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(THREAD) To understand the second impeachment of Donald Trump, we must understand the words that preceded and augmented his January 6 incitement of insurrection. This thread unpacks four key speeches—Don Jr., Giuliani, Mo Brooks, and Eric Trump. I hope you'll read on and RETWEET.

 1/ If you haven't yet seen my analysis of Trump's January 6 "incitement to insurrection" speech, you can find it at the link below. This thread will look at four shorter—but deeply consequential—speeches just before Trump's, all by Trump allies or family. https://t.co/qdRpGXjFB4
2/ DONALD TRUMP JR.

Trump Jr.'s speech on January 6—which ended less than an hour before his father incited an insurrection—is one of the most inscrutable of the day, because its beginning includes some promisingly responsible rhetoric. Then it descends into madness and chaos.
3/ "I'm looking at the crowd here, and you did it all [congregate here] without burning down buildings! You did it without ripping down churches! Without looting! I didn't know that that was possible!" Within 2 hours of his speech, Don Jr.'s audience would be looting the Capitol.
4/ So obviously Don Jr.'s opening is ironic to a historic degree, but this isn't the first time we've heard this rhetoric from him. He habitually ignores right-wing violence because he knows that his chief rhetorical canard—which marries progressivism and violences—gets applause.
5/ For this reason, I don't know that we can take his next words as *specific to the occasion* so much as merely his standard, long-standing rhetorical sleight-of-hand: calling anything his father produces peaceful, and anything left-wing activists produce dangerous and unhinged.
6/ The latter part of his next riff is facially semi-responsible: "According to the media, when you have a large gathering of peaceful protestors, they're supposed to burn it all down! See, guys, *we* can do it right." He lies about media—but does say "peaceful" and"do it right."
7/ But he then says the "peaceful" gathering is a "message" to "Republicans who have not been willing to actually fight!" So which is it? Just as his father will use the word "peaceful" once but then ignore it, Don Jr. says "peaceful" once and then says "peace" equals "fighting."
8/ Don Jr. infamously wrote about the George Orwell novel 1984 after his dad was banned from Twitter; he didn't seem to know anything about the book. But his mantra—that being "peaceful" means "fighting" in extraordinary ways—would have made the villains of 1984 nod approvingly.
9/ He implies that this crowd—which he estimates at 100,000—will, unlike Republicans at the Capitol—do "something" to "fight" for Trump by "stop[ping] the steal" of the election. Milling about in "peaceful" fashion would be incongruous with the intent Trump attaches to the crowd.
10/ One could argue that Don Jr. is talking about peaceful protest, but how would that constitute "fighting" the "steal" in a way that "stops" it? It makes no sense unless something more than milling about blocks from the Capitol is what the Trumps anticipate happening right now.
11/ "This gathering should send a message to [Capitol Republicans]! This isn't their Republican Party anymore! This is *Donald Trump's* Republican Party!"

A few notes. First, understand that Donald Trump Jr. is *shouting* his entire speech—something very few other speakers did.
12/ Second is the obvious—there are fascist overtones here, as Trump Jr. is speaking of his father's ownership over a political party in acquisitive, possessive terms, not just metaphoric ones. Third is how much Don is setting the table for his father to issue *orders* later on.
13/ Remember that Donald Trump Sr. is just an hour away from inciting an insurrection, and here's his son *shouting* that his father owns the party now—the implication being that he is the Dear Leader whose least whims move the vast, chaotic network of the Republican Party cause.
14/ But fourth we must note what Jr. is really getting at here: the *way of doing things* the Republicans up at the Capitol have chosen (a peaceful transfer of power) is *over*.

And it has been replaced, Don Jr. thunders, by... well, whatever my father is about to ask you to do.
15/ Remember, nearly all the House/Senate Republicans Trump Jr. is attacking (1) supported his father's re-election, (2) supported his father's post-election lawsuits, and (3) supported his father's past and present political rhetoric and agenda. So what's the radical break here?
16/ In other words, the only way Trump Jr.'s words make sense is if the mob he's shouting at is going to make a *radical break* with the decisions being made by House and Senate Republicans—none of whom support Biden politically—on that very day of insurrection, January 6, 2021.
17/ No one could possibly think a "radical break" would be achieved by... milling about DC a few blocks from the Capitol waving flags. That wouldn't "stop the steal" and it wouldn't be fundamentally different from the passive objection to Biden's ascension the GOP already offers.
18/ But don't worry, Don is about to make things explicit.

"This is the Republican Party that will fight....this is the Republican Party that's not just going to roll over and die because the Democrats would like you to!"

He's asking for the mob to do the *bold and unexpected*.
19/ Don Jr. gives the recent Georgia elections—November (Trump lost) and January (two GOP senate candidates lost)—as an example of what the mob *cannot* do.

You have to really follow Trump Jr. closely here to see what he does with his rhetoric about Georgia. Here's what he says:
20/ {mimicking—via a "dumb-sounding" voice—the weak Republicans the mob must be unlike}:

"Well, I don't like the way the game is played, so let's take our ball and go home."

The idea is that the *new* GOP—Trump's—(a) shows up [at the Capitol] and thereby (b) *changes the game*.
21/ Trump Jr. is telling a mob of 100,000 people that a "game" is being played a certain way up at the Capitol they're about to march to, and that they must go there (instead of "going home") and *not play the game the way it is being played*. What would that look like, exactly?
22/ Well, we know one thing: it's something that must upset Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi profoundly, as Don Jr. tells the mob that playing the game legally—via certification of Biden's win—is "music to Chuck Schumer's ears" and "music to Nancy Pelosi's ears." But there's more.
23/ Just as we can draw a straight line between the president's later speech and insurrectionists chanting "Hang Mike Pence!" and literally *hunting* Pence in the Capitol, remember that the other person the seditionists *hunted* when they got to the Capitol was the House Speaker.
24/ So Don is telling a mob—one he knows is about to march to a building Nancy Pelosi is inside—that it must change the game in a dramatic way that "fights," "stops" what's happening at the Capitol, and profoundly *upsets* Nancy Pelosi.

And so they do. With a clear focus on her.

More from Seth Abramson

Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) Independent journalists have already created a comprehensive list of impeachment trial witnesses who can *confirm* Team Trump helped plan the insurrection. Those witnesses can now be called. This thread lists the proof. Please RETWEET this widely.

(ARTICLE 2)

(ARTICLE 3)

(ARTICLE 4)

(ARTICLE 5)
TRUMP
Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(EXCERPT) Here are the first excerpts to be published from my forthcoming 450-page, 1,650-endnote book PROOF OF COLLUSION. More excerpts will be released each Monday until the book's November 13 release. I hope you'll RETWEET and consider preordering here: https://t.co/ZJsnHcVwGi


2/ Each of the 14 chapters in the book is divided into three sections: Summary, Facts, and Annotated History. Summary and Facts sections are present tense; Annotated Histories are past tense. Endnote numerals follow sentences, with the endnotes themselves at the back of the book.

3/ There are zero tweets from this feed in the book. The book is written in the style of a government report, chronologically ordered. The timeframe covered by the book begins in 1987 (Chapter 1) and quickly moves to a month-by-month analysis of Trump's campaign from June '15 on.

4/ The book's 1,650 endnotes comprise about 2,000 total citations. The number of media outlets cited in the book is in the hundreds, and includes reliable media institutions from around the world. The number of people discussed is so large that we'll have to put the Index online.

5/ This book is the public record of the public investigation into Trump-Russia collusion. That means it's composed of the best investigative reporting done on this topic—including any leaks directly from Congressional and DOJ/FBI sources that were later published in major media.
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Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) The Whitaker scandal is deepening, as it becomes clear that Sessions' Russia recusal was a coordinated sham and his firing an act of obstruction—and that his replacement is a White House plant inside the Mueller probe. I hope you'll retweet and read on for more details.


1/ From 2014-17 Whitaker worked for World Patent Marketing—which during his tenure defrauded consumers out of $26 million and was successfully prosecuted by the feds. His involvement in the scam confirmed he had loose morals and that the feds would never want to employ him again.

2/ Despite the seeming impossibility of a man with Whitaker's background getting a job at Justice ever again—he'd been found to have used his former title as a US attorney to fraudulently threaten consumers with valid complaints with criminal penalties—Whitaker found an opening.

3/ Within 60 days of parachuting out of World Patent Marketing as it was being fined $26 million by the feds, Whitaker was working for CNN and telling a fellow attorney panelist that his purpose in working for CNN was to get noticed by one man—Donald Trump—and thereby get a job.

4/ Whitaker spent his time at CNN making ludicrous statements about the Mueller probe: there was no obstruction or collusion, he said; Mueller had no authority to look into any aspect of Trump's finances or to subpoena him, he said. All the while, he hoped Trump was watching him.
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Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) The main problem with that @DanDrezner piece in the Post is that it's an international politics prof writing about the field in which I'm a professor—communications. No one in communications would *ever* compare the blogosphere to either Twitter or Substack. Here's why.

1/ Back in the mid-aughts, I was a Koufax Award-nominated political blogger (I don't know what Drezner was doing then; I first heard of him about a year ago). So I was into the blogosphere pretty deep, as I also ran a second high-traffic blog that was focused on the art world.

2/ The "blogosphere" was an outgrowth of MySpace and LiveJournal, inasmuch as in the heady early days of the internet people suddenly realized that they could engage in private diaristic writing—a very specific subgenre of writing—in the public square, and it was suddenly "okay."

3/ So the blogosphere as such had *nothing* to do with journalism, which needless to say was in a different state just 15 years ago (note: unlike Drezner, I also teach writing and journalism at the university level, so this thread is squarely "in my area," unlike his Post piece).

4/ The blogosphere was a manifestation of the transformation of the public-private binary at the dawn of the internet—and *also* connected to the "creative writing" explosion (what I did a PhD on); in the aughts, creative writing was the fastest-growing discipline *in the world*.
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Seth Abramson
Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
(THREAD) Media has yet to do a deep dive on precisely what Trump *said* in his January 6 speech in DC—a speech now called an "incitement to insurrection," and the basis for an article of impeachment coming Monday. This thread unpacks the speech. I hope you'll read on and RETWEET.


1/ First, many don't realize that while the name of the *rally* was "Stop the Steal," Trump spoke flanked by banners that read "Save America March"—Save America being the PAC Trump has used since the election to scam voters out of more than $300 million for "election defense."

2/ It appears, therefore, that the link between Trump, his opposition to Biden's January 6 certification in Congress, and the insurrectionist march on the Capitol is one that comes, incredibly, with a paper trail—as it appears Trump *paid for* the seditious "Save America March."

3/ Seconds into his speech, Trump says, "These people are not going to take it any longer. They're not going to take it any longer...They came from all over our country. I just really want to see what they do." It's an astonishing admission he thinks something is going to happen.

4/ Trump then seems to catch himself, repeating the phrase "I just really want to see" but now adding "how they [media] cover it [the Save America March]." It's hard to know, therefore—perhaps deliberately—whether "what they do" means "what media does" or "what the marchers do."
TRUMP , INSURRECTION SPEECH

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Trump is a Russian asset, a mob money launderer installed by his mob whoremasters to sow chaos and weaken the US & our allies.

EVERY SINGLE THING HE’S DONE since taking office is to achieve those purposes—that and to enrich himself personally.

[THREAD]


1/ His entire family is part of this. Melania is a fucking crook. Ivanka is a fucking crook. Junior and Gums are fucking crooks. They will all die in prison, except for Kushner, who, if he really *did* trade US intel for money, should be executed for espionage.

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NYT: "Trump Vs. Babies: The Rhetoric On Both Sides Must Stop"

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Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer \U0001f4c8\U0001f52d\U0001f34c
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1. "They're leaving! They're leaving!"" yell seditionist as they watch House members fleeing the floor through the glass doors the only thing (+ some under-armed officers + office furniture" that protected our elected REPs (same ballot as Trump, each & everyone

@McConnellPress

2. of them felt so inclined towards martyrdom and/or possessed the weapons (Jesus, what if they'd has a grenade & guess what, in America, yes, you can come up w functional equivalents of that bc barring people from them is a betrayal of freedom so great we must simply acquiesce

3. their eventual death tolls. One functional "freedom grenade" down that hallway, tossed w ease through a hole in the glass door, could have easily hit anyone fleeing.Unless it was Mo Brooks, MTG, or one of their well-known crazy boosters, here's a thing @LeaderMcConnell ought

4. to reflect upon as he makes his CRITCAL pivot decision, which he could rally 17 people & start a fight for control of the party that rest of the country will help him with,EVEN AFTER ALL THE SHIT HE'S DONE TO PEOPLE, YES, THE REST OF THE COUNTRY WOULD HELP HIM IF HE WAS TO

5. RALLY 17 SENATORS FOR IMPEACHMENT, he'd find his whole 🌎awakened. And Mitch, as far as I understand it, you could do it anonymously!! How much would THAT fuck w them?? How great would it be, for the 1st time in 5 yrs, to be the one w power- you LOVE power! Think of the FUN!
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Julia Azari
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This idea - that elections should translate into policy - is not wrong at all. But political science can help explain why it's not working this way. There are three main explanations: 1. mandates are constructed, not automatic, 2. party asymmetry, 3. partisan conpetition 1/


First, party/policy mandates from elections are far from self-executing in our system. Work on mandates from Dahl to Ellis and Kirk on the history of the mandate to mine on its role in post-Nixon politics, to Peterson Grossback and Stimson all emphasize that this link is... 2/

Created deliberately and isn't always persuasive. Others have to convinced that the election meant a particular thing for it to work in a legislative context. I theorized in the immediate period of after the 2020 election that this was part of why Repubs signed on to ...3/

Trump's demonstrably false fraud nonsense - it derailed an emerging mandate news cycle. Winners of elections get what they get - institutional control - but can't expect much beyond that unless the perception of an election mandate takes hold. And it didn't. 4/

Let's turn to the legislation element of this. There's just an asymmetry in terms of passing a relief bill. Republicans are presumably less motivated to get some kind of deal passed. Democrats are more likely to want to do *something.* 5/
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I stayed up till the wee hours. Drank every liquor invented.

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SRI THIRUNARAYANA PERUMAL, MELKOTE (KAR)

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@SivaRoobini555
#தினம்_ஒரு_திருவாசகம்
தொல்லை இரும்பிறவிச் சூழும் தளை நீக்கி
அல்லல் அறுத்து ஆனந்தம் ஆக்கியதே – எல்லை
மருவா நெறியளிக்கும் வாதவூர் எங்கோன்
திருவாசகம் என்னும் தேன்

பொருள்:
1.எப்போது ஆரம்பித்தது என அறியப்படமுடியாத தொலை காலமாக (தொல்லை)

2. இருந்து வரும் (இரும்)


3.பிறவிப் பயணத்திலே ஆழ்த்துகின்ற (பிறவி சூழும்)

4.அறியாமையாகிய இடரை (தளை)

5.அகற்றி (நீக்கி),

6.அதன் விளைவால் சுகதுக்கமெனும் துயரங்கள் விலக (அல்லல் அறுத்து),

7.முழுநிறைவாய்த் தன்னுளே இறைவனை உணர்த்துவதே (ஆனந்த மாக்கியதே),

8.பிறந்து இறக்கும் காலவெளிகளில் (எல்லை)

9.பிணைக்காமல் (மருவா)

10.காக்கும் மெய்யறிவினைத் தருகின்ற (நெறியளிக்கும்),

11.என் தலைவனான மாணிக்க வாசகரின் (வாதவூரெங்கோன்)

12.திருவாசகம் எனும் தேன் (திருவா சகமென்னுந் தேன்)

முதல்வரி: பிறவி என்பது முன்வினை விதையால் முளைப்பதோர் பெருமரம். அந்த ‘முன்வினை’ எங்கு ஆரம்பித்தது எனச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனால் ‘அறியாமை’ ஒன்றே ஆசைக்கும்,, அச்சத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்பதால், அவையே வினைகளை விளைவிப்பன என்பதால், தொடர்ந்து வரும் பிறவிகளுக்கு, ‘அறியாமையே’ காரணம்

அறியாமைக்கு ஆரம்பம் கிடையாது. நமக்கு ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிய அறிவு எப்போதிருந்து இல்லை? அதைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. அதனாலேதான் முதலடியில், ஆரம்பமில்லாத அஞ்ஞானத்தை பிறவிகளுக்குக் காரணமாகச் சொல்லியது. ஆனால் அறியாமை, அறிவின் எழுச்சியால், அப்போதே முடிந்து விடும்.
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