The Conversation -- May 9, 2024

Links to the transcripts of the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump -- up through Tuesday -- are here. Links to the prosecution and defense exhibits start here. For instance, the crucial prosecutors' (people's) exhibits Nos. 35 and 36 and here and here.

And we're in for another Trumpy day in court, with New York Times reporters here to guide us through the goings-on:

Nate Schweber: "As an antidote to the intensity inside the courthouse on Thursday morning, toymakers turned out early with their takes on the defendant.... Guy Jacobson..., who lives in Manhattan ... [brought] a stuffed orange pig with a red tie. 'This is one is cuter, less fat, more intelligent, and doesn't talk so much,' Mr. Jacobson said. 'And it doesn't stink.' The Trump toys outnumbered the visible Trump supporters outside the courthouse.... There was a single woman in a MAGA hat."

Maggie Haberman: "Joining [Donald Trump] today are Senator Rick Scott of Florida and Trump's friend Steve Witkoff, a real-estate investor.... Another addition to Trump's entourage today is John Coale, a member of his broader legal orbit."

Jonah Bromwich: "We start, before the witness, with the prosecution asking that the defense be precluded from asking Stormy Daniels whether she was arrested. The judge agrees with the prosecutors, saying that 'anybody can be arrested' and that it 'doesn't prove anything.'"

Haberman: Trump attorney Susan "Necheles presses Daniels, asking if she wanted money from Trump. 'No,' Daniels says. 'I never asked for money from anyone in particular, I asked for money to tell my story,' she says. 'That's what you were asking in 2016, was for money, to be able to tell your story?' Necheles pushes on. Daniels said on Tuesday that initially, she wasn't interested in money.... Necheles asks Stormy Daniels why she talked to Jacob Weisberg, a Slate reporter, about her account, and then stopped."

Bromwich: "We are hearing that Stormy Daniels was in conversation with reporters -- multiple reporters, including Jacob Weisberg of Slate, she says -- about the possibility of selling her story before the election. And the defense is seeking to use that information to show that Daniels was using her story to threaten Trump. The defense, as it did with Keith Davidson, Daniels's former lawyer, is trying to paint Daniels as not only a liar, but as an extortionist, saying that she was telling Weisberg, that she either wanted money or she wanted to hurt Trump politically. Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, puts a finer point on it, saying 'You were threatening to try to hurt' Trump 'if he didn't give you money.' 'False,' Daniels replies."

Susanne Craig: "Stormy Daniels is pushing back on Susan Necheles, taking little the lawyer says at face value. 'Show me where I said that,' Daniels just said, forcing the defense to produce exhibits to back up their allegations." [And the defense is having trouble finding the exhibits.]

Alan Feuer: "On Tuesday, Daniels said that she spoke with Weisberg during a period when her deal with Michael Cohen seemed like it would not go through. Today, she made a similar but finer point, saying the interview with Weisberg was almost like an insurance policy to make certain her story would get out if the non-disclosure agreement collapsed."

Jesse McKinley: "Susan Necheles just noted that Stormy Daniels has 'an online store where you sell merchandise,' accusing her of 'shilling' online. Daniels responds: 'Not unlike Mr. Trump.'"

Feuer: "This theme has been hit before but it's worth noting that a defense lawyer for Donald Trump, one of the world's great vendors of branded products, is trying to discredit Daniels for selling her 'merch' in the wake of Trump's indictment."

Jonathan Swan: "So many of Stormy Daniels's retorts are versions of 'so did Trump.' He calls her 'horseface,' so why can't she call him an 'orange turd'? He sells his merchandise, so why can't she sell hers?"

Haberman: "Susan Necheles now brings up something that was inevitably going to be part of cross-examination: Stormy Daniels's work as a medium. 'You've made a show and a podcast claiming you can speak with dead people, right?' The goal is to make her seem unreliable as a narrator."

Bromwich: "An all-important exchange just now: Susan Necheles asks Stormy Daniels about her experience making porn films. 'You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real,' she says. Daniels responds, 'That's not how I would put it.' She is momentarily taken aback, and then adds, 'The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room.'... Necheles implies directly that she made up her story of sex with Trump. But if it weren't true, Daniels replies, 'I would have written it to be a lot better,' drawing laughter in the courtroom."

Feuer: "Stormy Daniels, very much playing on her home turf with these questions, holds her ground and seems utterly unashamed about her career in the sex trade."

Swan: "Trump appears to be dozing as Susan Necheles questions Stormy Daniels at length about the details of her meeting with him."

Bromwich: "Susan Necheles has reached the moment before the sexual encounter, and is seeking to question Daniels's credibility about that account, mixing in descriptions of Daniels's previous work in porn. Necheles notes that in Daniels's book, she describes the early part of the encounter, writing that she made him her 'bitch.' Necheles seeks to suggest there's an inconsistency here, because Daniels wrote about being aggressive with Trump but then testified that she was intimidated when he approached her for sex."

Kate Christobek: "Necheles eventually cuts right to the point of her cross-examination about the sexual encounter: 'You made all this up, right?' she asks. Daniels responds forcefully: 'No.'"

Haberman: "Susan Necheles's next line of questioning related to why Stormy Daniels said she felt a power imbalance with Trump before their sexual encounter.... Necheles pushes on the insinuation that Daniels is making up her feeling that Trump was overpowering her. Daniels gives perhaps her strongest testimony of the morning: 'My own insecurities made me feel that way,' she says, her voice never wavering."

Bromwich: "The cross-examination has come to an end. Susan Necheles outright accused Stormy Daniels of lying about her story again. There was a sustained objection, and now, the lawyers are discussing the issue with the judge."

Christobek: "Stormy Daniels continued to insult Trump up until the end of her cross-examination, at one point even questioning which indictment of his Susan Necheles was referring to. She quipped: 'There were a lot of indictments.'" ~~~

~~~ Bromwich: "The defense moved it to strike that comment from the record, but the judge said no: he said Daniels's testimony had been responsive to the questioning."

Feuer: "Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is doing a classic example of redirect examination, calmly drawing the attention of the jury to specific facts the defense left out of cross-examination. For instance: Susan Necheles, the defense lawyer, spent a lot of time noting discrepancies between Stormy Daniels's direct testimony and an interview she gave in 2011 to In Touch magazine. But in a subtle jab, Hoffinger drew Daniels's attention -- and thus the jury's -- to fine print at the bottom of the article saying it had been lightly edited. The implication is that the story did not contain every detail of Daniels's account."

Bromwich: "Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, returns to the lectern and asks that they do a split screen, of Daniels responding to an attack while Trump attacks her as 'horseface.'... And other attacks on Daniels followed his attack.... Overall, Susan Hoffinger is able to show that Stormy Daniels was assailed with insults from various corners after her story about Trump became public and that some of the language the defense has taken issue with came in response to those attacks. Daniels says she believed that Trump's August 2023 all-caps tweet, 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!,' was related to her, given that he had just filed a suit against her in Florida."

Bromwich: "A new witness, Rebecca Manochio, has taken the stand. Manochio is a junior bookeeper at the Trump Organization. She is being questioned by Rebecca Mangold, a prosecutor.... Rebecca Manochio is testifying about the traffic of checks between the Trump Organization and the White House.... Prosecutors like to connect each witness to multiple other witnesses, to show that this cast of characters is an ensemble, and not just individuals who were randomly chosen to testify. Here, we're hearing about Rebecca Manochio sending unsigned checks to Trump through Keith Schiller, his personal bodyguard. Stormy Daniels just told a story in which Schiller was a character. Manochio slots right in."

Feuer: "Rebecca Manochio testifies that she sent checks to Trump via two of his aides -- Keith Schiller and John McIntee -- at their home addresses. While it's not clear what we should make of this, it appears as if there was some sort of effort to ensure that the checks Manochio was sending Trump were kept outside the official paper flow at the White House." [Lunch break.]

Bromwich: "The cross-examination of Rebecca Manochio was extremely brief, and now we're hearing from a new witness, Tracey Menzies, who works at HarperCollins, a publishing company.... We are reviewing a book authored by Trump. This one is called 'Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life.' The cover image, which was briefly displayed on the screen, showed Trump shouting."

Swan: "Trump is snoozing through this section of the testimony.... The prosecution is using an excerpt of the book to show that Trump is a micromanager in his business. In it, Trump says: 'get the best people, and don't trust them,' saying it's important to watch what they do closely.... The next excerpt also emphasizes Trump's relish for revenge. 'My motto is: always get even.' And another: 'When you are wronged, go after those people because it's a good feeling.'"

Haberman: "The witness is now reading a section in which Trump describes valuing 'loyalty' more than anything. 'We reward loyalty and everybody knows this.' In a potentially resonant excerpt, Trump writes: 'This woman was very disloyal, and now I go out of my way to make her life miserable.'"

Bromwich: "Prosecutors' direct examination ended quickly, and Todd Blanche handled the brief cross-examination."

Haberman: "The people have called Madeleine Westerhout to the stand. Westerhout was Trump's executive assistant in the White House. She was fired after she spoke out of turn about the Trump family at an off-the-record dinner with reporters."

Bromwich: "Madeleine Westerhout is asked about the 'Access Hollywood' tape.... She testifies that while [she worked] at the Republican National Committee, she was privy to conversations about whether it was possible to replace Trump as the presidential nominee after the tape was released.... Madeleine Westerhout acknowledges that she knew Michael Cohen, the fixer who paid hush money to Stormy Daniels. She then starts talking about when she began to work in the White House.... Rebecca Mangold, the prosecutor, is eliciting testimony that fundamentally makes this witness seem like an innocent. She keeps emphasizing that many of the experiences Westerhout is describing -- including her testimony here today -- were new for her.... Westerhout has begun testifying about her frequent interactions with employees of the Trump Organization. She says she would pass their questions to Trump -- who said that he had cut off his relationship with his business. This ... shows how seamless the transition between Trump's public and private lives was. Information traveled through Westerhout and, on the other side, Rhona Graff, his assistant at the company, who we've already heard from as a witness."

Christobek: "Westerhout testified that Trump would dictate tweets to her and would sometimes ask to review her work and make changes. She recalls that he liked to capitalize certain words like 'country,' use exclamation points and was a fan of the Oxford comma."

Swan: "The jury is now being shown a 'close contacts list' for Trump from early 2017. It includes Joe Scarborough, Tom Brady, Sean Hannity, Ari Emanuel, Bret Baier and Mark Burnett, the creator of 'The Apprentice.'"

Feuer: "The list includes some interesting names. Football figures like Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Media figures like Bill O'Reilly and Jeanine Pirro, who is also a former district attorney and was in the courthouse this morning. Business colleagues, family members and Serena Williams, the tennis star."

Haberman: "The prosecutor asks her: 'Was it your understanding that Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen had a close relationship in 2017?' She replies: 'At that time, yes.' She's now reading an email between herself and Michael Cohen in which she's asking for his information in order to have him cleared to enter the White House."

Bromwich: "Westerhout sent the email to Cohen on Feb. 5, 2017. It's evidence that directly helps corroborate the meeting that Cohen says that he and Trump had in the Oval Office in early 2017 to discuss reimbursements for the hush-money payment.... We are now looking at a text exchange between Madeline Westerhout and Hope Hicks.... It's from March of 2017, and says that Trump wanted to know if [David] Pecker had been called. We are seeing the way that Trump was dealing with the hush-money payments and their agents from the White House.... Not only is Madeleine Westerhout corroborating a lot of the testimony we've heard already, but she's linking that testimony to what she saw Trump do while he was in the White House. We've already heard that stapled packets of checks and invoices were sent to the White House to sign. But Westerhout is able to tell us that she sometimes saw Trump sign checks in his office, and that he signed them individually by hand.... We are looking at an exchange in which Rhona Graff, Trump's former assistant, asked him whether he wanted to suspend a golf club membership or pay his dues, which totaled about $6,000. Madeleine Westerhout says she passed this question along to him in a stack of checks he was given. Trump responded himself, by hand, asking that Graff pay the membership.... We're seeing that Trump -- while president! -- did not ignore anything to do with money, and he responded in his unmistakable sharpie."

Swan: "The point, as the prosecution has so often made, is that Trump paid attention to financial minutiae. The cost of the golf membership that he was personally signing off on was less than one-fifth of the amount of each check he sent to Michael Cohen to reimburse the hush-money payment.... The prosecution is effectively asking the jury to consider whether it's plausible that Trump would scrutinize a minor payment in the $6000 range but be ignorant of the details of multiple checks for $35,000 each.... Then Westerhout starts to cry as she recounts her experience of being forced out of the White House for indiscreetly sharing details about the Trump family in an off-the-record session with reporters."

Haberman: "The prosecution is done. Susan Necheles, the Trump lawyer now cross-examining Madeleine Westerhout, brings up something she elided -- that Trump wasn't her preferred candidate when he was elected president. Many people have described her as unhappy on election night."

Swan: "We're done with Madeleine Westerhout for the day and Susan Necheles will continue cross-examining her tomorrow. So far, Necheles has sought to use her testimony to paint a humanizing portrait of Trump as a kind boss and family man. She has also tried to portray Westerhout as somebody who was young, out of her depth and unfamiliar with the details of the materials she was handling on Trump's behalf."

Bromwich: "We've just heard that Karen McDougal will not be called as a witness.... The defense is asking both for a mistrial and that Trump be allowed to respond to Stormy Daniels's comments about him in court. This request, which seeks to address Trump's political needs by bypassing the legal restrictions on him, is a really interesting one. It will be up to Justice Merchan.... Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor, stands up to address the arguments by the defense lawyers, saying they seem to almost live 'in an alternate reality.' He says the gag order was designed to protect the trial and has been effective thus far. Conroy asserts the sanctity of the legal proceedings over the political needs of Trump.... Conroy is insisting that Daniels needs and deserves this protection, and she and other witnesses should not be exposed, he says, to Trump&'s 'barrage of threats.' He says that lifting the order in any way would be a deterrent to other witnesses.... He sounds emotional. 'Let's not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse,' Conroy says....

"Todd Blanche is now arguing that Stormy Daniels's testimony about her sexual encounter with Trump differed from when she told her story previously. Justice Merchan had encouraged the defense lawyers, when they first moved for a mistrial, to address any disparities by cross-examining Daniels aggressively.... The judge isn't buying [Blanche's complaint]. 'I fail to understand' he says, how this is 'an alternate set of facts.'... Justice Merchan says he is concerned, not only with protecting Stormy Daniels and other witnesses who have testified, but with protecting those who have yet to testify and protecting the proceedings as a whole. The judge says that he himself wrote down a version of Conroy's argument 'I can't take your word for it that, "no no, this is going to be low key,"' Merchan says, referring to the comments Trump would make if the gag order was altered. 'That's just not the track record.'... Now Todd Blanche is arguing for a mistrial, again. Justice Merchan denies the motion -- the gag order will not be altered and Trump will remain barred from attacking Stormy Daniels...."

Christobek: "Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, says that the details of Stormy Daniels's story before and during the sexual act corroborate her account, and show the fact that sex happened, which increases the motivation to silence her."

Swan: "Trump is dozing on and off during all of this."

Bromwich: "Justice Merchan begins to address the mistrial motion.... In going back to opening statements, he sees that the defense 'denied that there was ever a sexual encounter between Stormy Daniels and the defendant.'... The defense opened the door to Daniels's testimony, Merchan is saying. He seems to be suggesting that what the prosecution did in response was perfectly appropriate.... He says he agrees that the question about whether Trump wore a condom should not have been asked or answered. But he says he does not know 'why on earth' Susan Necheles, the defense lawyer, didn't object to that question.... This could not be going much worse for the defense. Not only is Merchan signaling that he will almost certainly reject their mistrial motion, but he's dressing down their lawyering in front of their client....

"[Merchan] is citing specific issues with the defense's arguments, saying that instead of denying the falsification of business records, they denied the sex with Stormy Daniels. 'That in my mind allows the people to do what they can to rehabilitate her and to corroborate her story. Your motion for a mistrial is denied,' he concludes."

We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections.... This legislation ... will prevent that from happening.... We'll have a mechanism to prove whether they are or not. -- House Speaker Mike Johnson, Wednesday ~~~

~~~ Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "Some of the conservative leaders of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election gathered in front of the Capitol on Wednesday and called on Congress to pass an 'election integrity' bill to stop noncitizens from voting. Leading the group, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged that undocumented immigrants voting in elections is already illegal under federal law.... But he argued that people know 'intuitively' that noncitizens are voting, even though he could not provide estimates of how many. Multiple studies have shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare in federal elections." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary in today's thread. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So. Intuition in search of a "mechanism." Why do I think that Mike's proposed mechanism is going to involve accusatory interrogations of every voter whose skin tone isn't as pink as Mike's ass or whose name "sounds foreign? (Where "sounds foreign" is not Drumpf but is Hernandez?

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Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris attacked the conservative-controlled Supreme Court on Wednesday, warning that its future decisions could limit a broad range of civil rights and personal freedoms for many Americans. In an interview with The New York Times, she expanded on her criticism of the court's decision to overturn federally guaranteed abortion rights in 2022, going beyond President Biden's past comments to raise direct alarms about Justice Clarence Thomas and the broader direction of the court. 'This court has shown itself to be an activist court,' said Ms. Harris.... 'I worry about fundamental freedoms across the board.'"

Saving Speaker Mikey. Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday easily batted down an attempt by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust him from his post, after Democrats linked arms with most Republicans to fend off a second attempt by G.O.P. hard-liners to strip the gavel from their party leader. The vote to kill the effort was an overwhelming 359 to 43, with seven voting 'present.' Democrats flocked to Mr. Johnson's rescue, with all but 39 of them voting with Republicans to block the effort to oust him. Members of the minority party in the House have never propped up the other party's speaker.... Lawmakers loudly jeered Ms. Greene as she called up the resolution and read it aloud. As she recited the measure, a screed that lasted more than 10 minutes, Republicans lined up on the House floor to shake Mr. Johnson's hand and pat him on the back." (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats aren't committing themselves to saving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) should Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) take another shot at removing him.... Greene caught colleagues in both parties by surprise by forcing an ouster vote on Wednesday, leading some lawmakers to fear she's not above repeated attempts."

Robert Talt of the Guardian: "Some of America's top school districts rebuffed charges of failing to counteract a surge of antisemitism on Wednesday in combative exchanges with a congressional committee that has been at the centre of high-profile interrogations of elite university chiefs. Having previously grilled the presidents of some of the country's most prestigious seats of higher learning in politically charged settings, the House of Representatives' education and workforce subcommittee switched the spotlight to the heads of three predominantly liberal school districts with sizable Jewish populations.... The three districts insisted in response that they did not tolerate antisemitism in their schools. They said they had taken educational and disciplinary steps to combat antisemitism following the 7 October attack.... David Banks, the chancellor of the New York City school system..., stood his ground and appeared to challenge the committee, saying: 'This convening feels like the ultimate "gotcha" moment. It doesn't sound like people trying to solve for something we actually solve for.'"' ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times report is here. Marie: If you read each report -- the Guardian's & the Times' -- in its entirety, you will figure out that it was Republican members doing the mudslinging. But neither report even mentions Republicans in the top grafs, leaving the casual reader completely in the dark about who the perps were in this hearing.

** With Friends Like These.... Karen Yourish, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid the widening protests and the unease, if not fear, among many Jews, Republicans have sought to seize the political advantage by portraying themselves as the true protectors of Israel and Jews under assault from the progressive left.... But ... for all of their rhetoric of the moment, increasingly through the Trump era many Republicans have helped inject into the mainstream thinly veiled anti-Jewish messages with deep historical roots. The conspiracy theory taking on fresh currency...: that a shady cabal of wealthy Jews secretly controls events and institutions.... The current formulation of the trope taps into the populist loathing of an elite 'ruling class.' 'Globalists' or 'globalist elites' are blamed for everything from Black Lives Matter to the influx of migrants across the southern border, often described as a plot to replace native-born Americans with foreigners who will vote for Democrats. The favored personification of the globalist enemy is George Soros, the 93-year-old Hungarian American Jewish financier and Holocaust survivor who has spent billions in support of liberal causes and democratic institutions." Read on.

The Trials of Trump, Ctd.

"When You're a Star, They Let You Do It." Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: "... [Stormy] Daniels's testimony is a reminder that contempt and mistreatment of women is a core theme of Trump's life and politics.... Daniels's testimony is intended to establish the background facts of the payment. It also, though, paints Trump as a liar, a bully, and a sexual manipulator. Daniels said while she was in Trump's hotel room, she went to the bathroom, and when he came out he was in his boxer shorts, a moment Daniels describes as 'like a jump scare.'... According to Daniels, [Trump] suggest[ed] that if she cooperated with him he could help her career through his connections and a possible appearance on the Celebrity Apprentice reality show, where Trump was the star.... Daniels has not accused Trump of sexual harassment or violence, and she says their encounter was consensual. Her testimony makes clear, though, that Trump was pressuring her for sex in return for business opportunities -- a variation on the ugly tradition of the Hollywood casting couch." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Doin' the Florida Slow-Walk. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon to avoid picking a date yet for ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents trial is the latest indication of how her handling of the case has played into Mr. Trump's own strategy of delaying the proceeding.... [Brian] Greer[, a former CIA lawyer,] said that her record in the case suggests she has been open to whatever the defense has chosen to send her. 'Certainly, her proclivity so far,' he said, 'has been to listen to almost anything.'" Feuer goes into some of the ridiculous motions Cannon has held or will hold hearings on, one of them scheduled to last three days. MB: Experts I've heard all discussed whether Cannon was incompetent, corrupt or both. "Careful, considerate trier of fact" was not among the options any chose. ~~~

~~~ Liz Dye in Above the Law: Judge Cannon has "let Trump and his henchmen spam the docket with garbage motions, been totally dilatory in ruling on them, and is now allowing the defendants to reap the reward from their bad faith behavior by postponing the trial." MB: What we must bear in mind here is that Cannon's excuse (and she put this in writing) for not doing her fundamental job (overseeing a trial) is that she hasn't been doing her job (ruling on motions/Trumpspam) because it is hard. Also, as long as Judge Aileen shows up sober for work, she likely will not be fired/impeached & convicted. Ever.

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear an appeal of a ruling that allowed Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, to continue leading the prosecution of ... Donald J. Trump on charges related to election interference, the court announced on Wednesday. The decision to hear the appeal, handed down by a three-judge panel, is likely to further delay the Georgia criminal case against Mr. Trump and 14 of his allies, making it less likely that the case will go to trial before the November election. The terse three-sentence announcement reopens the possibility that Ms. Willis could be disqualified from the biggest case of her career, and one of the most significant state criminal cases in the nation's history." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Colleen Long & Seung Min Kim of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday laced into Donald Trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern Wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot. That location in the battleground state will now be the site of a new data center from Microsoft, whose president credited the Biden administration's economic policies for paving the way for the new investments. For Biden, it offered another point of contrast between him and Trump, who had promised a $10 billion investment by the Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn that never came. 'In fact, he came here with your senator, Ron Johnson, literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world. You kidding me?' Biden told the crowd of about 300 people, who clapped and cheered loudly as he spoke. 'Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it.'"

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump over the former president's promise to be his supporters' 'retribution.' CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with Biden in Wisconsin for an interview that aired on Wednesday's OutFront.... 'What person has ever said anything like this stuff?' Biden asked Burnett. 'But he means it.'... 'Saying whether he may not accept the outcome of the election?' the president continued. 'I promise you, he won't ... which is dangerous.'"

Ohio Ballot Access. Henry Gomez & Emma Barnett of NBC News: "An effort to ensure that President Joe Biden is on Ohio's general election ballot stalled Wednesday in the Legislature, raising the likelihood of legal action to resolve the issue. It's the latest twist in what has usually been a straightforward move to fix conflicts between late conventions and state election laws in the past." The article outlines issues & developments, but here's the crux of it: "... Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman suggested that GOP members needed an incentive to help Biden, 'because Republicans in both the House and the Senate aren't going to vote for a stand-alone Biden bill.'"

Susanne Craig of the New York Times on Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s medical records, including the worm that ate part of his brain (MB: which is not a joke but could help explain his passion for nutty ideas). Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Dana Smith & Dani Blum of the New York Times: on "what brain parasites are, the damage they can cause and how, exactly, they get there."

Ryan Reilly & Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "A right-wing social media influencer hired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign who previously said Jan. 6 was 'Democrat misdirection' appears to have himself been on the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol during the attack. NBC News first reported that Kennedy's campaign hired Zach Henry's firm, Total Virality, for influencer engagement' in March. Henry had worked as deputy communications director for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign, as well as for Blake Masters during his Senate run in Arizona. Henry ... appears to have embraced conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack, including posting that 'antifa' was behind it, which is false." (Also linked yesterday.)

Let's say the only way you could get a cushy government job that came with a lovely house, household and office staff, a driver, security protection, a decent salary (and opportunities for filthy lucre!) was to be delusional, violent and treasonous. Would you go for it? If you're a Republican, you would. ~~~

~~~ Veepstakes. Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: "Top Republicans, led by ... Donald Trump, are refusing to commit to accept November's election results with six months until voters head to the polls, raising concerns that the country could see a repeat of the violent aftermath of Trump's loss four years ago. The question has become something of a litmus test, particularly among the long list of possible running mates for Trump, whose relationship with his first vice president, Mike Pence, ruptured because Pence resisted Trump's pressure to overturn the 2020 election. In a vivid recent example, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was pressed at least six times in a TV interview Sunday on whether he would accept this November's results. He repeatedly declined to do so, only saying he was looking forward to Trump being president again."

Adam Wren & Madison Fernandez of Politico look at Tuesday's GOP primary races in Indiana, including the presidential race, where Nikki Haley -- who dropped out of the race two months ago -- is expected to get more tha 20% of the vote. (Also linked yesterday.)

Reality Chex Change-of-Policy Notification: It is now acceptable to bash Barron. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Dixon of NBC News: Barron "Trump..., Donald Trump's youngest child, who will graduate from high school next week and has largely been kept out of the political spotlight, was picked by the Republican Party of Florida on Wednesday night as one of the state's at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, according to a list of delegates obtained by NBC News." Also Florida delegates: Don Junior & Tiffany. Eric Trump is chairman of the Florida delegation.

Donald Trump Has Been Asking, "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?" Let's Check. New York Times headline, May 9, 2020: "The American economy plunged deeper into crisis last month, losing 20.5 million jobs as the unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent, the worst devastation since the Great Depression.... Job losses have encompassed the entire economy, affecting every major industry. Areas like leisure and hospitality had the biggest losses in April, but even health care shed more than a million jobs. Low-wage workers, including many women and members of racial and ethnic minorities, have been hit especially hard. 'It's literally off the charts,' said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America."

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Pete McCloskey, a California congressman who raised a flag of rebellion against President Richard M. Nixon's war policies in Vietnam with a spirited but futile race for the Republican presidential nomination in 1972, died on Wednesday at his home in Winters, Calif., west of Sacramento. He was 96.... Mr. McCloskey, who represented an area south of San Francisco for 15 years, from late 1967 to early 1983, was a liberal Republican who admired President John F. Kennedy, voted for environmental causes with Democrats and believed that the Republican Party had veered too far to the right." MB: Yes, kids, there was a time so recent I can recall it when you didn't have to be crazy or treasonous to vote for a Republican.

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South Dakota. Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) appears to have ended her media tour to promote her new book as both Greg Gutfeld [Fox] and Dana Bash [CNN] announced last minute cancellations from the governor." MB: Not Gnome's fault. How could she have known the book tour would not go well?

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

CNN's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The US has already paused a shipment of bombs to Israel as concerns rise over their potential use in a ground offensive in Rafah without a plan for civilians there, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed. CIA Director Bill Burns met with Netanyahu and the head of the Israel intelligence service Wednesday, according to a source, and has since returned to Cairo to aid efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Clashes between Israeli police and the family members of hostages held in Gaza broke out Wednesday night in Tel Aviv, leading to injuries and at least two arrests." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates on Thursday are here.

** Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel -- which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza -- if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah. 'Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,' Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett..., referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week. 'I made it clear that if they go into Rafah -- they haven&'t gone in Rafah yet -- if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities -- that deal with that problem,' Biden said." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times' story is here.

Comments

[Akhilleus]

Re: Ohio GQP’s sneaky, snakey scheme to keep President Biden’s name off the ballot in that state in order to help a traitor slither back into the White House.

“Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman suggested that GOP members needed an incentive to help Biden, 'because Republicans in both the House and the Senate aren’t going to vote for a stand-alone Biden bill.'”

An “incentive”? You mean like some kind of bribe or mob-like protection money payoff? “Nice little election you got there, Joe. Shame if somethin’ happened to it.”

Incentive, huh? How about fucking democracy? How about the fucking Constitution? How about a free and fair election?

No. None of those are good enough reasons for the Party of goddam fucking Traitors. They chisel away at everything good and clean. And sometimes, instead of a chisel, they just say “Screw it. Get the sledge hammer.”

And where is the media on this? Oh…maybe Matt Huffman gave AG a sit down interview and now the Times will “on the other hand” this outrageous maneuver to weasel something out of Democrats in order for the PoT to do its job.

Headline: “Ohio Republicans stand up for the laws in that state. Besides, Biden is OLD.”

[Akhilleus]

So…Barron is gonna be a made man in the Trump Crime Family after all. How proud they all must be. Let the grifting begin!

Will he get one of those bumper stickers for his Caddy? The one that says “Trump Crime Family staff car. You touch-a my car, I break-a you face.”?

Just wondering. Do they have a ceremony like the Cosa Nostra does where they put a piece of paper in the candidate’s hands and light it on fire to remind the newly upgraded gangster that he will feel the fires of hell should he rat on the organization? I guess in the case of the TCF, the piece of paper is the Constitution. And will Don Snoreleone preside?

Welcome Barron! Now you gotta be a good earner for the family, so start lying and grifting and breaking laws.

[Akhilleus]

Same as it ever was…

Two back to back posts in today’s RC encapsulate the difference between the parties and how politics in this country is now played.

First comes a report on the outrageous, blatant, one sided approach to the law by an obviously crooked, Trump-centric “judge” whose rulings at each turn benefit her boss, a traitor and serial law breaker, whose stealing of top secret documents and willful retention of same are in direct violation of US law. The report concludes that nothing will be done to rectify this disgusting lawlessness nor will this partisan “judge” suffer any consequences for arrogantly giving her middle finger to the nation and the rule of law. In other words, our Justice department won’t lift a finger to do anything about this injustice or even to look into it.

Immediately following this post is a link to a story about the skullduggery going on in Georgia, where a Trump controlled legislature is going hard after an attorney general (a black woman) for having the audacity to try and hold a traitor (a white supremacist) accountable for his attempts to overturn the will of Georgia voters. In other words, for doing her job. No holding back here. No timorous caution or worries about looking partisan. They want her gone. At the very least, they want to ensure that there can be no way Trump will ever be brought to trial for his crimes in that state.

And here’s another thing,

I will bet you all the money I have ever made in my life (not all that much, granted) that Trump will never be brought to justice for any of his crimes. If he’s found guilty in the New York election interference trial, he’ll appeal. That will take years.

If he steals the election, he will declare himself innocent of all charges. If he loses, the other cases will have been dragged out for so long, those cases will just be dropped. He’d appeal all of them anyway, and we’ll have a replay of Obama’s “Let’s just look to future and not worry about the past—for the good of the country” bullshit that allowed criminals like Bush and Cheney to sail off into retirement, undisturbed by petty things like consequences for starting an illegal war that killed, displaced, maimed, and uprooted millions.

Republicans get away with everything. Nixon was pardoned. Agnew was allowed to resign to avoid prosecution for dozens of corruption charges. Reagan sold weapons to terrorists. Nothing happened. Bush, Cheney, now Trump.

The system works in their favor and against that of Justice.

It’s not going to change now, or anytime soon.

It sucks.

And Democrats can’t, or won’t, do anything about it. Republican AGs go after Democrats for a blow job. Our current AG sat on his hands for two years, refusing to do anything about a violent insurrection.

And so here we are. Again. Traitors laugh at us.

We do nothing.

[Akhilleus]

Transactional Trumpism Triumphant

Yeah, yeah…Bible Mike is doing his victory dance today as MTG is in a cave somewhere looking for the Weird Sisters from Macbeth to “fire burn and cauldron bubble” her next dark spell against democracy.

Yesterday I listened, mouth agape, as some R hack on NPR went on and on about Brave Bible Mike, warrior for good government and democracy and yadda, yadda, yadda…

Pleeeaase. No mention of Democrats who bailed him out. Natch.

But leave us not forget who this guy really is:

“A constitutional lawyer and close Donald Trump ally, Johnson played a pivotal role in Trump’s push to overturn the 2020 election. He led the amicus brief, signed by more than 100 House Republicans, backing a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the 2020 election results in four key swing states won by President Joe Biden.”

And he’s still at it, working up the rubes for “Election Integrity!”, dammit. Cuz all those dirty immygrints are voting in droves! How does he know?

“Leading the group, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged that undocumented immigrants voting in elections is already illegal under federal law. ‘Some have noted that it’s already a crime for noncitizens to vote in a federal election, and that is true,’ Johnson said.

But he argued that people know ‘intuitively’ that noncitizens are voting, even though he could not provide estimates of how many. Multiple studies have shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare in federal elections.”

Didja get that? No need for facts. People know it “intuitively”. Right.

This is a continuation of Trump’s Big Lie.

When Bible Mike was pooping his Pampers because MTG was coming after him, he skeedaddled off to Marred a Lardo to kiss the ring and beg for help. Fatty sided with him which allowed other PoT scaredy cats to “Stand Up” to Greene and the other bomb throwers, thus saving Mikey.

But there’s a price to pay. Fatty doesn’t do anything without the expectation of payback.

More Big Lie, and continued attacks on democracy are the price.

Ka-Ching! Thanks, Mike.

[Marie Burns]

I'll be damned if I can figure out why Trump's "defense" wants to spend hours trying to discredit Stormy Daniels. Nothing she says about her encounters with Trump -- or anything else -- has to be true to make the criminal case against him. We already know from other testimony that Trump paid her off because he was worried the effect her story could have on his 2016 presidential bid.

Yet every minute Daniels is on the stand is a minute to hammer home to the jurors that Trump was hanging out with a porn star while sweet little Melanie was home taking care of the innocent babe who would one day grow up to be a delegate to the 2024 GOP convention. These are New York City jurors so I'm guessing some of them are sophisticated enough not to be shocked, shocked at the very idea of porn stars. But most people think less of a man who even puts himself in a position to be accused of having extramarital sex and using the "casting couch" and power imbalance as a means to persuade a woman to have sexual relations with him.

Just having Daniels in front of the jury is more damaging to Trump than any testimony the defense is likely to elicit from her.

I suppose there might be a few "productive" questions the defense could ask Daniels, but badgering her for hours seems just plain dumb.

[ForrestMorris]

I hope Stormy has a photo of that mushroom-like thing that she
once claimed was what Donald's wee-wee looked like.
That would be some hard evidence (or not).

[Bobby Lee]

Florida Senator Rick Scott in a presser while on break, goes off on the "political" bit, with "Biden" and "trying to silence Trump". When will Democrats start loudly pointing out this is not a federal case, but is by the state of New York.

[Akhilleus]

Forrest,

I think Mr. Mushroom would be considered evidence that’s inconsequential. Not much to see. Without a magnifying glass, that is.

[Akhilleus]

Marie, I think all this badgering of Stormy Daniels is being done per orders of the defendant. His misogynistic need to try to get back at the woman who exposed him for the scummy pig he is won’t allow his lawyers to move on until they spend time stupidly attacking her. The whole point of having her testify is to show jurors what Fatty didn’t want voters to see: his true nature, an aging, third rate lothario, bribing a younger woman for sex, while his wife was home with the baby. He’s making sure to keep that impression center stage. His narcissism can’t abide looking foolish, nasty, and, frankly, sad.

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: You must be right because further disparaging a woman who already has several strikes against her in some people's eyes -- porn star, had sex with Trump, had sex with married man, had casual sex, accepted hush money, something, something -- doesn't have much of an upside that I can see.

Surely Trump's lawyers know this. But Trump thinks demeaning women makes him look like a tough he-man, so your explanation is the only one that makes some kind of twisted "sense."

[Akhilleus]

I was getting more than a little tired of all the legal “experts” intoning that the Stormy Daniels testimony sunk the case against Trump. The judge was grossed out, the jurors didn’t like her, she talked too fast, blah, blah, blah…

That might have been the case if the trial was all about the sex. It’s not. It’s about falsified business records done to hide something from voters and win an election. Stormy is part of the set up. It’s like complaining that you don’t like some mystery novel halfway through. “I’m so confused. What’s going on?” “Finish the book, numbnuts.”

But even if the whole shebang was all about Stormy’s icky encounter with Hugh Hefner and Mr. Mushroom Head, Trump’s legal team’s attacks on Daniels may have served to rehabilitated her initial impression by making her look unfairly badgered and giving her a chance to land a number of well placed knuckle sandwiches and a few good jokes at Fatty’s expense.

Nice going, Trump team!

Everything this asshole touches augurs in like a Boeing airliner rushed off the assembly line in three days. “Oh look! Was that the door flying off? What’s that? The wing stabilizers? Christ! The left engine is on fire. Get outta the way! Here she comes!”

[Ken Winkes]

Bible Mike's "intuition?"

God (or those voices in his head) told him.

More likely, it's just another case of the Right being unable to believe that not everyone believes what they believe or thinks the way they do.

They are all (stupid) narcissists.

[Akhilleus]

Ken,

It’s no different than the Decider’s “gut feelings”. Was Saddam Hussein responsible for 9/11? No. Did he have WMD? No. But the AWOL decider “knew” in his gut that declaring war based on lies was the right thing to do. He knew “intuitively” that he was right.

Just think of how much worse off the world would be if we relied on what idiots intuited.

Does a feather fall to earth at the same rate as a rock? Intuitively, no.

No gravity.

Is the world flat? Intuitively (for some), no.

No America.

Can space curve? Intuitively, no.

No relativity. No nuclear power.

Are certain people less than others? Intuitively (for some), yes.

Civil War, slavery.

Is one person, one vote a bad idea? Intuitively (for some), yes.

Electoral College: Bush, Trump, Nazi Supreme Court.

Is Donald Trump a rapist, a racist, a traitor, a liar, and the worst danger to democracy since authoritarianism?

Yes.

Bible Mike intuits differently.

QED.

[Patrick]

Ken: True, the dexters tend to modify Descartes, believing: "I think it, therefore it must be so." A corollary is "... and everybody else must also think it, since I do."

This seems to work well for them until they enter the real world.

This belief set seems particularly to inflict the wealthy.

[RAS]

I wonder if Donald is having to pay his allies to show up in court? He has a history of paying, or saying he will pay, people to show up and cheer for him. Maybe they needed to see the checks clear before they showed up? That would explain why no one was there for him the first couple of days.

[Ken Winkes]

Patrick,

I think of their money as insulation.

Has sure worked for the Pretender.

[Ken Winkes]

Seem the Biden administration did not wholly succeed in turning off the Pretender's grift faucet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/va-bonuses-top-executives-pact-act-improper/

Hang 'em by their toes, I say.

[Akhilleus]

RAS,

If Fatty’s acolytes show up as paid cheerleaders, you can bet those checks aren’t signed by him. Some treason PAC or bunch of MAGA droolers who mortgage their double-wides in response to his constant simpering for simoleons are footing the bill. That cheap prick would gyp his own kid for a side of fries.