The Screaming Moderate

House GOP in turmoil

1/6/2023

(This is being posted prior to noon on January 6th when the House is scheduled to return to the business of electing a Speaker. Anything can happen anytime.)

The multi-day debate and voting over electing a Speaker of the House could be destined for failure for Kevin McCarthy no matter how many days he delays pulling out of the election.

The nuttiest right-wingest folks, who number five, don’t seem to want him under any conditions. Yet, the House remains in session heading into even more unsuccessful votes today.

Those people who really oppose McCarthy do not want a solution. They just want to “make a point,” and, more importantly, appeal to their supporters and raise money. They don’t really care if there is a functioning House. They don’t even care about governing. Their aim is the most limited government possible.

So, whether it’s McCarthy or someone else, who isn’t one of them, they aren’t likely to vote in favor of anyone.

Already, they apparently have negotiated McCarthy down to a place he claimed he wouldn’t go --- that it will take only one person to make a motion to vacate. They already have apparently won at least two seats on the all-powerful Rules Committee but they are holding out for more.

That motion to vacate has been used once in history, in 1910. when it failed. If such a motion - which is a vote to fire the Speaker - is made it would take, if all members are present, 218 votes to pass. If this should happen, crazily (but we’re in crazy territory already), and if it passed, it would put us right back where we are now. Where are we?

Constituents are not being served as they should be and what’s at stake may be their Social Security checks and other matters that literally are key to their survival. I haven’t heard a word mentioned about that on the floor so far, though maybe I missed it.

Also, there is one Republican member whose mother passed away and the funeral is Saturday. Another GOP member's wife gave birth and he hasn’t been home to visit. And, already, there is at least one GOP member who will be going home to Colorado after today for a non-emergency medical procedure, which will lower the majority vote needed to elect a Speaker.

Any way – McCarthy doesn’t have the votes. Five in his party say they will never vote for him and it only takes five to stop him. The media makes a lot over the fact that he has lost nine times in votes this week. Temper that by the fact that for a while they didn’t even have the votes to adjourn and the only business the House can take up is electing a Speaker. They can do nothing else until that is resolved. So, they keep doing it.

My guess is they won’t elect him today either, unless lightning strikes somewhere or someone. The deal being discussed reportedly will not satisfy the five, so they need to be dealt with.

This is the ugly part of politics. Members operating for only personal, not substantive reasons. McCarthy has never been the ideological type. He has been easily swayed when it’s in his personal interest to sway.

Interestingly, one might argue that he may be the “best” among the GOP to be speaker for that reason. Maybe a President can sway him too? Doubtful if it's not in his personal interest to be swayed. And I mean personal interest.

If for some reason McCarthy can’t nail down the votes really soon – and that seems unlikely – and he pulls out, those five will still need to be dealt with. And while McCarthy’s number two -- Steve Scalise – reportedly is liked by the various factions in his party, it’s hard to imagine we won’t be in the same predicament again.

Those five still will want rules changes that make them more powerful.

There is another way – that will never be taken – and that’s for moderate Republicans to join with Democrats to elect a compromise candidate. And that candidate can be someone not in the Congress to take (some) of the politics out of it.

Let’s believe that can happen for a second. Wow! That simple act might possibly be the one to end the ugly partisanship and the Congress can return to doing the people’s business, not their selfish business.

Okay, second's up.

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He'll be Congressman, not congressman-ish

12/27/2022

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Congressman-elect George Anthony Santos (R-Fantasyland) “embellished” his resume as he was seeking election, he has admitted. Better that he admitted what he truly did – flat-out lie on his resume and about his life.

For example, he said he graduated from Baruch College. But he didn’t. He never even attended Baruch, according to the school. That, Santos says, is an embellishment, not a lie. I once worked at Yale University. It means I went “to” Yale every day to do my job, so I guess I could say I “attended” Yale because I was there every day?

His campaign web site stated, “George Anthony began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced to become an associate asset manager in the real asset division of the firm.” The next paragraph mentioned that “George Anthony was then offered an exciting opportunity with Goldman Sachs but what he thought would be the pinnacle of his career was not as fulfilling as he anticipated.”

A Goldman Sachs spokesman said they had no record of him being employed there and Citigroup said it could not confirm his employment. More embellISHments.

I capitalize “ISH” because another whopper of exaggeration by Santos during his campaign was that he was Jewish. But a check of genealogical records and other sources shows no family history of Judaism in the family’s background..

When Santos admitted his “embellISHments” this week he said he meant he was “Jew-ish.” Which is like being goy-ish, or successful-ish.

But the one true thing is based on his background and, I’m sure, other factors, Santos was elected in his New York district to be its congressman starting Jan. 3. And, he says he has no intention of resigning the job he has not even been sworn into yet. Nor has the Republican House leadership, or followers in fact, criticized Santos for his embellishments, let alone his flat-out lies.

Reports are that Santos is going to vote for GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy for Speaker, and the Leader ain’t casting off any votes because he hasn’t yet reached the 218 he needs to accomplish his long-sought goal.

Not only that, Market Watch has reported that GOP leadership aides say they knew about Santos’ “embellISHments” during the campaign and did nothing.

Whatever happened to leadership among the House Republican leaders has been disappeared. And that is no embellishment. It’s a statement about the integrity of those folks.

So for McCarthy, it's win at any cost. And there ain't no "ish" at the end of that word.

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If Trump is waning, what are his options?

12/7/2022

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As his “brand” starts to diminish, there are three choices left for former President Donald J. Trump:

1) Maintain his current posture that he is a candidate for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination and see if he can win (doubtful)

2) Decide that the way to take over the country is to convince his followers that they and he have been wronged and that the Constitution must be done away with and then wage a full-blown insurrection in an effort to take the country by force (unlikely and will not succeed)

3) Decide to withdraw from his decision to run for president (more to come)

Each option is fraught with huge downsides for Trump.

To take them one by one:

First, Trump’s path to the nomination is a possibility if enough candidates join the race to oppose him and he keeps a strangle-hold on his base. With enough candidates in the race, his 20 to 30 percent of the party can win (as it did in 2016). If he wins, it seems nearly certain that he cannot beat President Joe Biden or any Democrat in November 2024. Last time he ran, he was defeated with authority.

Since then, his brand has been diminished and there are clear cracks in what some see as his Superman powers. He took a drubbing in the mid-term elections ending in dramatic fashion when his hand-chosen candidate to win in Georgia turned out to be a horrible candidate with big-time baggage, came close but didn’t make it and actually gave a somewhat classy concession speech.

Second, Trump certainly has the potential to lead an(other) attempted coups. Still, democracy won out, the mob was defeated, the electoral ballots were counted and Joe Biden was sworn into office. Still, that episode improved Trump’s image as a martyr.

Third, and the option I think he will take, is to withdraw from the race at some point before the first primary or caucus, claim his reason is because he is being attacked by everyone outside of his base for potential crimes including attempting to change the results of the 2020 election, to his company’s drama over illegal acts by two senior executives, to the January 6th committee’s likely referral of Trump to the Justice Department for indictment, to his taxes, which are in the hands of the Congress which apparently hasn’t decided what to do with them yet.

Certainly there is enough in that list, which could even be expanded, to give Trump a reason to pull out of the race yet keep his base with him for whatever nefarious reasons he may have. Playing the martyr has been a Trump trait. Trump cannot lose, as evidenced by his whining since 2020’s election, that he was robbed and he is the president.

But, his cover can be that the “establishment” needs to be taken on and he can best do that by fighting the various lawsuits and charges he may be facing. For some reason, he thought announcing his candidacy would make those issues go away, but he still doesn’t understand the Constitution nor the concept that “no one is above the law.”

His brand has taken hits and some senators coming out and criticizing (gently, but criticizing) his Truth Social post that the Constitution should be “suspended” and he should be inserted into the presidency, Which ain't gonna happen, plus once Trump saw the comments criticizing the statement, he saw the whole party may not always be afraid of him. And won’t be silent much longer. But his base is with him.

On top of that, Republican National Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who has been a loyal Trumpee throughout the last six years, said in Georgia last night that Republicans must get better at early voting if they want to succeed. She never mentioned Trump’s name but he was the leader of the effort to get Republicans to vote only on Election Day. A tactic that hurt Herschel Walker in the run-off yesterday, and that closed down some voting during his election. For McDaniel to even make that statement is a big deal.

His magic has been reduced and we are seeing some, but not a lot, of evidence the last week or so: his dinner with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, an anti-Semite, and Nick Fuentes, an anti-Semite and white supremacist, clearly was not supported by a lot of (unnamed) Republican leaders, some of whom did issue mild criticisms of him. As if it is even a decision whether to criticize breaking bread with white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Let’s just say Trump is no longer invincible and as his former supporters (Chris Christie) and Administration appointees (Mike Pompeo, Nikki Haley) inch closer to announcing their own presidential candidacies, he likely will see former Trump insiders begin to admit their negative experiences with him during his time in the Oval Office.

The emperor may be on the verge of realizing he has no clothes.

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Post-election thoughts

11/10/2022

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President Biden had it right when he said yesterday that democracy won Tuesday’s elections. The pundits, pollsters and press had it wrong when they say Democrats won the election.

Clearly, Democrats won the expectations game because they did way better than those same pundits, pollsters and press said they would Still, the Democrats definitely have lost their majority in the House and are on the verge of losing the Senate.

If that’s winning politically, give me losing.

What the pundits, pollsters and press got wrong was dealing with abortion as if the immediate aftermath of protests when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade had gone away. Talking heads kept saying in the last couple of weeks of campaigning that inflation was the top issue voters were concerned about and the GOP had the advantage on that turf. Women’s right to control their own bodies was always a not-that-distant second. though.

Plus, this election proved – again – that American voters can chew gum and walk at the same time. Yes, they hate the inflation everyone around the world is facing right now. Gas, food, pretty much everything is way up in cost plus that supply chain hasn’t caught up with demand yet. We’d be crazy not to be worried about inflation. And, we’d be nuts not to worry about the Supreme Court taking back rights Americans have.

After most every election, but especially this one, the media need to rethink not only how they cover lies splattered all over the place mostly by MAGA Republicans but how they report on polls and who’s up and who’s down.

Network exit polls showed that almost 3 in 10 voters nationally said abortion was the most important issue in their vote, and that about 4 in 10 said they were “angry” Roe was overturned. Motivated voters, for sure.

There were winners and losers, of course, Tuesday from a 10,000 foot perspective. My view:

Democracy. Clearly our democracy is more resilient than it gets credit for, as the president of the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks said. The “guard rails” protected the country through the Trump presidency and did again Tuesday. Those founders were onto something, eh?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: Is a winner because political talk immediately began focusing positivelyon him as the leading GOP candidate in 2024 because of Trump losing (more in a moment). The other side of being the front-runner to defeat Trump for the presidential nomination is he gets more attention. His weaknesses and any skeletons in his closet will be tastier snacking for reporters. Plus, maybe those (predominantly) retirees and Trumpers living in the Villages and other areas are happy with their governor. Just as clearly Gen Zers are unhappy and voted Democrat. (Politics is demographics, as my wife tells me)

The USA’s worldwide reputation. Winner because this should cool, a bit, our allies concerns about our democracy and the threat posed to it by some within our borders. Our leaders can be more confident in meetings around the world now.

Biden. Biden is more not-a-loser as much as a winner. He and his team now get credit for focusing on the threats to democracy and the strategy to keep him out of states he was most unpopular in. Result? More Democrats won than expected. And his speech(es) on democracy and the threat it faces were spot-on.

Ex-President Trump. While he will crow about being a winner – because he will blame others talking him into backing certain losers and because he likely has a more than impressive overall win count Tuesday – any normal observer would say he at minimum got hit with an inside pitch to back him away from the plate. His won/lost record of endorsements will be fine because he mostly backed candidates in safe places. But he lost in most all his high-profile races. Should Herschel Walker wind up winning in Georgia, Trump will be back on a victory tour. Meantime those investigations into Trump by some states and the Justice Department now will be more tempting fodder to his Republican opponents to explain why he’s the wrong candidate in 2024. Notably, certain Trump loyalists were giving reporters excellent quotes s on- the-record, showing Trump’s image is sullied more politically and that it’s safer than it was Monday to criticize him. Plus, Twitter is unavailable to him and its spotlight is fading.

House conservatives. They now are the Joe Manchin of the GOP. Their minority of votes can control what Speaker-in-Waiting Kevin McCarthy can achieve.

McCarthy. McCarthy, who has been craven to be Speaker of the House seemingly since birth, is on the doorstep of officially achieving that goal. Problem is, he now has to do that job. That will be made tricky by those pesky House conservatives and Trump, who will now have McCarthy as their whipping boy. He’ll challenged to put together his caucus’ votes and to fight off the desire by a minority of Republican members to impeach Biden or anyone who has come into contact with him.

If Tuesday’s elections lead us back to some sense of normalcy, as voters seemed to be screaming, you and I are the actual winners of the election, as we should be.

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Goodbye Elon goodbye

11/2/2022

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I decided to quit Twitter.

I don’t expect the Earth to stop because of that nor do I even expect the few likes my posts used to (sometimes) get to miss me. But, finally, Twitter got me.

Honestly, it’s not like I even looked at it every day. I didn’t.

It took a buildup, I confess.

First, it was the phony information that made Twitter all atwitter.

Then, it was tracking ex-President Trump’s tweets. Why, I’m not sure, because they always made the news in nanoseconds anyway so I couldn’t fall behind by much.

Twitter finally started suspending accounts for distributing false or threatening information. Unfortunately, they didn’t suspend accounts for just being stupid (I guess because then Twitter would get far fewer postings plus, SENATOR Herschel Walker may be on his way).

Of course, there were those many irrelevant ads. I’d click to not see them anymore and other uninteresting ads took their place.

And, now, there’s Elon!! No thank you. I have to draw the line somewhere.

I did follow some interesting people – like Liz Cheney; White House Press Secretary Karin Jean-Piere; Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a New York Times correspondent; Prof. Peter Hotez dean of the Baylor School of Medicine and star TV explainer about pandemics and vaccines.; Broadway's Seth Rudetsky; Tess Gerritsen, a favorite mystery writer; Chasten Buttigeg, husband of the Transportation secretary; a whole bunch of political reporters and, one of my very favorites, Room Rater, which rates room set ups of people being interviewed on TV via Zoom or Skype.

There were, of course, the occasional brilliant tweets. Like when Colm Flynn, Vatican correspondent for EWT news, tweeted:

“For the past 20 years I’ve received a Valentine’s card from the same secret admirer. So I was pretty upset when I didn’t get one this year. First my granny dies, now this.”

Well, I enjoyed it.

One of my favorites that I posted was:

“Just for the record, you don’t have to ‘take a listen;’ You can simply listen.”

That was in response to the annoying phrase TV news people have adopted to get you to pay attention to a video clip. “Take a listen,” they say, and I wonder where I should take it.

Then again, I don’t think any of my paltry number of followers "liked' it, so maybe it wasn’t as funny as I thought. Or, maybe nobody’s truly following me. (Though what about all those beautiful young women whose profile pics that show them in scanty outfits who didn’t know me but followed me?)

The main thing I used Twitter for was as one more “platform” to distribute this blog.

I’m going to suspend Twitter today. As I understand it, it stays suspended for 30 days and then, unless I sign in again, it deletes itself (I always think of Mission Impossible when I see that).

So, for all my blog followers on Twitter, this is the last post you’ll see here. If you want to continue reading it, though, I direct you to other places I post it -- LinkedIn, Facebook and Medium. On Medium you actually can subscribe to it and Medium will send you an email including the post right after I publish it.

Of course, there always is the modestly named “bjaycooper.com” where the blog resides.

So..goodbye Twitter goodbye. Good bye Elon, don’t cry!

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Of strokes and pillow talk

10/27/2022

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Two news stories caught my eye in the past couple of days. The Pennsylvania U.S. Senate debate and the story about the My Pillow Guy and Trump supporter, Mike Lindell.

First, Pennsylvania. I won’t even begin to try to dissect the response Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz gave on abortion. That’ll be torn apart enough but let me just say, as a man, I don’t want “local political leaders” involved in a decision on whether a woman gets an abortion. It’s not only wrong, it’s icky to even think about -- I picture a local politician in the room with the doctor and the woman. I trust the woman making the decision, with medical advice from her doctor.

What caught my eye more in that debate is the criticism Democrat John Fetterman is getting for his "awkward" performance, brought on entirely by the after-effects from the stroke he suffered earlier this year.

Let me get personal, I’ve had two strokes, one when I turned 50 that caused no noticeable damage but was a warning about the second stroke, which came five years later. That one, while far from as serious as the one Fetterman suffered, did come with after effects that required speech therapy. I, and any other stroke sufferer I’m sure, can empathize with what he’s going through.

In my case, after a couple of days in the hospital to be monitored, I was released and told I needed speech therapy. I wasn’t sure why since my thoughts were clear as they were the day before I had the stroke. My thinking and thought process were exactly the same. But, I was told I wasn't articulating my clear internal thoughts well to others.

I stumbled over words, forgot words and, when shown flash cards of a horse or a house, in some cases I couldn't pull the word from my memory to identify it. Separate from my speech, I also got exhausted mid-day, so tired I needed to rest and couldn’t work.

I didn’t go back to work for about six months as I recovered and did the speech therapy. Six months. And I had what is called a mild stroke. It could have been far worse and I’m grateful that even today, almost 20 years later, the only remnants I have from my stroke is a weaker than it was right hand, and difficulty sometimes swallowing.

Fetterman’s was more serious than mine but he looks good and is keeping up a busy campaign schedule. I hurt each time I saw him struggle or repeat words when he responded to answers the other night. But he told us that would be the case. And, clearly, it was the case. Fetterman is a big man physically and a clear presence when he enters a room with his size and his tattoos.

I have no doubt his struggles with clear and easy speaking these days is frustrating to him. It sure was for me. But, after my speech therapy and recovery, I was fine. With work. He’s doing his recovery work in full view and and he is being judged by it from voters and pundits.

So, disagree with his positions on issues, but don’t doubt that his mind is clear and thinking well even though, temporarily, he has difficulty clearly speaking his thoughts sometimes.

The other story that caught my eye is a New York Times piece today on the My Pillow Guy and his continuing not only to spread conspiracy theories especially about the 2020 election but other crazy thoughts. Oh, and continuing to sell pillows.

Let’s remember, Lindell is a very good salesman and marketer, just like his BFF Donald Trump. He is also an equally effective liar. But that’s another story. There was a time that My Pillow advertised itself as being able to cure insomnia and other health conditions. The company was sued over the claims and ultimately settled a lawsuit for misleading advertising.

In those days it was mainly through one of those late-night infomercials, starring Lindell, that his product was sold. You remember them. A pitchman (Lindell) in front of an “audience” that ooo’s and ahhh’s over his pitch and video inserts showing, of course, very happy customers.

Consumer Reports tested the pillow. It found that it was a good pillow but also learned that “our panel of sleep testers noted that they could feel the foam chunks when sleeping on the pillow, a somewhat unpleasant sensation.”

It also found of the premium and regular versions that “after we placed an evenly distributed 225-pound weight on each of these pillows in a room set to 98.6° F (to mimic body heat) and 80 percent humidity for 96 hours, neither one was great at regaining its shape, which means you may have to replace a My Pillow often.”

Don’t get me wrong, it sounds like it’s a fine pillow, but not unlike other pillows you can buy for less. If you bought one and it works, great! Mostly, though, it’s marketing.

My Pillow sells for $49.95 but, good marketer that he is, Lindell offers “promo codes” that can reduce that to $19.95.

Lindell also sells conferences around the country not on pillows but on politics where conspiracy theories are shared, and I’m guessing, expanded on. These sometimes are broadcast by niche networks.

In one such presentation, the Times reports, Mr. Lindell “bounded on stage and said, 'by the way, if you’re watching from home use that promo code: Truth45.'”

That wasn’t political talk, it was Pillow talk.

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It's not your daddys's GOP anymore, and never will be again

10/7/2022

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If you ever entertained any notion that the Republican Party will endure in a democracy, tell me what you’re smoking, please.

As an example, Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s most recent embarrassing issue to cope with is twofold:

A woman claimed to have an affair with him and he paid for an abortion despite saying he is anti-choice no matter what. Walker denied both claims in strong terms, kinda.
After his denials, the woman (unidentified by Daily Beast which broke the stories) said, in effect: Oh yea? Well I also had his baby. Walker denied this too and leads questioners to believe he has no idea who the woman is.

(If I were advising Walker I would tell him: If the allegation is untrue, ask for a DNA test. That will prove who's being honest here.)

It is only the most recent example of the Republican Party rather than seek the truth, accepts his denials as facts. Now, maybe he’s correct about the abortion and the child. DNA would tell us.

The Republican Party’s response: We believe Herschel!!!

Translation: We really want the Senate majority and he is key to that goal.

There is a series of examples of the GOP’s drifting, uh, running away from its traditional views. The biggest one is former President Donald Trump’s claims that the last election was stolen from him. Most Republican elected officials – and GOP candidates for federal, state and local offices in November –either buy into that lie or say they do to stay in Trump’s good graces and to not alienate his base voters. Polls show, too, that rank and file Republicans think the election was stolen. Trump's election fraud lie is real to a vast majority of Republicans, despite dozens of court cases (some decided by Trump-appointed judges) and recounts showing Biden did win.

Now, you may think that once Trump is gone, however that happens, from the political discussion, the party will return to the Republican Party of old – one whose policy positions you may have disagreed with but you felt was honestly reflecting those core beliefs.

Core beliefs have disappeared from the party. The only core belief is that Trump won the election and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. Trump and his troops have been so good at pushing that lie that 70 percent of Republicans have bought into it.

Some may find it hard to believe that democracy (lower case) is at stake in the next election and the one after that. But, it is. All Trump-endorsed candidates this year support his lie about the election. Many of those candidates are running for governor or secretary of state, offices that, depending on your location, can affect the denial of legitimate election results.

Democracy truly is on the line and that’s not hyperbole.

If you study autocrats in history, their path to power is the same one Trump is travelling – he is the leader of a push toward destroying American institution including free and fair elecdtions.

Even if you never were concerned about the integrityu of the Supreme Court, that belief has to be rattled, at least, now.

That belief is in question these days by many people after the court's reversal of the 50-year-old precedent of saying abortion is a choice that women can make.

It no longer is a choice and some states already have gone so far as to restrict abortion even more and impose penalties on medical professionals helping a woman through her decision – which may put her life at risk.

This is the America we live in and it can, and likely will be a more restrictive America over time. Not only is the right to choice in the past, they are banning books too.

And no Republican leader is speaking out against those things. None. And you know damn well many of those leaders, in their heart, don’t agree with banning abortion or books. But they do because they say nothing in opposition, fearful of Trump’s wrath and the base of voters he truly controls.

The Republican Party not only doesn’t exist today, and I don’t see how it comes back in the future. Among the leaders of the party are Florida Gov. (and potential presidential nominee) Ron DeSantis, Senate GOP election chairman Florida Sen. Rick Scott, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and, though he has no formal party role, Tucker Carlson of Fox television.

The phrase “craven politician” truly describes these “leaders.“ They do not portend a return to traditional Republicanism in the future.

Indeed, they portend a further diminishing of the old Republican Party long after Trump disappears.

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Trump is lucky Merrick Garland makes the decision on indicting him

9/1/2022

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Donald J. Trump doesn’t know exactly how lucky he is that Attorney General Merrick Garland will make the ultimate decision on whether the former president is indicted.

Garland by various measurements done when he was nominated to the Supreme Court by then-President Obama was a moderate. At best, or worst depending on your view, he was moderate-to-liberal. His record as a judge, the clerks he hired and other measurements used make him a solid moderate. Yes, he was nominated by the liberal Obama but it’s not certain how he would have voted on issues that came before the Court.

Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked Garland’s appointment not because he was certain that Garland would vote to maintain abortion as a right, but because he knew Garland would vote based on the law. Roe v. Wade was settled law just as nearly every Republican nominee has led the Senate and the country to believe they thought too.

And this Supreme Court, dominated by Trump appointees but wholly supported and recommended by McConnell, voted to end that right to abortion based on the views of right-wing conservatives who fought years to have it taken away and his religious base which supposedly wants abortions banned in all forms, even incest.

Just ask Republican Sen. Susan Collins what she thought the Trump nominees were testifying to in their hearings. She’ll tell you but then won’t do anything different in the future or say the nominees lied to her face in private in meetings in her office. She treated it as an oops not as a decision that already has had significant impact on women and their health.

But Garland is cut from a different cloth. With his leadership, the Justice Department is doing its talking on the issues involving Trump through court filings, which must be truthful. Trump, on the other hand, has made Truth Social statements and had his spokesmen speak for him but Trump, throughout his career, is normally very careful about what he says so he is not responsible for anything.

This time, though, because he reacted, as always, politically, not legally, he blew it. Not only did his lawyers admit in a court filing that he had classified documents but Trump posted this on his Twitter-like Truth Social:

“There seems to be confusion as to the ‘picture’ where documents were sloppily thrown on the floor and then released photographically for the world to see, as if that’s what the FBI found when they broke into my home. Wrong! They took them out of cartons and spread them around on the carpet, making it look like a big 'find' for them. They dropped them, not me - Very deceiving…And remember, we could have NO representative, including lawyers, present during the Raid. They were told to wait outside.”

Read it again and you’ll not only see his admission of guilt but that his mind, rather than understanding he was admitting to breaking a law involving highly secret government documents, went straight to “I don’t keep a messy office. They set me up.”

Donald Trump, meet truth. Truth, meet Donald Trump.

So, he admitted he had the classified documents in his unsecured mansion. Case Closed. Or is it?

Garland must weigh whatever more evidence his department has before indicting a former President. It is not a no-brainer, as it appears to many non-lawyers.

Garland will consider the facts, not that Trump could send his supporters back into insurrection mode as Sen. Lindsay Graham threatened the other day but because it would set a precedent for charging former presidents with crimes. That decision must meet a very high bar before any charge can be brought.

I know many people have read about what’s going on and believe Trump is guilty of serious crimes but that is not a court of law, where evidence must be submitted and witnesses interrogated and cross-examined. It better be one air-tight case to convince a jury that Trump, or any future president, committed serious crimes.

Only because he is the President now, Joe Biden will be the target if Republicans take over the House and especially if they also take the Senate. Not because Biden has broken any laws, but because the Republicans who now run that party don’t care about facts or the truth. They say it, therefore it is true.

And their media lackeys repeat it. And repeat it. And then a solid portion of their voters believe it. Therefore, they all will expect payback when Republicans are in that position.

That’s not Garland’s style. He’s a “just the facts, ma’am” kind of guy. When the investigation is done, we’ll see what he does.

Garland has a very heavy and historic decision to make. And he knows it.

And Donald Trump is one lucky guy that Merrick Garland is the one making it.

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For GOP, it's Trump Road whether he runs or not

8/17/2022

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As in any political party, the Republicans have their craven politicians (i.e. Florida Gov. Ron Dion DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz, every Republican who had bad things to say about Donald Trump until they needed to sing his praises or lose his voters, and their principled politicians (Cong. Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and their eight colleagues who voted to impeach Trump).

The Republican Party seems to have chosen which of the cross roads they choose.

This day, though, should not pass without noting the expected and unselfish loss of Cheney last night in Wyoming. Everyone, including Cheney, knew it was coming but now it’s official. And she’s made it clear she will continue her effort to deny Trump the nomination next year.

If she runs as a Republican, which she will, and wins 30 percent of certain states’ votes in the primary (as she did yesterday in a state Trump twice won by 40 points), she could pull it off and go down in history, again, this time for actually slaying the dragon.

It must be mentioned that while Cheney and others oppose Trump because of his behavior and anti-Constitution tactics, she voted with him 92 percent of the time. Kinzinger voted with him 90 percent of the time. These are not bad Republicans; they just oppose Trump.

Cheney knows she will not be the 2024 GOP nominee. DeSantis wants to be.

Cheney’s strategy is to not to win a nomination she can’t win, it’s based on stopping Trump from getting being the nominee. DeSantis’ strategy is to create a state that appeals to Trump- base voters so he can win the nomination.

If you want to experience what life would be like if, instead of his ego, ex-President Trump focused on the policies he claims to support, just move to Florida.

While the political world and punditry continue to cover the Trump travails, the man lying in wait to pounce on the former President if he is sufficiently wounded is building his coming presidential campaign demonstrating what life will be like if he is elected president.

DeSantis is creating an autocratic, mini-Trump World in Florida that he’s hoping will position him as the heir apparent, who will do for America what he’s doing to Florida.

For example, in Florida DeSantis has:

Suspended a duly elected state attorney who, among other things the governor doesn’t like, pledged he will not use his office to “criminalize” health care, including prosecuting women who get abortions and people seeking gender-affirming medical treatments. The state attorney, Andrew Warren, was suspended by DeSantis for being a “woke” prosecutor more interested in social justice than in enforcing the law.
Stripped away constitutional rights for millions of people in Florida, Black Floridians, who will now find it harder to vote because of a DeSantis law that creates unnecessary restrictions targeting election fraud that doesn’t exist.
Created a law where women stand to lose their right to make their own reproductive health choices. A judge already has ruled the DeSantis law is unconstitutional under state law.
Targeted the LGBTQ community with his “don’t say gay” law that stops educators from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with students.

But … wait … there’s more! He also has:

Accused teachers of putting “incredibly disturbing” books on their shelves
Signed a law that makes it easier for parents to challenge books and instructional material they don’t approve. Among the books banned so far or proposed for elimination: “The Handmaids Tale;” “The Kite Runner”; “Beloved.”
Targeted college faculty who, under a DeSantis law, would be surveyed by the state about their political beliefs.
Punished Disney World by eliminating a taxing district in central Florida that was favorable to Disney (creator of thousands of jobs and engine for millions in tourist dollars) because the company criticized the “don’t say gay” law.

DeSantis does not hide his hideous behavior. He features it because he knows it appeals to a segment of the Republican base – that segment that Trump has captured by way of giving the finger to The Establishment. That’s a segment that likely will be key to winning the nomination in 2024.

DeSantis doesn’t hide his ambitions either. He is traveling to states he’s never traveled to before as governor to broaden his reach and raise money.

But, wait again, there’s yet even more!

The Washington Post this morning reported that journalists hoping to cover a GOP rally featuring DeSantis and Senate candidate J. D. Vance in Oho will have to agree to hand organizers access to any footage they take, and could face questioning for their intentions of using that footage.

Plus, the organizers are restricting journalists to specific events and bar them from recording speakers who do not want to be filmed.

Turning Point Action, which has its origins in Trump world, is the organizer and has warned violators could be kicked out. To be fair, DeSantis isn’t setting the rules. But he also hasn’t, yet, condemned them.

DeSantis isn’t bashful about his ambitions, and Trump would claim that without the former president’s backing, DeSantis wouldn’t be in office. Thus, he's another disloyal "supporter."

Trump is leading too-early polls on the GOP nomination for 2024. DeSantis is a distant second in most. Polls, of course, among other factors depend on the wording of a question. A recent New York Times-Siena poll showed that more than half of the Republicans surveyed do not want Trump to run. That's not the same as asking, in isolation, who they'd support.

It’s far too early to predict what’s going to happen – not to mention a bunch of investigations into Trump regarding January 6h, his attempted meddling in the 2020 election counts and the Trump company business.

But the leading candidates for the Republican nomination are Donald J. Trump and Ron Dion DeSantis.

Original Trump or Trump II.

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The Return of the Yos! and Oys! plus a new addition

8/10/2022

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(The Screaming Moderate occasionally hands out awards for Yos! and Oys!, celebrating those individuals who do good deeds (Yo!) and bad ones (Oy!). The Committee on Yos! and Oys! meets when it feels like it.)

Today, the Return of the Oys! and Yos! with a new addition – the Mehs! Mehs! are, well, they aren’t much. It’s kind of the nothing burger category which likely will be used few and far between. But, in this world, they deserve a place because, well, so much is over-hyped when most often it’s a Meh!

This Oy! just in: Former President Donald J. Trump pleaded the Fifth this morning when sitting for a deposition in the New York investigation of his real estate business. Trump, who once said anyone pleading the Fifth was guilty, tried to get ahead of repeats of that claim, said, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?…Now I know the answer to that question” because of his being “targeted” by lawyers, prosecutors and the news media” left with him “no choice” but to take the Fifth. Lordy, he's good at trying to cover his tush.

The inaugural Meh! Goes to… Attorney General Merrick Garland for doing his job. There is little doubt that before a warrant was sought to search Trump’s Florida mansion (well, only 2% of it- three of 126 rooms) that Garland had to sign off before it went to a federal magistrate for decision. Because Garland is a former judge, he takes things slow and ponderously. As would a federal magistrate. So, if we all get to see the warrant that was issued, I imagine we’ll have good reason to know it had ‘probable cause.’ Though that will not penetrate the Trump supporters’ minds because, well, just because.

A second Oy! goes to Donald J. Trump for his continuing demonstration of his “projecting” personality, meaning that often when Trump takes a shot at his opponents he uses a put-down similar to what was used against him. (Think “fake news” when anyone accuses him of anything) This one is for his unsubstantiated claim that the Democrats had his home “raided” because of some nefarious desire to hurt his planned but not announced 2024 campaign to regain office. This from the same ex-president who constantly complained that his own appointees during his administration wouldn’t do things like shoot protestors in the leg or have the Department of Justice make a false statement to further his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged 2020 election. He probably just thinks Biden’s appointees are more “loyal” to him when actually, they are just following the Constitution.

Another Meh! Goes to, well, the politics of today. The search warrant for Trump's palace has the unintended consequence of fueling not just the tried and true Trumpies but the scared-and-frightened elected Republicans and candidates who feel they must support Trump in this or lose ‘the base.’ (nearly qualified as an Oy! but it’s just a reality in today’s Republican Party).

Oy! to the media and political consultants for using the word “narrative” to explain what used to be referred to as “spin” and really is, usually, bullshit to avoid talking about facts. The media has totally bought into the word because, I think, it makes them sound inside-y. Stick to the facts, my friends, just as you ask Trump to do.

A huge Yo! to Cong. Liz Cheney for all she is doing and sacrificing to be a contributing member of the Jan. 6th Select Committee. It’s almost needless to say because she made the decision to put her political future on the line to serve and do the right thing and follow the Constitution. Trump supporters can call her a RHINO (Republican in Name Only) but that’s the just the “narrative” -- she voted with Trump more often than anointed toady Mark Meadows when he was in Congress, before being snatched up by Trump as his chief of staff. (Sad, Liz actually deserves only a “meh!” for this since it’s her duty and oath to follow the Constitution but in the current politics, well, we see what’s happening to most of those Republican elected officials who voted to impeach Trump. So, in this climate she moves to a Yo!

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House GOP in turmoil

He'll be Congressman, not congressman-ish

If Trump is waning, what are his options?

Post-election thoughts

Goodbye Elon goodbye

Of strokes and pillow talk

It's not your daddys's GOP anymore, and never will be again

Trump is lucky Merrick Garland makes the decision on indicting him

For GOP, it's Trump Road whether he runs or not

The Return of the Yos! and Oys! plus a new addition

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