Trumps Indictment: Historical and Future Implications III
March 22, 2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
MAR 23, 2024
As expected, Trump’s team has reorganized the Republican National Committee’s donation system, arranging for maximum donations to go first to Trump’s presidential campaign, then to Trump’s Save America political action committee, and finally to the RNC to elect down ballot candidates. The Save America PAC pays Trump’s legal bills. So far in 2024 it has spent $8.5 million on them. In essence, this new flow means Trump is using the RNC to raise money that is then diverted to him.
This morning, conservative lawyer George Conway suggested that “we should stop defiling the memory of the party of Lincoln by referring to the current organization” as the Republican Party.
Midnight tonight was the deadline for the continuing resolution that was funding much of the government, and the House finally passed the necessary appropriations bills this morning, just hours before the deadline, by a vote of 286–134. Democrats put the bill over the top, adding 185 yea votes to the 101 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. In a blow to House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), 112 Republicans joined 22 Democrats to vote against the measure..
As soon as the bill passed, Johnson recessed the House until April 9.
Because the deadline to prevent a government shutdown was so tight, the Senate needed to take the House measure up immediately. But Senate rules mean that such a quick turnaround needs unanimous consent, and right-wing senators refused to give it.
Instead, Republican senators Ted Budd (NC), Mike Lee (UT), Ted Cruz (TX), and Rand Paul (KY) demanded votes on extremist amendments to try to jam Democrats into a bind before the upcoming election. If the amendments passed, the government would shut down for the purely mechanical reason that the House can’t consider any amendments until it gets back to work in April. So the Democrats would certainly vote against any amendments to keep the government open. But this would mean they were on record with unpopular votes in an election year.
The demand for amendments was partisan posturing, but the delay was particularly nasty: Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who was a key negotiator of the bill, needed to get back to Maine for her mother’s funeral.
In the House, the passage of the appropriations bill and the recess prompted significant changes. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) announced she is stepping down from chairing the Appropriations Committee.
Another Republican representative, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, announced he will leave Congress early, stepping down on April 19. Gallagher is chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and has voiced frustration with the current state of his party. His absence will shave the Republican House majority to just one vote, and the timing of his departure means he will not be replaced this session. Wisconsin law leaves any vacancy after the second Tuesday in April until the general election.
Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) announced last week that he, too, was leaving Congress early, complaining that “[t]his place has just evolved into…bickering and nonsense.” Today was his last day in the House. Before he left, he became the first Republican to sign on to the discharge petitions that would bring Ukraine aid to the floor even without House speaker Johnson’s support.
Despite the frustration of their colleagues, extremist Republicans are not backing down. After the appropriations measure passed, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told reporters she has filed a motion to vacate the chair to punish Johnson for permitting the bill to pass without more extremist demands. Her threat will hang over the two-week break, but it is not clear what the House will do with her motion; they might simply bottle it up in committee.
Greene might not push a vote on the speaker right now in part because of pressure from her colleagues to cut it out. They understand that the extraordinary dysfunction of the House under Republicans’ control is hurting them before the 2024 election, and another speaker fight would only add to the chaos. There is also the reality that with such a small majority, Johnson would have to rely on Democrats to save his speakership if it were challenged, and a number of them have suggested they would vote to keep him in the chair if he would agree to bring a vote on aid for Ukraine to the floor.
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN that he would “make common cause with anybody who will stand up for the people of Ukraine, anybody who will get desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and anybody who will work for a two state solution. I’m up for conversations with anybody.”
The cost of Johnson’s withholding of assistance for Ukraine is mounting. Last night, Russia launched the largest barrages of missiles and drones since its war began at Ukraine’s power grid, leaving more than a million people without power and degrading Ukraine’s energy sector. The Institute for the Study of War assessed today that “continued delays in Western security assistance…are reportedly expected to significantly constrain Ukraine‘s air defense umbrella,” leaving Ukrainian forces unable to defend against missile attacks. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky once again begged for aid, saying: “Russian missiles do not suffer delays in the way aid packages to our country do. Shahed drones are not affected by indecision like some politicians are.”
Ukraine has been using drones to attack Russia’s oil refineries, but Russia had a new problem today as a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed at least 60 lives. The Islamic State's Afghan branch, known as ISIS-K, which advocates for civilian mass-casualty events to weaken governments, claimed responsibility for the attack.
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-22-2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
MAR 23, 2024
As expected, Trump’s team has reorganized the Republican National Committee’s donation system, arranging for maximum donations to go first to Trump’s presidential campaign, then to Trump’s Save America political action committee, and finally to the RNC to elect down ballot candidates. The Save America PAC pays Trump’s legal bills. So far in 2024 it has spent $8.5 million on them. In essence, this new flow means Trump is using the RNC to raise money that is then diverted to him.
This morning, conservative lawyer George Conway suggested that “we should stop defiling the memory of the party of Lincoln by referring to the current organization” as the Republican Party.
Midnight tonight was the deadline for the continuing resolution that was funding much of the government, and the House finally passed the necessary appropriations bills this morning, just hours before the deadline, by a vote of 286–134. Democrats put the bill over the top, adding 185 yea votes to the 101 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. In a blow to House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), 112 Republicans joined 22 Democrats to vote against the measure..
As soon as the bill passed, Johnson recessed the House until April 9.
Because the deadline to prevent a government shutdown was so tight, the Senate needed to take the House measure up immediately. But Senate rules mean that such a quick turnaround needs unanimous consent, and right-wing senators refused to give it.
Instead, Republican senators Ted Budd (NC), Mike Lee (UT), Ted Cruz (TX), and Rand Paul (KY) demanded votes on extremist amendments to try to jam Democrats into a bind before the upcoming election. If the amendments passed, the government would shut down for the purely mechanical reason that the House can’t consider any amendments until it gets back to work in April. So the Democrats would certainly vote against any amendments to keep the government open. But this would mean they were on record with unpopular votes in an election year.
The demand for amendments was partisan posturing, but the delay was particularly nasty: Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who was a key negotiator of the bill, needed to get back to Maine for her mother’s funeral.
In the House, the passage of the appropriations bill and the recess prompted significant changes. Representative Kay Granger (R-TX) announced she is stepping down from chairing the Appropriations Committee.
Another Republican representative, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, announced he will leave Congress early, stepping down on April 19. Gallagher is chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and has voiced frustration with the current state of his party. His absence will shave the Republican House majority to just one vote, and the timing of his departure means he will not be replaced this session. Wisconsin law leaves any vacancy after the second Tuesday in April until the general election.
Representative Ken Buck (R-CO) announced last week that he, too, was leaving Congress early, complaining that “[t]his place has just evolved into…bickering and nonsense.” Today was his last day in the House. Before he left, he became the first Republican to sign on to the discharge petitions that would bring Ukraine aid to the floor even without House speaker Johnson’s support.
Despite the frustration of their colleagues, extremist Republicans are not backing down. After the appropriations measure passed, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told reporters she has filed a motion to vacate the chair to punish Johnson for permitting the bill to pass without more extremist demands. Her threat will hang over the two-week break, but it is not clear what the House will do with her motion; they might simply bottle it up in committee.
Greene might not push a vote on the speaker right now in part because of pressure from her colleagues to cut it out. They understand that the extraordinary dysfunction of the House under Republicans’ control is hurting them before the 2024 election, and another speaker fight would only add to the chaos. There is also the reality that with such a small majority, Johnson would have to rely on Democrats to save his speakership if it were challenged, and a number of them have suggested they would vote to keep him in the chair if he would agree to bring a vote on aid for Ukraine to the floor.
Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN that he would “make common cause with anybody who will stand up for the people of Ukraine, anybody who will get desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and anybody who will work for a two state solution. I’m up for conversations with anybody.”
The cost of Johnson’s withholding of assistance for Ukraine is mounting. Last night, Russia launched the largest barrages of missiles and drones since its war began at Ukraine’s power grid, leaving more than a million people without power and degrading Ukraine’s energy sector. The Institute for the Study of War assessed today that “continued delays in Western security assistance…are reportedly expected to significantly constrain Ukraine‘s air defense umbrella,” leaving Ukrainian forces unable to defend against missile attacks. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky once again begged for aid, saying: “Russian missiles do not suffer delays in the way aid packages to our country do. Shahed drones are not affected by indecision like some politicians are.”
Ukraine has been using drones to attack Russia’s oil refineries, but Russia had a new problem today as a deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall claimed at least 60 lives. The Islamic State's Afghan branch, known as ISIS-K, which advocates for civilian mass-casualty events to weaken governments, claimed responsibility for the attack.
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-22-2024
Here's a reason to love DUP, Ahavati, and this thread...
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/william-morris-i-do-not-want-art-for-a-few
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/william-morris-i-do-not-want-art-for-a-few
200,000 deportation cases of criminals dismissed because the Biden regime failed to file the paperwork. .
Must be an election year where replacing voters is the main motiv operandi ...
But of course, according to this thread, I am blind to reality and should support the arrest of Biden's opposition. .
https://youtube.com/shorts/6RD3oDIhifQ?si=ZQ2Zx8UexffQMWBE
Must be an election year where replacing voters is the main motiv operandi ...
But of course, according to this thread, I am blind to reality and should support the arrest of Biden's opposition. .
https://youtube.com/shorts/6RD3oDIhifQ?si=ZQ2Zx8UexffQMWBE
runaway-mindtrain said:200,000 deportation cases of criminals dismissed because the Biden regime failed to file the paperwork. .
Must be an election year where replacing voters is the main motiv operandi ...
But of course, according to this thread, I am blind to reality and should support the arrest of Biden's opposition. .
https://youtube.com/shorts/6RD3oDIhifQ?si=ZQ2Zx8UexffQMWBE
For a bit of perspective, here's an extract from the TRAC source report:
Nationally “No NTA Dismissals” Declining.
There is some good news to report about DHS performance. The number as well as the rate of these dismissals has recently been dropping. As previously reported, there was a rapid increase in their numbers through FY 2022. During FY 2022, monthly dismissals averaged over 6,600. Last year, during FY 2023, numbers fell slightly to an average of 5,700 each month. However, this year so far during FY 2024 monthly average dismissals have fallen to 2,100 – down 68 percent from their peak during FY 2022.
[...]
During this same time, Court filings in general have rapidly increased. During the 41 months spanning the start of FY 2021 to the end of February 2024, nine (9) percent of all new cases were dismissed for failure to file a timely NTA with the Immigration Court. But during the first five months of the current fiscal year (October 2023 – February 2024), this rate has fallen to just over one (1) percent.[4] See Table 1 and Figure 1. Thus, the number of cases dismissed have not only fallen but their rates of decline have been even more dramatic given the increase in total new removal cases.
TRAC Report:
https://trac.syr.edu/reports/739/
💐
Must be an election year where replacing voters is the main motiv operandi ...
But of course, according to this thread, I am blind to reality and should support the arrest of Biden's opposition. .
https://youtube.com/shorts/6RD3oDIhifQ?si=ZQ2Zx8UexffQMWBE
For a bit of perspective, here's an extract from the TRAC source report:
Nationally “No NTA Dismissals” Declining.
There is some good news to report about DHS performance. The number as well as the rate of these dismissals has recently been dropping. As previously reported, there was a rapid increase in their numbers through FY 2022. During FY 2022, monthly dismissals averaged over 6,600. Last year, during FY 2023, numbers fell slightly to an average of 5,700 each month. However, this year so far during FY 2024 monthly average dismissals have fallen to 2,100 – down 68 percent from their peak during FY 2022.
[...]
During this same time, Court filings in general have rapidly increased. During the 41 months spanning the start of FY 2021 to the end of February 2024, nine (9) percent of all new cases were dismissed for failure to file a timely NTA with the Immigration Court. But during the first five months of the current fiscal year (October 2023 – February 2024), this rate has fallen to just over one (1) percent.[4] See Table 1 and Figure 1. Thus, the number of cases dismissed have not only fallen but their rates of decline have been even more dramatic given the increase in total new removal cases.
TRAC Report:
https://trac.syr.edu/reports/739/
💐
MidnightSonneteer said:Here's a reason to love DUP, Ahavati, and this thread...
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/william-morris-i-do-not-want-art-for-a-few
Fabian socialist William Morris fought against the aristocracy in Britian that abused the working class. He disagreed with the classism of the privilege elite. That is not capitalism but rather a monarchy that still exist. He did not see the rise of socialist regimes in Russia, China and Germany that introduced and regimented "State" art in lue of the free expression of artist. It has been capitalism that spread and replaced more authoritarian government control of the people's ART...Writing, film production and music was greatly curtailed in every socialist regime that took power in the 20th century.
I agree that ultimate freedom of the inherent arts of the masses is necessary in all advanced societies, but the application of collectivist doctrine has been shown to be a detrimental force against such free thinkers ...
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/william-morris-i-do-not-want-art-for-a-few
Fabian socialist William Morris fought against the aristocracy in Britian that abused the working class. He disagreed with the classism of the privilege elite. That is not capitalism but rather a monarchy that still exist. He did not see the rise of socialist regimes in Russia, China and Germany that introduced and regimented "State" art in lue of the free expression of artist. It has been capitalism that spread and replaced more authoritarian government control of the people's ART...Writing, film production and music was greatly curtailed in every socialist regime that took power in the 20th century.
I agree that ultimate freedom of the inherent arts of the masses is necessary in all advanced societies, but the application of collectivist doctrine has been shown to be a detrimental force against such free thinkers ...
Very good!
Now examine the specifics of the application, be they collectivist or not.
Kinda like how 83% of immigrants, at least, are Christians, but does FOX ever focus on that?
https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mexico/
Now examine the specifics of the application, be they collectivist or not.
Kinda like how 83% of immigrants, at least, are Christians, but does FOX ever focus on that?
https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mexico/
MidnightSonneteer said:Here's a reason to love DUP, Ahavati, and this thread...
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/william-morris-i-do-not-want-art-for-a-few
There are not enough <3 for this post. Just what I needed to read this afternoon.
MidnightSonneteer said:Very good!
Now examine the specifics of the application, be they collectivist or not.
Kinda like how 83% of immigrants, at least, are Christians, but does FOX ever focus on that?
https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mexico/
Oof!
ajay said:
For a bit of perspective, here's an extract from the TRAC source report:
[ . . . ]
💐
Thank you, ajay. <3
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/william-morris-i-do-not-want-art-for-a-few
There are not enough <3 for this post. Just what I needed to read this afternoon.
MidnightSonneteer said:Very good!
Now examine the specifics of the application, be they collectivist or not.
Kinda like how 83% of immigrants, at least, are Christians, but does FOX ever focus on that?
https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mexico/
Oof!
ajay said:
For a bit of perspective, here's an extract from the TRAC source report:
[ . . . ]
💐
Thank you, ajay. <3
And F.Y.I. some more internationalist things to take the wind out of the "America first" rubbish.
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/the-socialism-of-william-morris-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/the-socialism-of-william-morris-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism
I heard that the grand jury investigation on the Epstein sex trafficking case will be released in July this year.
Mango Mussolini wants to prevent its release. Since he only cares about himself there must be some pretty incriminating evidence in there which would expose his pedophile history. Not that the MAGA crowd will care, they are only interested in making baseless accusations, not in prosecuting actual criminals.
Mango Mussolini wants to prevent its release. Since he only cares about himself there must be some pretty incriminating evidence in there which would expose his pedophile history. Not that the MAGA crowd will care, they are only interested in making baseless accusations, not in prosecuting actual criminals.
March 24, 2024 (Sunday)
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
MAR 25, 2024
The Senate passed the appropriations bill shortly after midnight on Saturday morning, and President Joe Biden signed it Saturday afternoon. In his statement after he signed the bill, Biden was clear: “Congress’s work isn’t finished,” he said. “The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests. And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement—the toughest and fairest reforms in decades—to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border. It’s time to get this done.”
House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has refused to bring forward the national security supplemental bill to fund Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and humanitarian aid to Gaza. He has also refused to bring forward the border security measure hammered out in the Senate after House Republicans demanded it and passed there on February 13. Johnson is doing the bidding of former president Trump, who opposes aid to Ukraine and border security measures.
Congress is on break and will not return to Washington, D.C., until the second week in April.
By then, political calculations may well have changed.
MAGA Republicans appear to be in trouble.
The House recessed on Friday for two weeks in utter disarray. On ABC News’s This Week, former representative Ken Buck (R-CO), who left Congress Friday, complained that House Republicans were focusing “on messaging bills that get us nowhere” rather than addressing the country’s problems. He called Congress “dysfunctional.”
On Friday, NBC announced it was hiring former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel as a political analyst. Today the main political story in the U.S. was the ferocious backlash to that decision. McDaniel not only defended Trump, attacked the press, and gaslit reporters, she also participated in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In an interview with Kristen Welker this morning on NBC’s Meet the Press—Welker was quick to point out that the interview had been arranged long before she learned of the hiring— McDaniel explained away her support for Trump’s promise to pardon those convicted for their participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by saying, “When you’re the RNC Chair, you kind of take one for the whole team.”
That statement encapsulated Trump Republicans. In a democracy, the “team” is supposed to be the whole country. But Trump Republicans like McDaniel were willing to overthrow American democracy so long as it kept them in power.
That position is increasingly unpopular. Former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) wrote on social media: “Ronna facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot & his effort to pressure [Michigan] officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome. She spread his lies & called 1/6 ‘legitimate political discourse.’ That’s not ‘taking one for the team.’ It’s enabling criminality & depravity.”
McDaniel wants to be welcomed back into mainstream political discourse, but it appears that the window for such a makeover might have closed.
In the wake of Trump’s takeover of the RNC, mainstream Republicans are backing away from the party. Today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she could not “get behind Donald Trump” and expressed “regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.” She did not rule out leaving the Republican Party.
In Politico today, a piece on Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, by Adam Wren also isolated Trump from the pre-2016 Republican Party. Pence appears to be trying to reclaim the mantle of that earlier incarnation of the party, backed as he is by right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow (who has funded Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over the years) and the Koch network. Wren’s piece says Pence is focusing these days on “a nonprofit policy shop aimed at advancing conservative ideals.” Wren suggested that Pence’s public split from Trump is “the latest sign that Trumpism is now permanently and irrevocably divorced from its initial marriage of convenience with…Reaganism.”
Trump appears to believe his power over his base means he doesn’t need the established Republicans. But that power came from Trump’s aura of invincibility, which is now in very real crisis thanks to Trump’s growing money troubles. [TODAY] is the deadline for him to produce either the cash or a bond to cover the $454 million he owes to the people of the state of New York in fines and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains for fraud.
Trump does not appear to have the necessary cash and has been unable to get a bond. He claims a bond of such size is “unprecedented, and practically impossible for ANY Company, including one as successful as mine," and that "[t]he Bonding Companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size, before, nor do they have the ability to post such a bond, even if they wanted to.” But Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact corrected the record: it is not uncommon for companies in civil litigation cases to post bonds of more than $1 billion.
Trump made his political career on his image as a successful and fabulously wealthy businessman. Today, “Don Poorleone” trended on X (formerly Twitter).
The backlash to McDaniel’s hiring at NBC also suggests a media shift against news designed to grab eyeballs, the sort of media that has fed the MAGA movement. According to Mike Allen of Axios, NBC executives unanimously supported hiring McDaniel. A memo from Carrie Budoff Brown, who is in charge of the political coverage at NBC News, said McDaniel would help the outlet examine “the diverse perspectives of American voters.” This appears to mean she would appeal to Trump voters, bringing more viewers to the platform.
But former Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd took a strong stand against adding McDaniel to a news organization, noting her “credibility issues” and that “many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting [and] character assassination.”
This pushback against news media as entertainment recalls the 1890s, when American newspapers were highly partisan and gravitated toward more and more sensational headlines and exaggerated stories to increase sales. That publication model led to a circulation war between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal that is widely—and almost certainly inaccurately—blamed for pushing the United States into war with Spain in 1898.
More accurate, though, is that the sensationalism of what was known as “yellow journalism” created a backlash that gave rise to new investigative journalism designed to move away from partisanship and explain clearly to readers what was happening in American politics and economics. In 1893, McClure’s Magazine appeared, offering in-depth examinations of the workings of corporations and city governments and launching a new era of reform.
Three years later, publisher Adolph Ochs bought the New York Times and put up New York City’s first electric sign to advertise, in nearly 2,700 individual lights of red, white, blue, and green, that it would push back against yellow journalism by publishing “ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT.” Ochs added that motto to the masthead. With his determination to provide nonpartisan news without sensationalism, in just under 40 years, Ochs took over the paper from just over 20,000 readers to more than 465,000, and turned the New York Times into a newspaper of record.
In that era that looks so much like our own, the national mood had changed.
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-24-2024-sunday
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
MAR 25, 2024
The Senate passed the appropriations bill shortly after midnight on Saturday morning, and President Joe Biden signed it Saturday afternoon. In his statement after he signed the bill, Biden was clear: “Congress’s work isn’t finished,” he said. “The House must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental to advance our national security interests. And Congress must pass the bipartisan border security agreement—the toughest and fairest reforms in decades—to ensure we have the policies and funding needed to secure the border. It’s time to get this done.”
House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has refused to bring forward the national security supplemental bill to fund Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific, and humanitarian aid to Gaza. He has also refused to bring forward the border security measure hammered out in the Senate after House Republicans demanded it and passed there on February 13. Johnson is doing the bidding of former president Trump, who opposes aid to Ukraine and border security measures.
Congress is on break and will not return to Washington, D.C., until the second week in April.
By then, political calculations may well have changed.
MAGA Republicans appear to be in trouble.
The House recessed on Friday for two weeks in utter disarray. On ABC News’s This Week, former representative Ken Buck (R-CO), who left Congress Friday, complained that House Republicans were focusing “on messaging bills that get us nowhere” rather than addressing the country’s problems. He called Congress “dysfunctional.”
On Friday, NBC announced it was hiring former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel as a political analyst. Today the main political story in the U.S. was the ferocious backlash to that decision. McDaniel not only defended Trump, attacked the press, and gaslit reporters, she also participated in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In an interview with Kristen Welker this morning on NBC’s Meet the Press—Welker was quick to point out that the interview had been arranged long before she learned of the hiring— McDaniel explained away her support for Trump’s promise to pardon those convicted for their participation in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by saying, “When you’re the RNC Chair, you kind of take one for the whole team.”
That statement encapsulated Trump Republicans. In a democracy, the “team” is supposed to be the whole country. But Trump Republicans like McDaniel were willing to overthrow American democracy so long as it kept them in power.
That position is increasingly unpopular. Former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) wrote on social media: “Ronna facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot & his effort to pressure [Michigan] officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome. She spread his lies & called 1/6 ‘legitimate political discourse.’ That’s not ‘taking one for the team.’ It’s enabling criminality & depravity.”
McDaniel wants to be welcomed back into mainstream political discourse, but it appears that the window for such a makeover might have closed.
In the wake of Trump’s takeover of the RNC, mainstream Republicans are backing away from the party. Today, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she could not “get behind Donald Trump” and expressed “regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.” She did not rule out leaving the Republican Party.
In Politico today, a piece on Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, by Adam Wren also isolated Trump from the pre-2016 Republican Party. Pence appears to be trying to reclaim the mantle of that earlier incarnation of the party, backed as he is by right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow (who has funded Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas over the years) and the Koch network. Wren’s piece says Pence is focusing these days on “a nonprofit policy shop aimed at advancing conservative ideals.” Wren suggested that Pence’s public split from Trump is “the latest sign that Trumpism is now permanently and irrevocably divorced from its initial marriage of convenience with…Reaganism.”
Trump appears to believe his power over his base means he doesn’t need the established Republicans. But that power came from Trump’s aura of invincibility, which is now in very real crisis thanks to Trump’s growing money troubles. [TODAY] is the deadline for him to produce either the cash or a bond to cover the $454 million he owes to the people of the state of New York in fines and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains for fraud.
Trump does not appear to have the necessary cash and has been unable to get a bond. He claims a bond of such size is “unprecedented, and practically impossible for ANY Company, including one as successful as mine," and that "[t]he Bonding Companies have never heard of such a bond, of this size, before, nor do they have the ability to post such a bond, even if they wanted to.” But Louis Jacobson of PolitiFact corrected the record: it is not uncommon for companies in civil litigation cases to post bonds of more than $1 billion.
Trump made his political career on his image as a successful and fabulously wealthy businessman. Today, “Don Poorleone” trended on X (formerly Twitter).
The backlash to McDaniel’s hiring at NBC also suggests a media shift against news designed to grab eyeballs, the sort of media that has fed the MAGA movement. According to Mike Allen of Axios, NBC executives unanimously supported hiring McDaniel. A memo from Carrie Budoff Brown, who is in charge of the political coverage at NBC News, said McDaniel would help the outlet examine “the diverse perspectives of American voters.” This appears to mean she would appeal to Trump voters, bringing more viewers to the platform.
But former Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd took a strong stand against adding McDaniel to a news organization, noting her “credibility issues” and that “many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting [and] character assassination.”
This pushback against news media as entertainment recalls the 1890s, when American newspapers were highly partisan and gravitated toward more and more sensational headlines and exaggerated stories to increase sales. That publication model led to a circulation war between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal that is widely—and almost certainly inaccurately—blamed for pushing the United States into war with Spain in 1898.
More accurate, though, is that the sensationalism of what was known as “yellow journalism” created a backlash that gave rise to new investigative journalism designed to move away from partisanship and explain clearly to readers what was happening in American politics and economics. In 1893, McClure’s Magazine appeared, offering in-depth examinations of the workings of corporations and city governments and launching a new era of reform.
Three years later, publisher Adolph Ochs bought the New York Times and put up New York City’s first electric sign to advertise, in nearly 2,700 individual lights of red, white, blue, and green, that it would push back against yellow journalism by publishing “ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT.” Ochs added that motto to the masthead. With his determination to provide nonpartisan news without sensationalism, in just under 40 years, Ochs took over the paper from just over 20,000 readers to more than 465,000, and turned the New York Times into a newspaper of record.
In that era that looks so much like our own, the national mood had changed.
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-24-2024-sunday
Noble_Incubus said:I heard that the grand jury investigation on the Epstein sex trafficking case will be released in July this year.
Mango Mussolini wants to prevent its release. Since he only cares about himself there must be some pretty incriminating evidence in there which would expose his pedophile history. Not that the MAGA crowd will care, they are only interested in making baseless accusations, not in prosecuting actual criminals.
If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn't care what was released. Just like he wouldn't care about how quickly court dates were scheduled. But, no, he wants to push everything back in hopes of being elected and claiming presidential immunity to crimes he willingly committed.
Mango Mussolini wants to prevent its release. Since he only cares about himself there must be some pretty incriminating evidence in there which would expose his pedophile history. Not that the MAGA crowd will care, they are only interested in making baseless accusations, not in prosecuting actual criminals.
If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn't care what was released. Just like he wouldn't care about how quickly court dates were scheduled. But, no, he wants to push everything back in hopes of being elected and claiming presidential immunity to crimes he willingly committed.
MidnightSonneteer said:And F.Y.I. some more internationalist things to take the wind out of the "America first" rubbish.
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/the-socialism-of-william-morris-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism
FABULOUS!
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/03/the-socialism-of-william-morris-2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism
FABULOUS!
Ahavati said:
If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn't care what was released. Just like he wouldn't care about how quickly court dates were scheduled. But, no, he wants to push everything back in hopes of being elected and claiming presidential immunity to crimes he willingly committed.
Any normal person would want it released sooner, there will be strong evidence of criminal wrongdoing in those files and normal people want justice to be served. This highlights how unsavoury a character Trump is. The only actions we can expect from Trump are a) for him to do nothing because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself or b) to try to block or delay action because it will be incriminating for him.
If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn't care what was released. Just like he wouldn't care about how quickly court dates were scheduled. But, no, he wants to push everything back in hopes of being elected and claiming presidential immunity to crimes he willingly committed.
Any normal person would want it released sooner, there will be strong evidence of criminal wrongdoing in those files and normal people want justice to be served. This highlights how unsavoury a character Trump is. The only actions we can expect from Trump are a) for him to do nothing because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself or b) to try to block or delay action because it will be incriminating for him.
March 25, 2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
MAR 26, 2024
This morning The Boeing Company announced that the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplane division, Stan Deal, is leaving immediately. Chief executive officer Dave Calhoun is stepping down at the end of the year. Chair of the board Larry Kellner will not stand for reelection.
On January 5 a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 Max jetliner operated by Alaska Airlines while it was in flight. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately grounded about 170 similar Boeing planes operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory until they could be inspected. “The FAA’s first priority is keeping the flying public safe,” it said, and added: “The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 MAX to service.”
Last year an FAA investigation “observed a disconnect between Boeing’s senior management and other members of the organization on safety culture,” with employees worrying about retaliation for reporting safety issues. After the door plug blew off, an FAA audit of different aspects of the production process released two weeks ago found that Boeing failed 33 of 89 product audits. On March 9, Spencer S. Hsu, Ian Duncan, and Lori Aratani of the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the door plug failure.
Today, Boeing announced a change in leadership.
Also today, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su reminded readers of Teen Vogue, on the anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that killed 147 garment workers in New York City after their employer had locked the exits, of how that tragedy prompted the federal government to create “programs that generations of Americans have relied on for economic security and dignity, including a nationwide minimum wage, health and safety regulations, restrictions on child labor, and more.”
Each generation “has a duty to take the baton of progress from those who came before us,” Su said. She noted that industries whose workforces are mostly women or immigrants have historically often broken the law, exposing workers to dangerous conditions and withholding pay.
This problem persists in the present, and she reported that the Department of Labor is working to address it. For example, after three injuries at a plant outside Chicago, including the December 2022 death of a 29-year-old sanitation worker, the U.S. Department of Labor fined the company $2.8 million. And, earlier this year, the department recovered more than $1 million for 165 workers whose employer had cheated them of overtime pay, the largest settlement ever for California garment workers.
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced it has selected 33 projects from more than 20 states that will be awarded up to $6 billion to jump-start the elimination of carbon dioxide emissions from industries that are hard to adapt to green technologies. The projects will match federal monies to invest more than $20 billion toward commercial-scale decarbonization solutions for cement and concrete, chemicals and refining, metals including iron and steel, pulp and paper mills, and so on. The projects are funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and will create tens of thousands of jobs. The Department of Energy estimates that the funded projects will cut carbon emissions by an average of 77%.
All of these news items today—airplane safety, worker protection, and technologies to address climate change—reflect a government designed to protect the American people. The nonpartisan civil servants staffing the agencies responsible for that protection are the ones that MAGA Republicans call the Deep State and Trump has vowed to replace with his own loyalists.
For his part, as he faced cases in two different New York courts, Trump’s focus today was on the rule of law. He does not appear to be a fan of it.
March 25 was the deadline for Trump to produce a bond to cover the $454 million he owes to the people of the state of New York for fraud. But before New York attorney general Letitia James could begin to seize his assets this morning, a New York appeals court threw him a lifeline, cutting the size of the required bond to $175 million and giving him 10 more days to post it. The order also paused the enforcement of many of the penalties Judge Arthur Engoron had imposed. So, for the time being, Trump and his sons can continue to do business in New York, although their businesses remain under the supervision of an independent monitor.
The court’s order does not change Engoron’s judgment in the case. It simply puts the execution of that judgment on hold as Trump appeals it, which he must do on time.
In a different courtroom today, Judge Juan Merchan rejected further delaying tactics by Trump’s lawyers and set April 15 as the date for jury selection in the criminal case of election interference. This is the case in which Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments to people with damaging information about him before the 2016 election. This scheme gave Trump “an illegal edge in a razor-thin race,” as legal reporter Adam Klasfeld of Just Security put it.
Trump has said he will appeal.
Last week, Brian Beutler of Off Message noted that “Trump is scarcely running a presidential campaign…. [H]is efforts are overwhelmingly fixed on evading justice or mooting judgments he’s already lost by any means necessary. He’d ideally like to prevail in these efforts before the election, but the task will become much easier if he’s able to win or steal the presidency despite the legal peril.”
Trump appeared angry today at a press conference after Judge Merchan set a date for the start of the election interference case. He blamed President Joe Biden for his legal troubles, although the case is in New York. He insisted that holding him accountable for his behavior is itself “election interference.”
In a statement, the Biden camp replied: “Donald Trump is weak and desperate—both as a man and a candidate for President…. His campaign can’t raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.”
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-25-2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
MAR 26, 2024
This morning The Boeing Company announced that the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplane division, Stan Deal, is leaving immediately. Chief executive officer Dave Calhoun is stepping down at the end of the year. Chair of the board Larry Kellner will not stand for reelection.
On January 5 a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 Max jetliner operated by Alaska Airlines while it was in flight. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately grounded about 170 similar Boeing planes operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory until they could be inspected. “The FAA’s first priority is keeping the flying public safe,” it said, and added: “The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 MAX to service.”
Last year an FAA investigation “observed a disconnect between Boeing’s senior management and other members of the organization on safety culture,” with employees worrying about retaliation for reporting safety issues. After the door plug blew off, an FAA audit of different aspects of the production process released two weeks ago found that Boeing failed 33 of 89 product audits. On March 9, Spencer S. Hsu, Ian Duncan, and Lori Aratani of the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the door plug failure.
Today, Boeing announced a change in leadership.
Also today, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su reminded readers of Teen Vogue, on the anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that killed 147 garment workers in New York City after their employer had locked the exits, of how that tragedy prompted the federal government to create “programs that generations of Americans have relied on for economic security and dignity, including a nationwide minimum wage, health and safety regulations, restrictions on child labor, and more.”
Each generation “has a duty to take the baton of progress from those who came before us,” Su said. She noted that industries whose workforces are mostly women or immigrants have historically often broken the law, exposing workers to dangerous conditions and withholding pay.
This problem persists in the present, and she reported that the Department of Labor is working to address it. For example, after three injuries at a plant outside Chicago, including the December 2022 death of a 29-year-old sanitation worker, the U.S. Department of Labor fined the company $2.8 million. And, earlier this year, the department recovered more than $1 million for 165 workers whose employer had cheated them of overtime pay, the largest settlement ever for California garment workers.
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced it has selected 33 projects from more than 20 states that will be awarded up to $6 billion to jump-start the elimination of carbon dioxide emissions from industries that are hard to adapt to green technologies. The projects will match federal monies to invest more than $20 billion toward commercial-scale decarbonization solutions for cement and concrete, chemicals and refining, metals including iron and steel, pulp and paper mills, and so on. The projects are funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and will create tens of thousands of jobs. The Department of Energy estimates that the funded projects will cut carbon emissions by an average of 77%.
All of these news items today—airplane safety, worker protection, and technologies to address climate change—reflect a government designed to protect the American people. The nonpartisan civil servants staffing the agencies responsible for that protection are the ones that MAGA Republicans call the Deep State and Trump has vowed to replace with his own loyalists.
For his part, as he faced cases in two different New York courts, Trump’s focus today was on the rule of law. He does not appear to be a fan of it.
March 25 was the deadline for Trump to produce a bond to cover the $454 million he owes to the people of the state of New York for fraud. But before New York attorney general Letitia James could begin to seize his assets this morning, a New York appeals court threw him a lifeline, cutting the size of the required bond to $175 million and giving him 10 more days to post it. The order also paused the enforcement of many of the penalties Judge Arthur Engoron had imposed. So, for the time being, Trump and his sons can continue to do business in New York, although their businesses remain under the supervision of an independent monitor.
The court’s order does not change Engoron’s judgment in the case. It simply puts the execution of that judgment on hold as Trump appeals it, which he must do on time.
In a different courtroom today, Judge Juan Merchan rejected further delaying tactics by Trump’s lawyers and set April 15 as the date for jury selection in the criminal case of election interference. This is the case in which Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide payments to people with damaging information about him before the 2016 election. This scheme gave Trump “an illegal edge in a razor-thin race,” as legal reporter Adam Klasfeld of Just Security put it.
Trump has said he will appeal.
Last week, Brian Beutler of Off Message noted that “Trump is scarcely running a presidential campaign…. [H]is efforts are overwhelmingly fixed on evading justice or mooting judgments he’s already lost by any means necessary. He’d ideally like to prevail in these efforts before the election, but the task will become much easier if he’s able to win or steal the presidency despite the legal peril.”
Trump appeared angry today at a press conference after Judge Merchan set a date for the start of the election interference case. He blamed President Joe Biden for his legal troubles, although the case is in New York. He insisted that holding him accountable for his behavior is itself “election interference.”
In a statement, the Biden camp replied: “Donald Trump is weak and desperate—both as a man and a candidate for President…. His campaign can’t raise money, he is uninterested in campaigning outside his country club, and every time he opens his mouth, he pushes moderate and suburban voters away with his dangerous agenda.
“America deserves better than a feeble, confused, and tired Donald Trump.”
—
Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-25-2024
Noble_Incubus said:
Any normal person would want it released sooner, there will be strong evidence of criminal wrongdoing in those files and normal people want justice to be served. This highlights how unsavoury a character Trump is. The only actions we can expect from Trump are a) for him to do nothing because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself or b) to try to block or delay action because it will be incriminating for him.
Like anything incriminating would matter to his fanbase. This is what boggles my mind. He can rape, he can lie, he can cheat, he can steal, and it just doesn't matter. It's the mindset they support because it mirrors their own.
Any normal person would want it released sooner, there will be strong evidence of criminal wrongdoing in those files and normal people want justice to be served. This highlights how unsavoury a character Trump is. The only actions we can expect from Trump are a) for him to do nothing because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself or b) to try to block or delay action because it will be incriminating for him.
Like anything incriminating would matter to his fanbase. This is what boggles my mind. He can rape, he can lie, he can cheat, he can steal, and it just doesn't matter. It's the mindset they support because it mirrors their own.
