#Josh Marshall

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Josh Marshall

I want to return to this revelatory interview with coconspirator John Eastman, the last portion of which was published Thursday by Tom Klingenstein, the Chairman of the Trumpite Claremont Institute and then highlighted by our Josh Kovensky. There’s a lot of atmospherics in this interview, a lot of bookshelf-lined tweedy gentility mixed with complaints about OSHA regulations and Drag Queen story hours. But the central bit comes just over half way through the interview when Eastman gets into the core justification and purpose for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and overthrow the constitutional order itself. He invokes the Declaration of Independence and says quite clearly that yes, we were trying to overthrow the government and argues that they were justified because of the sheer existential threat America was under because of the election of Joe Biden.

Jan 6th conspirators have spent more than two years claiming either that nothing really happened at all in the weeks leading up to January 6th or that it was just a peaceful protest that got a bit out of hand or that they were just making a good faith effort to follow the legal process. Eastman cuts through all of this and makes clear they were trying to overthrow (“abolish”) the government; they were justified in doing so; and the warrant for their actions is none other than the Declaration of Independence itself.

“Our Founders lay this case out,” says Eastman. “There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable. At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government.”

“So that’s the question,” he tells Klingenstein. “Have the abuses or the threat of abuses become so intolerable that we have to be willing to push back?”

The answer for Eastman is clearly yes and that’s his justification for his and his associates extraordinary actions.

Let’s dig in for a moment to what this means because it’s a framework of thought or discourse that was central to many controversies in the first decades of the American Republic. The Declaration of Independence has no legal force under American law. It’s not a legal document. It’s a public explanation of a political decision: to break the colonies’ allegiance to Great Britain and form a new country. But it contains a number of claims and principles that became and remain central to American political life.

The one Eastman invokes here is the right to overthrow governments. The claim is that governments have no legitimacy or authority beyond their ability to serve the governed. Governments shouldn’t be overthrown over minor or transitory concerns. But when they become truly oppressive people have a right to get rid of them and start over. This may seem commonsensical to us. But that’s because we live a couple centuries downstream of these events and ideas. Governments at least in theory are justified by how they serve their populations rather than countries being essentially owned by the kings or nobilities which rule them.

But this is a highly protean idea. Who gets to decide? Indeed this question came up again and again over the next century each time the young republic faced a major political crisis, whether it was in the late 1790s, toward the end of the War of 1812, in 1832-33 or finally during the American Civil War. If one side didn’t get its way and wanted out what better authority to cite than the Declaration of Independence? There is an obvious difference but American political leaders needed a language to describe it. What they came up with is straightforward. It’s the difference between a constitutional or legal right and a revolutionary one. Abraham Lincoln was doing no more than stating a commonplace when he said this on the eve of the Civil War in his first inaugural address (emphasis added): “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.”

In other words, yes, you have a revolutionary right to overthrow the government if you really think its abuses have gotten that intractable and grave. But the government has an equal right to stop you, to defend itself or, as we see today, put you on trial if you fail. The American revolutionaries of 1776 knew full well that they were committing treason against the British monarchy. If they lost they would all hang. They accepted that. They didn’t claim that George III had no choice but to let them go.

From the beginning the Trump/Eastman coup plotters have tried to wrap their efforts in legal processes and procedures. It was their dissimulating shield to hide the reality of their coup plot and if needed give them legal immunity from the consequences. The leaders of the secession movement tried the same thing in 1861.

In a way I admire Eastman for coming clean. I don’t know whether he sees the writing on the wall and figures he might as well lay his argument out there or whether his grad school political theory pretensions and pride got the better of him and led him to state openly this indefensible truth. Either way he’s done it and not in any way that’s retrievable as a slip of the tongue. They knew it was a coup and they justified it to themselves in those terms. He just told us. They believed they were justified in trying to overthrow the government, whether because of OSHA chair size regulations or drag queens or, more broadly, because the common herd of us don’t understand the country’s “founding principles” the way Eastman and his weirdo clique do. But they did it. He just admitted it. And now they’re going to face the consequences.

#us politics #news #talking points memo #2023 #op eds #Tom Klingenstein #Claremont Institute #john eastman #Josh Kovensky #Josh Marshall #jan 6 investigation #jan 6 insurrection #domestic terrorism #treason #traitors #donald trump #capitol riot investigation #Declaration of Independence

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Robert Scott Horton]

#quotes #Meyer Lansky #Nazis #Josh Marshall #Robert Scott Horton

[tomorrowusa]

From Josh Marshall on Twitter.

Elon Musk apparently spent tens of billions of dollars on Twitter just so he could commiserate with far right trolls.

His craving for adoration is similar to that exhibited by Donald Trump. 

All that’s going to be left of the Twitter team will be a hardcore cult of Musk worshipers resembling Zoltan and his followers in “Dude, Where’s My Car?”.

Twitter will only get worse. People shouldn’t delude themselves into thinking that Musk will soon come to his senses and that the platform will return to the good old days. 

It’s time to look for alternatives to Twitter and to encourage people in tech to create a viable alternative to Twitter which users could migrate their accounts to without difficulty.

#elon musk #twitter #twitter implosion #the far right #far right extremists #trolls #racists #cults #zoltan #josh marshall

[to-form-a-more-perfect-union]

Douchedar…!

I love this phrase that Josh Marshall seems to have coined. He used it to refer to Elon Musk. I’m going to sharpen my douchedar.

#douchedar #josh marshall #elon musk

[gwydionmisha]

#Republicans #Josh Marshall #Donald Trump #US Politics #News

[politicsnc]

Bo Hines, because insults and winning is all that matters

Bo Hines, because insults and winning is all that matters

Bo Hines is little more than Madison Cawthorn with an Ivy League education. Hines, the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, recently proposed local tribunals to determine whether a woman or girl is eligible for an abortion. His plan follows Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr. Oz’s comment that decisions about abortions should be made by “women, their doctors, local…

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#Bo Hines #Herschel Walker #Josh Marshall #Madison Cawthorn #Mark Robinson #Sara Paqueno

[esmes]

that wouldn't be too painful, would it? 🎥 @theriddletrades

#sweeney todd #musicaltheatreedit #broadwayedit #annaleigh ashford #josh groban #idk. this came to me in a dream and i had to make it. a demon made me do it. #bc as much as it was never going to work... there was some softness there. and i love them the mOST for giving me this. #josh looking up into her eyes as she asks him.. marshaling all his strength to bring himself to the present moment for her. #the little nod as if to say of course before he actually utters it aloud... peak romance for them actually #her fingers clutching at his shirt collar.... oh i am UNWELL all over again #also her foot on his boot during by the sea fdsklfdsjk she's so annoying i adore her #we're not even gonna get into the hand pats and chin boop bc :(((((( #for the umpteenth time - I MISS THEM!!!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ #** #long post #otp: if you only knew

[hey--folks]

#how i met your mother #himym #tv series #ted mosby #robin sherbatsky #barney stinson #lily aldrin #marshall eriksen #colbie smulders #neil patrick harris #josh radnor #alyson hannigan #jason segel

[misschino]

Ethan Edwards, Tyler Duke, Marshall Warren, and Josh Eernisse talk about the NCAA tournament

#hockey #umich hockey #umich #umich boys #ethan edwards #tyler duke #marshall warren #josh eernisse

[hollows-of-my-eyelids]

#how i met your mother #barney stinson #robin scherbatsky #ted mosby #marshall eriksen #lily aldrin #neil patrick harris #cobie smulders #josh radnor #jason segel #alyson hannigan

[frostbeees]

providence @ umich · 10.7.23

#luca fantilli #jacob truscott #philippe lapointe #nick moldenhauer #josh eernisse #jackson hallum #marshall warren #umich hockey #jessgifs #team 102

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has been accused of calling for civil war in a Presidents Day tweet.

“We need a national divorce,” the extremist Republican tweeted. “We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal goverrnment. Everyone I talk to says this. From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last policies, we are done.”

It’s not the first time Greene, who vocally supported the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, has floated the idea of secession. In October 2021, she polled her Twitter followers on whether they thought the U.S. should “have a national divorce.” She was similarly condemned at the time.

Civil War broke out in the U.S. in the 1860s, after an alliance of Southern states seceded in an effort to continue the legal enslavement of Black people.

Monday’s tweet attracted backlash from both sides of the political aisle. Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox slammed her rhetoric as “destructive and wrong and — honestly— evil.”

“We don’t need a divorce, we need marriage counseling. And we need elected leaders that don’t profit by tearing us apart,” Cox tweeted. “We can disagree without hate. Healthy conflict was critical to our nation’s founding and survival.”

Sharing Greene’s tweet, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) noted that “secession is unconstitutional” and no member of Congress should advocate for it.

Democrats, including 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), also denounced Greene’s rhetoric.

Others labeled the missive treasonous and traitorous. See some of the other reactions below.

#us politics #news #huffington post #2023 #rep. marjorie taylor greene #Georgia #twitter #tweet #secession #american civil war #civil war 2 #Presidents Day #Gov. Spencer Cox #Liz Cheney #Marianne Williamson #Rep. Ted Lieu #rep. Robert Garcia #Kurt Bardella #Josh Marshall #cenk uygur

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

“If you’re pissed about this you absolutely should be. But it looks very much like a pyrrhic victory. Remember what the country sees here. The GOP finally has a legislative response to the latest school massacre. Expelling members of the state legislature who said enough is enough”

— Josh Marshall

#Tennessee Three #pyrrhic victory #Corrupt GOP #fascism #Josh Marshall #Claytoonz.com #gun violence #enough is enough

[tomorrowusa]

NO great outcome was possible in the debt limit negotiations with Republicans. But Biden ended up with one which was far less bad than many people had feared.

Even though this crisis was provoked by House Republicans, many voters would have blamed Biden if the US had defaulted. As it turned out, Biden ended up with just a little dust on his jacket while McCarthy ends up with a self-made shit sandwich. 💩

Dan Pfeiffer was an aide to President Obama and has witnessed GOP blackmail close up. He writes...

Let’s be clear, this is shitty public policy foisted on the nation by a radical Republican House willing to blow up the economy and cause millions of jobs to vanish. Efforts to deal with deficits that do not include asking the wealthy and corporations to pay what they owe are cruel and wholly unserious. The tightening of access to aid for the most vulnerable Americans serves no purpose other than performative cruelty to appease the MAGA base.

But this could have been way worse in so many ways. The devil is very much in the details, but it seems like President Biden and his team outplayed McCarthy.

Republicans like to portray Joe Biden as doddering and totally out of it; never mind that Trump is only slightly younger and shows obvious signs of hysteria. But even if you don't grade Biden on a curve, he still comes out ahead of the GOP.

The far right MAGA fanatics absolutely hate the deal.

Jordan Weissmann at Semafor writes...

Afterwards, a quick consensus formed among much of the right and left: Republicans got blanked.

The agreement would temporarily freeze a portion of non-defense spending, while temporarily tightening the food stamp program’s work requireme​​nts for childless adults, and enacting modest changes to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

The early details prompted furious reactions from members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, who’d hoped to extract vastly more sweeping budget cuts and changes to the federal safety net in return for hiking the borrowing limit.

[ ... ]

As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo put it, it’s a bit like they walked into a Denny’s with a gun, demanded all the money in the cash register, and left with a breakfast instead. Extraordinary threats at the start, an ordinary transaction at the finish.

While this was not a great deal for anybody, Speaker McCarthy will likely suffer the most because of it.

Timothy Noah at The New Republic writes...

When this debt ceiling mess is concluded, Biden will stay president at least until January 20, 2025. McCarthy, I predict, will be gone by Christmas, and possibly before Labor Day. Should he somehow hang on to his speakership, he’ll be so diminished that you’ll barely notice he’s still there. He won’t be able to get anything done. So either way, McCarthy is toast.

McCarthy will probably have to rely on Democratic votes for the debt deal to pass. That will infuriate the far right even more.

Let's remember that one of McCarthy's concessions to the far right during the marathon election for Speaker in January was to make it possible for any member to introduce a motion to "vacate the chair". So any GOP members dissatisfied with the debt ceiling agreement could theoretically topple McCarthy – if Democrats decided to go along.

So while Republicans make a public spectacle of themselves, Dems can stock up on popcorn and collect crazy soundbites from Republicans who are more interested in nihilism than in governance.

#debt ceiling agreement #joe biden #kevin mccarthy #mccarthy is toast #us house of representatives #republican blackmail #house freedom caucus #republicans #biden outmaneuvers the gop #dan pfeiffer #jordan weissmann #josh marshall #timothy noah #election 2024

[transformers-mosaic]

Spotlight: Stunticons - Drag Strip (Pages 12-14)

Originally posted on January 28th, 2012

Story - Josh van Reyk Art - Ger Hankey Colours - Matt Marshall Letters - HdE

wada sez: Drag Strip’s plotline is kind of the odd one out, in that it doesn’t directly play into his weaknesses from his original Budiansky bio. Note Drag Strip’s line about a “Masquerade”...

#Transformers #Transformers Mosaic #original continuity #Spotlight: Stunticons #Josh van Reyk #Ger Hankey #Matt Marshall #HdE #Drag Strip #Windcharger #Jazz #Sideswipe #Motormaster

[gwydionmisha]

#Conspiracy Theories #Mark Meadows #Coup Attempt #Josh Marshall #News