Authoritarian scumbag frightened into pretending to respect political process
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Today is the day Donald Trump became president:
President Donald Trump conceded publicly for the first time Thursday that he will not serve a second term, stopping short of congratulating President-elect Joe Biden but acknowledging a transfer of power is now underway.”A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20,” Trump said in a pre-recorded video taped at the White House. “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.”
Seamless!
Trump agreed to the statement after being advised of the dismay and disgust among many of his aides, though the person familiar said it was not the sole reason for its release.
It also came after reports that early discussions were underway about invoking the 25th Amendment and restarting impeachment proceedings.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20,” Trump said in a statement after Congress certified his loss. “I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.”
Trump is obviously frightened of even the slender prospect that Mike Pence might decide to pull the plug on his presidency. Although Pence is arguably the most craven and abject of all of the bootlickers surrounding Trump, the fact that Trump was at best indifferent to the prospect of possibly causing the murder of his vice president by unleashing a violent mob on the proceedings Pence was overseeing might conceivably cause Pence to develop a vestigial spine and the shadow of a conscience (not that this has ever been anything but a long shot bet).
Trump is also afraid of being impeached again, since all his narcissistic bluster doesn’t disguise the fact that he’s always been a rank coward. (It can’t be helping him screw his, um, courage to the sticking place that even the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page is now calling for his resignation).
President-elect Joe Biden has no appetite for opening an impeachment proceeding against Trump, people familiar with the matter said Thursday night, as he prefers to keep his focus on taking office in less than two weeks. “Impeachment would not help unify this country,” a person close to Biden said, who added that “this is a matter to be decided by the Congress.”
This is an anonymous quote of course, so it’s hard to tell exactly how accurate a reflection this actually is of Biden’s attitude toward matters. But anyone who is understandably concerned that Biden is a tired old man who doesn’t have the stomach for dealing with the actually existing Republican party can’t find it encouraging (Let’s hope the Democratic Congressional leadership feels differently — as even the source acknowledges, it’s their call).
Meanwhile, some better news:
The publisher Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that is cancelling plans to publish Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” because of the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, for which some Republicans have blamed Hawley.
“After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, DC, Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel the publication of Sen. Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book,” Simon & Schuster announced in a statement.
The publisher said it did not come to it decision lightly and said “it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints” but said Hawley’s role in objecting to the electoral results of the presidential election had crossed a line.
“We take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom,” the company said.
Hey that’s the Sacred Free Market working its magic, right? Wrong!
Hawley called the publisher’s decision “Orwellian” and accused it of trying to censor him.
“Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have not decided to redefine as sedition,” he said in a statement.
“Let me be clear, this is not just a contract dispute. It’s a direct assault on the First Amendment. Only approved speech can now be published,” he said. “This is the Left looking to cancel everyone they don’t approve of.”
This is apparently the super secret Federalist Society First Amendment, that says reactionary insurrectionists have a Constitutional Right to force private publishers to publish their books.