Background Briefing: January 10, 2021

 

Will a Second Impeachment Get Trump to Resign With A Pardon From Pence?

We begin with the repercussions from the storming of the capitol on Wednesday urged on by the President of the United States and the looting and vandalism which, had the Capitol Police not fired on the mob, a number of Congress members huddled in a room as the doors and windows were being smashed, would have been zip tied, beaten and according to members present, possibly lynched.  Norman Ornstein, a contributing editor for The Atlantic and a columnist for the National Journal whose latest book is One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, and the Not-Yet Deported joins us to discuss the fast-tracked impeachment effort underway in the House which could force Trump’s resignation before a second impeachment and allow Pence to pardon the criminal-in-chief and his family. That is assuming Pence does not renege on the deal because, after all, Trump sicked a rampaging mob on him who burst into the senate chamber on Wednesday looking for him yelling “hang Pence.”

 

Domestic Terrorism and the Reactions of America’s Allies

Then we speak with Thomas Mockaitis, A Professor of History at DePaul University and author of Understanding the Domestic and International Terrorist Threat who has taught counter-terrorism courses for the past 13 years at venues around the world as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Counter-terrorism Fellowship Program.  He joins us to discuss his article at Medium, “Attack on the Capitol was not an isolated incident” and the alarm expressed by allied governments at a coup attempt against American democracy inspired by the country’s president.

 

Cutting Trump Off From Social Media and Protecting Biden’s Inauguration

Then finally we look into claims by the Proud Boys, QAnon, the Oath Keepers and other right wing fringe groups and militia’s announcing quote, “round two” and “our last chance” will happen on January 20th at the inauguration of Joe Biden. Jen Golbeck, Professor and Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland who is an expert on social networks, social media and the on-line activities of far-right groups, joins us to discuss the permanent banning of Trump by Twitter and other platforms and whether Biden will be sufficiently protected at his inauguration.