Trump’s PowerPoint coup plotters were crackpots. We may not be so lucky next time.

Trump’s PowerPoint coup plotters were crackpots. We may not be so lucky next time.

Mark Meadows, President Donald Trump's chief of staff, outside the White House on Oct. 21, 2020. (Al Drago/Reuters)

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By Dana Milbank

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The revolution will not be televised. But it will be available in PowerPoint format.

This particular PowerPoint Plot will contain boxes and crazy arrows pointing every which way, the odd typo, a bizarre conspiracy involving a 1976 murder by “U.S.-backed police,” the wild allegation that “the Chinese systematically gained control over our election system constituting a national security emergency,” and the inevitable conclusion, highlighted twice in yellow and in all caps: “TRUMP WINS!!” And, above all, it will be based on the work of a treasure hunter who led an unsuccessful search for the biblical Ark of the Covenant and claimed a “magical” sword proved the ancient Romans sailed to Canada.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection has discovered that a 38-page PowerPoint deck landed in the inbox of then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows suggesting that President Donald Trump announce a “national security emergency” and “declare electronic voting in all states invalid” — thereby overturning the 2020 election. Meadows is ignoring a subpoena to testify about matters including the PowerPoint and his email asserting that the National Guard was on standby on Jan. 6 to “protect pro Trump people.”

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For that, Meadows is expected Tuesday to be held in contempt of Congress. But a review of a publicly available version of the PowerPoint similar to the one in the committee’s hands — as well as its authors — suggests Meadows would more properly be held in contempt of competence.

Not for the first time, we are reminded that American democracy was saved by Team Trump’s buffoonery. They had the will, and possibly the means, to overthrow the 2020 election, but the would-be coup was attempted by clowns: Sidney “Kraken” Powell, the MyPillow guy, Rudy Giuliani of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, and now one Jovan Hutton Pulitzer.

The New York Times reported that the Meadows PowerPoint “appears to be based on the theories” of Pulitzer, a “Texas entrepreneur and self-described inventor.” Pulitzer told my Post colleagues that he contributed material for the PowerPoint, which was circulated by a retired colonel who has worked in cybersecurity, firearms and distilleries — an example, the Post reported, of the “cast of fringe personalities” Trump deployed “to sabotage the U.S. democratic process.”

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When it comes to eccentricity, Pulitzer takes the prize. Years ago, under the name Jeffry Jovan Philyaw, he invented the CueCat, a feline-shaped bar code scanner that was a brief sensation before it collapsed amid savage reviews by tech writers and earned a spot on Time magazine’s “50 worst inventions” and PC World’s “25 worst tech products of all time.”

Philyaw/Pulitzer then became a treasure hunter for the Lost Ark and landed on the History Channel for his claims about a Roman sword in Nova Scotia that many believe to be a hoax. He also sold quartz crystals of “powerful spiritual significance" and wrote a series of books called “Commander’s Lost Treasures,” including one titled “How to Cut Off Your Arm and Eat Your Dog: Plus, Other Recipes for Survival.” He kept up with his prolific career as an inventor, too (or at least as a patent applicant), proposing things we never knew we needed, such as “a vibrating finger cuff for use in performing a finger prick.”

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But his greatest invention came after the 2020 election, when he pronounced himself a voting expert, claiming he could identify fraudulent ballots by detecting, among other things, Chinese ink and fibers. Trump allies in Georgia invited him to testify before the state legislature, where he claimed to have hacked into Georgia’s voting system. Georgia’s (Republican) secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, called Pulitzer a “failed treasure hunter” and his claims “patently false.”

But Trump’s chief of staff was happy to listen.

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“KEY Issue: China has leveraged financial, non-governmental and foreign allies including Venezuela to acquire INFLUENCE and CONTROL US Voting Infrastructure in at least 28 States,” proclaimed the PowerPoint based on Pulitzer’s work. “KEY Issue in 2020: Critical Infrastructure control utilized as part of ongoing globalist/socialist operation to subvert the will of United States Voters and install a China ally.” The deck alleged without evidence that Jorge Rodríguez, a former Venezuelan vice president, was a “likely mastermind.”

After the failed coup, Pulitzer moved on — to the Arizona “audit,” for which he offered his services as a “document pattern recognition expert” who could sniff out fake ballots. Remember the search for “bamboo” fibers to prove fake ballots came from China? That was inspired by Pulitzer, who helped the “Cyber Ninjas” in their hapless Arizona exploits.

It’s tempting to dismiss charlatans such as Pulitzer, and Trump aides such as Meadows who relied on crackpots. But it’s little comfort that democracy was saved only by the bumbling of the coup plotters.

Next time, we may not be so lucky. And if you don’t think that’s a real threat, I’d like to sell you an ancient Roman sword I found near Halifax.