The Conversation -- March 30, 2024
A Globe-Trotting Trumpy Traitor. Beth Reinhard, et al., of the Washington Post (March 28): Richard Grenell, a former Trump administration "diplomat," "has carved out ... an extraordinary role ... in the three years since Trump left the White House. From Central America to Eastern Europe and beyond, Grenell has been acting as a kind of shadow secretary of state, meeting with far-right leaders and movements, pledging Trump's support and, at times, working against the current administration's policies.... Grenell's globe-trotting has sparked deep concern among career national security officials and diplomats, who warn that he emboldens bad actors and jeopardizes U.S. interests in service of Trump's personal agenda. In the process, Grenell is openly charting a foreign policy road map for a Republican presidential nominee who has found common cause with authoritarian leaders and threatened to blow up partnerships with democratic allies.... Grenell is in regular contact with the former president and his family, though it's unclear when or if he's acting on Trump's directions."
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: "Donald Trump is presenting himself as the Man on the Cross, tortured for our sins.... In January, he put up a video on Truth Social about how he is a messenger from God, 'a shepherd to mankind.'... More and more, Trump is wallowing in his Messiah complex... Weaponizing his martyrdom, Trump is selling $59.99 'God Bless the USA' Bibles.... Just what the world needs: a soul cleanse with a grifter Bible, where the profits could well be going to pay legal costs in trials about breaking commandments -- bearing false witness to try to steal democracy, coveting a porn star, then paying the star hush money to keep quiet about the sex." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump has read neither the Bible nor the U.S. Constitution, which is packaged inside the Trump Bible. Slapping the Constitution in among a series of religious tracts is rather odd, only partly because Trump plans to undo or at least ignore it. The Constitution is such a secular document that it not only guarantees that the Congress will establish no religion, it does not otherwise mention religion. It does not mention God (or Christianity) at all. In fact, the U.S. Constitution stands in stark opposition to Old World governments of the day which centered on God-anointed, heredity monarchs imbued with the "divine right of kings." The Founders came from countries where top-down governance was the rule, yet they claimed in their preamble that "We the People" were the ultimate governors here.
If you're old enough to remember the 2000 presidential election, you probably don't need this reminder: ~~~
Nate Cohn of the New York Times: Al "Gore would have won Florida, and therefore the presidency, if it weren't for the infamous 'butterfly ballot' in Palm Beach County.... After the election, many voters from Palm Beach claimed they had inadvertently voted for Mr. Buchanan when they meant to vote for Mr. Gore. This is clear in the data. Mr. Buchanan fared far better in Palm Beach County than he did on the other side of the county line. Indeed, Mr. Buchanan fared far better in Palm Beach County than any politically or demographically comparable area in the country. Mr. Buchanan also fared much better among Election Day voters -- who used the butterfly ballot -- than among absentee voters, who did not, a pattern not seen elsewhere in the state.... At least 2,000 voters who meant to vote for Gore-Lieberman ended up voting for Mr. Buchanan. All else being equal, that would have been enough to decide the election." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Cohn's written description of the butterfly ballot is even more confusing than the ballot itself. There are some images of the ballot in this Smithsonian Magazine article.
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Trump Stands for Violence, Lawlessness & Treason
Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: "Manhattan prosecutors and former President Trump are sparring over the scope of the gag order imposed on the former president in his hush money criminal case less than three weeks out from the start of trial. The former president has continued to direct his rage at Judge Juan Merchan's daughter in social media posts after Merchan this week refused to delay Trump's trial and approved prosecutors' request to gag him. In separate letters made public on Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's (D) office and Trump's lawyers argued over whether the gag order's language reaches the families of both the district attorney and the judge." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here.
Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... Donald J. Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case asked an appeals court on Friday to take up their challenge of a judge's ruling that allowed the prosecutor Fani T. Willis to stay on the case. With their application to appeal, the defendants are once again pressing their argument that Ms. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, created an untenable conflict of interest by having a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case." (Also linked yesterday.)
Federal Judge Rebukes Trump. Shania Shelton & Rashard Rose of CNN: "A sitting federal judge on Thursday harshly criticized Donald Trump's attacks on the judge overseeing the former president's criminal case tied to alleged hush money payments, telling CNN that such statements threaten the viability of the American legal system. US District Judge Reggie Walton spoke with CNN's Kaitlan Collins ... in the wake of Trump's attacks on Judge Juan Merchan, which helped prompt the New York judge to issue a gag order on the former president earlier this week. It is unusual for federal judges to speak publicly, especially about specific political or legal situations. 'It's very disconcerting to have someone making comments about a judge, and it's particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they're directed at one's family,' said Walton, who has also faced threats, as has his daughter." MB: Ronald Reagon & George W. Bush appointed Judge Walton. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Walton's remarks came as several federal judges in Washington appointed by Republican presidents have spoken with increasing urgency about Trump's disregard for historical facts and alarmed at his increasingly graphic and at times violent description of defendants prosecuted in the Jan. 6 riot as 'political prisoners' and 'hostages' who did nothing wrong." (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump posted a video on Friday to his social media website that features an image of President Biden with his hands and feet tied together.... The video shows two moving trucks decorated with flags and decals supporting Mr. Trump. The tailgate of the second vehicle features the image of Mr. Biden.... Photos of trucks featuring similar images of Mr. Biden tied up have been shared across social media, and online vendors sell vehicle stickers with the image. Mr. Trump's promotion of the video featuring the image reflects the increasingly caustic and personal attacks that he has directed against Mr. Biden ... and it extends a record in which the former president features violent imagery on his social media accounts." The NBC News story is here.
John Annese of the New York Daily News: "The father and brother of Brian Sicknick, the police officer who died during the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol, blasted Donald Trump's appearance at a wake Thursday for slain NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller. Charles and Kenneth Sicknick on Friday both expressed condolences to Diller's family, but they said Trump's appearance, especially the press conference outside a Long Island funeral home, was nothing more than a highly inappropriate political stunt.... 'The fact is [Trump] states he's law and order but he sent a mob that ultimately ended up killing my brother. He has such a lack of self-awareness of what he does. He's using that officer's death as a campaign platform,' [Kenneth Sicknick said]."
Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump ... has made no public statements on Russia's detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held for one year without formal charges or a trial.... Trump has consistently gone out of his way to avoid criticizing Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Trump himself routinely demonizes reporters with terms such as 'the enemy' and 'criminals.' His silence stands out among bipartisan condemnation of the detention and calls for Gershkovich's release.... President Biden's campaign slammed Trump for accommodating Putin 'It's shameful but unsurprising from Donald Trump, who has made it quite clear repeatedly he would side with Putin over the American people,' Biden-Harris spokesman Ammar Moussa said. 'This is the same guy who told the world he'd let Putin do whatever he wants to our NATO allies -- even if it meant more war and suffering.'"
The Appeal of the Bible Grift. Amanda Marcotte of Salon on why Trump's Bible-hawking works for self-identified evangelical Christians: "It's likely a selling point that Trump's version of 'Christianity' is void of faith and morality.... They can have the identity 'Christian,' and all the power that goes with it, minus the parts they don't like.... No tedious talk about 'compassion' and 'grace,' which only gets in the way of the gay-bashing and racism. And definitely no need to worry about that Jesus guy, with all his notions about 'loving thy neighbor' and 'welcoming the stranger.' Their new lord is Trump himself.... What Trump offers when it comes to Christianity is what he offers his followers in every other aspect: permission to stop pretending to be good people.... Over 40% of self-described evangelicals go to church once a year or less. Instead, as the New York Times reported, MAGA is basically their religion." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: We had some discussion about this in yesterday's Comments.
Kathleen Culliton of the Raw Story: "Conservatives are advocating to repeal the U.S. Amendment that limits presidential terms, prompting President Joe Biden's campaign to warn an election year victory for ... Donald Trump could allow him to remain 'in office forever.' Biden-Harris HQ shared on X Friday an article from the American Conservative, a blog partnered with the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 policy initiative that calls for, among other actions, filling civil service jobs with Trump loyalists."
Marie: Looks as if Rudy wants to move to Florida to be closer to Trump (or, gosh, maybe because Florida bankruptcy laws are more generous to residents than are New York state laws): ~~~
~~~ Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "In a motion filed Thursday, [Rudy] Giuliani, who owes election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss $148 million for defaming them, asked a bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York to let him keep his Florida condominium, valued at $3.5 million, as he fights the judgment on appeal. The former New York mayor's attorneys wrote in the 12-page motion that the recommendation by the Committee on Unsecured Creditors that he sell the home since declaring bankruptcy was premature.... The committee told him there was 'no legal basis' for him to keep the property. Giuliani does not oppose the sale of his property in Manhattan, however. That property could be sold so he could make his primary residence in Florida, he contends." MB: Rudy's Florida condo, like Mar-a-Lardo, is in Palm Beach. CNN reported in October 2023 that the Palm Beach condo was "placed under a federal tax lien by the Internal Revenue Service as he owes more than a half-million dollars in unpaid income taxes, according to a court filing."
Chris Hayes on how the Supremes use delays to help Trump and other Republicans. I imagine Chief Justice Roberts is the guy who controls the schedule. Maybe he should have to pay taxes on gifts-in-kind he has given to some of his favorite GOP friends. Or maybe the feds should just swoop in and arrest him for breaking the law on campaign contribution limits. Surely some of his gifts to Republicans are worth millions. (I'd be sad to see our Chief Justice being hauled down the marble steps of the Supreme Court building in cuffs):
Presidential Race
Tyler Pager & Dylan Wells of the Washington Post: "President Biden's reelection campaign launched a digital ad Friday aimed at supporters of Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination this month, part of a broader effort by Biden's team to win over Republicans who may be disinclined to vote for Donald Trump.... The ad features clips of Trump denigrating Haley during campaign rallies and telling reporters that he does not need her supporters to win." ~~~
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "The Very Stable Genius is glitching again. This week, he announced that he is not -- repeat, NOT -- planning to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He apparently forgot that he had vowed over and over again to do exactly that, saying as recently as a few months ago that Republicans 'should never give up' on efforts to 'terminate' Obamacare.... He surely can't be expected to remember what was happening at this point in 2020. 'ARE YOU BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO?' he asked last week The poor fellow must have forgotten all about the economic collapse and his administration's catastrophic bungling of the pandemic. Or maybe he didn't forget. Maybe he's just hoping the rest of us will forget. In a sense, Trump's prospects for 2024 rely on Americans experiencing mass memory loss...." Read on. Milbank reprises some of Trump's -- and his party's -- recent greatest hits, and their plans for 2025.
Billionaires Back to Backing Butthead. Josh Dawsey, et al., of the Washington Post: "As hopes of a Republican alternative [to Trump] have crumbled, elite donors who once balked at Trump's fueling of the Capitol insurrection, worried about his legal problems and decried what they saw as his chaotic presidency are rediscovering their affinity for the former president -- even as he praises and vows to free Jan. 6 defendants, promises mass deportations and faces 88 felony charges. The shift reflects many conservative billionaires' fears of President Biden's tax agenda, which if approved would drastically reduce their fortunes.... 'The billionaire class is really threatened by Biden: These guys are about creating a dynasty of wealth for themselves, and hoarding it for their posterity, at the expense of everyone else in society,' said Steve Rosenthal of the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank."
Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "The family of labor activist Cesar Chavez sent a letter to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday, warning him to stop referencing the late patriarch in election campaigns or face potential legal action. The letter, signed by Cesar Chavez's eldest son, Fernando, reiterates the family's support for President Biden.... Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the granddaughter of the labor union leader, leads Biden&'s reelection campaign." ~~~
~~~ Ed O'Keefe & Fin Gomez of CBS News: "President Biden is set to be endorsed Friday by members of Cesar Chavez's family -- a mostly symbolic gesture, but one meant to send a signal to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's trying to invoke his own family's ties to the late union organizer and civil rights leader. Fernando and Paul Chavez, the sons of the late co-founder of the United Farm Workers, are endorsing the president on Friday, the Biden campaign told CBS News.... 'The bonds of affection and respect for a president who by his character and actions consistently reflects the genuine legacy of my father, Cesar Chavez,' Paul Chavez said in a statement."
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Georgia Voter Suppression, Election Interference. George Chidi of the Guardian: "Georgia legislators changed state election laws in the midnight hours of Friday, widening the criteria to challenge a voter's registration, removing bar codes from printed ballots and increasing the documentation local elections officials must produce to certify elections. The proposals will take effect 1 July, assuming the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp [R], signs the legislation into law. Voting rights groups expressed their highest concern about how Senate Bill 189 potentially expands challenges to voter registrations. Conservative advocates have been issuing large-scale systematic challenges to voters -- dozens or hundreds at a time in some districts, like Atlanta's Fulton and DeKalb counties. Each challenge under existing law has to be considered on its individual merits under current law, which can exhaust the resources of local election officials, voting rights advocates argue."
Iowa, Missouri. Mitch Smith & Catrin Einhorn of the New York Times: "A fertilizer spill in Iowa this month wiped out much of the aquatic life across a 60-mile stretch of rivers in two states, officials said, leaving an estimated 789,000 fish dead in one of the region's most ecologically devastating chemical spills in recent years. A Missouri official who surveyed the damage said that the banks of the Nishnabotna River had been lined with fish carcasses, and that dead fish were visible through the water.... The ... die-off started, Iowa officials said, when a valve was left open over a weekend on a storage tank at NEW Cooperative, an agricultural business in Red Oak, in southwestern Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which learned of the spill on March 11, said this week that 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer spilled into a drainage ditch and into the East Nishnabotna River, which flows into the Nishnabotna River and then the Missouri River. Iowa officials estimated that more than 749,000 fish died in that state."
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Israel/Palestine, et al.
John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel despite Washington's concerns about an anticipated military offensive in southern Gaza that could threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2,000-pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel's military campaign in Gaza."
Ukraine, et al. A Message to Congressional Traitors. Davis Ignatius of the Washington Post: "President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a stark message to Congress in an interview on Thursday as Russian missiles were pounding southern Ukraine: Give us the weapons to stop the Russian attacks, or Ukraine will escalate its counterattacks on Russia's airfields, energy facilities and other strategic targets.... The military has been unable to plan future operations while legislators squabbled for nearly six months. He warned that hard-pressed Ukrainian forces might have to retreat to secure their front lines and conserve ammunition.... 'We are trying to find some way not to retreat,' Zelensky continued."
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Reader Comments (10)
Enough is enough. In fact, it’s far too much.
We are over seven months away from the election and the violent rhetoric and imagery produced, supported, shared, and celebrated by this fat traitor is ramped up almost by the hour. This is obviously an unhinged, desperate, out of control maniac who is now promoting the idea that the President of the United States be violently kidnapped and taken away for obvious ends.
Elected Republican officials are okay with this? The Secret Service is okay with this? The FBI? Anyone else, they’d be kicking in his door and dragging him off to a cell. And we’re still over half a year away from the election!!! What will he and his gun toting thug supporters be promoting come October?
Attacking judges, their family members? The President??? All because he is pissed that his life of crime has at long last visited the (distant, and possibly ephemeral) possibility of legal consequences?
But if this violent lashing out is allowed to continue unabated, his slavish, thuggish followers, whose propensity for mayhem, barbarism, and savagery is well documented, may very well decide that physically assaulting public officials, judges, politicians they hate, up to and including the president of the United States is not only endorsed by this dangerous buffoon, but so ordered.
And when that happens, his battery of legal fascist fucks will scream first amendment! He’s being persecuted!!
Enough! Gag orders don’t work. Maybe incarceration will. And every minute officials with an R after their names remain silent makes them complicit. Tucking hell!
Trump's bible accessory
Once again we see the Right's whining of rigged elections is just projection. The Confederate Court is once again manipulating the vote by causing the American people to use an unconstitutional electoral map in order to help the Republicans get elected again.
Greed: Both verse and chorus of "America," singing of itself.
https://populist.com/30.07.Winkes.html
Anat Shenker-Osorio
"Here's what we're seeing in focus groups: Double haters contemplating sitting out, third party or skipping top of ticket are often willing to brush aside Trump committing past crimes. But what moves them is contemplating future harms *to them*.
When we shift from "Trump is" to "Trump will do" we see palpable difference. Former invites near instant "yeah but Biden is..." Better still? Shift away from election as match between 2 individuals, toward election as decision about 2 futures."
I again last night watched the movie 'The Manchurian Candidate',
the 2004 version. I inserted (in my mind) Trump as the candidate
who ca be mind controlled by nanotechnology.
I also had to pretend that he had a working mind to start with.
It made the movie much more understandable.
https://www.dictionary.com/e/politics/manchurian/candidate
Manchurian Candidate? Wouldn't surprise me.
But, maybe the big story is just how and why Trump and the Trumpettes have been so successful. It led me back to a documentary I saw a while back. It's available from a number of online sources as well as streaming, I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self
Interview with the filmmaker: https://www.hgi.org.uk/resources/delve-our-extensive-library/interviews/century-self
I find this kind of scary. The ideas also explain why Dems don't do nearly as well at shaping public opinion as the GOPers do.
"He immediately recognised that the corollary, of significance for anyone involved in public life, was that it was pointless to appeal to the masses rationally if you wanted to get them to support something." - Adam Curtis
Help us.
(BTW...Why can't I get hyperlinks to work right??)
@BKDad: If you're talking about trying to create links, there are half-a-dozen reasons they may not be working for you. If you follow that simple link code I've outlined in the upper right-hand box, they should work. But you can't vary from it, like putting in (or deleting) a space somewhere or like using those "curlicue" quotation marks instead of the plain ole straight ones.
Try copying and pasting the link code I've typed in the box (I can't do it here or it would just become a link). Then (1) substitute the hyperlink of the page you want to link for the "URL" in my code and (2) substitute the text you want to highlight for "text" in my code. Test your effort by clicking on "Preview Post" instead of "Create Post."
That should work. If it doesn't, make an effort and email it to me at
constantweader@gmail.com
and I'll see if I can figure out the problem.
Apologies if I missed this. Our friends from across the pond have put pen to paper regarding a certain former president, which I thought might be appreciated:
https://coming42.livejournal.com/479179.html
I think I figured out what I got wrong. Here's a test:
The Century of the Self
Interview with the filmmaker
I'm sure that made the world a better place.
Thanks for the suggestions and hand holding!