Character counts: January 6 Select Committee spotlights this old-fashioned value

At the June 21 January, 6 Select Committee hearings were three profiles in character, as well as profiles in courage.   At their own physical risk and in the face of violent or powerful pressure, they did not buckle under Donald Trump's attempt to get them to lie and cheat about the outcome of the November 2020 elections.  Some suffered personally from threats of violence and fear for their lives or loss of any political future.. The contrast of their character with Trump's actions and words defined the meaning of the opposite of character: "transactional".    That reminded me of a conversation I had with a business friend who had supported Trump in November. Well before January 2021 and shortly after the November 2020 elections, he justified his support of Trump with, "well, I knew he was an a.........hole, but I liked his tax policy".. Character did not trump  Trump, in his mind.  What we know from the hearings on June 21 is that others came to different conclusions than he did. .  In Georgia, the down-ballot Republicans got 30 thousand more votes than the head of the ticket, Donald Trump. There were those in Georgia who could not bring themselves to vote for Trump the person and left unchecked that presidential line in the ballot, yet supported those in their party who were not him. 

 It was not that we were warned about Trump being a "transactional " personality, or what got his priority was the best deal he could get. After all, he was the art in "The Art of the Deal". We took it to mean that he was a hard-nosed businessman so he could get the best deal for America in trade with China. Being transactional, a tough negotiator was seen as an asset.   What is emerging is that morals, honesty, good data, religious belief, and reason were secondary or not important to winning the "deal" in politics, as well. What has become obvious from the June 21 January 6 hearing, is that "transactional" regarding Trump meant he was devoid of adhering to any moral or ethical standard or what we call " character'.  The "art of the deal" meant to him he could and did use every tool, even threats to a person's future or personal safety,  without conscience because by being transactional, he had no conscience or moral concerns or behavior constraints or a higher belief system to which he had to bow.. The means justified the end, and the methods he used were anything he could get away with. These means, including threats to a life or jail time or a threat of supporting primary opponents or terrorizing and harassment,  lies, or willful ignorance of facts, were just tools in the toolbox to get the deal that benefitted his own status, position, and power.  Oaths mean nothing. He just ignored the reasons those who refused to go along with his scheme on the basis they had taken an oath to support the Constitution or their state laws or their belief in God.. when they were sworn into office.   They were just words to be glossed over. : Laws and the Constitution were only a challenge to get around or ignore. Loyalty to him the person was absolute; including demanding that those who feared him or wanted his support for their own purposes be willing to break the law or even go to jail. (He did and said publicly he would reward those who stayed loyal through such a consequence of breaking the law with a presidential pardon..as he did with Paul Manafort, and did not do with Michael Cohen)  Using violence and terror tactics have always been considered legitimate tools in his history in politics. In addition to his role and actions revealed in the hearing, it should have been of no surprise, given his political history.,   What is also clear from the actions of Trump and his most loyal co-conspirators and " yes" person allies that a great deal was extended to them regardless of the personal suffering or diminution of power he inflicted on them. The personal pain his actions caused was of no concern.  Failures were losers. Losers were of no use to him. and were left to save themselves in spite of a record of past absolute loyalty to him. Trump's own words are sparking speculation that John  Eastman, the architect of the fake elector plot legal theory, will become the Trump scapegoat. The plot failed. What is also clear is that the winners of his deal were not always the same as the majority viewpoint of those he governed.  . The deal winner was him and those who also benefitted so long as those who benefitted from his policies, forgave his behavior because they liked his policies more,  and voted for him in large enough numbers that were sufficient to keep him in power.

House Jan. 6 committee focuses on "fake electors" and threats to public servants amid Trump pressure campaign (cbsnews.com

Trump ready to throw John Eastman under the bus, claims he "barely" knows him: report | Salon.com

) thinker: With transactional thinking, you interact with people solely on the basis of what you can accomplish, completely ignoring them and their goals and needs. Your thought becomes one of “How can I take advantage of this?” one     What Is A Transactional Personality? (readersfact.com)

I wrote ‘The Art of the Deal’ with Trump. His self-sabotage is rooted in his past. - The Washington Post

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ - The Atlantic

Trump, in Taped Call, Pressured Georgia Official to ‘Find’ Votes to Overturn Election - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Trump Threatens Rusty Bowers With Audio Tape: He Said 'Election Was Rigged' (newsweek.com)

Should Trump and his MAGA wing of the GOP be called fascists?

 After three January 6 public hearings, Joe Scarborough, MSNBC Morning Joe host, has dropped the softer term of accusing Trump of being an autocrat and instead called Trump and his MAGA followers fascists.  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.  With the January 6 hearings, Scarborough has good reason to call Trump and his MAGA loyalists fascists and can do it with less backlash.The January 6 Select Committee hearings to date certainly provide a vivid visual comparison with the rise of Hitler as the closest parallel. There are similarities: Instead of violent brown shirts terrorizing an existing, though weak democracy, there were the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, as well as elements of neo-Nazi marchers chanting actual German fascist slogans in Charlottesville.. Like Hitler, Trump's oratory can inspire violence, and he has a history of often supporting violence as a way to reach political goals. That he has dog whistled racism in his statements and oratory is not debatable.   He demands total loyalty to himself and ordering and expects his lieutenants or those he believes ought to be loyal to him, to break laws. He openly promises that if they go to jail and stay loyal to him, he'll pardon him if and when he was president or will be president again.

Is Trump a fascist, and are the MAGA loyalists fascists, too? I have come to that conclusion sometime aga because he and they fit the mold, but that is a political hot potato that needs to be treated carefully because of the extreme horrors of the Hitler era history.  There are other models of less extreme fascist leaders of the 1930s.  Nonetheless, the thug-like violence of January 6 and his overt appeal to racism and  White Nationalists militia involvement begin to resemble the Hitler variety more than ever. 

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump fans the flames of violence, yet calls himself the champion of law and order

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Why I have changed my views on whether Trump is a fascist: he is

Donald Trump: Pardons Likely for MAGAs Guilty of Jan.6 Riot If Re-Elected (businessinsider.com)

Border invasion to grooming children: How GOP uses 'dangerous' words (usatoday.com)

How the US almost became a banana republic

  In Central America there is a role model of bad governance we have tagged as banana republics, led by dictators and their cronies, enriching themselves while ignoring the needs of their citizens.   Those countries continue in power with inept, corrupt autocratic governance. . Military coups and violent revolutions are how regime change usually happens in such dictatorships, We ourselves came closer to becoming a banana republic within the past year in retrospect as more and more evidence of what happened emerges. Attempts by Donald Trump to execute a coup, overturn 2020 election results and stay in power a second term, may have failed, but they are characteristic of a wannabe dictator and there is no reason to believe that given the chance to be president again, he could become closer to achieving the power of the rule of a person instead of the rule of law. He would have the time and opportunity to replace the federal courts and the Justice Department with those willing to make judgment calls he favors.  If he controls both houses of Congress as well, the end of democracy as we know it, rule by the majority with rights protecting the minority, and any checks and balances on executive power, is dead.  Unfortunately for democracy, a sizeable amount of Republicans are happy to give him that chance.

A House Bi-partisan hearings on the January 6 riot have revealed much, as well as startling revelations in recent books by those in the know presenting strong evidence (Woodward-Costa amount them)'Peril' Review: Bob Woodward's New Book Uncovers The Trump Era's Final Moments : NPR. For now, subpoenas of those in the room where it happened will likely go to court. Trump tells 4 former aides to defy Jan. 6 committee's subpoena - POLITICO  While we wait for this to play out, we already know quite a bit to be alarmed. The red flags are flying that democracy is in peril.

Here is what we have learned so far:

. A president attempted to overturn an election with a coup using whatever means he could, from abuse of his power to outright lies to fomenting violence and terror. It was not a one event coup, it was a rolling attack with a variety of weapons.  ..The battle cry he used to reverse the results of the 2020 election,  "stop the steal,", was based on what he had been told was a lie.. The thief was him who tried to overturn the election results. He was told by his own attorney general their own investigations found no proof of widespread fraud that would have changed the election outcome, Trump persisted knowing this.  First, he tried with   lawsuits.  All such suits were thrown out of courts by 60 judges of all political stripes for lack of evidence. Update  10/8/21 Next, he tried to put in a loyalist to head the Justice Department to make it look like the allegations of voter fraud by investigating them look credible, but the entire brass of the DOJ threatened to resign.  Failing that, an attorney, John Eastman, then laid out a blueprint for how Trump could get his second term in spite of the election results, including conspiring with Vice President Pence to decertify the electoral vote count and throw the election into the House that gave one state one vote,and upholding Trump's second term.READ Trump lawyer's memo on a six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election - CNNPolitics. Pence, after considering that, told the president on January 5 he could not do it, even when Trump called him "no longer his friend".Pence Said to Have Told Trump He Lacks Power to Change Election Result - The New York Times (nytimes.com) The riot was supposed to give Pence the guts to make the decertifying call.  .  ,  Trump in a "stop the steal rally" in advance of the riot at the Capitol,   inspired a mob to terrify legislators into not certifying the election of his opponent. The attempt, too, failed. The election of Joe Biden was certified the night of January 6. Other efforts to upend the democratic process were tried and failed, including threatening state election officials "to go out and find" more votes for him..That conversation was recorded on tape.. We are hearing allegations by witnesses  Trump tried to enlist the active military to put down opposition demonstrators, a plan thwarted by the Joint Chiefs.

Trump's denials and lies have gained traction with a sizeable number of Republicans.  The violent overthrow of democratically elected governments is against the laws of all democracies because the right to protest and to change leaders with the ballot box is the peaceful alternative that is provided to dissidents as their civil rights are protected.   The violent takeover of governments,, however, is being openly supported by a sizeable number of the GOP..  Now, fully one-half of those who identify themselves as Republicans approve or do not care if tools are used to defy constitutional law and use violence to achieve their political goals.  Most Republicans Say Force May Be Required to Save 'Traditional' America: Poll (businessinsider.com. Fortunately for American democracy, these banana Republicans,  approving of autocracy also, are currently about 26% of the total electorate per a recent Morning Consult poll.26% of Americans Are Highly 'Right-Wing Authoritarian,' New Poll Finds (businessinsider.com)

  Trump pressure campaign: Durbin report details DOJ, White House meeting - The Washington Post    MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Why General Milley is emerging as a hero who saved democracy

Interviews with former Justice Department officials provide new details on Trump efforts to undermine election results - CNNPolitics

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump's attempted coup by court has gone down in flames, as did the reputation of the GOP

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2021/07/why-general-milley-is-emerging-as-hero.h

How Democracies Die is a 2018 comparative politics book by Harvard University political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt about how elected leaders can gradually subvert the democratic process to increase their power.

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Book by Timothy D. Snyder

What if Pence and the DOK had done what the Eastman memo wanted to happen? 

https://wwww.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/10/13/how-close-were-we-an-actual-stolen-election-stolen-by-trump/