The Trump Plan

Trump had a plan. It was an ill-conceived, impractical plan doomed to fail, but such a thing had never stopped Trump or his campaign before. We know the plan due to a stroke of signature incompetence from Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, Esq. who divulged the plan unwittingly by dialing the wrong number for a Senator. The plan was to delay the vote on accepting the Electoral College votes. With more time, the Trump campaign could lobby more Congress members on the idea of a 10-day audit. With ten more days, who knows? Anything could happen, especially with a president willing to do…anything.

Parts of the plan were coming together splendidly. A call had gone out to the teeming masses of Trump supporters on Twitter, on Parler, on Facebook, on 4chan, on the Three-percent-er sites, on White Rabbit Radio, The Foundry, the Colorado United Patriot sites, et.al. The call wanted people to come to Washington, DC on January 6th. On December 19th, Trump Tweeted, "Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" They came by the thousands. They came armed and in tactical gear. Some came dressed just plain tacky.

"WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!" — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020

Some of the plan was not coming together so readily. Mitch McConnell was blowing cool and grimacing at wayward Senators willing to side with the president. Mike Pence wrote a letter to Congress that read, in part, “...my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”

Trump told his crowd, “All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to re-certify and we become president and you are the happiest people!” But Pence’s involvement was not mission critical. As Rep. Gosar rose with the sebaceous Ted Cruz at his side during the joint session of Congress Wednesday, all that was needed was for the Vice President to intone the very words the parliamentarian furnished him to say that would cause the State of Arizona’s objection to be taken up separately by each chamber of Congress. Each individual state’s objection would then call for up to two hours of debate prior to a vote allowing the counted electoral votes to be accepted driving the procedure late into the night. Meanwhile, the voices of “Trump’s Army” could be heard while more arms were twisted behind the scenes by Giuliani’s frantic lobbying effort.

In order for the voices to be heard, however, there was an obstacle. The Capitol has long since in its history found means of drowning out the mewling voices of the piteous herd while it decides the matters of state. Each chamber is far enough away from the exterior to be well acoustically cushioned from the cries of the oppressed. The grounds of the Capitol are expansive and no one may set foot on the steps of the building without a formal invite from a member of Congress or a similarly recognized government official. Tour groups must be vetted weeks in advance. Members debate in this inner sanctum quite comfortably removed from the aggrieved mobs who routinely come to redress grievances on the National Mall well out of earshot unless they happen to be major donors. It is the way Washington works.

How would Trump’s Army be heard as the objections from a handful of states were considered? What if the perimeter around the Capitol was soft in places? What if a few side doors were manned by a handful of Capitol Police officers sympathetic to the cause. Then it might be possible to have the voices of the dissolute who feel their votes were stolen from them cry out within earshot of the Members of Congress casually debating the final outcome of the Election of 2020. After all, it is their House. They pay their salaries, don’t they?

The New York Times reported: “President Trump initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize the National Guard, according to a person with knowledge of the events. It required intervention from the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, among other officials, the person familiar with the events said.”

The elements of a crime consist of a criminal act, a criminal intent, and the concurrence of the two. In this case, the president was, with clearly stated intent, attempting to have certified electoral votes thrown out. He was using the coercive force of his legions of followers to obstruct and delay Congress receiving the votes. Thousands of Proud Boys and Trump supporters had met in the capital December 12th resulting in a number of arrests, four stabbings, charges of police assault and several skirmishes between violent protesters and counter-protesters. There was no plausible means for the president to think that the crowd on January 6th was going to be any more civil than the one from less than a month prior. His words encouraging them to believe that the election was “rigged” and stolen from them did nothing but further ramp up the hostility. His intent was to coercively intimidate members of Congress in order to gain a 10-day window of reprieve to presumably continue his efforts to nullify an election. His plan failed spectacularly, but it was still a plan. It was also a criminal exercise.