This evening, by a vote of 4–3, the Colorado Supreme Court decided that former president Donald Trump is disqualified from holding office and should be removed from the 2024 ballot in the state, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S.
It is essential that the voters understand that the GOP is no longer a political party. It is a cult of liars and traitors, headed by a would-be dictator.
Correct! When anyone brings up politics in a conversation, my default response now is to say that the Republican Party of my father no longer exists. The Republican Party is now an authoritarian movement.
I’m just 80 and I have supported democracy since I could vote. My best friend of 60 years is a Republican. Now he is so embarrassed by the GOP that the best he can say when we argue, as we have always done and enjoyed, “I can’t change anything. It’s up to my kids.” A very sad thing for a man of substance to say. I will try to convince him to fight to defend and expand our understanding of freedom and truth. The GOP has made a fool of him. That’s some damn hard cheddar!
Yes, that's right, but Biden cannot win if GenZ doesn't go to the polls, and all they talk about on TikTok is how turned off they are by Biden's age. AOC has over eight million TicTok followers, mostly young followers, and each of those followers has friends, some of whom aren’t on TicTok, so what AOC says reaches millions of young voters, maybe 15 million young voters. Well… potential voters. They might stay home, as young voters have done since forever.
Young voters are not inspired by talk about Biden’s accomplishments with boring stuff like health care, jobs, and inflation reduction, assuming inflation reduction is a thing, which a lot of voters who buy things don’t believe, and that’s important because, as David Plouffe points out, candidates don’t tell voters how the economy is doing. Voters tell candidates how the economy is doing.
There are four things that inspire young voters to vote: climate, guns, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights. Biden is on the right side of all those issues. He should invite AOC and one or two of her friends to a sit-down in the Oval Office and convince her to lead a shift in TicTok traffic towards Biden’s inspired and progressive views on the four things young voters care about. AOC can do it, and she will if President Biden asks her to and puts her in charge of a tech-savvy staff to do the footwork. A well-funded, AOC-led, TikTok campaign would make a real difference with voters that count. Biden cannot win if GenZ stays home.
Yes. Amazing. I always felt the Biden campaign should focus on the kind of people he surrounds himself with (AOC & Pete), especially compared with who Trump brought/brings to the table. This can address the age issue. Trump isn't much younger. Also it gets away from the idea that one man runs the US. It is a team effort. A Democracy is a team collaboration.
This is a BRILLIANT comment and I can't thank you enough for articulating it so well! Yesterday, I had this discussion with my husband. I have said over and over, that there is the reoccurring mantra that "Dems are terrible at messaging." I said to my husband, WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?
I know that Taylor Swift has a voice that millions of young people listen to, she got a lot of young people to register to vote.
I suggest that you email Biden's campaign office with your good idea!
If anyone else on the forum has an idea on how to get Rex's idea in front of the right people, please add your suggestion.
I think a lot of the problem with Democratic messaging has to do with the subtlety and nuance required to communicate the ideas involved. Republicans have a much simpler messaging job. All they have to do is remind their voters that their goal is to preserve the systemic advantages of white Americans. They just say “woke” or some other hate-triggering word or phrase, and the recipient understands what they mean.
In this case, fortunately for us, the Democratic message is equally easy to communicate. All Dems need to do to get Gen Z votes is to hammer on the four relevant words: climate, guns, abortion, LGBTQ+. GenZ will take it from there.
Gen Z on twitter loves Biden! Also, I hear people of all ages mention his age and I shut them down immediately when I say, "Kamala Harris is perfectly capable of taking the reins should she need to."
I didn’t know that. Odd that the GenZ has different points of view on the two platforms. Still, I think Biden needs a TikTok presence with someone like AOC in charge.
You're right. I doubt that in his heart of hearts, Mitch McConnell wanted to be responsible for a Supreme Court seen to be corrupt by such a large swath of the population. Not even the brokers at the Federalist Society wanted that. But here we are.
I doubt the brokers at the Federalist Society care if the SCOTUS is seen as illegitimate. They just want the power to enact their authoritarian agenda.
Perhaps, although McConnell (and really most all of the post-Eisenhower GOP) strike me as "win, concentrate power/concentrate wealth -perpetuate control" at any cost.
The noble "public servant" is being pushed out and having their lives and families threatened.
Due to the absurd claim of absolute Presidential immunity from ALL crimes
the stage is being set for the real qualified patriots to leave elected office or not seek to run.
Instead, every self-serving criminal is being emboldened to find shelter under that outlandish idea,
or to anticipate pardons for their conspiratorial crimes to end the federal government and the institutions that are at the heart of caring about human rights.
What if an enraged president machine gunned all the members of the Supreme Court, and his supportive party held the Senate. Would that be acceptable under our current concept to "presidential" immunity?
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."
– John Adams, Notes for an oration at Braintree, Spring 1772.
If we want to have the truth revealed from the gop about their belief in the absolute immunity assertion, we need only to present the facts of the case with one alteration: the perpetrator was Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let’s see how many MAGA will be on board then.
I have tried that tack. All I ever get is faux talking points, no real analysis. I remember the bumper sticker "When Clinton lied, no one died" after shrub was elected and went to war.
Good quote. And strange it came from a man that so pursued democracy and then when he got the power dud abuse it, but was checked by SCOTUS. Power corrupts. He was wise, but power ruined him to some extent.
It certainly should, and moving the principle forward, recognize if applies to any human being. Even Biden, even me, even anybody. Democracy is about sharing power and responsibility for our own society, including with those we entrust as leaders.
I thought the exact thing myself last night! I thought, what if Biden shot Trump--would that have immunity? (Not that Biden would do that, he is too religious and as opposed to Trump, I think he actually considers his immortal soul!)
Well said, Beverly. My suggestion for those voters who have one or more public servants in their district, is to contact them to thank them for their service. Since joining ChopWood/CarryWater, I have been in constant contact with my 2 senators and 1 rep, encouraging them to back a particular bill I support or just to thank them when I see where they have taken action that aligns with what I want to see. It's my remedy to prevent burnout!
Lynell, I, too, have contacted representatives and the senators from my state. Only one senator has replied, saying that he firmly believes that there was fraud in the 2020 election. He thinks that Speaker Johnson is a "man of impeccable character" and he supports him wholeheartedly.
I questioned his support when I reminded him that Speaker Johnson has aligned himself with Marjorie Taylor Green, stating that he agreed with her on several issues.
I implored this senator to remember his vows to protect the democracy of our United States. MTG and the others on her scale of insanity have no interest in protecting our democracy. They are people who just want to hear themselves rant on about their right to rant on.
I have not had a response from this senator on when he and his colleagues are going to come to their collective senses and overrule these extremists who are getting away with influencing outcomes of important issues. I guess he and his colleagues are discussing the question I have posed, will see the "light" and respond to me with a "Thank you for helping us come to our senses."
Ha! That's like finding a haystack in a needle. That's an even more unlikely scenario than finding a needle in a haystack.
Thank you Pam Taylor for pushing back on your senator’s support for Mike Johnson as a man of “impeccable integrity”. It reminds me of an anecdote about Eisenhower I heard. He said: “You cannot question a man’s integrity, but you can question his wisdom.” Your senator’s response reminds me to remember to frame my pushback in terms of a person’s “wisdom used in the situation”. That may crack some daylight into the narrow-minded space.
I keep in mind that Mitt Romney's physical safety was under threat and that Nancy
Pelosi's husband was bludgeoned when the attacker couldn't find her. I don't know your senator, but I suspect Republicans are keeping a close watch on their responses. Since Speaker Johnson has almost NO experience in the House, he must evoke the Divine to have any credibility, and Republicans go along with it. We're in a new place, but I believe you are doing the right thing by reminding your elected senator. Too many of them think they can ENJOY immunity.
Thank You for your effort! A running tally is kept in political offices of ayes and nays letters and contacts. Enough of us holler, it can tip the scale.
Oh, Pat. I applaud your choosing to engage, knowing the kind of response you are going to get. At this point, I would ask each of them what is it about the Constitution that they do not like. Not to be snarky about it, but because you really want to know.
We in Vermont are fortunate. Our reps are Bernie, Peter Welch and Becca Balint, who are all fighting the good fight. I know we are of like minds, but it is good to thank them every once in a while.
Morning, Ally! My above comment about burnout was meant to be directed to worrying about my reps burning out or deciding it's not worth holding office anymore due to the chaos.
Unfortunately, my rep, Jennifer Wexton, is not running again due to having contracted a serious illness, progressive supranuclear palsy, which has no cure. It is devastating news and I feel so bad for her. She is only in her mid-fifties. Since taking office, she has been very popular among her constituency. She was part of a trio of women VA reps - herself, Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria (who was on the J6 Select committee and subsequently lost reelection). Fortunately, newly elected Jennifer McClellan-VA4, has taken Luria's place to be part of the trio.
Why some people want a dictator is something I fail to understand. I don’t and I’m willing to fight to keep that from happening. Jack Smith is very impressive and I wish him well.
It is not enough to say you don’t want a dictator and will fight to keep that from happening. So I ask you what are you and others fighting against. For the people who seek a strong person to correct our problems are fighting for survival against a very corrupt and bribed system of lawyers, judges, and congress, including both representatives and senators, who are doing the bidding of corporations and the ultra rich that have already destroyed our democracy, the idea that we have a government of, for, and by the people. That is the fight you need to understand and undertake.
And if we understand that Congress is so dysfunctional at this time of great need, the same Section 3 of the 14th, should apply to every scoundrel who is presently in office and who participated actively in the events of Jan 6th. And the Supreme Court needs cleansing of its ethically corrupt judges. That is the fight to undertake. And to complete the circle, take the fight to correct our system of class warfare, where most wealth and power in this country is held in the hands of a few. And then maybe we would not be faced with the election of a dictator now or in the future. And fight against the constant wars, which have robbed the social and moral health of our country. I suspect that is what you mean?
People who want dictators lack imagination to see how things might not go their way with a dictator. They are wearing blinders to the plenty of examples of what can go wrong with you are wealthy under a dictatorship. Need I say, "Defenestration?"
I have no interest in Trump for any leadership position and despise his nasty.
However, Michael G does bring up the high level point of how our "Democracy" has failed in several ways.
1) Wars for no reason other than military contractor profit which gets fed back into "representatives" through campaign contributions and the like.
2) Tax cuts for billionaires who already pay no tax.
3) Tax cuts for corporations who already pay no tax.
4) Incestuous relationships with suppliers and "representatives".
Our "Democracy" has failed in many ways since WW II. Our government has overtly favored dictators in other countries over democratically elected leaders when they were deemed as "Communist" and literally had them assassinated.
Does that sound like good government?
So, for those people who are truly impacted by our bad government, what do we say? Vote??
That has not worked.
Please note, I am in full support of Democracy and am a huge fan of John Adams.
But, I am also surrounded by people who have been shafted by our system.
I don’t disagree that things can get worse, much worse. Desperate people do desperate things. I was suggesting fixing the problems that are making people so desperate, people who feel helpless and get caught up backing an authoritarian candidate who may never solve their problems, though promising to do so. This calls for an overhaul of the corrupted system in place, by the people in power, who fear the unleashed anger and power of desperate citizens. What other way is there? Armed revolution? Massive strikes? Look to what FDR and his team did.
This is not a win for the Democrats or Republicans, left or right. This is a royal mess and our country will pay a dear price if clear heads do not act to fix the inequalities.
Even after Stalin wasn't the dictator in the USSR any more, ordinary Russians lamented that he was no longer in office. There are many people who feel reassured with a "strong father" in charge. They mistakenly believe he will take care of them, like a good father does his children. And, if those citizens were strictly raised, with corporal punishment, and authoritarian parents, many of them will seek out the same in political leaders.
A dear friend is a staunch supporter of Trump. He appreciates Trump’s unapologetic nature and dogged determination to plow his ideas forward. He sees fearless leadership in these traits.
If you listen to Substack Decoding Fox News, she shares a week of Fox News in 45 minutes and details the stories Fox did NOT cover. After listening, you’ll understand how people CAN support Trump. They don’t read HCR. They don’t see anything but horror stories about Biden. It makes you understand that our Trump supporting neighbors are not aligned against the revelations we read here. They only see arguments debunking and downplaying any and all of Trump’s real threats to democracy.
The real danger is Fox. So what can WE do? Here’s one idea: write letters to hotel chains and kindly ask them to change the channel in the breakfast areas to CBS, ABC or NBC. Since most Marriotts, Sheratons, Hiltons, etc are individually owned, it’s important to reach out to individual hotels AND write to the corporate offices.
Start carrying a Universal Remote Controller in your purse. Then, if you must eat in the presence of a teevee, you can at least turn off the sound.
I managed to convince the guy who insisted on blaring Fox in our breakroom at work that his volume adjuster wasn't working just because every time he'd turn it up I'd turn it back down again while offering "helpful" suggestions.
What IF is it is more base? More primal? That desire for a "dictator"??
What if it is just that Amurcans want a Raeel Maen in the own minds? You know, like that middle school bully who spits on the floor, says F***K ever third word and sleeps in class. You know ...the one that all the girls wanted to go with in Middle School?
What if it is just some evolved Monkey response for the big monkey?
What if it is more primal than "Racism" or whatever.
Another look at the "need" for a bad boy leader is here in today's NY Times.
It does give credence to the idea of seeing oneself in the image of someone to be admired, in spite of, or because of, their dangerous/ admired persona.
Your perceptions here reveal the core of this scenario. Trump was never going to be a serious candidate. Until he was assisted. He was to be the president who would help the oligarchs in their endless pursuit of deregulation. The issues of "values" and the "culture wars" were to be sideshows - ways to distract Americans from the dismantling of a carefully crafted (very imperfect but the best in history) form of government oversight and protections.
But as you say, they lost control of him. And they lost control of the White Male Christian Nationalist warriors who he unleashed.
Now they will abandon him and jump on the Haley bandwagon. Her candidacy should terrify us.
True, I believe. Most of all there is a wide network of impossibly rich men who believe they and they alone should rule the world. Ironically, they are not beholden to a government, but to power. Insofar as they laugh all the way to the bank, they support each other. They are similar in that they are extraordinarlily willful and have little regard for human suffering.
Systematic: I agree with you. I may sound like a broken record but I attribute much of this to the chronic stress impact of the pandemic, FOX, extra-judicial police killings and subsequent protests/violence. Severe, protracted helplessness in the face of stress overload results in neurohormonal changes that activate the amygdala (fear and anger) and override the prefrontal cortex (reasoning, cognitive function).
It seems to me that over history whenever a people/nation has been suffering from stress overload, it is comparatively easy to reinforce their fear and anger - and to convince them that “only HE can fix it.” At that point facts are irrelevant because the prefrontal cortex is partially disabled.
Have you ever had a conversation with a pro-Trumper and just as you think you are making an important point the person gets that “deer in the headlights” look in their eyes? I have. It would be funny to watch someone’s PFC disengage if it wasn’t so frightening.
I hope we can disseminate truthful information in ways that the Trumpets can allow into their PFC. But I’m worried that we’re on a roller coaster speeding downhill.
Re: The second to last paragraph: I have switched tactics. Now I say, "Don't vote for Trump. Just don't." If anyone asks why I say, "Because he is a criminal."
but we also need to emphasize the "CHAOS" that accompanies 45.
I know I dearly long for the days when "government" worked "in the background" and people could go about their individual lives without thinking about how all the institutions were being turned against them and dismantled. How in disastrous situations, the government had made both plans and could arrange responses to help people cope and recover.
Remember 45's claim a Biden presidency would crash the Stock Market?
It hits new highs.
45 says he will round up 14 million "illegal immigrants" - if anything will crash the economy, that sounds like a truly effective method. Wonder if he'll throw Melania and his kids into that targeted group (of course, he won't!)
Systematic Curiosity- 100% agree with you. I would add a lack of reading history, and getting all their info from Fox or other right wing media sources
According to the NY Times citing the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Interior, Women For America First, “intentionally failed to disclose information” to the National Park Service “during the permitting process regarding a march to the U.S. Capitol.” So Women for America First lied about their intentions. This is one more example that shows that the January 6th Insurrection wasn't some one off , spontaneous incident. That whole thing was a conspiracy. Thank you HCR.
I guess the name itself should be questioned. I suppose they decided “Women for Trump” might be objectionable so instead “women for America” would be best. 1984.
So proud of the Colorado Supreme Court for making this decision! And so incredibly amusing to see pro-States Rights Republicans howl and fling sound bites like a panicked pack of angry baboons.
Like any "Republican" statement of principle , it swings back an forth more than a saloon door. Recall when His Exalted Orangeness wanted to strip California of their stricter air pollution standard, or calls for a national ban on abortion. They flip-flop more than flapjacks.
Wow, what a day! It baffles me that not every American is watching all these monumental and truly historic events unfold in real time like we all are. Boiling frog syndrome is real.
Yes, they did! They were afraid of communism taking over. Mere decades later they decided if you can't beat them you might as well join them and off they went with all our manufacturing jobs.
Excellent summary of how American manufacturing left America for a Communist Country, China, where there are no labor laws, no work time laws, no pay scale tiers, no human rights, and a large slave holding system (Uyghurs).
Your second sentence is just beautiful in its honest clarity.
Read Factory Man, about the dismantling and off-shoring of the American furniture industry. The closing of of plants and factories all over the South has led to the despair we see coming from many who support Trump today. Other major industries followed suit.
" I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing. The head of Coca-Cola said the business environment is friendlier in China than in America. And that's because of the regulators. That's because of government." - Mitt Romney
If it's a tyranny, so much the better. In it's approach to distributing power, is China closer to what Marx was talking about, what Lincoln was talking about, or what Mussolini was talking about? Lincoln was not anti-capitalist, but favored the rights of the public as individuals and as a whole, and fought for a wide distribution of political power. He detested autocracy. He favored a republic. It's that impulse of of, by and for the people that really scares those who aim to own and control it all.
I'm sure that there were many more who detested Hitler than were visible because to be visible meant death. I suspect that, for most people, authoritarianism starts early, when they a vulnerable kids, terrified into submission by controlling parents, and abusers tend to have been raised with abuse. I think that visceral PTSD imprint explains at least part of why even evidently intelligent, educated people become uncritical defenders of Trump, Why what is patently morally and logically wrong can seem so "right".
I can assure you that my two sisters (72 and 82 y.o) are much more invested in the current "scandal" regarding the romantic history of the the "Golden Bachelor" and his upcoming reality show wedding than ANYTHING political. I am not joking about this.
I know people exactly like that. They're in their 40s, though. Meanwhile, I'm over here donating to Timothy Snyder's project to buy drones for Ukraine. I could just cry.
Oh Lordy! What a sunny warm day in December it is!
I sense a sea change. I feel a momentum building. Even the usual Russian trolls seem to have disappeared from YouTube comments. Might the poison of Trump and the utter corruption of the Republican Party be coming to an end? I mean really?
The brooding cynic I have lately become is being crowded by a bright, irresistible optimism I haven’t felt for some time.
Thank you, Colorado! I forgive you for Lauren Boebert.
But for Lauren Boebert, George Santos, MTG and maybe another one or two of the crazies (heloo Scott Perry), we would not have had Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House or this newest time wasting impeachment inquiry into the Bidens and might actually have a new budget.
Indeed! But for the MAGA Mob so many ugly, useless, destructive events never would have happened. But I think we're seeing their last days. Their destruction is inevitable and it may be well upon us soon.
You're far more optimistic than I. I see this worm of authoritarianism working its way through our body politic. And growing scarily stronger with the help of the internet and a toothless FCC no longer regulating/encouraging fairness on the airwaves.
If we must, I’m ok with this Death By A Thousand Cuts, but more states need to pile on to help empty MAGA coffers with legal bills and keep SCOTUS busy from their true love of eliminating everyone’s rights. Win-win-win.
John in the opening minute of Deadline White House 4:01 pm Eastern, Judge Michael Luttig praised the CO ruling saying the decision will "force the Nation to decide does it believe in democracy, the a Constitution & the Rule of Law."
Important to recall that Judge Luttig reads Section 3 as meaning "insurrection" against the Constitution not troops nor the "authority" of the United States.
14A.3 "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
or, simplified for those who can't read through complicated sentence structure to get to the meat of this particular context:
"No person shall ... hold any office ...under the United States ... who, having previously taken an oath ... as an officer of the United States ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same (Constitution of the United States), or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof....
It is too bad President Biden can’t say, “Hey, SCOTUS, I’m looking forward to your answer about Presidential immunity. I’m working on some ideas which are dependent upon your answer”. I honestly think it would scare Republicans into full mass medical emergencies.
If President Biden did threaten to lengthen this term into a second (unelected) term, then handed the reins to Kamala Harris to finish that, then she took over for 8 more years of her own term ... well, that 16-year reign might sound pretty scary to the Repubs looking into the future.
From the article: "It is not just this case, but also the question of whether Trump has presidential immunity for his behavior in office that will likely come before the U.S. Supreme Court in the next few weeks." There is actually a third case relevant to this situation that is headed toward the Supreme Court: whether the actions of those arrested for participating in the Jan6 storming of the Capitol amount to 'obstruction of an official proceeding.' A Jan6 defendant has raised this as a defense, there is a split of opinions at the District Court level (one judge ruled for this defense) and it is headed to the DC Court of Appeals for resolution but may in fact be taken up by SCOTUS with the two other matters.
I would like to know of the basis for the claim of presidential immunity from prosecution of any and all crimes. I recall that Gerald Ford felt the need to issue a "pardon" for Nixon, lest he face prosecution for his misdeeds while in office. Those actions for which Congressional hearings had been held seem less serious to me that attempting to bring down the democratically elected government by means of force and violence. Trump bragged the he could commit murder and his base would not care. I we to suppose that the law would not either?
And hopefully, hopefully, history will not be at all kind to Senator Mitch McConnell for giving TFG a pass when he is eventually convicted of most or all of this, confirming Mitch to be the traitor he is.
Tfg has already committed many thousands of murders in the US by his mismanagement and politicizing of Covid, starting with his trip to India to give a speech before a million people.
There is a death toll that comes of particularly irresponsible (let alone malicious) political decisions. Our fate may hang on our vote. Collectively, it always does, even, and particularly when an unexpected problem comes, such as COVID (and part of wisdom, I think, is expecting and preparing for the unexpected).
J L Graham, I believe in the “broken windows” theory that, if you ignore small crimes often enough, people become used to lawlessness and bigger crimes result. We’ve seen this over and over in the past few years. I sometimes felt like a broken record about TFG’s flaunting of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution as he profited from foreign dignitaries staying in Trump Tower and kept expensive gifts with no approval from Congress. And now his attorneys are saying that he could do bigger crimes while President.
I agree. I think different beaches of acceptable behavior warrant differing responses, "zero tolerance" proved to be "zero intelligence" and "zero justice", but a pattern of corruption tends to spread and fester under a cloud of "normalcy". The purchase of political favors is classic bribery, condemned by the Constitution, but the courts have defined it so narrowly it is de facto legal. We were suckers to allow it to happen.
"Presidential Immunity for (everything)" is just something Trump made up and is feeding to his base and the courts in the hope that the losers he appointed to the court will do his and their sponsors bidding and let him off.
Ford, I believe, carried a copy of the pardon and may have crushed it, biting his tongue listening to Nixon crowing about it as a sign of his innocence while Ford considered it an admission of guilt (by accepting it). Ford's attempt to settle the country down like Lincoln and Johnson during and after the Civil War could be considered similar, using paroles, pardons, and amnesty which were not unconditional. The pardons would require an oath of allegiance most would sign, though, others went so far as to leave the country (to me like the Germans who fled to Argentina or other countries).
"...On Sunday, September 8, 1974, President Ford addressed the nation from the Oval Office to announce his decision to “grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed.” President Ford noted in his remarks that the pardon reflected both his Presidential responsibilities and his personal beliefs. Shortly after the announcement former President Nixon released a statement accepting the pardon. Although such a statement wasn’t required President Ford felt it was very significant. By resigning and accepting the pardon, Nixon was publicly acknowledging his guilt in the Watergate cover up...
...Over time people began to reconsider President Ford’s action. He received particularly special recognition when Caroline Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy presented him with the John F. Kennedy Foundation’s Profiles in Courage Award on May 21, 2001. This award is given annually to an elected official who has withstood strong opposition to follow what she or he believes is the right course of action. Ford was honored for the way he put the country’s best interests ahead of his own political career in a decision that most likely contributed to his defeat in the 1976 election. “I was one of those who spoke out against his action then,” Senator Kennedy said at the presentation. “But time has a way of clarifying past events, and now we see that President Ford was right. His courage and dedication to our country made it possible for us to begin the process of healing and put the tragedy of Watergate behind us. He eminently deserves this award, and we are proud of his achievement...”
I wish Ford hadn't made the Pardon so complete, leaving room to reign in a bit of Nixon's implications of total innocence. Any future pardons need to consider some way of preventing future similar offenses.
There was a long piece in the New Yorker years ago about the way in which Nixon maintained a sort of government in exile in New Jersey where he gave formal dinners for dignitaries from around the world. And then, of course, years later came the news that he abused Pat, which is why they were not living together at the time of her death. His son-in-law is still active in NY Republican politics, but I think the difference between Nixon and Trump is that Nixon retained a veneer of respectability.
I've met people that worked for Joe McCarthy like my economics Professor who thought McCarthy had some legitimate concerns, but turned against him for going far beyond legitimate opposition to exaggerated and downright completely false claims.
The ones I learned to respect, despite, serious differences in opinions on some issues, were far more courteous and willing to listen and even agree on many issues like Civil Rights enough to pass critically important legislation on Civil and Voting rights. The issue I most disagreed with them on was Citizens United and the Newt Gingrich/Frank Luntz's GoPac memo, "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control."
I spoke to one Trump fan in particular who was interested in my point of view and acknowledged that he could be wrong. I said "Everybody's wrong about something (which I believe) and he really liked that. Also, I could see from his personal history reasons beyond selfishness that led him to Trump. I was also earlier in Trump's presidency before the worst was evident. I believe that Democracy can weather and even thrive on strongly differing opinions (which liberty enables and vice versa) so long as we preserve good faith. Lies poison societies and politics, but democracy can withstand them, but not tolerate them. A lie is an intentional act. Repeating a lie may or may not be, but we need to at least try to identify the truth.
Bernie Madoff acknowledged his guilt as soon has his Ponzi scheme unraveled, but they jailed him anyway. Yes, given the severe social rupture of both the Civil War, and the policies and rhetoric of the Nixon administration, some tangible avenue of healing had to be incorporated into the demonstration of the unacceptability of Nixon's behavior; but what Ford (who I think had basically good intentions) and what the Kennedys missed (yet was not unforeseeable) was how it placed the president above the law. Especially the "all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed" part which I never understood how it could even be legal.
It was blanket impunity, a pretty blunt instrument for a very complicated situation. The problem is that so long as we consider that this was the only reasonable choice, we are affirming that level of impunity attached to the office.
Of course, if presidents were meant to be as immune to following the the rule of law as Trump and his supporters now claim, Ford's pardon would have been unnecessary. That suggests to me that the argued doctrine of blanket presidential immunity was unrecognized in that time.
He’s a thug. A dangerous, virulent thug: that waddling, orange Pig Face.
His narcissism, his illiteracy, his vulgarity often warp comically. But he and his bullying, his racism, his rape-friendly misogyny make him every bit as dangerous as the murderers Putin, Mohammed bin Salman, Kim Jong Un, Assad, and the ayatollahs.
More so. Where the young and talented Russians largely exit that country, to avoid complicity in the genocide in the Ukraine, too many Americans indulge, root for, egg on more Pig Face hatreds and vitriol – and violence, coupled with the Pig Face’s blowfish-bloated calls for that.
Where Putin, his accomplice oligarchs, and the long-skirted, heavily-bejeweled Orthodox priests have mass-stolen from Russia’s formerly public resources, U.S. billionaires largely but emulate that looting, that poisoning, that rot sicced on American public life.
Yes, the waddling, misshapen, fat Pig Face is an insurrectionist. And the U.S. Constitution speaks rightly duly to his – its – menace to the civilized world.
Just maybe the young Russians, in fact most Russians, see this battle as survival of their country, of an existential threat from the Western Empire which is spoken aloud in our government circles, but for some reason not understood by “our propagandized citizens”, but not lost to the ears of the Russians.
Isn’t it time we all made peace and work together toward the really big threats to our existence.
To some extent, your observations bear out. But I've also seen many Russian bloggers and exiled Russian media figures eloquently contrary to the Putin/oligarch/Orthodox priest chanters for genocide.
I was for some years in eastern Europe (I'm an American, and was a Fulbrighter) when the Berlin Wall fell, and was still there when the Soviet Union collapsed. I saw but did not understand the eagerness of U.S. Department of State officials as they sought to help U.S. financiers rescue, prop up, invest in all the worst of the old Soviet establishment: nomenklatura, spies, and secret police informers in all the region's universities.
I was back in the U.S. when Putin got in power and had U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov killed in 2004. Klebnikov had just written "Godfather of the Kremlin," and was still investigating the oligarchs who were assiduously thieving all public assets of the former USSR, sending the working classes there into the same spiral in which U.S. working classes found themselves after U.S. billionaires offshored millions of their formerly American jobs.
Now? That "small window" remaining for us may have opened just a bit with the Colorado Supreme Court's action against Putin's U.S. orange wannabe.
No one taught Kramer of WFAF that her texts can be subpoenaed!!😂 Ha, ha!!! Stupid people...”yeah Mike, let’s keep this between you me and the lamppost” hah! I hope she gets indicted.
The cult-cultivated grandiosity of the corrupted "GOP" has been such that they discarded any semblance of encumbering decency, and documented crimes for today's prosecutions, sometimes taking selfies with their own offenses. Corruption has spread so deep that they counted their demons before they had hatched, and expected to be hailed as heroes of the New Reich. That's gotta be stopped.
Seeing the wheels of Justice move, albeit very slowly, is giving me optimism about our system of government and its survival. Now our Supreme Court has a chance to do the right thing!
The right wing is rife with pessimism particularly with regard to government. Our job is to turn that around. Feeling optimistic about our institutions just might be an important first step in doing so.
Yup, I'm aware. Maybe this decision will do a little bit to exonerate them. Would like to see Clarence Thomas recuse himself (in light of his wife, Ginny's shenanigans!)
It is essential that the voters understand that the GOP is no longer a political party. It is a cult of liars and traitors, headed by a would-be dictator.
...and funded by far right anti democratic billionaires.
this makes no sense....
An important point.
Correct! When anyone brings up politics in a conversation, my default response now is to say that the Republican Party of my father no longer exists. The Republican Party is now an authoritarian movement.
I’m just 80 and I have supported democracy since I could vote. My best friend of 60 years is a Republican. Now he is so embarrassed by the GOP that the best he can say when we argue, as we have always done and enjoyed, “I can’t change anything. It’s up to my kids.” A very sad thing for a man of substance to say. I will try to convince him to fight to defend and expand our understanding of freedom and truth. The GOP has made a fool of him. That’s some damn hard cheddar!
Yes, that's right, but Biden cannot win if GenZ doesn't go to the polls, and all they talk about on TikTok is how turned off they are by Biden's age. AOC has over eight million TicTok followers, mostly young followers, and each of those followers has friends, some of whom aren’t on TicTok, so what AOC says reaches millions of young voters, maybe 15 million young voters. Well… potential voters. They might stay home, as young voters have done since forever.
Young voters are not inspired by talk about Biden’s accomplishments with boring stuff like health care, jobs, and inflation reduction, assuming inflation reduction is a thing, which a lot of voters who buy things don’t believe, and that’s important because, as David Plouffe points out, candidates don’t tell voters how the economy is doing. Voters tell candidates how the economy is doing.
There are four things that inspire young voters to vote: climate, guns, abortion, and LGBTQ+ rights. Biden is on the right side of all those issues. He should invite AOC and one or two of her friends to a sit-down in the Oval Office and convince her to lead a shift in TicTok traffic towards Biden’s inspired and progressive views on the four things young voters care about. AOC can do it, and she will if President Biden asks her to and puts her in charge of a tech-savvy staff to do the footwork. A well-funded, AOC-led, TikTok campaign would make a real difference with voters that count. Biden cannot win if GenZ stays home.
Yes. Amazing. I always felt the Biden campaign should focus on the kind of people he surrounds himself with (AOC & Pete), especially compared with who Trump brought/brings to the table. This can address the age issue. Trump isn't much younger. Also it gets away from the idea that one man runs the US. It is a team effort. A Democracy is a team collaboration.
great points, totally agree
Rex
This is a BRILLIANT comment and I can't thank you enough for articulating it so well! Yesterday, I had this discussion with my husband. I have said over and over, that there is the reoccurring mantra that "Dems are terrible at messaging." I said to my husband, WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO?
I know that Taylor Swift has a voice that millions of young people listen to, she got a lot of young people to register to vote.
I suggest that you email Biden's campaign office with your good idea!
If anyone else on the forum has an idea on how to get Rex's idea in front of the right people, please add your suggestion.
AOC + Taylor Swift!
Miselle
I think a lot of the problem with Democratic messaging has to do with the subtlety and nuance required to communicate the ideas involved. Republicans have a much simpler messaging job. All they have to do is remind their voters that their goal is to preserve the systemic advantages of white Americans. They just say “woke” or some other hate-triggering word or phrase, and the recipient understands what they mean.
In this case, fortunately for us, the Democratic message is equally easy to communicate. All Dems need to do to get Gen Z votes is to hammer on the four relevant words: climate, guns, abortion, LGBTQ+. GenZ will take it from there.
I agree, Rex. I keep telling people of reproductive age and ability that MAGA Mike wants to ban contracepton also.
I know people opposed to abortion who rely upon contraception.
Will do.
AOC and Taylor Swift.
Gen Z on twitter loves Biden! Also, I hear people of all ages mention his age and I shut them down immediately when I say, "Kamala Harris is perfectly capable of taking the reins should she need to."
I didn’t know that. Odd that the GenZ has different points of view on the two platforms. Still, I think Biden needs a TikTok presence with someone like AOC in charge.
AOC is, indeed, a real future for the Democrats.
But. The old line Dems don’t like her power.
Brilliant strategy, Rex. Brilliant and uncluttered. I’d say it is simple too but some think simple is a put-down.
Rex Page, good move. Thanks for speaking up.
That’s reality on a thumbnail.
Thank you Heather. It is a good day for democracy and justice. I am still gravely concerned about the matters before this corrupt, extremist SCOTUS.
You're right. I doubt that in his heart of hearts, Mitch McConnell wanted to be responsible for a Supreme Court seen to be corrupt by such a large swath of the population. Not even the brokers at the Federalist Society wanted that. But here we are.
I doubt the brokers at the Federalist Society care if the SCOTUS is seen as illegitimate. They just want the power to enact their authoritarian agenda.
Perhaps, although McConnell (and really most all of the post-Eisenhower GOP) strike me as "win, concentrate power/concentrate wealth -perpetuate control" at any cost.
Cannot believe this is present day reality.
The noble "public servant" is being pushed out and having their lives and families threatened.
Due to the absurd claim of absolute Presidential immunity from ALL crimes
the stage is being set for the real qualified patriots to leave elected office or not seek to run.
Instead, every self-serving criminal is being emboldened to find shelter under that outlandish idea,
or to anticipate pardons for their conspiratorial crimes to end the federal government and the institutions that are at the heart of caring about human rights.
It really IS Democracy or Trump.
What if an enraged president machine gunned all the members of the Supreme Court, and his supportive party held the Senate. Would that be acceptable under our current concept to "presidential" immunity?
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."
– John Adams, Notes for an oration at Braintree, Spring 1772.
If we want to have the truth revealed from the gop about their belief in the absolute immunity assertion, we need only to present the facts of the case with one alteration: the perpetrator was Hillary Rodham Clinton. Let’s see how many MAGA will be on board then.
I have tried that tack. All I ever get is faux talking points, no real analysis. I remember the bumper sticker "When Clinton lied, no one died" after shrub was elected and went to war.
Good quote. And strange it came from a man that so pursued democracy and then when he got the power dud abuse it, but was checked by SCOTUS. Power corrupts. He was wise, but power ruined him to some extent.
He did say "all men". That would include him.
It certainly should, and moving the principle forward, recognize if applies to any human being. Even Biden, even me, even anybody. Democracy is about sharing power and responsibility for our own society, including with those we entrust as leaders.
I thought the exact thing myself last night! I thought, what if Biden shot Trump--would that have immunity? (Not that Biden would do that, he is too religious and as opposed to Trump, I think he actually considers his immortal soul!)
Plus he does not appear to be a sociopath.
Well said, Beverly. My suggestion for those voters who have one or more public servants in their district, is to contact them to thank them for their service. Since joining ChopWood/CarryWater, I have been in constant contact with my 2 senators and 1 rep, encouraging them to back a particular bill I support or just to thank them when I see where they have taken action that aligns with what I want to see. It's my remedy to prevent burnout!
Lynell, I, too, have contacted representatives and the senators from my state. Only one senator has replied, saying that he firmly believes that there was fraud in the 2020 election. He thinks that Speaker Johnson is a "man of impeccable character" and he supports him wholeheartedly.
I questioned his support when I reminded him that Speaker Johnson has aligned himself with Marjorie Taylor Green, stating that he agreed with her on several issues.
I implored this senator to remember his vows to protect the democracy of our United States. MTG and the others on her scale of insanity have no interest in protecting our democracy. They are people who just want to hear themselves rant on about their right to rant on.
I have not had a response from this senator on when he and his colleagues are going to come to their collective senses and overrule these extremists who are getting away with influencing outcomes of important issues. I guess he and his colleagues are discussing the question I have posed, will see the "light" and respond to me with a "Thank you for helping us come to our senses."
Ha! That's like finding a haystack in a needle. That's an even more unlikely scenario than finding a needle in a haystack.
Oh well.
Thank you Pam Taylor for pushing back on your senator’s support for Mike Johnson as a man of “impeccable integrity”. It reminds me of an anecdote about Eisenhower I heard. He said: “You cannot question a man’s integrity, but you can question his wisdom.” Your senator’s response reminds me to remember to frame my pushback in terms of a person’s “wisdom used in the situation”. That may crack some daylight into the narrow-minded space.
Thank you for your reply!
I keep in mind that Mitt Romney's physical safety was under threat and that Nancy
Pelosi's husband was bludgeoned when the attacker couldn't find her. I don't know your senator, but I suspect Republicans are keeping a close watch on their responses. Since Speaker Johnson has almost NO experience in the House, he must evoke the Divine to have any credibility, and Republicans go along with it. We're in a new place, but I believe you are doing the right thing by reminding your elected senator. Too many of them think they can ENJOY immunity.
Thank you!
Thank You for your effort! A running tally is kept in political offices of ayes and nays letters and contacts. Enough of us holler, it can tip the scale.
MaryPat, wouldn't that be wonderful if the scales were tipped in favor of democracy?
Oh, Pat. I applaud your choosing to engage, knowing the kind of response you are going to get. At this point, I would ask each of them what is it about the Constitution that they do not like. Not to be snarky about it, but because you really want to know.
Thanks, Lynell. I really DO want to know!
We in Vermont are fortunate. Our reps are Bernie, Peter Welch and Becca Balint, who are all fighting the good fight. I know we are of like minds, but it is good to thank them every once in a while.
I think I'll start doing that; I have fabulous representation. I need to let them know that.
Oh, and good morning!!
Morning, Ally! My above comment about burnout was meant to be directed to worrying about my reps burning out or deciding it's not worth holding office anymore due to the chaos.
Unfortunately, my rep, Jennifer Wexton, is not running again due to having contracted a serious illness, progressive supranuclear palsy, which has no cure. It is devastating news and I feel so bad for her. She is only in her mid-fifties. Since taking office, she has been very popular among her constituency. She was part of a trio of women VA reps - herself, Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria (who was on the J6 Select committee and subsequently lost reelection). Fortunately, newly elected Jennifer McClellan-VA4, has taken Luria's place to be part of the trio.
Here are some details if you are interested:
https://wapo.st/3vabsS3
That is so weird ; an EPD officer was just diagnosed with either that or something very similar. Thanks for the link as well.
That is weird.
Yes, I seldom remember to thank our two wonderful Senators; I will try to do that more often.
Unfortunately, I am resident in Wasco County and when my asshole Representative bothers to answer my emails it's with gibberish.
I can just imagine.
Thank You For Your Service Lynell!!!
Morning, MaryPat!
Why some people want a dictator is something I fail to understand. I don’t and I’m willing to fight to keep that from happening. Jack Smith is very impressive and I wish him well.
It is not enough to say you don’t want a dictator and will fight to keep that from happening. So I ask you what are you and others fighting against. For the people who seek a strong person to correct our problems are fighting for survival against a very corrupt and bribed system of lawyers, judges, and congress, including both representatives and senators, who are doing the bidding of corporations and the ultra rich that have already destroyed our democracy, the idea that we have a government of, for, and by the people. That is the fight you need to understand and undertake.
And if we understand that Congress is so dysfunctional at this time of great need, the same Section 3 of the 14th, should apply to every scoundrel who is presently in office and who participated actively in the events of Jan 6th. And the Supreme Court needs cleansing of its ethically corrupt judges. That is the fight to undertake. And to complete the circle, take the fight to correct our system of class warfare, where most wealth and power in this country is held in the hands of a few. And then maybe we would not be faced with the election of a dictator now or in the future. And fight against the constant wars, which have robbed the social and moral health of our country. I suspect that is what you mean?
People who want dictators lack imagination to see how things might not go their way with a dictator. They are wearing blinders to the plenty of examples of what can go wrong with you are wealthy under a dictatorship. Need I say, "Defenestration?"
Linda,
I have no interest in Trump for any leadership position and despise his nasty.
However, Michael G does bring up the high level point of how our "Democracy" has failed in several ways.
1) Wars for no reason other than military contractor profit which gets fed back into "representatives" through campaign contributions and the like.
2) Tax cuts for billionaires who already pay no tax.
3) Tax cuts for corporations who already pay no tax.
4) Incestuous relationships with suppliers and "representatives".
Our "Democracy" has failed in many ways since WW II. Our government has overtly favored dictators in other countries over democratically elected leaders when they were deemed as "Communist" and literally had them assassinated.
Does that sound like good government?
So, for those people who are truly impacted by our bad government, what do we say? Vote??
That has not worked.
Please note, I am in full support of Democracy and am a huge fan of John Adams.
But, I am also surrounded by people who have been shafted by our system.
You've never been alone in this. Even Churchill noticed what you're noticing. Try as he might tho, he was unable to recommend a better alternative.
If you come up with one, please let the rest of us know. We're only clever apes, not wise apes!
😊 I will keep you posted Gary.
I don’t disagree that things can get worse, much worse. Desperate people do desperate things. I was suggesting fixing the problems that are making people so desperate, people who feel helpless and get caught up backing an authoritarian candidate who may never solve their problems, though promising to do so. This calls for an overhaul of the corrupted system in place, by the people in power, who fear the unleashed anger and power of desperate citizens. What other way is there? Armed revolution? Massive strikes? Look to what FDR and his team did.
This is not a win for the Democrats or Republicans, left or right. This is a royal mess and our country will pay a dear price if clear heads do not act to fix the inequalities.
Even after Stalin wasn't the dictator in the USSR any more, ordinary Russians lamented that he was no longer in office. There are many people who feel reassured with a "strong father" in charge. They mistakenly believe he will take care of them, like a good father does his children. And, if those citizens were strictly raised, with corporal punishment, and authoritarian parents, many of them will seek out the same in political leaders.
Maybe Jack Smith will become our wartime leader Eisenhower and we will elect him as our next president.
A dear friend is a staunch supporter of Trump. He appreciates Trump’s unapologetic nature and dogged determination to plow his ideas forward. He sees fearless leadership in these traits.
If you listen to Substack Decoding Fox News, she shares a week of Fox News in 45 minutes and details the stories Fox did NOT cover. After listening, you’ll understand how people CAN support Trump. They don’t read HCR. They don’t see anything but horror stories about Biden. It makes you understand that our Trump supporting neighbors are not aligned against the revelations we read here. They only see arguments debunking and downplaying any and all of Trump’s real threats to democracy.
The real danger is Fox. So what can WE do? Here’s one idea: write letters to hotel chains and kindly ask them to change the channel in the breakfast areas to CBS, ABC or NBC. Since most Marriotts, Sheratons, Hiltons, etc are individually owned, it’s important to reach out to individual hotels AND write to the corporate offices.
Excellent idea. Traveling across the country, it is clear that the cost of a "free" breakfast is exposure to Fox.
Start carrying a Universal Remote Controller in your purse. Then, if you must eat in the presence of a teevee, you can at least turn off the sound.
I managed to convince the guy who insisted on blaring Fox in our breakroom at work that his volume adjuster wasn't working just because every time he'd turn it up I'd turn it back down again while offering "helpful" suggestions.
My bag is way too heavy already, but at least I'm not a captive at work. Good thinking.
And to go one step further......the Money Behind Fox News. Always, always, always, “Follow The Money”
Read this. It answers your question. We are surrounded by primal fear, which Republicans love to foment because it serves their purposes. And where there is primal fear there is attraction to an authoritarian "daddy" who promises to keep us safe. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/do-voters-adore-trump-because-they-dread-death/
Systematic,
What IF is it is more base? More primal? That desire for a "dictator"??
What if it is just that Amurcans want a Raeel Maen in the own minds? You know, like that middle school bully who spits on the floor, says F***K ever third word and sleeps in class. You know ...the one that all the girls wanted to go with in Middle School?
What if it is just some evolved Monkey response for the big monkey?
What if it is more primal than "Racism" or whatever.
Another look at the "need" for a bad boy leader is here in today's NY Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/magazine/lonnie-mentor.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HU0.uojD.18G6jnMsw66B&smid=url-share
Thanks for the referral of this article.
I couldn't stop reading until the end of it.
It does give credence to the idea of seeing oneself in the image of someone to be admired, in spite of, or because of, their dangerous/ admired persona.
Your perceptions here reveal the core of this scenario. Trump was never going to be a serious candidate. Until he was assisted. He was to be the president who would help the oligarchs in their endless pursuit of deregulation. The issues of "values" and the "culture wars" were to be sideshows - ways to distract Americans from the dismantling of a carefully crafted (very imperfect but the best in history) form of government oversight and protections.
But as you say, they lost control of him. And they lost control of the White Male Christian Nationalist warriors who he unleashed.
Now they will abandon him and jump on the Haley bandwagon. Her candidacy should terrify us.
Terrifies me Bill. For sure.
True, I believe. Most of all there is a wide network of impossibly rich men who believe they and they alone should rule the world. Ironically, they are not beholden to a government, but to power. Insofar as they laugh all the way to the bank, they support each other. They are similar in that they are extraordinarlily willful and have little regard for human suffering.
Systematic: I agree with you. I may sound like a broken record but I attribute much of this to the chronic stress impact of the pandemic, FOX, extra-judicial police killings and subsequent protests/violence. Severe, protracted helplessness in the face of stress overload results in neurohormonal changes that activate the amygdala (fear and anger) and override the prefrontal cortex (reasoning, cognitive function).
It seems to me that over history whenever a people/nation has been suffering from stress overload, it is comparatively easy to reinforce their fear and anger - and to convince them that “only HE can fix it.” At that point facts are irrelevant because the prefrontal cortex is partially disabled.
Have you ever had a conversation with a pro-Trumper and just as you think you are making an important point the person gets that “deer in the headlights” look in their eyes? I have. It would be funny to watch someone’s PFC disengage if it wasn’t so frightening.
I hope we can disseminate truthful information in ways that the Trumpets can allow into their PFC. But I’m worried that we’re on a roller coaster speeding downhill.
Re: The second to last paragraph: I have switched tactics. Now I say, "Don't vote for Trump. Just don't." If anyone asks why I say, "Because he is a criminal."
Concur with your observation on "fear"
but we also need to emphasize the "CHAOS" that accompanies 45.
I know I dearly long for the days when "government" worked "in the background" and people could go about their individual lives without thinking about how all the institutions were being turned against them and dismantled. How in disastrous situations, the government had made both plans and could arrange responses to help people cope and recover.
Remember 45's claim a Biden presidency would crash the Stock Market?
It hits new highs.
45 says he will round up 14 million "illegal immigrants" - if anything will crash the economy, that sounds like a truly effective method. Wonder if he'll throw Melania and his kids into that targeted group (of course, he won't!)
you hit the major truths!
Somehow people no longer wanting or able to think for themselves comes to mind as well. Remember when TV was referred to as "the Boob Tube"?
We need to start questioning sources and motivation.
The so-called "polls" are more to influence - rather than gauge - public opinion.
For 45, it's only name recognition and "popularity."
Not WORK. Not OUTCOMES. And most certainly NOT TRUTH!
President Biden wins all of those HANDS DOWN.
Systematic Curiosity- 100% agree with you. I would add a lack of reading history, and getting all their info from Fox or other right wing media sources
According to the NY Times citing the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Interior, Women For America First, “intentionally failed to disclose information” to the National Park Service “during the permitting process regarding a march to the U.S. Capitol.” So Women for America First lied about their intentions. This is one more example that shows that the January 6th Insurrection wasn't some one off , spontaneous incident. That whole thing was a conspiracy. Thank you HCR.
I guess the name itself should be questioned. I suppose they decided “Women for Trump” might be objectionable so instead “women for America” would be best. 1984.
Women for trump would be almost too funny and would lead to all sorts of extrapolations : )
Kylie Kramer should indeed be in trouble!
What article in the NYT has the quote you cite? It doesn't seem to be among HCR's references.
Gift article. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-rally-report.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HU0.m88J.o7kHLwxVCQyM&smid=url-share
Thank you. Guess I haven't figured out how to read the NYT online ever since they quit printing the week-day paper in Iowa a couple years ago.
So proud of the Colorado Supreme Court for making this decision! And so incredibly amusing to see pro-States Rights Republicans howl and fling sound bites like a panicked pack of angry baboons.
Like any "Republican" statement of principle , it swings back an forth more than a saloon door. Recall when His Exalted Orangeness wanted to strip California of their stricter air pollution standard, or calls for a national ban on abortion. They flip-flop more than flapjacks.
Wow, what a day! It baffles me that not every American is watching all these monumental and truly historic events unfold in real time like we all are. Boiling frog syndrome is real.
I read that a genuine boiling frog would not display the calm with which they are reputed, but real frogs don't look at Fox.
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments." - Hitler
Like chump, Hitler told people what he would do, and the supporters loved it. The others ignored it.
Jeri,
The corporations loved Hitler too.
Yes, they did! They were afraid of communism taking over. Mere decades later they decided if you can't beat them you might as well join them and off they went with all our manufacturing jobs.
Excellent summary of how American manufacturing left America for a Communist Country, China, where there are no labor laws, no work time laws, no pay scale tiers, no human rights, and a large slave holding system (Uyghurs).
Your second sentence is just beautiful in its honest clarity.
At least there is worker protection: Suicide nets.
Read Factory Man, about the dismantling and off-shoring of the American furniture industry. The closing of of plants and factories all over the South has led to the despair we see coming from many who support Trump today. Other major industries followed suit.
Thomasville Furniture in NC for one. Of course, the heirs of the original owners sold out, took the money and ran.
" I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing. The head of Coca-Cola said the business environment is friendlier in China than in America. And that's because of the regulators. That's because of government." - Mitt Romney
If it's a tyranny, so much the better. In it's approach to distributing power, is China closer to what Marx was talking about, what Lincoln was talking about, or what Mussolini was talking about? Lincoln was not anti-capitalist, but favored the rights of the public as individuals and as a whole, and fought for a wide distribution of political power. He detested autocracy. He favored a republic. It's that impulse of of, by and for the people that really scares those who aim to own and control it all.
Corporations like Ford and IBM....
Especially some of ours, IBM, Ford, for starters
In which country?
I am collecting phrases for billboards. This snippet looks great Jeri. No copyright, right?!
Have at it.
I'm sure that there were many more who detested Hitler than were visible because to be visible meant death. I suspect that, for most people, authoritarianism starts early, when they a vulnerable kids, terrified into submission by controlling parents, and abusers tend to have been raised with abuse. I think that visceral PTSD imprint explains at least part of why even evidently intelligent, educated people become uncritical defenders of Trump, Why what is patently morally and logically wrong can seem so "right".
No argument here, I used to work in public schools, saw plenty of that. Starts early.
I can assure you that my two sisters (72 and 82 y.o) are much more invested in the current "scandal" regarding the romantic history of the the "Golden Bachelor" and his upcoming reality show wedding than ANYTHING political. I am not joking about this.
I know people exactly like that. They're in their 40s, though. Meanwhile, I'm over here donating to Timothy Snyder's project to buy drones for Ukraine. I could just cry.
I saw one episode and fell asleep half way thru.
So: maybe Thomas is ousted and SCOTUS ties 4-4. No action (like the Congressional norm).
Oh Lordy! What a sunny warm day in December it is!
I sense a sea change. I feel a momentum building. Even the usual Russian trolls seem to have disappeared from YouTube comments. Might the poison of Trump and the utter corruption of the Republican Party be coming to an end? I mean really?
The brooding cynic I have lately become is being crowded by a bright, irresistible optimism I haven’t felt for some time.
Thank you, Colorado! I forgive you for Lauren Boebert.
But for Lauren Boebert, George Santos, MTG and maybe another one or two of the crazies (heloo Scott Perry), we would not have had Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House or this newest time wasting impeachment inquiry into the Bidens and might actually have a new budget.
Indeed! But for the MAGA Mob so many ugly, useless, destructive events never would have happened. But I think we're seeing their last days. Their destruction is inevitable and it may be well upon us soon.
You're far more optimistic than I. I see this worm of authoritarianism working its way through our body politic. And growing scarily stronger with the help of the internet and a toothless FCC no longer regulating/encouraging fairness on the airwaves.
Don’t you think that is going a tad too far…
WAT!!!
If we must, I’m ok with this Death By A Thousand Cuts, but more states need to pile on to help empty MAGA coffers with legal bills and keep SCOTUS busy from their true love of eliminating everyone’s rights. Win-win-win.
John in the opening minute of Deadline White House 4:01 pm Eastern, Judge Michael Luttig praised the CO ruling saying the decision will "force the Nation to decide does it believe in democracy, the a Constitution & the Rule of Law."
Important to recall that Judge Luttig reads Section 3 as meaning "insurrection" against the Constitution not troops nor the "authority" of the United States.
Are we united states or not?
14A.3 "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
or, simplified for those who can't read through complicated sentence structure to get to the meat of this particular context:
"No person shall ... hold any office ...under the United States ... who, having previously taken an oath ... as an officer of the United States ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same (Constitution of the United States), or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof....
Seems pretty straightforward to me.
Thank you for this and all of your letters, We need them more tha n ever!.
It is too bad President Biden can’t say, “Hey, SCOTUS, I’m looking forward to your answer about Presidential immunity. I’m working on some ideas which are dependent upon your answer”. I honestly think it would scare Republicans into full mass medical emergencies.
If President Biden did threaten to lengthen this term into a second (unelected) term, then handed the reins to Kamala Harris to finish that, then she took over for 8 more years of her own term ... well, that 16-year reign might sound pretty scary to the Repubs looking into the future.
Hahaha! He needs to update that threat!
From the article: "It is not just this case, but also the question of whether Trump has presidential immunity for his behavior in office that will likely come before the U.S. Supreme Court in the next few weeks." There is actually a third case relevant to this situation that is headed toward the Supreme Court: whether the actions of those arrested for participating in the Jan6 storming of the Capitol amount to 'obstruction of an official proceeding.' A Jan6 defendant has raised this as a defense, there is a split of opinions at the District Court level (one judge ruled for this defense) and it is headed to the DC Court of Appeals for resolution but may in fact be taken up by SCOTUS with the two other matters.
I would like to know of the basis for the claim of presidential immunity from prosecution of any and all crimes. I recall that Gerald Ford felt the need to issue a "pardon" for Nixon, lest he face prosecution for his misdeeds while in office. Those actions for which Congressional hearings had been held seem less serious to me that attempting to bring down the democratically elected government by means of force and violence. Trump bragged the he could commit murder and his base would not care. I we to suppose that the law would not either?
And hopefully, hopefully, history will not be at all kind to Senator Mitch McConnell for giving TFG a pass when he is eventually convicted of most or all of this, confirming Mitch to be the traitor he is.
Mitch and company.
McConnell got nothing in return for his groveling in front of 45, Trump still hates on him and calls him this that and the other....
Backstabbers gonna backstab.
McConnell will be remembered as a wimpy politician who liked money.
Sold his soul...
Tfg has already committed many thousands of murders in the US by his mismanagement and politicizing of Covid, starting with his trip to India to give a speech before a million people.
Gigi, thank you. This is so true.
There is a death toll that comes of particularly irresponsible (let alone malicious) political decisions. Our fate may hang on our vote. Collectively, it always does, even, and particularly when an unexpected problem comes, such as COVID (and part of wisdom, I think, is expecting and preparing for the unexpected).
J L Graham, I believe in the “broken windows” theory that, if you ignore small crimes often enough, people become used to lawlessness and bigger crimes result. We’ve seen this over and over in the past few years. I sometimes felt like a broken record about TFG’s flaunting of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution as he profited from foreign dignitaries staying in Trump Tower and kept expensive gifts with no approval from Congress. And now his attorneys are saying that he could do bigger crimes while President.
I agree. I think different beaches of acceptable behavior warrant differing responses, "zero tolerance" proved to be "zero intelligence" and "zero justice", but a pattern of corruption tends to spread and fester under a cloud of "normalcy". The purchase of political favors is classic bribery, condemned by the Constitution, but the courts have defined it so narrowly it is de facto legal. We were suckers to allow it to happen.
J L,
"Presidential Immunity for (everything)" is just something Trump made up and is feeding to his base and the courts in the hope that the losers he appointed to the court will do his and their sponsors bidding and let him off.
He has a reasonable probability of success.
Ford, I believe, carried a copy of the pardon and may have crushed it, biting his tongue listening to Nixon crowing about it as a sign of his innocence while Ford considered it an admission of guilt (by accepting it). Ford's attempt to settle the country down like Lincoln and Johnson during and after the Civil War could be considered similar, using paroles, pardons, and amnesty which were not unconditional. The pardons would require an oath of allegiance most would sign, though, others went so far as to leave the country (to me like the Germans who fled to Argentina or other countries).
See https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/exhibits/pardon/pardon.asp
"...On Sunday, September 8, 1974, President Ford addressed the nation from the Oval Office to announce his decision to “grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed.” President Ford noted in his remarks that the pardon reflected both his Presidential responsibilities and his personal beliefs. Shortly after the announcement former President Nixon released a statement accepting the pardon. Although such a statement wasn’t required President Ford felt it was very significant. By resigning and accepting the pardon, Nixon was publicly acknowledging his guilt in the Watergate cover up...
...Over time people began to reconsider President Ford’s action. He received particularly special recognition when Caroline Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy presented him with the John F. Kennedy Foundation’s Profiles in Courage Award on May 21, 2001. This award is given annually to an elected official who has withstood strong opposition to follow what she or he believes is the right course of action. Ford was honored for the way he put the country’s best interests ahead of his own political career in a decision that most likely contributed to his defeat in the 1976 election. “I was one of those who spoke out against his action then,” Senator Kennedy said at the presentation. “But time has a way of clarifying past events, and now we see that President Ford was right. His courage and dedication to our country made it possible for us to begin the process of healing and put the tragedy of Watergate behind us. He eminently deserves this award, and we are proud of his achievement...”
I wish Ford hadn't made the Pardon so complete, leaving room to reign in a bit of Nixon's implications of total innocence. Any future pardons need to consider some way of preventing future similar offenses.
There was a long piece in the New Yorker years ago about the way in which Nixon maintained a sort of government in exile in New Jersey where he gave formal dinners for dignitaries from around the world. And then, of course, years later came the news that he abused Pat, which is why they were not living together at the time of her death. His son-in-law is still active in NY Republican politics, but I think the difference between Nixon and Trump is that Nixon retained a veneer of respectability.
I've met people that worked for Joe McCarthy like my economics Professor who thought McCarthy had some legitimate concerns, but turned against him for going far beyond legitimate opposition to exaggerated and downright completely false claims.
The ones I learned to respect, despite, serious differences in opinions on some issues, were far more courteous and willing to listen and even agree on many issues like Civil Rights enough to pass critically important legislation on Civil and Voting rights. The issue I most disagreed with them on was Citizens United and the Newt Gingrich/Frank Luntz's GoPac memo, "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control."
I spoke to one Trump fan in particular who was interested in my point of view and acknowledged that he could be wrong. I said "Everybody's wrong about something (which I believe) and he really liked that. Also, I could see from his personal history reasons beyond selfishness that led him to Trump. I was also earlier in Trump's presidency before the worst was evident. I believe that Democracy can weather and even thrive on strongly differing opinions (which liberty enables and vice versa) so long as we preserve good faith. Lies poison societies and politics, but democracy can withstand them, but not tolerate them. A lie is an intentional act. Repeating a lie may or may not be, but we need to at least try to identify the truth.
Bernie Madoff acknowledged his guilt as soon has his Ponzi scheme unraveled, but they jailed him anyway. Yes, given the severe social rupture of both the Civil War, and the policies and rhetoric of the Nixon administration, some tangible avenue of healing had to be incorporated into the demonstration of the unacceptability of Nixon's behavior; but what Ford (who I think had basically good intentions) and what the Kennedys missed (yet was not unforeseeable) was how it placed the president above the law. Especially the "all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed" part which I never understood how it could even be legal.
It was blanket impunity, a pretty blunt instrument for a very complicated situation. The problem is that so long as we consider that this was the only reasonable choice, we are affirming that level of impunity attached to the office.
Of course, if presidents were meant to be as immune to following the the rule of law as Trump and his supporters now claim, Ford's pardon would have been unnecessary. That suggests to me that the argued doctrine of blanket presidential immunity was unrecognized in that time.
He’s a thug. A dangerous, virulent thug: that waddling, orange Pig Face.
His narcissism, his illiteracy, his vulgarity often warp comically. But he and his bullying, his racism, his rape-friendly misogyny make him every bit as dangerous as the murderers Putin, Mohammed bin Salman, Kim Jong Un, Assad, and the ayatollahs.
More so. Where the young and talented Russians largely exit that country, to avoid complicity in the genocide in the Ukraine, too many Americans indulge, root for, egg on more Pig Face hatreds and vitriol – and violence, coupled with the Pig Face’s blowfish-bloated calls for that.
Where Putin, his accomplice oligarchs, and the long-skirted, heavily-bejeweled Orthodox priests have mass-stolen from Russia’s formerly public resources, U.S. billionaires largely but emulate that looting, that poisoning, that rot sicced on American public life.
Yes, the waddling, misshapen, fat Pig Face is an insurrectionist. And the U.S. Constitution speaks rightly duly to his – its – menace to the civilized world.
The churches are the worst. Too many people revere them instead of fearing them. Same here.
Just maybe the young Russians, in fact most Russians, see this battle as survival of their country, of an existential threat from the Western Empire which is spoken aloud in our government circles, but for some reason not understood by “our propagandized citizens”, but not lost to the ears of the Russians.
Isn’t it time we all made peace and work together toward the really big threats to our existence.
I hope the Russians love their children too.
PRINCE
This letter doth make good the Friar’s words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death;
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor ’pothecary, and therewithal
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.
Where be these enemies?—Capulet, Montague,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love,
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.
Thank you, "Systematic Curiosity,"
To some extent, your observations bear out. But I've also seen many Russian bloggers and exiled Russian media figures eloquently contrary to the Putin/oligarch/Orthodox priest chanters for genocide.
A "small window," indeed, "Systemic curiosity."
I was for some years in eastern Europe (I'm an American, and was a Fulbrighter) when the Berlin Wall fell, and was still there when the Soviet Union collapsed. I saw but did not understand the eagerness of U.S. Department of State officials as they sought to help U.S. financiers rescue, prop up, invest in all the worst of the old Soviet establishment: nomenklatura, spies, and secret police informers in all the region's universities.
I was back in the U.S. when Putin got in power and had U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov killed in 2004. Klebnikov had just written "Godfather of the Kremlin," and was still investigating the oligarchs who were assiduously thieving all public assets of the former USSR, sending the working classes there into the same spiral in which U.S. working classes found themselves after U.S. billionaires offshored millions of their formerly American jobs.
Now? That "small window" remaining for us may have opened just a bit with the Colorado Supreme Court's action against Putin's U.S. orange wannabe.
Fantastic coverage, Heather. Thank you!
The CO court decision should also open a pathway to disqualifying certain Senators and Representatives from reelection.
No one taught Kramer of WFAF that her texts can be subpoenaed!!😂 Ha, ha!!! Stupid people...”yeah Mike, let’s keep this between you me and the lamppost” hah! I hope she gets indicted.
I would like to know who the “White House Liaison” was? Hoping Jack Smith knows...
The cult-cultivated grandiosity of the corrupted "GOP" has been such that they discarded any semblance of encumbering decency, and documented crimes for today's prosecutions, sometimes taking selfies with their own offenses. Corruption has spread so deep that they counted their demons before they had hatched, and expected to be hailed as heroes of the New Reich. That's gotta be stopped.
Schadenfreude to the max!
Seeing the wheels of Justice move, albeit very slowly, is giving me optimism about our system of government and its survival. Now our Supreme Court has a chance to do the right thing!
The right wing is rife with pessimism particularly with regard to government. Our job is to turn that around. Feeling optimistic about our institutions just might be an important first step in doing so.
Doc.
"Now our Supreme Court has a chance to do the right thing!"
(The Majority) of Our Supreme Court is bought and paid for by far right groups and that will make a very big difference in this case.
I am giving it 70/30 that Trump wins his argument that he is immune from (everything).
Because, the amount of money that will rain down on the right wing majority if they rule in his favor will be vast and generational changing.
Hard to pass up that kind of money.
If the Supreme Court does find Trump immune, would that not give Biden (and all future presidents) permission to do the exact same thing?
No, only will apply to Trump
Yup, I'm aware. Maybe this decision will do a little bit to exonerate them. Would like to see Clarence Thomas recuse himself (in light of his wife, Ginny's shenanigans!)