AN ANATOMY OF HOW TRUMP'S COUP ATTEMPT FAILED

I usually delve into some aspect of religion on Sundays.  Wednesdays are generally devoted to some science issue, and my thinking right now is to bring you up to date on global warming tomorrow.  One of President Joe Biden's first acts will be to re-join the Paris Agreement.  Every so often my posting is stirred up by a dream.  As you'll see in a few paragraphs, today is one of those days.

In one corner we have the USA, the most powerful country ever in the history of humanity.  It is a democracy that's hardly perfect, but yet, better than anything else around today.

In the other, President Donald Trump and his shabby band of deceitful miscreants.  Here you have a dominant leader, by consensus known to be:  "incompetent," "arrogant," "strong," "idiot," "egotistical," "ignorant," "great," "racist," "a------" and "narcissistic."  Add pathological liar and dangerously vengeful, this latter characteristic useful in keeping followers in line.

Further, he has delusions of grandeur.  Observing the commanding control of Putin, Xi and Kim, Trump, too, imagined being President for Life.  From being surprised by actually becoming president four years ago, all this power transformed his purpose in life to joining their club.

Trump and his iniquitous group developed a four-point plan to attain pre-eminence forever.  How do I know this?  My fertile mind:  

I was inspired by a dream I had last night.  I should mention that my dreams have no connection to reality.  But here I was in a room with Donald Trump (first time he appeared in one of mine), just the two of us.  It wasn't the White House, nor his New York office...but sort of like at his home.  We were negotiating something like working together on a project.  He was clearly testing me out, and I kept screwing up.  At one point, he asked me to hold a lamp, which I dropped.  Through all of my flubs he was the nicest person, with, perhaps, a few well-warranted sarcasms.  That's it, absolutely nothing to do with the point of this posting.

On waking up, lying in bed, I imagined how his delusional mindset surrounded by close sycophants, designed an optimal plan for the boss to become President for Life:

• Even though Trump was not particularly popular and messed up the pandemic, by their polling, they determined that he still could win a sufficient number of electoral votes.  They were scarily too close for comfort.
• Failing that, there were more Republican governors (27-23) and state legislators (59-39) than Democratic ones, so all they had to do was gain the connivance of a sufficient number of them in key battleground states to prevail in electoral counting.
• To their surprise, that did not materialize, but they were pretty sure all those federal judges Trump appointed would support him in many of the subsequent court cases:

• 
  Fifty seven fraud law suits were filed.  They all failed.
• But, hey, no problem, for he had appointed three of the nine Supreme Court associate judges, and conservatives prevailed 6-3.  His team could challenge everything up to the Supreme Court. Well, everything that came to Supreme Court further bashed Trump.  These justices actually believed in Democracy and the Constitution.

• 
  Okay, so far, so bad.  But he had Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the congressional electoral vote count.  Pence had previously been the ultimate ass kisser.  But like the Supreme Court, Pence became conscientious and in private indicated that he could not be of help here. 

• 
  They were running out of options, but had planned well, and on their agenda were two national protests:
• First, hold a massive protest on the day Pence's help was supposed to occur, January 6.  However, learning that he would not be supportive, Trump decided to send his supporters to the U.S. Congress, and hopefully scare the members.  This got out of hand, but so what, it mostly worked.

• 
  Second, have a bigger crowd overwhelm Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, tossing in all the State capitols.  This will not happen for a variety of reasons, among them being that authorities will now be ready, leaders of the mob have been arrested and many in that invading group actually did not realize what they were doing.

• 
  During this turmoil, activate the Department of Defense to take over the country.  After all, he is Commander in Chief.
• Make sure that the Secretary of Defense and key security offices be manned by his close subordinates to make this happen.  As of five days ago there was a 92% turnover, so his people were in place for this coup d'etat.  
• BUT SOON AFTER THE NEW YEAR CAME THAT KEY LETTER which scuttled this plan:

The ten living American secretaries of defense collectively signed an extraordinary letter over the weekend, stating in the strongest possible terms that the U.S. election is over, the time for protests is past, and that there is no role for the U.S. military in resolving any controversy surrounding it. They called for a smooth and professional transition of defense responsibilities from the current administration to the next, reflecting their frustration with the obvious stonewalling that has characterized much of the turnover so far. And, most forcefully, they said that any civilian and military officials who directed the use of the military to interfere in the electoral process would be held accountable, “including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.”

• 
  This letter demolished the ultimate Hail Mary to forcefully install Donald Trump as President for Life.
• Result:  the USA will merrily roll along with Joe Biden as president.
• Donald Trump:  will continue to influence the future doings of the Republican Party by holding on to his 30% support.  

• 
  What Republicans can do to dissociate that connection will insure for the continued effectiveness of the party.  No doubt those sexual and tax private and state suits and investigations will now become a target of opportunity for the GOP.  
• If they fail, it will be a somewhat difficult upcoming few years for them.
• Democrats will only be too happy to provide bipartisan support.  That impeachment trial could become one of the most cooperative activities to occur in Congress, ever.

From the Washington Post:

• ignoranus:  a person who's both stupid and an asshole
• bozone:  substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating

From the most dangerous man on Planet Earth to someone on the other end of that spectrum, a tribute to the Birdman of India, 90-year old Salim Ali.  Watch that video.  Salim was born in 1896 Bombay the ninth and youngest child of a family where his father died when he was a year old, and his mother at three.  One of his childhood friends, Iskandar Mirza, became the first President of Pakistan.  Salim started life shooting birds, then became the Gandhi of ornithologists, maintaining a frugal lifestyle.

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