Trump's Conspiratorial Scheming (And Haunted Lawyer Sidney Powell) Is Scaring Even White House Aides

Donald Trump is still, incredibly enough, very committed to proving that the election was stolen from him, and the discredited sycophants and conspiracy theorists he’s surrounded himself with are more than happy to feed him his own bullshit. Now, his delusions are reaching a point where they’re even alarming his aides at the White House, some of whom are beginning to speak anonymously with reporters, like the spineless weasels that they are.

The fact that even staffers are worried, however, is worrying! But let’s review some of the recent events that have led to this anonymous fretting. On Friday, Trump held what sounds like a very normal meeting during which the idea of, um, imposing martial law as a way to contest the election results came up. Via the Guardian:

[Powell] was among attendees at a Friday meeting at the White House at which Trump reportedly proposed naming her as special counsel to investigate alleged electoral fraud, and flirted with the pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s suggestion that the army might be used to rerun votes in battleground states.

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was reported to have pooh-poohed the special counsel and martial law plans, but to have asked about seizing voting machines, all ideas knocked down by the chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone.

As CNN and other outlets have reported, this merry band of losers is continuing to whisper nonsense in Trump’s ear. More, from CNN:

Conspiracist lawyer Sidney Powell, disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn, onetime chief strategist Steve Bannon, hawkish trade adviser Peter Navarro and the eccentric founder of the retail website Overstock have all recently found themselves in the Oval Office or on the telephone advising Trump on new last-ditch efforts to reverse his loss. That’s in addition to Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has been feeding the President’s conspiracy theories for weeks and was seen at the White House on Monday.

Before you fall into a k-hole Googling “who is the eccentric founder of Overstock.com,” his name is Patrick Byrne and in addition to claiming last year that the FBI had encouraged him to have a sexual relationship with suspected Russian agent Maria Butina, Byrne is also “now funding an army of hackers to try to prove that President Donald Trump won reelection.” Okay! Sure! Moving on!

Powell, as the New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman shared, visited the White House again on Sunday night, where she “was once again pitching an executive order on seizing voting machines to examine them.”

Super normal stuff!

As one “administration official” put it, “It’s scary,” telling CNN that Trump is “obsessed” with, in CNN’s words, “far-flung scenarios to overturn the election results that are seemingly untenable, both feasibly and politically.”

“No one is sure where this is heading,” another “White House official” said to CNN, adding, “He’s still the President for another month.” We’re really going to have to drag him out, aren’t we!

• Preident-Elect Joe Biden got jacked up on the covid-19 vaccine.

• And other people aged 75 and up, as well as essential workers like teachers and grocery store clerks, might be next. [Associated Press]
• Meanwhile, Dolly Parton’s sister Stella has some choice words for “old moldy politicians” who, unlike Dolly, did not make a donation to fund vaccine development. “I noticed you started getting vaccinated right away while people are starving and dying you Aholes,” Stella wrote on Twitter. She added, in a subsequent tweet, “I haven’t heard of one Televangelist donating one damn cent to the research fund but they sure can fleece the flock and try to cast out demons when they are possessed themselves!” [The Hill]
• Bill Barr, no longer besties with his soon-to-be former boss, “sees no need to appoint a special counsel to oversee investigations related to Hunter Biden.” [Politico]
• Ivanka is stumping for David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler today and naturally, she focused on the foremost scourge in our country right now—cancel culture.

• But she did seem to—kind of!—acknowledge the reality that Biden won, and her daddy did not. [Washington Post]
• And her daddy, in addition to entertaining the idea of, uh, martial law, is working hard to ensure sure that our federal buildings continue to be bland and boring.