Everybody Loves a Clown
It became the national joke. “America’s Mayor”, Rudy Giuliani, held a press conference at the “Four Seasons” in Philadelphia. Not at the world famous hotel – but in the parking lot of a gardening center. It was right beside an adult “book” store. Later, there was another “sweaty” press conference at the Washington headquarters of the Republican National Committee. He quoted from the movie My Cousin Vinnie with hair dye streaking down his face. And there was his drunk witness testifying to a friendly state legislative committee in Lansing, Michigan.
There were scores of lawsuits, literally laughed out of court at every level, even the Supreme Court. Texas’s Lt .Governor offered rewards for voter fraud. He had to pay off -for fraudulent Trump votes. It was all a “clown show”, not to take seriously. But like so much of the world around Donald Trump, while the clowns were stealing the show out front, something sinister was going on in the background.
Tears of a Clown
The signs were there soon after the election. The “vengeance” tour: firing various officers in the Executive Branch who earned Trump’s ire prior to the election. He removed the civilian leadership of the Defense Department and replaced them with folks whose main qualification was undying loyalty to Trump. There was the drumbeat of the “Stop the Steal” campaign, ginning up “masses” against the very foundation of America’s democracy, free and fair elections. Trump campaign fundraising generated even more millions. That money was directed to mass demonstrations in Washington and across the country, demanding that the results of the election be overturned.
And there were all of those political leaders who refused to simply acknowledge the results. From McConnell and McCarthy to multiple state Governors, they couldn’t say Biden won. What we didn’t know, was in the background there was a “legal theorist” creating a structure for denying the electoral will of the nation. The Trump strategists attempted to delay the final certification by Congress. They tried to build more pressure on the state Governors and legislators to ignore the actual votes, and give the election to Trump. If they only had more time – they thought – they could keep Donald Trump in the White House.
Send in the Clowns
Even on January 6th there still were “clowns” up front. Congressman Mo Brooks was calling on the crowd to “kick ass”. He thought things might get crazy, so he wore “body armor” just in case. And Don Jr, Congressman Madison Cawthorn, and the head clown Giuliani himself was there, as well as the biggest clown of all, President Donald Trump.
But the “realist” in the bunch of speakers that day was lawyer John Eastman. He was the author of the legal “structure” to justify changing the outcome. It was Eastman who wanted Vice President Pence to throw out the electoral votes from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. And it was Eastman trying to persuade Senators to go along with his legal fantasy.
This week the curtain is getting pulled back. It’s being revealed that “The Insurrection” was not simply a mob gone wild. There was a strategy with multiple options, all based on delaying the Congressional certification of the election. It was all about gaining time to gain momentum. One way or another, Donald Trump,would remain in the White House after the Inauguration.
And before my more right-wing friends claim that I’m pulling out my Foil Hat (not my clown wig), much of this section is also described in the Rolling Stone article of October 24th and the book by Woodward and Costa – Peril.
Clown Posse
There were multiple possibilities, but the “primary” plan was Eastman’s. His legal brief stated that the Vice President had the Constitutional authority to accept or reject state electoral ballots. He, along with multiple Congressmen and a few Senators, hoped that when Trump-friendly House and Senate members objected to the electoral ballots from the pivotal states, Pence would reject those ballots outright. He then could accept “alternative” ballots supporting Trump. Or he could reject all the ballots from those states, denying any Presidential candidate the 270 vote majority needed.
That would throw the election into the “tie-breaking” House of Representatives. Rather than vote by Representative, the vote is taken by state, with a majority of states choosing the President. Since the minority Republicans controlled twenty-six state delegations, Trump would remain President.
But should Pence be unwilling to take on such powers (Eastman was the only Constitutional lawyer proposing he had them) there was an alternative. If “the mob” could postpone the Electoral certification, perhaps enough pressure could be put on the Republican governors of Georgia and Arizona to withdraw their electoral ballots. Or pressure could be exerted on the Republican legislatures of Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to overturn their own election results. Either way, the resulting chaos might cause the election to end up in the House of Representatives.
Death of a Clown
Then there was a final, “nuclear” option. If the Insurrection was so devastating that the Capitol remained occupied, then the President could turn to the US military to “retake the building”. Martial law could be declared and Congress prevented from acting. That’s why the “vengeance tour” of the Pentagon was more than just getting back at Mark Esper and his crew.
President Trump would order his new Acting Secretary of Defense to send in the 82nd Airborne or some such force to “regain control”, and his loyalists at Defense would do it. And with the military now directly involved, who knows how that would end. Coincidentally, pardoned felon Mike Flynn proposed a similar idea a few weeks before at a White House meeting. (This was reported in January, and was the subject of an essay here, Seven Days in December). And even more coincidentally, his brother, General Charles Flynn, was part of the Defense Department “command team” during the crisis.
Most Generals, led by Chairman Milley, were particularly concerned about this possible use of active duty forces during the Presidential transition. It will be up to the House January 6th Committee to find the real story of the planning leading up to January 6th, and what was actually intended that day on the Mall when the mob was sent to the Capitol.
One thing for sure – they weren’t clowning around.
