has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.’

Presumably he was referring to domestic threats but quite possibly he meant any threat including foreign and Confederate.

Wehner and Rauch acknowledge that the Republican Party is thoroughly MAGA and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. They also note that there still remain registered Republicans who do not support the MAGAs but who are not prepared to shed their political identity and become Democrats.

Their proposed solution is to create a Republican Party in exile. They call it a counter-establishment dedicated to recapturing the party from the outside. Given the MAGA control of the Republican Party infrastructure, even a defeat in 2024 will not cause MAGAs to relinquish control of the party. Berman and Wehner don’t mention it but even the lawsuits over the 2024 elections plus those which have been delayed to after the election will keep MAGAs fuming for years to come.

How would a Republican Party in exile work?

First, accept the exile status.

Second, proclaim the Party in Exile to be the true Republican Party of Lincoln. It is the MAGAs who lack political legitimacy. Rauch and Wehner don’t say so but it is the MAGAs who are the true RINO’s.

Third, create agenda(s) for the post-MAGA future. Obviously this can be difficult in practice. Once one goes beyond being anti-Trump, what then holds the Republican Party in Exile together? The agenda that lost in 2008? Lost in 2012? Was swept away in 2016?

Fourth, the goal must be to overthrow MAGA. This blunt goal states there can be no compromise with a lawless, moral anarchy, conspiratorial thinking assault on-the-Constitution Party. Take no prisoner.

Run candidates where you can and set the stage for bringing back the Republican Party from defeat.

STEVE BANNON    

How realistic is the plan by Rauch and Wehner for regaining control of the Republican Party? “Finish What We Started: The MAGA Movement‘s Ground War to End Democracy,” by Isaac Arnsdorf (Book review by Jennifer Szalai, NYT May 26, 2024, print), presents an alternative path to power.

By now people are familiar with the grass roots’ effort literally taking place at the ground level in American society. I am referring to the school board meetings, the election workers, the precinct committee leaders, the normally invisible people who keep the government running. Oftentimes, it is difficult to recruit people for these positions. The result is some people hold them for life. The 2020 effort by Trump to steal the election was stymied by just such people.

The MAGAs have learned the lessons well from 2020. Voter suppression isn’t enough. There also are counting the vote and certifying the vote. Such workers have been retiring/quitting in droves.The combination of suppressing the vote and rigging the count complicate the validity of the polls being taken.

REPORT FROM THE BATTLE LINES

The battle for the future of the Republican Party is being fought right now. Here are some examples.

“In a Texas G.O.P at War with Itself, Hard Right is Gaining,” (NYT May 31, 2024, print)

“A County Clerk’s Lonely Stand Vs. Die-Hard Election Deniers (NYT June 9, 2024, print

This two-and one-half page article carried over from the front page of the Sunday paper, is a report that just as easily could have been filed from Gaza or Ukraine without the violence. Here is the plight of the Real Republicans in face of the onslaught by the MAGAs:

“This is actually insane. This is how democracies end. There must be some way to reason with a few of these people” – Angela Clark, Deputy Clerk

“It’s like talking to a wall right now. I‘ve give them every fact and document known to mankind, and none of it matters. They are too busy chanting their mantras to stop and listen…. A lot of these people [on the recall petition] really know… me…What in the world happened to these people? What kind of person could actually believe this nonsense? – Cindy Elgan, County Clerk

As Elgan defended the system, Mary Jane Zakas upped the stakes. The recall should be not just for Elgan but the county auditor and district attorney. Zakas wanted a complete and total house cleaning.

She is quoted as saying, “Who would have believe that Cindy – sweet Cindy, our Cindy – could be connected to the deep state umbilical cord?”

Zakas was now connected to a vast conspiratorial world of covid, covid vacines, and Trump the anointed. There was no turning back now. MAGAs were battling for another county far removed from the center of power in even the smallest of rural counties.

“House G.O.P Spending Chief Faces Primary Fight from Right” (NYT June 17, 2024 print)

For hours upon hours people like Zakas are fed a barrage of MAGA messages not just from Foxhub but from Bannon and other apostles of the anointed one. It gives them a sense of belonging. They are part of a larger community. The world really does make sense once you see the truth. There is no “come let us reason together.” Felon convictions simply prove the demonical world is out to destroy the anointed one.

Here we may observe the incongruity of the situation.

On the one hand, there is a renowned con artist skilled in the ways of scamming people.

But on the other hand, there are people who desperately need to believe the con. If you take away a people’s faith then what do they have left?

The challenge to Berman and Wehner isn’t simply a political one, it is a religious one. They need a compelling message of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, or Ronald Reagan proportions for the 21st century if they are to succeed in taking back the Republican Party and so far they don’t have one. Talking points and facts won’t work against God’s anointed.

 

Would Jim Jordan Rather Be Institutionalized in Congress or Prison? Part II

October 13, 2023
by Peter Feinman
The longest running show in the nation's capital (Amazon)

Back on June 8, 2023, I wrote a blog entitled Would Jim Jordan Rather Be Institutionalized in Congress or Prison? At that time, Kevin McCarthy was still Speaker of the House after the infamous 15 rounds of voting to get there. The imminent shut down of the federal government was still months away. There was no sign that the House frat boy would soon wreak havoc in the halls of Congress   … and then he did.

JIM JORDAN CONSPIRATOR

Who can forget the silly responses Jim Jordan made to the questions of how many times he called the President of the United States and what was discussed around January 6? His discombobulation was ridiculed, parodied, and played repeatedly on cable news. He came across as someone with something to hide about January 6 which, of course, he did and still does.

The blog was about Jordan’s legal problems. Or rather expected legal problems. At that point in time, he had decline to respond to a subpoena from the House Select Committee. Steve Bannon had too. In his case, the Justice Department filed suit against him for failure to comply. He was found guilty comparatively quickly. Thanks to our slow moving system of justice, he remains free pending the decision on his punishment. During that time he has continued broadcasting daily from his War Room as if nothing had happened.

THE SPECIAL COUNSEL

In that blog last June I wrote:

For so long we have been hearing about how aggressive Jack Smith was as a prosecutor without any overt sign that anything was happening. Yes, there was witness after witness being subpoenaed and called to testify … apparently more than we knew, but no indictments seemed forthcoming. Meanwhile the presidential election cycle commenced. More and more candidates came forward. Finally even one willing to confront Trump and his criminal family by name declared his candidacy. It was as if everyone else was holding back, waiting for the dam to break, waiting for the moment when Trump became not only a loser but a federally indicted loser as well. Now we are at that moment as well. It is time for people to decide whether they wish to join Trump or does self-preservation come first. Does Jim Jordan really want to go to prison?

Obviously a lot has happened since then. There have been federal indictments in Washington and Florida plus state in Fulton County.

Still, there seems to one significant gap in the charges and evidence at least publicly revealed. That refers to the actions in the War Room. I wrote back in June:

The same [tell the truth or get thrown under the bus] applies to the other members of the inner cabal. I am referring to the people in the so-called War Room. I am referring to the members of the House of Representatives to whom Trump referred in his call to Georgia. At some point these people will realize that this witch hunt is for real. It is time to start thinking about saving their own skin.

Lately we have been hearing more and more about the financial difficulties of the co-defendants in the Georgia case. And this is even before the first trial has begun. Those expenses will only continue to mount in the weeks and months ahead before the main trial commences. But still the War Room remains untouched.

Cassidy Hutchinson has given us some insight into what occurred there. We know that Mark Meadows was a participant if only by phone. We know that Rudy Giuliani was so exuberant about what was soon to happen on January 6 that he sought to celebrate with Hutchinson in the excitement against her will. We know that the President of the United States sought to drive to the Capitol to lead his armed followers into the House chambers until prevented to do so by his Secret Service. Finally, we know that Bannon’s listeners knew that something was going to happen but not anything like what they expected so strap in. And we know that Jim Jordan knew everything as well.

So the question now becomes, what is Jack Smith waiting for? Why hasn’t he breached the War Room barricades and hauled its occupants to testify? One speculation is that he wants a clean case. Unlike the Georgia sprawl, he wants a simple straightforward case focusing mainly on one individual and his criminal actions rather that get bogged down in motions by a host of lawyers. Then once this case is underway, he can bring in the unindicted co-conspirators in their own case.

At some point then, Jim Jordan is going to be asked to testify to the very department he has been seeking to defund. At some point he will defy the subpoena which can lead to separate charges against him. At some point, he may testify under oath and become Roger Stone or Eric Trump. The person hell-bent on getting Hunter Biden and Joe Biden will find himself in the position of taking the 5th on everything. This will be another unprecedented act in American history – A Speaker of the House in defiance of the Department of Justice and/or admitting he has something to hide. Perhaps there will even be a vote to vacate the position of Speaker.

This scenario is dependent on his becoming Speaker in the first place. That prospect still seems unlikely given the vote totals inside the House Republicans. Whether he does or does not, there still remains the open issue of when he will be indicted as a co-conspirator in the January 6 insurrection. His inability even now to admit that Joe Biden won the election does not bode well for the future of this country.

UKRAINE, ISRAEL, GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Meanwhile, the world has not stood still while the Republican clown show continues in the House. One may anticipate that the Democratic members of the House will not choose to ratify Jordan if he is nominated. At that point, only a few Real Republicans need to show enough moxie and intestinal fortitude to give Jordan the MAGA treatment and deny him the necessary 217 votes to become Speaker.

If he does becomes Speaker, then he will be the dog who finally caught with the car. Now what? He will be the one taking leadership positions on Ukraine, Israel, and the Government shutdown. He will be the recipient of instructions on what do from the real head of the Republican Party. As the latter’s Hezbollah and Israel comments show, the immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old remains the same ignorant moron he has always been as he awaits his trials.

A deal between Real Republicans and Democrats over the Speaker position is becoming more and more likely especially as the clock keeps ticking on the government shutdown. The clown show is not over yet and probably won’t be until after the 2024 elections if then.

Is America Ready for a Three Party System?

December 5, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

The unsung 1824 Bicentennial is fast upon us. Soon it will be only a year away. The year has been a personal favorite of mine. It has been the subject of blogs since 2016.

The year marks the transition from the First Party System to the Second Party System. It was the end of the Virginian-dominated American Revolution era and start of the Jacksonian dominated one. The Federalists and the Republicans were out and the Whigs and Democrats would be in. The new system would last until the demise of the Whigs and the emergence of the Republicans under Lincoln. It also was a time of Senate giants like Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster.

Putting aside all the talk about the Civil War today, the squabbling over the Speaker position in the House of Representatives suggests we may be in for a de facto three party system in the next session of Congress.

THREE-PARTY SYSTEM 

America is not designed for a three-party system. In Europe and Israel, multiple parties are par for the course. After every election, the jockeying for power begins by the various parties. Which one can form majority? That is not the American way where the two-party system is sacred.

Until now. Right now the House of Representatives beginning in January is divided into three groups:

213 Democrats
182 Republicans
40  Freedom Party.

No one of the groups has the magic 218 votes needed to form a majority and elect a speaker. There has been talk of multiple ballots in an unprecedented situation. Perhaps Kevin McCarthy will deal for the position he has coveted. Perhaps he will drop out when he realizes he cannot win and a host of new candidates will emerge. Perhaps cross-party deals will be made. We are in uncharted waters.

SUPPOSE MCCARTHY WINS

Suppose McCarthy wins, then what? Even if he can cobble together a winning coalition with 4 votes to spare, that will not be the end of his problems in holding together the Republicans and the Freedom Party.

Every subsequent vote will be a battle for him. There already is a 21 member faction that has openly expressed its displeasure with the Freedom Party shenanigans and its extreme agenda. Many Republicans ran on a platform of getting things done including reaching across the aisle. If you were elected in 2022 from a Congressional District that Joe Biden won in 2020, you don’t want to face the voters in 2024 with nothing to show except you shut down the government.

Consider the issues important to the voters as identified in surveys versus the ones propounded by the Freedom Party. Voters are concerned about jobs, inflation, the economy and the threat to democracy. By contrast the Freedom Party agenda consists of:

Relitigating the 2020 election
Investigating Hunter Biden
Investigating the House Select Committee
Impeaching Joe Biden.

None of these issues are on the radar of the Real Republicans. So if McCarthy does win the speaker vote, he is still going to have to deal with the agenda of Freedom Party which has limited support beyond its own Party. On the other hand, there will be plenty of real Republicans ready to deal with the issues Americans actually care about and willing to vote in a bipartisan manner. McCarthy will be walking a land mine field each and every vote.

THE INSURRECTION AND THE FREEDOM PARTY

Simultaneously, McCarthy is going to be forced to deal with the legal challenges to members of the Freedom Party. The House Select Committee may refer ethic charges be filed against the Representatives who did not comply its subpoenas. It may request the current House in its last few days ask the Department of Justice to pursue indictments against the January 6 conspirators who have refused to testify. The various options and scenarios still are to be played out. Suffice it to say some of the most vocal people in the Freedom Party are likely to be questioned by the DOJ at some point in the future about their role in the insurrection.

There is a human element in the insurrection that so far has been overlooked. The President of the United States was supposed to arrive at the Capitol Building and lead his followers both armed and unarmed into the House chambers. When Steve Bannon broadcasted to his listeners to strap in because what was going happen was not what they expected, he knew what had been decided. Roger Stone knew what had been decided in the War Room. Some Congressional Representatives knew what had been decided in the War Room, too. None of them have testified to the DOJ so far.

This means at some point the plan did not go as expected. The Secret Service declined to drive to the Capitol. No matter how vigorously the President objected, they returned to the White House and did not succumb to his wishes.

The question then to be asked is when did the co-conspirators in the House chambers realize the plan had failed and what did they do then? According to the War Room plans, the President of the United States was to lead his people into Chambers and intimidate the Vice President into disqualifying the vote of the states with the fake electors. The President was to force a delay in the certification until all the disputed votes could be resolved.

Instead there was a leaderless mob roaming the halls and offices of Congress seeking to hang Nancy Pelosi. That was not part of the War Room plan. The result of the collapse of the plan due to the failure of the President to lead his people into the House chambers was that the members of Congress had to scramble for their lives. Run Josh Run!

We have yet to hear the testimony what the War Room plan known to Steve Bannon was or how the congressional co-conspirators learned that it had failed and they were on their own now.  So while Jim Jordan may initiate an investigation of the House Select Committee, he and the other congressional co-conspirators (and Mark Meadows among others) will be called to testify about their own role in the January 6 insurrection. This is why Mar-a-Largogate will be prosecuted first. It is a more straightforward case whereas there still are many people to be subpoenaed by the DOJ before the full story is known.

DONALD TRUMP: OVERTHROW THE CONSTITUTION

In the meantime, the chief conspirator will be giving his rather astonishing marching orders to the new Speaker.

So now it comes out, conclusively, that the FBI BURIED THE HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY BEFORE THE ELECTION knowing that, if they didn’t, “Trump would have easily won the 2020 Presidential Election.” This is massive FRAUD & ELECTION INTERFERENCE at a level never seen before in our Country. Remedy: Declare the rightful winner or, this would be the minimal solution, declare the 2020 Election irreparably compromised and have a new Election, immediately! (8/29/22)

Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections! (12/3/22)

While McCarthy is trying to bring order to his unruly House, the Loser will be continually fanning flames. Besides his partnering with anti-Semitic racists, he is continuing to up the stakes. The immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old has elevated his ranting and ravings to new levels. The person who has shown no loyalty to the Constitution when it prevented him from playing his game of “I am the President. Your loyalty is to me,” has called for the scrapping of the very document he swore to uphold.

Despite all the machinations of Pillow Head and Séance Sidney, he was not restored to the White House in 2021 nor is he going to be in 2022. He may even have doubts about 2024 now. Why he thinks a do-over election would be favorable to him is a mystery given the results of the recent election. Or in lieu of a new election, who is going to throw out the results of the 2020 election as he tried to do January 6 and declare him the winner? Is that what he expected the Vice President to do on January 6? Will he so testify under oath to the DOJ? Does he expect the new Speaker do so now?

Team Normal Republicans did not run on an agenda of overthrowing the Constitution. Even the Freedom Party pledges loyalty to it provided it is interpreted correctly. Meanwhile the Loser will ratchet up the expectations of what he wants his Speaker to do. He will do so secure in the belief that his base will never abandon him and is of sufficient size to prevent anyone else from grabbing the nomination. The more desperate he becomes, the far-fetched his texts will become and the more Speaker McCarthy will have to walk a fine line. As of this writing he remains silent about the head of his Party calling for the overthrow of the Constitution. Democrats are sure to ask him where he stands on this issue. In other words, even if McCarthy wins the battle to become Speaker, his problems are only just beginning.

Who Will Flip? Who Will be Thrown Under the Bus? Who Will be Convicted?

August 2, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Steve Bannon, chief strategist for President-elect Donald Trump, left, talks with Jared Kushner before the start of a President-elect Donald Trump's news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Who will flip? Who will be thrown under the bus? Who will be convicted? You can’t tell the players without a scorecard and it’s a big scorecard.

Steve Bannon
Andy Biggs
Christina Bobb
Mo Brooks
Gary Michael Brown
Kenneth Chesebro
Jeffrey Clark
John Eastman
Jeanna Ellis
Boris Epshteyn
Michael Flynn
Rudy Giuliani
Paul Gosar
Jim Jordan
Bruce Marks
Doug Mastriano
Mark Meadows
Clea Mitchell
Peter Navarro
Scott Perry
Sidney Powell
Mike Roman
Dan Scavino
Roger Stone
Ginni Thomas
James Troupis
KelliWard
Jack Wilenchik

As far as I know there is no betting line yet on what will happen to the various figures involved in the insurrection conspiracy. I confess that I cannot even keep track of who they all are.

All of these people (or their lawyers) should be able to read the handwriting on the wall. The House Select Committee is still in business. It is still interviewing new people and collecting new evidence. And just when you thought you knew all the illegal shenanigans associated with the insurrection first the Secret Service and DHS informs you that you don’t. There seems to be no limit to the people and departments involved. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Now consider for a moment the options facing Steve Bannon. He was easily convicted without going “medieval.” He faces sentencing and probably from a judge who shows no sign of wanting to be lenient. Bannon has the option of pursuing an expensive appeal process but to what end? One presumes either he or his lawyer or both realize that its only a matter of time before the DOJ subpoenas him. Even if Bannon pleads the 5th to every single question, either he or his lawyer or both should realize that the DOJ has sufficient evidence to indict and convict him. After all, he did do it!

So the question Bannon or his lawyer or both should be asking is “At what point will Bannon realize that resistance is futile”? At what point will he realize that he has more to gain by requesting immunity and spilling the beans than by fighting?

Think of Jared Kushner’s forthcoming book. According to excerpts revealed so far, it is not complimentary to Bannon. There was and is no love lost between the two people. Kushner exults in his triumph over Bannon. For all we know now, there may even be incriminating material against Bannon in the book. When the book is published do you think the father in-law is going to turn on his daughter’s husband and pick Bannon?

The time has come for Bannon to go medieval against Trump in exchange for full immunity. Bannon wants to live to fight another day. He was calling for a revolution prior to hooking up with Trump and he wants to continue advocating for his cause and making money after Trump fades from the scene. Right now Bannon is paying the price on behalf of someone who doesn’t care about him. Look at the opportunity to help himself if he decided right now today to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth in exchange for full immunity. Sure the Trumpicans will go medieval on him and leave threatening messages on his phone, but he will be free and on the air to defend himself and look to the post-2024 world. I am not saying Bannon will seek full immunity; I am saying it is in best interest.

Just last month, I predicted that it was all downhill for the Loser – he will gradually fade away as the Apprentice did (SCOTUS and Hutchinson: The Howard Baker Moment Has Arrived July 5, 2022). That process has started. Foxhub already is looking at the world beyond the Loser. No more free airtime as if it were 2015-2016 all over again. He is older, more subdued, and lacks new material which resonates. Instead of “Lock her up!,” Build a wall!,” “Who is going to pay? Mexico!,” now we have “Relitigate 2020.” Foxhub decision to downplay the Loser has become a national news item itself.

At some point even the Loser will realize that a campaign based on relitigating 2020 is a dead end. He knows the polls show that more and more people of his own party (are they all RINOs?) do not want him to run again. He knows that some of his hand-picked candidates are not faring well in state elections for Senator and Governor. He knows that once his candidates leave the safety of a gerrymandered district and venture out into the state arena, the nonsense they peddle rings false and does not arouse the independents they need to win … or even the Republican female votes they need to keep.

If the Senate remains under Democratic control or if the Democrats even pick up seats who will Republicans blame?
If the Democrats pick up gubernatorial seats who will Republicans blame?
If the 2022 election becomes a referendum on two presidents and Biden wins, who will Republicans blame?

We are reaching the point where fewer and fewer Republican office holders have anything to fear from the Loser. The primary season is almost over and the DOJ insurrectionist train is accelerating. We are getting closer to the point when for self-interest it is better for Republicans to denounce the Loser and his insurrection. We are not there yet and strangely enough Bannon could be the first to try. What does he have to lose?

Steve Bannon in Court: So What?

November 17, 2021
by Peter Feinman
The Ghost of Bannon Future (nypost.com/2021/11/17)

This week marked a change in the investigation of the Hitman’s assault on America in his attempt to steal the election and overthrow the Constitution. One of the leading confederates in this effort surrendered himself to the Court in response to his defiance of a House subpoena. His action including his public media antics have generated much discussion while obscuring the most important fact. The true question to be asked of the legal proceedings is “So what?”

Let’s examine a possible sequence of events and their meaning for the upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024.

STEVE BANNON

Bannon played a pivotal role in the insurrection of 1/6. He was the public voice. He was the one extolling the importance of this critical event in American history. He brought a sense of the historic even apocalyptic drama about to enfold. Bannon placed the events in its cosmic importance and called on Trumpicans to participate in this great day in American history.

He has no wish to say so under oath to the House committee. He understands the consequences of saying under oath what he said on the radio. He knows that these actions he advocated and the planning he participated in with others will be deemed criminal and seditious by the very people he was seeking to overthrow. Hence the defiance. He has more to gain from the national spotlight on his every utterance than he has to lose inside the courthouse or before the House 1/6 committee.

Suppose he loses the case in Court. Suppose after however long it takes including appeals, there comes a time when he is found guilty and stands for punishment. Will he be sentenced for two years or concurrent 30-day terms? Will he receive probation? Will his fine be minor and easily paid off by loyal Trumpicans? Will it cause him to testify under oath, to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and to incriminate himself? Obviously not. After going through these process the net result still will be no testimony.

The same sequence will be repeated with all the other participants in the attempted coup who are subpoenaed. What do they have to gain by testifying under the oath and telling the truth to the House committee? The answer is nothing. The people who are guilty of sedition have nothing to gain by admitting that they helped the Hitman’s attempt to steal the election and overthrow the government. Possibly one individual might seek a deal: to tell the truth in exchange for not being indicted in the final report. And that is the key. The final report and not these legal maneuverings is the key in determining whether the effort by the House committee was worth it.

THE HOUSE REPORT  

Consider what has happened so far. Over 150 people voluntarily have given testimony to the House Committee. Additional information is available from the public comments of various individuals such as Bannon and from published books detailing exactly how the Vice President was to steal the election. Simply based on the information provided so far, the House committee could write a narrative about the Hitman’s attempt to steal the election and overthrow the Constitution.

More information is coming. True, there has been a delay in the transfer of records from the National Archives to the House committee. Once those legal hurdles have been overcome there is likely to be a veritable gusher of data pouring onto the Committee. It will be as if it had struck the mother lode. There will be so much information there that the narrative of the final report will read like a Hollywood script as indeed it will be one day.

In addition, there may be information from the case unfolding in Georgia.

In short, the House committee will not need the testimony of the insurrection instigators to have sufficient date to indict all of them for sedition. This is not to say that the information from the co-conspirators would not be welcomed, only that it is not necessary to compile a damning indictment of all the people who refused to tell the House committee the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The concern for Bannon, Meadows, et.al. is not what is going to happen for defying the subpoenas, but what will happen when they are charged with sedition by the House.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

The true moment of truth will come the DOJ receives the House report calling for the indictments of multiple participants in the insurrection including the former President of the United States. Each and every person will not necessarily be charged with the exact same counts but all the people who obstructed the investigation will be charged for their participation in the insurrection.

What will the DOJ do then? So far most of the chronological discussion has been around the narrow window of the investigating committee. Everyone knows it needs to be done prior to Trump’s Traitors taking over the House. Informally, the Committee seems to be aiming for a (late) spring date to have a completed report with or without the recalcitrant participants. One can anticipate a report based on the evidence it has including the data from the National Archives. The House committee should be done in time.

In time for what? The general rule is no politically-related indictment after Labor Day when the election campaign “officially” begins. This means roughly, the DOJ will have the summer to decide whether or not to indict anyone for sedition and whatever other charges are included in the report. One of the conspirators named in the report will be the former President himself.

At this point, there is no way to know what the DOJ will do in the summer of 2022. There is no way to know which people it will indict, when it will indict them, or who it will not indict. One possible scenario is to string indictments of the small fish prior to Labor Day. This means Bannon, Meadows, Clark, etc.,, all the underlings save for the Hitman himself.

2022 ELECTION

Normally the midterm election in a first–term President is seen as an opportunity for out-of-power Party to gain seats. Certainly everyone anticipates that scenario will be followed even without the added benefit of voter suppression and gerrymandering. However, this time we will have two presidents. Strange as it might seem the leading issue after the House report is completed may not be the economy or Covid Instead it will be:

Is Joe Biden the legitimate President of the United States and should Donald Trump be held accountable for his effort to steal the election and overthrow the Constitution?

Or

 

Is Donald Trump the legitimate President of the United States and should Joe Biden (and his Vice President) be removed from office due to his successful steal of the election?

If the latter prevails, expect a new House committee to investigate the steal leading to an impeachment in the House but insufficient votes in the Senate to remove Biden.

Everything going on now is just foreplay. If Trumpicans take control of the House and Senate effectively there will be no government for two years save by Executive Order. The President will be spending most of his fending off repeated impeachment attacks and investigations from the Trumpican-controlled House.  It well may be that rather than have to wait for 2024 election for division of America into the United States of Trump and the United States of America, it may happen after the 2022 elections. Whether or not America can function in those circumstances remains to be seen. Stay focused on the 2022 election and let’s see if we make it to 2024. Maybe some Congressional Republicans will go rogue and caucus with the Democrats …

Can Mueller Redeem the Republican Party?

November 15, 2017
by Peter Feinman
Image from mapledanish.com

Can Robert Mueller redeem the former party of Lincoln? That’s a tall order for any individual especially when it is not even part of your job description. Nonetheless, he may end up being the one who restores the Republican Party.  It is a party in flux struggling to define itself with an uncertain outcome.

RINO Steve Bannon has declared war on the Republican Party. He is focused like a laser on the evisceration of the former party of Lincoln. He is doing so in the name of his patron leader who last year used the Republican Party as his vehicle to become President by exploiting the fears and insecurities of the people politicians ignore.

Thanks in part to these efforts, for Republicans, the Commonwealth of Virginia has become the New Lost Cause. Which state will be next?

Despite the setbacks, the RINOs are proceeding full speed ahead regardless of the consequences. Who cares if Arizona votes Democratic as long as Flake is out? Who cares if Nevada votes Democratic as long as Heller is out? That will show those weak Republicans who is boss. So what if the Senate is Democratic?

Now we may observe a cause of the problem. We need to stop here and examine how the brain operates. If we want to understand the decision-making process that at first glance seems self-destructive, we need to study how the mind works. For example, why do young people pay higher automobile insurance rates? Why are young people in more accidents?  When something goes wrong why do young people so often respond, “I didn’t think of that”?

The answer quite simply is this is what immaturity is all about – the inability to consider consequences or even to be aware that there will be any for actions taken for the moment. The brain hasn’t developed to the point where it is capable of recognizing what adults naturally do (most of the time). To do so is part of the growing experience.  The immature mind simply isn’t capable of making adult decisions.

As it turns out, Time Magazine addressed that exact issue in the national political arena without intending to. In article in the November 6 issue “We Need to Talk about Kids and Smartphones,” the magazine honed in the problems adolescents face because of their use of smartphones. “(W)e understand enough about young people’s emotional and developmental vulnerabilities to recommend restricting kids’ escalating phone habits.”

The specific area of concern relates to the adolescent brain still in a stage of development and not yet fully-formed.  The lower gray-matter volume in the brain’s anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) involving emotion processing and decision-making is critical according to the researchers. “We know for a fact that teens have very underdeveloped impulse control and empathy and judgment compared with adults.” The prefrontal cortex is another area of concern. That area of the brain is essential for focus and interpreting human emotion. Teenagers don’t have a fully-developed prefrontal cortex and hence have problems with self-control and judgment. So if you yank a 13 year-old smart-aleck/dumb-aleck from school and dump him in a military school your hopes that the changed environment will lead to maturity may be for naught. It is possible that the adolescent brain in question will remain locked into its present state without ever developing a fully-developed anterior cingulate cortex or prefrontal cortex. As a result person never develops into adult maturity capable of empathy or impulse control as a brain scan would reveal. Such an individual would always focus on the immediate, on the moment, without being aware of consequences. For example, “I have a great memory” becomes “I forgot” when faced with the consequences.

The Russians used this knowledge of how the brain works when it interfered in our presidential election. As reported in an article “The Drama of Reality TV, Brought to You by Russia (NYT 11/9/17), the Russians drew on the lessons of reality TV shows that are geared to our adolescent mind. A reality show producer observed that the key to manipulating contestants into acting a certain way was to “tap into their fears, passions and ego.” In this regard, Facebook was a godsend since people had revealed exactly those conditions. For the reality show producer, Facebook was like an instruction manual for the exploitation of people. The Russians realized this and used that knowledge in their campaigns to manipulate the fears of Americans based on race, religion, and politics. The article asks if these Russian trolls caused these insecurities or simply provided an easily-accessible vehicle for people to openly express them and act out.

In other words, a person doesn’t need to believe that Barack Obama is a foreign-born Moslem to manipulate people through that phrase and become the center of attention. Like a reality show producer or a Russian troll, a person only needs to know that the targeted audience will respond to a product that channels those insecurities and fears to his own benefit. Like a reality show producer or a Russian troll, a skilled 7th-grade smart-aleck/dumb-aleck can hone in on the emotional state of his marks and produce amazing results.

By coincidence, the same day as the article on reality TV, the NYT also published an article on “Are Mass Murderers Insane? Usually Not, Researchers Say.” Instead, one should focus on anger of the disgruntled and the aggrieved that eventually is unleashed in violence in response to some perceived humiliation. Using a database based on four killings as the minimum number for a mass murder, the researchers determined that the majority of the killers were disgruntled workers or jilted lovers acting on a deep sense of injustice. A contributing factor is long-term stress such as from failure in school, to keep a job, or from a disabling injury. Sooner or later something may trigger that rage to become violent. Certainly a skilled politician in a professional wrestling arena knows how to push that person’s buttons to produce the desired result.

In light of the above, it is important to recognize the role of the condescending arrogant self-righteous elitists in fostering deep-rooted fears and insecurities which could be exploited by the opposition. Indeed, these people helped create the very vote that boomeranged on them. Consider two of the most common expressions of fear and insecurity by people the coastal elites look down on as inferior subhumans:

Barack Obama is a foreign-born Moslem.

We’re talking back our country.

When Jesse Jackson ran for president was he accused on being a foreign-born Moslem? Is there anything in those words that identifies a person as black? If people had wanted to make racist comments against Obama couldn’t they have done it without resorting to the fantasy that he is a foreign-born Moslem? So why use this term which technically isn’t even an insult but a simple description? Is “foreign-born Christian” an insult? Why did this phrase resonate?

The second phrase clarifies the concern. People are scared. People are scared for themselves. People are scared for their families. People are scared for their community. People are scared for their country. And instead of addressing those fears and insecurities politicians either ignore them (the Republicans) or stoke the flames (the Democrats).  The condescending arrogant self-righteous elitists responded to these two expressions by saying “Yes, you subhuman degenerate 47%-ers, you should be afraid, you should be very afraid. The demographic deluge is coming. The demographic deluge is coming for you. The demographic deluge is the dawning of the Age of the Hyphens and you are the losers in the new world order. And then the Democrats wonder why these scared people voted for an immature child who played on precisely those fears. For highly educated people, either the condescending arrogant self-righteous elitist are still stupid even one year after the election or they have complete confidence in the demographic deluge.

The counter to the false claims about the demographic deluge remains Lincoln just as it was in the mid-19th century. It is easy for Republicans to refute the threat if only Republicans realized that they have nothing to fear but fear itself. With RINO Bannon and his minions stoking the fears it may be easier for Republicans to succumb than to overcome. It is easier to terrorize than to inspire.  Unless, of course, Mueller can provide Republicans with the opportunity they need to take back the party of Lincoln by cutting off its current head. Sometimes Moore is too much.