Another spineless Republican refuses to condemn the dangerous game Trump and his allies are playing. Earlier this week, convicted felon Michael Flynn made an appearance on Newsmax and pushed for Trump to seize voting machines and impose Martial law for an election do-over. Axios just reported that Rudy Giuliani actually called Ken Cuccinelli and tried to get him to follow through on Flynn's lawless suggestion.
And we have The New York Times reporting this Friday that Trump brought Flynn, Sidney Powell and Giuliani into the Oval Office to float a coup plan as well:
At the White House on Friday, President Trump held what may have been his most deranged meeting yet. In it, the president raged at his loyalists for betraying him, and discussed taking extralegal measures to overturn the election.
The meeting, first reported by the New York Times, included lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, convicted felon Michael Flynn, and Rudy Giuliani. One plan floated at the meeting was for Trump to appoint Powell as a “special counsel” overseeing allegations of voter fraud. Powell’s voter fraud claims are so fantastical she has been mocked even by other far-right legal conspiracy theorists. Andrew McCarthy, a former birther and author of one book titled How Obama Embraces Islam’s Sharia Agenda and another calling for his impeachment on multiple counts, has described Powell’s vote-fraud claims as “loopy.”
Trump also reportedly brought up Flynn’s proposal, which he has expounded on cable news, to impose martial law and direct the military to hold a new election. “At one point in the meeting on Friday, Mr. Trump asked about that idea,” reports the Times.
Political scientists have debated whether it is accurate to describe Trump’s efforts to overturn the election as a “coup,” an “autogolpe,” or neither. Trump’s interest in deploying the military to cancel an election he clearly lost certainly seems to resolve that debate, at least in terms of his intent.
Utah GOP Rep. John Curtis made an appearance on CNN this Saturday and was asked about the reporting from The New York Times and basically feigned ignorance about what occurred in the meeting and did his best to downplay just how dangerous this is. Hey, Trump was only discussing a military coup and didn't actually follow through on it, so what's the big deal? Shameful is the nicest thing you can say about this exchange:
CUTIS: Well, let me just tell you, I've been in Congress for three years and for three years I keep hearing all these worst-case scenarios. We have to remember, it was a conversation -- not a revolution. There are far more important things in front of us and I think we need to move on and tackle them.
GOLODRYGA: But that's all you have to say to that? I mean, I understand there are far more important issues. We had you on to talk about COVID and we will in a second, but we can't just grow numb to incidents that would happen in a third world country and we would have a State Department that would be alarmed about hearing these types of reports.
CURTIS: Listen, you're talking about a conversation that reportedly took place. We don't know anything about the details and you just can't get me all riled-up about that.
GOLODRYGA: Does it bother you?
CURTIS: It bothers me that it's such a big deal to so many people who know nothing about the facts, and know nothing about the details. Let's get some facts in front of us and then we can have that conversation.
h/t Raw Story
