Listen, Mark, I have an idea…

It's been quite a week on Capitol Hill. After a publicly slow—though privately busy—few months, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol dropped some bombshells this week. The vast majority came courtesy of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' mobile phone. And it looks like Donald Trump had quite a bit of help in his scheme to overturn democracy. Rep. Jim Jordan (who, lest we forget, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy initially nominated for the committee) texted Meadows arguing that former Vice President Mike Pence should reject certain electoral votes for President Biden. And Jordan isn't the only one wrapped up in it. —CNBC

• — Rick Perry. Members of the committee believe that Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and Energy secretary under Trump, was the author of another text message to Meadows, sent the day after the 2020 election. In it, he pushed an "AGRESSIVE (sic) STRATEGY" for three state legislatures to ignore the will of their voters and deliver their states' electors to Trump. Perry denies being the author of the text, but multiple people who know him have confirmed that it's his phone number. —CNN
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• — Roger Stone. Republican political operative and provocateur Roger Stone refused to answer questions from the committee today under his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. The committee subpoenaed Stone last month to ask about a D.C. rally where he spoke on Jan. 5, and about his fundraising through the website stopthesteal.org. While in Washington, he reportedly used members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group whose members have been charged in the riot at the Capitol, as his security team, according to the committee. —USA Today
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• — Phil Waldron. Here's a name you may not know. Yesterday, the committee announced that it had issued a subpoena to retired Army Col. Phil Waldron, who worked with Trump's outside legal team. Waldron is suspected of having had a hand in authoring a PowerPoint presentation that outlined various proposals to overturn the results of the 2020 election and then briefing Republican members of Congress on it. The subpoena requests that Waldron appear for a deposition on Jan. 17 and provide documents to the committee by Jan. 10. Stay tuned. —The Washington Post

Goldberg: The Fox News mask comes off

"[T]he central truth of the texts isn't that what the mob was doing was condemnable, but that Trump was responsible for the condemnable behavior. By the time the cameras went on, [Fox News host] Laura Ingraham was still willing to condemn the president's mob, but not the president. And if you read the transcript, much of the show was dedicated to rationalizing the mob's behavior, with various GOP congressmen changing the subject to the supposed real outrage of the stolen election." —Jonah Goldberg on The Dispatch

Jonah Goldberg is the editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and a Los Angeles Times columnist. He holds the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty at the American Enterprise Institute and was previously the senior editor at National Review.

MORE: Mark Meadows' texts reveal what the White House knew about the danger in the Capitol on Jan. 6 —USA Today

Voting rights vs the filibuster

With moral support from the White House—and the Build Back Better Act currently stalled—Senate Democrats are turning their attention back to voting rights legislation necessary to protect democracy amid Republican changes to election laws in key states. The stumbling block? The Senate's filibuster rule. A range of proposals are being discussed that would help break through Senate gridlock. Ideas include making it easier for the Senate to start debate on bills, curbing the ability of a senator to single-handedly block action on chamber business (looking at you, Ted Cruz), or reinstituting the "talking filibuster," which would force objecting senators to hold the Senate floor rather than silently object. "A rules change should be done to where we all have input…because we're all going to live with it," Sen. Joe Manchin, who supports the filibuster, said. "Because we'll be in the minority sometime." —The Washington Post

MORE: Biden signs debt ceiling increase, preventing first-ever U.S. default —CNBC

Bernstein: The threat is real, folks

"The bottom line is pretty straightforward. In a two-party system, both parties will eventually hold office. If one of those parties has turned against democratic norms, it will eventually hold power and, well, enact its preferences. It is extremely unlikely that rank-and-file voters would prevent such a party from taking power; people simply don't vote based on that kind of abstraction. And thanks to partisan polarization, most voters will automatically support their team in any event. Democracy depends on a willingness to lose elections. If that willingness starts wavering…we're in trouble." —Jonathan Bernstein in Bloomberg

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University.

MORE: Lawrence Douglas: Republicans are plotting to destroy democracy from within —The Guardian

Khodarkovsky: The madness to Putin's method

"Ukraine's only sins to Russia are taking its sovereignty seriously and choosing the path of democracy. After years of trying to subvert Ukraine, Moscow might be prepared for another military invasion. The Kremlin may believe that together with Belarus, under its dictator Alexander Lukashenko, occupying Ukraine would solve Russia's demographic problem, add a large industrial base and, above all, resurrect Russia as an Eastern Slavic and Russian Orthodox empire." —Michael Khodarkovsky in Miami Herald

Michael Khodarkovsky is a professor of history at Loyola University Chicago and the author of "Russia's 20th Century: A Journey in 100 Histories."

MORE: China and Russia show solidarity, but likely won't support each other militarily, analysts say —CNBC

Focus on immigration

As South Texas has seen a jump in illegal border crossings, some sheriffs are cooperating with groups of armed private citizens to help patrol the border and arrest migrants for trespassing. The groups consist mostly of men donning body armor and rifles—and some with high-tech equipment like drones to track down undocumented immigrants. A new Texas law allows such groups to arrest migrants for trespassing, and local officials are either offering tacit support or openly welcoming them.

• — Taking matters into their own hands. State authorities have resisted these private operations, saying they are concerned about armed civilians trying to act as law enforcement. On Wednesday, the ACLU and nine other organizations filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting that it investigate Texas state agencies and local governments involved in the effort to arrest immigrants. —The Wall Street Journal
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• — A "moral and national shame"? The DOJ broke off negotiations yesterday to pay monetary damages to families who were forcibly separated at the border under the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy. The negotiations, which began early in the Biden Administration, were aimed at settling claims brought by migrant families who were separated while seeking to enter the U.S. for asylum and other reasons. So far, the DOJ has not given an explanation for why it is walking away from the talks or whether it is a permanent development. —NPR
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• — "Deeply disappointing." That's how White House Press Sec. Jen Psaki reacted to the Senate parliamentarian's ruling yesterday, rejecting a Democratic push to include immigration reform in their social spending package. The House-passed version of the Build Back Better Act included a provision that would extend work permits and provide temporary protection from deportation for certain undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. before January 2011. But the parliamentarian indicated it did not comply with the chamber's rules. —Politico

Ed Board: Guard democracy or risk its loss

"Democratic practices and ideals long have been crucial to this nation's social and economic development and credibility to the the world. Our success as a model for the rest of the planet is evidenced by the vastly larger number of people trying to get into this country than those who are trying to leave. In a world that poses endless challenges to our cherished freedoms, it is important to remember that it doesn't always take a war to bring down a democracy or grow a dictatorship. It only takes a failure of our ability to tell the difference." —Chicago Tribune

MORE: Foreign disinformation stokes fears of violence in U.S. —Voice of America

As revelations continue to issue from the Jan. 6 committee, this may be an appropriate time for Republicans to reflect on some of their common assertions put forth in the recent past, e.g., that the Mueller Investigation and two impeachment trials were mere partisan exercises. —Stephen J., Pennsylvania

The more I think about the despicable Christmas "postcard" sent out by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) last weekend, the more I feel the need to say something by way of condemnation for such an affront to basic decency. As I listen to beautiful music and thoughts expressing the feelings of love and good-will that are supposed to prevail at this time of year, the more certain I am that such a disgusting and inappropriate Christmas message would be an affront to the Prince of Peace himself.

And to have posted this utterly offensive "armed family/appeal for ammo" message on the same week as the tragic school shooting in Michigan makes it doubly offensive. There really needs to be a serious consequence for a congressman who is so obtuse and insensitive to the rules of basic decency and common sense. —Robert D., Utah

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