Book: Peril

The new book Peril is generating many headlines. For instance:

In addition to refusing to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden and pushing groundless and outlandish claims of election fraud, Trump fired (or tried to fire) a number of top officials -- most prominently including Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on November 9.

"Yesterday was appalling," Haspel said in her November 10 conversation with General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's forthcoming book Peril.

"We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity. He is acting out like a six-year-old with a tantrum," Haspel, a 35-year veteran of the agency, said, with the authors writing that she, too, was afraid of being canned.

Milley assured Haspel that "we're going to be steady," according to the book. "Steady as a rock. We're going to keep our eye on the horizon. Keep alert to any risks, dangers. Keep the channels open."

Peril and other books on the final months of the Trump administration released this summer pull back the curtain on the chaotic final weeks after the 2020 election, with Trump's behavior alarming many senior officials.

Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender's book, Frankly We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, reported that then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also expressed concerns to at least one person that Trump would enter into a foreign conflict to try and stay in office after losing the 2020 election.

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Business Insider   09/16/2021

The Old 25th Amendment Try

Members of the public pushed members of former President Donald Trump's cabinet to remove him from office in the wake of the Capitol riot, according to emails that were recently released.

It wasn't just members of Congress that urged the cabinet to take drastic action against Trump. Emails from the public:

"President Trump has spent months inciting these events through his anti-democratic rhetoric and actions," one email said. "This is not the time for small steps or half-actions. It's time for patriots to step up and defend the Constitution and the rule of law."

And:

"When the vice president and the entire Congress have to be hidden in order to be safe from the actions of the president of the United States, it is time to permanently and completely remove the president from power," the email said. "I urge you to immediately do everything in your power to bring that about -- whether through the 25th Amendment or impeachment."

Vice President Pence disagreed with the Democratic Caucus that removing Trump was the best course of action. He called it out of step with the best interests of America or the Constitution.

"Under our Constitution, the 25th Amendment is not a means of punishment or usurpation," Pence wrote. "Invoking the 25th Amendment in such a manner would set a terrible precedent."

[I have to say that I agree with Pence’s assessment.]

The Capitol riot led to Trump's historic second impeachment, with 10 Republicans in the House voting in favor of impeachment. Seven GOP senators voted to convict Trump, but support fell short of the two-thirds votes that are necessary to convict a president and remove him from office.

Months later, Trump maintains that he won the election and continues to push for investigations into the 2020 presidential election. Amid rumors that he was prepping to announce his 2024 run, Trump said in a statement, "Fix 2020 first!"

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Newsweek  09/06/2021