I Lived Through A Stupid Coup. America Is Having One Now

January 8, 2021 3:11 PM

Your Republicans have set forces into play they cannot possibly understand and certainly cannot control. The tragic thing which you do not understand — which you cannot understand — is that you’ve already lost. You cannot know exactly what — that’s the nature of chaos — but know this. You will lose more than you can bear.
posted by mecran01 (5 comments total)

Good reason for dealing very strictly with the authors and executants of the failed coup, starting at the top.
posted by homerica at 3:31 PM on January 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

This was written in November, so it feels prescient. And scary.
posted by mecran01 at 3:34 PM on January 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

This guy has a history of glorying in, "Look, you're the shithole country now!" He doesn't seem to post anything useful from his experiences, just that the US is doomed and we're all bad. I don't see the point in reading more of his articles. (I did RTFA though).
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:36 PM on January 8, 2021 [2 favorites]

A Joplin businessman who helped bankroll Sen. Josh Hawley’s first campaign denounced him on Thursday as a “political opportunist” who used “irresponsible, inflammatory, and dangerous tactics” to incite the rioting that took over the U.S. Capitol Building.
In a statement late Thursday, David Humphreys, president and CEO of Tamko Building Products, added his voice to a growing chorus of Republicans angry at Hawley for leading a challenge to the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Humphreys called on the U.S. Senate to censure Hawley “for provoking yesterday’s riots in our nation’s capital.”
The statement to The Missouri Independent came a few hours after Hawley’s political mentor, former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth, said in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that supporting Hawley was “the worst mistake I ever made in my life.”
It also came on the same day that the publisher Simon & Schuster canceled a contract with Hawley for a book it had expected to release in June.
David Humphreys personally donated $2.875 million to Hawley. He would like his money back.
Alas, that contribution was worse than wasted.
“Hawley should be censured by his Senate colleagues for his actions which have undermined a peaceful transition of power and for provoking yesterday’s riots in our nation’s capital. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to protect our country and its Constitutional underpinnings,” said Humphreys.

posted by robbyrobs at 3:41 PM on January 8, 2021 [1 favorite]

From TFA: Think about it. Your system gives the loser all the power and guns for two whole months. Almost every modern democracy changes power the next day, to avoid the very situation you’re in.

I've been wondering about this myself. Why does there need to be such a long transition period? Like I guess you've thrown in the whole Electoral College as a way to turn your popular vote for a President into something more like the vote for a party and Prime Minister in other countries but can't that just be a mechanical process once the actual presidential voting is done? None of this waiting for the States to deliberate on their Electors and people wondering if there will be a 'faithless' one. None of the need for congress to then certify the votes of the Electors. You won California? You got 55 "votes". Done.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 3:46 PM on January 8, 2021 [3 favorites]