It Is What It Is

Editors Note: A year ago on January 6 2021, a mob attacked the US Capital. Four years prior artist Richard Kraft began issuing Donald Trump colored cards, just as a soccer referee penalizes players who transgress the rules and code of conduct. Today, we are reprinting the comunication and cards representing the days surrounding 1/6. “It Is What It Is”: All the Cards Issued to Donald Trump (Siglio Press, 2021) is a daily reckoning, a bulwark against forgetting, a durational work of art, and an epic visual and notational account of Trump’s ignominious four years in office.

Color key and correlating text spread from “It Is What It Is”.

JANUARY 3, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “During the Holiday season, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American People. His schedule includes many meetings and calls.”

Trump boasts that the “vaccines are being delivered to the states by the Federal Government far faster than they can be administered.” This is because his administration has failed to create a national plan for vaccinating the people.

He renews his complaint that the “number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of @CDCgov’s ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries … ‘When in doubt, call it Covid.’ Fake News!”

Dr. Anthony Fauci hits back at Trump’s claim: “The numbers are real. We have well over 300,000 deaths. We’re averaging two to three thousand deaths a day. All you need to do is go into the trenches, go into the hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people and real deaths.”

He says that “Republicans in Georgia must be careful of the political corruption in Fulton County, which is rampant. The Governor, @BrianKempGA, and his puppet Lt. Governor, @GeoffDuncanGA, have done less than nothing. They are a disgrace to the great people of Georgia.”

He says, “I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!”

Brad Raffensperger responds to Trump on Twitter, “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”

He quotes a report from OANN which claims, offering no evidence, “Georgia election data, just revealed, shows that over 17,000 votes illegally flipped from Trump to Biden.” He uses this to claim again, “This alone (there are many other irregularities) is enough to easily swing Georgia to Trump.”

He complains, “Somehow Dr. Fauci is revered by the LameStream Media as such a great professional, having done, they say, such an incredible job, yet he works for me and the Trump Administration, and I am in no way given any credit for my work. Gee, could this just be more Fake News?” Dr. Fauci has worked for the federal government for decades through multiple presidential administrations.

He retweets a post by a conspiracy theorist named Ron Watkins, who is excited that Trump’s senior trade advisor Peter Navarro has suggested that Mike Pence might be able to “reschedule the inauguration?” and thinks what is “More interesting is that he suggests the inauguration date of January 20 can be extended.” The U.S. Constitution says that the terms of the President and Vice President will end at noon on the 20th day of January.

He retweets numerous posts that delight in the cancellation of an inaugural parade for Biden, due to the rampant spread of the coronavirus.

He retweets a post by Mike Pompeo which says, “AMERICA FIRST.”

He retweets a post by a person named Machiavelli: “We the People Refuse To Concede To A Fraudulent Election!”

He retweets a post by his lawyer Sidney Powell attacking Republican senator Pat Toomey, who has recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect: “This ‘election’ was stolen from the voters in a massive fraud that you & others are now complicit in. American elections are supposed to be completely auditable and transparent. #WeThePeople demand the Truth & the prosecutions of all who committed voter fraud.”

He retweets a post by MyPillow CEO Mark Lindell, who will speak at a March for Trump rally in Washington, DC on January 6. Lindell is convinced that Trump “will be our President for the next 4 years!!!”

The Washington Post releases audio recordings of Trump’s hour-long, rambling, often incoherent phone call with Brad Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel Ryan Germany. Trump repeats numerous false claims of election irregularities and fraud and moves between berating, threatening, and imploring them to change the election result in the state of Georgia.

He claims again that the size of his rallies in comparison to Biden’s is evidence that he would have received more votes than Biden.

He claims he won Georgia by “half a million votes.”

He claims again, “I won this election by hundreds of thousands of votes. There’s no way I lost Georgia, there’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”

He says, “They dropped a lot of votes in there late at night, you know that Brad, and that’s what we are working on very stringently.”

Trump falsely claims again, “We have won this election in Georgia based on all of this. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad, you know.”

He continues, “The people of Georgia are angry and these numbers are going to be repeated on Monday night along with others that we’re gonna have by that time which are much more substantial even, and the people of Georgia are angry. The people in the country are angry and there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, uh, that you’ve recalculated.”

Raffensperger responds, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.”

Trump asks, “Do you think it’s possible that they, uh, shredded ballots in Fulton County? ‘Cause that’s what the rumor is and also that Dominion took out machines, uh, that Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery. Do you know anything about that? ‘Cause that’s illegal, right?”

Told by Ryan Germany that Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County, Trump counters, “No, but have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts? … Are you sure, Ryan?”

He responds to Raffensperger’s assertion that information circulating on social media is often unreliable: “Oh, this isn’t social media. This is Trump media. It’s not social media, it’s really not. It’s not social media. I don’t care about social media. I couldn’t care less. Social media is big tech, big tech is on your side, you know. I don’t even know why you have a side.”

He continues, “You should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican.” Told by Raffensperger that the election is accurate, Trump continues, “No I, no, you don’t. No, no, you don’t. You don’t have, you don’t have, not even close. You got, you’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes.”

He says, “You know what they did, and you’re not reporting it. That’s a, you know, that’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense and you know, you can’t let that happen, that’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer, that’s a big risk. But they are shredding ballots in my opinion, based on what I’ve heard, and they are removing machinery, uh, and they’re moving it as fast as they can, both of which are criminal fines and you can’t let it happen, and you are letting it happen, you know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen, so look, all I want to do is this, I just wanna find, uh, 11,780 votes which is one more than we have, because we won the state.”

He says again that Democrats “have cheated like nobody’s ever cheated before.”

He says, “We won the state and flipping the state is a great testament to our country, ‘cause you know, it’s a testament that they can admit to a mistake or whatever you want to call it, if it was a mistake. A lot of people think it wasn’t a mistake, it was much more, uh, criminal than that.”

He says, “I don’t know, look Brad, I gotta get, I have to find twelve thousand votes, and I have them times a lot and therefore I won the state.”

He continues, “So, what are we gonna do here folks? I only need eleven thousand votes, fellas, I need eleven thousand votes, give me a break, I mean we have that in spades already, or we can keep it going but that’s not fair to the voters of Georgia.”

He asks, “So, tell me, Brad, what are we gonna do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this, and it’s gonna be very costly in many ways, and I think you have to say that you’re gonna reexamine it and you can reexamine it, but reexamine it with people that wanna find answers, not people that don’t wanna find answers, uh, for instance, I’m hearing Ryan that he’s probably, I’m sure he’s a great lawyer and everything, but he’s making statements about those ballots that he doesn’t know. But he’s making them with such, he did make ‘em with surety, but now I think he’s less sure, because the answer is, they all went to Biden, and that alone wins us the election by a lot, you know, so.”

He says, “Look, ultimately I win, OK? Because you guys are so wrong and you’ve treated this, you’ve treated the population of Georgia so badly, between you and your governor, who wouldn’t have, who was down twenty-one points, he was down twenty-one points and like a schmuck I endorsed him and he got elected … the people are so angry in Georgia, I can’t imagine he’s ever getting elected again.”

He says, “Well, under law, you’re not allowed to give faulty election results, OK? You’re not allowed to do that, and that’s what you’ve done. This is a faulty election result, and honestly this should go very fast, you should meet tomorrow, because you have a big election coming up, and because of what you’ve done to the president, you know, the people of, uh, Georgia know this was a scam, and because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are gonna vote negative because they hate what you did to the president, OK? They hate it, and they’re gonna vote and you would be respected, if, really respected, if this thing could be straightened out before the election, you have a big election coming up on Tuesday.”

He falsely claims that over 5,000 ballots were cast in Georgia in the names of people who are dead. Raffensperger confirms that “the actual number was two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted.”

Trump claims again, “The Swing States did not even come close to following the dictates of their State Legislatures. These States‘ election laws’ were made up by local judges & politicians, not by their Legislatures, & are therefore, before even getting to irregularities & fraud, UNCONSTITUTIONAL!”

He says, “Sorry, but the number of votes in the Swing States that we are talking about is VERY LARGE and totally OUTCOME DETERMINATIVE! Only the Democrats and some RINO’s would dare dispute this — even though they know it is true!”

He posts a video by right-wing talk radio and Fox News host Mark Levin, who claims, “Our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are being destroyed by the Democrat party and the media. We know this.”

Levin goes on to repeat several other baseless claims of voter fraud in the election.

There have been 201,980 new coronavirus cases reported today and 1,353 deaths.

Cards from January 3-4, 2021.

JANUARY 4, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “President Trump will work from early morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings. The President will depart the White House at 6:10PM for a victory rally in Dalton, GA.”

Trump is furious with senator Tom Cotton, who has announced he will not object to certification of the election results when Congress meets on January 6: “How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG. You will see the real numbers tonight during my speech, but especially on JANUARY 6TH. @SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!”

He claims again, via a quote by senator Ted Cruz, “We’ve seen in the last few months, unprecedented amounts of Voter Fraud.”

He claims via a quote by senator Ron Johnson, one of a group of Republicans who will object to certifying the election results, “We are not acting to thwart the Democratic process, we are acting to protect it.”

Trump says, “The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective ‘guardians’ of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!”

He awards a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rep. Devin Nunes, who has been a major advocate for Trump and a staunch defender during the Mueller investigation. The press release announcing the award applauds Nunes for taking on “the media, the FBI, the Intelligence Community, the Democrat Party, foreign spies, and the full power of the Deep State.” In fact, Nunes worked to undermine the Russia investigation and spread unverified claims the Democrats had cheated in the 2016 election.

Gabriel Sterling of the Georgia secretary of state’s office gives a press conference in which he goes through Trump’s claims of electoral irregularities and demonstrates they are all without any merit. Among other things, Sterling says, “This is all easily, provably false, yet the president persists, and by so doing undermines Georgians’ faith in the election system.”

Trump holds a rally, ostensibly in support of Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, but he delivers a rambling, grievance-filled speech in which he reprises numerous false claims of election fraud, all of which have been debunked.

He begins his speech, “Hello Georgia. By the way, there’s no way we lost Georgia. That was a rigged election, but we’re still fighting it and you’ll see what’s going to happen.”

He continues, “You know, I’ve had two elections, I won both of them. It’s amazing, and I actually did much better on the second one.”

He tells people to vote for Loeffler and Perdue and complains about rigged elections: “You got to swamp ‘em because everything is so crooked around, I mean not, and not here, they were saying, he’s complaining about Georgia. No, no, I’m complaining about eight different states and I think we’re gonna win them all.”

He turns briefly back to Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue before veering off into complaining about election fraud again: “Kelly fights for me, David fights for me that I can tell you … You have to understand that the people that don’t fight for me, not for me, fighting for us, because we have a lot of corrupt things that happen.”

He says, “If the liberal Democrats take the Senate and the White House, and then I take in this White House, we’re gonna fight like hell, I’ll tell you right now … I was telling Kelly before, you can lose, and that’s acceptable. You lose, you lose, you go, and you go wherever you’re going, and you go and say, ‘maybe I’ll do it again sometime’ or ‘maybe I won’t,’ or ‘I get back to life,’ but when you win in a landslide, and they steal it, and it’s rigged, it’s not acceptable, not acceptable.”

Without fully explaining himself, he says that the media and big tech “don’t talk about it, and that is the beginning of Communism. That’s exactly what happens because I think they hate our country, and they despise Georgia values.”

He says, “There’s nothing the radical Democrats will not do to get power that they so desperately crave, even the outright stealing of elections like they’re trying to do with us, and we’re not gonna let it happen.”

He says, “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great vice president, our great vice president, comes through for us, he’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”

He claims, “Over the past few weeks we’ve demonstrated that we won the election in a landslide.”

He claims, “The fact is, we won the presidential election, we won it big.”

He insists, “The Democrats are trying to steal the White House. You cannot let them, you just can’t.”

He attacks Kemp and Raffensperger: “They say they’re Republicans. I really don’t think they are. They can’t be … I’ll be here in about a year and a half campaigning against your governor.”

He claims if Democrats take control of the Senate “the benefits and opportunities” of military families will be slashed. In fact, he just vetoed the National Defense Authorization bill which raised salaries for the military — and his veto was overruled by supermajorities in Congress.

He claims he’s “been involved in the two greatest scams in American history, the Russian hoax, and now they’re trying to steal an election from us, and we won, not by a little bit. We won in numbers like nobody’s seen before.”

He claims, if the Democrats win, “they’ll throw open borders and allow tens of millions of illegal immigrants to pour into our country from every corner of the globe. Your schools, your hospitals, and your communities will be overwhelmed.”

He claims, “Mexico is paying for the wall” and then adds, “If I were here, they would be.” He has been in office for four years, and Mexico has not paid a cent toward construction of a border wall.

He says (likely not using the pronoun he intended), “I turn our entire country into one giant sanctuary for criminal aliens, setting loose tens of thousands of dangerous offenders and putting MS-13 gang members straight into your children’s schools.”

He says he is “not happy with the Supreme Court. They are not stepping up to the plate, they’re not stepping up, how about that? … If you’re president of the United States and you get defrauded out of an election, you should be able to file a suit … the Supreme Court has let us down so far.”

He claims again, “You know, I was winning by a lot, and then all of a sudden, I was losing by just a little tiny bit, just a little, they can only go so far.”

He says that if the Democrats control the Senate, they will abolish the filibuster. He frequently begged Republicans to dispense with the filibuster earlier in his term.

He says that if the Democrats control the Senate, “America, as you know it will be over, and it will never, I believe, be able to come back again.”

He claims again that he passed “the greatest tax cuts in the history of our country.”

He claims again, “I ran two elections, I won them both, second one much more successful than the first but we can’t let this happen any longer. On election night, we were leading by so much … and then all of a sudden boom, it’s gone like magic.”

He falsely claims again that no presidential candidate has won Florida, Ohio and Iowa and lost an election, “never happened before, it’s almost impossible.”

He claims, “Since the election, we have put forth indisputable evidence documenting the rampant fraud which will be announced on Wednesday.”

He praises incoming Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has openly embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory, “I love Marjorie Taylor Greene … don’t mess with her, don’t mess with her.”

He says, “We will stop the radical indoctrination of our students and restore patriotic education to our schools.”

He launches into a lengthy list of false and disproven conspiracy theories outlining the ways he believes the election was stolen from him. To name just a few: massive numbers of dead people voting, Dominion voting machines being rigged, ballots being counted multiple times, and thousands of votes being switched from Trump to Biden.

He claims, “We won everything, and we won it now, a second time, and I don’t wanna bore you with that expression, but we won it now a second time.”

He says, “You know, an awful big difference between losing and winning, and having it stolen … we win every state and they’re gonna have this guy be president, and he can’t speak, he can’t talk … already we’ve achieved more than anybody thought possible, and we are just getting started.”

He claims, “Everybody loved my phone call” in which he tried to strong-arm Brad Raffensperger into changing the election result in Georgia.

There have been 198,181 new coronavirus cases reported today and 2,048 deaths.

Cards from January 4-5, 2021.

JANUARY 5, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “President Trump will work from early morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

Trump responds to Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who have come out in favor of congressional certification of the Electoral College vote: “How do you certify numbers that have now proven to be wrong and, in many cases, fraudulent!”

He claims, “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” In fact, Pence’s role, as president of the Senate, is ceremonial. He is there to rubber stamp the results.

He claims, “Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

He says, “I hope the Democrats, and even more importantly, the weak and ineffective RINO section of the Republican Party, are looking at the thousands of people pouring into DC. They won’t stand for a landslide election victory to be stolen.”

As returns come in for the two Senate runoff elections in Georgia, Trump continues to stoke conspiracy theories about fraud: “Looks like they are setting up a big ‘voter dump’ against the Republican candidates. Waiting to see how many votes they need?”

There have been 238,999 new coronavirus cases reported today and 3,664 deaths.

Cards from January 5-6, 2021.

JANUARY 6, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “President Trump will work from early morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings. The President will depart for the Ellipse at 10:50AM to deliver remarks at a Save America Rally.”

As the votes in Georgia continue to be counted and show an advantage for the two Democrats, Trump falsely claims, “Just happened to have found another 4000 ballots from Fulton County. Here we go!”

He retweets several posts which perpetrate conspiracy theories about the Georgia election. Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren says, “The steal is in the making in Georgia. Wait for it … Democrats scrounging up votes from mystical places again.”

He retweets a post by OANN host Christina Bobb: “Pennsylvania is going to Trump. The legislators have spoken.”

He continues to apply pressure to Mike Pence: “If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in process. NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back.” Pence has no power to reject electoral votes.

Later he claims, “States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

He responds to what appears to be two Democratic victories in Georgia — and thus Democratic control of the Senate: “THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, OUR COUNTRY, NEEDS THE PRESIDENCY MORE THAN EVER BEFORE — THE POWER OF THE VETO. STAY STRONG!”

He claims, “They just happened to find 50,000 ballots late last night. The USA is embarrassed by fools. Our Election Process is worse than that of third world countries!”

He says, “The States want to redo their votes. They found out they voted on a FRAUD. Legislatures never approved. Let them do it. BE STRONG!”

He claims the vote count in the Georgia Senate race between David Perdue and Jon Ossoff is being dishonestly manipulated by Democrats: “They’ve got as many ballots as are necessary. Rigged Election!”

Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling, who is a Republican, gives a press conference and says that Trump’s claims are “incorrect and undermine people’s faith in the election process.” He continues to praise the “hard work that was done” by Democrats to get out the vote: “while Republicans were attacking the governor and my boss, the Democrats were out there knocking on doors and getting people to turn out to vote.”

Trump addresses a rally of his supporters who have come to Washington, DC to protest congressional certification of the presidential election results. He rambles incoherently, makes numerous false claims about the election, and incites his supporters.

Prior to Trump’s address, and under his approving gaze, Rudy Giuliani told the crowd they needed to engage in “trial by combat.” Donald Trump Jr. said to Republicans who did not support overturning the election result, “We’re coming for you.” Rep. Mo Brooks said, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”

He says, “These people are not going to take it any longer … It would be really great if we could be covered fairly by the media, the media is the biggest problem we have as far as I’m concerned, single biggest problem.”

He says, “All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened, radical left Democrats, which is what they’re doing, and stolen by the fake news media, that’s what they’ve done, and what they’re doing. We will never give up, we will never concede, it doesn’t happen, you don’t concede when there’s theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you really came up with, we will stop the steal.”

He claims again, “We won this election, and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election.”

He says, “You can take third world countries, just take a look, take third world countries, their elections are more honest than what we’ve been going through in this country. It’s a disgrace, it’s a disgrace.”

He pressures Mike Pence again, “I hope Mike is gonna do the right thing. I hope so, I hope so, because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do, all that, this is from the number one or certainly one of the top constitutional lawyers in our country, he has the absolute right to do it. We’re supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution, and protect our Constitution. States want to revoke. The states got defrauded. They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they wanna recertify, they want it back. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people.”

He says, “I wanna go back eight weeks, let’s go back eight weeks, we wanna go back, and we wanna get this right because we’re gonna have somebody in there that should not be in there, and our country will be destroyed and we’re not gonna stand for that.”

He attacks Republicans who won’t support his attempt to overturn the election: “They’re weak Republicans, they’re pathetic Republicans, and that’s what happens … Unbelievable, what we have to go through … If they don’t fight, we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don’t fight. You primary ‘em, we’re gonna, we’re gonna let you know who they are, I could already tell you, frankly.”

He says, “Using the pretext of the China virus and the scam of mail-in ballots, Democrats attempted the most brazen and outrageous election theft. There’s never been anything like this. It’s a pure theft in American history, everybody knows it.”

He claims again, “That election, our election was over at ten o’clock in the evening. We’re leading Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, by hundreds of thousands of votes, and then late in the evening or early in the morning, boom, these explosions of bullshit and all of a sudden, all of a sudden it stared to happen.”

He mocks senator Mitt Romney, who was harassed by Trump supporters who hurled insults and threats at Romney as he traveled to Washington, DC on January 5: “I wonder if he enjoyed his flight in last night.”

He suggests that Romney may have been cheated in his election loss to President Obama in 2012, mocks Romney for conceding, and says, “But we look at the facts, and our election was so corrupt, and in the history of our country, we’ve never seen anything like it.”

He asks, “You know what the world says about us now? They said we don’t have free and fair elections and you know what else? We don’t have a free and fair press. Our media is not free. It suppresses thought. It suppresses speech, and it’s become the enemy of the people. It’s the biggest problem we have in this country.”

He falsely claims the Georgia runoff election was “rigged” against the two Republican candidates.

He says again, “Mike Pence is gonna have to come through for us, and if he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country because you’re sworn to uphold our Constitution.”

He continues, “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated.”

He says, the “single most unhappy person in the United States is Hillary Clinton because she said, ‘Why didn’t you do this for me four years ago?’ … Change the votes, ten thousand in Michigan. You could’ve changed the whole thing.”

He berates those who seem to have abandoned him: “All of a sudden, Bill Barr changed, if you hadn’t noticed … I like Bill Barr, but he changed because he didn’t want to be considered my personal attorney … and the Supreme Court, they rule against me so much … the only way they get out is to rule against Trump, so let’s rule against Trump, and they do that, so I wanna congratulate them.”

He claims Biden “lost all of these states” and will therefore be “an illegitimate president.”

He complains about his “totally correct” tweets being flagged by Twitter and argues that Section 230 is going “to be the end of the Republican party as we know it, but it’s never going to be the end of us.”

He returns to pressuring Mike Pence, “Mike Pence, I hope you’re gonna stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you’re not, I’m gonna be very disappointed in you, I’ll tell you that right now. I’m not hearing good stories.” Before presiding over a joint session of Congress, Pence releases a statement saying he will abide by the Constitution and not attempt to overturn the election.

He stokes fear of immigrants: “The caravans are forming again. They wanna come in again and rip off our country.”

He ends, “We’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol, and we’re going to try and give, the Democrats are hopeless, they never voted for anything, not even one vote, we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So, let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Shortly after Trump’s speech, his supporters, some of them armed, storm the U.S. Capitol. Trump is not with them. The joint session of Congress, which is intended to certify the election results, is halted, the complex evacuated. First reports confirm that at least one person is shot dead, and there are multiple injuries.

Senator Mitt Romney, one of the only Republicans to consistently question Trump, says, “This is what the president has caused today, this insurrection.”

While his supporters invade the U.S. Capitol, Trump attacks Mike Pence, who, he says, “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth.”

He releases a weak statement “asking everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, We are the Party of Law & Order.”

An hour later, after Biden appears on national television and challenges Trump to “fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Trump posts a one-minute video on Twitter. He says, “I know your pain, I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election. Everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace … It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this, where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election but we can’t play into the hands of these people, we have to have peace. So, go home. We love you, you’re very special, we’ve seen what happens, and you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home.”

He follows the video with a tweet: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

Twitter removes the video and the above tweet, suspends Trump’s account and demands that he remove three tweets they deem an incitement to violence. His account is locked for twelve hours.

Two aides to senator Jeff Merkley have the presence of mind to remove the wooden boxes containing the electoral votes from the chamber before the mob entered.

Sarah Mathews leaves her post as deputy press secretary, effective immediately.

Rickie Niceta resigns from her post as White House social secretary.

Stephanie Grisham resigns from her post as chief of staff to Melania Trump. Grisham has worked for the Trump campaign since 2016.

John Costello, deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, resigns from his position.

There have been 255,728 new coronavirus cases reported today and 3,964 deaths.

JANUARY 7, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “President Trump will work from early morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

Moments after Congress affirms that Joe Biden will be the next president, Trump releases a statement through Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media, because his own Twitter account has been suspended: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

Tyler Goodspeed resigns from his post as acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Matt Pottinger resigns from his post as deputy national security adviser.

Mick Mulvaney resigns from his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland. Mulvaney was formerly White House chief of staff and a long-time, enthusiastic Trump supporter.

Jerome Marcus, a Trump campaign lawyer, withdraws his services and now says that his services had been used to “perpetrate a crime.”

Elaine Chao resigns from her cabinet post as secretary of Transportation. Chao also posts a statement in which she says the invasion of the Capitol is an event she “simply cannot set aside.”

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany gives a two-minute statement to the press and takes no questions. She says, “Those who violently besieged our Capitol are the opposite of everything this administration stands for … Now it is time for America to unite, to come together to reject the violence that we have seen.”

The death toll resulting from the invasion of the Capitol is now four people: one woman was shot and the others died from medical emergencies during the siege. At least fourteen police officers were injured, one of them seriously.

Over twenty-four hours after the invasion of the Capitol, Trump posts a video in which he claims to abhor the violent actions of his supporters. He begins by refusing any responsibility for inciting the mob, “Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem.”

He falsely claims, “I immediately deployed the National Guard … to secure the building and expel the intruders.” Multiple news reports have said that Mike Pence was the person who eventually deployed the National Guard and Larry Hogan, the governor of Maryland, has said that he was waiting for authorization (at the federal level) that did not come until ninety minutes after congressional leaders had called, pleading for the Guard to be deployed.

Despite his relentless attempts to incite his supporters, he now says, “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy.”

He continues, “We have just been through an intense election and emotions are high, but now tempers must be cooled and calm restored.”

He claims, “My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy.”

He says, “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. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”

He says, “Defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together. It will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community, and family. We must revitalize the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that bind us together as one national family.”

He ends, “To all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.”

Gabriel Noronha, a Trump appointee who has worked on Iran issues at the State Department, is fired from his position after tweeting that Trump is “entirely unfit to remain in office.”

Betsy DeVos resigns from her post as secretary of Education. DeVos claims the events on Capitol Hill were an “inflection point.”

Gregg Popovich, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, releases a statement in response to the invasion of the Capitol. Among other things, he identifies the difference between the response to the January 6th invasion of the Capitol and the BLM protests in 2020: “There can’t be a better obvious example of a system that is not fair as far as justice and equal rights are concerned and protection of citizens. It was right in your face … That doesn’t happen unless there is a wink and a nod somewhere. That just doesn’t happen. It’s never happened at any protest that anybody has ever been to … While that was going on, 4,000 of our citizens died due to the pandemic yesterday. We still have the cyber attack that was way worse than Pearl Harbor that hasn’t been talked about by him. He doesn’t care. He loved those people hitting the Capitol because that’s what he cares about … I hope Nancy Pelosi follows through because even if it doesn’t work, that’s not the point.”

Today there are 280,292 new coronavirus cases and 4,112 deaths.

Cards from January 6-8, 2021.

JANUARY 8, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “President Trump will work from early morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

Trump says, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

He announces, “I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” He will be the first president not to attend the inauguration of his successor since 1869 and only the fourth in U.S. history. The last was Andrew Johnson, who was also impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate. The other two were John Adams in 1801 and John Quincy Adams in 1829.

Hope Hicks announces that she will leave her post as an advisor at the White House.

As Democrats in the House prepare articles of impeachment, the White House releases a statement, “As President Trump said yesterday, this is a time for healing and unity as one Nation. A politically motivated impeachment against a President with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country.”

Rob Greenway leaves his post as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the National Security Council’s Middle Eastern and North African Affairs Directorate.

Anthony Ruggiero resigns from his position as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and National Security Council Senior Director for Counterproliferation and Biodefense.

Ryan Tully resigns from his position as Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs at the National Security Council.

Mark Vandroff resigns from his position as Senior Director for Defense Policy at the National Security Council.

Erin Walsh resigns from her position as Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council.

Twitter permanently suspends Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Trump now uses the @POTUS Twitter account: “As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me. Twitter may be a private company, but without the government’s gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long. I predicted this would happen. We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED! Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH. They are about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely … STAY TUNED!”

Twitter blocks the @POTUS account almost immediately after the above was posted.

Several other platforms have also banned Trump and Trump-related activities; Reddit, Shopify, YouTube, Snapchat, Tiktok, Discord, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram have suspended Trump’s accounts until after he leaves office.

There have been 300,594 new coronavirus cases reported today and 3,895 deaths.

JANUARY 9, 2021
Trump’s official schedule is posted as follows, “President Trump will work from early morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House pushed the U.S. Attorney for Georgia to resign before the January 5 runoff elections because Trump felt he wasn’t doing enough to investigate allegations of voter fraud.

At least four people, including the shooter, are killed, and another four wounded in a mass shooting in Chicago. One of the victims is a 15-year-old girl who was shot in the head. Trump takes no action and makes no statement.

There have been 252,056 new coronavirus cases reported today and 3,261 deaths.