An exceedingly optimistic start to this piece that settled my guts until the final paragraph which made me want to scream. That’s where it really comes down to all of the salting of the justice system with Trump loyalist judges by the Federalist Society, and other far right institutions. It makes the possibility of an authoritarian rule on 2025 all too real.
Sure, a Trump win in 2024 means they will attempt to impose authoritarian rule.
And some citizens will resist that clampdown.*
They have support from those who respond positively to a quasi-fascist attack on democratic norms, the rule of law, women and minorities, disfavored religions, etc.
But they also have a number of severe weaknesses, some of which are discussed here:
One is that they are clustered disproportionately among evangelical Christians, and in the former states of the Confederacy. Making it likely they will encounter much fiercer resistance among the non-evangelical majority of voters who live in other states.
"To Be Continued," my favorite of all favorite teams are 23 point underdogs in the Big Ten Championship on Fox at 7PM Central Time, it's damn near impossible for a team to have one of the worst offenses in all of Division 1 NCAA football and end the regular season with 10 wins and 2 losses - even though having the 2023 Big Ten Punter of the Year, Tory Taylor, and a stellar defense, let them manage to do that.
Have to see how this turns out! An upset would be beyond stunning versus #2 Michigan Wolverines, we shall see what the Iowa Hawkeyes can do, though.
But I'll take your word for it, also, see this, about the bogus "Hunter Biden laptop" scandals and related lies being pushed by the worst of the worst Republicans in Congress :
Republicans have rolled out a shiny timeline in support of their impeachment stunt.
It is riddled with unsubstantiated and at times, false claims. As one example, it states as fact that a $40,000 loan repayment James Biden made in 2017 — when Joe Biden was a private citizen — was money laundered from China. *******
2Cats2Furious says:
December 3, 2023 at 5:12 am
Always. Be. Grifting.
Reply
Rugger_9 says:
December 2, 2023 at 5:05 pm
I think the only reason this has any traction at all is that the MSM (looking at CNN, NYT, WashPo and the increasingly feckless Kristin Welker) is giving Comer journalistic cover by not doing the fact-checking. EW and the rest of the board here didn’t have to dig very far to find gaping holes, yet the MSM wouldn’t risk their preferred horse race narrative by publishing it.
SC Weiss is possibly reading this, along with Abbe Lowell, and he knows any real trial is going to fall apart. So, Comer took a page from AG Barr and is trying to conduct a super-duper-pinky-swear-secret investigation where he can determine what comes out. SC Weiss can drag this out but at some point he must put up something like a report. Mueller and Durham did. I also still think he will close out the investigation by dismissing his charges against Hunter Biden when it appears politically safe to do. We’ll see how 2024 develops but I think this will be bubbling through the election, and then these things will stop..
HB could theoretically sue, but he’d have to show there is literally no predicate to go after him which unfortunately there is at a molehill stage. However, the whole mess does highlight the politicization of the prosecutorial system with partisan special counsels and I suspect we will need to develop a process to protect citizens from this kind of harassment.
The attorneys who brought these turds into court will have to change their names and wear Groucho masks for the rest of their lives if they have any hope of maintaining any sense of dignity. The double jeopardy claim was a real "knee-slapper." I don't know how judges manage to rule on these losers without going into laughing angina attacks.
This may be the first time the words "wear Groucho masks" and "maintaining any sense of dignity" have appeared in the same sentence. Congratulations. I have to stop typing so I can wipe away the tears of laughter before they leave streaks in my orange makeup.
“The rationale for immunizing a President’s controversial decisions from civil liability does not extend to sheltering his criminality.” / You'd think his lawyers would be ashamed to make some of these pleadings. They seem not to be -- though we do not know of their professional lives post-Trump.
Dec 2, 2023·edited Dec 2, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
This is a long-standing pattern of behavior for Trump when somebody’s trying for redress in the justice system, and he just keeps flinging shit against the wall until something sticks or humming up the works so that it finally just goes away. Proper law is never the point. They all know this is garbage. It’s just chewing up time tying up the judge. And then we get to the Supreme Court. That’s the real kicker in this situation.
With an amazing amount of help he’s too lazy and stupid to gotten this far by himself. He’s the meat puppet of the far right. Remarkable? I would say horrifying.
Dec 2, 2023·edited Dec 2, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Not until the next election will I breathe another relaxed breath about what's going to happen and that only if Trump loses. And lots of serious people are very, very worried about that. No justice system, no rules of law, no decency, no integrity, no nothing could have prepared any of us for someone like Donald Trump whose real genius is evil and destructive. He is a living breathing Satan. And there are lots of little Satan's helpers. And I'm worried that now that the Supreme Court has presented their own pathetic plan we're really supposed to think is a serious Code of Ethics, which is a transparent and loose hanging bandaid, the destruction we could still face is terrifying. On to Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow and the likes of them.
What a pleasure to read, even with the tempering quality of the last two paragraphs. Now, I'm no legal expert (puffing on the cliche blend in my Mark Twain corn cob), but doesn't "Chutkan seemed to say. You can’t claim to be candidate for one purpose, and sitting president for the other." sorta equate to NY AG Letitia James alleging, and Judge Arthur Engeron agreeing, that you can't say your property is worth only a few bucks when taxes are calculated on it, but is worth a zillion when you're showing off your net worth to negotiate loans? Deranged Defendant Trump (DDT): Billionaire or Booboisie?
What a satisfying read. Absolutely try to take good news with a grain of salt but this is kind of breaking through to me. Rule of law. Great three words. Thank you for this
Dec 2, 2023·edited Dec 2, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
There isn't a way for the Trump defense team to insert any additional wording into the 2nd US Constitution and/or to existing US Code or infer from any existing language, any special rights beyond what exists to (1) former Presidents (2) persons running for Federal office (3) persons nominated by a political party for Federal office, including the presidency.
So tired of the media claiming "President" Trump is running for reelection or can be reelected. Trump can be elected again yet only President Biden can be reelected because there is one and only President/CinC at a time.
Both paragraphs speak to the most basic tenet of the 2nd US Constitution, the text itself. This country is so fucking dumbed down. The good people of this land deserve better.
Note: major correction to the Santos expulsion vote. Mistakenly had it as 105 Rs voted to expel and 114 Rs no to expel. 4Ds (2voted no, 2voted present) make the count 105-110. My bad. Am ashamed for those 4 Ds.
The only reason I can think of that the Dems voted "no" on expulsion was they thought he should be convicted in a court of law before they voted to kick him out.
Perhaps. Had they read the House Rules on expulsion they woulda' discovered there is no such requirement. So, anyone who did is inserting language out of the thin air. Much like I wrote regarding Trump and his legal team are attempting to do with being a former president and running for a party's nomination or even when securing it. THey're making up chit as they go along that fly in the face of what is.
Point being, it is tiring watching people make chit up that isn't there, then trying to peddle it as if it was.
Dec 3, 2023·edited Dec 4, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
They made statements to that effect, shee-rah. That's what the "Pandora's coffin" comment mentioned here yesterday referred to—apprehension over the precedent being set.
Now all we have to pray for is that Harlan Crowe and Leonard Leo do not get to Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett before the appeal of his guilty findings get to the Court. We know he has Thomas and Alito in the bag so the remaining questions is how much will it take to swing the other three votes his way?
Many in our assorted bureaucracies, plus companies and numbers of individuals, all should have filed whatever very legitimate charges and suits they have against trump. They all seem to just not fully grasp at all who or what they are dealing with. Like Germany in the early thirties.....
Bravo to Judge Chutkin.What kind of hubris does it take for one man to play the”candidate card” against the” POTUS” card.Idiot! I am once again saturated with this malignant narcissist.
Dec 3, 2023·edited Dec 3, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
At least everything grinds on. We'll see. I still don't get why these judges are so deferential. It seems to me any other defendant would be jailed pre trial given the same circumstances.
An exceedingly optimistic start to this piece that settled my guts until the final paragraph which made me want to scream. That’s where it really comes down to all of the salting of the justice system with Trump loyalist judges by the Federalist Society, and other far right institutions. It makes the possibility of an authoritarian rule on 2025 all too real.
I had exactly the same feeling. All was well...until it wasn’t!
Exactly what will happen to our country if the Mango Mamzer is elected in 2024.
Sure, a Trump win in 2024 means they will attempt to impose authoritarian rule.
And some citizens will resist that clampdown.*
They have support from those who respond positively to a quasi-fascist attack on democratic norms, the rule of law, women and minorities, disfavored religions, etc.
But they also have a number of severe weaknesses, some of which are discussed here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_personality
One is that they are clustered disproportionately among evangelical Christians, and in the former states of the Confederacy. Making it likely they will encounter much fiercer resistance among the non-evangelical majority of voters who live in other states.
"To Be Continued," my favorite of all favorite teams are 23 point underdogs in the Big Ten Championship on Fox at 7PM Central Time, it's damn near impossible for a team to have one of the worst offenses in all of Division 1 NCAA football and end the regular season with 10 wins and 2 losses - even though having the 2023 Big Ten Punter of the Year, Tory Taylor, and a stellar defense, let them manage to do that.
Have to see how this turns out! An upset would be beyond stunning versus #2 Michigan Wolverines, we shall see what the Iowa Hawkeyes can do, though.
*****
*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lt4O-EHNnw
The Clash - Clampdown (Official Audio)
The Clash
696K subscribers
Another voice from that time and place, telling how it will be... https://youtu.be/cLjD6pUPfq8?si=vOOsMi311LopH0ST
Video unavailable
This video is not available
But I'll take your word for it, also, see this, about the bogus "Hunter Biden laptop" scandals and related lies being pushed by the worst of the worst Republicans in Congress :
https://www.emptywheel.net/
Some very astute comments as well...
James Comer’s War on Christmas: The Burial Ground of a Dick Pic Impeachment
December 2, 2023/44 Comments/in 2020 Presidential Election, 2024 Presidential Election, Hunter Biden /by emptywheel
Republicans have rolled out a shiny timeline in support of their impeachment stunt.
It is riddled with unsubstantiated and at times, false claims. As one example, it states as fact that a $40,000 loan repayment James Biden made in 2017 — when Joe Biden was a private citizen — was money laundered from China. *******
2Cats2Furious says:
December 3, 2023 at 5:12 am
Always. Be. Grifting.
Reply
Rugger_9 says:
December 2, 2023 at 5:05 pm
I think the only reason this has any traction at all is that the MSM (looking at CNN, NYT, WashPo and the increasingly feckless Kristin Welker) is giving Comer journalistic cover by not doing the fact-checking. EW and the rest of the board here didn’t have to dig very far to find gaping holes, yet the MSM wouldn’t risk their preferred horse race narrative by publishing it.
SC Weiss is possibly reading this, along with Abbe Lowell, and he knows any real trial is going to fall apart. So, Comer took a page from AG Barr and is trying to conduct a super-duper-pinky-swear-secret investigation where he can determine what comes out. SC Weiss can drag this out but at some point he must put up something like a report. Mueller and Durham did. I also still think he will close out the investigation by dismissing his charges against Hunter Biden when it appears politically safe to do. We’ll see how 2024 develops but I think this will be bubbling through the election, and then these things will stop..
HB could theoretically sue, but he’d have to show there is literally no predicate to go after him which unfortunately there is at a molehill stage. However, the whole mess does highlight the politicization of the prosecutorial system with partisan special counsels and I suspect we will need to develop a process to protect citizens from this kind of harassment.
The attorneys who brought these turds into court will have to change their names and wear Groucho masks for the rest of their lives if they have any hope of maintaining any sense of dignity. The double jeopardy claim was a real "knee-slapper." I don't know how judges manage to rule on these losers without going into laughing angina attacks.
This may be the first time the words "wear Groucho masks" and "maintaining any sense of dignity" have appeared in the same sentence. Congratulations. I have to stop typing so I can wipe away the tears of laughter before they leave streaks in my orange makeup.
Maybe hoping for some type of appointment in the next Trump administration? (gnashing of teeth)
“The rationale for immunizing a President’s controversial decisions from civil liability does not extend to sheltering his criminality.” / You'd think his lawyers would be ashamed to make some of these pleadings. They seem not to be -- though we do not know of their professional lives post-Trump.
This is a long-standing pattern of behavior for Trump when somebody’s trying for redress in the justice system, and he just keeps flinging shit against the wall until something sticks or humming up the works so that it finally just goes away. Proper law is never the point. They all know this is garbage. It’s just chewing up time tying up the judge. And then we get to the Supreme Court. That’s the real kicker in this situation.
Isn’t it remarkable what this man and his pathologies have done to this country?
With an amazing amount of help he’s too lazy and stupid to gotten this far by himself. He’s the meat puppet of the far right. Remarkable? I would say horrifying.
In re his "getting this far by himself," he could easily be president of The Lucky Sperm Club.
Well, that accounts for all the millions of dollars he has squandered, but not the influence he currently has
True, of course. I think the time was right for crackpots with grievances -- and there he was with an enabled megaphone.
Go back, go back its a
He is remarkably insane as are his believers.
The kool-aid guzzlers.
We are in agreement. He fits into about six entries in the DSM. And even lay people can figure out that the furniture's not arranged.
They must be doing drugs or drinking alcohol to deliver these insane motions for their “Orange Jesus”.
Nah, they do what he tells them. The only lawyer could control him was Roy Cohn.
Not until the next election will I breathe another relaxed breath about what's going to happen and that only if Trump loses. And lots of serious people are very, very worried about that. No justice system, no rules of law, no decency, no integrity, no nothing could have prepared any of us for someone like Donald Trump whose real genius is evil and destructive. He is a living breathing Satan. And there are lots of little Satan's helpers. And I'm worried that now that the Supreme Court has presented their own pathetic plan we're really supposed to think is a serious Code of Ethics, which is a transparent and loose hanging bandaid, the destruction we could still face is terrifying. On to Leonard Leo and Harlan Crow and the likes of them.
A thousand “likes!”
What a pleasure to read, even with the tempering quality of the last two paragraphs. Now, I'm no legal expert (puffing on the cliche blend in my Mark Twain corn cob), but doesn't "Chutkan seemed to say. You can’t claim to be candidate for one purpose, and sitting president for the other." sorta equate to NY AG Letitia James alleging, and Judge Arthur Engeron agreeing, that you can't say your property is worth only a few bucks when taxes are calculated on it, but is worth a zillion when you're showing off your net worth to negotiate loans? Deranged Defendant Trump (DDT): Billionaire or Booboisie?
Yessssssss!
What a satisfying read. Absolutely try to take good news with a grain of salt but this is kind of breaking through to me. Rule of law. Great three words. Thank you for this
There isn't a way for the Trump defense team to insert any additional wording into the 2nd US Constitution and/or to existing US Code or infer from any existing language, any special rights beyond what exists to (1) former Presidents (2) persons running for Federal office (3) persons nominated by a political party for Federal office, including the presidency.
So tired of the media claiming "President" Trump is running for reelection or can be reelected. Trump can be elected again yet only President Biden can be reelected because there is one and only President/CinC at a time.
Both paragraphs speak to the most basic tenet of the 2nd US Constitution, the text itself. This country is so fucking dumbed down. The good people of this land deserve better.
Note: major correction to the Santos expulsion vote. Mistakenly had it as 105 Rs voted to expel and 114 Rs no to expel. 4Ds (2voted no, 2voted present) make the count 105-110. My bad. Am ashamed for those 4 Ds.
The only reason I can think of that the Dems voted "no" on expulsion was they thought he should be convicted in a court of law before they voted to kick him out.
Perhaps. Had they read the House Rules on expulsion they woulda' discovered there is no such requirement. So, anyone who did is inserting language out of the thin air. Much like I wrote regarding Trump and his legal team are attempting to do with being a former president and running for a party's nomination or even when securing it. THey're making up chit as they go along that fly in the face of what is.
Point being, it is tiring watching people make chit up that isn't there, then trying to peddle it as if it was.
They made statements to that effect, shee-rah. That's what the "Pandora's coffin" comment mentioned here yesterday referred to—apprehension over the precedent being set.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2023/12/01/santos-vote-has-opened-pandoras-coffin-00129630
Once again you listen to the noise and pluck out the melody. Thanks for this analysis, with its sad refrain and its hopeful stanzas.
Now all we have to pray for is that Harlan Crowe and Leonard Leo do not get to Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Barrett before the appeal of his guilty findings get to the Court. We know he has Thomas and Alito in the bag so the remaining questions is how much will it take to swing the other three votes his way?
Not much. This is precisely what they were put there to do.
Many in our assorted bureaucracies, plus companies and numbers of individuals, all should have filed whatever very legitimate charges and suits they have against trump. They all seem to just not fully grasp at all who or what they are dealing with. Like Germany in the early thirties.....
This is as good—actually better—a take on the state of play in Trump‘s trials as you will find anywhere.
Bravo to Judge Chutkin.What kind of hubris does it take for one man to play the”candidate card” against the” POTUS” card.Idiot! I am once again saturated with this malignant narcissist.
I don't see any of those right wing freaks on the S.C. as having friendly faces at all, unless your name is Lucifer or Elon etc. etc...
Hopeful, but I need the kittens - too many ups-and-downs of late.
At least everything grinds on. We'll see. I still don't get why these judges are so deferential. It seems to me any other defendant would be jailed pre trial given the same circumstances.
Very reassuring —until that final bit about the Supreme Court.