Crash Course: “Our last hope is Marshall Law!”: Leaked Mark Meadows texts reveal secret GOP Jan. 6 plotting

Talking Points Memo publishes massive trove of Meadows' texts with at least 34 Republican lawmakers. Your daily update from [Salon](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvMGMwYnJqcDBkMi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo). “Our last hope is Marshall Law!”: Leaked Mark Meadows texts reveal secret GOP Jan. 6 plotting Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows exchanged text messages with at least 34 Republican lawmakers as they plotted to overturn former President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss, according to a trove of thousands of messages obtained by [Talking Points Memo](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvMG0xdGtzanJxby8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo). The texts, which were part of a trove of messages that Meadows [turned over](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvaHc0N2tzeWl2ai8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) to the House Jan. 6 committee, show Meadows and members of Congress exchange conspiracy theories, links to far-right websites, questionable legal theories and even a misspelled call to invoke martial law. The messages show the Republicans discussing plans to block President Joe Biden's victory leading up to Jan. 6 and continuing until Trump's final hours in office. Rep. Ralph Norman, R.S.C., on Jan. 17, 2021, warned Meadows that "we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic." "Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!!" Norman wrote in the message. "PLEASE URGE THE PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!" The leaked messages include at least 364 texts from members of Congress to Meadows and at least 95 messages from Meadows to the lawmakers. The highest profile lawmakers involved in the plotting included Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. In one text message, longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller described Brooks as the "ringleader" of the effort to block the certification of the election results on Jan. 6. [Read more from Igor Derysh.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvaXF0ZGxhODR3MC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo via ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) Law professors raise ethics concerns as Kavanaugh parties with Republicans at “worst possible time” Legal scholars raised concerns about the judicial code of ethics after a report from [Politico](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvYTJ0cTl1c2Z5aS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) that revealed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh recently attended a private holiday party hosted by Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) chairman Matt Schlapp. Also in attendance at the party on Friday night was Stephen Miller, a top adviser to former president Donald Trump and head of the America First Legal Foundation, which has cases pending in court. Charles Geyh, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, told Bloomberg that Kavanaugh's attendance at a party with guests who "live, eat, and breathe conservative political action" is reflective of his insensitivity to Americans' lack of trust, or his indifference to it. "This is the worst possible time for this," Geyh explained, adding that in the midst of the Supreme Court's loss of public support and risk of de-legitimacy, Kavanaugh's appearance was "at a minimum a poor idea and potentially a violation of judicial ethics." [Read more from Samaa Khullar.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvcDN0bHpyeXZqYS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo via Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images) - “Seditious radicalism”: Legal experts sound the alarm over [Republican’s call for “Marshall Law”](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvamVvenRlMnI0My8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - [Right wing attacks on Brittney Griner](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvY2R6cGhidDYzNy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo)are part of a larger — and unhinged — backlash to LGBTQ rights - “Desperate and delusional”: Legal experts rip Kari Lake's [“poorly written” election lawsuit](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZHk0bnlnZ3hrZS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - [Hulu honors Octavia Butler's "Kindred,"](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvemtjZmc0aDh2Zi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) yanking a Black woman out of time to grapple with history - What our love for [widower rom-coms](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMva2dvODFzYWNhYi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) says about our flawed search for love - [Psychedelic startups](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZmJyMndqc3ZpZC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) are betting on synthetic versions of "magic" mushrooms as the future If you found yourself here without subscribing, sign up for [Crash Course](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZHVveTR6OGZqcC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo), so you don't miss anything! The Trump paradox: America is sick of this guy — but we can't afford to turn away Exhaustion is more than understandable. It's also true that to look away from Trump or ignore him is to invite disaster yet again. Too many Americans have succumbed to premature celebration of "victory" in the midterms and have bought into the mainstream media narrative that Trump and Trumpism are in retrograde. That may or may not be true in the long haul, but at the moment, Trump and the Republican fascists are reorganizing and recalibrating, in preparation for backlash and likely retaliation. What is the best way to respond to the neofascist threat in this moment, while neither inflating it nor ignoring it? That is a difficult question to answer, which may involve contradictory or competing agendas and goals as well as one's subjective understanding of reality. It requires grappling with how our democracy crisis began and where it is likely going. One thing is clear: We are in a moment of organized forgetting in real time, one that has greatly accelerated since the midterms, in which many the American people are trying to delete or purge Donald Trump and the neofascist movement from their collective memories and minds. That dynamic is deeply troubling, in terms of what it confirms about the force of denial in an American society. [Read more from Chauncey DeVega.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvYmJ2NGw4aDAxeC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images) - "2022 Review: How Republicans Lost Despite Winning the Popular Vote," [The New York Times](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvOTZsYWJuemNyOS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "Sam Bankman-Fried’s Parents Were There for FTX’s Rise, and Now Its Fall," [The Wall Street Journal](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvM29mdGVjaWRodi8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "The Anti-Woke Right Is Losing Its Religion," [The New Republic](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMva21ubjdhYXl6ay8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "Crypto Was Always Smoke and Mirrors," [The Atlantic](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZzE3YXVveXpkay8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "Lawmakers unveil bipartisan bill that aims to ban TikTok in the U.S.," [CNBC](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvd2gyN29vZWpwOC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) - "J.D. Vance Is Coming for Your Porn–Watch Out," [The Daily Beast](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvdHNuOHdsODNrbS8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) Republicans have a plan — to hold America hostage over the debt ceiling yet again Sometime during the next session of Congress, Republicans will check the box on one of their perennial agenda items whenever a Democrat is president: Threatening to crash the entire U.S. economy if the president doesn't submit to their demand to slash the safety net of senior citizens. Leading up to the midterm elections, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, did a lot of thinking out loud about entitlement "reform" ([meaning cuts to Social Security and Medicare](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvZzU2M2p1dzliMy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo)) that Republicans might undertake should the expected red wave bring them into the majority. Around the same time, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy began talking about the spending cuts a putative House majority would force by [using the extension of the statutory debt limit as a bargaining chip](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0REaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvcnJyMHc1bzM0Yy8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDJXA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo), although he refused to be precise as to which programs would be slashed. The red wave, of course, never reached the shore: Democrats retained the Senate, while McCarthy is presumed to become the speaker of a slim and nearly unmanageable Republican House majority. But Satan never sleeps, and neither do Republicans. [Read more from Mike Lofgren.](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RoaHR0cHM6Ly9saW5rLndoZXJlYnkudXMvOGdseHB0cXliMC8_bGhfYWlkPTM1NDM5NTImbGhfY2lkPWhxYzcwcXBvZDImbGhfZW09dHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODUlNDBnbWFpbC5jb21XA3NwY0IKY5DSuplj1va4U1IbdHJpc3RyYW1iYWxkd2luODVAZ21haWwuY29tWAQAAAAo) (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images) [Unsubscribe from this list](~/AASU4wA~/RgRlfD_RP0RCaHR0cHM6Ly9yZWFkLmxldHRlcmhlYWQuZW1haWwvY3Jhc2gtY291cnNlL3Vuc3Vic2NyaWJlP2lkPUAzNTQzOTUyVwNzcGNCCmOQ0rqZY9b2uFNSG3RyaXN0cmFtYmFsZHdpbjg1QGdtYWlsLmNvbVgEAAAAKA~~) Copyright © 2022 Crash Course, All rights reserved. 1000 N. 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