Donald Trump became president by exploiting a loophole called the Electoral College. The majority of Americans did not want him or vote for him as president, but he's there anyway.

Now he's planning on using a different loophole, the 12th Amendment, to hang onto power.

Read more here.

-Thom

In the power grab to fill the Supreme Court seat announced the same evening as the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mitch McConnell didn't do anything new. The GOP has a long history of playing hardball power politics.

In the late 19th century, Republicans added four states (Nevada, Colorado, North Dakota, and South Dakota) purely to gain eight new Republican senators, a trick Democrats could duplicate today by bringing statehood to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico (and maybe even Guam).

And in 1877, Republicans installed their presidential candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, into the White House after he had lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College vote to Democrat Samuel Tilden, a case Trump may have been referring to in a press conference on September 16, saying, “at a certain point, it goes to Congress.” (This is the 12th Amendment nightmare I wrote about in March and Greg Palast has recently pursued.)

Read more here.

-Thom

Wednesday's Daily Stack

Hour One: Mid-day with Mark
- Congressman Mark Pocan (D-WI, 2nd District)

Article: "For Florida Legislature, It's Full Speed Ahead to Name Electors" by Jeffrey Gettleman, Nov. 29, 2000.

Article: "White House seeks advice of John Yoo, known for writing 'torture memos' used to justify actions after Sept. 11 terror attacks" by Jill Colvin and Mark Sherman.

Article: "Judge extends deadline for Wisconsin absentee ballots to be received" by Adam Brewster.

Article: "Fauci and Rand Paul clash over Cuomo, NY handling of COVID-19" by Steven Nelson.

Article: "Coronavirus update: Central New York positive test rate drops to 1%" by Kevin Tampone.

Article: "Wisconsin reports 717 new COVID-19 cases and record positive rate, as Evers asks FEMA not to limit PPE funding" by Madeline Heim and Molly Beck.

Article: "Pelosi says she has 'arrows in my quiver' on court fight, but unclear what they are" by MarketWatch.

Article: "GOP senators' report calls Hunter Biden's board position with Ukraine firm 'problematic,' but fails to show how it changed U.S. policy" by Karoun Demirjian, Tom Hamburger and Paul Sonne.

Article: "Filibuster in the United States Senate" by Wikipedia.

Article: "What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now" by Ron Elving.

Article: "Certiorari" by Wikipedia.

Article: "About the Supreme Court" by United States Courts.

Article: "Hatch Act of 1939" by Wikipedia.

Article: "What Is The Hatch Act? Trump's Campaign Accused Of Breaking Federal Law" by Nicole Massabrook.

Article: "Pelosi, Democrats unveil bills to rein in alleged White House abuses of power" by Mike Lillis.

Article: "Trump Says He Is 'Counting on the Federal Court System' to Declare Winner on Election Night-Before Many Ballots Are Tallied" by Jake Johnson.

Article: "Article Four of the United States Constitution" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff" (RCV) by FairVote.

Article: "Ranked choice voting in Maine a go for presidential election" by David Sharp.

Hour Two: Why Does Ron DeSantis Want It To Be Legal To Hit Protestors With Cars?
- Commissioner Nikki Fried (D-FL) Florida Commissioner of Agriculture & Consumer Services / Attorney & Activist (highest ranking Democrat in Florida & was a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention.)

Article: "Where Running Over Protesters Could Become Legal" by Kelly Weill, Spencer Ackerman.

Article: "Fried: DeSantis & Republicans Are "Fear-Mongering"" by Sean Mooney.

Site: Be SMART Florida Consumer Safety Awareness Campaign.

Article: "CONTESTING THE VOTE: THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE; Jeb Bush Is Said to Be Willing to Sign Bill Ensuring Republican Victory in Florida" by David Barstow and Somini Sengupta, 28 Nov 2000.

Article: "Florida's COVID-19 death toll at 13,782 after six months".

Article: "Electoral College" by Wikipedia.

Article: "12th Amendment"

Article: "We need to plan now in case Trump loses in November - but refuses to leave the White House" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "The Hayes-Tilden Electoral Commission" by James Monroe.

Article: "Trump Constitutionally Could Remain President Even if He Loses 2020 Popular and Electoral Votes, and He Knows It" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Trump argues full Supreme Court needed to settle potential election disputes" by Morgan Chalfant.

Article: "Swing state" by Wikipedia.

Article: "John Yoo" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Jay Bybee" by Wikipedia.

Site: I Will Vote.

Article: "Trump-Biden debate topics released ahead of their first head-to-head matchup" by Allan Smith.

Article: "Allegations of racism have marked Trump's presidency and become key issue as election nears" by Greg Miller.

Article: "America in Peril If RBG's SCOTUS Seat Is Not Filled Before Election" by Eric Golub.

Article: "Dems Threaten to Burn Down the Republic to Stack the Supreme Court" by Ben Shapiro.

Article: "Similarities Between Germany's Nazis and America's "Peaceful Protestors"" by Washington Times.

Article: "Sturmabteilung" (Brownshirts).

Article: "Sturmabteilung" (SA, Storm Troopers, Brownshirts) by Shoah Resource Center.

Book: "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William L. Shirer.

Article: "Amy Coney Barrett Has the Qualities We Need and Deserve in a Justice" by Rep. Mike Johnson.

Article: "Last Best Chance to Capture Supreme Court" by Patrick J. Buchanan.

Article: "Kamala Harris Will Remind Everyone How Awful She Is During Confirmation Hearings" by Stephen Kruiser.

Article: "Bolton Is Willing to Testify in Trump Impeachment Trial, Raising Pressure for Witnesses" by Nicholas Fandos and Michael S. Schmidt.

Article: "'Use My Words Against Me': Lindsey Graham's Shifting Position On Court Vacancies" by Matthew S. Schwartz.

Article: "Jaime Harrison" by Wikipedia.

Site: Jaime Harrison for Senate.

Article: "South Carolina Senate Race: New Poll Shows Voters Split On Lindsey Graham, Jaime Harrison" by Wesley Dockery.

Article: "Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Turkey and Michael Flynn: Five things to know" by Rebecca Kheel.

Article: "AG Barr Opens Investigation Into Biden Corruption" by Sean Adl-Tabatabai.

Article: "Republican Ron Johnson releases report critical of Hunter Biden, but offers no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden" by Craig Gilbert.

Article: "Hunter Biden received $3.5M wire transfer from Russian billionaire: Senate report" by Emily Jacobs.

Article: "Judge Rips Flynn, Asks About Treason Before Delaying Sentencing For Lying To FBI" by Ryan J. Reilly.

Article: "GOP senators visited Moscow on July 4, warned Russia against meddling in 2018 election: report" by Emily Birnbaum.

Hour Three: "My Dad Was Not a Nobody..."
- Kristin Urquiza, MPA Co-Founder & Chief Activist - Marked By Covid / she is the daughter of Mark Anthony Urquiza who died from Covid-19 in June ("...his only underlying condition was believing Donald Trump.") (Kristin also spoke at the Convention)

Article: "Putin's Rival Alexei Navalny In A Coma After Suspected Poisoning" by Lucian Kim.

Article: "Coronavirus cases surge to early pandemic levels of 1,300 a day in Canada as health officials warn infections could reach 5,000 daily if people continue gathering in large groups" by Mary Kekatos.

Article: "5,000 people went to an anti-mask rally in Montreal, some with Trump flags" by CultMTL.

Article: "Social gatherings behind surge in Montreal's COVID-19 cases: Drouin" by René Bruemmer.

Why GA's Secretary of State Is Worried About THIS Lawsuit
- Greg Palast, The Guardian / Investigative Journalist/Author/Filmmaker, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy / His new book, How Trump Stole 2020: The Hunt For America's Vanished Voters.

Article: "Palast Lawsuit Threat to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger" by Greg Palast.

Article: "ACLU Releases Palast Fund 'Georgia Voter Purge Errors' Report" by Nicole Powers.

Video: "Palast Investigative team joint press conference with Black Voters Matter Fund founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright".

Site: Black Voters Matter.

Site: Save My Vote 2020.

Book: "The Federalist Papers" by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay.

Article: "The Federalist Papers : No. 68: The Mode of Electing the President" by Alexander Hamilton.

Article: "Derecho" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Tornado" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Seven deadly sins" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Notre Dame-Wake Forest game postponed as nearly two dozen Fighting Irish players in isolation or quarantine" by News Service Report.

Site: Democratic National Committee

Article: "All the President's Crimes" by The Intercept.

Article: "Brett Kavanaugh" by Wikipedia.

Article: "John Roberts" by Wikipedia.

Case: "Bush v. Gore", 2000. "The counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner Bush"

Article: "New Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh has ties to big Florida moments" by Monique O. Madan.

Article: "John Roberts' dark and sordid history bodes poorly if the 2020 election goes to the Supreme Court" by Bill Blum.

Article: "Scientific American Endorses Joe Biden" by Scientific American.

Site: Indivisible

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

I'll be talking with Economist Dr. Richard Wolff, Co-founder, Democracy At Work / Author of numerous books including Understanding Marxism and his latest, Understanding Socialism.

Plus, Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director, Center for Economic & Policy Research / President-Just Foreign Policy / Author of several books including "FAILED: What the "Experts" Got Wrong about the Global Economy", will be here to update us on the situation in Bolivia, and the role of the Organization of American State.

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

Is DeSantis Letting Floridians Run Over Protesters? (w/ Nikki Fried)

2020: The Stakes Have Never Been Higher...

The Right Is Organized, Can We Organize The Left?

Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory Says Trump Fights Satanic Pedophiles? (w/ Judd Legum)

Will They Turn New Mexico Into Nuclear Waste Dump? (w/ Kevin Kamps)

Trump's Unseen Modern Day American Genocide...