On Tuesday, the Judge in the Manhattan DA’s criminal case against Trump entered a narrow, limited gag order against the former president. And it turns out that what it doesn’t prohibit is as important as what it does. You can read the order here. The gag order prohibits Trump from doing the following things:
But Joyce, what would happen to, oh, ANY other citizen who violated a gag order and put people's lives at risk? I know I can't be the only one wondering why there never are any consequences for this. So what if he waits out his trial in jail? Is that really what he "wants"? So he'll get more press, more pity, and more of his people riled up? What other consequences would work? Because fining him apparently doesn't work. So please help us understand what a consequence would actually look like.
I'm grateful for the Federal judge (and others) speaking up. But what actually gets T to shut up?
Sorry to be so blunt. I really want to know what consequences are for him. Thanks.
He’s really daring the Judge to discipline him! First, he would be fined $5k or $10k which if course wouldn’t stop him! Then the amount would escalate, but so what from his perspective? The jury would be watching nervously. But everyone would know that the Judge wouldn’t dare sentence the former president to a night or a weekend in jail? And particularly if that former president was the Republican candidate for another term as president?
So what is he doing?He’s daring the Judge because that’s what he’s done all his life to creditors, competitors, adversaries, arbitrators and judges! And he learned thus from Roy Cohn because most of the time such audacity is so out of the norm that his adversaries back down either in disgust or because they figure that such a battle is just not worth the aggravation! And now, he knows deep down that he is losing at least one or two or maybe all of these criminal cases and at the same time his money as well as very possibly his freedom for the rest of his life—he knows it so he is going all out as that is what Roy would do and he has no other choice. What a story for history but we can write a big part if the ending by beating the hell out of this miserable bully on November 5th.
So let’s do it, shall we but by twice the number of votes we did in 2020—15 Million??
I vote, I volunteer, write, and speak out. But November is a long way off and he is putting people at risk now. I think if he violates the gag order the judge should call his bluff and he can wait out the trial in jail, without cameras or microphones or social media. Just like any other citizen who violated a court order. Because fines don't work. I'd love to hear other possible consequences that are enforceable and swift. And of course we still vote Blue in November.
As Joyce explained the judge doesn't want to give the criminal any excuses (caused by the actions of the judge) for appeal. It makes so much sense as sick as it is.
Amber you are correct as is Joyce. The judge was well aware that this behavior by Trump was going to occur and that is why he preemptively imposed the gag order. Wish it were different but he is playing the long game here.
Maybe there should be an addition to the gag order that states “in addition to the people already mentioned, defendant must not speak or have his representatives speak about any individuals associated with the case, their family members or associates.”
Why then would he be allowed to appeal if he violates that?
He could take one of his bibles to jail with him. What a madman he is! Remember the last time he used a bible for a prop? When protests against the police killing of George Floyd meant no attention was being paid to Donald, he used police on horseback to clear out Lafayette Square, where protesters were gathering, and marched through the Square to St. .John's Church with a puzzled group he gathered at the White House. Ivanka took a bible out of her purse and gave it to him. Trump stood in front of the church wordlessly holding the bible. upside down. Not a word was spoken, but he got his TV coverage. General Mark Milley, one of the puzzled followers, later aologized for being part of the event, which had no purpose except to give Trump some publicity. First, gold sneakers for $399, then bibles for $59 -- what will be next?
Deb I wish for that as well! However… Realistically speaking, that will never happen. I don’t know if there is any judge brave enough to actually put him into a jail cell for violating his gag order. But, in this ever-changing atmosphere, you just never know.!
Trump believes that the only way he can stay out of jail is by winning in November. And he has made his legal problems into his entire campaign. Rarely does he speak about anything else. He's trying to use the cases against him by saying Biden is behind them, which only the truly stupid would believe,
Ira, if only the case of Trump v. US was in reality US v. Trump. If and when DJT is brought to justice, he and his gang are responsible for how many deaths, corruption of the country's institutions, trust in government, social instability, propaganda, 'false news', hatred, diabolical abuse.... America today, the American people...the level of his crimes, can you weigh them Ira?
Great question Fern! His overt crimes are leading an insurrection; violating the Espionage Act by retain and hiding national Top-Secret and other Classified documents after he left the presidency; multiple felonies in Georgia with the participation of a great number of co-conspirators to violate GA election laws; and falsification of business records with intent to deceive in NY State!
On the social and political front, he has substantially divided the country morally and lied in public more than 35,000 documented times in order to mislead tens of millions of Americans in a dangerous effort to reject democracy in order to install him as a fascist dictator! These “crimes” against election laws and the Constitution itself pose the greatest threat to this country since the Confederacy!
He has been enthusiastically enabled by Fox TV and social media as well as by the poor educational systems of Southern states and some Midwestern states, aided religious zealots and by still-prevalent racism and discrimination against women.
His corrosive impact upon our society is and will be incalculably negative until the younger generations of today and tomorrow become the stewards of our society over the next ten to twenty years. Until then, it is up to us to stop him politically and criminally though I believe there will be many acts of violence in the process.
Ira, thank you for your cogent as well legal summary of DjT's crimes against US, us ...and earth. As a NYC resident, I have been closeup to the deaths here, which were not solely caused by COVID but also due to his negligence and disinformation. That goes for the Trump Effect on the entire country. He is a killer.
I heard an interesting episode yesterday on iGen Politics with Victor Shi and Jill Wine banks. Their guest was Billy Ray, who along with being a Hollywood Mogul, has been ad Vising and consulting with Democratic candidates on messaging. I suppose if we’re going to drum up enough votes to win by a huge margin we may need to change our messaging a bit to get some Concerned Republicans, and even MAGA Republicans, on board. Billy Ray talks about how some of our messaging insults some of these other folks right into the arms of Trump! Give it a listen and see what you think, Ira and others here. It was an interesting conversation. I didn’t like that he was saying that we need to quit using words like insurrectionist, but in order to win the bigger picture I see the logic behind it. It definitely caused me to rethink some things I have stood by hard and fast.
We have so many more partners this time than 4 years ago plus does anybody think trump has gained supporters this time? He got 74 Million votes in 2020 but he keeps pushing people away and there is no doubt that that the Nikki voters took some Rs away from him forever plus there are at least 15% to 25% "business Rs and educated Rs" who voted for him in 2016 but who say now: "I'm Done with him"! So at least 15% who voted for him in 2016 and 2020 but won't do it now equals about Minus 10 Million non-trump votes this year; that leaves him some where about 64 Million or less and I'm not counting on any of them voting for Joe! And, in the last 4 years about 15 Million young voters came of age who will vote particularly on the abortion issue adding about 10 M to Joes' 81M from 2020--right? But let's be generous and say that 5M new young voters will cast their vote for trump this year so Joe goes up to about 91 M and Trump would be up to about 65M...so how many Trump voters died of Covid and/or of old age in the last 4 yrs? At least 2M more than those who voted for Joe...so Joe ends up at somewhere about plus 91M and trump somewhere at 63 to 66M? Then add the new Joe voters who are afraid of Trump this year who didn't vote at all in 2020?--so add at least 3 new votes for Joe at about 94M with trump in the high 60s or even at the low 70s? Let's assume I'm about 90% correct in this very rough analysis---tough close election? NO WAY--so let's go to work, shall we?
The classic movie Citizen Kane directed, produced, and stared in by Orson Welles will one day in the future, have a remake only this time the main pseudo-fictional character will be Donald Trump. The movie scene will open with a very bloated relic of his former self; uneven orange-smeared makeup slabbed across his face in bed. His overgrown blond hair similar to the muss of Boris Johnson now showing gray roots from lack of up-to-date hair dye. He periodically wakes from a semi-conscious state at his future dilapidated Mar-a-Lago residence (for lack of having sufficient funds to upkeep the property from the litigants success in many past court cases.) He looks around demanding more Kentucky Fried Chicken wings as low paid service personal rush in another bucket and his last word is not “Rosebud” as in the movie Citizen Kane but:
“Stormy.” And the ex 45th president of the United States expires. The camera fades to black then opens at Le Club in the early disco 1970s, a members-only Manhattan nightclub in the East 50s, where models, fashionistas and a variety of Eurotrash (including his wife) went to be seen.
“The government has just filed suit against our company,” said Trump, “saying we discriminated against Blacks. What do you think we should do?”
The Roy Cohn obedient ass-kisser to Senator Joe McCarthy hearings accusing entertainment personalities of being communists shoots back, “Tell them to go to hell and fight the thing in court and let them prove you discriminated against them.”
Roy Cohn has become Trump’s go to lawyer and fixer.
Cohn admonishes the young Trump to 1. Never settle, never surrender. 2. Counter-attack, counter-sue immediately. 3. No matter what happens, no matter how deep into the shit you get, claim victory and never admit defeat. These lessons were found to the bases of his future self.
That movie will be one I would never watch. Looking forward to the day we never see that ugly face or hear his awful voice, words again. However that occurs his end or my own I have no idea.
Note the supporting cast of immigrants in his service. His "rosebud" will be the "briar patch" into which he constantly throws himself, imagining his ability to escape whatever prosecutorial thorns pierce his sagging flesh.
I guess he didn’t really violate the terms of the order. But why not include the families of the DA and the judge? Unlike the two officers of the court, their families didn’t sign up for this. Maybe the DA and Judge didn’t exactly sign up for this either, but they signed up for the job. Their families didn’t.
I cannot help but wonder if Trump's pugilistic attitude toward others is, in part, based on the fact that he has Secret Service protection and feels pretty safe from direct confrontation. I've said before that in the old days a bully had to stand in front of you and, circumstances permitting, you could punch them in the nose. Not promoting violence here but it has been a deterrent over the decades against bullying behavior. Trump has protection and knows it.
I also wonder, Deb, if it is permitted for Merchant's daughter to start building a civil suit against Trump - basically like E. Jean Carroll where, after the court case is over, she can sue him for a few million dollars. She is not an "official" so I would think she can use a defamation suit as a potential consequence.
Secret Service protection we, the taxpayers, pay for. Secret Service protection that turned a blind eye towards his mishandling of classified documents. Secret Service protection that wiped their phones immediately after 6 January. Secret Service protection WE PAY FOR.
Nothing will make Trump stfu...the Judge is putting up with it so that Trump doesn't and won't have any excuse to appeal.
I've consulted several dictionaries and thesauruses and it's official: there are no known words that can adequately describe the sheer repulsive filth that sits in Trump's head where a real human's brain usually resides. There are no words that can convey the evil that is his soul. He is corrupt beyond any possible redemption.
Total agreement here--It totally frosts my butt that Trump gets away with the all the shyte that he does--only because of that lowlife scumfilth Roy Cohn, who taught him exactly how to exploit the system.
His appearance and demeanor show he's close to breaking.
He's a material kind of guy. Double the fine for each violation and the final number, infinity, would cost him all his worldly possessions
He's violated the DC order several times and the judge, as Joyce commented the other day, can hold a hearing on that.
He's still subject to sanctions in the NYS civil fraud judgment from two courts, the trial court and the First Department appeal court -- I think the lawyers lied in his "in forma pauperis" petition.
He will NEVER pay a PENNY of his own money. He never has. He has never suffered a consequence in his entire lifetime! I think he looks bad because he weighs 350 pounds and eats garbage. The only way to shut him up while still he breathes is to lock him up without his phone.
No, you are NOT the only one wondering about this. I, too, would like for Joyce to address this. For me, there are two issues here: 1.) as you point out, equality before the law for each defendant, regardless of their station in life; and 2) the safety a.) of those involved in trials, b.) of politicians, and c.) of other people Trump attacks (like Paul Pelosi and Rick Wilson, both of whom were nearly killed). This is serious, because when defendants are not treated equally, citizens lose faith in the justice system.
There are times when bluntness is required. This is one of them. Carry on, Deb!
So very true, you or I would have been locked up long ago for saying anything remotely similar to what he has been spouting, and yet he walks among us. It's a disgrace .
We must be the Change! Who do we write to, to insist that Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump be stopped? Please get psychologists expert in applied behavioral analysis involved in creating consequences for Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump that he will not like. Apparently Judges are not too familiar with applied behavioral analysis or they would be more effective. I am only experienced in applying this to children who have anti-social behavior. When you want to get rid of a behavior you examine what preceded it, as in what was the triggering event. Then you look at what behavior happened and what was the rewarding consequence of engaging in that behavior. Once you have figured those things out, you take away the trigger, the consequence or both. You replace the consequence with something that will elicit more pro-social behavior. I don't see us taking away the trigger, because the trigger is any behavior that is democratic. My recommendation at this point is that each time Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump acts up, he be put in a sensory deprivation tank for a day, with days to be added. In real life, this can be in jail in solitary confinement otherwise known as segregation for his safety. Let him have his Navalny experience that he has claimed to be like. In fact, for each thing he claims he is like, or is happening to him, try to replicate that in reality so that he has to start reflecting on his words to avoid making them come true. Also, make him publicly apologize to anyone who gets threats after his words against them. Post it on some platform that has a lot of Right wing followers or just very publicly. These are all things that are the opposite of the consequences he wants and might mitigate his behavior. I am pretty sure he does not want isolation and he does not want to lose face. He does not care about money because he expects others to pay it so it is of no consequence to him. I believe jailing Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump will be a deterrent to both him and his followers. If they do something bad, Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump gets consequences too, like the parents of Ethan Robert Crumbly, Oxford Michigan school shooter got sentenced as well, for contributing to his behavior. This was a Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump loving family. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/us/james-crumbley-trial-friday/index.html
I am so glad that a judge spoke up. I do hope we hear from more of them. Congress should speak up too. The Democrats should be condemning Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump loudly and clearly!
Hello again, Deb. By now I assume you've already learned about this. What will the DOJ do about THIS? This post from Ruth Ben-Ghiat, today: "@ruthbenghiat Wake up people. This is an emergency. This is what authoritarian thugs and terrorists do. Trump is targeting the President of the United States." She's retweeting someone else's tweet, "Trump Posts Image of Joe Biden Kidnapped And Bound With Rope Trump signals approval of violent imagery targeting his political opponents" (https://twitter.com/ruthbenghiat/status/1773833286466371704). Here is the article: https://www.meidastouch.com/news/trump-posts-image-of-joe-biden-kidnapped-and-bound-with-rope What now? Another warning?
When there is a threat to the POTUS, the Attorney General has the Secret Service apprehend the person making the threat and put them into custody. Period.
Remember when Kathy Griffin held up a fake head of trump as a joke? FBI interrogated her, she was put on the No Fly List, etc. So now a former President has posted a threatening video about the current President. Will there be any consequences for tfg??
It is still unclear to me why Trump can whine about being mistreated and treated unfairly when in all honesty he’s getting special treatment! He is an American citizen right now, not a sitting president. I realize he is a unique character, having been president and now running again for president, but nonetheless still an American citizen who should have to play by the same rules. I feel like I’m in an upside down world where nothing makes sense! Thank you, Joyce, for any light you can shed on this for us. I do realize that they have to tread carefully because of appeals, and I do understand the uniqueness of the situation, but as Deb said why can’t he just wait this out in jail if he’s been contempt?
Why can’t he get some of his properties seized to pay what he clearly owes? Thank you again for your voice of sanity in all this craziness!
This former President gets more unpresidential every day. I remember in his administration in a meeting with Nancy Pelosi after the 2018 election and he insulted her and she told him off. He is a bully and coward. And 35-40% of the people in the United States thinks this is alright. The problem is not Trump, it’s the 35-40% who enable this. There needs to be a massive change in this country. Will not happen overnight.
I agree. A mass social change is needed in response to MAGA or our civilization and our fragile planet will continue to devolve into a new dark age. Trump and his colleagues exemplify a brutal winner’s culture. They possess a colonialist mindset that acts like a psychological acid on all our socio-political structures and the common good. An ideology of narcissistic nihilists.
I agree Christopher. You are right, but I think his 35-40% is now really eroding.
He has trouble getting funds from small donors, medium ones and now starting larger ones.
But you are right there too, the issue is how do you get people to see their errors.
The legal point which is so frustrating is that in effect if he is sent to jail for breaching the gag order, he can then appeal and all the trials get even more delayed. Sort of a catch 22.
I agree. Looking at the global advance of authoritarianism/fascism, and the reach of Putin's despotic evil (to Israel through Iran, to the GOP via Trump, to China and No Korea, and BRICS etc), I think it very likely that only the USA can stop this in its tracks. Europe, EU/UK/NATO, all are on board and planning ahead and seeing clearly the train wreck coming globally. But it will probably need to be America that stops MAGA/fascism/Trump. The ideal would probably be at the ballot box since it is the biggest weapon and the courts are not proving up to it. And it has to be within the next few months or it will not be at all.
What he’s doing is what pisses me off the most. When one of the MSNBC people show a video of him (thank God Nicolle won’t) I yell at the tv “you can just die Mo fo!” I’ve resisted tossing things at my tv cause I don’t have the money to replace it.
Today was over the top with the video of him speaking about the NY cops funeral he attended (at the request of the family) and I thought for a minute then I wanted to write a WaPo Op Ed but it wouldn’t be published. That’s fine he attended and I’m sorry for the families loss but to the family, “How effing dare you make the loss of this officer political because you can’t stand having a black mayor in charge! Apparently you are under the misguided impression that TFG cares about cops, well I got a pair of gold sneakers to sell you. He was 100% responsible for the cops in DC getting injured and killed on 1/6 and he thinks those that did it are political hostages while he sings a jailhouse version of the national anthem. FU to the family! You need to quit drinking the foolade that right wing media offers up on a daily basis!”
Ok I’ve spoken my peace for now, gonna cuddle up with my cats and try to sleep.
I’m curious why Judge Merchan didn’t include his own family in the gag order. I can see why he considers himself fair game, but I can’t envision a situation where protecting his family - who have no role in this case - would open the case to an appeal. Does anyone have any insight on that?
Now is not the time to reach across the aisle. Will we still be reaching across the aisle when someone is physically harmed or killed because of trumps rhetoric? In so many other situations its already happened. This is a dangerous conundrum.
I wonder that too. Don’t his terms of release on any of his bonds require him to behave himself and not violate any laws? I guess that is the kicker: he’s walking on the line and kicking the line and not technically violating any law.
@ Sioux. I hope that Marchan is playing "rope a dope" with Trump. It could be that Trump will warrant a mental evaluation to see whether he is fit to stand trial.
Daniel, That’s fascinating. However, it’s a given that he’s psychological very sick w a narcissistic personality disorder. And thinking that’s just one with others dangling like empty tins
Ie paranoia whenever he opens his mouth. (Shudder). Not sure if he’s merely a sociopath. Probably more likely a psychopath, who attracts other psychopaths.
If they do, I hope they use a serious psychiatric evaluation, administered by a real psychiatrist and not that basic, simple cognitive test that he brags about "ACE-ing" all the time.
Completely gagging the psychopath could be used to appeal. And depending on the appeals court he could get the case dismissed or sent to SCOTUS who would grant him his dismissal. All of which is time eating delay.
If the judge is being perceived to protect his family that could be perceived as bias. It is wrong but our judicial system with its profound flaws is not adequate to the task of protecting innocents. Someone prominent Like Judge Luttig could stand outside the courtroom and make a public statement of fact about the psychopath using a hacked account to attack the daughter of the judge.
Perhaps he is doing all he can to protect the impartiality of the court, who he represents, and eliminate a possibility of an appeal from Trump. I'm certain steps have been taken to protect his daughter without making it a public spectacle. I mentioned earlier that I wonder if the Judges daughter could not begin documenting all this and, at the conclusion of the trial, file a defamation lawsuit against Trump. She is not a member of the court so I can't see why she could not have the same recourse as did E Jean Carroll. Let Trump pay a few more Million dollars for his bullying.
I think the judge may be walking an interesting line here. This gag order is very, very close in wording to the gag order out of the DC court (I think) that’s already passed muster at an appeal level.
There is a dichotomy with the psychopath that results in repeated and consistent favoritism. Good people determine to act good. Like the Judge allowing his child to be threatened bec he is taking one for the purpose of preventing a mistrial.
What I have yet to hear or read is that doing good means the psychopath gets privilege of which he takes great advantage. It seems the media and good people in politics and the judicial system have not made the correlation.
I was given several months of intensive training on how to interrogate and close on psychopaths who are highly functioning and embedded in society with protection.
There are well defined techniques to attack and psychologically deregulate psychopaths. These strategies do not include being a good person and taking one for the team which effectively strengthens and emboldens psychopaths and their enablers. Goodness is not winning by being good and long suffering. That is simply martyring one's self and the team thereby giving advantage to the psychopath and its followers.
If people like judges and prosecuters and law enforcement are to prevail agaist the psychopath and its enablers then the art of war must be deployed by them.
It is glaringly obvious being good and taking one for the team is not working. Strategic offensive strategies designed to destroy the psychology of the psychopath and its enablers will succeed. That has been proven by history.
A first effective step is for EVERYONE to STOP referring to the psychopath as President in some form. Call the psychopath what it is and degrade its position by referring to its actual status: Mister. A common citizen.
I can understand your frustration but there are multiple ways to effectively fight back against psychopaths. Some take longer than others but the slower and wider the strategy the more devastating the effect. Psychopaths, are by nature, lone wolves, but for their predatory activities to succeed they must be enabled by others on the sociopathic spectrum within our society. This is how the mafia and all other kind of criminal cartels function. They protect each other through a web of lies and cover ups. If one of them becomes too wounded by exposure they will expel them from the pack. Trump is simply the figurehead for a global criminal mafia. We need to take their entire structure down or he will simply be replaced.
Trump’s victims are not just taking one for the team or losing by enduring the suffering inflicted by him. It serves to publicly shine a light on their too often hidden or minimized criminal actions. Likewise carefully watching the actions or inactions of those around him in response to his violence invoking attacks on the children of judges and others indicates just who’s who within the global and MAGA criminal network. Shutting down Trump and Co is a long term enormous team effort.
I would love to have access to what you were taught about such people. I have someone in my life doing just what drumpf is, taking advantage of the pass we give first responders and his nice guy image to manipulate family and bully one of them. The embedded ones are so hard to deal with. What sort of strategic offensive strategies? Can you point me to resources?
A Canadian psychologist, Robert Hare, has written several good books including "Snakes in Suits" and "Without Conscience" and something called "The Psychopath's Checklist" (I think). Written for laypeople.
Person In Name Only? I noted the reference to the psychopath as “it” and thought, that is how I think of Trump. He’s so profoundly broken. I think of people like him as someone born without a soul.
Around 1994, I was finishing up a prosecution on an individual charged with a violent felony. The defendant made a comment, loud enough for everyone to hear, about seeking revenge on me and any family I may have. Our court deputy, a County Sheriff Deputy, looked at me. I wrote down an address on a piece of paper. I gave it to the defendant and told him to stop by for his last day on earth. The deputy told the defendant, “And he means it.”
The defendant was murdered in prison allegedly for making violent threats against another inmate. Saved me any trouble he may have harbored towards me.
OMG this guy is such a parasite on humanity. Why, WHY, WHY do they put up with this criminal? If Al Capone (trumps favorite criminal) was this blatantly threatening to any Judge he’d have been in jail long before he was eventually convicted.
It just makes ALL the rest of us recognize the 2 Tiered “justice system” where the Orange One is on top of the heap along with his cronies. ? When is Bannon going to jail…? He’s a convicted criminal who’s still out while Navarro has begun his prison stint.
It’s maddening and SCOTUS - OMG…are they considering “this guy Is above the law”?
I’m just so tired of this crook, scam artist and male whore getting away with Everything just because he’s a bully.
I wouldn’t expect Roberts to comment. After all, he will be hearing all the appeals, and I don’t want him to comment and then recuse, leaving the lead to Thomas.
This case is in New York state court. I don’t believe it can go further than the New York Supreme Court. Not sure what the federal issue would be to allow it to go to SCOTUS.
The thumb on the scale SCOTUS has done is more than deplorable, a word to adequately describe it needs to be invented. Any Fla judge but suck ass Cannon would have wrapped that case long ago. Lawrence O'DONNELL nailed it when he said that Trump went to the last hearing to remind her that Clarence "may he rot in hell" Thomas' seat is hers if she keeps up the good work!
To understand why people follow him - ‘Christian’s’, Republicans, etc - research cults and cult behavior.
Fear is part of the reason but not the fear you mention. It’s the fear that goes hand in hand with the hate they feel for all those not part of his/their cult. People who follow and bow down to trump do so because they fully agree with him. They already had the same racist, misogynistic, bigoted, hate and fear fueled beliefs or they are new to the ideas and beliefs and have chosen to fully buy into all the hate and fear he spews about all the “others” who are to blame for whatever they don’t like about their own lives and even themselves.
They aren’t poor ignorants who don’t know any better. They aren’t people who abhor him but choose to follow out of fear for their families or for the tax breaks. They agree with him.
It is so much easier to hate and blame others than to do the work of self awareness, figuring out how to be part of solving problems and doing the work to do so. Other factors - a sense of belonging, shared beliefs, permission to give voice to all those beliefs and grievances, solidarity for despicable actions (mob behavior) act as glue for the cult.
Those of us not in trump’s cult need to stop trying to find noble explanations (like protecting one’s family) for those who are. There aren’t any. Sometimes people really are as awful as they act, they really believe all the ugliness.
I recommend the book White Rural Rage (Schaller & Waldman). It explains the reasons and holds those who are part of the cult fully accountable for their choices and actions.
The Christian thing isn't hard to understand if you turn over its dark side. The perpetual threat of hell, the demands to worship someone who bargains for souls with Satan, the cruelty of the cross motif. These folks have taken their victimhood and woman shaming to heart. Eve set evil on the world.
As someone who was raised in a hate & fear based evilangelical religious cult I was with you until you blamed Eve. Other than that, yep, you’re correct. So much hatred, evil, discrimination, abuses of every kind & genocide have been and still are fueled by religion.
I didn't blame Eve. The myth book called the babble blames Eve. Much like the Greeks blamed Pandora, and every penis-celebrating religion blames women. That's the core hatred in this world, the envy of men that only women create life.
If judge Merchan’s daughter gets killed because he allowed Trump to target her, he’ll wish to god he’d been “unseemly” and chose to protect his daughter. Today Trump again gave out her name, Loren Merchan, to his followers in a post and called her a “rabid Trump hater!”
Yes - I think Judge Merchan has made a grave mistake not protecting himself, his daughter, and the chief prosecutor ... legal niceties and the avoidance of 'unseemly' restrictions on Trump's freedom of speech shouldn't apply when we're dealing with an unconstrained lunatic. Legal niceties discussed over port and cigars at Yale and Harvard are not in play here.
I take the point that over-restriction might lead to an appeal and further delay - but the price of that is that Trump gets to do what he wants. And who reads Truth Social anyway - perhaps the rational media should simply refrain from reporting any of his outpourings, and no one would know or care.
He wants the trial. He wants a "final" solution, a conviction, and soonest. I think he's familiar with lower rung thugs like this more than we are. I trust his judgement.
Rule of law must be seen to be as objective as is humanly possible. Those holding the highest judicial office knew what heavy responsibility they were taking on. If the judiciary began to whole scale openly take political sides against any defendant it could no longer lay claim to enabling true justice being seen to be done.
Northern Ireland is a case in point. This kind of bigoted faux justice is rife here. It serves only the most corrupt in society, and this cruel social injustice creates slow burning civil conflict. Not advised.
He too is untouchable. Unaccountable. Lifetime appts. SCOTUS has put itself above the law as it has put Trump above the law. We need to be thinking about how to remove that factor for all of them, asap.
But please, clarify that he's not the president now. I'd love to see you add FORMER in all caps, as in "...no prosecutor, judge, juror or witness signs up for is being threatened by the FORMER president of the United States."
He's hawking for $59.99 (rather than $69)...and from what I understand, they can even be read upside down. What a bargain!!
Where are the "supposedly decent Republicans" on this issue. What on Earth, can this slug slime do to them that would be worse? Why isn't George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, Kevin McCarthy, an all the Republicans who have walked out of their posts joining ion a statement to condemn the trumpster for such unamerican behavior? We, on the Liberal Progressive aside are always calling him out, if what's left of the Grand Old Party doesn't get on the wagon soon there will be no decent people left to form a new party from the wreckage trump leaves behind.
Thank you Gary. Both the Cheney's have also called out trump. I'm just angry that the trumpster is still alive and walking free - why is that only the good guys get punished.
How far can Trump go in attacking a judge’s family? Is there an obstacle to the judges daughter not seeking redress in court? In other words sue him for intimidation, slander, threats via implication (surely there’s something akin to that but I’ve no idea tbh). (As in “who will rid me of this troublesome priest” language)
Judges do understand what they may be subjected to, though it’s often horrific as we know. But his daughter should be off limits.
worst blowhard on the planet. an evil, cheating golfer. if her were on the Apprentice, he'd be fired. I yield back my time...have to read my novel. Peace.
I'm still fond of cocksplat. It came from his visit to Scotland expecting local adulation. Instead they flew the Mexican flag over his golf course and the route was lined with signs touting the Orange Cocksplat and of course the diapered baby trump blimp.
Thanks once again dear Joyce for your clear and concise commentary. I still cannot understand why he is walking free when anyone else would be behind bars by now.
It seems, however, he is getting more desperate by the day. I can only hope he implodes before November. I just pray no one else gets hurt or injured while he self-destructs. May God keep everyone safe and Go Joe and Kamala!!
Thanks again Joyce!! We love you!! Thanks for all you do. ❤️🇺🇸💙
But Joyce, what would happen to, oh, ANY other citizen who violated a gag order and put people's lives at risk? I know I can't be the only one wondering why there never are any consequences for this. So what if he waits out his trial in jail? Is that really what he "wants"? So he'll get more press, more pity, and more of his people riled up? What other consequences would work? Because fining him apparently doesn't work. So please help us understand what a consequence would actually look like.
I'm grateful for the Federal judge (and others) speaking up. But what actually gets T to shut up?
Sorry to be so blunt. I really want to know what consequences are for him. Thanks.
He’s really daring the Judge to discipline him! First, he would be fined $5k or $10k which if course wouldn’t stop him! Then the amount would escalate, but so what from his perspective? The jury would be watching nervously. But everyone would know that the Judge wouldn’t dare sentence the former president to a night or a weekend in jail? And particularly if that former president was the Republican candidate for another term as president?
So what is he doing?He’s daring the Judge because that’s what he’s done all his life to creditors, competitors, adversaries, arbitrators and judges! And he learned thus from Roy Cohn because most of the time such audacity is so out of the norm that his adversaries back down either in disgust or because they figure that such a battle is just not worth the aggravation! And now, he knows deep down that he is losing at least one or two or maybe all of these criminal cases and at the same time his money as well as very possibly his freedom for the rest of his life—he knows it so he is going all out as that is what Roy would do and he has no other choice. What a story for history but we can write a big part if the ending by beating the hell out of this miserable bully on November 5th.
So let’s do it, shall we but by twice the number of votes we did in 2020—15 Million??
I vote, I volunteer, write, and speak out. But November is a long way off and he is putting people at risk now. I think if he violates the gag order the judge should call his bluff and he can wait out the trial in jail, without cameras or microphones or social media. Just like any other citizen who violated a court order. Because fines don't work. I'd love to hear other possible consequences that are enforceable and swift. And of course we still vote Blue in November.
As Joyce explained the judge doesn't want to give the criminal any excuses (caused by the actions of the judge) for appeal. It makes so much sense as sick as it is.
Amber you are correct as is Joyce. The judge was well aware that this behavior by Trump was going to occur and that is why he preemptively imposed the gag order. Wish it were different but he is playing the long game here.
Maybe there should be an addition to the gag order that states “in addition to the people already mentioned, defendant must not speak or have his representatives speak about any individuals associated with the case, their family members or associates.”
Why then would he be allowed to appeal if he violates that?
I wish the judge could place a gag order on the people giving him the megaphone. Do an end run around him.
He could take one of his bibles to jail with him. What a madman he is! Remember the last time he used a bible for a prop? When protests against the police killing of George Floyd meant no attention was being paid to Donald, he used police on horseback to clear out Lafayette Square, where protesters were gathering, and marched through the Square to St. .John's Church with a puzzled group he gathered at the White House. Ivanka took a bible out of her purse and gave it to him. Trump stood in front of the church wordlessly holding the bible. upside down. Not a word was spoken, but he got his TV coverage. General Mark Milley, one of the puzzled followers, later aologized for being part of the event, which had no purpose except to give Trump some publicity. First, gold sneakers for $399, then bibles for $59 -- what will be next?
Gold plated handguns.
Well , he has no soul to sell.
Fines won't work because he will never pay them!
He needs to sit in jail for a bit. Even 24 hours. No media. No devices. Just bare silence.
Silence! Wouldn't that be awesome?
Ms. McCabe:
It would be sooo unfortunate if Trump had the same cell as Jeffrey Epstein and suffered a similar fate….
I would give a week’s salary to see the look on orange blob’s face when the court personnel slapped the cuffs on.
Not that I would want anyone to get hurt. Just a little shock & awe.
Maybe the judges daughter could sue him for defamation, for intimidation, for slander....?
Deb I wish for that as well! However… Realistically speaking, that will never happen. I don’t know if there is any judge brave enough to actually put him into a jail cell for violating his gag order. But, in this ever-changing atmosphere, you just never know.!
People are sick and tired of him getting special treatment. The pressure is on.
Trump believes that the only way he can stay out of jail is by winning in November. And he has made his legal problems into his entire campaign. Rarely does he speak about anything else. He's trying to use the cases against him by saying Biden is behind them, which only the truly stupid would believe,
Ira, if only the case of Trump v. US was in reality US v. Trump. If and when DJT is brought to justice, he and his gang are responsible for how many deaths, corruption of the country's institutions, trust in government, social instability, propaganda, 'false news', hatred, diabolical abuse.... America today, the American people...the level of his crimes, can you weigh them Ira?
Great question Fern! His overt crimes are leading an insurrection; violating the Espionage Act by retain and hiding national Top-Secret and other Classified documents after he left the presidency; multiple felonies in Georgia with the participation of a great number of co-conspirators to violate GA election laws; and falsification of business records with intent to deceive in NY State!
On the social and political front, he has substantially divided the country morally and lied in public more than 35,000 documented times in order to mislead tens of millions of Americans in a dangerous effort to reject democracy in order to install him as a fascist dictator! These “crimes” against election laws and the Constitution itself pose the greatest threat to this country since the Confederacy!
He has been enthusiastically enabled by Fox TV and social media as well as by the poor educational systems of Southern states and some Midwestern states, aided religious zealots and by still-prevalent racism and discrimination against women.
His corrosive impact upon our society is and will be incalculably negative until the younger generations of today and tomorrow become the stewards of our society over the next ten to twenty years. Until then, it is up to us to stop him politically and criminally though I believe there will be many acts of violence in the process.
Ira, thank you for your cogent as well legal summary of DjT's crimes against US, us ...and earth. As a NYC resident, I have been closeup to the deaths here, which were not solely caused by COVID but also due to his negligence and disinformation. That goes for the Trump Effect on the entire country. He is a killer.
I heard an interesting episode yesterday on iGen Politics with Victor Shi and Jill Wine banks. Their guest was Billy Ray, who along with being a Hollywood Mogul, has been ad Vising and consulting with Democratic candidates on messaging. I suppose if we’re going to drum up enough votes to win by a huge margin we may need to change our messaging a bit to get some Concerned Republicans, and even MAGA Republicans, on board. Billy Ray talks about how some of our messaging insults some of these other folks right into the arms of Trump! Give it a listen and see what you think, Ira and others here. It was an interesting conversation. I didn’t like that he was saying that we need to quit using words like insurrectionist, but in order to win the bigger picture I see the logic behind it. It definitely caused me to rethink some things I have stood by hard and fast.
We have so many more partners this time than 4 years ago plus does anybody think trump has gained supporters this time? He got 74 Million votes in 2020 but he keeps pushing people away and there is no doubt that that the Nikki voters took some Rs away from him forever plus there are at least 15% to 25% "business Rs and educated Rs" who voted for him in 2016 but who say now: "I'm Done with him"! So at least 15% who voted for him in 2016 and 2020 but won't do it now equals about Minus 10 Million non-trump votes this year; that leaves him some where about 64 Million or less and I'm not counting on any of them voting for Joe! And, in the last 4 years about 15 Million young voters came of age who will vote particularly on the abortion issue adding about 10 M to Joes' 81M from 2020--right? But let's be generous and say that 5M new young voters will cast their vote for trump this year so Joe goes up to about 91 M and Trump would be up to about 65M...so how many Trump voters died of Covid and/or of old age in the last 4 yrs? At least 2M more than those who voted for Joe...so Joe ends up at somewhere about plus 91M and trump somewhere at 63 to 66M? Then add the new Joe voters who are afraid of Trump this year who didn't vote at all in 2020?--so add at least 3 new votes for Joe at about 94M with trump in the high 60s or even at the low 70s? Let's assume I'm about 90% correct in this very rough analysis---tough close election? NO WAY--so let's go to work, shall we?
The Citizen Kane Movie of Tomorrow: Citizen Trump
The classic movie Citizen Kane directed, produced, and stared in by Orson Welles will one day in the future, have a remake only this time the main pseudo-fictional character will be Donald Trump. The movie scene will open with a very bloated relic of his former self; uneven orange-smeared makeup slabbed across his face in bed. His overgrown blond hair similar to the muss of Boris Johnson now showing gray roots from lack of up-to-date hair dye. He periodically wakes from a semi-conscious state at his future dilapidated Mar-a-Lago residence (for lack of having sufficient funds to upkeep the property from the litigants success in many past court cases.) He looks around demanding more Kentucky Fried Chicken wings as low paid service personal rush in another bucket and his last word is not “Rosebud” as in the movie Citizen Kane but:
“Stormy.” And the ex 45th president of the United States expires. The camera fades to black then opens at Le Club in the early disco 1970s, a members-only Manhattan nightclub in the East 50s, where models, fashionistas and a variety of Eurotrash (including his wife) went to be seen.
“The government has just filed suit against our company,” said Trump, “saying we discriminated against Blacks. What do you think we should do?”
The Roy Cohn obedient ass-kisser to Senator Joe McCarthy hearings accusing entertainment personalities of being communists shoots back, “Tell them to go to hell and fight the thing in court and let them prove you discriminated against them.”
Roy Cohn has become Trump’s go to lawyer and fixer.
Cohn admonishes the young Trump to 1. Never settle, never surrender. 2. Counter-attack, counter-sue immediately. 3. No matter what happens, no matter how deep into the shit you get, claim victory and never admit defeat. These lessons were found to the bases of his future self.
And so it was.
That movie will be one I would never watch. Looking forward to the day we never see that ugly face or hear his awful voice, words again. However that occurs his end or my own I have no idea.
:)
Wow, that is great rewrite of Citizen Kane!!!
Thank you very much and much appreciated from my crazy imagination. It’s soon to be in my book as the last satire (appropriately) and it’s on my blog.
Note the supporting cast of immigrants in his service. His "rosebud" will be the "briar patch" into which he constantly throws himself, imagining his ability to escape whatever prosecutorial thorns pierce his sagging flesh.
If not "Stormy," I vote for "Whale."
I guess he didn’t really violate the terms of the order. But why not include the families of the DA and the judge? Unlike the two officers of the court, their families didn’t sign up for this. Maybe the DA and Judge didn’t exactly sign up for this either, but they signed up for the job. Their families didn’t.
I cannot help but wonder if Trump's pugilistic attitude toward others is, in part, based on the fact that he has Secret Service protection and feels pretty safe from direct confrontation. I've said before that in the old days a bully had to stand in front of you and, circumstances permitting, you could punch them in the nose. Not promoting violence here but it has been a deterrent over the decades against bullying behavior. Trump has protection and knows it.
I also wonder, Deb, if it is permitted for Merchant's daughter to start building a civil suit against Trump - basically like E. Jean Carroll where, after the court case is over, she can sue him for a few million dollars. She is not an "official" so I would think she can use a defamation suit as a potential consequence.
Secret Service protection we, the taxpayers, pay for. Secret Service protection that turned a blind eye towards his mishandling of classified documents. Secret Service protection that wiped their phones immediately after 6 January. Secret Service protection WE PAY FOR.
yeah, we're in real trouble here...
True, what's wrong with his counsel?
Why is Steve Bannon still out there?
I'm wondering who is protecting him?
Drumpf belongs in jail.
Nothing will make Trump stfu...the Judge is putting up with it so that Trump doesn't and won't have any excuse to appeal.
I've consulted several dictionaries and thesauruses and it's official: there are no known words that can adequately describe the sheer repulsive filth that sits in Trump's head where a real human's brain usually resides. There are no words that can convey the evil that is his soul. He is corrupt beyond any possible redemption.
Thank you for checking all the thesauruses! 😄
And I guess I concede the point about giving him reason (and time) to appeal. But no other citizen would get away with this, and that ticks me off.
Total agreement here--It totally frosts my butt that Trump gets away with the all the shyte that he does--only because of that lowlife scumfilth Roy Cohn, who taught him exactly how to exploit the system.
The art of psychological warfare is the answer.
In what way? He doesn't appear to be phased by anything.
His appearance and demeanor show he's close to breaking.
He's a material kind of guy. Double the fine for each violation and the final number, infinity, would cost him all his worldly possessions
He's violated the DC order several times and the judge, as Joyce commented the other day, can hold a hearing on that.
He's still subject to sanctions in the NYS civil fraud judgment from two courts, the trial court and the First Department appeal court -- I think the lawyers lied in his "in forma pauperis" petition.
He will NEVER pay a PENNY of his own money. He never has. He has never suffered a consequence in his entire lifetime! I think he looks bad because he weighs 350 pounds and eats garbage. The only way to shut him up while still he breathes is to lock him up without his phone.
Psychopaths are disregulated by removing their status and privilege. There are many to do this to this particular psychopath.
No, you are NOT the only one wondering about this. I, too, would like for Joyce to address this. For me, there are two issues here: 1.) as you point out, equality before the law for each defendant, regardless of their station in life; and 2) the safety a.) of those involved in trials, b.) of politicians, and c.) of other people Trump attacks (like Paul Pelosi and Rick Wilson, both of whom were nearly killed). This is serious, because when defendants are not treated equally, citizens lose faith in the justice system.
There are times when bluntness is required. This is one of them. Carry on, Deb!
So very true, you or I would have been locked up long ago for saying anything remotely similar to what he has been spouting, and yet he walks among us. It's a disgrace .
We must be the Change! Who do we write to, to insist that Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump be stopped? Please get psychologists expert in applied behavioral analysis involved in creating consequences for Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump that he will not like. Apparently Judges are not too familiar with applied behavioral analysis or they would be more effective. I am only experienced in applying this to children who have anti-social behavior. When you want to get rid of a behavior you examine what preceded it, as in what was the triggering event. Then you look at what behavior happened and what was the rewarding consequence of engaging in that behavior. Once you have figured those things out, you take away the trigger, the consequence or both. You replace the consequence with something that will elicit more pro-social behavior. I don't see us taking away the trigger, because the trigger is any behavior that is democratic. My recommendation at this point is that each time Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump acts up, he be put in a sensory deprivation tank for a day, with days to be added. In real life, this can be in jail in solitary confinement otherwise known as segregation for his safety. Let him have his Navalny experience that he has claimed to be like. In fact, for each thing he claims he is like, or is happening to him, try to replicate that in reality so that he has to start reflecting on his words to avoid making them come true. Also, make him publicly apologize to anyone who gets threats after his words against them. Post it on some platform that has a lot of Right wing followers or just very publicly. These are all things that are the opposite of the consequences he wants and might mitigate his behavior. I am pretty sure he does not want isolation and he does not want to lose face. He does not care about money because he expects others to pay it so it is of no consequence to him. I believe jailing Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump will be a deterrent to both him and his followers. If they do something bad, Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump gets consequences too, like the parents of Ethan Robert Crumbly, Oxford Michigan school shooter got sentenced as well, for contributing to his behavior. This was a Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump loving family. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/us/james-crumbley-trial-friday/index.html
I am so glad that a judge spoke up. I do hope we hear from more of them. Congress should speak up too. The Democrats should be condemning Treacherous-treasonous-traitorous-tantruming-Trump loudly and clearly!
Hello again, Deb. By now I assume you've already learned about this. What will the DOJ do about THIS? This post from Ruth Ben-Ghiat, today: "@ruthbenghiat Wake up people. This is an emergency. This is what authoritarian thugs and terrorists do. Trump is targeting the President of the United States." She's retweeting someone else's tweet, "Trump Posts Image of Joe Biden Kidnapped And Bound With Rope Trump signals approval of violent imagery targeting his political opponents" (https://twitter.com/ruthbenghiat/status/1773833286466371704). Here is the article: https://www.meidastouch.com/news/trump-posts-image-of-joe-biden-kidnapped-and-bound-with-rope What now? Another warning?
When there is a threat to the POTUS, the Attorney General has the Secret Service apprehend the person making the threat and put them into custody. Period.
Remember when Kathy Griffin held up a fake head of trump as a joke? FBI interrogated her, she was put on the No Fly List, etc. So now a former President has posted a threatening video about the current President. Will there be any consequences for tfg??
Yep, saw it. LOCK HIM UP!
Deb, I am right there with you!
It is still unclear to me why Trump can whine about being mistreated and treated unfairly when in all honesty he’s getting special treatment! He is an American citizen right now, not a sitting president. I realize he is a unique character, having been president and now running again for president, but nonetheless still an American citizen who should have to play by the same rules. I feel like I’m in an upside down world where nothing makes sense! Thank you, Joyce, for any light you can shed on this for us. I do realize that they have to tread carefully because of appeals, and I do understand the uniqueness of the situation, but as Deb said why can’t he just wait this out in jail if he’s been contempt?
Why can’t he get some of his properties seized to pay what he clearly owes? Thank you again for your voice of sanity in all this craziness!
This former President gets more unpresidential every day. I remember in his administration in a meeting with Nancy Pelosi after the 2018 election and he insulted her and she told him off. He is a bully and coward. And 35-40% of the people in the United States thinks this is alright. The problem is not Trump, it’s the 35-40% who enable this. There needs to be a massive change in this country. Will not happen overnight.
Thanks Joyce.
I agree. A mass social change is needed in response to MAGA or our civilization and our fragile planet will continue to devolve into a new dark age. Trump and his colleagues exemplify a brutal winner’s culture. They possess a colonialist mindset that acts like a psychological acid on all our socio-political structures and the common good. An ideology of narcissistic nihilists.
I agree Christopher. You are right, but I think his 35-40% is now really eroding.
He has trouble getting funds from small donors, medium ones and now starting larger ones.
But you are right there too, the issue is how do you get people to see their errors.
The legal point which is so frustrating is that in effect if he is sent to jail for breaching the gag order, he can then appeal and all the trials get even more delayed. Sort of a catch 22.
I agree. Looking at the global advance of authoritarianism/fascism, and the reach of Putin's despotic evil (to Israel through Iran, to the GOP via Trump, to China and No Korea, and BRICS etc), I think it very likely that only the USA can stop this in its tracks. Europe, EU/UK/NATO, all are on board and planning ahead and seeing clearly the train wreck coming globally. But it will probably need to be America that stops MAGA/fascism/Trump. The ideal would probably be at the ballot box since it is the biggest weapon and the courts are not proving up to it. And it has to be within the next few months or it will not be at all.
What he’s doing is what pisses me off the most. When one of the MSNBC people show a video of him (thank God Nicolle won’t) I yell at the tv “you can just die Mo fo!” I’ve resisted tossing things at my tv cause I don’t have the money to replace it.
Today was over the top with the video of him speaking about the NY cops funeral he attended (at the request of the family) and I thought for a minute then I wanted to write a WaPo Op Ed but it wouldn’t be published. That’s fine he attended and I’m sorry for the families loss but to the family, “How effing dare you make the loss of this officer political because you can’t stand having a black mayor in charge! Apparently you are under the misguided impression that TFG cares about cops, well I got a pair of gold sneakers to sell you. He was 100% responsible for the cops in DC getting injured and killed on 1/6 and he thinks those that did it are political hostages while he sings a jailhouse version of the national anthem. FU to the family! You need to quit drinking the foolade that right wing media offers up on a daily basis!”
Ok I’ve spoken my peace for now, gonna cuddle up with my cats and try to sleep.
“Foolade” is the best word I’ve heard all day. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
Best word in months but the rest was spot on. Thank you.
You’re welcome. I couldn’t hold back anymore.
Let loose. It's healthier and we get good new words.
👍🏼 that’s right. Keeping it bottled up causes 💩thoughts and mood. Life’s too short so just let loose.
I’m curious why Judge Merchan didn’t include his own family in the gag order. I can see why he considers himself fair game, but I can’t envision a situation where protecting his family - who have no role in this case - would open the case to an appeal. Does anyone have any insight on that?
I'm wondering the exact same thing. How is that "man" still walking around free?!! 😳
Now is not the time to reach across the aisle. Will we still be reaching across the aisle when someone is physically harmed or killed because of trumps rhetoric? In so many other situations its already happened. This is a dangerous conundrum.
I wonder that too. Don’t his terms of release on any of his bonds require him to behave himself and not violate any laws? I guess that is the kicker: he’s walking on the line and kicking the line and not technically violating any law.
they aren't that kind of bonds.
I mean his bonds with terms of release on the criminal cases.
@ Sioux. I hope that Marchan is playing "rope a dope" with Trump. It could be that Trump will warrant a mental evaluation to see whether he is fit to stand trial.
Daniel, That’s fascinating. However, it’s a given that he’s psychological very sick w a narcissistic personality disorder. And thinking that’s just one with others dangling like empty tins
Ie paranoia whenever he opens his mouth. (Shudder). Not sure if he’s merely a sociopath. Probably more likely a psychopath, who attracts other psychopaths.
If they do, I hope they use a serious psychiatric evaluation, administered by a real psychiatrist and not that basic, simple cognitive test that he brags about "ACE-ing" all the time.
that would be BRILLIANT!
We all know he can't pass one.
I wonder what effect it would have.
i don't think that was in NY. It was in Georgia.
**Oops psychologically second line.
Completely gagging the psychopath could be used to appeal. And depending on the appeals court he could get the case dismissed or sent to SCOTUS who would grant him his dismissal. All of which is time eating delay.
I get that, but I don’t see how stopping attacks on family members not involved with the court is appealable and that where I’m confused.
If the judge is being perceived to protect his family that could be perceived as bias. It is wrong but our judicial system with its profound flaws is not adequate to the task of protecting innocents. Someone prominent Like Judge Luttig could stand outside the courtroom and make a public statement of fact about the psychopath using a hacked account to attack the daughter of the judge.
Perhaps he is doing all he can to protect the impartiality of the court, who he represents, and eliminate a possibility of an appeal from Trump. I'm certain steps have been taken to protect his daughter without making it a public spectacle. I mentioned earlier that I wonder if the Judges daughter could not begin documenting all this and, at the conclusion of the trial, file a defamation lawsuit against Trump. She is not a member of the court so I can't see why she could not have the same recourse as did E Jean Carroll. Let Trump pay a few more Million dollars for his bullying.
I think the judge may be walking an interesting line here. This gag order is very, very close in wording to the gag order out of the DC court (I think) that’s already passed muster at an appeal level.
That’s my question as well.
I have the same question.
There is a dichotomy with the psychopath that results in repeated and consistent favoritism. Good people determine to act good. Like the Judge allowing his child to be threatened bec he is taking one for the purpose of preventing a mistrial.
What I have yet to hear or read is that doing good means the psychopath gets privilege of which he takes great advantage. It seems the media and good people in politics and the judicial system have not made the correlation.
I was given several months of intensive training on how to interrogate and close on psychopaths who are highly functioning and embedded in society with protection.
There are well defined techniques to attack and psychologically deregulate psychopaths. These strategies do not include being a good person and taking one for the team which effectively strengthens and emboldens psychopaths and their enablers. Goodness is not winning by being good and long suffering. That is simply martyring one's self and the team thereby giving advantage to the psychopath and its followers.
If people like judges and prosecuters and law enforcement are to prevail agaist the psychopath and its enablers then the art of war must be deployed by them.
It is glaringly obvious being good and taking one for the team is not working. Strategic offensive strategies designed to destroy the psychology of the psychopath and its enablers will succeed. That has been proven by history.
A first effective step is for EVERYONE to STOP referring to the psychopath as President in some form. Call the psychopath what it is and degrade its position by referring to its actual status: Mister. A common citizen.
I can understand your frustration but there are multiple ways to effectively fight back against psychopaths. Some take longer than others but the slower and wider the strategy the more devastating the effect. Psychopaths, are by nature, lone wolves, but for their predatory activities to succeed they must be enabled by others on the sociopathic spectrum within our society. This is how the mafia and all other kind of criminal cartels function. They protect each other through a web of lies and cover ups. If one of them becomes too wounded by exposure they will expel them from the pack. Trump is simply the figurehead for a global criminal mafia. We need to take their entire structure down or he will simply be replaced.
Trump’s victims are not just taking one for the team or losing by enduring the suffering inflicted by him. It serves to publicly shine a light on their too often hidden or minimized criminal actions. Likewise carefully watching the actions or inactions of those around him in response to his violence invoking attacks on the children of judges and others indicates just who’s who within the global and MAGA criminal network. Shutting down Trump and Co is a long term enormous team effort.
I would love to have access to what you were taught about such people. I have someone in my life doing just what drumpf is, taking advantage of the pass we give first responders and his nice guy image to manipulate family and bully one of them. The embedded ones are so hard to deal with. What sort of strategic offensive strategies? Can you point me to resources?
A Canadian psychologist, Robert Hare, has written several good books including "Snakes in Suits" and "Without Conscience" and something called "The Psychopath's Checklist" (I think). Written for laypeople.
Behavior analysis. BF Skinner.
The man is a PINO.
Person In Name Only? I noted the reference to the psychopath as “it” and thought, that is how I think of Trump. He’s so profoundly broken. I think of people like him as someone born without a soul.
Check out the video he posted today -- an image of Biden tied up in the back of a maga pickup truck.
Could not agree more, thanks
@Sabrina, is there another effective step we could all take?
Around 1994, I was finishing up a prosecution on an individual charged with a violent felony. The defendant made a comment, loud enough for everyone to hear, about seeking revenge on me and any family I may have. Our court deputy, a County Sheriff Deputy, looked at me. I wrote down an address on a piece of paper. I gave it to the defendant and told him to stop by for his last day on earth. The deputy told the defendant, “And he means it.”
The defendant was murdered in prison allegedly for making violent threats against another inmate. Saved me any trouble he may have harbored towards me.
P.S. The address was the Sheriff’s Office.
OMG this guy is such a parasite on humanity. Why, WHY, WHY do they put up with this criminal? If Al Capone (trumps favorite criminal) was this blatantly threatening to any Judge he’d have been in jail long before he was eventually convicted.
It just makes ALL the rest of us recognize the 2 Tiered “justice system” where the Orange One is on top of the heap along with his cronies. ? When is Bannon going to jail…? He’s a convicted criminal who’s still out while Navarro has begun his prison stint.
It’s maddening and SCOTUS - OMG…are they considering “this guy Is above the law”?
I’m just so tired of this crook, scam artist and male whore getting away with Everything just because he’s a bully.
The silence from the GOP leaders and from Justice Roberts are deplorable.
I wouldn’t expect Roberts to comment. After all, he will be hearing all the appeals, and I don’t want him to comment and then recuse, leaving the lead to Thomas.
This case is in New York state court. I don’t believe it can go further than the New York Supreme Court. Not sure what the federal issue would be to allow it to go to SCOTUS.
The thumb on the scale SCOTUS has done is more than deplorable, a word to adequately describe it needs to be invented. Any Fla judge but suck ass Cannon would have wrapped that case long ago. Lawrence O'DONNELL nailed it when he said that Trump went to the last hearing to remind her that Clarence "may he rot in hell" Thomas' seat is hers if she keeps up the good work!
I don’t have words for how despicable trump is. My hope is Judge Walton will continue to speak out and get others to do the same.
I don’t understand the people that continue to follow him especially the so-called Christians. He is the antithesis of one.
The only thing I can think is that Republicans in office are afraid of him hurting them or their families.
He seems to know how to go to the very edge and realizes he will be able to appeal.
This is like a bad dream and I want to wake up now.
I’ll end with it was great to see President Biden with former Presidents Obama and Clinton.
To understand why people follow him - ‘Christian’s’, Republicans, etc - research cults and cult behavior.
Fear is part of the reason but not the fear you mention. It’s the fear that goes hand in hand with the hate they feel for all those not part of his/their cult. People who follow and bow down to trump do so because they fully agree with him. They already had the same racist, misogynistic, bigoted, hate and fear fueled beliefs or they are new to the ideas and beliefs and have chosen to fully buy into all the hate and fear he spews about all the “others” who are to blame for whatever they don’t like about their own lives and even themselves.
They aren’t poor ignorants who don’t know any better. They aren’t people who abhor him but choose to follow out of fear for their families or for the tax breaks. They agree with him.
It is so much easier to hate and blame others than to do the work of self awareness, figuring out how to be part of solving problems and doing the work to do so. Other factors - a sense of belonging, shared beliefs, permission to give voice to all those beliefs and grievances, solidarity for despicable actions (mob behavior) act as glue for the cult.
Those of us not in trump’s cult need to stop trying to find noble explanations (like protecting one’s family) for those who are. There aren’t any. Sometimes people really are as awful as they act, they really believe all the ugliness.
I recommend the book White Rural Rage (Schaller & Waldman). It explains the reasons and holds those who are part of the cult fully accountable for their choices and actions.
Have any historical cult leaders had a larger following?
Will any future cult leaders have an even larger following??
Read Ruth Ben-Ghist’s book “Strongmen”. It is full of examples.
Jesus
Well said!!!
The Christian thing isn't hard to understand if you turn over its dark side. The perpetual threat of hell, the demands to worship someone who bargains for souls with Satan, the cruelty of the cross motif. These folks have taken their victimhood and woman shaming to heart. Eve set evil on the world.
Drumpf embodies this wicked view of god.
As someone who was raised in a hate & fear based evilangelical religious cult I was with you until you blamed Eve. Other than that, yep, you’re correct. So much hatred, evil, discrimination, abuses of every kind & genocide have been and still are fueled by religion.
I didn't blame Eve. The myth book called the babble blames Eve. Much like the Greeks blamed Pandora, and every penis-celebrating religion blames women. That's the core hatred in this world, the envy of men that only women create life.
Oh honey, men could never handle pregnancy let alone labor and delivery.
If judge Merchan’s daughter gets killed because he allowed Trump to target her, he’ll wish to god he’d been “unseemly” and chose to protect his daughter. Today Trump again gave out her name, Loren Merchan, to his followers in a post and called her a “rabid Trump hater!”
Yes - I think Judge Merchan has made a grave mistake not protecting himself, his daughter, and the chief prosecutor ... legal niceties and the avoidance of 'unseemly' restrictions on Trump's freedom of speech shouldn't apply when we're dealing with an unconstrained lunatic. Legal niceties discussed over port and cigars at Yale and Harvard are not in play here.
I take the point that over-restriction might lead to an appeal and further delay - but the price of that is that Trump gets to do what he wants. And who reads Truth Social anyway - perhaps the rational media should simply refrain from reporting any of his outpourings, and no one would know or care.
He wants the trial. He wants a "final" solution, a conviction, and soonest. I think he's familiar with lower rung thugs like this more than we are. I trust his judgement.
Rule of law must be seen to be as objective as is humanly possible. Those holding the highest judicial office knew what heavy responsibility they were taking on. If the judiciary began to whole scale openly take political sides against any defendant it could no longer lay claim to enabling true justice being seen to be done.
Northern Ireland is a case in point. This kind of bigoted faux justice is rife here. It serves only the most corrupt in society, and this cruel social injustice creates slow burning civil conflict. Not advised.
So what is Clarence Thomas's problem? He doesn't care if he doesn't seem impartial.
He too is untouchable. Unaccountable. Lifetime appts. SCOTUS has put itself above the law as it has put Trump above the law. We need to be thinking about how to remove that factor for all of them, asap.
Agreed!
In a courtroom far from quiet, amidst the circus and the riot,
Stands a figure, quite defiant, with a history none can deny it.
Oh, the tale is rich and sordid, of a payment poorly recorded,
To a star whose tales afforded, scandals that could not be boarded.
Enter Judge, with gavel heavy, in a case that's rather heady,
Imposes silence, firm and steady, on the lips that were too ready.
"Enough!" declares the magistrate, "Your words, sir, do more than agitate.
They threaten, inflame, and denigrate, this I can no longer tolerate."
Trump, the subject of this action, with a penchant for distraction,
Finds himself a main attraction, in a drama minus satisfaction.
Charged with falsities in ledger, for a sum to quiet a bedder,
Pleads not guilty, claims a wedger, in a plot to oust him, ever clever.
The gag order, oh how it bites, restricts his fiery rally nights,
No more can he air his fights, against those he claims obstruct his rights.
Yet, on Bragg and Merchan, he may speak, a loophole, so to speak,
To criticize, to lambast, to critique, in this legal game of hide and seek.
Merchan's daughter, not spared by fame, dragged into the social media frame,
By Trump, who never plays the game, without ensuring he spreads the blame.
Security heightened, fears abound, for those whose names in files are found,
As threats and anger do surround, the courthouse, now a battleground.
So here we stand, in anticipation, of a trial that grips the nation,
With a gag order in place, a limitation, on a saga that defies simplification.
Oh, if you were here today, what fiery words might you say?
Would you laugh, or would you bray, at the spectacle on display?
For in this courtroom drama, so bizarre, where truth and fiction blur and mar,
We find our characters, near and far, tangled in a web that scars.
And so we watch, with bated breath, as this tale unfolds its self,
A story of power, lies, and wealth, in a nation's quest for moral health.
Beautiful as always Gloria!! ❤️❤️❤️
Gloria, you are a rap artist! and a darn good one!!
Thanks for this tonight, Joyce!!
But please, clarify that he's not the president now. I'd love to see you add FORMER in all caps, as in "...no prosecutor, judge, juror or witness signs up for is being threatened by the FORMER president of the United States."
He's hawking for $59.99 (rather than $69)...and from what I understand, they can even be read upside down. What a bargain!!
I agree. FORMER President.
Refer to him as President Biden's predecessor in all things. That would kick him where it hurts.
Or just MR Trump...sir, of course. (Or maybe the Scots' "mangled apricot hellbeast" which is one of my favorites.
Where are the "supposedly decent Republicans" on this issue. What on Earth, can this slug slime do to them that would be worse? Why isn't George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, Kevin McCarthy, an all the Republicans who have walked out of their posts joining ion a statement to condemn the trumpster for such unamerican behavior? We, on the Liberal Progressive aside are always calling him out, if what's left of the Grand Old Party doesn't get on the wagon soon there will be no decent people left to form a new party from the wreckage trump leaves behind.
Adam Kinzinger is doing everything he can to call out Trump’s unfitness and defeat him. I subscribe to his SubStack blog. https://open.substack.com/pub/adamkinzinger/p/trump-is-physically-mentally-and?r=dpmrd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you Gary. Both the Cheney's have also called out trump. I'm just angry that the trumpster is still alive and walking free - why is that only the good guys get punished.
You apparently did not see Liz Cheney’s interview today in which she commented on the SCOTUS and others enabling Trump.
How far can Trump go in attacking a judge’s family? Is there an obstacle to the judges daughter not seeking redress in court? In other words sue him for intimidation, slander, threats via implication (surely there’s something akin to that but I’ve no idea tbh). (As in “who will rid me of this troublesome priest” language)
Judges do understand what they may be subjected to, though it’s often horrific as we know. But his daughter should be off limits.
Amen, she is NOT an officer of the court!
worst blowhard on the planet. an evil, cheating golfer. if her were on the Apprentice, he'd be fired. I yield back my time...have to read my novel. Peace.
I heard on Legal AF podcast a great new name for him: a cockroach
I'm still fond of cocksplat. It came from his visit to Scotland expecting local adulation. Instead they flew the Mexican flag over his golf course and the route was lined with signs touting the Orange Cocksplat and of course the diapered baby trump blimp.
Gotta love the Scots.
Favorite Scots word: Hurkle-Durkle, laying up in bed long after waking up just because you can. Like me right now. In retirement it’s my luxury.
I liked "mangled apricot hellbeast." Or "polyester cockwomble." Nobody curses like the Scots!
Not fair to cockroaches and they flee in the light
Thank you for a couple of much-needed laughs
Bill, I do get such pleasure from your posts!
Thanks once again dear Joyce for your clear and concise commentary. I still cannot understand why he is walking free when anyone else would be behind bars by now.
It seems, however, he is getting more desperate by the day. I can only hope he implodes before November. I just pray no one else gets hurt or injured while he self-destructs. May God keep everyone safe and Go Joe and Kamala!!
Thanks again Joyce!! We love you!! Thanks for all you do. ❤️🇺🇸💙
Maybe he cannot even afford the lowered bond amount for the fraud case?
That's possible too Louise. Now wouldn't that be funny!!
Yeah, if he's got so much money why hasn't he paid it?
He imploded today. Posted a video of an image of President Biden tied up in the back of a maga pickup truck. Will anything be done about that?
Spontaneous combustion
🤯