Almost Normal Country Certifies Routine Presidential Election - The Tuesday AM Quickie 1/7/25

By Jacob Silverman — Jan 7, 2025

The Greenland stuff is dumb. The Panama Canal stuff is dumb. Canada as 51st state? Dumb! This newsletter is unamused by retread MAGA imperialism. -Jacob

ON THE SHOW TODAY

1/7: It's News Day Tuesday!

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Today you'll read about just another normal day in the life of a totally healthy democratic republic, why Donald Trump can't escape his felony sentencing, European leaders worrying about the influence of Elon Musk, and what some notable conservatives really thought about the January 6 Capitol riot.

THE BIG NEWS

Presidential Election Certified Without Incident As Part of Normal Peaceful Democratic Process

Four years after thousands of rioters stormed the US Capitol and took proverbial and literal dumps on US democracy, the United States Congress managed to certify the 2024 presidential election results without anyone getting shot. The electoral college votes were counted and announced by the election's loser, Vice President Kamala Harris. "The votes for president of the United States are as follows: Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes," said Harris. While Republicans clapped, she continued in the third person: "Kamala D. Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes."

It all took about 35 minutes – a typical interval for this kind of thing, 2020 notwithstanding. Harris later talked to reporters about the importance of fighting for American democracy in times of crisis. "Today, America's democracy stood," she said. Republicans applauded Harris' grace, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who said that it was "particularly admirable that Vice President Harris would preside over the certification of a presidential election that she lost."

You might recall that, four years ago, Pence tried to preside over the certification of an election that he lost. Trump reportedly was willing to sacrifice his vice president to the violent mob. This time around, Pence is congratulating Trump and JD Vance, writing, "I welcome the return of order and civility."

Democrats seem to feel the same relief for a return to the status quo ante. The Democratic Party vanquished Trump's existential threat to US democracy by metabolizing him into the political process – "normalizing" Trump, to use the tired resistance term. After an election season of sky-is-falling histrionics, the Democrats handed Trump the baton of power with barely a shrug, feigning that his ascension is proof that the system held.

"I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy, and I’m hopeful that we’re beyond it," Biden said on Sunday.

It's nice to think so.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

Macron Calls Out Musk's Support For A "New International Reactionary Movement" Following the lead of some of his peers, French President Emmanuel Macron accused Elon Musk of trying to "intervene directly in elections, including in Germany." At the same time, Norway's Prime Minister described Musk's political activities as "worrying." via Politico and Reuters.
CIA Docs Reveal Surveillance of Latino Activists Recently released CIA documents show that the agency illegally surveilled Latino civil rights activists as part of Operation CHAOS in the 1970s. The targets included labor leader Cesar Chavez and members of the Chicano Movement. via Axios.
First US Bird Flu Patient Dies An elderly man with underlying health conditions died of H5n1 – aka bird flu or avian influenza – making him the first person to die of the disease in the US. According to Louisiana health officials, the man acquired the illness from birds on his property. So far, most cases of bird flu in humans have thankfully been mild. via WaPo.
Rudy Giuliani Officially Held In Contempt of Court Former New York City Mayor and fallen Trump sycophant Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt of court for not forking over $11 million as an initial payment toward the $148 million in damages he owes for defaming two Georgia election workers. While it feels a little unseemly to revel in someone's personal destruction, it is still a delicious form of schadenfreude to witness Giuliani's total, deserved unraveling. via NYT.

SOME NUMBER

8,300

That's how many National Guard soldiers have been requested by the Secret Service to be stationed in Washington, DC, for the presidential inauguration on January 20.

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

IS DON JR OK???

He doesn't remember the clip you're talking about, but he also does remember it, and he definitely didn't do in public the thing that everyone thinks he does in private all the time.

Trump's Looming Immigration Crackdown Looks Really Bad

Biden is handing Trump a powerful deportation apparatus, and Trump plans to put it into overdrive.

PARTING WORDS

"That's as bad an event as I've ever seen in American public life. Frankly, I think that in many ways it was the worst thing to happen to America since 9/11. It was cataclysmically awful."

-- Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro speaking on January 7, 2021, about the Capitol riot. Like many right wingers briefly outraged by the attempted coup, Shapiro's views seem to have rebounded toward Trump again.

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