Finally Trump came out of hiding and gave a short speech accepting what he should have done immediately after the election, acknowledging that a new administration would be taking office on January 20th.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction: you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law: you will pay.
…Now, Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.
Notably, after egging on his cult members to storm the Capitol, he is now throwing them under the bus because he realizes that things got way out of control. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Trump’s life and knows that he views everyone as expendable, valued only to the extent that they are useful to him. But I suspect that some in his cult will still find a way to not accept that they have been betrayed by their Dear Leader and think that he really does care about them.
This promise of a smooth transition may be an effort to head off further resignations (though education secretary Betsy DeVos resigned after he gave that speech) and, more importantly, stall efforts to have him forcibly removed from office, either by impeachment or via the 25th Amendment.
Of course, no Trump speech, however short, would be complete without falsehoods.
“I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. I immediately deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders.”
It has been reported that it was Mike Pence, not Trump, who deployed the National Guard, while Trump resisted the measure.
Vice President Mike Pence, not President Donald Trump, helped facilitate the decision to mobilize members of the DC National Guard Wednesday when violence at the US Capitol building started to escalate, according to a source familiar with the move and public comments from top officials.
Trump, who has proven over the past year to be eager to deploy the National Guard when violence breaks out, initially resisted doing so on Capitol Hill Wednesday as a mob of his supporters breached the building, per a source familiar. Pence played a key role in coordinating with the Pentagon about deploying them, and urged them to move faster than they were.
The news raises questions about who was acting as commander in chief on one of America’s darkest days, which saw the country’s legislature overrun for the first time since the British attacked and burned the building in August 1814.
Yesterday we saw, as we have seen so many times before when something disgraceful happens in the US, many people making the claim that ‘this is not who we are’ and that the whole world looks to America as ‘the beacon of democracy’ and the ‘shining light on the hill’ that other countries admire and seek to emulate.
It is time to retire this reflexive and incessant self-aggrandizement.
Matt G says
Is this the first non-lie of his presidency?
TGAP Dad says
If you think he’s throwing his supporters under the bus, I’ve got some prime swampland to sell you. That monotonous droning delivery is his tell that he’s only saying what he has to in order to cling to some tenuous thread of dignity. There’s also video of him and the inner circle safely sheltered, watching the events live on multiple video screens. The video was by DJTJ who was clearly giddy, along with his unhinged GF Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was dancing to the song Gloria.
He (Tiny Hands) also said he would march with them down Pennsylvania Avenue, only to renege on that promise like countless others before. His bone spurs must’ve been acting up.
The other thing is that his adoring band of knuckle draggers are absolutely giddy over what they see as a huge success. If any one thinks they will reflect on what they’ve done and have a sudden onset of conscience, well, more swampland for sale. They are now even more emboldened and empowered, and will be taking every opportunity to up the stakes. In light of that, consider that Biden is scheduled to take the oath of office in that very same place in less than two weeks. Is there any hope they’ll be prepared to hold back an even more devoted mob?
I’ve gotten unsettling insights into the psyche of these troglodytes after reconnecting with some old HS acquaintances on FB, and through marrying the one sane member of my wife’s family. Turns out my old hometown is a cesspool of Trumpist fascism, and my six brothers in law drink from that same Kool-Aid fountain.
Owlmirror says
The probability that Trump wrote any of that is close to zero. I’m guessing someone sat him down and explained the applicable insurrection laws, and he agreed to walk it all back.
Will it make a difference to his base? Will they see this a betrayal of his call to action, or will they turn to each other, nod grimly, and mutter conspiracist slogans?
“Deep state.” “Yup. The deep state is making him say that.”.
Or maybe: “No, it’s five dimensional chess. He’s just playing along until he can get all of the pedophile ring evidence together, and issue the Supreme Court arrest warrants for Biden, Obama, and the Clintons.”. Etc.
Marcus Ranum says
All cretins are liars.
anat says
Interesting bit from Kellyanne Conway: See here:
From there:
… so it is all our fault for not voting Trump. Nice country there, wouldn’t it be a shame if something happened to it…
Of course if he had won then in a few years he’d be raising the same level of ‘churn’ over not being able to run again.
Steve Cameron says
I saw a tweet making the rounds yesterday reminding everyone that Trump signed an executive order this past summer that anyone convicted of desecrating federal property gets an automatic 10 years in prison. I wonder if that will come back to haunt some of his supporters.
anat says
Oh, Trump announced he won’t be attending Biden’s inauguration. I think this increases the risk of another insurrection.
StonedRanger says
That was not a concession speech. He never once said bidens name or admitted that he lost. He did not congratulate the new president. He just tried to cover his tracks and make it seem like he was doing the right thing all along when he told us all five years ago he would not accept a loss and peacefully transition. He would let us know when the time came. Well, he let us know all right. This traitor should hang like all the rest of those who attacked the capitol. The shame of this country is at a never before seen level. They will let him go without doing anything to him for his responsibility about any of this.
Allison says
Marcus Ranum @4:says
Can we please not libel the mentally handicapped?
I don’t know what this gratuitous slap is supposed to contribute to the conversation, anyway. For this to apply to Trump and/or his posse, you’d have to take it as a given that they are all congenitally mentally handicapped, which AFAIK is not true. The fact that these people are (mostly) self-deluded, lying assholes is no indicator that they are neurologically impaired. (Probably the opposite — people with serious impairment don’t have the ability to pull stuff like this off.)
In fact, IM-not-at-all-HO, the presumption that it is seems to me to be more a way of pretending that being on the “right side” proves we can’t be self-deluded, lying assholes.
mnb0 says
Shrug. Donald the Clown was always bound to fail -- too old and also incompetent. What he acknowledges or not is totally irrelevant.
What to do to prevent that next time an young charismatic authoritarian who might succeed isn’t discussed, certainly not by American pseudo-progressives. They are too busy to defend a rotten and corrupt political system to even think about the fundamental change that’s needed.
Intransitive says
Have you seen video of the “watch party”, the entire cabal standing around, smiling and partying as it happened? With ET filming a selfie and smiling, Branigan’s “Gloria” playing in the background? The coup failed, now they’re trying to pretend they’re not involved, just like the generals saying “we don’t know where they learnt that” after Abu Ghraib leaked.
It was like DC Stephenson inciting his white trash stooges to burn a Black church and lynch people, then claim not to be involved as he watched.
Trust Chicken Noodle News to be ignorant of or rewriting history.
Rob Grigjanis says
Intransitive @11: As Crip Dyke pointed out here, the “watch party” was during the rally before the assault on the Capitol, and before Trump incited the mob.
John Morales says
Allison @9: Marcus is punning off the Epimenides paradox.
pwdm says
Allison, Marcus Ranum’s comment was not an insult to the mentally handicapped. Rather it was a clever reference to the ancient logical/philosphical discussion stemming from the Cretin who claimed that all Cretins are liars. Relevean of course because Trump continuously lies.
Rob Grigjanis says
pwdm @14: That’s Cretans (people from Crete), not Cretins. ‘cretin’ is a term which has come to mean ‘stupid person’, but which originally meant someone who suffers from congenital iodine deficiency syndrome.
Pierce R. Butler says
Rob Grigjanis @ # 15: ‘cretin’ … originally meant someone who suffers from congenital iodine deficiency syndrome.
Not exactly. As the Terminology section at your link describes, “cretin” derives from “Christien” (“chretien” in French), and seems to have served as a euphemism for those with aforesaid syndrome and/or other seriously disabling conditions.
Owlmirror says
. . . and as we can see now, it’s both.