Reports are coming out of the 12th Congressional District of Georgia that Dominion Machines are not working in certain Republican Strongholds for over an hour. Ballots are being left in lock boxes, hopefully they count them. Thank you Congressman @RickAllen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2021

Ben Jacobs: “The path to successfully contesting election results required a number of contingencies to come into place in several states. It hasn’t happened in a single one. State election officials have found consistent Biden victories in contested states and, as a result, state legislatures have declined to send competing slates of electors. However, Trump has been undeterred by his legal team’s constant failures in courts of law (as well as frequent humiliations in the court of public opinion). At this point, the strategy of his legal team is far more Jim Jones than James Baker.”

“But this has long left the realm of a legal fight. Instead, it’s a political battle governed by two facts. Donald Trump refuses to acknowledge that he has lost the election, and he has a sky-high approval rating with Republican voters. This means many Republican elected officials have either fully drunk the Kool-Aid (no one has ever attributed Machiavellian motives to Texas congressman Louie Gohmert, who filed a failed lawsuit against Mike Pence last week to force him to declare Trump the victor on Wednesday) or just believe that their prospects for future electoral success rely on staying in Trump’s good graces. After all, gerrymandering in the House has meant most members are far more vulnerable in a primary than a general election. Those who publicly acknowledge Biden’s victory risk ending up in Trump’s Twitter crosshairs and potentially seeing some of the hundreds of millions that Trump has raised since November for his personal PAC against them.”

https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1346492582055059456

“President Donald Trump failed again to invalidate his election loss in Georgia and allow the state’s Republican-led legislature to declare him the winner – his latest courtroom defeat in a quixotic effort to remain in office despite losing the Nov. 3 vote. U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen in Atlanta on Tuesday ruled that Georgia’s certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory was carried out validly under state law, and that the court can’t tell Congress which Electoral College votes it can count, a person familiar with the matter said.”

“The ruling came in a Dec. 31 lawsuit filed by Trump that rehashed claims of voter fraud previously made by his campaign and allies in dozens of other cases that were universally rejected by courts. The latest suit came just days before Trump held a controversial call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a defendant in the case, asking him to “find” just enough votes to overturn Biden’s win. The hearing was held via videoconference for the lawyers and parties, but the public wasn’t permitted to call in after Trump’s lawyer declined to allow such access. The person familiar with the hearing, who asked not to be identified, provided details of the proceeding. Cohen’s clerk confirmed Trump’s motion was denied and said a written order would be issued later today. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Raffensperger, both Republicans, told the judge in a court filing Monday evening that Trump’s demands were ‘absurd,’ and that his lawsuit was the result of a ‘manufactured crisis.'” – Bloomberg.

Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz will object to the electors assigned by the state of Arizona to the Electoral College during Wednesday’s Congressional collection of votes, the Washington Post reports.

Cruz will join GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, who will protest the electors from Pennsylvania.  Kelly Loeffler, the Republican candidate for one of the two Senate seats from Georgia, said she will object to the electors from her home state if she should win the runoff.

The move by Cruz will challenge the alphabetically-first so-called “battleground” state President-elect Joe Biden won in the November election.  Cruz wants to push for an “electoral commission” to investigate claimed issues of fraud, for which Republicans have yet to produce any solid evidence, and it has little to do with what happened in Arizona itself.

The challenges to Electoral College voters will go nowhere because the House, with a Democratic majority, will not take up any of the objections.

Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic: “Since Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016, Americans have heard a lot of discussion about what exactly Trumpism is. Is it the anti-foreign-wars, anti-immigration, anti–Wall Street economic populism Trump campaigned on? Is it the nativist ‘national conservatism’ some enthusiasts invented, post hoc, to rationalize his election? Does it imply a ‘draining of the swamp,’ a move to rid the capital of lobbyists and sycophants? Had it been any of these things, Trumpism might have presented a problem for small-government libertarian Republicans, with their tight network of funders and their close ties to business. It might have been anathema to Democrats and progressives. It would not, however, necessarily have presented a problem for democracy, the American political system, or the rule of law.”

“As it turned out, Trumpism has nothing to do with economics, nothing to do with foreign policy, nothing to do with lobbyists or the business of government at all. The true nature of Trump’s ‘ideology’ lies elsewhere: in the construction of alternative realities that make him an eternal winner, even in situations where, objectively speaking, he has lost. His slogan isn’t ‘America First,’ in other words, but ‘Trump first, always and above all else.’”

The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2021

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley complained on Twitter that “Antifa scumbags” attacked his house in Washington, DC Monday night, claiming that while he was in Missouri, his wife and child were in the house as protesters vandalized the home and terrorized his family.

The problem with the claim is that video of the protest, by the group ShutDownDC, shows no such activity.

“Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence,” Hawley tweeted.

“Iowa Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Senate president pro tempore, says he and not Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the certification of Electoral College votes, since ‘we don’t expect him to be there.’ Grassley said he will listen to debate and that ‘it would be really wrong for me to say I have my mind made up'” Roll Call reports.

UPDATE 1/5/21 11:25 AM: “Grassley’s office clarifies that he was meaning to explain what would happen if Pence had to step away during Wednesday’s proceedings to count Electoral College votes. ‘Every indication we have is that the vice president will be there'” also via Roll Call.

Pleased to announce that @KLoeffler & @sendavidperdue have just joined our great #StopTheSteal group of Senators. They will fight the ridiculous Electoral College Certification of Biden. How do you certify numbers that have now proven to be wrong and, in many cases, fraudulent!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2021

Fun fact: Perdue can’t vote to object because he’s not currently a Senator. His term expired on Sunday and he’ll only be allowed back in the building if he wins against Jon Ossoff.

“Donald Trump will not be allowed to visit Scotland to play golf during Joe Biden’s inauguration, [Scottish First Minister] Nicola Sturgeon has said. The US president, who was overwhelmingly defeated in November’s election, is reportedly considering travelling to his Turnberry golf resort to avoid Mr Biden being sworn into office” – The Independent.

Axios: “The next two days look to be the most tumultuous and telling of the wild, never-ending 2020 election. Twin runoffs in Georgia today determine control of the U.S. Senate. And perhaps half or more of the Republicans in Congress will cast an unprecedented number of votes to invalidate Biden’s clear win, as the House and Senate meet to certify the Electoral College votes.”

It’s insane and revealing that those joining the protest – more than 100 House members (and perhaps 140+), plus 13 senators – could amount to more than half of Capitol Hill’s Republicans. This shows the political strength could maintain in exile, tormenting Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other establishment Republicans. The Republican lawmakers won’t change the outcome, but they’ll drag out what’s usually a low-drama process. At a rally in Georgia last night for the GOP Senate candidates, Trump continued his baseless claim that he won the state: ‘Big difference between losing and winning and having it stolen … We win every state, and they’re gonna have this guy be president?’ Trump tried to publicly pressure Vice President Pence, who’ll preside over tomorrow’s proceedings: ‘I hope Mike Pence comes through for us … He’s a great guy. ‘Course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.’ He also denounced ‘your incompetent governor’ and ‘your crazy secretary of state’ – both Republicans – as he plugged Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.”

Meanwhile, McSally.senate.gov doesn’t return anything. I guess it’s because she was booted early due to the nature of her appointment. Mark Kelly was sworn in on December 2nd, 2020.

John Solomon: “Alan Dershowitz, the lifelong liberal and Harvard law professor, says the news media took President Trump’s comments out of context during a call with Georgia elections officials and there is no crime apparent on the tape recording that created a political firestorm over the weekend. ‘I’ve been teaching criminal law for over 50 years,’ he added. ‘I went through every word of that transcript, there is no crime there, period.'”

“The 2024 Republican primary has begun – and the opening clash is over whether to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s election win. While Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are setting themselves up as the chief spokesmen for challenging certification of the Electoral College vote, aligning themselves with President Donald Trump, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse are staking out the opposite turf. Other Republicans, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and Vice President Mike Pence, are playing it safe and saying little. The debate underscores how fealty to Trump – who might run again himself in 2024 – has emerged as the defining battle line in the fight over the Republican Party’s future. While past primaries have revolved around hot-button issues like health care or immigration, the forthcoming contest is being propelled, so far, by a single question: How loyal should one be to Trump?”

“‘It very much does look like the opening salvo of a Republican presidential primary campaign, at least a very early litmus test of where potential candidates are on a very important question to Republican voters as we sit here today,’ said Lanhee Chen, a top adviser on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Cotton’s late Sunday announcement that he wouldn’t be objecting to the Electoral College came as a surprise to many in the party. The Arkansas senator has established himself as a staunch Trump ally, speaking at his convention and even running TV ads this past year bolstering the president. But Cotton argued in his statement that ‘the Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states – not Congress'” – Politico.

This is bittersweet, as it is almost certainly the last Trump rambling bullshit to a MAGA rally crowd as president clip that will ever be posted on National Zero. Special thanks to Aaron Rupar and Acyn Torabi (among others) for making these available to gank on Twitter.

The president-elect’s name has been mentioned twice in a headline on National Zero year to date 2021, both of them in the context of Trump refusing to cope with his loss – see “Tom Cotton goes full RINO loser Biden bitch libtard soy-cuck” and “Inebriate crone annoyed at widely accepted reality of Biden win“. We have to go back to December 30th with “Biden transition says OMB still pretending Trump won” and “Secret Service to change presidential detail to include agents who protected Bidens while he was Vice President“, but wait… Shit, those are still kind of about Trump.

“Bidens to appear on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest’s body possessed by the restless, angry soul of Dick Clark” was the last story here definitively about Joe Biden and his wife on their own, with zero mention of Trump. Almost six days ago, since that was last Wednesday morning – and I pretty much only published it just for a laugh headline. So really, it was fully a week ago the last time there was a Biden story here with “Wear a fucking mask you idiots, says President-elect Biden” on December 29th.

I guess in theory that’s a good thing, because now with all eyes on Trump, Georgia, and the Senate runoffs, and the shitshow that’ll be in Washington on Sunday, Biden has a lot of space to actually get work done in preparing for his administration.

With the latest obscenity lame duck president Donald Trump has thrusted onto our nation with his ongoing fight to overturn the November election and his egregiously abusive phone call to Georgia election officials, members of Congress should seriously consider impeaching Trump after the inauguration of President-elect January 20th.

Yes, it’s true:   we’ve trod unsuccessfully down this path before, but there’s still a legitimate purpose for proceeding with impeachment after Trump leaves office, and I believe it has a higher likelihood of success.

First things first:  why would you impeach a politician who’s already out of office?  (If you question the legality of such an act, I’ll let this Washington Post column respond to that.)  According to the Constitution, there are two things that can happen when an impeached person is successfully convicted.  The first is automatic:  the individual is kicked out of office.

It’s the second, however, that makes Trump’s impeachment not just prudent, but perhaps necessary.

Washington Post: “President Trump is effectively sabotaging the Republican Party on his way out of office, obsessed with overturning his election loss and nursing pangs of betrayal from allies whom he had expected to bend the instruments of democracy to his will. Trump has created a divide in his party as fundamental and impassioned as any during his four years as president, with lawmakers forced to choose between certifying the results of an election decided by their constituents or appeasing the president in an all-but-certain-to-fail crusade to keep him in power by subverting the vote. As Republican lawmakers took sides ahead of Wednesday’s joint session of Congress to certify the electoral college results, some on Monday voiced rare criticism of Trump for his attempt to pressure Georgia elections officials to change vote totals there during a Saturday phone call, a recording of which was published by The Washington Post.”

“Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican, said the call was ‘deeply troubling’ and urged all Americans to listen to the hour-long conversation, while Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) condemned it as ‘a new low in this whole futile and sorry episode.’ Even one of Trump’s most loyal defenders, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), said it was ‘not a helpful call.’ Trump signaled he had little patience for defections by members of what he dubbed the ‘Surrender Caucus.’ After Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) announced that he was not joining the band of GOP lawmakers objecting to the electoral college results, Trump attacked Cotton on Twitter and warned that voters would ‘NEVER FORGET!’ The president is trying to mobilize a show of strength that could intimidate lawmakers who certify the result, exhorting his supporters to travel to Washington for mass protests Wednesday. He is planning to speak to the crowd on the Ellipse around midday Wednesday, two officials familiar with the planning said.”