Was declared an insurrectionist by a Colorado judge, but allowed to stay on the ballot anyway despite being Constitutionally disqualified because the judge feared retribution if he were to remove Trump from the ballot.
Has violated multiple gag orders on multiple occasions, including violating one gag order right outside of the courtroom minutes after it was issued. He has faced fines totalling $15,000, which wouldn't even qualify as a rounding error on his taxes if he could be bothered to actually pay taxes. No judge has been willing to impose any sanctions or even warn Trump of the possibility of incarceration for fear of backlash, even though they admit any other defendant would have been jailed for the same behavior.
Has made so many credible threats against judges, prosecutors, witnesses, staff, potential jurors, and their families that any developments in any of his cases are now often preceded by lockdowns, significant boosts in security, and even personal security for those involved out of fear of retribution or violence.
He's a mob boss. When will people stop treating him like he's a normal person?
Actually, that's the problem. Nobody treats him like a normal person. He acts like a mob boss because doing so has gotten him exactly what he's wanted so far in life.
What judges need to start doing is saying "Yeah that's nice. Maybe they'll write to you in jail. See you in 30 days after serving this contempt of court charge." instead of giving him what he wants on command every time.
I don't think money or influence satisfactorily explains how DT gets away with what he does.
The thing that would explain it is if people think he might be backed by Putin directly.
If you think you might fall out a window "accidentally" you're going to tread pretty carefully.
The latest ruling from the Colorado judge baffles me. They wrote an extensive ruling saying that Trump engaged in an insurrection and detailed how his actions were not simply exercising free speech. Then decided that while he took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend" the constitution, he never took an oath to "support" the constitution. And also that while the 14th amendment forbids an insurrectionist from holding any office of the United States, the presidency isn't an office. What the actual fuck??
It was mental gymnastics by someone who knows Trump shouldn't be anywhere near the ballot, but doesn't want to be the one to actually open that Pandora's box out of fear of retaliation. If it weren't that for an excuse, it would be because the Founding Fathers accidentally misspelled the word "President" or something. The judge was simply looking for any excuse to rule the way he did, and that's just the excuse he settled on.
Pathetic people really shouldn't aim for positions of power but they make up the majority of powerful positions. This guy could've been remembered for hundreds of years for doing the right thing. Instead he'll be vaguely remembered similar to the failures in the German government pre WW2 if shit truly goes wrong.
Pathetic people really shouldn’t aim for positions of power but they make up the majority of powerful positions. This guy could’ve been remembered for hundreds of years for doing the right thing.
I'm not trying to defend the judge by saying this, but I do think it needs to be said. Trump is probably the first person in US history to be:
Easily the most corrupt authoritarian in US history
Able to wield such a disproportionate amount of influence over people at every level of not only government but the private sector; he has enough power to dictate the political careers of representatives in deep red states, and enough influence over individual people that there are lone wolf followers out there willing to carry out threats on his behalf.
Able to make mobster-level, "coded" threats against his political enemies and anyone even tangentally associated with them and has the resources to carry them out.
Judges are probably used to death threats from every two-bit defendant that just got sentenced to life without parole. They're probably also used to credible threats from cartel associates who don't actually have the resources to carry them out (because their associates are in Mexico or wherever). But Trump is a unique case, as threats coming from him could easily be carried out by any local lone-wolf MAGA cultist who has decided that this is the hill they're willing to die (or kill somebody) on, making the threats not only credible, but almost impossible to defend against. This does put judges in a situation where they have to weigh whether ruling against Trump is worth putting their literal lives at risk for, and we've seen the results of that time and time again recently. And while I may not necessarily agree with them, I can understand judges being gun-shy over issuing a ruling that could be the equivalent of signing their own death warrant.
You are giving Donald too much credit. His cult is fairly inactive in commiting stochastic terrorism, moreso recently. I'd argue the judge is just gargling his limp mushroom dick over it being some difficult scary decision. Judges are normal people too and can be swayed into the maga cult.
Standing up to authoritarians when you are given the opportunity is the only way to stop them...
Reminded me a lot of the Mueller Report.
Bury the lede of his obvious guilt, and shirk responsibility of enforcing consequences.
Didn’t the Colorado suit though only focus on the primary, and the GOP is a “private” entity who can select who they want. Now if they happen to chose Trump and put him on the general ballot then that is where a lawsuit should occur. But as it stands now, since he hasn’t been selected for a general ballot there was no standing in the case.
That's the Minnesota case.
I think that was the Minnesota case.
I'll add my paranoid take:
I live 2-miles from a helicopter base. A day or two (can't remember exactly) before the 2020 election, the military ran one-way helicopters sorties, for 24-hours.
I asked on Nextdoor.com if anyone had the skinny. Every reply was a brush off saying, "They're just training, perfectly normal."
No, it was not normal. I've been here for 6-years and have never before or since seen anything like it. A couple or three dozen sorties? Every day. Hundreds and hundreds? Non-stop for a full day?! Never.
The Navy had to have cleared that base out. I believe that in preparation for election day violence they literally moved all the gear and personal to their sister base in town, or other military installations in the area.
If they do it again for 2024, I'll have my answer.
I'll let you know if they turn the local strip mall into a national guard staging area again. Been here forty years and 2020's the first (and only) election they did it. 2022 wasn't big enough.
He's still a Republican, though, and only out for himself. He just realized that if the country went full MAGA he wouldnt exactly be welcome....
And he'll still vote for Trump when the time comes, so fuck him.
Michael Steele- the last Republican we could even pretend was sane.
This makes me want to do some historical research. I don't remember specifics off the top of my head, but I recall Steele saying some "garbage person" things when he was RNC chair. I'll come back later if I find details.
While he opposed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, he would uphold the Republican party platform and support such an amendment (2008)
Opposed same-sex civil unions (2009)
Compared embyronic stem cell research to Nazi medical experiments during the Holocaust (2006, later apologized)
Stated that the Afghan war was "a war of Obama's choosing [???]" (2010)
Now I remember. He's said wrong, patently ridiculous, and contradictory things. Just because he happens to be on the right side of an issue right now doesn't necessarily mean that he was before, or will be in the future ... or would oppose his Party platform and stand on his own principles.
Something something broken clock
Hey, at least he finally realized they let the fascists in and gave them a home.
hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
That mentality led to the current GOP. The slippery slope is real.
Meanwhile Texas rejects any textbook that mentions the climate…
Any sane person would have left the Republican party by now.
Isn’t it funny how all these ex-Republicans suddenly grow a fucking spine?
Wish some fucking current members of the party had the balls to request this. Always get bold and real when they don't fucking matter anymore.
Token realizes what we all knew decades ago.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Trump, who is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, continues to face various legal troubles with trials at both the state and federal level, and has been civilly sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for $250 million.
Chutkan had originally lifted the gag order to allow Trump's lawyers time to prove why the former president's comments should not be restricted ahead of the federal trial, which is scheduled to begin in March 2024.
"I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents," he wrote on Truth Social.
Former U.S Attorney Barbara McQuade previously told Newsweek in a statement that this move is "incredibly reckless" of Trump, explaining that someone can view this post and take violent action against James and Engoron.
Court system lawyer Lisa Evans said Engoron and his staff have received hundreds of threatening and antisemitic phone calls and letters since the trial began in October, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
However on Thursday, a state intermediate appeals court, headed by Judge David Friedman, granted a temporary stay on Engoron's gag order effectively suspending it due to the "constitutional and statutory rights at issue."
The original article contains 929 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Just want to throw this out there:
Donald Trump:
Survived not one but two impeachment trials because senators feared for their safety if they voted to remove him.
Has had at least one judge say that Trump deserves special treatment, with that judge continuing to run interference on Trump's behalf to this day.
Went on CNN and publicly defamed E. Jean Carroll for a second time, less than 24 hours after a judge ordered him to pay $5 million for doing it the first time.
Was declared an insurrectionist by a Colorado judge, but allowed to stay on the ballot anyway despite being Constitutionally disqualified because the judge feared retribution if he were to remove Trump from the ballot.
Has violated multiple gag orders on multiple occasions, including violating one gag order right outside of the courtroom minutes after it was issued. He has faced fines totalling $15,000, which wouldn't even qualify as a rounding error on his taxes if he could be bothered to actually pay taxes. No judge has been willing to impose any sanctions or even warn Trump of the possibility of incarceration for fear of backlash, even though they admit any other defendant would have been jailed for the same behavior.
Has made so many credible threats against judges, prosecutors, witnesses, staff, potential jurors, and their families that any developments in any of his cases are now often preceded by lockdowns, significant boosts in security, and even personal security for those involved out of fear of retribution or violence.
He's a mob boss. When will people stop treating him like he's a normal person?
Actually, that's the problem. Nobody treats him like a normal person. He acts like a mob boss because doing so has gotten him exactly what he's wanted so far in life.
What judges need to start doing is saying "Yeah that's nice. Maybe they'll write to you in jail. See you in 30 days after serving this contempt of court charge." instead of giving him what he wants on command every time.
I don't think money or influence satisfactorily explains how DT gets away with what he does.
The thing that would explain it is if people think he might be backed by Putin directly.
If you think you might fall out a window "accidentally" you're going to tread pretty carefully.
The latest ruling from the Colorado judge baffles me. They wrote an extensive ruling saying that Trump engaged in an insurrection and detailed how his actions were not simply exercising free speech. Then decided that while he took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend" the constitution, he never took an oath to "support" the constitution. And also that while the 14th amendment forbids an insurrectionist from holding any office of the United States, the presidency isn't an office. What the actual fuck??
It was mental gymnastics by someone who knows Trump shouldn't be anywhere near the ballot, but doesn't want to be the one to actually open that Pandora's box out of fear of retaliation. If it weren't that for an excuse, it would be because the Founding Fathers accidentally misspelled the word "President" or something. The judge was simply looking for any excuse to rule the way he did, and that's just the excuse he settled on.
Pathetic people really shouldn't aim for positions of power but they make up the majority of powerful positions. This guy could've been remembered for hundreds of years for doing the right thing. Instead he'll be vaguely remembered similar to the failures in the German government pre WW2 if shit truly goes wrong.
I'm not trying to defend the judge by saying this, but I do think it needs to be said. Trump is probably the first person in US history to be:
Judges are probably used to death threats from every two-bit defendant that just got sentenced to life without parole. They're probably also used to credible threats from cartel associates who don't actually have the resources to carry them out (because their associates are in Mexico or wherever). But Trump is a unique case, as threats coming from him could easily be carried out by any local lone-wolf MAGA cultist who has decided that this is the hill they're willing to die (or kill somebody) on, making the threats not only credible, but almost impossible to defend against. This does put judges in a situation where they have to weigh whether ruling against Trump is worth putting their literal lives at risk for, and we've seen the results of that time and time again recently. And while I may not necessarily agree with them, I can understand judges being gun-shy over issuing a ruling that could be the equivalent of signing their own death warrant.
You are giving Donald too much credit. His cult is fairly inactive in commiting stochastic terrorism, moreso recently. I'd argue the judge is just gargling his limp mushroom dick over it being some difficult scary decision. Judges are normal people too and can be swayed into the maga cult.
Standing up to authoritarians when you are given the opportunity is the only way to stop them...
Reminded me a lot of the Mueller Report.
Bury the lede of his obvious guilt, and shirk responsibility of enforcing consequences.
Didn’t the Colorado suit though only focus on the primary, and the GOP is a “private” entity who can select who they want. Now if they happen to chose Trump and put him on the general ballot then that is where a lawsuit should occur. But as it stands now, since he hasn’t been selected for a general ballot there was no standing in the case.
That's the Minnesota case.
I think that was the Minnesota case.
I'll add my paranoid take:
I live 2-miles from a helicopter base. A day or two (can't remember exactly) before the 2020 election, the military ran one-way helicopters sorties, for 24-hours.
I asked on Nextdoor.com if anyone had the skinny. Every reply was a brush off saying, "They're just training, perfectly normal."
No, it was not normal. I've been here for 6-years and have never before or since seen anything like it. A couple or three dozen sorties? Every day. Hundreds and hundreds? Non-stop for a full day?! Never.
The Navy had to have cleared that base out. I believe that in preparation for election day violence they literally moved all the gear and personal to their sister base in town, or other military installations in the area.
If they do it again for 2024, I'll have my answer.
I'll let you know if they turn the local strip mall into a national guard staging area again. Been here forty years and 2020's the first (and only) election they did it. 2022 wasn't big enough.
He's still a Republican, though, and only out for himself. He just realized that if the country went full MAGA he wouldnt exactly be welcome....
And he'll still vote for Trump when the time comes, so fuck him.
Michael Steele- the last Republican we could even pretend was sane.
This makes me want to do some historical research. I don't remember specifics off the top of my head, but I recall Steele saying some "garbage person" things when he was RNC chair. I'll come back later if I find details.
Edit: Just from Wikipedia,
Now I remember. He's said wrong, patently ridiculous, and contradictory things. Just because he happens to be on the right side of an issue right now doesn't necessarily mean that he was before, or will be in the future ... or would oppose his Party platform and stand on his own principles.
Something something broken clock
Hey, at least he finally realized they let the fascists in and gave them a home.
hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
That mentality led to the current GOP. The slippery slope is real.
Meanwhile Texas rejects any textbook that mentions the climate…
Any sane person would have left the Republican party by now.
Isn’t it funny how all these ex-Republicans suddenly grow a fucking spine?
Wish some fucking current members of the party had the balls to request this. Always get bold and real when they don't fucking matter anymore.
Token realizes what we all knew decades ago.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Trump, who is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, continues to face various legal troubles with trials at both the state and federal level, and has been civilly sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James for $250 million.
Chutkan had originally lifted the gag order to allow Trump's lawyers time to prove why the former president's comments should not be restricted ahead of the federal trial, which is scheduled to begin in March 2024.
"I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents," he wrote on Truth Social.
Former U.S Attorney Barbara McQuade previously told Newsweek in a statement that this move is "incredibly reckless" of Trump, explaining that someone can view this post and take violent action against James and Engoron.
Court system lawyer Lisa Evans said Engoron and his staff have received hundreds of threatening and antisemitic phone calls and letters since the trial began in October, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
However on Thursday, a state intermediate appeals court, headed by Judge David Friedman, granted a temporary stay on Engoron's gag order effectively suspending it due to the "constitutional and statutory rights at issue."
The original article contains 929 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!