Protesters in US Capital Building

Post Reply New Topic

Protesters backing President Donald Trump massed outside statehouses from Georgia to New Mexico on Wednesday, leading some officials to evacuate while cheers rang out at several demonstrations as a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Hundreds of people gathered in state capitals nationwide to oppose President-elect Joe Biden’s win, waving signs saying “Stop the steal” and “Four more years.” Most of them didn’t wear masks amid the coronavirus pandemic, and some carried guns in places like Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Washington state.

There were some scuffles in states like Ohio and California, with some instances of journalists or counterprotesters being pepper-sprayed or punched, but most demonstrations were peaceful — some of them quite small — and only a few arrests were reported.

New Mexico police evacuated staff as a precaution from a Statehouse building that includes the governor’s office and the secretary of state’s office, shortly after hundreds of flag-waving supporters arrived in a vehicle caravan and on horseback.

Georgia’s secretary of state and his staff evacuated their offices at the Capitol as about 100 protesters gathered outside, some armed with long guns.

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his team decided to leave, according to Gabriel Sterling, a top official with Raffensperger’s office.

“We saw stuff happening at the Georgia Capitol and said we should not be around here, we should not be a spark,” Sterling told The Associated Press.

Trump has focused much of his ire on Raffensperger in the weeks following his loss by about 12,000 votes.

In Washington state, protesters broke through a gate at the governor’s mansion and dozens of people gathered on the lawn for about 30 minutes before being cleared from the area. The crowd, some of whom were armed, repeated baseless allegations of election fraud. The State Patrol said that Gov. Jay Inslee “and his family are in a safe location.”

In Utah, the staff of Gov. Spencer Cox was sent home as several hundred people gathered in Salt Lake City, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson tweeted. Salt Lake Tribune photographer Rick Egan said he was pepper-sprayed by a demonstrator who taunted him for wearing a mask and shoved him as he was shooting video of the protest

At least one person was arrested at the Oregon Capitol in Salem on suspicion of harassment and disorderly conduct as police in riot gear tried to get people — many of them armed — to leave.

Video showed protesters and counterprotesters clashing and riot police moving in. But by midafternoon, only a few dozen people remained, their American flags and Trump banners drooping in the rain.

In Topeka, Kansas, chants of “Stop the steal” and “No more masks” faded as a rally ended and Trump supporters filed peacefully into the Statehouse building through security checkpoints, milling around historical exhibits.

In Honolulu, about 100 protesters lined the road outside the state Capitol waving American and Trump 2020 flags at passing cars. Sheryl Bieler, a retiree in the blue state, said she came out to “support our president and support the integrity of the elections.”

Trump supporters circled the state Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, in cars and trucks adorned with Trump and U.S. flags for several hours Wednesday, blaring their horns.

In Colorado, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock ordered city agencies to close buildings after hundreds gathered in front of the Capitol building for a protest against the election result

Exactly. And now Wrongplanet should stop the censorship saying bad stuff about Trump-supporters.

This is exactly what Trump supporters is all about: Violence, anti-democracy, they are all outright EVIL!

BREAKING: Family confirms woman shot & killed at Capitol is Ashli Babbit. She owned a business in San Diego w/ her huband who did not come to DC. “I really dont know why she decided to do this,” her mother-in-law tells me. Police have not confirmed circumstances of shooting

And we thought 2020 was bad...

This coup has been brewing for four years. We have watched incident after incident of dictator behavior.

Some Cabinet members are holding preliminary discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment to force President Trump’s removal from office, a GOP source said.

The discussions are ongoing but it’s unclear if there will be enough Cabinet members to result in Trump’s removal.

The conversations have reached the Hill where some senators have been made aware of the discussions, the source said.

As the violent mob incited by President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, some West Wing staffers panicked that they were possibly becoming participants in a coup to overthrow the government. “What do I do? Resign?” one nervous White House staffer asked a friend on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after news broke that a woman had been shot and killed inside the Capitol. The West Wing staffer told the friend that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone was urging White House officials not to speak to Trump or enable his coup attempt in any way, so they could reduce the chance they could be prosecuted for treason under the Sedition Act. “They’re being told to stay away from Trump,” the friend said. The White House declined to comment.

Cipollone’s purported concern that Trump was committing treason––a federal crime––illustrates the chaos and fear of Wednesday’s unprecedented events. At least one staffer isn’t waiting to flee the ship. On Wednesday night, CNN reported that Stephanie Grisham, the former White House communications director and Melania Trump’s current chief of staff, resigned over the Trump-inspired riot. As staff quit or steer clear, Trump is increasingly isolated and alone. According to a person close to the White House, Trump refused to take calls on Wednesday from business leaders who wanted him to call off the insurrectionists. A former West Wing staffer said Republicans were texting and calling Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to lobby him to intervene, but Meadows wasn’t answering.

Other Republicans I spoke to on Wednesday echoed the view that Trump wants to blow things up on his way out the door. “He’ll want to burn the whole thing down,” a Republican strategist said. “Trump doesn’t give a s**t about anyone but himself.”

Tonight, there was a sense that the ground had shifted. Even Stephen Miller told one Republican that it was a terrible day. Twitter finally suspended Trump’s account—at least for 12 hours. And the immediate question facing Republicans became whether the violent scene today merits them invoking the 25th Amendment and removing Trump from office. The provision in the Constitution requires the vice president to secure support from the majority of the Cabinet or Congress. According to a D.C. strategist close to the White House, some prominent Republicans are lobbying Mike Pence to greenlight the process. “Pence has to initiate it,” the strategist said. Republicans I spoke to were doubtful Pence would take the extraordinary step given his longtime fealty to Trump––even in the face of being humiliated. “Maybe if Trump calls for another protest, then it’s possible,” the former West Wing official said.

With 13 days left in President Trump's term, confidants and Republican officials are considering drastic steps to stop him, Jonathan Swan and Margaret Talev report.

The big picture: These measures include censure, impeachment or invoking the 25th Amendment — a move, long dismissed as a liberal fantasy, in which Vice President Pence would step in if Trump were found to be unable to perform his duties.

This talk is coming from current and former White House and GOP Hill aides, and Republican lobbyists and political consultants — all of whom have either embraced him or quietly tolerated him until now.
Senior State Department officials are encouraging 25th Amendment discussions along with other officials at the White House and other departments, according to two sources involved in the discussions.
The state of play: Republicans are furious with the president for what they see as fomenting an attack on American democracy, disgracing their party and invading the sanctity of their chambers on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

There's concern about whether the country can withstand another two weeks with Trump at the helm, and what additional chaos and division could be sowed.
There's also rage inside the GOP at Sens. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and others whose plans to object to Biden's certification gave oxygen to Trump, the protests and the notion that Congress could be used to overturn the will of voters.
Behind the scenes: In recent days, there is a sense of futility among long-time confidants trying to get through to Trump.

He's simply not engaging with some, and while with others, he's talking but not listening. He doesn't want to hear that he lost the election to Biden, that Pence can't overturn the results, that he should help rather than hurt the Republican Party, or that he should tell his protesters to stand down.
Sources tell Jonathan that Trump has been ranting about Pence.

I kept warning that political radicals were gonna lose their minds and stage sociopolitical genocide. We're just seeing the beginnings of the dam holding back the madness of the mob beginning to crack everywhere.

Outside, I am remaining calm and taking deep breaths, but inside, my mind is in a mild panic.

I've seen on Facebook that the Trump cult is now trying to prove that it was really Antifa that had invaded the Capitol, but only dressed as MAGAs. That would be pathetically funny if it wasn't so dangerously insane.