Yes’m he certainly could be president again if too many people defy common logic, assume someone else will take care of the problem, and surrender democracy that we cannot recover. Note vote vote vote vote vote. Call out nonsense. Read Joyce, Heather, and those who bravely remind us how not normal and ultimately perilous this is. Thank you.
I'm phone banking every day and am encouraged that the vast majority of those I speak with are voting for Biden. I don't know where these polls showing Trump leading Biden are coming from, because the comments people make about their absolute disgust with TRump are palpable. Sometimes I have to gently let the people that are on a rant know that I have to get off the phone so I can call others!
Sure does make you wonder WHO these pollsters are talking to, doesnt it? I know I do not answer calls where I dont know the number or name - certainly not the ones that are "unavailable"!!! I question who would these days.
My thoughts exactly!! What slim group of fools answer that unknown caller, then give personal information? Yet polls impact attitudes and behavior! What an inexact science!
And THAT is why I pay no attention to them. Actually fast forward thru any "news" that features what the current polls are - just like "trends" - who cares?
Unfortunately, I think many people DO care. I think they find it affirming of a position. I think there is evidence that a candidate who appears to be losing discourages voters.
I just read something about paying for "bots" in polls, how Trump's camp payed for MANY and the polls still came out against him. So maybe now we know who "responds" to polls?
I’m retired& have a long contact list, but I no longer pickup ANY cold calls... (nor respond to the multiple texts seeking “your unique vital opinion”, for whatever).
When I initiate a call back that might be on a line that isn’t in my list and when they can’t use an email (less than 1/ month), I tell the company to txt first.
I have a list of hundreds of rules to delete the large majority of emails (& keep adding), and have over 4,000 blocked numbers.
I expect I’m one of a growing number who is much harder to reach than average, and all surveys are skewed by non-random refusals.
(My sister was scammed a few times and now does much the same.)
It would be useful to have a profile of the refuseniks... but hard to do.
Megan, are the people you are calling Democrats, Independents, or otherwise unlikely to be committed to #45? If so, that could be why you are getting the responses you are getting.
What Barbara said: the voting rolls are public. In my town (I'm in MA) anyone can get a printout of the registered voter list from the town clerk. It tells what party a voter is registered in, if any. Campaigns fine-tune the statistics, so that phone-bankers, texters, and canvassers can target, e.g., new voters, or voters who vote in presidential elections but not midterms.
We voters are all listed in files in the Voter Registrar's office that are available to the public -- at least they were public where I did newspaper reporting, Political headquarters' employees are frequent visitors to those offices.
They come from entities like the NYT whose oligarchic owner Sulzberger, is tantraming that Biden did not give him a one-on-one so the story goes. How did they select the people they cold called for this survey. All surveys who only use people who are willing to give answers over the phone to strangers are self-selected and may not represent the public at large. Thank you for doing what you are doing to help keep our democracy!
https://www.focus4democracy.org/ reaches millions of people. Register for their next zoom event on May 7th! I am continuing to write letters with VoteFwd.org, currently writing to voters abroad to help them request their absentee ballots easily and in plenty of time. This is a group that often does not vote due to the challenges (which I know from my own experiences). Focus for Democracy reaches many, Vote Forward reaches fewer. Both are important!
I just heard Eddie Glaude, Jr. discuss his new book, We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For, on PBS NewsHour tonight. His take is that it is the people on the ground, not our heros and those we look up to, that have to save democracy, to become better people and fight for democracy. See this link: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/new-book-explores-how-ordinary-americans-can-be-the-heroes-of-democracy . It's each of us and I worry that not enough people understand that someone else is not going to do it!
I think We HAVE to Believe in all of us, all of our friends, our children (mine is 51) but get everyone registered, and WE SHALL Overcome! Believe! Vote Every Election. EVERY ONE, from now on.
“Become better people” that’s the key! Our society has gone so far down in regard to civility, kindness, empathy…how do we get it back? Did we ever have it in the first place?
I would also point out that Liz Cheney makes perfectly clear that Trump’s re-election is “not normal and ultimately perilous” to our democracy. Here is a link to a BigTentUSA zoom conversation with Liz Cheney and Charlie Sykes yesterday evening, 5/1/2024. I encourage all to listen to it and share with people who might be open to recognizing the threat to our country including moderate Republicans and Independents. It is critical that we get this message out. Listen and share:
I agree but I'd clarify further that we're talking the Republican Party of today; the party that has been under Trump's heavy thumb since 2015. Earlier iterations of the GOP would never have countenanced the flim-flam artist.
I liked Liz Cheney's book OATH AND HONOR a lot -- and I'm very, very interested to see where she goes from here. The party she devoted her career to is an anti-democratic shambles, and she's been working closely with people she barely knew before, like the members and staffers of the 1/6 committee. These aren't experiences that leave a person unscathed. There's also the way she came around to accepting her sister's lesbian relationship. We shall see!
Does she even begin to own the extreme harm and damage of the policies she voted for in lockstep with Trump right up to the minute they personally threatened herself?
So someone has to don sackcloth and ashes before you'll acknowledge that they're capable of change? She voted consistently with *her party* during her three terms in Congress -- and her divergence often had to do with foreign policy, about which she knew a few things, having served in the State Department under Bush II.
Btw, what exactly do you mean when you suggest that GOP "policies . . . personally threatened herself"? From my vantage point, it looks as though she parted ways with the GOP when its standard-bearer (Trump) parted ways with the Constitution and much of the GOP soon followed. In the old days, i.e., before Trump, this is what I would have expected a neoconservative to do -- but very, very few of them did, and none with the courage of Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
What an odd criticism. Liz Cheney voted aligned with Trump 93% of the time. That's nearly ALL issues, not merely foreign policy. I'd also argue that aligning with Bush's foreign policy is similarly enormously harmful. My comment was that she held her lockstep position right up to the point when the Capitol was breached and her very own skin was on the line. Only THEN did she care of take a stand or push back. I have not heard a pip about Liz Cheney taking any self reflective action or reconsidering her past policies and votes and the effects they have or owning her own part in enabling Trump and all that was involved in getting us to this point.
Trump is a disgusting human being, but he's canny and that's what the use of Cohen was all about. Of course Trump didn't sign the agreement, that would have made the entire effort moot. The other side of that deal knew exactly who Cohen was working on behalf of.
If I were representing Trump, I'd admit to everything, but argue to the jury that Trump committed misdemeanors and not felonies, as despicable as he is, and therefore he's not guilty of crimes in the indictment.
But Trump cannot admit to anything for fear it would blow his election chances.
I'd have to check, but not sure Merchan would have the discretion to reduce the charges to standard misdemeanors. Another complicating factor would be the statute of limitations. It's two years for a misdemeanor in NY and five for a felony at the level charged (Class E) so, even if tolled or suspended and extended because Trump was out of the jurisdiction, not sure the formula in place would work for alleged misdemeanors that occured in 2016/2017.
And what will be the needed, but missing, "truth" for conviction in your opinion ? We don't seem to have arrived at the conclusion of "truth-finding" yet for the government.
I'm sorry, which misdemeanor are you talking about ? The misdemeanor charged is falsifying business records in the first degree (which elevates a misdemeanor to a Class E felony) --- or the (misdemeanor) intent to defraud involving further criminal intent to commit or hide the commission of another crime or, to assist in the commission of that other crime. Did Trump know the payments booked as legal expenses were falsely accounted for, then he committed a misdemeanor (or 34 seperate ones as charged). Was the original payment (and subsequent reimbursements) in furtherance of the necessary predicate crime to elevate the misdemeanors to the first degree level ? The government has yet to prove that. But then we're only 10 days into the trial. So, what was "blown" relative to misdemeanors ? Charging misdemeanors in the first degree ? Something else ?
His lawyers probably agree with you wholeheartedly about strategy. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that there was a point earlier in the process where he could have plead guilty to the misdemeanors and got this over with. For someone who prides himself on being a great dealmaker, Trump is really bad at compromise. But, I suspect it has less to do with election chance and just Trump's ego in general.
I’m so grateful for your clear and insightful commentary! I’ve appreciated your input on MSNBC for years but this Substack is a lifeline for me. Sorting out the most critical information would be an arduous, if not impossible task for me as a non lawyer. Thanks Joyce.
Same. I don't have the time or energy to fiddle through all the Twitter posts (though I do have Adam and Katie in their own file because they are in court) or wade through the MSNBC/CNN/other trenches to figure out what's what. I wait for Joyce and Heather and a couple of others. This stuff is too much to try to get 1000 different hot takes, and Joyce especially breaks down the day's events, gives solid takes on both sides, and doesn't play the outrage game. I'd still like a chicken photo in every court update post, though. It's a fair request.
It's patently absurd that Cohen would pay off Stormy Daniels for his own benefit and hopefully those sitting on the jury will see this and come to the decision that Trump was doing everything in his power to sway the 2016 election and directing Cohen in every aspect of the payoff. I can't help but wonder how his defense attorneys are going to explain how this payoff was written off on his taxes as legal fees. (?)
It is patently obvious that paying off or burying stories about Trump's seriel infidelities with Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, and others was in service to Trump, a man of astonishingly low moral fiber, and not for the benefit of Cohen or Pecker. Duh.
trump came out of court today and said that the judge had gagged him and now he couldn't testify because he was gagged. Good grief. His followers will believe that.
All the testimony so far shows that trump rubs elbows with some very smarmy people.
It's a serious shame that the gag doesn't impair his ability to continue the verbal diarrhea that continues to flow via rallies, press interviews and anti-social media. Were I Mr. Biden, I'd have turned the tables on TFG and demurred when he suggested debating the current, real president. There's no real reason for a debate. TFG's platform, more or less, has been written by the federalist society and Biden is articulating his platform quite clearly. What's to be gained by debating other than hoping for slip-ups and trip-ups, which candidate will fumble the ball
Just sayin' -- I, too, worried about the same thing when Hillary became involved in debates with him, but he came across so demeaning and strange that I couldn't believe anyone who saw those debates could vote for him. I'm still hoping the same for the Biden-Trump debates. Biden is such a decent man and can come across very forcefully when he needs to. Hillary was robbed.
The candidate has such a limited grasp of reality these days that it might well serve as an opportunity for the supposedly feeble President to eviscerate him before a wide audience. But yes, there are risks.
So, what is there to debate if your opponent is a known delusional liar? Where's the need for policy comparison when it's been all over the media, for months now, what trump plans on doing to our country if elected (as in his Time magazine interview). A mere debate isn't going to make these undecided folks choose democracy. I'd love to see live interviews with a large cross-section of undecideds after they've read the Time interview to see if they're still undecided. It also will be interesting to see the readers' letters to the editor to see if any if them are still undecided.
I doubt that a policy debate would make the slightest difference. Looking from afar, as I do, Biden has a most impressive record of achievement, but such things tend to get lost once the spin doctors get to work with an inattentive electorate. And in any debate on policy this husk of a man, this infant in the body of an unhealthy septuagenarian would resort to his usual generalisations and lies.
Trump would have got nowhere here in Australia, where wealth is regarded with some suspicion, we are altogether more sceptical of political candidates generally and voting is compulsory. I remain dumbfounded that one as intellectually and temperamentally unfit as Trump could ever have been elected to any public office, but there seems to be a strain of innocent credulity among Americans that allows such things to happen. Or, perhaps, it's simple racism, which some claim to be the key to political alignment there.
But I do wonder whether Biden could sufficiently get under his skin to reveal the naked petulant vengeful id and deteriorating intellect behind the accordion hands. There's plenty of failure to work with.
But then, would that would be sufficient to secure his wholesale rejection by America's voters? That's well beyond my pay grade.
I think Biden would run rungs around trump in a debate in terms of facts, Biden knows his sh*t. The risk might be that trump physically makes Biden look small and frail by looming over him or talking over him.
I've no doubt that Biden would win any legitimate debate. The other person's sole positive interests are money and adulation, the negatives being minorities (including women, Blacks, Jews, Chinese, South Americans - look I don't know that I've completed the list, but you understand ...), the poor, and anyone who no longer worships him. He is not truly interested in politics at all. He has no policies beyond a vague inkling that things were better when he was a boy and America led the world in manufacturing, women didn't get in the way and people of brown complexion were both grateful for their menial jobs and unfailingly respectful to such as him.
My desire is that the full vileness and laughable incapacity of this very damaged individual should be brought home to all. Whether a debate is the best forum for this is an open question.
Annie, Judge Merchan's targeting of that particular breach of the Gag Order by the Orange Contemnor directed at the seated Jurors is false & definitely "menacing".
I think it likely that the Court's ruling will depend on how the Court plans to handle the next Order to Show Cause, OSC re Contempt & the next & the next ones.
I'm pretty sure the gag order refers to his conduct outside of court, not inside. There are bailiffs to keep him in check in the courtroom. He could testify, but his cult will accept the line that Trump is gagged. What a crock Trump spews. He knows it would be not good for him to testify. He has been warned by his counsel, but he will take credit for it.
Louise -- I also thought the courtroom would be "tight" enough to prevent such behavior, but I was extremely disappointed today when Judge Merchan did not back up his prior warning to put Trump in custody. Perhaps the judge is afraid it would give Trump too much empathy in the minds of his demonstrative MAGA followers.
Barbara, The judge knows Trump wants to be put in jail so that he can claim more victimhood. The best scenario would be to sentence him to jail, but suspend the sentence until the trial is over. Trump just might think twice about crossing the judge again if that were to happen given that the #days might lengthen if he misbehaves again. The judge is trying to keep order over the proceedings without Trump overshadowing. Truly, nobody else would try the crap Trump is pulling on this judge. And don't think the jury is not noticing.
I'm not so sure I buy that Trump really is willing to martyr himself. He has yet to openly defy the order; he always has some excuse. Big strong boy Donny wants his followers to think he'd go to jail for them, but pampered princess Donny is never going to do that.
Merchan's hands were pretty much tied in regard to punishment. He can impose jail time for any new violations after Tuesday's order, but he really couldn't go back and retroactively impose jail time for violations from before.
Love the picture and seriously-Hush Money!!! Too perfect. Sorry to miss the Sisters-In-Law trip this year (traveled to NyC for the show last year and was so inspired )!!!!
Thanks again Joyce for the update!!!
But his quote about his beautiful blue eyes. seriously??? Just ewwww!!!
In a way I like him to keep yakking because he’s done much much much worse than this election interference, although it is bad as it takes away, our choice in democracy,. And at some point he’s going to blab about who he gave the classified documents to. He loves the drama. Let him blab and blatherskite. He will spill everything because he simply doesn’t know how to shut up. So that’s the big kahuna that we’re looking - for the big catch. Jack Smith has someone in court every single day.
Trump's vision for establishing the United States of Trump is scary. I'm grateful he chose to let us know ahead of time Some of what he's saying is red meat for the base. But, a lot of it is the stuff you're not supposed to say out loud.
The stuff Trump is doing and saying is beyond what one isn’t supposed to say out loud. He’s mentally ill and now demented. He’s saying the kind of things that a demented dictator would only think and say. Netanyahu and Putin are only too happy to use him.
ps: Kevin, ‘ not supposed to say out loud’ is an understatement. The most troubling part of it is it is his intent. And it was his intent to create chaos and stop the ratification of our votes on January 6, so he could become dictator. He’s acting as a kind of defacto dictator for his mob. Indeed, I as well am grateful that we know his intent in advance. I’m certain he won’t be elected. We have many years of work to do after the election to restore our democracy.
In no way do I mean to minimize how dangerous his vision is. My point was that from a strategic point of view, the anti-immigrant rhetoric is a proven way of riling up your supporters; but other parts, like gutting the civil service, are things a canny authoritarian doesn't warn people about ahead of time.
I sincerely hope we see a blue wave this November. Project 2025 isn't going away just because Trump gets defeated. Trump is simply a narcissist; he just wants power to feed his ego (and stay out of jail). The people behind 2025 are hard-core authoritarians who want to reshape our country in their vision. They're not going away; hopefully a Democratic congress can make some of their plans more difficult to implement.
There is NO accountability for Trump. There is always and only lies that tell his story. Either Heather Cox-Richardson or Joyce Vance made this clear in their most recent posts by demonstrating how Trump plays by the Hitler manual of telling bigger and bigger lies.
On a congratulatory note, I am so pleased that Sisters In Law got their Webby! At some point during my weekend I listen to y'all in a bubble bath. Congrats Kim, Barb, Jill and Joyce!
A lot of analysis and op-ed I read is about when, if, Trump will be president again, and what will happen.
He will NOT be president again. He is mentally unfit, extremely so and letting us know. We will not let this happen if we want this country to survive, if we want this country to have any stature in the world. They are worried abroad and paying attention.
In a sense, it’s kind of like crazy King George III whom the founders fought against and got rid of. If you read historian William H McNeil, plagues and peoples, an old book maybe not in print, but you can find in the library, it describes George III’s insanity, and how it was caused by a blood disease (not Hemophilia ) but inbreeding. That’s what the royals did quite a bit of. When the diseased one had a flareup (as George III was in when he refused to listen to his advisors over the tea taxes), it would impact the cognitive reasoning of the afflicted person. I’m not saying Trump was inbred, but he and we and certainly the attorneys have their hands full, with our own kind of crazy going on today right in this century with don-Don. so the founders had their hands full getting rid of a crazy - just as we do. We can do this!!! They set the example by fighting and we are fighting in a different way (with our keyboards, postcards and telephone banks), but we are fighting for our democracy and we can do this! If you’re any kind of a history lover, you will love William McNeil, who was probably the premier historian of his day. And on that topic he would roll over. He would absolutely be horrified at the revisionist history Kevin Roberts is writing for the Heritage Society. Where is the AHA and why are they not demanding *Dr.* Roberts admit to using fraudulent data?
Valere -- I have had friends and relatives living in several foreign countries tell me they are just as scared as we are -- and we have fellow Canadian and English commenters on this Substack share their deep concern for our democracy..
Internationally, Trump is probably the biggest threat; there's is almost no chance that he will honor our agreement with NATO if Putin attacks. Domestically, pretty much any Republican is going to be just as bad on reproductive and LBGTQ rights.
Is it the Heritage Society that produced the case-searching software for the SCOTUS? The software that cherry picks odd history to back-up whatever the judges deem usable to prove their convoluted points? I like reading your posts Valere, but I do my own praying on the election AND I do have faith in the American people (like Biden) that they will see through Trump and all that he is trying to pull off. Vladimir is behind it all, I fear.
Nope. That software was developed by Mike Lee ‘s brother in Utah, a former professor at BYU and he was also a former Supreme Court Justice in Utah. He holds Elite seminars on using it. I am absolutely 100% in agreement that we are going to win the election. I hope I didn’t post something that sounded negative? The fact that we have crazy don-Don acting out and calling on the MAGA doesn’t bother me a single bit. I frankly don’t think don-Don will make it to November with his health. I am absolutely certain that we will elect Joe Biden. I’m also certain that we will have a Blue biCameral Congress, and I’m hoping we have blue all the way for at least four iterations to repair the democracy. Thank you for praying. I send positive thoughts and try to hold that energy, but it’s almost a knowing that I have. I don’t think we can sit back and call it a given. We have lots and lots of work to do, but I’ve never been despondent about it.
Thanks for the clarification on that software. I do read Hopium Chronicles which is a daily dose of optimism. And we keep getting reports of Democrats winning in landslides, like not before forecast, such as recently in upstate New York. I do hope we get a blue bicameral congress/senate. That would be the time to fix abortion laws, not to mention gun laws. I recently heard Claire McCaskell's podcast "How to Win 2024" and it was mentioned that we've had a conservative Supreme Court for a good long time. Gosh, since Nixon at least. So any griping of Republicans that Democrats want to stack the court ought to remember that they've been in the majority since many of us can remember. It is our turn and maybe they know it.
Ps Louise, I thought I would revise my response to your question after reading Joyce’s Substack last night. Her guest on five questions was Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism. She stated that there are about 100 members in the heritage foundation coalition. The foundation, Judicial education, Institute a 501(c)(3), hosting these corpus linguistic seminars as a non-partisan outfit. I searched the Heritage foundation website and checked Wikipedia to see if the judicial education institute is a part of the coalition. They are not listed, but the leaders of the judicial education Institute and the attendees are largely members of the federalist foundation. You can find the entire article written by Molly Redden. 3-19-2024. The AI program being used by the judges, including Clarence Thomas is called corpus linguistics, and was written by Thomas R. Lee, a former Utah Supreme Court judge and the brother of Mike Lee, who is Utah’s senior Republican Senator.
The old McNeil has his description of King III, Identifying how his mental condition was caused by his blood disorder. I’ve never seen this anywhere else, but I have enormous respect for William McNeil. I thought he was a phenomenal historian, but he could’ve been including medical anthropology. I only have the old book and I didn’t know there was a new one that he had written with his son. Thank you so much.
Hi Potter, I didn’t want to distract you with that rant. I think the American Historical Association should look into the false data that Kevin Roberts is using to publish. Roberts’ main publications are that the founders were Christian. They were not. There was never an intent by the founders to insert religion into the constitution because they had crazy King George the third who was head of the church of England that they just gotten rid of. The records we have that are original sources are Jefferson and some 16 other founders who kept notes of dialogue during many meetings and discourses during the framing of the constitution. Those founders particularly talked about the voice of the rest of the founders, not wanting religion to be part of the constitution because they were getting rid of religion. They also talked about Jefferson being if he went to great lengths to write himself in his own journals to find parts of the Bible That authentically represented the words of Christ. But Jefferson said Most founders were atheist, and some agnostic and a couple were Unitarian, but not the triology. They were the Dutch Unitarian branch that emigrated to the United States. Jefferson thought that if there would be a national religion, it would be based on Unitarianism without the trilogy. That’s not the Unitarian church we have today. So along Kevin Roberts doing revisionist history. He claims the founders were “Christian.”
When the constitution was written, one of the founders had a friend in Virginia, who was a pastor, but he was not a founder, and he did not influence the writing of the constitution. That’s about as much as Kevin Roberts can claim Christianity influencing the constitution. The framers and the founders were absolutely adamant not to have religion. In fact they made that statement in the constitution. He writes a lot about the Christian founders and framers and he posts his writing on the Heritage Foundation website. Most of the folks who joined the heritage foundation are right wing Christian nationalist Evangelical MAGA. They believe because Roberts has a PhD in history, I believe from University of Texas, Austin. He Has a masters degree from Virginia Tech, which is another good school. His undergraduate was university of Louisiana and I believe it’s a Research one. Good schools. The problem is he’s producing using false data and it can’t hold up. You can’t do revisionist history. Where is the American Historical Association. Before I join this Substack or even know about it, I wrote to the New York Times with a commentary on Roberts, but it wasn’t published. He needs outed for what he is: he’s posting revisionist history. And he’s also influencing SCOTUS.
Roberts’ organization is the holder of the 2025 project. What makes him so dangerous is that the MAGA read his false publications and buy into the idea that the founders were Christian and Roberts is a Christian leader and therefore Project 2025 must be OK and what the founders would want. The
true danger of the SCOTUS decisions is that they are endorsing and paving the way for project 2025. They’ve been planning this for five decades.
We need to turn it around on November 5, and then spend the next 16 years recovering our democracy.
One of the wonderful things about our country is that its founders wanted a separation between religion and the state. Pilgrims came here seeking religious freedom after all. (I think they also imposed religion ironically if I am not mistaken.) Religion was/is hard to brush off and it finds its way into our basic ideas. There is so much about religions that is already almost in our genes. So it's hard to separate it out and it's very hard to tolerate another's religion. Most of that has to do with observances and the Church, not the very basics. But that is just what our founders envisioned for us, this separation. Talk about originalism! Many founders were Deists. Still we act like a Christian nation, the holidays, the pledge, oaths "so help me God" "under God" etc.
People are under the misguided idea that we are a Christian nation. I am not a Christian. The abortion issue is all about imposing the religious notions of some (as well as dominance) on everyone basically.
What you are writing above should be reverberated... over and again. We let this issue slide. thank you
Potter -- In case you missed Tuesday's late afternoon and evening coverage by MSNBC, go buy a current Time Magazine before they sell out. It has a complete listing of all the plans Trump has made for his "next" presidency. in a document he and his minions are calling "Project 25", which is also available to buy. Extremely scary stuff ! ! I am sure the minions include Steve Miller and Stephen Banner, who fed extreme ideas to Trump when they were all in the White House.
No. I am already scared enough and need to protect my emotions. This Time issue is to wake people up. I already have a hard time sleeping. Project 25 will not happen. We won’t allow it.
Don't jail him. If you do so, it martyrs him. And that is what he wants. He will whine to his supporters the judge is influenced by Biden and they will believe him. The worst we can do to him is defeat him during an election.
Then if he does something, throw him in jail with the usual crowd that are found there and have access to him. Let him bluster then
I agree Bill. If they just put him on house arrest - no phone to text and no golfing would be enough for me!!!! Yes it doesn’t treat him like everyone else would be treated - but that takes away a bit of his martyrdom while driving him nuts. 👍🏻
John Fugelsang, on his Sirius radio show says Trump is already in a prison of his own making. He will never be free, always paying the price for his actions.
tRump has continually whined to his supporters that his criminal trial is somehow all Biden’s fault. So what? It’s time to really treat tRump like everyone else who breaks the law and put him in jail in accordance with the laws that everyone else has to follow. Why does anyone care what his supporters will think?
KL you are correct, of course. The sad answer to "why" is because everyone in politics lives in fear of what Trump, or his core voters, might say or do in response to any accountability imposed upon their anointed thug-in-chief. Many opportunities have arisen. McConnel, Graham, Haley, Scott, several SCOTUS justices have had chances to bring Trump to heel. Each time they fail to speak or act to unequivocally condemn his crimes, his violations of his oath, and his failures to faithfully execute the laws they just enable and normalize his behaviors. This just emboldens him and his supporters and makes more difficult the task of
bringing them to account. We have a schoolyard bully running loose on the national stage.
The best way to have stopped his bad behaviors would have been to impose swift and definitive consequences.
I feel the same way. After Judge Merchan stated that a mere $1,000 fine per incident wouldn't be a detriment to someone with trump's wealth, he had prepared trump for the next step of being incarcerated for further violations. So, yeah, trump should have been in jail as of today's hearing. Way too many people have let him have complete freedom to say and do as he pleases while the entire country looks on. He knows he gets away with murder.
I was worried that judge Merchan might come down on Cohen for his comments. I like your clever tie in to The Rolling Stones. At least, it appears, that Judge Merchan has don “Under his Thumb”.
I think the layering effect that the prosecution’s using will be beneficial.
Thanks for taking the time to bring us up to speed on what happened today. Have fun tonight.
I sure would like to have some of the “magic” you have that makes you seem tireless.
I want to see what you are all wearing!!! What creation did Kim decide on!! Full length photos please for this event and all the others and the webbies(Congrats!!)
I am currently reading a book, IN HITLER’S MUNICH, by the German professor Michael Brenner, about the rise of Hitler in post-Weimar Germany as he rises to the Chancellorship, after which the world goes to hell in a hand-basket and the Holocaust comes to be (and,after 60 years of readings in the Nazi world, beginning at 13 with RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, I am still at a loss to explain how it came to pass, unless by ‘explain’ one simply means to enumerate the astounding number of events that had to occur to permit the greatest abuse of the modern era). The parallels to Trump are astounding, as they are in Volker Ulrich’s 1923, an account of that singular year, the history of which is crucial to understanding Hitler’s rise. I often say to friends that we are living in 1923/32, in that Trump displays so many of the pathological urges of Hitler: e.g., as he comes closer to returning to power, Trump is becoming even more unhinged, more delusional, more dangerous. Like Hitler, he is utterly out of control, and like Hitler, he is telling the world EXACTLY what he intends to do if re-elected. When Mein Kampf was published in 1925, few took it seriously. And, had the chancellors preceding him, and the doddering fool Hindenburg not capitulated, the world might have escaped WWII. Similarly, too many American voters are either not taking Trump seriously, or, worse, they like what he has to say. In either event, the analogies are astounding. And if Trump returns to the WH, he will never leave voluntarily, and our glorious experiment in democracy will have failed, even if, as he must, Trump eventually leaves the stage………
William N. Forbes -- With your permission I would like to send a copy, including your authorship, to my three children. They all agree with you and me about how despicable Trump is and how he would demolish our democracy if re-elected -- however, I feel I would be remiss if I did not present the opportunity for them to read your outstanding message.
Respectfully, Barbara Tidyman.
JOYCE VANCE : As long as I make reference to William's message do I need your permission to send it to someone else ? I often see such outstanding messages from my fellow commenters and have wondered about forwarding them. I have encouraged my children to join this Substack, and it is time I checked to see if they have, and give them gift subscriptions if they have not. You are surely right when you say "We are all in this together" . . .
Spell my last name right — Fordes - and not only do you have my permission, I will write your children a personal message, if I know their ages. I am a “recovering attorney” and former TV writer/producer — LAW & ORDER, BOSCH, MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, among others — and am happy to help ANY children who want to read!
Lawrence O'Donnell said it best this evening: "Whatever punishment Trump will or will not get at the end of his trial, just sitting in court all day long and having no control over his life, is a punishment he's suffering day after day!"
Of course, Orange 1 learned his brand of flagrant denialism at the knee of another former sleazy representative of the bar and a different Cohn, the abhorrent Roy. No doubt his pick for AG in a second term, if he were still alive. The defense, IMO, continues to swim against the tide of documentary evidence, such that when Cohen (and Daniels, for that matter) do eventually testify, it will be pretty much icing on a large, many layered cake. And even if the defense were to land some punches on some details, prosecutors get convictions all the time on unavoidable inference, that is, is there another reasonable conclusion. Sometimes circumstantial evidence is actually stronger for a jury than direct evidence.
Yes’m he certainly could be president again if too many people defy common logic, assume someone else will take care of the problem, and surrender democracy that we cannot recover. Note vote vote vote vote vote. Call out nonsense. Read Joyce, Heather, and those who bravely remind us how not normal and ultimately perilous this is. Thank you.
Register more Democrats -- save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I'm phone banking every day and am encouraged that the vast majority of those I speak with are voting for Biden. I don't know where these polls showing Trump leading Biden are coming from, because the comments people make about their absolute disgust with TRump are palpable. Sometimes I have to gently let the people that are on a rant know that I have to get off the phone so I can call others!
Sure does make you wonder WHO these pollsters are talking to, doesnt it? I know I do not answer calls where I dont know the number or name - certainly not the ones that are "unavailable"!!! I question who would these days.
My thoughts exactly!! What slim group of fools answer that unknown caller, then give personal information? Yet polls impact attitudes and behavior! What an inexact science!
And THAT is why I pay no attention to them. Actually fast forward thru any "news" that features what the current polls are - just like "trends" - who cares?
Unfortunately, I think many people DO care. I think they find it affirming of a position. I think there is evidence that a candidate who appears to be losing discourages voters.
I just read something about paying for "bots" in polls, how Trump's camp payed for MANY and the polls still came out against him. So maybe now we know who "responds" to polls?
Unfortunately, they are talking to the likes of my very own son.
Heartbreaking doesn't quite express it.
I hear you...I have family members who are 'forever trumpers', no matter what facts are made available to them.
I’m retired& have a long contact list, but I no longer pickup ANY cold calls... (nor respond to the multiple texts seeking “your unique vital opinion”, for whatever).
When I initiate a call back that might be on a line that isn’t in my list and when they can’t use an email (less than 1/ month), I tell the company to txt first.
I have a list of hundreds of rules to delete the large majority of emails (& keep adding), and have over 4,000 blocked numbers.
I expect I’m one of a growing number who is much harder to reach than average, and all surveys are skewed by non-random refusals.
(My sister was scammed a few times and now does much the same.)
It would be useful to have a profile of the refuseniks... but hard to do.
Possibly with a "poll" of the refuseniks - these surveys/polls might actually be accurate.
Unfortunately - between scams (me too) and surveys & donation requests (I guess) not happening.
I toss out all mail that's not a bill, and I get all my bills online. I find political mailings, including postcards, a waste of paper and time.
Just hard to think of a way to ‘poll’ the refuseniks… ideas?
Thanks for taking action!
Megan, are the people you are calling Democrats, Independents, or otherwise unlikely to be committed to #45? If so, that could be why you are getting the responses you are getting.
But how would an ordinary citizen know what another citizen’s party affiliation is?
What Barbara said: the voting rolls are public. In my town (I'm in MA) anyone can get a printout of the registered voter list from the town clerk. It tells what party a voter is registered in, if any. Campaigns fine-tune the statistics, so that phone-bankers, texters, and canvassers can target, e.g., new voters, or voters who vote in presidential elections but not midterms.
Thanks. Different here in Canada. We are not required to register our party affiliation. You can join the party of your choice, however.
We voters are all listed in files in the Voter Registrar's office that are available to the public -- at least they were public where I did newspaper reporting, Political headquarters' employees are frequent visitors to those offices.
The citizen probably understands whether she is in a red or blue area.
The databases have whether you vote, and if you are registered as a Dem or independent or god forbid haven't the sense to dump the repubs.
I do think in public and casual conversation you hear loudly from trumpanzees because they aren't afraid everyone else is armed.
When the neighbors have a Jan 6 party, it makes me afraid to put up Biden signs.
Debra, understandable. Here, instead of fireworks, it’s become guns. And, on my street.
Early Polls = Fake News
Thank you. For Everything You Do. And for sharing this wonderful, hopeful information. ❤️❤️❤️👍🏼
They come from entities like the NYT whose oligarchic owner Sulzberger, is tantraming that Biden did not give him a one-on-one so the story goes. How did they select the people they cold called for this survey. All surveys who only use people who are willing to give answers over the phone to strangers are self-selected and may not represent the public at large. Thank you for doing what you are doing to help keep our democracy!
https://www.focus4democracy.org/ reaches millions of people. Register for their next zoom event on May 7th! I am continuing to write letters with VoteFwd.org, currently writing to voters abroad to help them request their absentee ballots easily and in plenty of time. This is a group that often does not vote due to the challenges (which I know from my own experiences). Focus for Democracy reaches many, Vote Forward reaches fewer. Both are important!
I'm also involved with Focus for Democracy, raising funds for deserving groups. , Here's the link to register.
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VLPwIxPZRqW6nsfCObu2EA?_x_zm_rtaid=iJTjkrJLQT-2fIuGBfqfuA.1714736954686.cc0248a1171f3d6e2984465c10b67365&_x_zm_rhtaid=682#/registration
However FT6 is the only group dedicated to finding and registering new Democrats and needs volunteers to do it.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/actions
Thanks Daniel. Good to know.
I just heard Eddie Glaude, Jr. discuss his new book, We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For, on PBS NewsHour tonight. His take is that it is the people on the ground, not our heros and those we look up to, that have to save democracy, to become better people and fight for democracy. See this link: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/new-book-explores-how-ordinary-americans-can-be-the-heroes-of-democracy . It's each of us and I worry that not enough people understand that someone else is not going to do it!
I think We HAVE to Believe in all of us, all of our friends, our children (mine is 51) but get everyone registered, and WE SHALL Overcome! Believe! Vote Every Election. EVERY ONE, from now on.
you and I are saying the same thing. I am not relying on heroes unless they walk down the street as you and i do.
“Become better people” that’s the key! Our society has gone so far down in regard to civility, kindness, empathy…how do we get it back? Did we ever have it in the first place?
I would also point out that Liz Cheney makes perfectly clear that Trump’s re-election is “not normal and ultimately perilous” to our democracy. Here is a link to a BigTentUSA zoom conversation with Liz Cheney and Charlie Sykes yesterday evening, 5/1/2024. I encourage all to listen to it and share with people who might be open to recognizing the threat to our country including moderate Republicans and Independents. It is critical that we get this message out. Listen and share:
https://youtu.be/xEXw_T3egM0?si=uUWUsooExugTg11q
Thank you. I do not agree with Liz Cheney's political views but I absolutely respect her for taking a stand against the Republican Party.
I agree but I'd clarify further that we're talking the Republican Party of today; the party that has been under Trump's heavy thumb since 2015. Earlier iterations of the GOP would never have countenanced the flim-flam artist.
I liked Liz Cheney's book OATH AND HONOR a lot -- and I'm very, very interested to see where she goes from here. The party she devoted her career to is an anti-democratic shambles, and she's been working closely with people she barely knew before, like the members and staffers of the 1/6 committee. These aren't experiences that leave a person unscathed. There's also the way she came around to accepting her sister's lesbian relationship. We shall see!
Does she even begin to own the extreme harm and damage of the policies she voted for in lockstep with Trump right up to the minute they personally threatened herself?
So someone has to don sackcloth and ashes before you'll acknowledge that they're capable of change? She voted consistently with *her party* during her three terms in Congress -- and her divergence often had to do with foreign policy, about which she knew a few things, having served in the State Department under Bush II.
Btw, what exactly do you mean when you suggest that GOP "policies . . . personally threatened herself"? From my vantage point, it looks as though she parted ways with the GOP when its standard-bearer (Trump) parted ways with the Constitution and much of the GOP soon followed. In the old days, i.e., before Trump, this is what I would have expected a neoconservative to do -- but very, very few of them did, and none with the courage of Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
What an odd criticism. Liz Cheney voted aligned with Trump 93% of the time. That's nearly ALL issues, not merely foreign policy. I'd also argue that aligning with Bush's foreign policy is similarly enormously harmful. My comment was that she held her lockstep position right up to the point when the Capitol was breached and her very own skin was on the line. Only THEN did she care of take a stand or push back. I have not heard a pip about Liz Cheney taking any self reflective action or reconsidering her past policies and votes and the effects they have or owning her own part in enabling Trump and all that was involved in getting us to this point.
Contrition is the appropriate word. Acceptance of failed policies vs. double and triple down is the needs for our Country writ large.
Gen Z Summer Tour to Save Democracy
https://tourtosavedemocracy.org/
I think Gen Z will ultimately save the day. I sincerely believe that.
It is appauling how cesspool Maggots are treating Taylor Swift
Trump is a disgusting human being, but he's canny and that's what the use of Cohen was all about. Of course Trump didn't sign the agreement, that would have made the entire effort moot. The other side of that deal knew exactly who Cohen was working on behalf of.
If I were representing Trump, I'd admit to everything, but argue to the jury that Trump committed misdemeanors and not felonies, as despicable as he is, and therefore he's not guilty of crimes in the indictment.
But Trump cannot admit to anything for fear it would blow his election chances.
His Covid response, case in point.
That right there, says it all.
I'd have to check, but not sure Merchan would have the discretion to reduce the charges to standard misdemeanors. Another complicating factor would be the statute of limitations. It's two years for a misdemeanor in NY and five for a felony at the level charged (Class E) so, even if tolled or suspended and extended because Trump was out of the jurisdiction, not sure the formula in place would work for alleged misdemeanors that occured in 2016/2017.
I don't think he can and therefore should be not guilty.
The point is that bluster, not truth, will convict him.
And what will be the needed, but missing, "truth" for conviction in your opinion ? We don't seem to have arrived at the conclusion of "truth-finding" yet for the government.
The Manhattan DA's office blew the statute on misdemeanors.
I'm sorry, which misdemeanor are you talking about ? The misdemeanor charged is falsifying business records in the first degree (which elevates a misdemeanor to a Class E felony) --- or the (misdemeanor) intent to defraud involving further criminal intent to commit or hide the commission of another crime or, to assist in the commission of that other crime. Did Trump know the payments booked as legal expenses were falsely accounted for, then he committed a misdemeanor (or 34 seperate ones as charged). Was the original payment (and subsequent reimbursements) in furtherance of the necessary predicate crime to elevate the misdemeanors to the first degree level ? The government has yet to prove that. But then we're only 10 days into the trial. So, what was "blown" relative to misdemeanors ? Charging misdemeanors in the first degree ? Something else ?
His lawyers probably agree with you wholeheartedly about strategy. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that there was a point earlier in the process where he could have plead guilty to the misdemeanors and got this over with. For someone who prides himself on being a great dealmaker, Trump is really bad at compromise. But, I suspect it has less to do with election chance and just Trump's ego in general.
I don't know it for a fact but I bet that they discussed pretrial intervention.
Agree
I’m so grateful for your clear and insightful commentary! I’ve appreciated your input on MSNBC for years but this Substack is a lifeline for me. Sorting out the most critical information would be an arduous, if not impossible task for me as a non lawyer. Thanks Joyce.
Same. I don't have the time or energy to fiddle through all the Twitter posts (though I do have Adam and Katie in their own file because they are in court) or wade through the MSNBC/CNN/other trenches to figure out what's what. I wait for Joyce and Heather and a couple of others. This stuff is too much to try to get 1000 different hot takes, and Joyce especially breaks down the day's events, gives solid takes on both sides, and doesn't play the outrage game. I'd still like a chicken photo in every court update post, though. It's a fair request.
Jody, double likes for ‘lifeline.’ I and others wait till the wee hours to see if she posts…. before we can go to sleep.💙
..or peek after a mid night pitstop!
Are we related? 🤣
Maybe the same age...
It's patently absurd that Cohen would pay off Stormy Daniels for his own benefit and hopefully those sitting on the jury will see this and come to the decision that Trump was doing everything in his power to sway the 2016 election and directing Cohen in every aspect of the payoff. I can't help but wonder how his defense attorneys are going to explain how this payoff was written off on his taxes as legal fees. (?)
Yes, I agree. Cohen wasn't the one who had the relationship with Stormy Daniels.
It is patently obvious that paying off or burying stories about Trump's seriel infidelities with Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, and others was in service to Trump, a man of astonishingly low moral fiber, and not for the benefit of Cohen or Pecker. Duh.
trump came out of court today and said that the judge had gagged him and now he couldn't testify because he was gagged. Good grief. His followers will believe that.
All the testimony so far shows that trump rubs elbows with some very smarmy people.
Trump gags me
It's a serious shame that the gag doesn't impair his ability to continue the verbal diarrhea that continues to flow via rallies, press interviews and anti-social media. Were I Mr. Biden, I'd have turned the tables on TFG and demurred when he suggested debating the current, real president. There's no real reason for a debate. TFG's platform, more or less, has been written by the federalist society and Biden is articulating his platform quite clearly. What's to be gained by debating other than hoping for slip-ups and trip-ups, which candidate will fumble the ball
Just sayin' -- I, too, worried about the same thing when Hillary became involved in debates with him, but he came across so demeaning and strange that I couldn't believe anyone who saw those debates could vote for him. I'm still hoping the same for the Biden-Trump debates. Biden is such a decent man and can come across very forcefully when he needs to. Hillary was robbed.
Watching him stalk her in that one debate was so cringe-worthy. I wanted her to turn around and slap his face. Ugh.
The candidate has such a limited grasp of reality these days that it might well serve as an opportunity for the supposedly feeble President to eviscerate him before a wide audience. But yes, there are risks.
So, what is there to debate if your opponent is a known delusional liar? Where's the need for policy comparison when it's been all over the media, for months now, what trump plans on doing to our country if elected (as in his Time magazine interview). A mere debate isn't going to make these undecided folks choose democracy. I'd love to see live interviews with a large cross-section of undecideds after they've read the Time interview to see if they're still undecided. It also will be interesting to see the readers' letters to the editor to see if any if them are still undecided.
I doubt that a policy debate would make the slightest difference. Looking from afar, as I do, Biden has a most impressive record of achievement, but such things tend to get lost once the spin doctors get to work with an inattentive electorate. And in any debate on policy this husk of a man, this infant in the body of an unhealthy septuagenarian would resort to his usual generalisations and lies.
Trump would have got nowhere here in Australia, where wealth is regarded with some suspicion, we are altogether more sceptical of political candidates generally and voting is compulsory. I remain dumbfounded that one as intellectually and temperamentally unfit as Trump could ever have been elected to any public office, but there seems to be a strain of innocent credulity among Americans that allows such things to happen. Or, perhaps, it's simple racism, which some claim to be the key to political alignment there.
But I do wonder whether Biden could sufficiently get under his skin to reveal the naked petulant vengeful id and deteriorating intellect behind the accordion hands. There's plenty of failure to work with.
But then, would that would be sufficient to secure his wholesale rejection by America's voters? That's well beyond my pay grade.
I think Biden would run rungs around trump in a debate in terms of facts, Biden knows his sh*t. The risk might be that trump physically makes Biden look small and frail by looming over him or talking over him.
I've no doubt that Biden would win any legitimate debate. The other person's sole positive interests are money and adulation, the negatives being minorities (including women, Blacks, Jews, Chinese, South Americans - look I don't know that I've completed the list, but you understand ...), the poor, and anyone who no longer worships him. He is not truly interested in politics at all. He has no policies beyond a vague inkling that things were better when he was a boy and America led the world in manufacturing, women didn't get in the way and people of brown complexion were both grateful for their menial jobs and unfailingly respectful to such as him.
My desire is that the full vileness and laughable incapacity of this very damaged individual should be brought home to all. Whether a debate is the best forum for this is an open question.
Also the comment about 95 per cent of the jury being Democrats! Ludicrous but his followers will absolutely believe it.
Annie, Judge Merchan's targeting of that particular breach of the Gag Order by the Orange Contemnor directed at the seated Jurors is false & definitely "menacing".
I think it likely that the Court's ruling will depend on how the Court plans to handle the next Order to Show Cause, OSC re Contempt & the next & the next ones.
I'm pretty sure the gag order refers to his conduct outside of court, not inside. There are bailiffs to keep him in check in the courtroom. He could testify, but his cult will accept the line that Trump is gagged. What a crock Trump spews. He knows it would be not good for him to testify. He has been warned by his counsel, but he will take credit for it.
Louise -- I also thought the courtroom would be "tight" enough to prevent such behavior, but I was extremely disappointed today when Judge Merchan did not back up his prior warning to put Trump in custody. Perhaps the judge is afraid it would give Trump too much empathy in the minds of his demonstrative MAGA followers.
Barbara, The judge knows Trump wants to be put in jail so that he can claim more victimhood. The best scenario would be to sentence him to jail, but suspend the sentence until the trial is over. Trump just might think twice about crossing the judge again if that were to happen given that the #days might lengthen if he misbehaves again. The judge is trying to keep order over the proceedings without Trump overshadowing. Truly, nobody else would try the crap Trump is pulling on this judge. And don't think the jury is not noticing.
I'm not so sure I buy that Trump really is willing to martyr himself. He has yet to openly defy the order; he always has some excuse. Big strong boy Donny wants his followers to think he'd go to jail for them, but pampered princess Donny is never going to do that.
Merchan's hands were pretty much tied in regard to punishment. He can impose jail time for any new violations after Tuesday's order, but he really couldn't go back and retroactively impose jail time for violations from before.
I WISH Merchan would physically gag him!!
That would be fun to watch!
Love the picture and seriously-Hush Money!!! Too perfect. Sorry to miss the Sisters-In-Law trip this year (traveled to NyC for the show last year and was so inspired )!!!!
Thanks again Joyce for the update!!!
But his quote about his beautiful blue eyes. seriously??? Just ewwww!!!
Right?! His eyes remind me of a bloated swine... Yikes.
Eyes of a reptile poised to strike prey
Red rimmed and glazed as if he is on some drug or other.
He’s gonna keep opening his mouth unless someone holds him accountable.
In a way I like him to keep yakking because he’s done much much much worse than this election interference, although it is bad as it takes away, our choice in democracy,. And at some point he’s going to blab about who he gave the classified documents to. He loves the drama. Let him blab and blatherskite. He will spill everything because he simply doesn’t know how to shut up. So that’s the big kahuna that we’re looking - for the big catch. Jack Smith has someone in court every single day.
Trump's vision for establishing the United States of Trump is scary. I'm grateful he chose to let us know ahead of time Some of what he's saying is red meat for the base. But, a lot of it is the stuff you're not supposed to say out loud.
The stuff Trump is doing and saying is beyond what one isn’t supposed to say out loud. He’s mentally ill and now demented. He’s saying the kind of things that a demented dictator would only think and say. Netanyahu and Putin are only too happy to use him.
ps: Kevin, ‘ not supposed to say out loud’ is an understatement. The most troubling part of it is it is his intent. And it was his intent to create chaos and stop the ratification of our votes on January 6, so he could become dictator. He’s acting as a kind of defacto dictator for his mob. Indeed, I as well am grateful that we know his intent in advance. I’m certain he won’t be elected. We have many years of work to do after the election to restore our democracy.
In no way do I mean to minimize how dangerous his vision is. My point was that from a strategic point of view, the anti-immigrant rhetoric is a proven way of riling up your supporters; but other parts, like gutting the civil service, are things a canny authoritarian doesn't warn people about ahead of time.
I sincerely hope we see a blue wave this November. Project 2025 isn't going away just because Trump gets defeated. Trump is simply a narcissist; he just wants power to feed his ego (and stay out of jail). The people behind 2025 are hard-core authoritarians who want to reshape our country in their vision. They're not going away; hopefully a Democratic congress can make some of their plans more difficult to implement.
A truth serum dart aimed at his rear-end would certainly obtain promising results.
There is NO accountability for Trump. There is always and only lies that tell his story. Either Heather Cox-Richardson or Joyce Vance made this clear in their most recent posts by demonstrating how Trump plays by the Hitler manual of telling bigger and bigger lies.
Uh. Ugh, gag me. […simply closed my beautiful blue eyes…]. Yuck.
On a congratulatory note, I am so pleased that Sisters In Law got their Webby! At some point during my weekend I listen to y'all in a bubble bath. Congrats Kim, Barb, Jill and Joyce!
I missed that they won but that’s so exciting!!! Totally deserved and I listen every Saturday morning while on the walk with my dogs lol.
Wonderful.
I love #Sisters in Law. I enjoy taking a 2-mile walk and listening to their commentary. I'm pleased they won the Webby in their category.
A lot of analysis and op-ed I read is about when, if, Trump will be president again, and what will happen.
He will NOT be president again. He is mentally unfit, extremely so and letting us know. We will not let this happen if we want this country to survive, if we want this country to have any stature in the world. They are worried abroad and paying attention.
Vote blue as if you can never vote again! True Kathy- we will not this happen, because we can still vote!
In a sense, it’s kind of like crazy King George III whom the founders fought against and got rid of. If you read historian William H McNeil, plagues and peoples, an old book maybe not in print, but you can find in the library, it describes George III’s insanity, and how it was caused by a blood disease (not Hemophilia ) but inbreeding. That’s what the royals did quite a bit of. When the diseased one had a flareup (as George III was in when he refused to listen to his advisors over the tea taxes), it would impact the cognitive reasoning of the afflicted person. I’m not saying Trump was inbred, but he and we and certainly the attorneys have their hands full, with our own kind of crazy going on today right in this century with don-Don. so the founders had their hands full getting rid of a crazy - just as we do. We can do this!!! They set the example by fighting and we are fighting in a different way (with our keyboards, postcards and telephone banks), but we are fighting for our democracy and we can do this! If you’re any kind of a history lover, you will love William McNeil, who was probably the premier historian of his day. And on that topic he would roll over. He would absolutely be horrified at the revisionist history Kevin Roberts is writing for the Heritage Society. Where is the AHA and why are they not demanding *Dr.* Roberts admit to using fraudulent data?
Valere -- I have had friends and relatives living in several foreign countries tell me they are just as scared as we are -- and we have fellow Canadian and English commenters on this Substack share their deep concern for our democracy..
Internationally, Trump is probably the biggest threat; there's is almost no chance that he will honor our agreement with NATO if Putin attacks. Domestically, pretty much any Republican is going to be just as bad on reproductive and LBGTQ rights.
Is it the Heritage Society that produced the case-searching software for the SCOTUS? The software that cherry picks odd history to back-up whatever the judges deem usable to prove their convoluted points? I like reading your posts Valere, but I do my own praying on the election AND I do have faith in the American people (like Biden) that they will see through Trump and all that he is trying to pull off. Vladimir is behind it all, I fear.
Nope. That software was developed by Mike Lee ‘s brother in Utah, a former professor at BYU and he was also a former Supreme Court Justice in Utah. He holds Elite seminars on using it. I am absolutely 100% in agreement that we are going to win the election. I hope I didn’t post something that sounded negative? The fact that we have crazy don-Don acting out and calling on the MAGA doesn’t bother me a single bit. I frankly don’t think don-Don will make it to November with his health. I am absolutely certain that we will elect Joe Biden. I’m also certain that we will have a Blue biCameral Congress, and I’m hoping we have blue all the way for at least four iterations to repair the democracy. Thank you for praying. I send positive thoughts and try to hold that energy, but it’s almost a knowing that I have. I don’t think we can sit back and call it a given. We have lots and lots of work to do, but I’ve never been despondent about it.
Thanks for the clarification on that software. I do read Hopium Chronicles which is a daily dose of optimism. And we keep getting reports of Democrats winning in landslides, like not before forecast, such as recently in upstate New York. I do hope we get a blue bicameral congress/senate. That would be the time to fix abortion laws, not to mention gun laws. I recently heard Claire McCaskell's podcast "How to Win 2024" and it was mentioned that we've had a conservative Supreme Court for a good long time. Gosh, since Nixon at least. So any griping of Republicans that Democrats want to stack the court ought to remember that they've been in the majority since many of us can remember. It is our turn and maybe they know it.
Ps Louise, I thought I would revise my response to your question after reading Joyce’s Substack last night. Her guest on five questions was Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism. She stated that there are about 100 members in the heritage foundation coalition. The foundation, Judicial education, Institute a 501(c)(3), hosting these corpus linguistic seminars as a non-partisan outfit. I searched the Heritage foundation website and checked Wikipedia to see if the judicial education institute is a part of the coalition. They are not listed, but the leaders of the judicial education Institute and the attendees are largely members of the federalist foundation. You can find the entire article written by Molly Redden. 3-19-2024. The AI program being used by the judges, including Clarence Thomas is called corpus linguistics, and was written by Thomas R. Lee, a former Utah Supreme Court judge and the brother of Mike Lee, who is Utah’s senior Republican Senator.
I have the old McNeil book and a newer version he wrote with his son. I check it on George 3. Thanks
The old McNeil has his description of King III, Identifying how his mental condition was caused by his blood disorder. I’ve never seen this anywhere else, but I have enormous respect for William McNeil. I thought he was a phenomenal historian, but he could’ve been including medical anthropology. I only have the old book and I didn’t know there was a new one that he had written with his son. Thank you so much.
Whoa-- I was not aware of Roberts. ( you edited this out but I got it)
Hi Potter, I didn’t want to distract you with that rant. I think the American Historical Association should look into the false data that Kevin Roberts is using to publish. Roberts’ main publications are that the founders were Christian. They were not. There was never an intent by the founders to insert religion into the constitution because they had crazy King George the third who was head of the church of England that they just gotten rid of. The records we have that are original sources are Jefferson and some 16 other founders who kept notes of dialogue during many meetings and discourses during the framing of the constitution. Those founders particularly talked about the voice of the rest of the founders, not wanting religion to be part of the constitution because they were getting rid of religion. They also talked about Jefferson being if he went to great lengths to write himself in his own journals to find parts of the Bible That authentically represented the words of Christ. But Jefferson said Most founders were atheist, and some agnostic and a couple were Unitarian, but not the triology. They were the Dutch Unitarian branch that emigrated to the United States. Jefferson thought that if there would be a national religion, it would be based on Unitarianism without the trilogy. That’s not the Unitarian church we have today. So along Kevin Roberts doing revisionist history. He claims the founders were “Christian.”
When the constitution was written, one of the founders had a friend in Virginia, who was a pastor, but he was not a founder, and he did not influence the writing of the constitution. That’s about as much as Kevin Roberts can claim Christianity influencing the constitution. The framers and the founders were absolutely adamant not to have religion. In fact they made that statement in the constitution. He writes a lot about the Christian founders and framers and he posts his writing on the Heritage Foundation website. Most of the folks who joined the heritage foundation are right wing Christian nationalist Evangelical MAGA. They believe because Roberts has a PhD in history, I believe from University of Texas, Austin. He Has a masters degree from Virginia Tech, which is another good school. His undergraduate was university of Louisiana and I believe it’s a Research one. Good schools. The problem is he’s producing using false data and it can’t hold up. You can’t do revisionist history. Where is the American Historical Association. Before I join this Substack or even know about it, I wrote to the New York Times with a commentary on Roberts, but it wasn’t published. He needs outed for what he is: he’s posting revisionist history. And he’s also influencing SCOTUS.
Roberts’ organization is the holder of the 2025 project. What makes him so dangerous is that the MAGA read his false publications and buy into the idea that the founders were Christian and Roberts is a Christian leader and therefore Project 2025 must be OK and what the founders would want. The
true danger of the SCOTUS decisions is that they are endorsing and paving the way for project 2025. They’ve been planning this for five decades.
We need to turn it around on November 5, and then spend the next 16 years recovering our democracy.
One of the wonderful things about our country is that its founders wanted a separation between religion and the state. Pilgrims came here seeking religious freedom after all. (I think they also imposed religion ironically if I am not mistaken.) Religion was/is hard to brush off and it finds its way into our basic ideas. There is so much about religions that is already almost in our genes. So it's hard to separate it out and it's very hard to tolerate another's religion. Most of that has to do with observances and the Church, not the very basics. But that is just what our founders envisioned for us, this separation. Talk about originalism! Many founders were Deists. Still we act like a Christian nation, the holidays, the pledge, oaths "so help me God" "under God" etc.
People are under the misguided idea that we are a Christian nation. I am not a Christian. The abortion issue is all about imposing the religious notions of some (as well as dominance) on everyone basically.
What you are writing above should be reverberated... over and again. We let this issue slide. thank you
Potter -- In case you missed Tuesday's late afternoon and evening coverage by MSNBC, go buy a current Time Magazine before they sell out. It has a complete listing of all the plans Trump has made for his "next" presidency. in a document he and his minions are calling "Project 25", which is also available to buy. Extremely scary stuff ! ! I am sure the minions include Steve Miller and Stephen Banner, who fed extreme ideas to Trump when they were all in the White House.
No. I am already scared enough and need to protect my emotions. This Time issue is to wake people up. I already have a hard time sleeping. Project 25 will not happen. We won’t allow it.
Don't jail him. If you do so, it martyrs him. And that is what he wants. He will whine to his supporters the judge is influenced by Biden and they will believe him. The worst we can do to him is defeat him during an election.
Then if he does something, throw him in jail with the usual crowd that are found there and have access to him. Let him bluster then
I agree Bill. If they just put him on house arrest - no phone to text and no golfing would be enough for me!!!! Yes it doesn’t treat him like everyone else would be treated - but that takes away a bit of his martyrdom while driving him nuts. 👍🏻
Kathy:
No McDonalds Cheese or plain burgers either. Yes. I like your punishment.
Oh, no! You don't want him to get healthy do you?
Part of me agrees with that, and then the other part of me is angry that he hasn't been thrown in jail yet. I waffle on this everyday!
John Fugelsang, on his Sirius radio show says Trump is already in a prison of his own making. He will never be free, always paying the price for his actions.
tRump has continually whined to his supporters that his criminal trial is somehow all Biden’s fault. So what? It’s time to really treat tRump like everyone else who breaks the law and put him in jail in accordance with the laws that everyone else has to follow. Why does anyone care what his supporters will think?
KL you are correct, of course. The sad answer to "why" is because everyone in politics lives in fear of what Trump, or his core voters, might say or do in response to any accountability imposed upon their anointed thug-in-chief. Many opportunities have arisen. McConnel, Graham, Haley, Scott, several SCOTUS justices have had chances to bring Trump to heel. Each time they fail to speak or act to unequivocally condemn his crimes, his violations of his oath, and his failures to faithfully execute the laws they just enable and normalize his behaviors. This just emboldens him and his supporters and makes more difficult the task of
bringing them to account. We have a schoolyard bully running loose on the national stage.
The best way to have stopped his bad behaviors would have been to impose swift and definitive consequences.
I feel the same way. After Judge Merchan stated that a mere $1,000 fine per incident wouldn't be a detriment to someone with trump's wealth, he had prepared trump for the next step of being incarcerated for further violations. So, yeah, trump should have been in jail as of today's hearing. Way too many people have let him have complete freedom to say and do as he pleases while the entire country looks on. He knows he gets away with murder.
Fred Kramer -- THANK YOU ! You put my thoughts into impressive words !
KL Pierce -- I care because they can vote !
But he was defeated once already!
I was worried that judge Merchan might come down on Cohen for his comments. I like your clever tie in to The Rolling Stones. At least, it appears, that Judge Merchan has don “Under his Thumb”.
I think the layering effect that the prosecution’s using will be beneficial.
Thanks for taking the time to bring us up to speed on what happened today. Have fun tonight.
I sure would like to have some of the “magic” you have that makes you seem tireless.
I want to see what you are all wearing!!! What creation did Kim decide on!! Full length photos please for this event and all the others and the webbies(Congrats!!)
I am currently reading a book, IN HITLER’S MUNICH, by the German professor Michael Brenner, about the rise of Hitler in post-Weimar Germany as he rises to the Chancellorship, after which the world goes to hell in a hand-basket and the Holocaust comes to be (and,after 60 years of readings in the Nazi world, beginning at 13 with RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH, I am still at a loss to explain how it came to pass, unless by ‘explain’ one simply means to enumerate the astounding number of events that had to occur to permit the greatest abuse of the modern era). The parallels to Trump are astounding, as they are in Volker Ulrich’s 1923, an account of that singular year, the history of which is crucial to understanding Hitler’s rise. I often say to friends that we are living in 1923/32, in that Trump displays so many of the pathological urges of Hitler: e.g., as he comes closer to returning to power, Trump is becoming even more unhinged, more delusional, more dangerous. Like Hitler, he is utterly out of control, and like Hitler, he is telling the world EXACTLY what he intends to do if re-elected. When Mein Kampf was published in 1925, few took it seriously. And, had the chancellors preceding him, and the doddering fool Hindenburg not capitulated, the world might have escaped WWII. Similarly, too many American voters are either not taking Trump seriously, or, worse, they like what he has to say. In either event, the analogies are astounding. And if Trump returns to the WH, he will never leave voluntarily, and our glorious experiment in democracy will have failed, even if, as he must, Trump eventually leaves the stage………
William N. Forbes -- With your permission I would like to send a copy, including your authorship, to my three children. They all agree with you and me about how despicable Trump is and how he would demolish our democracy if re-elected -- however, I feel I would be remiss if I did not present the opportunity for them to read your outstanding message.
Respectfully, Barbara Tidyman.
JOYCE VANCE : As long as I make reference to William's message do I need your permission to send it to someone else ? I often see such outstanding messages from my fellow commenters and have wondered about forwarding them. I have encouraged my children to join this Substack, and it is time I checked to see if they have, and give them gift subscriptions if they have not. You are surely right when you say "We are all in this together" . . .
Spell my last name right — Fordes - and not only do you have my permission, I will write your children a personal message, if I know their ages. I am a “recovering attorney” and former TV writer/producer — LAW & ORDER, BOSCH, MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, among others — and am happy to help ANY children who want to read!
Lawrence O'Donnell said it best this evening: "Whatever punishment Trump will or will not get at the end of his trial, just sitting in court all day long and having no control over his life, is a punishment he's suffering day after day!"
I can't tell you how much joy this gives me!
Of course, Orange 1 learned his brand of flagrant denialism at the knee of another former sleazy representative of the bar and a different Cohn, the abhorrent Roy. No doubt his pick for AG in a second term, if he were still alive. The defense, IMO, continues to swim against the tide of documentary evidence, such that when Cohen (and Daniels, for that matter) do eventually testify, it will be pretty much icing on a large, many layered cake. And even if the defense were to land some punches on some details, prosecutors get convictions all the time on unavoidable inference, that is, is there another reasonable conclusion. Sometimes circumstantial evidence is actually stronger for a jury than direct evidence.
Dale -- just engaging the "heart icon" beneath your message is not good enough ! Bravo !