Election fraud is a Republican "Cervantes" attacking political windmills

Don Quixote chased mythical windmills and "tRumpzi Republicans" are living in the their own political delusion- Cervantes is revived!

Don Quixote saw delusional enemies in windmills 

Hello?  The 2020 election was not stolen and now Republicans are lying about the facts!

Opinion CNN echo: The Republican blueprint to steal the 2024, election by J. Michael Luttig:

J. Michael Luttig, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, formerly served on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for 15 years. He advised Vice President Mike Pence on January 6.

(CNN) Nearly a year and a half later, surprisingly few understand what January 6, was all about.

Fewer still understand why the former TFG President Donald Trump (#TFG) and (stupid) Republicans persist in their long-disproven claim that the 2020, presidential election was stolen. Much less why they are obsessed about making the 2024, race a referendum on the "stolen" election of 2020, which even they know was not stolen.

January 6th was never about a stolen election or even about actual voting fraud. It was always and only about an election that Trump lost fair and square, under legislatively promulgated election rules in a handful of swing states that he and other Republicans contend were unlawfully changed by state election officials and state courts to expand the right and opportunity to vote, largely in response to the COVID pandemic.

Incredulously, the Republicans' mystifying claim to this day that Trump did, or would have, received more votes than Joe Biden in 2020, were it not for actual voting fraud, is but the shiny object that Republicans have tauntingly and disingenuously dangled before the American public for almost a year and a half now to distract attention from their far more ambitious objective.


That objective is not somehow to rescind the 2020, election, as they would have us believe. That's constitutionally impossible. Trump's and the Republicans' far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024, the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020, and to overturn the 2024, election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest.

The last presidential election was a dry run for the next.

From long before Election Day 2020, Trump and Republicans planned to overturn the presidential election by exploiting the Electors and Elections Clauses of the Constitution, the Electoral College, the Electoral Count Act of 1877, and the 12th Amendment, if Trump lost the popular and Electoral College vote.

The cornerstone of the plan was to have the Supreme Court embrace the little known "independent state legislature" doctrine, which, in turn, would pave the way for exploitation of the Electoral College process and the Electoral Count Act, and finally for Vice President Mike Pence to reject enough swing state electoral votes to overturn the election using Pence's ceremonial power under the 12th Amendment and award the presidency to Donald Trump.

The independent state legislature doctrine says that, under the Elections and the Electors Clauses of the Constitution, state legislatures possess plenary and exclusive power over the conduct of federal presidential elections and the selection of state presidential electors. Not even a state supreme court, let alone other state elections officials, can alter the legislatively written election rules or interfere with the appointment of state electors by the legislatures, under this theory.

Trump and the Republicans began executing this first stage of their plan months before November 3, by challenging as violative of the independent state legislature doctrine election rules relating to early- and late-voting, extensions of voting days and times, mail-in ballots, and other election law changes that Republicans contended had been unlawfully altered by state officials and state courts in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan.

These cases eventually wound their way to the Supreme Court in the fall of 2020, and by December, the Supreme Court had decided all of these cases, but only by orders, either disallowing federal court intervention to change an election rule that had been promulgated by a state legislature, allowing legislatively promulgated rules to be changed by state officials and state courts, or deadlocking 4-4, because Justice Barrett was not sworn in until after those cases were briefed and ready for decision by the Court. In none of these cases did the Supreme Court decide the all-important independent state legislature doctrine.

Thwarted by the Supreme Court's indecision on that doctrine, Trump and the Republicans turned their efforts to the second stage of their plan, exploitation of the Electoral College and the Electoral Count Act.

The Electoral College is the process by which Americans choose their presidents, a process that can lead to the election as president of a candidate who does not receive a majority of votes cast by the American voters. Republicans have grown increasingly wary of the Electoral College with the new census and political demographics of the nation's shifting population.

In fact, the Supreme Court never decided whether to embrace the independent state legislature doctrine. But then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in separate concurring opinions said they would embrace that doctrine in Bush v. Gore, 20 years earlier, and Republicans had every reason to believe there were at least five votes on the Supreme Court for the doctrine in November 2020, with Amy Coney Barrett having just been confirmed in the eleventh hour before the election.

#TFG - Trump and the Republicans began executing this first stage of their plan months before November 3, by challenging as violative of the independent state legislature doctrine election rules relating to early- and late-voting, extensions of voting days and times, mail-in ballots, and other election law changes that Republicans contended had been unlawfully altered by state officials and state courts in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan.

These cases eventually wound their way to the Supreme Court in the fall of 2020, and by December, the Supreme Court had decided all of these cases, but only by orders, either disallowing federal court intervention to change an election rule that had been promulgated by a state legislature, allowing legislatively promulgated rules to be changed by state officials and state courts, or deadlocking 4-4, because Justice Barrett was not sworn in until after those cases were briefed and ready for decision by the Court. In none of these cases did the Supreme Court decide the all-important independent state legislature doctrine.

Thwarted by the Supreme Court's indecision on that doctrine, Trump and the Republicans turned their efforts to the second stage of their plan, exploitation of the Electoral College and the Electoral Count Act.

The Electoral College is the process by which Americans choose their presidents, a process that can lead to the election as president of a candidate who does not receive a majority of votes cast by the American voters. Republicans have grown increasingly wary of the Electoral College with the new census and political demographics of the nation's shifting population.

The Electoral Count Act empowers Congress to decide the presidency in a host of circumstances where Congress determines that state electoral votes were not "regularly given" by electors who were "lawfully certified," terms that are undefined and ambiguous. 

In this second stage of the plan, the Republicans needed to generate state-certified alternative slates of electors from swing states where Biden won the popular vote who would cast their electoral votes for Trump instead. Congress would then count the votes of these alternative electoral slates on January 6, rather than the votes of the certified electoral slates for Biden, and Trump would be declared the reelected president.

The Republicans' plan failed at this stage when they were unable to secure a single legitimate, alternative slate of electors from any state because the various state officials refused to officially certify these Trump-urged slates.

Thwarted by the Supreme Court in the first stage, foiled by their inability to come up with alternative state electoral slates in the second stage, and with time running out, Trump and the Republicans began executing the final option in their plan, which was to scare up illegitimate alternative electoral slates in various swing states to be transmitted to Congress. 

Whereupon, on January 6, Vice President Pence would count only the votes of the illegitimate electors from the swing states, and not the votes of the legitimate, certified electors that were cast for Biden, and declare Donald Trump's reelection as President of the United States.

The entire house of cards collapsed at noon on January 6, when Pence refused to go along with the ill-conceived plan, correctly concluding that under the 12th Amendment he had no power to reject the votes that had been cast by the duly certified electors or to delay the count to give Republicans even more time to whip up alternative electoral slates.

Pence declared Joe Biden the 46th President of the United States at 3:40 a.m. on Thursday, January 7, roughly 14 hours after rioters stormed the US Capitol, disrupting the Joint Session and preventing Congress from counting the Electoral College votes for president until late that night and into the following day, after the statutorily designated day for counting those votes.

Trump and his allies and supporters in Congress and the states began readying their failed 2020 plan to overturn the 2024 presidential election later that very same day and they have been unabashedly readying that plan ever since, in plain view to the American public. Today, they are already a long way toward recapturing the White House in 2024, whether Trump or another Republican candidate wins the election or not.

Trump and Republicans are preparing to return to the Supreme Court, where this time they will likely win the independent state legislature doctrine, now that Amy Coney Barrett is on the Court and ready to vote. Barrett has not addressed the issue, but this turns on an originalist interpretation of the Constitution, and Barrett is firmly aligned on that method of constitutional interpretation with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, all three of whom have written that they believe the doctrine is correct.

Only last month, in a case from North Carolina the Court declined to hear, Moore v. Harper, four Justices (Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) said that the independent state legislature question is of exceptional importance to our national elections, the issue will continue to recur and the Court should decide the issue sooner rather than later before the next presidential election. This case involved congressional redistricting, but the independent state legislature doctrine is as applicable to redistricting as it is to presidential elections.

Moreover, the Republicans are also in the throes of electing Trump-endorsed candidates to state legislative offices in key swing states, installing into office their favored state election officials who deny that Biden won the 2020 election, such as secretaries of state, electing sympathetic state court judges onto the state benches and grooming their preferred potential electors for ultimate selection by the party, all so they will be positioned to generate and transmit alternative electoral slates to Congress, if need be.

Finally, they are furiously politicking to elect Trump supporters to the Senate and House, so they can overturn the election in Congress, as a last resort.

Forewarned is to be forearmed.

Trump and the Republicans can only be stopped from stealing the 2024 election at this point if the Supreme Court rejects the independent state legislature doctrine (thus allowing state court enforcement of state constitutional limitations on legislatively enacted election rules and elector appointments) and Congress amends the Electoral Count Act to constrain Congress' own power to reject state electoral votes and decide the presidency.

Although the Vice President will be a Democrat in 2024, both parties also need to enact federal legislation that expressly limits the vice president's power to be coextensive with the power accorded the vice president in the 12th Amendment and confirm that it is largely ceremonial, as Pence construed it to be on January 6th.

Vice President Kamala Harris would preside over the Joint Session in 2024. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have any idea who will be presiding after that, however. Thus, both parties have the incentive to clarify the vice president's ceremonial role now.

As it stands today, Trump, or his anointed successor, and the Republicans are poised, in their word, to "steal" from Democrats the presidential election in 2024, that they falsely claim the Democrats stole from them in 2020. But there is a difference between the falsely claimed "stolen" election of 2020, and what would be the stolen election of 2024. Unlike the Democrats' theft claimed by Republicans, the Republicans' theft would be in open defiance of the popular vote and thus the will of the American people: poetic, though tragic, irony for America's democracy.

President Elect Joe Biden finally does a take down about Donald Trump

Joe Biden transcript after the Electoral College vote:

Bidden= 306 votes!

Good evening, my fellow Americans. 

Over the past few weeks, officials in each state, commonwealth, and

district, without regard to party or political preference have certified their winning candidate. Today, the members of the Electoral College representing the certified winner, cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States in an act just as old as our nation itself. And once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution and the will of the people prevailed. 

Our democracy pushed, tested, threatened, proved to be resilient, true and strong. The Electoral College votes which occurred today effect the fact that even in the face of a public health crisis unlike anything we’ve experienced in our lifetime, the people voted. They voted in record numbers. More Americans voted this year than have ever voted in the history of the United States of America. Over 155 million Americans were determined to have their voices heard and their votes counted. In the start of this pandemic, this crisis, many were wondering how many Americans would actually vote at all. But those fears proved to be unfounded. 

We saw something very few predicted, even thought possible, the biggest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America, a number so big that this election now ranks as the clearest demonstration of the true will of the American people, one of the most amazing demonstrations of civic duty we’ve ever seen in our country.

Joe Biden : 

It should be celebrated, not attacked. More than 81 million of those votes were casts for me and Vice President-elect Harris. That too is a record. More than any ticket has received in the history of America. It represents a winning margin of more than seven million votes over the number of votes cast for my opponent. Together, the Vice President-elect Harris and I earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory. 306 electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes that Donald Trump and Vice President Pence received when they won in 2016, excuse me. At the time, President Trump calls the Electoral College tally a landslide. By his own standards. These numbers represented a clear victory then, and I respectfully suggest they do so now. If anyone didn’t know before, they know now. What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this, democracy, the right to be heard, to have your vote counted, to choose leaders of this nation, to govern ourselves.

In America, politicians don’t take power, people grant power to them. The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power can extinguish that flame. And as the people kept it a flame, so too did courageous state and local officials, and election workers. American democracy works because America makes it work at a local level. One of the extraordinary things we saw this year was that every day Americans, our friends and our neighbors, often volunteers, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, demonstrating absolute courage, they showed a deep and unwavering faith in and a commitment to the law. They did their duty in the face of the pandemic. And then they could not and would not give credence to what they knew was not true. They knew this election was overseen, was overseen by them. It was honest, it was free and it was fair.

They saw it with their own eyes and they wouldn’t be bullied into saying anything different. It was truly remarkable because so many of these patriotic Americans are subject to so much, enormous political pressure, verbal abuse, and even threats of physical violence. While we all wish that our fellow Americans in these positions will always show such courage and commitment to free and fair elections, it is my sincere hope we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of threats and abuse we saw in this election. It’s simply unconscionable. We owe these public servants a debt of gratitude. They didn’t seek the spotlight, and our democracy survived because of them, which is proof once more that it’s everyday America and infused with honor, character and decency that is the heart of this nation.

You know, in this election, their integrity was matched by their strength, independence, and the integrity of our judicial system. In America, when questions are raised about the legitimacy of any election, those questions are resolved through the legal processes. And that’s precisely what happened here. The Trump campaign brought dozens and dozens and dozens of legal challenges to test the result. They were heard again and again, and each of the time they were heard, they were found to be without merit. Time and again, President Trump’s lawyers presented arguments to state officials, state legislatures, state and federal courts, and ultimately to the United States Supreme Court twice. They were heard by more than 80 judges across this country. And in every case, no cause or evidence was found to reverse or question or dispute the results.

A few states went for recounts. All the counts were confirmed. The results in Georgia were counted three times. It didn’t change the outcome. The recount conducted Wisconsin actually saw our margin grow. The margin we had in Michigan was 14 times the margin President Trump won that state by four years ago. Our margin in Pennsylvania was nearly twice the size of the Trump margin four years ago. And yet none of this has stopped baseless claims about the legitimacy of the results.

Even more stunning, 17 Republican Attorneys General, and 126 Republican members of the Congress, actually, they actually signed onto a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas. That lawsuit asked the United States Supreme Court to reject the certified vote counts in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. This legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the Supreme Court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million Americans in other states. And to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they were trying to reverse.

It’s a position so extreme, we’ve never seen it before. And position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our Constitution. Thankfully, a unanimous Supreme Court immediately and completely rejected this effort. The Court sent a clear signal to President Trump that they would be no part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy. Every single avenue was made available to President Trump to contest the results. He took full advantage of each and every one of those avenues. President Trump was denied no course of action he wanted to take. He took his case to Republican governors and Republican Secretary of State as he criticized many of them, to Republican state legislature, to Republican appointed judges at every level. And then the case decided after the Supreme Court’s latest rejection, a judge appointed by President Trump wrote, “This court has allowed the plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits.” Lost on the merits.

 
Even President Trump’s own cybersecurity chief, overseeing our elections, said it was the most secure election in American history, and summarily is let go. Let me say it again. His own cybersecurity chief overseeing this election said it was the most secure in American history.

You know, respecting the will of the people is at the heart of our democracy, even we find those results hard to accept. But that’s the obligation of those who’ve taken on a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Four years ago, when I was a sitting Vice President of the United States, it was my responsibility to announce the tally of the Electoral College votes of the joint session of Congress, had voted to elect Donald Trump. I did my job. And I’m pleased but not surprised by the number of my former Republican colleagues in the Senate who have acknowledged already the results of the Electoral College. I thank them. And I’m convinced we can work together for the good of the nation on many subjects. That’s the duty owed to the people, to our Constitution, to our history.

You know, in this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed. We the people voted, faith in our institutions held, the integrity of our elections remains intact. And now it’s time to turn the page as we’ve done throughout our history, to unite, to heal. As I said in this campaign, I will be president for all Americans. I’ll work just as hard for those of who you didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did. There’s urgent work in front of us. Getting this pandemic under control and getting the nation vaccinated against this virus, delivering immediate economic help so badly needed by so many Americans who are hurting today, and then building our economy back better than it ever was.

In doing so, we need to work together to give each other a chance to lower the temperature. And most of all, we need to stand in solidarity as fellow Americans, to see each other, our pain, our struggles, our hopes, and our dreams. 

We’re a great nation. We’re good people. We may come from different places, hold different beliefs, but we share in common a love for this country, a belief in its limitless possibilities. For we, the United States of America, has always set the example for the world for a peaceful transition of power. We’ll do so again. I know the task before us won’t be easy. It’s tempered by the pain so many of us are feeling.

Today, our nation passed a grim milestone, 300,000 deaths to this COVID virus. My heart goes out to each of you in this dark winter of the pandemic, about to spend the holidays and the new year with a black hole in your hearts, without the ones you loved at your side. My heart goes out to all of you who have fallen on hard times through no fault of your own, unable to sleep at night, staring at the ceiling, weighed down by the worry of what tomorrow will bring for you and equally important for your family.

But we faced difficult times before in our history. I know we’ll get through this one, but together. That’s how we get through it together. So as we start the hard work to be done, may this moment give us a strength to rebuild this house of ours upon a rock that can never be washed away. As in the Prayer of St. Francis, for where there is discord, union, where there is doubt, faith where there is darkness, light. This is who we are as a nation. This is the America we love and that is the America we’re going to be. So thank you all and may God bless you. And may God protect our troops and all of those who stand watch over our democracy. Thank you.

Thanks for the congratulations, appreciate it.

Dr. Jill Biden: 
Thank you.

 

Delusional and incompetent - GOP alert! Donald Trump must exit ASAP!

https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-georgia-elections-412fde2947cbb1ee23ce37b9bc4660ef

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump still won’t bring himself to concede the election he decisively lost to President-elect Joe Biden. But he’s now acknowledging he will leave the White House if Biden’s win is affirmed by the Electoral College, which is firmly on track to do just that in a few weeks.

News18-Buzz reported:  But on Thanksgiving, November 27, Trump said that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes President-Elect Joe Biden's victory — even as he insisted such a decision would be a 'mistake'.

Delusional- Fanciful thinking- incompetent Trump!

'Don't Ever Talk to President that Way': Still Delusional, Donald Trump Snaps at Reporter

Trump said Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes President-Elect Joe Biden's victory — even as he insisted such a decision would be a 'mistake'.

American president-elect Joe Biden is scheduled to take oath on January 20, but seems like the outgoing president, Donald Trump, is yet to concede defeat even after almost a month of elections. Ever since the results were declared and democrat Joe Biden emerged victorious after months of polarised campaigning, Trump has been alleging vote fraud and refuses to accept defeat.

And now, he has done it again. He snapped at a reporter during a press briefing at the White House and reiterated that he is the president of America and that there was a massive fraud in the voting process. "You're just a lightweight. Don't talk to me that way. I'm the President of the United States. Don't ever talk to the President that way," he told Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason during a question-and-answer session in the White House.

The fact that a sitting American president even had to address whether or not he would leave office after losing reelection underscores the extent to which Trump has smashed one convention after another, over the last three weeks. While there is no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud Trump has been alleging, he and his legal team have nonetheless been working to cast doubt on the integrity of the election and trying to overturn voters’ will in an unprecedented breach of democratic norms.

Trump spoke abusively to reporters in the White House’s ornate Diplomatic Reception Room, after holding a teleconference with U.S. military leaders stationed across the globe. He thanked them for their service and jokingly warned them not to eat too much turkey, then turned to the election after ending the call. 

(Like a spoiled brat!)....Trump repeated grievances and angrily denounced officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two key swing states that helped give Biden the win.

Trump claimed, despite the results, that this may not be his last Thanksgiving at the White House. And he insisted there had been “massive fraud," even though state officials and international observers have said no evidence of that exists and Trump’s campaign has repeatedly failed in court.

Trump's administration has already given the green light for a formal transition to get underway. Nevertheless, delusional and incompetent, Trump took issue with Biden moving forward.

Donald Trump: a compuslive public relations hound but the photo-ops are disasterous

Echo letter opinion from Arizona
#Evil Donald Trump wants more violence.

https://tucson.com/opinion/letters/letter-president-trump-wants-more-violence/article_bd8fbb76-a5a8-11ea-ba10-475cdf607794.html
As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Donald Trump's miserably failed photo-op. In fact, Trump held the Bible upside down!

Before he resigned the presidency of the United States, Richard Nixon contemplated using the Army to keep power and ignore the upcoming impeachment vote he was warned he would lose. His historical concern about his legacy in defying the Constitution stopped him.

Donald Trump is different. Trump does not care about his legacy. His staging of a religious Public Relations photo opportunity by forcing his way over the rights of peaceful protesters shows he will do anything for power. Meanwhile, the Republican, under Mitch McConnell, has disparaged the integrity of the US Senate. 

And (cult) Evangelicals have greedily luxuriated in the power that Trump gave them, becoming the immorality they profess to fight.

Donald Trump wants violence. By undermining the Postal Service and using the violence as an excuse, Trump is anxiously planing to call martial law when he loses the Electoral College and claim voter fraud. He will then try to use the military to illegally hang onto power.

I hope the military upholds the Constitution and not the (failed) Commander in Chief.

Matt Somers in Midtown, Phoenix Arizona

Vote Blue No Matter Who: Anybody but Trump (ABT)

Echo opinion by E.J. Dionne, published in the Madison Wisconsin The Capital Times

Anybody but Donald Trump (ABT)

WASHINGTON — Nothing unites Democrats more than a deep belief that Donald Trump must be driven from office. And right now, nothing divides Democrats more than finding the best way to bring this about.

Trump is not a political genius. He is president because of our outdated and undemocratic Electoral College. What he is skilled at is taking advantage of his opponents' weaknesses and sowing division in their ranks.

Think about what the Russians, in alliance with the Trump campaign, did in 2016: They drove wedges between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton by feeding the sense of aggrievement in the Sanders camp. They worked to lower turnout among African Americans by pointing to the criminal justice policies of Bill Clinton's administration in fostering overincarceration.

Trump's strategy is thus not just about rallying his base. He also does everything he can to dispirit the Democratic base. He will be happy once again to use social media (and welcome foreign efforts in this direction) to assail the Democrats from the left. And since Democrats seem to relish attacking each other, they may give him a hand.

The efforts to divide are already unfolding. Consider the well-documented accounts by Michael Scherer and Amy B. Wang in The Washington Post and Rachelle Hampton in Slate. They reported on Twitter attacks against Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., that she is "not an American black" because her parents are immigrants. One version was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr. though he later took it down.

Hampton also wrote of an online campaign urging African Americans not to vote for any Democrat who refuses to endorse reparations for slavery. Trump and his lieutenants are eager for a despicable two-fer: To attack reparations to overtly win white voters, and to narrowcast messages to African Americans to depress Democratic turnout if the party's nominee declines to endorse reparations.

And former special counsel Robert Mueller's* testimony last week split House Democrats into very nearly equal halves.

Nearly one half — it could well grow to a narrow majority during Congress' August recess — argues that Mueller's account of Trump's lies, obstruction and the possibility that he has been compromised by Russia (among other issues) mean that failing to move toward impeachment would be a dereliction of constitutional duty. And let there be no doubt that if Trump were not a Republican, his GOP apologists in Congress would be clamoring to throw him out of office for running a campaign that cooperated with a Russian dictator's agents to win, and for lying about it.

But precisely because Republicans will provide few if any impeachment votes, the other half of the House Democratic caucus believes that Mueller's testimony made impeachment more problematic. With so many media reports focusing on Mueller's often-halting delivery, it's not surprising that members from competitive districts stressed the failure of the hearings to ignite opinion against Trump.

Democrats can make Trump gleeful by tearing each other apart over impeachment, or they can find a way collectively to press him much harder. There can be no August recess for the Judiciary Committee, and its chairman, Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., signaled on Friday there would not be.

Significantly, the committee's court filing on Friday to obtain release of grand jury materials specifically mentions impeachment. The argument is that the House needs access to documents (and eventually witnesses) to decide whether to impeach.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made clear at a Friday news conference that she has not ruled out impeachment, but she also knows there are not yet the votes in her own caucus to win a majority for it. The signals she and Nadler sent are clear: Democrats are escalating their fight. For now — given that Pelosi leads what she correctly said is not "a lockstep, rubber-stamp" caucus — this is the only plausible path forward.

In the meantime, Democrats might note that the hashtag #MoscowMitch, a phrase used by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, went viral to protest Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's refusal to allow votes on bills to protect the 2020 election from foreign interference. Making life hell for McConnell and his party for blocking necessary and patriotic legislation would be a good use of August.

And, yes, the Democratic presidential candidates will debate this week. Judge them not by the points they score but by who among them best understands that removing this reprehensible president from office is far more important than any of their individual ambitions — and that nothing will make Trump happier than an opposition tearing itself to pieces.

E.J. Dionne Jr. is a columnist for The Washington Post. ejdionne@washpost.com and @EJDionne

*Maine Writer post script - I continue to be baffled by how the media and pundits ignore what Robert Mueller said during his testimonies when he spoke to Congress.  He said that Russia invaded the 2016 election.  When America thinks "invasion", Donald Trump has skillfully deflected the label to wrongly discriminate against innocent immigrants.  But, Robert Mueller identified the actual invader. Russia is the political invader!

Donald Trump in a cult trance can't acknowledge USA intelligence

It's absolutely incompetent and incredible that Donald Trump's surrogates must say for him what he can't articulate himself. Apparently, Reince Preibus and Governor Mike Pence are trying "real hard" to sound like they are sane. Trump doesn't seem to care.

In fact, Senator Graham R-SC is demanding for Donald Trump to simply state the obvious- but Trump has resisted any criticism of Vladimir Putin and Russian hacking of the 2016 election.  

This reticent Trump stupidity might cause him to loose his claim on sanity. "No-seriously!"

Sen. Lindsey Graham calls on Trump to "acknowledge that Russia interfered, and push back" 

Obviously, something weird has gone wrong with Donald Trump's mind. He won't acknowledge the obvious! Apparently, Senator Lindsey Graham isn't  affected by the "Trump trance", because  he is issuing a "wake up" call.

Questions About Hacking Swirl as Trump Enters Critical Week 

ABC: mBy JILL COLVIN AND LAURIE KELLMAN, AP

Donald Trump and his aides are entering a crucial week in his (chaotic)  presidential transition as he and his Cabinet (oligarchy) nominees will undergo public questioning about their approach to Russia and potential conflicts of interests (COI).

Oligarchy - a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by nobility, wealth, family ties, education or corporate, religious or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families.

Most pressing during the upcoming days of confirmation hearings and Trump's first press conference in six months likely will be whether he accepts the conclusion of U.S. intelligence officials that Russia meddled in the U.S. election to help him win the White House.

Trump's incoming chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said Sunday (but Trump wouldn't say it himself) that Trump indeed has accepted that Russia was responsible for the hacking, which targeted the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and a top aide to former rival Hillary Clinton. (Even Governor Mike Pence tried to sound sane and reasonable post the orchiectomy - yes look it up- Donald Trump received from intelligence chiefs about the Russian attack....."Russia are you listening?")

"He's not denying that entities in Russia were behind this particular campaign," Priebus said in a Sunday television interview.

That's more than Trump himself has said. As for potential retaliation, aides said those are decisions that Trump will make after he becomes president on Jan. 20. (HEllO? Putin owns Trump.)

Intelligence officials allege that Moscow directed a series of hacks in order to help Trump win the White House in the race against Clinton. Trump has expressed skepticism about Russia's role and declined to say whether he agrees that the meddling was done on his behalf.

In an interview with The Associated Press after a briefing on the findings, Trump said he "learned a lot" from his discussions with intelligence officials, but he declined to say whether he accepted their assertion about Russia's motives. Trump has said that improving relations with Russia would be a good thing and that only "stupid" people would disagree.

"My suspicion is these hopes will be dashed pretty quickly," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "The Russians are clearly a big adversary. And they demonstrated it by trying to mess around in our election.

An unclassified version of the report directly tied Russian President Vladimir Putin to election meddling and said that Moscow had a "clear preference" for Trump over Clinton. Trump and his allies have bristled at any implication that the meddling helped him win the election. He won the Electoral College vote with 306 votes, well over the 270 votes required to become president.

Accepting those findings would be a positive step, but not enough, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is calling for more penalties against Russia.

"He's going to be the defender of the free world here pretty soon," said Graham, a frequent Trump critic. "All I'm asking him is to acknowledge that Russia interfered, and push back. It could be Iran next time. It could be China."

The developments come during a consequential week for Trump, who will become the nation's 45th president on Jan. 20.

Beginning Tuesday, the Senate is to hold the first of at least nine hearings this week on Trump's Cabinet picks. 

But Democrats have voiced objections to the pace set by the Republican majority. The government ethics office says it hasn't received even draft financial disclosure reports for some of the nominees set to appear before Congress this week.

And on Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to hold a long-delayed news conference to describe his plans for his global business empire to avoid conflicts of interest while he's president. 

While Trump has taken sporadic questions from reporters, it will be his first full-fledged news conference since July 27.

Kellman reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.

Unfortunately, the Electoral College didn't fulfill it's Constitutional responsibility to protect America from electing incompetent leadership.  In fact, the Electoral College failed.

Transition in the streets: Trump #notmypresident

#antiTrump movement is building momentum

Millions of letters, email messages and voice mails were sent to the Electoral College delegates, to educate this body about their responsibility to elect a competent President. In other words, anybody but Donald Trump. This massive grass roots effort to prevent Donald Trump from being elected was successful in the overwhelming numbers of messages the college members received, but the enormous response didn't change their vote or the outcome of the 2016 electoral college. Sadly, the Electoral College didn't do its Constitutional job to protect America from incompetent leadership.

Nevertheless, the effort to "unelect", remove or impeach Donald Trump continues to build momentum.

In fact, the #Twitter world where @realdonaldtrump enjoys playing "king of the 'Putin' world", is electric with vitriolic anti Trump messaging. Groups like #notmypresident #theresistance #antiTrump and #Putin_hugger are just a few of the terrible hashtags pounding on the seemingly inept transition of the Donald Trump leadership team.

In my opinion, the momentum of these resistance groups are building. It's inevitable that protests will go to the streets sometime during the Donald Trump installation program in Washington DC.

Anti-Trump groups are gaining momentum. It wouldn't surprise me to see their efforts spill into the streets, similar to scenes we watched during the 1960's, when Americans were totally fed up with the Vietnam War.  Now, Americans are fed up with Donald Trump, because he hasn't done anything to improve our negative opinion of him despite relentless criticism about his lack of political leadership experience.

It's irresponsible for Americans to continue to support Donald Trump, a clearly incompetent leader, who will rule and misguide us by using "Twitter" in the Oval Office. It's time to support the antiTrump movement and take the peaceful protests to the streets.

Get ready for non-stop parody as Saturday Night Live goes viral

Although the Donald Trump characterization by Alec Baldwin is brilliant, the line with the most relevance is when the Vice-President to be Mike Pence enters the skit and he's told, "you will keep me from being impeached".  So true.

Saturday Night Live: November 19th episode’s cold open features Mr. Baldwin portraying Mr. Trump as stunned and unprepared for the reality of being president. 

Alec Baldwin characterized "Donald Trump" in SNL skits

In the SNL skit, Trump meets with various figures, including Kate McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway, a campaign staffer from coal country and a general, who is eager to hear about the president-elect’s secret plan to defeat ISIS. After the general leaves, Mr. Trump promptly begins searching online for “What is Isis?” Mr. Trump proceeds to renege on assorted campaign promises, including repealing Obamacare, deporting illegal immigrants and creating coal-mining jobs.

Salient points made in this well acted skit:

1.  Donald Trump will never be a popular American leader.

2.  KellyAnne Conway must live with the consequences of her ambitious campaign undertaking (sic).

3.  Mike Pence will be running the Trump administration

Meanwhile, in the final 2016 vote analysis, Secretary Hillary Clinton continues to increase her popular vote margin over Donald Trump and in the total vote count, she won the election for President of the United States.  Electoral College alert.