Will desperation drive Trump and his henchmen to new violence,? Will he use his gestapo like police force to stop people from voting?
If Democrats win, will the GOP refuse to seat them in the new Congress? Will that be the last act of the American story— a tragedy?
In The New Republic — FEDERAL JUDGE WARNS OF ANOTHER JAN. 6 -- Hon. J. Michael Luttig, star witness of the congressional investigation of Trump, issued a chilling warning about what could happen after the midterms – and says the real danger may come AFTER Americans cast their ballots!
Luttig, the Bush I-appointed conservative federal judge who famously advised Vice President Mike Pence that he had no constitutional authority to overturn the 2020 election, is sounding the alarm about a potential new constitutional crisis next Jan. 3…
“Today’s congressional Republicans took a blood oath six years ago not just to put their party before their country, but to put Donald Trump before their country,” Luttig wrote Thursday in The New Republic.
“And so it is that only weeks before the midterm elections, House Republicans have already sworn their allegiance to Donald Trump and doomed the U.S. to anothe….
After providing that fateful advice to Pence, Luttig later became a pivotal witness before the House Jan. 6 committee, where he warned that Trump and his allies remained a “clear and present danger to American democracy.”
….Luttig argues that even if Democrats win enough seats in November to claim a House majority, Republicans could challenge Democratic victories and keep enough Democratic members-elect from joining the new Congress to keep the new majority from taking control.
His most specific scenario involves House Speaker Mike Johnson replacing the House clerk before the current Congress expires with someone willing to leave certain certified Democratic winners off the initial roll of representatives-elect…… if that temporary clerk refuses to list Democratic representatives-elect whom Republicans want excluded. Lawsuits could follow immediately and potentially reach the Supreme Court.
Luttig warns that resolving such a confrontation could take weeks or months, leaving the country in what he calls a “paralyzing constitutional crisis.”….. Luttig isn’t some liberal activist spinning a worst-case fantasy.
He spent 15 years on the federal appeals court after being appointed by a Republican president, and he was one of the conservative legal authorities Pence’s advisers relied upon when Trump tried to overturn his 2020 defeat.
Nearly six years after helping provide the constitutional argument that Pence could not hand Trump an election he had lost, Luttig is warning Americans that the next battle over the peaceful transfer of political power may already be taking shape.
Could they try various nefarious stunts to try and subvert the results of an election that didn't go their way? Sure. And while raising the alarm is important, I think it is a mistake to give into despair that such an attempt could prevail.
ReplyDeleteFormer jurist Robert B Hubbell wrote a piece on his substack in answer to Luttig's latest atticle:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/
Hubbell doesn't think it is likely that Republicans will attempt a legislative coup because the courts can and will review whatever lawless actions are taken by a rogue House Clerk or rump caucus of Republicans in the 120th Congress. It is a coup that merely delays the transfer of power but does not defeat it. Hubbell disagrees that litigation over the actions of the rogue House clerk or rump caucus will take months to resolve. Here there is an overwhelming constitutional imperative to finally and fully resolve the dispute by Jan. 3, 2027.
Hubbell maintains that the best defense against lawless attempts to overthrow the Constitution is to "...run up the score in the middle so that efforts...are so obviously futile that they are abandoned before they are attempted.,"
Let’s hope Hubbell is right. But nobody expected that the violence of January 6 would be rewritten to become the work of patriotic heroes either. And that the perpetrators would be pardoned and offered rewards ( which has been stopped by the courts. So far)
DeletePersonally I think the MAGA moment is fading. Their figurehead and avatar is an elderly man in poor health whose mind is addled. People are seeing the handwriting on the wall and are looking for exit ramps.
ReplyDeleteGovernor DeWine has said that in all elections both parties are on top of the elections, closely monitor them, and have lawyers readily to go to court at the slightest evidence of wrongdoing.
ReplyDeleteIn the coming election I don't think the polls and the huge amount of money being spent, the attack ads, etc. will matter. I think most Democrats and most Independents are fed up with what Republican are doing and highly motivated to turn out. I think many if not most Republicans are fed up with Trump. They are unlikely to vote for Democrats but they may not vote Republican or turn out for the election. The whole thing comes down to who is motivated to vote.
If the US were populated with Frenchmen or Albanians, I think the problem would be, if not quickly, then ultimately definitely resolved. If they refuse to seat the legitimate representatives, then we need another January Sixth, OUR January Sixth. Those Jan 6 people were dingbats, but they at least acted on their principles, as deranged as they were. I'm no fan of Democrats, essentially another branch of Likud, but, if elected, they should be seated.
ReplyDelete