MAGA Keeps on Keeping On
[guest post by Dana]
Just another day in MAGA world. Former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who was recently pardoned by President Trump, actually said this out loud. And he did so because he knows there’s an appetite for it. I’d even say a big appetite:
Speaking with the pro-Trump network Newsmax on Thursday night, Flynn said the president should [Ed. he actually said “could,” not should.] deploy the military and “seize” voting machines to hold a new election.
“There is no way in the world we are going to be able to move forward as a nation,” said Flynn… “He could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these machines, on his order.”
“He could order the, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities, and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states,” Flynn told Newsmax. “I mean, it’s not unprecedented. These people are out there talking about martial law like it’s something that we’ve never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times.”
Here's Michael Flynn on Newsmax saying that Trump could order "military capabilities" to swing states and "rerun an election in each of those states."
"People out there talk about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times." pic.twitter.com/KNmiAGGiPF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 18, 2020
As a reminder:
As of this month, all 50 states and Washington, DC, had certified their election results. On December 14, the Electoral College convened across the country, and electors cast their votes for Trump or Biden, depending on how their respective states voted. The final tally showed that Biden won 306 electoral votes — and the presidency — while Trump notched 232.
Eh, just a few points. While there have been times when martial law has been invoked, it has never been imposed to overturn a presidential election because a sitting President of the United States is throwing a gigantic hissy fit after being declared the loser! On top of that, Flynn seems to have forgotten that the Supreme Court has repeatedly – 59 times! – refused to accept the baseless claims of fraud made by Trump:
The president does not have the power to unilaterally cancel, delay, postpone, or change the date of an election, even if he declares martial law…that power lies with Congress…Declaring martial law also does not suspend the Constitution, and the military has no role in administering elections. Even if it did, it would not be able to run new elections because the right to vote is not specified in the Constitution or by a federal statute.
Today, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville released a joint statement putting down any outlandish thoughts Flynn might have:
There is no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of an American election.
And Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who is a pilot in the National Guard, also pushed back:
No. The military will not be “deployed” to re-run an election. It’s time for this to be shut down, and now. Gen. Flynn has lost his moral authority to be taken seriously, and the GOP needs to stand up to it. #RestoreOurGOP
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) December 18, 2020
I have. History reminds us that standing against the passions of emotions in defense of our Constitution is always right. https://t.co/6hWEah2Wxm
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) December 18, 2020
Flynn was publicly supported by at least one elected official. Here’s Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase, who is also running for governor of the state:
We know you cheated to win and we’ll never accept these results. Fair elections we can accept but cheating to win; never. It’s not over yet. So thankful President Trump has a backbone and refuses to concede. President Trump should declare martial law as recommended by General Flynn.
I’d like to believe that Flynn and Chase are outliers, but I don’t.
Fix your party, Republicans.
Hoo-boy.
Dana (cc9481) — 12/18/2020 @ 4:01 pmWe really owe Mueller a debt of gratitude for taking the confessed criminal, paid foreign agent, and traitor, Mike “Flynn Facts” Flynn, out of the National Security Council. Kitzinger put it mildly when he said that the former worm in uniform “lost” his moral authority. He never had any to lose.
nk (1d9030) — 12/18/2020 @ 4:16 pmPS I don’t know Amanda Chase from a hole in the ground, but Flynn definitely is an out and out liar.
nk (1d9030) — 12/18/2020 @ 4:21 pmPPS Flynn Fact Check. One of the traitor’s “64 [I question the number] shades of martial law”:
nk (1d9030) — 12/18/2020 @ 4:47 pm“He could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these machines, on his order.”
So what? The electoral college has been chosen. What effect does he think seizing the voting machines will have?
Davethulhu (431e91) — 12/18/2020 @ 5:33 pmMaybe, instead, Trump could focus on getting doses of vaccine delivered so that they are in people’s arms instead of in a pfizer warehouse.
Nic (896fdf) — 12/18/2020 @ 5:37 pmFix your party, Republicans.
First step: get Trump out of the WH. Unless you have a better plan for that than waiting 33 days, it’s on schedule.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/18/2020 @ 6:17 pmI suspect most of those cases were during the Civil War.
It saddens me to think of how many crazy fukks think another civil war is a good idea.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/18/2020 @ 6:19 pmWhat effect does he think seizing the voting machines will have?
Photo-op!
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/18/2020 @ 6:19 pmI think that is certainly vital to any correction. But it depends on where the line is drawn with current Republicans. How many will remain MAGA-loyal and what stature do they hold in the party?
Dana (cc9481) — 12/18/2020 @ 6:21 pmMy 10 was in response to Kevin at 8.
Dana (cc9481) — 12/18/2020 @ 6:22 pmFix your party, Republicans.
The fix is in; done: the successful neutering o/t modern ideological conservative movement.
Clearly the tail no longer wags the dog; they’ve left on their own when suddenly discovering their POV no longer is that of the majority of the party; or they’ve been ‘Buckley’d’ out into irrelevancy, akin to the fate of the Birchers back in the day. They may crank and quill all the op-eds of contempt they want for years- perhaps decades– but they no longer represent the mind set of the bulk of the 74-plus million who voted Republican in 2020. Rather than decreasing, a larger percentage voted for the Trump-MAGA POV this cycle than the last- beyond his core base; there’s clearly a patterned sea change w/t party mindset emerging. Those Republicans still in office likely want to remain in office — and they will either adapt to the change– regardless of the immediate ‘vices and extremes’ -just as ‘Rockefeller Republicans’ did in 1964– or just storm off, ranting indy into the wilderness– and master insignificance.
“I hate a man who doesn’t know when the party is over.” – G.P. Myerson [Ned Beatty] ‘Hopscotch’ 1980
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/18/2020 @ 6:58 pmIf the Senate Republicans were willing to look at the evidence and impeach Trump earlier this year we wouldn’t have had 315,000 Americans dead due the pandemic and this dumpster fire of an election result. EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN IN CONGRESS is a part of what is happening and should be held responsible in 2022 and 2024.
Bowling Alone (27d313) — 12/18/2020 @ 7:25 pmI saw the comments from Amanda Chase. She is running for governor of Virginia. That state has been drifting steadily away from the Republicans for about 30 years now. But even while McCain and Romney lost Virginia, it still voted right at the national average. Then in the Trump era, Virginia lurched leftward much more rapidly. Biden managed to be the first Democrat to win Virginia by double digits(10.1 percent) since FDR in 1944. If the MAGA superfans over there propel her to the nomination, I wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up losing by 15 or more points to Terry McAuliffe(assuming he gets the nomination), even if Biden is unpopular by then. It’s pretty scary that this martial law talk is the kind of red meat that most MAGA superfans like.
As for Adam Kinzinger, ideologically speaking I’m not a big fan of his(too moderate for my tastes). But I’m glad he is one of the few voices pushing back against this post election nonsense peddled by TrumpWorld. It’s quite something that he has this much faith in the party to promote #RestoretheGOP. Unfortunately, his views on the outcome of the election is held only by a small minority of the GOP base. Debunking all the lies peddled by Trumpists is like shouting inside an anechoic chamber.
HCI (92ea66) — 12/18/2020 @ 8:34 pmMichael flynn is the republican party so there is nothing to fix! Jed babbin was on the jim bohannon show say the conservatives are going to bake the republican party from the populists. He didn’t say how. 10% never trumpers have left the party 15% are still their thinking they like babbin will buy their way back into power. They should ask jebbie bush how well the free trade donor class did trying to buy the nomination for him!
asset (0d1f07) — 12/18/2020 @ 11:53 pmWhile they’re raking in a couple hundred million a month by making it even more dysfunctional and toxic?
Not likely.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/19/2020 @ 4:18 amIt’s pretty sad that the MAGA faithful are getting conned by a dude who could care less about conservative principles. Everything Trump and his camp are doing centers around making money.
Hoi Polloi (139bf6) — 12/19/2020 @ 6:04 amItll be interesting about Kinzinger come the redistricting and Illinois’ certain loss of a seat. He either ends up the sole Republican with significant territory in outer suburban Chicago or ends up battling with letter signee/106 Darrin LaHood for a compressed seat.
urbanleftbehind (d018f9) — 12/19/2020 @ 6:11 amEverything Trump and his camp are doing centers around making money.
Look at anything, anything at all, that Trump has done as President, and you will see that it’s all about him and his cronies making more money.
nk (1d9030) — 12/19/2020 @ 6:22 amLooks like sedition to me. If these people aren’t given meaningful pushback, what is the incentive for future campaigns to accept results?
noel (9fead1) — 12/19/2020 @ 6:26 am@14 HCI
While the shift to vote Democrat for president in Virginia has been recent we have been voting Democrats into the Governors office, U. S. Senate and other state offices for a good 20 -25 years now. In fact the state house in Richmond is run by Democrats. The reason behind this is because of the influx in Northern Virginia of military, lobbyist, and government workers from around the country. No matter how Republican the rest of the state votes the Northern Virginia vote over powers them. Not to mention the Republicans haven’t made the best decisions for governor candidates either.
Bowling Alone (27d313) — 12/19/2020 @ 6:26 amhttps://www.rawstory.com/2020/12/why-the-numbers-behind-mitch-mcconnells-re-election-dont-add-up/
The left that many here voted for keeps on keeping on.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 12/19/2020 @ 6:27 amIt’s true. Trump’s anti-american conduct, the betrayal of his frankly evil upper echelon of supporters, have been a gift to the left. Normals had no alternative but to support Team D this year. That’s why they seem to have lurched a bit towards being moderate, but it’s still a gift to the left that Trump was so bad.
Today he fights against our most important institution, for a job he doesn’t even do anymore, simply because he’s insecure about losing. The Bushes were manly in ways Trump can’t even comprehend.
Dustin (4237e0) — 12/19/2020 @ 7:59 amlololol
lurker (d8c5bc) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:12 amAlso it’s really shocking that Trump is silent on Russia’s attacks on the USA. Attacks that seem to be easier with all the people Trump has replaced with his lackeys.
I think at the end of the day, worrying about AOC tweeting extreme ideology is a diversion. Yeah the left is lefty still. But Russia’s going all out and Trump is diverting all attention to his effort to destabilize the Biden administration. It’s as though the president is committing war against us.
If you take a step back from the election, it looks more severe. As usual Trump’s real talent is distraction.
Dustin (4237e0) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:14 amNormals had no alternative but to support Team D this year.
And yet Team T nearly won. This is the real problem. The only silver lining is that the regular Republicans did better than Trump did.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:32 amAlso it’s really shocking that Trump is silent on Russia’s attacks on the USA
Why does this shock? It’s par for the course. Right now, all Trump can think about is how he was cheated of his rightful second term. There’s no conspiracy here, just Trump being Trump.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:34 amThe Great Leader is silent no longer, Comrades!
Dave (1bb933) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:54 amNext will come the text messages raising money off the Russian hack by blaming the media for it…
Dave (1bb933) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:56 amEvery Trump accusation is a confession.
Dave (1bb933) — 12/19/2020 @ 8:59 amI think the attacks are sufficiently extreme that it’s actually bizarre Trump has said nothing (except that there has been a pattern of collusion between Trump and Russia). Maybe you’re right and Trump really is pathologically self-centered even as the US President while the USA is under a massive attack from Russia. But I think Russia realizes now is a great time to attack us. Not just because of the chaos, but Trump will let them attack us. He may have helped, simply be removing certain professionals and replacing them with versions of Flynn.
Of course, the idea of the democrats being serious and sober in investigating this kind of thing seems absurd. They have burned their credibility almost as badly as Trump has. Perhaps that too is the result of foreign interference. Our entire two party system is really terribly vulnerable to ‘but what about those other guys’ defenses. Nothing seems to be getting solved.
Dustin (4237e0) — 12/19/2020 @ 9:18 amI cross posted with Dave, but that makes Trump worse. When Russia attacks America, Trump defends Russia.
Dustin (4237e0) — 12/19/2020 @ 9:20 amFascists.
Patterico (115b1f) — 12/19/2020 @ 9:32 amIt’s very important Trump fans, nevertrumpers (normal people), democrats, all realize what that means. Trump speaks for a lot of people for a lot of reasons. I don’t think Harkin and NJRob want anything but a safe, just society. They see a lot of the left’s conduct pretty clearly, see the world if they have their way and say they want to oppose that. There are a lot of incredibly smart, reasonable people, who voted for Trump, even though I honestly think voting for trump was not a smart or reasonable thing to do.
Biden’s going to have a very hard time and our enemies are taking advantage. We all have to recognize that this is a bad thing. I think we’re at a crossroads as a republic.
Dustin (4237e0) — 12/19/2020 @ 9:43 amI believe Flynn can be recalled for duty and court martial documents for sedition.
Rip Murdock (5b4ca4) — 12/19/2020 @ 10:49 am@33. Speaking of hacks: Hunter Biden.
“He’s the smartest man I know.” – Plagiarist-Elect JoeyBee
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 12/19/2020 @ 11:02 amYeah Hunter clearly sucks. Joe probably does too. He promised he was up to the job and it’s in our nation’s best interest that we give him a chance to do it. We’re under attack by people who simply want to see a lot of our country’s institutions burn. Those who find common cause with a murderer like Putin should really consider if they are being manipulated (they often think they are the ones doing the manipulating, amusingly).
Dustin (4237e0) — 12/19/2020 @ 11:19 am