Donald Trump (screen capture) A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows two-thirds of Americans approve of how President-elect Joe Biden is handling the weeks leading up to his inauguration. According to the survey, 67% of those polled approve of Biden’s handling of the presidential transition while only 25% disapprove. Additionally, 49% are confident Biden will make the right decisions. Four years ago, only 35% believed Trump would make good decisions. And speaking of the Donald… A large majority – 68% – oppose Trump pardoning himself versus 28% who support the move. Also – 54% of those polled feel Trump should be charged with a crime for inciting the riot that took place at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. By an almost 2-1 margin, Americans believe Biden won the presidential election. While 32% are naysayers, 62% believe Biden had a clean win. A clear majority of Americans – 58% – support Twitter’s decision to permanently suspend Trump’s account. Forty-one percent oppose the idea. Almost half, 48%, strongly support the decision, while 36% strongly oppose it. My thoughts: count on Trump pardoning himself before he boards Marine One on the 20th. You can find the full results of the survey here.
Two-thirds approve of how Pres.-elect Joe Biden has handled his transition, new @ABC News/WaPo poll finds. That’s 27 points more than said so of Donald Trump four years ago, though it trails other recent presidents. https://t.co/6Nnxu7rAedpic.twitter.com/kJoFHmBRwf
No shit. He had to deal with #donaldtrumps uncooperative tantrums and his administration standing by his lies. Yes @JoeBiden has handled this well, very well.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) As news outlets begin reporting arrested insurrectionists are planning on asking Donald Trump to pardon them for invading the U.S. Capitol, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sends a message to Trump: No pardons for rioters. Graham fears Trump handing out pardons to the folks who violently attacked the Capitol would “destroy” the Donald. Speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Graham said:
“There are a lot of people urging the president to pardon folks who participated in defiling the Capitol, the rioters.
“I don’t care if you went there and spread flowers on the floor, you breached the security of the Capitol, you interrupted a joint session of Congress. You tried to intimidate, assault, you should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and to seek a pardon of these people would be wrong.
“I think it would destroy President Trump and I hope we don’t go down that road. They chose to go into that Capitol, defile the Capitol. President Trump never said, ‘Go into the Capitol and try to interrupt a joint session of Congress.’”
I completely agree that if Trump were to issue presidential pardons for rioters it would just make him look that much more guilty. Graham also flipped the script and attempted to place the blame for the assault on the Capitol building on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
This poor man. The duress he must be under, trying to conceal whatever it is that is forcing him to behave like a hostage…
— Tina Hayes, Fellow ReSISter 🌊🌊🌊 (@tinamichelehaze) January 17, 2021
Where was Nancy Pelosi?? She was hiding in a secure location because this fucker’s Orange master sent his rabid mob of cultists to attack the Capitol. Her staff hid under a desk in the dark for hours, while some jackass broke into her office. So Lindsey needs to shut the F up.
Seditionist Lindsey Graham wildly blamed Nancy Pelosi for the Insurrection. Even though Lindsey was harassed by Trumpers at the airport, he still can’t turn his Russian back on Trump. Lindsey spread election lies that led to the Siege. Investigate him for Treason, and expel him.
Color me shocked, but a new report shows misinformation on social media dropped dramatically after Donald Trump was banned from Twitter. From the Washington Post:
Online misinformation about election fraud plunged 73 percent after several social media sites suspended President Trump and key allies last week, research firm Zignal Labs has found, underscoring the power of tech companies to limit the falsehoods poisoning public debate when they act aggressively.
The new research by the San Francisco-based analytics firm reported that conversations about election fraud dropped from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000 mentions across several social media sites in the week after Trump was banned from Twitter.
Election disinformation had for months been a major subject of online misinformation, beginning even before the Nov. 3 election and pushed heavily by Trump and his allies.
The drop in misinformation was seen across numerous platforms after Trump was kicked off social media including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Spotify and more. And it wasn’t just removing Trump that made the difference. Twitter also removed more than 70,000 accounts affiliated with the conspiracy movement known as QAnon, which played a large role in raising temperatures that led to the Capitol invasion on January 6. Read the full article at The Washington Post.
L-R President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden As Donald Trump exits the presidency and Joe Biden is about to take the reins, Pew Research Center has released the results of its latest survey. The news is good for Biden, not so good for Trump. First of all, Trump leaves office with the worst job approval rating (29%) since he took office. The percentage of voters who score Trump’s conduct since the election as only fair or poor has ticked up from 68% in November to 76%. Pew shares that nearly all of the increase was in his “poor” ratings (62% now, 54% then). Even true Trumpers have grown weary of his post-election conduct. The share of his supporters who categorize his conduct as “poor” has doubled over the past two months, from 10% to 20%. Related – Gallup poll: Trump Approval Rating Continues To Drop More than two-thirds of voters (68%) say Trump should not continue to be a major national political figure while 29% feel he should remain a major figure in U.S. politics. • 75% say Trump bears at least some responsibility for the chaos and carnage that occurred at the U.S. Capitol building last week • 54% support Trump being impeached and removed from office • 58% of Americans approve of the job Joe Biden has done in explaining his plans and policies • 57% approve of Biden’s Cabinet choices and other high-level appointments • 46% expect Biden to improve the way the federal government in Washington, D.C., works, while 28% say he will make things worse Check out more results of the survey at Pew Research Center.
Siegfried Fischbacher Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: Las Vegas illusionist Siegfried Fischbacher, of Siegfried and Roy fame, has died at age 81. Fischbacher died Wednesday night at his home in Vegas due to pancreatic cancer. Roy Horn, his partner in life and work, died last May of COVID-19 complications at age 75. • Defense One: The Pentagon, in a break with recent tradition, will not host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute to President Donald Trump. Trump will leave office in disgrace, one week after the House voted a second time for his impeachment, two weeks after his supporters staged a deadly siege in the Capitol Building, six months after he dragged his Joint Chiefs chairman into a political firestorm, and after four years of nonstop assaults on truth. • Broadway Cares: Beloved stars from All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital will reunite for ABC Daytime: Back on Broadway, a one-night-only streaming concert benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The free streamed event can be watched at broadwaycares.org beginning at 8 pm Eastern on Thursday, February 11.
• Business Insider: GOP elected officials lost thousands of Twitter followers over the weekend, as the company cracked down on QAnon accounts in the aftermath of the Capitol Hill riots. Rep. Jim Jordan’s followers took the biggest dive with nearly 150,000 purged or defected. • ABC News: Amazon Web Services has responded to Parler’s lawsuit against it with a series of screenshots of hateful content – loaded with threats of violence and racial slurs – that allegedly spread on the platform. One screenshot of a Parler post features a slew of racial slurs about Michelle Obama and another states, “The only good democrat is a dead one.” • Variety: Lady Gaga is set to sing the national anthem for the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Jan. 20. Film and recording star Jennifer Lopez will perform as well.
Rudy Giuliani at Trump press conference (screen capture) Donald Trump’s personal circle continues to grow smaller and smaller. After attacking his own Vice President for not trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election, Trump now is reportedly disgruntled with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. From the Washington Post:
Though Trump has been exceptionally furious with Vice President Pence, his relationship with lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, one of his most steadfast defenders, is also fracturing, according to people with knowledge of the dynamics between the men.
Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, two officials said, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states.
They said Trump has privately expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s moves and did not appreciate a demand from Giuliani for $20,000 a day in fees for his work attempting to overturn the election.
Many outlets have reported that Giuliani may have been wrangling for a preemptive presidential pardon just to cover his own backside. But it appears that may not be in the cards now. Although, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times has tweeted that White House folks are now walking back some of the ‘angry at Rudy’ reports.
It makes perfect sense that Trump would stiff Rudy Giuliani on the money he's owed, AND expect him to represent him in the impeachment trial.
My favorite thing in the world just happened – Trump is mad at Giuliani for not winning any of the dumbass cases he wanted him to bring, so he's not paying him! Exactly as predicted! I told you that he would throw every single ally under the bus and never pay any of his bills!
And now it’s gone full circle, Rudy Giuliani is going to get stiffed by his client who is known for not paying any contractors after he helped him commit insurrection. Oh Rudy. 🤣🥂
Donald Trump released a video message today admonishing “violence and vandalism” in regard to the invasion of the U.S. Capitol building last week. “No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence,” says Trump in the clip. “No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement or our great American flag.” Oh, my sides… The video came shortly after the House approved an article of impeachment against Trump by a vote of 232-197 making him the first president ever to be impeached twice. Plus, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell began hinting he may vote to convict Trump. This comes across as a preemptive legal defense against impeachment to me. Trust and believe, he did not write a word of this. From the New York Times:
“I want to be very clear,” he continued. “I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement. Making America great again has always been about defending the rule of law” and supporting law enforcement officials.
As a candidate in 2016, Mr. Trump once encouraged rally attendees to physically attack protesters. But in the video on Wednesday, he said that “mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for. No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence.”
“If you do any of these things, you are not supporting our movement, you are attacking it, and you are attacking our country,” he said. “We cannot tolerate it.”
There was no mention of the people who died in the melee last week including one Capitol Police officer who was reportedly bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher. Looking ahead to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, Trump added, “There must be no violence, no lawbreaking and no vandalism of any kind.”
Trump: “No true supporters of mine could ever endorse political violence.”
Also Trump: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” “I’d like to punch him in the face.” “Any guy who can do a body slam, he’s my guy.” — Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) January 13, 2021
TELEPROMPTER: “I did not endorse the violence.”
REALITY: “I sat & watched the violence play out on TV and I did nothing to stop it. Instead, I ignored all calls to intervene as I sat there, clapping my little doll-hands in giddy delight, because the violence was what I wanted.” — Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) January 13, 2021
More lies in Trump video. Says “no true supporters of mine could ever endorse political violence.” (These were his supporters of his at rally. He told them to come. He said he was with them as they marched to Capitol. Also he has stoked violence before calling press “enemy,” etc)
He said they were very special, he loved them…he watched it unfold on TV, all for his ego. He chose to do nothing and allow terror to reign in hopes of stopping the count process.
Trump, in his new video statement, said “no true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement.” Here’s video evidence of a Capitol security guard being beaten with a Trump flag pic.twitter.com/AwNQkgQ1dD
Donald Trump has become the first president in the history of the U.S. to face impeachment charges twice. In a bipartisan vote of 232 to 197, the House of Representatives approved a single article of impeachment against Trump charging him with “inciting violence against the government of the United States” in regard to last week’s insurrection at the Capitol. So. Much. Winning. From the New York Times:
The House on Wednesday impeached President Trump for inciting a violent insurrection against the United States government, as 10 members of the president’s party joined Democrats to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors for an unprecedented second time.
Reconvening under the threat of continued violence and the protection of thousands of National Guard troops, the House was determined to hold Mr. Trump to account just one week before he was to leave office.
At issue was his role in encouraging a mob that attacked the Capitol one week ago while Congress met to affirm President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, forcing lawmakers to flee for their lives in a deadly rampage.
Ten House Republicans joined with Democrats in passing the measure. The Senate will now face holding impeachment proceedings once the House transmits the article of impeachment. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly been ‘pleased’ by the impeachment development but says he won’t bring the Senate back into session before its scheduled session on January 19.
Trump’s last four years: -Lost the popular vote twice -Been impeached twice -Lost the House in 2018 -Lost the Senate in 2021 -Lost reelection by 7m votes, 306-232 electoral votes -Banned from Twitter and Facebook for inciting a riot at the US Capitol Otherwise he’s doing great.
Donald Trump Lacking his social media platforms, Donald Trump issued a statement ‘old-school’ today discouraging any further violence. “In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind,” read the statement from the White House Press Secretary. “That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for.” “I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank you.” As the House is currently debating an article of impeachment at this very moment, this seems like Trump probably got advice from his lawyers that he needs to at least ‘appear’ to discourage violence like the hideous insurrection that occurred at the U.S. Capitol building last week.
Soon-to-be twice impeached president: I don’t stand for lawbreaking.
Too late, he should have kept his mouth shut . He whipped crazy people up into a frenzy . He knew what he was doing. pic.twitter.com/WvovDejDpU
— Chappie the cat 🐱 Voted Biden/Harris (@chappie_cat) January 13, 2021
"Please understand that my comments about the election being 'stolen' or 'fraudulent' were just a joke. I'm always making jokes like that. Remember the one about injecting bleach? So, anyway, be good. Stand by."
— Gregory Paul (YOU do 40 with a ladder.) (@G_Paul_Musings) January 13, 2021
Zero chance he wrote this. Glad to see the communications staff finally figuring out how to use their official means of communications after four years.
Donald Trump (screen capture via CNN) In his first remarks to the press since the invasion of the U.S. Capitol building last week, Donald Trump took no responsibility for the violence and chaos that took place after he encouraged his followers to “march up to the Capitol” and “fight like hell.” From CNN:
A defiant President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday his speech inciting the riot at the US Capitol was “totally appropriate” while at the same time calling for “no violence” in his first public remarks to reporters after the insurrection last week.
Trump assumed no responsibility for what happened last Wednesday, despite telling his supporters in the hour beforehand to “fight like hell.” And he did not specifically decry attempts to find and kill political leaders, including his own vice president.
Before leaving the White House earlier in the day, the Donald also denounced the current impeachment proceedings developing in Congress calling it a “continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics.” He also insinuated that those actions could lead to more violence. “This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you’re doing it and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing,” he told reporters.
Chuck Schumer, in New York City, says Trump’s recent remarks show “how despicable a president he is.” “What Trump did today, blaming others for what he caused, is a pathological technique used by dictators,” he says, adding that Trump should resign or be impeached.
Five people died, things got smashed up, shit was smeared everywhere and we infected some Democrats with Covid, so yes, IT WAS A PERFECT SPEECH! https://t.co/LJlRUJVr2P
