Inside the War Between Trump and His Generals
Susan B. Glasser and Peter Baker in The New Yorker.
“They shook the very Republic to the core,” Milley would eventually reflect. “Can you imagine what a group of people who are much more capable could have done?”
The only thing that stopped the immorality of the Trump Administration and its failed coup was its own incompetence — and a few good men and women.
Justice Dept. investigating Trump’s actions in Jan. 6 criminal probe
Carol D. Leonnig, Devlin Barrett, Josh Dawsey and Spencer S. Hsu for The Washington Post:
The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Finally.
Cassidy Hutchinson Held Their Manhoods Cheap
Tim Miller for The Bulwark:
This is why everyone I interviewed for my book was so filled with hatred for the Never Trumpers, the media, and the liberals in their life. It’s because they knew we were right. And were unwilling to do anything about it. So rather than deal with their own culpability and take responsibility for themselves, they demonized those of us who spoke the truth. Because every time one of us said what they knew, out loud, it was an implicit indictment of their character.
People who identify as LGBTQIA+ didn’t choose to be that way. The internet is full of stories from queer and transgendered individuals where they detail their personal struggles with identity. You can’t deny who you are, because that is not a choice.
Unlike your sexual orientation or gender identity, religion is a choice. You may have been born into a faith, but you choose to stay. If you are an independent adult, there is nothing requiring you to attend church on Sunday, or go to the synagogue on Saturday, or to fast during Ramadan. You don’t have to practice the religious beliefs of your parents. You choose to.
You also choose how you treat those around you. If you deny someone medical service – or a cake! – because of your ‘religious beliefs’, you are choosing to be a horrible human being.
The Trump administration revoking rules that prohibited hospitals, insurance companies, and medical practitioners from discriminating against individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ isn’t protecting religious freedom. And calling the decision cruel is inadequate.
It’s evil.
Dalton Bennett, Sarah Cahlan, Aaron C. Davis, and Joyce Lee for The Washington Post:
Drawing on footage captured from dozens of cameras, as well as police radio communications and other records, The Washington Post reconstructed the events of this latest remarkable hour of Trump’s presidency, including of the roles of the agencies involved and the tactics and weaponry they used.
“To Serve and Protect.”
Just another one of Donald Trump’s ‘very fine people.’
In April 1989, a student protest calling for freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and democratic reforms started in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. At its height, it’s estimated that 1 million people were participating in the protest.
The protests continued for over a month. Then, on June 1st, the Chinese government labeled them terrorists. On June 3rd, the People’s Liberation Army invaded Beijing.
On this date, thirty-one years ago, in an iconic act of non-violent protest, a single man stopped a convoy of tanks by simply standing in their way.
Photo by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press.
Looking at the protests in China in 1989 and at the protests in America today, we need to remember the words of one Donald Trump:
“When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”
Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are enshrined in our Constitution. Democracy — “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people” — is at the very core of the American identity. The people at Tiananmen Square were protesting in the hope that those same ideals could take hold in China, and the man currently occupying the White House (or, more accurately, hiding in the White House) commended the Chinese government for using ‘strength’ to end the protests.
This year, there is no ‘protest vote.’ There is no ‘both sides do it.’
You are either for America or you’re for Trump. There is no middle ground.
Jim Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution
Jim Mattis — retired Marine General and Trump’s first Secretary of Defense — in The Atlantic:
Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that "The Nazi slogan for destroying us…was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis—confident that we are better than our politics.
Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.
I would not consider myself a Jim Mattis fan, but this needs to be read by all.
For the record: I fully support building a wall.
A wall is a tried and true method of restricting the flow of people. But I think we need to take a lesson from history to make sure that this wall is impervious.
There is an old infantry tactic where they’d ‘form square’ — which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. The infantrymen would stand and form a hollow square with lines of soldiers facing out in each direction. This would enable them to withstand a cavalry attack on all sides. Our wall must do the same and ‘form square’.
Then, on each corner of the wall, we should put a guard outpost. In each outpost, armed guards will make sure that no one gets over the wall.
Once the wall is complete, we need to build a secure facility within. Windows in this facility will utilize artistically designed steel slats, or bars, to ensure that no one can breach the security of this facility, while still enabling the tenants to see outside.
And inside this facility we can place Donald Trump and all the key members of his totally legit businesses and his Collusion-Free Campaign (™ Vladimir Putin 2016) to ensure that they stay safe!
Had it happened elsewhere in the world, the response would be unanimous. We would decry the perpetrators, call them criminals, and demand action.
It is disturbing that such an atrocity is occurring on our southern border, and alarming that some would speak up to defend it.
Our history as a nation isn’t perfect. We’ve struggled to uphold one of our founding principals that all are created equal, and we sometimes have lapsed in providing due process of law. We’ve told ourselves that these troubles lie in our past, but here they are, a terror in the present.
He may proclaim love for the flag, but Trump’s continued actions betray the ideas, hopes, and dreams of the republic for which it stands.
After Trump tweets threat to free press, FCC’s GOP commissioners remain silent
Former FCC Commissioner Tom Wheeler, on the silence of the Republican commissioners regarding Trump's unconstitutional threat to 'revoke' NBC's license (which, by the way, isn't actually possible, they'd have to revoke the licenses of all NBC affiliates):
There is nothing nuanced here. The suggestion that the government, through its broadcast regulator, should act to suppress free speech and freedom of the press guaranteed by the First Amendment shows a lack of respect for basic constitutional principles. The press can be uncomfortable (believe me, I know), but the First Amendment requirements that government officials respect press freedom whether they like the coverage or not. That’s not news, that’s the Constitution.
The president may decide he can walk away from his oath of office, but the FCC commissioners have also sworn to uphold the Constitution. Despite this, they are AWOL. Why the silence from the Republicans at the FCC? The two Democratic commissioners, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, immediately spoke up on this constitutional affront.
And:
By their inaction, the Republican FCC commissioners have already violated their oath to uphold the Constitution. That sacred document is clear: The government is not to suppress ideas and opinion. There is no ambiguity in the First Amendment.
The commissioners owe it to the American public and the Constitution they swore to uphold to issue an immediate and clear statement that speech is a protected right, and that it has no role in the matter of broadcast licenses.
Kneeling for Life and Liberty Is Patriotic
Conor Friedersdorf for The Atlantic:
These original patriots risked death and pledged their sacred honor to those truths, for which they are properly honored, even in spite of their serious failures. Now as then, allegiance to those Founding principles is what defines a patriotic American, not whether he or she stands or kneels while an anthem about the flag is performed.
Trump is not a patriot. He is a self-aggrandizing narcissist with racist and fascist sympathies who used race-batiing and fear-mongering to further his own fortunes. He does not care about America, or it's dream. He doesn't care about its people, just himself and select progeny. The real patriots stand—or kneel—in opposition to Trump.
Donald Trump looked at the eclipse without glasses
Kelly Swanson for Vox:
President Donald Trump ignored the advice of scientists and public health officials around the country — not to mention his own daughter — and looked at the sun without special protective glasses during Monday’s solar eclipse.
Too bad the Secret Service can't protect Trump from himself. Or the sun...
