In Florida, Kansas, Ohio, Illinois, and Arizona, Republican voters chose their presidential candidate today. The results highlight the weaknesses former president Trump is bringing to the 2024 presidential contest. Trump, who is the only person still in the Republican race, won all five of today’s Republican races. But the results showed that his support is soft. Results are still coming in, but as I write this, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who has suspended her campaign, received between 13% and 20% of the vote, Florida governor Ron DeSantis—who has also suspended his campaign—picked up votes, and “none of the names shown” got more than 5% in Kansas.
In the firehose of tffg news the past week, despite the apparent strength of the Biden-Harris campaign, I have felt a sense of gloom that tffg may yet evade justice, somehow. BUT your last sentence in tonight's essay, regarding the impeachment attempt against Biden made me actually laugh for the first time in a while of reading Substacks. Thank you.
"Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, told reporters: “Lev Parnas can debunk the bogus claims at the heart of the impeachment probe and, in the process, explain how the GOP ended up in this degraded and embarrassing place.”"
HCR has had the siren on as she keeps us informed about the battle for Democracy in the US. We look to Ukraine as well to keep Democracy alive. World Central Kitchen is working as no other organization to feed people in need. Learn about their recent shipment of food to the people in Gaza.
'WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. ... WCK has created a new model for disaster relief ...'
'Operation Safeena: Aid shipment reaches northern Gaza'
'World Central Kitchen provided almost 200 tons of food in northern Gaza that arrived on our first maritime aid shipment. The food that reached families facing starvation arrived aboard the first humanitarian shipment to reach the Gazan coast in nearly two decades. Alongside local and international partners, WCK has provided more than 39 million meals by land, sea, and air to Palestinians in need.'
'For months, our teams across the region have worked nonstop to open this maritime aid route into Gaza. We are sourcing and loading food onto boats in Cyprus and built our own jetty in Gaza using rubble, including from bombed buildings, to safely unload cargo.'
'WCK will eventually be able to provide “huge quantities of food daily into the shores of Gaza,” said José Andrés, WCK’s founder. Our teams are currently preparing to dispatch our second maritime shipment that will include food and heavy machinery that will expedite the offloading process.
WCK's next maritime shipment will include food and heavy machinery to expedite offloading.'
'Still, much more needs to be done. José has called for a ceasefire and opening of as many land crossings as possible as the best ways to ensure Palestinians get the meals and water they need. To date, we have dispatched more than 1,500 trucks and know that many more are needed to meet the urgent needs of communities all across Gaza.'
'At the same time we deliver food to northern Gaza, WCK is supporting families fleeing south who pass through our Welcome Center in Deir al-Balah. '
These reports are making me vomit. Trump is a criminal clear and present and a danger to the American way of life. Clear and present danger. I read that he has rehired Paul manafort, as his campaign manager. The Russian licking guy. Hang onto your seats and please please ensure that your social media prescence is not timid. Theirs won’t be. Lots more to say but I’ve forgotten to breathe … except go Ukraine. Despite Republican treachery. It is what it is … treason.
Thank you Dr. Richardson. I have a question. Didn't we used to have a Law that funds solicited for election campaigns could not be diverted to personal use? In three of the five cases Trump has faced trial the charges had little or nothing to do with the campaign. In the 93.6 million dollar fine in favor of E. Jean Carroll that was prior to 2015 and he was found by a jury of his peers to have "sexually assaulted" Ms. Carroll, last time I looked sexually assaulting women was not part of a President's duties.
The trial for which he owes the State of New York 454+ million dollars was for business fraud. Gee, I don't remember reading in the Constitution that a President's personal business was part of the Presidential duties either.
The third New York trial is political corruption in trying to hide sexually immoral behavior illegally from the voters - I suppose that one could be stretched to cover a campaign cost.
His final two trials have to do with his stealing highly secret classified documents (including military secrets that endanger our security) and trying to overthrow a legitimate election because, well he's Donald Trump and he promised his cult he'd win.
The point of this diatribe is how can he legitimately use funds aimed at reelecting his sorry ass be used instead to pay his attorneys?
I am more and more convinced that Trump will lose, in November. The big question is what will he attempt to do, when that happens. Whichever way this election goes he will have poisoned the country and torn it apart.
I have begun to think of the nine months leading up to the 2024 election as a troubled pregnancy. There are some very disturbing symptoms with a possibility of a miscarriage of Justice, and yet we progress towards a delivery. The father of all this has some serious genetic flaws, and something tells me that even many staunch Republicans would like an abortion, but it's probably too late for that. We should have put him away for insurrection when he left the White House.
Thanks Heather, good job as always. Going back to my So. Cal. roots, if Trump was a surfer his theme song would be 'Wipeout'...have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpv1h3d7DQA
This morning on Alexander Vindman's Substack I was watching a video he has created using Ronald Reagan's words to highlight why we should support funding Ukraine. A very smart strategy that pits Ronald Reagan against the Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump. That video immediately switched to one of Mitt Romney being interviewed on CNN supporting us funding Ukraine so that we remain honorable, retain our allies and support our troops. He also went on to say that he will vote for Biden over Trump because he disagrees with Trump's stance on foreign policy, and he also sees Trump as having bad character and that matters to him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKyxb0Gy7E
So glad there are Republicans who can afford the private security so that they can speak out against Trump. I see more and more rats jumping ship. I repeat that the Republican party is imploding and as an experienced classroom teacher I know that if the children ran the classroom it would implode too. That is what the Republicans in Congress are like. However, one disturbing note, is that I read in the Chicago Sun Times that the numbers of voters in Chicago were way lower than in the last 2 primaries.
Still, Biden got 91.3 percent of Democrats, with almost 700,000 votes in Illinois, and Trump got 80 percent of the Republicans with close to 500,000 votes. Nikki Haley got close to 100,000 votes, or 15% and that could lead to some of them voting for Biden.
In fact, who knows how many of the Republican votes for Haley were actually Democrats making a statement. Still, the low numbers of voters in Chicago has me hoping that is not the case in the general election. In any case, I again read that the youth vote was lowest, and many interviewed said that they are not sure how to vote from being out of state in college. I made sure my daughter, who is attending University in Germany knew how to vote. I also told her that voting in this election cycle is the most important thing she can do for her future, more important than her studies, more important than anything else other than taking care of her health. I think it is going to be very, very important that someone take on teaching people how to vote when they are living away. Of the 1000 Americans in the city that I live in in Germany where I also worked the election at the Democrats Abroad Germany voting place where one could vote in person for the Democratic election, there were only a handful that came in to vote. I can hope that they voted online at home too if their states allow it.
"rejecting his insistence that he didn’t have to answer to Congress because Trump had invoked executive privilege over their conversations about overturning the 2020 presidential election. "
For the survival of rule of law, we somehow need some kind of official guideline about what "executive privilege" is or isn't. I accept that there are things a president says and does that are privileged information, at least with respect to how and when and to whom, certain information is released, but it also seems to me that the only legitimate criteria for invoking such restrictions would be in credible service of the public's interests. As a person and as an key employee, a president has personal rights; but everything he or she does on the clock (and for presidents that can be 24/7) has impact upon and is mandated to be in service of, or at least not incompatible the good of the nation and it's people. Seems to me that whenever I hear insistence on "executive privileged" someone is claiming an excuse for dodgy behavior. We just can't afford that kind of fringe benefit in light of all that is a stake. Not and claim to be a nation of laws, and democratic justice.
Thank you Heather for this most mostly good news., I wonder if it’s possible that enough Republicans will be at the national Republican nominating convention and break ranks with Trump, and at the convention nominate another person to represent their party. I suppose that’s a pipe dream?
"...the fact that more than 1,200 people have been charged for their actions that day [Jan. 6] and many of them have been sentenced to prison seems likely to dampen enthusiasm for trying something like that again."
Add to that, law enforcement wasn't prepared in 2021. They will be in 2025.
Thank you HCR for another informative letter tonight. I am so in hopes that we will see the orange menace get his "come upping's" but until he is actually broke or indicted for his treasonous crimes or in jail, I will hold my breath for our country and our democracy. Watching all this unfold makes me realize how Jim Jones got his followers to drink the Kool-Aid!
Another fine piece, Dr Richardson. Though not directly relevant to today's essay, here is a twelve and a half minute vid. of an interview taken earlier today aimed at the threat not only of Trump's lack of fitness for the office but the de-moralizing effect he is having on others. The discussion is worth one's time; I do not agree with everything but this lady's reasoning is tight and sober-minded.
Reminiscent of the cults of personalities responsible for in excess of hundred million deaths in the twentieth century. Perhaps you and Dr Lee could compare notes. You and she have incisive minds and think much the same way. Below is a letter-of-warning from me to me from May 2016 that follows the same concern that twisted thinking can overtake anybody, even me if I am not very careful.
"The [GOP primary] results highlight the weaknesses former president Trump is bringing to 2024 ...Even in *Ohio, Trump received less than 80%.
*Ohio GOP primary.
2016: Trump 35.87% (713,404 votes)
Trump won the general election
2020: Trump: 100% (714,546 votes.
Trump lost the general election.
2024: 79.2% (889,001 votes)
Trump could win 2024. It's not a long shot.
There are diverse forces united for Trump**. We cannot downplay their effectiveness.
**GOP. Russia, Iran, North Korea. Jill Stein, Robert Kennedy, Cornell West; Netanyahu (war as wedge issue); Evangelicals; American Council of Bishops; Heritage Foundation et al; right wing media; Federalist Society packed courts; and ...
In the firehose of tffg news the past week, despite the apparent strength of the Biden-Harris campaign, I have felt a sense of gloom that tffg may yet evade justice, somehow. BUT your last sentence in tonight's essay, regarding the impeachment attempt against Biden made me actually laugh for the first time in a while of reading Substacks. Thank you.
"Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, told reporters: “Lev Parnas can debunk the bogus claims at the heart of the impeachment probe and, in the process, explain how the GOP ended up in this degraded and embarrassing place.”"
HCR has had the siren on as she keeps us informed about the battle for Democracy in the US. We look to Ukraine as well to keep Democracy alive. World Central Kitchen is working as no other organization to feed people in need. Learn about their recent shipment of food to the people in Gaza.
'WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. ... WCK has created a new model for disaster relief ...'
https://wck.org/
'Operation Safeena: Aid shipment reaches northern Gaza'
'World Central Kitchen provided almost 200 tons of food in northern Gaza that arrived on our first maritime aid shipment. The food that reached families facing starvation arrived aboard the first humanitarian shipment to reach the Gazan coast in nearly two decades. Alongside local and international partners, WCK has provided more than 39 million meals by land, sea, and air to Palestinians in need.'
https://wck.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=06ac91679649ec3adc1c73cc3&id=5c0f294604&e=8c2d0f0321
'For months, our teams across the region have worked nonstop to open this maritime aid route into Gaza. We are sourcing and loading food onto boats in Cyprus and built our own jetty in Gaza using rubble, including from bombed buildings, to safely unload cargo.'
'WCK will eventually be able to provide “huge quantities of food daily into the shores of Gaza,” said José Andrés, WCK’s founder. Our teams are currently preparing to dispatch our second maritime shipment that will include food and heavy machinery that will expedite the offloading process.
WCK's next maritime shipment will include food and heavy machinery to expedite offloading.'
'Still, much more needs to be done. José has called for a ceasefire and opening of as many land crossings as possible as the best ways to ensure Palestinians get the meals and water they need. To date, we have dispatched more than 1,500 trucks and know that many more are needed to meet the urgent needs of communities all across Gaza.'
'At the same time we deliver food to northern Gaza, WCK is supporting families fleeing south who pass through our Welcome Center in Deir al-Balah. '
Our mailing address is:
World Central Kitchen
PO Box 96538
Washington, DC 20090
Add us to your address book
https://wck.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=06ac91679649ec3adc1c73cc3&id=5c0f294604&e=8c2d0f0321
These reports are making me vomit. Trump is a criminal clear and present and a danger to the American way of life. Clear and present danger. I read that he has rehired Paul manafort, as his campaign manager. The Russian licking guy. Hang onto your seats and please please ensure that your social media prescence is not timid. Theirs won’t be. Lots more to say but I’ve forgotten to breathe … except go Ukraine. Despite Republican treachery. It is what it is … treason.
Thank you Dr. Richardson. I have a question. Didn't we used to have a Law that funds solicited for election campaigns could not be diverted to personal use? In three of the five cases Trump has faced trial the charges had little or nothing to do with the campaign. In the 93.6 million dollar fine in favor of E. Jean Carroll that was prior to 2015 and he was found by a jury of his peers to have "sexually assaulted" Ms. Carroll, last time I looked sexually assaulting women was not part of a President's duties.
The trial for which he owes the State of New York 454+ million dollars was for business fraud. Gee, I don't remember reading in the Constitution that a President's personal business was part of the Presidential duties either.
The third New York trial is political corruption in trying to hide sexually immoral behavior illegally from the voters - I suppose that one could be stretched to cover a campaign cost.
His final two trials have to do with his stealing highly secret classified documents (including military secrets that endanger our security) and trying to overthrow a legitimate election because, well he's Donald Trump and he promised his cult he'd win.
The point of this diatribe is how can he legitimately use funds aimed at reelecting his sorry ass be used instead to pay his attorneys?
I am more and more convinced that Trump will lose, in November. The big question is what will he attempt to do, when that happens. Whichever way this election goes he will have poisoned the country and torn it apart.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Jamie Raskin stirs up to further embarrass the GQP morons.
Thank you for the summary.
I have begun to think of the nine months leading up to the 2024 election as a troubled pregnancy. There are some very disturbing symptoms with a possibility of a miscarriage of Justice, and yet we progress towards a delivery. The father of all this has some serious genetic flaws, and something tells me that even many staunch Republicans would like an abortion, but it's probably too late for that. We should have put him away for insurrection when he left the White House.
Thanks Heather, good job as always. Going back to my So. Cal. roots, if Trump was a surfer his theme song would be 'Wipeout'...have a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpv1h3d7DQA
This morning on Alexander Vindman's Substack I was watching a video he has created using Ronald Reagan's words to highlight why we should support funding Ukraine. A very smart strategy that pits Ronald Reagan against the Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump. That video immediately switched to one of Mitt Romney being interviewed on CNN supporting us funding Ukraine so that we remain honorable, retain our allies and support our troops. He also went on to say that he will vote for Biden over Trump because he disagrees with Trump's stance on foreign policy, and he also sees Trump as having bad character and that matters to him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKyxb0Gy7E
So glad there are Republicans who can afford the private security so that they can speak out against Trump. I see more and more rats jumping ship. I repeat that the Republican party is imploding and as an experienced classroom teacher I know that if the children ran the classroom it would implode too. That is what the Republicans in Congress are like. However, one disturbing note, is that I read in the Chicago Sun Times that the numbers of voters in Chicago were way lower than in the last 2 primaries.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2024/03/19/low-turnout-chicago-2024-primary-election
Still, Biden got 91.3 percent of Democrats, with almost 700,000 votes in Illinois, and Trump got 80 percent of the Republicans with close to 500,000 votes. Nikki Haley got close to 100,000 votes, or 15% and that could lead to some of them voting for Biden.
https://news.wttw.com/2024/03/19/live-illinois-primary-results-president-congress-and-cook-county-state-s-attorney
In fact, who knows how many of the Republican votes for Haley were actually Democrats making a statement. Still, the low numbers of voters in Chicago has me hoping that is not the case in the general election. In any case, I again read that the youth vote was lowest, and many interviewed said that they are not sure how to vote from being out of state in college. I made sure my daughter, who is attending University in Germany knew how to vote. I also told her that voting in this election cycle is the most important thing she can do for her future, more important than her studies, more important than anything else other than taking care of her health. I think it is going to be very, very important that someone take on teaching people how to vote when they are living away. Of the 1000 Americans in the city that I live in in Germany where I also worked the election at the Democrats Abroad Germany voting place where one could vote in person for the Democratic election, there were only a handful that came in to vote. I can hope that they voted online at home too if their states allow it.
Sounds like a fun day with Jamie Raskin.
"rejecting his insistence that he didn’t have to answer to Congress because Trump had invoked executive privilege over their conversations about overturning the 2020 presidential election. "
For the survival of rule of law, we somehow need some kind of official guideline about what "executive privilege" is or isn't. I accept that there are things a president says and does that are privileged information, at least with respect to how and when and to whom, certain information is released, but it also seems to me that the only legitimate criteria for invoking such restrictions would be in credible service of the public's interests. As a person and as an key employee, a president has personal rights; but everything he or she does on the clock (and for presidents that can be 24/7) has impact upon and is mandated to be in service of, or at least not incompatible the good of the nation and it's people. Seems to me that whenever I hear insistence on "executive privileged" someone is claiming an excuse for dodgy behavior. We just can't afford that kind of fringe benefit in light of all that is a stake. Not and claim to be a nation of laws, and democratic justice.
Thank you Heather for this most mostly good news., I wonder if it’s possible that enough Republicans will be at the national Republican nominating convention and break ranks with Trump, and at the convention nominate another person to represent their party. I suppose that’s a pipe dream?
"...the fact that more than 1,200 people have been charged for their actions that day [Jan. 6] and many of them have been sentenced to prison seems likely to dampen enthusiasm for trying something like that again."
Add to that, law enforcement wasn't prepared in 2021. They will be in 2025.
Thank you HCR for another informative letter tonight. I am so in hopes that we will see the orange menace get his "come upping's" but until he is actually broke or indicted for his treasonous crimes or in jail, I will hold my breath for our country and our democracy. Watching all this unfold makes me realize how Jim Jones got his followers to drink the Kool-Aid!
Another fine piece, Dr Richardson. Though not directly relevant to today's essay, here is a twelve and a half minute vid. of an interview taken earlier today aimed at the threat not only of Trump's lack of fitness for the office but the de-moralizing effect he is having on others. The discussion is worth one's time; I do not agree with everything but this lady's reasoning is tight and sober-minded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCSiEDA7sZA
Reminiscent of the cults of personalities responsible for in excess of hundred million deaths in the twentieth century. Perhaps you and Dr Lee could compare notes. You and she have incisive minds and think much the same way. Below is a letter-of-warning from me to me from May 2016 that follows the same concern that twisted thinking can overtake anybody, even me if I am not very careful.
https://nedmcdletters.blogspot.com/2016/05/letter-116-b-getting-historical.html
"The [GOP primary] results highlight the weaknesses former president Trump is bringing to 2024 ...Even in *Ohio, Trump received less than 80%.
*Ohio GOP primary.
2016: Trump 35.87% (713,404 votes)
Trump won the general election
2020: Trump: 100% (714,546 votes.
Trump lost the general election.
2024: 79.2% (889,001 votes)
Trump could win 2024. It's not a long shot.
There are diverse forces united for Trump**. We cannot downplay their effectiveness.
**GOP. Russia, Iran, North Korea. Jill Stein, Robert Kennedy, Cornell West; Netanyahu (war as wedge issue); Evangelicals; American Council of Bishops; Heritage Foundation et al; right wing media; Federalist Society packed courts; and ...
We have to Get Out The Vote for Biden-Harris.