#Cassidy Hutchinson

[odinsblog]

I am always lothe to elevate the voices of Republicans who voluntarily worked for and repeatedly voted for Donald Trump—especially those who somehow still believe that America was just hunky dory until Trump came along and ruined everything—but it’s getting down to the wire and hopefully hearing their voices will change some hearts and minds prior to the next election. x

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Frank Vyan Walton at Dark Skies on the Horizon:

Among the many MAGA myths, this may be one of the most enduring and at the same time the most ridiculous.  Even though they have deliberately chosen not to watch the January 6 hearings, they have plenty of opinions about them.  Antifa implemented the attack, it was part of a false-flag plot by the FBI using informants, it was all Nancy Pelosi’s fault because she didn’t call the National Guard. And the hearings are a “Which Hunt” with a “Narrative.” They have no regrets for the Insurrection, they have no apologies to give. They think that they are the ones who have been wronged, they believe that they were justified. [Even though they totally weren’t.] [...]

There is no way that Trump didn’t know that these people did not “Stay” peaceful, thousands of them weren’t peaceful at all.  This was part of him constructing a narrative, he had said at the ellipse we're going to “peacefully march” but that was bullshit because he already knew there were weapons in the crowd.  He already knew how angry they were. His saying “Stay peaceful” here was part of his plot to blame that violence on Antifa, or whoever — which he did during a phone call with Kevin McCarthy — and pretend that his supporters didn’t enter the Capitol and didn't fight with police. But they did.  Trump supporters were the ones who gave Officer Fanone a concussion, a heart attack and tased him repeatedly.  They were the ones who attacked Sgt Gonell and gave him a permanent shoulder injury. They were the ones who caused Officer Sicknick to have a stroke, and several other officers to commit suicide. They were the ones who injured 150 Officers leading to five of them dying, and also four protestors dying during the attack.

This is the final straw, with this statement he made it clear that he was on the same side as the rioters.  And they were on his side. He initiated the rally.  He instigated the attack.  He picked the time, date and place. He used the people and the MAGA members of Congress as tools in his two-pronged assault on democracy. He didn't care that they were armed and dangerous.  He didn't lift a finger to *stop* the attack while it was in progress until he was satisfied that they had stopped the vote and couldn't accomplish anything more. He said “Peacefully” just to cover his ass and set up the narrative that the violence was from someone else. But then if it really was Antifa, why is it that he’s since offered to pardon and offer a governmental apology to the rioters if he gets re-elected. Why would he do that for the “Violent Leftists?”

And he’s not just offering this pardon to the people who were actually “peaceful” and stood outside the Capitol. [Even though just being past the sidewalk and on the Capitol grounds was a crime, since the facility was closed to the public at that time.]  He wants to pardon the people who are currently in jail for violent acts, who fought with the police, who vandalized the building and smashed their way inside, who were trying to hunt down and kill Nancy Pelosi, who wanted to “Hang Mike Pence.”  This is a reward, and those the people he wants to give it too. He’s on the side of the worst of the crowd, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the III Percenters, the racists and the domestic terrorists. And they’re on his side. This was not a boating accident. None of this happens, not the rally, not the march, not the attack, not the attempt to implement the fake electors, without Trump being behind all of it.  Every step of the way.

Frank Vyan Walton debunks the myths MAGA extremist spew out in regards to the Donald Trump-incited January 6th Insurrection.

[tomorrowusa]

Today is January 1st. There are just 309 days until Election Day.

We can't rely on a clever legal gimmick or some preternatural force to prevent a Trump victory. We have to do it ourselves with our organizing and our votes.

Three young women who worked in the Trump White House had a conversation with ABC's Jonathan Karl before the end of 2023. Sarah Matthews, Cassidy Hutchinson, and Alyssa Farah Griffin went on to testify before the House January 6th Committee. The trio said that a second Trump term would be even worse than the first.

Former aides warn of 'running out of time' to prevent Trump re-election

All three gave testimony to the US House committee investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat as well as the 6 January 6 Capitol attack staged by his supporters. And they warned in an unprecedented television interview on Sunday that time was short to prevent a second Trump administration in which they insist his behavior would be much worse. “People in general have short memories, and might forget the chaos of the Trump years,” Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary who resigned on the day of the deadly Capitol riot, said on ABC’s This Week. “They also might not just be paying attention to what he’s saying now – and the threat to democracy that exists. It does really concern me if he makes it to the general [election] that he could win. I’m still hopeful that we can defeat him in the primaries, but we’re running out of time.” [ ... ] Hutchinson, ex-aide to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, said voters needed to believe Trump when he said he would be a dictator on his first day back in the White House. “The fact that he feels that he needs to lean into being a dictator alone shows that he is a weak and feeble man,” she said. Matthews, meanwhile, said Trump had already signaled what his second administration would look like. “We don’t need to speculate because we already saw it play out,” she said.

The three former staffers know that Trump's dictator and vermin rantings are not just talk. Sarah Matthews, Cassidy Hutchinson, and Alyssa Farah Griffin should be taken more seriously than some blowhard on Fox News who's attempting to dismiss Trump's Hitlerian references.

[lenbryant]

Outside the oval. What kind of wild nonsense were they planning?

[aunti-christ-ine]

[calicojack1718]

In My Free Time: From Israel-Hamas to "Enough" to Blogs

Last week, I published The Week’s News Through a Psychology Lens, which other than being a poster child for my award winning tortured syntax and awkward wording, was a regular blogging feature that had been kicking around in the old noggin for awhile. However, as the following week progressed and I collected articles to use in this week’s edition, I realized I wanted to share more than just the…

[porterdavis]

Good onya Cassidy

[spotlightstory]

Trump Aides Explain How He Becomes a Dictator

Vote Blue for our Democratic Republic

"Donald Trump showed us who he is and he's told us who he is for a long time."

"At the end of his administration he talked about implementing Schedule F where he could fire up to 50,000 civil servants and replace them with loyalists. To stack the government with employees that are not tenured and are loyal to Donald Trump."

"He is still facing 91 criminal indictments - they would be underway in the next election cycle. OR they could be settled and his first act would be a self pardon."

- Cassidy Hutchinson, former White House aide who served as assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Trump administration.

Me: Trump's Schedule F would remove years of experience from government departments.

We are talking about analysts that are willing to skew data, climate change deniers in charge at NOAA, records clerks willing to disappear records, HR staff that choose loyalist new hires.

[filosofablogger]

Feeling Snarky ... Gee, I Wonder Why?

I think tonight’s a good night for some snarky snippets … got some steam building up that needs an outlet! One step forward … oops, no wait, turn around and go back.  Four years ago in 2020, largely in response to the murder of George Floyd, the BlackLivesMatter movement, and the awareness that racism is still very much alive and well, Shenandoah County in Virginia renamed two of the schools in…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Oliver Willis at Daily Kos:

House Republicans on Tuesday released a report recommending that former Rep. Liz Cheney face criminal charges for her role in the bipartisan Jan. 6 committee. The interim report comes from the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who previously compared the 2019 impeachment of Donald Trump to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The report alleges that the Jan. 6 committee was a “political weapon” against Trump and accuses Cheney of witness tampering. Loudermilk’s allegation revolves around the actions of former Trump administration aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified before the committee. Hutchinson said in her testimony that Trump was unconcerned that his supporters were carrying weapons on Jan. 6 and that he wanted to go to the Capitol on the day of the attack. In the report, texts were revealed between Hutchinson and former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin purportedly discussing a change of lawyers after her Trump-connected lawyer Stefan Passantino was accused of telling Hutchinson to omit damaging details about Trump’s behavior. The Loudermilk report alleges that through her relationship with Griffin, which she used as an intermediary, and her direct contact with Hutchinson, Cheney crossed a legal line. Trump praised the report on his Truth Social account writing, “Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee.” He added, “Thank you to Congressman Barry Loudermilk on a job well done.”

Real patriot Liz Cheney responded to the fascist intimidation tactics of Donald Trump and Barry Loudermilk and their attempts to conduct a farcical “investigation” of her.

See Also:

HuffPost: Donald Trump Warns That Liz Cheney 'Could Be In A Lot Of Trouble' Over Jan. 6 Probe

[tomorrowusa]

« Jim Jordan can't be trusted with the Constitution. »

— Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson at Pod Save America and repeated at CNN (below).

Before going to work at the Trump White House, Cassidy Hutchinson held several positions at the Capitol. She became the star witness at the House January 6th Committee hearings in 2022.

Gym Jordan and Steve Scalise are running for Speaker of the House. While there isn't a lot of ideological space between them, Jordan is essentially an unindicted co-conspirator regarding the attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump terrorists. In fact, GOP former Speaker John Boehner referred to Jordan as a "legislative terrorist". He's basically Matt Gaetz on decaf – and without a jacket.

Having Jordan as House Speaker would be the Capitol Hill equivalent of Trump in the White House.

[mitigatingacademics]

This is the first book I've given 5 stars since reading Just Mercy almost 2 years ago.

It's so, so good.

No review I could offer will ever do it justice.

Cassidy's story is well written and highly readable.

It's so telling about how forces from her early childhood to present day contributed to her finding herself in the places she did and influenced the way she reacted to her reality.

She is an incredible young woman.

Her story is fascinating and inspiring.

Please read her book.

Below the cut are some quotes that I've chose to highlight either because it was new information to me, exceptionally outrageous, or heartfelt confirmation of my personal opinion of Liz Cheney (👑❤️🙌🏻), but they in no way tell the entire story.

Please read this book.

“…Dad had found a show he loved: The Apprentice. Dad boasted about Donald Trump’s accomplishments – he was a warrior, just like us, and he had built a global multibillion-dollar business from the ground up. Dad fixated so much on Donald Trump. I wished he would pay attention to us like he did to The Apprentice.”

“…he [Dad] said that Donald Trump was teaching him how to become a better businessman so that he did not have to work as much. The other option, Dad said, was that he could stop working altogether. Dad didn’t think his family would like how suffering felt, and since he had worked so hard, we had no idea what it meant to suffer.” (p. 21)

The effects of questionable influence started early. Cassidy's childhood is relatable in so many ways and also illuminates experiences that we know are common but may not have taken part in ourselves.

She is an excellent student, an achiever, a people pleaser. Because you know where she ends up, you begin to put together how it happened from the very beginning and you empathize deeply.

“…Ben advised me not to address Liz informally. ‘She takes her job very seriously,’ he explained. ‘Not that Kevin and Steve don’t. But Liz is all business until you really get to know her…if she lets you.’” (p. 51)

I love this.

I love that she found this worth mentioning.

God save the 👑 (and the rest of us from unserious politicians.)

“William and I had rented an apartment together earlier that summer, but we had grown apart. I was focused on growing my career, knowing we were headed into the busiest of year on the Hill. William didn’t support Trump, questioning his policies as well as how much time I devoted to work. When we broke up at the end of the summer, he cut ties quickly. We went from four years by each other’s side to there being a gaping hole where my best friend used to be.” (p. 54)

I found it incredibly sad that she lost this important long term relationship over the Trump administration...and that it was only the beginning of the many things she would lose in the years to come.

“I worried that the 2019 inquiry would establish precedent for presidents to face any politically motivated impeachment.” (p. 57)

Too ironic to leave unmentioned...

(To be clear, my comment is in reference to the attempt to impeach BIDEN.)

“I doubt any politician could have led the country through the deadliest pandemic in a hundred years without making errors of judgement and execution. But of all the people in the world, President Trump was uniquely unsuited to the challenge. He lacked empathy and was stubborn and impatient.” (p. 72)

I mean, we knew this, but it's nice to see it in print, especially coming from inside the administration.

“I had made a quick study of President Clinton’s reelection, and admired how he had brilliantly capitalized on scoring smaller, bipartisan legislative victories and used his travel and splashy White House events to portray them as massive accomplishments. I recommended that we follow a similar plan. … ‘We just want bigger legislative wins for the election, not bipartisan wins,’ Mark said. ‘We need to use our conservative base.’ (p. 92)

This is so incredibly demonstrative of who Cassidy is in comparison to where she found herself.

Respect for the genuinely well intentioned research and work she put into this...even in the face of the unsurprisingly disappointing response.

“’Cass, if I can get through this job and manage to keep him out of jail’ – referring to our boss, the president – ‘I’ll [Mark] have done a good job.’” (p. 116)

About that... 😬😬

“Trump hated fundraising – he was expected to flatter people he thought should be flattering him.” (p. 139)

“The president does not like animals…” (p.150)

Unsurprising, both.

Feels good to see the confirmation.

“The president and his legal advisors – led by Rudy and Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor – would file ninety ‘stop the steal’ lawsuits. …this group held a press conference about various legal challenges. They stood in front of a Philadelphia landscaping company building in a strip mall next to an adult entertainment shop and a crematorium.” (p. 172)

An unforgettable memory that we all share.

Four Seasons Total Landscaping has its own Wikipedia entry because of this event.

“Mark asked for General Services Administration (GSA) staff to light a fire in his office fireplace first thing every morning. He kept a pile of firewood and throughout the day added logs to keep the fire burning. When I went into his office to deliver lunch or a package to him, I would sometimes find him leaning over the fire, feeding papers into it, watching to make sure they burned, and placing logs on top of the ashes.” (p. 182)

Not to take away from the other ways that this is problematic to say the least, but the execution here is ridiculous.

Trump stored moving trucks worth of classified documents in an unused bathroom.

Kudus for knowing the shit needed destroyed, I guess (not that said action was legal, just self-protecting), but maybe don't do it AT the office?

I feel like even those of us that didn't get Cassidy's quick refresher on the rules regarding the requirements of preserving presidential records might have raised an eyebrow at this? 🤦🏻‍♀️

“To me, ‘saving democracy’ should not require a presidential pardon.” (p. 190)

Facts.

“’I’ll be the best chief of staff if I can keep him in office,’ he [Mark] explained to me. ‘If that’s what he wants, that’s what I want.” (p. 191)

Someone drank all the kool-aid.

(Tumblr spell-check suggests 'kook-aid' which... 🤷🏻‍♀️)

“Less than a week after January 6, the House of Representatives moved swiftly to introduce, without holding a public hearing, a single article of impeachment. … After the article was passed by the House, Mark asked me to make a chart with headshots of the ten Republican members who had voted in favor of impeachment. Mark gave the hit list to the president, who kept it on the Resolute Desk.” (p. 227)

While far from the worst of the things they did, just reading about this made me so uncomfortable.

“He [Dad] threw the subpoena in the trash, ranting that I didn’t need to do anything it asked me to do. He had read online that it wasn’t mandatory to comply with congressional subpoenas.” (p. 267)

“If you move back here you won’t have to comply with the subpoena. They’ll never find you here. Daddy will keep you safe.” (p. 269)

When Cassidy approached her father, after trying everything else imaginable, to ask to borrow money to obtain a non-Trump World (the fact that they actually call themselves that non-ironically...) attorney to help her through the mess she'd found herself in, she found that his cheese had slid even further off the cracker.

My heart hurts for her, honestly. Her situation (having a Trumper parent) isn't entirely unique, but it's crushing to see just how much that psychology can completely ruin a person and in turn hurt those that care about them.

It was heartening, later on, to see that she did have other people in her life that were supportive including an aunt and uncle that offered to mortgage their home and ultimately Liz herself who managed to come up with some options for pro-bono legal representation.

“He [Trump Funded Atty] assured me that the committee wouldn’t know what I could and couldn’t recall.” (p. 273)

“We just want to protect the president. We all know you’re loyal. Let’s just get you in and out of this. It’s going to be easy, I promise.” (p. 276)

...Yikes...

“Liz assures me that they will have plenty of bottles stockpiled at the witness table for me on Tuesday.” (p. 312)

I have had an inside joke with myself since watching the J6 hearings about Liz being a 'thirsty bitch' (in the most respectable of ways, of course), due to her always seeming to have a minimum of 3 beverage options available at the dais.

We stan a hydrated 👑.

This was yesterday.

(Credit to @LarrySabato [Liz's UVA handler] on Twitter)

How many water bottles do you see? 🤣

Bless. 🙌🏻

“There’s a quality in Liz’s demeanor, her seriousness and purposefulness, her self-possession that has a bolstering effect on me.” (p. 313)

Cassidy: I really hope I don’t let you down tomorrow.

Liz: Cassidy, you could never let me down. I’m really proud of you.

“Her pride is enough encouragement for me to see this through.” (p. 316)

I, personally, find the inspiration Cassidy gets from Liz to be so (inexplicably but none the less real) relatable.

I feel gratitude to Liz for the way she supported Cassidy through everything they went through.

Girl was doing her best but I don't think she would have gotten there without Liz...and while I think it might be fair to question Liz's motives, I honestly don't think you'd find anything scandalous.

Liz has a very pervasive habit of telling you exactly who she is.

Here she was a Constitution supporting, oath upholding member of Congress trying to do the right thing; regardless of personal consequence.

She saw that in Cassidy as well, which, I think, at least to a certain extent, triggered her mama-bear response.

Of the countless respectable traits regularly demonstrated by my sharp minded, quick witted, problematic fav...mama-bear just might be the best of the best.

We don't always need a babies must be born but not necessarily fed, drill Yellowstone, waterboarding isn't torture, my family threatened to disown me unless I voted for gay marriage opinion on the existential threats of China. ...but we do always want mom to be proud of us. 🤷🏻‍♀️

“Liz checks on me every day. She sends encouraging articles, shares stories about the public support we’ve received since the hearing, and relays messages from prominent figures in the Republican party, our Republican Party. We talk and laugh, I cry, we laugh some more. Liz is becoming my rock.” (p. 334)

I hope they stay in touch.

I really think they're good for each other and I want the best for both of them.

“I didn’t think then, nor do I think now, that I had done anything that day that deserved praise or merited excess pride. I had done a duty I owed the country, a duty I chose.” (p. 325)

I love this about her.

This is where I see the Liz in Cassidy...and that's not something I've ever said about anyone else.

---

My only real complaint about Cassidy's book is that it didn't tell us much about what she's doing now.

Maybe she hasn't figured it out yet.

She's been through a lot and she's still so young.

One can't help but wonder where one goes from here.

I hope wherever life takes her she finds support and fulfillment.

She's certainly earned the right to live outside of the public eye if that's what she chooses.

Please read her book.