Categories
Donald Trump Military

Pentagon Preparing For Orders From Trump To Deploy Troops Against Americans

Officials at the Pentagon are currently holding high-level discussions about how the Department of Defense would respond if Donald Trump issues orders to deploy active-duty troops on the homeland as part of his mass deportation program and for “domestic law enforcement,” according to a disturbing report from CNN.

Officials are now gaming out various scenarios as they prepare for an overhaul of the Pentagon.

“We are all preparing and planning for the worst-case scenario, but the reality is that we don’t know how this is going to play out yet,” one defense official said.

Trump’s election has also raised questions inside the Pentagon about what would happen if the president issued an unlawful order, particularly if his political appointees inside the department don’t push back.

“Troops are compelled by law to disobey unlawful orders,” said another defense official. “But the question is what happens then – do we see resignations from senior military leaders? Or would they view that as abandoning their people?”

CNN’s Kristen Holmes told anchor Jake Tapper on Friday that Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) are among the contenders for top cabinet posts at agencies such as the State Department and Defense. They are reportedly meeting with Trump team transition leaders, and the president-elect is also making calls as he firms up plans for who he will appoint to many key agencies and departments.

Consider for just a moment the specter of uniformed troops patrolling the streets of U.S. cities, demanding to see ID cards and detaining anyone who doesn’t have proper credentials. It’s the very same thing that has been done by repressive regimes throughout history, including in Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy.

Is such a show of force meant to reassure us, or is it planned as part of a larger crackdown on all dissent against Trump? After all, this is a man who doesn’t take criticism well.

Here’s the video from CNN:

 

Categories
Joe Biden Supreme Court

Democrat Has Plan For Biden To Change The Supreme Court Before Leaving Office

With President Joe Biden set to hand over the reins of presidential power to Donald Trump early next year, chatter has begun in Washington, D.C. about a move he could make before his successor takes office.

During a discussion on CNN earlier this morning, former Democratic lawmaker Bakari Sellers noted that there’s increasing talk inside the party about encouraging Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to resign so Biden could name her replacement.

“I think that is a good plan and it is something that should happen,” Sellers noted “Justice Sotomayor has been a more than able justice. I know she may be having personal issues that she contends with while serving on the bench, but I don’t want Justice Sotomayor to be another Ruth Bader Ginsburg in terms of staying too long. What does this mean for the dynamic of the court? The court to 6-3. If we are able to replace it with a Biden justice it will still be 6-3. The possibility of Justice Sotomayor having to resign or retire in the next four years is extremely high. You couple that with [Samuel] Alito and Clarence Thomas, that means you go from a 6-3 court to 7-2 court in terms of conservative versus liberal.”

Who might replace Sotomayor? Sellers suggested someone who would certainly rile up Republicans: Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I hope that Joe Biden makes the next 10 weeks as consequential as he can. I don’t care about drawing outside the lines of what Republicans may think about it, this is within your purview, you can do it and you should do it. One more thing, you have a vice president who has a legal pedigree to sit on the Supreme Court and let Republicans go crazy, ape, at even mentioning that option.”

Host John Berman was shocked by the suggestion from Sellers.

“Are you floating this, 7:39 a.m. on the East Coast, did Bakari Sellers just float Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential Supreme Court nominee?”

“Not only am I floating it, I want to stir up everything,” Sellers said. “I want people’s heads to explode so we go into the weekend just knowing the chaos has not ended.”

Conservative strategist Shermichael Singleton then joined the discussion.

“It’s an idea that I have not heard anyone mention,” he said. “Best of luck getting around Mitch McConnell, who is one of the most surgical individuals to ever lead or be in the minority position of the United States Senate. I think if Democrats were to attempt to nominate the vice president or anybody else, I think Mitch will do everything he can within the confines of the Senate rules to give the incoming president the opportunity to make every single nomination and ultimately confirm those nominations.”

“It can be done quickly. We saw it happen with Amy Coney Barrett,” Sellers countered. “It would take a lot of maneuvering by [Senate majority leader] Chuck Schumer and get Joe Manchin on board and [Kyrsten] Sinema on board.”

“I respect Chuck Schumer, but Chuck Schumer is no Mitch McConnell,” Singleton said. “I just don’t see it happening. Could Mitch do something like this? Yes, but Chuck, I would not hold my breath.”

Since the Supreme Court has already ruled that a president has immunity from all of his official actions, Biden could also add justices to the high court if he wanted. Who is going to stop him?

Things could get interesting over the two months.

Categories
Congress Donald Trump Elections Uncategorized

Eric Swalwell Puts ‘Weasel’ Trump On Notice With A Defiant Warning

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is making it clear that if Donald Trump thinks he can run the country without any pushback from Democrats, he’s sadly mistaken.

Swalwell was a guest on MSNBC Thursday, and he told host Ana Cabrera that Democrats are willing to work with Trump on some of his proposals, but they certainly don’t see him as trustworthy.

Cabrera asked Swalwell, “Did voters hand Trump and the Republican party a sweeping mandate?”

“Well, I respect the will of the people certainly,” the congressman replied. “I’m not going to respect the will of a weasel in Donald Trump; somebody who doesn’t understand these same voters don’t want government-mandated abortions. They don’t want a sweep-up and round-up of anyone who looks like an immigrant in this country. They don’t want us to walk away from our obligation to defend Ukraine.”

“There’s a lot we can work on together on if he wants to be serious, if he wants to have security at the border and address the workforce crisis,” he added. “With immigration, you’ll find more Democrats than not who want to be there with him.”

Swawell then issued a very clear warning to Trump and his GOP allies.

“If he wants to carry out grievances against his political enemies, he’s looking at the tallest fence in the post right now as to the effort that will fence in any of his corruption or political grievance campaigns.”

Congressional Democrats can serve as a serious check on the incoming Trump administration. They have oversight committees that can look into any questionable actions. And they also have access to all sorts of information they can make public if they suspect illegal activity. They are on the front lines of the resistance, and it’s time they do whatever must be done to expose the horrors Trump has planned for this country.

Categories
Donald Trump Elections Joe Biden

What Happened To The Millions Of ‘Missing’ Voters Who Cast A Ballot For Biden In 2020?

Shortly after the 2024 presidential election was called for Donald Trump, posts began circulating on social media wondering how Vice President Kamala Harris could have lost when there had been a record turnout. What happened to the other tens of million votes that had gone to President Joe Biden in 2020 when he faced Trump? Had someone tampered with millions of ballots? For example:

As Ewan Palmer of Newsweek notes, so far Harris has won around 68 million votes, with ballots still being counted in some states. Biden got 81.2 million in 2020. And Trump, it should be noted, has approximately 72.6 million votes, which is about 2 million shy of the 74.2 he received against Biden.

The “record-breaking turnout” in the 2024 election isn’t accurate. Biden-Trump saw 158 million ballots cast. The total for this year’s election will fall below that number.

“With Trump looking set to receive a similar number of votes between the 2024 and 2020 elections, political commentators and experts are wondering why voters who previously backed Democrats rejected Harris this time around. Others have suggested that many people who supported Biden in 2020 later became disillusioned over the country’s high levels of inflation and the cost of living crisis and took their frustrations out on Harris.”

Simply put, it seems that millions of Democrats declined to vote this year. Some may have cast a ballot for Trump or third-party candidates such as Green Party candidate Jill Stein or Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party. Others could have simply refused to vote for either Harris or Trump by leaving the presidential race box on their ballot empty.

For years, Democrats have prided themselves on having a better get-out-the-vote operation than the GOP. While that’s technically true, there’s no way to predict how a person will vote once they fill out their ballot.

 

Categories
Donald Trump Justice Department

Jack Smith Can Still Do Damage To Donald Trump – Here’s How

According to a report from NBC News, the Department of Justice and Special Counsel Jack Smith are seeking a way to “wind down” the two criminal cases against President-elect Donald Trump, meaning that he will likely face no consequences for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and improper handling of classified documents.

“Now that Trump will become president again, DOJ officials see no room to pursue either criminal case against him — and no point in continuing to litigate them in the weeks before he takes office, the people said.”

However, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance and national security reporter Marcy Wheeler say that doesn’t mean that Smith can’t do serious damage to Trump as he closes out those cases.

Vance explained her thoughts on Substack, writing:

At the conclusion of a special counsel’s investigation, section 600.9(a)(3) of the Special Counsel Regulations requires the Attorney General to provide Congressional leadership with “a description, and explanation of instances (if any)” where the Attorney General overruled an action the special counsel wanted to take. That requirement would be triggered if Smith proposed moving forward despite DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president (there were earlier reports he intended to continue his work through inauguration day), and the Attorney General countermanded him because of existing policy. It’s hard to assess what value a report like that might have, beyond information and evidence Smith’s court filings have already made public. It would at least guarantee there would be a permanent public record that would survive Trump’s certain demand that the Justice Department kill the cases against him.

In other words, the cases might not move forward, but the investigation would still see the light of day, which could be a proverbial albatross around Trump’s neck. And that might weaken him politically as he moves forward with his extreme right-wing agenda. It could also serve as the basis for a new criminal prosecution after Trump leaves office.

National Security reporter Marcy Wheeler also pointed to the report Smith must write and submit to his superiors at the DOJ.

“According to governing regulations, when a Special Counsel finishes his work, he must write a report to the Attorney General.”

She added:

“By telling the press that Smith is already working on shutting down the cases, Smith pre-empts any effort from Trump to offer another solution — and does so before Trump files his response to the immunity brief on November 21.”

“In other words, this may be no more than an effort to get one more bite at the apple, to describe what Smith found, which would be particularly important if there are still undisclosed aspects of the case, as I suggested there might be.”

We’re all familiar with the adage, “He laughs last laughs loudest.” And it appears Jack Smith is on the verge of having one hell of a last laugh right as Trump is raising his hand and taking the oath of office next January.