Republican Party

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday, 197 Republican congressmen refused to impeach him for encouraging thousands of hard Right thugs, some armed, to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell or you won’t have a country.” These same 197 congressmen were themselves menaced by the invading mobs, who chanted that they wanted to […]

Donald Trump

Six Days to Go: Nukes, Trump, and Cybersecurity

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Should American citizens feel relieved that Speaker Pelosi has met with General Milley to discuss the nuclear command structure? I am not. From the start of the nuclear age we have been asked to believe that as long as these weapons of mass destruction were under the […]

Constitution

Is impeaching President Trump ‘pointless revenge’? Not if it sends a message to future presidents

The Conversation

By Michael Blake | – A House majority, including 10 Republicans, voted on Jan. 13 to impeach President Trump for “incitement of insurrection.” The vote will initiate a trial in the Senate – but that trial will likely not be finished before Trump’s term of office comes to an end on Jan. 20. There is […]

Congress

McConnell Cynically used the Trump-Monster to get Tax Cuts and SCOTUS, Now Dropping him like a Squeezed Orange

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In Chapter 7 of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the enormously wealthy Jay Gatsby becomes concerned about word getting out that he is having an affair with Daisy, who is married to Tom, and abruptly stops having the big parties he had been throwing, to which assorted society flotsam […]

China

Twisting the Truth about a Beautiful Sight: Some Beijing Press is using the Capitol Insurrection to Condemn Homegrown Pro-Democracy Demonstrators

Philip J. Cunningham

Ithaca, NY (Special to Informed Comment) – Given the mutual recriminations that characterize the sorry state of US-China relations as of late, it is hardly surprising that China’s state media should pounce on the humiliating optics of US democracy under siege. Indeed, one need only retransmit US mainstream media reports about a demented US president […]

Donald Trump

The armed Accelerationists are Coming: Neo-Nazis and Boogaloo Bois plan another Insurrection Jan. 20

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The far right militias, some of whom invaded the Capitol on 1/6, are now planning armed invasions of all 50 state capitols in advance of Jan. 20, according to the FBI, and are coming back for a second try at taking over the national Capitol. One reason Twitter kicked Trump, […]

Donald Trump

US Capitol riot: the myths behind the tattoos worn by ‘QAnon shaman’ Jake Angeli

The Conversation

By Tom Birkett | – The defining image of the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 was undoubtedly that of a bare-chested man posing resplendent in a horned fur hat and face paint. Images of him in his weird costume have been shared across the globe – he seems to perfectly encapsulate the […]

Donald Trump

After fascist Capitol Insurrection, German Liberals don’t want to be “Led” by the U.S.A.

Reese Erlich

In the wake of the white nationalist mob takeover of the U.S. Capitol and Trump’s pending second impeachment, I contacted journalists and activists overseas to get an idea of how the rest of the world currently views us. Among other questions, I asked what issue Americans should be aware of that U.S. politicians and mainstream […]

Congress

Yes, it Was a Coup Attempt, but one Just as Looney as Trump and his Wingnuts

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Wednesday 1/6 was clearly an attempted coup on Trump’s part. There is some controversy about this, depending on how analysts define a “coup.” It was of course not a successful coup d’état inasmuch as it failed to overturn the government or even to permanently install an elected president as an […]