PowerPoint to overthrow democracy tracks Trump's public statements
I have a slightly alarming fact to share with you. As you may know, Popular Information uses the Substack platform to publish this newsletter. Substack publishes a leaderboard of the top newsletters, across various categories, ranked by total revenue. Popular Information ranks tenth in the politics category. Not bad! But four places ahead, in sixth place, is a newsletter by Alex Berenson. Who is Alex Berenson? He is one of the leading sources of COVID disinformation on the internet. OK, I get it. In a list of the world's injustices, this would rate very low. But the fact is Berenson has more resources at his disposal to spread dangerous misinformation about COVID than Popular Information has to uncover the truth. Since the start of the pandemic, Popular Information's reporting resulted in the nation's largest restaurant chain providing paid sick leave to all its employees, improved working conditions for cable technicians, and pressured large corporations to return tens of millions of taxpayer dollars intended for struggling small businesses. You can help expand our capacity to do this work with a paid subscription. It's just $6 per month or $50 for an entire year. By supporting Popular Information, you are lifting up information everyone can trust. We've been awarded a 100% rating by NewsGuard, an independent organization that evaluates media outlets for credibility. To stay completely independent, Popular Information accepts no advertising. This newsletter only exists because of the support of readers like you. A 38-page PowerPoint that lays out a brazen plan to overthrow democracy landed in the inbox of former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on January 5. Meadows turned over the information to the special Congressional committee that is investigating the events that preceded the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. While it is a remarkable document, a close examination of the chaotic days following the 2020 presidential election reveals the core arguments of the PowerPoint largely track what Trump was saying publicly. The media, however, has characterized the contents of the PowerPoint as "extreme," and "wild," casting doubt whether its recommendations were "seriously… considered." This is revisionist history. Meadows, through his attorney, attempted to wave off interest in the document. Meadows' lawyer, George J. Terwilliger III, told reporters that Meadows "merely received it by email in his inbox and did nothing with it." But Phil Waldron, a retired colonel who was involved in producing the PowerPoint, told the Washington Post that he spoke with Meadows "eight to 10 times" and briefed numerous members of Congress on the PowerPoint before January 6. While the 38-page PowerPoint has not been released, a 36-page version — that is reportedly almost identical — has surfaced online. One key slide is the list of "Recommendations" that appears on page 23. "Brief Senators and Congressmen on foreign interference" The first recommendation — briefing members of Congress on alleged "foreign interference" — actually happened, Waldron said. Waldron told the Washington Post that he briefed Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and other members of Congress who he did not identify. Neither Johnson nor Graham denied Waldron's claims. "Declare National Security Emergency"Trump did not ultimately "declare" a "national security emergency." But Trump did, in his speech on January 6 that preceded the riot, cast the recognition of Biden's victory as a "national security" threat.
These comments may have been setting the stage for a declaration if his plans for thwarting the certification of Biden's victory on January 6 succeeded and he was able to secure the cooperation of the national security apparatus. On Twitter, Trump publicly called on the Governor of Georgia to use his "emergency" powers to reverse the outcome of the presidential vote in that state. "Foreign influence and control of electronic voting systems"Trump spoke repeatedly, without evidence, about "foreign influence and control of electronic voting systems." In a November 29, 2020 appearance on Fox Business, Trump said that votes recorded on Dominion voting machines "are counted in foreign countries." He repeated the same claim in a recorded speech released on December 2, 2020. On December 22, 2020, Trump promoted a tweet in his feed encouraging Pence to reject the electors certified by the Electoral College in order to defend the country from "China, Russia, Iran." "Declare electronic voting in all states invalid"; "Legal & Genuine paper ballot counts"Trump did not personally have the power to invalidate all electronic votes. But he did declare that all electronic voting was invalid, falsely claiming it was tainted by fraud. In a Thanksgiving speech to troops around the world on November 26, 2020, Trump said that electronic votes were "rigged" and only paper ballots are accurate.
Trump made similar claims on December 2, 2020, when he told the nation that none of the electronic results can be trusted and the nation must "go to paper."
"Options for 6 JAN"The other key slide in the PowerPoint appears on page 34 and covers "Options for 6 JAN." All three options involve Pence refusing to count or recognize some or all of the electors presented to him. That, of course, was precisely what Trump publicly called on Pence to do. On January 6, Trump spent much of his speech browbeating Pence to take action:
It is unclear what influence, if any, the PowerPoint had on Trump or his inner circle. But that is not because the PowerPoint outlined a strategy that was more "extreme" or "wild" than the one Trump pursued. It was largely the same. Trump did not lack the will to overturn the democratic process; he lacked a way to execute a plan. In 2020, Trump needed cooperation that he didn't have from Pence, state officials, Congress, and the national security apparatus. The next time might be different. As 2024 approaches, Trump is pursuing a more sophisticated strategy to install his allies at all levels of government. |
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