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Foxconn has officially agreed to buy the former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio from struggling EV startup Lordstown Motors, giving the iPhone assembler its first automotive factory and a second chance at establishing a manufacturing foothold in the United States. The Taiwanese conglomerate has spent the last year buying up or partnering with companies in the electric vehicle space in a massive effort to diversify away from laptops and smartphones.

The two companies announced Wednesday that theyve agreed to the framework deal first announced in September, meaning Foxconn will pay Lordstown Motors $230 million for the 6.2-million-square-foot factory. Foxconn has also agreed to contract manufacture Lordstown Motors electric pickup truck, the Endurance. The deal is expected to close by the end of April next year, and it has to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

The startup bought the plant from GM in 2019 months after the leading US automaker had shuttered it a decision that drew the ire of then-President Donald Trump. Trump pumped up Lordstown Motors effort to buy the factory in May 2019, saying in a tweet that it was GREAT NEWS FOR OHIO! After that, Lordstown Motors became something of a darling of the Trump administration. It was invited to the White House for an event, and Mike Pence appeared at the event where the startup revealed the Endurance.

Lordstown Motors has struggled mightily since, though, despite raising nearly $700 million when it went public in late 2020. It is currently under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice after a short-selling research firm raised allegations of fraud. A number of executives have resigned, including president Rich Schmidt, which Lordstown Motors announced Wednesday morning. The startup had said earlier this year that it would run out of cash in May 2022 without more funding.

The Ohio factory is the second location where Foxconn overlaps with Trump. The first was in Wisconsin, where Trump touted Foxconns planned LCD factory as the eighth wonder of the world. The plans for that factory have been dramatically revised down in scope ever since, though, and Foxconn has done little more at the location than raze acres of land and put up some empty buildings.

Lordstown Motors will continue to rent space in the Ohio factory, but just 30,000 square feet, according to a regulatory filing. The startup announced Wednesday that will work with Foxconn to develop vehicles on the Taiwanese conglomerates new EV platform. Another EV startup, Fisker Inc., will use some space in the factory, too, to build an electric vehicle with Foxconn.

Lordstown Motors said earlier this year that it had already spent $240 million updating the factory to get it ready to build the Endurance. The startup will also get to keep its electric motor production line, as well as its battery module and pack assembly lines. In addition, certain manufacturing and operational [Lordstown Motors] employees will become employees of Foxconn.

Update 8:55PM ET: Added details from a new stock exchange filing about the deal.

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Foxconn buys Ohio electric vehicle factory once touted by Donald Trump - The Verge

November 9, 2021

November 9, 2021

Donald Trump is many things, but he is first and foremost a moron.

This doesn't mean he isn't other things as well malicious, cruel, greedy, self-obsessed, unusually adept at demagoguery. But above all else, he is an imbecile who led an administration dominated by imbeciles. If he manages to get himself elected president again in 2024, the executive branch of the government in the most powerful nation on Earth will once more be led by half-wits and dopes.

Do you doubt it? How quickly we forget!

The 2020 presidential election took place just over a year ago. It took three days for the results to become sufficiently clear for Joe Biden to be declared the winner. The day after that, Trump's lawyer and adviser Rudy Giuliani called a press conference at the Four Seasons in Philadelphia to dispute those results. Only instead of the event taking place at the five-star hotel of that name in Center City, it was mistakenly booked at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company in an outlying industrial part of the city. There he and a small number of staffers and Trump loyalists stood before the press, campaign signs taped to the wall of a garage door.

Over the next two months Giuliani repeatedly advanced Trump's claims of election fraud in public. On one occasion he did so with black hair dye running down the side of face. He was also joined by several other defenders people such as My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, and lawyers Sidney Powell and Lyn Wood, who made claims about the deceased Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez somehow manipulating American election results from beyond the grave or China pulling mysterious strings to deny Trump his victory. These were not madmen ranting on some closed-circuit television channel. They were people either working for the president of the United States or granted regular access to the Oval Office, where Trump eagerly drank in their idiocy.

To those who say this shows that Trump was broken by his electoral defeat, one can only respond: Do you not recall one of the very first things the 45th president did upon arriving in the White House in January 2017 was to insist the size of the crowd at his inauguration surpassed the one that gathered for Barack Obama's eight years before? And that Trump insisted on this despite the existence of photographs clearly demonstrating it wasn't true? And that he forced his press secretary to repeat this blatant nonsense before a roomful of journalists as well? Trump's four years in office was a real time test of whether the country could survive being led by an ignoramus.

The good news: We passed!

The bad news: It could have been much, much worse and Trump shows every sign of wanting to continue the examination for another four years.

But wait, isn't Trump's imbecility a good thing overall? We hear this argument a lot that, yes, Trump is a dolt, but this keeps him from doing even more damage. Far worse would be a competent Republican like former Vice President Mike Pence or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or just about anyone else, who would be more capable of enacting his right-wing agenda and subverting democracy.

I'm sorry, but this is incredibly foolish.

Trump's stupidity, his inability to accept his own loss in the election, his withdrawal into a fantasy reality in which he could reverse the results, and his willingness to listen to other morons who encouraged that idiocy all of these things are deeply intertwined. It's true a less foolhardy Republican president would be more competent at governing. But this president would also be far more capable of accepting a political loss, not to mention other inconvenient aspects of reality. When it comes to evaluating fitness for high political office, such a capacity should be considered an absolute bare minimum.

We have trouble acknowledging this because it's challenging to grasp the depth and precise character of Trump's imbecility. It's not that he lacks an education, or that he doesn't have certain talents in abundance above all, the ability to tap into and exploit the prejudices and fears of a culturally alienated and resentful segment of the electorate. Trump's stupidity has different sources. It arises from emotional defects. He is so incapable of accepting failure that he warps reality around himself, constructing alternatives to the way the world is and then plunging into them, no matter how fantastically daft they happen to be. That makes Trump's idiocy next of kin to outright delusion.

It's bad enough for people like Giuliani, Lindell, Powell, and Wood to be circling the White House, seeking to exert influence on the president. It's far, far worse for the president to listen to what these morons say and think, "Yes, this is good advice." That shows an almost psychotic level of inanity.

Even worse, when the person sitting behind the Resolute Desk is that easily manipulated, he might also come under the influence of people who aren't morons but who want to advance their own agendas by preying on presidential witlessness. Think here of John Eastman, the conservative legal scholar who convinced Trump in the days leading up to Jan. 6 that Mike Pence could single-handedly act to keep Congress from certifying Joe Biden's electoral victory.

Add it all up and it becomes clear why the worst possible outcome three years from now would be Donald Trump winning back the White House. That would be vastly worse than Pence winning or DeSantis winning or Nikki Haley winning or really anyone else in the GOP winning, except, perhaps, for those like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene or Arizona state Sen.Wendy Rogers, who might actually be as moronic as Trump himself.

The dangerous and demoralizing truth is that the GOP is now divided into three camps: an endangered species of dissenters like Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who reject the drift of the party into outright lunacy; a larger portion of people (including Greene, Rogers, and others) who may well be as thick-headed as Trump himself; and a much larger number of people who have resigned themselves to playing along with the stupidity encouraged by the man running the Republican show. The last group includes pretty much everyone entertaining a run for the White House in 2024 who isn't named Trump.

Now don't get me wrong: It's bad to elevate public figures who feign imbecility for political gain. But it's worse for the man elected to the nation's highest office to be a genuine moron. Thanks to the ongoing devolution of the Republican Party, American voters and political analysts have no choice but to render judgments on the basis of precisely such nuanced distinctions.

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The once and future idiot king - The Week Magazine

The affidavit from the FBI in support of an arrest warrant for Scott Kevin Fairlamb. Fairlamb, a New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for the attack. Jon Elswick/AP hide caption

The affidavit from the FBI in support of an arrest warrant for Scott Kevin Fairlamb. Fairlamb, a New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for the attack.

A New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to more than three years in prison. Scott Fairlamb's sentencing on Wednesday to 41 months in prison is likely to become a benchmark for dozens of other Capitol rioters who engaged in violence. Fairlamb was the first person to be sentenced for assaulting a law enforcement officer during the riot. His prison term is the longest among 32 riot-related sentences handed down so far. Federal prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of three years and eight months.

A New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison, a likely benchmark for dozens of other rioters who engaged in violence that day.

Scott Fairlamb, 44, was the first person to be sentenced for assaulting a law enforcement officer during the Capitol riot. His 41-month prison term is the longest among 32 riot-related sentences handed down so far.

Fairlamb's punishment likely will guide other judges who sentence rioters who clashed with police at the Capitol. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said it was significant that his sentencing of Fairlamb was the first for assaulting an officer, with more guilty pleas likely in the coming months.

Lamberth said Fairlamb's actions struck at "the heart of our democracy." He had pleaded guilty, avoiding a trial.

"Had you gone to trial, I don't think there's any jury that could have acquitted you or would have acquitted you," the judge said.

Fairlamb, a boxing coach and former mixed martial arts fighter, apologized and expressed remorse for actions that he described as irresponsible and reckless.

"I take full responsibility for what I did that day," Fairlamb said. "That's not who I am. That's not who I was raised to be."

Justice Department prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of three years and eight months for Fairlamb, saying he was among the first rioters to breach the Capitol and incited others to be violent.

Other defendants are soon to face sentencing, including the shirtless rioter who called himself the "QAnon Shaman." Jacob Chansley, who wore face paint and a furry hat with horns when he stormed the Capitol, became "the public face of the Capitol riot." prosecutors said in a court filing late Tuesday. They recommended a longer prison sentence, four years and three months, when the Arizona man is sentenced next Wednesday.

Prosecutors argue Chansley armed himself with a six-foot spear, used his bullhorn to rile up other rioters, spewed threats in the Senate gallery and left a threatening note for then-Vice President Mike Pence, they noted. Unlike Fairlamb, Chansley isn't accused of physically assaulting anyone.

Fairlamb joined a group of rioters who pushed through a line of police officers and metal barricades on the Capitol's West Terrace. He recorded a video of himself shouting, "What (do) patriots do? We f disarm them and then we storm the f Capitol!"

Fairlamb carried a police baton into the Capitol, then left the building and approached several Metropolitan Police Department officers, screaming as he followed them. Fairlamb shoved one of the officers and punched his face shield.

The officer wasn't injured but described Jan. 6 as the scariest day of his career, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat told the judge.

Two days after the riot, Fairlamb said on a video that "they pulled the pin on the grenade, and the blackout is coming. What a time to be a patriot," according to prosecutors.

Fairlamb pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting the police officer. Sentencing guidelines calculated by the court's probation department recommend a term of imprisonment ranging from 41 to 51 months.

Defense attorney Harley Breite asked for Fairlamb to be sentenced to 11 months imprisonment, about how long he has been jailed since his Jan. 22 arrest at his home in Stockholm, New Jersey.

Fairlamb owned Fairlamb Fit gym in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, but it closed after his arrest. He is the brother of a Secret Service agent who was assigned to protect former first lady Michelle Obama, according to Breite.

Fairlamb's social media posts indicate that he subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory and promoted a bogus claim that former President Donald Trump would become the first president of "the new Republic" on March 4, prosecutors said.

Fairlamb feels that he was "duped by social media," his lawyer said in a court filing.

"Epiphanies are rare but it certainly didn't take Mr. Fairlamb long to realize that his previous line of thinking was incorrect," Breite wrote.

More than 100 law enforcement officers were injured during the riot, according to prosecutors. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died after rioters sprayed him with a chemical irritant.

Over 650 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot, including more than 100 accused of assaulting law enforcement officers. More than 120 defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors that carry a maximum of six months imprisonment.

Before Fairlamb's sentencing, the longest sentence for a Capitol rioter was eight months, for a Florida man who breached the Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag. A Texas man who posted threats connected to Jan. 6 but didn't storm the Capitol was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

Chansley, who pleaded guilty in September to felony obstruction of an official proceeding, has spent more than 300 days in jail. He is seeking a time-served sentence.

His lawyer compared Chansley to Forrest Gump, the movie character played by Tom Hanks, and claimed he was oblivious to much of what transpired at the Capitol. His attorney also said Chansley has longstanding mental health problems and suffered from being held in solitary confinement due to COVID-19 protocols.

Link:
Capitol rioter who hit a police officer gets over 3 years in prison - NPR

The attorney who wrote the infamous coup memos on how to jettison the results of a legitimate presidential election angrily blamed then-Vice President Mike Pence for the Capitol siege as rioters roamed through the building on Jan. 6, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Donald Trumpattorney John Eastmanlambasted Pences chief counsel at the time, Greg Jacob, as he and Pence were under guard and hiding out as the mob streamed through the Capitol.

The siege is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened, Eastman reportedly wrote to Jacob, referring to Trumps baseless claims of voter fraud.

Jacob quoted from he email in an opinion piece he planned to publish earlier this year but ultimately opted not to. A draft of the article was obtained by the Post.

Eastman displayed a shocking lack of awareness of how those practical implications were playing out in real time, Jacob wrote in the draft, according to the Post. He called Eastmans relentless legal advice on how to subvert Americans vote a barrage of bankrupt legal theories.

Jacob wrote in the draft column that Eastman and Trumps former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were part of a cadre of outside lawyers who had spun a web of lies and disinformation in an attempt to pressure Pence to betray his oath of office and the Constitution by rejecting electoral votes, the Post noted.

Eastman confirmed to the Post that he wrote the email to Jacob, but denied that he was blaming Pence for the violence. He insisted the election was plagued by widespread fraud, a perspective unsupported by any evidence.

Eastman was part of a Trump war room team based in the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., after Bidens victory,plotting how to overturn the results of the presidential election.

Story continues

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection plans to subpoena Eastman.

Also on HuffPost

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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'Coup Memo' Lawyer Ripped Mike Pence As He Hid From Jan. 6 'Hanging' Mob: Report - Yahoo News

ASHLAND Critical race theory, Ronald Reagan and problems within the Biden administration.

Mike Pencetouched on them all and had the crowd applauding and cheering during a 30-minute speech Friday night at the 34th annual Ashbrook Memorial Dinner at Ashland University's John C. Myers Convocation Center.

Remembering Colin Powell: Ashbrook Center remembers the late Colin Powell, first Black secretary of state

It was the 48th vice president's third visit to Ashland and Richland countiessince 2016, when he campaigned for the White House on the Trump-Pence ticket.

Pence told the crowd of more than 550 that Republicans will take back the House next year and soon after, the White House. He did not reference any of his own campaign plans, but Pence has been making a series of recent appearances, including a stop in Virginia Thursday.

We are "going to win back America in 2024," he said to a round of applause at Friday's appearance in Ashland, where he touched on a number oftopics:

On Ronald Reagan: He is "truly one of a kind," he said. "He set ournation on a new course of freedom," noting he became a Republican because of Reagan.

On President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris: Pence criticized the Democratic administration's liberal policies saying they created the worst border crisis in the country's history. "Now more than ever we need to dedicate ourselves to the founders' vision," Pence said.

On critical race theory:It "is nothing short of state-sponsored racism," Pence said, ..."actually teaching children as young as kindergarten to be ashamed of their skin color."

Ashbrook center hosts Judge O'Connor: Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O'Connor speaks at Ashbrook Lecture Series at AU

Before his remarks, Penceaccepted the John M. Ashbrook Award.The Ashbrook Center, dedicated in 1983 by then-President Reagan, is named forthe late Congressman Ashbrook, who represented Ohios 17thdistrict for 21 years.

Pence also touted effective and safe COVID-19 vaccines quickly developed during the Trump administration when Pence led the White HouseCoronavirus Task Force.

Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell, Mayor Matt Miller and former Prosecutor Bob DeSantos were in attendance, along with Ohio legislators state Sen. Mark Romanchuck, U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, Sec. of State Frank LaRose and U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson.

Five-hundred and seventy-four seats were set for the event,Ashland University's Linda McFarlin said.

"This is a very prestigious event," McFarlin said. "A lot of hard work goes into this event,"which helps supportAshbrook Scholars in theliberal arts politics and history program.

Past speakers have included Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Margaret Thatcher, Benjamin Netanyahu, Clarence Thomas, Mitt Romney, and Tucker Carlson.

The dinner staff was lean, relying on volunteers from the university's men's basketball team andband members, according to McFarlin.

McFarlin said she found the former vice president to be "quite a nice man, very humble and soft-spoken."

Five-hundred and sixty meals were prepared, according to Ashland University chef Kevin Burke.

Dinner is preppednearly two days ahead, Burke said, notingkitchen staff came in at 5 a.m. Friday to prepare for the 7 p.m. event. Some worked up to 15 hours, he noted.

"We enjoy doing it " Burke said.

Despite political tensions, Pence, a devout Christian, said he has faith in the American people.

"This is a nation of faith," Pence said. "I saw it everywhere I went. ... The foundation of America is freedom. The foundation of freedom is faith."

He enjoyed a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

Reach Grant at gritchey@gannett.com

On Twitter: @ritchey_grant

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Former VP Mike Pence talks critical race theory, Ronald Reagan during Ashland appearance - Port Clinton News Herald