So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.

Yeah, let's not go mad, just 'find' the votes we need, not one more.

Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong

WaPo

They counted the votes in Georgia. Then they counted them again by hand. Then they counted them a third time. Each count showed a five-figure majority for Biden. Just one reason Cruz et al are just jacking off.

Pedantically speaking, no. An electoral college objection must be backed in writing by a member of the House and a member of the Senate, which did not happen in 2016 or 2000. In fact it was Joe Biden and Al Gore who enforced the rules in those sessions.

The 2004 objection is not really comparable, it was to highlight voter suppression in Ohio and was never an attempt to change the outcome, heck, John Kerry had already conceded.

The symmetry is a thing of beauty. Cruz et al are objecting to voter fraud at a time when the only hard evidence of serious abuse of the process is a recording of The Donald leaning on the top election official in Georgia to 'find' him some votes. Audit that!

Preparations are progressing to provision Trump Tower in Manhattan as @therealWhiteHouse

And is Melania going to spend Inauguration Day in Scotland?

Impossible. It's only contested by crazy people. The joint session tomorrow is largely ceremonial. Pence has no power to do anything other than count out loud. There will be objections to the electors sent by some swing states, but for these to stand they must receive majorities in both the Senate and the House. The chances of the House Democrats voting to overturn a Biden-won state vote are somewhere between snowballs and zero. It's Game Over.

The Trump Effect

Extraordinary pictures from the Capitol. MAGA-capped protestors stormed the barricades, broke the windows and are now inside the chambers with an armed standoff outside the Senate chamber. A woman is in critical condition after reportedly being shot in the chest.

Trump did not incite this explicitly, but has so far done almost nothing to lower the temperature. He should call them off, this is beyond any legal 'peaceful protest'.

Pence is tense.

Good news - Ivanka has said the violence must stop.

Less good news, she described the anarchic mob who forced their way into the legislature as 'American Patriots'.

https://twitter.com/ricardodpda/status/1346918658778435584/photo/1

(Original deleted).

They're in the Speaker's office now. Writing her a nice note. Entire DC National Guard mobilised as multiple officers have been injured, one hospitalised.

https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1346918809240797191

Finally.

Go home, you lovely, special people.

Nah, they're white.

Yeah, CNN management has put the word out, 'Trump Supporters' and 'Rioters' is in, 'Protestors' is out.

The law enforcement does seem to have been remarkably easily overwhelmed, can't help suspecting there'd be rather more police knees available for necks if this had been BLM....

Yeah, One of these things is not like the other

Yes, Twitter has finally started removing TrumpTweets, but you can still find them.

These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long, Go home with love & peace. Remember this day forever!

These are the things and events that happen when you feed your supporters endless lies to engender false hope, protect your fragile ego and raise $billions. You lost, and not by just a little.

This election actually was not unusually close. Just in recent history, 1976, 2000 and 2004 were all closer than this one. The electoral college margin is almost identical to what it was in 2016. If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral. We’d never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost. The electoral college, which most of us on this side have been defending for years, would cease to exist, leaving many of our states with no real say at all in choosing a president. The effects would go even beyond the elections themselves.

- Mitch McConnell.

The woman who was shot inside the Capitol has now been pronounced dead.

.... and his account locked

Ooops

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1346970430062485505