Heather Cox Richardson - Letters from an American Aug 2023

I listened last night and was hoping there would be a written transcript. I appreciate that she called the Republican Party rotten from the inside out and talked about how non punishment of Nixon and the Confederate leaders contributed to this rot.

This part about the plan to use the Insurrection Act to enforce martial law is really alarming.

Observers today called out the part of the indictment that describes how Trump and Co-Conspirator 4, who appears to be Jeffrey Clark, the man Trump wanted to make attorney general, intended to use the military to quell any protests against Trump’s overturning of the election results. When warned that staying in power would lead to “riots in every major city in the United States,” Co-Conspirator 4 replied, “Well…that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”

The Insurrection Act of 1807 permits the president to use the military to enforce domestic laws, invoking martial law. Trump’s allies urged him to do just that to stay in power. Fears that Trump might do such a thing were strong enough that on January 3, 2021, all 10 living former defense secretaries signed a Washington Post op-ed warning that “[e]fforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”

They put their colleagues on notice: “Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.” Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo recalled today that military leaders told Congress they were reluctant to respond to the violence at the Capitol out of concern about how Trump might use the military under the Insurrection Act.

Political pollster Tom Bonier wrote: “I understand Trump fatigue, but it feels like the president and his advisors preparing to use the military to quash protests against his planned coup should be bigger news. Especially when that same guy is in the midst of a somewhat credible comeback effort.”

I’m glad she mentioned the re-election of the Tennessee state legislators. With the indictments taking up most of the news coverage, I think this important election was overlooked. And I’m happy that the Republican attempt to silence them backfired. The Republicans handed them a national platform.

So relieved Ohio voted down the amendment to make it harder to pass ballot measures. That was sneaky and underhanded of the Republicans.

The judge’s opinion on the abortion pill case is really messed up.