Some J6 committee members have said that this is not about partisan politics.

Some J6 committee members have said that this is not about partisan politics.

That is only true in the sense that it is not about normal partisan politics.

The issue that is involved transcends and fundamentally challenges normal partisan politics. 1/19

Moreover, when we watch these hearings we are seeing a gigantic train wreck in the making for the GOP. 2/19

What Trump did to overturn the 2020 election in order to remain in power is so appalling, outrageous, and unprecedented that it might seem indecent to talk politics, but we must, because this is really about the biggest political crime in American history. 3/19

The first two hearings have provoked a lot of discussion about Trump’s state of mind regarding his election loss and his subsequent attempt to reverse the election results to remain in the White House illegally and unconstitutionally. 4/19

One interesting point of view has been that Trump is simply insane, because the Big Lie is such a monstrous and (as the committee has shown in excruciating detail) demonstrably false one. 5/19

Jennifer Rubin opined today: “A very powerful case can be made that he is nuts. Stark raving nuts.” And Bill Barr testified to the committee that Trump might be “disconnected from reality” about the Big Lie. “Crazy stuff” he has testified. 6/19

This would be a very novel defense in court: non compos mentis for a former president of the United States.

But of course Trump isn’t going to make that defense (and it is unlikely he would get away with it if he did). 7/19

In his column today in WaPo, Greg Sargent (citing Barbara McQuade) also noted that under the legal doctrine of “willful blindness,” ignorance of a particular fact does not constitute exoneration if there was a high — and obvious — probability that the fact was true. 8/19

Actually, according to the legal approach of @tribelaw and others, prosecutors would not even have to invoke the doctrine of “willful blindness.” 9/19

The stark fact that every state and federal court (all 60 of them!) rejected the election challenges is enough to fully and incontrovertibly establish a corrupt intent (i.e. to remain in power illegally and unconstitutionally). 10/19

Trump knew all the challenges had failed and would fail. *That* is what establishes corrupt intent, whether he actually believed the election was unfair or a hoax or didn’t. And that is why his actions constituted, and continue to constitute, a monstrous political crime. 11/19

The “willful blindness” doctrine, while unnecessary and irrelevant legally, is highly germaine when we view Trump’s attempted coup as a political crime — because “willful blindness” is what Trump is going to continue to demand of his cult followers and in fact the whole GOP. 12/19

It is clear from the testimony of Bill Barr and others that Trump would not have accepted and will not accept any evidence that he lost the election.

He is going to demand that his followers and the GOP do the same. 13/19

For Trump, facts don’t matter. That is why, in effect, he has told and continues to tell his base (which is in fact the base of the R party): If the legal procedures certified Biden’s win, then so much the worse for the legal procedures and in fact American democracy. 14/19

For Trump and his cult, this is not finally about vote counts, or fraud, or legal challenges, or even facts. It is just a question of “Who do you want to win and be in the White House?” 15/19

Trump will run again on that ticket, and if he is in jail or if he decides against running for other reasons, he will demand that the GOP itself run on that ticket as well.

He will say that anyone who doesn’t is a weak RINO who doesn’t really want to win. 16/19

And that will be enough to ensure that the GOP will implode, because it will make it impossible for any R candidate (including DeSantis) to win in the general. 17/19

Trump has frequently been compared to a mob boss. But in 2020 he was much more than a mob bass, or serial liar, or grifter, or head case, or con man, or all of the above.

Most basically, he was an authoritarian fascist, engaging in authoritarian fascist politics. 18/19

The fact continues to be that this was and is essentially a political crime of monstrous proportions, and the greatest threat to our Republic since Fort Sumter. It is essential to see it this way as American politics heads now into a perfect storm of Trump’s making. 19/19