Coalition Consensus

2024oct10 truth.

"He [Cohn] was famously a closeted gay, homophobic, anti-intellectual intellectual, some say a self-hating Jew, all these contradictory things... But he was also a very colorful, very interesting person and charming and had a room full of frog dolls." Cohn died of AIDS complications in 1986, but he insisted to the end that his disease was liver cancer. In the months leading to his death, the man who had rubbed shoulders with celebrities and political heavyweights was disbarred and sued by the IRS for $7 million in back taxes. Abbasi sees Cohn as an integral part of the genealogy of the American populist right, and particularly adept at creating his own truth via the media. In one scene, Cohn tells Trump: "There is no right and wrong. There is no morality. There is no truth with a capital T. It's a construct. It's a fiction. It's manmade. None of it matters except winning." https://www.npr.org/2024/10/10/nx-s1-5100620/the-apprentice-donald-trump-director-film

2024sep20 supremely partisan court.

The court was partisan when it decided Bush v. Gore, Shelby County v. Holder, Citizens United and Dobbs v. Women’s Health. But it has never been more partisan than its decisions in the trio of cases involving the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and former President Donald Trump. This proposition was elaborated in a New York Times article by Jodi Kantor and Adam Liptak on Sunday. The Times gives us a few bits of news that were not out there and a lot of backstory that we only suspected. The article’s spotlight of attention falls on Chief Justice John Roberts. Many had seen Roberts as an institutionalist who cared about the public’s perception of the court. He said he feared that if the court is perceived as too partisan, it becomes a legislature, and the public will not respect its decisions. https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/4889319-the-supremely-partisan-court-of-chief-justice-roberts/

2024sep12 Harris’ endorsements. In her speech Wednesday night, Swift thanked her “boyfriend, Travis” for being on set of the “Fortnight” music video and cheering her on. Fans rewarded the mention of NFL star Travis Kelce with loud screams. “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic,” she said, before shifting gears to the 2024 presidential election and instructing her fans who are over 18 to register to vote. Swift did, however, avoid discussing Kamala Harris’ presidential bid on stage. On Tuesday night, Swift endorsed the vice president, moments after Harris’ debate with former president Donald Trump ended. https://apnews.com/article/mtv-vmas-video-music-awards-2024-c8611104c22b980398b440ef9dd8ceed

More than 330,000 visitors have flocked to vote.gov by way of pop superstar Taylor Swift’s postdebate endorsement of Vice President Harris, according to the General Services Administration (GSA). A GSA spokesperson said 337,826 visitors had been referred to the voter information website through Swift’s custom link as of 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, not even 24 hours after the debate or her endorsement. More than 330,000 visitors have flocked to vote.gov by way of pop superstar Taylor Swift’s postdebate endorsement of Vice President Harris, according to the General Services Administration (GSA). A GSA spokesperson said 337,826 visitors had been referred to the voter information website through Swift’s custom link as of 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, not even 24 hours after the debate or her endorsement. The 14-time Grammy award-winner issued her much-anticipated endorsement minutes after the showdown between Harris and former President Trump, posting to her 283 million Instagram followers. She said she’s casting her ballot for Harris “because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them” and contended the country should be “led by calm and not chaos.” https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4875173-taylor-swift-vote-gov/

Almost 60 million people watched Tuesday night’s debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump, surpassing the June presidential debate by 10 million viewers. However, the total audience figure fell well short of the record 84 million that watched a 2016 clash between Trump and then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. ABC, which hosted Tuesday night’s debate from Philadelphia, hauled in a whopping 18 million viewers, including more than 6 million in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to initial figures from Nielsen. NBC’s simulcast of the debate came in second, raking in 9.7 million viewers, while Fox News took the top spot among cable news channels, hauling in 8.6 million, more than double CNN’s audience. A number of other networks, including CBS, Fox Business and NewsNation, also simulcast the debate. The Nielsen figures do not represent the tens of millions of Americans who watched the debate online via streaming on YouTube, Roku or other connected TV devices, or those who saw clips of the event’s top moments on social media. The debate came during a crucial time for ABC, owned by Disney, which like all major media conglomerates is grappling with dwindling advertising revenue for linear television assets and widespread cord-cutting by consumers in favor of streaming platforms. https://thehill.com/newsletters/technology/4875120-trump-harris-clash-draws-60m-viewers/

2024aug19 Kursk ‘buffer zone’. For the first time, Zelensky on Sunday stated the strategic ambitions of the operation, saying, “It is now our primary task in defensive operations overall: to destroy as much Russian war potential as possible and conduct maximum counteroffensive actions.” Those include “creating a buffer zone on the aggressor’s territory,” the president said in his latest address. “Everything that inflicts losses on the Russian army, Russian state, their military-industrial complex, and their economy helps prevent the war from expanding and brings us closer to a just end to this aggression,” Zelensky said. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/18/europe/zelensky-kursk-incursion-second-bridge-intl/index.html

2024aug18 Manchin’s moderate middle. I’m trying to make people explain. They come to me, and I said, “Do you understand that only 23 percent of Americans are Democrats, only 25 percent are Republicans and 51 percent are, like me, no party affiliation?” I said, “You can’t win without the middle. Why are you continually throwing meat at the extremes? They’re fine. They’re well fed. But you’re not going to win that way.” It just doesn’t make any sense to me at all that you can’t find that moderate middle, to where people say, “Yeah, that’s how I live my life. That’s what I expect you to do.” And it’s not exciting. You expect us to do the right thing. When someone talks common sense, no one gets excited. No one sends money at the fund-raisers. But if you say something stupid and crazy, I guarantee you you’ll be flooded. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/opinion/joe-manchin-kamala-harris.html

FULL YEAR 2023 world-record temperature
TEMP DISTRIBUTION OVER THE WORLD

Trump v Biden in ten charts (click politics: link)
link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/12/23/trump-biden-us-economy-compared/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

HELP ! ! Democracy is losing ! !
Through democratic politics,
we promote the common world-good.
VOTE see 2023jan02 below.
Break silence about 'saving' democracy. Watch McCain/Biden speech. 2023sep28.
40 minutes ://www.c-span.org/video/?530790-1/pres-biden-honors-late-sen-john-mccain-r-az

polls-president.html

Contents for all parts

(older Political Consensus part 2 at https://www.harvotto.com/p/political-consensuspart-2.html )

(in key-word terms -- search page for key-word interest)

14th Amendment

Biden -- 2024 POTUS election

Brexit

BRICS

Cannon

child care

China

chips

civility -- abortion -- Murdoch -- coalition

climate

contempt -- against the common good

Davos -- World Economic Forum

demagogue(s) -- political leader who seeks support appealing to the desires/prejudices of ordinary people rather than by rational argument (OAD)

democracy -- House operation

education

Europe

G-20 G-7

home schooling

House of Representatives -- Jeffries

humanity -- UN -- human rights -- AI threat

immigration

impeachment

India -- Modi -- Hindu influence

Indonesia

inequality

internet

Middle East -- Palestinians -- Lebanon -- Israel

judges SCOTUS -- justice -- judiciary --

Medicaid -- unwinding

military funding

misinformation

news curation -- media

Pakistan

Palestine

policies

polls -- presidential race -- demographics

Romney

secularism

support solidarity

Trump -- New York State -- classified documents -- voter arguments -- 2024 POTUS election

Ukraine

water -- American Climate Corps

Trump also elided certain aspects of his record in an apparent effort to make himself more palatable. He did not describe the jailed rioters who went to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as hostages, as he sometimes does. Gone was talk of being a dictator for a day. But as he stood onstage on Thursday night, gazing at a party that has thoroughly devoted itself to him, he could not resist giving attendees the red meat that had brought them there. He complained about the 2020 election, accusing Democrats of using the coronavirus pandemic to “cheat.” He said he had been persecuted by the justice system . He painted an apocalyptic vision of a country he said was teetering on the edge of World War III. “Look at these crowds,” he marveled. “Love, it’s about love.”. They can be certain, though, that the man they have tried to elevate to the presidency three times over, a man who tried to hold onto lost power, who has called for jailing his opponents and who has survived an assassination attempt, is not going to change. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20240719&instance_id=129274&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=on-politics&paid_regi=1&productCode=CN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=172657&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F70b87ac4-2fec-5a14-ae54-8c0dc7b25d1e&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

Under his leadership, the country lurched from one crisis to the next, from the migrant families separated at the border to the sudden spike in prices caused by his trade war with China to the reckless mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. And he showed, over and over, how little respect he has for the Constitution and those who take an oath to defend it. For Americans who may have forgotten that time, or pushed it from memory, we offer this timeline of his presidency. Mr. Trump’s first term was a warning about what he will do with the power of his office — unless American voters reject him. Under his leadership, the country lurched from one crisis to the next, from the migrant families separated at the border to the sudden spike in prices caused by his trade war with China to the reckless mismanagement of the Covid pandemic. And he showed, over and over, how little respect he has for the Constitution and those who take an oath to defend it. For Americans who may have forgotten that time, or pushed it from memory, we offer this timeline of his presidency. Mr. Trump’s first term was a warning about what he will do with the power of his office — unless American voters reject him. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/18/opinion/trump-presidency-record.html

2024july12. NYTimes Editorial Board The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom. DONALD TRUMP IS UNFIT TO LEAD. Read / study expansive article. However, the US may no longer have an educated citizenry. They are rather entertained by the presidential election with disregard for values’ responsibility. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/11/opinion/editorials/donald-trump-2024-unfit.html

2024july07-08. Trumps GOP platform remake. Trump’s signature motto is now the official tagline of the Republican Party. The idea that the modern United States is leaving people behind is central to Trump’s populist message. His base of support is built on White voters without a college degree. Putting the United States above all other countries is central to Trump’s populism. There are echoes of that in US history. The isolationist effort to keep the United States out of World War II, for instance, was also called “America First.” This two-paragraph history of the United States is meant to inspire. It fails to mention the Civil War or the civil rights movement and idealizes the past. It asserts that what’s needed is not to improve what we have, but to go back to what we’ve lost. In addition to remaking the Republican Party, this platform is interested in remaking punctuation. All caps, random capitalizations and extreme usage of exclamation points — the mechanics of a Trump social media post — are now the official style rules of the GOP. Many of the nation’s leaders in recent decades have also been Republicans. This platform criticizes all who came before Trump, and the anti-elitist view is in keeping with the growing fringe claim that an entrenched uniparty [The term “uniparty” has been a favorite of people like Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House official turned podcaster. He’s been using it for years in conjunction with the similarly cynical idea of Washington as a swamp that needs to be drained or the belief in a deep state that needs to be rooted out. Bannon’s goal is to mobilize support for dismantling the current version of the US government. The term also features prominently in the more-conservative-than-Fox-News media environment – networks like One America News, known as OAN, and Salem Radio. https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/24/politics/republicans-house-uniparty-what-matters/index.html] has been controlling the country. Here is some extreme nostalgia for Trump’s four years in office. It’s fair to say not everyone’s spirit was reignited by his presidency. Citing truth and justice is ironic given Trump’s demonstrated history of misstating facts and his argument that he would be justified in using the judicial system to go after his political enemies. Immigration and the border are the issues that have motivated Trump’s political career, so it makes sense they get top billing in this platform. Elements of his message remain the same from his first run in 2016, but much has changed. Trump is still promising to build more wall along the southern border, but there’s no longer any talk of Mexico paying for it. Instead, Republicans say it will be affordable. There is also more of a focus on Trump’s promise to deport millions of undocumented people currently in the United States, for which he has previously floated the idea of using local police forces. This is not exactly the same as Trump’s claim, echoing “Mein Kampf,” that some undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the country. But arguing that the country would be irrevocably changed by such migrants is adjacent to the controversial “replacement theory” popular with the far right. Restoring manufacturing jobs has been a promise of both parties. President Joe Biden also points to a resurgence of manufacturing jobs under his watch. But it is interesting to see Republicans argue they have been the party of workers. It is at odds with the history of Democrats appealing to union workers. But the evolving base of the GOP now lies among Rust Belt households that feel left behind. The United States is an energy superpower. While China, with its reliance on coal and the growth of its renewable energy production, is the world’s top energy producer, the United States is the second-largest energy producer and the top oil and natural gas producer. This is a matter of disagreement between Republicans and Democrats, particularly as Democrats push the United States to invest more heavily in renewable sources of energy and Trump opposes electric vehicles and actively supports more oil production. Keeping things simple and putting them in all caps is effective communication. Accomplishing all of these things very quickly would be impossible. Trump already enacted a large tax cut during his time in the White House. It gave corporations permanent tax breaks, but the tax cuts for workers actually expire after next year. He will have to work to extend his own earlier tax cuts or it will feel like Americans are getting a massive tax hike. This pledge to end a tax on tips is a new plank for Republicans. Democrats have long argued for raising minimum wages. The Republican alternative to that seems to be a further tax cut. Iron Dome is the missile defense system in Israel, which the United States helps fund. The US already has missile defense capabilities meant to counter the threat of long-range nuclear weapons. It’s not clear if Republicans are talking about something completely different here, but the geography of the United States, a massive nation with oceans to the east and west and allies to the north and south, is very different compared with Israel. No cuts to Social Security or Medicare AND large tax cuts for workers. It is not surprising there is no mention in these 20 platform priorities of the spiraling national debt. That used to be a major issue for Republicans. Voter ID laws will no longer suffice for Republicans. Instead of requiring a driver’s license to vote, they are now pushing proof of citizenship. Another all caps list, but this is not the same as the 20 promises above. How exactly? Simply saying you can bring down prices is one thing. Accomplishing it is something else. The Federal Reserve has tried to tamp down inflation by raising interest rates. Plus, Trump’s plan to enact new tariffs on goods coming into the United States would, according to many economists, drive up inflation rather than ease it. The United States did become the world’s No. 1 oil producer during Trump’s presidency. And it has continued to increase oil production under Biden, despite his efforts to push EVs and renewable energy. The idea here is that simply having Trump as president and further increasing US defense spending would bring countries such as Russia and China into check. It’s a debatable idea. Trump did enact policies meant to cut down on illegal immigration. But as the libertarian CATO institute wrote in 2021, those policies did not end illegal immigration. In fact, Trump’s focus on the border led to a decrease in the removal of undocumented immigrants during his term in office. There have been more removals under Biden’s watch, although there has also been a larger volume of undocumented border crossings in recent years. Trump has said he would model a deportation initiative on “Operation Wetback,” a 1950s government program with a racist and insensitive name launched under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. CNN wrote about that program in 2016, when Trump first mentioned his immigration plan. This is quite a phrase to be part of the official Republican Party platform. Is an influx of communists, presumably from China, threatening the United States? It is reminiscent of Trump’s pledge in 2016 to bar all Muslims from coming to the United States, something that led to a travel ban on several mostly Muslim countries. A major storyline in the immigration debate has been the busing of migrants by Republican-led states to major Democratic-run cities, including Washington, DC, Chicago and New York. Mayor Eric Adams of New York, in particular, has said that the migrants sent by Texas has created a crisis in his city. Interestingly, there is nothing in this platform about working toward a comprehensive reform of the immigration and border security system. While Trump’s 2017 law made tax cuts for corporations permanent, it allowed tax cuts for people to expire after 2025. This was, in large part, to make it appear on paper like the tax law would not wreck the US balance sheet in the ensuing years. Now, Biden also wants to extend most of the tax cuts, although he would allow them to expire for people making more than $400,000. Again, the lack of any discussion of deficit spending or the national debt in this document is a stunning departure for Republicans. Pursuit of cryptocurrency is portrayed here as a personal right. Within this innovation section, with regard to both crypto and artificial intelligence — two developments that are changing how the world works — Republicans’ fear of government regulation is greater than the fear of untethered technology companies. But how? These are broad goals, and there’s not much here to explain how all this will happen. Reducing mortgage rates by slashing inflation is an optimistic goal but easier said than done. Presidents for decades have been trying to bring down prescription drug prices. Biden and Democrats, for instance, gave Medicare the ability to negotiate drug prices and set price caps on drugs such as insulin. What would Trump and Republicans do about drug prices? It’s not clear here. Biden and Democrats have tried to forgive student loans as a way to retroactively make college more affordable. Republicans say they will help develop alternative education options, but that is far from a concrete plan. Biden left Trump-enacted tariffs in place after taking office and has pursued additional tariffs on Chinese goods, which has kept prices on some goods high. Trump and Republicans would go further, with tariffs on more foreign-made goods. That would, in theory, drive prices up rather than bring them down. Florida has a law to prohibit Chinese nationals from buying real estate. At the center of Biden’s climate policy is an effort to cut down on tailpipe emissions and push the United States more toward hybrid and electric vehicles. It’s a proposal that requires fewer new gas-powered vehicles but tries to give flexibility to manufacturers and also protect American jobs, though companies such as Toyota have complained. Trump, on the other hand, is a climate change skeptic whose main energy goal is to keep gas prices low and who opposes electric vehicles. These programs are already on an unsustainable path. Within the next decade, lawmakers will have to figure out how to continue to fund them in order to keep paying full benefits. Neither party is talking seriously about that issue this year. One problem is that the US population is aging. New and younger workers — i.e., immigrants — could be needed to put the programs on a more sustainable path. At the state level, this movement has included allowing parents to use taxpayer funds to pay for nonpublic education. Critics argue that those efforts only hurt public schools, which are already starved for funding. Giving more deference to parents over what is taught in school has been a key issue since the pandemic, and “parental rights” have morphed into a key grassroots issue for Republicans. Efforts to neutralize “critical race theory,” which is not technically part of K-12 curricula but has become shorthand for a view of US history that highlights inequality and slavery, are a big part of the parental rights movement. Another flashpoint is gender. The Biden administration’s effort to protect LGBTQ students under Title IX, the federal gender equality law, has been stalled in court. Conservatives on the Supreme Court have shown a willingness to reevaluate the principle of separating church and state and keeping religion out of public schools. Oklahoma is experimenting with teaching the Bible in classrooms as a “necessary historical document.” In Louisiana, a new law requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms. Keep an eye on this issue. Unlike previous Republican platforms, this one does not refer to marriage as between a man and a woman, though it does refer to the “sanctity” of marriage. Violent crime in the United States is on the down swing, but there are undeniable problems in many American downtowns, which are still reeling from a lack of workers in offices since the pandemic. How much control to give Washington, DC, residents over their city has been a recurring debate in US history. DC residents only gained the power to elect a mayor in 1973. They gained more power in 2012, and Democrats have largely supported making DC a state. But now Republicans will try to assert more control over the city. It’s not clear when or how Republicans feel American beauty ended, but they clearly want to restore it. The 250th anniversary of 1776 hits in 2026. Great time for a national party. There are serious efforts to reform the makeup of the US Supreme Court, but they do not currently have the bipartisan momentum that would be needed to enact them. It is wrong, however, to say that the high court was always meant to have nine justices; it has had as few as six, according to the White House. The current number, nine, has been in place since 1869. Trump has said he would pardon people convicted of storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. This is a promise to go further and use the Justice Department for retribution. Don’t forget that Trump’s two federal criminal indictments were handed down by separate grand juries and overseen by a special counsel, not anyone in the Biden administration. Both trials have also been delayed until after the election. Most Americans — 68% in a 2023 Gallup poll — identify in some way as Christian, which seemingly would make widespread bias against them difficult to achieve. The word “abortion” appeared 35 times in the 2016 Republican platform. It only appears one time in this document. The de-emphasis of language opposing abortion restrictions, along with following Trump’s lead to turn the issue wholly over to state governments, is controversial among conservatives. Federal law already prohibits voting by noncitizens. The foreign policy section of this America First platform reads like an afterthought. There is no mention of Russia or Ukraine and only glancing mention of “alliances,” which we can assume includes NATO. Defending democracy in other countries is not mentioned. A key concern raised about a second Trump term is that he will fire a large portion of the federal workforce and instead hire loyalists. Trump denies any involvement with the Project 2025 plan, which was written and publicized by the conservative Heritage Foundation. But this line in the platform suggests he will certainly try to fire people at the Pentagon who he does not view as loyal. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/07/politics/republican-gop-platform-annotated-dg/?utm_term=1720562561178df4cda0736c7&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+July+9%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=5m9PFNe7Zh9KW6xhftT7fmsFyQYLvM0EY%2BTRqDZ6oOUoTzLH0TJemv%2BD0pvJ5pw9&bt_ts=1720562561181

2024july07-08. Axelrod. Biden could be excused for wanting to put his awful debate performance in the rear view mirror. That was his purpose Friday in sitting down for the interview — to try and quell the panic that has gripped the Democratic Party. He didn’t succeed. To be sure, the president turned in a more energetic performance than he had on that woeful debate night, when he sometimes appeared lost and incoherent. In the interview, he stoutly touted his record and assailed Trump’s character in a fashion his supporters had hoped he would on the debate stage. But on the big question that now threatens his campaign — whether he still has the stamina and mental acuity to serve for four more years in the world’s toughest job — the 81-year-old president offered little reassurance beyond a proud recitation of his impressive first-term accomplishments. What exactly happened to him at the most consequential debate of his political life? Biden offered multiple explanations — a bad cold; exhaustion; inappropriate prep. Finally, he shrugged. “I just had a bad night, I don’t know why.” “And how quickly did it come to you that you were having a bad night?” Stephanopoulos asked. “Well, it came to me I was having a bad night when I realized that even when I was answering a question, even though they turned his mic off, he was still shouting. And I let it distract me … I realized I wasn’t in control.” That, in a nutshell, is the Republican attack. That an aged Biden is not in control, and that’s why his debate misfire was so devastating. https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/opinion-biden-s-defiant-delusion/ar-BB1pwiLq

Last week, President Biden tried to acknowledge and mitigate concerns about his capacity to stay on in the most important job in the world. “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” he said after a disastrous debate against Donald Trump. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to.” But, the president went on, “I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.” He was asking Americans to see themselves in him and to recognize his debate performance as both an aberration from and a continuation of who he has always been: a person who may suffer and stumble but whose ambition, commitment and confidence in himself have provided a backstop of resilience against insult and injury. I’m a geriatrician, a physician whose specialty is the care of older adults. I watched the debate and saw what other viewers saw: a president valiantly trying to stand up for his record and for his nation but who seemed to have declined precipitously since the State of the Union address he gave only a few months earlier. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/05/opinion/biden-age-health.html

An array of neurologists who have not personally examined Mr. Biden said they observed symptoms in his public appearances that were consistent with Parkinson’s or a related disease, such as hypophonic speech, forward flexed posture, a shuffling gait, masked face and irregular speech pattern. But they emphasized that a specific diagnosis could not be given without firsthand examination. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/us/politics/parkinsons-expert-white-house.html

024july02. presidential immunity The Supreme Court just gave presidents a superpower. Here’s its explanation. With its immunity ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court granted former President Donald Trump’s wish of all but guaranteeing that his criminal trial for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election will not go to trial before the 2024 election in November.

It also granted presidents in general a definitive “absolute immunity” from prosecution for core official acts and said presidents should be presumed immune for a much more expansive list of acts.

In the view of the majority comprised of the six conservative justices on the court, the decision does not place presidents in general, and Trump in particular, above the law. But the three liberals dissented with a warning about how elevating a president will affect American democracy.

The decision has the near-term result of delaying Trump’s trial while a court in Washington, DC, considers which criminal activity that Trump is accused of can be considered “unofficial.” It also has the long-term effect of placing presidents in a different system of justice than other Americans.

Here are key lines (in italics) from a landmark ruling:

What is this new immunity?

Chief Justice John Roberts explains it in the majority opinion as including absolute immunity for some actions and a presumption of immunity for others.

We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power requires that a former President have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office. At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is also entitled to immunity. At the current stage of proceedings in this case, however, we need not and do not decide whether that immunity must be absolute, or instead whether a presumptive immunity is sufficient.

Why does a president need this immunity?

So that he can act boldly as president and take actions without fear of later prosecution clouding his judgement, according to the court. Here’s Roberts:

Potential criminal liability, and the peculiar public opprobrium that attaches to criminal proceedings, are plainly more likely to distort Presidential decisionmaking than the potential payment of civil damages.

The hesitation to execute the duties of his office fearlessly and fairly that might result when a President is making decisions under “a pall of potential prosecution,” … raises “unique risks to the effective functioning of government.”

What does it say in the Constitution about presidents getting special immunity?

Nothing. But that’s no problem, according to Roberts.

True, there is no “Presidential immunity clause” in the Constitution. But there is no “‘separation of powers clause’” either. … Yet that doctrine is undoubtedly carved into the Constitution’s text by its three articles separating powers and vesting the Executive power solely in the President.

How far does this immunity extend?

A president gets “at least a presumptive immunity” even for acts “within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility,” according to the court. But it’s careful to add that he gets no immunity for “unofficial acts” – and despite the broad reach of the immunity, the court argues presidents are still accountable.

The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution.

Are any of the things Trump is accused of in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment outside this blanket of immunity?

During oral arguments in the case back in April, Trump’s attorney, John Sauer, told Justice Amy Coney Barrett that multiple elements of the indictment would indeed be “private,” or unofficial, acts. These include, for instance, getting an outside attorney to organize slates of false electors.

Barrett, in a concurring opinion on Monday, said she would make clear in the decision what was official versus unofficial. But the majority takes no position and wants the trial court to go through the allegations individually. Trump can then appeal whatever the trial court decides. Here’s Roberts:

… the current stage of the proceedings in this case does not require us to decide whether this immunity is presumptive or absolute. … Because we need not decide that question today, we do not decide it.

Does the majority tell the trial court what might be official or not?

The majority gives quite a bit of detail.

Trump has “absolute immunity” for any instructions or pressure he exerted on his acting attorney general, for instance. Plus, the court won’t allow as evidence any interviews with people who worked in the administration (nullifying much of the evidence gathered by the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, events). And it also won’t let a court consider a president’s motives for taking an action.

Such an inquiry would risk exposing even the most obvious instances of official conduct to judicial examination on the mere allegation of improper purpose, thereby intruding on the Article II interests that immunity seeks to protect.

It’s an open question for the lower court to decide if Trump’s pressure on then-Vice President Mike Pence to disregard the 2020 election results involved “official conduct,” but the Supreme Court put that pressure in the “presumptively immune” category.

We accordingly remand to the District Court to determine in the first instance—with the benefit of briefing we lack—whether Trump’s conduct in this area qualifies as official or unofficial.

The majority thinks Trump’s tweets encouraging people to go to the Capitol and pressure Pence are within the “outer perimeter of his official responsibilities,” but they’re not sure and they expect it will be challenging for the lower court to muddle through these questions.

Why can’t a jury make these decisions?

Juries can’t even consider official acts in terms of a prosecution, according to the Supreme Court.

Allowing prosecutors to ask or suggest that the jury probe official acts for which the President is immune would thus raise a unique risk that the jurors’ deliberations will be prejudiced by their views of the President’s policies and performance while in office. The prosaic tools on which the Government would have courts rely are an inadequate safeguard against the peculiar constitutional concerns implicated in the prosecution of a former President.

So the Supreme Court gave Trump everything he wanted?

It certainly embraced Trump’s theory of immunity and pretty much guaranteed the trial will not happen before the election, although the majority says they were restrained since they rejected his request to completely dismiss the case.

Trump asserts a far broader immunity than the limited one we have recognized. He contends that the indictment must be dismissed because the Impeachment Judgment Clause requires that impeachment and Senate conviction precede a President’s criminal prosecution.

So there is a special system of justice for presidents?

The president is more than a person, according to Roberts.

Like everyone else, the President is subject to prosecution in his unofficial capacity. But unlike anyone else, the President is a branch of government, and the Constitution vests in him sweeping powers and duties. Accounting for that reality—and ensuring that the President may exercise those powers forcefully, as the Framers anticipated he would—does not place him above the law; it preserves the basic structure of the Constitution from which that law derives.

The majority dismisses warnings about a president operating above the laws as “fear mongering on the basis of extreme hypotheticals.” It’s more important to protect the president from political prosecutions, the court says.

The dissents overlook the more likely prospect of an Executive Branch that cannibalizes itself, with each successive President free to prosecute his predecessors, yet unable to boldly and fearlessly carry out his duties for fear that he may be next. … The enfeebling of the Presidency and our Government that would result from such a cycle of factional strife is exactly what the Framers intended to avoid.

Roberts borrows from Trump’s attorneys when he quotes George Washington’s farewell address, in which he warns about factions. The problem with that particular quote, as I found earlier this year, is that Washington also warned about elevating a person above the law.

Does the court mention the politics of today?

Roberts says the court’s considerations are more far-reaching than what’s happening at the moment.

This case poses a question of lasting significance: When may a former President be prosecuted for official acts taken during his Presidency? Our Nation has never before needed an answer. But in addressing that question today, unlike the political branches and the public at large, we cannot afford to fixate exclusively, or even primarily, on present exigencies. In a case like this one, focusing on “transient results” may have profound consequences for the separation of powers and for the future of our Republic.

Did it say anything about Smith?

The majority did not weigh in on the brewing argument among conservatives that Smith should not even have a job and that his role as a special counsel is unconstitutional. But Justice Clarence Thomas endorsed the idea in a concurring opinion.

In this case, there has been much discussion about ensuring that a President “is not above the law.” But, as the Court explains, the President’s immunity from prosecution for his official acts is the law. … In that same vein, the Constitution also secures liberty by separating the powers to create and fill offices. And, there are serious questions whether the Attorney General has violated that structure by creating an office of the Special Counsel that has not been established by law.

What did Barrett say about alternate electors?

Barrett, a Trump appointee, wrote her own concurrence in which she disagreed with the majority on some key points. She said they could easily have expressed that some of Trump’s conduct was unofficial.

Sorting private from official conduct sometimes will be difficult—but not always. Take the President’s alleged attempt to organize alternative slates of electors. … In my view, that conduct is private and therefore not entitled to protection. … a President has no legal authority—and thus no official capacity—to influence how the States appoint their electors. I see no plausible argument for barring prosecution of that alleged conduct.

What was in the blistering dissent?

Writing for the three liberals on the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the majority as inventing an “atextual, ahistorical, and unjustifiable immunity that puts the President above the law.” She said the court makes it difficult to imagine what might be “unofficial” conduct on the part of the president.

In sum, the majority today endorses an expansive vision of Presidential immunity that was never recognized by the Founders, any sitting President, the Executive Branch, or even President Trump’s lawyers, until now. Settled understandings of the Constitution are of little use to the majority in this case, and so it ignores them. … In fact, the majority’s dividing line between “official” and “unofficial” conduct narrows the conduct considered “unofficial” almost to a nullity.

The majority “pays lip service” to the idea that presidents are not above the law “but it then proceeds to place former Presidents beyond the reach of the federal criminal laws for any abuse of official power.”

How far does Sotomayor say presidents can now go?

As far as they want, she says.

The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the country, and possibly the world. When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.

… Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the President and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably. In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.

Sotomayor ends her missive like this:

Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/171987304492695963cde62c0/raw?utm_term=171987304492695963cde62c0&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+July+2%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=jqInX%2F3orj7IlhnRzlq1fFVy8Ie9keNYHbRxjObft1ZnzB1jmVMxLNhhTjHGfrg1&bt_ts=1719873044928

On specific legal questions concerning Trump’s role in election interference and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the Supreme Court was less clear. It largely punted to the judge in the federal case to decide which of Trump’s actions qualify as an official act or a private one. “That analysis ultimately is best left to the lower courts to perform in the first instance,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. Since prosecutors filed charges against Trump, he has followed a strategy of delay, delay, delay. If he wins the election before the remaining criminal cases against him conclude, he could use the presidency to prevent the trials from moving forward. The Supreme Court’s ruling helps Trump achieve that goal. First, the judge in the federal election interference case, Tanya Chutkan, will have to hold hearings and decide which parts of the case violate the Supreme Court’s new immunity standard. Then, either side could appeal Chutkan’s decisions. The appeals could once again go all the way to the Supreme Court, producing more months of delays. The Supreme Court ruling makes it all but certain that Trump “will not stand trial on charges of seeking to overturn the last election before voters decide whether to send him back to the White House in the next one,” wrote my colleague Alan Feuer, who’s covering the case. It does, however, give prosecutors a chance to publicly show their evidence against Trump, as they present it in court for inclusion in the trial. The ruling also could apply to the state charges against Trump, in Georgia and New York. Trump already filed a motion yesterday to overturn the conviction against him in New York, citing the Supreme Court. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240702&instance_id=127738&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=the-morning&paid_regi=1&productCode=NN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=171101&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F1a0b75c3-9df1-5052-8556-3b0f0ff50776&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024jun28. J6 prosecutions. Opinion Ketanji Brown Jackson saves J6 and Trump prosecutions — for now. This time, the center held. But there is no reason to be complacent. Most vividly, this case serves as yet another glaring example of the mainstream media’s rush to hysterical conclusions. Overwrought headlines after the decision came down suggested hundreds of cases would be overturned. Those were inaccurate. Precision should take precedence over clickbait. Second, if Trump gets more appointees for the Supreme Court and the rest of the federal bench in a second term, there might be no brake on the damage this court can do. The prospect that the court could get worse should send chills up and down the spines of all Americans. This is not to tout the reasonableness of the right-wing majority. Having snatched immense powers from the executive branch and Congress this term, the court’s unbridled activism is undeniable. We certainly have seen an untrammeled imperial court dragging government back to the 1920s (on nonregulation of air, water, workplace safety, etc.) and individual rights to the 19th century. It has run roughshod over our democracy, which empowers the people’s elected representatives to make policy decisions. Rather, Fischer stands as a lonely exception, an example of judicial finesse. https://www.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/5061034831056916264/5819812783765852051

2024jun28. post debate. Staunch Biden allies, like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), defended his performance and character. Pelosi said Biden “got off to a bad start” but his integrity was “far better” than Trump’s “dishonesty.” Another former Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) also weighed in, arguing that no one can negotiate with Biden and the only way the ticket will change is if he bows out himself. Axios reported that a small circle of Biden’s closest allies, Jill Biden, his wife; Valerie Biden, his sister; and Ted Kaufman, his longtime friend, are ultimately the “only Biden deciders.” https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4747812-carville-biden-debate-he-relies-on-employees-not-advisers/

2024jun28. presidents' debate. Biden’s halting delivery overshadowed Trump’s repeated lies and misrepresentations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/28/fml-expect-full-blown-democrat-freakout/?utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3e1c0cf%2F667e8d4816f37038eab11941%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F24%2F55%2F667e8d4816f37038eab11941

Following President Biden’s halting debate performance against former president Donald Trump on Thursday, Democrats found themselves asking an uncomfortable question: Is it too late to replace him on the ticket? The simple answer is no — but to do so, it’s likely that he would first have to agree to step aside. There was no indication on Friday that he was planning to do so, though some Democratic strategists and officeholders have quietly said it’s a conversation the party will have to have. If he does, it’s actually quite easy, procedurally, for delegates at the Democratic National Convention to vote for someone else when they convene in Chicago starting Aug. 19. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/28/could-democrats-replace-biden-nominee/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3e1cf23%2F667edd7e7966403a796e0f5b%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F22%2F51%2F667edd7e7966403a796e0f5b

It was a big night for the big lie. And the little lie. And every size lie in between. The first and probably last meeting between Donald Trump and President Biden wasn’t a debate. It was a 90-minute disinfomercial promoting the former president, who uttered one egregious fabrication after the other, with barely a pause for breath between his inventions. The truth never had a chance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/28/biden-trump-debate-lies/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3e1cf24%2F667edd7e7966403a796e0f5b%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F24%2F51%2F667edd7e7966403a796e0f5b

There is no evidence President Joe Biden is willing to end his campaign. And it would be nearly impossible for Democrats to replace him unless he chooses to step aside. Here’s why. https://link.apnews.com/view/65afc88a6b314058d10bcf9fldffe.cvh7/44c0e38e https://apnews.com/article/biden-replacement-democratic-ballot-dnc-rules-7aa836b0ae642a68eec86cc0bebd3772?user_email=9a18118e64ac886183a1f61de74720d43b1343700b8a12e015ddf73957378e06&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_June28_2024&utm_term=Afternoon%20Wire

It would not be an easy process since Biden is already the Democrats’ presumptive nominee and the overwhelming choice of primary voters. He faced little opposition during the primary season, and the fact that he won nearly all of the party’s delegates means it’s very unlikely he’d be forced out of the race against his will. “This isn’t the ’60s. Voters choose the nominee. He is the nominee,” said CNN analyst and Democratic strategist David Axelrod, reacting to Biden’s performance at the debate Thursday night on CNN. That current primary system, which empowers primary voters over party bigwigs, essentially sprang from discontent after Democrats selected Vice President Hubert Humphrey as their nominee in 1968. Even after President Lyndon Johnson bowed out of the presidential race that year, recognizing his fading popularity and opposition to the war in Vietnam, Humphrey represented a continuation of Johnson’s Vietnam policy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Violence broke out when protesters clashed with police as Humphrey accepted the nomination. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/171961210055505813b640ade/raw?utm_term=171961210055505813b640ade&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+June+28%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=tQq237Qs%2FzsWO7%2FLvwIYYrfiWwS24VAVCTouWZEww7bGMGcro1lY9cjQmysw2ZFB&bt_ts=1719612100558

Biden bounces back from bad debate with energetic Raleigh rally. https://www.npr.org/2024/06/28/g-s1-7202/biden-bad-debate-drop-out-raleigh-rally

Not long after the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on CNN with Anderson Cooper. Watching her calmly and methodically respond to a battering ram of questions from Cooper, it occurred to me: The obvious, logical path out of the mess President Biden created with his disastrous debate performance is for him to bow out with honor and endorse his young, vigorous and talented vice president to stand in his stead. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/opinion/kamala-harris-biden-debate.html

Historian Allan Lichtman, who has successfully predicted past presidential election winners based on key characteristics, says that it would be a mistake for Democrats to replace President Joe Biden in 2024 election. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/28/politics/video/allan-lichtman-cnn-debate-democrats-call-to-replace-biden-digvid.

2024jun26. Ukraine NATO. The new mission will bring under one umbrella the activities of the current “capabilities coalition” of countries that provide various aspects of military aid to Ukraine, like air defenses, artillery, F-16 fighter jets, arms and training. It will also coordinate training of Ukrainian military personnel in allied countries and the longer-term bilateral security agreements that different countries have signed with Ukraine, according to the United States and NATO officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because details of the plan have not yet been announced. But NATO countries are all on board with establishing the mission, the officials said, and it will be announced at the summit meeting. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/26/world/europe/nato-ukraine-washington-membership-summit.html?campaign_id=301

2024jun21. NATO. It should not have come as a surprise that Orban, who also relies heavily on personal contacts and never forgets anything, later opposed Rutte’s candidacy for NATO, along with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Rutte, however, has a thick skin: Since his professional persona is so dominant, he rarely takes criticism personally. Very carefully massaging Erdogan and Orban toward accepting him without making excuses became his new mission. Traveling all over the world to lobby peers and explore ways to overcome the hurdles towards the NATO job, Rutte visibly got back some of the enthusiasm and drive that he once had as a young prime minister but had lost by his fourth, most difficult government. He had become tired of being prime minister, and the country had gotten tired of him. A housing crisis, rising environmental and economic problems, and a nasty social child benefits scandal that hit some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in the country—these and other issues were too profound and serious to be managed away with yet another round of Ruttian compromise-making. A fresh look at things was required in the Netherlands—and perhaps more structural solutions were required, too. https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/20/mark-rutte-nato-new-chief-netherlands/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_todayworld&utm_campaign=wp_todays_worldview

The Shocking Figure Blocking the Movie About Rapist Trump. Dan Snyder is preventing distribution of a Donald Trump biopic, which does not portray the former president in a flattering light. According to an exclusive report from the Daily Beast, Dan Snyder, the former owner of the Washington Commanders (previously the Redskins), is working overtime to prevent the release of The Apprentice, a film that depicts Donald Trump as a sexual abuser. Sources told Variety that Snyder is a friend of Trump’s and donated $1.1 million to his inaugural committee, and another $100,000 to his campaign in 2016. Now, Snyder has accidentally funded a film that could very likely hurt Trump’s image, and his chance at reelection, should it be released before November. The Apprentice depicts the former president raping his first wife, Ivana. During her 1989 divorce case, Ivana claimed that Trump raped her, but she later refuted her own allegations ahead of the 2016 presidential election and said that the two were the “best of friends.” The film also portrays Trump cheating on his wife, doing hard drugs, and getting plastic surgery. Snyder was initially willing to fund the film through its production company Kinematics, which is run by his son-in-law Mark Rappaport, because he thought it would be a flattering portrayal of the former president—but what he got was something else entirely. Snyder was reportedly “furious” when he first saw the film last month, according to Axios. https://newrepublic.com/post/182887/dan-snyder-role-blocking-rapist-trump-movie Add this to the NY convictions fo defamation and multiple felonys.

2024jun18. popularity. Most popular Republican in America will surprise you (it’s not Donald Trump). Polls show the most popular Republican is Schwarzenegger at 55%, followed by G.W. Bush at 47% and Carson at 44%, while the top Democrats are Carter at 61%, Obama at 59%, and Sanders at 52%. https://www.al.com/news/2024/06/most-popular-republican-in-america-will-surprise-you-its-not-donald-trump.html Carter 'suffered' in past just as Biden today.

2024jun11. European elections. ...the centrist bloc maintained its majority as liberal and Green groups lost influence. (2024jun11 Smerconish Newsletter.)

2024may25. covid. The SARS virus, for example, appears to have jumped from civet cats, a relative of the mongoose, to humans in Asia in 2002. MERS seems to have jumped from camels to people in the Middle East around 2012. There is no previous example of a major coronavirus escaping a lab. When you’re trying to choose between a historically common explanation for a phenomenon and an unusual explanation, the common one is usually the better bet. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240614&instance_id=126227&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=the-morning&paid_regi=1&productCode=NN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=169560&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F3a74f5b6-f093-5d1d-b80e-7bf6e2ee67da&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024jun06. justice. Prison Time Is the Real Factor in the Trump Verdict’s Impact on 2024. https://www.blogger.com/blog/page/edit/5061034831056916264/5819812783765852051

2024may31. simpler story. The criminal trial of Donald Trump didn’t have to end this way. The prosecution’s case had flaws that couldn’t be wallpapered over even with weeks of testimony, over 200 exhibits and a polished and persuasive presentation by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, and his team. If Mr. Trump’s lawyers had played their cards right, they most likely would have ended up with a hung jury or a misdemeanor conviction. The defense lost a winnable case by adopting an ill-advised strategy that was right out of Mr. Trump’s playbook. For years, he denied everything and attacked anyone who dared to take him on. It worked — until this case. I have practiced criminal law for over 20 years, and I have tried and won cases as both a federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. I’ve almost never seen the defense win without a compelling counternarrative. Jurors often want to side with prosecutors, who have the advantage of writing the indictment, marshaling the witnesses and telling the story. The defense needs its own story, and in my experience, the side that tells the simpler story at trial usually wins. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/30/opinion/trump-trial-defense.html Trump excels at the simpler story, and has previously successfully proclaimed it to those in judgement of various degree of bias -- and he continues -- seemingly forever -- appealing for judgement to those of willing to listen and he hopes, believe his simple story. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there are distinguishable levels of judgement individuals, and if you observe many think they are the best judge subservient to none.

2024may31. democracy. “Regardless of the result, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process,” former Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland, a Republican running for Senate, posted on X shortly before the verdict was announced. “You just ended your campaign,” Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump, shot back at Hogan in his own post. Even a vanilla statement about trusting the verdict and the process, it seemed, was too much for Trump’s team. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20240530&instance_id=124984&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=on-politics&paid_regi=1&productCode=CN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=168300&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F7c374674-0245-55a5-aeba-b6155de9c25f&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024may25. justice. Tapper also asked Wilentz how he views the fact that this New York case may be the only one of four criminal cases targeting Trump to go to trial before Election Day. Allegations against the prosecutor have delayed the Georgia election interference case. The US Supreme Court has slowed the federal election interference case as it considers whether Trump should potentially enjoy some kind of super immunity from prosecution. The judge in the federal classified documents case has proceeded at an excessively slow pace. It's the systemic roadblocks to prosecuting a former president that may end up being the larger takeaway from this period, Wilentz said. “This is more systematic," he said. "This is a kind of corruption, if you will, of the judicial system at the very highest levels that I think might be the greatest result of this entire affair if it goes that way.” https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1717020124475e9b7923a3908/raw?utm_term=1717020124475e9b7923a3908&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+May+29%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=na%2BzZAVBm1Evgi7E1AjOvLLFb9aYjToCA4fpa5hyPGs8FVyko2tNQ20I2JQoYkmP&bt_ts=1717020124477

Mr. Trump’s fate is in the hands of those 12 New Yorkers, who will weigh whether to brand him as a felon. It could take them hours, days or even weeks to reach a verdict, a decision that could reshape the nation’s legal and political landscapes. And while the country anxiously awaits their judgment, Mr. Trump will continue to campaign for the presidency. The moment that deliberations began marked a transfer of power from the experts in the courtroom — the lawyers arguing the case and the judge presiding over it — to the everyday New Yorkers who forfeited weeks of their lives to assess a mountain of evidence about sex and scandal. “As a juror, you are asked to make a very important decision about another member of the community,” Justice Merchan said, referring to the defendant. The case exposed what prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office described as a fraud on the American people. It is one of four criminal cases against Mr. Trump, but most likely the only one that will go to trial before Election Day. Still, Mr. Scholl said, one point of complexity stood out in the Trump case: “Usually you don’t have this layering of these other crimes.” Justice Merchan encouraged jurors, if they find themselves confused by legal arcana, to send him a note seeking clarification, and in addition to their request for testimony, they asked the judge to repeat his instructions. “He recognizes it’s a lot to take in,” Mr. Scholl said. If convicted, Mr. Trump would face a sentence ranging from probation to four years in prison — although he would be certain to appeal, a process that could take years. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/29/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20240529&instance_id=124840&nl=on-politics&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=168153&smid=url-share&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4#feb623a8-ee5e-5f5d-9ae4-4071dee37673

The first former president [a mobster mob boss] ever to be tried for a crime — a man who would like to be, and possibly will be, president again — is stuck in a courthouse in Manhattan, waiting for a jury to announce his legal fate. It’s a sharp contrast from the norm in a presidential campaign where so much has seemed baked in, starting with two candidates. Trump and President Biden emerged from primary elections that generated nothing in the way of suspense to face each other in a matchup Americans have already seen. This, instead, is a moment of genuine uncertainty. For Trump, who is not allowed to leave the courthouse while deliberations unfold, it’s a rare situation in which he has no control, as my colleague Maggie Haberman pointed out today. He can’t change the rules at court or dispatch his allies to appeal to the jurors. He just has to wait, uncertain as everybody else. On Wednesday, however, he sought to puncture the aura of uncertainty. He marched to the ever-present cameras in the courthouse hallway and denounced the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, as “corrupt” and “conflicted.” “Mother Teresa could not beat the charges,” he declared. It was a move straight out of Trump’s playbook, finely honed over two presidential campaigns, one successful and one not: Say the game is stacked against you, whether or not you’re going to win. That is a strong signal that the system is working. No one knows what will happen because now, after a two-month trial, it’s simply up to 12 Americans to agree on something. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20240529&instance_id=124840&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=on-politics&paid_regi=1&productCode=CN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=168153&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F8efcb6b8-3d68-573a-ad6f-d419e0206971&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024may25. G-7. The embrace of more ambitious sanctions and protectionism came as finance ministers from the Group of 7 nations gathered for three days of meetings in Stresa, Italy. The proposals under consideration could deepen the divide between the alliance of wealthy Western economies and Russia, China and their allies, worsening a global fragmentation that has worried economists. Efforts by the Group of 7 to influence the two powerful adversaries have had limited success in recent years, but rich countries are making a renewed push to test the limits of their combined economic power. In a joint statement, or communiqué, that was set to be released on Saturday, policymakers said they would stay united on both fronts as geopolitical crises and trade tensions have emerged as the biggest threats to the global economy. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/25/business/economy/g7-finance-ministers-close-ranks-as-tensions-with-russia-and-china-fester.html

2024may23. policies. What Trump Looks Like to Historians. The highest ranked included no surprises: on a scale of 0 to 100, Abraham Lincoln (95.03), Franklin Roosevelt (90.83), George Washington (90.32), Teddy Roosevelt (78.58) and Thomas Jefferson (77.53). Dead last: Donald Trump (10.92), substantially below James Buchanan (16.71), Andrew Johnson (21.56), Franklin Pierce (24.6) and William Henry Harrison (26.01). https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/opinion/trump-history-transformative-president.html

2024may22. Palestine. The United Nations voted in 1947 to create an independent Arab state alongside a Jewish one, but the plan was rejected by neighboring Arab governments and Palestinian Arabs, and the state of Israel was founded amid a war the following year. In the decades since, plans for a two-state solution have repeatedly been stymied. This month, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians qualify for full membership status at the United Nations. The Assembly can only grant full membership with the approval of the Security Council, and the United States would almost inevitably wield its veto power to kill such a measure, as it did last month. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/22/world/middleeast/palestinian-state.html?campaign_id=301&emc=edit_ypgu_20240522&instance_id=124160&nl=your-places%3A-global-update&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=167465&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024may21. demagogue. It is comforting, in a way, to believe that powerful people have better sense than those they represent or work with or try to appeal to. It is comforting to think that the red meat is for someone else. The disturbing truth is that there’s probably more sincerity than not in American politics. We may not want to believe it, but most of the people in charge say what they mean and mean what they say. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/21/opinion/alito-flag-stop-the-steal.html

2024may17. Middle East. Israel Resists Grand Bargain as U.S. and Saudis Work on Security Pact. President Biden is pushing for a broad deal that would get Israel to approve a Palestinian nation in return for Saudi recognition of Israel. But officials need to overcome Israeli opposition. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/17/us/politics/israel-saudi-arabia-gaza.html

2024may14. inequality. Johnson, however, claimed the trial was an attempt to destroy Trump’s 2024 campaign and prejudged the verdict in lashing out at a “sham” trial. He attacked the judge and his partial gag order imposed on Trump to protect the safety of witnesses and sought to discredit the testimony of Cohen. “There’s nothing that he presents here that should be given any weight at all by a jury and certainly not this judge,” Johnson said of the star witness. In seeking to discredit the case and a potential guilty verdict, Johnson is implicitly questioning whether courts should have the power to judge politicians – a position that, if adopted, would erode a legal system based on the principle that everyone, even ex-presidents, is equal under the law. Johnson’s embrace of Trump is a sign that the presumptive GOP nominee’s transgressions – including his two impeachments, his attempt to destroy democracy to stay in office, his three other indictments, his vows to use a second term to weaponize presidential power against political enemies and to start mass deportations of undocumented migrants, as well as his embrace of rhetoric that echoes 1930s dictators – are no impediment to a party that craves a return to full power. And the speaker’s willingness to put the symbolism of the legislative branch of government at the service of a strongman who again wants to head the executive branch shows there would be even fewer constitutional restraints on Trump than there were in his first term if Republicans triumph in November’s election. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/14/politics/mike-johnson-donald-trump-hush-money-trial/index.html

2024apr30. polls.

2024apr25. Biden. President Biden had called the four congressional leaders — Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), along with Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) — to the Oval Office in late February ostensibly to talk about heading off a government shutdown. But Biden and the others had devised a plan to pressure Johnson to push through a Ukraine aid package that was deeply dividing House Republicans. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and CIA Director William J. Burns gave a dire presentation, warning that Ukraine would lose the war without immediate U.S. support. Sullivan briefed Johnson on exactly when Ukraine might run out of weapons, laying out in detail when it would no longer have a single artillery shell or air defense interceptor, according to a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. McConnell, Biden, Schumer and Jeffries all stressed the historic importance of the moment, according to a second senior administration official. After the meeting, Biden pulled Johnson aside for a further one-on-one conversation, the official said. The bipartisan pile-on showed results Wednesday, when Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package into law — just weeks after it seemed dead and beyond any hope of revival. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/24/ukraine-israel-aid-bill-new-details/

2024apr25. education. Dueling priorities. Arnold Kling, an economist, published a book a decade ago that offered a way to think about the core difference between progressives and conservatives. Progressives, Kling wrote, see the world as a struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed, and they try to help the oppressed. Conservatives see the world as a struggle between civilization and barbarism — between order and chaos — and they try to protect civilization. Like many frameworks, Kling’s is a simplification, and it’s easy to find exceptions. But his book has been influential because the framework often sheds light on political arguments. The debate over pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia and other universities has become an example. If you want to understand why university leaders are finding the situation so hard to resolve, Kling’s dichotomy is useful: The central question for colleges is whether to prioritize the preservation of order or the desire of students to denounce oppression. In today’s newsletter, I’ll lay out the cases of the dueling sides. What’s next? I recognize that not everybody will accept Kling’s framework for this debate. Pro-Palestinian students will say that Israel is the true source of disorder, while pro-Israel students will say that Hamas is the true oppressor. Still, I think the Kling dichotomy captures the dilemma that university leaders face. The protests continue, and graduation season is approaching. Those leaders will have to make difficult decisions about what values to prioritize. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240425&instance_id=121492&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=the-morning&paid_regi=1&productCode=NN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=164745&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2Fe0b48fa1-c850-53a0-aea5-b357eac5b48e&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024apr19. Ukraine. The vote was an enormous victory in the long effort to fund Ukraine as it battles Russian aggression, a major priority of President Biden. It was a triumph against the forces of isolationism within the G.O.P. and a major moment of consensus in a Congress that for the past year has been mostly defined by its dysfunction. But it came only after Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line by turning to Democrats in a significant breach of custom in the House, further imperiling his position even as he paved the way for the legislation to be voted on and approved. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/politics/congress-vote-ukraine-bill-house.html

2024apr19. Biden. Top House progressives will unveil a sweeping agenda Thursday to lay down a marker for the policies they’ll push next year if Democrats win the 2024 election, from a higher minimum wage and strengthening antitrust laws to new federal benefits for seniors on Social Security and parents raising kids. The Congressional Progressive Caucus agenda, first shared with NBC News, doubles as a blueprint of political advice for how it believes President Joe Biden can win over progressives and young voters who are uninspired by his re-election bid ahead of a rematch with former President Donald Trump. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-progressives-release-agenda-2025-ideas-biden-excite-base-rcna147843

Congressional Progressive Caucus Progressive Proposition Agenda https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24554620-progressive-caucus-agenda-for-2025

A year ago, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced the advent of a new “Washington consensus.” The speech he delivered at a think tank then was something of a bombshell in the foreign policy community — a declaration by a senior U.S. official that the world’s leading superpower wanted to move on from decades of economic orthodoxy and unfettered globalization to a different arrangement between nations and their societies. The old “Washington consensus” was shorthand for a set of neoliberal policies and prescriptions put forward in the last decades of the 20th century by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, its sister organization. The diktats of these Washington-based institutions — mandating austerity, deregulation and privatization — prefigured a wave of globalization that crested into the 21st century. They undergirded a sense of the world bound together by commerce and trade, and lifted up by a shared prosperity, that became a kind of dogma for political elites in the West and elsewhere. Such convictions are no longer commonly held. In the West, political leaders now speak of globalization in pejorative terms — a legacy of economic policy that made some rich while weakening the middle classes of their own societies, where manufacturing jobs dried up, wages stagnated and life grew more precarious https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=6621f107ff409172c3d20a2c&linknum=2&linktot=58

2024apr19. Biden. Instead he has Pete Buttigieg, himself the kind of smooth-talking politician who should be good at triangulation, going on Fox News and comparing electric-vehicle skeptics to people who preferred landlines to cellphones 20 years ago. “If you like your gas-powered car, you can keep your car” is a simple, politically effective formulation. Yet somehow the Biden administration has ended up with “If you like your gas-powered car, you’re a clueless antiquarian” instead. One explanation for this pattern is that Biden’s White House is staffed by progressive ideologues who don’t have an instinct for moderation and don’t give their aged boss enough freedom to maneuver. Another explanation is that Biden’s team is just deathly afraid of the progressive impulse toward self-sabotage, the willingness of left-wing factions to sit the election out or cast a protest vote. I don’t think the latter fear is ungrounded. (Ralph Nader really did cost the Democrats a presidential election, after all.) But the Trump era has repeatedly demonstrated the limitations of a base mobilization strategy for Democrats, and there’s a difference between being aware of your base and being its prisoner. The greater freedom that Trump enjoys has roots in some dark places — cynicism, conservative tribalism, a populist indifference to policy detail. But it’s still a freedom that Biden sorely needs. http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/bd-p/passport_mac Hillary's "deplorables" fits here.

Trump. As with nearly all his legal troubles—ranging from his retention of classified documents after leaving office to allegations (which Trump denies) of business fraud—this week Trump railed against those prosecuting him (and the judge) as politically motivated opponents persecuting him unfairly. “There are two Donald Trump criminal trials now taking place,” CNN’s Stephen Collinson writes. “There’s the one in a Manhattan courtroom … [a]nd there’s the imaginary trial that exists in Trump’s rhetoric, led by ‘heartless thugs’ and a ‘very conflicted judge’ who is ‘rushing the trial’ that the presumptive GOP nominee claims is a ‘Biden inspired witch-hunt.’” The New York Times’ editorial board, which has consistently criticized the former president, senses irony: “Donald Trump, who relentlessly undermined the justice system while in office and since, is enjoying the same protections and guarantees of fairness and due process before the law that he sought to deny to others during his term. … Mr. Trump’s vision of an American legal system that protects his interests goes beyond his trial, of course, and extends in particular to the Justice Department. He has been explicit about his desire, if elected in November, to bring the Justice Department more fully under his control, to use it to protect his friends and, more important, punish his enemies.” Politically, none of those pointed criticisms—or the myriad unprecedented legal dramas with Trump at their center—may stick. Writing on Sunday in her daily Letters from an American newsletter, historian and author Heather Cox Richardson noted George Stephanopoulos’s Sunday ABC interview with Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu: “‘Just to sum up,’ Stephanopoulos said, “You support [Trump] for president even if he's convicted in [the] classified documents [case]. You support him for president even though you believe he contributed to an insurrection. You support him for president even though you believe he's lying about the last election. You support him for president even if he's convicted in the Manhattan case. I just want to say, the answer to that is yes, correct?’ Sununu answered: ‘Yeah. Me and 51% of America.’” Harv lives in this world. Reality? https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1713383622647cf1183c608bc/raw?utm_term=1713383622647cf1183c608bc&utm_source=cnn_Fareed%27s+Global+Briefing%2C+April+17%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=AJpE8vAEw7X%2BMRK7LDDLN6N6MW07T%2FKYGWdkfdyApPqViozKFb8QEIUxvwGNyqlC&bt_ts=1713383622650

2024apr17. Trump. If Donald Trump wins a second term, he has promised to govern as no modern president has, imposing steep tariffs, rounding up immigrants, freeing Jan. 6 rioters and possibly pulling out of NATO. Trump has signaled that he will accomplish all this by appointing loyalists, rather than the more moderate military leaders and corporate executives from his first term. Even so, many C.E.O.s are unconcerned, as my colleague Jonathan Mahler described them in a recent article. They don’t believe Trump will do what he has promised, in contrast to many scholars who have studied politicians like Trump and believe that he will follow through. To make sense of the situation, I asked for help from Jonathan and three Times reporters who have been covering Trump’s second-term plans: Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage and Jonathan Swan. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240417&instance_id=120375&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=the-morning&paid_regi=1&productCode=NN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=163998&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F8a62c0c0-b594-5b41-a426-d2926601f630&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024apr10. 2024 POTUS election. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=661453deddb30a726bde076e&linknum=2&linktot=37

2024apr09. 2024 POTUS election. https://whatsnews.cmail20.com/t/d-e-eyktkkt-iudygtktd-r/

https://news.gallup.com/poll/1669/general-mood-country.aspx

Harv thinks the 23 'slope is the product of Trumpism infecting SCOTUS and Congress.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/opinion/biden-broken-america-trump.html

2024apr09. Trump. Trump lies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/09/some-trump-falsehoods-stick-more-than-others-fact-checker-poll-finds/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d57a80%2F66156a895c61b95eb9007879%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F17%2F53%2F66156a895c61b95eb9007879

2024apr08. civility. DOHA, Qatar ― Six months into a war Hamas started ― with more than 33,000 Palestinians dead, more succumbing to famine daily and Israel determined to continue its aggressive campaign against the organization with robust American military support ― the militant group says it is confident it will wield significant influence in the future, come what may in Gaza. Hamas believes its shock Oct. 7 attack on Israel achieved its goal of reigniting global concern for decades-long Palestinian subjugation, and it views the Israelis and Americans as intent on deepening the fighting rather than taking genuine steps toward an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Additionally, it does not see itself as responsible for civilian deaths during that assault, in which Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 Israelis, more than half of them civilians, and took up to 240 hostages in violation of international law. That’s how Mousa Abu Marzouk and Basem Naim, two senior Hamas leaders, presented their group’s current thinking in two lengthy, separate recent interviews with HuffPost, providing extremely rare hours-long, in-person access to a Western media outlet after complex negotiations and amid an extraordinarily delicate time in the war. The group acknowledged it still holds dozens of captives ― including about 40 people Hamas counts in a humanitarian category as noncombatants, among them some civilians, and likely five Americans (the number of U.S. citizens a State Department spokesperson said remain unaccounted for since Oct. 7). But the Hamas leaders expressed little faith in negotiations for a pause in combat involving the release of those hostages in exchange for Palestinians held by Israel, the stated goal of President Joe Biden, who in recent days has pushed Israel and intermediaries with Hamas to successfully reach an agreement. Both Hamas leaders said their group remains committed to a 2017 political document that represented a tempering of its hard-line historic views ― a manifesto that claims Hamas has no quarrel with the Jewish people or Judaism broadly, instead opposing only aggressive actions fueled by Zionism. That suggests Hamas would accept a Palestinian state limited to territories Israel did not control before 1967, aligning it with the idea of a two-state solution. Like the assertions of any player, particularly actual combatants, in this most sensitive of conflicts, their portrayal of the situation deserves to be taken with a large grain of salt. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hamas-gaza-biden-israel-interview_n_660c54c2e4b09f580bc5bcb2

2024apr07. inequality. However, that is exactly what a focus on resentment helps us to understand. This is not rage against the people trying to help. Nor is it an excuse. Resentment, instead, asks us to consider how rural voters’ choices are frequently rooted in values and place-based identities that place a strong emphasis on self-reliance, local control and a profound sense of injustice regarding the lack of recognition for rural contributions to society. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/05/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395 That's the crux -- Trump 2020 voters were 29% on the GDP wealth gap.

2024apr07. secularism. As Fareed outlines in his new book, “Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present,” rapid secularization has been among the most significant social trends in America in recent decades. As religion recedes—and as strict doctrine becomes less prevalent within it—politics have stepped in to fill the void, Fareed says: nationalist, populist, authoritarian politics, specifically. Liberal democracy and modern life have given people freedom, wealth, and technology. For some, that’s not enough to take the place of what religion used to provide, Fareed says—and replacing it with politics is dangerous. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1712493144469fb67e4324419/raw?utm_term=1712493144469fb67e4324419&utm_source=cnn_Fareed%27s+Global+Briefing%2C+April+7%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=FRBkHv0aQSFjSA7d1qzqx5NWIIMCPMLgF68ilHdGXFmL2izhOy0BC%2B8HxZUCDxQL&bt_ts=1712493144472 Harv has replaced his birth-religion tennets with his own philosophical signature.

2024apr03. inequality. Misintrepretation or misinformaiion. The divide between Americans’ views of their personal finances and their broader economic sentiments isn’t new. CNN’s polling editor Ariel Edwards-Levy pointed me to Gallup polling from last April in which just 16% rated the economy as good or excellent, but 45% said their personal finances were good or excellent. (Perceptions of the economy have improved modestly in the intervening year.) Edwards-Levy also noted that partisanship can play a role in even seemingly non-political questions about the state of the nation. “People’s answers to surveys are often intended at least partially as an expression of partisan support or opposition,” she said, adding that is “compounded when talking about broad national trends.” It’s also true that while people might say in a survey that their financial situation is fine, there are indications that they also feel unable to keep up. Just read CNN’s reporting about tenants who can’t afford to pay their rents, the barriers to home ownership that are compounded on racial minorities or the issue with 401(k) balances. Stock markets may have repeatedly set records this year, making people with investments feel flush, but only about a quarter of registered voters across the swing states surveyed by the Journal said the ability for the average person to get ahead is moving in the right direction in the US. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/17121829942541ea77a8dcce3/raw?utm_term=17121829942541ea77a8dcce3&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+April+3%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=E3GOEL52HVBKpK3U0Om32n6dV4Rzmw0peUVAKuD93uoJ%2FTVxIkf6qlBvjwRQ68XC&bt_ts=1712182994257

Hankey, a Trump supporter who made a fortune providing high-interest auto loans to customers with poor credit, soon reached out to Trump’s team to negotiate a deal that would allow Trump to stay the penalty while he appealed a massive New York civil fraud judgment. But when a court reduced the bond to $175 million last week and Trump said he had the cash to post it himself, the matter seemed moot, Hankey told The Washington Post. Then, to his surprise, the Trump team last week revived the talks and asked Hankey if he would back the new amount. Hankey promptly agreed. He said that his company is charging Trump a “modest fee,” which he declined to disclose, and that the arrangement allowed Trump to hold onto his money, adding, “At least he’s getting interest on his collateral.” Hankey is also the largest individual, non-institutional shareholder of Axos Bank, a little-known online company that in 2022 provided $225 million in crucial loans to keep Trump’s businesses afloat after many of his longtime lenders cut ties in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hankey said he was unaware of the Axos loans until after they were provided to the Trump Organization. Axos’s president and chief executive previously told The Post he approved the loans because they were profitable for his bank, not for political reasons. While not as well-known nationally as some other billionaires who support Trump, Hankey is a prominent figure in California, where his best-known business has revolved around providing high-interest auto loans to customers with poor credit. Remembering how he once had to turn away such customers when he was a car salesman, he said, he established a business that provided loans to higher-risk customers at higher rates. A 2015 article in Forbes magazine described Hankey calculating how he might provide a hypothetical customer with a low credit score a loan at 23.99 percent. The article said that his company at the time had 336,000 outstanding car loans from 23,000 auto dealerships, and that his company repossessed 250 cars per day because of problems with repayment. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/02/don-hankey-trump-bond-175-million-california-auto-loans/?utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d47d38%2F660d3441e9148f520a06aaf7%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F24%2F58%2F660d3441e9148f520a06aaf7

2024mar29. Middle East The Palestinian Authority named 22 members of a new cabinet. The reshuffle at the highest ranks of the Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, comes amid U.S. and other international pressure to present a new face — driven by hopes, however tenuous, that the authority could overcome its credibility problems to play a role in rebuilding and governing what remains of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s ongoing military campaign. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=66063f983f3b3130891706d5&linknum=2&linktot=58

2024mar27. demagogue(s). For the second time in eight months, a top Donald Trump ally has, extraordinarily, declined to try to prove that they didn’t defame an election worker. Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake (R) has joined former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in that distinction. The news comes even as Trump owes more than $86 million after losing a pair of defamation cases against a woman, E. Jean Carroll, whom he has arguably continued to defame. Throw in the $787.5 million Fox News agreed to pay a voting machine company over bogus theories that it aired bolstering Trump’s stolen-election claims and the $148 million judgment against Giuliani, and the combined bill is north of $1 billion — and potentially growing, thanks to Lake’s capitulation and other lawsuits. The Trump political movement has long had a truth problem. That has now manifested itself as a very expensive defamation problem. As well as anything, these defamation cases lay bare just how careless and demagogic the MAGA movement has become. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/trump-lake-defamation/

2024mar26. humanity. Fareed outlines dramatic changes, past and present, that are shaping our world today. A big one is this: Politics are now being driven by social issues—like abortion, gay rights, and immigration—not by economic interest. “In recent decades, globalization and technology have moved so fast that they have left many people in advanced societies deeply anxious,” Fareed said on Sunday’s GPS. “And when people see their world in flux, they often move not left on economics but right on culture. They want the world to stop changing so fast, and they listen to politicians to promise to take them back to ‘the good old days,’ to make America great AGAIN. The left’s instinct is to solve this problem by spending money. Biden’s policies have disproportionately helped people in rural areas without college degrees—in other words, Trump voters. But I doubt this will make them into Democrats. The left needs to play more effectively on the new crossroads of politics, where culture and class have replaced economics.” https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1711486738456a58e2d707ee7/raw?utm_term=1711486738456a58e2d707ee7&utm_source=cnn_Fareed%27s+Global+Briefing%2C+March+26%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=%2F%2BKSb%2FLal4PA%2F0cgmXpve%2FL933ft44sIV49HWqYnDFHBSXmuPEB0WEtq4mM8Ykjf&bt_ts=1711486738459 Harv experiences bias threats to his previously confirmed legal economic lifestyle described as a very unique "urban outdoorsman" lifestyle. Harv scrambles to maintain his lifestyle, contra to pressures from the "mainstream" moving right on culture and class issues. Just being Happy Harv living in his car is not acceptable to many of unknown confrontation. He heads for a lower profile.

2024mar26. Trump. I assure you that a company with $3.4 million in revenue and $49 million in losses over the past nine months is not worth $5 billion. Buy into shares of any company with those numbers and you are certain to be taken for a sucker. The SEC’s disclosure rules require Trump Media to detail his flops, with the admonition that this investment could become one, too. The list is long, and the language is damning. “The Trump Taj Mahal, which was built and owned by President Trump, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1991. The Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel, all owned by President Trump at the time, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1992.” It continues by name-checking Trump’s other business failures: Trump Entertainment Resorts, Trump Shuttle, Trump University, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage and GoTrump.com (a travel site). The recitation of instances when Trump has lost money for others wraps up by noting that “Trump Steaks, a brand of steak and other meats founded by President Trump in 2007, discontinued sales two months after its launch. … There can be no guarantee that [Trump Media’s] performance will exceed the performance of those entities.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/25/trump-truth-social-stock-2024/

2024mar26. media. Evidence of this state of crisis abounds. Last year, more than 21,400 media jobs were lost, the highest since 2020, when 16,060 cuts were recorded when print was still in the process of being succeeded by digital news distribution. Major names including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and Vice have taken serious hits, alongside scores of smaller brands and the total collapse of newcomers such as the Messenger. “We’ve settled into the final act of the election season, and it’s promising to be the harbinger of all kinds of problems because of the nature of the candidates,” says Robert Thompson at Syracuse University. At the same time, he says, “the very industry that should be girding up for this is in a total state of crisis”. Readership and income from digital production has been falling overall, and industry downsizing in 2024 appears to be accelerating. Meanwhile, social media is uncoupling as a referral service to news organizations, which hits both readership size and revenue generation. Meta has dropped its news tab from Facebook, Google is more unpredictable, and X has de-prioritized posts that contain outside referrals. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/mar/24/us-election-journalism-crisis Harv donates directly to independent media.

2024mar26. House of Representatives. Data from GovTrack reviewed by The Washington Post last month indicated that the current Congress had enacted about 7 percent of the legislation that the legislative body has enacted on average since the 1973-74 session. Efforts to continue funding the federal government have repeatedly teetered on the brink of funding deadlines, largely due to resistance from the far-right flank. A GOP-led impeachment inquiry into Biden is sputtering out. This Congress has had the smallest Republican majority in decades — and it’s shrinking. Gallagher’s retirement, announced last week, will make it even more difficult for Johnson to govern by simply relying on Republican votes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/24/house-speaker-johnson-spending-complaints/?utm_campaign=wp_politics_am&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_politics&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d2f2f9%2F660159fbb4fc317b73bd6a0b%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F36%2F58%2F660159fbb4fc317b73bd6a0b

2024mar24. internet. “Because of political gameplay, about 60 million Americans will have to make hard choices between paying for the internet or paying for food, rent, and other utilities, widening the digital divide in this country,” said Gigi Sohn, a former top FCC official. “It’s embarrassing that a popular, bipartisan program with support from nearly half of Congress will end because of politics, not policy.” Without the aid, low-income Americans like George would be priced out of home internet service. The prospect of losing a critical lifeline to the modern economy has put ACP (Affordable Connectivity Program) subscribers on edge. Many tell CNN they are irate at Congress for letting them down and, through inaction, taking away a basic, essential utility. Congress authorized the ACP with an initial $14 billion in funding in 2021. That money has now spread to virtually every congressional district in the country. It is the largest internet affordability program in US history, the government has said, describing it as working hand-in-glove with billions of dollars in new infrastructure spending. Building out high-speed internet cables is costly; even more so to places that internet providers have traditionally overlooked as unprofitable or hard to reach. Historically, that has left millions of people with no or spotty service or facing sky-high prices just to get a basic internet plan. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/23/tech/acp-affordable-connectivity-program/index.html

2024mar23. chips. Sometimes called the most important company in the world, TSMC (officially Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) produces an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced semiconductor chips, which are used to power everything from smartphones to artificial intelligence applications. To meet rising demand and facing pressure to be physically closer to its customers, TSMC is building new fabs in the United States, Japan and Germany. Its existing plants are in Taiwan as well as in eastern China and Washington state. Last month, the chip giant opened its first fab in the Japanese city of Kumamoto and is set to open two $40 billion facilities in Phoenix, Arizona in the coming years to make smaller, more advanced chips. It has committed to investing $3.8 billion to build a fab in Dresden, Germany, the company’s first in Europe. The soaring demand, particularly for chips that power AI, has created a shortage of talent for the semiconductor industry. TSMC said last year that one of its fabs in Arizona would be delayed because of a lack of specialist workers. “Finding the best talent has always been an issue but it has become even more so since the world suddenly woke up in the past few years and realized semiconductors were important,” said Stewart Randall, head of electronics and embedded software at Intralink, a consultancy. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/22/tech/taiwan-tsmc-talent-shortage-training-center-intl-hnk/index.html?utm_term=1711235532977a9db700cf606&utm_source=cnn_In+Case+You+Missed+It+-+ICYMI&bt_ts=1711235532980&bt_ee=%2BpY%2BJbYsoxD2K87WVaVxPedREEOrPckc209OI1ThdHzF4D2OXKbm2YpxRj5s3yzN&utm_medium=email&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiAiYmIzNzMzNmUtZTFlNy00NzM3LWFlZmMtZGMxNGZjN2ZmMTY4In0%3D

2024mar23. Trump. ... a lot of the value comes from the hundreds of thousands of rabid Trump supporters who have bought into Digital World in anticipation of the merger with Trump media. And that's why the stock is widely seen as a "meme stock," meaning shares that are driven by the whims of individual investors and not for any fundamental factors. Stock markets have seen clear examples of this in recent years, like retailer Gamestop or movie chain AMC, both of which have caught Wall Street by storm by experiencing spectacular rallies during the pandemic. Jay Ritter, Cordell professor of finance at the University of Florida says Digital World is not much different from the craze that enveloped those two stocks. "This is largely a meme stock where the price is divorced from the fundamental value of the company," he says. https://www.npr.org/2024/03/22/1240116446/trump-truth-social-dwac-stock-listing-legal-troubles

2024mar21. policies. The New York Times’ editorial board recently lamented that the GOP is now a Trump personality cult. At The Atlantic, Damon Linker identifies a sweeping ideological and demographic transformation. Gone is the small-government, pro-business Reagan consensus, Linker argues; demographically, the GOP is becoming a cross-racial coalition of non-college-educated voters. “(T)he relatively few voters who pine for a Reagan restoration aren’t going to find it in the present-day Republican Party,” Linker writes. “They might not fully find it in the Democratic Party of Joe Biden either. But at least there, they can make common cause with centrist factions open to the Reaganite mix of low taxes, liberal immigration, free trade, and hawkish internationalism combined with a civil religion of American exceptionalism. In the post-Trump GOP, such views are actively unwelcome (aside from the tax cuts). … No matter who Trump’s successor turns out to be, that person will be someone who speaks the language of non-college-educated voters and views the world as they do. The GOP is now a vehicle for right-wing populism.” https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1711062870916718af3b161d7/raw?utm_term=1711062870916718af3b161d7&utm_source=cnn_Fareed%27s+Global+Briefing%2C+March+21%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=QTSo73yFcjDldmmbnVUDUI12doz8fg10HFQ%2FVAqquMvFmyvOKfGgB8w7AqRlbAsd&bt_ts=1711062870919

2024mar16. Trump. Pence’s lack of an endorsement also highlights the chasm between GOP elected officials and those who actually served alongside Trump in his Cabinet. NBC News last summer reached out to 44 former Cabinet officials and found that only four of them would commit to backing Trump in what was then the early stages of the primary contest. Many have turned into strong Trump critics, like former chief of staff John F. Kelly and former defense secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark T. Esper. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/16/mike-pence-why-no-trump-endorsement/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d17cf2%2F65f5bdbf11664804f41a3e2d%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F10%2F45%2F65f5bdbf11664804f41a3e2d

Trump. Republican strategists would rather Trump not talk about the 2020 election, because even though majorities of Republicans incorrectly believe Trump won, it’s not a message that sells well to independent voters. But Trump is one of the best at creating a political community. And denying election results is a defining feature of MAGA world. Keeping his supporters excited about him will help them come out to vote in November in high numbers. If enough of Biden’s 2020 voters stay home out of a lack of excitement, that could be the deciding factor in who wins. (In 2020, Trump won the second-most votes in a presidential election ever, second only to Biden.)

2024mar12. Trump. Ultimately, Hur offered the best explanation for why Trump is facing prosecution but Biden is not. Biden, when his lawyers discovered the documents, turned them back over to the government. Trump, on the other hand, refused. And then he allegedly tried to obstruct the investigation. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/171019581466539abe9c624ac/raw?utm_term=171019581466539abe9c624ac&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+March+11%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=OqgotJjHBpzhQQu405uTPfiWljFZNse3cPz7fTT2S78U8%2FGyimAi5KNlESM%2BbK1w&bt_ts=1710195814669

2024mar12. Trump. ‘Trump Employee 5,’ who unknowingly helped move classified documents, speaks out. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1710198756549c10e8e08c96f/raw?utm_term=1710198756549c10e8e08c96f&utm_source=cnn_In+Case+You+Missed+It+-+ICYMI&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=%2BOgCM8jDYEwgjLqIk5VjhNVawPQpCwdLCuNf%2Bhp6yi%2Bbpv79VlZLYYyyCR0eQ1S0&bt_ts=1710198756552

2024mar08. Trump. Trump called Biden “the worst president in the history of our country.” But when American Political Science Association members were asked to rank US presidents from best to worst, guess who came dead last? Trump finished 45th out of 45, well below Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter. (Biden was 14th; Abraham Lincoln 1st). There was a reason for that. Few presidents have inflamed the country’s divisions more than him; none have been indicted, found responsible by juries for hundreds of millions worth of fraud and sexual abuse and launched an effort to overturn the results of a democratic election. But Trump’s speeches weave a fantasy that turns dark into light, and radiance into shadows. ... a mighty power, the power of brazen, shameless, incessantly repeated lies. ... the Washington Post clocked 30,573 lies and misleading claims during his presidency. It is the duty of the media to cover his campaign without magnifying the destructive impact of his endless salvos of lies. It’s no easy task. https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/07/opinions/donald-trump-superpower-election-ghitis/index.html

2024mar07. Trump. Ah, the double edge of a Donald Trump endorsement. On the one hand, the MAGA chieftain has commanded his tribe to vote for you, and that can be enough to propel a candidate into the winner’s circle. On the other hand, you’re stuck with whatever loopy language and loopier logic he used. In endorsing Mark Robinson for governor of my home state, North Carolina, Trump called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.” Trump didn’t leave it at that. “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King,” he told Robinson at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., last weekend. “I think you are Martin Luther King times two.” I myself think that there are better mathematicians and more trustworthy historians of the civil rights movement than Trump, but I also think that his remarks are kind of perfect. They exemplify how far the MAGA brigade travels from reality into gaudy, even grotesque, hyperbole. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=93&emc=edit_fb_20240306&instance_id=116935&isViewInBrowser=true&nl=frank-bruni&paid_regi=1&productCode=FB&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=160054&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F46b24395-0543-5329-aa99-5f8e8dff7ade&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4 Harv was never impressed by the Friday high school pep rallies. Build the dumb guy up, rip the 'smart' guy down -- returning to the vote-for-your-own-disinterest phenom.

2024mar07. Trump. Trump starts out in a shockingly good position. The election will probably come down to about six states across the country. In most of those, Biden and Trump are basically tied in polls — or Trump is even leading. Polls tell us only what voters feel right now. But if the election were held today, these polls suggest that Trump would win. When Biden won in 2020, he did not trail Trump in polling. Trump comrades are projection winning v Biden mired in the governing work. Polls also indicate that Trump might be growing his support from past elections, such as among Black and Hispanic voters. While he’s struggling among college-educated voters, he has definitely consolidated support from the elite, ruling class of Republicans, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) endorsement today. “Trump continues to diversify the party,” said Republican strategist Nicole Schlinger. And while he has managed to rack up 91 criminal indictments since losing in 2020, he’s also probably benefiting from being out of office for four years. “Trump is the chaos candidate,” said Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, a Trump opponent, who holds listening sessions with voters. “And yet voters are actually positioning him as the stability candidate. The sense of chaos is there right now, with the border and foreign policy, and Trump is trying to position himself as the one who is there to restore order.” By contrast, Biden might be losing support. A majority of voters who supported him in 2020 now say he’s too old to be an effective president, a recent New York Times/Siena College poll found. And those precious swing voters — such as Nikki Haley supporters, or those who voted for Trump in 2016 and then Biden in 2020 — often name immigration as an issue they’re concerned about. That’s not good for Biden, because the high number of migrants at the border asking for asylum has long been his main weakness. “When people are down on Biden, immigration is up there at the top, especially for swing voters,” Longwell said. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=65e8e3c7c239dc3fb3b2012b&linknum=2&linktot=39

2024mar05. Trump. The Supreme Court could — as it did in Watergate, emergency cases involving the coronavirus or Bush v. Gore — move promptly and decide the immunity case within a few weeks of the hearing. Norman L. Eisen, Matthew A. Seligman and Joshua Kolb at Just Security explained: “For example, in U.S. v. Nixon, the Court held oral argument on July 8, 1974 and issued its decision on July 24, 1974 — an interval of three weeks. If the Court were to follow that example here, we would receive a decision around Tuesday, May 13.” (In the 14th Amendment case, the opinion came in slightly less than a month after oral arguments.) Arguably, any further delay would look hyperpartisan even for this court. With a May ruling, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan could stick to her schedule (i.e., each day lost since the December stay gets added back to the schedule, and the trial could start on Aug. 2. The trial would run through the campaign’s final months. Trump, rather than campaigning in the last months of the campaign, would be sitting (pouting, if his previous courtroom demeanor is predictive) in court. During the fall, daily testimony concerning his 2020-2021 coup attempt would be front and center. As Eisen, Seligman and Kolb calculated, “If the trial starts on Aug. 2 and lasts eight weeks it will be submitted to the jury on Sept. 27; and if the trial lasts 12 weeks, it will be submitted to the jury on Oct. 25.” That schedule is Trump’s worst nightmare. Then-FBI Director James B. Comey claimed 11 days before the 2016 election that “new” documents had turned up concerning former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s emails. That threw a monkey wrench into the campaign, arguably costing her the election. Here, an October guilty verdict — even if appealed — would be curtains for the MAGA crowd. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/05/supreme-court-timing-trump-trial/

2024mar05. Israel. No one’s particularly happy with President Biden’s approach to Israel’s war in Gaza. Critics from the left say the White House has abetted a “genocide,” as the Israeli campaign against militant group Hamas has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, displaced the majority of the population and converted the entirety of the besieged territory into a rubble-strewn humanitarian nightmare. In this, Israel has had clear U.S. backing, both in terms of tangible military aid and diplomatic cover at the United Nations and other international forums, much to the chagrin of European allies and partners elsewhere. Critics from the right, including in the Republican Party, feel that Biden isn’t doing enough to clearly support Israel. They say Biden is too squeamish about Palestinian suffering, which, despite nearly half a year of Israeli onslaught, they pin squarely on Hamas, whose Oct. 7 strike on Israel marked the single deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. And some, especially those who champion former president Donald Trump’s de facto alliance with Israel’s right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition, resent Biden’s symbolic gestures to restore balance to U.S.-Israeli relations. These include his administration’s decision to slap sanctions on a handful of Israeli settlers implicated in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and a recent determination that Israeli settlements there were “inconsistent with international law,” a reversal of a Trump-era doctrine that controversially argued the opposite. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=65e6a8121c99264ac92c7c14&linknum=2&linktot=57

2024mar03. support solidarity. "I'm running to give people a choice," she has said, assuming they want or might need one. And while some of her financial support has decamped in recent days, she still has the money and media profile to make trouble. That is why it is vitally important to Trump's campaign momentum to get Haley out of the race as soon as possible. History shows that when the major party nominees for president have not cleared the field of notable challengers before summer, they tend to lose in the fall. Polling later suggested a sizable portion of Sanders' supporters did not vote for Clinton in November, preferring other candidates or just staying home. They were numerous enough to have made the difference in several states Clinton narrowly lost, costing her the Electoral College. Even Trump felt some of the disruptive effects of a contested convention in 2016 when rival Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas withheld his endorsement. While far behind in the delegate count, Cruz came to represent the last line of resistance to Trump among various party regulars who had doubts. On the convention's last night, Cruz would only urge his audience to "vote your conscience." https://www.npr.org/2024/03/03/1235110474/haley-trump-election

2024feb24. polls. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/23/trump-cash-campaign-biden/

2024feb24. Trump. Grassroots efforts are unlikely to make a significant dent in Mr. Trump’s debt. In the last eight days, a GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $1 million from over 20,000 supporters. The former president has used a political action committee in his control to pay for lawyers and witnesses in his legal cases. But that committee does not have enough money to address the penalties he is facing. A super PAC coordinating with his candidacy is legally banned from coordinating with him and cannot pay the judgments. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/nyregion/trump-fraud-trial-penalty.html

2024feb13. Trump. ... for all the criticism of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, he is likely on Thursday to get a firm trial date for a sound 34-count trial concerning falsification of documents to hide a sex scandal from voters. He has spelled out at least four grounds for elevating the crimes to felonies. (In its recent filing, the D.A.’s office explained: “Defendant caused his entities’ business records to be falsified to disguise his and others’ criminal conduct — which included violations of state and federal election law; the falsification of additional business records; and the mischaracterization, for tax purposes, of the true nature of the payments to [Michael] Cohen.”) Immunity and removal arguments failed in federal court. And perhaps most devastating, Bragg will have a Manhattan-only jury, about as receptive a jury pool as he might hope to get for a case scrutinizing Trump’s business shenanigans. Bragg might well prove wrong those pundits who looked askance at the district attorney’s charges — presumably comfortable with the notion that ex-presidents cannot be held accountable for crimes before they were president. Trump is not the colossus that many in the media suggest. His iron grip on core followers does not diminish the significance of a rebellion in the ranks regarding Ukraine, his devastating blunders on that issue and the border, a parade of fed-up Republicans exiting the House and, crucially, the progress of serious felony trials. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/15/trump-weakness-2024-trials-republicans/

... case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, relates to hush-money payments to squash three separate, negative stories before the 2016 election. Payments were made to a former Trump Tower doorman by the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., to buy the doorman’s story about an alleged Trump affair and Trump-fathered child. It was a “catch and kill” effort by the Enquirer, which never published the story it had bought. The Trump Organization has denied the affair allegation. Six-figure payments were also made by AMI to “catch and kill” the story of a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with Trump. He denies it. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen also paid $130,000 to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels through a shell company days before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels said she had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump denies the allegation. But he compensated Cohen for the Daniels payment, and his company described the payment to Daniels as legal expenses. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments and served time in jail. Trump was never charged by federal prosecutors, perhaps in part because the Department of Justice has a policy of not prosecuting presidents. The crime Trump is now accused of in New York is 34 counts of falsifying business records and misrepresenting the payments in order to influence the 2016 election. https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1708038137741ea03d7bcaa89/raw?utm_term=1708038137741ea03d7bcaa89&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+February+15%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=Jj%2BQ0uGvlpkGT9ClcwreNP%2FigakfyEbnFOsPIqE7cNtJhHNIrq62yi69CD7vPjFh&bt_ts=1708038137744

2024feb13. House of Representatives. A discharge petition is a demand signed by 218 members of the House — a majority of the body — to force consideration of a piece of legislation on the floor. The leaders of the majority party in the House normally control the floor and all legislative business that receives a vote. But a discharge petition can circumvent the normal channels, forcing action on a bill that has the backing of enough members. Because neither party wants that to happen on a regular basis, it is by design an arduous and time-consuming process that has rarely seen success in recent decades. When freshman lawmakers in the majority arrive on Capitol Hill for orientation, they are typically told by their leaders to never do two things: sign a discharge petition and vote against rules, which are procedural measures brought by party leaders that allow bills to be considered on the floor. While there are dozens of Republicans in the House who support aiding Ukraine, it is not clear how many of them — if any — would be willing to defy party leaders and team with Democrats to try to force action. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/us/politics/congress-discharge-petition-ukraine.html?campaign_id=301&emc=edit_ypgu_20240214&instance_id=115171&nl=your-places%3A-global-update&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=158194&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024feb13. Indonesia. The spectacle spans three time zones and a length of territory wider than the continental United States. In more than 820,000 polling stations stretched over 17,000 islands, some 205 million people are eligible to vote Wednesday for the country’s next president, as well as for lawmakers in national and regional legislatures. In some instances, the ballots they cast will have taken extraordinary journeys — delivered on ox-drawn carts through muddy terrain, in kayaks gliding into remote lagoons, aboard helicopters to isolated mountain villages. For 2½ decades, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation has consolidated its democracy after spending the bulk of the 20th century under colonial rule and later autocratic dictatorship. Elections have been mostly free and fair, and transitions of power peaceful and orderly. In a nation of astonishing scale and diversity, the success of Indonesian democracy has been an example for countries elsewhere in the developing world — not least myriad other Muslim-majority states where strongmen and generals have long quashed the democratic aspirations of their peoples. Yet in an age of global democratic recession, there are growing fears of erosion and backsliding in Indonesia. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=65cc4a8b48601a29d7c7159a&linknum=2&linktot=67

2024feb13. Ukraine. The Senate passed a $95 billion national security package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other U.S. allies early Tuesday after a months-long debate that has deeply divided congressional Republicans. The bill passed 70-29, after 22 Republicans joined Democrats in approving the aid. “These past few months have been a great test for the U.S. Senate to see if we could escape the centrifugal pull of partisanship and summon the will to defend Western democracy when it mattered most,” Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said after the bill passed in the Senate. “Today, the Senate has resoundingly passed the test.” Schumer told The Washington Post that the “onus” is now on Johnson to put the bill on the floor where he predicted it would get a “robust” bipartisan vote. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement after the vote: “History settles every account. And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink.” Biden also urged the House to pass the bill. “If we do not stand against tyrants who seek to conquer or carve up their neighbors’ territory, the consequences for America’s national security will be significant,” the president said in a statement. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/12/house-ukraine-johnson-senate/

2024feb11. Trump. Lankford recounted on the Senate floor what happens these days to Republicans who try to legislate: A “popular commentator,” he said, threatened to “destroy” him if he dared try to solve the border crisis during a presidential election year. The episode speaks to how the trends Mann and Ornstein caught on to early have metastasized. Power in the GOP has moved away from elected officials and toward those right-wing “commentators” on television, radio, podcasts and online. The creation of ideological media bubbles enhances their power. Republicans in large numbers rely on partisan outlets that lied freely about what Lankford’s compromise did and didn’t do, rather than on straight news reports. The party’s hostile vibe can also be traced back to a habit in the Bush years to distinguish between “real America” (the places that vote Republican) and what is presumably unreal America. Declaring a large swath of the population to be less than American means they’re not worth dealing with and, increasingly, easy to hold in contempt. Then there is the denigration of science, dispassionate research and technical knowledge. In his book “The Death of Expertise,” writer Tom Nichols described this mournfully as a “campaign against established knowledge.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/11/republicans-trump-congress-lankford/

2024feb08. immigration. Ukraine. “Republicans have said they can’t pass Ukraine without border. Now they say they can’t pass Ukraine with border. Today, I’m giving them a choice,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor on Wednesday before the back-to-back votes. He added, “I urge Republicans to take yes for an answer.” Mr. Schumer’s maneuver meant that Republicans had to decide whether they wanted to vote twice in one day to block the measure, a grim prospect for a party that on Tuesday suffered a series of humiliating setbacks that showed its inability to govern. The odd dynamic meant that the border, once an issue that united Republicans, ultimately helped to pave the way for more of them to support funding Ukraine. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/us/politics/congress-ukraine-israel-aid.html

2024feb08. immigration. Senate GOP blocks border bill, Democrats shift focus to Israel and Ukraine aid. https://www.npr.org/

2024feb08. Pakistan. Three-time PM Nawaz Sharif is now on the ballot in what many analysts say is Pakistan's least credible election yet. Khan was jailed on corruption charges last year and is barred from standing. Both calls and data services have been suspended, though wifi networks still appear to be working. One voter told the BBC they were shocked at the decision, saying "voters should be facilitated instead of [having to be met with] such hurdles". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68226228

2024feb07. Trump. The challenge to Trump’s eligibility in Colorado was brought by six voters — four Republicans and two independents. They convinced the Colorado Supreme Court that Trump engaged in insurrection when he summoned his supporters to Washington and encouraged the angry crowd to try to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 victory. Maine’s secretary of state reached the same conclusion, and both states put their decisions on hold while litigation continues. Once Trump appealed the Colorado decision, the justices quickly scheduled argument for Feb. 8. The court could rule at any time after that. In Bush v. Gore, with the voting done and the outcome hanging in the balance, the justices acted with extraordinary speed, issuing an opinion one day after the argument. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/07/supreme-court-trump-colorado-ballot-case/

2024feb07. Trump. John Bolton has a warning about what a second Donald Trump presidency might look like. “Trump really cares only about retribution for himself, and it will consume much of a second term,” Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser, writes in a new edition of his White House memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.” “I am your warrior. I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” Trump told supporters last year. He promised to appoint a special prosecutor if he’s re-elected to “go after” President Biden and his family. (Trump’s advisers are concerned his public comments about retribution will alienate swing voters. He tried to play down his interest in payback in January.) https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=56&emc=edit_cn_20240205&instance_id=114400&nl=on-politics&paid_regi=1&productCode=CN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=157371&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2Fe227657f-25df-5518-ba02-d4aa5713baab&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4 In Harv's me-self Figure, he steps away from a retribution mentality by noting errs in his life-flow yet claiming a Perfect Marriage and Addictive Tradition. His study of his history continues to search for a previous me-self Figure in his life-flow. Tentatively, a quarterly blog needs to be written as well as year-end me-selfs. His Autotelic Actualization Life-flow fits his need, especially the chase-etc epochs.

2024feb01. news curation. There is an assumption, probably particularly among those who cover the news and those who read it, that Donald Trump’s legal travails are common knowledge. But this is a sort of vanity: Just because it is interesting to us certainly doesn’t mean it is interesting to others. Polling released by CNN on Thursday shows that only a quarter of voters seek out news about the campaign; a third pay little to no attention at all. As it turns out, even major developments often fly under the average American’s radar. At most, 45 percent of Republicans said they knew about legal issues: specifically, the documents case and his being found liable for assaulting the writer E. Jean Carroll. Only a quarter knew about the value-inflation suit, and only 4 in 10 knew about the criminal charges in Manhattan related to the hush money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. It seems very safe to assume this lack of familiarity derives from disinterest in hearing negative information about Trump — and, probably more importantly, the disinterest of conservative and right-wing media outlets to report on them. In May, The Washington Post looked at the extent to which Fox News covered the documents and Daniels cases relative to other cable-news channels. It did so much less frequently. ... the poll found that most Americans think a conviction would be a fair outcome from Trump’s criminal trials. Among Republicans and those who say they voted for Trump in 2020, though, most would view such a result as unfair. Makes sense, given that most Republicans say they haven’t even heard of the criminal trials. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/02/most-republicans-arent-aware-trumps-various-legal-issues/?utm_campaign=wp_evening_edition&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3c9d729%2F65bd65f41f84577796940742%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F22%2F48%2F65bd65f41f84577796940742

2024feb01. child care. Experts worry that we’ve seen this play out before. Tech companies have zealously sought to defend Section 230, which protects them from liability for content users post on their platforms. Some lawmakers say altering it would be crucial to holding online platforms to account. Congress has failed to move meaningfully on such legislation. Absent a sea change in congressional will, yesterday’s drama may have been just that. But some lawmakers say that this time is different: “As someone who has taken on these companies for years, it’s the first time I felt hope for movement,” Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, said of yesterday’s hearing. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/render?campaign_id=4&emc=edit_dk_20240201&first_send=0&instance_id=114038&nl=dealbook&paid_regi=1&productCode=DK&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=156998&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F9d8cfe1f-8a2a-5277-bbb0-01b316163f56&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024jan31. Trump. Taking a wrecking ball to diplomacy with Tehran, Trump broke the nuclear deal forged between Iran and world powers, restored a slate of sanctions on the Islamic Republic and assassinated influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike. Trump’s policy on Israel, meanwhile, amounted to a tight bear hug of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the boosting of the agenda of the Israeli right. He was punitive to the Palestinians — markedly shifting U.S. policy against them by formally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, shuttering a U.S. consulate intended for Palestinians, and brokering “peace” deals between Israel and a clutch of Arab monarchies that further sidelined Palestinian political aspirations. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598b051fae7e8a68162a1429&s=65b9d5153e0fca4d4609a365&linknum=2&linktot=63&linknum=2&linktot=63

2024jan30. Biden. Biden Super PAC Plans a Historic $250 Million Ad Blitz. The flood of TV and digital spots in battleground states is set to be the largest single purchase of political advertising by a super PAC in U.S. history, according to the group, Future Forward. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/biden-tv-ads-super-pac.html

2024jan29. Trump. I think that it is hard to parse which sexist things Trump is doing because he is sexist, and which sexist things he is doing because he is, as former White House attorney Ty Cobb once said on a CBS podcast, “a deeply wounded narcissist,” who is “incapable of acting other than in his perceived self-interest or for revenge.” Because he is, as his niece Mary L. Trump once wrote, unable to “experience the entire spectrum of human emotion,” including empathy for others. Because he is, as former aide Cassidy Hutchinson told ABC News, “a weak and feeble man who has no sense of character and integrity.” In other words, my wild theory is this: I don’t think that Donald Trump is actually as sexist as he seems to be. I think that what often gets interpreted as sexism is in fact a flagrant disregard for humanity in general, which is so unparalleled in American political history that we don’t have the vocabulary to describe it. Whatever Donald Trump is, it’s not endemic. It’s singular. It could only be changed if he wanted it to, and he’s shown no indication that he wants to behave any way other than how he’s already spent seven years behaving. Trump might pick a female running mate. Trump might have been found liable — again — for defamation in the Carroll trial. Neither act really says much about how he feels toward women. They say much more about what a deeply wounded megalomaniac thinks of himself/herself, and what he/she is willing to elevate or ruin to stay on top. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/01/29/is-trump-sexist/

2024jan27. Trump. He has continued to blast his opponents with name-calling insults, to spread disinformation and falsehoods and to conduct politics in the spirit of a WWE cage match rather than a forum of serious deliberation. Trump 2024 is acting very much like Trump 2020 and 2016. That’s no doubt because the qualities that propelled him in the past to command media attention continue to be effective. Even if he has lost many steps as a result of age — as Haley and others have argued — Trump continues to retain all of his talents as a showman. Trump still knows how to do television. He is the entertainer in chief. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/opinions/trump-haley-biden-democrats-zelizer/index.html

2024jan27. immigration. President Biden said Friday that he would use new emergency authorities to “shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes a bipartisan immigration plan that the Senate has been negotiating. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/26/biden-vows-shut-down-an-overwhelmed-border-if-senate-deal-passes/

2024jan27. Trump. Despite being a regular and caustic critic of the courtroom tactics and performances of Donald Trump and his lawyers, Friday’s whopping verdict against the former president in the second E. Jean Carroll civil case requires me to acknowledge that in this instance, they were right about one thing. Team Trump’s strategic decision to seek to avoid the result of the first Carroll trial—a verdict of $5 million against the former president who was a no-show during that trial—by having him regularly appear and testify (sort of) in the second Carroll trial did indeed, bring about a different result. That result, however, was a disastrous $83.3 million verdict against the former president. The jurors’ ability to witness up front and in person, the defendant’s grotesque, selfish, rude, and uncontrollable behavior surely made all the difference in the world. As a decades long trial veteran, I can report that there are certain key courtroom realities that exist whether the case be civil or criminal, federal or state. One of these realities is directly relevant to today’s Trump verdict—few jurors serve their critical role with any real understanding of the law, courtroom procedures or legal terminology. So, the vast majority of jurors fall back on what they do know—human behavior—and really focus on that. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/80-million-trump-verdict-e-jean-jury.html

2024jan27. immigration. December broke records for migrant encounters at the southern border, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed on Friday, as it released numbers showing that there were a record 302,000 migrant encounters at the southern border. The Friday afternoon release, which showed 302,034 encounters in December, comes more than three weeks since Fox reported that there were over 302,000 encounters -- which breaks the monthly record set in September and is the first time the number has ever breached the 300,000 mark. It’s the latest staggering numbers to come from the southern border since the crisis exploded in 2021. There were over 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23, after a record-setting FY 22. The numbers do not include "gotaways" of which there have been estimates of over 800,000 in FY 23, or migrants who are paroled in through the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program -- which allows 30,000 migrants to fly directly in each month as part of the Biden administration’s "expanded lawful pathways." Separately, there were 19 individuals arrested on the terror watch list in December – all on the southern border. It brings the total for FY 24 so far to 50 arrests (49 on the southern border, one on the northern border). https://www.foxnews.com/politics/migrant-crisis-broke-new-record-in-december-with-302k-encounters-officials-confirm

2024jan26. Trump. Over the past week, Kaplan’s handling of the damages trial in Lower Manhattan shows how different a federal courtroom is from most other parts of public life — even state court, where Trump and his lawyers had more leeway to squabble with a judge overseeing a different civil trial in another New York courthouse over the past several months. Kaplan has not tolerated similar behavior, and Trump has railed on social media that the federal judge is “a totally biased and hostile person.” The former president claimed that he only lost a previous lawsuit brought by Carroll over the sexual assault and a different set of defamatory comments because he didn’t appear in court personally. Kaplan oversaw that lawsuit, too. In recent weeks, Trump has been attending more court hearings than he needs to, seemingly deciding that the best way to fight his legal critics — and win the GOP nomination — is to try to shout them down. He has spoken out of turn in the courtroom and denounced the proceedings. Legal experts warn that if he does so on the witness stand in Kaplan’s courtroom, he could end up humiliated and threatened with contempt of court. Now Crowley responds. “Ladies and gentlemen his truth was a lie,” she says. “And he had no right to say it. That may be how Donald Trump lives his life telling a truth that is a lie, but that's not how it works under the law.” “He’s still breaking the law literally to this day,” Crowley says of Trump, arguing that he continues to defame Carroll. Madaio, one of Trump's lawyers, objects, Judge Kaplan overrules him, and Crowley continues. Kaplan just lost his temper with Habba as she tried to object, reminding the Trump team that only one lawyer can object during an argument. “One lawyer,” he scolds them, and Habba sits down. And now the jury has been sent to deliberate. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/21/trump-carroll-judge-kaplan-witness/

Crowley is linking Trump’s behavior in the courtroom to his behavior toward Carroll. “He gets to lie,” she says. “He gets to threaten. He gets to ignore a jury verdict. He gets to defy the law and the rules of this courtroom. You saw how he has behaved through this trial. You heard him. You saw him stand up and walk out of this courtroom while Ms. Kaplan was speaking. Rules don’t apply to Donald Trump.” Michael Madaio, Trump’s lawyer, objects when Crowley accuses Trump of defaming her. Judge Kaplan asks why. “Defamatory,” Madaio says, objecting to the use of the word even though a jury in May found she had been defamed. Judge Kaplan overrules him. One of the most compelling aspects of this case is that Trump continues to attack Carroll. Carroll's lawyers, Shawn Crowley and Roberta Kaplan, have latched on to those continuing attacks, advertising them to the jury whenever possible. If enough jurors buy the idea that Kaplan offered in her closing — that money is the only thing that could stop those attacks — Trump could be in real trouble here. Trump remains hunched at the table, sitting quietly as his lawyers constantly interrupt Crowley’s closing with objections. They are consistently overruled by Judge Kaplan. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/26/nyregion/trump-carroll-defamation-trial

2024jan27. deleted below

May 15, 2024 -- death view

Section C -- Mr.FIXIT modeler of I-Self Me-Self We-Self Target-Self Origin-Self Universal-Self.

"Doctor, heal thy self." If you look deeply upon a specific self as a model, you can see a modeler building away to form the whole of the modeler's image. The modeler has the image. For Harv, that raw image is his self -- a universal human person. In Harv's PhD case study, he is the modeler modeling his self into his own dynamic image of a self with multiple faces. Thus, the essence of Harv-the-modeler begins with understanding just what the human self can be (ill-defined specifically, and generally). As a result, Harv studies the human self to include the attribute of freeing that self of universal wholeness.

Section H -- Jobs-life flow

1940s Milwaukee WI winter alley-hydraulics, 1950s high school, central WI summer farm/dance-hall, late 1950s bowling alleys, 1956 cathedral decoration, 1961 engineer, 1967+1979 varied $ control, 1972 director manufacturing, 1974 VP finance closed company Illinois Iowa, 1976 regulatory supervisor of so.IL credit unions, 1979 Emerson 30 Rockefeller Plaza NY senior consultant (McGraw Edison 1979+) (Salt River Project 1981) (Conrail 1982) (GE 1983+) -- Harrington Emerson contemporary of Frederic Taylor — father of scientific management, 1985 administrator of 50 business faculty, 1986+ taught colleges (Terra BGSU Concord Wesley Benedictine), 1989 taught capping courses in Business Administration (management, accounting, marketing), 1991-92 Europe Ingrid, 1995-1996 PhD dissertation Sue MS !!!, companion-contracts 1997-8 Martin, Pauline, 1998 52yo financed retirement realized, 1999~2019 multi generational on/off retirement OH & CA daughter Susan, 2000~2017 son Chris FLx2 NC cancers, 2001~2016 sat household-dogs DeBary and Lake Nona, 2002+ Florida Everglades' campground Marco Island one-quarter Bridge master’s point ballroom dance, 2007+ St.Cloud FL in RIM Disney annual passes with walker, 2019-current Orange City 'Park & Ride' in car named Residence In Motion or RIM, COA 'retirement office'.

y87.YOUTHFUL.SPIRIT.😳 self-fulfillment😉 HappyHarv(1950sH2o🎳) forever sparkles👑

Search This Blog

Coalition Consensus

2024jun25. US polls. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/us/elections/polls-president.html

More Contents in part 2

More Contents in part 3

More Contents in part 4

Contents for all parts