An Honest Accounting: Anti-Trumpism and the Violence Done to the American Traditions of Free and Fair Elections and the Peaceful Transfer of Power

 

“The most favorable posthumous history the stay-at-home traitor can hope for is — oblivion.” –- The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, p. 43

Understanding the Anti-Trump movement here to mean specifically those active beyond the legitimate election and oversight processes in both 2016 and 2020 (and all points in between) in attempts to keep Mr. Trump from holding and executing the office per the wishes of We the People, there is an applicable adaptation to the above quote for those who conspired against the very essence of this experiment in republican governance. We must not let these traitors off the hook with the oblivion (or historical anonymity) they desire.

Let me back up for a moment and state, based on my clear and obvious agenda here at the Lower Member Feed,  two clear facts:

Fact 1: The actions of the fully corrupt merger of the Obama administration, the Clinton campaign, and the DNC throughout the last half of 2016 did more violence to the American tradition of the peaceful transfer of power as derived from the will of the people than a thousand January 6 “riots” ever could have.

Fact 2: The actions of many non-elected current and former government employees coordinated through a willfully compliant media apparatus to knowingly plant lies and mislead the voters as well as the intentional bastardization of state-run election organizations and processes by outside leftist money and influence did more to undermine the legitimacy of all future Presidential elections and administrations than a million mean tweets over 4 or 8 years ever could have.

The hysterics and empty twaddle of breaking news and cable media roundtable discussions notwithstanding, the exhausting daily barrage of fake news over a mere 2000 days of this country’s history does nothing to offset the undeniable facts above. (Argue with that term – “fake news” – all you want but at this point it just makes you look silly.) Honest history, some of which has been written since early 2021, should not let the actors fade into oblivion.

I go down this path today not because of unremarkable things appearing in the news like this:

HILLARY DID IT!

Turley: “Clinton personally approved the plan to spread the false Alfa bank story. It was one of the most successful disinformation campaigns in American politics, and Mook implicated Clinton as green-lighting the gas-lighting of the electorate.”

For those not habitually and stubbornly marinating their minds in MSNBC drivel, nothing could be less shocking. But I do want to draw your attention to this brief passage at the same link:

…Hillary approved the plan to smear Donald Trump with the Russia collusion hoax on July 26, 2016. (The Fusion GPS/Christopher Steele “dossier” fabrication was under way by this time.) Her action was immediately picked up by Russian intelligence. At almost the same time, U.S. intelligence, spying on the Russians, got the story. On July 28, just two days after Hillary allegedly green-lighted the smear, Barack Obama, James Comey, Susan Rice and Denis McDonough assembled to be briefed by John Brennan on the situation.

Every word of that was known long ago. The main point here is that the Oval Office knew. They knew from the start and they did nothing about it. If you don’t read that as the Executive Branch of our government was supportive of and/or complicit in the enterprise then you just aren’t paying attention. Worse, as Trump found out not soon after the election, the same Executive Branch was (and had been) spying on him and his team for quite some time.

Add to that the fact that the Legislative Branch under the active control of the fully corrupt Nancy Pelosi had openly declared war on Trump with impeachment threats and plans even before his taking of the oath of office AND that the progressive allies on the street executed a “mostly peaceful” insurrection riot demonstration on the streets of DC the day after his inauguration and before he had done anything in his official capacity…certainly much less damage to the country or anyone in it than Biden did in his first nine hours in office…but don’t get me started. None of this, you should notice, represents a party that is interested in free and fair elections and the smooth, peaceful transfer of power…clearly, at least one of the two parties no longer has the intention of participating in good faith in this experiment. If they ever did.  (For the record, everyone associated with and/or carrying water for the current charade that is the Jan 6 Committee — and pretending that it is some kind of noble effort against the historically factual backdrop described here — deserves to be included by name in the recorded accounting of the times.)

Also note that sentence almost hidden in the middle of the quote above: “Her action was immediately picked up by Russian intelligence.” There can be little doubt that Hillary’s unapproved and unprotected communications were a well-known conduit to America’s business by the Russians and probably everybody else around the world…including our own intelligence agencies. This had been an open conduit since at least 2009. That it was not closed by Obama and the agencies under his direction is telling. But, if you have been paying attention, certainly not surprising. But I digress.

More from this week that was...with a little creativity we could make a deck of cards (similar to the terrorist list used during the “war” by GWB) out of these traitors to the American cause:

Justice coming for the ‘Dirty 51’ Hunter Biden laptop liars

One of the most galling aspects of the Hunter Biden laptop saga is that the 51 former intelligence officials who played such a critical role in suppressing The Post’s stories and giving Joe Biden cover before the 2020 election have never been brought to account.

The “Dirty 51” lied by painting our stories as Russian disinformation in an Oct. 19, 2020, letter they signed and delivered to Politico five days after The Post exposé and three days before the final presidential debate of the election campaign.

They used the institutional weight of their powerful former roles to legitimize partisan political propaganda designed to smear The Post and everyone associated with the story and dissuade the rest of the media from looking deeper into the laptop.

The letter, titled “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden emails,” and signed by former CIA Directors John Brennan, Leon Panetta and Mike Hayden, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other ex-spooks, claimed the material on Hunter’s hard drive “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” although not one of them had seen it.

Their lie “probably affected the outcome” of the 2020 presidential race, as former Attorney General William Barr has said, describing the letter as “partisan hackery,” “baseless” and signed by “a coterie of retired intelligence officials who had lost their professional bearings.”

[Emphasis added]

Even more:

“Over a year after the election, it is conceded that the laptop and its contents are authentic, and the judgement espoused by these 51 former intelligence officials is baseless and false. Yet, the implications of this breach continue. Media outlets used this purportedly credible intelligence assessment as a justification to not report on the story. Some polls show that up to 17% of people who voted for President Biden would not have if they knew about the contents of the laptop at the time.” …

Barr, who was AG at the time, recently told Fox News he was “very disturbed during the debate when candidate Biden lied to the American people about the laptop. He’s squarely confronted with the laptop, and he suggested that it was Russian disinformation and pointed to the letter written by some intelligence people that was baseless — which he knew was a lie …

“When you’re talking about interference in an election, I can’t think of anything more than that kind of thing.”

Again, we see here that at least one of our two political parties of record (and its operatives in and out of government…and on unknown payrolls) is clearly not interested in free and fair elections.  The great silence from the watchdog class is deafening. But the greater disappointment to me is the comfortable silence of the masses that I see in my little corner of the world. So many were worn to exhaustion by the 24/7 frenzy of the Democrat-Media temper tantrum over Trump for four long years. They all just want peace and quiet from the TV and don’t seem to even notice the full collapse and complete corruption of the American experiment going on all around them.

Enough for one day. Sorry for rambling on so long.

Into the abyss…

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  1. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Great post.  You’re following this story more closely than I.  I appreciate the information.

    Do you have any details about the involvement of any NeverTrump folks in the Russia collusion hoax? 

    • #1
  2. Cassandro Coolidge
    Cassandro
    @Flicker

    This all seems so long ago.  But it led directly to the “fortified” election and today’s high gas prices, incipient world-wide famine, and war in Ukraine.

    • #2
  3. Jimmy Carter Member
    Jimmy Carter
    @JimmyCarter

    philo: Sorry for rambling on so long.

    You should ramble more often. 

    • #3
  4. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    Great Post. I wish you could name the “dirty 51”.  This story  needs to go big. Real Big.  Republicans in Congress need to loudly and repetitively demand prosecutions for the 51. Now.  Demand  a really independent  Special Counsel. 

    In answer to Jerry’s questions, at least two easily come to mind: Paul Ryan and John McCain, who were both implicit in trafficking the “Russian Hoax” before the election. Senator Burr from North Carolina stonewalled any investigation forever so he probably knew as well.  

    And of course, GobblerTurkey Face  Cocaine Mitch probably was directing traffic in the “Russian Hoax” among the NeverTrumpers but he has a vast network of those who protect him. 

     

    • #4
  5. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    NOTICE: This Member post has been promoted to the Main Feed. Content may have been edited / corrected from the original without attribution by Ricochet.

    (Somewhere along the line it seems we – or I – stopped getting notifications about promotions. For what it’s worth, that is/was an important feature to at least one of us.)

    • #5
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Unsk (View Comment):

    Great Post. I wish you could name the “dirty 51”. This story needs to go big. Real Big. Republicans in Congress need to loudly and repetitively demand prosecutions for the 51. Now. Demand a really independent Special Counsel.

    In answer to Jerry’s questions, at least two easily come to mind: Paul Ryan and John McCain, who were both implicit in trafficking the “Russian Hoax” before the election. Senator Burr from North Carolina stonewalled any investigation forever so he probably knew as well.

    And of course, GobblerTurkey Face Cocaine Mitch probably was directing traffic in the “Russian Hoax” among the NeverTrumpers but he has a vast network of those who protect him.

     

    You probably mean complicit.

    • #6
  7. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    Unsk (View Comment):

    Great Post. I wish you could name the “dirty 51”. This story needs to go big. Real Big. Republicans in Congress need to loudly and repetitively demand prosecutions for the 51. Now. Demand a really independent Special Counsel.

    In answer to Jerry’s questions, at least two easily come to mind: Paul Ryan and John McCain, who were both implicit in trafficking the “Russian Hoax” before the election. Senator Burr from North Carolina stonewalled any investigation forever so he probably knew as well.

    And of course, GobblerTurkey Face Cocaine Mitch probably was directing traffic in the “Russian Hoax” among the NeverTrumpers but he has a vast network of those who protect him.

     

    Mendacious Mitch McConnell used Burr in the Senate Intelligence Committee chairmanship to bleed Trump for over two years.

    • #7
  8. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    philo: For those not habitually and stubbornly marinating their minds in MSNBC drivel

    This is a superb piece of work and I plan to re-post it as a Guest Author post on my own blog, unless you have any objection to that. This is a tightly woven piece of writing incorporating many of the headlines I have seen recently and have been piling up in the well-known paving of the road to hell, intending to try to put them together. You are due kudos and thanks for this great post. I could not help but feel I had seen a good part of the sentence somewhere just recently and, lo and behold, it appeared in a Ricochet piece very recently, here:

    My mind had been marinated in the MSNBC and my own TDS.

    Unsk (View Comment):
    Great Post. I wish you could name the “dirty 51”.

    Here is the NY Post article, by Miranda DeVine, who wrote the original story about the laptop from hell (and later published a book about the entire affair with the same name) :

    Spies who lie: 51 ‘intelligence’ experts refuse to apologize for discrediting true Hunter Biden story

    It can be accessed here, and gives the name of every single one of the Dirty 51 and also notes that her paper called every single one of them for comment and almost all of them never commented and, of course, never apologized for trying to destroy the Nation they took an oath to protect and defend. It is an amazingly fine piece of journalism, in an age when that very word has become a badge of disgrace. 

    Obviously, I fully agree with those who have observed that this should be spread far and wide and I certainly intend to do my little part to see that happen. In that connection, @philo, I often send my blogposts to Locals, Gettr, Parler– is that OK with you, as well?

    God Bless America! 

    • #8
  9. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    I’m sure you’re overblowing this. Must maintain norms and standards. . .

    /sarc off

    • #9
  10. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    Jim George (View Comment): … God Bless America! 

    Thank you for the kind words and the added information.

    I certainly claim no original thinking here…I just read many sources over the course of the workweek and regurgitate on the weekend as it fits into my not-at-all-hidden agenda. I must admit that this offering was submitted as anything but a “tightly woven piece of writing.” All of the included material still swirled in my head as I puked it onto the keyboard while the wife was rushing me out the door to get to the Main Street Festival over in Grapevine. I just hit “publish” and ran out the door. Any resemblance to quality writing is a happy accident and the sentiments involved have been honed over time from reading many here that I may or may not always agree with. 

    I have no objections to sharing my humble take as expressed via the published works of others. 

    • #10
  11. Jimmy Carter Member
    Jimmy Carter
    @JimmyCarter

    Jim George (View Comment):
    It can be accessed here

    Yer link don’t work. 

    • #11
  12. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Great post. You’re following this story more closely than I. I appreciate the information.

    Do you have any details about the involvement of any NeverTrump folks in the Russia collusion hoax?

    Thank you.

    I tried to keep the focus here specifically on the “Anti-Trump movement” as I defined it above. I admit that the “active beyond the legitimate election and oversight processes” language would draw a somewhat fuzzy line somewhere down the middle of the NT domain. Others have noted some of the politicians that likely assisted and/or enabled the hoaxers. But I would probably go as far as to include those who helped push the narrative. I remember flipping though the morning cable media crap in early February 2017 from my hotel room. Everything was “collusion” this and “hacked the election” that as if it was self evident that impeachment was the only answer and right around the corner. Nearly every one of those conversations over the course of months and years had a token “conservative” at the desk playing along or offering…well, token resistance to the narrative. I consider every one of those tokens and so many more on the “conservative” columnist side of the media as, at least, straddling the line of my defined “Anti-Trump movement.” I’m sure you can add many of the names to that list yourself.

    There is also the unpaid stool pigeons who reliably passed on the narrative talking points to places like this as fast as MSNBC could put them out and defended them with copious amounts of intellectual dishonesty and inconsistency. They may not fit in my narrowly defined movement above but that isn’t for a lack of trying.  I do reserve a special lot of contempt them also.

    • #12
  13. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    Those who stole this election — with a trail leading all the way back to Clinton’s Russian Collusion hoax — are directly responsible for the current state of this country, and must be made to pay consequences for it.

    Who has the political will to charge them with treason? Because treason it is.

    • #13
  14. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    Those who stole this election — with a trail leading all the way back to Clinton’s Russian Collusion hoax — are directly responsible for the current state of this country, and must be made to pay consequences for it.

    Who has the political will to charge them with treason? Because treason it is.

    No one. They will all skate, get book deals, build mansions in DC, Cape cod and Hawaii and live the rest of their days laughing at us while we spend the rest of our days talking about ethics, civility and the Rule of Law. Sure wish I was wrong; if anyone can show me where I am, I will be open to all ideas. As @philo closed his post- into the abyss. 

    • #14
  15. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    philo (View Comment):

    NOTICE: This Member post has been promoted to the Main Feed. Content may have been edited / corrected from the original without attribution by Ricochet.

    (Somewhere along the line it seems we – or I – stopped getting notifications about promotions. For what it’s worth, that is/was an important feature to at least one of us.)

    Me too! (Say, I’m finally a “Me Too!” member…)

    • #15
  16. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    philo (View Comment):

    NOTICE: This Member post has been promoted to the Main Feed. Content may have been edited / corrected from the original without attribution by Ricochet.

    (Somewhere along the line it seems we – or I – stopped getting notifications about promotions. For what it’s worth, that is/was an important feature to at least one of us.)

    Me too! (Say, I’m finally a “Me Too!” member…)

    Me too! Now three of us….

    • #16
  17. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    “the comfortable silence of the masses” is key to the coming termination of the country.  Will those same silent citizens remain silent or approving when the next election is stolen.  The last time they were easily convinced that it wasn’t stolen even though the disconnected, senile non engaged Democrat candidate won by more votes than anyone had ever gotten in history.  The next time Democrats have to steal even more, but now they  run the White House as well as everything else.    Are we ready should they successfully steal the next two elections?  What do Republican state governors do while they still have a chance to do something?

    • #17
  18. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    No, that is not beyond question.  Indeed, it is beyond question that Biden is the duly elected President, just as George W. Bush was the duly elected President in 2020, despite the compelling evidence that the butterfly ballot lead to Gore losing.

    • #18
  19. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    No, that is not beyond question. Indeed, it is beyond question that Biden is the duly elected President, just as George W. Bush was the duly elected President in 2020, despite the compelling evidence that the butterfly ballot lead to Gore losing.

    You keep telling yourself that while the country goes down in flames. Keep riding that anti-Trump pony until you ride her into the ground. Trump’s the real threat to the Republic, isn’t he? Right? Not the Left. Not “democratic” socialists (soft-focus commies). Not the baby killers. Not the treasonous media or the Clinton/Obama mafia. It’s Trump. Trump. Trump. 

    Repetitive, boring, and wrong. Only the blind cannot see how corrupted the last election was. It’s a banana republic you’re saving. 

    • #19
  20. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    Separate from this excellent post, some might like this. Barnes has a more granular view of ballot controls. 

     

     

     

    • #20
  21. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    No, that is not beyond question.

    Yes it is.

    • #21
  22. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    No, that is not beyond question. Indeed, it is beyond question that Biden is the duly elected President, just as George W. Bush was the duly elected President in 2020, despite the compelling evidence that the butterfly ballot lead to Gore losing.

    You keep telling yourself that while the country goes down in flames. Keep riding that anti-Trump pony until you ride her into the ground. Trump’s the real threat to the Republic, isn’t he? Right? Not the Left. Not “democratic” socialists (soft-focus commies). Not the baby killers. Not the treasonous media or the Clinton/Obama mafia. It’s Trump. Trump. Trump.

    Repetitive, boring, and wrong. Only the blind cannot see how corrupted the last election was. It’s a banana republic you’re saving.

    That is not the point.  Drew said that it was beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen.  I am disputing that.  To quote a famous book, “Live not by lies.”

     

    • #22
  23. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    No, that is not beyond question.

    Yes it is.

    The large majority of Americans agree with me.

    • #23
  24. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    Compared to this, Watergate was a cap pistol. 

    • #24
  25. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic … (View Comment):

    It’s now beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not our legitimate President.

    No, that is not beyond question. Indeed, it is beyond question that Biden is the duly elected President, just as George W. Bush was the duly elected President in 2020, despite the compelling evidence that the butterfly ballot lead to Gore losing.

    Time to edit your post, W.

    • #25
  26. DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Unapologetic Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    That is not the point. Drew said that it was beyond question that the 2020 election was stolen. I am disputing that. To quote a famous book, “Live not by lies.”

    Yeah, you should try it sometime.

     

    • #26
  27. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    philo: We must not let these traitors off the hook with the oblivion (or historical anonymity) they desire.

    Today I was reminded of one aspect I didn’t touch on in the post:

    The Journal editorial lays out the template of the Russia hoax, minus the active participation of the FBI in pursuing the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, promoting the Steele Dossier in the FISA court and the Comey briefing of Trump as well as the conditions that led to the crippling Mueller investigation. 

    Yes, “the FISA court” was either already corrupt or corrupted by this ultimate game of politics. I have yet to see anyone defend their involvement with a straight face. Any junior high graduate (except Liz Cheney) could have picked apart the material put in front of them as the sham it was.  Shameful…and not worthy of any future trust with our liberties. 

     

    • #27
  28. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    philo: (For the record, everyone associated with and/or carrying water for the current charade that is the Jan 6 Committee — and pretending that it is some kind of noble effort against the historically factual backdrop described here — deserves to be included by name in the recorded accounting of the times.)

    Really, the delusion is strong in this one (H/T):

    Liz Cheney goes to DEFCON 1 in war with Trump

    Today…we face a threat we have never faced before — a former president attempting to unravel our constitutional republic.” …

    “This sacred obligation to defend the peaceful transfer of power has been honored by every American president except one,” Cheney said.

    Once again, against the factual backdrop outlined above…all of which happened right under her nose…her performance is beyond embarrassing.  (Oh, the things people will do to protect the tens and tens of $millions she is collecting or due to collect as long as “the system” doesn’t come off the tracks before she gets her turn.)

    • #28
  29. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    Jim George (View Comment): I could not help but feel I had seen a good part of the sentence somewhere just recently and, lo and behold, it appeared in a Ricochet piece very recently…

    Almost forgot…an impressive catch.

    • #29
  30. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    philo: Worse, as Trump found out not soon after the election, …

    Typographical Error: Should have been either “not long” or “soon” instead of this gibberish.

    • #30
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