Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

“Alexa, change the president.”

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Second rate reporter says what?

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / Brazen Is All He’s Got Left At This Point

Brazen Is All He’s Got Left At This Point

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Brazen is all Trump has left.  Is he running on fumes ?

New defamation (or libel?) with E. Jean Carroll, and now he wants presidential immunity for events before and after he was president.

Why are these cases not dismissed up front for lack of standing?

Apparently, the last format he libeled her in would have him back in court in NY with Judge Kaplan again.

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

158Comments

  1. 1.

    trollhattan

    I have a task for Biden, given he seems to have ultimate immunity per the person I’d like the task committed upon.

  2. 2.

    TBone

    Corruption.  It’ll catch up in a bad way. I’m hanging my hat on that.

    Like a festering boil that erupts.  Mebbe needs lancing to help. Like popping a big balloon.  POW! Hisssssssd

  3. 3.

    Jackie

    He is truly sundowning. Spiraling out of control as his next trial – NOT A CIVIL CASE THIS TIME – begins very very soon. Mar 25, I believe. 🎻

  5. 5.

    cain

    wow – that’s totally wild. I’m not sure how he can defend that any crimes he did all his life is wiped away because he is president. This seems like just another way to delay the whole thing by doing something outrageous.

    Speaking of outrageous – the Kansas GOP party has some explaining to do:

    https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/1bbwknd/republicans_at_kansas_gop_event_kick_and_punch/

    “Republicans at Kansas GOP event kick and punch effigy of President Joe Biden”

    These people have gone off the rails as well. Imagine that this is what conservatism has come to. Yet, it’s our dear media that criticizes us about whatever – this should be a full ass scandal.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    Is this the week we will find out whether Judge McAfee is going to go with the rule of law or allow Fani Willis to be thrown of a case because of bullshit rumors from aggrieved former friends?

  8. 8.

    Caveatimperator

    Clearly Trump considers revenge on people who wronged him more important than money.

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    @cain: The Republican part has a mob mentality – I guess a mob doesn’t have to be in person anymore, people can be whipped up into a mob frenzy over the internet.

  13. 13.

    FelonyGovt

    He seems to think that “presidential immunity” is the one weird trick that insulates him from any liability, ever. Maybe the actions of the corrupt USSC in agreeing to even entertain this bullshit argument has emboldened him.

    In any case, reading about the content of some of his speeches this weekend (“Cary Grant was 81, good looking guy, we don’t have actors like that now”), he is definitely circling the drain mentally.

  15. 15.

    sdhays

    I’ve already said what I have to say about this (the topic in this post) in the previous thread, but I just read a Vox article on the story about the Duchess of who-the-fuck-cares because I was tired of being confused by the various mentions of it. It’s a puzzle, but not one I really care about.

    However, I have to say that this quote made me dry heave:

    “The inescapable true is that in the unlikely event that the Cambridge marriage [between William and Kate] ever becomes troubled, the whole Windsor house of cards could come tumbling down”, write Brown in The Palace Papers. “Kate has become a cherished national icon of flawless motherhood.”

    Man, there is so much that’s sick about that statement, but “national icon of flawless motherhood” is just…wow. Not a commentary on the woman in question – I have literally no opinion of her. But “flawless motherhood” is such a ridiculous, impossible standard; how is that healthy for that family, or that nation?

    And for the beginning part of the quote: my goodness, what a stupid, frivolous institution that might not survive some marital trouble (which it has quite a history of having).

  16. 16.

    TBone

    @FelonyGovt: I want to slap that name out his mouth in person. With a shovel handle. Repeatedly. And then install a permanent shock collar.  BZZZTT

    Whar my cattle prod?

  17. 17.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Open thread? We had an interesting visit from an occupational therapist this morning. She was here to assess ways we could make life easier and safer for Mr DAW. She recommended double tape for the bathmat, maybe removing the plastic mat under his desk chair so it’s less likely to roll out of control, and maybe getting a bed rail that he could use to lever himself into and out of our too-high bed. She going to have a series of appointments with him to work on things like turning, hitching his chair under the table, etc. He sees a physical therapist but that’s mostly for strength.

    I liked her. I wasn’t keen on being “inspected” but wound up glad she’d come.

  19. 19.

    p.a.

    tRump will eventually reach into his drawers and throw shit at someone.  Fox will declare it “legitimate political discourse”, but this might, might, get him below 40% down to the magic 27.

  23. 23.

    Hoodie

    It’s all about delay and make everything an episode in the Passion of Donald.  He knows he’s fucked legally but is clinging to the hope he can win in November, have DOJ pull out of all its criminal actions and delay the civil stuff by using the prohibition against suing a president while in office.  Hire some shitty lawyers who don’t care about getting disciplined for making frivolous motions and have them file every silly argument they can come up with.   He counts on the legal system treating these things as serious , e.g., at least some of the appeals courts taking them up as if they are serious.

  24. 24.

    realbtl

    Joe Biden is senile not TIFG.  “the most ridiculous decisions … including the Ms Bergdorf Goodman, a person I’d never met.”  Ms Berghoff?  Didn’t know the store was a person. //

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @realbtl: I took that as mockery, like if someone said “Miss Too Big for Her Britches”.  “Miss Name of the Store” to refer to the case where he raped her, not even saying her name.

    But now I wonder if you’re right.  Like Tim Apple.

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Until last week, I hadn’t even realized he had Parkinsons, not sure how I missed that unless his symptoms were minimal before but now getting to be more pronounced?

    That’s a tough road.  Great that you are living where you are rather than in a house or apartment where you’re more on your own.

  39. 39.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @FelonyGovt:

    He seems to think that “presidential immunity” is the one weird trick that insulates him from any liability, ever.

    One thing I have noticed from his court tactics is that Trump truly believes in One Weird Trick.  He is convinced that he will not, cannot face consequences and only has to find the way he’s smarter than everyone else to get this all dismissed.

    The part about not believing he can face consequences seems to be getting strained, but that just makes him more determined to One Weird Trick his way free.

  40. 40.

    Searcher

    So Michael J Sullivan’s fantasy series, Riyria Revelations, revolves around the (spoiler alert) plot of a bitter old man to become emperor to gain absolution for the murders he committed trying to become emperor.

    Not a fantasy series whose plot I’d expect to be relevant to modern US politics.

  41. 41.

    wjca

    @Hoodie: Yeah, the so-called rebuttal of the SOTU has nothing to do with Biden.

    Well, this time it actually didn’t.  It was all about TIFG and his cult.  Biden had, at most, a cameo role.

  43. 43.

    Uncle Cosmo

    Anyone who’s appalled/offended by Cheetolini’s lawyer’s hijinks, and/or uncomprehending that his popularity seems to increase the more the judges slap him around, should reflect on the breadth and depth of his cultists’ usual interactions with the legal system and the bureaucracy in general. Those people believe (not without some justification) that those interactions are uniformly bad.

    Consider driving: Traffic laws are unreasonable restrictions on their freedom, the system fines them, forces them to pay lawyers to keep points off their licenses and then to pay extra for insurance. If they have a small business, the hassle is even worse, slapping restrictions and requirements on them and taxing them so they can hardly make a living. And in either instance the fat cats always get away scot-free by relying on those they know in the hierarchy or slipping a few bucks to those they don’t yet know.

    Not saying they’re right. Am saying enough of their complaints are plausible to (with a dollop of persecution complex) convince them they are real. And anytime Dear Leader can dump sand into the gears of the law or stick a proverbial finger in a judge’s face, they consider it a blow at “the system” they believe oppresses them.

    (Just sayin’. We now return you to your usual bickering…)

  48. 48.

    Chris

    @cain:

    I’m not sure how he can defend that any crimes he did all his life is wiped away because he is president.

    I mean, it’s worth pointing out that this is exactly how Republicans in general conceive of justice.  Cops should get a mulligan on all crimes they’ve committed, ever, because they’re Good People who have such a Hard Job and all of us peons just don’t appreciate how good they are and how hard they work.  Businessmen breaking laws to make money, no matter how many laws and how badly they damage the world around them, is not a crime, it’s That Makes Me Smart, and if you object to it you’re just envious and jealous and possibly a danger to our economic system.  The Catholic Church should not be subjected to RICO on account of the truly ludicrous amounts of child molesting and subsequent cover-ups that’ve happened there, because they’re good people and treating their crimes like anybody else’s is persecution.  Etc, etc, etc.

    The phrase “there must be out-groups that the law binds but does not protect, and in-groups that the law protects but does not bind” really does sum up the mindset.  Conservatives really and truly believe that applying the same rules to them and their favorite groups that we do to anyone else is oppression, and we already accommodate them in far too many places.  Trump is simply asking that we accommodate him in the same way.

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    the breadth and depth of his cultists’ usual interactions with the legal system and the bureaucracy in general.

    Yet another example of how Trump is his base.  This is a man who still holds seething grudges against windmill farms and for being forced to let black people rent space in his buildings.  Trump did his idiot best to destroy the entire regulatory state while in office.  Much like his base, he has two associations with the legal system:  Brutalizing black people, and stopping him from doing what he wants – which is by definition oppression.

  55. 55.

    MattF

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yeah, that’s what occupational therapists do. Now you know. It’s why I have a little shag carpet at the door of my shower that I stand on while toweling off.

  56. 56.

    Chris Johnson

    Guys. Srsly. Brazen is all he has EVER HAD.

    That man has been an empty shell with Putin inside for decades, for half his adult life. (or ‘russian oligarchs’, in fairness, but Putin is what Trump would aspire to be, w.r.t russian oligarchs.)

    Brazen is all he ever had, and is still all he has. Gilt and brazen, and now scrambling desperately because it is no longer economically viable for Putin to pay for all of his shit whilst also fighting Ukraine. He must be doing very poorly if Putin doesn’t think THAT is worthwhile.

    I’m guessing the ‘deep state’ knows what Trump is now, and would find it embarrassing to have it widely publicized. Better he lose ‘for real’ and just kind of go away? Better not to publicise the shame of what Trump was and is. And so, Putin knows that they know, and so it’s simply less of a priority to pay for Trump anymore as he can’t actually win. He is purely a force of destruction and stochastic terrorism now.

    Amazing we got through all that, and we absolutely did.

    Brazen is all  Trump ever had.

  57. 57.

    Citizen Alan

    @TBone: Totally unsurprising. The end goal for the voucher movement has always been to starve public education of all resources while subsidizing upper and upper-middle class families who send their kids to top-line private schools and subsidize poor white families who send their kids to Evangelical madrassas that will brainwash them with GOP “values,” leaving poor minority kids to rot in crumbling public schools until they’re old enough to be sent to prison and work in chain gangs.

  58. 58.

    Chris

    @sdhays:

    And for the beginning part of the quote: my goodness, what a stupid, frivolous institution that might not survive some marital trouble (which it has quite a history of having).

    I used to view British royalty and the cult thereof the same way I did Hollywood stardom and its fans – ridiculously overpaid for being pretty and popular, but essentially harmless.

    Then the Queen died and the media not just in Britain but all over the Western world just would not shut up about it for weeks and weeks and I was like, okay, we get it, she’s not getting any deader, move on already.

    Then I started reading about anti-monarchist protesters getting arrested for reasons that were murky at best, and I was like, okay, this cult has officially lost all amusement for me, and I am 100% on board with the people who want it abolished.

  61. 61.

    MattF

    @Chris Johnson: Saw some informed commentary that said one should assume he’s under intense scrutiny from a team of medical and psychological professionals during every public outing.

  62. 62.

    JustRuss

    @scav: Yeah. “I am but a simple US Senator. How was I supposed to know people would think that I was blaming Biden for this woman’s horrific experience….which I related during my nationally televised rebuttal to Biden’s SOTU?”

  63. 63.

    Anoniminous

    News that Carroll’s attorney saying new lawsuit is possible because of the latest round of Trump defaming.

  64. 64.

    Jackie

    What is with N Carolina’s GQP candidates??? Here’s another wackadoodal:

    Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for state superintendent of public instruction in North Carolina, frequently promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory in newly unearthed social media posts.

    She also referenced a QAnon-fueled conspiracy theory to suggest that actor Jim Carrey drinks the blood of children.

    Morrow is a far-right commentator who has written for Newsmax and appeared on various media outlets.

    Her history includes marching in Washington, D.C., on January 6 (Morrow said that she didn’t storm the Capitol) and attacking public schools as “socialist indoctrination centers.”

    She espouses anti-LGBTQ views, such as saying during Pride Month in June 2023: “As a nurse, I want you to understand something: There is no pride in perversion.”

    Morrow is also anti-muslim: She has written that the country should “ban Islam” and “ban Muslims from elected offices.” (She has claimed “that she was only talking about supporters of radical Islam.”)

    She won the Republican primary on March 5. North Carolina’s superintendent of public instruction oversees more than 2,000 schools and more than 100,000 teachers and administrators.

    https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/michele-morrow-gop-nominee-head-north-carolinas-schools-qanon-conspiracy

    I understand NC is a state Dems are hoping to flip Blue this year; I guess we’ll find out if NC is really trending Blue, or if their MAGA governor and Lt governor candidates AND this QAnon idiot are who represent NC.

  65. 65.

    JustRuss

    Since the thread’s open, here’s the headline from my daily email from WaPO: Trump’s Freewheeling Speeches Offer a Dark Vision of a Second Term

    Maybe our media finally is learning.  Except FTFNYT, of course.

  66. 66.

    TBone

    @WaterGirl: taxpayers footing the bill for Seven Mountains religious indoctrination in school (North Carolina).  The website is a safe place to see the xitter story without having to give clicks to fElon.

    Seven Mountains is a dangerous Dominionist cult.  Spreading like wildfire.  We have an infestation here in PA.  The SOTU rebuttal woman is prolly indoctrinated by them.

  67. 67.

    Manyakitty

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: SAME!!! I was visiting them around a year ago and my mom stumbled into the couch and did a slow motion slide down to the floor. She isn’t just dead weight — she’s oppositional weight (I’d say lean back and she’d lean forward so far she cracked me in the face, etc) — and impossible for my dad to help on his own. If I wasn’t there, he’d have called 911.

    So scary.

  70. 70.

    geg6

    @Chris:

    Oh yes.  I remember when I first heard she’d died.  My heart sank.  Not because I was sad about it.  But because I knew we’d hear about nothing but her for weeks on end and all of it in terms that made it sound like she was the greatest person who ever lived.  Fuck that shit.  I’m an American, whose grandparents immigrated to the US from England.  They didn’t think the Queen (at that time, it was actually Victoria) was all that and communicated that to us all.  Monarchy, especially lazy ass ones that steal money from the citizens and don’t really do a lick of real work at all like the British monarch, is stupid and countries that still have them should be shamed every day until they wake up and quit letting these inbred garbage people steal their money.  And don’t get me started on all the crimes of their ancestors.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    It’s interesting to think about which will win out: trumpov’s impulse to cut a plea deal* to avoid prison, or his impulse to go Full Metal Dictator and tell his disciples to start shootin’.

    *to include everything he’s been passing along to the Russians, everything he knows about which of his fellow Republicans are co-opted by Putin, etc etc.

  74. 74.

    cain

    @Searcher: I’ve read that series – very good one! It’s like a throwback to the old Fahfrd and Mouser series of old but with some more complexity.

  76. 76.

    Anoniminous

    More about the Trump bond.

    Chubb Insurance Co who provided the bond for Trump’s $91.6 million bond in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case has just 60 days to pay the entire amount if the former president loses his appeal.

    “There is an unusual provision in the bond that would give Chubb 60 days from the date final judgment is entered in Carroll’s favor (if she wins on appeal) to make payment to her,” Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney in Alabama wrote.

    If Trump loses his appeal and doesn’t pay the money, “Chubb must tender the full amount. They can collect from Trump in turn, but doing that would be their problem,” Vance wrote.

    “This is good news for E. Jean Carroll because the bond guarantees that the judgment will be paid if she prevails on appeal.”

    Source:  Newsweek

  79. 79.

    cain

    @Anoniminous: So trump is totally compromised now owing some serious money to another party.

    Also, Chubb is based in Switzerland, you can bet they probably have access to Russian or Chinese money. I would be doing some serious digging into Chubb at this point.

  80. 80.

    Jeffro

    @TBone: it’s like “The Family”, right?  (the book…which I think has recently been made into a documentary/series?)

  82. 82.

    Jackie

    Good grief! We KNOW the MAGA GQP’s craziness is getting crazier, but this is nuts! Now we understand why Mike Johnson didn’t clap or stand during the SOTU; he would have faced a MTV.

    Oklahoma Senator James Lankford caused an uproar on social media after agreeing with President Biden on the bipartisan immigration bill which was rejected by Republicans earlier this year.

    Lankford made a three-second appearance during the State of the Union Address, during which he can be seen mouthing, “That’s true,” while President Joe Biden delivered the address.

    The Oklahoma County Republican Party even apparently voted to censure Senator Lankford after the address.

    https://www.news9.com/story/65eefc670e4d690197cba33b/sen-james-lankford-faces-backlash-for-3-second-appearance-during-state-of-the-union-address-

  83. 83.

    TBone

    @Jeffro: yes indeedy and they’re growing using fistfuls of dollars.  Ours and any others’ they can paw.  K Street.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/07/k-street-lobbying-russia-00014442

     K Street firms who benefited from Russian cash over the past decade were not violating any law. It is proper for countries and companies of varying levels of nefariousness to purchase representation in the halls of Congress and the corridors of power in D.C., provided they abide by disclosure and ethics rules. The recent terminations of the contracts were in response to U.S. sanctions on those companies — not, necessarily, moral judgments that the firms themselves made about serving clients tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    For that reason, lobbying experts suspect that the same Russian institutions will find representation once again from lobbying shops eager to accept their hefty payments when the sanctions are lifted. A number of groups cut ties with Saudi Arabia amid pressure in the wake of the 2018 slaying of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But some retained their Saudi clients, and the country has found itself a slate of new firms in the intervening years.

  84. 84.

    Anoniminous

    @cain:

    The corruption in the FIRE industry makes the corruption in the US legal pale.

    Guessing that should Trump’s appeal fail Chubb will pay Carroll and eat the money.

  86. 86.

    MattF

    @cain: One can soon expect a lecture from a Chubb representative on the dictionary definition of ‘fungible’.

  88. 88.

    Anoniminous

    @TBone:

    Chubb grossed $9.3 billion in 2023.  To them $91 million is chump change, a big nickel.

    Plus they can write it off as a loss on their taxes.

  89. 89.

    Jackie

    Heh The GQP is so busy putting out TIFG, Britt and Mace fires, Bob Menendez’s latest round of indictments is – at least for the moment – flying under the GQP radar.

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @TBone: thanks for the link!

    shocked, shocked to see Diaper Dave Vitter was one of the lobbyists taking Russian cash

  94. 94.

    frosty

    @Jeffro: No question. He doesn’t think he did anything wrong, he doesn’t think he’ll go to prison, so there’s no way he’s going to do a plea deal.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    @Jackie:

    They don’t want to highlight Menendez because he dropped out rather than be kicked in the teeth by primary voters.  The GOP doesn’t like that example.

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    @cain: Dear ProPublica,

    Not sure what you had planned for the next few weeks, but if you could look into Chubb, we would surely appreciate it.

    Signed, A Grateful Nation

  101. 101.

    SenyorDave

    Trump made fun of Biden’s stuttering, apparently twice. One of the comments on the article said that if it were any normal politician it would be the sort of thing that would be a major story, the type of thing that they might even bring in a damage control expert to try to “put in context”. It would be a real setback in any politican’s career. With Trump it’s just another day at the office (it actually brought big laughs at his rallies). My wife taught elementary school for almost 30 years, the last 12 at the kindergarten level. I asked her what they did when a child made fun of the other kids. She said they had an established protocol, they would call the parents in and explain why that behavior was inappropriate and would not be tolerated. Basically, it was an intervention. In all the years she taught kindergarten it happened twice. Because EVEN 6 year-olds know better.

  103. 103.

    Philbert

    I gather in the hearing this morning that they dropped their request for the 60+ days extension of the Chubb bond. So she’s getting closer to actual money.

    At the rate he’s going, Trump may go Sovereign Citizen before it’s over.

  105. 105.

    Bostondreams

    @Jackie: What is stunning to me is that the woman beat the CURRENT state superintendent, who is a conservative Republican but apparently not MAGA enough.

  106. 106.

    Soprano2

    @Chris: Don’t forget that they want the law to differentiate between if you have a Good Pregnancy (married, wanted to be pregnant but have a problem that necessitates an abortion) or if you have a Bad Pregnancy (not married, didn’t want to be pregnant) as to whether or not you can get care for your miscarriage or non-viable pregnancy.

  111. 111.

    Anoniminous

    @WaterGirl: ​
     
    Cool.

    I wonder just how much money Carroll is going to end up with since Trump is incapable of shutting his pie hole.

  116. 116.

    dmsilev

    @Philbert:

    At the rate he’s going, Trump may go Sovereign Citizen before it’s over.

    He would, somehow, manage to be even less coherent than the average SovCit loon.

  117. 117.

    hueyplong

    @Philbert: I look forward to Trump’s attys’ appellate arguments about fringe (or lack of same) on the trial courtroom flags.

    Chubb Corp is now a publicly traded corporation (or owned by one).  Depending on what’s up with this subsidiary posting the bond, might we see some disappointed shareholders?

  120. 120.

    Anoniminous

    @cain:

    Absolutely.  However the quid don’t quo if Donald and the rest of his gang is curb-stomped this November.  Something I’m becoming more confident of as the days go by.

     

    @WaterGirl:

    I think that’s a solid bet.

  121. 121.

    chopper

    Apparently, the last format he libeled her in would have him back in court in NY with Judge Kaplan again.

    i’m sure kaplan is just pleased as punch over this idea

  123. 123.

    TBone

    @Harrison Wesley: we’ll punch natzis together using ESP.  Nonstop.  I’m a damn yankee till the day I die, and they’ll have to eat shit and spit Chiclets before I go down.

  124. 124.

    Baud

    More readership capure via reddit. I hesitate to post this because I’m not a big believer in following polls, including good ones. (Warning: Newsweek link}

    Joe Biden Suddenly Leads Donald Trump in Multiple Polls

  126. 126.

    TBone

    @glc: masterful work, great info at that link!  I’ve seen the bits and pieces, but that really ties it up neatly!

  127. 127.

    WaterGirl

    @chopper:

    i’m sure Kaplan is just pleased as punch over this idea.

    Not sure if that is a statement of glee or it’s that’s snark.

    Personally, I love that Trump would have to get Kaplan, who isn’t taking any of his shit and not some right-wing judge in GA who thinks the little woman probably asked for it, and doesn’t know her place.  Who is she to challenge the great Donnie?

  128. 128.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jeffro:

    trumpov’s impulse to cut a plea deal*

    Absolutely never going to happen.  Why?  He is incapable of imagining one in terms we would think of.  His mindset is zero-sum.  He will try to dictate the terms and only accept a deal that he thinks is a total win for him and a total loss for the government.

    tell his disciples to start shootin’.

    He already has.  Remember his calls for a crowd to defend him when the document indictments started?  His disciples ignored him.

    They are lazy cowards who love anonymous threats and harassment.  They aren’t going to stir a finger if they think actual consequences are even a possibility.

  129. 129.

    trollhattan

    @Jackie: Kid’s headed there this summer for school, and not a single thing about growing up in California is going to prepare her for their reality.

  132. 132.

    Geminid

    HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge announced she will leave her post at the end of this month. Fudge left her Congressional seat in 2021 to take the job, setting up a contentious primary between Shontelle Brown, Nina Turner and several other candidates. Rep. Brown won the special election and then won a rematch with Turner in 2022.

  133. 133.

    WaterGirl

    @chopper: I don’t know.  If I were Kaplan and he had just flipped me off, and flipped off the court and the $83 million dollar fine, and said fuck you and did it again…

    I would want another crack at the case, and I would make sure that money wasn’t the only consequence this time.

  136. 136.

    frosty

    @Harrison Wesley: ​
     I don’t think Jared is sitting on a pile of Saudi cash. I think he’s getting a salary or commission for managing it and if they change their minds he’s out in the cold again. It’s not his to spend. And he’s an idiot if he wants to grift some of the top out of Bonesaw’s hands.

  137. 137.

    Bill Arnold

    @cain:

    Also, Chubb is based in Switzerland, you can bet they probably have access to Russian or Chinese money.

    There were rumors the past couple of days that the Chubb subsidiary that issued to bond does a lot of business in Russia. The implication being that they have a working money funnel from Russia to [whereever they are outside of Russia? Warren NJ?].
    People, and including some in governments, are and will be digging.

  138. 138.

    Redshift

    @JustRuss:

    Maybe our media finally is learning. Except FTFNYT, of course. 

    Speaking of which, USA Today had a great article today about Dems calling for DOJ to investigate whether House Republicans knew they were spreading Russian disinformation or willfully ignored the source.

  139. 139.

    WaterGirl

    @bk:

    I don’t know what a shareholder derivative lawsuit is, but I can guess.  I would be pissed as hell if I owned stock in Chubb and they were laying an #83 million dollar bet on a bad race with my money.

    I hope there is a big stink about his somehow, from somewhere, so that whoever is thinking of ponying up the nearly $600 million dollar judgement pulls out of the deal.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: I think that’s the kind of thing you have to look for. And I don’t think there have been any significant congressional initiatives in her area. Energy Secretary Granholm and Transportation Secretsry Buttegiege both have a lot of new and well-funded initiatives all around the country to promote. Not so Secretary Fudge.

    Some areas do not get much attention in national media even though they are important, and the politicians doing the work don’t either. Deputy Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small and your Representative, Nikki Budzinski, are good examples. I see plenty about them on agriculture and conservation news sites if I look, but they might as well be invisible to “nation news” sites.

    Right now Torres Small and Budzinski are trying to get the overdue Five-year Farm Bill through Congress. Not surprisingly, House Freedom Caucus members are the stumbling blockheads.

  143. 143.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    This. My limited understanding is there’s usually (as in always) a nonrefundable deposit accompanying the issuance of the bond – in this case maybe 10 or so mil? No matter how inflated on paper he’s reported his properties and assets, there’s little question as collateral their value would garner at least the amount of the remainder of the bond.

    This is not to imply I in any way applaud Chubb’s actions.

  144. 144.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Do you think Chubb would post the bond without adequate security from somewhere?

    For me, part of the issue is where the hell is the money coming from that is backing the bond?  It seems like the American people should have a right to know who is supplying a presidential candidate with $83+ million dollars wroth of bond.

  145. 145.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: That is a completely different issue from a suggestion that Chubb is doing something nefarious that should be the subject of a shareholder derivative lawsuit.  They are simply acting like a bail bondsman would in a criminal case.

  146. 146.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I think we’ll hear more about Xochitl Torres Small. For one thing, she likely has the inside track to head the Agriculture Department when Secretary Vilsack retires, which I expect after this election. Torres Small’s nomination for Deputy Secretary passed the Senate Agriculture Committee by a unanimous vote, which bodes well for her elevation to the top job.

    Nikki Budzinski would probably be well-known already if she was on the Government Oversight or Judiciary Committees, what with their high profile, televised hearings. But I think Budzinski is going places; she’s a talented and hardworking woman with service in the Biden administration and strong ties to Governor Pritzker.

  147. 147.

    artem1s

    @cain: 

    These people have gone off the rails as well. Imagine that this is what conservatism has come to. Yet, it’s our dear media that criticizes us about whatever – this should be a full ass scandal.

    First amendment and all that. I hope they also know they probably earned themselves a nice fat file and lifetime monitoring by the Secret Service and FBI.

  148. 148.

    karen marie

    @Uncle Cosmo:  They should try living without any regulations or restrictions.  They’d find their lives a whole lot more difficult, because it wouldn’t just be them not having regulations or restrictions, it would be everyone.  They’d find living in a lawless society a lot more uncomfortable.

  149. 149.

    artem1s

    @Chris: ​ 

    okay, this cult has officially lost all amusement for me, and I am 100% on board with the people who want it abolished.

    I was annoyed too but then I became forever grateful for the Royal media obsession (OK for 5 or 6 minutes at least) when I saw the Xitter of Irish football fans singing “Lizzie’s in a box”. I now know what my reaction is going to be when TIFG finally kicks off.

  150. 150.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:  I don’t get it.

    Someone at Chubb is still betting $83 million of company money on a loser who has a history of not being trustworthy.  How is that not a violation of their duties to stockholders?

  153. 153.

    Manyakitty

    @rikyrah: that looks helpful, but we really need something to get her off the floor without using her arms (shoulder replacement isn’t great with osteoporosis).

  154. 154.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: If that were that case, you would be correct.  That, however, isn’t how it works.  Trump has put up property worth that amount or someone has stood surety and put the cash in escrow.

  155. 155.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: That’s why I said it is a different issue.  Not one of Chubb’s management malpractice, but rather one of public interest.

  156. 156.

    Ixnay

    @dmsilev: I believe it literally means, punching his pipe back though his face. Back… Pfeifen…gesicht (face). Somewhat aggressive.

  157. 157.

    Chris T.

    @rikyrah:

    [on plastic chair mats under rolling desk chairs] Lord, yes…I consider those death traps

    I’m not a big fan myself. Instead, get a bamboo mat if necessary (nothing required at all for hardwood floor) and get large rubber-wheel casters for the chair. (ETA: I got my casters ages ago from Caster City, these days I bet you can get them from Amazon. I got my current bamboo mat from some seller on Amazon; it’s lasted about 4 years but has some gouges now and might need replacing in a few more years.)

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