easyrider16 wrote: ↑Apr 2nd, '24, 13:41
Also, they're not all leftist judges - Aileen Cannon was appointed by Trump himself. Yet that case hasn't been dismissed, has it?
Perhaps this case is not illegitimate or merely an attempt to influence the election if even a Trump-appointed, right-wing judge refuses to dismiss it.
$02 Cannon remains a going concern. She will continue to avoid ruling in a way that gives Smith the ability to seek mandamus, but she will hug that line so long as she can.
It's anyone's guess why she seems to have an aversion to ruling against Trump.
IANAL but I think where Cannon / Defense is headed is if Trump left office with classified docs then it inherently means they're personal under the PRA ... thus a official act and protected. Ultimately leading Cannon to grant Defense judgment of acquittal (unreviewable by the 11th).
I think you're right to be concerned. I don't think Cannon is unbiased. Yet she knows enough to know that if she dismissed the case, it would be reversed on appeal, and she cares enough about her reputation not to do that. I think it's telling that even this Trump-friendly judge isn't dismissing the case out of hand as if it's totally illegitimate.
It does seem like the defense is going to use the "he was president, he had a right to these docs" defense. But ultimately the case gets decided by a jury, if it gets that far. Cannon can't do much about that. If she gives incorrect instructions on the law, it will get appealed and reversed. Trump's only hope here is to delay and win the Presidency, then make the case go away. Failing that, I think he's going to have a pretty tough time avoiding a conviction.
On the other hand, if he is convicted, Cannon gets to issue the sentence. Very likely, IMHO, for her to issue a slap on the wrist in that scenario.
Donald Trump is eyeing a more authoritarian second term in the White House. And, increasingly, Republicans seem inclined to support that goal.
Polling on the GOP’s appetite for a more powerful chief executive has been slow in coming. But it has been coming. And the emerging picture is that Republicans are remarkably on-board with a president who isn’t answerable to Congress and the courts — significantly more so than Democrats.
And perhaps as significantly, very few Republicans seem to strongly object to the idea.
The most recent survey comes from AP-NORC. It shows a bit of a difference between the two parties on whether unilateral presidential power is a good thing; 17 percent of Democrats say it is, while 26 percent of Republicans agree. Not huge numbers on either side.
But then the survey got to the actual point, by asking about specific presidents exercising such power “without waiting for Congress and the courts.”
While 39 percent of Democrats said working around Congress and the courts was a good thing if the president were named Biden, 57 percent of Republicans said it would be a good thing if the president were named Trump.
While an isolated poll, the results are very much in line with other surveys on the subject, including, from recent weeks:
A Reuters-Ipsos poll last month, which showed that 52 percent of Republicans agreed that the country needs “a strong president who should be allowed to rule without too much interference from courts and Congress.” Just 29 percent of Democrats agreed with that statement.
A February poll from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which found that 74 percent of Republicans would support Trump being a “dictator for a day,” an idea he once broached.
An NPR-PBS-Marist College poll last week, which asked whether people agreed that things are so bad that “we need a leader who is willing to break some rules to set things right.” Republicans (56 percent) were twice as likely to agree with that statement as Democrats (28 percent). While Republicans agreed with the statement by a 13-point margin, Democrats disagreed by a 44-point margin.
A December Fox News poll, which went a step further, asking whether we need a president who will break some “rules and laws” — basically taking illegal action. Trump 2020 voters (30 percent) were twice as likely to support that as Biden 2020 voters (15 percent).
My two cents - Trump supporters don't really care how their agenda gets implemented, even if that means the people who oppose it lose their right to participate in the political process. All they care about is getting what they want and making sure their own rights are protected. I also believe there are a contingent on the left who feel similarly about their agenda, but they do it under the guise of caring so much about their fellow man.
My thinking is that the institution of democracy is more important than my own particular agenda. The problem with both the far-left and far-right is they are so absolutely sure that what they want is the right thing for everyone. I think it's okay to have strong opinions but we also need to accept that our opinions may be wrong, and the guy whose idea we don't like might actually have the right solution. I think democracy has a way of figuring out the better solution if it's allowed to work, provided we maintain a free market of ideas and a tolerance for those with whom we disagree.
Trump's tactics are working and people are scared.
David Hume Kennerly, the famed photog who served in the Ford WH, resigned Tuesday from the board of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, blasting it for cowardice in rejecting Trump critic Liz Cheney as the recipient of its top yearly award.
A key reason Liz's nomination was turned down was your agita about what might happen if the former president is reelected. Some of you raised the specter of being attacked by the Internal Revenue Service and losing the foundation's tax-exempt status as retribution for selecting Liz for the award. The historical irony was completely lost on you. Gerald Ford became president, in part, because Richard Nixon had ordered the development of an enemies list and demanded his underlings use the IRS against those listed. That's exactly what the executive committee fears will happen if there's a second coming of Donald Trump. Did LT Gerald Ford meet the enemy head-on because he thought he wouldn't get killed? No. He did it despite that possibility. This executive committee, on the other hand, bolted before any shots were fired. You aren't alone.
“Many foundations, organizations, corporations, and other entities are caught up in this tidal wave of timidity and fear that's sweeping this country. I mistakenly thought we were better than that. This is the kind of acquiescent behavior that leads to authoritarianism. President Ford most likely would have come out even tougher and said that it leads directly to fascism.
“Those of you who rejected Liz join many ‘good Republicans’ now aiding and abetting our 45th president by ignoring the genuine menace he presents to our country. America is fortunate to have Liz Cheney still out there on the front lines of freedom vigorously defending our Constitution and democratic way of life. But you don't have her back. In failing to honor Liz's courage, resolve, and integrity, you are retreating and hunkering down behind a wall of silence. Martin Luther King said, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’
Speaker Johnson in GOP crosshairs after another failed rule vote? How does he stack up since 1995?
Gingrich: 6 votes in 4 years
Hastert: 2 votes in 8 years
Pelosi: Zero votes
Boehner: Zero votes
Ryan: Zero votes
Pelosi: Zero votes
McCarthy: 3 votes in 8 months
Johnson: 4 votes in 6 months
Former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson pitched new legislation to crack down on noncitizen voting on Friday, despite the fact the practice is already illegal and occurs rarely.
Johnson said House Republicans would introduce a bill to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, speaking at Mar-a-Lago next to Trump as he seeks to fend off threats from his right flank.
“It seems like common sense, I’m sure all of us would agree that we only want U.S. citizens to vote in U.S. elections,” Johnson said, falsely suggesting that “so many people” are registering to vote when they obtain welfare benefits.
It is already a crime to register or vote as a noncitizen in all state and federal elections, though Washington, D.C., and a handful of municipalities in California, Maryland and Vermont allow noncitizen voting in local elections.
This is the party that thinks a national drivers license is like carrying an identity card and nixed the idea. Now everyone will be required to get a passport or other form of ID at or before their 18th birthday if they want to vote?
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here"
Killington Zone
You can checkout any time you like,
but you can never leave
"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function" =
F. Scott Fitzgerald
"There's nothing more frightening than ignorance in action" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Also highly unlikely for a noncitizen to get welfare, as they have to be here for at least five years with permanent legal status before they can even apply. But that doesn't stop the right from making the claim.
The U.S. has a long and bad tradition of demonizing immigrants. The current target is the southern border and the South Americans trying to get in that way, but many others have had their turn - Italians, Irish, Chinese, Japanese, etc. I wish people would be a little more open-minded and see that immigration has been and continues to be a net benefit to the U.S.
Let me give you a poignant reminder of how stupid MAGA Republicans are:
Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee set to face Biden in November's election, has said on social media that Iran's attack would never have happened if he were president.
"The weakness that we've shown is unbelievable," Trump said. "It would not have happened if we were in office."
"For all those claiming this wouldn't have happened if Trump were president... This literally happened when Trump was president," Democratic commentator Kaivan Shroff wrote, alongside an article reporting that Iran launched missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq after Soleimani's assassination.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) announced Tuesday he will co-sponsor a resolution to oust Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from the House’s top job.
Massie told his colleagues during a closed-door conference meeting that he will co-sponsor the motion to vacate resolution filed late last month by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), according to three GOP lawmakers in the room, becoming the first lawmaker to publicly join Greene’s effort.
Massie confirmed his announcement in a post on the social platform X.
“I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by @RepMTG. He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker,” he wrote.
I seem to remember Biden ignoring his innocent little granddaughter until polling showed that it was hurting him politically. Oh yeah, he also took unwanted showers with his pubescent daughter. Now there's a man of character!
What does this post have to do with the topic of this thread, or anything posted in it? And who said Biden was a man of character? Did anybody above make that claim? I certainly didn't.