Funny that they don't seem to be worried about that in France.

I think the fact that a lot of wealthy people commit these crimes too plays a role. If you go after him, the question becomes why not go after the other criminals?

Being rich protects him far more than the Presidency.

I would also argue that going after each others criminals would be good for the country. Like it would be great if Republicans took over and arrested Pelosi for insider trading. Imagine how many of these crooks would think twice about running if they were under a huge microscope.

Half of Congress is committing financial crimes constantly. Most are taking bribes. Matt Gaetz raped a minor for heavens sake

I think the only way that happens is if the parties start eating their own more. The other party doing it just looks like payback, and you'll have even more examples of people being investigated for things they aren't even guilty of. All of which requires an electorate that actually wants the corruption gone. I don't think we really have that.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I think Biden and others are seriously concerned that if Garland indicts Trump, dozens of Dems are going to be brought up on bogus charges in retaliation at the first opportunity and that any evidence of Trump's actual guilt will be overshadowed by the political optics, so he'll just be a political martyr to a third of the country regardless of how obvious his guilt is. And that's assuming he doesn't beat the charges, which is totally likely anyway.

Isn't that what Republicans are going to do anyway when they take over the House? I mean word of Biden's impeachment has been passed around.

There's going to be a purge one way or the other.

I don't disagree. I'm thinking Dr. Fauci ought to have a European safe house ready.

But to that point, Biden ran on this promise of unity and he's still operating on the old-time political belief that at the end of the day, the system will work and everything will become normal again, so why rock the boat, why perpetuate the temporary madness Trump caused. The further away in the rearview mirror, the less likely it comes back. That has to be the thinking. And I think it's naive and misguided.

It's a stark contrast when the NYC mayor says on the same day that this story was published that they are going back to aggressively prosecuting quality of life crimes like turnstile jumping.

(1) I do think that this is one of those situations where not going after Trump actually leads to less unity b/c you send the message that people can get away with open lawbreaking as long as they are powerful enough politicians. Which will just embolden the Trump 2.0 crowd.

(2) But I get this. The reality about most* prosecutors is that they like bottom fishing. They rack up easy convictions against poor people. In contrast, actually prosecuting Trump would be hard. He will have infinite resources to defend himself, and the prosecution would be a years-long battle in the courts and the media against a desperate sociopath who is used to fights like this and thrives off of them. You will have heavily armed MAGAs constantly threatening to kill you and your family. Half of Congress will be calling for your head. Truckers will probably get involved for some reason.

Isn't it better to just brag about the 1,000 turnstile jumpers you took off the street and go to your next fundraiser?

*When I say "most," I really do mean "most" and not "all." Some prosecutors are honorable people who really are in it for the right reasons and won't back down from a hard fight. That just does not seem to be the case here.

He clearly failed to read the room of the people that elected him.

Why would you need to be brought up on bogus charges when there are so many actual criminals you can choose from? There are also still judges that throw out cases for lack of evidence all the time. Juries still need to convict.

I feel like giving a segment of the population immunity from the law is worse than some bad optics or whatever the excuse is to not prosecute criminals.

From Trump's perspective, he doesn't want just anyone, he specifically wants to target certain people. Now, certain members of the GOP, sure, their goal might be to hurt the Dems with these kinds of prosecutions to assist with winning elections and remaining in power as a political party. But Trump doesn't care about the GOP or Dems, he just cares about himself. He's going to be on a personal revenge tour. So, evidence or not, he'll only be interested in targeting certain people.

LOL...

Donald Trump has filed a sprawling RICO case against Hillary Clinton and others, alleging a conspiracy to make him look compromised by Russia.

(Fact check: A GOP-led Senate panel found Russia used Manafort and WikiLeaks to try to help Trump's campaign)https://t.co/GzMjDpMT3C pic.twitter.com/vBEEuPJWjz

— Jan Wolfe (@JanNWolfe) March 24, 2022

Good Luck proving that one, though if it means Donald has to testify under oath, I'm all for it.

This will get tossed and he knows it, but it keeps his base engaged and excited.

Especially since it mentions Hillary

SI

Let me start by acknowledging that nothing will happen,

but it should be a national scandal that the wife of a SCOTUS member was texting the WH Chief of Staff and urging a coup.

100%

I mentioned on here a couple of days ago that it's amazing how much of a pass Clarence Thomas is getting with his wife's conduct. We have a sitting SC justice whose wife is an insurrectionist and blatant Q supporter that was constantly in touch with the Trump admin.

The people on here who are not lawyers may not get just how improper it is for a judge not to recuse himself from a case that directly involves his spouse.

And what’s really weird is that it was an unforced error. His participation in the case did not change the result.

Nothing will happen because at some point in the past some liberal did something bad, so bothsides. But it is a really delegitimizing look for the supreme court. The Chief Justice should’ve stepped in.

It is still surprising that people with that kind of access get suckered into the QAnon stuff. She was texting the Chief of Staff. She had access to the highest levels of government. Yet she was sending texts about people at Gitmo being tried by military tribunals. Her husband is on the Supreme Court.

The lead attorney on this case for Trump is a high school friend that wrote a book about him and has been suspended from practicing law twice for ethics violations in Florida.

You can't make this shit up.

I'm amazed Donald Trump has a high school friend.

Right? Even assuming that she and Justice Thomas never ever talked about his work, she is still texting the chief of staff at the White House.

It is one thing for some random truck driver in Ohio to get Q-pilled. But she could literally ask Mark Meadows about any conspiracy theory she had a question about. Instead, she is texting it to him like she is giving him information that he might not be aware of.

No one is immune.

That’s not true

It only seems to get one group of people


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Yeah, I'd love to see a list of conspiracy theories as wacky as QAnon that are subscribed to by, say, Democratic politicians elected to national office (House, Senate, POTUS).

The other hot take is because she is in contact with tbe highest levels of government, maybe it's all true... :p

Is it possible DeSantis would do better in the general election than Trump?

I think Trump would have to give DeSantis his blessing, but if he did would Trumpers vote him or stay home? I think there are a lot of people who won't vote Trump that would vote DeSantis.

If Pence and DeSantis were to both run against Trump I think they could do enough damage that DeSantis could win a primary against him. There are a lot of conservatives I'm seeing on social media message boards that like Trump policies but know the baggage makes it difficult for him to win in the general. They see DeSantis as Trump without the baggage.

My thoughts also.

If the left had a solid candidate I would say bring on Trump. Problem is they don't.

I think his best case scenario is that Trump is unable to run (dead, lolprison, etc). I think if that's the case, he'll get better ratings/votes than Trump because he doesn't have the negatives - all the message with less of the baggage and only a slightly toned down style.

However, if he's foolish enough to go head-to-head with Trump, there's no telling how much damage Trump can inflict on him. We've seen what he's done with others he's battled with in the past.

SI

I think DeSantis is 100% going to run.

I think Trump's hold on the GOP is tenuous at this point. There's no reason to attack him until his cards are on the table for 2024 because if he doesn't run then his endorsement does mean a lot. However, as soon as he decides I do think you start to see more direct attacks. A guy like Pence is unlikely to win but he can do a lot damage to a Trump campaign. DeSantis had a very strong poll at CPAC and some polling already has him in front of Trump in Florida.

I do think there is a segment of the Trump crowd that is, to a degree, "post-Trump" at this point. The monster has outgrown its creator in some ways. Witness Trump being booed when he talked about being vaccinated.

When they want a quote but you’re in a bit of a mood pic.twitter.com/An1Q8KAIfx

— NOHat (@Popehat) March 30, 2022

:+1:

In addition, I think he's setting himself up to try and out-Trump Trump.

I suspect what he might do is point out that while Trump may have promised a lot, he (DeSantis) has actually delivered on, say, banning CRT, banning the word "gay", tightly restricting voting rights, etc....

Desantis has never really faced a legitimate competitor in a race. I understand why people think he would be good (Trump minus the gaffes), but I also think he has zero charisma and has never been in a real fight before.

I think it is possible you are right, Rainmaker. DeSantis has no baggage right now because people barely know him outside of Florida. What happens when he is the front runner? Many a strong candidate has melted under national scrutiny. How does he react when he does get punched in the mouth with something from his past? Does he have the Trump-like Teflon? It is possible, but you can never know till it happens.

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I can see Trump not running if he thinks he'll lose in the general, but I don't see any GOPer beating him in a primary. How can DeSantis survive Trump turning him into goo the way he did Little Marco?

I for one, am SHOCKED


Trump’s Truth Social App Plummets in Traffic, Sees 93% Drop in Signups Since Launch Week (Exclusive)

I'm not sure Desantis does better than Trump. I don't think the Lincoln Project, suburban Republican types are returning to the GOP for someone like Desantis, and I don't think the Trumper types are as excited for him.

It is an obvious point, but the GOP holy grail is someone that looks like Glen Younkin to the suburban swing moms and looks like Trump to the base.

That's really hard to do.

It really is because their is definitely a loyalty test for much the Trump base. If you don't full on agree with even the craziest Trump position, then you are a RINO.

There's no way someone like him wins the primaries. But he can win a purple-blue state like Virginia if it's in a good situation

SI

He's definitely gearing up for it though. If you haven't heard the new campaign song written by Johnny Van Zant ... don't. Just know it exists.

I feel like Desantis has almost found this weird combination of seeming like an antagonist to Trump while trying to appeal to Trump supporters at the same time.

Someone like Hawley seems best positioned to get Trump die hards, but would then get next to no votes from anybody else.

Rudy Giuliani says his son's 'first act' as governor will be to fire DA who dropped Trump prosecution

I feel like I'm misunderstand this article. Did Giuliani want Trump to be prosecuted by New York?

Does anyone know why Space Force has suddenly become so important for Q theories regarding Trump? I'm usually at least casually aware of the common Q theories but even google is failing me now. The past couple of days I've seen several casual references to Space Force's importance in getting Trump back in office and I have no idea how this theory goes.

Does Space Force have anything else to do at the moment?

Well, Trump is a moon unit...

We've been attacked by extra terrestrials zero times since they were created so I assumed they've been busy.

That you know of ...

It's a variation on the "military (could be any branch and at times has been each of them I believe) has something like 290,000 arrest warrants for the deep state operatives and cabal. That any day now, they will announce martial law, round up all the bad guys and toss them in jail and return the former dear leader to his rightful place at the right hand of the father.

(ok, so I made that last part up; but it sounded good, and you get the idea; but the part about martial law being imminent is true. They do believe that) But like I said, it's been the army, marines, etc, now it just happens to be Space Force.

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives

63 Rs vote NAY to NATO.

The Coast Guard is the ones you really have to worry about.

Thread by @tzimmer_history on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App

Good wrap-up, I think. But "both sides" I'm sure.

Apparently Trump thinks its 'a little boring' without him in the national picture.

There's a heck of a lot to be said for boring.

Imagine thinking that a so-called rights revolution is something that should be rolled back.

Want to play "what if"? Trump is now saying he wished he had marched on the Capital. So:

What if Trump had marched with his followers on the Capital on 1/6? Could he have commanded the police force to step down? Could he have gotten his Secret Service agents to open a path for him and the crowd? Would the Capital security forces stop the President from entering? What would have happened?

lol

Judge restores Jan. 6 defendant’s gun rights over DOJ objection - POLITICO

I forgot this was the woman who the judge let go to Mexico on vacation. It pays to be white in this country.

I don't know but it would have taken 30 seconds for someone to create a YouTube video with Symphony of Destruction as the soundtrack.

I imagine they would have been let in and been allowed to do whatever they wanted to. Not like the Capitol Police put much of a fight up anyways.

I imagine that fat fuck having a heart attack from walking that far, let alone walking up steps.

2 acquitted, 2 mistrials in Michigan governor kidnap plot

Looks like the FBI/prosecutors screwed this one up.

Reading through the case, it does seem like there was some entrapment there. And it is an FBI calling card to do this kind of stuff. A lot of "we stopped a terror plot" that was really "we had an FBI agent undercover trying to talk some idiots into committing a violent act".

It does seem like the right verdict and some smart legal folks are saying the same. But having seen similar cases go against Muslims, it does feel like being white helped them an awful lot.

Thoughts on the Meadows/donJr text message exchange? Does it rise to conspiracy? It would seem to be pretty cut and dried to me.

I imagine how see you see it lies in the partisanship of the beholder. It seems pretty clear cut to me as well, but if you believe the election was stolen then all Don Jr. was doing encourage Meadows not to let the crazy liberals get away with it.

I would suspect it may be less of a big deal if Trump didn’t have all of his family on his campaign payroll. I think it would be one thing if it is a family member, in denial, fantasizing out loud. But Trump had everyone drawing six figure salaries from his campaign and that seems like they would deserve more scrutiny.

Like everything else nothing will happen. Garland is a dickless wonder who is terrified of the appearance of the process being politicized.

I believe Garland was chosen based on what Biden wanted. He has this fantasy that unity and bipartisanship still works and that prosecuting political figures for things that are interconnected with partisan issues will destroy the country (apparently in a different way than it is on a path to destruction now).

I'm sure Hunter Biden sells painting for more than they are worth because people want to get close to his Dad. But it's still astounding to me how the media has mostly treated that as the same as Trump's kid trying to overthrow the United States government.

Justice is moving so slowly it's irrelevant.

I got another guessing game: when the Republicans take over the House next year, how many times will they impeach Biden? I say they will try multiple times, but they are going to want to hit at least two because Trump was impeached twice. Can they pull off three or more impeachments in two years?

Let them. Then I hope the senate votes to remove him. BAM!! Say hello to President Harris!!

Will leadership go for the "elect Trump Speaker and impeach everyone above him" plan? That's what I'm curious about. Are they going to act out the fantasy because they can?

I don't think Trump wants anything to do with that. It's actual work. He wants to do his rallies and hold court at Mar A Lago.

I don't know. The revenge factor would be strong with that plan. Just the idea of him presiding our Congress would make it difficult to wipe the smile off his face.

I've posted this before, but I was once in a similar situation professionally where a series of orders we issued were thrown out because the person signing them did not have authority to issue them (despite what we were told). The process was to have the governor appoint someone. Leadership thought it would be hilarious to have the governor appoint the same guy who had signed the first orders as an F U to the other side. And that's exactly what they did.

This reminds me of that situation, on a much grander scale, of course. You do it because you can and because it drives home the point that resistance is futile - we get what we want one way or the other.

Any of these plans reduce the US to Banana Republic levels of legitimacy.

I've been wondering lately, while we're on impeachment and the house and all that jazz. Say (fates forbid) something happens to Biden or Harris. Odds Rs would force the VP role to remain vacant? Has to be pretty high, right?

100% chance of no VP replacement.

Dola- I guess it’s possible Murkowski or Collins or Romney could all become VP.

So like 0% chance of replacement when it’s 50/50 if he croaks before the midterm. And a slight chance of a neutered option after the midterms but like a 1% chance.

Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince, a close ally during the Trump administration, despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal. https://t.co/FDlmrzvYdw pic.twitter.com/OHfyPVHsHN

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 10, 2022

I would be shocked if they could ever get the number needed in the Senate to convict. If they could, then both of them would be kicked.

I meant more the dems should also vote to remove to purposely put Harris in place.

Trump is sitting on $105 million for a potential reelection campaign and Republicans are starting to complain that he isn't using any of it to help 2022. He's donated just 200k so far and that has gone almost entirely to people running against those that either voted to impeach or those that voted to certify the 2020 election.

The Trump campaign's response was basically his endorsement boosts a candidate's fundraising so he doesn't have to donate.

I'm not sure how many ways this guy can show he's only about himself yet people will continue to go along believing he's going to look out for them.

To be fair, with the exception of a few of the really dull ones they all know who and what he is.

It's fun to laugh at the Ted Cruzes of the world, but lets not pretend they are stupid. They know exactly what he is but also realize their base doesn't, so they have to toe the line.

Jr's text to Meadows shows how Trump Sr. has better instincts than his son does.

Junior sent a text effectively saying "Hey, we have the power to overturn the election, so let's do it." That's a really bad text to have sent.

Had Don Sr. sent it, he would have been sure to preface it with some reference to the fraud and how everyone knows he really won, so let's make sure the truth comes out.

It would have been the same thing: plotting a coup. But Trump Sr. always knows to give himself the patina of deniability. Junior is just too . . . crude. He does not quite get when you need to give lip service to the lie.

I imagine what the McConnells/Cruzes want is for Trump to go away but to not have the GOP be the ones to do it. Either the Dems or a heart attack or something.

They want to keep Trumpism but without the electoral liability of Trump himself. And without his base blaming them for doing anything.

Glad I didn't go to Penn

TBF, it's hard to overcome the coke.

Yep. Most politicians don't get to that kind of position without learning to extract the maximum from a situation.

Hopefully they nail him pretty good.

If they don't make an example of the guy who literally sat at the desk of the Speaker of the House, feet up, with a shit eating white privilege grin on his face just shut it all down.

I can't tell if these guys are this stupid, or if they actually think it was their right to be there since it is "the peoples house"

I think they're now betting on a lot of Pardons come 2023

Yeah, they may as well run out the clock and hope for a pardon once trump takes office again.

Two unrelated stories.

Former NC congressman, chief of staff to Trump removed from state voter rolls :: WRAL.com

Homeless man sister calls mentally ill is 1st arrest in Florida voter fraud investigation | WEAR

WTF is this headline?

50 hours of community service.

Two men from The Villages admit to casting multiple ballots in 2020 election - Orlando Sentinel

5 years in prison

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...ppeal-n1262691