With 98 pages, if you rolled the thing up, you could use it as a club, and if you swung it hard enough, you could put a grown man on the ground. The word for both the indictment and the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney who brought it and will try its charges in court is formidable. They are all historic, the indictments of a former president and others for committing crimes both federal and state, but this one seems somehow more personal. It’s as if the state of Georgia and the persons on the grand jury and District Attorney Fani Willis are saying,
That scene was the inspiration for the second phrase. I was considering "nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." But it didn't really feel germane to "like a sniper."
This kind of rhetoric is counter-productive and smacks of the same trigger-happy playbill that the ultra-right is resorting to. Toning down the imagery is a necessary component to settling the score in the ballot box, the courts and the Halls of Congress. It's restoration of basic rights we are seeking, not blood in the street!
Two different styles of prosecution are being practiced here; hopefully both will bear fruit!
Yeah except she didn't mention anything other than her own views, no vicariously hypothetical deputizing implied - I see what you mean in general, just not in this instance.
Thank you Babette for your reply, though it seems to me rather hyperbolic, out of context and of the radical-right's clarion call of cancel culture. But, that may just be my ego speaking.
And, as I respect this community and its people, I will genuinely consider your words and would be happy to discuss our opposing views further with you.
Scott, I have two reactions to your original comment further above.
On the one hand, I totally agree with the emotions of your comment. I share everyone's seven years of daily frustration, outrage, horror, trauma, and depression at the onset and progression of Trump's desecration of the office of the presidency, his utter dereliction of duty, his compulsion to exploit his base's worst instincts to metastasize his personal pathologies into a national psychosis of lies and hate, and his clear intention to devour everything in his path in his quest to vindicate his own vileness. I let out my emotions by describing his mental illness, but I have no medical degree.
My other reaction is similar to Babette's: that using metaphors of violence and war does a huge disservice to the work of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis, and their respective teams, to charge Trump and his associates in a deliberative way, based on the law and a mountain of meticulously gathered factual evidence. I abhor our Republican-driven gun promiscuity, and I am trying to purge my own speech of gun and violence metaphors. Finally, am I right that our comments on this forum are publicly accessible, even if nonmembers cannot comment, themselves? If so, the gun and war metaphors could provide the right with more fodder for claiming that we on the left are "out to get" Trump and that the indictments and coming trials are political revenge rather than a drive for accountability before the law. I would rather we don't give them any rhetorical quarter.
There are no particular emotions behind my comment. None that I notice anyway. It was simply an observation using language/imagery not atypical for describing adversarial processes like the law.
And I've been thinking about Babette's comment. And my reply to her. There was the typical milieu of emotions of a dinged ego, as evidenced by its mild sarcasm, which influenced my choice of words and presentation. Yet, I still do not think the choice of imagery in my OP is particularly inflammatory.
It is not, and I don't think can be construed, as a call to any form of violence.
I don't know about the visibility of the posts here. And no matter what is posted, if it is in favor of accountability for Trump, his supporters will construe it as "out to get" him. They're already using charges from all of the indictments out of context and making them into attacks on Trump, them, (Jeff Tiedrich speaks to this here on Substack,) the Constitution and America itself that then require violent responses.
So, I asked my former wife about this. "It may seem innocuous to you but not to others." A fair point. And there certainly is much imagery and their words that I no longer use because of how they may be understood as hurtful.
I'm just not seeing that in this context. But, I'll continue to chew on it. So, maybe, just maybe, between you and Babette, something sunk in at some level and we'll see less, though it is infrequent to begin with, of my use of war imagery over time. Worse could happen.
I think war and violence metaphors are tricky, they work fine as abstract calls for mobilization and righteous retaliation to unwarranted aggressions and perceived aggressions (from political opponents, too, but used judiciously, not like the infamous Sarah Palin "Bullseye target" superimposed on Rep. Gabby Giffords, for example) but can indeed come off as overheated and too close to a real threat of violence, even for an arguably traitorous mook like Trump.
Trump seems to be almost uniformly despised on here and across a wide range of other websites (Newsweek is a good example) but even so, I think Elizabeth M. raises a number of important points.
Thank you Richard. Both Elizabeth and Babette make sound points. And I'm enjoying the discussion around them because I can't fundamentally argue against them. Except, maybe, intent and context. But those seem meager...
What they did to Ruby Freeman and her daughter was unconscionable. How they can pick on an innocent person, making her life unbearable by charging her with actions that they new were false demonstrates why we need more safeguards in our legal system. And, the worst part is that they don't care that they have jeopardize the lives of two innocent women who were doing their civic duty by helping out with the elections.
I think Ruby Freeman and her daughter are already suing RudeE and just the other day he had to admit that he lied about them. I would think if tDump et al are found guilty it would help others in the same situation
Yes, they sued Giuliani and OAN News. OAN settled with the two women last year and was dismissed from the lawsuit. The suit against Giuliani continues although he is reported as very recently (early July '23) seeking some sort of resolution of the suit.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/politics/rudy-giuliani-georgia-election-workers-lawsuit/index.html "In a court filing late Friday, Moss and Freeman’s legal team disclosed that Giuliani’s lawyer approached them on Thursday “to discuss a potential negotiated resolution of issues that would resolve large portions of this litigation and otherwise give rise to Plaintiffs’ anticipated request for sanctions.”
I'm kinda thinking that "everything he's worth" isn't going to amount to a whole lot in the not-too-distant future. in yesterday's NYT, I read that he's selling his "good wishes" for $325 a pop.
And he pulled a very weird thing in that. He didn't challenge the facts but he denied guilt essentially. I don't get it and apparently the judge doesn't either.
From what I had heard RudeE's trying to claim that what he said is First Amendment protected speech. But that doesn't make any sense to me since in a Civil Case he's not being prosecuted by "the government"
Just like any amendment they want to use, they bastardize the hell out of it every way they can conjure up. It's interesting when you look at Rudy's prosecutor history. He put RICO on the map and now he's facing the same thing.
Nah, in Iowa the interviews of the Trumpers are coming in and they've said they're even more committed to him if he's convicted. They are just sad little people who honestly have no clue what has happened.
I don't understand how you can summon any sympathy for those people! To me, there's nothing sad about them. They are twisted and perverted-- pure, unadulterated EVIL-- worthless human beings-- bigots and ignoramuses who are destructive and dangerous to the survival of this country.
Yes, you're correct. OAN settled with the two women last year and was dismissed from the lawsuit. The suit against Giuliani continues although he is reported as very recently (early July '23) seeking some sort of resolution of the suit.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/politics/rudy-giuliani-georgia-election-workers-lawsuit/index.html "In a court filing late Friday, Moss and Freeman’s legal team disclosed that Giuliani’s lawyer approached them on Thursday “to discuss a potential negotiated resolution of issues that would resolve large portions of this litigation and otherwise give rise to Plaintiffs’ anticipated request for sanctions.”
Kit, the defendants are all the same as brutal, violent thugs...except they are our elected "servants". Thugs are honest about their intentions. The 19 men and women indicted, if proven guilty, should go to prison for the maximum sentence. None of them are young. They will be old and broken when they are released. The chickens have come home to roost.
They do not lose one ounce of sleep crushing people without power who are good people. Look at what she endured without giving in. That's pretty amazing and what did she get in return, her life torn to bits in front of her.
Sociopaths. All of them lead by the worst schoolyard bully in American history. He manipulated resentful scared base voters with Soviet grade political technology (thank you for your post today Heather Cox Richardson). let us all pray that the wheels of justice right this terrible wrong. Her history will show Donald Trump, defendant soon to be convicted ex president as America’s worst. Traitor ever! Five years and Georgia prisons might be what we need to reflect on this travesty and dissuade others from doing such dastardly deeds.
There was a time when the "worst traitor ever" would have received the death penalty. That time, unfortunately, has passed and this traitor will never really suffer anything comparable to what he's inflicted on this country as a whole and on the lives of particular individuals.
Sadly so. Let hope for at least a white collar prison isolated from other inmates. Just his secret service minders. Time alone to think with no narcissistic feedback loops
but what would he reflect upon, but his own machinations? He is the child he was, it seems. I believe he would only thrive in prison. How do you instill compassion, in a child. Kind, understanding, parents, and PreSchool Teachers do it everyday. I say all of this, because I hate the idea of putting people in cages, I think Capitol Punishment is murder. So, what do we do with a child who is a product of our own Country's faulty Capitalistic machinations?
I don't have an answer, that I would live to see come to fruition. I think it is so very important to listen to our young citizens, the ones who are fighting for change, and the one's who have given up and are no longer involved in our politics.
Good lord. How you can feel compassion for that evil monster is beyond me. Yes, his niece has laid out the horrors of his childhood, to which I say: SO WHAT?! I'm sure Hitler and other of history's monsters must have had horrible childhoods, too. It doesn't excuse their actions, or make them any less worthy of death as the just punishment for their evil actions. Few of history's monsters have died peacefully in their beds.
I do not feel compassion for him. For a long time I have not been able to look at videos, or listen to his voice, I don't even want to see photos of him, or type his name.
After some thought, and a half-way decent night's sleep, I have come to a better answer to your question. It's not true that I do not feel compassion for Donald Trump. What I feel that makes me feel so terrible, is Pity. Pity, to me, feels like an admission that there is absolutely nothing I could do to change, or negate, the damage that he is, and the damage that he is capable of inflicting on others, and our Country. I don't have a degree in Psychology, but I've read enough pop science to know that it is believed that a Psychopath or a Sociopath can not feel empathy, or remorse. Compassion comes easily if we can empathize with a person, I find it almost impossible to empathize with Donald Trump. I can feel compassion for his childhood, and the broken child that he still is. I do feel that he should be incarcerated to protect others, and our Country. Giving in to Pity with out Compassion, is to fucking dark for me.
I also think, if someone had stepped in between Hitler and his Step-Father, many lives could have been saved.
Had anyone stepped in between Donald Trump and his Father, or between Donald Trump and others he financially abused at any point along this career in grifting, we all might have been spared some of the mess we are in now.
Let's remember that--if he's found guilty--he will NEVER see the inside of a real prison. MAYBE, just a very remote maybe, he'll be sent to one of those white collar, country club prisons, but that's a far, far cry from his being thrown into the largely Black gen pop of a Georgia state prison!
Does Georgia have a country club state prison? Even federal white collar prisons like Butner in NC are no picnic and not luxury like he’s used to. We shouldn’t be vindictive but penalize appropriate to the crimes.
If I let myself go down that road, feeling vindictive, it makes me feel ill, like vomiting. I am not going to let this man fill me with Fear and Hatred. Those emotions only play into his hands, and into the hands of people like him. We have to be smart about this.
There needs to be consequences of his, and his coconspirators actions. If the consequences are hateful, we make a Martyr of him and his cronies. We, as a Country, need to take steps to prevent any of them from holding Office, or power over others. I doubt there are any laws that would accommodate those criteria, but there needs to be. For example, any lawyers should be bared from practice. Any political figures need to be unable to continue to hold office or do so in the future.
In addition, the public needs to be privy to the Truth. Something needs to happen with the lies told by the media. I am thankful for people like Lucian every day. It would seem an investment in some sort of public education concerning the proceedings, and the outcomes of these trials would be a wise move. This needs to be in next years History books for those in High School and higher education.
Truth will be the best defense for our Country, and our best protection going forward.
This has possibilities! If voting is considered a federally protected activity, then it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to extend the protection to election workers. What I really don't understand is how all those Republican-run states get away with using bogus reasons for making it harder to vote.
Ghouliani met with SC Smith's team in a proffer, but apparently declined to cooperate with the GA investigation - yet. I am halfway through reading the indictment and the detail is excruciating for those charged. So much of their activities is known and included, making denial of participation impossible. Defendant 1's habit of recording calls, interviews, meetings has helped to seal his fate, also. I am so impressed with and grateful for Ms. Willis's dogged pursuit of justice for her state, our country and it's citizens. The penalties for GA's expansive RICO law are not pardonable at the federal level - that ought to be enough to turn the orange traitor white again. I would like to see charges brought against the unindicted co-conspirators, if there are individuals who are not cooperating in the investigation, at a future time. No one is above the law. And these are people dangerous to our democracy. Should a more able authoritarian appear, defendant 1's remora would be prepped and available.
Today there was a column by none other than Ruth Marcus, a Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the WAPO that asked the rather stunning question of whether a 4th indictment is kinda like, you know, too much?
Is Georgia’s case against Trump one case too many?
I was shocked as such audacity from a managing editor, who not only is a liberal (from what I understand of her credentials) but also a JD graduate of none other than Harvard Law.
I can understand the question as a 'devil's advocate' opinion piece, but it appears that Ms. Marcus sincerely believes that Donald Trump is getting too many indictments and perhaps we should be nicer to him.
I can't understand how anyone after all this time can state with a straight face that Donald Trump is innocent of these charges, when we all heard his plea to the Governor of Georgia to "find 11,780 votes" to make him the winner of the Georgia vote.
I can't understand how a trained lawyer can ever in their wildest dreams even begin defending such an opinion or state that Donald Trump is being picked on.
And neither could any of the majority of the 7 thousand(!) people (including myself) who commented on the opinion piece, most of whom would gladly vote to put Donald Trump and all of his 18 co-defendants away in prison for the rest of their lives, and who would gladly volunteer to be on the juries to hear the case.
On this one day, I was pretty proud of my fellow Americans for standing up and loudly writing
"NO!"
Sometimes you gotta read the room right and I think Ms. Marcus got the spanking she deserved for this misguided and ridiculous opinion.
No, there is no end to Trump's criminality, and Fani Willis did one hell of a job indicting him and his-co-conspirators.
She's doing her job and her constituents should be very proud of her work.
Ms Marcus needs a refresher in American Jurisprudence. Best start at the beginning with what has come to be known as the Boston Massacre Trials and the phrase "government of laws not men." A trip to Boston might assist in shortening the learning curve. While there she can visit Walpole SP and speak with inmates who faced far more criminal charges and trials than Trump is. Am certain they would like the same treatment Ms Marcus wishes to afford Trump.
Mary: 👏 BRAVO! I didn't see Marcus' op ed, but I won't bother now...Though not a Georgian, I am SO grateful to Fani Willis and her incredible team. I hate to think where we would be without the Fani's of this world!! Thank you for your razor sharp comment🙏🏽.
I'll repeat what I said in response to an earlier essay of Lucian's on this subject: There is something especially sweet about the number of Black officials in Georgia who are involved in the prosecution of tRump and his co-conspirators. There must be a lot of snarling and gnashing of teeth among The Dumpster's racist worshipers!
Oh, shame on me for the joy I took in seeing those "people of color" going about their professional tasks. I'm sure that really ground the stump of Drumpf. People he would not rent his shitty apartments to have sealed his fate. Gotta be Karma at work.
Wait until some of them are imprisoned with black and brown people they have dissed for so long. I wonder how some of those folks will welcome them? Talk about karma!
A nice fantasy, and one that I share, but won't all of the indicted people, if found guilty, be incarcerated in one of those white collar, country-club prisons, where the black/brown population approaches zero?
We see an indictment of Trump plus 18 co-conspirators with 30 unindicted coconspirators also listed. If Fani knows about 30 additional co-conspirators, how many more are out there as yet unnamed of unidentified? And of the 30 already known, how many are currently in Congress? And of those, how many have been informed that they have a choice - cooperate or become an indicted co-conspirator. And of those, how many will chose to stay with Trump all the way over the cliff?
Trump says he’s going to release a large, complex, detailed, but irrefutable report on the presidential election fraud and all charges should be dropped. Big release: Monday 11am. Still waiting for his health insurance plan. How many years? 😂
Note: Some of the plaques that adorned Trump's White Elephant are missing. His insistence of having his name branded on all things made them a trophy and/or memorabilia of sorts. Trump is so vain is conceivable he would demand a similar name plaque fastened to the door of his cell.
Respect for bringing up the subject of titles and how to address retired and former _________.
-If Trump is so fond of a title, then he earned the title Criminal Defendant.
-Don't understand how the media and others struggle with how to address or identify Mr. Trump. Much like the WaPo Op-Ed on the latest GA Indictment dismissed American Jurisprudence the media needs a reminder in the US system of government there is only one President at any given time. Without thinking they are being disrespectful to the President and spitting at the 2nd US Constitution. The very document from which their rights and powers derive.
-Not a fan of bad traditions that conflict with reality. Examples include A President saluting a member of the US Mil. Thank the very dead Reagan for kicking that one off. Due to our system there is a time the Mil can salute civs (see GS-Mil equivalent).
And who can ever forget then President Trump maddening exchange of salutes and handshakes with the DPRK pancake hatted GO?. Another wtf moment in presidential history along with his toilet paper jaunt up AFONE, his wandering on the tarmac, W dodging shoes and GHWB tossing up his dinner on the PM of Japan's lap.
The press/media likes titles and ranks almost as much as the Brits do until they don't. They go out of their way to include a past title or rank whenever they can while simultaneously addressing other folk only by the person's last name. Sometimes in the same sentence. 4eg. Gen. So & So do you "believe" Biden is doing enough for Uk? WT AF! Not only are the titles mismatched the construct of the sentence is all wrong. Not interested in what a ret. GO believes, only that which he can report out as factual. Just as s/he once demanded of others. And the media isn't into beliefs, that is for the religious called out in #1A. Makes me wonder if they believe #1A is fungible.
Hasn't Trump promised to prove this at least twice before? He blusters that the report will be so overwhelming that all the cases against him will be spontaneously dropped. Maybe this gets him hauled back before Judge Chutkan.
I’m sure he’ll just regurgitate all the garbage and shit we’ve heard many times before. “I won by a landslide!...the Biden crime family...Burisma, etc.”
Broken record (for younger readers, a damaged vinyl or shellac recording that plays the same notes over and over): thank you, Lucian, for telling us what we need to know. After you finished reading and writing about Defendant Trump and his gang, there's the question John Malkovich asked Clint Eastwood in "In the Line of Fire." --- "Did you delouse?" 98 pages! The indictments join Animal Farm, The Prince, The Communist Manifesto, The Art of War, Common Sense, and many other short-in-length, big-in-importance, written documents.
Blush, blush. Thank you. Filed under "Your Wish Is the Internet's Command" AND cross-indexed under "Make American Gluttony Acceptable" (there's a MAGA cap idea!) is a two-and-a-half pound bag of tiny, red, cinnamon-flavored hearts, approximately 2030 pieces per bag. How you would heap them using Lucian's online form is beyond me.
It could be done but would waste a lot of bandwidth. (Remember bandwidth?) Considering the number of times I watched "In the Line of Fire," I don't like to admit I don't remember the delousing line. The guy sure does know how to make a movie—and is smart enough to leave his politics out. I do remember how messy those cinnamon hearts were—sticky and bled red dye—and how I loved them.
Bandwidth only slightly less ancient than dial-up. The phone call: after Eastwood and Al D'Andrea found out in Phoenix that Malkovich was a "wet boy" gone mad, Eastwood tells Malkovich he's seen photos of what Malkovich/Mitch Leary does to his friends. Leary: You talked to [CIA agent] Coppinger? Did you delouse?
Excellent analysis. Mine had a better title, “The Night Trumps Lights Went Out in Georgia”, but yours is a better analysis. All the best, hope you are recovering swiftly.
Happily, you didn't write as though you were under the influence of anything.
As for your chapter and verse on Ruby Freeman, it was the most detailed I've read ... tho her televised recounting of that loathsome nightmare was indelible.
When you wrote, "With 98 pages, if you rolled the thing up, you could use it as a club, and if you swung it hard enough, you could put a grown man on the ground," all I could think was: How about both? And how about letting everyone not in the Kool-Aid Krazy Klub have a turn?
I think this will all take years and is just too complicated an indictment. Too many charged, too many charges. 19 jerks backed by millions of dollars, each with his own set of lawyers, endless motions awaiting rulings, etc., all before a new judge.
It will be the Chicago 7 trial with zero laughs. That made a fool of Judge Julius Hoffman, and properly ended in acquittals.
BTW: On your recommendation I am soon to receive a tired copy of "Barnyard Epithet" (The Chicago 7 Trial). Also: I thought the new movie about the trial was really good.
After nearly 5 years of the Navy, two Vietnam tours, one being a full year with an Army Advisory Team by Cambodia, my Swedish wife and I spent about six months traveling around Europe. That was in 1969. I was around for most of the trial and followed it mainly via The Chicago Tribune and Field IV's (whom I knew) Chicago Sun-Times. We found it very amusing.
I was there every day. Amusing it was not. (I'd gone to college with Abby, and Booby Seale was restrained.) Marshall V is my contemporary, so his father was yours?!
Anyway, the six months roaming around Europe sounds like a suitable reward for serving your country
It has to be V, not IV. Beyond III, it gets a bit too aristocratic and unimaginative for my taste, so please pardon my error. I haven't seen him in about years. In any case, he was then a very accessible young man and fun to be with. We both liked him.
Restraining Seale in public was Hoffman's mistake, as The 7 gained a lot of sympathy, and added to the farce.
Here is my recommendation going forward. With four indictments out there, the judicial process will take its course on each but we need not dwell on them anymore - the public reaction to them and the navel-gazing of every development in each one, whether actual or projected, is just so much distraction. They are merely a side-show given what is looming on the horizon.
The most important task at hand, and what we all must focus on like a laser, is to ensure that the GOP is voted out of office at every level of government in 2024, federal, state and local, and not allowed anywhere near the White House that year. It is the only way our democracy will survive.
Upvoted for everything except the last sentence, history won't end if the GOP pushes more crazy laws, the backlash to Dobbs, for example is just now really getting into gear!
In the months since the supreme court voted to overturn Roe v Wade last year, the effects of the court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization have become clear. Over a dozen states across the country have passed legislation limiting or outright banning access to abortions, severely restricting reproductive rights for millions of people and threatening to imprison abortion providers.
But as Republicans have pushed through these bills, voters have also taken every opportunity to rebuke them in elections – leading to defeats in midterms and emerging as one of the GOP’s largest vulnerabilities.[[A map of the US showing the color-coded legal status of abortion in each state. Tracking where abortion laws stand in every state]]
After initially celebrating victory in their nearly five-decade campaign to end the constitutional right to abortion, Republicans now find themselves scrambling to simultaneously lessen their electoral losses and defend unpopular anti-abortion policies. Reproductive rights are set to be a key issue in the general election next year, with implications from the presidential campaign all the way down the ballot. While the GOP has not stopped passing anti-abortion bills, including in South Carolina and North Carolina last month, it has begun to worry about the price that it is paying for them.
“As Republicans we need to read the room on this issue,” the South Carolina Republican representative Nancy Mace, who supports anti-abortion policies, said on ABC News in April. “We’re going to lose huge if we continue down this path of extremities.”
Polling after the Dobbs decision showed that a majority of Americans disapproved of the court overturning Roe, with a Pew Research Center survey from last July showing that nearly six in 10 adults opposed the ruling. Pew’s survey also showed a majority of Americans in the largely conservative states where abortion bans were set to take place also disapproved of the decision. A separate NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll from April this year found support for abortion access around an all-time high, and notably showed that about one-third of Republicans mostly supported abortion rights.
The electoral implications of Republicans’ post-Dobbs anti-abortion push began to reveal themselves early on, when heavily conservative Kansas voted no in a referendum last August on whether the state should remove abortion rights from its constitution.
“The vote in Kansas sends a decisive message that Americans are angry about the efforts to roll back their rights and won’t stand for it,” Sarah Stoesz, then the president of Planned Parenthood for the region, said after the vote.
Despite the warning from the Kansas contest, Republican leaders still believed they would capitalize on President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and concern over inflation to sweep back into power in a “red wave” during midterm elections. That never materialized, and instead Republicans underperformed as an energized Democratic base came out to vote. Michigan Democrats flipped the state legislature for the first time in nearly 40 years, Pennsylvania Democrats secured victories against anti-abortion candidates and, ballot measures in five states, including Kentucky and Montana, all resulted in voters choosing to support abortion rights.
Following the midterms, Republican leaders realize that they have a problem. The Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, appeared on Fox News Sunday in April to discuss the issue, saying that abortion had played a major role in key swing states and that party candidates needed to face the issue “head on”.
“Many of our candidates across the board refused to talk about it, thinking, ‘Oh we can just talk about the economy and ignore this big issue,’ and they can’t,” McDaniel said.
But Republicans have struggled to find a consistent line on abortion, with lawmakers divided over what level of restrictions they would put on reproductive rights. Republican leaders’ opinions range from insisting on total abortion bans to cutting access off at 15 weeks of pregnancy to washing their hands of the issue and saying it is up to states to decide.
Presidential candidates have similarly found themselves caught between different factions of the party and voter interests. Donald Trump reportedly told allies that he views a federal abortion ban as a losing proposition for the election and his campaign spokesperson has said Trump believes bans should be left up to states, threatening a rift with evangelical voters that have been a large part of his base.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is currently Trump’s most prominent challenger, has taken a harder line and signed a six-week abortion ban in April – causing one major Republican donor to halt his funding to DeSantis. Other candidates have vacillated over taking a specific stance, including Nikki Haley who last month refused to name the specific number of weeks into pregnancy she would limit abortion.
Influential and deep-pocketed Christian conservative groups have further complicated the dynamic, insisting that without Roe to stop them Republican politicians should pass strict abortion bans. Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, a major anti-abortion non-profit and political organization, vowed to campaign against Trump if he would not support a 15-week abortion ban.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been centering abortion access in speeches and campaigns. Vice-President Kamala Harris told a crowd at Howard University that “this is a moment for us to stand and fight” in an April speech, while the Democratic senator Dick Durbin chaired a Senate judiciary committee hearing that same month titled “The Assault on Reproductive Rights in a Post-Dobbs America”.
Democrats also secured a huge victory in Wisconsin earlier this year when the liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz won a seat on the state supreme court. Protasiewicz, who openly discussed her personal support for abortion during the campaign, defeated a conservative opponent who had accepted $1m in campaign donations from an anti-abortion political action committee.
Protasiewicz’s win ended a 15-year conservative majority on the court, and could mean that liberal justices overrule an 1849 law banning abortion which went into effect in the state when Roe was overturned.
I don't disagree that there has been a voter backlash to the extremist Republican policies.
But for every victory for common sense (like Wisconsin Supreme Court) there are still many state legislatures and local governments in the thrall of the GQP and that is why we
need a housecleaning. Some Republicans may have come to their senses but not enough. Even Nancy Mace, a so-called reasonable Republican, is still toeing the party line on everything from Burisma and the "Biden crime family" to cutting government spending on necessary social and economic programs for Americans, and would likely vote for Trump if he is their nominee.
I'm not saying there should be one party rule, because that too is dangerous for a democracy, even with elections; but I think the extremists in the Republican party must be deprived of office and influence. Let the more moderate and reasonable ones seriously take control. But that may not happen until all are first soundly ousted at the polls and cast into the political wilderness.
Yeah but what "moderates," where are they, what are their names? Moderate anti-fascist is as moderate anti-fascist does, I think they're all too comfortable hiding out and hoping to regain power, I think they're craven, banana-backed, mealy-mouthed Cowards with a capital `C' and we will "hear them sternly condemn Trump and Trumpism" when hordes of flying monkeys swoop down from Oz to abduct Trump and his co-conspirators, while the Wicked Witch of the West cackles triumphantly, "I've got you, my Donald, and your little hands, too!"
Silence is giving consent in this instance.
Anyway, this is all part of the biggest political realignment in American politics since the years before and after the Civil War.
And since you ask (wait, you didn't ask? I'm telling you anyway!), I began posting that
thesis on the Washington Post (when I still subscribed) SIX YEARS AGO, August, 2017, after the wrecking ball and wreaking chaos effects and the ingrained nature of Trump was too obviously quasi-fascist to miss, and after the Democrats went with a Hillary Coronation plan instead of someone who could defeat Trump, i.e., Bernie Sanders - who polled well with disaffected, alienated blue collar and other working class and lower middle class voters, and independents, while Hillary? Not so much.
Trump had already ginned up a bogus excuse to fire FBI Director James Comey*, and was refusing to condemn the Charlottesville mob with its KKK and Neo-Nazi wingnuts in full view, mind you.
Putting before the American people two of the most unpopular candidates in history led us here as much as anything else.
In his book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.
Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. From prosecuting the Mafia and Martha Stewart to helping change the Bush administration's policies on torture and electronic surveillance, overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.
By and large, pundits and book reviewers have overlooked Comey’s most explosive revelations involving illegal conduct in the White House ... what is really important about his book is that we have a senior official in the Bush administration documenting how the government conducted illegal surveillance on US citizens and engaged in illegal torture (including waterboarding of detainees) in various 'black sites' around the world ... Comey frames his entire book as a plea for 'ethical leadership' based on the values of 'truth, integrity, and respect for others,' without which the justice system begins to decay. Yet he never addresses why neither he nor anyone else has ever used their authority to hold those who engaged in illegal surveillance and torture fully accountable ... Of course, A Higher Loyalty is best known for Comey’s famous confrontations with President Trump ... Comey describes these incidents in an engaging and cinematic style. His reporting is filled with vivid details and direct quotes attributed to both Trump and himself which make these accounts convincing and credible. But all the attention devoted to these shiny objects, should not obscure the rest of Comey’s book. Unintentionally, A Higher Loyalty teaches more about 'ethical leadership' by studying not what Comey has done in his career but by what he has failed to do. Not only has our government failed to hold any officials accountable for torture and illegal surveillance, but those very officials have been rewarded with high positions, book deals, prominent speaking tours, and, most recently, the May 17 confirmation of Gina Haspel as director of the CIA.
And of course he immediately responds by crying "witch hunt." His favorite pejorative. That and the accusation that she could have delivered her indictment sooner. Now we have the "promise" (threat?) of a detailed response next week that will totally refute all charges. His conflating of the court of public opinion with that of the court of law is mind boggling to say the least. Unfortunately, the drama will only escalate. Shakespeare would have a field day with this unfolding story.
First, hope you and your wife are recovering from that damned virus. Second, this is an amazing roll out of a detailed and expansive take down of that “criminal enterprise.” Fani Willis is amazing and the grand jury that voted for the indictments are even more amazing given their location in a “red” state. There is great hope here that justice and the democratic norms of this country can prevail. Keep sending us your reviews. And get better!
"As voters, we are on the barricades defending our nation and the democracy we have depended on for 234 years to govern us from a movement that wants to take it all away."
I'm concerned that that's word for word what the ignorant, evangelical, Proud Bubba flying monkey 15% of the other 70M voters think. We know Fox is full of shit. They know the rest of main stream media are full of shit. Stalemate.
When do we hit the Nixon or McCarthy moment when the believers bail?
I don't think we will EVER hit that moment. These MAGA true believers are a different and much worse bunch than the Nixon true believers or even Joe McCarthy's fans, and t-Rump is infinitely worse than either of those previous villains.. Those earlier people didn't want to destroy the entire structure of our democracy. Plus, McCarthy slunk away in disgrace and Nixon resigned. t-RUMP would never do either of those things.
I hear ya Judith. One thing I count on is their laziness. The sewer core of Rump's nutcase base never voted before he showed up. They're a lazy bunch at heart and no one was going to make them do anything, like vote. They'd actually have to go do that, which was out of the question because as they told themselves, it didn't matter anyhow. Politicians suck, so who cares which one's in office. They never gave a shit until Fox lies infested them and Rump turned politics into a mesmerizing vile "tear it all down" dark comedy.
The world owes them everything and they owe the world nothing but the privilege of their presence. Sluggish low grade Amurikans. They were drawn to the circus, the noise, the insanity and the costumes, whether is was the cool Michelin Man military garb or the goofball clown car get ups at the rallies. The rallies were pretty much just big Halloween parties.
But the circus ain't what it was, the thrill is sort of gone, and now there's some real risk/cost involved. They saw their brethren get drawn into a situation that put a bunch of them behind bars. Not what they signed up for. They're just there for the party and the outrage, not the consequences. My guess is that many of those who so readily guzzled the cool-aid will just slink away and back into their pathetic do nothing lives as the whole thing gets more and more tedious and way less fun as Rump goes further and further off the rails. Fun while it lasted, but they never really gave a shit about being an actual citizen of this country so it'll be easy enough to just get back to their low life lives.
And even for the intelligent, but fiscally deluded Repubs, Rump and DeSantis are now embarrassing choices. DeSantis, the pathetic punk that he is, seems to have chosen to go all in on courting the crazies, not seeming to factor in that what sells to religious zealots and braindead losers doesn't fly with the normal folks on the conservative side of the middle of the road. Even they might just choose to stay home rather than have to go for either of those deeply flawed choices.
So maybe there's hope, but it's a long road to Election Day and it still feels like a very dangerous toss up.
Still a dangeeous toss up, since another hunk of tRump's contingent are gullible, earnest, voting, Faux watchers. We must kill Faux as well as the king.
It seems to me Jack Smith is like a sniper with a very specific leadership target, while Fani Willis is napalming the entire fucking hill.
And I hope you're mending well, Mr. Truscott.
I love the smell of indictment in the morning!
That scene was the inspiration for the second phrase. I was considering "nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." But it didn't really feel germane to "like a sniper."
This kind of rhetoric is counter-productive and smacks of the same trigger-happy playbill that the ultra-right is resorting to. Toning down the imagery is a necessary component to settling the score in the ballot box, the courts and the Halls of Congress. It's restoration of basic rights we are seeking, not blood in the street!
Two different styles of prosecution are being practiced here; hopefully both will bear fruit!
I am confident that this forum's owner is up to the task of language policing without self-appointed deputies.
Yeah except she didn't mention anything other than her own views, no vicariously hypothetical deputizing implied - I see what you mean in general, just not in this instance.
Thank you Babette for your reply, though it seems to me rather hyperbolic, out of context and of the radical-right's clarion call of cancel culture. But, that may just be my ego speaking.
And, as I respect this community and its people, I will genuinely consider your words and would be happy to discuss our opposing views further with you.
Scott, I have two reactions to your original comment further above.
On the one hand, I totally agree with the emotions of your comment. I share everyone's seven years of daily frustration, outrage, horror, trauma, and depression at the onset and progression of Trump's desecration of the office of the presidency, his utter dereliction of duty, his compulsion to exploit his base's worst instincts to metastasize his personal pathologies into a national psychosis of lies and hate, and his clear intention to devour everything in his path in his quest to vindicate his own vileness. I let out my emotions by describing his mental illness, but I have no medical degree.
My other reaction is similar to Babette's: that using metaphors of violence and war does a huge disservice to the work of Special Prosecutor Jack Smith and Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis, and their respective teams, to charge Trump and his associates in a deliberative way, based on the law and a mountain of meticulously gathered factual evidence. I abhor our Republican-driven gun promiscuity, and I am trying to purge my own speech of gun and violence metaphors. Finally, am I right that our comments on this forum are publicly accessible, even if nonmembers cannot comment, themselves? If so, the gun and war metaphors could provide the right with more fodder for claiming that we on the left are "out to get" Trump and that the indictments and coming trials are political revenge rather than a drive for accountability before the law. I would rather we don't give them any rhetorical quarter.
Thank you for your engagement Elizabeth.
There are no particular emotions behind my comment. None that I notice anyway. It was simply an observation using language/imagery not atypical for describing adversarial processes like the law.
And I've been thinking about Babette's comment. And my reply to her. There was the typical milieu of emotions of a dinged ego, as evidenced by its mild sarcasm, which influenced my choice of words and presentation. Yet, I still do not think the choice of imagery in my OP is particularly inflammatory.
It is not, and I don't think can be construed, as a call to any form of violence.
I don't know about the visibility of the posts here. And no matter what is posted, if it is in favor of accountability for Trump, his supporters will construe it as "out to get" him. They're already using charges from all of the indictments out of context and making them into attacks on Trump, them, (Jeff Tiedrich speaks to this here on Substack,) the Constitution and America itself that then require violent responses.
So, I asked my former wife about this. "It may seem innocuous to you but not to others." A fair point. And there certainly is much imagery and their words that I no longer use because of how they may be understood as hurtful.
I'm just not seeing that in this context. But, I'll continue to chew on it. So, maybe, just maybe, between you and Babette, something sunk in at some level and we'll see less, though it is infrequent to begin with, of my use of war imagery over time. Worse could happen.
"You are unworthy of command!"
- Colonel Saito
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai
I think war and violence metaphors are tricky, they work fine as abstract calls for mobilization and righteous retaliation to unwarranted aggressions and perceived aggressions (from political opponents, too, but used judiciously, not like the infamous Sarah Palin "Bullseye target" superimposed on Rep. Gabby Giffords, for example) but can indeed come off as overheated and too close to a real threat of violence, even for an arguably traitorous mook like Trump.
Trump seems to be almost uniformly despised on here and across a wide range of other websites (Newsweek is a good example) but even so, I think Elizabeth M. raises a number of important points.
Thank you Richard. Both Elizabeth and Babette make sound points. And I'm enjoying the discussion around them because I can't fundamentally argue against them. Except, maybe, intent and context. But those seem meager...
Of all the many interesting and intelligent comments on this post, yours is my favorite!
Thank you Judith. That means a lot to me.
Your's is my favorite too ;-)
Mutual admiration of comments! May I post yours on FB? With your name? Without your name, but not claiming it as mine?
What they did to Ruby Freeman and her daughter was unconscionable. How they can pick on an innocent person, making her life unbearable by charging her with actions that they new were false demonstrates why we need more safeguards in our legal system. And, the worst part is that they don't care that they have jeopardize the lives of two innocent women who were doing their civic duty by helping out with the elections.
Yes their utter disregard for what happened (and the even worse, what might have happened) to the people they falsely accused is just disgusting.
I wonder, if Trump and his partners are found guilty, could those people who were falsely accused sue them in a civil case?
I think Ruby Freeman and her daughter are already suing RudeE and just the other day he had to admit that he lied about them. I would think if tDump et al are found guilty it would help others in the same situation
Yes, they sued Giuliani and OAN News. OAN settled with the two women last year and was dismissed from the lawsuit. The suit against Giuliani continues although he is reported as very recently (early July '23) seeking some sort of resolution of the suit.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-atlanta-poll-workers-settle-defamation-lawsuit-against-one-america-2022-04-21/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/politics/rudy-giuliani-georgia-election-workers-lawsuit/index.html "In a court filing late Friday, Moss and Freeman’s legal team disclosed that Giuliani’s lawyer approached them on Thursday “to discuss a potential negotiated resolution of issues that would resolve large portions of this litigation and otherwise give rise to Plaintiffs’ anticipated request for sanctions.”
Hope they take him for everything he's worth but I'm afraid they'll probably never see a penny
That strikes me as a realistic prediction.
I'm kinda thinking that "everything he's worth" isn't going to amount to a whole lot in the not-too-distant future. in yesterday's NYT, I read that he's selling his "good wishes" for $325 a pop.
That's awesome! Good to know that part of our justice system worked.
And he pulled a very weird thing in that. He didn't challenge the facts but he denied guilt essentially. I don't get it and apparently the judge doesn't either.
From what I had heard RudeE's trying to claim that what he said is First Amendment protected speech. But that doesn't make any sense to me since in a Civil Case he's not being prosecuted by "the government"
Just like any amendment they want to use, they bastardize the hell out of it every way they can conjure up. It's interesting when you look at Rudy's prosecutor history. He put RICO on the map and now he's facing the same thing.
I thought one or both of them were suing Rudy for defamation,
If the truth comes out like this, from their very own mouths, maybe there will be no riots, or protests, in the streets, in defense of Trump.
Nah, in Iowa the interviews of the Trumpers are coming in and they've said they're even more committed to him if he's convicted. They are just sad little people who honestly have no clue what has happened.
The lights going to hurt when they come out of that cave.
I don't understand how you can summon any sympathy for those people! To me, there's nothing sad about them. They are twisted and perverted-- pure, unadulterated EVIL-- worthless human beings-- bigots and ignoramuses who are destructive and dangerous to the survival of this country.
Yes, you're correct. OAN settled with the two women last year and was dismissed from the lawsuit. The suit against Giuliani continues although he is reported as very recently (early July '23) seeking some sort of resolution of the suit.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-atlanta-poll-workers-settle-defamation-lawsuit-against-one-america-2022-04-21/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/politics/rudy-giuliani-georgia-election-workers-lawsuit/index.html "In a court filing late Friday, Moss and Freeman’s legal team disclosed that Giuliani’s lawyer approached them on Thursday “to discuss a potential negotiated resolution of issues that would resolve large portions of this litigation and otherwise give rise to Plaintiffs’ anticipated request for sanctions.”
They are. And he's doing everything he can to screw up that case.
Not ever a concern. Not ever.
Kit, the defendants are all the same as brutal, violent thugs...except they are our elected "servants". Thugs are honest about their intentions. The 19 men and women indicted, if proven guilty, should go to prison for the maximum sentence. None of them are young. They will be old and broken when they are released. The chickens have come home to roost.
They do not lose one ounce of sleep crushing people without power who are good people. Look at what she endured without giving in. That's pretty amazing and what did she get in return, her life torn to bits in front of her.
Sociopaths. All of them lead by the worst schoolyard bully in American history. He manipulated resentful scared base voters with Soviet grade political technology (thank you for your post today Heather Cox Richardson). let us all pray that the wheels of justice right this terrible wrong. Her history will show Donald Trump, defendant soon to be convicted ex president as America’s worst. Traitor ever! Five years and Georgia prisons might be what we need to reflect on this travesty and dissuade others from doing such dastardly deeds.
There was a time when the "worst traitor ever" would have received the death penalty. That time, unfortunately, has passed and this traitor will never really suffer anything comparable to what he's inflicted on this country as a whole and on the lives of particular individuals.
Sadly so. Let hope for at least a white collar prison isolated from other inmates. Just his secret service minders. Time alone to think with no narcissistic feedback loops
but what would he reflect upon, but his own machinations? He is the child he was, it seems. I believe he would only thrive in prison. How do you instill compassion, in a child. Kind, understanding, parents, and PreSchool Teachers do it everyday. I say all of this, because I hate the idea of putting people in cages, I think Capitol Punishment is murder. So, what do we do with a child who is a product of our own Country's faulty Capitalistic machinations?
I don't have an answer, that I would live to see come to fruition. I think it is so very important to listen to our young citizens, the ones who are fighting for change, and the one's who have given up and are no longer involved in our politics.
Good lord. How you can feel compassion for that evil monster is beyond me. Yes, his niece has laid out the horrors of his childhood, to which I say: SO WHAT?! I'm sure Hitler and other of history's monsters must have had horrible childhoods, too. It doesn't excuse their actions, or make them any less worthy of death as the just punishment for their evil actions. Few of history's monsters have died peacefully in their beds.
I do not feel compassion for him. For a long time I have not been able to look at videos, or listen to his voice, I don't even want to see photos of him, or type his name.
After some thought, and a half-way decent night's sleep, I have come to a better answer to your question. It's not true that I do not feel compassion for Donald Trump. What I feel that makes me feel so terrible, is Pity. Pity, to me, feels like an admission that there is absolutely nothing I could do to change, or negate, the damage that he is, and the damage that he is capable of inflicting on others, and our Country. I don't have a degree in Psychology, but I've read enough pop science to know that it is believed that a Psychopath or a Sociopath can not feel empathy, or remorse. Compassion comes easily if we can empathize with a person, I find it almost impossible to empathize with Donald Trump. I can feel compassion for his childhood, and the broken child that he still is. I do feel that he should be incarcerated to protect others, and our Country. Giving in to Pity with out Compassion, is to fucking dark for me.
I also think, if someone had stepped in between Hitler and his Step-Father, many lives could have been saved.
Had anyone stepped in between Donald Trump and his Father, or between Donald Trump and others he financially abused at any point along this career in grifting, we all might have been spared some of the mess we are in now.
Let's remember that--if he's found guilty--he will NEVER see the inside of a real prison. MAYBE, just a very remote maybe, he'll be sent to one of those white collar, country club prisons, but that's a far, far cry from his being thrown into the largely Black gen pop of a Georgia state prison!
Does Georgia have a country club state prison? Even federal white collar prisons like Butner in NC are no picnic and not luxury like he’s used to. We shouldn’t be vindictive but penalize appropriate to the crimes.
I really appreciate you posting this.
If I let myself go down that road, feeling vindictive, it makes me feel ill, like vomiting. I am not going to let this man fill me with Fear and Hatred. Those emotions only play into his hands, and into the hands of people like him. We have to be smart about this.
There needs to be consequences of his, and his coconspirators actions. If the consequences are hateful, we make a Martyr of him and his cronies. We, as a Country, need to take steps to prevent any of them from holding Office, or power over others. I doubt there are any laws that would accommodate those criteria, but there needs to be. For example, any lawyers should be bared from practice. Any political figures need to be unable to continue to hold office or do so in the future.
In addition, the public needs to be privy to the Truth. Something needs to happen with the lies told by the media. I am thankful for people like Lucian every day. It would seem an investment in some sort of public education concerning the proceedings, and the outcomes of these trials would be a wise move. This needs to be in next years History books for those in High School and higher education.
Truth will be the best defense for our Country, and our best protection going forward.
Thanks again for posting.
What safeguards do you suggest?
New federal law(s) protecting election workers from harassment etc would be a start
Elections are run by the states, aren't they? How would federal laws work?
Maybe like the Federal Hate Crimes laws? The FBI could be called in to investigate threats and intimidation?
This has possibilities! If voting is considered a federally protected activity, then it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to extend the protection to election workers. What I really don't understand is how all those Republican-run states get away with using bogus reasons for making it harder to vote.
Looks like Amy Klobuchar was already on it:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2747
Ghouliani met with SC Smith's team in a proffer, but apparently declined to cooperate with the GA investigation - yet. I am halfway through reading the indictment and the detail is excruciating for those charged. So much of their activities is known and included, making denial of participation impossible. Defendant 1's habit of recording calls, interviews, meetings has helped to seal his fate, also. I am so impressed with and grateful for Ms. Willis's dogged pursuit of justice for her state, our country and it's citizens. The penalties for GA's expansive RICO law are not pardonable at the federal level - that ought to be enough to turn the orange traitor white again. I would like to see charges brought against the unindicted co-conspirators, if there are individuals who are not cooperating in the investigation, at a future time. No one is above the law. And these are people dangerous to our democracy. Should a more able authoritarian appear, defendant 1's remora would be prepped and available.
Ghouliani! Gotta remember that one.
Today there was a column by none other than Ruth Marcus, a Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the WAPO that asked the rather stunning question of whether a 4th indictment is kinda like, you know, too much?
Is Georgia’s case against Trump one case too many?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/08/14/georgia-indictment-trump-willis/
I was shocked as such audacity from a managing editor, who not only is a liberal (from what I understand of her credentials) but also a JD graduate of none other than Harvard Law.
I can understand the question as a 'devil's advocate' opinion piece, but it appears that Ms. Marcus sincerely believes that Donald Trump is getting too many indictments and perhaps we should be nicer to him.
I can't understand how anyone after all this time can state with a straight face that Donald Trump is innocent of these charges, when we all heard his plea to the Governor of Georgia to "find 11,780 votes" to make him the winner of the Georgia vote.
I can't understand how a trained lawyer can ever in their wildest dreams even begin defending such an opinion or state that Donald Trump is being picked on.
And neither could any of the majority of the 7 thousand(!) people (including myself) who commented on the opinion piece, most of whom would gladly vote to put Donald Trump and all of his 18 co-defendants away in prison for the rest of their lives, and who would gladly volunteer to be on the juries to hear the case.
On this one day, I was pretty proud of my fellow Americans for standing up and loudly writing
"NO!"
Sometimes you gotta read the room right and I think Ms. Marcus got the spanking she deserved for this misguided and ridiculous opinion.
No, there is no end to Trump's criminality, and Fani Willis did one hell of a job indicting him and his-co-conspirators.
She's doing her job and her constituents should be very proud of her work.
Because she said, in the end,
"Nobody is above the law."
Ms Marcus needs a refresher in American Jurisprudence. Best start at the beginning with what has come to be known as the Boston Massacre Trials and the phrase "government of laws not men." A trip to Boston might assist in shortening the learning curve. While there she can visit Walpole SP and speak with inmates who faced far more criminal charges and trials than Trump is. Am certain they would like the same treatment Ms Marcus wishes to afford Trump.
Mary: 👏 BRAVO! I didn't see Marcus' op ed, but I won't bother now...Though not a Georgian, I am SO grateful to Fani Willis and her incredible team. I hate to think where we would be without the Fani's of this world!! Thank you for your razor sharp comment🙏🏽.
I started reading Marcus's column, decided that she's trying to show what an independent thinker she is, and gave up.
Me too. I was a little shocked by it all...playing the David Brooks role for Washington Post.
And this is not a role a respectable journalist should aspire to!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Makes the Legacy Press go round, the (etc. etc.)
Absolutely true.
🤦♀️
I did the same. Normally, Ms. Marcus's opinions are pretty informative...but I think she had a brain fart. I hope she recovers.
Nailed it in one fell swoop, nice!
I didn't even read Ruth Marcus' column. I could see from the lede that it was shite. What happened to her?
I totally agree-her column was unexpected & for me, from the twilight zone!!!!!
I'll repeat what I said in response to an earlier essay of Lucian's on this subject: There is something especially sweet about the number of Black officials in Georgia who are involved in the prosecution of tRump and his co-conspirators. There must be a lot of snarling and gnashing of teeth among The Dumpster's racist worshipers!
Oh, shame on me for the joy I took in seeing those "people of color" going about their professional tasks. I'm sure that really ground the stump of Drumpf. People he would not rent his shitty apartments to have sealed his fate. Gotta be Karma at work.
Very well said! I love the expression "ground the stump"-- never heard that before-- it's vivid!
Wait until some of them are imprisoned with black and brown people they have dissed for so long. I wonder how some of those folks will welcome them? Talk about karma!
A nice fantasy, and one that I share, but won't all of the indicted people, if found guilty, be incarcerated in one of those white collar, country-club prisons, where the black/brown population approaches zero?
No. They are state charges. If sentenced to jail time, they would serve it in a state prison.
WOW! Really??? That's the best news I've heard about the possible punishment of these traitorous criminals!
We see an indictment of Trump plus 18 co-conspirators with 30 unindicted coconspirators also listed. If Fani knows about 30 additional co-conspirators, how many more are out there as yet unnamed of unidentified? And of the 30 already known, how many are currently in Congress? And of those, how many have been informed that they have a choice - cooperate or become an indicted co-conspirator. And of those, how many will chose to stay with Trump all the way over the cliff?
Trump says he’s going to release a large, complex, detailed, but irrefutable report on the presidential election fraud and all charges should be dropped. Big release: Monday 11am. Still waiting for his health insurance plan. How many years? 😂
Health Insurance Plan will drop right after Infrastructure Week.
Note: Trump claimed the proof of fraud is almost completed. As certain as the term almost prego.
I think health insurance and infrastructure were to be implemented right after Mexico finished the wall.
Well-done. Indeed.
Note: Some of the plaques that adorned Trump's White Elephant are missing. His insistence of having his name branded on all things made them a trophy and/or memorabilia of sorts. Trump is so vain is conceivable he would demand a similar name plaque fastened to the door of his cell.
Wull...his name as “Defendant” is immortalized now! He must love it when he is called “Mr. Trump” and not President. I, however, am filled with glee.
Respect for bringing up the subject of titles and how to address retired and former _________.
-If Trump is so fond of a title, then he earned the title Criminal Defendant.
-Don't understand how the media and others struggle with how to address or identify Mr. Trump. Much like the WaPo Op-Ed on the latest GA Indictment dismissed American Jurisprudence the media needs a reminder in the US system of government there is only one President at any given time. Without thinking they are being disrespectful to the President and spitting at the 2nd US Constitution. The very document from which their rights and powers derive.
-Not a fan of bad traditions that conflict with reality. Examples include A President saluting a member of the US Mil. Thank the very dead Reagan for kicking that one off. Due to our system there is a time the Mil can salute civs (see GS-Mil equivalent).
And who can ever forget then President Trump maddening exchange of salutes and handshakes with the DPRK pancake hatted GO?. Another wtf moment in presidential history along with his toilet paper jaunt up AFONE, his wandering on the tarmac, W dodging shoes and GHWB tossing up his dinner on the PM of Japan's lap.
The press/media likes titles and ranks almost as much as the Brits do until they don't. They go out of their way to include a past title or rank whenever they can while simultaneously addressing other folk only by the person's last name. Sometimes in the same sentence. 4eg. Gen. So & So do you "believe" Biden is doing enough for Uk? WT AF! Not only are the titles mismatched the construct of the sentence is all wrong. Not interested in what a ret. GO believes, only that which he can report out as factual. Just as s/he once demanded of others. And the media isn't into beliefs, that is for the religious called out in #1A. Makes me wonder if they believe #1A is fungible.
What???? Reagan’s dead?!
Hasn't Trump promised to prove this at least twice before? He blusters that the report will be so overwhelming that all the cases against him will be spontaneously dropped. Maybe this gets him hauled back before Judge Chutkan.
Oh...can we count on this? Yippee!
I’m sure he’ll just regurgitate all the garbage and shit we’ve heard many times before. “I won by a landslide!...the Biden crime family...Burisma, etc.”
And his stupid wall😂😭🦕🤮.
What ever happened to his taxes, I'd like to know!
Anyone who still supports the orange traitor should hold their breath till he releases the "..irrefutable report".
Broken record (for younger readers, a damaged vinyl or shellac recording that plays the same notes over and over): thank you, Lucian, for telling us what we need to know. After you finished reading and writing about Defendant Trump and his gang, there's the question John Malkovich asked Clint Eastwood in "In the Line of Fire." --- "Did you delouse?" 98 pages! The indictments join Animal Farm, The Prince, The Communist Manifesto, The Art of War, Common Sense, and many other short-in-length, big-in-importance, written documents.
What a gem your comment is! Wish I had a bagful of ♥s to heap on it.
Blush, blush. Thank you. Filed under "Your Wish Is the Internet's Command" AND cross-indexed under "Make American Gluttony Acceptable" (there's a MAGA cap idea!) is a two-and-a-half pound bag of tiny, red, cinnamon-flavored hearts, approximately 2030 pieces per bag. How you would heap them using Lucian's online form is beyond me.
It could be done but would waste a lot of bandwidth. (Remember bandwidth?) Considering the number of times I watched "In the Line of Fire," I don't like to admit I don't remember the delousing line. The guy sure does know how to make a movie—and is smart enough to leave his politics out. I do remember how messy those cinnamon hearts were—sticky and bled red dye—and how I loved them.
Bandwidth only slightly less ancient than dial-up. The phone call: after Eastwood and Al D'Andrea found out in Phoenix that Malkovich was a "wet boy" gone mad, Eastwood tells Malkovich he's seen photos of what Malkovich/Mitch Leary does to his friends. Leary: You talked to [CIA agent] Coppinger? Did you delouse?
Thank you! That makes me really want to see it again.
A gazillion likes from me as well.
Excellent analysis. Mine had a better title, “The Night Trumps Lights Went Out in Georgia”, but yours is a better analysis. All the best, hope you are recovering swiftly.
Very nice.
Happily, you didn't write as though you were under the influence of anything.
As for your chapter and verse on Ruby Freeman, it was the most detailed I've read ... tho her televised recounting of that loathsome nightmare was indelible.
When you wrote, "With 98 pages, if you rolled the thing up, you could use it as a club, and if you swung it hard enough, you could put a grown man on the ground," all I could think was: How about both? And how about letting everyone not in the Kool-Aid Krazy Klub have a turn?
I think this will all take years and is just too complicated an indictment. Too many charged, too many charges. 19 jerks backed by millions of dollars, each with his own set of lawyers, endless motions awaiting rulings, etc., all before a new judge.
It will be the Chicago 7 trial with zero laughs. That made a fool of Judge Julius Hoffman, and properly ended in acquittals.
BTW: On your recommendation I am soon to receive a tired copy of "Barnyard Epithet" (The Chicago 7 Trial). Also: I thought the new movie about the trial was really good.
First, think about the lawyers these clowns are able to engage. In fact, many of those in trouble ARE lawyers.
How old are you to remember “little Judge Hoffman”?!
Being aware of the trial, you will like the book. He could really write. (2 Pulitzers.) RIP my friend, my journalism school.
After nearly 5 years of the Navy, two Vietnam tours, one being a full year with an Army Advisory Team by Cambodia, my Swedish wife and I spent about six months traveling around Europe. That was in 1969. I was around for most of the trial and followed it mainly via The Chicago Tribune and Field IV's (whom I knew) Chicago Sun-Times. We found it very amusing.
I was there every day. Amusing it was not. (I'd gone to college with Abby, and Booby Seale was restrained.) Marshall V is my contemporary, so his father was yours?!
Anyway, the six months roaming around Europe sounds like a suitable reward for serving your country
It has to be V, not IV. Beyond III, it gets a bit too aristocratic and unimaginative for my taste, so please pardon my error. I haven't seen him in about years. In any case, he was then a very accessible young man and fun to be with. We both liked him.
Restraining Seale in public was Hoffman's mistake, as The 7 gained a lot of sympathy, and added to the farce.
I know what you mean about the numbers. At the paper (Sun-Times) they were referred to as "Live Marshall" and "Dead Marshall."
Here is my recommendation going forward. With four indictments out there, the judicial process will take its course on each but we need not dwell on them anymore - the public reaction to them and the navel-gazing of every development in each one, whether actual or projected, is just so much distraction. They are merely a side-show given what is looming on the horizon.
The most important task at hand, and what we all must focus on like a laser, is to ensure that the GOP is voted out of office at every level of government in 2024, federal, state and local, and not allowed anywhere near the White House that year. It is the only way our democracy will survive.
Your last sentence says it all!!!!!!!!!!!
Upvoted for everything except the last sentence, history won't end if the GOP pushes more crazy laws, the backlash to Dobbs, for example is just now really getting into gear!
theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/24/republicans-abortion-electoral-backlash-roe-v-wade
In the months since the supreme court voted to overturn Roe v Wade last year, the effects of the court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization have become clear. Over a dozen states across the country have passed legislation limiting or outright banning access to abortions, severely restricting reproductive rights for millions of people and threatening to imprison abortion providers.
But as Republicans have pushed through these bills, voters have also taken every opportunity to rebuke them in elections – leading to defeats in midterms and emerging as one of the GOP’s largest vulnerabilities.[[A map of the US showing the color-coded legal status of abortion in each state. Tracking where abortion laws stand in every state]]
After initially celebrating victory in their nearly five-decade campaign to end the constitutional right to abortion, Republicans now find themselves scrambling to simultaneously lessen their electoral losses and defend unpopular anti-abortion policies. Reproductive rights are set to be a key issue in the general election next year, with implications from the presidential campaign all the way down the ballot. While the GOP has not stopped passing anti-abortion bills, including in South Carolina and North Carolina last month, it has begun to worry about the price that it is paying for them.
“As Republicans we need to read the room on this issue,” the South Carolina Republican representative Nancy Mace, who supports anti-abortion policies, said on ABC News in April. “We’re going to lose huge if we continue down this path of extremities.”
Polling after the Dobbs decision showed that a majority of Americans disapproved of the court overturning Roe, with a Pew Research Center survey from last July showing that nearly six in 10 adults opposed the ruling. Pew’s survey also showed a majority of Americans in the largely conservative states where abortion bans were set to take place also disapproved of the decision. A separate NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll from April this year found support for abortion access around an all-time high, and notably showed that about one-third of Republicans mostly supported abortion rights.
The electoral implications of Republicans’ post-Dobbs anti-abortion push began to reveal themselves early on, when heavily conservative Kansas voted no in a referendum last August on whether the state should remove abortion rights from its constitution.
“The vote in Kansas sends a decisive message that Americans are angry about the efforts to roll back their rights and won’t stand for it,” Sarah Stoesz, then the president of Planned Parenthood for the region, said after the vote.
Despite the warning from the Kansas contest, Republican leaders still believed they would capitalize on President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and concern over inflation to sweep back into power in a “red wave” during midterm elections. That never materialized, and instead Republicans underperformed as an energized Democratic base came out to vote. Michigan Democrats flipped the state legislature for the first time in nearly 40 years, Pennsylvania Democrats secured victories against anti-abortion candidates and, ballot measures in five states, including Kentucky and Montana, all resulted in voters choosing to support abortion rights.
Following the midterms, Republican leaders realize that they have a problem. The Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, appeared on Fox News Sunday in April to discuss the issue, saying that abortion had played a major role in key swing states and that party candidates needed to face the issue “head on”.
“Many of our candidates across the board refused to talk about it, thinking, ‘Oh we can just talk about the economy and ignore this big issue,’ and they can’t,” McDaniel said.
But Republicans have struggled to find a consistent line on abortion, with lawmakers divided over what level of restrictions they would put on reproductive rights. Republican leaders’ opinions range from insisting on total abortion bans to cutting access off at 15 weeks of pregnancy to washing their hands of the issue and saying it is up to states to decide.
Presidential candidates have similarly found themselves caught between different factions of the party and voter interests. Donald Trump reportedly told allies that he views a federal abortion ban as a losing proposition for the election and his campaign spokesperson has said Trump believes bans should be left up to states, threatening a rift with evangelical voters that have been a large part of his base.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who is currently Trump’s most prominent challenger, has taken a harder line and signed a six-week abortion ban in April – causing one major Republican donor to halt his funding to DeSantis. Other candidates have vacillated over taking a specific stance, including Nikki Haley who last month refused to name the specific number of weeks into pregnancy she would limit abortion.
Influential and deep-pocketed Christian conservative groups have further complicated the dynamic, insisting that without Roe to stop them Republican politicians should pass strict abortion bans. Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, a major anti-abortion non-profit and political organization, vowed to campaign against Trump if he would not support a 15-week abortion ban.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been centering abortion access in speeches and campaigns. Vice-President Kamala Harris told a crowd at Howard University that “this is a moment for us to stand and fight” in an April speech, while the Democratic senator Dick Durbin chaired a Senate judiciary committee hearing that same month titled “The Assault on Reproductive Rights in a Post-Dobbs America”.
Democrats also secured a huge victory in Wisconsin earlier this year when the liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz won a seat on the state supreme court. Protasiewicz, who openly discussed her personal support for abortion during the campaign, defeated a conservative opponent who had accepted $1m in campaign donations from an anti-abortion political action committee.
Protasiewicz’s win ended a 15-year conservative majority on the court, and could mean that liberal justices overrule an 1849 law banning abortion which went into effect in the state when Roe was overturned.
I don't disagree that there has been a voter backlash to the extremist Republican policies.
But for every victory for common sense (like Wisconsin Supreme Court) there are still many state legislatures and local governments in the thrall of the GQP and that is why we
need a housecleaning. Some Republicans may have come to their senses but not enough. Even Nancy Mace, a so-called reasonable Republican, is still toeing the party line on everything from Burisma and the "Biden crime family" to cutting government spending on necessary social and economic programs for Americans, and would likely vote for Trump if he is their nominee.
I'm not saying there should be one party rule, because that too is dangerous for a democracy, even with elections; but I think the extremists in the Republican party must be deprived of office and influence. Let the more moderate and reasonable ones seriously take control. But that may not happen until all are first soundly ousted at the polls and cast into the political wilderness.
Yeah but what "moderates," where are they, what are their names? Moderate anti-fascist is as moderate anti-fascist does, I think they're all too comfortable hiding out and hoping to regain power, I think they're craven, banana-backed, mealy-mouthed Cowards with a capital `C' and we will "hear them sternly condemn Trump and Trumpism" when hordes of flying monkeys swoop down from Oz to abduct Trump and his co-conspirators, while the Wicked Witch of the West cackles triumphantly, "I've got you, my Donald, and your little hands, too!"
Silence is giving consent in this instance.
Anyway, this is all part of the biggest political realignment in American politics since the years before and after the Civil War.
And since you ask (wait, you didn't ask? I'm telling you anyway!), I began posting that
thesis on the Washington Post (when I still subscribed) SIX YEARS AGO, August, 2017, after the wrecking ball and wreaking chaos effects and the ingrained nature of Trump was too obviously quasi-fascist to miss, and after the Democrats went with a Hillary Coronation plan instead of someone who could defeat Trump, i.e., Bernie Sanders - who polled well with disaffected, alienated blue collar and other working class and lower middle class voters, and independents, while Hillary? Not so much.
Trump had already ginned up a bogus excuse to fire FBI Director James Comey*, and was refusing to condemn the Charlottesville mob with its KKK and Neo-Nazi wingnuts in full view, mind you.
Putting before the American people two of the most unpopular candidates in history led us here as much as anything else.
* bookmarks.reviews/reviews/all/a-higher-loyalty-truth-lies-and-leadership/
In his book, former FBI director James Comey shares his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions. His journey provides an unprecedented entry into the corridors of power, and a remarkable lesson in what makes an effective leader.
Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 to 2017, appointed to the post by President Barack Obama. He previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the U.S. deputy attorney general in the administration of President George W. Bush. From prosecuting the Mafia and Martha Stewart to helping change the Bush administration's policies on torture and electronic surveillance, overseeing the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation as well as ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, Comey has been involved in some of the most consequential cases and policies of recent history.
rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/james-comeys-a-higher-loyalty-is-a-study-in-contradictions-inside-and-out-628695/
STEPHEN ROHDE,
THE LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
By and large, pundits and book reviewers have overlooked Comey’s most explosive revelations involving illegal conduct in the White House ... what is really important about his book is that we have a senior official in the Bush administration documenting how the government conducted illegal surveillance on US citizens and engaged in illegal torture (including waterboarding of detainees) in various 'black sites' around the world ... Comey frames his entire book as a plea for 'ethical leadership' based on the values of 'truth, integrity, and respect for others,' without which the justice system begins to decay. Yet he never addresses why neither he nor anyone else has ever used their authority to hold those who engaged in illegal surveillance and torture fully accountable ... Of course, A Higher Loyalty is best known for Comey’s famous confrontations with President Trump ... Comey describes these incidents in an engaging and cinematic style. His reporting is filled with vivid details and direct quotes attributed to both Trump and himself which make these accounts convincing and credible. But all the attention devoted to these shiny objects, should not obscure the rest of Comey’s book. Unintentionally, A Higher Loyalty teaches more about 'ethical leadership' by studying not what Comey has done in his career but by what he has failed to do. Not only has our government failed to hold any officials accountable for torture and illegal surveillance, but those very officials have been rewarded with high positions, book deals, prominent speaking tours, and, most recently, the May 17 confirmation of Gina Haspel as director of the CIA.
Thank You for this Richard.
And of course he immediately responds by crying "witch hunt." His favorite pejorative. That and the accusation that she could have delivered her indictment sooner. Now we have the "promise" (threat?) of a detailed response next week that will totally refute all charges. His conflating of the court of public opinion with that of the court of law is mind boggling to say the least. Unfortunately, the drama will only escalate. Shakespeare would have a field day with this unfolding story.
It seems not to have dawned on him that he is the witch -- though technically the warlock.
it's yet again another example of him projecting onto others his actions. "Lock her up!" anyone?
I say “SHUT HIM UP”!
Yessssss!
What does POS trump call what he did to Ms. Freeman? Treacherous monster.
All I can say to dump is
"Y A W W W W N N N...."
Thanks Lucian. Hope that incisive take means you’re on the mend.
Again, despite fighting off COVID, you have explained clearly what could have been a 98 page mind numbing read. Thanks and get well soon|.
First, hope you and your wife are recovering from that damned virus. Second, this is an amazing roll out of a detailed and expansive take down of that “criminal enterprise.” Fani Willis is amazing and the grand jury that voted for the indictments are even more amazing given their location in a “red” state. There is great hope here that justice and the democratic norms of this country can prevail. Keep sending us your reviews. And get better!
"As voters, we are on the barricades defending our nation and the democracy we have depended on for 234 years to govern us from a movement that wants to take it all away."
I'm concerned that that's word for word what the ignorant, evangelical, Proud Bubba flying monkey 15% of the other 70M voters think. We know Fox is full of shit. They know the rest of main stream media are full of shit. Stalemate.
When do we hit the Nixon or McCarthy moment when the believers bail?
I don't think we will EVER hit that moment. These MAGA true believers are a different and much worse bunch than the Nixon true believers or even Joe McCarthy's fans, and t-Rump is infinitely worse than either of those previous villains.. Those earlier people didn't want to destroy the entire structure of our democracy. Plus, McCarthy slunk away in disgrace and Nixon resigned. t-RUMP would never do either of those things.
I hear ya Judith. One thing I count on is their laziness. The sewer core of Rump's nutcase base never voted before he showed up. They're a lazy bunch at heart and no one was going to make them do anything, like vote. They'd actually have to go do that, which was out of the question because as they told themselves, it didn't matter anyhow. Politicians suck, so who cares which one's in office. They never gave a shit until Fox lies infested them and Rump turned politics into a mesmerizing vile "tear it all down" dark comedy.
The world owes them everything and they owe the world nothing but the privilege of their presence. Sluggish low grade Amurikans. They were drawn to the circus, the noise, the insanity and the costumes, whether is was the cool Michelin Man military garb or the goofball clown car get ups at the rallies. The rallies were pretty much just big Halloween parties.
But the circus ain't what it was, the thrill is sort of gone, and now there's some real risk/cost involved. They saw their brethren get drawn into a situation that put a bunch of them behind bars. Not what they signed up for. They're just there for the party and the outrage, not the consequences. My guess is that many of those who so readily guzzled the cool-aid will just slink away and back into their pathetic do nothing lives as the whole thing gets more and more tedious and way less fun as Rump goes further and further off the rails. Fun while it lasted, but they never really gave a shit about being an actual citizen of this country so it'll be easy enough to just get back to their low life lives.
And even for the intelligent, but fiscally deluded Repubs, Rump and DeSantis are now embarrassing choices. DeSantis, the pathetic punk that he is, seems to have chosen to go all in on courting the crazies, not seeming to factor in that what sells to religious zealots and braindead losers doesn't fly with the normal folks on the conservative side of the middle of the road. Even they might just choose to stay home rather than have to go for either of those deeply flawed choices.
So maybe there's hope, but it's a long road to Election Day and it still feels like a very dangerous toss up.
Nice essay here!
Still a dangeeous toss up, since another hunk of tRump's contingent are gullible, earnest, voting, Faux watchers. We must kill Faux as well as the king.