You probably heard that Trump had promised us a news conference on Monday in which he would reveal the long-hidden proof that there was voter fraud in Georgia. Now his lawyers are begging him to cancel it. ABC News reports:
Sources tell ABC News that Trump’s legal advisers have told him that holding such a press conference with dubious claims of voter fraud will only complicate his legal problems and some of his attorneys have advised him to cancel it.
Those lawyers are no fun at all.
“A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia is almost complete & will be presented by me at a major News Conference at 11:00 A.M. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.
Georgia’s Republican governor responded to that with his own social media post declaring, “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen. For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward — under oath — and prove anything in a court of law.”
So maybe Trump had real evidence all along and was keeping it hidden just in case he was indicted in Georgia while running for another shot at the White House, and then he could prove his masterful mastery of time and space by the BIG REVEAL.
Or not. I was really looking forward to Trump’s making a big fool of himself on Monday. It’s possible he won’t listen to his lawyers and release the “proof” anyway. We can hope.
What I was going to write about — of late there have been two kinds of Republicans — those who are frantic to defend and protect Trump at all cost, and those who, um, aren’t. Right-wing WaPo columnist and all-around waste of space Henry Olsen wrote,
Republican leaders rushed to defend Donald Trump after a Georgia grand jury levied charges against the former president for his scheme to interfere in the state’s 2020 presidential election. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy described the indictment as a “desperate sham.” Rep. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said it was a “WITCH HUNT” and that Trump “did nothing wrong.”
See also Republicans rally to Donald Trump’s defense after Georgia indictment at The Guardian, which documents the various degrees of gaslighting being employed on Trump’s behalf. For example,
New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a member of House leadership, insisted Trump “had every legal right to challenge the results of the election” he conclusively lost.
She added: “This blatant election interference by the far left will not work, President Trump will defeat these bogus charges and win back the White House in 2024.”
In the Senate, Ted Cruz of Texas, in 2016 Trump’s closest rival for the Republican presidential nomination, said he was “pissed”. Cruz also called the Georgia indictment “disgraceful” and repeated McCarthy’s “weaponization” complaint – a party talking point.
Stefanik didn’t use to be as much of a right-wing toadie as she is now. Her district is way upstate and mostly rural, I understand, but it’s still New York. Will this crapola really help her keep her seat? We’ll see.
And then there are the other Republicans. Many elected Republicans of Georgia are pretty much done with Trump. They are having no trouble saying the 2020 election results were legitimate and Trump shouldn’t have tried to strong-arm them into “fixing” it. I suspect they still blame him for costing them two U.S. Senate seats. But they also noticed that voters in 2020 really weren’t into the election denial thing. Since most of them seem okay with prosecuting Trump, I hope that means they won’t use their new law to remove D.A. Fani Willis from office.
And with some exceptions like Ted Cruz and Miz Lindsey Graham (and Josh Hawley, who is making even less sense than usual), most Republicans in the U.S. Senate so far are not rushing to microphones to complain about the Georgia indictment.
The only thing that’s safe to say is that the 2024 contest for the Republican presidential nomination is going to be the most bleeped up in the history of presidential nominations.
Regarding Georgia, there’s a lot of talk about the several indictees getting their cases moved to federal courts. From what I’m reading, about all this would accomplish is to broaden the jury pool beyond Fulton County. The case would still be tried under Georgia RICO laws, and convictions would still be out of reach of federal pardons.
Pardons in Georgia are hard to come by. Jim Newell writes in Slate,
Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, does not have the authority to hand out pardons. Under the Georgia Constitution, a five-person State Board of Pardons and Paroles is “vested with the power of executive clemency, including the powers to grant reprieves, pardons, and paroles; to commute penalties; to remove disabilities imposed by law; and to remit any part of a sentence for any offense against the state after conviction.”
Even if that board were stacked with appointees who were clones of Donald Trump, the board has a very strict interpretation of what a pardon is. To qualify for a pardon, an applicant must have already completed his or her sentence five years prior to applying. They must have lived a law-abiding life during those five years, not have any pending charges, and have paid all fines in full. A “pardon,” in the Georgia state government’s parlance, is “an order of official forgiveness and is granted to those individuals who have maintained a good reputation in their community following the completion of their sentence,” according to the pardon board’s website. It “does not expunge, remove or erase the crime from your record. It may serve as a means for a petitioner to advance in employment or education.” In other words, it’s a piece of paper that would do little else besides get Trump a job as a line cook at 97 years old.
Changing that setup would require amending the Constitution, and Georgia Republicans on the whole don’t seem to be in a big toot to do that.
In other news: You probably heard that at some point Jack Smith got hold of Trump’s private Twitter messages. That was awhile back, and had there been anything juicy in them that probably would have bee included in indictments already. But Elon Musk stupidly tried to stall a warrant for the message files, and according to Marcy at Emptywheel, Musk met with Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy while stalling. Was that to protect Trump, or to protect Jordan and McCarthy, who probably had messages in those files?
In Rudy Giuliani news: One of the biggest meltdowns in political history continues. See Rudy Giuliani made desperate appeal to Trump to pay his legal bills and Rudy Giuliani pocketed $300,000 from farmers investing in anti-Biden documentary that was never made, lawsuit claims
I think it is Marcy at Emptywheel.
Thank you.
Stop and consider what will happen politically when/if Trump losses the election, losses the appeals, and finally has to turn himself in to begin the first criminal sentence.
This will be the fourth loss in a row for the GOP. Trump is the cult figurehead and he's permanently gone. A gaggle of wannabes will play Game of Thrones in real time while a significant portion of the GOP refuses to accept Trump is gone.
Pros like McConnell are over Trump and MAGA. The cult is stupid, misinformed, and totally reactionary. I think McConnell would love to take the same Republicans, and recruit from Independent voters and sideline the MAGA kooks.
This seems unlikely but the path the party is on leads to extinction. IMO, we are going to see MAGA violence in lone-wolf attacks on judges, prosecutors, or Grand Jury members. Trump himself will ramp up calls for domestic terrorism.
IMO the plea to settle the election and trials by combat will doom MAGA with independents. Unless the GOP breaks entirely with the cultists, the center-right will vote center-left. The more MAGA is rejected, the more violent their rhetoric (and actions) the less electoral support they will have.
If Trump wins, the GOP party will survive another day. If he loses, the day of reckoning is at hand. They know it.
Third paragraph typo: I meant to say, "…McConnell would love to take SANE Republicans and recruit from Independent voters…" Tf the senior management of the Republican Party recognizes that MAGA is a dead end politically, they will try for a center-right coalition, leaving the cultists out in the cold.
Why go to the center? The right is, for now, bat sh^t crazy. They also are demanding to set the direction for the Republican Party. And they are – successfully chasing conspiracy theories in the House and failing to pass legislation with any meaning.
He'll do his worst, let's do our best
And we, not he, shall pass the test
For we are right, and he's a jerk
No plan of his will ever work
His cronies reek of sleaze and booze
His fans go bats, his lawyers lose.
"IMO, we are going to see MAGA violence in lone-wolf attacks on judges, prosecutors, or Grand Jury members. Trump himself will ramp up calls for domestic terrorism." Absolutely true.
Despite his huge ego and sense of invulnerability (due to complete lack of accountability his entire life), I think he knows that the only thing that can save him from prison and return him to power is an armed uprising by his devoted cult members.
By targeting the Judges and prosecutors with his incendiary remarks, I think he's hoping that someone will actually succeed in assassinating them…what better way to delay the trial for a significant period of time?
The quote "An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes." aptly describes Trump, even if it's misattributed to Sun Tzu and its real origins are unclear.
The Georgia requirement that the grand jurists' names appear in the indictment is a huge Achilles heel in this case. The names, addresses, and I think pictures are reported to be on right wing websites, with some not too veiled calls to action. What a nightmare.
A kook down in Texas left a threatening message for Chutkan – she's been paid a visit by law enforcement. Hilariously, her husband said she watches TV and drinks and starts mouthing off.
Sounds like a typical far right MAGAt, QAnon, GQP supporter, for sure!
OK, fellow lib's it's time to admit defeat. It's all over but the shout!
Revealed: Mike Lindell's 'secret plan' to fight fraud and 'save elections' (msn.com)
And then the drones can be used to watch DA BEARS!!
— New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a member of House leadership, insisted Trump “had every legal right to challenge the results of the election” —
Here's breaking news for Ms. Stefanik: Of course he had a legal right to challenge the results of the GA election… in accordance with the remedies provided in GA law.
1) As Ms. Willis noted on the evening that the indictment was filed, Mr. T could have pursued the legitimate avenues of remedy available to him under law, but chose not to do so. Instead he chose to engage in a criminal conspiracy to interfere with the rights of the state of Georgia to conduct it's own elections and protect the integrity of the legitimate votes of all people of Georgia. When all of the normal checking to make sure legitimate votes were correctly counted, the State of Georgia certified the results on November 20, 2020. On December 6, 2020, Mr. T filed a lawsuit in GA demanding those results be reversed.
2) Mr. T was not denied his right to challenge the outcome. No one prevented him for using the appropriate channels. He failed to avail himself of them, either by choice or by simple failure. What he did NOT have, was a right to expect his challenge to succeed without any evidence.
3) At a recent open house event at a local elementary school, in a 6th grade classroom, for some unknown reason, a boy who was a 6th grade student in that teacher's classroom was present, and kept interrupting the teacher's presentation to scream about how unjustly he had been treated when the teacher accused him of failing to turn in his math homework one time… the boy explained that the family dog had eaten his homework. "I did nothings wrong!!!" The boy interrupted 5 times to do the same thing. The boys parents chuckled each time. The rest of the parents got tired of the nonsense. — all right, that didn't really happen, but you get the point.
Where this goes is anybody's guess, because the black hole in the center of this universe is the Republican Party, which is (supposedly) in control of its candidate nomination process. How far down the rabbit hole will they go, and why? The conventional wisdom from the outside is Trump owns the Base, and the Party won't risk alienating them by opposing, let alone removing, Trump. But how much will they risk to avoid that? Will they just let Trump (hopefully) lose again? Will they go all-in on ratfucking the election, breaking laws like a bull in a china shop to give him the EC vote he demands? Are they hoping to just stay vewy, vewy quiet and hope the justice system cleans up their dilemma for them? Who the fuck knows? As Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, how low do you have to sink to become President of the United States?
With the current state of the GQP, there is literally no bottom…and I think the answer to your questions " Will they just let Trump (hopefully) lose again? Will they go all-in on ratfucking the election, breaking laws like a bull in a china shop to give him the EC vote he demands? Are they hoping to just stay vewy, vewy quiet and hope the justice system cleans up their dilemma for them? is "Yes"…all of the above. This, after all, is no longer a political party with a defined agenda, goals or operating principles…it's an anti-democratic, fascist personality cult.
The whole "I've got YUUGE amounts of evidence that will show I'm innocent that I'll provide on Monday" announcement – followed by the "my lawyers won't let me do it now, they want to save it for the trials" is SO reminiscent of his cancelled visit in Normandy, when he claimed the Secret Service wouldn't let him. The real reason, of course, was that it was raining and windy…and he didn't want to go – probably because of his dislike of being uncomfortable – and especially because he knew it would create unflattering photos of him with his combover being blown around.
His ego knows no bounds – as does it's fragility.
Trump canceling his Great Announcement is a sign that his attorneys / legal reality finally got thru to him. They probably told the orange man-baby "Donnie, you can present your report at trial" – the same technique used by parents to deflect their kid's stupid requests.
Georgia state Republicans are formalizing a request to impeach Willis, and so the dynamic between them and Governor Kemp will be interesting. I get the sense that sane Republicans are in the minority in Georgia. The showdown between reality and fantasy within the Republican Party is set to occur in Georgia.
They're also attempting to change the current law regarding pardons – so the governor (or the hand-picked commission that currently makes decisions) can pardon immediately. Talk about a transparent attempt to use their majority Republican power to obstruct justice!
Not exactly a growth of backbone, it's more like lashing out in desperation to save his failing candidacy.
Ron DeSantis Suggests That Donald Trump Shouldn’t Be Running For President | HuffPost Latest News
I just donated $1 to Asa Hutchinson’s campaign, in order for him to get on the RNC debate stage – he’s presently short of the 40,000 donors needed, the deadline is Monday.
Chris Hayes interviews him, here. Along with Chris Christie there aren’t enough Republicans loudly rejecting Trump. IMO, he makes a good argument that by the time the courts start handing out verdicts, many Republicans will have already voted in caucuses, primaries and such, and so what’s needed is full-throated rejection, early, by as many Republicans as possible.
Timing is everything, and Trump should’ve been pushed off the stage long ago.
If you’re inclined (it’s only $1), donate here.
Trump's decision NOT to do the press conference on Monday to discuss the "proof" that the GA election was rigged is no surprise. It's widely reported that Trump's lawyers opposed the idea. Just as certain is that the regurgitation of the same lies would have hurt Trump in court, a fact his lawyers probably cringed at.
The media is generally reporting that wiser heads prevailed on Trump's reason and showed Trump the self-inflicted damage he was about to do. I doubt it. My guess is that Trump's lawyers threatened to walk. "Are you ready to represent yourself in court?" I don't know that happened but Trump had made Clark A/G, even letting Clark tell his boss at DOJ that he was taking the job. In the ensuing meeting in the Oval Office, Trump was told that the mass resignations at DOJ which would happen if Clark was appointed would demonstrate how bogus the claims of fraud in GA would be perceived by the public. Trump understood the magnitude of the PR disaster, so he reversed.
What PR disaster? Trump is betting the farm on winning the election. The cultists alone can't do it. Trump has to reach further into the ranks of Independent voters next year than he did in 2020. If/when claims about the 2020 election are the immediate cause of Trump's lawyers resigning, it's a major announcement that the claims are false, unsupported, bogus, and phony. You get it. The cultists won't care but the cultists can't get Trump elected unless Independents sympathize with Trump. The Independent voters have to believe Trump. Right now they don't by a wide margin.
The focus at the moment is "Will Trump Be Convicted and Go To Jail?" I think the issue actually is, "Will Trump Lose the Election In November '24?" Facts in front of voters about what happened between the election 2020 and the J6 Insurrection will doom Trump. He'll be convicted, but if he wins the election the Trump DOJ will try to erase the conviction. (How that will play out with the USSC is anybody's guess.) I don't want to take that chance.
I want the GA trial to begin this year. There will be cameras in the courtroom and the drama will convince anyone with an open mind. I said drama, not evidence. Jack Smith can do a better job in the courtroom and not have as much political impact without cameras. People will get their information from their favorite source and Fox will filter out the truth.
Unless the feud between Trump and Fox causes Fox to start speaking truth. (Trump is going to do an interview with Tucker opposite the debate which is being televised by Fox. Remember, Trump lies broadcast on Fox will cost the network a billion before it's done. I'm not sure Fox needs to suck up to Trump again.)
My guess is that Trump's lawyers threatened to walk.
My guess is that Trump just fired back instinctively without any conderation that he didn't possess any evidence. The reality of any situation doesn't factor into Trump's decision to spew any kind of nonsense. He's just using his lawyers as a cover to backtrack on his impulsiveness. The same as he did with his claims about releasing his tax returns, his auditors advised him not to release them when he clearly had no intention of releasing them regardless. He just needed someone to be his scapegoat. He's a big bag of shit and he's going down. No mistake about it. His demise/erosion is already underway. It's similar to Darwin's theory of evolution. It happens at an almost imperceptable pace, but it does happen.
Stick a fork in him…he's done!
No, I think his lawyers most definitely did get to him. Judge Chutkan has made it quite clear that she will lock him up if he starts playing games. And if there's anything that truly terrifies him it's getting locked up.
And he understands well that she'll do it.
I'm wondering if Trump and his co-conspiritors in Georgia will be held in cells until arraingment. Seeing how they were given an open invitation to appear for their arrest they won't have an appointment to be arraigned. Normally criminal defendants are arrainged at the convenience of the court schedule. If for instance they show up in the late afternoon arraignments might not be available till the next morning. Donny doesn't plan to show up until late friday afternoon so there is a possiblity he might spend the weekend in the Fulton County jail. If that is the case I hope he's cleared his bowels to avoid having to use a communal toilet. It could be a long weekend!
Bail has to be set. And set before locking anyone up.
No one's going to be locked up unless they fail to show at all.
For your entertainment, on Jenna Ellis and other dipsh$ts, “her indictment will be written in Wine Mom font.”