it appears that between Jack Smith and the J6 judge who checks all the boxes – smart / fierce / black / female / immigrant / tired of Trumps delaying tactics – things are going to move relatively quickly with the J6 case.
The Jack Smith filing with the court in response to Trump’s request for an extension is a thing of beauty. He doesn’t pull his punches!
We gotta stop this guy
I searched for the original tweet with this video, in the hopes that people can watch the video here without a twitter login.
This is one of the most profound videos I’ve filmed since the rise of Trump. I asked him why he was there. Tears rolled down his cheeks. His father who was a WWII veteran (like my dad) told him “We gotta stop this guy”. He was a squadron commander and he lost 110 men and he never… pic.twitter.com/FUnRSibJX7
— Sandi Bachom 📹 (@sandibachom) August 5, 2023
Eyes on the prize:
The best way to shut him up.
Is to not revoke his conditional release.
Don’t give him the 1A battle and appeals he is craving. He needs to delay the trial by any means necessary. Hence this show of defiance.
Don’t martyr him. He’ll use any pre-trial reprimand to appeal for…
— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) August 6, 2023
Here’s the whole tweet so you don’t have to click:
The best way to shut him up.Is to not revoke his conditional release.Don’t give him the 1A battle and appeals he is craving. He needs to delay the trial by any means necessary. Hence this show of defiance.Don’t martyr him.He’ll use any pre-trial reprimand to appeal for changes in the judge and venue.He will probably not win…but it could cause more delays.The best way to shut him up? Give him a speedy trial.
This is not giving him a pass. This is accelerating something he desperately wants to avoid.
He knows the walls are closing in and will become more unhinged and desperate by the day. A gag order will not stop it.
You want mugshots, fingerprints and to see him humiliated.
I want the quickest path to see him held accountable for his crimes.
It’s not the same.
Open thread.
Mai Naem mobileI
I am wondering when Melania dumps him. Is she hanging so that Baron gets his inheritance when he kicks the bucket? Is it because TFG has something on her? I don’t get why she still hangs around. She’s made plenty of money from her own stunts.
MattF
TFG is obviously trying to provoke the judge and prosecutors, so one can now expect threats that cross various red lines in various ways. I think that looking ever more deranged is bad for him. And his allies will have to follow.
Ishiyama
I posted this in the last thread, but it fits better here.
You see, there’s this thing called the Separation of Powers. Inside that Courtroom, the Judge has the authority to sanction misconduct when necessary to enforce her orders, or to maintain decorum. She has both punitive authority over contempt committed to her face, and coercive power to force obedience. She can, for instance, order her bailiffs to take anyone in her Courtroom into custody, and put them in the lock-up – just for a few minutes, or hours, or even indefinitely. And, because of her separate power, she can tell her bailiffs to prevent the Secret Service from interfering, and lock Trump up in isolation. 20 minutes would be enough to show him how he stands (or sits).
Remember, this Judge was a public defender. For years, she saw all the mechanisms that were used to crush her clients.
Alison Rose
@Mai Naem mobileI:
Don’t discount the likelihood that she’s just as much of an asshole as he is. Remember the jacket.
Eolirin
I disagree. If Trump is allowed to violate the Judge’s directives he’ll do so in all respects, even the ones he really can’t be allowed to, like disclosure of discovery material, witness tampering or trying to harass jury members when we get to that point.
So at some point they need to throw his ass in jail, or at least get the point across that they’re really going to. If the judge says certain actions will result in him ending up in a cell then he needs to end up in a cell if he crosses that line even a little. If he gets away with breaking the rules he will keep doing it. And it’ll fuck up the DoJ’s ability to prosecute not just this case but potentially others.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
But what about my short-term emotional needs?
John Revolta
What hangs around? I haven’t seen her going to the arraignments with him, not even in the limo or the airplane. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of her in months. Are they even speaking? Inquiring minds!
Scout211
The news reporters were all over the “where is Melania?” story. I guess not showing up in court with him was scandalous to them. So people are noticing that they are rarely seen together anymore.
If I had to guess, I would say that she is sitting financially in a very good place. Melania, Barron, and Melania’s parents are doing fine living off the Trump money. Living a separate life while not being legally separated works quite well for her, IMHO. Rumors of prenups that limit her income seem to be the obvious reason she won’t legally dump him, though.
CaseyL
@Mai Naem mobileI:
I have no particular interest in Melania, but she was an international escort when she hooked her meal ticket out of being an international escort and has been married to him for, what, 18 years now?
If she ever had normal human impulses, those were ground out of her probably before she met/married him. Don’t try to apply human standards to her; she’s as alien as the Andromeda Strain.
Ishiyama
Let us not forget that it was another Federal Judge, “Maximum John” Sirica, who made the original Watergate defendants come clean about who gave them their orders. That started it.
MattF
@Eolirin: But throwing his ass in jail won’t stop his followers from doxxing and harassing jury members. It’s going to happen. What then?
ETA: A historic defeat of the R party in November ‘24 is the (long-term) way forward.
Jeffg166
@Mai Naem mobileI: A look at the prenuptial would probably clear up your question.
smith
@Eolirin: I have to agree. As much as it plays into his and his followers’ persecution fantasies, hard limits need to be set and enforced. If not, he will literally shoot someone on 5th Avenue just to show he can. Seriously, isn’t that the mindset that led to the attempted coup in the first place?
Jeffg166
TFG and the media want this to be a high drama. A speedy trial will deflate both of them,
Steeplejack
Sandi Bachom tweet at top Nitterized.
LAO
Have we seen the proposed protective order yet?
ETA: I ask because I’ve been in cases with protective orders with significant limitations, including not releasing copies of the discovery to my own clients!
mrmoshpotato
@Alison Rose:
Yup. An absolutely miserable, wretched bunch of people.
smith
@MattF: There’s no way on earth those jury members’ identities will be made public, or enough information about them leaked to allow doxxing. As I recall, the jury for the E. Jean Carroll suit was kept unidentified, and I don’t believe anyone identified them during the trial.
MattF
@smith: I hope you’re right.
Scout211
@Steeplejack: I have never been able to view a nitter link that anyone has posted here. Maybe my internet speed is too slow or maybe I have to have an account? I click on the link and nothing happens. But the tweet/X link works fine and the video plays in the embed and also if I click through to Twitter/ X to view the video.
dmsilev
I think both the prosecutors and the judge are doing the right thing here. Don’t give him an inch of undeserved leeway (note the really quick slapdown on the ‘can we please have an extra few days?’ thing yesterday), and if he does start blabbing privileged information, they can bring the hammer down without any hesitation.
Ruckus
My dad was a WWII vet. He survived, obviously otherwise I wouldn’t be here. He spend his life making tools that made things for people. We made molds for toys for children for Mattel and others. We made molds for plastic bottles, for calculators, for covers for your home stereo, for medical equipment and on and on. And he and my mom made me, who did the same for longer than he did. And today plastic soda bottles are reused to make the thread for auto upholstery, which lasts a lot longer and works better. Yes plastic can be wasteful, it can also be recycled easier and have a second and more lives.
If you are around my age your parents were alive during WWII, and given your age you might have been as well. This country isn’t perfect, because humans – and none of us are either. But it has the possibility of being better because of them – and us. This blog (and others) is a modern day way we get to discuss pretty much anything of life, the town meeting if you will. And sure it’s day to day stuff but we also discuss important issues, like war and peace and being better humans.
The world does not get better without the humans alive making it better, day by day. That is what life is, making it better, day by day. Or trying to make it worse. Make it more hateful, more harmful for entire groups of human beings. Make it fucking better, even if it’s only one millionth of a bit better, millions of us doing that is what makes it better. Make it less hateful for hates sake because that helps no one and nothing.
LAO
@MattF: there will be anonymous jury.
smith
@Scout211: That happens to me when I have my VPN on, but it works well without it.
tobie
I get why it’s necessary to game this out and figure out what is a distraction and what would be a win. But I hate that we have to play this game, psych Trump out, and treat him differently than other defendants because of the unhinged following he has.
There’s a house near mine which always posts disparaging flags about Biden on its flagpole. “Let’s go Brandon” and “Fuck Biden” were there for a while. Now it’s a picture of a dog pooping on the name Biden. Maybe the owner thinks he’s being clever. He comes off as an angry wacko.
MisterDancer
You’re right, WaterGirl, this video is powerful. My Grandfather fought in WWII. And came home to the same Jim Crow he left.
We were…never close. Yet: he lived to see Jim Crow go away, to see his grandson be successful in ways he could never dream of.
Fuck letting Trump, or DeSantis, or any of these jerks have this country by default.
M31
@mrmoshpotato: miserable, wretched people is right, and it’s been making me hate the modern world in that those miserable wretched people and their supporters and enablers are not only getting away with all kinds of bullshit–from just asshole behavior up through monstrous crimes–but they are forcing their opinions and beliefs on everyone all the time
was watching a cool Thelonious Monk video that was linked on Xshitter and the comments were all spiteful pieces of shit insulting it — I say, shut up you losers, you don’t have to like it but just please leave don’t be calling it 3rd grade level etc. etc. and of course fucking Elmo’s website puts all the bluecheck comments first and they are a firehose of stupid wretched self-important dumbassery
went to youtube and found the clip at least
citizen dave
Not that insightful of an observation for the BJ crowd, but if TIFG is really convinced of his innocence, he would welcome a very speedy trial.
I just finished watching Jury Duty on Prime. Is that jury available, including James Marsden?
Alison Rose
@smith:
Maybe it’ll be Rudy.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: My theory is she wants to be in the white house again so she can punish everyone who wronged her. She must have the last word.
LAO
@Alison Rose: we should be so lucky.
Omnes Omnibus
@Eolirin: It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. The judge can and should do everything possible to move the case along quickly. Sometimes that may mean ignoring provocations that are proffered for delay. At the same time, the judge can react quickly and strongly to any actions that threaten to subvert the process.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: She’s itching to re-redecorate back to her trashy taste.
RaflW
All the crap he’s throwing now, in defiance of the court’s order, can be shown at that speedy trial to demonstrate that TFG is as lawless and unrepentant as the indictment says. “Goes to pattern, your honor.”
M31
@Alison Rose: wants to have another go at Red Wedding Xmas
Ruckus
@Mai Naem mobileI:
She gets whats left when he kicks or maybe in jail
She married him, she may not have the best concept of humanity…..
trollhattan
@Mai Naem mobileI: Melanie should post a PDF of her prenup in Box or Google Docs (presuming the cloud has enough capacity to store it) and ask “What should I do?”
Even granting he hates Donny, she’s not exonerated from being an enabler.
M31
@M31: sorry, Red Wedding Gates of Hell Masque of the Red Death Xmas, left out some details
counterfactual
@Mai Naem mobileI: Five years ago, some z-list rumor site said that the pre-nup gives custody of minor children to the PAB. Thirteen more months for Melania…
FelonyGovt
@Ruckus: Agreed. I’m around your age, and my WWII era Jewish parents would be appalled by the return of Naziism and the swastika, as well as the curtailment of women’s rights and backwards progress on racism. We can’t let these fuckers continue to rampage unchallenged.
prostratedragon
@M31: The problem of the 21st century is the problem of the asshole.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
You said it better than I did….
Omnes Omnibus
If I was of the greatest generation I’d be pissed
Surveying the world that I built, slipping back into this
I’d be screaming at my grand kids: “We already did this”
Be suspicious of simple answers
That shit’s for fascists and maybe teenagers
You can’t fix the world if all you have is a hammer
LAO
@Omnes Omnibus: IMO, Trump and his defense team are in something of a catch-22. His best chance to avoid any consequences for his criminal behavior, is to win reelection. And his entire brand is built on a sneering, insulting dominance act. But that same conduct will not work for him in a federal court of law, at least not in DC. I really don’t know how it going to play out. He needs to slow down the DC prosecution while keeping his base happy. It’s untenable.
oldgold
I agree with the ‘Jack E. Smith’ Tweet. Do not give him what he is clearly begging for- at least not now. Give him more time and rope.
Omnes Omnibus
@LAO: Excuse while I find a tinier violin.
WaterGirl
@counterfactual:
PAB?
Anyway
Apologies to WG — it’s not this guy we have to stop, it’s Rethugs wherever they hold power and the reactionary movement that funds them. That’s what must be stopped.
Jackie
@Eolirin: I don’t think this judge is prone to empty threats. She’ll be careful with what she tells TIFG – but will absolutely follow through if pushed.
It’s also getting more apparent she’s determined to hold a speedy trial and won’t put up with any frivolous requests for delays. This, more than anything will freak TIFG out and (hopefully) cause him to make stupid(er) unforced errors that propel a fast trial.
And, we’re still waiting for Willis! As I’m sure he is!
MattF
@LAO: Assuming Trump really has options about his behavior. I think he has a very limited repertoire— bullshit threats and bullshit promises, and that’s it.
NaijaGal
@Omnes Omnibus: Don’t go mistaking your house burning down for the dawn…
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m torn. On one hand, there is the notion of potential delay that would come from appeals of pretrial restrictions, gag orders and house arrest.
On the other, there is the notion of consistent institutional integrity and assuring that people receive comparable treatment from case to case.
No matter what, though, I want Smith to wear the Hague robe. That seems to freak him out.
opiejeanne
@M31: How dare they!
WereBear
@Ruckus: Utterly true!
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@LAO:
Wondering if Willis is going to try the gambit of snipping his wings, since she’ll be the one that goes last, and has a different system to run through?
Ruckus
@smith:
If not, he will literally shoot someone on 5th Avenue just to show he can.
I seriously doubt this. First, he’s being watched by his security 24 hrs a day. Second, he’s a chickenshit. Yes he talks big and yes he sat in the oval office so he thinks he’s a big shit, but he’s really not. He talks about how big he is but it is the same with him as it has been his entire life – he bullshits about everything. Actually being anything but a somewhat wealthy failure – which is what he is – is beyond him. Remember he stole a good part of the $400 million he started with and failed at every single thing he attempted. Remember if he’d just invested the inheritance money he stole from his siblings, in pretty much any secure investment, today he’d be worth the money he claimed he was worth, rather than far, far less than that. Remember how shitty he was as president. He’s been that shitty his entire life. He’s been a laughing stock his entire life, except the time he served in public office, when he was a danger to all of us and the world.
FelonyGovt
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks, I really like this! I wasn’t familiar with him.
LAO
@Omnes Omnibus: yeah, I’m not super sympathetic to trump lawyer problems just wondering what I would do if faced with a similar dilemma. Provided, of course the check cleared.
@MattF: I was thinking more about the lawyers and how the protective order would be crafted.
opiejeanne
@counterfactual: What is PAB?
RaflW
Somewhat naive question, perhaps: Can the lawyers representing him in court be sanctioned for all his outbursts?
NotMax
@Mai Naem mobileI
To that stratum, plenty is never enough.
Q.E.D.
Constance Reader
“You want mugshots, fingerprints and to see him humiliated.
I want the quickest path to see him held accountable for his crimes.
It’s not the same.”
You’re right, it’s not the same. Mugshots, fingerprints, a jail cell, these things are 100% guaranteed to see Trump humiliated. A quick trial is far from a 100% guarantee that he will be held accountable for his crimes. All it takes is one delusional MAGAt on the jury, and it’s not hard to lie your way through jury selection. For reference, see: any trial of a police officer murdering and unarmed person on video from multiple angles and getting acquitted.
Omnes Omnibus
@RaflW: Not really.
ETA: They can be sanctioned for their own conduct, but they only have so much control over their client.
Honus
@Ishiyama: Excellent statement of the law. Also, didn’t Jim and Susan McDougal spend years in confinement for contempt, for refusing to testify in the Starr investigation?
Doug R
@Mai Naem mobileI: Is Pre-nup negated with felony conviction?
How much more “reezilance” does she need to show?
LAO
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: at this stage, all of this is just wild supposition until there’s a protective order in place. While obviously, Trump shouldn’t threaten witnesses or prosecutors, there’s no order in place yet. And we don’t know the scope of that order will be.
Alison Rose
@counterfactual: Only 7 months, actually. Would be funny if she ditched him on Barron’s 18th birthday.
Ishiyama
No, but once they admit that they can’t control their client, nothing stands between their client and immediate detention.
Alison Rose
@opiejeanne: If we’re quoting the philosopher Chrissy Teigen regarding Trump, it’s pussy ass bitch :P
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
Open thread so not really OT:
I wish to nominate for the prestigious Rotating Tag Group at this top-10,000 blog this off-the-cuff line from Tom Levenson at his post below:
He gets us. Maybe a little too well some days.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Omnes Omnibus:
One interesting “for example” could be for Chutkan to spell it out to Lauro, who has been saying a lot of genuinely stupid things today, with a “do you understand what I am saying, and can you please inform your client of my standards regardless of whether you disagree”.
He’s already genuinely afoul of Rule 3.6. Wouldn’t take much to remove him for cause.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Why are reputable lawyers willing to take Trump on as a client? It’s no secret how difficult he is. Money? He stiffs his own lawyers. Fame? More like infamy. Is there anyone who has not come away tarnished (at best) from a relationship with Trump? True believers?
[usual disclaimer, IANAL] It seems to me the profession of lawyering involves giving true meaning to language and reasoning. That is, words are not just abstract symbols, they represent objective reality. Laws, case histories, precedent all flow from actual lived experience. Ideally courts render fair decisions in new cases taking all this into account.
I understand that not everyone takes the Canons of Ethics to heart. There will always be intelligent people who regard life as a game. Even so, how can one win here?
opiejeanne
@Alison Rose: LOL. Yes but which parent is that?
New Deal democrat
Alright, I’m going to be contrary.
Suppose Trump utters threats that would get any ordinary defendant (or mob boss) imprisoned: I say, treat him no differently. Lock him up!
Remember that if he were locked up, he wouldn’t have access to social media to complain. And actual imprisonment has been proven to work wonders for white collar criminals, who believe it will never happen to them.
UncleEbeneezer
I’m with the fake Jack Smith. The last thing I want to see is for to Trump to get convicted and then see that verdict overturned.
HumboldtBlue
FelonyGovt
I see your problem.
And imagine being one of Trump’s lawyers (shudder) and having to explain to him that yes, Mr. (Ex) President sir, this judge REALLY can put you in jail for contempt…
Ruckus
@MattF:
He has been a bullshitter his entire life. His life is bullshit. And a lot of citizens seem to like bullshit because they hired him to be their leader. Which, given his life skills and humanity – he fucked up. The fact that he knows little and is in every way, shape and form, in it for the money, and is a stupid git, he did a stupid git job. He could have been reasonably wealthy and had a good life being bad at golf, but he thinks his shit doesn’t stink. While we can see and tell that every single part of him stinks like rotting shit. He is a/the prime example of rotting shit stupidity.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
This probably doesn’t fit Trump’s actual lawyers, who probably fit into some combination of the reasons you mentioned, but there are people who do criminal defense because they sincerely believe that everyone deserves a defense and that the system cannot function fairly unless even (especially?) the worst of us is given a full-throated but ethical defense. Despite the common stereotype that public defenders couldn’t get a “real job,” I think that you would find that most of them are highly competent attorneys who passionately believe that their work is vital.
schrodingers_cat
BJ lawyers, how accurate is the legal analysis coming from the Jack Smith parody Twitter account?
schrodingers_cat
BJ lawyers how accurate is the legal analysis coming from the Jack Smith parody Twitter account.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Wait, that’s not the real Jack Smith?
Mr. Bemused Senior
@FelonyGovt: Yes, I thought of that :-) but is it really an adequate explanation? There has been a long line of lawyers in and out. How many of them fail this test? At least Chris Kise had the wit to get payment in advance.
Ruckus
@Baud:
In this context, being coy doesn’t actually work….
Betty Cracker
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): I laughed about that too. I’m agnostic on the Oxford comma for real — give me a style sheet, and I’ll follow it. But the serial comma’s advocates do tend to have strong feelings about it!
LAO
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Just curious, who would you have decide whether a defendant is worthy of legal representation?
Nukular Biskits
Damn it’s hot outside. In for a break.
I want both.
HumboldtBlue
Now Trump is going after the judge.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@LAO: that is a fair question and I regret I don’t have a good answer. I’m trying to wrap my mind around the issue. Like I said, I’m not a lawyer myself although I have worked with them (as an expert). I have been in the position of having to refuse work based on my own sense of ethics, limited though it is. I am hoping for insight from others here.
LAO
@HumboldtBlue: I like that assigned is in quotes.
And, if anyone is curious both the motion to disqualify and the motion for a change of venue will fail.
jimmiraybob
kalakal
@Betty Cracker:
Fighting words! 😀
I even have an Oxford Comma Preservation Society T-Shirt
Kathleen
@MisterDancer: THANK YOU! So true. I’m sick of myself giving them.my power through my fear of them. They could not exist without our fear so my first job is to transmute my fear into action.
jimmiraybob
@Nukular Biskits:
I heard that they were aspirations.
smith
@jimmiraybob: They were only aspirations because the coup failed. Attempted murder is still a crime.
Betty Cracker
@HumboldtBlue: I thought it was hilarious and telling how hard he flipped out about Pelosi calling him a “scared puppy” on TV:
Emphasis mine. Trump is a classic “can dish it out but can’t take it” kinda asshole.
scav
I bet TIFG is soooo longing to be on X-itter, now that Xlon is promising to pay the legal fees of those who have lost their jobs because of what the X-creted.
More likely, that’ll just be the next tranche of true believers left high and dry holding their own fees and fee-fees.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@LAO: “out if DC”. He can’t even spell a two-letter word correctly.
New Deal democrat
@HumboldtBlue: As regrettable as it might sound, applying the rule of “would this be okay for an ordinary defendant?” Yes it would.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@schrodingers_cat:
From Teri Kanefield:
No distractions – laser focus on trial and conviction.
kalakal
@HumboldtBlue: He really wants to be a martyr. He’s also laying the ground for an insurrection. He wants to jailed before the trial even starts and he wants 1,000s to take to the street in violent protests.
I hope to hell I’m right but I don’t this will develop necessarily to his advantage. Jail will be the shock of his life and a hell of a lot of cosplay commandos got the shock of their lives with the aftermath of J6. The great bulk of them are heroes only to their own keyboards
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: I know this is a pointless question regarding this putz, but what the fuck is he talking about? “whose husband’s journey from hell starts and finishes with her”???
Kathleen
@Alison Rose: She’s evrty bit as spiteful and vile as he is.
LAO
@Mr. Bemused Senior: Well, FWTW, I am a true believer defense attorney who strives to represent my clients zealously within the confines of the ethical rules. I didn’t respond to your initial comment because I thought OO expressed my opinion well.
Quite frankly, I can’t stand people who equate lawyers with their clients — the Right To Counsel is a fundamental constitutional right and I would never want to live in a country that does not recognized that all people — especially the most despised among us — deserve legal representation What’s the alternative? the Government decides? That’s fascism.
Geoduck
@Alison Rose: I never got the impression that she enjoyed decorating the White House, but that it was more a tedious chore.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@scav:
LOL – he’s such a liar.
Scout211
@HumboldtBlue: OMFG
He’s going after the judge “on very powerful grounds.”
Coffee grounds?
Kathleen
@Anyway: This.
WaterGirl
@Anyway: First things first.
MattF
@Alison Rose: He’s seeking a concatenation of lexical units that will hurt Pelosi. ‘Meaning’ is not a consideration.
Betty Cracker
@Alison Rose: It’s gibberish to me too, but he’s hopping mad, which tells me Pelosi’s comment hit a nerve.
HumboldtBlue
@Betty Cracker:
Yes! I read that one as well. I absolutely love how women in particular get under his skin.
Kelly
My similar neighbor just changed his F🇺🇸K Biden flag for a sort of American flag where all the stars are white AR15s and all the stripes are red AR15s.
WaterGirl
@LAO: I believe this is the original protective order. But I believe it has changed since then, so I don’t think anything is final.
edit: I suppose the link would have helped! Link
NotMax
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
But- but- isn’t the average red-blooded ‘Merkin’s focus on the daily struggle for simple survival in the throes of the horrid recession?
// // // //
Mr. Bemused Senior
@LAO: I concur, and you have my due respect [here on the Internet, where nobody knows…]. Perhaps it’s fruitless to speculate about people’s motives.
At least John Eastman has finally shown where he stands, after long dissembling.
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker: He’s never seemed to learn that responding this way with emphatic denial makes it clear the other person was right. He could’ve shut the fuck up for free, and her comment would’ve been forgotten. God, he really is the dumbest bitch on Earth.
Scout211
I’m getting sick of this whiny idiot criminal. Link
NotMax
@Geoduck
“Four perfect Christmases.”
:)
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
This hasn’t been said in a while, but can you imagine the reaction if Obama had written anything like that on social media?
Sure Lurkalot
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Me too. But on a third hand, there is a nonzero possibility that one of his ardent supporters takes action. It’s easy to mince words and say, for example, “well, he’s just criticizing Pence, not threatening him.” All the way up to when someone gets hurt.
Does the judge consider this?
Ruckus
@LAO:
I would normally agree but then it’s SFB. Of course he fucked around and found out that actually being elected to be something one has zero skills to actually do does normally create a not insignificant problem. And it fed his already way over sized and way over extended ego. Thankfully we have gotten past the fucked around stage and are now at the find out stage. I’m pretty sure he will finish the find out stage, but not in the way he “thinks” is appropriate. Which is why is is complaining about the find out stage with all the bullshit he can muster. Which is a not insignificant amount of bull and shit. I just wonder if the judge will allow him to dig his own hole – or if the one he’s already dug/digging is deep enough….
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Trump is a classic “can dish it out but can’t take it” kinda asshole.
Yes, yes he is.
Which in my experience means that he knows what he’s done, that he knows it was and is wrong, but it is his only path, because he’s been doing stupid shit his entire life, because stupid shit is all he knows.
Torrey
@counterfactual:
PAB? Police Accountability Board? Prior Assignment of Benefits? Pterosaur At Bat? It would be really helpful if people would make a point of explaining their acronyms, even if the terms seem totally obvious to the writer or if the writer suspects that the readership of the blog consists entirely of (in this case) divorce lawyers.
RaflW
@Omnes Omnibus: Pretty much what I figured, but didn’t have direct knowledge. There’s just this feeling that at this point, his attorneys are riding the bull on purpose, not just haplessly assigned a defendant. Alas, it generally makes sense that they’re not responsible for the outbursts of a nominal adult individual.
MagdaInBlack
@Torrey: Or you could just read comments, or ask nicely. The explanation is at #69
NotMax
@Sure Lurkalot
That non-zero possibility exists regardless of whether he stays silent or spews on Pravda Social (or elsewhere), by the very fact of being charged, arrested and arraigned. Any judge — any judge — who is not a complete and total fool is aware of this.
Note I am not saying the magistrate judge’s instructions and admonitions were in any way improper, untoward, demonstrated bias or were colored by such awareness.
HumboldtBlue
Things are getting down to the nitty-gritty for Trump. Let’s dance.
Almost Retired
This is what happens when I forget my glasses and try read stuff on my phone.
I read the title as “We Gotta Stomp This Guy.” Which kind of stopped me in my tracks, because I don’t associate WaterGirl with violent imagery.
But then I found my glasses. I endorse either sentiment.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
God, he really is the dumbest bitch on Earth.
I’m not sure dumbest. I am sure he’s in the running for first place. As far as I know history, he’s the dumbest in major political life in this country.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
Thank God for the 60s.
scav
It’s not as though there isn’t enough of Dumpster Lawyers own behavior and freely flung legalese & justifications to work with. Or perhaps a random word generator attached to a legal dictionary is the current AI replacement for representation. I guess its up to fellow lawyers to decide.
RaflW
@Betty Cracker: Sounds like the Speaker Emerita knew exactly how to get under his tissue-thin skin. And he makes Nelson from the Simpsons seem tough in response! So very, very brittle.
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Tonstant WeaderBob Fosse fwowed up.;)
NotMax
@Baud
Dance crazes of the 60s (a partial compilation).
:)
Alison Rose
@Ruckus: To quote a Facebook tag group name, “You’re not the dumbest person alive, but you better hope he doesn’t die.”
(To TIFG, obvs, not you :P)
Warren Senders
Off-topic, a bit, but what’s the take on the strange conspiracist signage passing behind him at around 1:14 in the video?
Jeffro
@Eolirin:
@smith:
agreed.
I get the strategy of holding off as long as possible, but once he’s over the line, he needs to be taken in. I think that actually might be part of Smith’s strategy…hold off long enough that trumpov slips up quite badly by openly calling for violence and then hauling him in.
I mean, what kind of innocent person tweets, “kill them all” (or the equivalent)?
VOR
Exactly. He’s a lawyer’s worst nightmare. He won’t listen. He won’t shut his piehole. Taking him on as a client means other clients will drop you like a hot potato. He has zero loyalty and will throw you under the bus at the drop of a hat. And worst of all, he has a long track record of not paying his bills. Why oh why would anyone take him as a client?
Maybe they think the job will get them noticed for a second career as a commentator on Fox News.
Miss Bianca
@kalakal: I’m starting to think Trump *should* be jailed before the trial starts, at this point. And strangely, I don’t think there would be a lot of violent protests over it. Mostly because the putzes that would be protesting are, at this point, paranoid enough to fear being jailed themselves if they try some. And rightly so.
Anoniminous
@NotMax:
Speaking of Bob Fosse …
Opening scene: All That Jazz
trollhattan
@Alison Rose:
Chrissy’s not wrong!
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Indeed.
Torrey
@MagdaInBlack:
Thank you. I missed that.
MagdaInBlack
@Torrey: PAB fits, yes? 😉😊
Alison Rose
@Warren Senders: Hmmm…boycott Nazi fascist Singapore Malaysia oil fracking??? And the other one I swear says “land of our fuhrer Jesus” and something about OKCHRISTHOMA (Oklahoma?) and sacred Palestine.
So…an absolute crackpot with access to Sharpies. Always fun.
HumboldtBlue
Reading some Tweets, and it is sounding like the Georgia court proceedings will be televised.
The Feds, of course, don’t allow cameras, a stance I think should be changed because it’s the people’s business, so let them watch the business being done.
Jeffro
@Ruckus: I would normally agree but then it’s SFB. Of course he fucked around and found out that actually being elected to be something one has zero skills to actually do does normally create a not insignificant problem.
True! But apparently only something that Democrats were able to see coming a mile away.
Remember that time a while back when we were all telling people, “You can’t possibly be serious – you’re going to vote for the utterly corrupt, immature, Russia-infested, lifelong fraud?” And the GOP said “YES”? Crazy, that!
(Plus all the punditariat that said, “Maybe he’ll grow into the office“? LOL. Boy were they wrong!)
Sigh…good times, good times…let’s definitely hire more game-show hosts for the #1 most powerful, important job in the world!
Sister Golden Bear
As The Hoarse Whisperer has pointed out Trump’s narcissism makes his behavior pretty predictable: seek adorable, and avoid feeling others see as shameful.*
The Loco Lawn Sprayer lets him do both: dominance display that he did nothing wrong, which also stokes his cultists adorable of Dear Leader.
*Trump is incapable of feeling shame any more than a dog that just that ate your favorite shoes, but like a dog he understands disapproval (apologies to dogs for the comparison). Being seen as shameful is quite literally a fate worst than death for narcissists and that (and narcs personal reality distortion field) is why he won’t take a plea deal.
Anoniminous
@Jeffro:
I need to re-find the study that proves Pundits accuracy is worse than random chance or guessing.
Jackie
@Alison Rose: Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker:
@HumboldtBlue:
It is certainly true that trump hates women making fun of him. But “scared little puppy” also includes the insult Trump seems to go to as the worst thing ever — comparing some to or like “a dog.” Nancy knows.
Kirk
@Scout211: Black, woman, contemptuosly refused to address him as President in the court, and made a historically belittling assault on his character demonstrating her bias against him when she wrote, “Presidents are not kings and the plaintiff is not president.”
I wish that was sarcasm, but I’m pretty sure it’s the core.
Alison Rose
@Jackie: Yeah, I know that. But what did he mean? What journey from hell?
Jackie
@Ruckus: “I just wonder if the judge will allow him to dig his own hole – or if the one he’s already dug/digging is deep enough….”
I like to think she’s watching him dig, then when it’s deep enough, she’ll start filling it back up – with him still inside the hole!
BeautifulPlumage
For those who forgot: 9/9/2019 TIFG* tweeted to John Legend about his nasty wife. Chrissy called him out writing “lol what a pussy ass bitch. tagged everyone but me. an honor, mister president.” Hence PAB to refer TIFG.
It bothered him so much that he tried to get Twitter to take it down. This was brought up at a Feb 2023 house hearing on “right wing censorship” and entered into the congressional record.
*the indicted former guy
smith
@Kirk: Those were two different judges. The magistrate Judge Upadhyaya is the one who addressed him as “Mr” at his arraignment. It was the trial Judge Chutkan who pointed out that he was neither a king nor the president.
Jackie
@Torrey: Pussy Assed Bitch seems to fit.
Hoppie
@MagdaInBlack:Google gives too many TLAs to pick from…
MattF
@Kirk: Emily Post sez:
trollhattan
Ambulatory corpse leading KY popularity polls.
“28th Fancy Farm” ranks 87 places behind “19th Nervous Breakdown” in the Stones discography.
Honus
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: The last time I got a protective order, it was a no contact order against my client’s ex partner. the judge summed it up by saying to the “if you don’t understand what it means, violate it and you’ll have ten days to think about what it means”
BeautifulPlumage
@Betty Cracker: I’m laughing at this part: “…she said something about me, with glee, that was really quite vicious…” Yes, dear, describing you as a scared puppy is the most vicious thing ever. 🙄
Alison Rose
@Honus: Oh snap.
tempusfugit
@Mai Naem mobileI:
@Ishiyama: YES.
Kirk
@smith: I sit corrected. So it’s (at least two) judges with whom Mr. Trump would raise objections due to bias and prejudice.
Honus
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
@FelonyGovt: in my experience, lawyers often reflect their client. And TIFG’s lawyers as a group pretty much do. Notably, most of the ones I’ve seen have little or no experience in criminal defense. This is the FAFO stage of their career.
smith
@Kirk: Given the number of times he and his acolytes have gone round with DC judges to no avail, I’d guess it’s all of ’em, Katie.
ChiJD Doug
@LAO: full timeliness and a link to the proposed order from Emptywheel here: https://www.emptywheel.net/2023/08/05/protection-racket-donald-trump-thinks-hes-more-special-than-steve-bannon/
opiejeanne
@MagdaInBlack: No, that doesn’t name which PAB gets custody.
Ruckus
@Alison Rose:
I’ve heard that before.
And no I didn’t take it personally.
Stupid people do stupid shit. DT is stupid enough that he was able to take enough money (a portion of which belonged to his siblings) of his inheritance from his father (who earned it by being a slumlord) and through shear ineptitude and stupidity, reduced it’s value to far less (he could have grown it by about 400% over his lifetime by just putting it in a bank). He could have lived a life of real luxury and wealth by being just less stupid and insufferably obnoxious. But then he wouldn’t have been him.
smith
@trollhattan: Most popular? People may like the Turtle at a GQP picnic, but I doubt he can beat Andy Beshear’s 64% approval among all voters in KY.
Jackie
@Alison Rose: Being married to her? At least that’s how I took it.
BeautifulPlumage
@opiejeanne: see comment #156 : )
PS Hi Opiejeanne!
Elizabelle
Since barricades are up in Georgia, on advice of Fani Willis, I guess we need to lay in our supplies of bubbly, popcorn, adult beverages, cake or cake ingredients. Whatever will enhance the experience. Which is coming. Like a freight train.
Jackie
@Honus: I used the same technique when threatening to ground the kiddos! After a couple of groundings, one kid understood. The other – not so much. I wonder which kiddo TIFG will follow.
Alison Rose
@Jackie: Ah, perhaps. God, what an adolescent he is.
JPL
@LAO: In the wishes i thought of that, if trump continues to behave like an ass, can the judge order a compeency hearing? 🤣🤣🤣
JPL
@LAO: In the wishes i thought of that, if trump continues to behave like an ass, can the judge order a compeency hearing? 🤣🤣🤣
smith
@Elizabelle: Psychologically he seems to be hanging on by a thread now, and in the next 7 weeks, he not only has to deal with Judge Chutkan, both also face yet another arraignment, and brace for his fraud trial starting Oct 1. Someone with a normal psyche would be hard-pressed to stay balanced facing that…
JPL
@LAO: I tried to remember that when I saw trump’s attorney all over tv this morning. Actually I didn’t blame him for spewing nonsense, but was upset that the moderators weren’t better prepared.
Immanentize
@JPL:
“Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.”
Steeplejack
@Scout211:
You don’t have to have a Nitter account to see Nitter content. (I don’t think there is such a thing as a Nitter account.) What I get from Nitter vs. Twitter is the ability to see not just the original tweet but also any comments to the tweet. And I can see a Twitter account with all of its tweets in proper chronological order, which Musk has been screwing with lately.
kalakal
TIFG’s experience of gov’t and legal sanctions up to now has been to say “What you gonna do about it?” and so far he’s always gotten away with it. Remember the Emoluments Clause?
Security vetting for staff? Hello Jared!
All the contractors he’s stiffed?
He’s so dumb that he thinks it’s because he’s powerful not that rich white jerks nearly always get to skate unless they go too far.
He should have been inside and/or fined into the ground many years ago but Auntie Karma is in the process of slapping him inside out right now.
pluky
@Mai Naem mobileI: I would bet that as the malignant narcissist that TIFG is he does not have a will since that would require acknowledging his mortality. If he dies intestate, Melania as his widow is heir presumptive.
JPL
@Immanentize: Imagine if you will, a female questioning his competence, and then ordering a test. He might have a melt down in the courtrooom.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Now I’m gonna have this song from “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in my head
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
Always remember that just as half the people are smarter than the median, half are dumber. And the median isn’t all that high.
@Kirk:
So you do understand him and his ilk. The world revolves around him and his kind. Just ask them. And 99% of humans with his human capabilities and humanity likely feel the same way. They just don’t have enough money to destroy their and many other’s lives. They usually do it by being shitty humans. He is able to be a shitty human by having/stealing enough start up money to have the time on his hands to practice getting good at being shit. I believe he learned well.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack: While Twitter no longer blocks account contents viewed in a browser, the Tweets are not chron-sorted, mixing multiple years. The Nitter extension restores chron sorting, beginning with the newest. That only took what, three months?
I eagerly anticipate the next broken feature.
Scout211
@Steeplejack:
I don’t have a VPN so maybe it’s my browser? Chrome for iPad?
I don’t know why, but it doesn’t work for me.
JPL
BTW Melania, who entered the country on an Einstein visa, questioned Barack’s citizenship. She is no better than her husband. She is scum.
Immanentize
Good to consider: Trump has not yet appeared before Judge Chutkin. The only judge he has faced on the J6 case so far is Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya. Magistrate Judges are not Article III Judges ( they do not have life time tenure). Judge Upadhyaya gave Trump the normal limits on being released without bail. Tomorrow’s hearing will be before Judge Tanya Chutkin who is a Senate confirmed, Article III Judge. My guess is she will impose clear and more detailed restrictions on his continued release, but not change his bail status.
Whether Trump chooses to follow those new constraints is, frankly, anyone’s guess.
Ruckus
@pluky:
He might have a will to keep her from getting anything. However, who is he going to leave his money (such as it is and how much will be left – oh right, he doesn’t pay his bills…) to? He’s going to want to be buried with it.
M31
“Mr. Trump, I hereby declare you a peen.”
Ruckus
@JPL:
He might have a melt down in the courtroom.
Is there any doubt whatsoever? I mean really, let’s review all history of when an immature, spoiled child gets told to do anything?
Jackie
@JPL: Sadly, it wouldn’t be on live teevee… 😢
JPL
@M31: That would do it
Who stole my t?
Once, after receiving excellent service, I said I would answer a survey. Like most survey’s it was based on 1 to 10… Anyway, long story short, my zero was stuck, so it kept putting a one.
RedDirtGirl
@Torrey: Pussy Ass Bitch?
opiejeanne
@opiejeanne: Never mind, but why would TFG (PAB) want custody of the kid?
Immanentize
@JPL: Although i would love to witness both, competency to stand trial is basically “Person, Man, Woman, Camera, T.V.”
The former indicted guy is not incompetent in the way courts view it. Basically, the attorney has to ask the court for a competency assessment to determine whether the accused “understands the charges and the nature of the proceedings against him.” In other words, unless something extraordinary happens, courts assume competency. It is a VERY low test of mental acuity.
opiejeanne
@BeautifulPlumage: Hiya! I saw it, figured it out.
Alison Rose
@opiejeanne: I don’t think he gives a single shit about him, or any of his kids except Ivanka and that’ll only last until she’s not hot enough anymore. If there were any kind of custody battle, it would be because he wants to hurt her, not because he cares about the kid. Although, I have my doubts that Melania cares about him, either.
MagdaInBlack
@opiejeanne: Control?
Immanentize
@opiejeanne: To win an argument.
Jackie
@Ruckus: A butt load of attorneys would be digging him back up under the darkness of night.
FelonyGovt
@Betty Cracker: “What a mean thing to say”, then goes on to call HER a Wicked Witch and make allusions to her poor husband, who was attacked with a hammer in his home.
His base will never turn on him, but I hope more and more normies and “undecided” people in the squishy middle see this kind of thing, and come to realize what a deranged cornered loon he is. We
Ruckus
@opiejeanne:
At least someone to rule over. I mean he’s likely to have nothing else left, and the possibility of having not the time, place or ability to rule over even what he gets to eat. Of course the stress of being him and being in such fine shape may give him a somewhat shortened vacation into a reality that he really should want to avoid, as that reality is likely going to really kick his butt. Which he richly deserves. (Like how I used reality? We can all hope that is his)
Tom Q
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
It’s been in my head ever since I saw this title.
WaterGirl
@JPL: I have read that before, but had forgotten. Once again, I am surprised that the earth didn’t open up and swallow itself whole, or at least spontaneously combust.
bbleh
@kalakal: I don’t [think] this will develop necessarily to his advantage.
I approve of the historical analogy.
Ruckus
@Jackie:
It seems that his butt is where he pulls out a lot of his attorneys, as most of the even close to reasonable ones likely realize that being his attorney is not actual career advancement.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: @MagdaInBlack:
Yes and yes. My first two thoughts exactly. Control, and punishment.
bbleh
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): damn wishy-washy libs, don’t even know what they stand for!
FelonyGovt
@Honus: Most of the capable defense lawyers who might be attracted by the high profile case/ client, or by the money (he doesn’t pay his bills), or by the innate sense of justice and laudable belief in the system that our own @LAO (and other of our distinguished commenters) embodies, have been run off by this particular client’s demonstrated behavior. So he’s down to the dregs.
bbleh
@Omnes Omnibus: eg the Judge in this case? I can’t imagine she won’t be absolutely scrupulous about maintaining his rights as a defendant, nor that she won’t know every trick they know and probably many more.
bbleh
@Scout211: Hey, they’re espresso grounds, okay? Very powerful, the most powerful. Really.
BeautifulPlumage
@opiejeanne: I loved the incident when it happened and was thrilled when it came up at the hearing.
Hope you’re doing well. We should plan a North end jackal meetup soon.
Geminid
@pluky: I bet there is a prenuptial agreement that guarantees Melania a sizable fixed settlement that is contingent on her sticking with him. She may have been renegotiating it when she stayed at Trump Tower rather than move to the White House after Trump’s inauguration. That was kind like like a key NFL player holding out for a better contract before joining the team.
bbleh
@HumboldtBlue: that is awesome
bbleh
@MattF: true dat. But one can use “President” in a less formal setting as an honorific (as long as it doesn’t come off as fawning).
different-church-lady
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: Have I got a t-shirt for you!
different-church-lady
@John Revolta: I find it hard to believe nobody’s dished any dirt on her, considering what a freak show the Trump inner circle is. You’d think some dirtbag on “our” side would pounce and amplify in a heartbeat. (And I am absolutely not sarcastically advocating that. I’m just expressing surprise.)
MattF
@bbleh: I think ‘arraignment’ qualifies as a formal setting. The judge was correct.
smith
@different-church-lady: She’s so unlikable in her public persona, why bother?
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady: Early in the term, there were rumors that she was having an affair with the manager at Tiffany’s, or something stupid like that. I think also with her Secret Service person.
ETA: Now that I’m watching Mad Men, I see that these rumors probably originated there.
different-church-lady
@smith: Well that’s kind of a weird version of “Don’t interrupt your enemy while she’s making a mistake,” but I can roll with it.
different-church-lady
@zhena gogolia:
In the end it’s probably accurate to say we’re curious but we don’t really care, right?
bbleh
@MattF: oh not saying she wasn’t! Not at all! She was properly respectful — called him “sir” as she should any male defendant — but not more so.
See, at that arraignment, his lawyers called him “President Trump.” They were making a point. She called them on it.
different-church-lady
@bbleh:
Which by itself is far more than he’s earned.
West of the Rockies
@M31:
An eensy peensy at that!
bbleh
@smith: I do wonder if there’s a break coming. He has an amazingly strong ego — outta control strong — but there comes a point …
different-church-lady
@smith:
Someone with a normal psyche wouldn’t have put themselves in this position.
smith
@bbleh: Yes, I’m thinking he’s overdue. A night in a cell for contempt just might do it.
opiejeanne
@BeautifulPlumage: I would love to go back to that little Malaysian ? restaurant that we met at several years ago, in the Before Times.
My surgery on my hand was on the 7th, CMC arthroplasty, and now I’m out of the cast and dealing with PT, which feels so good when I stop. PT hurts, but I can see that it’s helping. I think therapy will last about 3 months, maybe less, and in 6 months I should suddenly notice that everything works again. I need to mark a calendar.
Geminid
@FelonyGovt: I think Lauro and Blanche are not dregs. And Tacopina and the lady lawyer who represented him in court for the Stormy Daniels case are considered decent criminal lawyers.
Trump has hired some real turkeys to represent him before, but I think he’s taking his legal troubles seriously now, and isn’t trying to get by on the cheap.
I’ve read that about his campaign also. Trump had a pretty slipshod approach in his first two races. It worked out the first time around, but his reliance upon amateurs may have caught up with him the second.
Now Trump has Susan Wild and other seasoned professionals in charge. Earlier this year, I saw Republican critics complain that a capable, professional team was making him harder to beat than they had hoped.
I don’t think any of this is evidence that Trump has evolved as a person. But his back is against the wall and he knows it.
bbleh
@smith: or even another day or two in court, being required to wait and stay silent, and then do what a woman tells him …!
bbleh
@Geminid: he also has a TON more of other people’s money to throw around.
skerry
@opiejeanne: I had that surgery 2 months ago on my dominant hand. The first six weeks were tough but things have improved significantly the last week or so.
I hope you heal quickly and painlessly
Raoul Paste
Step one: Repeatedly insult the judge in mass media.
Step two: Claim that the judge now hates you, and demand a new judge.
And if that works, repeat the process with the new judge.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” — Every criminal ever.
Geminid
@bbleh: Yeah, no need to be a cheapskate. That’s an instinct of his anyway, but self-preservation overrides it for now.
Baud
@Geminid:
Plus, the leading contenders are all afraid to cross him.
bbleh
@Raoul Paste: But what if he genuinely believes the judge hates him? Then it’s all ok, right?
BeautifulPlumage
@opiejeanne: was that the one in Shoreline? I think Yutsano suggested it. We had that little back room.
Hope the healing continues and the pain is worth it!
smedley the uncertain
@MagdaInBlack: Agree with Torrey.
@MagdaInBlack:
Bill Arnold
@kalakal:
I don’t, but decided that the Oxford Comma was correct at around age 10 or 12.
Geminid
@Baud: There is that too. These Republican operatives- Vin Weber was one- were surprised that he came into the year in such a strong position, and said his campaign staff made a difference.
There may not be a rival strong enough to test them in the primaries, but they will probably be around for the general election and cannot be taken lightly- so long as Trump does not fall out with them.
Raoul Paste
@bbleh: Then it’s a get out of jail free card!
Yutsano
@opiejeanne: It’s Indonesian actually, and it looks to have survived the pandemic. It’s a bit sad because I will be over there on Wednesday but I really need to rest that night. But if anyone is interested in meeting up at the 13 Coins in Bellevue around 6ish I will have no objections!
EDIT: I also need to do a medical test over there some time. The date hasn’t been set yet but there will be opportunities!
Baud
@Geminid:
I wonder if they’re responsible for the social media propaganda I see. Reminds me a little of 2016.
kalakal
It always gives me great pleasure to remember that a trump is English slang for a fart
yellowdog
@New Deal democrat: Andrew Tate got tweets out while in a Roumanian(?) prison. He would still be able to make phone calls.
Geminid
@Baud: I think the preceding handlers kept that operation up for the 2020 campaign. The Russians probably helped set it up in 2016, but Mr. Parscale apparently was good enough to keep it going. He’s one of the few holdovers from Trump’s earlier campaigns.
I remember Bitecofer and others sounding the alarm over Trump’s Spanish language social media effort in Florida that revved up a full year before the election. Biden’s campaign was not well-funded until August, so they had to play catch up. That should not be the case this time around.
laura
@trollhattan: Daniel Cameron- the name sounds familiar doesnt it? Oh, that’s right, because in addition to polishing McConnells sad sagging wrinkled up mess of balls, he’s this guy: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article275528211.html
hotshoe
@M31:
lord, those x-ers get worse every day. It’s a sickness.
My mama raised me right and I know better than to say ugly mean things for no reason.
Thanks for finding the youtube link. Youtube remains a treasure house (at least for now) and I always love the comments on music videos. Like this one on Blue Monk video:
“never get tired of watching monks unique fingering, my face hurts from smiling”
😇
Bill Arnold
@Kelly:
Ugh. Not sure how I’d deal with that. Perhaps an anonymous letter saying that you consider their display to be flag desecration but are unwilling to confront them face-to-face for fear of being killed by them
ETA I have people up the street who sometimes fire off hundreds of rounds some weekends. Over 200 yesterday. Not sure who they are because I stay on the other side of my house in case there is a “stray” bullet directed my way.
Bill Arnold
@Jackie:
An alternative reading (consistent with the text! :-) is that Paul Pelosi is a companion demon for Nancy Pelosi, and will return to hell when she dies.
Continuing the wild (but amusing) interpretation, this tracks with the Witch talk. Perhaps some Fundie (an unwitting tool of Satan) fed this thought to him.
She’s actually said a few things that are sort of witchy, though she may not realize it (as a good Catholic), e.g. “I consider myself a weaver, like I have a loom. And I bring all these different threads together.” (The Weave is the reality that causality constructs. Not easy to translate to English.)
Jay
@Bill Arnold:
print a copy of this off and put it in their mail box with a note, ( in Sharpie),
“what kinda Foreign Commie traitor desecrates the US Flag”
https://www.military.com/flag-day/us-flag-code.html
Matt McIrvin
Here’s Teri Kanefield’s extended essay on the indictment, and what the government would have to prove:
https://terikanefield.com/criminal-law-101-trumps-j6-indictment/
YouTuber LegalEagle made a video with a similar analysis, and argued that the question of Trump’s belief about whether he won might be a factor in the “conspiracy to defraud the United States” count but not any of the others. Kanefield thinks it’s not even a necessary obstacle to that one.
David Chop
@Alison Rose: It’s clearly been a transactional relationship from the word go (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I would surmise, based solely on an Occam’s razor analysis, that she–unlike her husband–is still capable of getting (and heeding) sound legal advice.
opiejeanne
@BeautifulPlumage: It was on Aurora (99).
opiejeanne
@skerry: Thanks. I’ll take that as encouragement. From what I read, the non-dominant hand is usually the one that needs it, because of the way we use our non-dominant hand.