The willingness of a former top law enforcement official to support a candidate who has demonstrated autocratic tendencies and disregarded democratic principles shows just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically.
The willingness of a former top law enforcement official to support a candidate who has demonstrated autocratic tendencies and disregarded democratic principles shows just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically.
I am not sure that Barr, or for that matter Trump, are fanatics so much as sociopathic opportunists. The 9/11 hijackers were fanatics. I think most dictators are opportunists. They don't believe in anything outside of their own will to dominate. What ever stories they may tell themselves, I think they know they are total liars, but pride themselves in that skill.
I think they truly believe that there are people who deserve and people who are undeserving. It is the basis of all bigotry and allows events like the Holocaust to occur.
The most disturbing aspect, I believe in Heather's post today is the RED MAPPING! The Republicans have been playing the long game. The Democrats, I believe, think if they hold the Congress and the Presidency long enough they can get it all straightened out.
Unfortunately, Susan, the Republicans have honed their skill by marching in lockstep to force their views on all of us. Democrats are a more fractious group, and want to believe that all of us will manage to see the light and agree with our vision of inclusion and fairness. We're not there - yet.
Even if we are not fractured, their vote fraud alone with Gerrymandering and removing people from the voting rolls, last minute so they don't have time to straighten it out is the way they steal elections. The Nazi's rose to power when Germans didn't even really know what democracy was. Weimar Germany was their first time having a democratic government and that time period was so fraught with post war poverty from the rebuilding and the 33 billion dollar reparations they were charged, and the political fighting amongst the groups that were elected by the people, that they did not really get a chance to learn what a healthy democracy could be before accepting Hitler as their dictator since he promised to help them out of the economic catastrophe that the US stock market crash caused for the German economy. They had had exactly 15 years of Democracy in their entire history. Republicans come from a much longer history of democracy with none of this economic disaster and are still embracing a strong man promising to save them from their misery. It seems that they are just miserable people and in need of therapy, not Trump. The agenda and the people seem very disturbed by modern standards. Their goals all seems very medieval.
Linda, the manipulators of the GOP use their world view to convince their minions to do their bidding and fill their coffers. I agree with you that Germany's economy post-WWI, aggravated by the depression made them vulnerable to Hitler, and that we have no such exculpatory excuses for the embrace of Trump and his influencers. My guess is that this country's racist tendencies, in addition to many people refusing to accept any information other than what they see in social media or conservative television, makes many susceptible to false narrative. I just hate paying the consequences for their ignorance.
Don’t forget that our public education system was attacked by the Kochs and their ilk years ago. We have lost teaching sources, thought and tolerance, and our universities have become job training centers. “Shop” is gone from high schools as is home economics, which puts US at the mercy of corporate power and Madison Avenue.
I'm well aware of the attempts to gut public schools. "Moderate" Gov. Brian Kemp here in Georgia just signed into law a new school voucher bill for "underperforming public schools," giving parents @ $7,500 annually to send their children to private schools - yet another instance of undermining public education, rather than giving much needed financial aid to public education. Why would his ilk be concerned with preparing young people with skills that everyone really can use, whether or not they choose a university education or a trade to make a living?
There is a odd notion that the older an idea is the more true it is. While the persistence of ideas is worth noticing, it is not reliable evidence of truth. Relativity, women's suffrage, and antibiotics were all in place before I was born, but a great many aspects of human understanding have changed within my lifetime nevertheless, with substantial backing of logic and evidence, and a lot of aspects of the "good old days", while there were aspects worth preserving, were most definitely not so good. Authoritarians in the Supreme Court claim their interpretations are authentic because they claim to channel the minds of the framers, or even much older jurists, but the documents the framers penned does not credit them personally as the final authorities, but rather the public's endorsement of the PRINCIPLES they developed, with an understanding that the work remains in progress.
“Republicans from a much longer history of democracy”! Please amplify!
In North Carolina, those claiming the Republican label were formerly the southern democrats enthralled with Reagan who were also segregationists at heart!
The USA has officially been conceived as a "democracy" even if what that means has changed with the times. It is also does not mean that everyone within it is or supports democracy. Clearly Southern Democrats were not supporting of many of our democratic institutions. However, we are a country where the people elect representation, we do not have a monarch over us who is either appointed by other royalty, or the church, or inherits the job. In that we are a democracy since we revolted against King George and choose to have a different form of governance.
I'm not sure it's so much that Dems are "fractured" as that we are diverse. The rethugs are able to achieve their repulsive goals by marching - and having marched, for decades - in lockstep, which Dems do not. IMO, Dems acknowledge that different groups included within the Dem Party have some goals that are at odds with, or slow down or interfere in the achieving of, other groups within the Dem Party - and money is an issue as well, of course. We seem to be unable to work on a single goal at a time, because obvs there are SO MANY things we are called upon RIGHT NOW to undo and fix. I don't know what the solution would look like.
I agree with you, Lynn. I just hope that our many factions will put their differing goals aside long enough to not give in to the fatigue of the last eight years, and unite to give us a large enough majority to break the log jam. Primary should be the goal of righting the heavy listing of SCOTUS.
All the comments above give the dems a place to hide as they've been hiding for decades allowing all these policies to take place. Again, I will mention Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy that dems never tried and now republicans run roughshot over them.
Susan, they are certainly making the AntiChrist real in the person of death star. What we have is an already uncivil society becoming much worse once death star gave everyone carte blanche to be their worst selves. And in terms of execution, it doesn't even have to be explicit. Just ask Thomas Beckett. I think death star and his minions are experts at stirring the pot and letting others do the dirty deeds.
As I have maintained for a long time, the progressives have been resting on their laurels from the "progress" of the 60s and 70s while the fascist spawn of the 1939 coup attempt have been working diligently ever since for their next oppottunity. We have been asleep at the wheel far too long trying to make everyone feel good that it is now almost too late to save ourselves.
All the books written and publications screaming about all this have gone unread or been dismissed.
I could go on and on.....Their next opportunity is NOW!!
I think Satan is a personification of our own self-centered impulse gone beyond the bounds of "enlightened self interest"; when we cease to care if others are harmed by our behavior, or tell ourselves we are superior because of it. Was the deliberate separation and failure to track children of immigrants the work of a goat-horned supernatural monster, or antisocial human psychology? We have met the enemy and he is us. It's the same "GOP" either way.
I completely agree. Barr may have thought it would be curtains for Trump after the insurrection, so he admitted that he told Trump ‘the steal” was “bullsh*t.” But now, with Trump and Biden facing off, Barr wants the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to rule the roost. Barr knows Trump is a tool, so he will vote for the Right Wing Christian Theocratic Tool.
Wow, I’m not surprised he’ll do it. But I am surprised he admits it.
Thing is, the rats are swarming around the ship right now — One has to take note and wonder what the rats know. Do people like Barr really think they can admit this stuff and STILL win in November? Have they rigged and gerrymandered to such an extent that they will win, no matter how many of us vote blue?
NO - the gerrymander DOES NOT translate to statewide offices, like Gov. and Sec. of State. Gerrymandering (only) affects electoral boundaries with the state, like Congress and state house races. This is very significant, but DOES NOT come to play here.
ALL of the important states have ALL Democratic leadership in positions that matter - Secretary of State, Governor and I believe all of their site houses are controlled by Democrats ... MN, WI, MI and PA. Also, AZ has a fabulous Dem Gov and Sec of state
We have seen AZ and GA trend blue - the 2020 election proved that when the matters are most vital - the counting of ballots and the fending off of crazies in the courts - the adults in the positions of power carried forth to preserve our democracy
There is a lot of hot air and nonsense coming from conservative America, Fox, etc
"Don't worry, and be active," to paraphrase Simon Rosenberg, hopiumchronicles.org
This election. WILL BE a massive Blue Wave, of epic proportions. Mark my word, here on April 29, 2024.
My sense of worry never extends to NOT voting! Discouraging voting is not my intention. We need to turn out the strongest Vote Blue, Through and Through we can muster!
Republicans have put their energies — since the Reagan era, at least, and maybe even before — into gaining influence in exactly those governmental regions you mention, Frederick. It is why they thought that creating “uncertainty” about the vote counts in critical states in 2020 might throw those state Electors to their legislators, where Republicans had a lot of power.
IF key states — hell, MOST states — have strong Democratic representation in their local and statewide bodies, we have a much stronger chance of putting our governments, state AND federal, back on an even keel, and the rats can jump in the lake, for all I care …
Frederick, you are ignoring the gerrymandered Republican wins in the state houses and congress. The plan is to have CONGRESS decide the election. That means Trump wins. Don't be fooled!
Factually speaking, VP Harris WILL certify the election results, as determined by the factual vote counts and the respective factual electoral college results
The point James makes is that if, and it is sadly a VERY real possibility, neither candidate wins the prescribed total of electoral college votes, the race will then be decided by the House, with each state getting (I think) ONE vote. This is also what happens if the House refuses to certify the election results. If that happens, say hello to 4 more years of T***p. THAT is what they are hoping for. Robert Reich, in his letter for today mentions this very thing:
"The specific scenario I worry about is that in the wake of the elections, the House’s election-denying Republicans retain their majority in the next Congress by denying certification of Democratic candidates who have won by close margins. Then, on January 6, 2025, the new Republican House majority refuses to certify Electoral College results from states that went for Biden by close margins — thereby ensuring that no candidate receives an Electoral College majority.
"As a result, the decision about who’s to be the next president is made on a state-by-state delegation vote — almost surely delivering it to Trump."
As he says, we HAVE to ensure that doesn't happen. We HAVE to take the House!!
I would like to believe that but here in NC people are hurting very badly. Groceries and rent are sky-high, and now many child care centers are set to close soon because the legislature will likely not replace American Rescue Plan funds used for this purpose, even though the Chamber of Commerce wants it. They see Biden as responsible for their lack of funds and remember Trump sent them checks during the pandemic. So it's going to take a lot this year.
So which party is responsible for not replacing the Rescue Plan funds. It also seemed to me, that republicans did not want to send a second any more covid checks. The dems and reps had worked out compromise and THEN after all the negotiations were done, didn't trump waltz by and proclaim that $2,000 should be given. (That amount was a fairy tale figure.
There is a new 'sheriff' in town, a 26 year-old female is leading a resurgent NC Democratic Party. She imbues a lot of energy, and sharing it with younger voters, and elders as well. Finally!
Biden is now successfully drawing the easy distinctions of the MAGA cult, and the Democratic Party which supports and Economic Democracy
Given the way topsy-turvy nature of this political year, I wish I could share in your 100% optimism. At this juncture this far out, anything can happen. I'm hopeful, but also still a little uneasy.
Bruce. President Biden has shown for more than three years the depth, character and skill he possesses, birthed from some 60 years in Democratic Party circles and elected office. He masterfully managed the pandemic, economy, international relations, and now has Israel addressing a cease fire.
The cult leader has done nothing to increase his base, so they have essentially lost GA and AZ, on top of the BLUE WALL of MN, WI, MI and PA. They lost statewide referenda on reproductive health care in MT, KY, KS (KANSAS), OH and are about to lose another OH vote, as well as FL and AZ this November.
Before I write another 20 post cards today, I will simply ask you,
"WHERE will the cult leader amass, 8,000,000 MORE votes than his 2020 total - with his arse firmly planted upon a courtroom chair?"
Not if it never reaches the Vice President's hands! The plan, if Trump loses, is to end the election with a selection in the House, which means Trump wins. Watch!
It isn't in the VP's hands! What Congress just enacted after the "20 election was that the VP now HAS to abide by the wishes of the Electoral College. The VP can't object, which is what T***p was trying to get Pence to do. Now, they made the VP's "certification" basically ceremonial. I believe I'm right in remembering where Congress changed that rule and made the VP's certification pretty much obligatory.
We're saying the same thing. If the electoral college results cannot deliver a winner (by whatever hook or crook they come up with), it goes to the Republican House. Our goose is cooked.
"Not if it never reaches the Vice President's hands!" is what you said, which I don't understand. The VP has nothing to do with "certification" now. The VP "certifies", ceremonially, the decision reached by electors in the EC.
You could be right. Who among us can imagine any of that lot giving their life for the cause they espose? Others, yes. Theirs? Not likely. A price too much for them. Thus, the need for a cult of sacrificial lambs with coinage, sterling and red. Fanatics and patriots share a willingness to give their lives for their cause and followers. Good and decent men and women stand daily with a leader who gives all for our Democracy. Biden seems to be a patriot, a decent man, a consistent conservator of our Declared aspirations for a free America.
How long will these men and women who have chosen to be candidates, be capable of governing....to be dictators for a few years to feed their egos....for that time to destroy the future of our children and grandchildren.....to steal the future goodness and hope /freedom for many......to force slavery to a false and corrupt government for the benefit of a few!!!! They could change laws that would give them the power to steal property...to raise taxes beyond a person's ability to pay. They could choose to fill our schools and universities with teachers who want students to know only the history or news or even scientific facts to their advantage. (ex: ingesting dangerous chemicals ie for CURES SUCH AS for COVID)
These men and women will eventually die...they will have destroyed our freedoms for momentary gain for them....destruction of our world order for short term gain and many nations who depend on us to "HOLD THE LINE!!!!" will have been abandoned to corruption and destruction!!!
A big "NO" from me!!!! A big "NO" to those justices who are a part of our Supreme Court who are "toying" with decisions that could further remove freedoms from our citizens and give COMPLETE POWER AND CONTROL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA.
President Joe Biden has NEVER requested such power.
Only one past Republican President and his supporters have considered such control and power as a future goal for the office holder of the President of the USA!!!
That past President is now on trial facing just one of his many wrongs.
Is he the quality candidate we want to represent "the home of the free and brave"? Is he the candidate who will help us preserve our earth...care for our children...have compassion for our elderly...improve relationships with our friends around the world and even work with those who strongly disagree with our policies?
Our character as a nation, who we really are as a people will be revealed by our vote!!!! The world is watching!!!! What kind of country do we want to leave for our children and grandchildren?!
They are more than “opportunist”. They are thatt, but more. We shouldn’t minimize when describing or evaluating their relationship to the power their office wielded. Trump is a malignant narcissist sociopath. Barr is an ignorant white evangelical christian nationalist radical that is better suited to current Hungry’s AG than the US. The man, like his former boss is a disgrace to humanity.
I would say it's the other way around. The GQ swamp dwellers have normalized trump's behavior because they've been saying the quiet part out loud for a long time, starting with Alito arguing in favor for a unitary presidency.
I'm surprised this story starts in 1986 and not 1973. Wasn't it Nixon who said in effect, it's legal if the president does it, and tried "recission," where he refused to spend money appropriated by Congress, ie. to enforce/execute the laws of the United States?
The unitary executive theory is complete and utter bullsh*t. The founders WANTED a secular country, where religion didn't dominate the government, which got people killed. They wanted an executive, whose powers had checks and balances. A number of the founders were Deists, who believed in the existence of a faraway God. God created the universe and left humans to their own devices. Leave it to Samuel Alito to make up things like signing statements, which basically said, "I don't agree with this law, so I am not going to enforce it." If you look at the words of the presidential oath of office, signing statements are a dereliction of duty. The Republicans lie to grab power and money for themselves.
And we were damned lucky that, after the war, Washington refused to BE a king! Some urged it on him, and he said “NO.” As we had a weak federation at first … and framers continued to work on creating a strong and durable government, with a functional and enduring {amendable!} Constitution … Washington not only refused to be king, but he chose to LEAVE office and allow for continuing elections…. We could have had something more like Napoleon, but we got Washington. Damned lucky.
No guarantees we’d be so lucky again…. Right now, we SEE some who want to re-instate a “King” by a different name {a “unitary president” who has “full immunity while in office”}.
Yes, exactly! Any other interpretation of the Founders intentions when writing the Constitution & creating this country is bogus!! I'm glad to hear that at least George Stepanopoulous is finally recognizing that, and what is at stake if the Press doesn't protect our democriacy.
This "interpretation" of our constitution is akin to "interpreting" orange as green. This christofascist white nationalist etc., "interpretation" is just out and out b.s.
Yes, and those damned “signing statements” —- But people don’t have a clue what a “unitary president” is. They’ve taken a debating society skill and applied it to their political discourse — Whatever side you need to be on, find an “argument” that fits and stick to it, whether it bears close scrutiny, whether it holds up, or NOT.
Their “Christian Country,” Barr’s rewritten history about colonists rebelling against Parliament, the “unitary president” NOT being answerable to checks-and-balances …. All the real “bullsh*t” in this equation.
Barr has been a liar and a monster for a loooooong time.
[As a aside — people like Barr and Trump and Bannon show the effects of their venality on their faces. They are seriously scary looking people. I’m at a loss as to why anyone can consider them respectable.]
Maybe the "unthinkable among the GQP swamp dwellers" have always been there and we are just now finding out about them. I see the Nazi's and the KKK in what is currently happening. It seems to be a replay of history. Power and money....that is what it is about! I have never seen so many stupid people in my life and so many of them seem to be educated. I think over time they have been totaly brainwashed! I might add so many of us were sleeping living life and this is still happening excepted we have more people since the 1940s!
Yes. Brainwashed is the word I use too. I spent some time this weekend with two three lifelong friends, two of whom are conservatives and have voted for Trump at least once (pretty sure they did in 2020 also). My other friend is an atheist and a more liberal than I. We try to stay off politics but both were bothered by the student loan forgiveness. They haven’t paid a loan since the 1980s. It’s under their skin because Fox tells them it’s bad.
Funny thing, my other friend and I have kids who graduated in 2009 and 2020 so we KNOW how much that shit costs.
My daughter will be 47 this year and she is still paying on her student loan. She hasn't told me how much she still owes. But I did ask her if she was a couple years ago and she said she was still paying.
They are 'brainwashed' by their experience of the windfall they got when Trump was President. They just want More! They're just like him: Greedy, self-serving, better-than-tho kinda people who yeah, maybe worked hard for what they have, and have zero intention of exchanging their special tea or golf fees for financial social responsibility. And there goes the 'United' part of the United States of America! Ungrateful vehement pricks.
I suppose the State of New York v. Donald John Trump prosecution is sufficiently salacious to warrant the television air time it is being accorded … but … what about the bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes full of classified materials
recovered from DJT’s Mar-a-Lago residence? Why is no news person pursued that story?
I served the United States Navy for 33 years. Had I mishandled classified materiel as did Donald Trump, I would have been court-marshaled and sentenced to many years of making little rocks out of big ones at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Why is DJT getting a pass on his criminal mishandling of those items?
Nothing about these despicable , lying, power mongers has ever been normal.
Those of us who realize that order not chaos makes a strong country abhor even hearing these creeps speak.
The only thing Bar , yes, bar holds dear is his slimy manipulation of the truth. He is not a lawyer. He is a business man with one purpose. Fill his underwear with our money. The press and the Law schools should be embarrassed that he is treated like a “normal” person. Jesus, when did “creep” win the beauty pageant ?
Barr was George W. Bush’s and Donald Trump’s John Mitchell, except that unlike Mitchell, he hasn’t done anything in public that would enable him to get caught. Barr’s only virtue was that he wasn’t willing to swallow or promote Trump’s lie that Trump had the election stolen from him.
And we have to also think that G.W. Bush and Trump are both not that smart! The difference in them appears to me to be that Bush is a bit more decent...but easily led by those that are in the background providing the cash to get them elected! However, I believe we have many evil ones in Indiana!
Sorry. It's not "religion." President Biden is religious, as have most of our former presidents been. It is ideology hiding in a disguise of a belief system. The religion demonstrated by the Republican party and T. Rump is hardly a religion. It's a signal, like virtue signaling- means nothing except to distinguish "us" and "them." All about divisiveness. Not about belief.
Organized religion is the framework with which they work. If one is used to having the man at the front of the church tell you what is the truth, who the enemies are, and tells you that this is the "one true way" then an individual is predisposed to this idea of "unitary executive power".
And they certainly don’t embody religious values. Trump doesn’t even go to church. They do not follow the 10 Commandments. They don’t follow the teachings of Jesus. It’s a form of corrupt ideological religion.
Barr is opperating within a "belief system" - that is how he can think the way he does and not be... completely stupid... a system of irrational beliefs. And in his case nefarious beliefs, but beliefs all the same.
Sure he has a belief system, AKA bs, and said TFFG's election claims were all bs, from peaceful tourists, to antifa, to Shay Moss and Ruby Freeman, to just find me 1100 votes, to the riot being an FBI set up. Barr and his former boss are up to their hairlines in belief systems.
Please do not conflate the former guy with a secondary sex characteristic that is celebrated in art and sculpture, and that originally evolved in both men and women, along with body hairlessness, the nuchal ligament (holds the head steady while running), and the Achilles tendon so that our ancestors could chase prey animals for many miles. And yes, women were hunters, too.
You’re implying that there’s a “right” religion. No religion can be allowed anywhere near a government. The Founders knew it; we’re yet to learn from that mistake. American fascists gleefully use religion as a cudgel to beat the people into mindless acceptance of their nonexistent authority.
It's been used as an excuse and justification for despicable behavior for centuries. I am not painting all people of faith with this brush - but there are plenty of them to paint.
In Trump’s case, it’s a form of political religious nationalism that encourages his followers, despite the fact Trump makes fun of the Christian Nationalists behind their backs. Like Barr, I’m a Catholic Christian, and in my case, I find Trump and Barr thoroughly repellent. I think it is a good thing to have a secular country, but the Republicans have rejected it, and their hand picked majority on the Supreme Court has violated the tradition of religious neutrality.
If white supremacists took power, they'd send him to the ovens based on his DNA as one of the mud people. Barr's father was Jewish but converted to Catholicism.
This came out during the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, as Barr's father hired Epstein at his prep school.
Is what Jesus said and did not principle? Or is it the remaining fillers of that story lends some tale tales…being used for convenience..the outline is NOT the outliars…
Ummm... the crusades? The struggle between Catholics and Protestants since Henry VIII? The pogroms? History has a ton of lessons to teach about "religion" mixed into government. Are we too stoopid or too stubborn to learn them?
Bill Barr is an extremely conservative culture warrior Catholic. That he would override the very First Amendment to our Constitution, which guarantees us all freedom of religion AND freedom from religion, should terrify us.
Having heard the debate over whether a Catholic should even have access to the White House when JFK ran, it seems clear to me that Catholicism covers a wide range of beliefs and practices. President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Justice Sotomayor are all Catholic but they never would impose their religion on anyone.
Progwoman, the range is perhaps less wide when guided by principles of social justice that are core to the teachings Jesus. Teachings not unique to Christianity, either.
I have to wonder what homilies he has heard that give him this elitist distortion of Catholicism. He's a throwback to the Inquisition. And as terrible and terrifying.
Bill Barr, like Trump, had a father and brothers who were bullies. I am beginning to understand how men who are badly bullied as children and grow up in highly competitive families and religious upbringing learn to stay loyal to the biggest bully, and take their frustration out on the easiest victims. There’s a hierarchy and the biggest bully is on top
It is very Christian to execute those one does not like, said Jesus— never. Co-opting religions as righteous validation for war, discrimination and self-serving power is an ancient and egregious mask for exploitation of entire populations. The Donald is the current golden calf.
I think you are over-generalizing and somewhat harshly. (I subscribe to no religion, personally, though I come from generations of church goers). Those following their religion's essential spiritual beliefs can create so much good. However, using religion like an ugly team sport, whether needing to coerce and indoctrinate others, or define "non-believers" as enemies or somehow "less than", is evil exploit.
Thank you for helping clarify my observation. I see there are groups of people with a “golden rule” ethic that makes sense and that do a lot of good. To those, I celebrate, tied to religion or not. But Christianity/Catholicism hasn’t fully owned the damage done, and being done in its name. Examples in history are the “Indian schools”, the Magdalene laundries, the Crusades and the mass appropriation of land and wealth. To me, a church teaches one to submit and relinquish one’s own ability to create a civil morality. Sure, I tend to respond in general tone because I am not writing a paper here, just asking questions, sharing opinions and observations.
All that horrific and hateful behavior is not something Jesus would condone (or so I interpret). It's when religion and alleged loyalty to goodness has perverted to a cult of "evil" that all the worst of humanity unfolds.
It was a corruption of religion. Oh wait, maybe that is the definition. But to be fair, Jesus likely would chase these cretins away, like he did the money changers. They aren’t even pretending…
I was referring to the gullibility of belief, Patricia.
Barr can't imagine that a man who idolises and venerates a murderous dictator who regularly assassinates his rivals.... could actually follow through with stating clearly that that is what he wants to do.
He trapped in an illogical belief system and doesn't have the capacity to imagine evil in his associates. Dangerously gullible, of course he is a believer.
"...just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically."
And the KochLeo Heritage Society Project 2025 Trump transition plan will take us there at warp speed. 180 days to dismantle the entire Executive Branch. And rebuild it in KochLeo's image as administering a corporate clerical fascist state. As is being done by the KochLeo captured courts. (Gorsuch's mother was Reagan's EPA head. And ahead of her time. Her zeal in dismantling the EPA was so extreme and corrupt that she was forced to resign.)
Bill Barr made his GOP bones as cleaner for GHW Bush, getting pardons for convicted and indicted Iran Contra criminals. It's why he was brought back for Trump. Barr's also another Federal Society religious extremist. The 'unified executive' autocracy is in a way, a return to the Divine Right of Kings. Many in MAGA believe Trump is not only the anointed but Christ reincarnated as some RamboJesus and 2024 a literal Second Coming. They talk of themselves as Crusaders for Trump. Onward Christian Soldiers, indeed.
As AG Barr infamously quoted John Adams “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” Implying that only the godly get constitutional rights. Preferentially those unborn or born again. Elsewhere, John Adams writes "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
The Federalist Society's greater purpose is to obstruct the Federal government's regulatory authority. In the name of God, and in the service of greed, Federalist Society jurists are bent on obstructing government's ability to regulate commerce, administer equitable taxation, and provide essential and emergency services. And because the majority of voters disagree, these right wing extremists are bent on overturning equality before the law and equal representation to achieve their purpose.
This election is about democracy vs. fascism. Period. The statement "When fascism comes to America, it will be draped in the flag and carrying the cross" is spot on.
The Federalist Society has been highly effective infiltrating our wheels of government and shifting our laws, using our democracy to overturn our democracy. Most troubling now is the significant support MAGA is experiencing from the voting public. The Democrats must run an effective and persuasive messaging campaign to arrest this toxic political pandemic infecting our body politic.
And somehow we need to convince those inclined to treat voting as a purity test exercise in personal expression, that voting is a united tactic to take government power.
Right wing voters held their nose to win the Supreme Court. And they did.
Leonard Leo has expanded his efforts (ie Koch et al money) to The Teneo Network or what he's termed 'a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in American society.' By which he means all progress on government regulation, social safety net, and civil rights protections in over a century. An end to Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal, FDR's New Deal, LBJ's Great Society, ObamaCare. And specifically targeting equal protections for LGBTQ+ persons.
The far-right ownership of vast media networks including Fox have been successful talking heads, expanding lies, propaganda, and influence over large segments of the population. The cyberattacks from China and Russia aid in this effort. Biden's negative ratings have in part resulted from the false narratives from the talking heads "news flashes". Developing a strategy to provide a counter reality is a daunting challenge. I do hope the Democratic power brokers are up for the task. The unraveling of the New Deal and the subsequent progressive legislation has been in the crosshairs of these far-right actors for quite a while now as you mentioned with Federalist Society, Koch, Mercer, Council for National Policy, etc. Once thought to be the third rail of politics, Social Security, Medicare, and civil rights protection are being boldly assaulted. The brazened political assaults and lies by GOP politicians, immune to any optics or consequential fallout, speaks to the confidence and power felt by them.
Whew! Heritage Foundation essentially says they were caught off guard by Trump's 2016 win. Project 2025 is their response. Right down to the CVs of loyalists at every level. Their wrecking crew is ready.
That manifesto completely dismantles our rules, our laws and disregards our Constitution. These are dangerous zealots cannot operate effectively if we deny them their voices and that’s why it is so important to reelect Biden-Harris. If you believe in democracy, which these men do not, then it is up to us and only us to make certain that we band together as one!
Barr's position on the exercise of authority and his intent to vote for an insurrectionist is proof positive that in the generality, talk doesn't matter because their reality is different from ours. So, what to do? Out vote them while votes still count. There is no middle ground.
I agree regarding the need to restructure SCOTUS - increasing the number of justices, putting in age limits and time served on the Court. It could very well be that to save our democratic process, we need to outnumber the Trump MAGA justices, starting ASAP.
I couldn't agree more. We need to do what we can to denigrate and debunk the nonsense that is being vomited at us from the Murdoch papers and media, Newsmax, OAN, Tucker Carlson and many other so-called news organizations.
And quit printing Trump's incessant lies like they are the truth. No one needs to here his constant denigrations of anyone that ever said something he disagreed with or looked at him the wrong way.
And Bill Barr is his only cabinet member who is backing Trump. One has to wonder why.
Gary..."clearly" (hahahaaahaa) he sees a trip to the gravel-pit with Kristi "Paladin" Noem. It's simply his choice to get down on his knees and blow #45 or have his brains blown-out by Ms'Have Gun'.., BLAMM!
Michael and everyone on HCR's letter should know Barr's history. The man has zero scruples. What he did after the Mueller report is a small example of what that low life has done. Just look up his history.
I’m holding to what Simon Says about the polls, trends, and reality of the gutsy American dependables-‘rally forth the flag ‘ . Yes, the subset that WAS enamored has dwindled..the ruse is up…the lesson is still being handed down a pill harder and harder to swallow …grow not weary soldiers …the final battle is 11/5/2024 and we need to have those numbers tell it BOLD and BLUE.
Codify, correct the subverse redacted.
Oust the dictators .
Renew the worldly promise by handing back civility to standing for the principles of equality we became world leader by , it may not be the last fight but it sure is the one point and center NOW!
Barr reminds us that it's not just a matter of defeating the Defendant candidate this November, which I believe Biden will do (assuming no judicial or extra judicial hijinks.) We also have to defeat the radical SCOTUS by adding 4 new members to its ranks (and hopefully have four years to replace judges who retire or expire.)
This notion of the unitary executive must be extinguished, along with Citizens United, Dobbs and the like, to rebalance the playing field. No president can do that on his own, and until the likes of Barr, Alito et al are watered down (name your own source of the stream) a future trumpian president remains a threat.
I'm not so sure, Jen -- I think he's too much of of an institutionalist in that regard (in much the same way Schumer seems chary of eliminating the filibuster rule.) But I do hold out hope that you're right. It's the only way, short of Thomas, Alito and Roberts all leaving SCOTUS during Bidens next term, which is unlikely.
He may be. It's not his call until it gets to his desk.
I think it's more likely that a Democrat- controlled Senate might impose ethical rules that are I hope identical to those on the rest of the judiciary. Sure there will be holdouts for whatever reasons, but Biden would sign that.
Kamala Harris would likely sign such expansion legislation imo. She's an actual attorney.
It's not his call, but he can still whistle his preferences. (And Joe is also an actual attorney, and was on the Senate Judiciary Committee for years -- some as chair, IIRC.)
My question is - does he view Biden’s presidency (or for that matter, Obama’s presidency), with the same overreaching authority? Maybe the Biden administration should take that unitary stance with their own signing statements.
I just read much of his full speech at Notre Dame. His constant reference to the lack of morality in our culture while ignoring the immorality of Trump is astonishing. His assertion that only a belief in a supernatural entity makes moral conduct possible is ludicrous. His fanaticism is frightening and should make him ineligible to hold ant public office.
"The contention of the former attorney general—who had been responsible for enforcing the rule of law in the United States of America—that a man who has demanded the execution of people he dislikes is a better candidate for the presidency than a man who is using the power of the federal government to create jobs for ordinary people, combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote health and education, illustrates that Republican leaders have abandoned democracy." (HCR)
Well stated, professor!!
*****
"Until now, ... [n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse…." (George Stephanopoulos)
*****
... which is not to say no president ever has done any of these things - only that they never have been indicted or held accountable in a court of law. And, isn't that the big issue being challenged here - that state or federal intrusion into the realm of free men acting according to their perceived God-given rights, to hold them accountable for consequences of their actions ... this is government interference, deprivation of freedom and a violation of individual rights ...?
"Barr said. “I think the real threat to democracy is the progressive movement and the Biden administration.”"
More to the point, the progressive movement for justice and accountability affirms democracy - only poses a threat to big money dominance of a select private club of players who firmly believe America is their playground - a casino where the house rules the game and anyone who is not a member of the home team gets to play for pennies - where life is a lottery - a gamble in the name of their Almighty God:
ALL-AMERICAN GAME-TIME USA!!
In fact, America is a threshing ground where souls are tested - and sorted, like wheat from chaff - every one of us is held accountable for choices made and actions taken - in the long run, goodness will prevail ....
You had me at "top law enforcement official." Forget the tendencies and principles, what about the laws TFFG broke and the new ones he continues to break? The Maralardo case is incredibly egregious as regards not only our national security, but the security of our allies. Didn't Cheetolini show battle strategies of one of our allies to his biographer and friends? Not to mention the attempts to destroy other national docs and leaving them around his resort for anyone to take or photograph. How about enforcing those laws, Mr. Barr?
Do NOT get me started on the fake electors, big lie, or J6. If I had him on the stand, I'd ask Barr how he could countenance those... oh, right, he didn't. That's when he quit. But surely he recognizes that laws were broken and that 60 courts found the claims of fraudulent voters to be without any merit whatsoever.
This despicable minion needs to be disBarred. Like yesterday.
The willingness of a former top law enforcement official to support a candidate who has demonstrated autocratic tendencies and disregarded democratic principles shows just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically.
Barr has always been a despicable fanatic. He’s just saying the quiet part out loud now.
Cheetolini’s endless criminal behavior seems to have normalized the unthinkable among the GQP swamp dwellers.
I am not sure that Barr, or for that matter Trump, are fanatics so much as sociopathic opportunists. The 9/11 hijackers were fanatics. I think most dictators are opportunists. They don't believe in anything outside of their own will to dominate. What ever stories they may tell themselves, I think they know they are total liars, but pride themselves in that skill.
I think they truly believe that there are people who deserve and people who are undeserving. It is the basis of all bigotry and allows events like the Holocaust to occur.
The most disturbing aspect, I believe in Heather's post today is the RED MAPPING! The Republicans have been playing the long game. The Democrats, I believe, think if they hold the Congress and the Presidency long enough they can get it all straightened out.
If Satan is real....he has a firm grip on the GOP
Unfortunately, Susan, the Republicans have honed their skill by marching in lockstep to force their views on all of us. Democrats are a more fractious group, and want to believe that all of us will manage to see the light and agree with our vision of inclusion and fairness. We're not there - yet.
Even if we are not fractured, their vote fraud alone with Gerrymandering and removing people from the voting rolls, last minute so they don't have time to straighten it out is the way they steal elections. The Nazi's rose to power when Germans didn't even really know what democracy was. Weimar Germany was their first time having a democratic government and that time period was so fraught with post war poverty from the rebuilding and the 33 billion dollar reparations they were charged, and the political fighting amongst the groups that were elected by the people, that they did not really get a chance to learn what a healthy democracy could be before accepting Hitler as their dictator since he promised to help them out of the economic catastrophe that the US stock market crash caused for the German economy. They had had exactly 15 years of Democracy in their entire history. Republicans come from a much longer history of democracy with none of this economic disaster and are still embracing a strong man promising to save them from their misery. It seems that they are just miserable people and in need of therapy, not Trump. The agenda and the people seem very disturbed by modern standards. Their goals all seems very medieval.
Linda, the manipulators of the GOP use their world view to convince their minions to do their bidding and fill their coffers. I agree with you that Germany's economy post-WWI, aggravated by the depression made them vulnerable to Hitler, and that we have no such exculpatory excuses for the embrace of Trump and his influencers. My guess is that this country's racist tendencies, in addition to many people refusing to accept any information other than what they see in social media or conservative television, makes many susceptible to false narrative. I just hate paying the consequences for their ignorance.
Don’t forget that our public education system was attacked by the Kochs and their ilk years ago. We have lost teaching sources, thought and tolerance, and our universities have become job training centers. “Shop” is gone from high schools as is home economics, which puts US at the mercy of corporate power and Madison Avenue.
I'm well aware of the attempts to gut public schools. "Moderate" Gov. Brian Kemp here in Georgia just signed into law a new school voucher bill for "underperforming public schools," giving parents @ $7,500 annually to send their children to private schools - yet another instance of undermining public education, rather than giving much needed financial aid to public education. Why would his ilk be concerned with preparing young people with skills that everyone really can use, whether or not they choose a university education or a trade to make a living?
Thank you for throwing in private schools. This is a reversion to 1954 , racist and divisive!
Yup - everything old is new again.
Nancy, I totally agree with you!
There is a odd notion that the older an idea is the more true it is. While the persistence of ideas is worth noticing, it is not reliable evidence of truth. Relativity, women's suffrage, and antibiotics were all in place before I was born, but a great many aspects of human understanding have changed within my lifetime nevertheless, with substantial backing of logic and evidence, and a lot of aspects of the "good old days", while there were aspects worth preserving, were most definitely not so good. Authoritarians in the Supreme Court claim their interpretations are authentic because they claim to channel the minds of the framers, or even much older jurists, but the documents the framers penned does not credit them personally as the final authorities, but rather the public's endorsement of the PRINCIPLES they developed, with an understanding that the work remains in progress.
“Republicans from a much longer history of democracy”! Please amplify!
In North Carolina, those claiming the Republican label were formerly the southern democrats enthralled with Reagan who were also segregationists at heart!
The USA has officially been conceived as a "democracy" even if what that means has changed with the times. It is also does not mean that everyone within it is or supports democracy. Clearly Southern Democrats were not supporting of many of our democratic institutions. However, we are a country where the people elect representation, we do not have a monarch over us who is either appointed by other royalty, or the church, or inherits the job. In that we are a democracy since we revolted against King George and choose to have a different form of governance.
I'm not sure it's so much that Dems are "fractured" as that we are diverse. The rethugs are able to achieve their repulsive goals by marching - and having marched, for decades - in lockstep, which Dems do not. IMO, Dems acknowledge that different groups included within the Dem Party have some goals that are at odds with, or slow down or interfere in the achieving of, other groups within the Dem Party - and money is an issue as well, of course. We seem to be unable to work on a single goal at a time, because obvs there are SO MANY things we are called upon RIGHT NOW to undo and fix. I don't know what the solution would look like.
I agree with you, Lynn. I just hope that our many factions will put their differing goals aside long enough to not give in to the fatigue of the last eight years, and unite to give us a large enough majority to break the log jam. Primary should be the goal of righting the heavy listing of SCOTUS.
All the comments above give the dems a place to hide as they've been hiding for decades allowing all these policies to take place. Again, I will mention Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy that dems never tried and now republicans run roughshot over them.
Too many have been relying on the guardrails, which we've discovered no longer exist.
Susan, they are certainly making the AntiChrist real in the person of death star. What we have is an already uncivil society becoming much worse once death star gave everyone carte blanche to be their worst selves. And in terms of execution, it doesn't even have to be explicit. Just ask Thomas Beckett. I think death star and his minions are experts at stirring the pot and letting others do the dirty deeds.
As I have maintained for a long time, the progressives have been resting on their laurels from the "progress" of the 60s and 70s while the fascist spawn of the 1939 coup attempt have been working diligently ever since for their next oppottunity. We have been asleep at the wheel far too long trying to make everyone feel good that it is now almost too late to save ourselves.
All the books written and publications screaming about all this have gone unread or been dismissed.
I could go on and on.....Their next opportunity is NOW!!
Iany suggestions on how to fight back? We have to think as individuals and join others in our fight!
I think Satan is a personification of our own self-centered impulse gone beyond the bounds of "enlightened self interest"; when we cease to care if others are harmed by our behavior, or tell ourselves we are superior because of it. Was the deliberate separation and failure to track children of immigrants the work of a goat-horned supernatural monster, or antisocial human psychology? We have met the enemy and he is us. It's the same "GOP" either way.
And rotund Billy is sprouting a tail and devil ears to be the mascot!
I completely agree. Barr may have thought it would be curtains for Trump after the insurrection, so he admitted that he told Trump ‘the steal” was “bullsh*t.” But now, with Trump and Biden facing off, Barr wants the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to rule the roost. Barr knows Trump is a tool, so he will vote for the Right Wing Christian Theocratic Tool.
Wow, I’m not surprised he’ll do it. But I am surprised he admits it.
Thing is, the rats are swarming around the ship right now — One has to take note and wonder what the rats know. Do people like Barr really think they can admit this stuff and STILL win in November? Have they rigged and gerrymandered to such an extent that they will win, no matter how many of us vote blue?
That is a real worry.
NO - the gerrymander DOES NOT translate to statewide offices, like Gov. and Sec. of State. Gerrymandering (only) affects electoral boundaries with the state, like Congress and state house races. This is very significant, but DOES NOT come to play here.
ALL of the important states have ALL Democratic leadership in positions that matter - Secretary of State, Governor and I believe all of their site houses are controlled by Democrats ... MN, WI, MI and PA. Also, AZ has a fabulous Dem Gov and Sec of state
We have seen AZ and GA trend blue - the 2020 election proved that when the matters are most vital - the counting of ballots and the fending off of crazies in the courts - the adults in the positions of power carried forth to preserve our democracy
There is a lot of hot air and nonsense coming from conservative America, Fox, etc
"Don't worry, and be active," to paraphrase Simon Rosenberg, hopiumchronicles.org
This election. WILL BE a massive Blue Wave, of epic proportions. Mark my word, here on April 29, 2024.
Stay active, and make this so ...
My sense of worry never extends to NOT voting! Discouraging voting is not my intention. We need to turn out the strongest Vote Blue, Through and Through we can muster!
Republicans have put their energies — since the Reagan era, at least, and maybe even before — into gaining influence in exactly those governmental regions you mention, Frederick. It is why they thought that creating “uncertainty” about the vote counts in critical states in 2020 might throw those state Electors to their legislators, where Republicans had a lot of power.
IF key states — hell, MOST states — have strong Democratic representation in their local and statewide bodies, we have a much stronger chance of putting our governments, state AND federal, back on an even keel, and the rats can jump in the lake, for all I care …
Frederick, you are ignoring the gerrymandered Republican wins in the state houses and congress. The plan is to have CONGRESS decide the election. That means Trump wins. Don't be fooled!
Factually speaking, VP Harris WILL certify the election results, as determined by the factual vote counts and the respective factual electoral college results
Facts matter
The point James makes is that if, and it is sadly a VERY real possibility, neither candidate wins the prescribed total of electoral college votes, the race will then be decided by the House, with each state getting (I think) ONE vote. This is also what happens if the House refuses to certify the election results. If that happens, say hello to 4 more years of T***p. THAT is what they are hoping for. Robert Reich, in his letter for today mentions this very thing:
"The specific scenario I worry about is that in the wake of the elections, the House’s election-denying Republicans retain their majority in the next Congress by denying certification of Democratic candidates who have won by close margins. Then, on January 6, 2025, the new Republican House majority refuses to certify Electoral College results from states that went for Biden by close margins — thereby ensuring that no candidate receives an Electoral College majority.
"As a result, the decision about who’s to be the next president is made on a state-by-state delegation vote — almost surely delivering it to Trump."
As he says, we HAVE to ensure that doesn't happen. We HAVE to take the House!!
Biden won in 2020 by 7,000,000 votes and some 80 ECs. The vote will be larger in 2024.
This will NOT be a close election, and NO, it will not end up tied in the EC.
I would like to believe that but here in NC people are hurting very badly. Groceries and rent are sky-high, and now many child care centers are set to close soon because the legislature will likely not replace American Rescue Plan funds used for this purpose, even though the Chamber of Commerce wants it. They see Biden as responsible for their lack of funds and remember Trump sent them checks during the pandemic. So it's going to take a lot this year.
So which party is responsible for not replacing the Rescue Plan funds. It also seemed to me, that republicans did not want to send a second any more covid checks. The dems and reps had worked out compromise and THEN after all the negotiations were done, didn't trump waltz by and proclaim that $2,000 should be given. (That amount was a fairy tale figure.
There is a new 'sheriff' in town, a 26 year-old female is leading a resurgent NC Democratic Party. She imbues a lot of energy, and sharing it with younger voters, and elders as well. Finally!
Biden is now successfully drawing the easy distinctions of the MAGA cult, and the Democratic Party which supports and Economic Democracy
Given the way topsy-turvy nature of this political year, I wish I could share in your 100% optimism. At this juncture this far out, anything can happen. I'm hopeful, but also still a little uneasy.
Bruce. President Biden has shown for more than three years the depth, character and skill he possesses, birthed from some 60 years in Democratic Party circles and elected office. He masterfully managed the pandemic, economy, international relations, and now has Israel addressing a cease fire.
The cult leader has done nothing to increase his base, so they have essentially lost GA and AZ, on top of the BLUE WALL of MN, WI, MI and PA. They lost statewide referenda on reproductive health care in MT, KY, KS (KANSAS), OH and are about to lose another OH vote, as well as FL and AZ this November.
Before I write another 20 post cards today, I will simply ask you,
"WHERE will the cult leader amass, 8,000,000 MORE votes than his 2020 total - with his arse firmly planted upon a courtroom chair?"
Not if it never reaches the Vice President's hands! The plan, if Trump loses, is to end the election with a selection in the House, which means Trump wins. Watch!
It isn't in the VP's hands! What Congress just enacted after the "20 election was that the VP now HAS to abide by the wishes of the Electoral College. The VP can't object, which is what T***p was trying to get Pence to do. Now, they made the VP's "certification" basically ceremonial. I believe I'm right in remembering where Congress changed that rule and made the VP's certification pretty much obligatory.
We're saying the same thing. If the electoral college results cannot deliver a winner (by whatever hook or crook they come up with), it goes to the Republican House. Our goose is cooked.
"Not if it never reaches the Vice President's hands!" is what you said, which I don't understand. The VP has nothing to do with "certification" now. The VP "certifies", ceremonially, the decision reached by electors in the EC.
Well said!
You could be right. Who among us can imagine any of that lot giving their life for the cause they espose? Others, yes. Theirs? Not likely. A price too much for them. Thus, the need for a cult of sacrificial lambs with coinage, sterling and red. Fanatics and patriots share a willingness to give their lives for their cause and followers. Good and decent men and women stand daily with a leader who gives all for our Democracy. Biden seems to be a patriot, a decent man, a consistent conservator of our Declared aspirations for a free America.
Yes.
It comes down …to US vs ‘them’
This is the politics of the "other"....leading to the Holocaust.
Let it be but another lesson reminding us ‘what not to do….again’
Thanks Kathy 👍
JL Graham,
How long will these men and women who have chosen to be candidates, be capable of governing....to be dictators for a few years to feed their egos....for that time to destroy the future of our children and grandchildren.....to steal the future goodness and hope /freedom for many......to force slavery to a false and corrupt government for the benefit of a few!!!! They could change laws that would give them the power to steal property...to raise taxes beyond a person's ability to pay. They could choose to fill our schools and universities with teachers who want students to know only the history or news or even scientific facts to their advantage. (ex: ingesting dangerous chemicals ie for CURES SUCH AS for COVID)
These men and women will eventually die...they will have destroyed our freedoms for momentary gain for them....destruction of our world order for short term gain and many nations who depend on us to "HOLD THE LINE!!!!" will have been abandoned to corruption and destruction!!!
A big "NO" from me!!!! A big "NO" to those justices who are a part of our Supreme Court who are "toying" with decisions that could further remove freedoms from our citizens and give COMPLETE POWER AND CONTROL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA.
President Joe Biden has NEVER requested such power.
Only one past Republican President and his supporters have considered such control and power as a future goal for the office holder of the President of the USA!!!
That past President is now on trial facing just one of his many wrongs.
Is he the quality candidate we want to represent "the home of the free and brave"? Is he the candidate who will help us preserve our earth...care for our children...have compassion for our elderly...improve relationships with our friends around the world and even work with those who strongly disagree with our policies?
Our character as a nation, who we really are as a people will be revealed by our vote!!!! The world is watching!!!! What kind of country do we want to leave for our children and grandchildren?!
They are more than “opportunist”. They are thatt, but more. We shouldn’t minimize when describing or evaluating their relationship to the power their office wielded. Trump is a malignant narcissist sociopath. Barr is an ignorant white evangelical christian nationalist radical that is better suited to current Hungry’s AG than the US. The man, like his former boss is a disgrace to humanity.
Interesting observations!
I would say it's the other way around. The GQ swamp dwellers have normalized trump's behavior because they've been saying the quiet part out loud for a long time, starting with Alito arguing in favor for a unitary presidency.
I'm surprised this story starts in 1986 and not 1973. Wasn't it Nixon who said in effect, it's legal if the president does it, and tried "recission," where he refused to spend money appropriated by Congress, ie. to enforce/execute the laws of the United States?
The unitary executive theory is complete and utter bullsh*t. The founders WANTED a secular country, where religion didn't dominate the government, which got people killed. They wanted an executive, whose powers had checks and balances. A number of the founders were Deists, who believed in the existence of a faraway God. God created the universe and left humans to their own devices. Leave it to Samuel Alito to make up things like signing statements, which basically said, "I don't agree with this law, so I am not going to enforce it." If you look at the words of the presidential oath of office, signing statements are a dereliction of duty. The Republicans lie to grab power and money for themselves.
That's why they wanted to have a President and not a King.
And we were damned lucky that, after the war, Washington refused to BE a king! Some urged it on him, and he said “NO.” As we had a weak federation at first … and framers continued to work on creating a strong and durable government, with a functional and enduring {amendable!} Constitution … Washington not only refused to be king, but he chose to LEAVE office and allow for continuing elections…. We could have had something more like Napoleon, but we got Washington. Damned lucky.
No guarantees we’d be so lucky again…. Right now, we SEE some who want to re-instate a “King” by a different name {a “unitary president” who has “full immunity while in office”}.
Elect Democrats who support Democracy!
Reject the Right Wing Theocratic Aristocrats!
Vote Blue, Through and Through!
Yes, exactly! Any other interpretation of the Founders intentions when writing the Constitution & creating this country is bogus!! I'm glad to hear that at least George Stepanopoulous is finally recognizing that, and what is at stake if the Press doesn't protect our democriacy.
This "interpretation" of our constitution is akin to "interpreting" orange as green. This christofascist white nationalist etc., "interpretation" is just out and out b.s.
Absolutely!! There was never any intention of this country being any sort of theocracy, either. Any claim of that is also bogus!!
Yep--right on the money Suzanne.
Yes, and those damned “signing statements” —- But people don’t have a clue what a “unitary president” is. They’ve taken a debating society skill and applied it to their political discourse — Whatever side you need to be on, find an “argument” that fits and stick to it, whether it bears close scrutiny, whether it holds up, or NOT.
Their “Christian Country,” Barr’s rewritten history about colonists rebelling against Parliament, the “unitary president” NOT being answerable to checks-and-balances …. All the real “bullsh*t” in this equation.
Barr has been a liar and a monster for a loooooong time.
[As a aside — people like Barr and Trump and Bannon show the effects of their venality on their faces. They are seriously scary looking people. I’m at a loss as to why anyone can consider them respectable.]
They’ve been saying it, but people have not recognized the meaning … We do now!!
People have very short memories. You are spot on, Barr has always been a despicable fanatic.
Maybe the "unthinkable among the GQP swamp dwellers" have always been there and we are just now finding out about them. I see the Nazi's and the KKK in what is currently happening. It seems to be a replay of history. Power and money....that is what it is about! I have never seen so many stupid people in my life and so many of them seem to be educated. I think over time they have been totaly brainwashed! I might add so many of us were sleeping living life and this is still happening excepted we have more people since the 1940s!
Yes. Brainwashed is the word I use too. I spent some time this weekend with two three lifelong friends, two of whom are conservatives and have voted for Trump at least once (pretty sure they did in 2020 also). My other friend is an atheist and a more liberal than I. We try to stay off politics but both were bothered by the student loan forgiveness. They haven’t paid a loan since the 1980s. It’s under their skin because Fox tells them it’s bad.
Funny thing, my other friend and I have kids who graduated in 2009 and 2020 so we KNOW how much that shit costs.
Not to mention how the outrageous interest keeps mounting up on those loans.
My daughter will be 47 this year and she is still paying on her student loan. She hasn't told me how much she still owes. But I did ask her if she was a couple years ago and she said she was still paying.
That is so unreasonable!
They are 'brainwashed' by their experience of the windfall they got when Trump was President. They just want More! They're just like him: Greedy, self-serving, better-than-tho kinda people who yeah, maybe worked hard for what they have, and have zero intention of exchanging their special tea or golf fees for financial social responsibility. And there goes the 'United' part of the United States of America! Ungrateful vehement pricks.
I suppose the State of New York v. Donald John Trump prosecution is sufficiently salacious to warrant the television air time it is being accorded … but … what about the bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes full of classified materials
recovered from DJT’s Mar-a-Lago residence? Why is no news person pursued that story?
I served the United States Navy for 33 years. Had I mishandled classified materiel as did Donald Trump, I would have been court-marshaled and sentenced to many years of making little rocks out of big ones at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Why is DJT getting a pass on his criminal mishandling of those items?
I never liked Barr. Even when he said that Trump was unstable....and now he says he'll vote for him... These people have to be responding to threats.
Nah... I think he IS the threat!
Dear George,
Nothing about these despicable , lying, power mongers has ever been normal.
Those of us who realize that order not chaos makes a strong country abhor even hearing these creeps speak.
The only thing Bar , yes, bar holds dear is his slimy manipulation of the truth. He is not a lawyer. He is a business man with one purpose. Fill his underwear with our money. The press and the Law schools should be embarrassed that he is treated like a “normal” person. Jesus, when did “creep” win the beauty pageant ?
A former top "law enforcement" official filled with contempt for just rule of law; a hallmark of tyranny.
Barr was George W. Bush’s and Donald Trump’s John Mitchell, except that unlike Mitchell, he hasn’t done anything in public that would enable him to get caught. Barr’s only virtue was that he wasn’t willing to swallow or promote Trump’s lie that Trump had the election stolen from him.
I think he only said that out of fear/knowing he'd be subject to a court case himself.
Trust Mr. Barr to say and so whatever seems to benefit Mr. Barr. He has the integrity of a COVID virus.
And we have to also think that G.W. Bush and Trump are both not that smart! The difference in them appears to me to be that Bush is a bit more decent...but easily led by those that are in the background providing the cash to get them elected! However, I believe we have many evil ones in Indiana!
Mr. Barr may find out more about justice than he ever wanted to know; because I don't think the Universe takes kindly to his kind of MAGA nonsense.
May the Universe agree!
Or the current AG
“The law as he deems appropriate”
Whatever floats through his conniving head.
“Believe me,……or else”
While reading this I was thinking that Barr must be really dumb.... dangerously stupid.
But then I realised that it was religion.
Sorry. It's not "religion." President Biden is religious, as have most of our former presidents been. It is ideology hiding in a disguise of a belief system. The religion demonstrated by the Republican party and T. Rump is hardly a religion. It's a signal, like virtue signaling- means nothing except to distinguish "us" and "them." All about divisiveness. Not about belief.
"It is ideology hiding in a disguise of a belief system." YES, EXACTLY THAT!
Organized religion is the framework with which they work. If one is used to having the man at the front of the church tell you what is the truth, who the enemies are, and tells you that this is the "one true way" then an individual is predisposed to this idea of "unitary executive power".
I think you're onto an important point.
Sadly many people have grown up in that kind of chuch. Even more Sadly, many people think that is the only form Christianity takes.
And they certainly don’t embody religious values. Trump doesn’t even go to church. They do not follow the 10 Commandments. They don’t follow the teachings of Jesus. It’s a form of corrupt ideological religion.
Would Jesus vote for Trump? That thought seemed preposterous at first but then I realized the MAGAts would try to claim he would.
Remember, this is not about having religious ideas, it’s about taking control of the government!
But some pretend with a vengeance
You said it, Lauri.
"belief system"
Barr is opperating within a "belief system" - that is how he can think the way he does and not be... completely stupid... a system of irrational beliefs. And in his case nefarious beliefs, but beliefs all the same.
Sure he has a belief system, AKA bs, and said TFFG's election claims were all bs, from peaceful tourists, to antifa, to Shay Moss and Ruby Freeman, to just find me 1100 votes, to the riot being an FBI set up. Barr and his former boss are up to their hairlines in belief systems.
“Faith” and “religion” are different things.
Indeed they are.
Faith and religion are different, but closely linked.
Religion is a system of control based on delusional and irrational faith. All you have to do is believe.......
I don't see it that way precisely. I have faith but I've lost my religion due to the behavior of the bishops, mainly but not exclusively.
Please do not conflate the former guy with a secondary sex characteristic that is celebrated in art and sculpture, and that originally evolved in both men and women, along with body hairlessness, the nuchal ligament (holds the head steady while running), and the Achilles tendon so that our ancestors could chase prey animals for many miles. And yes, women were hunters, too.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-women-were-hunters-not-just-gatherers-study-suggests-180982459/
I believe Laurie we are defining whose on the Good Ship Principle 🙌
You’re implying that there’s a “right” religion. No religion can be allowed anywhere near a government. The Founders knew it; we’re yet to learn from that mistake. American fascists gleefully use religion as a cudgel to beat the people into mindless acceptance of their nonexistent authority.
“Religion” is just the tool that allows a power hungry sociopath to run wild with absolute control.
It's been used as an excuse and justification for despicable behavior for centuries. I am not painting all people of faith with this brush - but there are plenty of them to paint.
I see many of them gullible when it comes to religion and believe their preachers.
Gullible travels. A "Christian nation"..? Howsabout: A gullible nation.
No, it doesn't
In Trump’s case, it’s a form of political religious nationalism that encourages his followers, despite the fact Trump makes fun of the Christian Nationalists behind their backs. Like Barr, I’m a Catholic Christian, and in my case, I find Trump and Barr thoroughly repellent. I think it is a good thing to have a secular country, but the Republicans have rejected it, and their hand picked majority on the Supreme Court has violated the tradition of religious neutrality.
If white supremacists took power, they'd send him to the ovens based on his DNA as one of the mud people. Barr's father was Jewish but converted to Catholicism.
This came out during the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, as Barr's father hired Epstein at his prep school.
Separation of church and state is more than just a tradition - it's clearly stated in the First Amendment.
Republicans don’t support our Constitution or they wouldn’t be voting for trump.
...except for the "right to bear arms", which they need for their insurrection.
OMMPHHHH..., and right up front!
Support your opposition or be gone!
Spot on.
… until they get caught - although Sara Lynn, a few squeak through unscathed.
Is what Jesus said and did not principle? Or is it the remaining fillers of that story lends some tale tales…being used for convenience..the outline is NOT the outliars…
Ummm... the crusades? The struggle between Catholics and Protestants since Henry VIII? The pogroms? History has a ton of lessons to teach about "religion" mixed into government. Are we too stoopid or too stubborn to learn them?
Bill Barr is an extremely conservative culture warrior Catholic. That he would override the very First Amendment to our Constitution, which guarantees us all freedom of religion AND freedom from religion, should terrify us.
Having heard the debate over whether a Catholic should even have access to the White House when JFK ran, it seems clear to me that Catholicism covers a wide range of beliefs and practices. President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Justice Sotomayor are all Catholic but they never would impose their religion on anyone.
Progwoman, the range is perhaps less wide when guided by principles of social justice that are core to the teachings Jesus. Teachings not unique to Christianity, either.
I have to wonder what homilies he has heard that give him this elitist distortion of Catholicism. He's a throwback to the Inquisition. And as terrible and terrifying.
Bill Barr, like Trump, had a father and brothers who were bullies. I am beginning to understand how men who are badly bullied as children and grow up in highly competitive families and religious upbringing learn to stay loyal to the biggest bully, and take their frustration out on the easiest victims. There’s a hierarchy and the biggest bully is on top
Toxic masculinity. An enduring sociological problem across cultures.
Lardo, is just another koch-sucker who has been provided a pulpit by Big Media. Being from a wealthy background helped immensely.
And aren’t most of the MAGA justices also extremely conservative Catholics?!
It is very Christian to execute those one does not like, said Jesus— never. Co-opting religions as righteous validation for war, discrimination and self-serving power is an ancient and egregious mask for exploitation of entire populations. The Donald is the current golden calf.
Since Constantine (approx 300AD)
Christianity has been demonizing humanity to justify wealthy warlords and kings selfish desires. Pathetic behavior.
I think you are over-generalizing and somewhat harshly. (I subscribe to no religion, personally, though I come from generations of church goers). Those following their religion's essential spiritual beliefs can create so much good. However, using religion like an ugly team sport, whether needing to coerce and indoctrinate others, or define "non-believers" as enemies or somehow "less than", is evil exploit.
Thank you for helping clarify my observation. I see there are groups of people with a “golden rule” ethic that makes sense and that do a lot of good. To those, I celebrate, tied to religion or not. But Christianity/Catholicism hasn’t fully owned the damage done, and being done in its name. Examples in history are the “Indian schools”, the Magdalene laundries, the Crusades and the mass appropriation of land and wealth. To me, a church teaches one to submit and relinquish one’s own ability to create a civil morality. Sure, I tend to respond in general tone because I am not writing a paper here, just asking questions, sharing opinions and observations.
All that horrific and hateful behavior is not something Jesus would condone (or so I interpret). It's when religion and alleged loyalty to goodness has perverted to a cult of "evil" that all the worst of humanity unfolds.
It was a corruption of religion. Oh wait, maybe that is the definition. But to be fair, Jesus likely would chase these cretins away, like he did the money changers. They aren’t even pretending…
These guys better hope that they’re wrong about there being a god, because if they’re right, they’re going to burn in hell for all eternity.
..that’s an interesting snap Christopher …principle vs convenience ..getting lost in the story
I was referring to the gullibility of belief, Patricia.
Barr can't imagine that a man who idolises and venerates a murderous dictator who regularly assassinates his rivals.... could actually follow through with stating clearly that that is what he wants to do.
He trapped in an illogical belief system and doesn't have the capacity to imagine evil in his associates. Dangerously gullible, of course he is a believer.
Ie. the principles override rationality.
..gullibility…weaved amongst callous twists ..it fascinates me how many can/do get lost..in the forest. Principle included.
The Art of the Deal?
There’s profound innocence in most 6 year olds.
Not Trump, Not Barr.
And excessive weight. Plus his letter to Trump to hire him.
And excessive weight!
"...just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically."
And the KochLeo Heritage Society Project 2025 Trump transition plan will take us there at warp speed. 180 days to dismantle the entire Executive Branch. And rebuild it in KochLeo's image as administering a corporate clerical fascist state. As is being done by the KochLeo captured courts. (Gorsuch's mother was Reagan's EPA head. And ahead of her time. Her zeal in dismantling the EPA was so extreme and corrupt that she was forced to resign.)
Bill Barr made his GOP bones as cleaner for GHW Bush, getting pardons for convicted and indicted Iran Contra criminals. It's why he was brought back for Trump. Barr's also another Federal Society religious extremist. The 'unified executive' autocracy is in a way, a return to the Divine Right of Kings. Many in MAGA believe Trump is not only the anointed but Christ reincarnated as some RamboJesus and 2024 a literal Second Coming. They talk of themselves as Crusaders for Trump. Onward Christian Soldiers, indeed.
As AG Barr infamously quoted John Adams “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” Implying that only the godly get constitutional rights. Preferentially those unborn or born again. Elsewhere, John Adams writes "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
The Federalist Society's greater purpose is to obstruct the Federal government's regulatory authority. In the name of God, and in the service of greed, Federalist Society jurists are bent on obstructing government's ability to regulate commerce, administer equitable taxation, and provide essential and emergency services. And because the majority of voters disagree, these right wing extremists are bent on overturning equality before the law and equal representation to achieve their purpose.
Please don't help them.
Vote Biden or elect Trump.
This election is about democracy vs. fascism. Period. The statement "When fascism comes to America, it will be draped in the flag and carrying the cross" is spot on.
The Federalist Society has been highly effective infiltrating our wheels of government and shifting our laws, using our democracy to overturn our democracy. Most troubling now is the significant support MAGA is experiencing from the voting public. The Democrats must run an effective and persuasive messaging campaign to arrest this toxic political pandemic infecting our body politic.
Exactly.
And somehow we need to convince those inclined to treat voting as a purity test exercise in personal expression, that voting is a united tactic to take government power.
Right wing voters held their nose to win the Supreme Court. And they did.
Leonard Leo has expanded his efforts (ie Koch et al money) to The Teneo Network or what he's termed 'a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in American society.' By which he means all progress on government regulation, social safety net, and civil rights protections in over a century. An end to Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal, FDR's New Deal, LBJ's Great Society, ObamaCare. And specifically targeting equal protections for LGBTQ+ persons.
The far-right ownership of vast media networks including Fox have been successful talking heads, expanding lies, propaganda, and influence over large segments of the population. The cyberattacks from China and Russia aid in this effort. Biden's negative ratings have in part resulted from the false narratives from the talking heads "news flashes". Developing a strategy to provide a counter reality is a daunting challenge. I do hope the Democratic power brokers are up for the task. The unraveling of the New Deal and the subsequent progressive legislation has been in the crosshairs of these far-right actors for quite a while now as you mentioned with Federalist Society, Koch, Mercer, Council for National Policy, etc. Once thought to be the third rail of politics, Social Security, Medicare, and civil rights protection are being boldly assaulted. The brazened political assaults and lies by GOP politicians, immune to any optics or consequential fallout, speaks to the confidence and power felt by them.
Proceed until apprehended.
It's our job to stop them.
Whew! Heritage Foundation essentially says they were caught off guard by Trump's 2016 win. Project 2025 is their response. Right down to the CVs of loyalists at every level. Their wrecking crew is ready.
That manifesto completely dismantles our rules, our laws and disregards our Constitution. These are dangerous zealots cannot operate effectively if we deny them their voices and that’s why it is so important to reelect Biden-Harris. If you believe in democracy, which these men do not, then it is up to us and only us to make certain that we band together as one!
Yes.
Unite for Biden
or institute a 'unified executive.'
Let’s don’t elect chump
Barr's position on the exercise of authority and his intent to vote for an insurrectionist is proof positive that in the generality, talk doesn't matter because their reality is different from ours. So, what to do? Out vote them while votes still count. There is no middle ground.
And after a Blue sweep, those elected have to see to the restructuring of SCOTUS, to counter the views of Alito and Barr, etc.
I agree regarding the need to restructure SCOTUS - increasing the number of justices, putting in age limits and time served on the Court. It could very well be that to save our democratic process, we need to outnumber the Trump MAGA justices, starting ASAP.
I couldn't agree more. We need to do what we can to denigrate and debunk the nonsense that is being vomited at us from the Murdoch papers and media, Newsmax, OAN, Tucker Carlson and many other so-called news organizations.
And quit printing Trump's incessant lies like they are the truth. No one needs to here his constant denigrations of anyone that ever said something he disagreed with or looked at him the wrong way.
And Bill Barr is his only cabinet member who is backing Trump. One has to wonder why.
We expect people to vote like they did before a criminal record was a recommendation for office.
Bill Barr has always been a corrupt toady. And now he has a "president " wholly for sale.
Gary..."clearly" (hahahaaahaa) he sees a trip to the gravel-pit with Kristi "Paladin" Noem. It's simply his choice to get down on his knees and blow #45 or have his brains blown-out by Ms'Have Gun'.., BLAMM!
Michael and everyone on HCR's letter should know Barr's history. The man has zero scruples. What he did after the Mueller report is a small example of what that low life has done. Just look up his history.
Yup. After all those centuries, America is running back hard and fast towards re-installing an absolutely powerful “Christian” king again…
I’m holding to what Simon Says about the polls, trends, and reality of the gutsy American dependables-‘rally forth the flag ‘ . Yes, the subset that WAS enamored has dwindled..the ruse is up…the lesson is still being handed down a pill harder and harder to swallow …grow not weary soldiers …the final battle is 11/5/2024 and we need to have those numbers tell it BOLD and BLUE.
Codify, correct the subverse redacted.
Oust the dictators .
Renew the worldly promise by handing back civility to standing for the principles of equality we became world leader by , it may not be the last fight but it sure is the one point and center NOW!
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
Well, at least you gotta try! This is too important, not only for America, but also for the rest of the world!
Into the religious holier than thou nutcase zone.
Barr reminds us that it's not just a matter of defeating the Defendant candidate this November, which I believe Biden will do (assuming no judicial or extra judicial hijinks.) We also have to defeat the radical SCOTUS by adding 4 new members to its ranks (and hopefully have four years to replace judges who retire or expire.)
This notion of the unitary executive must be extinguished, along with Citizens United, Dobbs and the like, to rebalance the playing field. No president can do that on his own, and until the likes of Barr, Alito et al are watered down (name your own source of the stream) a future trumpian president remains a threat.
Biden has proclaimed resistance to expanding the Court. I think he's holding his powder.
I'm not so sure, Jen -- I think he's too much of of an institutionalist in that regard (in much the same way Schumer seems chary of eliminating the filibuster rule.) But I do hold out hope that you're right. It's the only way, short of Thomas, Alito and Roberts all leaving SCOTUS during Bidens next term, which is unlikely.
He may be. It's not his call until it gets to his desk.
I think it's more likely that a Democrat- controlled Senate might impose ethical rules that are I hope identical to those on the rest of the judiciary. Sure there will be holdouts for whatever reasons, but Biden would sign that.
Kamala Harris would likely sign such expansion legislation imo. She's an actual attorney.
It's not his call, but he can still whistle his preferences. (And Joe is also an actual attorney, and was on the Senate Judiciary Committee for years -- some as chair, IIRC.)
He was not a practicing attorney to my knowledge, so I forget about his law degree.
My question is - does he view Biden’s presidency (or for that matter, Obama’s presidency), with the same overreaching authority? Maybe the Biden administration should take that unitary stance with their own signing statements.
I think they view any Democratic administrations as invalid. They believe they are the only ones that have authority to "rule" (NOT govern).
💯💯💯💯
💯💯💯💯💯
I just read much of his full speech at Notre Dame. His constant reference to the lack of morality in our culture while ignoring the immorality of Trump is astonishing. His assertion that only a belief in a supernatural entity makes moral conduct possible is ludicrous. His fanaticism is frightening and should make him ineligible to hold ant public office.
What about Scott who basically said in an obfuscated manner, he would not accept a Biden win. Trump was going to win. period.
4/28/24
"The contention of the former attorney general—who had been responsible for enforcing the rule of law in the United States of America—that a man who has demanded the execution of people he dislikes is a better candidate for the presidency than a man who is using the power of the federal government to create jobs for ordinary people, combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote health and education, illustrates that Republican leaders have abandoned democracy." (HCR)
Well stated, professor!!
*****
"Until now, ... [n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse…." (George Stephanopoulos)
*****
... which is not to say no president ever has done any of these things - only that they never have been indicted or held accountable in a court of law. And, isn't that the big issue being challenged here - that state or federal intrusion into the realm of free men acting according to their perceived God-given rights, to hold them accountable for consequences of their actions ... this is government interference, deprivation of freedom and a violation of individual rights ...?
"Barr said. “I think the real threat to democracy is the progressive movement and the Biden administration.”"
More to the point, the progressive movement for justice and accountability affirms democracy - only poses a threat to big money dominance of a select private club of players who firmly believe America is their playground - a casino where the house rules the game and anyone who is not a member of the home team gets to play for pennies - where life is a lottery - a gamble in the name of their Almighty God:
ALL-AMERICAN GAME-TIME USA!!
In fact, America is a threshing ground where souls are tested - and sorted, like wheat from chaff - every one of us is held accountable for choices made and actions taken - in the long run, goodness will prevail ....
Scant comfort, but I'm certain our good doctor will assure us, that we've been here before Michael.
You had me at "top law enforcement official." Forget the tendencies and principles, what about the laws TFFG broke and the new ones he continues to break? The Maralardo case is incredibly egregious as regards not only our national security, but the security of our allies. Didn't Cheetolini show battle strategies of one of our allies to his biographer and friends? Not to mention the attempts to destroy other national docs and leaving them around his resort for anyone to take or photograph. How about enforcing those laws, Mr. Barr?
Do NOT get me started on the fake electors, big lie, or J6. If I had him on the stand, I'd ask Barr how he could countenance those... oh, right, he didn't. That's when he quit. But surely he recognizes that laws were broken and that 60 courts found the claims of fraudulent voters to be without any merit whatsoever.
This despicable minion needs to be disBarred. Like yesterday.