Trump executive order that would have ordered military to seize voting machines

[NewGuy2005 51]

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/21/read-the-never-issued-trump-order-that-would-have-seized-voting-machines-527572

"...The draft executive order shows that the weeks between Election Day and the Capitol attack could have been even more chaotic than they were. It credulously cites conspiracy theories about election fraud in Georgia and Michigan, as well as debunked notions about Dominion voting machines.

The order empowers the defense secretary to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention under” a U.S. law that relates to preservation of election records. It also cites a lawsuit filed in 2017 against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Additionally, the draft order would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write an assessment of the 2020 election. That suggests it could have been a gambit to keep Trump in power until at least mid-February of 2021..."

 

National Guard troops seizing voting machines would not have been a good look for the USA.

Edited January 23, 2022 by NewGuy2005

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

On 1/22/2022 at 6:05 PM, NewGuy2005 said:

...National Guard troops seizing voting machines would not have been a good look for the USA.

I can't see that happening (have happened?)

The "Election Fraud" bullshit was a lost cause from the start (at least from a legal standpoint).
Every single lawsuit was tossed. 
In many cases, the defendants (the states and their election boards) won judgements that required the plaintiffs (Trump's stooges) to pay the legal bills.|

Every state, blue, red, purple, even plaid found that the election was free & fair.

If Trump had tried this, every state would likely have taken it to court and won. 

And I doubt the military would have had any part of it.

The leadership at the Pentagon made it VERY clear that their loyalty was to the country & the constitution. 
Anyone paying attention knew full well that they would oppose any sort of action by Trump to stay in power illegally.

While there's a fairly large segment of R supporters who believe Trump's lies about the 'stolen' election, they're the same type that think HRC should be locked up, that Covid is a hoax, that Q is real.

You know...

Morons.

[billvon 2,396]

Just now, wolfriverjoe said:

The "Election Fraud" bullshit was a lost cause from the start (at least from a legal standpoint).

Agreed.  But the actual theft of the election came eerily close to working.  The plan was to send slates of fake "electors" to DC (which was done) from states where Trump lost, all of whom voted for Trump.  Pence would then either:

-count the fake electors as real and therefore give Trump the win (unlikely) or
-say that "there are two slates of electors, so we have to put the election on hold while we investigate this travesty" (more likely)

Once the latter happened there were any number of delaying tactics that could have ensured Trump had at least a claim to remain in office.

The unlikely hero in all of this was Pence, who not only refused to go along with Trump's plans, but actually drafted new language for the counting procedures that day to ensure that irregular electoral votes would not be counted.  The insurrection was a backup to that, of course, which (fortunately) failed.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

6 minutes ago, billvon said:

Agreed.  But the actual theft of the election came eerily close to working.  The plan was to send slates of fake "electors" to DC (which was done) from states where Trump lost, all of whom voted for Trump.  Pence would then either:

-count the fake electors as real and therefore give Trump the win (unlikely) or
-say that "there are two slates of electors, so we have to put the election on hold while we investigate this travesty" (more likely)

Once the latter happened there were any number of delaying tactics that could have ensured Trump had at least a claim to remain in office.

The unlikely hero in all of this was Pence, who not only refused to go along with Trump's plans, but actually drafted new language for the counting procedures that day to ensure that irregular electoral votes would not be counted.  The insurrection was a backup to that, of course, which (fortunately) failed.

Oh yes.

The "Eastman Memo" outlined some very devious (and practical) ways that Trump could have stolen the election.

The 'fake electors' is just one of them.

We came a lot closer to Trump stealing the presidency from Biden than many people realize.
I'm not sure what would have happened if he had pulled it off.

Court battles?
Street battles?
Military intervention?

No clue.

But the idea that the military would seize the voting machines is a lot less realistic than any of the above.

[yoink 321]

The sad thing is that as far as R are concerned, 2020 was a demo. A draft.A practice run. It showed that PARTS of the plan can work.

next time it will be better orchestrated, and more successful. I’m aghast that so far nothing has be substantially done by the Democrats to prevent it ever happening again.

[JoeWeber 2,297]

1 minute ago, yoink said:

The sad thing is that as far as R are concerned, 2020 was a demo. A draft.A practice run. It showed that PARTS of the plan can work.

next time it will be better orchestrated, and more successful. I’m aghast that so far nothing has be substantially done by the Democrats to prevent it ever happening again.

The left doesn't have the killer instinct needed to win against evil. Already Garland should have been wood shedded or replaced. Hard pressure should be on the Trump kids now. Subpoenas, not pretty please, and constant media play on how they are going down. Real court is one thing and the court of public opinion is another. The brain deads will need a while to catch on and the more time that passes the more the guilty will be able to claim witch hunt. Truly, we suck at winning.

[JerryBaumchen 1,047]

48 minutes ago, JoeWeber said:

The left doesn't have the killer instinct needed to win against evil. Already Garland should have been wood shedded or replaced. Hard pressure should be on the Trump kids now. Subpoenas, not pretty please, and constant media play on how they are going down. Real court is one thing and the court of public opinion is another. The brain deads will need a while to catch on and the more time that passes the more the guilty will be able to claim witch hunt. Truly, we suck at winning.

Hi Joe,

Re:  Already Garland should have been wood shedded or replaced.

His boss lacks the killer instinct.

Jerry Baumchen

[GeorgiaDon 340]

8 hours ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Joe,

Re:  Already Garland should have been wood shedded or replaced.

His boss lacks the killer instinct.

Jerry Baumchen

It's understandable that people are impatient with the slow pace of "justice".   Certainly I feel that way.  However the biggest disaster would be a rushed prosecution that results in acquittals.  That would allow the crooks to claim that the whole investigation was a politically motivated witch hunt, with some validity in the eyes of many people who are not already rabid Trump groupies.  Of course they would also permanently escape having to account for their crimes.  Biden was elected to bring back a sense of normalcy to government, and "normal" should mean that the Justice Department operates independently from the White House and only prosecutes based on evidence (sufficient to have a high chance of securing a conviction) not political expediency.  I do not know from personal experience how hard it is to put together a really strong case, but I imagine it is very complicated especially in a situation where you are investigating crimes involving many politically powerful people who can muddy the waters, or use credible threats of retaliation if/when Republicans regain control of Congress.  For those reasons I am not ready to toss Garland just yet.

Edited January 24, 2022 by GeorgiaDon

[obelixtim 100]

The sheer number of criminals and crimes means the DOJ is up to their necks with work. Slow and methodical will win the day. Where appropriate, the States should prosecute, to prevent the possiblity of the Repubs pardoning the crooks if they win back the presidency. Hopefully ALL those involved will all find themselves behind bars for many years.  Should be quite a few vacancies in the senate, house, and Mar a Largo.

[brenthutch 383]

On 1/23/2022 at 11:50 PM, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Joe,

Re:  Already Garland should have been wood shedded or replaced.

His boss lacks the killer instinct.

Jerry Baumchen

His boss lacks basic cognitive function 

[DougH 270]

On 1/27/2022 at 6:22 PM, brenthutch said:

His boss lacks basic cognitive function 

:::shrug::: So do some of the posters on this site.