Off the Rails Bonus episode: Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency

[catbyte]

Jonathan Swan, Zachary Basu

Last month, Axios published "Off the rails," a series taking you inside the end of Donald Trump's presidency, from his election loss to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection that triggered his second impeachment — and a Senate trial set to begin next week.

In this bonus edition, we take you back into those final weeks — to one long, unhinged night a week before Christmas, when an epic, profanity-soaked standoff played out with profound implications for the nation.

Four conspiracy theorists marched into the Oval Office. It was early evening on Friday, Dec. 18 — more than a month after the election had been declared for Joe Biden, and four days after the Electoral College met in every state to make it official.

"How the hell did Sidney get in the building?" White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann grumbled from the outer Oval Office as Sidney Powell and her entourage strutted by to visit the president.

President Trump's private schedule hadn't included appointments for Powell or the others: former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, and a little-known former Trump administration official, Emily Newman. But they'd come to convince Trump that he had the power to take extreme measures to keep fighting.

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Trump was no longer focused on any semblance of a governing agenda, instead spending his days taking phone calls and meetings from anyone armed with conspiracy theories about the election. For the White House staff, it was an unending sea of garbage churned up by the bottom feeders.

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https://www.axios.com/trump-oval-office-meeting-sidney-powell-a8e1e466-2e42-42d0-9cf1-26eb267f8723.html

[SmartVoter22]

1. The Podcasts are linked, too

I like Axios podcasts and glad this series is linked in the article.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-it-happened/id1549225698

Thanks

[PAMod]

2. It's even worse when you factor in...

their own internal polling matched the results.

Make no mistake. They were trying to flip the election knowing they lost.

[Doremus]

10. aka commit insurrection

[MyOwnPeace]

3. Glad he had these meetings.....

it's not like he had anything else to do, you know, like, lead a plan to distribute vaccines to millions of Americans in order to make the 'CHINA flu' vanish - just like he said it would.

[Dave in VA]

4. "For the White House staff, it was an unending sea of garbage churned up by the bottom feeders."

They were working for the king of bottom feeders!

[Hotler]

7. And they knew that and they still had no shame. Rat fuckers, all of them.

I hope they never find a job above minimum wage again.

[Dave in VA]

8. Maybe they could get jobs in a dive bar

working for less that minimum wage and begging for tips!

[marble falls]

5. "When Rudy's the voice of reason, you know the meeting's not going well."

[UpInArms]

6. Every time a news reporter questions the Biden administration

About why things are not moving faster should have this thrown into their faces.

Trump was no longer focused on any semblance of a governing agenda, instead spending his days taking phone calls and meetings from anyone armed with conspiracy theories about the election. For the White House staff, it was an unending sea of garbage churned up by the bottom feeders.

Why were they not standing in front of the WH demanding appropriate actions for battling the pandemic.

No. They were too freaking busy repeating trump’s lies and allowing the republicans to cover for him.

[Dave in VA]

9. Journalists they are not!

All they did for the orange hemorrhoid was to be his stenographers and repeat everything he expelled without question. All to have "access" to his flatulence!