Playbook: How it looks at the end

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING. Here’s how your American government is ending the year -- and the TRUMP presidency.

-- THE GOVT runs out of spending authority this evening at midnight. Typically, the govt avoids shutting down officially if there is a spending bill on the horizon, so we may be spared that drama. Divided govt began in 2019 w a shutdown, and it may end with another funding lapse.

-- CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS are preparing the second-largest federal rescue package in our nation’s history, and no one has seen it just days before it will get a vote.

-- ALL OF THE POWER is centralized among four people and their aides: @SpeakerPelosi , @senatemajldr , @SenSchumer and @GOPLeader

-- PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has continued his, um, mastery of Congress, by nearly blowing up the talks by demanding large stimulus checks at the last moment -- this is per @JStein_WaPo, the master of the direct check, at the WaPo.

Oh huh. Trump's defense isn't going to address the impeachment case (and seems to ignore his demands of Mike Pence again).

Michael Van der Veen pretending that 61 losses is normal.

And, again, note that he didn't address Trump's unconstitutional request of Mike Pence.

Van der Veen lies about who asked for recounts in 2016.

And lies about Hillary's claims about Russia.

Trump's video is made in the style of propaganda, taken out of context.

Van der Veen now trying to make much of tweets Trump didn't send until hours too late.

Hate to break it to you but if Trump had won, there would have been violence on Wednesday, and it most certainly would have been worse. How do I know? Because Democrats have been endorsing violence as a political tactic throughout the Trump Administration.

In 2018, @tedlieu threatened “widespread civil unrest” if Trump fired Mueller. This wasn’t a fluke, either. He repeatedly said people should “take to the streets” if Trump did so (which as we know he didn’t).

James Clapper echoed Lieu — and many other Democrats — saying Trump firing Mueller would result in a “firestorm … in the streets”

Also in 2018, Sen. @CoryBooker told activists to “get up in the face of some congresspeople”

@CoryBooker .@HillaryClinton specifically said “you can’t be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for”

Details of how Trump just invoked the legal framework — and national security provisions (2018 EO) — necessary to allow the Secretary of Defense (Chris Miller) to activate military processes..

@POTUS @GenFlynn @SidneyPowell1 @LLinWood @RudyGiuliani
https://t.co/4DYnNSu5Aa https://t.co/4siriRDfsz

“that lead to a tactical takedown of domestic enemies and active traitors.

Was this a Green Light to start releasing video proof? Everyday there will be a new video released....”

“About 30 minutes into the speech, he invokes legal language that clearly references Trump’s Sep. 12, 2018 executive order which describes remedies for foreign interference in U.S. elections. Here’s what Trump says...

“The only conceivable reason why you would block commonsense measures to verify legal eligibility for voting, is you are trying to encourage, enable, solicit or carry out fraud. It is important for Americans to understand that these destructive changes to our election laws..

“were NOT a necessary response to the pandemic. The pandemic simply gave the Democrats an excuse to do what they were trying to do with many many years.

Note carefully the phrase, “…trying to encourage, enable, solicit or carry out fraud.”

The Honorable @POTUS @realDonaldTrump
If roles were reversed and I was President at this moment in time and you were me, in light of all the Data, Facts, Findings, and just good ole fashioned common sense, I would not concede or resign or allow a #puppetPresident to enter the

THREAD: It’s #ImpeachmentDay and I’ve got money on my mind.

We learned yesterday that Trump’s largest lender, Deutsche Bank, is done doing business with him.

Before he took office, no U.S. major bank was willing to do business with him.

And in the last 48 hours, we’ve seen scores of major companies respond to last week’s riots & the refusal to certify the free & fair election (all fueled by Trump himself), cut off political donations, and some terminating business/payment processing for the Trump Campaign.

The PGA cancelling the upcoming championship at Trump Bedminster was another major blow to Trump’s bottom line & brand.

None of this would have happened if Trump was simply ending his term like any normal President.

Two weeks ago he was considered the Replican party “king maker” whose influence would be looming for the foreseeable future.

Last Wednesday changed everything and that’s part of what this impeachment hearing is all about.

Unlike the first impeachment which was Republicans vs Democrats, Trump is in his own lane- along with some lawmakers who pushed misinformation, tried to block certification and welcomed the “Stop The Steal” movement to DC.

With just over 3000 minutes left for Trump, the White House staff is doing a great job at denying us images of their "walk of shame" out.

I got you though. For your carnal pleasure, a collection of other photos of them leaving.

Mnuchin. Ross. Pompeo. Perdue.

Weird luggage dude. Bye.

Ivanka's PR luggage vs her real luggage. Bye.

Bye Kayleigh.

“First, consider some facts. President Trump received more votes than any previous incumbent seeking reelection. He got 11 million more votes than in 2016, the third largest rise in support ever for an incumbent. “

It is possible to believe that Twitter and Facebook did the right thing to block Trump, and that, having done so, it lays bear a real problem for American democracy. The Biden Administration and the incoming Congress need urgently to address the power of online social media.

/1

First, Twitter’s cancellation of Trump is NOT a First Amendment violation. Twitter has a right to moderate the speech distributed on its network, and a responsibility to take the public interest into account.

/2

Moreover, Trump has not been deprived of the ability to speak. He has merely been deprived of the ability to speak on Twitter and Facebook. I am not overly troubled by the ability of private corporations to decide how consumers use those corporations’ resources.

/3

I am, however, troubled by the fact that depriving someone of access to Facebook and Twitter has an effect roughly equal to government censorship. It has that effect because we have allowed these two networks to become public goods, rather than merely private interests.

/4

In other words, the impact of Facebook and Twitter is not limited to the private benefit enjoyed by their users, employees and shareholders. As we have seen, these and other networks can unintentionally become a powerful force for liberation - or for fascism.

/5

Since Donald Trump has decided to decree that a statue to Hannah Arendt be erected in the National Garden of American Heroes, I thought I would take a few moments and share some of Arendt's thoughts on monuments. https://t.co/kFJ4U6Y9ZL

First let me say that the irony of this order is beyond laughable. After Hannah Arendt escaped Nazi Europe, she emigrated to New York in 1941. She was a housekeeper, a journalist, & an adjunct professor before she wrote her first major work The Origins of Totalitarianism in 1951.

Origins is about the emergence of totalitarianism in the 20th century. Looking to the history of antisemitism, colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, fascism, authoritarianism, and tyranny she argues that all totalitarian movements are rooted in organized loneliness.

Organized loneliness is the mass experience of loneliness felt by a society when people are radically cut off and isolated from one another. It's achieved through the dissemination of political propaganda which distorts a person's ability to tell what's real from what's not real.

Once you've made it impossible for people to distinguish between right and wrong and destroyed their sense of reality through consistent lying you can do anything you want with them--And this is precisely what Donald Trump has done from day 1 of his political career.

I don't really want to boost Cohen, but I also don't want to rip it off, so here it is, but I'll tell you what he said @emilyjanefox is the interviewer here.

Starts at noting that Cohen said at the beginning that Trump wouldn't transition peacefully ... and granted that's true. Cohen on Trump - "pure narcissism."

Cohen says - and I agree with him - that Trump could have easily won the 2020 election if he had committed to doing things like an infrastructure bill. If Trump had done a reasonable job with COVID, he would have won as well.

This interviewer Emily Jane Fox says she is a long time friend of Cohen - which is a bit of a pause. Cohen is a bit inconsistent as to whether Trump knows he lost - seems to be on the bottom line that Trump is working on his next steps - to rip off Fox News and do a TV network

Trump TV, per Cohen, will be "one fucking infomercial after another and there are 20 Million stupid people out there ... that are willing to part with their money.... Educated people, too."

NEW: Historians worry a Trump library will be an airbrushed 'MAGA' tribute to a twice-impeached president https://t.co/1MWRjE3WlN by @rbravender & @davelevinthal ($) @Politicsinsider

Historians and presidential-library buffs say they're worried that any sort of Donald Trump presidential library or museum will be used entirely to glorify the ex-commander in chief while promoting lies about his administration and attacking his critics.

Construction could wind up being a major battleground over the legacy of the 2x-impeached president. Historians & DC insiders are speculating about whether Trump's kids might lead the effort, where it would be located, & whether the federal government might withhold its support.

"It will be ostentatious. It will be like Trump Tower. It'll be like everything he does — over the top & not very subtle," said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

"I think he'll use it to promote his memory or his understanding of what's happened. Not only the things he accomplished, but the people he doesn't like," Zelizer added.