Trump reacted to being subpoenaed by the Select Committee investigating the causes of the J6 insurrection with an ungrammatical, strangely capitalized, 14-page letter comprising three pages of screed and 11 pages of exhibits, including photoshopped pictures of crowds. It was the usual blend of lies, puffery, bombast, non-sequiturs, and petulance. If insane gibberish were money, he would actually be rich.
He starts with his BIG LIE.
“THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!”
Everyone is familiar with the stats at this point. Trump’s motley gang of deluded lawyers cried "fraud" on the courtroom steps. But under oath, they dropped their baseless criminal claims and only floated theories of incompetence and ineptitude. Even their reduced charges were discarded as so much trash in 61 of 62 cases. And in the one they won, the vote tally did not change.
Trump’s hand-picked — and heretofore solicitous AG, Bill Barr — said there was no fraud. His campaign manager, Bill Stepien concurred, as did his daughter, Ivanka. And the Supreme Court, despite his Federalist Society packing, wanted nothing to do with the madman’s ravings.
Trump then played the classics,
“The same group of Radical Left Democrats who utilized their Majority position in Congress to create the fiction of Russia, Russia, Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, the $48 Million Mueller Report (which ended in No Collusion!), Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, the atrocious and illegal Spying on my Campaign, and so much more, are the people who created this Committee of highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs whose sole function is to destroy the lives of many hard-working American Patriots, whose records in life have been unblemished until this point of attempted ruination.”
He weeps for the poor rioters. Many of them no doubt had unblemished records before answering his call to insurrection. So what? Every criminal starts with their first crime. It is like a murderer claiming their homicide conviction was unfair because they had led an upstanding life until they shot the convenience store clerk in the head.
Furthermore, many of these now regretful people, have identified Trump as the cause of their ruination.
He then flays the Committee for not repeating the work that so many Republican election officials had already done at length disproving claims of election rigging.
“ … despite strong and powerful requests, you have not spent even a short moment on examining the massive Election Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, and have targeted only those who were, as concerned American Citizens, protesting the Fraud itself.”
The first amendment enumerates five rights. Two are “the right of the people PEACEABLY to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Trump has repeatedly called for the harsh treatment of the BLM rioters. And as much as he likes eating cake, he can’t have it as well.
He then lied,
“A Majority of people in our Country say that the Presidential Election of 2020 was determinatively dishonest, including the fact that many Legislatures were overridden by local and State politicians and judges on vital regulations and requirements, which is totally illegal and UNCONSTITUTIONAL.”
A majority of Americans know that Trump lost the election fair and square. The people voted, and the states tabulated the count. They identified the winner as the Constitution demands. His VP., Mike Pence, announced the Electoral College tally. And the curtain came down on the one term of America’s worst President.
As for “totally illegal and UNCONSTITUTIONAL”, see Supreme Court above. I will give Trump’s ghostwriter props for “determinatively.” It is a powerful adverb.
Then Trump played his “if it is in the magazines it must be true card” — despite incessantly decrying the “FAKE MEDIA”.
“In February 2021, Time Magazine broke the story of the shadow campaign that was launched to rig the 2020 Presidential Election. The authors write: “‘To the President, something felt amiss. ‘It was all very, very strange,’ Trump said on Dec. 2. ‘Within days after the election, we witnessed an orchestrated effort to anoint the winner, even while many key states were still being counted.’ In a way, Trump was right. There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes … “
But leaving aside that an opinion piece in Time has no legal weight, “the authors” did not present the case that Trump’s selective editing implied. After the ellipsis, the article explained that the “conspiracy” was
“the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.”
A ‘conspiracy’ to keep a budding fascist from achieving his tyrannical ambitions is no conspiracy.
Trump then provides a list of irrelevant facts.
”You did not ask one question about any of this. Since 1888, no incumbent President has gained votes and lost reelection. I received many millions more votes in 2020 than I did in 2016, unheard of in our political History. When you win Ohio, Florida, and Iowa, which I did in a landslide, no President has lost the General Election since 1960. We swept all four bellwether States (Iowa, Florida, Ohio, and North Carolina) that have correctly predicted Election winners since1896. I won 18 of the 19 bellwether counties, my coattails secured the Victories of 27 out of 27 “toss-up” House races, and the Democrats did not flip a single State Legislature.”
Following his logic, you could argue that evil cabalists had fixed Trump’s 2016 win because Americans had never elected a serial bankrupt, with a fraud conviction, to the presidency before. Or, as the disclaimer says, “past results are no guarantee of future performance.”
Trump then retreats to his numbers game. There is no definition of “a large percentage”. Not that it makes a difference. Even if it were a large majority, the whole point of a Constitutional Republic is that there is no “tyranny of the majority” — as conservatives love to keep reminding people.
"A large percentage of American Citizens, including almost the entire Republican Party, feel that the Election was Rigged and Stolen (because they have seen the determinative evidence, some of which is attached to this letter)."
(Note the use of determinative again ruins the word. Its value lies in its rarity.)
Then he lies again. Politifact provides the evidence,
“In addition, the Unselect Committee has willfully ignored the fact that days before January 6, 2021, I recommended and authorized thousands of troops to be deployed to ensure that there was peace, safety, and security at the Capitol and throughout Washington, D.C. on January 6th.”
He added that Nancy Pelosi had rejected the National Guard — another lie. And then he went on a rant about crowd size — which he claimed was “very big”, “bigger than anyone thought possible”, “a very wide swath stretching … to the Washington Monument”, and “massive”.
But he added that no one knows this because the evidence was “canceled, scrubbed, deleted or, in any event, not available” because of a plot by the media.
Then he brings up ratings. It has no probative value. But he is an attention junkie who needs his fix, even if the drug is synthetic.
“Despite very poor television ratings, the Unselect Committee has perpetuated a Show Trial the likes of which this Country has never seen before. There is no Due Process, no Cross-Examination, no “real” Republican members, and no legitimacy since you do not talk about Election Fraud or not calling up the troops. It is a Witch Hunt of the highest level.”
Trump needs to ask Kevin McCarthy why the House Minority Leader turned Nancy Pelosi down when she offered him the opportunity to have a genuinely bipartisan Committee in the manner of the 9/11 Commission — where all members could ask questions, call witnesses and issue subpoenas.
The Democrats told the GOP to join them. The Republicans went full-toddler and said, “shan’t”. If Trump is feeling fisted, he only has his teammates to blame.
