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)

Midterms: Democrats must link protecting democracy with family economics

 To win in the midterms,  Democrats need to link protecting democracy with protecting family economics. The two are connected and can and should be linked.   The two campaign issues, protecting democracy and the economy, are being positioned as weighing choices between two separate unrelated values. The campaigns are shaping up as  Democrats are for democracy, and the January 6 hearings showed "there is a clear and present danger," but GOP is against inflation and high gas prices.  If that is the way the campaigns are conducted, Democrats are doomed. " It's the economy, stupid" is and always has been the winning line.  Voters may get the point that the future of democracy is at risk, and this is a bad thing. They can agree that concerns about both democracy and the economy are true at the same time, but the hard reality is a kitchen table and pocketbook pains trump other considerations in urgency and palpable impact.  How can Democrats position both issues in a way that makes the link and connection and seize the high ground on both?.   One way is to go on the attack as well as to be the defense. Democrats can paint MAGA opponents as being ideological fanatics hung up on cultural issues (CRT, don't say gay,, anti-vaxx, anti-choice, anti-gun constraints) that do nothing to fix family financial pain. Griping about it is all they offer on the economy.   They need to be challenged at every opportunity when they air their grievances.  Biden's point is "this is a choice between two alternatives", but so far, he has only made part of the equation,  a case that "the economic pain isn't his fault" and defending what he has been able to do that has not been enough. That is not a very strong campaign strategy, even if it is true.  He could make the additional point to tie the midterms to House and Senate races,  that he could do more with help of more Democrats in Congress than the gridlock we have now with the " just say no GOP" offering no will or way to fix the attack on democracy or the economy. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Polls give some hope to Democrats in swing states whose opponents are Trump supporters.  If a generic question is asked: Democrats v GOP, Democrats are behind slightly (44 to 41%) underwater, per a recent poll, but if Trump or a supporter of Trump is the candidate, the Democrats get a big advantage. .  This poll does not reflect the impact of  January 6 public hearings. Pitting a Democrat v a MAGA  supporter, the Democrats were 37% v the MAGA candidate at 30%.  The generic" Democrat got 11% of GOP voters who picked the Republican in the generic ballot question and 32% of third-party voters who initially went with the GOP contender".. ‘Persuadable’ Voters Favor GOP Over Democrats – Until Trump is Mentioned: Poll | Elections | US News         

The January 6 hearings are teaching us what democracy is not

We have heard much of what our constitutional democracy is about. The January 6 committee's public hearings are a great civics lesson of what Democracy is not.      The first three January 6 select committee House hearings present examples of the anti-democratic forces at work that threaten the continuation of our democratic form of government.  The litany of what is American democracy has become a series of cliches: majority rule, free and fair elections, the balance of powers with three branches checking on the power of each, and a whole series of amendments that protect citizens from being depowered by government, the rule of law and peaceful transfer of power when replacing the old administration or with a new one.  The participants in the January 6 riots and Trump's circle of advisors claimed they were the true protectors of democracy and the Constitution, even using some of the same fine words.. What they were advocating and what actions they planned and executed were not democracy in form or in, spirit, or words.  A highly respected conservative justice testified the attempt of the Trump approach on January 6 and its applications to future elections was   "a clear and present danger" to democracy. Jan. 6 hearing: Trump remains 'clear and present danger' to American democracy, retired GOP judge tells panel (cnbc.com)

Here is what we learned from the hearings so far, Note: testimony was given by those on Trump's staff, cabinet, family, and loyal supporters during sworn depositions and live hearings:  Videos of the rioters and their own words were also used in the hearings.

Democracy is not about one person determining the winner of an election.  Pence was pressured by Trump and others to be that person.  A law professor, John Eastman, outlined a legal case in which he claimed Pence had the power to reject a slate of electors or to send the issue back to state legislatures. Even Eastman admitted to White House attorneys it would be declared unconstitutional on a 9-0 vote, but he sold it to Trump, and Trump then attempted to pressure Pence and failed. .

Democracy is not about ignoring, subverting, or failing to comply with the rule of law.  It is not about loyalty to a person, but it is about complying and obeying the rules set forth by a representative democracy. Trump expected being loyal to him meant even breaking the law on his behalf, urging Pence to violate the law in certifying the election. He asked a Georgia election office to "find" the exact number of votes to change the state's vote for Biden, even though there was no evidence of fraud. (This is similar to forcing his attorney to break the law to cover up a pay-off for an evening with Stormy Daniels or to tell a president of Ukraine to find dirt on Biden's son if he wanted his needed anti-tank missiles, though prior investigations found no evidence. ) The implied ask is to lie about what they know it is not true and face legal consequences on his behalf while indicating a pardon if they are loyal and get caught.

Democracy is not about using violence and terror to determine the winner of an election. These laws and the Constitution are rules of behavior needed to make democracy work as it was intended. January 6 was about the use of violence and terror to keep Trump in office by upending the rules. The violent militias like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not about democracy but about terrorizing others to bow to their goals of establishing a dictatorship of one to whom they pledge allegiance. No amount of chanting and flag waving disguises their attempt to end democracy.  Here is what testimony on June 16 revealed. By January 5, Pence had told the President he would not go along with Trump's plans, either to refuse to accept the official slate of electors or to refer the issue back to the states. He did not have the Constitutional power to do it. When the rioters smashed through the Capitol doors,  Pence took it as if they meant to do him bodily harm.  Subsequent testimony of an FBI embedded informant, the January 6 leaders of the riot revealed they indeed intended to kill Pence because he did not follow Trump's orders to decertify the election. Some of those rioters interviewed at the Capitol on January 6 thought they were there under Trump's orders to be violent. Yet to be determined if Trump intended the rioters to go that far, but in the midst of the violence, he did nothing to call off his Trump banner waiving, "hang Mike Pence" screaming rioters for hours, expressing an opinion Pence deserved to be hung and later praised the terrorists as patriots.  Pence wisely trusted no one on January 6 except his chief bodyguard and refused to get in an escape vehicle driven by even the Secret Service,  per his chief of staff's testimony. He did not trust the driver to obey his desire to stay at the Capitol and to continue the count.  For a running chronicle of Trump's view of the use of violence, see  MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump fans the flames of violence yet calls himself the champion of law and order. In fact, the preamble to the Constitution puts domestic tranquility as one of the purposes of its establishment.  The use  and threat of violence to subvert the democratic process is now common as selection officials at all levels, federal, state, and local. Federal law enforcement is now taking action. Nebraska man pleads guilty to threatening Colorado's Jena Griswold | Courts | gazette.com

Democracy is not about one news outlet, and one alone, providing their version of his" truth".. FOX News refused to carry the January 6 hearings on opening night, but when 20 million viewers tuned into the hearings, it will be interesting to see how they cover it and which spin they give it.  They called in partisans (though the GOP had turned down a bipartisan independent commission earlier), and two federal judges had upheld the special committee legitimate.

Democracy is not about those who believe theories that have no evidence and facts to back them up yet claim they are truth and reality.  When laws rule, just execution of those laws demands evidence and proof.  Over 60 federal and state judges found there was not enough evidence of fraud to change the 2020 outcome.  Attorney General Bill Barr's testimony that the 2020 elections were fraudulent was bull..t. He then resigned in part because  Trump still promoted:" stop the steal" when he had been told it was not true.  Others from the Department of Justice reported in testimony they investigated the various conspiracy theories, bags of ballots, dead bodies voting, and more what-ifs and still found no there there. The President, who continued to promote the fantasy,  raised a quarter of a billion d.ollars on the promotion of the lie for an election defense fund that did not exist but was used the money to support allies' funds and to pay for use of hotel facilities he owned.  Trump then tried to install an unqualified loyalist as Attorney General to declare the election was stolen, but so many  Department of Justice threatened to resign that he backed down. 

Democracy is not about one leader claiming his version or the truth reported in the media or the interpretation of the law is the only one credible and to be trusted. Trump and his staff coined the term "fake news" for reports he did not like or called them lies.  Democracy requires respect and access to various views and rebuttals to them so voters can make their own judgments of who is lying and who is not..   

Democracy is not about using the active military to intervene in civilian matters and domestic politics. General Milley took that reading of the Constitution to heart in the aftermath of his being forced to participate in Trump's bible-waiving propaganda walk in Lafayette Square.

Democracy is not about ignoring the will of the majority of people expressed through the ballot box and not permitting a partisan loyal to one ideology, party, or person to pick and choose which votes should be counted.  That was the issue at the heart of the fake elector slates strategy, to let a person choose which slate was to be counted...   Democracy is not about only one party being allowed and given access to count ballots or counting only ballots they assume support them. 

Democracy is not about preventing those in the minority from peacefully expressing themselves individually or in a group.  This is not an absolute right. It is extended to the peaceful nature of the protests and demonstrations., Individuals or groups yelling fire in a crowded theater or calling for a violent revolution are not speech that is protected in a  democracy.  Nonetheless,  those in the Trump camp called acts of violence on January 6, exercising their right to free speech.  Calling "hang Mike Pence" in the midst of an out-of-control riot is not protected free speech. 

________________________________________________________________________________

The Preamble to the Constitution: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."