How early did Trump lay plans to steal the election? In Roger Stone's new footage from Nov 1, 2020, he advises "claim victory" no matter what the vote. But the groundwork was laid even earlier. In Sep. 2020, Trump and others prepped to claim that absentee ballots were frauds. 1/
September 2020 is full of signs of prepping to claim or seize victory (marked in yellow here.) First, organizationally: On Sept. 7 Ali Alexander reboots "Stop the Steal" (Roger Stone's first version was in 2016). Jack Posobiec immediate Tweets out "#StoptheSteal2020 is coming" 2/
On Sep. 10th Roger Stone calls in to Alex Jones' InfoWars show and says outright that Donald Trump should seize power and declare martial law if he loses the election. He then makes the rounds denying that he said what everyone heard. 3/
On Sep. 21, Trump Tweets out "The radical left are laying the groundwork to steal the 2020 Election.." w/ an attached video prepping doubt about absentee ballots: "They are planting stories that President Trump will have a landslide lead on election night - but will lose.." 4/
The ominous implication of that ad was immediately flagged by Time reporter Vera Bergengruen, who noted even earlier "Defend Your Ballot" statements in August. But by Sep 2020, it was a full-on campaign. 5/
On Sep 23, Trump refused to commit to the peaceful transfer of power: "We're going to have to see what happens". That same week, in a presidential debate, he told the Proud Boys "stand back and stand by". The Capitol attack was foretold for months. 6/
The final green-lighting of the Capitol attack didn't happen til late, between midnight & 1:42 AM on Dec. 19th. Many competing plans were floating around. But groundwork was laid early, and militias were talking. Even Tim Pool got word of something. 7/ thedailybeast.com/how-coward-and…
Pool: "I’ve had messages from people saying that they’ve already got plans to rush to D.C. as soon as Nov. 3 goes chaotic” “The right-wing militias, the Oath Keepers, the 3 Percenters, and just the Proud Boys and Trump supporters, they are going to rush full-speed to D.C..." 8/
In Sept. 2020 there wasn't yet consensus on Jan 6, and no one was in charge - the attack was a vague idea, not a concrete plan. But people were talking and logistics were being laid. The poll for Trump were already bad, and backup plans were being laid. 9/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
One other important thing to notice about Sep. 2020: the day before Trump sends out his ad prepping an election fraud claim, he says he'll form a '1776 Commission' on patriotic education. Then actually forms it on Dec 18th, just before his J6 decision. 10/ nbcnews.com/politics/white…
The 1776 Commission was announced in Sep. just as election-stealing plans ramped up. It's formed the day the attack decision was made. It doesn't meet til Jan 5. At that point there's only two weeks to inauguration. The committee can only be effective if Trump got a 2nd term. 11/
That "1776 Commission" hangs over the Capitol attack. At every critical date, Trump takes time to move that Commission forward - giving those on it an investment in his 2nd term. When he didn't get one, they rushed out a hasty report & disbanded... 12/ trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/upl…
.. but the 1776 Commission didn't just die. Chair Larry Arnn: ` has described education as a "weapon" in the conservative war to reclaim America' (Salon). His `1776 Curriculum' may be coming soon to your schools, even without a presidential mandate. 13/ salon.com/2022/03/15/how…
Any campaign needs supporters. No one can overthrow the US Constitution without powerful people letting it happen. We see plans to seize power talked about early. And Trump's maneuvering before the Capitol attack included doing favors for those whose support he would need. 14/
The group behind the Capitol attack is small; connections are everywhere. Arnn is part of that group. He used to head the Claremont Institute, home to John Eastman. Now leads Hillsdale College in MI, ground central for the Christian right, and the alma mater of Erik Prince. 15/
Many want to depose Ginni Thomas, who lurched from one cult to another. But the main favor Ginni got in the months before the Capitol attack was people being polite about her crazy texts. Life is "Quid pro quo" - look for the quid to find the quo. 16/
Adding the correct link to an article: Salon did a 3-part series on Arnn and Hillsdale; here's the one that describes the 1776 Curriculum and its relationship to the 1776 Commission, so oddly timed around the planning for the Jan 6 Capitol attack. 17/ salon.com/2022/03/16/com…
And a link to reporting by Phil Williams in TN, where the fight over the 1776 Curriculum is ongoing, for 50 schools. Arnn called education a 'weapon'. The attack on US institutions is not over - the battle for education in America is happening now. 18/
Yes, the NYT is shameful for sourcing an anti-Mamdani article from notorious white supremacist Jordan Lasker. But it's worse. Lasker, who they call an "academic", is a student whose only paper of note is INFAMOUS for unethical data use that got his tenured co-author fired. 1/
Who is the NYT's "academic" source? Lasker is or was a PhD student at Texas Tech, but his only paper of note is earlier, from 2019: "Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability", whose misuse of data triggered a major investigation and got Cleveland State Prof. Bryan Pesta fired. 2/
The Chronicle of Higher Ed wrote about the scandal. It wasn't just that the article was "racist pseudoscience". It was that the authors misused data from the NIH and lied on their data application - filed by Bryan Pesta. A flagrant ethics violation. 3/ archive.is/KwbGy
Reminder: Elon Musk, whose Starship just blew up on the test stand (with its extra fuel tanks nearby), was allowed for THIRTY YEARS to lie about his training in science. He started lying in 1995, kept lying - and suffered no consequences. But physics itself has consequences. 1/
Just listen to the man's nonsense about how he is shaped by physics and consider: the press allowed him to bullshit like this for 30 YEARS. Of course he got convinced he can just make up his own reality. If anyone died in the Starship explosion tonight, blame the press too. 2/
In 2022 I did a 69-Tweet thread on Elon's fake AstroBoy Genius image, hoping to ward off what was coming: Elon helping to overthrow democracy. What you saw on the launchpad tonight, that's what he's doing now to US science, to our country: exploding it. 3/
Sure, it's funny that Fox News is now using "86" in talking about a fired reporter, when less than a month ago they demanded the FBI investigate "86" as a death threat. But the joke is on us. Performative outrage over bullshit is a test of YOU, to see if you'll accept it. 1/
You can't criticize Fox's words as hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is when someone committed to the truth is inconsistent. Fox and others are post-truth: they're just making noises to see if they can get you to react. They're gaming you. 2/
All of us have a psychological need for rationality. We need to feel that words have meaning, that people mean what they say. We do understand that people lie: a lie is a meaningful but false statement, to deceive. But what Fox is doing here is worse, and harder to cope with. 3/
ABC's explanation of why they suspended correspondent Terry Moran misuses the word "objective". Moran said Stephen Miller was a "world-class hater" and "his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment". Those are objectively true statements. Miller's hatred is deeply documented. 1/
Moran ascribed to Miller an emotion: "hatred". A decade of reporting has documented, objectively, that Miller hates. In 2018, LA Mag interviewed his high school classmates and reported their stories of how Miller hated minorities. "Hate" is their word. 2/ lamag.com/politics/steph…
Terry Moran also said that for Stephen Miller, "hatred is his spiritual nourishment". That's colorful language, but also documented. Here's a high school classmate of Miller's with a story of Miller saying awful, provocative things to immigrants: "he wanted to be hated". 3/
Reminder: Trump has tried this before. It's part of his dream of control, to send in the National Guard against the will of a state or mayor. On May 29, 2020, he Tweeted the threat: "Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.." 1/
Trump has also overtly sought a Secretary of Defense willing to order the National Guard to shoot at protestors. In 2020 he fired Mark Esper and put in Chris Miller for that reason. Pete Hegseth may face a terrible test now. 2/
On Jan 6, the National Guard arrived late likely because sane heads in the Pentagon delayed them til local police had regained control, out of fear of what Trump might order. There are fewer sane heads now. Hegseth is already failing his test. 3/
Howard Lutnick, our Sec. of Commerce, shows a disconnect from material reality that will make Americans die. A weather forecast cannot be "automated" or MADE AT ALL without data. And Trump is cutting the satellites and weather stations that provide that data. 1/
Lutnick, who is in charge of NOAA and its National Weather Service, seem to think that if you say "web" and "cloud" and "computer" and "AI" then by some magic knowledge appears. But weather forecasts depend on MEASUREMENTS. Which Lutnick is cutting. 2/ kcci.com/article/propos…
The proposed NOAA budget cuts both current satellite operations and planned future satellites meant to make better predictions. Lutnick's testimony suggests: people have forgotten that not everything is a simulation, that reality exists (and bites). 3/ spacenews.com/omb-suggests-n…