He Must Be Indicted

Yesterday's hearing in Washington provided a lot of new information. Dana Milbank catalogs it:

Trump adviser Steve Bannon, before the election, declared that Trump is “going to declare victory, and that doesn’t mean he’s the winner. … So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a firestorm.”

Trump friend and longtime adviser Roger Stone, before the election, said that regardless of the outcome, “the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. No, we won. F--- you. … We’ll have to start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean.”

Trump, knowing privately that he had lost, signed an order on Nov. 11 requiring the immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Somalia.

Trump, acknowledging defeat, told Meadows (according to video testimony from former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson): “I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out.”

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, in video testimony, testified about Trump introducing her to lawyer John Eastman, who tried to enlist the RNC’s help with his fake-elector scheme.

Nancy Pelosi, in newly released video, pleaded for help from the Pentagon, the Virginia governor and the attorney general. She reacted in horror to the violence and talked with Vice President Mike Pence about “defecation” and defilement of the House floor.

Donald Trump's attempted coup met the textbook definition of sedition. He was at the centre of it. There won't be any indictments until after the election, now three weeks away. But, after the election, he must be indicted -- for sedition and for his theft of government documents.

If there's any justice, he'll will spend the rest of his natural life in jail.

Image: salon.com

They're Focused On Trump

After yesterday's hearings, it's now clear that the January 6 Committee is focused on Donald Trump. Eugene Robinson writes:

It was Donald Trump, and Donald Trump alone, who summoned and loosed the mob that sacked the Capitol, threatened Congress and the vice president and imperiled our democracy. That is the powerful message that emerged from Tuesday’s televised hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee. And these hearings make clear just how dangerous it would be for the former president to be elected again.

On the night of December 18th, a cast of crazies met with Trump at the White House:

Witnesses told the committee, Trump presided over a rancorous, hours-long screaming match between the Crazy and Normal camps that ended after midnight with no real resolution. At 1:42 a.m. that night, Trump embarked on a third, radically different course of action: He posted the infamous tweet telling supporters to come to Washington on Jan. 6, ending it with what MAGA extremists understood as a call to arms: “Be there, will be wild!”

It was Trump who called the mob to Washington. It was Trump who called them to war.  And they came with the weapons they needed for war:

A former member of the Oath Keepers militia group and a onetime sympathizer who joined the Capitol mob told the committee what happened next. Trump’s Jan. 6 tweets galvanized not just random MAGA acolytes but also more-established violent groups. And some leaders of the insurrection somehow learned in advance that Trump would call on the crowd to march on the Capitol.

There are still dots left for the committee to connect. But the emerging picture is of one man who made the horrific events of Jan. 6 happen. His name is Donald Trump. Trump can’t be let anywhere near power again, now that we know exactly how he will use it.

It's true that Trump isn't very bright. But his most singular talent is that he can summon the worst in and of humanity. And the carnage he can inflict -- with the help of his followers -- is horrifying.

Image: The Guardian