A Busy Monday before More Primaries

Much to the dismay of Republicans, the ill-advised GOP response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union (SOTU) address delivered in the kitchen by a breathy, sometimes whispering, “wife and mother” Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), won’t go away. The woman Britt referenced in her speech, Karla Jacinto, is also speaking out against Britt’s comments about her, denouncing Britt’s telling of events. In a CNN interview, Jacinto talked about how politicians—both in Mexico and now in the U.S.—only use her for political purposes. She talked about how the Mexican drug cartels did not traffic her: it was “a pimp who operated as part of a family that entrapped vulnerable girls to force them into prostitution.” No one contacted Jacinto for permission to use her story, and she agreed that Britt’s narrative was, at best, misleading.

The mainstream media received its share of the blame for journalists not doing due diligence; the story about Britt’s “misleading” speech broke only after free-lance contributor to several news media, Jonathan Katz, broke the story on TikTok.

Florida teachers regained some of their First Amendment rights after a settlement that students and teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms outside instruction. The agreement also gives permission for anti-bullying rules and Gay-Straight Alliance groups, and the “don’t say gay” law doesn’t apply to library books not used for instruction in the classroom or to books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-gender couples, “as they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming.” Supporter of the law, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office called the deal a “major win” because the law can’t “be maligned in court.” The arrangement is still wrong, but it’s a start.

E. Jean Carroll accepted the $91 million bond by Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) with one change: he can’t force her to wait 60 days or more after the appeals court rules in her favor to get paid.

Six months ago far-right Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin considered a run for the GOP president candidate; the off-year election putting Democrats in control of the legislature killed that dream—at least for now. This past week, he signed a bill legalizing same-gender marriage in the Commonwealth, regardless of federal law, mandating marriage licenses for any two people seeking a “lawful marriage” regardless of gender, race, or sex. A previous Virginia law banning biracial marriage led to the 1967 Supreme Court decision, Loving v. Virginia, striking down state laws against biracial marriage.

Youngkin faced another loss after his GOP endorsements lost the election. Democrats removed his plans for a $2 billion sports arena from the state budget. He vetoed a bill overturning a book-banning bill passed by Republicans in 2021 and another returning the state to an interstate compact ensuring accurate voter rolls. Other bills he plans to veto before the April 8 deadline include banning assault weapons, creating a legal market for marijuana sales, and boost the minimum wage.

Congressional conservatives threatened to block President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address because he hadn’t submitted a budget for the upcoming year. Today, he released the budget which Republicans will reject although it cuts $3 trillion off the national debt during the next decade. This reduction and costs for healthcare, childcare, and housing would be paid by new taxes on the wealthy and major corporations. The budgetP also offers universal prekindergarten, 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, larger anti-poverty tax credits, and a new tax break for first-time home buyers. The proposed tax increases the minimum on billion-dollar corporations to 21 percent from 15 percent and on U.S. multinationals’ foreign income to 21 percent from 10.5 percent. Some tax deductions for executive compensation will be eliminated. The IRS would receive an additional $104.3 billion for the next decade to provide additional scrutiny for these people and businesses, generating $341 billion in net revenue. Congress has still not passed the current year’s budget which ends on October 1.

Peter Navarro goes to prison for four months on March 19 for defying a subpoena from the House January 6 investigative committee. He will be the first top DDT adviser to serve time for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. DDT’s son-in-law Jared Kushner found Navarro, the trade adviser, in Amazon.com for writing an anti-China book. Navarro is awaiting an opinion for his appeal from the D.C. Circuit Court. The committee had subpoenaed Navarro about his work with Bannon to force delays in the January 6, 2021 congressional session in which lawmakers certify electoral votes. Navarro also prepared three reports touting false election frauds and is fighting a DOJ civil lawsuit demanding he return hundreds of records to the National Archives, some of them pertaining to the 2020 election.

A judge permitted Steve Bannon, also jury-convicted for ignoring a committee subpoena, to wait outside prison for the result of his appeal to the same court. He has other legal problems. In 2020, he was arrested on the yacht of a Chinese billionaire for defrauding donors to his “We Build the Wall” project which didn’t build a wall. DDT pardoned Bannnon, but he faces trial in May because New York state charged him with money laundering, criminal conspiracy, and a “scheme to defraud” related to the scam. In 2022, Axios named Bannon one of GOP’s new kingmakers for his podcast The War Room which foments hatred, calling Biden “a usurper” in the White House. Jack Posobiec, a podcast guest, announced at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference, “Welcome to the end of democracy!” He told his crowd that they are “here to overthrow it completely.”

A demonstration of MAGA violence was front and center at the Johnson County (KS) GOP fundraiser. Attendees paid to kick and beat an effigy of President Biden. Former GOP chair Mike Kuckelman condemned the bashing and called for the resignation of the current chair Mike Brown, an election denier, and Johnson County Republican Party chairwoman Maria Holiday.

An El Paso (TX) judge blocked AG Ken Paxton’s attempt to subpoena documents from religious shelters for migrants, stating “a real and credible concern” for the predetermined goal of shutting down Annunciation House for political reasons without “due process or fair play.” The AG and the shelters “are now obliged to litigate this matter within the guidelines set forth by the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.” Paxton’s office had demanded records about the shelters’ clients, accusing it of “human smuggling” and operating an “illegal stash house.” The judge called Paxton’s office “rude and unprofessional.” Annunciation House operates several shelters in El Paso, providing humanitarian aid of food, housing, and information about claiming asylum in the U.S.

Despite her lack of political experience, Arizona’s failed election-denier gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is spreading her lies on her campaign website in her run for U.S. Senate. She claimed that the U.S. government is printing more money to cover the growing deficit, but the U.S. money supply is shrinking, something that hasn’t happened in at least 65 years, causing inflation which Biden brought back down to historic lows. The middle and working classes in the U.S. comes from stagnant wage growth while CEO pay skyrockets and the assets flow to the top.

Lake also blames bureaucracy for the nation’s problems, but the federal government has dropped from 2.8 percent of all workers during the Truman administration to 1.9 percent of workers in 2023. Federal employment peaked in April 1990 after nine years of Reagan/Bush fiscal policies. Lake should lobby for a higher federal minimum wage—now $7.25 an hour—if she wants “American workers to grow our economy.” Another solution is returning to the past, which MAGA supposedly wants, when the top tax rate was 91 percent under Eisenhower in a decade of average GDP growth of 6.9 percent. In the Democratic 1960s the GDP averaged 7.0 percent.

Another worthless Lake strategy to win votes is wooing those she denigrated such as John McCain supporters. During her run for governor, Lake bragged that her 2022 primary win, before the general election loss, had driven a “stake through the heart of the McCain machine” and she told his more moderate followers to “get the hell out.” Now she claims she was joking, ala DDT, and tried to bond with McCain’s daughter, Meghan, by saying that both of them are mothers. Meghan McCain isn’t buying it. Other offensive Lake attacks are against former Gov. Doug Ducey and her lawsuits and defamation against many GOP Maricopa County election officials, sending her to court several times.

DDT ridiculed Biden’s non-existent stutter in his SOTU address, but his own gibberish is getting worse. In his diatribe giving reasons for cutting Social Security and Medicare, a complete reversal from a year ago, DDT said:

“People are going through hell. If they have and I believe the number is 50%. They say 32 and 33%. I believe we have a cumulative inflation of over 50%, that means people are, you know, they have to make more than 50% more over a fairly short period of time to stay up. They’ve gotten routed. The middle class in our country has been routed ….”

The rest of his “word salad” is here.

Great quote from Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) meltdown when asked if DDT controls Senate Republicans, “No. I mean, I voted against things that, you know, he doesn’t like.” That’s following what DDT wants!     

DDT Wants ‘Absolute Immunity’ for His Crimes

Republicans have tried to make Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospitalization the biggest issue of January 9, but they lost out to the hearing about immunity for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) because he was elected president in 2016. A three-judge panel of the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court questioned DDT’s lawyers about how and why he should have absolute immunity for anything he did while in the White House and since then. The decision will determine whether DDT is immune for his obstruction of justice when he tried to block the counting of the electoral votes on January 6, 2021, because he was still in the White House at the time.

The most memorable answers from the lawyers are the attorneys’ statements that presidents could not be prosecuted for orders to kill a rival or anyone else or for selling pardons and nuclear secrets. They also tried to use the double jeopardy argument making him immune because he had not been found guilty in an impeachment trial. According to their argument, a president can be prosecuted only if he has been impeached and convicted. A judge asked:

“I understand your position to be that a president is immune from criminal prosecution for any official act that he takes as president even if that action is taken for an unlawful or unconstitutional purpose, is that correct?”

The lawyer responded that prosecution was allowed only after the Senate convicted the president in impeachment. She again asked the question for a “yes or no” answer, and the lawyer repeated his former answer. According to Pearce, founding father Alexander Hamilton, cited by DDT’s lawyers, stated that a former president can be criminally prosecuted. Later, James Pearce, who argued the case for the U.S. government, said the lawyer’s comments portended “an extraordinarily frightening future” because the belief puts presidents outside and above the law.

DDT’s lawyers have reversed their position since his impeachment and his case Trump v. Vance when he tried to keep his tax returns from Manhattan DA Cy Vance. For both those cases, DDT’s legal team argued he could be criminally prosecuted after he left the White House. The lawyer finally admitted that was the case, but those arguments are not “res judicata,” binding on DDT in the current case. Pearce pointed out that some Republicans said they voted against conviction in the impeachment because they expected the DOJ to investigate and determine any charges against DDT.

A judge turned the argument about impeachment conviction allowing prosecution against the lawyer. She said:

“So, therefore, he’s not completely immune, because you concede he can be prosecuted under certain circumstances. Isn’t that also a concession a president can be prosecuted for an official act, because they can be impeached for an official act?”

She added:

“All of your other arguments seem to fall away … if you concede a president can be prosecuted under some circumstances.”

The judges also asked whether DDT’s attempts to overturn the election were part of his presidential duties and whether their court should make that decision. The lawyer claimed that DDT’s actions, such as meetings with congressional members and the DOJ about a stolen election, were his presidential responsibilities. In addition, DDT’s social media posts encouraging people to be at the Capitol on January 6 were an official presidential communication channel, making his tweets also immune. A judge appointed by George H.W. Bush was again skeptical and retorted:

“I think it’s paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care [that] the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate federal laws.”

In another exchange between DDT’s legal team and the judges, a lawyer said he assumed the future would not be full of vindictive “tit-for-tat prosecutions.” DDT has repeatedly promised retaliation when he coopts the DOJ. The day before the hearing, DDT suggested he would have Biden indicted.  

In a delay argument, DDT’s lawyer concluded the hearing by asking the judges to “stay the mandate” so he could “seek further review” if he loses.

DDT complained about being forced to leave the campaign trail in Iowa to attend the hearing, but he was not required to be present. Defendants typically don’t attend their hearings. DDT did use the hearing to advertise a calendar, supposedly free for a donation of $47, listing the important parts of his time in the White House. Missing, however, is the insurrection on January 6, 2021.

DDT finished the day by refusing to answer reporters’ questions about whether he would tell his supporters to not engage in violence. Four days earlier, President Joe Biden had told his audience that DDT wouldn’t condemn violence.  

“Trump won’t do what an American president must do. He refuses to denounce political violence. So hear me clearly. I’ll say what Donald Trump won’t. Political violence is never, ever acceptable in the United States political system. Never, never, never. It has no place in a democracy. None.”

A reporter asked DDT, “Will you tell your supporters now, no matter what, no violence?” DDT walked away.

DDT’s unconstitutional plans for retaliation against critics and opponents have been well publicized. He has listed these enemies to his advisers and friends, wanting the DOJ to investigate them, among them former chief of staff John Kelly, former AG Bill Barr, former attorney Ty Cobb, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Mark A. Milley. Publicly, DDT has said he will appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” Biden and his family.

Associates are drafting plans to eliminate policies shielding criminal prosecutions based on political considerations. A partnership of right-wing think tanks in Washington is preparing “Project 2025,” including executive orders, that will deploy the military domestically under the 1871 Insurrection Act. Another scheme removes the independence from the DOJ under the claim that it is not based in law or the Constitution. Former budget director Russ Vought, in charge of this plot, said:

“You don’t need a statutory change at all, you need a mind-set change. You need an attorney general and a White House Counsel’s Office that don’t view themselves as trying to protect the department from the president.”

Jeffrey Clark, part of Vought’s think tank, leads the work on the Insurrection Act under Project 2025. He is one of six unnamed co-conspirators described in DDT’s indictment in the federal election interference case. Clark is also DDT’s co-defendant in Fulton County’s (GA) RICO case for pressuring superiors at the DOJ to investigate evidence-free election crimes and organize fake electors in 2020 swing states.

DDT has found another victim for his “birther” conspiracy theory. Beginning with the accusation that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the U.S. and therefore ineligible to be president, he moved on to the same charge against presidential opponent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Now he’s telling the same lie about Nikki Haley, another presidential opponent who is surging in the polls. His falsehood will be almost immediately debunked, but the DDT’s statement will point out that Haley is the daughter of immigrants.

Thursday, DDT plans another appearance, this one giving a closing argument at the New York civil trial determining the amount of damages for his business fraud. Defendants representing themselves in the closing argument is highly unusual, and DDT isn’t a lawyer. The purpose will be to persuade Judge Arthur Engoron of his innocence in the fraud by vastly increasing his assets’ value for more beneficial loans. To determine the financial cost to DDT, Engoron will weigh claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. He hopes to have a verdict by the end of this month.

DDT News from Past Week

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) wants to delay a Supreme Court decision, but Special Counsel Jack Smith’s motion to hear the immunity case asked the high court, if it were to wait for the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court, to take the case immediately after the three-judge ruling instead of waiting for the en banc procedure with the entire circuit court. The circuit court is fast-tracking the case. DDT is accusing people of trying to take the election from the voters, exactly what he did for the 2020 election by trying to overturn the election.

The Colorado decision to keep DDT’s name off the primary ballot has brought up the issue of his insurrection. Different judges have stated that DDT was guilty of insurrection as did a bipartisan majority of the Senate in his impeachment trial. Fifty-seven senators, including seven Republicans, voted to convict DDT, but a two-thirds supermajority was necessary for an impeachment conviction.

DDT’s leading MAGA members in violence immediately caused them to send death threats to the Colorado justices and their families. Some of them give specific directions in methods—the use of bombs, hollow-point ammunition, rifles, and ropes. Fox is contributing to the MAGA violence: host Jesse Watters displayed to millions the names and photos of the four justices voting for DDT’s disqualification under a banner reading, “Meet the judges who hate democracy.” The far-right is also falsely claiming that these justices were not elected by voters.

A major DDT tactic is blaming the opposition for his own behavior. In a 2016 campaign debate, Hillary Clinton called DDT a “puppet” for Russian president Vladimir Putin. DDT retorted, “No puppet, no puppet. You’re the puppet.” Recently, after being accused of being an insurrectionist, DDT claims that President Joe Biden is an insurrectionist, not himself. No evidence exists regarding DDT’s lies. It’s the traditional “I’m rubber, you’re glue,” meaning whatever a person says returns to stick onto them.

Earlier, DDT was accused of attacking democracy so he accuses Democrats, including Biden, of his own belief. Accused of obstructing justice, DDT blames that on Democrats. The same for a quid pro quo with Ukraine: DDT blackmailed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to obtain congressional funding and then falsely accused Biden of his own behavior. Accused of racism, DDT criticizes his opponents for being racists. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that DDT had a “meltdown” during behind-the-scenes negotiations so DDT said Pelosi had a “meltdown.” Faced with allegations that his political operation collaborated with Russians, DDT said Democrats conspired with them. DDT promises he will use the DOJ to go after his political foes but falsely charges Biden of going after his own political foes. Prosecutors accusing DDT of committing crimes are then accused of committing crimes.

Another of DDT’s recent—and major—lies is that he peacefully surrendered power at the end of his term in the White House, an argument he may use if he ever goes to court for the indictment about trying to overturn the election. This falsehood came when Hugh Hewitt asked him if he would be a dictator if he returned to the White House. That answer ignores his urging of supporters to descend on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, during the certification of electoral votes. MAGA members also chanted “Hang Mike Pence” in response to DDT’s disapproval of his vice president because Pence wouldn’t accept fake electoral votes for DDT. And DDT’s claim to Fox that he wouldn’t be a dictator “except for Day One.” Videos of the insurrection show violence against the police trying to keep DDT’s mob from entering the Capitol.

An Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report has found collusion between DDT and January 6 rally organizations to break the law and march on the Capitol. Women for America First (WFAF)’s application for a rally permit at the Ellipse included a permit to march on the Capitol. The march was denied, and WFAF assured the permit-granters that they would have no march. At the same time, however, documents indicate WFAF’s coordination with the White House regarding the unapproved march, and the head of the WFAF, Kylie Kremer, texted that a secretly planned “second stage” for the rally included a march on the Capitol. Shown the text, the National Park Service and U.S. Park Police said, “Basically she lied to all of us.”

Fake electors are still running elections throughout the states, even if they are indicted for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Details here.

DDT is having another tantrum after Nikki Haley, at 29 percent, is only four points behind him in New Hampshire. Ron DeSantis is down to six percent, just one percent ahead of Vivek Ramaswamy. DDT told conservative friend Hugh Hewitt that he isn’t worried before he called the poll a “fake” and a “scam” on his Truth Social.

Polling for DDT shows over 58 percent of voters believe he committed serious federal crimes, 66 percent of independent voters. Yet 64 percent of GOP primary voters support DDT, at least before Colorado removed his name from the primary ballot. Sixty-two percent of Republicans want DDT to remain the GOP nominee even if he is subsequently convicted of a federal crime. Eighty-three percent of Republicans perceive his persecutions as politically motivated. Thirty percent of MAGA followers, supporters of the “law-and-order” party, say political violence is justified and don’t want a president to “always follow the rules and the law.”

Voters with a college degree, 64 percent, are more likely to believe that DDT has been charged because prosecutors believe he committed crimes; those without college education were the reverse—54 percent seeing the charges as politically motivated. The difference is worst with Republicans: 70 percent of those without college degrees want a convicted DDT to be the nominee compared to only 25 percent who don’t. Half of all voters say they pay little or no attention to the cases against DDT.

Either DDT’s dementia is worsening, or he’s entertaining himself with how far he can worsen his authoritarian (fascist?) behavior and keep his base—or both. Much was said about hateful comment that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” but last Sunday, he talked about “the great Alphonse Capone, Al Capone, great, great head of the mafia, right?” Capone was responsible for over 200 murders. [Note: Capone’s parents migrated to the U.S. six years before he was born.] DDT also told his Nevada crowd that he’d “negotiate” for “another four” years after he wins in 2004, meaning he will try to violate the constitution for three terms.

NBC News is demanding that DDT’s campaign remove an edited video to lies about it came from one of the network’s correspondent after the third GOP presidential debate. Authentic footage of Garrett Haake opens the video that cuts to video of each candidate with disparaging comments in an edited voiceover using Haake’s voice. Chris LaCivita, identified as “Trump Senior Advisor,” posted the artificial-intelligence generated video on social media.

The former GOP hangout in Washington, D.C., the Trump International Hotel, has turned blue since the days when foreign officials gave $3.7 million to DDT for their stays. Now, the Waldorf Astoria, the new name for DDT’s former hotel, is a Democratic gathering place, especially for President Joe Biden’s campaign donors.

Other Legal Issues:

E. Jean Carroll – Sexual Assault/Defamation:

DDT is trying to prevent an expert on marketing and social media as a witness because her testimony could be used to determine the amount of damages that Trump owes. Also, DDT has asked a federal appeals court to delay the trial set for January 16 so he can consider other moves. The New York appellate court has also rejected his plea for immunity.

New York – Business Fraud:

In an Arizona speech, DDT’s lawyer Alina Habba falsely accused New York’s AG Letitia James of trying to “kill” “the Trump family, their organization, and the presidency” continuously “for the last 11 joyous weeks.”

Using a conspiracy theory from former Rep. George Santos (R-NY), DDT failed in his attack against Judge Arthur Engoron, sharing an X screenshot, a reply to far-right activist Laura Loomer’s suggestion that Engoron reserved a seat for his son at DDT’s trial. On Truth Social, Loomer also accused Engoron of “financially benefiting from the Trump Trial via his position at an [sic] Democrat activist law firm in New York City and his father’s position as the judge overseeing Trump’s trial in NYC.” The image of a man she claimed was Engoron’s son is New York Post reporter Ben Kochman who exposed Loomer’s falsehood.  

Washington, D.C. – Overturning the Election:

DDT’s lawyers are asking the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court to dismiss the federal indictment for overturning the 2020 election because of his immunity.

People are questioning whether DDT is running out of money after he advertised trading cards with his image and a piece of the suit he wore to take his mugshot at the Fulton County Jail. Cost, $99 with a $4 handling fee. In October, his Save America PAC had spent about $37 million on legal fees to over 670 law firms in the previous 22 months. In third-quarter fundraising, DDT raised $45.5 million with $37.5 million on hand. Biden cleared $71 million and $91 million on hand.

In another money-making scheme, DDT is selling Christmas wrapping paper and stockings with copies of his mug shot from the Georgia indictment. Wrapping paper uses black and white while stockings have a full color image. The mug shot is also on T-shirts, beer koozies, and coffee mugs.

Republicans Fail to Govern

Republicans have another reason to be upset: a monthly jobs report of 199,000 more jobs that is called “robust,” “upbeat,” and “stronger than expected,” with the unemployment rate dropping to a near-50-year low (3.7 percent, compared with a forecast of 3.9 percent).

Heather Long Xeeted this:

• 4.7 million more jobs than pre-pandemic
• Below 4% unemployment for two years
• Wages growing faster than inflation
• Women (ages 25 to 54) at an all-time high for labor force participation

Usually anti-President Joe Biden, Maria Bartiromo admitted, “Overall you’ve got to look at this report as a big positive. We’ve got more jobs created than expected.” She agreed with Joe Lavorgna, former chief economist of the White House National Economic Council under Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), that “the economy is a lot stronger than anybody understands.” Those who refuse to give Biden any credit for the economic achievements are the same people who blamed him for all the country’s economic problems.

The holiday season is growing closer, and Congress has four more working days before their three-week vacation. When members return on January 9, they have eight days before the January 19 shutdown. And just three days until the next shutdown deadline on February 2. Instead of working on stopping the multiple shutdowns, House members have been playing with retribution against Democrats. What they almost certainly won’t accomplish before the end of the year: 

Federal spending: The House may have abandoned five pending appropriation bills. Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) staff has talked with that of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) with no agreement. House conservatives refuse to spend money outside their last summer’s debt deal caps and push emergency money such as assistance for Israel and Ukraine under those caps.

Foreign aid: The GOP senators failed to vote for Biden’s $100+ billion proposal, moving the discussion to border security decisions acceptable to Republicans to pass aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has said that Democrats must pass border restrictions to “pay” for the foreign aid.

FAA: Reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration was decoupled from government funding to save the agency from a shutdown, but the temporary fix expires on December 31. With no progress, Congress may need to pass another delay, extending FAA’s authorization until March 8.

Farm bill: The 2018 farm bill’s stopgap extension ends September 30, 2024, with no movement until next year. Meanwhile, the parties are fighting over funding for the $1 trillion-plus food and agriculture bill.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat writes:

“Authoritarianism revolves around the power to commit crimes with impunity. That is why protecting and promoting criminals and turning violent and corrupt activities into patriotic and necessary actions are always priorities of authoritarian parties and governments….

“Crime, and the law, have a different meaning for authoritarians and their enablers. In the amoral and transactional world of leaders such as Trump, all means are justified to get to power and stay there. So, actions that might be defined as criminal in a democracy take on a different meaning in an autocracy.”

Speaker Johnson claims that Republicans are the “law-and-order team,” but his “team” keeps proving him wrong, starting with blurring faces of January 6 insurrectionists on the 44,000 hours of tapes he will release. The DOJ already has the footage, but Johnson wants to protect those attacking the U.S. Capitol from public view.

The Washington, D.C. circuit court ruled that DDT is subject to the gag order to not comment on the testimony of likely witnesses or single out others that might interfere with the case but permits him to attack Special Counsel Jack Smith. As might be expected, DDT threw another tantrum, playing the victim, and his lawyers will appeal the decision either to the full circuit court or the Supreme Court. Donald Ayers, George H.W. Bush’s AG, wrote that the criminal and civil cases against DDT “are graphic demonstrations for all to see that our democratic rule of law, and not Donald Trump, is indeed supreme.”

In attempts at revisionist history, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnamy slammed Biden for the new crime rate data showing an increased murder rate. The statistics were for 2020, DDT’s last year in the White House. Earlier, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) blamed Biden for Covid-related schools disclosures—also in 2020. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) blamed Biden for “paying people to stay home” in 2020 with the bill that DDT signed into law. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blamed Biden for a Michigan woman whose sons died of overdoses in 2020. While MAGA folk lie about how bad things were in 2020, ignorant that DDT was in the White House at that time, other Republicans claim that 2020 was great because of DDT.

In 2020, people experienced a deadly contagion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives as officials struggled for a solution, a recession, a collapse in the job market, nationwide social-justice protests after George Floyd’s murder, and an increased murder rate. Since then the number of Covid deaths dropped and the unemployment rate fell while the economy grew at a healthy pace.

Last Thursday, 20-week pregnant Katie Cox, carrying a fetus that will die, succeeded in obtaining a court order for an abortion in Texas. Without the procedure, she will lose her fertility and possibly her life. AG Ken Paxton, under indictment for bribery and fraud, sent letters to three hospitals threatening them with legal action if they followed the court’s ruling. Following that, the state Supreme Court temporarily blocked the decision from a Travis County district judge with no indication of when they will rule on the restraining order. The state’s top court is also considering a case in which 20 women claim they were denied medically necessary abortions; the state argues that the women lack standing because they are not currently seeking abortions. Paxton disagrees that a lethal fetal anomaly qualifies a patient for an abortion under the state’s anti-abortion ban’s narrow medical exception.

After DDT said he would be a dictator only on “Day One,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) stated that DDT has a great sense of humor and “the most quick-witted leader in a generation.” He follows the GOP spin that criticism of DDT’s authoritarian plans, laid out in detail, are “legitimizes illegal and violent conduct,” ignoring Republicans’ promoting violence for years. He wants people concerned about DDT’s authoritarianism goals to “take a chill pill.” Vance should take his own chill pill after he demanded DOJ investigate Robert Kagan, who called for “resistance against Trump ‘Dictatorship’” in the Washington Post. Kagan isn’t alone in his position; this theme has become common.

In addition, Vance wants Secretary of State Antony Blinken to look into whether Kagan’s wife, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, should have her security clearance revoked because her “close relationship with her husband might compromise her judgment about the best interests of the United States.” Vance wrote:

“Based on my review of public charging documents that the Department of Justice has filed in courts of law, I suspect that one or both of you might characterize this article as an invitation to ‘insurrection,’ a manifestation of criminal ‘conspiracy,’ or an attempt to bring about civil war.”

Ruth Marcus pointed out the conservative backgrounds of both Kagan and Nuland, also describing DDT as “a defeated candidate accused of pressuring state officials to subvert election results, scheming to submit slates of false electors, and strong-arming his vice president to refrain from performing his constitutionally prescribed role.” Vance has mislabeled Kagan as a “left-wing journalist” instead of a conservative who left the Republican party because of DDT.

Karen Tumulty wrote:

“A Donald Trump ally who worked in his Justice Department said Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his administration will retaliate against people in the media ‘criminally or civilly.’”

In another act of hatred, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced a bill to guarantee that transgender youth in foster care will be put into homes with transphobic parents. The misnamed bill, the Sensible Adoption for Every (SAFE) Home Act, cuts federal funding to any child welfare agencies and groups that doesn’t follow the requirement. Banks calls the transphobic environment as “loving homes” and is reacting to a proposed HHS rule requiring children to be placed in a safe, supportive environment free from hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on a child’s LGBTQI+ status. This week, 18 GOP AGs signed a letter opposing the rule change, stating it violates constitutional rights. Mistreatment of LGBTQ+ youth in foster care is linked to an increased risk of depression, suicide, homelessness, food insecurity, illegal drug use, and other serious health risks.

Even some GOP House members are becoming nervous about the intent of the chamber’s radical right. The Judiciary Committee is warring with the Intelligence Committee about the warrantless surveillance powers. On the Intelligence Committee, conservative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) said that the “disagreement … should frighten the hell out of us” because of “the reforms coming out of the Judiciary Committee.” Judiciary members are equally critical of Intelligence ones. Judiciary wants a warrant before the government reviews information on surveilled people from the U.S.; Intelligence doesn’t. In addition, Intelligence voted down an amendment including provisions dealing with election interference. To fuel the fire, Speaker Johnson is bringing both bills to the floor next week.

More GOP Chaos – DDT Gets Gag Order, McCarthy Loses His Job, Etc.

As Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) tests the waters to see how much violence he can spread (stochastic terrorism), a judge overseeing his civil fraud trial is fed up after DDT attacked one of Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff members. DDT posted his fabrication that Engoron’s law clerk was a “girlfriend” of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and passing him information. The judge said all parties must not speak publicly about any members of the court staff. The trial, regarding the amount of damages for Engoron’s summary judgment of business fraud began yesterday with a furious DDT present in court.  The gag order ruling was made after several closed-door sessions with DDT, New York AG Letitia James who brought the case, and their attorneys. Engoron said that violating his order would lead to “serious sanctions.” Watch for DDT excessively whining about his victimization.

Engoron may remove DDT’s right to operate properties not only in New York but also in other states such as California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, and South Carolina. During the trial’s breaks, DDT appears frequently at the courthouse in campaign mode, but CNN has returned to journalism. The network cut off his microphone on the first day of the trial for holding a “campaign event” instead of dealing with a legal proceeding.

Fascism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat compared DDT’s rants of “witch hunt/victimhood rhetoric” to language used by authoritarian strongmen including “Mussolini, Hitler, Berlusconi, Erdogan.” She also talked about how the “fusion of the Proud Boys and all these other extremist groups … is part of the GOP’s trajectory to become an autocratic party … dependent on violence and on corruption for its identity.” The third DDT-supporter shooting at Democrats in New Mexico, some of them in their homes, has been arrested. Threats against Democrats has been encouraged by GOP elected officials. The most recent person arrested follows right-wing and conspiracy writings, including the one for MyPillow founded by election-denying conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell.

Another fascism authority, Federico Finchelstein, stated:

“Fascist lies are about the projection onto others of what fascists are/do. Trump today as usually display his wannabe fascist mindset.”

McCarthy No Longer House Speaker:

The U.S. faces a shutdown in 44 days, and the far-right House Republicans removed Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from his Speaker position. Leader of the vendetta, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) succeeded in his publicity-seeking stun, creating history: for the first time, the House leader was removed by his own party. The last vote to vacate a Speaker was in 1910, 113 years ago, but the Speaker kept his job. Gaetz’s motion passed with eight GOP votes and all present Democrats by 216-210. An earlier vote to table the motion failed. These eight GOP representatives voted against McCarthy: Andy Biggs (AZ), Ken Buck (CO), Tim Burchett (TN), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), Nancy Mace (SC), and Matt Rosendale (MT).

The far-right purport that McCarthy is insufficiently conservative, and Democrats followed Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) leadership in removing the man who cannot be trusted and refuses “to break from MAGA extremism.” For example, he tried to undermine the House investigation into the January 6 insurrection after minimizing the attack. Almost all of his actions in the past nine months have been to please the far-right Republicans in opposition to Democrats and the welfare of U.S. people.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), the acting Speaker pro tempore, slammed the gavel in a recess after the vote. McCarthy selected McHenry according to protocol to ensure continuity developed after 9/11. The House will likely be paralyzed until a new Speaker is elected, probably more difficult than the last debacle in early January that took four days until McCarthy caved in to all the far-right demands.     

Gaetz may have made a big mistake because over 200 Republicans in the House voted against him. He has made Republicans look like fools before the 2024 election, and the country may be tiring of chaos. In addition, the ethics committee is deciding his fate after allegations of sex trafficking, illegal drug use, and public corruption. Some Republicans threaten to expel him if committee members release a negative report. Highly conservative Newt Gingrich, a former House Speaker, advocates Gaetz’s expulsion from the House in a Washington Post op-ed.

The aftermath of McCarthy’s ouster:

The House is in recess until October 11, 36 days until the government shuts down again. At that time, it will try to elect a new Speaker to return to business.

McCarthy announced that he won’t be running for Speaker and blamed Democrats for not supporting him after blaming them for the possible shutdown. (He had blocked Democrats from voting on thee continuing resolution until his desperation during the last few hours. Almost all Democrats voted for the continuing resolution that 40 percent of Republicans opposed.) McCarthy also didn’t say whether he will remain in the House.

The acting Speaker told former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to immediately vacate her office although it is practice for former Speakers to occupy the office, even GOP child molester, convicted Dennis Hastert. Although the House Speaker is in the line of succession to become president, the acting Speaker is not.

Gaetz has used his shutdown of the House for fundraising.

The “Young Guns,” a trio of male conservatives of the future touted in a book of this name, are gone. Authors Eric Canter, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan are now all gone, suffering from changes in their base that changed their direction. Although they argued for fiscal restraint, a senior party leader, Canter lost his election in 2014, and Ryan failed to become DDT’s vice-presidential candidate and didn’t run for House reelection in 2018. Now McCarthy is gone.

Other “young guns” highlighted in the book have also disappeared: Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) and Erik Paulsen (R-MN) who either didn’t run or lost in 2018; Aaron Schock (R-IL) who resigned in disgrace in 2015. Sean Duffy resigned in 2019 because of a family health issue; and Cory Gardner lost in 2020. Three other candidates—Charles Dijou (R-HI), Martha Roby (R-AL), and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)– have disappeared by now.  

Other GOP Problems:

In more GOP angst, the fallout from the GOP presidential candidates’ debate continues as two hopefuls, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy, told Bret Baier they would debate on his Fox program. The RNC has forbidden the debate during RNC-sponsored debates with other candidates although Ron DeSantis has announced a debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Fox. Instead of a face-to-face debate, Christie and Ramaswamy plan two separate, back-to-back segments, possibly approved by the RNC.   

In his war on the U.S. military, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) bragged that “there’s nobody more military” than him on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, tried to point out the man who never served in the military was wrong when he said that at least four of the members served in the military. He asked Tuberville to “please re-evaluate” what he says and “be a little bit more careful about what you say about the United States military.” Among Senatorial committee members:

• Chair Jack Reed (D-RI) served in the Army.
• Gary Peters (D-MI) volunteered for the Navy and served overseas after 9/11.
• Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) lost both her legs in the Iraq War while she served as an Army pilot.
• Dan Sullivan (R-AK) serves in the Marine Corps Reserve and spent time in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
• Tom Cotton (R-AR) served in the Army.
• Roger Wicker (R-MS) served in the AirForce.
• Joni Ernst (R-IA) served overseas in the Army Reserve.
• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rick Scott (R-FL) served in the Navy.

Tuberville coached the losing football team in the 2014 Military Bowl. He continued to claim that his was more “more military” than all the others because of his father’s service. Tuberville lied about his service, failed to meet his commitments to veterans’ charities, and blockaded over 300 military officers from promotion. He also insisted that the U.S. military is “not an equal opportunity employer” in his opposition to their recruiting minorities.

Opposing the confirmation of Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Tuberville objected to “some things that he talked, about race and things that he wanted to mix into the military.” Brown is Black. He doesn’t know that the military is actually an equal-opportunity employer, and the Pentagon has an “Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.” Tuberville added, “We’re not looking for different groups.” The military desegregated in 1948 under an executive order from President Harry Truman. The Defense Department promotes a “diverse and inclusive mission-ready total force.”

“[It] “operates to ensure all individuals are provided a full and fair opportunity for employment, career advancement and access to programs without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, disability (physical or mental), gender, age, sexual orientation, [and other categories.]”

Michigan GOP legislators are trying to bring back a rejected independent state legislature [ISL] theory to nullify two pro-voting constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2018 and 2022. Republican lawmakers claim sole authority to set rules for federal elections with no interference from the courts or state votes, a position rejected by the Supreme Court in Moore v. Harper (2023).   

In Arkansas, an anonymous whistleblower claims Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office inappropriately changed and withheld public records about the scrutiny of the office’s spending.

Politics behind Multiple Lawsuits, Trials

Ken Chesebro has lost his appeal to sever his charges from Sidney Powell, another Georgia RICO defendant in the election interference case but may not leave the two of them tried with the other 17 co-defendants. Both Chesebro and Powell want speedy trials. The state judge is waiting for Fulton County DA Fani Willis to give more information about whether all 19 co-defendants should be tried in October 2023.

New York AG Letitia James asked the state’s supreme court to sanction Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), his oldest sons Eric and Don Jr., and other associates for $20,000 after they raised “previously-rejected arguments” in motions. The case concerns a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit regarding false, misleading valuations of business assets. Sanctions are $10,000 against DDT and his co-defendants and the remainder against his legal team over the “frivolous and sanctionable” motions.

A judge also refused DDT’s request to delay the October 2 trial because “defendants’ arguments are completely without merit.” That date makes the trial DDT’s first one since he left the White House.   

According to the judge, DDT’s liability in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case was already established by a jury. His trial on January 15 only decides how much the award to Carroll is and the damages won’t be capped. She was awarded $5 million and asked for another $10 million after DDT continued to defame her at his CNN Town Hall after the jury’s decision in May.

In August 2022, DDT expressed shock when the FBI came to Mar-a-Lago for classified documents, but he was told this would happen almost three months earlier. His lawyer at the time, Evan Corcoran, told DDT that he had to comply with the subpoena to return the documents. Corcoran added that the FBI might search Mar-a-Lago if he didn’t return them. A new lawyer, Christopher Kise, proposed a negotiated settlement with the DOJ, including the return of all documents. DDT, however, got advice from Tom Fitton, leader of the conservative Judicial Watch, “who urged a more pugilistic approach,” according to a WaPo report. Because of the decision, DDT lost.

Corcoran’s audio notes report his warning DDT. Shortly after that conversation, another DDT attorney told Corcoran that if he pushed DDT to comply with the subpoena, “he’s just going to go ballistic.” The recordings show how DDT allegedly deceived his own attorney and how the classified documents came to Mar-a-Lago. He said he didn’t want anyone going through “my boxes” and asked, “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?” 

In another part of DDT’s Florida classified documents case, Yuscil Taveras, the Mar-a-Lago IT worker who alleged that DDT, his aide Walt Nauta, and his property manager Carlos de Oliveira tried to delete incriminating videos about the handling of classified national security documents from surveillance cameras, is cooperating with special counsel Jack Smith’s office. He will testify against DDT, Nauta, and de Oliveira In exchange for not being prosecuted.  

Closing arguments are scheduled for September 7 in the contempt trial against DDT’s former advisor Peter Navarro before the case goes to a jury. He stood in the court room for the entire six hours of the trial, sometimes pacing.  Navarro had refused to obey a subpoena to appear before the House January 6 investigative committee, claiming “executive privilege.” Last week, a federal judge ruled that he failed to prove this method of blocking his cooperation. Prosecutors only need to prove that his failure to comply with the subpoena was deliberate and intentional.

Navarro has been desperately searching for funding. He said that the legal case is costing him $1.7 million in fees, $750,000 for this trial and another million dollars for “the appeal process all the way up to the Court of Appeal and likely the Supreme Court.” and a guilty verdict could cost him a fine of up to $100,000 in addition to a maximum of one year in prison. According to Navarro, he’s received only $360,000 thus far and needs “another $150,000 in the next two weeks.”  

While he spoke outside the courthouse and asked for money, two protestors called him a traitor and waved their signs. One of them blew a loud whistle every time he tried to give the website where people could donate for his legal defense.

A judge ordered Texas to remove the 1,000 line of buoys and mesh in the Rio Grande and stop building obstructions in the river; Gov. Greg Abbott immediately appealed the order to the 5^th Circuit Court. He claimed that he wasn’t “asking for permission” for his anti-immigration program Operation Lone Star, but Judge David Ezra wrote that federal law mandates permission to install obstructions in the nation’s navigable waters. Texas has until September 15, the day before Mexican Independence Day, to remove the barrier.

Six GOP and unaffiliated Coloradans sued to keep DDT off the state ballot, citing his constitutional ineligibility.

Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is ginning up violence on the part of the far right. On his Trinity Broadcasting Network program, he warned that DDT’s failure to take the White House because of multiple indictments would “be the last American election that will be decided by ballots rather than bullets.” He threw fuel on the fire by saying that Biden is using tactics of “third-world dictatorships, banana republics, and communist regimes” to make sure that DDT isn’t his 2024 opponent by using “police agencies to arrest their opponents for made-up crimes in an attempt to discredit them, bankrupt them, imprison them, exile them, or all of the above.”

Elon Musk, purchaser of Twitter now called X, has found a scapegoat for his failures—the anti-Defamation League (ADL). He threatens to sue them for defamation, blaming the group for much of his lost revenue and value in the company, about $4 billion. ADL campaigns against antisemitism and bigotry that found a home on X after Musk’s purchase. He says advertising sales are down 60 percent and claims that advertisers say that ADL is “responsible for most of our revenue loss.”

Musk recently sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), another anti-hate speech group, alleging it improperly accessed data from X “so that it could cherry-pick from the hundreds of millions of posts made each day on X and falsely claim it had statistical support showing the platform is overwhelmed with harmful content.” The CCDH combats antisemitism, anti-vaxx disinformation, and false statements about the climate crisis. Its recent report on X deals with how the platform elevates anti-LGBTQ+ content and how Musk has personally been involved in promoting this material.

The choice of ADL as Musk’s target is not explained. Scores of civil rights-oriented organizations, research groups and media commentators criticized his welcoming hate speech onto the platform under the guise of being a “free speech absolutist.” Advertisers anticipated these problems and soon pulled out their spending when he said he wanted more unrestricted content on the site. Hate speech surged the day after he was the legal owner.  

An irony comes from Musk’s attack on Jewish people. Mark Sumner wrote:

“After months in which Musk has supported racist rants; encouraged hate speech; elevated literal Nazi propaganda; fired every Twitter employee in Brazil on suspicion of being too liberal; fired the entire company press office and the entire company communications department; decimated the team responsible for content moderation; terrified advertisers with chaos, irresponsibility, and perpetuating racism; and thrown away global brand recognition by renaming the whole platform to indulge a personal whim, Musk has put his finger on the real issue. It’s the Jews.”

Shortly before Musk considered a lawsuit against ADL, he suggested a poll to ban the ADL from X in response to a Dutch commentator whose posts have complained about immigration, “wicked globalists,” the “fake” Covid pandemic, and vaccines being “gene therapy.” In a civil U.S. lawsuit, X has been accused of assisting Saudi Arabia in committing grave human rights against its users, including the disclosure of confidential user data requested by Saudi authorities at a much higher rate than for the U.S., UK, or Canada. Last week, a filing was added to the May lawsuit after the Saudis sentenced a man to death for his Twitter and YouTube activity.

Musk also faces about 2,200 arbitration cases filed by ex-employees who never received their severance pay. Fees of $3.5 million are added to the cost of owed severance. When he laid off over half Twitter’s employees soon after his purchase of the company, he promised most of them at least two months’ salary plus a week’s pay for every year they had worked at the firm. He also refuses to pay arbitration fees of almost $4 million.

Since Musk’s acquisition, Twitter/X has faced multiple legal battles, many of them from failure to pay its bills. At least six non-payment lawsuits were filed in February alone. An Australian infrastructure firm sued X in June for nonpayment of a $600,000-plus bill for work in Twitter’s offices. Several landlords have taken the company to court for failing to pay rent on multiple offices, including in Boston, Seattle, and Oakland.

Crazy Stuff in Government

The Federal Reserve may be forcing a growth cool-down in the U.S. to reduce inflation, but the U.S. added 187,000 jobs in July. Unemployment falling to 3.5 percent maintains its near 50-year lows. Economists have begun to agree that a recession is unlikely with these figures plus the GDP and rising wages. The big glitch for the stock market, damaging savings and retirement funds, is the games that conservative Republicans are playing in their attempt to take over all three branches of the government and all 50 states by tearing down the country.

Thanks to the inability of far-right conservatives to compromise, Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. credit rating earlier this week from “AAA” to “AA+,” citing the reason as “deterioration in standards of governance … including on fiscal and debt matters.” The company added, “The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management.” The warning included “increased political polarization and partisanship as witnessed by the contested 2020 election.” The downgrade removed the world’s impression of the U.S. government as one of the safest borrowers in global finance.

Congressional members such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) blame House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca) and extreme MAGA supporters “who openly rooted for default” in last spring’s debt ceiling standoff. Despite the caution that the debt ceiling crisis would result in a downgrade, the GOP proceeded with its attempts to ruin the U.S. economy—just like it did exactly 12 weeks ago this week when GOP behavior caused the first rating downgrade.  

Federal GOP legislators aren’t the only irrational people in the U.S. political world:

Aileen Cannon, the southern Florida federal judge assigned to hear one of the most important trials of the century, has again demonstrated her ignorance of the law, inexperience, carelessness, or all of the above. Appointed by former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT), Cannon will likely be presiding over his trial dealing with obstruction charges of hiding classified documents and surveillance tapes at Mar-a-Lago. In a June trial, she made two critical errors which may have violated the defendant’s constitutional rights and could have invalidated the proceedings. She closed the courtroom during jury selection, saying her courtroom was too small for an audience, and failed to swear in the prospective jury pool, forcing her to restart jury selection. The 6^th Amendment guarantees a public trial.

The defendant, an Alabama man accused of running a website distributing images of child sex abuse, pled guilty after her mistakes but kept his right to appear certain rulings by the trial judge. Thus far, Cannon has presided over only four criminal trials resulting in jury verdicts. Her demonstrated favoritism for the man who appointed her as a federal judge may not be the only reason for removing her from DDT’s complex trial on 40 counts of retaining classified records, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and concealment in a tiny courtroom. 

Another Floridian and first runner-up to DDT for 2024 presidential candidate, Gov. Ron DeSantis, told an audience at a New Hampshire campaign barbecue that he will be “slitting throats on day one” to root out the so-called “deep state” lurking in the federal government. His statement falls in line with all his other authoritarian moves, according to Harvard professor Steven Levitsky. DeSantis used the same expression in his plans to change the hierarchy in the Department of Defense. The American Federation of Government Employers warned that this type of rhetoric promotes violence against federal workers such as the 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

DeSantis claims he isn’t “demeaning” LGBTQ+ people, but his handpicked state education department “effectively banned” AP Psychology in Florida schools because of lessons on sexual orientation and identity, according to the College Board. His actions deny students the ability to earn college credit. Over 28,000 Florida students took the class in 2022-2023 which has been part of the state high school curriculum for over three decades. Florida expanded its ban on classroom discussion about sexual orientation to all K-12 students from a 2022 law for children K-3. The College Board caved to Florida by changing its AP course on Black history but refuses to revise the psychology AP course at Florida’s demand. Since the state’s bad publicity, Florida superintendent of education said that the course can be taught in an age-appropriate way but didn’t explain what that would be.

Cases of malaria coming to Florida, led by anti-science health disinformation, are accompanied by Hansen’s disease, commonly called leprosy, especially in the central portion. With about six percent of the population, Florida provided 20 percent of 159 new cases in the U.S. in 2020, 81 percent of those in central Florida. Scientists aren’t positive about transition methods but believe it spreads through droplets in coughs and sneezes. In Florida, masks were blocked in 2020 during the pandemic. Local infection shows that leprosy has become endemic in Florida, and DeSantos’ motto is “Make Florida America.”

In DeSantis’ war on Disney, his handpicked board for the district has abolished all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Disney World along with job duties related to them. DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ+ rights laws came after his laws protecting white people by eliminating racial equality in a public-school curriculum about Black slaves’ benefits in job training. One of DeSantis’ five Disney board members taught a seminar in 2021 with false information about white people being slaves in America from the “Irish slave trade” beginning in 1625. The board member also spread falsehoods about Irish “slaves” being forcibly bred with enslaved Blacks. Historians said that the “research” the board member cited is based on inventions and factual errors. Although whites have been indentured servants for a specific time period, usually five to seven years, servitude was not inherited. On the other hand, Blacks were considered property for life with children inheriting the mother’s status.

Ken Paxton, Texas’ suspended AG and leader of the state’s corrupt ideas, is fighting his current impeachment trial scheduled to begin on September 5. Reelected for a third term in 2022, Paxton also faces criminal securities fraud charges. For the first time in several years, he appeared in a Houston court on August 3, the same day DDT was arraigned for the third time. The four charges in this case have been removed from the impeachment, including some related to the 2015 solicitation of investors in a tech company without revealing he was paid to do so, but they may be considered later. Other charges allege Paxton misused his office to help his donor Nate Paul, a real estate developer arrested in June on felony charges for lying to financial institutions to secure business loans, and interfered with criminal investigations into Paul.

Paxton has filed to remove 19 of 20 articles of impeachment passed in the GOP-led House, including the statements from whistleblowers in his office. In addition, he wants three Democrats to be removed from the trial in the Senate for “bias.” He also insulted the impeachment managers, avoiding a gag order by putting his statements into a court filing.

In exchange for Paxton’s interfering with criminal investigations, Paul paid to remodel Paxton’s Austin home and hired a woman with whom Paxton allegedly had an affair. The woman allegedly worked for a state senator, causing a possible conflict of interest. Another conflict of interest comes from the fact that Paxton’s wife is a state senator. Senate rules prohibit her from voting on trial-related matters in Paxton’s impeachment.

While red states ban books and outlaw “woke” information for youth, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is selling disinformation for children. Among brightly-colored guides embellished with cartoons such as The Kids Guide to Socialism and The Kids Guide to Our One Nation under God is The Kids Guide to the Truth about Climate Change. No one will be surprised to learn that it’s highly inaccurate. The purpose of the “guide” is to minimize severe climate change and delay action. Yes, the climate is warming, states the guide, but there’s no problem and humans aren’t responsible. Last year, Huckabee ridiculed a doctor for citing climate change’s connection to heat-related illness.

Kids can get a “free” gift bundle including the guide for free with only $1 shipping at keepkidscool.com although Huckabee’s company, Ever Bright Media, has received complaints about hiding fees and charges, obscuring terms, and automatically enrolling people into a magazine subscription program that costs $19.95 plus sales tax every three to four weeks, plus a monthly magazine charge of $7.95. Last year, Arkansas used $260,000 of emergency Covid funds to buy Ever Bright’s guide to coronavirus, spreading falsehoods about the effectiveness of wearing masks. The state Department of Education also bought a constitutional booklet from the company.

Fifteen months before the 2024 election, election deniers controlling county ballot counting voted to do hand counts. Georgia requires the use of voting tabulation machines so Spalding County, population 68,000, plans these hand counts, far less reliable and more expensive, to compare to the machines results. It’s as if we haven’t had a break from the GOP insanity; almost 70 percent of Republicans now believe, with no evidence, that President Joe Biden’s win was not legitimate. Buckle up!

DDT Arraigned, Life Goes On

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) was arraigned just before 4:30 pm ET on August 3 for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The process in which DDT pled not guilty took almost 30 minutes. He was released after he agreed to appear at a hearing on August 28 and agreed to not break any local, state, or federal laws including tampering with witnesses. His Florida appearance in a separate indictment is August 25.

In an attempt to divert attention from DDT’s third indictment and arraignment on August 3, Republicans are pushing the theory that Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, took bribes from foreign countries. Democrats claimed that convicted witness, Devon Archer, had no damning information about either Biden, but Republicans disagreed. They even went so far as to accuse Special Counsel Jack Smith’s grand jury of indicting DDT at the same time as the hearing to divert attention from Hunter Biden’s “crimes.”

To prove their point, James Comer (R-KY), House Oversight Committee chair, released the transcript of the closed hearing. The transcript proves that Comer and Jim Jordan (R-OH), House Judiciary Committee chair, lied about their witness’s testimony. Instead, Archer challenged Comer’s and Jordan’s claims that the Ukrainian energy company wanted a corrupt prosecutor fired, that Zlochevsky paid bribes, and that Joe Biden had any involvement in the entire situation. Earlier, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) had stated that the witness testified that Joe Biden never talked business with his son or son’s associates, that the president wasn’t party to any of his son’s business deals, and neither of them was bribed. The transcript proves he was accurate.

It’s a case of DAVRO: deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender. DAVRO is one of 17 manipulation strategies that an emotional abuser employs to attack their victims, to control a person by eroding self-confidence and developing a dependence on the abuse to keep the victim in the relationship. MAGA supporters are currently using it with the lie “Biden crime family” and exonerating all DDT’s alleged crimes. The Archer transcript. 

The basis of Smith’s case is evidence that DDT knew he lost the election but kept trying to overturn the results, and the first page of the indictment claims, “The Defendant knew [the claims] were false.” The fourth charge, a violation of the 1872 Ku Klux Klan act, doesn’t require that DDT know he is lying as the first three conspiracy charges do. In the last charge, DDT conspired against people’s right to have their vote counted.

John Lauro, DDT’s new lawyer, has announced in several TV interviews that DDT is innocent because of freedom of speech in the First Amendment, but DDT’s former AG Bill Barr disagrees, stating that the Constitution protects speech, not actions. A judge recently ruled that continued sincere belief in a stolen election is irrelevant if the defendant knew he was illegally disrupting congressional certification of the vote.

Ruth Marcus points out that the indictment clearly wrote about DDT’s “right, like every American, to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won.” DDT, however, is being prosecuted for “the actions he took to operationalize that contention and prevent the clear will of the voters from being realized, or what the indictment calls ‘unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results.’”

Smith also has evidence that GOP government officials as well as his lawyers told DDT that no basis existed for a “stolen” election. Even lawyer John Eastman who talked DDT into trying to persuade former VP Mike Pence into delaying the certification said that it was illegal. Pence is now claiming that he always knew it was wrong and kept telling DDT that he couldn’t do it.  

Barr also asserted that DDT’s defense of following his lawyers’ advice would leave him open to cross examination. A common belief follows Barr’s added statement that cross examination “would not come out very well” for DDT.

In an interview with Fox’s Laura Ingraham after the arraignment, Lauro said that DDT acted on advice from Eastman, indicating that “advice of counsel” will be another Lauro defense tactic. Two days before the insurrection, however, Eastman told DDT that his scheme was against the law, that it violated federal statute. Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel, heard the exchange at a White House meeting. That news has been publicly available for over a year. In addition, Eastman told DDT in December 2020 that DDT’s numbers about illegal voters were inaccurate. 

MAGA supporters of DDT are resuming their calls to “hang Mike Pence” on their right-wing social media platform. Calls for violence are at the top of comments on TheDonald.win after Smith’s indictment on August 1. According to the Rolling Stone, TheDonald.win was “a hub of plotting for the unrest at the Capitol, and a place where members of the then-Trump administration monitored their success in firing up the base.” Pence’s refusal to block the congressional certification of Joe Biden on January 6 ignited violent rage. Images of gallows hanging Pence have returned, with one person writing, “I want to pull the lever.” From there the commenters want to inflict violence on all the “traitors.”  

Lauro claims that rights to a “speedy trial” belong only to the defense, not to the government. At DDT’s arraignment, however, Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya was very clear about the deadlines. Government recommendations for the trial date and length will be provided to Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will hear the case. DDT’s illegal team has seven days in which to respond.

DDT committed his alleged crimes in Smith’s case in Washington, D.C., and a grand jury in the city recommended the charges for the indictment. Yet Lauro—and DDT—wants the case moved out of the city for fear of an unfair jury. Only 5 percent of D.C.’s population voted for DDT in 2020. DDT’s recommendation for the trial location is West Virginia where 69 percent of voters selected DDT.

The indictment also described six co-conspirators who Smith did not yet charge. The first five have been identified, but different media sources are trying to guess the identity of the sixth one, a DDT senior adviser, with varying names.

Meanwhile, news outside DDT’s arraignment continues:

On the day of DDT’s arraignment, two U.S. Navy sailors, Jinchao (aka Patrick) Wei and Wenheng (aka Thomas) Zhao, were arrested for passing sensitive national defense information and military secrets to Chinese intelligence officers in exchange for money. This included blueprints for radar systems, technical manuals for vessels, operational plans for military exercises in the Indo-Pacific, and details of defensive weapons to Chinese intelligence officers.

After Iranians have seized vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon is planning to put armed Marines and sailors on commercial ships if private companies and the countries under which they are flagged and registered wish. The plan will need final approval, and U.S. military officials are talking with Gulf Arab allies. Marines are already undergoing training, and thousands of them have been put into position. The Strait connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the open ocean; at least 20 percent of the world’s crude oil goes through the waterway. The U.S. has already deployed F-16 and F-35 jets, A-10 attack jets, and an additional Navy destroyer.

A three-judge panel for the 9^th Circuit Court approved Biden’s emergency request to resume its asylum restrictions on the southern border while the case goes through the courts and stayed a lower court’s ruling to terminate them. Appointed by DDT, one of the three judges on the panel lambasted the decision, complaining that the 9^th Circuit had refused DDT’s immigration policies but permitting those of Biden.

Newly released text messages among GOP operatives show a much more expansive plot to overturn the election that Smith described in the indictment. RNC Ronna McDaniel and former Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward played leading roles in the alleged conspiracy from the beginning. Messages connected to DDT’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows describe McDaniel among those promoting DDT’s ballot box fraud in seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. DDT lost all these states. The scheme declared that over 30,000 non-citizens voted in the 2020 election.

Democrats now have a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court after recently elected progressive Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in as a justice on August 1 for a ten-year term. She replaces a retiring conservative judge who served 20 years, including six as chief justice. A new lawsuit challenged the GOP gerrymandered Wisconsin legislative and congressional district maps will likely be filed within weeks. Before the court is also a case challenging the pre-Civil War abortion ban for the state, and rules for voting and elections are expected to come before the state high court in advance of the 2024 election. The liberal majority has already fired the director of state courts for six years as the court moves “in a different direction.”

A federal judge has ruled that the 20-year-old Abu Ghraib contractor torture of prisoners can go to trial. The lawsuit alleges that CACI Premier Technology conspired with U.S. military personnel to commonly subject prisoners to torture and other crimes. Up to 90 percent of them were innocent.

Two Countries Heading in Opposite Directions – Spain, Israel

An election and a Parliamentary vote have determined two separate countries’ approaches to democracy.   

Election for Spain’s Parliament Fails to Put in Far-Right Government:

In Sunday’s election, Spain’s government kept out the far right, at least temporarily. Prognosticators thought the conservative Popular Party would take the government from the left coalition and govern with the neofascist Vox party. Conservativism would then rule for the first time since the end of the Franco dictatorship almost 50 years ago. The 350-member Spanish parliament requires a majority of 176 votes to form a government; the left has about 153 votes, and the far-right has 169 votes.

Although the right wing has more numbers, the left-wing prime minister can call another election or work out a deal with other parties who are primarily Catalan or Basque separatists, more likely to support the left than the right, either in a coalition or from outside the coalition but allowing Sánchez and the left to govern. The parliament reconvenes on August 17, and King Felipe VI will meet with party leaders to determine which candidate could win enough votes to become the next prime minister. Without a majority, a second vote will be two days later with the majority winning. If that fails, members have two months to appoint a prime minister. Without that success, parliament will be dissolved and a new election called next year.

Before the ultra-rightwing Vox party failed to gain votes in parliament, the “anti-woke” group had been closing bike lanes and banning Pride flags from public buildings in Spanish towns it runs in coordination with the center-right People’s Party. Authoritarian leaders of Italy and Hungary had high hopes for Spain joining them in their goal to dominate the European Union. The backing failed: Vox lost over one-third of the seats it won in 2019. Their personal disaster may make center-right leaders such as the German opposition leader more cautious in following conspiracy theorists. Even the UK Tories have taken some policies from fringe parties and dropped its competent leaders in exchange for Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

As in the U.S., right-wing members determined to pour gasoline on flames of hatred may bring more moderate voters to oppose them.

Israel Parliament Removes Checks by the Judiciary:

Israel is the other country in crisis. The U.S. has protected the country as the last democracy in the Middle East, but Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing resumption of prime minister has allowed the parliament to strip power from the judicial branch. His actions moved Israel from a more secular, pluralist society to an extremist Jewish, religious country. With no written Constitution and a single-chamber Parliament, Israel’s courts were the only protection against unjust rule.

Netanyahu can now use the judiciary to remove the indictments of corruption against him, even replacing the attorney general. He can also accelerate illegal West Bank settlement construction on privately-owned Palestinian land, curb non-Jews’ rights, expand rabbinical leaders’ power, and permit discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ people. A two-tier society among the Jewish Israelis can be created if ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged in religious study avoid military service.

Demonstrators have been protesting the possibility of the judiciary change for months. The new law passed by 64 to 0 after the opposition in the Parliament walked out. Businesses in the country closed in protest, Israel’s biggest labor union threatened to strike, and 10,000 military reservists threatened to resign. The opposition hopes to petition the Supreme Court to strike down the law because the vote amended of Israel’s Basic Laws, which is similar to a constitution. Another idea is requesting President Isaac Herzog to not sign the bill, but his position is largely ceremonial and may not carry any legal weight. Netanyahu failed to calm demonstrators by offering to return to negotiations over further judicial changes until late November, but the street protests only grew.

Palestinians, representing over 20 percent of Israel’s population, considered themselves second-class citizens because of their treatment. The vote may make their lives even worse although the government and police aren’t fighting crime in Arab towns. Since the start of the year, gun violence has left 132 Arabs dead.  

Two New Yorkers from Queens are behind Kohelet, a once-hidden think tank in Jerusalem and principal architect of the overhaul of the conservative court system. Moshe Koppel moved to Israel in 1980 and founded Kohelet in 2012; he has 160 full- and part-time scholars to write conservative policy papers. Multimillionaire Arthur Dantchik has donated millions to Kohelet. Prior to the vote this week, the Israeli parliament passed legislation to change the composition of the committee selecting judges by giving government representatives the majority.

Netanyahu, prime minister for 13 of the past 14 years, strongly defended his nation’s Supreme Court before he was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. His trial started in 2021. His ruling coalition puts him in charge of both the executive and legislative branches with the judiciary branch the only check. Before the new law, courts could overturn extreme laws failing to pass a “reasonable standard,” meaning they were not made according to a basic standard of fair and just policymaking. New law removing “reasonable standard” puts Netanyahu completely in charge of all decisions.

In mid-June, Netanyahu went to the hospital, supposedly for dehydration after spending a day at the beach. A month later he was fitted with an internal cardiac monitor which indicated a transient heart block leading to his surgery for a pacemaker on July 24. He was in the hospital for the debate and then gave a speech from his office asking for unity and discussion. Opponents who found his statements insincere, promised to continue protesting.

Thousands of protesters continued to march after the law was passed, and one of the groups paid for completely black ads on the front pages at least four large Israeli newspapers—Yediot Aharonot, Calcalist, Israel Hayom, and Haaretz. The only words in the ad were the phrase “a black day for Israeli democracy.” The protest group described itself as “a group composed of hundreds of high-tech companies, entrepreneurs, and investors across Israel, guiding Israel’s advanced technology and feeling a sense of mission and responsibility for the country’s future.” Far-right Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, claimed that foreign organizations have been financing the protests which are actually grassroots efforts.

Shira Rubin, a reporter based in Tel Aviv, questions whether Netanyahu has any control over the conservative factions that returned him to being prime minister. Immediately after his election, he initiated a series of interviews in which he assured U.S. allies that “my hands are firmly on the steering wheel.” Three weeks after he took power at the beginning of January, the parliament’s far-right coalition began its radical moves, rapidly moving measures forward to take over the judiciary and quash any possibilities for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The actions were in contrast to Netanyahu’s usual deliberate style.

Analysts believe his extremist religious partners are leveraging him with promises to save him from prosecution if they can follow their own agenda unimpeded. The leader of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism bloc and his allies were appointed to the nation’s security establishment in overseeing civilian dealings in the West Bank that the bloc plans to annex.

Soon after Netanyahu was elected, Ben-Gvir, pushed against Palestinians by visiting the Temple Mount, a holy Islam site in Jerusalem where Jews also pray although it has been under control of Muslims after the 1967 Six Day War. Hamas called on Palestinian youths to “mobilize,” and Ben-Gvir’s hardline base pushed him into the visit although Netanyahu opposed it. The visit set off protests, and Israeli security forces demolished Palestinian buildings. Ben-Gvir’s goal is to take back all Palestinian land for the Jewish people. A timeline of the disasters that Ben-Gvir engendered in 2023.

The current polarization in Israel is between urban middle class including doctors, academic, and business leaders and those who are poorer and more religious, many of them living in West Bank settlements and outlying areas. Many far-right supporters are working-class Jews of Mizrahi, or Middle Eastern, descent who believe themselves marginalized by an Ashkenazi, or European, elite.

Netanyahu defied the U.S. by pushing the new law without political consensus. Israel receives $3.8 billion for annual military assistance and diplomatic backing in international forums. The vote also worsens the rift between the far-right Israel government and the mostly liberal U.S. Jewish community.

Credit rating agency Morgan Stanley has lowered Israel’s sovereign rating, and Moody’s isn’t waiting until October, the time for rating updates, to also deliver a warning. Hundreds of economists, experts, and executives in Israel and throughout the world claim the “judicial reform” will lead to a sharp decline in foreign investment because of economic instability. Sixty-eight percent of start-ups in Israel have begun to withdraw cash reserves, relocate headquarters outside Israel, move employees abroad, and conduct layoffs.

The next few months will give the direction for these two countries with more hope for Spain than Israel.

Another Sunday, More DDT Cult Issues

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) keeps his polling figures much higher than his dozen opponents despite 71 charges in two indictments; a target letter, indicating more charges in another indictment; and the threat of more legal charges from a Georgia grand jury. Even after a federal judge confirmed that DDT is a rapist, MAGA loves DDT.

In a civil suit, a jury awarded $5 million to E. Jean Carroll for DDT’s sexual abuse and defamation. DDT claimed the jury didn’t find him guilty of rape, but the judge explained that the New York Penal Code uses a 1927 description of rape as “forcible male penile penetration of a female vagina,” which is “far narrower” than “in common modern parlance.” He stated:  

“The proof convincingly established, and the jury implicitly found, that Mr. Trump deliberately and forcibly penetrated Ms. Carroll’s vagina with his fingers, causing immediate pain and long lasting emotional and psychological harm.”

The confirmation of DDT as a rapist doesn’t change his supporters’ adoration. He seems to have so numbed millions of people in the U.S. that they either deny he could have “raped” anyone or don’t care. GOP congressional members zealous defend him or remain silent because while one of them enters purported photos of the president’s son involved in consensual sex into the House record with no consequences.

Knowing that nothing he does can offend his supporters, DDT is becoming more and more violent, recently reposting a video on Truth Social in which he states:

“If you (expletive) around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are going to do things to you that have never been done before.”

DDT threatened his going to jail would be “very dangerous” because of his fan base’s “passion.”

My nickname for DDT uses the term “dictator”: his policies follow those of Russian President Vladimir Putin who also didn’t start as a dictator. If DDT wins the 2024 election, he plans a purge of the federal government, leaving only his loyalists, and “law” through hundreds of his executive orders. DDT’s appointments to the Supreme Court have started his dictatorship. Conservative justices follow his ideology without requiring plaintiffs to have any standing to bring lawsuits, and DDT creates “Project 2025” to completely control the government.

If elected, DDT will take over all government agencies identified as “independent,” defund any programs not in accord with his wishes, and fire any federal employee who isn’t ideologically in accord with him. The U.S. will match other authoritarian governments throughout the world. Russell Vought, a former DDT official wants to “seize” “the pockets of independence.” Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts wants to prevent “independent federal agencies or federal employees who don’t answer to the president.” 

The heart of Project 2025 is “Schedule F,” formulated during DDT’s last two years in the White House, launched 13 days before the 2020 presidential election, and centered on DDT’s revenge against his perceived or real enemies to protect DDT from investigation or prosecution. His policies will be more successful with his loyalists packing the judicial system, and he has a coalition of conservative organizations to implement his ideas by taking senior roles in a new administration. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), leader of weaponizing the government, is DDT’s closest confidant in Congress, and the Heritage Foundation is serving DDT’s goals. Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Thomas, has prepared detailed of government officials supposedly disloyal to DDT who should be fired. Other “loyalists” are described here.

DDT decreased his inner circle of advisers and dropped almost all former aides who don’t agree that the 2020 election was “stolen.” He spends much of his time with Stop the Steal leaders attorney Boris Epshteyn and the pillow entrepreneur Mike Lindell, and his loyal and courageous group includes Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller, John McEntee, and former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Former VP Mike Pence, who still defends DDT from time to time during his presidential campaign, is in the enemy category.

Legally, DDT is struggling. Aileen Cannon, DDT’s appointed judge, failed to grant his request to postpone his trial for mishandling classified documents until after the 2024 election, instead scheduling it on May 20, 2024, four months after Special Council Jack Smith requested. Scheduling will be complicated: DDT will stand trial in New York for state charges in March. A judge won’t move DDT’s case about hush money and business fraud from state to federal court, meaning DDT can’t pardon himself if he is convicted. He also faces civil lawsuits in New York during October and January as well as the potential of a trial in Fulton County (GA) for trying to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election.

For Cannon’s trial, prosecutors must submit a proposed agreement signed by DDT and his attorneys by July 27 before they can see any classified materials as part of the discovery process. Defense attorneys have until August 25 to file a motion in opposition and will get the discovery classified materials by September 7 although DDT’s and co-defendant Walt Nauta’s attorneys already have much of the nonclassified evidence.

DDT has found a new lawyer for his team. Former federal prosecutor John Lauro represented DDT’s attorneys Christina Bobb and Alina Habba. Earlier he defended a former NBA referee who pleaded guilty to taking payoffs from gamblers and betting on games himself and then a Florida county commissioner involved in an anonymous donation to a county-owned park before the purchase of beachfront property for never-constructed condominiums. Laura also defended company executives found guilty of health care fraud, cheating patients of $30 million in care, by submitting false expenditure reports to Florida’s Medicaid program.

Lauro told Fox network that DDT didn’t need to appear before a federal grand jury because he “did absolutely nothing wrong.” This was in response to the target letter Special Counsel Jack Smith sent DDT, telling him that he is an investigation target and inviting him to appear. DDT chose to be absent. Laura also echoed the lie that the DOJ is politicized to target a political opponent, asserting that DDT had only asked for an audit. The target letter cites potential charges against DDT in three statutes: deprivation of rights, conspiracy to commit an offense against or defraud the United States, and tampering with a witness.

According to sources, Fulton County DA Fani Willis is preparing evidence for a racketeering indictment in August. State law, more expansive than the federal one, requires proof of an “enterprise” and pattern of activity of at least two “qualifying” crimes. The charges may include DDT’s telephone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes intended to swing the state’s 2020 vote for DDT. A computer trespass charge could include the Coffee County voting machines’ breach by a group of DDT operatives and paid by then DDT lawyer Sidney Powell that copied sensitive voting system data tryingto prove the election was rigged.  

DDT always bragged about how he has few lawsuits because he never settles, but he recently settled with Michael Cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, who filed a civil lawsuit to obtain past wages. The terms of the deal for $1.3 million in legal fees from the Trump Organization are being worked out in the New York state Supreme Court in Manhattan. Without a settlement, the trial starts this week. Last fall, DDT settled with protesters claiming his security guards assaulted them outside Trump Tower, and three years ago, he paid $2 million in penalties for his fraudulent charitable foundation which has been closed. That was after the $25 million for settling the Trump University case for DDT’s running a “school” as a scam.  

The Securities and Exchange Commission state DDT’s top financial partner in his media company violated antifraud provisions, misleading investors about taking the website Truth Social website public. Digital World told investors in September 2021 that the company had no merger discussions with any companies, but, planning to merge with DDT’s Media & Technology Group (M&T), it discussed the merger seven months earlier. M&T may have to leave the deal if it isn’t finished by September 8, 2023. Digital shares plunged from $175 to $13, and it must pay a penalty of $18 million within 14 days of the merger. Federal prosecutors charged a Digital board member and two other men of illegally earning $22 million in profits as part of an insider-trading scheme before the merger proposal was announced. M&T told investors in 2021 that it would reach 56 million users by 2024; it’s presently at 5 million and has earned only $1.2 million in advertising. The head engineer for Truth Social has also resigned.

The House Republicans are protecting DDT and campaigning for him in official proceedings, but DDT has upped the ante, continuing to call House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for help. He posted on Truth Social that his rescue is the GOP’s “# 1 ISSUE!!!”

Congressional support in committees for his grievances doesn’t solve his legal issues, thus he also wants them to defund special counsels’ investigation. His trusted loyalist, Matt Gaetz (FL), introduced legislation to block all investigation and grand jury funding for the January 6 insurrection and other attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential win for Joe Biden. Gaetz has yet to get cosponsors for the measure. People believed McCarthy wouldn’t support the proposed legislation, but they didn’t think he would support Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (GA) attempt to erase any mention of DDT’s two impeachments from history. Or turn over all sensitive insurrection footage to Tucker Carlson. Or impeach Merrick Garland and make the defense appropriation bill into a “culture war.”

McCarthy’s biggest disloyal act is to not endorse DDT for president. He even said in a press conference that DDT might not be the best candidate so he’s making up for that by trying to expunge DDT’s impeachments. Meanwhile House Republicans just continue with wacky offensive partisan hearings and add amendments to anything approaching the floor.

Joyce Vance describes DDT’s bad week. And it’s the tip of the iceberg.