Donald Trump hasn’t shown his face much since a rally on the Ellipse last week sparked a coup attempt in his name at the US Capitol. According to CNN, advisors are making Trump stick to scripted video missives for his public appearances because they’re afraid he will start riffing his way into more legal trouble if he starts talking about the failed coup he sparked last week. But on his last Friday in office, it appears that the coup plans are coming to him these days.
While reporters have caught sight of people packing up and moving items out of the White House in recent days, MyPillow weirdo Mike Lindell visited Trump on Friday and photographers caught what appeared to be his notes. Which were apparently focused on somehow undoing the election of Joe Biden as president, which has been certified by congress because, well, Trump lost.
That hasn’t stopped Trump from searching high and low for a way to undo his failure to triumph in the popular vote or the electoral college, which is why the MyPillow guy was apparently invited to the White House to talk about using the Insurrection Act to steal an election.
It looks like the My Pillow guy was urging the president to use the "Insurrection Act now as a result of the attack" and then "martial law if necessary." https://t.co/lttekVSJBu
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) January 15, 2021
Ignore, for a moment, the fact that this is Trump’s final Friday in office and focus on the fact that Trump is apparently still hosting advisors and friends encouraging yet another attempt to tamper with election results. Trump has been impeached for a second time, the first president to ever have that happen, because of his last attempt at insurrection that left five people dead. If if weren’t so dangerous and clearly a threat to democracy, well, it would all be very funny. In fact, it still was pretty funny, all things considered. Because there were some truly wild suggestions among those notes.
WaPo photographer got a close-up of the My Pillow guy's notes.
Hard to read. Seems to push for using "martial law if necessary."
References Sidney Powell and, I think, an attorney at the NSA ("Fort Mead" sic). Advocates for Trump to "move Kash Patel to acting CIA" pic.twitter.com/xU0tz3YDo7
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) January 15, 2021
Seeing yet another pro-Trump conspiracy theory taken from the depths of the internet and brought inside the White House is really stunning, even for a presidency that’s completely shattered basically every norm established.
Note: This is almost *word for word* the conspiracy theory that has been floated in evangelical circles for days.
The theories (falsely) alleged that this had already happened, but it looks like the My Pillow Guy/Michael Lindell heard them. https://t.co/GngsjrLAs7
— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) January 15, 2021
Donald Trump has less than a week in office and the My Pillow man is at the White House with a document that references the Insurrection Act. https://t.co/NQZgYjDCcK
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 15, 2021
I was wondering why Kash Patel was trending and then I saw that the My Pillow guy had him taking over CIA after suggesting that President Trump declare martial law.
Got it…. https://t.co/QLXUvtvLKF
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 15, 2021
The final weekend of the Trump presidency will carry with it just as much uncertainty as the one that came before it. There may be pardons and a lot of other weird and potentially dangerous things ahead. But if Trump somehow tries to incite another insurrection we’ll know that, of all people, the MyPillow guy had something to do with it.