The Conversation -- April 8, 2024
A Method to His Lies. Angelo Fichera of the New York Times: "In the week starting with Mr. Trump's victory speech in Iowa through his win in the New Hampshire primary -- the contests that put him on the path to becoming his party's nominee for the third consecutive time -- The New York Times analyzed all of his public statements, including speeches, interviews and social media posts. His words focused heavily on attacking his political rivals, self-aggrandizing and stoking fear to make his case for 2024. In doing so, Mr. Trump often relied on repeated falsehoods and half-truths. He has yet to deviate from this approach in the general election....
"He grossly distorts his opponents' records and proposals to make them sound unreasonable.... He exaggerates and twists the facts to make his record sound better than it is.... He relies on both well-worn and fresh claims of election rigging to suggest he can lose only if his opponents cheat.... He has turned his criminal cases into a rallying cry, baselessly asserting that he is being persecuted by his successor.... He makes unverifiable claims about what the world would have been like had he secured a second term.... He describes the United States as a nation in ruins."
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump, a week away from standing trial in Manhattan on criminal charges that he falsified records to cover up a sex scandal, has indicated he plans to file a lawsuit against the judge overseeing the case. Court records showed on Monday that Mr. Trump was filing an action against the judge, Juan M. Merchan, though the papers were not immediately made public. An online court docket where Mr. Trump is expected to file the so-called Article 78 action -- a special proceeding that can be used to challenge New York state government agencies and judges -- showed that the related paperwork was sealed. Two people with knowledge of the matter said that Mr. Trump's lawyers on Monday planned to file the action calling on an appeals court to delay the trial and to challenge a gag order that Justice Merchan recently imposed on the former president.... Mr. Trump's unorthodox move -- essentially an appeal in the form of a lawsuit -- is unlikely to succeed, particularly so close to trial."
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said in a video statement on Monday that abortion rights should be left up to the states, remarks that came after months of mixed signals on an issue that he and his advisers have worried could cost him dearly in the election. Mr. Trump said his view was that the states should decide through legislation, and that 'whatever they decide must be the law of the land, and in this case, the law of the state.' But he added that he was 'strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.'... Mr. Trump appeared to be trying to move past the issue of abortion rights as quickly as possible without discussing a federal ban, which would face steep odds in the House and Senate. He has privately discussed supporting such a ban. But politically, Mr. Trump's announcement that abortion should be left to the states will allow Democrats to tag him with some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, including a six-week ban in Florida that he has said was a 'terrible mistake.'... In the video, Mr. Trump said he was 'proudly the person responsible' for overturning Roe and eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years. Mr. Trump falsely claimed that 'all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and in fact demanded' that Roe should be ended. He then falsely claimed that Democrats wanted babies 'executed after birth.'" CNN's report is here.
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CNN is live-updating the total eclipse of the sun here: "The eclipse will be visible to 32 million people in the US who live along the path of totality, where the moon will appear to entirely block the sun. And a whopping 99% of people in the US will be able to glimpse at least a partial solar eclipse when the moon covers part of the sun. Enter your address to find out what you can expect to see in a city near you." ~~~
~~~ How much of the April 8 eclipse will be visible at your house? And when? Check out the answer here (by Zip Code). ~~~
~~~ The New York Times has cloud cover forecasts for 3 pm ET today. You can check by city. ~~~
~~~ NASA's solar eclipse page is here. PBS is covering the eclipse here. NBC News will cover it here.
"Yellen in China" Will Not Be an Opera. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Four days of top-level economic meetings between the United States and China concluded in Beijing on Monday with no major breakthroughs, but the world's two largest economies agreed to hold more discussions to address rising friction over trade, investment and national security. The conversation is poised to become even more difficult, however, as hopes of greater economic cooperation collide with a harsh political reality: It is an election year in the United States, and antipathy toward China is running high. At the same time, Chinese officials appeared unmoved by Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen's urging that China scale back its recent surge of green energy technology exports, which could threaten American jobs."
Turner Admits House Republicans Are Putin Puppets. Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) stressed the expansive reach of Russian propaganda and said Sunday it has even presented itself on the floor of the U.S. Congress. In an interview on CNN's 'State of the Union' with Jake Tapper, Turner said he agreed with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who singled out conservative news outlets and said, 'Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it's infected a good chunk of my party's base.... There are members of Congress today, who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not,' Turner said. '[Russian President] Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia, to Eastern Europe, and including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia's.' Turner said the propaganda has made it increasingly more difficult to pass Ukraine aid and to present a clear picture of a battle between democracy and authoritarianism." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's report is here.
Ed Scarce of Crooks & Liars notes that Donald's handpicked RNC chair Michael Whatley lumped Ukraine in with China & Iran as the U.S.'s "aggressive" enemies who will meddle in U.S. elections. See also Comrade Trump's plan, linked under "Ukraine, et al." below.
Presidential Race
Maham Javaid & Kyle Melnick of the Washington Post: "Democrats may miss a deadline to get President Biden on the general election ballot in Ohio, according to the state's election management office. In a letter seen by The Washington Post, the Ohio secretary of state's office told Ohio Democratic Party Chair Liz Walters that the Democratic National Committee's nominating convention is scheduled too late for Biden to make the Ohio ballot because a state law requires nominees to be certified at least 90 days before the general election. The letter, citing Ohio's presidential ballot laws, said the deadline to certify a presidential candidate in Ohio is 90 days before the general election. The election is Nov. 5 this year, putting the Ohio deadline at Aug. 7 -- but the Democratic National Convention, which is expected to nominate Biden for a rematch against Donald Trump, isn't scheduled to convene until Aug. 19. The letter from Paul Disantis, chief legal counsel for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R), asked Democratic state legislative leaders for clarification to assure the party's 'timely compliance with Ohio law.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Whaddaya bet the Supremes would think keeping a Democrat off the ballot was just fine even as they could hardly wait to make sure a Republican insurrectionist could remain on every state ballot?
Maggie Haberman & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump, speaking at a multimillion-dollar fund-raiser on Saturday night, lamented that people were not immigrating to the United States from 'nice' countries 'like Denmark' and suggested that his well-heeled dinner companions were temporarily safe from undocumented immigrants nearby, according to an attendee.... Mr. Trump also lamented the surge of migrants, particularly from Latin America.... 'In fact, I don't think they're on this island [Palm Beach], but I know they're on that island right there. That's West Palm,' Mr. Trump said, gesturing across the [Intercoast Waterway].... 'Congratulations over there. But they'll be here. Eventually, they'll be here.'... Dozens of wealthy donors helped write checks that the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee claim totaled more than $50 million, an amount that would set a record but had not been verified." MB: West Palm Beach, BTW, is not an island. It's on the Florida mainland. According to the reporters, "... nearly a third of residents [of WPB] are Black and a quarter are Hispanic." ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Allen, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump emphasized the importance of extending his signature tax cuts to some of the nation's wealthiest political donors, according to a readout of his private remarks Saturday night provided by a Trump campaign official. 'Trump spoke on the need to win back the White House so we can turn our country around, focusing on key issues including unleashing energy production, securing our southern border, reducing inflation, extending the Trump Tax Cuts, eliminating Joe Biden's insane [electric vehicle] mandate, protecting Israel, and avoiding global war,' the campaign official said of a roughly 45-minute speech to donors in Palm Beach, Florida." MB: Okay, the tax-cut-for-billionaires thing is totally believable. The rest, maybe not so much. But the speech proves Trump can tell the truth sometimes. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, over at "Fox & Friends" weekend, the hosts can't figure out how much of that $50MM haul will go to Trump's legal fees, and they think it's very unfair that Biden gets to spend all of his campaign cash for, you know, his campaign, while Trump is "fighting with one hand behind his back" because Biden's "election interference" is forcing Trump to shell out so much to lawyers. (Also linked yesterday.)
RAS found this summary of some of our more recent presidents' goals. MB: I think maybe I'm seeing a pattern: ~~~
Aileen in Wonderland. Joyce Vance on Substack: Judge Aileen Cannon's court is "increasingly reminiscent of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,' where important matters are upside down.... Judge Cannon ordered Jack Smith to provide her with jury instructions on the application of the Presidential Records Act (PRA) long before the case could even conceivably be ready to go to trial -- jury instructions are typically filed shortly before trial begins. Judge Cannon hasn't even ruled definitively on the role the Presidential Records Act will play in permitting Trump to mount a defense (which, of course, it shouldn't do at all). Increasingly, the common theme seems to be that she finds disingenuous paths around rulings that would permit the Special Counsel to appeal her errors.... This case is very likely headed to the Eleventh Circuit before trial.... If Judge Cannon continues as she has, the outcome seems to be all but a foregone conclusion. And it's difficult to believe that, at this point, any panel of Eleventh Circuit judges wouldn't believe the Judge needs to step aside."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. digby figures Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update (embedded yesterday) is about the only "news" outlet to properly cover some of Trump's latest rantings. MB: I remember first remarking on this back in (probably) late 2015 or early 2016, when I noticed that the media carefully "translated" Trump's garbled remarks into forms that sounded at least comprehensible. They got used to it, and as he got crazier -- as digby emphasizes -- they just skipped some of the nuttier lunacy and translated only the few remarks which they could couch as probable "policy" matters. (These admittedly are usually crazy, too: Trump will solve the U.S./Mexico border crisis by building a "beautiful" wall which Mexico will pay for.) Maybe every "real" news outlets should have a little box headlined, "Crazy Things Trump Said Today," and report it out. Raw.
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Vermont. Johnny Diaz of the New York Times: "The authorities in Vermont arrested a man they said used an accelerant and a lighter to start a fire on Friday outside of Senator Bernie Sanders's office in Burlington. The man, Shant Soghomonian (also known as Michael Soghomonian), 35, previously of Northridge, Calif., was arrested on Sunday on a charge of using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, Vt., the U.S. Attorney's office for the district of Vermont said in a statement on Sunday. Prosecutors and the police did not identify a possible motive for the fire."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Israel and Hamas sent delegations to Cairo for the latest round of cease-fire negotiations. CIA chief William J. Burns was in Cairo on Sunday for the talks, in a possible sign that diplomatic momentum is building after the sides couldn't reach an agreement before Ramadan."
Louisa Loveluck, et al., of the Washington Post: "Israel said on Sunday -- the six-month mark of the ruinous conflict in Gaza -- that it was withdrawing all but one brigade from the south of the enclave, describing the move as an opportunity for troops to rest and retool for the next chapter of the war. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that its 98th commando division, which consists of special ground forces, had 'concluded its mission' in the city of Khan Younis and left Gaza 'to recuperate and prepare for future operations.' The Nahal brigade, made up of ground troops stationed along a corridor that divides northern and southern Gaza, would continue to operate, the army said. The drawdown announcement Sunday seemed to mirror a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza City earlier this year, after the army said it had dismantled Hamas brigades in the north and was pivoting to more targeted operations."
Ukraine, et al. Who Would Have Guessed? Isaac Arnsdorf, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump has privately said he could end Russia's war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, according to people familiar with the plan. Some foreign policy experts said Trump's idea would reward Russian President Vladimir Putin and condone the violation of internationally recognized borders by force. Trump's proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia.... That approach, which has not been previously reported, would dramatically reverse President Biden's policy, which has emphasized curtailing Russian aggression and providing military aid to Ukraine."
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Reader Comments (18)
I’d be okay for Trump to compare himself to Nelson Mandela if he were to spend the next 27 years in prison.
Oh wait…no I wouldn’t. He’d still be a hateful prick. But you know what? Maybe I’ll change my mind. So do the time and I’ll think about it.
Other stuff to name after Fatty…
An airport? Nah…I like the prison idea, but here are some other possibilities:
A public restroom. Something else that’s full of shit.
A cemetery: where things go to die.
White Christian nationalist charter school. At least it wouldn’t be a lie.
The Zamboni machine at Madison Sq. Garden. That’ll keep him on ice for a while.
A Boeing repair hangar. They fix stuff just like he does.
A stop sign in the middle of Death Valley. He likes attention, right?
A line of Maxi pads. Hw can grab all he wants that way.
Rename the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Something else that’s famous but broken and useless.
Dan Pfieffer
"Why is the Press Making Trump Seem More Normal?
Believe it or not, much of the political press has an inadvertent pro-Trump bias"
Presidential Goals
A.I. Wars
"‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
The Israeli army has marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using an AI targeting system with little human oversight and a permissive policy for casualties, +972 and Local Call reveal.
During the early stages of the war, the army gave sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices or to examine the raw intelligence data on which they were based. One source stated that human personnel often served only as a “rubber stamp”
Moreover, the Israeli army systematically attacked the targeted individuals while they were in their homes — usually at night while their whole families were present — rather than during the course of military activity. According to the sources, this was because, from what they regarded as an intelligence standpoint, it was easier to locate the individuals in their private houses. Additional automated systems, including one called “Where’s Daddy?” also revealed here for the first time, were used specifically to track the targeted individuals and carry out bombings when they had entered their family’s residences."
@RAS: I was hesitant to link this report as I don't know the journalist who wrote it, Yuval Abraham. Abraham's Wikipage is here. Also, Ayman Mohyeldin covered this story, based on Abraham's reporting, over the weekend, which makes me feel there's a good chance the reporting is solid. And horrifying. Anyhow, I leave it to the reader to decide.
The scheme by Ohio Republicans to keep Biden off the ballot in the general election is a complete outrage but it gets little in the way of coverage in the MSM. I saw it in an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Unlike the question about keeping a traitor off the ballot in strict observance of the Constitution, which received wall to wall coverage (ohhh…so terrible! Aren’t we a democracy? Waaah!), and a fire alarm response by the Supreme Court, this is a total scam invented to hand the state over to the aforementioned traitor. “Oh gee, we’re so sorry but we can’t do anything about it. We passed a law (*snicker*), but you can just change the date of your NATIONAL CONVENTION! to suit our made up bullshit rule.”
This is how it works. Constitutional law? Meh. No biggie. Our candidate, a lying traitor and convicted rapist, can do whatever he wants. Bullshit law thrown together to fuck a sitting President? OMG! The will of the people! He must obey!!
The Rodney Dangerfield of jurisprudence
It’s unclear whether Loose Cannon, overseeing the Trump stolen documents case, is just a stupidly incompetent naïf blissfully unaware of relevant law, or a Trump stooge pulling every trick to get her boss off the hook, or a little of both, but this order, to send her two different plans for jury instructions—before a trial date has even been set—is just another example of the kind of bullshit that could support any of the above possibilities.
To see how stupid it is, substitute her concern for the applicability of the Presidential Records Act with the options from those old Miller Lite Beer commercials with Rodney Dangerfield.
“Okay, I want you, Jack Smith, to give me a detailed report on your instructions to the jury—in this case of whether TFG is guilty of stealing and refusing to return documents related to national security—supporting your contention that Lite Beer is A. Less filling, or B. Tastes great. And hurry it up. I don’t have all day.”
The PRA has zero bearing on this case. Nothing at all to do with it. She might as well demand jury instructions on whether chocolate is better than vanilla. It’s just more time wasting bullshit aiding her goal of dragging this thing out forever. Of all the court battles involving the crookedest asshole in presidential history, this one was a no brainer and should have been decided months ago. Did he or did he not remove and illegally retain classified documents belonging to the government?
He did.
Guilty.
But in a courtroom run by a Trump lackey, the Rodney Dangerfield of jurisprudence, the most important question is “Less filling, or tastes great?”
Issues of vital national security, in Trump World, are a joke.
Will he or won’t he?
The big question of the day is, will the stable genius look directly into the sun, without the necessary eye protection, during a total eclipse, or…
Never mind. We already know the answer.
And here’s the answer…
Back in AZ for work. My YouTube feed suddenly has BORDER SECURITY ads all over the place. I haven't watched any of them through, but I strongly suspect none of them mention that the Rs killed the right wing fever dream security bill the Senate was in the process of passing and President Biden was on board with.
We be in deep doo-doo. When questioned about the presidential
election coming up, MAGAts responded that they would vote for
Vladimir Putin before they would vote for Joe Biden.
They obviously think things are better in Russia than in the USA.
Let's do a go-fund-me and raise money to fly them to Russia (one way)
so they can see first hand what it's like.
It won't take long for them to get really tired of eating turnips every day.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-supporters-say-theyd-vote-
vladimir-putin-1887721
@Forrest Morris: Good idea. It might be cheaper to send them all directly to a gulag. These whiney babies are incapable of not whining about "government censorship," and that will get them into a lock-up right away anyway. Let's see how they like that forced labor with a twice-daily helpings of thin turnip mash.
Trump has been promising to save them from Biden. Since he'll be president*-for-life, he won't need them to vote for him anymore, so there's not a chance he'll save them from Putin.
The Orange Monster brags that he’ll stop Russia’s war on Ukraine in one day.
How? This is of course the same guy who promised that all crime in the United States would stop the second he was inaugurated. And what happened? He was inaugurated and the Trump Crime Family went to work. Crime tripled.
So what’s the magic spell he’s going to use here?
He brags that he’ll get Ukraine to just hand over land to Putin, and presto! War over.
Two things. First, this is the guy who couldn’t convince Ukrainian officials to spin his lies about Joe Biden. But now they’ll be happy to surrender half their country to a brutal dictator? Yeah. That’ll work.
Second, the assumption that Putin will be happy with being handed land that doesn’t belong to him. See, Putin is not the “nice” kind of brutal dictator. He gets half the country, for nothing, he’ll want it all. That’s been his stated goal all along.
But okay, Mr. Realpolitik Genius Negotiator will take care of everything. Trump couldn’t negotiate a stand off between two nine year old owners of competing lemonade stands. Oh, unless he got some of his J6 “patriots” to beat up the one he didn’t like.
I’m sure the MAGAts are impressed. Then again, they’d be impressed by a Trump turd in a Marred-a-Lardo toilet bowl.
Looks like the Pretender has hoisted himself on his own abortion petard. Couldn't have happened to a nicer (nastier) guy.
By loading the SCOTUS with men (and one woman) who have no truck with women's rights he's placed himself precisely in the middle of the "debate," which the poll numbers say very clearly is not a discussion with equal numbers on both sides, making himself a target for both sides of the issue, the reasonable human beings who don't favor forced birth and the nuts who are all for it.
This is not one of those issues he can meet with promises. Better, cheaper healthcare for everyone. An end to the Ukraine-Russia conflict in one day.
He's already responsible for the vastly unpopular Dodd decision and he owns it.
Leaving it up to the states is a chickenshit move and everyone knows it.
But Ken, “chickenshit” is his middle name.
So the eclipse, in my area, was 98.6%. Seven years ago, we saw 100% totality, which was really amazing, dusk in the middle of the day, temperature drops, birds stop singing, just incredible. A 1.4% difference was equally amazing. Yeah, it got darker, the air was a tad chillier, but it wasn’t like that total eclipse of a few years ago.
The difference for us, as a country, in political terms, is that just a 50% eclipse of democracy could be enough to put the lights out forever. It doesn’t have to be zero dark 30 for a traitor to shiv democracy in the back. Hell, even a thirty percent eclipse could be enough to reward the drooling, thuggish MAGAts with a victory over the American Experiment.
No special glasses needed to see democracy go down the drain.
If it does, the Both Sides media will be sure to suggest that it might have been just as bad had Biden won.
In other words, had we retained glorious sunlight (democracy), it would be no different than living in twilight (Trumpish authoritarianism). Both Sides sez so.
Next total eclipse in the US: 2044. Democracy could be long forgotten by then.
Trump money
"The little-known insurance company that rescued Donald Trump by providing a last-minute $175 million bank fraud bond isn’t just unlicensed in New York; it hasn’t even been vetted by a voluntary state entity that would verify it meets minimum “eligibility standards” to prove financial stability.
Perhaps even more troubling, the legal document from Knight Specialty Insurance Company doesn’t actually promise it will pay the money if the former president loses his $464 million bank fraud case on appeal. Instead, it says Trump will pay, negating the whole point of an insurance company guarantee, according to three legal and bond experts who reviewed the contract for The Daily Beast.
“Based on the financial statement provided, Knight Specialty is providing a bond that is one-third of its total assets and greater than its surplus, which is incomprehensible for a carrier to underwrite,” said Vullo, who was previously the superintendent of New York’s DFS."