The January 6th Hearings. Part 2: The Big Lie and the Big Con

First, cartoons!

Pat Byrnes, Cagle Cartoons

Michael de Adder, The Washington Post

Michael de Adder, The Washington Post

R.J. Matson, Cagle Cartoons

The second hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol started with a delay, as an 11th-hour revelation that 45's 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien would not be able to testify in person due to his wife going into labor. The committee took some time to scramble to adjust their schedule and made due with video presentations of his previously-taped testimony. Congratulations to the Stepian family!

Today's hearing focused on the fact that the claims of fraud were investigated and found false by members of 45's inner circle, including his attorney general, and he was directly and unequivocally informed of their baselessness. Yet The Big Lie-bowski continued to push the lie on TV, both as an opening salvo for his attempted coup and as a way to continue his grift, conning his supporters out of millions upon millions of dollars. 

The bottom line: he lost and he knew he lost. But he continued the lie anyway.

Congressperson Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) took center stage today as she presented witnesses to illustrate several points.

The former president* was advised not to declare victory too early. All of his campaign officials told him that over the last 40-50 years, since mail-in ballot has been a thing, early results often favor the Republican candidate. Known as the "Red Mirage," it will often appear that the Repug candidate is winning because mail-in ballots, which generally favor the Democrat candidate, take longer to count, sometimes many days longer. The 2020 Republican candidate for president had discouraged his supporters from voting by mail. And though election-night reporting favored him, as we all know, the mail-in ballots eventually tilted the election toward Joe Biden. All of those around him advised him to wait to declare victory. All, of course, save one inebriated Rudy Giuliani, who goaded him into declaring victory on election night.

Claims of fraud were at the center of his plot to overthrow the government, and this narrative was started early. In fact, he started the fraud narrative in April of 2020, a full seven months before the election (truly, though, he started it during the 2016 election as a hedge against a possible loss then). In April, 2020 he declared, "The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. To remember that. It's the only way we're going to lose this election. This is going to be a fraud like you've never seen." 

Claims of fraud were investigated and found to be false. There were many campaign staff, attorneys, and members of his inner circle stating plainly that his claims were (in Bill Barr's words) "bullshit." Testimony revealed that 45 would assert a claim that he "had been told" or "had heard on TV" regarding a possible source of fraud. Each time, he would have people run it down. Invariably, no evidence would turn up. And Mayor McTreason would be informed of such. But, invariably, he would go on TV the next day and claim that those falsities were true.

The Tangerine Palpatine took 62 cases to the courts, his legal right, and the right thing to do when fraud is suspected. He lost in 61 of them, including rulings by ten judges appointed by 45 himself. By the way, the one case that found in his favor was a minor victory; it didn't appreciably change any election results. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter called this tactic "a coup in search of a legal outcome."

His supporters bought his lies, and they went to Washington on January 6 because they really truly thought the election had been stolen. 

Oh look! More crimes! He bilked his supporters out of hundreds of millions of dollars ostensibly for his "Official Election Defense Fund." Money was instead funneled into his pockets and the pockets of allied conservative organizations. The committee found no such fund existed. In fact, his legal fees are paid by the RNC. Most of the money garnered from hundreds of email campaigns to small-dollar donations eventually went to the newly-formed "Save America PAC," which in turn funneled funds to pro-TЯUMP organizations, such as Chief of Staff Mark Meadows's Conservative Partnership Institute, Trump hotels, and the organization that organized his January 6 "rally."

My random thoughts:

Former Faux News editor Chris Stirewalt seemed a little too excited to be there. He was über proud that Faux News beat the competition in calling Arizona. But being the first to call Arizona for Biden definitely put a little rain on Scooby Coup's party. Stirewalt described the Red Mirage and the need for patience in awaiting results. He plainly said that there was no doubt about who won the election.

The orange scourge's campaign manager Bill Sepian, though his testimony was from previously-recorded depositions instead of live, was compelling. He pushed back on his boss's narrative from election night through til the end. Sepien had inherited the campaign with 115 days left in the race, and it was becoming obvious that there were two camps evolving. He said he was fine being included in "Team Normal," with the other team being headed by  the very abnormal Rudy Giuliani. 

I've never seen Marty Feldman and Rudy Giuliani in the same room...

Zoe Lofgren described attorney Sidney Powell's (speaking of abnormal) testimony in a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion voting machines. She quoted Powell as saying, "no reasonable person would conclude that her statements (about Dominion machines perpetrating massive fraud) were truly statements of fact." What the actual hell. 

The committee played a lot of Bill Barr's testimony. Barr called it "awkward" that he hadn't talked to the Jabba the Gut since before Election Day when he went to the Whitewash House on November 23. It was a few days later when 45 seemed to put the fraud at the feet of the Justice Department ("How the FBI and Department of Justice — I don't know, maybe they're involved, but how people are allowed to get away from this stuff — with this stuff is unbelievable."). Barr described how he directly contradicted 45's claims of fraud, that it was "bullshit" and that "it was doing a great, grave disservice to the country." Barr was nearly fired that day, but hung in there and kept pushing back for another couple weeks. He testified that one day he told 45 that his ideas about Dominion machines was nonsense and described SCROTUS as becoming "detached from reality." He testified that the very next day the president* went on TV and spouted more lies about Dominion. It was shortly after this that Barr resigned. 

Bill Barr also made the point that the Mango Mussolini ran weaker than other Republican candidates on the ticket in Pennsylvania. No fraud. Duh. 

BJay Pak, appointed by 45 as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, testified about another wild-goose chase. Pak had been approached by A.G. Barr to look into allegations about a "suitcase full of ballots" mysteriously turning up in Fulton County. They found that the "black suitcase" was a typical lock-box of ballots that had been tucked away. Poll workers were called back to count them and there was absolutely nothing nefarious about it.

What a waste of time and resources having everyone run around investigating these made-up allegations of fraud and getting the Justice Department involved in state-level election concerns. 

Al Schmidt, former City Commissioner for the city of Philadelphia, testified about a tweet that Twitler had broadcast naming Schmidt after he and his fellow commissioners found no evidence of "8,000 dead people" voting in Philadelphia. After the tweet, Mr. Schmidt and his family were the victims of death threats and other harassment. I just about cried at the thought of this otherwise anonymous, hard-working elections official becoming the target of death threats due to a desperate, desperate idiot's orange-colored fantasies. 

What another waste of time and resources: 61 desperate court cases failed or were tossed, including in front of 45-appointed judges. Several attorneys were sanctioned for these frivolous cases, including Giuliani being suspended from practicing law in the State of New York. 

The Fundraising: $252 million raised from his unwitting sycophants. So many thousands of small-dollar donors parted with their hard-earned money, and most of it simply lined Don the Con's pockets. Well, if ya can't pull off a coup, might as well run a grift! 

I had to giggle when they played SCROTUS describing one incident of fraud: "They call them dumps, big massive dumps." It may be the one thing he got right. What a shit show. 

Late breaking news: the Marmalade Menace has issued a rambling response, repeating the the big lie yet again. He is accusing the committee of trying to “prevent him from running again for the presidency.”  No, little man, they are trying for much bigger than that. Moron.  

I had a question for A.G. Garland in my last post: "Are you listening?" Turns out, yes. Yes he is.

Next question: Mr. Garland, will you act?

Here's the entirety of Monday's hearing:

The next hearing is on Wednesday morning, June 15, at 10am EDT (7am PDT), and another one is scheduled for Thursday June 16 at 1pm EDT (10am PDT). **** Correction: the committee is postponing Wednesday’s hearing. The Thursday hearing will take place as scheduled. ****

Thanks to Stephen Colbert and his viewers for many of today's nicknames. 

Click here for Part 3: Hang Mike Pence