2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[Dave_LF]

Kyle Cheney of Politico notes that the Proud Boy leaders on trial upstairs were probably closer to Pence today than they managed to get on 1/6.

[RoseMorninStar]

I bet they didn't allow them to bring bear spray, baseball bats, stun guns, flag poles, and tactical gear into the courthouse.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

From the Proud Boys trial.



From what I have seen, it has been mostly the defense attorneys interrupting the prosecutors (and sometimes each other), so it is unfortunate that Judge Kelly is lumping all the attorneys together.

[N.E. Brigand]

A Navy contractor (and former Naval Reserve petty officer) named Hatchet Speed, who was a member of the Proud Boys, was convicted in a bench trial in early March on five counts, including obstructing Congress, for his actions on January 6, 2021. A year after the insurrection, Speed had explicitly told an undercover FBI agent that he went into the Capitol and "took control" after hearing that Vice President Pence wasn't going to stop the Electoral Vote count because, Speed said, "I have no respect for people in this building."

Speed has already been convicted in January in a federal court in Virginia for an unrelated weapons charge. Last month, he received a three-year sentence for that.

Next week Speed will be sentenced for the obstruction counts. The Dept. of Justice is requesting that he be sentenced to four years, bringing his total to seven. Their sentencing memo notes that Speed "became enamored with Hitler and apparently developed a world view where he and other Proud Boys were modern-day Nazis fighting to save white Christians from multiple 'enemies.'" They offer multiple examples of Speed holding up Hitler's Brownshirts as a positive example of what the Proud Boys should be.

As a reservist and contractor, Speed held Top Secret clearance.

[RoseMorninStar]

I don't know how people such as this can twist their minds so (and use religion to do it to boot). It's such a paradox (irony?) that these people would use 'unchristian' (very un-Jesus-like) means to procure their evil ends. It just this type of thing that has so soured me on all religion. Sickening.

[N.E. Brigand]

NBC reports on the arrest of a former FBI agent:

The FBI this week arrested a former bureau supervisor in connection with the Jan. 6 riot who they said called for killing officers protecting the Capitol that day.

Authorities arrested Jared L. Wise in Oregon on Monday, court records show. An FBI affidavit says he worked as a special agent and supervisory special agent at the FBI from 2004 until 2017.

It wasn't immediately clear what his employment status was at the time of the riot.

Wise was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct with an intent to impede an orderly session of Congress; and unlawfully parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

"I'm former—I'm former law enforcement. You're disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can't see it. . . . Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!" federal authorities say he told officers before he entered the Capitol building. "Yeah, f--- them! Yeah, kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!"

Also this week, the FBI arrested a Florida resident, Daniel Ball, for "setting off an explosion inside the west terrace tunnel during the Capitol attack." Four police officers were injured. The FBI wasn't able to learn as much about the explosion as they would have liked because the Capitol was cleaned up too quickly for the proper collection of evidence.

[N.E. Brigand]

Rolling Stone reports that "Fox Has a Secret ‘Oppo File’ to Keep Tucker Carlson in Check, Sources Say" -- and that would be eight sources.

The New York Times has more on this story tonight:

The day before Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation trial against Fox News was set to begin in a Delaware courthouse, the Fox board of directors and top executives made a startling discovery that helped lead to the breaking point between the network and Tucker Carlson, one of its top stars.

Private messages sent by Mr. Carlson that had been redacted in legal filings showed him making highly offensive and crude remarks that went beyond the inflammatory, often racist comments of his prime-time show and anything disclosed in the lead-up to the trial.

Despite the fact that Fox’s trial lawyers had these messages for months, the board and some senior executives were now learning about their details for the first time, setting off a crisis at the highest level of the company, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The Times hasn't seen the actual messages. As MSNBC's Chris Hayes says, the alleged oppo file is "like the Pulp Fiction suitcase, but for slurs."

Whatever is in this file, it's apparently worse than the emails and texts hat already have been released publicly, in one of which, as you may recall, Carlson "referred to the lawyer Sidney Powell, a major proponent of the debunked theory that the Dominion machines switched votes, with a crude and misogynistic slur." Per this Times story, the Wall Street Journal today reported that in the redacted messages, Carlson said something similar "to describe a senior Fox News executive." Yet another redacted message is said to be "particularly offensive." We might yet see it: "The New York Times, The Associated Press and National Public Radio have challenged the redactions, meaning they could still become public."

Edited to note David Frum's skeptical view of this story.

There's a new story at the New York Times with these headlines: "Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’ The discovery of the text message contributed to a chain of events that ultimately led to Tucker Carlson’s firing." And here's the text of that text, which Tucker Carlson sent to a producer on Jan. 7, 2021 and which was included in the discovery that Dominion obtained from Fox:

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington. A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it. Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be. The Antifa creep is a human being. Much as I despise what he says and does, much as I’m sure I’d hate him personally if I knew him, I shouldn’t gloat over his suffering. I should be bothered by it. I should remember that somewhere somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed. If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?

I don't know what to make of this. Were Fox executives more upset at the inflammatory racist line quoted in the Times headline or by the modest bit of sympathy Carlson expresses for an "Antifa kid" at the end? I feel like we keep getting fed Carlson news a little bit at a time. Maybe one of these pieces really is what pushed Fox to fire their biggest star. Maybe it was all the bits put together. But it feels almost as if each item has been leaked with the hope that the public and the media will finally be satisfied that the news truly is that bad, and no one will dig down to the real cause.

[N.E. Brigand]

I missed the Vanity Fair story last week which offered yet another explanation: "Tucker Carlson’s Prayer Talk May Have Led to Fox News Ouster: 'That Stuff Freaks Rupert Out.'" That refers to the speech Carlson gave at a gala celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Heritage Foundation on Friday April 21 (he was fired on the morning of Monday April 24).

Although I now realize I did hear something about that story:

Rupert Murdoch was perhaps unnerved by Carlson’s messianism because it echoed the end-times worldview of Murdoch’s ex-fiancée Ann Lesley Smith, the source said. In my May cover story, I reported that Murdoch and Smith called off their two-week engagement because Smith had told people Carlson was “a messenger from God.” Murdoch had seen Carlson and Smith discuss religion firsthand. In late March, Carlson had dinner at Murdoch’s Bel Air vineyard with Murdoch and Smith, according to the source. During dinner, Smith pulled out a bible and started reading passages from the Book of Exodus, the source said. “Rupert just sat there and stared,” the source said. A few days after the dinner, Murdoch and Smith called off the wedding. By taking Carlson off the air, Murdoch was also taking away his ex’s favorite show.

[N.E. Brigand]

Also, as Tom Nichols notes, here's a Fox News host publicly making a racist statement today:



So how were Fox executives shocked, shocked by what Carlson texted?

[RoseMorninStar]

There's a new story at the New York Times with these headlines: "Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’ The discovery of the text message contributed to a chain of events that ultimately led to Tucker Carlson’s firing." And here's the text of that text, which Tucker Carlson sent to a producer on Jan. 7, 2021 and which was included in the discovery that Dominion obtained from Fox:

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington. A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. *Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it. Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be. The Antifa creep is a human being. Much as I despise what he says and does, much as I’m sure I’d hate him personally if I knew him, I shouldn’t gloat over his suffering. I should be bothered by it. I should remember that somewhere somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed. If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?

I don't know what to make of this. Were Fox executives more upset at the inflammatory racist line quoted in the Times headline or by the modest bit of sympathy Carlson expresses for an "Antifa kid" at the end? I feel like we keep getting fed Carlson news a little bit at a time. Maybe one of these pieces really is what pushed Fox to fire their biggest star. Maybe it was all the bits put together. But it feels almost as if each item has been leaked with the hope that the public and the media will finally be satisfied that the news truly is that bad, and no one will dig down to the real cause.

*Bolding mine. Oh, I'd guess FOX doesn't want their audience to hear this. It's exactly what they've been grooming them for, they don't want them to 'care about those things' or to think of such people as human or to have second thoughts about their hatred. Case in point, the clip you posted of Jesse Watters. It's OK because 'those' people aren't really humans.

[Dave_LF]

I don't know what to make of this. Were Fox executives more upset at the inflammatory racist line quoted in the Times headline or by the modest bit of sympathy Carlson expresses for an "Antifa kid" at the end? I feel like we keep getting fed Carlson news a little bit at a time. Maybe one of these pieces really is what pushed Fox to fire their biggest star. Maybe it was all the bits put together. But it feels almost as if each item has been leaked with the hope that the public and the media will finally be satisfied that the news truly is that bad, and no one will dig down to the real cause.

It all reeks of post-hoc rationalization for the shareholders. It's possible he did something so awful that even Fox was afraid of the liability (cough Russian agent cough), but probably the most parsimonious explanation is that it was personal.

[RoseMorninStar]

It all reeks of post-hoc rationalization for the shareholders. It's possible he did something so awful that even Fox was afraid of the liability (cough Russian agent cough), but probably the most parsimonious explanation is that it was personal.

Would that matter to FOX/Murdoch's (if lucrative, a Russian alliance) ? I can't see it being the racist stuff they seem to be OK with that. I think it was the weird messianic stuff.

[Dave_LF]

Back on the Proud Boys trial, is it a good or a bad sign when the jury foreperson is, shall we say, a stickler for detail?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I think it is a good sign, but of course we have no real idea what is going on inside the deliberation room, and the longer it goes, the more likely it is that they will deadlock on at least some of the counts.

[N.E. Brigand]

Apparently some Congressional Republicans believe (and would like the FBI to confirm) there is evidence that Donald Trump's Attorney General, William Barr, blocked an investigation into Joe Biden that might have helped Donald Trump win that year's election. How else to explain their claim that in June 2020, the Dept. of Justice was in possession of but didn't act on a whistleblower complaint that the "then Vice President"* made policy decisions in exchange for payment from a foreign country?

*I assume this phrasing means that the alleged activity happened before 2017 but wasn't reported until 2020.

[N.E. Brigand]

Various outlets reported today that Special Counsel Jack Smith was in the grand jury room during former Vice President Mike Pence's testimony last week.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would have been surprised if he had not been.

[N.E. Brigand]

NBC reports on the arrest of a former FBI agent:

The FBI this week arrested a former bureau supervisor in connection with the Jan. 6 riot who they said called for killing officers protecting the Capitol that day.

Authorities arrested Jared L. Wise in Oregon on Monday, court records show. An FBI affidavit says he worked as a special agent and supervisory special agent at the FBI from 2004 until 2017.

It wasn't immediately clear what his employment status was at the time of the riot.

Wise was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct with an intent to impede an orderly session of Congress; and unlawfully parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

"I'm former—I'm former law enforcement. You're disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can't see it. . . . Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!" federal authorities say he told officers before he entered the Capitol building. "Yeah, f--- them! Yeah, kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em! Kill 'em!"

Jared Wise was in the FBI's counterterrorism office in New York, leaving in 2017 to join the conservative pseudo-media outlet Project Veritas where he worked with Trump ally Erik Prince to train personnel in counter-intelligence techniques for the company's sting operations. Project Veritas's secret operations included "female undercover operatives arrang[ing] dates with the F.B.I. employees with the aim of secretly recording them making disparaging comments about Mr. Trump."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I didn't know that. Very interesting.

[Dave_LF]

It all reeks of post-hoc rationalization for the shareholders. It's possible he did something so awful that even Fox was afraid of the liability (cough Russian agent cough), but probably the most parsimonious explanation is that it was personal.

I saw an argument from a political scientist/attorney yesterday saying it could be that Smith is pursuing a RICO case in connection with 1/6. If that's true and Carlson was involved in the conspiracy and Fox knew and let him keep broadcasting, that could make the network vulnerable to racketeering charges and asset divestiture. I'm not sure I got that right and couldn't say whether the argument has merit even if I did, but if it does, it's exactly the sort of thing I had in mind when I said "something so awful that even Fox was afraid of the liability."