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Trump and allies could 'stoke the flames of insurrection' again as soon as next month: columnist
June 15, 2021
Although the violent attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election on January 6th ultimately failed, columnist Tim Miller warns in a new column for The Bulwark that Trump-inspired violence could make a comeback very soon.
Miller writes that the tipping point will come when Trump supporters finish their purported vote "audit" in Arizona and conclude that Trump actually won the state despite multiple credible investigations turning up no evidence of fraud.
The Arizona audit has been widely ridiculed, especially after its organizers instructed workers to scour ballots for traces of bamboo that would purportedly show nefarious Chinese influence on the election.
Despite this, writes Miller, a significant number of Trump supporters are likely to take it very seriously and will use it as a pretext to take violent action.
"The former president and his MAGA media echo chamber will once again stoke the flames of insurrection," writes Miller. "Q-adherents will convince themselves that one of the seven seals has been revealed. Millions (tens of millions) of Republicans throughout the country will believe it. And some of them will demand action."
Miller then chastises Republican leaders for being unprepared to tell their voters the truth: Namely, that Trump lost the 2020 election.
"It sure looks as though they are dooming us all to repeat the same history we just lived through, humoring Trump's delusions and hoping that none of their supporters die in their imaginary fight for freedom this time," he concludes.
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Trump’s last attorney general willing to discuss last-minute efforts to undo election loss
June 15, 2021
Donald Trump's final attorney general Jeffrey Rosen may be willing to reveal new details about the former president's last-minute efforts to remain in office despite his election loss.
Rosen, who served the final month of Trump's presidency as acting attorney general, is in discussions with the House Oversight Committee to sit down for a transcribed interview about his communications with the ousted president, reported the Washington Post.
"Such an interview could fill in critical details," wrote Post columnist Greg Sargent. "Among the things Rosen could speak to are whether there were additional communications between Trump and Rosen — including verbal ones, as well as unreleased email communications."
"If there were more communications between them," Sargent added, "Rosen could fill in additional detail about the full scope of Trump's efforts to get the department to help overturn the election."
The committee released emails showing Trump tried to enlist both Rosen and his predecessor William Barr in efforts to use the Department of Justice to discredit Joe Biden's election win, and the former acting attorney general could be able to say how close he came to succeeding.
"Rosen might also be able to say when in the timeline he realized just how serious and deliberate Trump's efforts to overturn the election really were," Sargent wrote, "and he might be able to say more about possible additional efforts by Trump or people around him to get other department officials to scrutinize other examples of supposed election fraud."
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Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll solicit individuals for donations to fund his plan for a border wall
June 15, 2021
Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
When Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that Texas would build its own border wall, one of the immediate questions was who would pay for it.
Abbott has not fully detailed the plan yet, but he said in a podcast interview released Tuesday that the state will be soliciting donations from across the country to help fund the wall.
"When I do make the announcement later on this week, I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States — really everybody in the entire world — who wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute," Abbott said on the podcast, a show about Republican politics called "Ruthless."
Abbott made national headlines with his announcement Thursday in Del Rio that Texas would build its own wall at the Mexico border, though he provided no further details and said he would lay out the plan this week.
In the meantime, Abbott has faced threats of legal action and a bevy of questions about where, when and how such a wall could be constructed.
Abbott said in the podcast interview that the donations to Texas' border wall will go to a fund "overseen by the state of Texas in the governor's office." He promised "great transparency," saying "everyone will know every penny in, every penny out, but the sole purpose for those funds will be going to build the border wall."
Abbott's plan would not be the first attempt to crowdfund a border wall. There was We Build The Wall, a private fundraising effort that raised more than $25 million after originally planning to construct 3 miles of fence posts in South Texas. Last year, four people involved in We Build The Wall — including Steve Bannon, the former adviser to President Donald Trump — were charged with allegedly defrauding donors to the effort. Trump pardoned Bannon before leaving office in January.
A closer parallel to Abbott's plan may date to 2011, when the Arizona Legislature passed a law establishing a fund, complete with a fundraising website, to construct a fence along the state's border with Mexico. The fund received almost $270,000 by 2014, and a state border security advisory committee decided to give most of the sum to a county sheriff in 2015. The sheriff instead invested the money in border security technology such as GPS systems and binoculars, according to the Arizona Republic.
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