Congress Certifies Biden/Harris Electoral College Win

The day began with the “Dirty Dozen plus one” in the Senate and 140 House members of the Sedition Party prepared to overturn American democracy and to install their “Dear Leader” as the first tinpot dictator of a GOP authoritarianism banana republic.

Just before they convened in a joint session of Congress to perform the perfunctory function of opening the Electoral College certifications and counting the votes, their “Dear Leader” was down the street exhorting his MAGA red cap thugs and other far-right domestic terrorists like the Proud Boys to march on the Capitol building and disrupt the vote count through mob intimidation.

Donald Trump thus became the first and only president in history to incite violent insurrection against the lawful government of the United States with his own personal domestic terrorist organization. The safety of the very members of the Sedition Party who were doing Trump’s dirty work in Congress were threatened when the Trump mob overran the Capitol Police and his MAGA red cap thugs breached the House and Senate chambers. Congress was forced to suspend its constitutional duty, as Trump’s anti-democracy, anti-constitution MAGA red cap thugs ran wild through the halls of Congress and ransacked congressional offices in the chambers. It was only by chance that a quick thinking staff member grabbed the Electoral College certificates of the 50 states when the chambers were evacuated, or Trump’s MAGA red hat thugs would certainly have destroyed the certificates.

The images of Trump’s MAGA red hat that thugs rampaging through the People’s House smashing windows and doors and defiling the seat of American democracy were broadcast around the world, giving aid and comfort to our enemies and something for the world’s tyrants that Trump emulates to point to in support of their autocratic tyranny.

The scene of one Trump rioter wandering the halls of Congress with a Confederate flag is something that never happened even during the Civil War. It was symbolic of the greatest threat to the American government since the armed insurrection of the Civil War.

When Congress was finally able to return to its constitutional duty, a handful of members of the Sedition Party were chastened by the armed insurrection against the U.S. government that their “Dear Leader” incited against them, but nevertheless many persisted in their subversive plot against American democracy. Every one of these GOP traitors should be expelled from Congress and disqualified from ever holding office again under the 14th Amendment, Section 3, for their part in providing oxygen to Trump’s conspiracy theories and armed insurrection.

The only question today is, why is Donald Trump still in the White House? Mike Pence needs to find his balls that his wife keeps in a jar under their bed and convene the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment. Congress needs to begin impeachment proceedings immediately as its first order of business. Jesus Christ, inciting insurrection against the United States government is a federal felony. Send law enforcement officers to the White House to arrest Donald Trump. The nation needs to see a “perp walk” after the assault on our democracy yesterday. The man represents the greatest national security threat to the nation for the next two weeks. For the love of God, take action and do something! This is not to be tolerated.

The Hill reports, Congress affirms Biden win after rioters terrorize Capitol:

Congress on early Thursday morning formally affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory after a mob supporting President Trump violently broke into the Capitol the day before.

The extraordinary attack on the symbolic epicenter of the U.S.’s democracy left the building in tatters, at least one rioter dead and lawmakers in both parties shell-shocked by the unprecedented threat to their safety in a building previously thought to be virtually impenetrable.

Shortly before 4 a.m., after lawmakers formally tabulated each state’s Electoral College votes, Vice President Pence announced before a joint session of Congress that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had won 306 votes over Trump’s 232.

The images of chanting Trump supporters smashing windows, brawling with Capitol Police and marching unimpeded through the Rotunda quickly ricocheted around the globe, stunning Washington, the nation and the entire free world while leading to accusations from lawmakers in both parties that it was the president himself who had incited the riot.

“There is no question that the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House Republican. “He lit the flame.”

What are you going to do about it, Liz? He needs to be removed from office yesterday!

The vote to certify the president-elect’s victory in the Electoral College, the final step before his inauguration on Jan. 20, is largely a matter of course, but party leaders in both chambers decided that delaying it, even briefly, would deliver the message that the mob had won.

Instead, they raced to finalize their votes accepting the state tallies, hoping it would send a very different signal to the stunned country: The nation’s democratic institutions remain strong even under direct attack.

“We must and we will show to the country — and indeed to the world — that we will not be diverted from our duty, that we will respect our responsibility to the Constitution and to the American people,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said while presiding over the House floor.

“The United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said as he reconvened the upper chamber Wednesday night.

Nevertheless, members of the Sedition Party persisted in their challenges to certification of the Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Their names should forever appear on the dishonor roll of traitors to their country, with no less contempt than General Benedict Arnold.

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, a conspiracy theorist and Arizona’s most embarrassing congressman objected to the certification of Arizona’s Electoral College vote. He was supported by Senator “Traitor Ted” Cruz from Texas.

The Senate vote on Arizona failed 93-6 with half of the “Dirty Dozen plus one” bailing after the insurrection. The six-pack of seditionists are Sens. Cruz (R-TX), Hawley (R-MO), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Kennedy (R-LA), Marshall (R-KS), and Tuberville (R-AL).

The House vote on Arizona failed 303-121 with a majority of the Sedition Party voting to disenfranchise Arizona voters, including Arizona Reps. Biggs, Gosar and Lesko. (Rep. Schweikert voted nay).

The Senate vote on Pennsylvania failed 92-7 with Sens. Cruz (R-TX), Hawley (R-MO), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Lummis (R-WY), Marshall (R-KS), Scott (R-FL) and Tuberville (R-AL) voting to disenfranchise the voters of Pennsylvania.

The House vote on Pennsylvania failed 282-138 with a majority of the Sedition Party voting to disenfranchise Pennsylvania voters, including all four Arizona Republican Reps. Biggs, Gosar, Lesko and Schweikert.

I would encourage legal action ASAP to expel and disqualify these Sedition Party members of Congress under the disqualification clause of the 14th Amendment in light of yesterday’s armed insurrection at the Capitol.

The Hill continues:

The House and Senate were less than an hour into separately debating the first GOP objection to a state that Biden won — Arizona — when the rioters breached nearby office buildings and eventually the Capitol itself.

Both chambers went into recess for more than 5 1/2 hours as law enforcement struggled to contain the chaos unfolding inside the Capitol. The mobs breached the Senate chamber, broke the glass of one of the center doors leading into the House chamber and vandalized Pelosi’s office nearby.

Terror and chaos reigned at the Capitol as lawmakers, staff and reporters in the House and Senate chambers were told to hide under their seats, given gas masks and eventually evacuated.

One of the rioters who broke into the Senate chamber sat in the chair on the dais reserved for the presiding officer while yelling in support of Trump. Another swung from the base of the visitor’s gallery, while a third was seen with his feet propped up on a desk in Pelosi’s office.

In the House chamber, police officers drew guns and improvised by placing heavy furniture against the central door to prevent the mob from making its way inside, where lawmakers, staff and journalists were scrambling for cover.

D.C. police confirmed that one unnamed woman was shot inside the Capitol and later died. Three other people — a woman and two men — died after apparently suffering “separate medical emergencies” near the Capitol grounds.

Numerous Capitol Police officers were also injured.

The rioters were mostly maskless despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic and some carried Confederate flags.

Both the House and Senate ultimately voted late Wednesday to reject the challenge to Arizona’s electoral votes on a bipartisan basis. That outcome was expected, but the day’s shocking events acted to diminish the number of Republican objectors.

So much for that GOP bullshit about being the “law ad order” party. What we saw yesterday was lawlessness run amok.

Still, 121 Republicans in the House and six in the Senate voted to challenge Arizona’s results. Hours later, the House and Senate beat back a challenge to Pennsylvania’s result by similar margins. The Senate rejected it by 92-7, while the House voted 282-138.

When Wednesday began, at least 14 GOP senators and more than 100 House Republicans had been set to challenge the results under pressure from Trump.

Senator “plus one,” Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), defeated in her election the day before, bailed on the Sedition Party plot against American democracy: “When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider and I cannot now, in good conscience, object.”

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) was even more terse, saying the day’s events “changed things drastically.”

“Whatever point you made before that should suffice,” Braun said. “Let’s get this ugly day behind us.”

* * *

In the days leading up to Wednesday’s Electoral College votes, Trump had bashed the election process as inherently corrupt, framing Biden’s win as a fraud and encouraging his supporters to come to Washington to protest. Shortly before the Capitol was stormed on Wednesday, he had addressed thousands of those supporters outside the White House, vowing never to concede defeat and urging the crowd to march on the Capitol.

“You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” he told the cheering crowd. “You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”

After the smoke — literal and figurative — cleared, members of both parties cast blame on Trump for egging on rioters to protest at the Capitol and continuing to falsely claim that he lost the election due to voter fraud.

“It was a tragic day and he was part of it,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told reporters when asked if Trump bore responsibility. “I think it put many people on notice that we have to be more careful and more thoughtful in how we deal with each other and how we safeguard the democracy and the freedoms we have.”

As the violence unfolded, Democrats, Republicans and former White House officials alike pleaded with Trump to defuse the mayhem by urging his supporters to leave the Capitol premises.

Trump later tweeted a video telling his supporters to “go home” but added to these violent rioters: “We love you, you’re very special.” He also amplified the fallacious claims that the election was stolen.

It was his embrace of “very fine people on both sides” after the white nationalists in Charlottesville all over again.

The backlash was swift.

Numerous Democrats called for another round of impeachment proceedings or for invocation of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to immediately remove Trump from office, even though he is set to leave the White House in two weeks, when Biden is inaugurated.

More: House Judiciary Democrats ask Pence to invoke 25th Amendment to remove Trump and Officials discussing 25th Amendment for Trump following violence at Capitol.

Lawmakers further called for prosecuting the rioters and investigating why the Capitol Police failed to control the situation.

“The breach today at the U.S. Capitol raises grave security concerns,” House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said in a statement, adding that she intends to have her panel work with House and Senate leadership of both parties “to address these concerns and review the response in coming days.”

But most of all, Wednesday’s chaos marked a dark day for American democracy that lawmakers warned will set back the nation’s reputation before the rest of the world and take work to repair.

The Capitol itself bore physical damage hours after law enforcement cleared the rioters out of the building. Wednesday marked the first time that a violent group breached the Capitol since the British in August 1814, according to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.

The door leading to the Capitol Rotunda from the East Front steps where the mob broke a security barrier bore glass cracks and what appeared to be bullet marks. A glass door adorning the entrance of the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber was also cracked.

And in the Rotunda itself, rioters’ litter still remained along the walls, including a Trump flag, protein bars and water bottles. The floors in the Rotunda and surrounding the House and Senate chambers were covered in dirt with shoe marks.

“This will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away,” said Senate Minority Leader [soon-to-be Majority Leader] Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). “But we are a resilient, forward-looking and optimistic people. And we will begin the hard work of repairing this nation tonight.”

The Hill adds that following Trump’s failed “GOP Clown Car Coup” to overthrow American democracy, Trump acknowledges end of presidency after Congress certifies Biden win.

Oh, you’re done alright you fucking traitor. It’s time to fit you for an orange jumpsuit. You are going to prison.