On Friday Dana told us about the certifiably insane proposal by disgraced liar Michael Flynn that Trump impose martial law to order new elections in swing states that he lost. Now comes news that Trump himself discussed that fascist idea in a recent White House meeting:

During an appearance on the conservative Newsmax channel this week, Mr. Flynn pushed for Mr. Trump to impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. At one point in the meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea.

Another idea from the brain trust: appoint certifiably insane Flynn and Kraken lawyer Sidney Powell as some kind of “special counsel” at the White House to investigate election fraud:

President Trump on Friday discussed naming Sidney Powell, who as a lawyer for his campaign team unleashed conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States, to be a special counsel overseeing an investigation of voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion.

It was unclear if Mr. Trump will move ahead with such a plan.

Trump says the martial law suggestion is “fake news” which he says about literally everything, usually falsely, so it’s almost certainly true.

People wondered why he cleaned house at the Pentagon and installed a bunch of cronies there. Maybe he wanted to keep this option viable. After all, important voices in the GOP are encouraging him to do so — like the chair of the Arizona Republican party:

Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward calls on Trump to “Cross the Rubicon” pic.twitter.com/juYGS2yD6z

— Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) December 20, 2020

Kelli Ward says she wants to keep our republic from “crumbing” but she urges Trump to “cross the Rubicon” — which, as a reminder, was Julius Caesar’s point of no return when he decided to end the Roman republic and turn himself into an emperor. (As a further reminder, it did not work out too well for him in the end.) In the end, Caesar crossing the Rubicon was the very thing that “crumbed” the Roman republic, and it crumbed it real good.

I would urge folks to be cautious about lol’ing too hard at the idea that Trump might do something outrageous or dangerous as attempting a military coup. I don’t expect one to happen, but the notion that he might try it is hardly the stuff of resistance psychopaths. Trump cares only whether he benefits from an action, and secondarily whether he thinks he can get away with it. With the head of the Arizona GOP openly urging Trump to declare martial law to reverse the election results, he may increasingly believe he has a chance of pulling it off. Apparently he is at least considering it.

And yes, it’s Maggie Haberman and anonymous sources (which have been wrong on occasion but also right countless times that people conveniently forget about). Do you want to bet the republic that she got this story wrong?

UPDATE:

Trump says he spoke to Tommy Tuberville last night. Tuberville had said he’d vote against codifying the electoral college results

— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 20, 2020

Fascist.

It is the fourth Sunday of Advent. Today’s Bach cantata is “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” (How beautifully the morning star shines):

Today’s Gospel reading is Luke 1:26-38:

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words:

You, very son of God and Mary,
You, king of the chosen ones,
how sweet is Your living word to us,
by which our forefathers already
counted years as well as days,
that Gabriel joyfully
promised there in Bethlehem!
O sweetness, o bread of heaven,
that neither grave, danger or death
can wrest from our hearts.

Happy listening! Soli Deo gloria.

P.S. The final verse of the New King James Version of today’s Gospel reading reads as follows:

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The words of Jesus’s mother Mary saying “Let it be” to her according to God’s word cannot help but remind the reader of these lyrics:

When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Paul McCartney says he did not intend this to be a religious song. It came to him in a dream, and he believed it related to his mother, whose name was Mary. That’s fine. Maybe it was a dream, and maybe it was an angel.