Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

I really should read my own blog.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

In after Baud. Damn.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

Books are my comfort food!

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / 34 Felonies (Open Thread)

34 Felonies (Open Thread)

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Michael Isikoff has an exclusive at Yahoo News:

Donald Trump will be placed under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, according to a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president.

A New York City Police arrest report summarizing the charges against Trump will then be prepared and entered into the court system before he is led into a courtroom to be formally arraigned on the charges, none of which are misdemeanors.

But, the source said, Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot — typical procedures even for white-collar defendants until a judge has weighed in on pretrial conditions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded that there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.

Huh. I don’t mind about the mugshot and handcuffs. It’s not like we need a reminder of what yam-face looks like — a brain implant that would remove the image would be more useful than a mugshot, tbh — and Trump is too feeble and cowardly to be a physical threat to anyone, so whatever. As for the felony count, who knows. We’ll find out tomorrow.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    I was surprised that they were all felonies. I thought most of them would be misdemeanors.

    Pundits know nothing.

  5. 5.

    piratedan

    in a way I can understand the decision to forgo the mug shot and cuffs/restraints… but ultimately I think its a mistake because of the symbolism that those acts infer.  It makes it seem as if there’s an undue deference still being given.  just mho….

  7. 7.

    geg6

    I’m withholding any judgment as to the veracity of Isikoff’s sources.  Reporting on everything about Mango Mussolini, his criming and, if any, the consequences for the criming has been massively wrong for years and years now.  I’ll just wait for court to be in session.

  8. 8.

    Alison Rose

    @Baud: Brought Jay-Z to mind for me.

    If you’re have legal problems, I’m glad for it, son

    You got 34 felonies and Biden’s got none

    (I am not a hip-hop artist. You might have noticed.)

  11. 11.

    Ohio Mom

    Handcuffs and being placed in a cell are temporary experiences. I’m okay with skipping those.

    But I think it is a mistake to forgo the mug shots, they would be part of a historical record.

    Maybe the judge who will weigh in on pretrial conditions will decide those photos are needed.

  12. 12.

    zhena gogolia

    a brain implant that would remove the image would be more useful than a mugshot, tbh

    Yes!

  17. 17.

    OGLiberal

    If I or any of you did this shit we’d be locked up.  Maybe not for long but long enough for it to be a nuisance.  And we’d get fired.  Fuck this asshole and anybody who likes him.  Fuck off and die.  I’m just so fucking sick of these assholes.  The next time I have to see that Greene lady’s face anywhere will be more than enough.  Fuck off.  Just, fuck.

  18. 18.

    Steeplejack

    Repeated from downstairs:

    My fervent hope is that (at least) one of the 34 charges is such a slam-dunk, open-and-shut, smoking-gun item that all of Trump’s apologists have to publicly eat shit and die immediately.

    I’m not putting money on it, though. It’s probably more likely with Jack Smith’s Mar-a-Lago documents case.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded that there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.

    The way to maintain credibility is to follow process exactly for each and every person. Excessive deference to powerful people for political reasons is just the flip side of excessive political prosecutions. They’re both bad.
    I don’t know why it’s so hard. Just use the same rules for everyone- you can’t ever go wrong doing that. Following consistent process protects everyone. It’s the gold standard. Why accept a lower standard?

  21. 21.

    bbleh

    I wanna mug shot I wanna mug shot I wanna mug shot!!!

    I want an official picture of him, front and side, with one of those number-boards.

    And the excuse that’s being offered — everyone knows what he looks like — is fkin pathetic.

    @Alison Rose: yeah!

  22. 22.

    JPL

    Well according to trump, Biden does have documents that he brought to Chinatown in order to bring to Boston.    Melt down trump is not the best trump I feel.     link

  28. 28.

    Ocotillo

    They had to forgo handcuffs because his hands are too tiny for them to work anyway.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Solid point. I’ve mentioned here before that it seems wrong to me for the authorities to release mugshots to the public in the absence of a clear reason, i.e., a fugitive case or something like that. It seems pointlessly punitive to me since plenty of folks who are arrested aren’t charged. But yeah, treat everyone the same.

  31. 31.

    Scout211

    So the Democrats are the ones making this political? Really?
    Rolling Stone

    Inside Trump’s Demands for a High-Profile Surrender: ‘It’s Kind of a Jesus Christ Thing”

    DONALD TRUMP INSISTED on turning his Tuesday arraignment into a spectacle, and he’s going to get his wish.

    A law enforcement official tells Rolling Stone that the former president was offered a chance to surrender quietly and be arraigned over Zoom. Instead, Trump opted for a midday, high-profile booking at the Manhattan courthouse, the official says.

    “He wanted a perp walk; he wanted daylight hours,” says the law enforcement official, who’s involved in aspects of the security planning. “He wants to get out of the vehicle and walk up the stairs. This is a nightmare for Secret Service, but they can only strongly suggest — not order — that Trump enter through the secure tunnels. Trump wants to greet the crowd. This should be a surprise to no one — especially not his detail.”

    Secret Service had argued in favor of holding the proceedings outside of court business hours, at night with minimal cameras and less risk. But Trump, a source close to his legal team says, wants to create the type of scene that he believes will galvanize his supporters.

  32. 32.

    Mike in NC

    A mere 34 felonies? That’s about one week’s worth of scams coming from Trump.

  35. 35.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Baud: I may have to use it as a song name.  My tunes are instrumental and have no lyrics so I was always struggle with titles.  “34 Felonies” might just work.

  37. 37.

    JPL

    @different-church-lady: There will not be bail, cuz he is the don.

     

    Latest installment of the trump meltdown acording to Hugh Lowell of the Guardian

    New: Trump takes personal and political attacks against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to new level, saying on Truth Social that he should “INDICT HIMSELF”

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Raoul Paste:

    No mugshot?

    So much for those T-shirt, entrepreneurs…

    I’ve been thinking that a trump mug-shot t-shirt would be equally popular among two distinct thirds of the country that love and hate him.

    It could have healed us as a nation

  44. 44.

    Scout211

    @SpaceUnit: I bet that would be the most activity his secret service detail would see since he left office.

    But would they take a pie in the face for him?

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: Is “Boston” a reference to some rightwing conspiracy I haven’t heard yet, or two of the bats in his belfry just collided head-first and thus that was typed?

  47. 47.

    Jager

    @Baud:

    Old Dog the Bounty Hunter would be perfect, especially if he brought Francie along. (It would be a Bad Hair Summit)

  48. 48.

    JPL

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Question with lots of ifs.   IF the DOJ charges trump with high crimes and IF says he pardoned himself, can they at least keep him under house arrest while the case goes before the supremes?   I know that the Constitution doesn’t appear to allow presidents to pardon themselves.

    I am hoping that he’s charged with racketeering in GA, and then he’d be held accountable without all the IFS

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s not a huge deal all by itself but I feel like we keep doing this: “make the justice system appear to be working!”

    No “appearance” necessary. It works fine. Just run him through the big machine exactly like everyone else. How it “appears” is up to the viewer and the wrong focus anyway. We’re a strong, resilient country! We’ll be fine! He’ll be fingerprinted and people will still go to work and go to lunch and have babies and die…. the world will go on.

    Nothing bad wil happen to America because Donald Trump gets mad at us.

  52. 52.

    SpaceUnit

    @Scout211:

    I dunno.  But if they did, that video would be epic

     

    ETA:  Especially in slow-mo and with the Chariots of Fire theme song.

  53. 53.

    JPL

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Maybe Gen Milley was going that way.   Who really know what he is not thinking.  Someone should give him some meds quickly.  What’s with the 1850 boxes of classified documents that President Biden took.   Are all 1850 boxes going to Boston?

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:It would also be cool to sic bounty hunters on him.

    I can’t swing Boba Fett kind of money, but Bossk or Dengar?  I’m up for that

  55. 55.

    Dan B

    @Baud:  Bragg upped them all to at least Class E felonies, the lowest level, because they were all done to further other crimes.

  56. 56.

    Noskilz

    When is the surrender supposed to happen? I’ve seen references to “Tuesday morning” but that’s as specific as I’ve been able to find.

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @JPL: I am not ever going to attempt to speculate.  I know that makes me a bad jackal, but this is all cuckoo banana-pants territory.

  58. 58.

    Jeffro

    The lack of handcuffs and lack of mug shot are both

    a) a nice effort to deny him the martyrdom he so clearly desires

    b) not going to stop all the Photoshop efforts and our disinformation landscape anyway

    So both yay/smart! and also oh/well

  59. 59.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    The way not to tie yourself in knots over prosecuting powerful people is not to tie yourself in knots. Don’t freelance. Don’t change the rules. The protection from accusations of political prosecutions is not prosecutorial deference, it’s prosecutorial impartiality and following the rules, exactly.

  64. 64.

    OGLiberal

    @Kay: “Nothing bad wil happen to America because Donald Trump gets mad at us.”

    Amen.  But pretty much every politician and pundit has believed the exact opposite of this for almost 8 years.  Time to stop letting this loser hold us hostage.  Strip the fucker down to his boxers, I say.  It will be ugly but fuck him, fuck them, fuck it all.

  65. 65.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:Just run him through the big machine exactly like everyone else. How it “appears” is up to the viewer and the wrong focus anyway. We’re a strong, resilient country! We’ll be fine! He’ll be fingerprinted and people will still go to work and go to lunch and have babies and die…. the world will go on.

    Exactly 110%.

    I was down on the DC Mall the day after the indictments dropped, and who would have guessed, there were tourists checking out the cherry trees and food trucks, families yelling at each other, tour groups trying their best to stay together, frisbees being thrown, kites stuck in trees…

    …just another day in DC, just another day in America.  Plus justice, that is.

  66. 66.

    Dangerman

    Cali Boy, so gotta root for SDSU, but UConn has been kicking everyone’s ass and it’s easy to see why. They are solid. Dammit.

  68. 68.

    citizen dave

    Betty, I’ve often thought the same about mugshots–why public, and why if one is never convicted of anything.  It’s a friggin’ violation!

    I googled to find the timeline, and yes, I cut and pasted from the washington examiner, but did replace the orange name with a common acronym.  (More details elsewhere in the series of tubes)  Even though this is only the first case to get him in a courtroom, with the stress it would not surprise me if he had a heart event tomorrow.

    11 a.m. EST arrival at Manhattan-based criminal courthouse

     

    2:15 p.m. scheduled arraignment before Judge Merchan

    The proceedings are slated to take between 15 to 30 minutes, though it could be longer depending on if TFG intends to use his initial appearance to question the nature of the indictment, former Manhattan federal prosecutor Sarah Krissoff of Day Pitney LLP told the Washington Examiner, adding, “That might prolong the appearance.”

    TFG is expected to return to his home in West Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after the legal proceedings. He might choose to exit the building through the front doors, sources told Fox News on Monday.

    Before and after the arraignment, supporters of TFG are expected to be at a park directly across the street from the courthouse at an event promoted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

    8:15 p.m. TFG post-arraignment speech from Mar-a-Lago

  69. 69.

    Kay

    Florida Planned Parenthood Action
    @PPactionFL
    ·BREAKING: Tallahassee Police Department just arrested dozens of peaceful pro-choice protestors at City Hall outside of the Florida Capitol.
    This includes Senator @LeaderBookFL and FDP Chair @NikkiFriedFL.
    Abortion is health care.

    Where oh where are the hundreds of free speech substackers? Oh, right. They’re writing their 50th article about impolite law students at Stanford.
    10 million people in Florida are set to lose basic bodily autonomy and we don’t hear a peep out of America’s most sanctimonious “freedom!” essayists.

  74. 74.

    Leto

    @Jeffro: ​ Listen, I’ve got IG money and I want the droid versus any humanoid. There’s no lava nearby, so the IG is good to go.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    I think Americas pundits are hugely upset but it seems to me the rest of us are going about our business. The whole thing should take less than an hour.

    He’s lucky! Ordinary people sometimes get stuck with a holiday weekend and it takes 4 days.

    I’m sure he’ll be fine and we will too.

  76. 76.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    C’mon, who hasn’t manufactured fraudulent documents 34 times?

  78. 78.

    Tony G

    @citizen dave: Marjorie Taylor Greene continues in her competition with Lauren Boebert for the title of “Most Worthless Woman in Congress”.  It’s a fierce competition.

  79. 79.

    HumboldtBlue

    concluded that there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.

    Do you know how many innocent people have been severely fucked over by our so-called criminal “justice” system?  It’s fucking infuriating, this career fucking criminal is getting treated with kid gloves AGAIN! It does mean something, it is important that we hold these motherfuckers to the same standards we hold the lowliest criminal, but nooooo, we can just let this one slide for … reasons.

    Fuck that noise, it’s yet another glaring example that there are vastly different criminal justice systems in this country and the fact that a credibly accused serial rapist, thief, con man and fucking traitor means we don’t have a real criminal justice system.

    Absolute fucking nonsense. This country is fucked. We have a literal fascist takeover of the GOP, a SC stacked with reactionary hateful religious bigots, lower courts packed with fucking corporate-friendly-white-supremacist-coddling federalist assholes, no wonder we can’t hold a fucking career fucking criminal to account because he’s a fat wealthy white fuck.

  81. 81.

    karen marie

    Inquiring minds wanna know if Trump will be changing his residency from Florida back to NY so he won’t lose his ability to vote due to being, you know, A FELON.

  82. 82.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I’ve been following that. Here’s the photo of Nikki Fried and the Dem Senator Minority (by a lot!) Leader Booker getting arrested:

    Love Fried’s shirt, which is especially appropriate considering that half of Florida Dems didn’t vote in 2022.

    Another thing the Substack cancel culture panic brigade hasn’t covered: the DeSantis admin made up a lot of stupid, arcane rules to keep people from protesting in Tallahassee, including the requirement to get a sponsor for their permit from a DeSantis cabinet member.

    Recently, the League of Women Voters was unable to get a permit. You can understand why. The League ladies are dangerous radicals! ;-)

  85. 85.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Dan B: Which is an important point.  You can’t have lesser-included felonies with a Class E felony (such as charging a person with 1st degree and 2nd degree murder and negligent manslaughter, where you can only be convicted of one at most).  So, these are 34 separate charges.

  86. 86.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @HumboldtBlue: I bet if you had been told six months ago that he was going to be charged with 34 felonies in one case, you would have been quite pleased.  This indictment is a good thing; let’s not lose track of that.

  87. 87.

    OGLiberal

    @Betty Cracker: “which is especially appropriate considering that half of Florida Dems didn’t vote in 2022”

    Not challenging, questioning….nor, am I surprised.  But, why?

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @Scout211:

    This is a good reason not to do the handcuffs and mug shots. SFB wanted them. So he could use them to show how he is being persecuted and how undignified it is. Of course he is completely undignified all on his own and giving him any extra anything, even if it is normal is likely just giving him more crap to piss and moan about.

    I’m just fine with 34 felonies as the issue and the concept that he gets shit that he wants.

  90. 90.

    HumboldtBlue

    @SpaceUnit:

    Angry is the word, not bitter. I’m bitter the Phillies have shit the bed with an 0-4 start, I’m fucking angry this fat traitorous fuck continues to be treated with a deference that is rarely if ever (Kobe Bryant’s rapist ass comes to mind) extended to anyone who isn’t a wealthy white person.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Not losing track, I’m on track and the track sucks, and it’s always sucked, and we all know it. And we keep getting slapped in the face because we care, and we pay attention, and we try to do the right fucking thing and we watch as the worst motherfuckers in our world continue to get away with being the shittiest people to ever walk the earth.

    I come here to vent on this shit because all you smart motherfuckers have the insight and experience and knowledge to keep dipshits like me on track, that doesn’t mean righteous anger isn’t a worthwhile response.

  92. 92.

    bbleh

    @Craig: @Jackie: of course he would.  He’s making a mint off this anyway, and it’s just gonna get worse.  (Which btw explains a good deal of the obsequiousness Republican pols are showing him imo.)  I don’t care.  I want I want I want.

  93. 93.

    piratedan

    @Jackie: I understand that and there’s a part of me that doesn’t care.  Let that broke ass motherfucker make a few more bucks off the rubes, he’s gonna need every dime because there are lawsuits stacking up like planes outside of DC like Die Hard 2.  If those rubes are buying his cheap ass made t-shirts made in China, then that gives them less cash for guns and bomb-making.

    that grift is gonna happen regardless of any real or imagined imaging and to be honest, how can these asshats be any more riled up than they already are? (see every southern statehouse and Idaho and Wyoming)  The entire GOP and the usual media suspects are doing the feigned outrage dance and circling the fainting couches already.  So, in my mind, just treat him like everyone else (for a change) and treat him like everyone else who gets processed.

    ymmv, but they’re gonna spin this no matter the outcome, if they don’t do the usual, then they can spin it as they’re afraid of him and it’s not a “real” arrest because there wasn’t a mug shot, there weren’t any restraints yada yada yada…. remember this propaganda machine is not reliant on facts or norms, it just doesn’t matter.

  95. 95.

    HumboldtBlue

    @SpaceUnit:

    I knew you were.

    In better news, DeSantis keeps asking Disney to kick him in the nuts.

    Ron Desantis is now launching a criminal and civil investigation into Disney after their board defied his takeover attempt.

    And the Jack Smith investigation is still out there.

    Think of the DOJ investigation like baking a cake. Garland and his team picked the recipe, bought the ingredients, mixed the batter, poured it in the pan, put it in the oven and, while it baked, made the icing. Jack Smith took it out of the oven and is getting ready to ice it.

  101. 101.

    OGLiberal

    @Dangerman: I did have the pleasure of watching an incredible St. Anthony’s team play some school – Egg Harbor Township – at Brookdale Community College many years ago.  Terry Dehere, Bobby Hurley, Jerry Walker, Danny Hurley, Rodrick Rhodes were on the team.  Lou Carnesscca and PJ Carlesimo were there to scout.  Nuts watching that talent on a team from a school that basically went out of business a few years back.  I don’t know if I’ve seen a guard better than Bobby Hurley.  Danny is the better coach.

  103. 103.

    Danielx

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Saw that report about DeSantis getting euchred by Disney. I was not surprised, and I anticipate he is going to spend a great deal of taxpayer money in a futile attempt to intimidate Disney.

  105. 105.

    Jackie

    @HumboldtBlue: Ice it already!

    The MAL stolen documents indictment is what I’m waiting for! And the Fulton County indictment. I want April to be Indictment Month!

  107. 107.

    Lyrebird

    @Betty Cracker: Thanks for posting the photo.  Sen. Book is something else!  Like her amendment to rename the bill, “Electrical Activity that can be Manipulated to Sound like a Heartbeat through Ultrasound Protection at the Expense of Pregnant People’s Health and Wellbeing Act”

     

    Sigh.

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @OGLiberal: DeSantis making it very clear that you might end up in prison for voting while being the wrong kind of person may have had something to do with it.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @HumboldtBlue:

    that doesn’t mean righteous anger isn’t a worthwhile response

    It very much is. But it’s basically the only worthwhile response.

    I doubt that we will ever get rid of the wealthy getting privilege over and above in the US, because our economy is built around this and has been almost destroyed numerous times because the wealthy get the level of privilege they do not deserve but have managed to steal on many occasions, this just being another one of them.

  114. 114.

    Noskilz

     

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    According to this Politico article  

    “Trump’s arraignment is scheduled for 2:15 p.m., but he’s due to surrender to the Manhattan DA at the lower Manhattan courthouse around 11:00 a.m.”

    So claims I saw elsewhere about it being a morning thing seem to have been a little off.

  116. 116.

    Doc Sardonic

    @OGLiberal: Charlie Crist. There were a lot of Florida Dems that were not going to turn out to vote for a Republican. Yes, I know Charlie is a Democrat now, but he still has that Republican stench to him that won’t wash off. Unfortunately, it hurt the rest of the ticket. I had to hold my nose and have a couple showers and a stiff drink after voting for the son of a bitch, but my hatred for Pud in Boots made me vote for Christ.

  118. 118.

    James E Powell

    @JPL:

    New: Trump takes personal and political attacks against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to new level, saying on Truth Social that he should “INDICT HIMSELF”

    Trump goes for the “I know you are but what am I?” defense.

  119. 119.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Omnes Omnibus: Time constraints.  Wonkette takes up a lot of my online time.  Then there’s Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Also too various Civ games.

  120. 120.

    sanjeevs

    @Kay: You would think people would have learned to just follow the same rules for everyone after the Comey fuck ups.

    Appears not though.

  123. 123.

    James E Powell

    After looking overmatched for most of the game, SDSU cut the lead from 13 to 6. The crowd in Viejas Arena lost their minds. It would be great if it turns into down to the last shot game.

  127. 127.

    eclare

    @Ksmiami:   I have always heard that you don’t fuck with Disney legal.  Maybe that should be up there with “never start a land war in Asia.”

  128. 128.

    HumboldtBlue

    @NotMax:

    I close my eyes and I can see it. Trump nailed to a cross made of the bones of aborted babies while collapsed at his feet are Frederick Douglass, MLK, all the white GOP presidents, some nuns and priests, a bunch of maga loons and Queen Lilibet all keening over his persecution.

  132. 132.

    sanjeevs

    @Ksmiami: Iger is pissed. I’m shocked how forthright he was.

    “A year ago the company took a position on pending Florida legislation, and while the company may not have handled the position it took very well, the company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Iger said during the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Monday.

    DeSantis, Iger said, “got very angry about the position Disney took and seemingly has decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board overseeing the property and the business”.

    Iger said “any action simply to retaliate for a position that the company took sounds not just anti-business but it sounds anti-Florida”.

    He noted that Disney planned to invest $17bn in Walt Disney World over the next decade, which would create 13,000 jobs in the state and many other indirect jobs.

    The Disney shareholder meeting opened with a video presentation by Iger from Orlando, where he said he was “so proud of the Disney legacy in central Florida”. He referenced the legacy of Roy and Walt Disney, who in the 1960s petitioned lawmakers in the state for special powers to govern the area around what is now Disney World.

    https://www.ft.com/content/ef6788db-4063-4eca-8a95-724bf7ef5b5c

  133. 133.

    eclare

    @Jackie:   I live in TN, in a blue oasis in a red state that has gone bat shit crazy.  It’s very depressing, it wasn’t always this way.  A Democrat was governor til 2011, then there was a typical country club Republican.  Yeah still awful but not psycho about social issues.  And it all happened so fast.  I don’t know if the 2010 redistricting did it or what.

  134. 134.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jackie:

    If somebody asked me that, and I had witnesses/evidence that they said it, I’d press charges. I’d take it as a threat

    Do any lawyers know if those protesters can have that state rep arrested for making terroristic/death threats?

  135. 135.

    satby

    OT, the satby has landed (in Seattle). Currently feasting on Brie and Cheetos in my hotel. Looking forward to meeting Seattle folks tomorrow.

  139. 139.

    Mike G

    there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.

    There is every damn reason in the world to subject the angry yam to cuffs and a mugshot.

    “The cruelty is the point” crowd need a taste of the authoritarian bullying they lustily cheered for Trump to inflict on others.

  141. 141.

    Soonergrunt

    How’s everybody this evening?
    We’re getting a spring snowstorm in. Weather people say it will hit around 12-18 inches by this time Wednesday night.
    Given that there’s already about 5 inches on the ground and it’s coming down like crazy, I’ll guess we’ll bust through that prediction without too much difficulty.

  149. 149.

    Mike G

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Undoubtedly there are SS agents who ideologically identify with Trump, but I doubt it’s enough of them to pull off an escape, willing to follow him into lifelong exile or face felony aiding-a-fugitive charges.

    I suspect Trump is the kind of crass bully who inspires contempt from people who work closely with him, not loyalty.

  150. 150.

    JWR

    In the event he does have to pose, can he appear all bronzed up for his fanbois, or will they scrape all the pancake off beforehand, just as he would appear while roaming the Floriduh wilds?

  154. 154.

    Mike G

    @JPL:

    Trump takes personal and political attacks against Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to new level, saying on Truth Social that he should “INDICT HIMSELF”

    “I don’t want anybody else

    When I think about you, I indict myself”

  155. 155.

    Matt McIrvin

    @sanjeevs: I kind of expected Iger to try to write it all off as just another aspect of Bob Chapek’s bumbling and try to wash Disney’s hands of the whole deal. But I suspect he knows he can’t, since DeSantis has painted a target on the company for demagogic purposes.

  156. 156.

    JoyceH

    BTW, I was curious about that remark of Trump’s that Nixon ‘got $18 million’ for his papers, so I went to investigate. First off, Nixon predated (and indeed was the reason for the passage of) the Presidential Records Act. Before Nixon, presidents usually donated their presidential papers to the government, but it wasn’t required. But because Nixon was involved in a variety of crimes, Congress passed a law seizing the presidential papers from Nixon’s administration. Nixon sued to get his records back. Or to be compensated, to the tune of $200 million. Years after Nixon died, the case was settled with his estate, for $18 million, most of which went to the presidential library, something like 90K going to the Nixon family.

    This of course has nothing whatsoever to do with Trump’s case, since the Presidential Records Act does apply to all the paperwork of his administration. But doesn’t it sound like he heard some garbled version of this story and squirreled away a bunch of records to hold hostage for ransom?

  159. 159.

    Jackie

    @eclare: My daughter moved to TN 2005, married, and had two boys. I was tempted to move there; Dem friendly and a beautiful state. Then her husband’s career moved them to Orlando, FL.

    Tennessee has turned 180 degrees – and Florida has gone same bat shit crazy.

    She needs to move back home to “regular” Red County eastern WA.

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JoyceH:

    But doesn’t it sound like he heard some garbled version of this story and squirreled away a bunch of records to hold hostage for ransom?

    That’s my take too. the only thing his squirrelly brain retained was “Nixon got $18M” then the brian- squirrels played a game of telephone and instead of “Purple monkey dishwasher” they finished with “trump should get at least 50”

  163. 163.

    JoyceH

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​
     

    I suspect that all through that lengthy back and forth with the Archives, Trump was waiting and waiting for the government to make a monetary offer. The search warrant was probably a shock – ‘but but but… they never even offered me money!’

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JoyceH: I also think there was stuff he planned on keeping forever, for a little narcissistic mini-museum somewhere in that gaudy palace. The KJU letters, for example. Still can’t quite grok that the oaf thinks that what is probably the best evidence of how needy and easily manipulated he is something to brag about and be proud of, but…

  166. 166.

    HumboldtBlue

    @JoyceH:

    I suspect that all through that lengthy back and forth with the Archives, Trump was waiting and waiting for the government to make a monetary offer. The search warrant was probably a shock – ‘but but but… they never even offered me money!’

    I think you hit the nail on the head. That’s his entire MO.

  167. 167.

    way2blue

    Oh.  I want a mug shot.  To remind Trump in a visceral way that he’s a common criminal.  ‘Allegedly’.

  169. 169.

    Brachiator

     I don’t mind about the mugshot and handcuffs. It’s not like we need a reminder of what yam-face looks like … — and Trump is too feeble and cowardly to be a physical threat to anyone, so whatever.

    I want to see Trump in handcuffs and with a mugshot. He thinks he’s tough. He thinks he’s special. He should not be given any special breaks.

  173. 173.

    Dangerman

    @eclare: I have always heard that you don’t fuck with Disney legal.

    Truer words have never been spoken. First, they’ll Black Knight you (/Holy Grail), lop off your nuts if you own a pair, then really start to make you hurt.

  175. 175.

    patrick II

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It sounds good, but I am not sure that the theory squares with the most recent news of his personal review of the classified documents, keeping some and returning others.  What was his decision criteria for what documents would give him the greatest return?

  177. 177.

    GibberJack

    I very much do mind about the lack of mugshot and handcuffs.

    We all would have gotten them. It’s what the rest of us would have to deal with if we were charged with a felony, let alone 34.

    Still has me angry that we, you and I, would get different treatment as a private citizen from what Trump would get as a private citizen.

    The rich are different from you and me.

  179. 179.

    scav

    Imagine his official White House portrait with the little numbered board below the front and profile views . . . . . big ol’ gilt frame with little chains and handcuffs sprinkled amidst the whorls and acanthus leaves . . .

  180. 180.

    Origuy

    Snoop Dogg is going to have to make a new wine for 34 crimes to go with his 19 Crimes line.

    In case you’ve seen the wine at the store and wondered what 19 Crimes meant:

    Nineteen crimes turned convicts into colonists. Upon conviction British rogues guilty of at least one of the 19 crimes were sentenced to live in Australia, rather than death. This punishment by “transportation” began in 1787 and many of the lawless died at sea. For the rough-hewn prisoners who made it to shore, a new world awaited. As pioneers in a frontier penal colony, they forged a new country and new lives, brick by brick. This wine celebrates the rules they broke and the culture they built.

  181. 181.

    Kent

    @eclare:@Jackie:   I live in TN, in a blue oasis in a red state that has gone bat shit crazy.  It’s very depressing, it wasn’t always this way.  A Democrat was governor til 2011, then there was a typical country club Republican.  Yeah still awful but not psycho about social issues.  And it all happened so fast.  I don’t know if the 2010 redistricting did it or what.

    It’s not just redistricting. That might explain Wisconsin and Georgia which went for Biden statewide but have GOP legislatures.  In TN, Trump won by 60.7% to Biden’s 34.5%.  That is a 26-point blowout win.

  182. 182.

    Kent

    34 felonies makes me wonder if Bragg has a WHOLE LOT MORE on Trump than just the Stormy Daniels stuff.  I mean, wow.  If that’s true.  You gotta wonder what all they have on him.

    The Manhattan DA’s office is not full of fools.  That is a very high profile place with a lot of expert people.  They are not the type to go off half-cocked and get egg on their faces like some rural DA’s office in Texas might do.  Or your average dipshit GOP congressman.  My gut tells me that they have the real goods on Trump.  I mean, he is a walking talking basket of felonies and has been for decades.  Maybe someone finally just put it all together in an actual indictment at long last.

  183. 183.

    eclare

    @Kent:   I meant the redistricting could have engineered much less competitive districts than had existed prior.  So the people running would have had to appeal to those voters.

  185. 185.

    Kent

    @eclare:@Kent:   I meant the redistricting could have engineered much less competitive districts than had existed prior.  So the people running would have had to appeal to those voters.

    Yeah maybe.  Probably explains the supermajority but not the fact that it is a red state.  But even Gore lost TN by 4 points in 2000 so this has been a long time coming.

    My guess?  It’s the racism that was always under the surface but completely unleashed and given voice by Trump.  It is a hell of a vice.  Plus the evangelical Christian nationalism.

    I lived in TX from 2003 to 2016 and watched the same exact thing happen.  When you scratch the surface it was all about race.  And you don’t have to scratch very hard.

  187. 187.

    eclare

    @Kent:   I always knew it was a red state, I am just amazed how quickly it turned such a deep crimson.  Like you said, TFG’s election gave permission to a lot of people to let their inner racist and homophobic identities live freely on the surface.

  188. 188.

    Kent

    @eclare:@Kent:   I always knew it was a red state, I am just amazed how quickly it turned such a deep crimson.  Like you said, TFG’s election gave permission to a lot of people to let their inner racist and homophobic identities live freely on the surface.

    The 2010 election was the turning point.  I was just taken completely back by the sea of red that my neighborhood in Waco turned into during that election.  It was the teaparty bullshit but really, the first chance for all those white people to vote against Obama and put him in his place.  Plus Citizens United unleashed a tidal wave of dark money.  Probably the best congressman I ever had (Chet Edwards Dem-Waco) went down to defeat in TX in that election.  Marie Gluesenkamp Perez might turn out to be better than him but she’s new yet.

    Then Trump came along 6 years later and took that racism and weaponized it.

  190. 190.

    Kent

    @yellowdog: Does the courthouse have the admiralty flag with the gold fringe?  Remember that one?  That will render the proceedings illegitimate.

  192. 192.

    Kent

    @Viva BrisVegas:Is a guy with his own jet not a flight risk?

    P L E A S E     G O D    P L E A S E

    Let him flee the country to take refuge in Russia or Saudi Arabia.  And then just fucking stay there.

  195. 195.

    NotMax

    @Kent

    Gore lost Tennessee in 2000 primarily because of his one-eighty to a very vocal anti-tobacco stance. IMHO.

  196. 196.

    rikyrah

    @eclare:

    And it all happened so fast.  I don’t know if the 2010 redistricting did it or what.

    They were always there. And, when people show you who they are – believe them.

     

    Barack Obama’s RE-ELECTION is what sent them over the bend.

  199. 199.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Kay:

    Nothing bad wil happen to America because Donald Trump gets mad at us.

    Years 2016 to 2020 on line 1 for a “Kay.” Anybody here named “Kay?”

    ;)

  200. 200.

    evodevo

    @Scout211: ​
      Well, hey…the argument could be made that since he is Jesus to his followers, and Jesus was arrested and arraigned at night….Oh, wait…he’s performative to the core, and that wouldn’t even occur to him…if he’s even familiar with the story LOL

  201. 201.

    evodevo

    @PaulWartenberg: The supposed billionaire doesn’t have enough cash to make it worth the SS’s while, given that they would lose their pensions and be on the Fibbies wanted list LOL

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