Are we really supposed to believe, given the level of organization evident across the country by Trump extremists, that US security services were unprepared for what happened in Washington/other capitols on Jan 6th?
DHS Sec out of the country, DC Nat’l Guard held back....
We know the acting AG is very focused on the concept of sedition and insurrection.
Are we going to see a DOJ led task force established today to ID, pursue and prosecute the criminals who broke into the Capitol? wsj.com/articles/top-j…
2 men who made it in the Senate chamber yesterday had zip ties, meaning they were planning on taking hostages. Like in MI wit Gov. Whitmer.
Huge questions now about what the attack/breach means for the security of Congress's computer systems.....this is a huge and debilitating nightmare of a Congress already under operational strain due to COVID. washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/…
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Lots of big challenges for Biden-Harris and the new Congress to tackle in coming months.
But one of their biggest challenges will be to counter, effectively, a domestic right wing extremist movement that had a huge win this week, and will be emboldened.
When the new team gets in there and starts sharing details on just how much Trump coddled, encouraged, stoked, covered up for domestic extremists it will become a deeply dark chapter in our history.
A reminder Trump pardoned domestic terrorists (2/x):
On Jan 6th Trump extremists not only broke into the Capitol while the VP was there/both Houses in session, but appeared in capitols in at least 20 states.
Not plausible FBI/DHS didn't understand enormity of what was happening, threat level. (1/x)
DOJ, DOD heads active enforcers of "violent left wing" fictions of the summer/fall, very clued into domestic threat environment.
DHS Acting Sec Wolf OUT OF THE COUNTRY for a domestic event of this magnitude. (2/x)
Just not possible Trump's DHS/FBI didn't know the possibility of an attack on the Congress yesterday. It's not possible. They choose to allow Congress and the VP to be exposed; it was by design. There is no other explanation here. (3/x)
And today what's left of the GOP is going to beclown themselves, further reinforcing the righteousness of the rejection of Trump's politics we've seen.
Opening up of the New South/Hispanic SW by Dems in recent years - around new electorates - has allowed Democrats to strategically gain a degree of political power to match their ongoing popular vote advantage.
Precedent here of sending criminal referrals to FBI/DOJ is important. It's a vital tool at Congress' disposal that may need to get employed a great deal over next few yrs as we learn more about the misdeeds of the Trump era.
There are at least three live criminal investigations into Trump which can begin the afternoon of Jan 20th - the Stormy affair, CIA referral from Ukraine fiasco, and now Georgia.
Repeated pattern makes prosecution more likely.
Documenting potential crimes by Trump, his family and his staff helps create a record for any future prosecution or court activity. The more evidence of wrongdoing the more likely prosecution and conviction are.
President pressuring the GA Sec of State to cheat on his behalf. Yesterday. It was recorded.
Why one wonders is the President so desperate to stay in office? I don't believe this is just abt his ego - he seems genuinely worried abt what will happen if he loses....jail? Novichok?
The US needs an urgent, public conversation on how best to speed up our vaccination regime. There is an alarming lack of urgency to the current efforts, and we can't expect the Biden team to be able to make huge changes right away. Offer some initial thoughts in a thread below...
And it needs to be a national project, all of us working together, and not something left to the states. Huge opportunity for the Biden team to create a sense of common purpose in our collective defeat of the virus - not something he did, but something we all did together.
Here's a smart doc making the case for rethinking our current strategy
Current leisurely Trump approach did not take into account 1) dramatic spread in recent weeks 2) emergence of the variant. We have to mass vaccinate now as way to slow spread/variant.