Once Again, It's the Recording That Gets Them

You may have read the story about how the Washington Post got a one-hour recording of Trump trying to get the Georgia Secretary of State and his lawyer to overturn the election.  If you haven't heard it yet, the newspaper published the full recording on its website, which you can find here.  

I don't know if everyone will be able to access this without a Washington Post subscription.  Or how many will want to listen to the full thing.  (Personally, I find it almost unlistenable, given that only a minute in Trump is already at full delusion saying, "I think it's pretty clear we won, we won very substantially."  And as evidence points to the size of his rallies!  Which, as a point of information, is not how they count votes...)  But if you haven't heard any and want just a taste of two minutes, that's enough to hear that it's horrifying -- a deluded, crazy man in charge with great power who actually thinks he won and that all these lunatic conspiracies are truth, and threatening legal action against government officials of his own party.  The weary voices of the others on the line not debating with him but just responding as simply and directly as they can says it all.

Unlike with Richard Nixon and his Oval Office tape, this recording didn't get the most damning 18-1/2 minutes edited out. It's all there.  And damning.  And unlike Nixon, Trump doesn't even try to say, "But it would be wrong."  But then, I suspect that's because he doesn't think it would be -- which I suspect is how he looks at all his crimes, including the one he got impeached for.  Trump is lucky that he only has barely two weeks left, which will likely temper Congressional outrage – though hopefully it will also temper GOP support for challenging the results.  But I doubt that, because this is still the Republican Party.

However few Republicans have spoken out about the recording, I just don’t think the number will grow very far.  After all, they all know who Trump is and what he’s been doing – and it hasn’t bothered them at all and they’ve kept supporting him blindly.  So, why should they change now. “Oh, my God, THAT’S who Trump is and what he’s been doing??  I had no idea!!”

Or to put it in Casablanca movie terms, “I’m shocked!  Shocked to find that gambling going on in here.”

However, though nothing will come of this legislatively, the hope is that it will make it much more difficult for these GOP Senators and Congressman to keep pursuing this seditious Electoral College objection.  I’m sure some will stick it out, but hopefully some will drop out.  I’m not counting on that, but we’ll see. 

The larger question is how will this impact the Georgia election.  My sense is that the only options are “Not at all” or “Enough to help Democrats” – and that “Enough to help Republicans” is not on the table.

I love that Trump is suggesting he may sue the Secretary of State for recording the call.  Too hilarious.  First, Georgia is a one-party consent state, there’s no basis for the suit.  Second, if Trump claims the call was confidential, he tweeted about it publicly.  And third, even if the Georgia officials did something illegal in recording the call (an no, they didn’t), that’s not the point – the point is that the phone call was made public and now everyone knows about the crime Trump committed.

So, on three levels, too hilarious.

I also love an article on RawStory whose headline is perfect – “Impeachment lawyer makes it clear Democrats tried to warn the GOP Trump’s ‘behavior’ is a ‘pattern.’”  Spot on right.  .  Adam Schiff’s impassioned warning that we know Trump will do this again is one of the most memorable moments of the trial.

A crazy con man with power.  And the elected Republicans in Congress enable him, with zero public outrage and no effort to be a check on him, and they are all complicit.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of Trump urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the results of the election.Here’s the audio...pic.twitter.com/VaEUgHuuu5— Rex Chapman???? (@RexChapman) January 3, 2021