The Runback: Dereliction of Duty

Donald Trump stopped being President the moment he needed to start acting like one

Welcome to another week of The Runback. Have you been enjoying The Duckpin? Do you have comments or suggestions? Do you want to write for us? Let me know at theduckpin@gmail.com. And please be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thanks in advance.

News and Politics

• Nope: I’m out

• Way Too Early Analysis of the Primary Election: Just because the results aren't in doesn't mean that we can't speculate and analyze the results

• Hollingsworth Claims Election Was Stolen: Candidate blames Maryland Republican Party, among others, for her defeat

• Let's Talk About Why I Lost: Can you run a winning digital-only campaign in 2022? Not really, no

• What Are We Teaching Our Lawyers? One Maryland law professor has a very warped view of the Supreme Court

Shameless Plugs

• I talked to Scott Dance at The Baltimore Sun about Dan Cox’s win and the downballot impact of Cox on this year’s election.

• I also talked to Pamela Wood at The Baltimore Banner about Dan Cox’s win and the immediate future for Maryland Republicans.

• Speaking of The Baltimore Banner, I wrote an op-ed for the Banner talking about my decision to leave the GOP and what the future may hold for the Maryland Republican Party.

The Monday Thought

I don’t go out of my way to sit down and watch the January 6th Committee Hearings on TV. I have a wife, three kids, and a life after all. But I did see part of it as I was flipping during commercials on the World Track and Field Championships. I did see the various things that were tweeted out about the committee hearings.

At this point, if you aren’t disturbed by what the Committee found, you’re just looking for excuses not to be.

Gabe Sanchez  @iamgabesanchez

Trump waited 187 minutes to make this video on January 6th. Tonight, we get to see the outtakes and what he did during that time.

Meanwhile, while Trump was screwing around making excuses for the mob, this was happening.

Michael Beschloss @BeschlossDC

Secret Service agents on January 6 were saying goodbye to their families.

Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins

The radio chatter from Pence's Secret Service detail on Jan. 6, which National Security Council staff was listening to in real time: "If we lose any time, we may lose the ability to leave...If we are going to leave we need to do it now..."

Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins

"I don't want to say the election is over," Trump says in outtakes from his speech on Jan. 7. "I just want to say Congress has certified the results." Ivanka Trump, who is not seen but heard in the background, helps him make revisions in real time.

Mind you, his inability to say the election was over was the day AFTER Congress certified the election. Ending, without question, the election process.

At least we can all laugh at Josh Hawley.

Dan Przygoda @dprzygoda

Immediate reaction to the vid:

Look, whether Trump was or was not responsible for the attempted coup, is almost irrelevant at this point. It is clear to me that Trump and his team was heavily involved in setting the events of January 6th in place. But the fact that Donald Trump did his Nero impression and fiddled for three hours while Rome burned is the most damning moment of his administration.

The Recount @therecount

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Trump’s inaction during the Capitol insurrection: “You’re the commander in chief, you’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol … and there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?”

Trump always pretended that he was a pillar of strength. But in his moment of truth, he showed himself to be weak feeble, and delusional. He tried to abandon the Vice-President and the members of Congress to whatever fate the mob had for them. It is unprecedented that such a thing would happen in any free country, much less the United States of America.

Trump’s dereliction of duty may, ultimately, be what does him in too from a legal perspective:

If I was standing in front of a jury, I’d ask them to ponder a question—if Trump truly wanted only a “peaceful” protest, why did he passively allow the horrific violence to unfold? Why was it ultimately up to Mike Pence to skip the chain of command and call out the National Guard?

The answer, I’d argue, was that everything was happening precisely as Trump had intended. The mob was supposed to march to the Capitol. It was supposed to stop the certification. Why would Trump call it off when it was doing exactly what he wanted it to do?

And that doesn’t even begin to talk about whether or not Trump will face prosecution in Georgia.

Donald Trump was always unfit to serve. His dereliction of duty on January 6th merely confirmed it.