Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

People are complicated. Love is not.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Let me file that under fuck it.

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

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / The Calm Before the Storm

The Calm Before the Storm

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The calm before the storm.

That’s how the last couple of days have felt like to me. In spite of the Arizona ruling. In spite of Donnie’s repeated attempt to halt the trial that starts on Monday.

I am reminded of the few days before US troops marched into Baghdad.   I thought it was a huge mistake, and I felt a terrible sense of dread.  That’s how I feel about Ukraine with every day that passes without a bill to support Ukraine.  Now, as then, I had no control over what happened; I could only wait to see how it would play out.

Maybe it’s just me. Is anyone else feeling that way?

This is a good summary from Joyce Vance.

What Freedom Will You Lose Next?

Totally loving the irreverence of the Biden campaign:

Sorry to be all over the map.  Strange times.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

183Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    My guess is his federal criminal trials won’t happen before the election, so he’s really upset he couldn’t stop the state trials either. Good.

  6. 6.

    TBone

    NY State’s states rights is getting ready to take a big chunk outta Diaper Don’s rear quarters.  He’s gonna ‘splode.

  8. 8.

    The Red Pen

    I feel the same way about Ukraine. Putin’s plan has always been to outlast Urkraine. Without our support, that plan will succeed eventually — maybe sooner than we think.

  9. 9.

    JoyceH

    The situation in Ukraine reminds me of the pandemic. Remember when people applauded the hospital workers at shift change? Before too long they were screaming at them for not allowing their critically ill loved one to be administered horse paste. And now millions of people will swear that the pandemic was a huge hoax and never even happened.

    Is this the Trump effect? I don’t think this used to happen. At least not so wide-spread.

  10. 10.

    xephyr

    Anger doesn’t begin to describe my feelings about how Republicans are sabotaging the hopes for Ukraine. How they can live with themselves is beyond me. Anything else I could say about it would be stating what is obvious to anyone with a conscience.

  12. 12.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    It’s interesting that the state trials managed to move forward, while the federal ones stalled. Do I blame judges he appointed? Cannon and the Supreme Court both?

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I am bemused by the fact that TIFG loudly and constantly proclaims his complete innocence, yet somehow is reluctant to make his case in a court of law. I mean, every time he tries one of these delaying tactics, it’s like a huge flashing “I’M GUILTY!!” neon sign.

  16. 16.

    bbleh

    I still think Our Media, with all their “least of the trials,” “runt of the litter” editorializing, are seriously underestimating the public impact of this trial.

    Yes the others involve High Concepts and Very Serious Issues, but it’s precisely the small scale and familiar matter that makes this one very accessible to the public, importantly including the “low-information voters.”

    It’s sleazy.  It’s got a major porn actress, marital infidelity, a fixer/lawyer who’s been in prison, sneaky conspiracy, LOTS of money, and of course a former President.  It’s like The Best Jerry Springer Episode Ever.  And the media are going to gorge themselves on it and then poop it out on every known channel and probably a new one just for this.

    And there’s no way TIFG looks good.  None of the major facts are in dispute, including the professional description of the pre-Presidential penis.  And he has to sit there for the entire thing and keep his big mouth shut.

    I have laid in extra popcorn.

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    @TBone:

    Never see “analysts” examine devout Catholic Biden to governing in direct contradiction of the church on abortion and yeah, even contraception. IOW religion cannot get in the way of governing in a democracy. Lest we become Iran or Afghanistan or Hungary.

    Pretend Christian Trump uses the religious cover to excuse a thousand crazy/illegal things he thinks and does.

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    @JoyceH: Vlad’s not wrong thinking our attention spans practically dictate we pivot to newer shiny bugs, and Hamas-Bibi are far shinier than Ukraine, all while the election is revving up.

  24. 24.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @bbleh:

    It’s sleazy.

    That is not going to hurt Trump even slightly.  MAGA loves that he is sleazy.  Hell, a lot of non-MAGA view his sleaze as aspirational.

    Getting convicted and the fucking around he’ll do during the trial will not be so harmless.

  25. 25.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @bbleh: And there’s no way TIFG looks good. None of the major facts are in dispute, including the professional description of the pre-Presidential penis. And he has to sit there for the entire thing and keep his big mouth shut.

    Yes, why else is he trying so hard to avoid it? So unfair, what a shame. [/S yeah, Capital S]

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    I’m still so confused.  If “states’ rights” is a wise and well-thought-out position on abortion…why does trump want/expect Arizona and Florida to ‘fix’ their laws?  Why does he say that they ‘go too far’?

    (rhetorical question ;)

  29. 29.

    TBone

    @JPL: the Harvey Weinstein gambit requires a show of weakness.  I don’t think it’s gonna happen till he’s convicted of espionage.

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    @TBone:a demand for immunity is an admission of guilt!  On its face!

    whoa whoa WHOA there…trump’s just looking out for all of our presidents, past, present, and future, who NEED immunity, don’t you s…LOLOLOLOLOL

    (I tried to keep a straight face, I really did! )

    Not only is a demand for immunity an admission of guilt, an endless search for trial delays is also an admission of guilt.  If he were innocent, he’d want the trial done a.s.a.p. so he could get back out there and fleece the rubes campaign on his COMPLETE AND TOTAL VINDICATION!

  31. 31.

    JoyceH

    Is Karen McDougal on the witness list? That would be the killer. Stormy comes across as a smart cookie who’s well able to take care of herself but I saw a McDougal interview and she presents as sweet and naive and tragically duped. That won’t help Trump. Sleeping with a porn star? Okay, the base is fine with that. But Taking Advantage of that sweet lil thang? Nosirreebob.

  32. 32.

    teezyskeezy

    Not sure it feels like a calm…my anxiety is ramping up steadily with each day. Ship heading toward an iceberg feels a more apt analogy.

  36. 36.

    Jackie

    @bbleh: I keep chuckling with glee that the very thing TIFG tried to hush up so it wouldn’t sabotage his election in ‘16, may very well be his undoing for ‘24.

    The timing for this trial is 👨‍🍳😘!

  38. 38.

    cain

    We got a big Russian problem. It wouldn’t surprise me that Trump has ties to the Russian mob. (or Giuliani has)

    I think we’re going to have to find a way to get Trump to stop directing Johnson into stopping this. Maybe we can lose some more GOP house folks and switch the party.

  39. 39.

    lowtechcyclist

    @JoyceH:

    And now millions of people will swear that the pandemic was a huge hoax and never even happened.

    We had 1.1 million excess deaths. I’m sure they’re hot on the trail of the real killer.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: I believe Trump’s team tried to get the Karen M. situation excluded, but they were unsuccessful.  I don’t know whether there is a plan to have her testify.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JoyceH:

    The situation in Ukraine reminds me of the pandemic. Remember when people applauded the hospital workers at shift change? Before too long they were screaming at them for not allowing their critically ill loved one to be administered horse paste. And now millions of people will swear that the pandemic was a huge hoax and never even happened. 

    And the critically ill (because they acted like the virus was a hoax) yelling at nurses to give them the vaccine only to be told it’s too late.

  43. 43.

    JoyceH

    @WaterGirl: how about David Pecker? That “catch and kill” was surely not a one time thing. I’d love to know what other stories he caught and killed for Trump.

  45. 45.

    frosty

    @bbleh: This is chef’s kiss!

    It’s sleazy.  It’s got a major porn actress, marital infidelity, a fixer/lawyer who’s been in prison, sneaky conspiracy, LOTS of money, and of course a former President.  It’s like The Best Jerry Springer Episode Ever.

  46. 46.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: From what I’ve read, catch and kill will very much be part of the trial.

    Plus catch and kill was already in place when the Stormy Daniels thing came up.  Stormy was just one instance, and wasn’t even the first instance.

    That’s part of what will hurt Trump so badly.  That makes it obvious that this was very clearly an attempt to influence the election by hiding information that would make Trump look bad and potentially NOT be elected.

    The business records in pursuit of that are what will totally screw him.

    With any luck, Mr. Lie, Cheat and Steal will experience consequences for the first time in his life.

  49. 49.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @cain: We got a big Russian problem. It wouldn’t surprise me that Trump has ties to the Russian mob. (or Giuliani has)

    “Ties” I don’t know, but if we judge by results, the effect of Giuliani’s lauded prosecutions was to replace the Italian mob with the Russian mob. Was this an improvement?

  50. 50.

    Redshift

    Yes, I’m sick with worry in a way I haven’t been since the beginning of the invasion.

    I’m having thoughts like the ending of the (original) Manchurian Candidate, which I’m not happy about.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lowtechcyclist: I’d really like to see an alternate timeline with a real President in the White House.

    Wonder how many people would still be alive with an actual federal response to the pandemic.

  52. 52.

    catclub

    @The Red Pen: Putin’s plan has always been to outlast Urkraine.

     

    Ummm, Putin’s SECOND plan. His first was a lightning assault that failed. But was extremely close to succeeding.

  55. 55.

    TBone

    @Redshift: breathe. Self care.  Comfort food.  Breathe again.

    Oh, and weed if that’s your thing. It helps me immensely with comfort food 😂

  57. 57.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @cain: If I heard correctly, TFG had to put up cash as collateral for that $175 million bond, and the ceo of the bond company says he has no idea where the cash came from. Which is illegal due to money-laundering laws.

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate. My thought on hearing that was “it’s either Russians or Russians.”

  58. 58.

    BC in Illinois

    @TBone:

    Judge Cordell:

    I don’t know what the mystique is or magic is about not putting Donald Trump in a jail cell so that he understands there are immediate consequences for not behaving as a normal adult in the courtroom

    I think that “mystique” is the proper word. People act as if doing something to *FORMER PRESIDENT* D J Trump would cross some sort of world altering line. “You can’t treat a *Former President* like this!”

    Perspective, people. I have lived much of my life in Maryland and in Illinois. We sent our lawbreaking chief executives —our Governors — to prison on a regular basis. [Rod Blagojevich, anyone?]

    Spiro Agnew received bribes as Baltimore County Executive and Maryland Governor, and kept receiving them as US Vice President. The only reason he didn’t see the inside of a jail cell was that they let him plea-bargain out of it, so that he wouldn’t stand in the way of removing Nixon.

    But locking up Governors and County Executives? Hell, we sent a US Attorney General to prison! (I remember John Mitchell.)

    It’s never been a problem. It’s the right thing to do.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    The Putin Caucus

  67. 67.

    cain

    @BC in Illinois: I think it’s more that it is a cult and there is both a fear of violence and that putting him will endanger a lot of conservative’s identities.

  69. 69.

    trollhattan

    Here’s a thing to cheer.

    The White House is to close a loophole that allows thousands of firearms to be sold at gun shows and on the internet without federal background checks.

    It will classify around 23,000 vendors as licensed firearms dealers, making their gun sales subject to the checks.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland said: “If you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed.”

    The Biden administration said it expected a court challenge by pro-gun groups, but was confident it would win.

    “All of the major actions that the president has taken to reduce gun violence have been challenged,” an administration official said. “And in court after court, the actions are frequently being upheld. We have confidence that this is legal.”

    Mr Garland said that the regulation was a “historic step” that will “save lives”. He pointed to federal data showing that illegally or black-market firearms are increasingly being found at shooting scenes.

    Vice-President Kamala Harris, who leads the Office on Gun Violence Prevention, said unlicensed gun dealers had “gotten away” with unverified sales for far too long.

    The closure of the “gun show loophole” will go into effect 30 days after it is published in the federal registry this week.

    The White House has cited the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which solidified who and what is considered a firearm dealer, to expand the background check requirements.

    The law was passed with support from Republicans and Democrats after two high-profile mass shootings in May 2022 – an attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

    However, a spokesman for John Cornyn, a prominent Republican senator who worked on the Bipartisan Safe Communities Act, called the move “unconstitutional” .

    In conclusion: fuck John Cornyn and as always, thanks, Texas.

  72. 72.

    Jackie

    Sigh… No rest for the weary in WI.

    “The longest-serving member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 4-3 liberal majority announced Thursday she would not run for reelection next spring, shaking up a consequential race in a swing state and improving the odds that conservatives can retake the control they lost last year,” the Washington Post reports.

    “Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who has served on the court since 1995, told The Washington Post ahead of her announcement that she is confident someone who shares her judicial philosophy can replace her after she completes her term. But her unexpected retirement sets the stage for an intense race for control of the court two years after candidates, political parties and interest groups spent more than $50 million in the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.”

  75. 75.

    japa21

    @Jackie: ​
      Yes, it will be a big election, but with all the organizing that went into the last one, the infrastructure is already in place to get a like minded justice elected.

  77. 77.

    karen marie

    It’s Thursday! A new Lawfare “Trump’s Trials and Tribulations” will happen this afternoon. Bookmark it – they will be covering the NY trial daily when openings begin. Until then, the weekly podcast covers all things Trump trials.

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    @trollhattan: That is good news.

    And now I have to say that I agree with Bill Kristol on something.  sigh.

    Bill Kristol
    @BillKristol

    “Johnson is the congressional chief of a party that contains a passionate ‘Putin wing,’ and so he dithers. This week, Zelensky has warned that Ukraine will lose the war if the aid is not approved. Yet Johnson is heading not to Kyiv but to Mar-a-Lago.”

  80. 80.

    TBone

    @cain: I don’t have any respect for anyone who would let fear do the ruling and decision-making.  Let them get therapy if they’re so fuckin’ butthurt in their identities.

  83. 83.

    cain

    @trollhattan: These people just say shit like “unconstitutional” – like the govt hasn’t been doing licensing. I expect this to go all the way to the supreme court. They might as well look at whether the govt can license anything as “constitutional”.

  84. 84.

    smith

    I’ve been compulsively checking various web sites to see what last minute delay tactics the thoroughly panicked orange one will try to pull next. I don’t think he will suddenly fall ill, with his history of faking doctor’s reports to make himself seem like a superman, but I am fearful that he will fire his lawyers at the last minute. I know that at some point he will need the judge’s permission to replace his lawyers, but I don’t know if he’s yet past that point.

  85. 85.

    cain

    @TBone: Yeah, but this is a cult – they live in the fox bubble, their friends live in the fox bubble – it’s hard to get out of that whole thing. They be an apostate and then who will they play bingo with? :-)

  86. 86.

    cain

    @smith: He’s going to be doing a lot of things – I could also see him trying to kill the judge through some Russian mob connections.

    Hopefully they won’t be so stupid as to pull that shit

  87. 87.

    WaterGirl

    @smith: One of the legal podcasts said that if he fired his lawyers this close to trial, that the judge would have to approve the change.

    So in theory firing the lawyers at this point would be so obviously a move to delay things that the judge would likely not approve.

    I hope the person who said that is right!

  88. 88.

    TBone

    @trollhattan: Every time I hear this song (and their cover of I Will Survive) I think of NANCY SMASH it’s my theme song for her, lyrics are perfect!

  89. 89.

    cain

    @WaterGirl:

    she’s earned her retirement – she’s been in there a long time. We’re just going to have to figure it out. But she did stay long enough to make sure we have good voting maps and hopefully that will help us keep Wisconsin blue.

  90. 90.

    TBone

    @cain: they can play on a busy highway for all I care.  My rumpy neighbors are gonna get trial news via loudspeaker with built in panic siren.

  91. 91.

    BC in Illinois

    @cain:

    Yes. Putting Trump in prison “will endanger a lot of conservative’s identities.”

    I think that’s why she used the word “mystique.” For the rest of us, if we find out that someone with a “D”  by their name has committed crimes, we say that that’s a shame and work to get someone new. [cf. Bob Menendez, though that is taking too long.]

    For those in the cult, they really do think that bringing Trump to justice “endangers” them, in a deep and essential way. The fact that Trump has surrounded himself throughout life with criminals, slimeballs, and felons; the fact that his entire family is legally forbidden to handle a charity; the fact that Republicans from coast to coast are being convicted of voter fraud, sexual crimes, and various other frauds. That doesn’t bother them.

    But there is a “mystique,” for them,  about jailing Trump. No matter what he does. Nothing could justify that.

    And yes, the threat of violence is how they communicate that mystique to us.

  94. 94.

    JWR

    On a lighter note, Shohei Ohtani’s translator has been charged with  bank fraud in connection with stealing $16 MILLION from Ohtani’s account to cover his gambling debts. Federal DA speaking now.

  96. 96.

    smith

    @BC in Illinois: If the justice system declines to do its job because of threats of violence, then we’ve already lost. And quite frankly, we’ve lived with the threat of right wing violence for such a long time, it’s a wonder anyone thinks it would be worse if TFG is thrown in jail. What Timothy McVeigh did had nothing to do with Trump. His sort has never gone away.

  100. 100.

    Noskilz

    The Ukraine aid situation is such a needless tragedy that one can’t help being depressed by it.

    As for trumpalo matters, I would say I’m far more impatient than fearful. While I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect the stray spasm of violence from the odd cultist, I think the general trend will be things going incredibly badly for Trump in whatever courtrooms he finds himself in between now and the election – presumably NY and GA state trials, and maybe, if we are very lucky, the DC Federal trial might at least get partially underway

    The arrests and prosecutions of hundreds of January 6th rioters really put the fear into a lot of aspiring militia types, particularly since Trump did nothing to protect them when he had the means to do so, so I am not sure how enthusiastic the remaining loons are about leaping into action for him again. And there are a few hundred less of the more excitable ones running loose at the moment.

  101. 101.

    Trivia Man

    @japa21: my, perhaps unfounded or overly optimistic, hope is that November will crush the Republican party as an effective organization and leave them in disarray. Disenchanted and trying to hide. And any extreme candidate can be easily tied to the extremists and losers.

  105. 105.

    Soprano2

    @Frankensteinbeck: It doesn’t matter whether it hurts him or not. He’s been charged with a crime, now we’re going to have a trial to determine whether he’s guilty of that crime. He needs to be treated like every other citizen who did the same thing would be. That’s the most important part. I do think it will hurt him with “normies” if he’s convicted.

  106. 106.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: Punchbowl News’ Heather Caygle tweeted that Reps. Pelosi and Clyburn spoke to House Democratic whips today, exhorting them to get reluctant Dems to sign the Petition to Discharge the Ukraine funding bill. Caygle said that 193 out of 213 Democrats have signed the petition put forward by Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern. The 20 non-signers mostly object to the military aid for Israel included in the package.

    So it sounds like the Petition to Discharge is still in play. We’ve already had a total solar eclipse this month; a successful discharge petition is even more rare, but we still might see one of them this April.

  108. 108.

    prostratedragon

    @Geminid:  Pelosi and Clyburn are doing noble work that I could not do, unless screaming, “What the fuck is your problem?!” is likely to succeed. Hope they get results.

  109. 109.

    Soprano2

    @JWR: I’m glad they caught him. These guys are so young it’s easy for them to get taken advantage of. Some of them who had multi-million dollar contracts end up bankrupt because of things like this.

  110. 110.

    Geminid

    @TBone: Dave McCormick might have had a chance in 2022, and I was relieved when Oz squeaked by him in the primary. But now McCormick has to beat a very popular incumbent. In 2018, Senator Bob Casey Jr. won reelection by over 600,000 votes. Karl Rove and George Bush can’t raise enough money to overcome that advantage.

  111. 111.

    Martin

    I love this story.

    Some Micronesian fishermen had trouble with their boat out fishing around a very remote island in the pacific and became stranded on the island. Family members are concerned when they don’t return and ask officials on Guam for help. The Navy sends a reconnaissance jet out of Okinawa to search (a modified 737) find their help sign, drop them survival packs and a radio, and the Coast Guard heads out to get them. One of the coast guard rescuers who arrived grew up in Micronesia, spoke their language, and was related to them.

    America should be the ones who help, and it’s wonderful to see that quite often we are, even though there’s a few places we’ve fallen down pretty damn hard on that one because of Congress and some state governments. I think there were some words in Ephesians and Proverbs about that.

  112. 112.

    Martin

    @Geminid: They can always vote in support of the aid while simultaneously asking the WH to administrative hold that aid back until Israel meets the humanitarian aid conditions. They can even ask Pelosi and Clyburn to sign onto that letter.

  113. 113.

    gvg

    @cain: I look at it as fair play. Others have to do background checks, but one group doesn’t, and it gives them a business advantage. That’s not fair. This is just leveling a market.

    And criminals know loopholes and exploit them. Long ago most gun show buyers were probably regular people, but by now I expect most are violent criminals.

  114. 114.

    dnfree

    @WaterGirl: The iconic magazine article about Iraq to me was “Blind into Baghdad”, by James Fallows.  I’ve followed him for many years.  He wrote at the time about how there was absolutely no planning for the aftermath of the invasion, and that many of the worst decisions were made “on the fly” locally by unqualified appointees of GW.  That was Bush’s idea of the role of top management.

    Fallows did an excellent annotated analysis of Biden’s state of the union address.  He got his start as a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter.

  115. 115.

    gvg

    @BC in Illinois: The mystique is not Trump, it’s third world countries that Trump up charges against former leaders whenever a new party takes power. We used to look down on third world countries that didn’t have a peaceful transfer of power. Not jailing political rivals was an example of American exceptionalism etc. The examples I knew of were obviously false arrests. What the republican fanatic fails to understand is that it’s only fake charges against a former leader are a problem. Trump really is a criminal so we have to jail him (after a fair trial) because failure to do so is ALSO corrupt.  We didn’t have crooks as former Presidents before, except Nixon and most people here think its our failure to try him is why we now have a more serious problem.

  116. 116.

    Geminid

    @prostratedragon: I think some of the Democrats holding out will come around, and there should be enough Republican Ukraine hawks to make up for a dozen or so unpersuadables.

    Apparently they’re still hoping Johnson will put an aid bill on the floor. I don’t think he will though, so the Republicans are gonna have to get off the fence and sign or not sign the petition.

  117. 117.

    Martin

    @BC in Illinois: I don’t think there is either mystique or magic about it. I think it is part that they are desperate for someone to take the effective white christian supremacy that existed in this country for the last couple hundred years and codify it, which Trump promises to do (rather uniquely, I should add – neither Bush ever promised any such thing, even Reagan didn’t) and putting Trump in jail also violates that supremacy because the whole point of the police is to ‘preserve the natural order’ not enforce the law. The law is just a box of tools you can reach into when that natural order seems to be going wrong.

    A lot of people have this notion that laws should be enforced consistently and uniformly, and yeah, usually. But not always. The two hour parking sign in the parking lot will be enforced a lot more aggressively when the lot is full than when it’s empty. And if there’s a car there overnight, it gives the opportunity to tow that car. A lot of laws are there for when you need them, not all the time. It’s why cops leave you alone if you’re over the speed limit but moving with traffic in favor of the cars that are trying to go faster than traffic. Unless you’re black. Then you’re speeding. Natural order and all that. Even black cops will pull you over because authoritarians always make sure the cops have a higher station than non-cops. They know how this works.

  119. 119.

    Citizen Alan

    @xephyr: I try never to talk about politics with people I don’t know exceptionally well because the urge to slide into what might sound like eliminationist rhetoric. I genuinely don’t consider them to be fully human.

  120. 120.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @StringOnAStick:

    I expect his courtroom behaviour and at least his outside the courtroom behaviour to be quite insane.

    No worries, someone will get Joe saying fuck on video and the FTFNYT will run 3 days of headlines and put Trump’s trial on Page A18. Or the Style section.

  122. 122.

    robtrim

    I was born at the start of the Cold War. COMMUNISM became the evil pit from which all bad things emerged. Fluoridation of the water supply was a communist plot. The Domino Theory (communism would spread across Asia like Covid 19)  gave us Vietnam. Being anti-communist launched a thousand political careers – Nixon, Joe McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, even JFK. Being labeled a communist or a fellow traveler or “soft on communism” was synonymous with being a traitor. It was also synonymous with being an atheist or a pedophile. Ronald Reagan, the conservative icon of the GOP, was deified for bringing about its collapse by building a U.S. military that would repel it in every global confrontation.

    Today, Putin, a former KGB agent, an oligarch without equal and a wanted war criminal, is the toast of MAGA society even as he works to destroy democracy in the U.S. Marjorie Taylor Green regurgitates his propaganda verbatim and the Red State rubes eat it up. The poor brown people swarming the southern border are now the Hammer and Sickle personified – the “poison” Trump calls out that will end the American way of life.

    How this plays out – the nihilism of Trump and MAGAs versus Jeffersonian Democracy and our Constitutional heritage – is where we are today. It’s worse than Iraq and 9-11 and Jim Crow and the end of the Civil War and rising sea levels. It’s a non-nuclear holocaust that we haven’t seen since the collapse of the Weimar Republic.

  123. 123.

    Mike in Pasadena

    Great analogy, Watergirl. I feel the same dread and the same helplessness to stop the coming mess as I felt in the post 9-11 war frenzy to attack SOMEBODY that I felt in early  2003. The same party, the Rethuglicans, were and are the source of the lies and the tactics used to manipulate the nation in 2003 that are being used now. But we are not helpless. We can donate time and money and persuade our friends to vote for true Democrats and true democrats.

  124. 124.

    Nelle

    @Geminid: I’ve called my R rep every week and asked for him to sign every and any discharge petition that will support Ukraine.  He sends very sympathetic letters about Ukraine, but he’s a freshman Congressional critter and unwilling to step out in a public way.  Today, my request was that if his courage to be a military pilot in Afghanistan was a one time thing in defense of democracy or if he could possibly transfer some of that courage to this situation.  If there could be a coordinated cohort of five to ten R’s signing, I think it might open a door to more signing.  Oh, do unicorns fart rainbows?

  125. 125.

    Old Man Shadow

    That feeling is called anxiety and I have it all the time.

    Probably something I developed as a result of being told that an all powerful deity was watching me all the time and was very angry with me because I sucked so bad and I only deserved being tortured forever with fire at the age of four.

  127. 127.

    Mj_Oregon

    I woke up this morning on the verge of tears, my Black Dog of depression having gotten loose overnight.  I feel the same way about Ukraine.  I can’t read Adam’s updates or even look at the photos and videos.  I just cry over the losses they’re experiencing if I do.

    I have an incandescent, white hot, raging hatred of anyone in Congress who’s standing in the way of help for Ukraine.  The blood of so many men, women, and children stains their hands that they can’t hide with the gloves of rhetoric and deceit.  May they all rot in the fires of Hell.

  128. 128.

    Jay

    The EU Parliament just voted to freeze all Government spending until 7 Patriot Batteries are sent to Ukraine.

  129. 129.

    Martin

    Oh, hopefully Adam can write about this.

    During a state visit honouring the visiting Japanese prime minister, the president said the US and Japan would create an expanded defence architecture with Australia, participate in three-way military exercises with Britain and explore ways for Japan to join a US-led coalition with Australia and New Zealand.

    “Today we announce our vision to co-operate on a networked air defence architecture among the United States, Japan, and Australia to counter growing air and missile threats,” a joint statement of the two leaders said on Wednesday (Thursday AEST).

    Air defense pact from Japan to Australia, possibly adding Japan to the US/UK/Aus/NZ alliance. I think there’s a certain island that sits between Japan and Australia that might see some benefit from this. Includes increased air defense arm sales to Japan. Out of the ashes of TPP might come Pacific NATO.

  130. 130.

    Baud

    @Martin:

    Oh God. The stupid opposition to the stupid TPP helped to give us Trump in 2016.  Thanks for resurrecting that memory.

  131. 131.

    moops

    Is Dubya even a draw as a fund raiser?   I guess the GOP oligarchs still like him.  I doubt MAGA wants to hear anything he has to say.

  132. 132.

    Geminid

    @Nelle: I think there are enough Republican Ukraine hawks to put a Petition to Discharge through. They seem to consider this path a last resort, but Johnson can’t keep telling them he’ll put the bill on the floor indefinitely. The Ukraine hawks will have to move and if and when they do, there’ll likely be 30 or more of them.

    I don’t see them paying much of a political price either. This seems like the Debt Ceiling compromise, where a neccesary piece of legislation was pushed through with a whole lot of angst and then was promptly forgotten.

  133. 133.

    Baud

    @Geminid:

    I usually avoid the conservative subreddit because it’s a cesspool, but I happened to look at one just now where the post was about Trump complaining about money for Ukraine, and the top comment was actually in support of funding Ukraine.  Small anecdata FWIW.

  139. 139.

    Martin

    @Baud: Yeah, the thing that was supposed to economically isolate China was opposed by the people fearmongering about China. There are times I kind of don’t want Democrats to do something simply because they suck so bad at messaging.

  140. 140.

    cain

    @Martin: As we replace the older folks (and the cottage industry of older democratic strategists, think tanks etc etc) – we’ll get a lot more media saavy. Right now, we are in that between stage – especially for the media who are now all controlled mostly by large corporations trying to figure out how to make money – the maga demographic is an easy money maker – how they make money in the future is going to be interesting.

  143. 143.

    smith

    JEFFRIES: “If the speaker were to do the right thing and allow the House to work its will with an up or down vote on the national security bill, then I believe there are a reasonable number of Democrats would not want to see the speaker fall as a result of doing the right thing.”

    Nice little Speakership you’ve got there. Be a shame if something were to happen to it.

  145. 145.

    Paul in KY

    @dnfree: It was all done on purpose to destroy Iraq as a nation capable of threatening Likud Israel. All  On Purpose.

  146. 146.

    Baud

    Via reddit, RFK Jr about to go ballistic.

    Covid vaccines not linked to fatal heart problems in young people, CDC finds
    The new report debunks widespread misinformation that the mRNA shots were connected to sudden cardiac death in young athletes

  147. 147.

    hueyplong

    @Baud: Unsure that there are measurable effects arising from RFK Jr going ballistic

    I picture a prairie dog on its hind legs yelling “Fie!”

  150. 150.

    JoyceH

    @cain:

    As we replace the older folks (and the cottage industry of older democratic strategists, think tanks etc etc) – we’ll get a lot more media saavy

    Um… are you sure about that? We’re not the demographic that’s killing themselves on stupid stunts that are Tiktok Challenges.

  151. 151.

    Bill Arnold

    @Baud:
    The paper, and a couple of paragraphs from it:
    Assessment of Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death Among Adolescents and Young Adults After Receipt of COVID-19 Vaccine — Oregon, June 2021–December 2022 (html, April 11, 2024, Juventila Liko, Paul R. Cieslak)

    In this study of 1,292 deaths among Oregon residents aged 16–30 years during June 2021–December 2022, none could definitively be attributed to cardiac causes within 100 days of receipt of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose; one male died from undetermined causes 45 days after receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine. During May 1, 2021–December 31, 2022, a total of 979,289 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered to Oregonians aged 16–30 years (unpublished data, ALERT IIS, 2024.)
    During the same period, COVID-19 was cited as the cause of death for 30 Oregon residents in this age group. Among these 30 decedents, ALERT IIS had records for 22 (73%), only three of whom had received any COVID-19 vaccination. Studies have shown significant reductions in COVID-19–related mortality among vaccinated persons; during the first 2 years of COVID-19 vaccine availability in the United States, vaccination prevented an estimated 18.5 million hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths (9).

  152. 152.

    Brachiator

     

    @StringOnAStick:

    Shame is kryptonite to malignant narcissists.

    Trump doesn’t care about shame. He hates to lose. He hates to be mocked and ridiculed.

    But shame? Nope.

  155. 155.

    rikyrah

    @xephyr:

    Anger doesn’t begin to describe my feelings about how Republicans are sabotaging the hopes for Ukraine. How they can live with themselves is beyond me. Anything else I could say about it would be stating what is obvious to anyone with a conscience.

    they are traitors to this country.

  156. 156.

    rikyrah

    @bbleh:

    It’s sleazy.  It’s got a major porn actress, marital infidelity, a fixer/lawyer who’s been in prison, sneaky conspiracy, LOTS of money, and of course a former President.  It’s like The Best Jerry Springer Episode Ever.  And the media are going to gorge themselves on it and then poop it out on every known channel and probably a new one just for this.

     

    It’s election interference. and, it even includes the National Enquirer.

    And, the best part is..

    he has to sit there, everyday, until the trial is over.

    that amuses me the most :)

  157. 157.

    TBone

    @Geminid: it’s not his reelection chances that piss me off. It’s Harlanazi Crow, Rove, and Dumbya teaming up like some kind of alternate universe dumpster fire that can’t be extinguished.  Gah!

  159. 159.

    rikyrah

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    For starters, the Pandemic Response Task Force which TFG disbanded would have had a plan in place and executed on Day 1.

    Dubya began our Pandemic Response.

    Obama Expanded on it.

    By the time Obama left office, he had a select few experts all across the levers of government whose responsibility it was to head a national response to a pandemic.

    They also left a guidebook on what to do.

    The Orange Menace got rid of that working group across our government and threw away the guidebook. Because, it came from the Black guy.

    So, yes, I blame him for 90% of our pre-vaccine COVID deaths.

  160. 160.

    Jeffro

    @rikyrah:

    the best part is…he has to sit there, everyday, until the trial is over…that amuses me the most :)

     

    Me too!

    Anyone wanna place a (nickel) bet as to what day/time his first outburst takes place?  (I think the trial is M, Tu, Th, F each week right?)

  161. 161.

    smith

    @rikyrah: I’m also looking forward to seeing how much this trial will make him squirm, and probably act out to the point of being found in contempt.

    However, according to Karen Friedman Agnifilo, former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office, under NY state law, unlike in Federal Court, he does not have to be present for the trial as long as he is given a notice that the trial will continue without him. It will be interesting to see if he takes advantage of it if the testimony gets too much for him to bear.

  162. 162.

    sab

    @rikyrah: Yes. Swine flu popped up under Bush. Ebola popped up in Texas under Obama. And our government experts controlled both.

    If Trump had just ignored Covid our government could have dealt with it, but he had to jump in and dismantle our response while his kids figured out how to cash in on the crisis they were creating.

    And now this disease is endemic in the world, and I hold the initial US response responsible for not controlling it.

  163. 163.

    rikyrah

    @Geminid:

     The 20 non-signers mostly object to the military aid for Israel included in the package.

     

    These muthaphuckas are going to have to get over themselves and sign the phucking petition.

  165. 165.

    Martin

    @mrmoshpotato: Boy, that’s tricky. There were a lot of things that Democrats (and non-political actors) got wrong there too. The biggest was that the non-political scientists at the CDC insisted until Sept 2020 that Covid was not airborne, when Chinese scientists and scientists from other disciplines (puts hand up) were either providing evidence the CDC was wrong or were arguing from literature outside of the medical/public health community that that they were wrong. This was a failure due to disciplinary insularness, which is rampant in the US (possibly elsewhere). The medical/public health community was relying on a paper published in the 50s or 60s that laid out the size of biological agents that could remain airborne. But these scientists were doing biological warfare work -they wanted agents that would remain airborne over a city for days, and so their standard of ‘airborne’ was very different from ‘is it safe for me to enter this elevator’. Yes, Covid cannot remain in the air over a city for days, but it can remain airborne in an elevator, classroom, restaurant, with relatively still air for hours and remain alive during that time. That was known by China and confirmed by other asian countries in February. The US thought we knew better, and we were wrong. Even a Democratic administration would have been building policy around that same wrong information unless there was a political appointee (not Fauci – he didn’t push against it) who got up in everyones faces and said ‘you guys need to assume prior published research is wrong and that these other countries might be right and do your own tests’. Unlikely that would have happened.

    I also argued at the time (you can check the front pages from early 2020) that the last institutions that should have closed were schools. Now, as someone who closed 4 universities, that seems a bit hypocritical, but understand that the things that should have happened instead of that weren’t happening. We got no information out of the CDC or Dept of Education. States were starved for information, etc. That was all Trump instructed, so that would have been different, but it’s not clear if Democratic governors would have made substantially different decisions, because I’m not sure a federal democratic administration would have.

    I argued that schools should remain open because they were relatively (doing a lot of work here) safe given that kids were pretty resilient to Covid in general, but mainly because schools can be controlled in ways that few other institutions can be. You can mandate kids wear masks, you can screen, test, all of that. Schools have a lot of public health agency, and are accustomed to using that agency. They are where vaccine enforcement happens, sometimes where the vaccine itself happens, where health education happens, and so on. They could have become the core of the public health infrastructure here. Send kids home with masks for their parents, instructions on how to use them, how to isolate, distance, all that jazz. It becomes part of the curriculum and kids are good at taking those instructions. The reason so many people vote in schools is that they are public infrastructure that is generally sized proportionate to the population and local. They solve the scaling problem for government. And it’s a good public message to say ‘the most important thing to keep running are schools’ – everything else can close but this.

    The states that put freezes on rent and mortgage payments generally did pretty well (there’s a lesson there). But that could have been done much more easily at the federal level if they did it from the federal reserve. They’re the originating point for all of this because they put the money in the economy in the first place, and they could have said ‘everyone will forgive payments for their customers, and we’ll backstop the banks at the top’. That would have stabilized almost everything, what it didn’t cover could have been mopped up pretty easily. Certainly more could have been done to keep people on payroll. In the end it cost the feds about the same, and it would have been cheaper for employers if the feds just paid them to keep their already trained workers on hand. I doubt Democrats would have gotten this right – they are still too invested in the economic status quo. My guess is we still would have had restaurants open and schools closed.

    Trump got the vaccine production part right. I think that would have been the same. He fucked up the distribution part, but Biden arrived right about that time to fix it up. I think schools as public health centers could have made that work pretty well.

    Certainly a consistent message about how to protect yourself would have helped a lot. We would have gotten some conspiracy theories, but probably not what we got, which was largely driven by Trumps personal thoughts on vaccines and the like and his insistence on blaming China and treating it like it was deliberate.

    My guess is it would have been about 30% better. The institutional fuckup at the CDC regarding airborne was not political and it was catastrophic in impact. I hope to hell they had a come to Jesus moment on that and made it a priority to change the institutional culture.

  167. 167.

    Jeffro

    Good to see some mainstream reporting on this: trumpov’s allies have a plan to hurt Biden by elevating 3rd-party candidates

    (nothing we didn’t already know…but the normies need to hear it all year long!)

    Allies of Donald J. Trump are discussing ways to elevate third-party candidates in battleground states to divert votes away from President Biden, along with other covert tactics to diminish Democratic votes.

    They plan to promote the independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a “champion for choice” to give voters for whom abortion is a top issue — and who also don’t like Mr. Biden — another option on the ballot, according to one person who is involved in the effort and who, like several others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.

    Trump allies also plan to amplify the progressive environmental records of Mr. Kennedy and the expected Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, in key states — contrasting their policies against the record-high oil production under Mr. Biden that has disappointed some climate activists.

    A third parallel effort in Michigan is meant to diminish Democratic turnout in November by amplifying Muslim voters’ concerns about Mr. Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Trump allies are discussing running ads in Dearborn, Mich., and other parts of the state with large Muslim populations that would thank Mr. Biden for standing with Israel, according to three people familiar with the effort, which is expected to be led by an outside group unaffiliated with the Trump campaign.

    Whatever the mechanism, the Trump team’s view is simple and is backed by public and private polling: The more candidates in the race, the better for Mr. Trump. Mr. Biden’s team agrees. And in a race that could be decided by tens of thousands of votes — as the last two presidential elections have been — even small shifts in the share of votes could change the result.

    “There is no question that in a close presidential race, independent or minor party candidates can have a disproportionately large impact,” said Roger Stone, who is Mr. Trump’s longest-serving political adviser and who has worked on third-party campaigns, including advising Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s nominee in 2012.

    Republican donors are pouring funds into Mr. Kennedy’s independent bid for the presidency. He has raised substantially more from donors who previously supported Mr. Trump than he has from those who backed Mr. Biden. Some are big names in Republican politics who have so far given relatively small amounts, including $3,300 last August from Elizabeth Uihlein, whose family is among the G.O.P.’s biggest contributors.  In the multicandidate race, Mr. Trump led by a single percentage point; Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump by three percentage points in a hypothetical head-to-head race.

    “The path to victory here is clearly maximizing the reach of these left-wing alternatives,” said Stephen K. Bannon, the former White House chief strategist who also served as Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016.

    “No Republican knows that oil production under Biden is higher than ever. But Jill Stein’s people do,” added Mr. Bannon. “Stein is furious about the oil drilling. The college kids are furious about it. The more exposure these guys get, the better it is for us.”

    Side note: why the absolute complete fuck aren’t Roger Stone and Steve Bannon in jail??!?

  168. 168.

    Jeffro

    more:

     

    For months, the Trump team has been privately polling various iterations of third-party tickets in battleground states. It has concluded that candidates floated for the Green Party and No Labels, which recently abandoned its effort to field a presidential candidate, pulled substantially more votes from Mr. Biden than from Mr. Trump.
     
    A person briefed on other polling by Trump allies said that while it varies by state, Mr. Kennedy also pulls more votes from Mr. Biden than from Mr. Trump. The person cited as an example the Trump team’s recent private polling of voters in Arizona. Mr. Trump loses Hispanic voters by a close margin in a head-to-head contest against Mr. Biden there, but he wins Hispanic voters on the full ballot in Arizona — an indication that third-party candidates draw more heavily from Mr. Biden’s core constituencies than from Mr. Trump’s.

  171. 171.

    Baud

    @Jeffro:

    I love the theory that college kids who care about the environment will help destroy the environment. But it is definitely a possibility.

  172. 172.

    rikyrah

    @Mj_Oregon:

    I have an incandescent, white hot, raging hatred of anyone in Congress who’s standing in the way of help for Ukraine.  The blood of so many men, women, and children stains their hands that they can’t hide with the gloves of rhetoric and deceit.  May they all rot in the fires of Hell.

     

    clap clap clap

  175. 175.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    At least Navarro is in jail. Bannon’s time will come. [I admit to some impatience.]

  177. 177.

    Captain C

    @bbleh:

    And there’s no way TIFG looks good.

    FTFNYT headline after he’s nailed on all counts:

    “TFG Convicted on All Hush Money Charges, Calls Wife Horrible Slut During Trial.  Here’s Why That’s Bad News For Joe Biden”

  178. 178.

    stinger

    @JoyceH:

    We’re not the demographic that’s killing themselves on stupid stunts that are Tiktok Challenges.

    Hey, now, I think Dorothy A. Winsor is doing a fine job with her Tiktok challenge!

     

    ETA: Sorry, I misread that as “We are the demographic…”!  Nemmind!

  179. 179.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Jeffro: Don’t forget that Bannon has a trial for fundraising fraud in Manhattan DA, in May.  Also before Judge Merchan.  With a max of 5-15 years in prison, if he’s convicted.  Not pardonable by anyone except NY Governor.

  183. 183.

    dnfree

    @Martin: The thing about the aerosols still blows my mind, because there was so much public information available that contradicted the CDC.  And which agency was it that developed the US version of a Covid test that turned out to be contaminated, instead of using already-developed tests from elsewhere?  Our public health agencies did not live up to their reputation as best in the world.  The response was sluggish and confused.

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