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Judd Legum Profile picture
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7 Jan, 8 tweets, 4 min read
1. Romney has gotten a lot of praise for saying the right things yesterday, and I get it.

But I also think its important to take a broader perspective and understand Romney's role is creating the conditions the resulted in yesterday's riot.

Follow along if interested.
2. The key moment came about 9 years ago, when Romney had just clinched the nomination, making him the most powerful person in GOP politics

Trump, meanwhile, was getting attention for pushing the racist conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the US

popular.info/p/the-chickens…
3. So what did Romney do? He traveled to Trump's Vegas hotel to kiss Trump's ring and get his endorsement.

This event transformed Trump from a side show to a GOP power player.

And it established that conspiracy was acceptable in high-level GOP politics

popular.info/p/the-chickens…
4. The optics of this pic are key. ROMNEY is the nominee but he's traveling to TRUMP.

There is no Romney branding. It's all designed to promote TRUMP's hotel

This was the start of tolerating Trump's delusions, racism and self-dealing for political gain

popular.info/p/the-chickens…
5. Romney later reversed course and voted to impeach Trump last year. But hundreds of Republicans followed his lead and embraced Trump.

We saw it recently in Georgia where two Wall Street Republicans, Perdue and Loeffler, decided to become MAGA-heads.

popular.info/p/the-chickens…
6. Engaging in delusional conspiracies did not cost any of these Republicans support from corporate America

After Loeffler and Perdue validated Trump's fraud claims, they received large contributions from corporations like @Ford, @Verizon, & @Microsoft

popular.info/p/the-chickens…
7. After yesterday's violence & attempted coup, corporate America faces a decision. Will it continue to support GOPers who embrace conspiracy theories for political gain? Or will they finally draw the line

So far there are lots of words and little action

popular.info/p/the-chickens…
8. Yesterday was an inflection point. I will continue tracking this story and figure out who is making changes and who is going back to business as usual.

Sign up for my newsletter for updates and more accountability journalism.

popular.info/subscribe

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More from @JuddLegum

Judd Legum Profile picture
6 Jan
1. The National Association of Manufacturers (@ShopFloorNAM) released a stunning -- yet justified statement -- condemning not only Trump but all the politicians that are enabling him.

This is an organization that represents companies like @exxonmobil, @pfizer, and @goodyear
@ShopFloorNAM @exxonmobil @pfizer @goodyear 2. "Throughout this whole disgusting episode, Trump has been cheered on by members of his own party, adding fuel to the distrust that has enflamed violent anger. This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous."
3. "This is sedition and should be treated as such. The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy."
Read 5 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
6 Jan
1. Today, 130+ GOP members of Congress will vote to ignore millions of voters and try to install Trump for a second term.

We reviewed thousands of FEC records to find the top corporate donors to this group.

Follow along if interested.

popular.info/p/20-corporati…
2. Top corporate donors to 138 Republican members of Congress voting to subvert democracy:

@ATT ($2M, 130 members)
@Comcast ($1.7M, 126 members)
@UPS ($1.5M, 121 members)
@Deloitte ($1.3M, 90 members)
@EY_US ($1.2M, 79 members)
@PwC (890K, 71 members)

popular.info/p/20-corporati…
3. Top corporate donors to 138 Republican members of Congress voting to subvert democracy (con't):

@UnitedHealthGrp (749K, 73 members)
@Delta (710K, 86 members)
@KPMG (693K, 67 members)
@Walmart (679K, 111 members)
@Pfizer (610K, 74 members)

popular.info/p/20-corporati…
Read 16 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
5 Jan
I'd like to personally thank President Trump for sending hoards of his mask-less, delusional supporters to my neighborhood in the middle of the pandemic.
It’s seems like a fun group of people
I've watched these MAGA rallies progress since election day. We started out with about 25% of the people wearing masks. We are now at 0%.
Read 4 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
5 Jan
1. Was Trump's call to Raffensberger criminal?

I took a look at potential federal and state statutes that could be used to charge Trump.

A successful prosecution would be difficult but not necessarily impossible.

Follow along if interested.

popular.info/p/trumps-call-…
2. The basic fact pattern establishes both a federal and state crime.

It is not legal for Trump to call Georgia's Secretary of State and ask him to find 11,780 votes that do not exist.

And that's exactly what Trump did.

But Trump does have a defense.

popular.info/p/trumps-call-…
3. Both federal and state law require the solicitation of fraud to be intentional.

Trump's lawyers could argue that Trump BELIEVED there were 11,780 votes so he wasn't, in his mind, soliciting fraud

Trump's best defense is his own delusional thinking

popular.info/p/trumps-call-…
Read 5 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
4 Jan
1. A Facebook ad from American Crossroads, a GOP Super PAC, falsely attacked Warnock

Facebook found it violated its rules and took it down

Then Facebook allowed American Crossroads to republish it 5 times.

Why?

Facebook won't say

But I kept digging

popular.info/p/facebook-fai…
2. I obtained internal Facebook communications about the ads

On 12/24, Facebook exec Rod Leathern asked if Facebook should take action against American Crossroads "for attempting to circumvent our ads policies by repeatedly posting the same content?"

popular.info/p/facebook-fai…
3. This is a very strange message because Leathern (who left Facebook on 12/30) "led the product team for Business Integrity at Facebook" and was responsible for "enforc[ing] ads and business policies across Facebook."

It means there is no policy.

popular.info/p/facebook-fai…
Read 9 tweets
Judd Legum Profile picture
3 Jan
1. Facebook has AGAIN allowed GOP Super PAC American Crossroads to run an ad with a false attack on Raphael Warnock.

Facebook has taken down the same American Crossroads ad FIVE OTHER TIMES since December 17 -- 12/18, 12/20, 12/24, 12/31, 1/2.

Now it's back for a SIXTH time.
2. This ad is brutally dishonest and I'll just link to my thread from yesterday explaining why.

3. The big question is WHY Facebook can't detect and block these ads (which they acknowledge violate its policies) and WHY Facebook won't penalize American Crossroads despite its purposeful efforts to evade Facebook rules

I should have answers soon

popular.info/subscribe
Read 5 tweets

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