Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He really is that stupid.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

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

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Be a wild strawberry.

Consistently wrong since 2002

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Republicans do not trust women.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

The lights are all blinking red.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel / Judgment Day

Judgment Day

by | 198 Comments

This post is in: 

So fuckboy is being indicted today, and while on one level, it’s a relief that some tiny modicum of justice might be approaching this career criminal and flamboyant mafioso, on another level, it’s just tiring and depressing.

It’s tiring because I know I am now going to have to listen to months of personal attacks on Bragg and the judge that were any other criminal to do it they would be sanctioned, gagged, and immediately imprisoned.

It’s tiring because I am going to have to listen to millions of idiots say things like “what about Hillary Clinton” while not understanding that my position is “If you have evidence of Clinton doing illegal shit, fucking indict her” because I’m not about protecting any rich and famous criminal.

It’s wearying because now I have to listen millions of covid experts turned Ukraine analysts become lawyers discussing that the fact misdemeanor charges bumped to felonies because they refuse to understand aggravating factors or because they were done to conceal underlying crimes.

It’s tiring because of the awful shit I am going to have to listen to like “If they can do this to Trump they can do this to anyone!!!one!!!1ELEVEN” No fucking shit. They already do this to everyone else. Are you unaware of the carceral nature of the United States? Are you unaware that every prosecutor in the country chooses to threaten accused with horrible penalties from a jury trial to get them to plead to something lesser? Are you unaware that Michael fucking Cohen did jail time for this already? Are you this blissfully fucking ignorant that the reason we are JUST NOW indicting Trump is because his money and stature and position as President shielded him from earlier prosecution? Are you unaware he was the fucking unindicted co-conspirator in the Cohen case? Trump isn’t being targeted because he is Trump. He was PROTECTED until now because he was Trump. Fucking hell.

And most of all it is depressing, because this man is manifestly unqualified to be President, and may one day again be President.

Reader Interactions

198Comments

  1. 1.

    Shalimar

    Also tiring because the hoopla will be a million times the actual consequences if he’s convicted.

  5. 5.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    John, you seem upset. Relax. [Actually I agree with you.  I hope ranting helps. 🙂]

  6. 6.

    different-church-lady

    t’s tiring because I am going to have to listen to millions of idiots say things like “what about Hillary Clinton”

    “He had four years to lock her up, and he didn’t do it, so that should tell you something.”

  7. 7.

    brendancalling

    I think it’s the punditry I hate most, convincing otherwise-smart people that it’s unwise to convict a well-known criminal.

  11. 11.

    Old School

    Kyle Cheney
    @kyledcheney 5m

    JUST IN: A federal appeals court panel has rejected Trump’s bid to block top aides from testifying to special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation. Several close Trump advisers are the subject of this order, which was part of a rushed series of overnight filings.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    BREAKING NEWS: LOUD NOISE ASSAULT IN PROGRESS

    The Recount @therecount
    Ahead of Trump’s arraignment, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) responds to NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), who criticized her Monday for spreading misinformation and hate speech: “You send your henchmen down here to commit assault against people by making loud noises.”

    and of course…

    Ben Collins @oneunderscore__. 23m

    Once again, the “loud noise assault” here was a self-identifying Trump supporter handing out whistles.

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    Hey Cole.

     

    The more charges he racks up, the  more he has to get a Royal Flush.

    The Prosecutors only have to get him on one or two.

    He has to beat all of them.

    My money’s on the House.

  14. 14.

    West of the Rockies

    JC, I think you mean Fuck Wad.  A fuckboy is a semi-honorable title.  Trump ain’t nobody’s fuckboy.

  16. 16.

    Dangerman

    So, Indictment Day was cake, I’ve been told Arraignment Day is drinking (a little early but i can roll with it), what is Conviction Day? Streaking (is that still a thing)?

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    It’s tiring because I am going to have to listen to millions of idiots say things like “what about Hillary Clinton” while not understanding that my position is “If you have evidence of Clinton doing illegal shit, fucking indict her” because I’m not about protecting any rich and famous criminal.

     

    They actually know this about Democrats, Cole.

    They pretend not to, because then they wouldn’t be able to do their ‘ BOTH SIDES’ bullshyt.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Old School:

    Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney. 3m

    I don’t know precise mix of aides this order covers, but CNN reporting suggests it could include: Meadows, Scavino, Miller, Ratcliffe, O’Brien, Cuccinelli and others.

    LOL. Which crime? which investigation? Which grand jury?
    I feel a little better about my state of confusion if even the guy on the ground whose full-time job is covering this can’t keep up. I assume trump will at least try to appeal? DC appeals court means the next stop is the USSC?

  22. 22.

    BC in Illinois

    I’m looking for the internet, especially this site, to tell me when there is something historic worth seeing. I’ll watch what there is to watch and have a sip of Bailey’s.

    Then I’m going to turn off the TV. BJ and other blogs can direct me to videos of legal comments worth following. I don’t need to have some random reporter tell me their guess as to what the reaction of the American people will be.

    I just got a new printer delivered yesterday, and the first document of any size that I’m going to print up is the 34-count indictment.

    But this is only the first step of many indictments.

    • S. Daniels
    • E. Jean Carroll
    • Election Fraud
    • Trump Organization Fraud
    • Jan 6 Insurrection
    • Classified Documents
    • (others)

    Somebody in a previous thread compared what happens today to the first episode of a mini-series. I’m going to let the crowd reaction tell me when I need to check out the latest episodes.

  23. 23.

    Matt McIrvin

    If you or I did this, we’d get cuffed and mugshotted and put in a jail cell at least briefly. Trump is not getting any kind of unusually harsh treatment and it seems like a lot of these pundits have a really unhealthy deference to anyone they see as powerful.

  24. 24.

    bbleh

    Well, maybe you don’t have to listen to it.  Just wait for people who do listen to report on it.  Saves me heartburn.  (And it’s all pretty predictable anyway.)

    And yeah, he might win, but I think it’ll take some kind of external catastrophe, like a serious recession. That’s not out of the question — the House Republicans are doing their best to cause one — but I’d say the odds are against him and getting steeper every day.

    Also, what @rikyrah: says.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    @smith:

    I just love how the punditry conveniently forget the years-long effort to get Clinton on something, and the best they could come up with was an unauthorized blow job.

     

    They pretend that we don’t remember Ken Starr.

  27. 27.

    Citizen Alan

    @Matt McIrvin: If Madison and Jefferson could have foreseen the way that modern journalism would degenerate into something resembling the vapid courtiers at Versailles, they would have raced to see who could be the first to rewrite the first amendment.

  28. 28.

    different-church-lady

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
      Actually, the funny thing here is you or I wouldn’t even be charged with these things because we wouldn’t have been taking the money out of our presidential campaign funds.

    Baud, on the other hand…

  29. 29.

    WereBear

    My existence doesn’t seem so restricted (between my health, his health, finances, and COVID, the winter is hermit time) when I can avoid such conversations with ease :)

  31. 31.

    bbleh

    @Old School: @rikyrah: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: what I saw about this IS kinda confusing. Former Chief Judge Beryl Howell, in one of her last rulings, shot down their privilege claims and said nah you gotta testify to the Jan 6 GJ.  They appealed.  I think that’s still pending.  But then some of them went to another judge — maybe the new Chief Judge? — and asked him for an emergency stay, which he denied, and they appealed that.  The appeals court asked for briefs overnight (!).  I think this is the ruling on that second appeal, ie no emergency stay for you, now shuddup and wait for the ruling on the first appeal (which, from the way all these others have gone, I wouldn’t bet on succeeding, but whadda I know).

  36. 36.

    Soprano2

    The “if they can do this to TFG they can do it to anyone” argument is SO DUMB. The fact that they can do it to TFG is actually a small miracle, because the wealthy and powerful almost never actually face justice. Do people not understand how our system actually works?

  38. 38.

    Burnspbesq

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Which crime? which investigation? Which grand jury?

    Federal GJ in DC, investigating some combination of 1/6 and fake electors.

    the next stop is the USSC?

    No reason for them to take it. It’s a straightforward application of well-established precedent that they’ve shown no inclination to revisit.

  39. 39.

    Quinerly

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    I was on track to read this this AM but got distracted by the cover about Buffett being a billionaire and read that piece instead.

    As in Jimmy…..

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @Old School: A federal appeals court panel has rejected Trump’s bid to block top aides from testifying to special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigation.

    “The Court also notes that ‘omerta’ does not ‘fall under the penumbra of the Fifth Amendment’, as the filing would have it.”

  46. 46.

    Sean

    @bbleh: Debt limit catastrophe waiting just around the corner, a No Labels “party” funded (presumably) by republicans (because it sure isn’t high level dems) targeting ballot access in swing states and an inept press corp.  I don’t think the chances are as remote as people might think. We’re also operating on the assumption he’ll get the rest of the shoes dropped on him before the election, which is no guarantee. I worry more than most, and perhaps the odds don’t favor the guy, but the threat feels as real as it ever has to me.

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    @bbleh:

    And yeah, he might win, but I think it’ll take some kind of external catastrophe, like a serious recession. That’s not out of the question — the House Republicans are doing their best to cause one — but I’d say the odds are against him and getting steeper every day.

    After 2016 I simply refuse to count out Donald Trump as a major threat under any circumstances. Trump came way too close to winning in 2020 as well, either by legitimately winning states or by coup–and the list of states Biden could pick up in 2024 is so short (it’s basically just North Carolina, right?) that he has very little margin for anything going wrong.

  48. 48.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    BREAKING: The DC Circuit Court of appeals DENIES trump’s motion to block Meadows, Scavino, Luna, McEntee, Cuccinelli, Stephen Miller and others from testifying about 1/6 to Jack Smith’s grand jury, pending appeal.

  49. 49.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Sean: I do at least have confidence that Biden is not going to get sucker-punched over the debt limit. He knows that showdown is coming and he’s going to do his best to make sure blame for anything bad is correctly allocated.

  53. 53.

    Nelson

    @Citizen Alan: “journalism” in the days of the founding fathers was somewhat problematic.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gazette#:~:text=The%20National%20Gazette%20was%20founded,on%20its%20f….

    The National Gazette was founded at the urging of Democratic-Republican leaders James Madison and Thomas Jefferson in order to counter the influence of the rival Federalist newspaper, the Gazette of the United States. Like other papers of the era, the National Gazette centered on its fervent political content. The Gazette’s political content was often written pseudonymously, and was directed against the Federalist Party. Many prominent Democratic-Republicans contributed articles, often pseudonymously, including Madison and Jefferson.[1]

  54. 54.

    Warblewarble

    How many protested when Michael Cohen was brought to trial and jailed. If they can do it to Cohen , they can do it to anyone just does not have that ring.

  55. 55.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @UncleEbeneezer: Looking at that list it really brings home how silly it was for anyone to suggest that Garland/DOJ should’ve indicted Trump for 1/6 BEFORE SECURING THE TESTIMONY OF THESE CRUCIAL WITNESSES!!

    Any/every damn one of them could bring a curve-ball that would exculpate Trump allowing him to be acquitted and then afforded double-jeopardy protections.  That would have been the worst possible outcome and biggest failure of justice imaginable.

    I’m so glad that Garland/DOJ/Jack Smith are smarter than Do Something Twitter and are treating this not as a symbolic game to reduce all of our anxiety, but as a real crime that they want to prosecute effectively and win.

  56. 56.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @UncleEbeneezer: i am sure John Roberts will convince Clarence Thomas to recuse himself if this makes its way to the USSC since Ginnie Thomas was texting Mark Meadows.

  57. 57.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: They imagine that Democrats have committed huge rafts of crimes for which they are immune. These are the people who promoted the Clinton Body Count meme and birtherism and believe Anthony Fauci colluded with the Chinese to make COVID happen.

    Any open Facebook comments about Trump getting indicted usually get somebody complaining about the many crimes of Obama that never got prosecuted, and they don’t even bother to say what those crimes might have been. They’ve just got to exist.

  58. 58.

    FastEdD

    The courthouse was stirring

    A big busy throng

    Awaiting the man

    With the mushroom shaped dong

    -Stephen Colbert

  60. 60.

    Captain C

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), who criticized her Monday for spreading misinformation and hate speech:

    One more reason to hate MTG:  she makes me side with Mayor Would-Be-Theocrat.

  61. 61.

    bbleh

    @Sean: @Matt McIrvin: definitely not counting him out, nor saying Dems should relax (that didn’t go so well in ’16).  And yes, Biden’s win in ’20 definitely wasn’t a landslide, Republican ratfking is a growth industry, and economic catastrophes can happen both though Republican perfidy and for other nonpolitical reasons.

    But every day, Republicans dig deeper into the Crazy, and that both keeps Dems energized and alienates a few more people on the outer edge. That’s been going on for quite a while, they can’t stop themselves, and it plays to Biden’s strengths, so absent some substantial change from the situation in ’20, I remain cautiously optimistic.

    ETA: meanwhile, CNN is doing the Full O.J. on the motorcade to the courthouse.  OMG I’m dying.

  63. 63.

    Kent

    It’s tiring because I am going to have to listen to millions of idiots say things like “what about Hillary Clinton”

    Tell them what I tell my MAGA relatives:

    “Yes, Lock her up too”

    They think I’m going to take the bait and defend her and they don’t quite know how to respond when I don’t.

  64. 64.

    The Moar You Know

    the internet = “covid experts turned Ukraine analysts become lawyers”

    So true.  So fucking tiresome.

  65. 65.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    John Cole @ Top:

    And most of all it is depressing, because this man is manifestly unqualified to be President, and may one day again be President.

    I’ll say it right here and right now: Donald Trump will never again be president.

    Trump’s time has passed. He lost the last election by 7 milliion votes – and indictment at the local level, compounded by coming indictments at the state level, compounded by coming indictments at the federal level, are not going to improve his chances.

    None of the people who voted against Trump in 2020 are going to turn around in 2024 and say to themselves, “Well, now that Trump’s been indicted over and over and over again, maybe I shoulld vote for him in 2024.”

    And between cutting off abortion access; and threatening Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; and continued mass murders due to out of control gun access; and increasing voting restrictions that compel people to vote just so they can tell Republicans to stop fucking around with our rights, the GOP is not going to increase it’s voting share in 2024 either.

    It’s not a lock, we have to show up, and work, and get our voters to the polls, but if we do that – and we will – then neither Trump nor the GOP stand a chance.

  67. 67.

    Captain C

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    i am sure John Roberts will convince Clarence Thomas to recuse himself if this makes its way to the USSC since Ginnie Thomas was texting Mark Meadows.

    Thus depriving us of Thomas’ “He has executive privilege because he was criming with my wife” written argument.

  69. 69.

    Roger Moore

    @Lacuna Synecdoche:

    None of the people who voted against Trump in 2020 are going to turn around in 2024 and say to themselves, “Well, now that Trump’s been indicted over and over and over again, maybe I shoulld vote for him in 2024.”

    Yes, but many of the people who voted against Trump in 2020 may be unable to vote in 2024 because the state they live in has passed restrictive voting laws.  The Republicans know they’re in trouble, and they’re doing everything they can to prevent democracy from throwing them out of power.

  70. 70.

    NotoriousJRT

    The front-pagers all have their admirable strengths, skills, and interests, but nobody preaches like you, Cole.

  71. 71.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Dangerman:

    So, Indictment Day was cake, I’ve been told Arraignment Day is drinking (a little early but i can roll with it), what is Conviction Day?

    Ecstasy.

  72. 72.

    The Moar You Know

    If Madison and Jefferson could have foreseen the way that modern journalism would degenerate into something resembling the vapid courtiers at Versailles, they would have raced to see who could be the first to rewrite the first amendment.

    @Citizen Alan: simply not true.  You should see the newspapers from the times of both the Adams and Jefferson elections.  They make Fox News look like a fountain of civility and honest reporting.  The Founders were fine with that state of affairs.

    I am really not, but it is what it is.

  75. 75.

    Soprano2

    So right now there are 6 people in our lunchroom watching the breathless, blow-by-blow coverage of this on MSNBC. That’s why they do ti!

  77. 77.

    Feckless

    Not prosecuting tRump was political.

    If he was not prosecuted every one of the 160 cases brought in this jurisdiction last year should have been vacated too.

  80. 80.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Roger Moore:

    Yes, but many of the people who voted against Trump in 2020 may be unable to vote in 2024 because the state they live in has passed restrictive voting laws.

    Which, as it has in the past, and as it did in 2020, will convince more people to say, “What!?! They’re trying to take away our voting rights, MY voting rights?! Sign me up, and get me to the polls.”

    Outrageous actions tend to provoke an outraged response.

    Gerrymandering can still pose a problem for us, but it’s not insurmountable.

  82. 82.

    ArchTeryx

    It’s depressing because it’s a reminder that we elected Charles fucking Manson as our President and we’re fixing to try to do it again.  I am far more relieved than I am celebratory, because it means SOMEONE with power in this country still stands for the rule of law, not as a cult’s enabler.

  83. 83.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Mai Naem mobile: SCOTUS has so far refused to throw Trump or anyone else involved in 1/6 any life-rafts.  Could happen (and if it does I’ll be just as pissed as anyone).  But so far, there’s no reason to assume they will.

  84. 84.

    Soprano2

    @bbleh: MSNBC did it too, it was on the TV in our lunchroom when I was in there about 15 minutes ago. I made a joke about whether they were showing the white Bronco yet. I wish the commentators would tell everyone that this could have all been avoided because he could have done it over Zoom, but of course TFG wants the spectacle.

  86. 86.

    mrmoshpotato

    @bjacques:

    If someone says “what about Hillary Clinton”, reply with “what about her? You got Bill. Oh, wait–no you didn’t.” 

    Tell them to go blow Bill Clinton.

  87. 87.

    Redshift

    It’s minor, but it’s depressing that we’ll get another round of amateur internet lawyers on our side who don’t get that sentences for different counts are almost always concurrent and not consecutive, and will gleefully talk about how he could get put away for a hundred years!

  89. 89.

    Suzanne

    @bbleh:

    yeah i’ll vote for wild street orgies. on ecstasy. with streakers. and cake. 

    AKA “Tuesdays with Baud!”.

  90. 90.

    Tazj

    I see a number of “reasonable” conservatives on social media chiding people for enjoying the fact that Trump has been indicted. Oh so all it took for you to be a proponent of the carceral state is for Trump to get arrested?

    I guess you can count me among the hypocrites. Excuse me for having schadenfreude when a man who has been an objective menace to society is being held accountable for once.

  92. 92.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I hear you, Cole.  I really do, despite the WaPo saying that my artillery ears shouldn’t be compensated for.

  94. 94.

    Redshift

    @bjacques:

    “what about her? You got Bill. Oh, wait–no you didn’t.”

    They did get a sorta-kinda plea bargain just before he left office, which absolutely wouldn’t have happened without the threat of indictment. Proving that everyone bloviating that everything has changed because we used to have a “norm” that former presidents are never indicted is full of shit.

  97. 97.

    bjacques

    This is totally like The Trial Of Billy Jack. I found myself bursting into singing “One Tin Soldier “.

  101. 101.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Citizen Alan @ 27:

    If Madison and Jefferson could have foreseen the way that modern journalism would degenerate into something resembling the vapid courtiers at Versailles, they would have raced to see who could be the first to rewrite the first amendment.

    John Adams beat them to it with the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the results were so controversial that Madison and Jefferson authored the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions to oppose them.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    No one has to listen to or watch the assholes who are complaining.  If you are doing it, it is because you are choosing to do so.

    FFS, this prosecution is a good thing.  Please stop trying to look for the downside.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @Tazj:

    I’m a proponent of equal application of the law. I don’t think there should be exceptions for fancy or powerful people. Do they?

  105. 105.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Somebody refresh my memory as I don’t watch CNN and the last decade-plus is a flat circle of blurry memories: Wasn’t this guy driven out the Obama White House for for being a Dangerous Black Radical?

    Trill Clinton IG:AStatesman @aStatesman. 18m

    Van Jones is really on CNN trying to make folks feel bad for Trump. “He looks sad. That’s a grandad having a very bad day.”

  106. 106.

    narya

    I’ve been avoiding coverage of the NYC escapades (or escapades in Escalades . . . ). That said, the news about the aides testifying for Jack Smith brings me absolute joy.

    @UncleEbeneezer: @UncleEbeneezer: Yes, so much this. It’s not just, oh, let’s have a convo with a few folks, it’s pinning people down, under oath, in addition to knowing what they have to say, under oath. There was/is absolutely no point in rushing to indictment on any of the Jack Smith issues without every single punctuation mark in order, and every privilege claim addressed, and every witness in place. I remember a podcast that detailed his experience with international war crimes, and . . . he’s the right person for this task.

  107. 107.

    JPL

    @Soprano2: I just streamed MSNBC and the camera is facing a hallway.   Maybe by now they’ll put up the podium.  I turned it off.

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WaterGirl: Do you mean those people or those people. ‘Cause I am not on board with those people. But what about these people? They are a sinister looking bunch all dressed in drag and lipstick. I always say never trust anybody who hates their lips…

  109. 109.

    The Moar You Know

    “A former president of the United States of America has been arrested for paying hush money to a porn star in order to throw the election that put him in office” was really not something I’d ever expected to hear in my lifetime.

    I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive anyone who voted for that guy.  He and his voters make America look like shit.

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: My very blue polling place was as busy this morning as I have ever seen it.  Including November 2020.

  111. 111.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: amazing:

    “I’m very concerned about my bodily autonomy and making sure that I’m voting for people who aren’t going to treat me like a second class citizen and can keep as many of my rights as possible” said one woman.

  112. 112.

    JPL

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: fk   That’s a granddad that would not be able to tell you how many grandchildren he has.

    Radar online has a story indicating that Ivanka and Jared are having marital problems.    sad

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    BBC:

    Posted at 10:4510:45

    BREAKING Donald Trump now under arrest

    Following his arrival at court, Donald Trump is now formally under arrest and in police custody ahead of his upcoming arraignment.
    He’s the first American president to face criminal charges.

    Aaand, drink!

  115. 115.

    Roger Moore

    @Tazj:

    Yep. The big criticism isn’t that we shouldn’t ever throw anyone in prison.  Instead, the criticism is mostly that A) we sentence people too harshly, B) we have made up a bunch of stupid offenses that shouldn’t be criminal in the first place, and C) we disproportionately go after the poor and powerless.  The fact of Trump’s indictment doesn’t really raise point A because we don’t know what penalty he’d face until he’s convicted.  I guess you could argue about point B, but going after Trump clearly is the exact opposite of point C.  If we should be going after anyone, it’s people like Trump who think they can get away with anything because they’re rich and powerful.

  120. 120.

    JPL

    @Immanentize:  How long will this take??   In other words when will it be safe to put on network TV again.   Every channel news channel is carrying it.

  121. 121.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Roger Moore:

    The fact of Trump’s indictment doesn’t really raise point A because we don’t know what penalty he’d face until he’s convicted.

    And it also doesn’t raise point A because we KNOW the sentence he gets if he’s convicted won’t be a minute longer than they can justify twelve ways from Sunday.

  122. 122.

    mrmoshpotato

    @The Moar You Know:

    I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive anyone who voted for that guy. He and his voters make America look like shit. 

    Let’s not forget the stupid, selfish brats who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary.

  123. 123.

    WaterGirl

    @The Moar You Know:

    This is totally like The Trial Of Billy Jack. I found myself bursting into singing “One Tin Soldier “.

    I pretty much want to smack every single person, even here on BJ, that tries to say that this is a Mickey Mouse crime, no big deal, small potatoes.

  125. 125.

    PaulWartenberg

    I was gonna blog something like what John posted here, and goddammit I might as well just steal this from him.

    Everything John says here is right. The Far Right are whining about their God-Emperor facing justice now because they don’t know any other way to answer this. They dare not admit they were wrong about trump being God-Emperor because that unravels the entire tapestry of lies and delusions they’ve been weaving since Goldwater.

  126. 126.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @The Moar You Know:

    I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive anyone who voted for that guy.

    Don’t forget the 500,000 Americans who died due to Trump’s pathetic fucking response to Covid and don’t forgive the assholes who voted for him.

  127. 127.

    cain

    @Kent: You can also say that it goes more than 2x for our own side. You expect better from your own politicians because those things are important to you.

    It’s their fault that they don’t make their own politicians accountable and are willing to give them a pass.

  129. 129.

    Quinerly

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Actually he did. He tells the story about leaving cash in an envelope years later. There are some great videos he did during Covid Times. His daughter, Delaney, taped him and interviews him when they all quarantined together on the west coast. There are at least 10 on YouTube. Delaney off camera. Jimmy telling stories about his older, more obscure songs, then playing them solo.

    A bit of trivia…I used to see Jimmy in the 1970’s in NC when he played the college circuit. Back in those days, I don’t think I ever paid more than $5 a show. And then after his main concert, he and his band would show up in the bars. Met him and Fingers Taylor (he is in the last stages of Alzheimers) that way. Briefly dated/had a summer romance when I was 17 with one of his young roadies/”bodyguards” from Ohio. Hard partying group for sure.

  132. 132.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    Don’t forget the 500,000 Americans who died due to Trump’s pathetic fucking response to Covid and don’t forgive the assholes who voted for him.

    And yet the so-called “pro-lifers” still support him.  They’re about as pro-life as Vladimir Putin, who they love because he’s anti-LGBTQ, and none of the carnage means a thing to them.

    What a bunch of twisted fucks.

  136. 136.

    FastEdD

    The only really useful information today is learning exactly what the charges are. The rest is just theater.

    That being said, I am still enjoying a shot of Chinaco. I’m retired. I can do that.

  137. 137.

    Citizen Alan

    @UncleEbeneezer: At this point, I think The Satanic Six are happy to throw trump under the bus if it makes them appear just reasonable enough to keep congress from expanding scotus.

  138. 138.

    Jeffro

    Gloomy-doomies, please do give me a break – today is a great day!

    Also, the way out is through, and we all. want. out. of this eight-years-running nightmare.  So let’s go!!

    *sound of champagne opening*

    ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  140. 140.

    Elizabelle

    @FastEdD:  Ah.  Tequila.  Enjoy.

    Yeah.  Def interested in the charges.

    @bbleh:   Guessing we are going to have a good night in Wisconsin.  Could not guess about Chicago but, no matter what, we will get a Democrat …

  142. 142.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro:   Cheers!

    Today we christen the commencement of the sinking of the USS Trump.  Please, please, please.

    ETA:  Commencement?  Commencing?  Anyway, send that sucker to the bottom!

  143. 143.

    RandomMonster

    @FastEdD: The only really useful information today is learning exactly what the charges are. The rest is just theater.

    Absolutely true. And I’m here for it.

  144. 144.

    Citizen Alan

    @suzanne: I will hate trump voters from beyond the grave. Once I finally get a job out of state,. I’m nearly certain that my sister and I will never speak again.

  145. 145.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Quinerly:

    Actually he did. He tells the story about leaving cash in an envelope years later.

    That makes me really glad to hear that.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a Parrothead; I’ve never been that much more enamored of any one artist or band than of all the others.  But Buffett’s always been one of those whose music I’ve enjoyed a lot over the years.  And he’s always come across as a decent human being.

    There are some great videos he did during Covid Times. His daughter, Delaney, taped him and interviews him when they all quarantined together on the west coast. There are at least 10 on YouTube. Delaney off camera. Jimmy telling stories about his older, more obscure songs, then playing them solo.

    I’m going to have to track those down!

  146. 146.

    smith

    @Citizen Alan: They have much bigger fish to fry than protecting a two-bit huckster. After all, there’s still a ways to go in transforming the US into an authoritarian theocracy. He was just their ticket to power, and his usefulness is over. Probably the only case in which someone set out to use Trump to accomplish other goals and didn’t ultimately get burned by it.

  147. 147.

    Alison Rose

    LOL David Corn in a quick video from outside the courthouse, talking about media vs protestors vs anti-Trump crowds. “It’s New York! It’s a circus! There are people here showing parts of their body that you probably don’t wanna see.” And then referencing the “Trump or death” flag: “And they say it’s not a cult?!”

  150. 150.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @smith: They are in the process of getting burned for it.  It started with the 2018 elections and is continuing.  It just takes time to undo the damage.

  151. 151.

    Tazj

    @Kay: They think it’s too divisive politically and the country will never heal. This will set up vengeful prosecutions of Democratic politicians by Republicans for years to come. I think Republicans have been trying to do that at least since Nixon but what do I know.

    It’s true what Omnes said I don’t need to listen to what these people are saying, I just enjoy their reactions today, I’m petty. I check in on a few conservatives from time to time to see what they are thinking and what their arguments are against certain policies. There were a few that kept mocking liberals for ever thinking Trump would be indicted for anything. The wall are closing in! Any day now it will happen lol.

    They’re lawyers and they don’t like Trump but still defended Bill Barr and never thought January 6th would happen. They aren’t as objective as they  think they are.

  153. 153.

    RaflW

    Also tiring because the indictment overshadows absolutely authoritarian bullshit like the Tennessee GOP throwing three duly elected Democrats out of the state legislature for being in favor of some elements of gun control.

    It’s not even a pretextual use of some minor infraction. It’s just a naked power grab. And subsumed in the Fpotus carnival barking.

  156. 156.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Ken: My folks turned on the BBC and the moment TFG showed his face, I had to walk out to avoid the temptation to throw something heavy at their shiny 4K HDTV.

  157. 157.

    PaulWartenberg

    (watching the livestreams)

    This is kind of like watching a Mars probe landing. Hoping that the heat shield holds up and the parachutes deploy properly.

  159. 159.

    Elizabelle

    Saw a photo of TFG sitting with his lawyers.  Not a happy camper.

    His hair on top looks especially rancid cotton candyish today.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @Tazj:

    They think it’s too divisive politically and the country will never heal.

    I generally think one has to go thru things to get over them. This kind of shortcut we use over and over, where we paper things over and “move on” just isn’t working anymore. The carpet is so lumpy we can’t stick any more things under there and still walk across it.

    Let’s just go thru it and get it over with. It’ll be fine.

  162. 162.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: I want to answer “never.” But I really think the circus drama part will be done in a day or so plus Sunday news shows.

  163. 163.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle:

    Today we christen the commencement of the sinking of the USS Trump…send that sucker to the bottom!

    AY-MEN!!

    Also, in a sign that we are rapidly shifting from living in the worst timeline to the BEST one, may I announce…KELCE JAM!

    Yes, really!  Travis Kelce is having an NFL Draft Weekend music festival (ok, concert).  BUT STILL!!

  164. 164.

    jonas

    Are you this blissfully fucking ignorant that the reason we are JUST NOW indicting Trump is because his money and stature and position as President shielded him from earlier prosecution? Are you unaware he was the fucking unindicted co-conspirator in the Cohen case? Trump isn’t being targeted because he is Trump. He was PROTECTED until now because he was Trump. Fucking hell.

    A-fucking-men, JC.

    The idea that someone, anyone, even a former president, should literally be above the law for all time and immune from prosecution for serious crimes is about the most un-American thing ever. Yet this is basically what Republicans are saying out loud now. The good news is that the vast majority of Americans — aside from the usual MAGA chuds and WATB wingnut pundits — are not having it. Lock him up and throw away the key.

  169. 169.

    Montanareddog

    @JPL:

     

    How long will this take?? In other words when will it be safe to put on network TV again. Every channel news channel is carrying it

    It is kind of a big Biden deal, though, so we can cut the networks some slack here. After all, we are obsessively talking about it.

  173. 173.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JoyceH:

    He looks almost as hang-dog Putin’s bitch as he looked at Helsinki coming out of that private talk with Vlad. 

    Fixed.

  174. 174.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Barry:

    i am now supporting Baud!, with the motto ‘an orgy on every street corner!’ 

    Will there still be taco trucks?

  175. 175.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay: ​
     

    I generally think one has to go thru things to get over them. This kind of shortcut we use over and over, where we paper things over and “move on” just isn’t working anymore.

    Exactly this. We’ve been in “close your eyes and move on” mode at least since Watergate, and things have kept getting worse because of it. We’re faced with the really nasty reckoning we have now because we avoided all those previous reckonings.

  182. 182.

    Ruckus

    @Soprano2:

    SFB wants the public outrage because he of course thinks (such as it is) that he can do no wrong. He is the cheerleader for money and what it can buy you, like the ability to be a complete asshole and get away with it. He’s been and done that his entire life. And he’s only gotten worse at it over the decades and doesn’t just screw over his family but an entire country. And he thinks it can’t be wrong because he has money. Not near as much as he pretends but still, he has money.

  183. 183.

    cain

    You know – Trump is probably watching the TV coverage and having a grand ol time. He’s probably loving this attention right now.

  186. 186.

    Kay

    Just did taxes for my youngest. IRS efile is really nice now – works beautifully for a simple return.

  187. 187.

    Kay

    Dear Free File Fillable Forms Taxpayer:

    Your federal tax return was successfully accepted by the IRS.

    woo hoo!
    It takes so little to thrill me :)

  192. 192.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I’ve thought that since Nixon was pardoned. It would have been better if he had been charged and tried for his crimes, we would have gotten over it faster.

  195. 195.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @mrmoshpotato:

    @Barry:

    i am now supporting Baud!, with the motto ‘an orgy on every street corner!’

    Will there still be taco trucks?

    There will need to be, lots of calories burned at an orgy.

  196. 196.

    billcinsd

    @Kay: Waukesha is also the place where the state senate race is going on, which if the Repub wins, then Protasiewicz, assuming she wins, will get nigh immediately impeached

  197. 197.

    brantl

    @rikyrah: No, they got him for perjury, for lying about the blow job. Which, if he’d had half a brain, he would have admitted the blow job,  said it was between consenting adults, and that it wasn’t any of their f*ing business and they would have had to pound sand up their asses, with sharp knives. I still don’t understand why he didn’t have the brains to do that.

  198. 198.

    Lurking Leela

    John,
    you are not alone. I am traumatized by the existence of that man.

    Every word a lie. That sing songy voice. Dripping with theatrics. Fucking rude behavior like shoving another leader so he could be in the front for a picture. The constant bragging. The taking of credit for what others do. The incessant need to prove he is smarter than anyone.  The blatant racism. The nonsensical statements like consuming bleach.
    I could go on.

    I think he needs to disappear off the face of the earth. But I am afraid that even that won’t help at this point. He has broken too many peoples brains.

    will we ever get back to something resembling normal?

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