The most direct and blatant attempt to overturn the outcome

The official inflation rate for June is 9.1%. It’s up from last month. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to slow inflation. Steve Inskeep of NPR spoke with William Spriggs, an economist for the AFL-CIO, who says the Fed is doing what it can, but what it can do isn’t able to fix the real problems. That official rate is for June compared to June a year ago. Since then gasoline prices, a big contributor to the high number, have dropped. There has been a big spike in airline fares in an attempt to recoup revenue lost during the pandemic. Energy and food prices are affected by Russia invading Ukraine. There is also a microchip shortage affecting vehicle sales and slowing the economy can make that situation worse. Supply chain issues persist and manufacturers are still working out new suppliers. Higher interest rates have cooled the housing market. But that works against the underlying problem that we’re short a couple million homes. Slowing the economy and the housing market means less incentive to build the new housing we desperately need. So rent prices will stay high. Things that will (partly) fix inflation and some of these other problems are political issues: Provide child care so more people can go back to work. Help build more microchip manufacturing places in the US even though people claim that will increase inflation. On Tuesday the January 6 Committee held its seventh hearing. This one was mostly about the nasty guy calling groups to Washington for a “wild” time on January 6 and about the nature of those groups. Brandi Buchman of Daily Kos did liveblogging of the session in two parts, here and here. However, I think it is more useful to look at the summaries she and others wrote. Even so, the main points of the liveblogging: Chairman Bennie Thompson started the session by saying in a democracy we settle differences at the ballot box. Sometimes you win, sometimes I do. Then we accept results. You don’t have to be happy about it and you can say what you want. But you can’t turn violent. Co-chair Liz Cheney dismissed the idea that the nasty guy was led astray by others. He’s a 76 year old man. He’s not an impressionable child. When AG Bill Barr said there was no fraud the nasty guy tried to seize voting machines. Barr said he can’t, no evidence. Giuliani and Sidney Powell, though they had no evidence, pushed the idea of fraud. Several others tried to stop that idea because of no evidence. The meeting got loud and close to violence. The next day the nasty guy tweeted about a big protest in DC, will be wild. The Oath Keepers were in town, ready to attack the Capitol, on January 6 because they say the nasty guy invited and mobilized them. That “will be wild” tweet was taken as the invitation. Discussions online became more detailed and more violent. Mark Sumner of Kos discussed the draft of an executive order that would have allowed the nasty guy (through the military or Department of Homeland Security) to seize voting machines. One time Powell tried to push it. Another time Giuliani did. And Giuliani even took it to DHS, who said they had no authority to do so. Sumner wrote:

The scheme to seize voting machines and allow Trump’s own legal adviser to determine the outcome of the election was the most direct and blatant attempt Trump made to overturn the outcome, even more so than John Eastman-authored “Jan. 6 scenario.” It should be sufficient in itself to charge Trump with seditious conspiracy. And it deserves more attention.

Walter Einenkel of Kos discussed the testimony of Jason Van Tatenhove. He is a former high-ranking member of the Oath Keepers, an extremist group that participated in the attack. Part of his testimony was how he got sucked into the group. He left after a year and a half when he heard members deny the Holocaust. He knows now he should have left sooner. Einenkel’s summary of the testimony:

The Oath Keepers have been tied to Donald Trump’s campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election as a sort of satellite mercenary group, willing to do some military work on the cheap if needed, and to hopefully take advantage of the riots being created by Trump-world rhetoric. Tatenhove was brought out to testify to the true nature of the Oath Keepers, their use of misinformation to organize and incite, and the underpinnings of militia violence and authoritarianism that [leader Elmer] Rhodes relied on.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos reported at the end of the hearing Cheney dropped a big one:

“After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation—a witness you have not yet heard from in these hearings,” Cheney said from the dais, noting that the person declined to answer Trump’s call and instead referred the information to their lawyer. “Their lawyer alerted us and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice,” Cheney said, adding, “Let me say one more time: We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously.”

So why is the nasty guy not in jail? Witness tampering is a much clearer and easier case for the Justice Department to handle. Buchman posted a summary of the whole session, including more than what I mentioned here. I listened to another bonus episode of Gaslit Nation (available to subscribers). Hosts Andrea Chalupa and Sarah Kendzior answered questions from supporters. I didn’t take careful notes. This is some of what they talked about. The hearings are a way for “good” Republicans to rehabilitate their image. A case is Bill Barr, who did a lot of nasty things in service of the nasty guy, but left as he was saying there was no election fraud. He timed his exit to come just before it was all obviously illegal. So in spite of all the earlier nastiness he comes off as principled and on the side of protecting democracy. Liz Cheney is another example. She will be remembered for protecting democracy and not all the other nasty Republican things she voted for. Democrats aren’t acting like good guys either. Yeah, they have been running great hearings and laying out the evidence. But many in the leadership have been corrupted indirectly by Russian money. And 18 months later the nasty guy still walks free. The nasty guy has been criming for decades. He has an international crime syndicate as backers. So many people around him and so many in Congress have been corrupted. The Capitol attack had supporters and accomplices in Congress. Why are the hearings focusing on the attack? Why aren’t there hearings on all these things any many more? Eliminating the nasty guy will not stop the movement he championed. D. Earl Stephens tweeted an image of a highway sign:

Amber Alert Orange Male Age 76 Wandering around Florida Thinks he’s president Senile. Throws Ketchup.