memeorandum: Election gambit blows up on Hawley and Cruz (Politico)

12:45 PM ET, January 9, 2021

Top Items:

Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump — After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

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Politico:

Trump went ‘ballistic’ after being tossed off Twitter — President Donald Trump has many prized possessions. But few seemed to inspire as much personal joy as his Twitter feed. Trump routinely boasted of the social media bullhorn he possessed. He credited it with launching his political trajectory.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Slate, Washington Examiner, Metro.co.uk, Towleroad Gay News, Joe.My.God., Washington Post, NBC News and DNyuz, more at Techmeme »

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

Senior Trump Official: We Were Wrong, He's a ‘Fascist’ — On Friday afternoon, 48 hours after the U.S. Capitol was stormed by violent insurrectionists encouraged by Donald Trump in an attempt to overthrow the government in protest of his election loss, a senior member of his administration spoke to me while he was driving to work.

Discussion: Raw Story and POLITICUSUSA

Kelly Tyko / USA Today:
Rush Limbaugh deactivates his Twitter account after President Trump permanently banned

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Townhall, Breitbart, Mediaite and DNyuz

Houston Chronicle:

Resign, Senator Cruz. Your lies cost lives. — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is among a number of GOP lawmakers claiming without evidence that voter fraud was widespread during the November election. (Eli Imadali/American-Statesman/TNS) — In Texas, we have our share of politicians …

Discussion: The Hill and Joe.My.God.

Politico:

Election gambit blows up on Hawley and Cruz — Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz have positioned themselves as heirs to President Donald Trump's base. But their decision to embrace Trump's election challenge is fueling major blowback — even as they remain largely unrepentant after this week's deadly riot.

Discussion: Houston Chronicle, Conservative News Today, Raw Story, Bloomberg, New York Times, Mediaite, Fox News and The Hill

Washington Examiner: Tim Scott, not Ted Cruz, has the right election commission idea

New York Times:

Democrats Ready Impeachment Charge Against Trump for Inciting Capitol Mob — Speaker Nancy Pelosi threatened decisive action against the president for his role in the insurrection against Congress if he refused to resign. — WASHINGTON — Democrats laid the groundwork on Friday …

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, HotAir, HuffPost, The Carpentariat, Business Insider, CBS News, WRIC-TV, Joe.My.God., Fox News, DNyuz, Townhall, CAIR, Raw Story, Bulletin of the Atomic …, Breitbart, The Hill, Alpha News, The Intercept, The Week, CNBC, Axios, The Gateway Pundit, Vanity Fair and Washington Post

Associated Press:

'He's on his own': Some Republicans begin to flee from Trump — NEW YORK — President Donald Trump's steadfast grip on Republicans in Washington is beginning to crumble, leaving him more politically isolated than at any other point in his turbulent administration.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Business Insider, Associated Press, Foreign Affairs, KDFX-TV, Michigan Advance, DNyuz, Jacobin, DCReport.org, Foreign Policy, Sputnik News and Trending Politics

Molly Jong-Fast / The Daily Beast:

The One Good Thing the MAGA Mobs Smashed? The Trump Kids' Futures. — For a while, Ivanka and the failsons looked like the future of the GOP. That all changed Wednesday. — BEAST INSIDE … On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump made his children the future of the Republican Party.

Discussion: Raw Story and Daily Kos

James Brooks / Anchorage Daily News:
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski calls on President Trump to resign, questions her future as a Republican

Chris Kahn / Reuters:
Majority of Americans want Trump removed immediately after U.S. Capitol violence - Reuters/Ipsos poll

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Associated Press, Bloomberg, Raw Story, DNyuz, Common Dreams, Blue Virginia and Forbes

Ronan Farrow / New Yorker:

An Air Force Combat Veteran Breached the Senate — As insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol this week, a few figures stood out. One man, clad in a combat helmet, body armor, and other tactical gear, was among the group that made it to the inner reaches of the building.

Discussion: Business Insider, Daily Kos, Juanita Jean's and DNyuz

Chief Adrian Diaz / SPD Blotter:

SPD Officers in D.C. Referred to OPA — Today the Seattle Police Department was made aware that at least two of its officers were reportedly in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. The Department fully supports all lawful expressions of First Amendment freedom of speech, but the violent mob …

Discussion: The Hill, UPI, NBC News, ABC News and DNyuz

Washington Post:
Arrested by Capitol Police at peaceful protests? You're not alone.

Discussion: The Root, CNN, The Hill, The Daily Caller and USA Today

NBC News:

Republican AGs group sent robocalls urging march to the Capitol — An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their states, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed by a pro-Trump mob.

Discussion: Business Insider and Democratic Attorneys …

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:

Pro-Trump dark money groups organized the rally that led to deadly Capitol Hill riot — The rally, officially known as the “March to Save America,” was largely organized by a 501(c)(4) group known as Women for America First. — Women for America First's Facebook pages show they were calling …

Discussion: NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Talking Points Memo and Mercury News

Your Side / WFLA-TV:

Tampa Bay man seen carrying lectern at U.S. Capitol riot arrested in Pinellas County — PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office inmate search shows that the man seen carrying a lectern through the U.S. Capitol during a riot Wednesday has been arrested.

Discussion: Business Insider, pcsoweb.com, NBC Los Angeles, The Intellectualist and NBC4 Washington

Politico:

McCarthy and Scalise face internal dissension after Capitol riot — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise are facing backlash from their Republican colleagues for standing by President Donald Trump after he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol this week …

Discussion: The Week and Raw Story

Harry Enten / CNN:
The events of this week show the GOP has a big problem

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, Raw Story, Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Mock Paper Scissors

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:

‘Find the fraud’: Trump pressured a Georgia elections investigator in a separate call legal experts say could amount to obstruction — President Trump urged Georgia's lead elections investigator to “find the fraud” in a lengthy December phone call, saying the official would be a “national hero …

Jane Mayer / New Yorker:

A Palm Beach Proud Boy at the Putsch — Bobby Pickles, a purveyor of far-right T-shirts, joined the horde of balding dudes in dad jeans at the Capitol, because Donald Trump, he says, is “like punk rock.” — As federal law-enforcement officials consider investigating the President's role …

Discussion: Althouse

Rebecca Traister / The Cut:

‘It Was No Accident’ Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal on surviving the siege. — On Wednesday, January 6, Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman from Washington State, was sitting in the gallery above the House chamber, watching the proceedings to count the Electoral College vote and certify …

Discussion: Slate and BuzzFeed News, more at Mediagazer »

Washington Post:

Companies backed Trump for years. Now they're facing a reckoning after the attack on the Capitol. — ‘It was a classic Faustian bargain,’ one critic says. ‘They should have known from the beginning.’ — The bargain with the business world worked like this: They mostly tolerated President …

Discussion: Raw Story and HotAir

John F. Harris / Politico:

Hey, Twitter, Are You Sure About This? — For a half-century, the trend in political culture has been inexorably in one direction: toward the steady loosening and eventually the near-obliteration of media filters. — If someone has a voice that other people want to hear, that voice is going to be heard.

Discussion: HotAir and Althouse

CNN:

Extremists intensify calls for violence ahead of Inauguration Day — (CNN)"Trump or war. Today. That simple." — “If you don't know how to shoot: You need to learn. NOW.” — “we will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents, and demand a recount.”

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Sputnik News, Raw Story, American Thinker, National Review, Los Angeles Times and DNyuz

Anna Schecter / NBC News:
Right-wing extremists vow to return to Washington for Joe Biden's inauguration

Discussion: VICE, The Atlantic, Daily Kos, Townhall, Business Insider and Snopes.com

SiriusXM:

“Something Else Is Going On”: James Clyburn Asks How Rioters Found Out The Location Of His Office — ABOUT THIS CLIP — Majority Whip James Clyburn to Joe Madison: “They posted pictures ransacking Nancy Pelosi's office. And something else is going on here Joe.

Discussion: Fox News, National Review, Washington Examiner, Washington Times and The Intellectualist

Caitlin Yilek / CBS News:
James Clyburn says “somebody on the inside” of Capitol was “complicit” in letting rioters inside the building

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Mercury News and DNyuz

Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:

McConnell memo outlines how Senate would conduct second trial for Trump if House impeaches — On the cusp of the second impeachment battle in just over a year, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is circulating a memo to Republican senators that outlines how a potential Senate trial …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Examiner, DNyuz, The Week, The Hill, Joe.My.God., The Dispatch, Sputnik News, Business Insider, HotAir, TheBlaze and Political Wire

Randall Lane / Forbes:

A Truth Reckoning: Why We're Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable — Yesterday's insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world's oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system.

Discussion: Washington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Brian McEntee / Slate:

D.C. Residents Put Up With Overbearing Security for 20 Years. It Did Nothing. — You develop a certain psychic geography as a bike commuter in D.C. You know places, but from the outside only. Most people here aren't Hill staffers or journalists or tour guides—we don't actually go into the U.S. Capitol …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Eschaton, Politico and DNyuz

Washington Post:

‘The storm is here’: Ashli Babbitt's journey from capital ‘guardian’ to invader — The politician she revered above all others had lost an election. She'd struggled with crippling amounts of debt. Her home state of California was locking down again because of a virus she believed was fiction.

Discussion: New York Post, The Sun and DNyuz

Jonah Goldberg / The Dispatch:

American Benghazi — Snowflakery for me, but not for thee. — 16 hr ago — Dear Reader (Not including “Via Getty,” the biggest jerk of them all), — They picked a specific, historically significant date to launch their attack. It was organized and coordinated.

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:

Swift new impeachment would damage the Constitution — Author Franz Kafka once wrote, “My guiding principle is this. Guilt is never to be doubted.” Democrats appear close to adopting that standard into the Constitution as they prepare for a second impeachment of President Trump.

Discussion: Townhall, WHTM-TV and JONATHAN TURLEY

Joe Sneve / Argus Leader:

Gov. Kristi Noem says Georgia elected ‘communists’ to serve in the U.S. Senate — A day after calling for healing and peace as a country, South Dakota's governor is alleging “communists” have infiltrated the United States Senate. — Gov. Kristi Noem this week used social media to denounce riots …

Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors and The Federalist

CNN:

Trump is losing his powerful social media machine. Now what? — (CNN Business)After four years of using social media platforms to bypass traditional media and spread his message directly to millions of people, President Donald Trump is now losing his digital bully pulpit.

Discussion: TheBlaze