An Almost Military Rebellion, Russian Kompromat, and More Gifts from the Trump Era

There’s a saying popular with those of us who’ve undergone radiation therapy describing the long term side effects, namely that the treatment is the gift that keeps on giving.

So it is with the Former Guy, who’s all over the news as amazing revelations about the past continue to unfold.

Three “insider” books and a mighty suspicious leak to the Guardian all offer up tales about the 45th President of the United States that ought to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

These detailed accounts of Trump’s final year in office include: Frankly, We Did Win This Election by the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender, Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, and I Alone Can Fix It, co-authored by the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig. 

Although much of the information in these books is sourced from former administration officials and confidants, former President Trump has given at least 22 interviews for 17 different books since leaving office. And most of what he’s saying IS on the record, probably because Trump wants a hand in shaping the post-election narrative about himself.

Although the former President is getting his name spelled correctly (for publicity value), the books reveal the darkest fears about his final days were justified.

https://twitter.com/whstancil/status/1415703922522591232?s=20

According to I Alone Can Fix It, the Joint Chiefs discussed a plan to resign, one-by-one, rather than carry out orders from Trump that they considered to be illegal, dangerous or ill-advised.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mark Milley was concerned about personnel moves putting Trump acolytes in positions of power at the Pentagon. He was so shaken by the former President’s refusal to concede defeat that he seriously considered the possibility of a coup attempt or other illegal gambit to stay in power.

From CNN:

• Milley saw himself and the armed forces as a bulwark against any presidential mutiny against the Constitution and the nearly two-and-a-half centuries of democratic transfers of power.

• "They may try, but they're not going to f**king succeed," Milley told his deputies, according to excerpts of the book "I Alone Can Fix It" by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, which was obtained by CNN ahead of its release next Tuesday.

• Milley saw Trump as the "classic authoritarian leader with nothing to lose," the authors wrote, but he told subordinates: "You can't do this without the military. You can't do this without the CIA and the FBI. We're the guys with the guns."

Following the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reached out to General Milley, concerned about keeping Trump away from the use of nuclear weapons. She was assured that procedures in place would prevent such an incident from happening.

The former president’s January 6 speech before supporters stormed the Capitol included ad libbed lines on three occasions urging his supporters to march on Congress.

There’s tons of other stuff in these books that ought to be concerning to every American, particularly in light of right wing media’s continued repetition of the Big Lie about the election being stolen and Trump supporters seeking to whitewash the Capitol insurrection.

https://twitter.com/essenviews/status/1415697771550547970?s=20

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I’m not sure that it’s a coincidence that the Guardian newspaper claims to have been given Russian documents from 2016 about a secret multi-agency effort to interfere in US democracy personally authorized by Vladimir Putin.

• The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present.

• They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives, among them “social turmoil” in the US and a weakening of the American president’s negotiating position...

• ...The report – “No 32-04 \ vd” – is classified as secret. It says Trump is the “most promising candidate” from the Kremlin’s point of view. The word in Russian is perspektivny.

• There is a brief psychological assessment of Trump, who is described as an “impulsive, mentally unstable and unbalanced individual who suffers from an inferiority complex”.

• There is also apparent confirmation that the Kremlin possesses kompromat, or potentially compromising material, on the future president, collected – the document says – from Trump’s earlier “non-official visits to Russian Federation territory”.

What’s hinky about the Guardian’s story is the repeated use of the words “suggested” and “appeared to” in front of various claims. And the fact that there’s no information about how these documents were acquired, even if sanitized to protect sources, is a big warning flag.

While I believe some or all of the claims made in the documents are true, Russia/Trump allegations made in the past have been so blurred out by the claims and counterclaims of so-called experts, it just seems way too convenient that a document was leaked. 

Think about it; how many other news stories have you ever seen claiming to be based on official reports from inside the Kremlin? The answer is none.

https://twitter.com/AhmedBaba_/status/1415701977422602240?s=20

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Meanwhile in Trumpland, the retelling of January 6th has been sufficiently reworked to gain status as a virtuous event. 

The Congress, with or without Republican participation, is preparing to start hearings in the last week of July. First up to testify will be law enforcement officers --no doubt accompanied by the ugliest of videos-- to tell their side of the story.

My understanding about House Minority leader Keven McCarthy’s unwillingness to name GOP members for the committee has more to do with the difficulty in finding staffers willing to participate in creating an alternative version of history. Making the moral leap from Supporting the Blue to demonizing them is a step too far for many hill staffers, especially those who happened to witness events first hand.

This coming weekend, and on subsequent weekends for the rest of the summer, look for a smattering of localized MAGA uprisings, some peaceful and some organized via promises of being able to take on “antifa.” 

One is supposedly scheduled for Imperial Beach this weekend. Another will be in Huntington Beach, but it will be hard to tell if this is a special event or just another weekly gathering of deplorables looking for a fight.

Upper crust MAGAts are gathering in Anaheim on Saturday & Sunday as part of the ReAwaken America Tour to hear Gen. Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Mike “My Pillow” Lindell, and vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy. 

These events are being staged to keep the faithful fired up, as August doesn’t look particularly promising for Dear Leader and his minions.

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