There was almost a Trump coup at DOJ, part of scheme to overthrow election

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/22/there-was-almost-a-trump-coup-at-doj-part-of-scheme-to-overthrow-election.html

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So who will be called to be first witness at the trial?

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“Shut up Charlie. I got an angle.”

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Why does the New York Times reporter feel a need to work “Stop the Steal”, without scare quotes, into every one of her tweets?

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Life resembles Transmetropolitan more and more each day.

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It amazes me that anything up to that point, all those insidious acts, were perfectly fine.

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I don’t see the part where they have a plan for Georgia telling them to screw themselves with a garden auger.

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Man, remember when Hillary and Obama did this in 2016 and Republicans were all, like, “naw, that’s cool, perfectly normal.”

ETA: /s

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That’s a really good question.

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Sincerely asking, did what, exactly?

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Edited it for clarity.

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It’s unclear to me: how would this plot change the election results?

What was the plan (other than ousting the acting AG)? I really don’t understand how the DoJ has the power to force state lawmakers to overturn the results. Can anybody explain, please?

All I can find in the article is that Clark wrote a letter for Georgia lawmakers falsely claiming that the DoJ was investigating election fraud (a letter that acting AG Rosen refused to send). I do not see how such a letter could “force” those lawmakers to overturn the result. What is the Times talking about when they say “wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results”?

Like, I’m pretty sure the department doesn’t have that power: a letter cannot force the state to change results…so why did the Times write that?

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I’m old enough to remember George W. Bush doing it, and that was the response.

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i mean i guess nobody can force anybody to do anything, right?

the point with all this stuff was to put pressure on georgia’s politicians ( and people in other states too. ) just like it was stopped by a unanimous sound of “we’ll quit” , it’s entirely possible that with a unanimous call to steal the vote the vote would have been stolen.

just like with the insurrection and the vote in congress - it could have worked if enough people were willing to go along

( edit: we are all very lucky that even trump’s friends hate him so much )

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The article has much more than that. Trump was planning to fire off a barrage of claims through the AG, directed at Georgia officials, Dominion and Congress itself, in an attempt to cause enough doubt and a climate of threats that delaying certification would be a logical next move by a growing coalition of Republicans. Fortunately, the Georgia phone call was recorded and released, so that the world could see the immense pressure being applied to twist the truth and overturn the election.

That’s all Trump was doing. Everyone was wondering, oh, he isn’t doing the job. Of course. He had no time for being prez. He was spending every waking moment on the phone with anyone he could get in AZ, PA, GA, etc., haranguing them into doing his bidding. “Finding votes.” Sheesh.

Democracy didn’t break, this time… But jeez, that was way too close. All it will take is a smarter crook to come in and figure out how to start decertifying states’ electors and the USA as we know it is gone.

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Ok, so the Times use of “force” was figurative? I guess it could be…it reads to me like they mean it literally though—I was interpreting it to mean that there was a plan to use the DoJ to exploit some legal power to cause the state to overturn results.

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I don’t know how many times I heard “Well if they do convict Trump (after impeachment) we would be stuck with Pence and that could be worse”. Now Pence is garbage for sure but it is clear he wouldn’t have attempted to foment sedition. I mean it’s mind boggling almost as mind boggling as the folks that think Biden is indistinguishable from Trump. Politics is so ridiculously polarized that so many people have lost all sense of perspective.

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On the recorded phone call we can hear Trump threatening the Ga. secretary of state with legal consequences if he didn’t switch Georgia’s votes to Trump somehow

Having the Justice Department charge the secretary with federal crimes was the plan, but they never got an AG in place who would do it

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Ah, that makes sense.

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I am really sick of Twitter abbreviations and lack of punctuation conveying a shitty, wrong meaning. This in particular is a good case. Right away I noted the lack of quotes around “stop the steal” as if it’s a legitimate thing.

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