Saturday, November 25, 2023

Part XIV: Calm before the Storm (Steps 1215-1272)

 

Part XIV: Calm before the Storm.

(Steps #1215 – 1272.)

__________ 

“If you seek Truth, you will not seek to gain a victory by every possible means; and when you have found Truth, you need not fear being defeated.” 

Epictetus

__________ 

 

SPRING is sprung, and thoughts turn to…Donald Trump screaming about judges, jurors, and witness who might destroy him by testifying under oath. The waiting game commences. Can Team Trump stall out four trials, get Donald reelected, and manage to trample the rule of law once and for all? 


Is this Trump's fate?

___ 

 

Again, we number the simple steps to follow – albeit numerous – in pursuit of Truth. That is: 

A) Trump is a profound liar, as evidence repeatedly proves.

B) He lost the 2020 election, as evidence, including scores of court cases and recounts also shows.

C) He has been lying about losing ever since.

D) And his lies led to violence on January 6, 2021, which cracked the very foundations of democracy. 

Should he lose again in November, violence is almost sure to explode. Worse yet, he could win.

___ 


1215. March 25: Judge Juan M. Merchan slaps a gag order on Donald J. Trump, to keep him from publicly attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial in New York. Merchan cites Trump as a repeat offender, pointing out the former president’s history of “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” remarks about his potential foes in court. 

 

Unmoored to fact. 

1216. Same day: Trump’s former Deputy White House counsel, Pat Philbin, testifies during the disbarment hearing targeting former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark. Clark is implicated in the wide-ranging plot to overturn 2020 election results and gift a second term to Mr. Trump. 

Philbin describes Clark, whose expertise at the Department of Justice was environmental law, as wildly misinformed about claims of voter fraud in 2020 – none of which have held up under scrutiny. “I tried to explain to him that it was a bad idea for multiple reasons,” Philbin testified Tuesday. That is, if Clark took the job of Acting Attorney General, which the president had dangled, and followed through on a plan to push voter fraud lies, “He would be starting down a path of assured failure.” 

(See below.) 

 

1217. Kari Lake, who lost her race to become governor of Arizona by 17,117 votes, has been thumped again in court, this time by her toughest opponent: Kari Lake. 

In regard to a defamation suit filed by fellow Republican, Stephen Richer – after Lake claimed he helped rig the election against her – Lake now says she won’t defend herself in court, the legal equivalent of admitting she can’t prove her claims. 

1218. The MAGA crowd still loves Kari – partly because the MAGA crowd can be embarrassingly uninformed. 

(Sorry, MAGA folks. That may sound like an opinion to you. But it’s a fact.) 

 

UPDATE: As of August 26, 2024, Kari Lake and her husband had not turned over documents requested by Mr. Richer’s lawyers, as part of the discovery process, in Mr. Richer’s defamation suit. 

1219. A judge ordered Mr. and Mrs. Lake to comply. 

 

1220. March 27: The California State Bar recommends that Dr. John Eastman, a central figure in the Team Trump plot to steal the 2020 election, be disbarred from practicing law. 

1221. At another disciplinary hearing before the Washington D.C. Bar Association, former DOJ Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, an alleged accomplice with Eastman, takes the Fifth when asked about his role in efforts to overturn results of the last presidential election. 

1226. To hammer home Mr. Clark’s shame, three former top officials at DOJ, all Trump appointees, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and Steven Engel, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, testified against the sap. All three said Clark pushed claims regarding massive voter fraud that were unmoored to fact. 

 

1227. March 28: Arizona Republicans who posed as real electors in 2020, and dreamed of casting fake electoral votes for Donald J. Trump, are forced to appear before a grand jury, considering possible charges. 

Like so many other members of Team Trump, the fake electors promptly invoke their Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves. 

 

1228. Two states to the east, a judge tosses Crystal Mason’s five-year jail sentence for voting illegally in the 2016 election. Having been convicted previously of tax fraud, Mason was not eligible, but claims she was confused, and submitted a provisional ballot with the help of a poll worker. An African American woman, Mason’s sentence made headlines due to the severity. 

1229. For comparison, consider the case of Republican Brian Pritchard of Georgia, known for his election-denying fame. In the wake of the 2020 election, Pritchard howled about how ballots in his state were rigged, and only people who hated Trump, and wanted to see America overrun with pedophiles, voted illegally. 

Well, this must be embarrassing! Pritchard has been found guilty of voting illegally nine times, in the 2008 and 2010 elections. Like Mason, there’s an excellent chance Pritchard failed to understand that he was ineligible, based on a prior felony conviction in another state. Now he’s out $5,000. 

When it comes to rampant voter fraud – which the MAGA faithful believe is infecting our entire system – these are the kinds of cases we discover if we go looking. Individuals vote illegally – sometimes by mistake – and vote for both Republicans and Democrats in roughly equal numbers. 

 

“Then we have tyranny.” 

1230. March 29: After Donald Trump attacks the judge overseeing his criminal fraud trial in New York, and the judge’s daughter, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton expresses concern. “When judges are threatened, and particularly when their family is threatened,” he says, “it’s something that’s wrong and should not happen. It is very troubling because I think it is an attack on the rule of law.” 

Walton was first appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan. Now he warns,  that “any reasonable, thinking person” should be able to recognize the danger. Serious threats against judges have doubled since 2021, to 457 in 2023.

 

“The rule of law can only be maintained if we have independent judicial officers who are able to do their job and ensure that the laws are in fact enforced and that the laws are applied equally to everybody who appears in our courthouse,” Walton told CNN. He was prompted to speak out of concern for the “future of our country and the future of democracy in our country,” Walton said, “because if we don’t have a viable court system that’s able to function efficiently, then we have tyranny.” 

 

1231. Judges appointed by Republican presidents, including Donald Trump, hearing cases involving the January 6, 2021, rioters, have also questioned Trump’s description of defendants as “hostages.” 

“In my 37 years on the bench,” U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has said, “I cannot recall a time when such meritless justifications of criminal activity have gone mainstream. I have been dismayed to see distortions and outright falsehoods seep into the public consciousness.” 


Police on January 6, hold rioters at gunpoint.

 

1232. His concerns were echoed by U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan. The idea that attackers on January 6 were acting like “tourists,” or that they were “patriots,” had planted poisonous seeds in misinformed minds. “There’s a danger that is embedded now in our communities across the country,” Hogan says. “And we have to wonder where this is going to end up if that’s part of our history, this fraudulent story.” 

1233. As the Washington Post notes, “After one Jan. 6 trial last year, Walton called Trump a ‘charlatan’ who led followers into believing unfounded allegations and falsehoods, and who ‘doesn’t in my view really care about democracy but only about power. And as a result of that, it’s tearing this country apart.’” 

1234. Hogan told an audience of Georgetown Law School students that the threats against judges had increased dramatically, “I think encouraged by the prior president, unfortunately.” 

 

1235. APRIL FOOLS’ DAY: Ervin Lee Bolling, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, decides to fight for fair elections by attempting to drive through the gate at the F.B.I. Atlanta Field Office. Sadly (for him), he is stopped by a large security barrier, and crumples the whole engine compartment of his SUV. 

Good luck explaining that to your insurance agent, Mr. Bolling. And thank you for your service! 

It remains to be proven, but early evidence points to poor Bolling as:

 

1. A fan of QAnon conspiracy theories.

2. A man opposed to Covid vaccines, and vaccines, generally.

3. A fan of measles.

4. A fan of Donald J. Trump.

5. An election denier – which figures.

6. A man “looking for a good militia to join,” as he said in December 2020, so he could fight other Americans, in the hallowed name of the Orange Dumpling, President Donald J. Trump.

 

(Only one of the above is a joke – and my label “Orange Dumpling,” too.) 

 

1236. Same day: Speaking of fools: Trump White House Economic Advisor Peter Navarro is presently stewing in the slammer, after refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena – back in 2022. He’ll spend the next four months in the hoosegow; but he’s also facing a related contempt ruling, since he won’t turn over documents a judge ruled belong to the government (and might have value to investigators). 

1237. Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed Navarro’s demand that he be allowed to keep the documents until the end of time. 

(Navarro really wants to hide that evidence!) 

 

Same day: And we’re still not out of fools! Abe Hamadeh, who lost the race to become Arizona attorney general in 2022, is still fighting in court for the win. It is true: He lost by a sliver, with a recount cutting the gap separating victory from defeat in half, and Mr. Hamadeh losing by 280 votes. Kris Mayes, the Democratic candidate had 1,254,809 votes. Abe had 1,254,529. 

So, yes, that had to sting. 

1238. The problem comes when Team Hamadeh keeps going to the Arizona courts, and screaming “rigged voting,” and keeps losing every time. Now a Maricopa County judge has said enough is enough. Judge Susanna Pineda has ruled that the “will of the people” has been made clear. Hamadeh and his lawyer, Ryan Heath, are wasting the court’s time, insisting he be declared victor. 

Judge Pineda opens the door to possible sanctions. 

 

1239. And let’s not forget the Orange Dumpling, around whom all these liars revolve. Donald traveled to Wisconsin for a campaign rally today and decided to announce, “It just came out, we won Wisconsin.” Former President Trump meant he just learned he won the state in 2020. 

April Fools! He lost. He’s lying. 

Even the people Team Trump put up as fake Wisconsin electors four years ago admitted last December that Biden won the state. 

 

April 3, 2024: The blogger was reading about two rioters charged for their roles in the January 6, 2021, attack on Capitol Hill. Thomas Kasperek insisted that the election of 2020 was stolen; and there was brief mention of a recount in a 2023 race for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. I couldn’t find what I wanted about that case, but stumbled upon this, instead. In a different recount, initial voting totals in District 82, had Republican Kim Taylor squeaking by Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams, by 79 votes, out of 29,000, and winning a Virginia House seat. 

1240. A recount narrowed the gap by 25, but Adams still prevailed. So: Recounts are good. And, no, recounts do not prove that voting in this country is rigged. 



“The method and manner of the criminal enterprise.” 

1241. April 4, 2024: That sound of screaming you hear coming from the bowels of Mar-a-Lago, is Defendant Donald. 

In the Georgia election fraud case Team Trump (see list of indicted conspirators, above), had argued that First Amendment protections covered all lies told by defendants, in a vain effort to convince Georgia officials to overturn a valid state popular vote. We were just exercising “free political speech,” the conspirators alleged. 

In response to a petition to dismiss charges, Judge Scott McAfee dismantled the argument that lying in an effort to steal an election was covered under the First Amendment right to protest. 

Said the judge, who is a Republican:

 

The State [of Georgia] has alleged more than mere expressions of a political nature. Rather, the indictment charges the Defendants with knowingly and willfully making false statements to public officers and knowingly and willfully filing documents containing false statements and misrepresentations within the jurisdiction of state departments and agencies. The defense has not presented, nor is the Court able to find, any authority [emphasis added] that the speech and conduct alleged is protected political speech. 

 

1242. Okay, slap one pancake-makeup-crusted Trump cheek. Then slap the other. In the Mar-a-Lago documents case, Judge Aileen Cannon shoots down one of Trump’s dumbest defense claims. It was something about how he owned the highly classified documents he hid at Mar-a-Lago, because the Presidential Records Act – which he is accused of violating – actually protected him from prosecution. 

Trump wanted the case dismissed. Cannon said no. So far, every day in April has been April Fools’ Day for Donald Trump. 

 

1243. April 6: Two Republican congressmen, Rep. Paul Gosar and Rep. Andy Biggs, have been subpoenaed as part of an investigation into efforts to flip the Arizona electoral vote in the wake of the 2020 election. They are requested to appear before a grand jury studying the matter. 

(Even Arizona’s Republican governor in 2020, said Biden’s win was legit.) 

 

1244. April 8: Team Trump lawyers are defeated in court again, after they ask for a delay in Donald’s upcoming hush money trial. First, they argue that a change of venue is required. Then they argue that a gag order is unfair – and Trump should be able to make any kind of threats he desires. 

I’m paraphrasing, of course – but the former president has stirred up death threats against dozens of people who have crossed – or may cross him – in court. 

Today, Associate Justice Lizbeth Gonzalez, of the New York State appeals court, rejected the request for a stay. 

1245. April 9: For the second time, a judge on the New York State Court of Appeals, Associate Justice Cynthia Kern, refuses a request to delay the start of Donald Trump’s hush money trial. 

 

1246-1248. Finally! We have the bigtime proof of voter fraud that Trump fans crave! Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman must pay a fine of $1.25 million for making tens of thousands of robocalls to trick black people in the State of New York into not voting for Joe Biden last time around. That’s right, MAGA folks – these were Republican operatives up to no good. 

Nor is their defeat in a blue state proof that evil Democrats want to punish everyone decked out in red baseball caps. Wohl and Burkman have been beaten in court before. A trial in red state Ohio ended with the deceitful duo sentenced to 500 hours of community service, each, those hours to be devoted to registering real voters. Ankle bracelets, fines, and probation were meted out for good measure. 

And Burkman and Wohl have already been fined $5.1 million by the Federal Elections Commission. 

 

1249. Former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb has signed on to an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, opposing the former president’s claim that he is immune from prosecution for any crimes he might have committed while in office. No doubt the MAGA faithful will insist Cobb is part of the “Deep State;” but in days of yore he helped save Donald’s cajónes during the Mueller investigation. 

 

Donald Trump throws the unborn under the bus. 

1250. April 10, 2024: This is a segue from court news, to focus briefly on former President Trump’s latest dodge regarding abortion. 

We started this set of monster posts – in hopes of proving that no one can ever truly trust Donald Trump – with a quote from Miguel Cervantes. “Experience, which neither lies nor deceives,” he suggested, can guide us toward Truth. 

The Truth again is painfully clear. Mr. Trump has never cared about others, including the little babies of pro-lifer’s dreams. Trump now insists he is not in favor of a national ban on abortion, even at fifteen weeks, because he doesn’t actually care about the unborn. He only pretends that he does. 

What he really cares about are votes. If he thought he could regain office by supporting the use of rat meat in baby food, he would. Florida is set to implement an abortion ban at the six -week mark. Trump knows that’s a losing issue, and puts votes, not babies, first. Even worse, Arizona’s highest court has resurrected an 1864 law, written before there was even a state. That law makes it a crime, subject to two to five years in prison, to aid in an any abortion; and there are no exceptions in cases of incest or rape. 

Of course, the pro-lifers – including, supposedly, Donald himself – should be ecstatic. More babies will be saved! 

In fact, Trump is more than willing to sacrifice as many of the unborn as necessary to ensure he wins office again. 

Experience, as Cervantes explained, shows that Donald J. Trump is all about what is best for Donald J. Trump. 


Donald's one true love.

(In other words, he can’t be trusted.) 

 

1251. For context, let’s take a look at Trump’s “evolving” positions on the matter of abortion. See if you spot the trend. 

1999: Trump says, “I hate the concept of abortion. I hate it…I just believe in choice.” 

2015: Trump says, during a Republican primary debate, during his first run for office, that he has “evolved,” after a friend decided not to have an abortion, and her child turned out to be “a total superstar.” (You might get the idea Trump felt some babies mattered more than others.) 

2016: Trump promises to defund Planned Parenthood, if elected, “because I’m pro-life.” 

March 2016: Trump says there “has to be some sort of punishment” for women who have abortions, if it is made illegal. A firestorm engulfs the Orange Dumpling – and he clarifies. That is: Backs down. He says he would never favor punishing women (even though he just said he would), only the doctors who perform abortions. 

April 2016: Trump waffles again and says he opposes abortion, but the laws should stay the same. Spokesperson Hope Hicks is forced to explain. He meant “until he is President.” Trump, she says, is set on appointing judges who will “protect the unborn.” 

October 2016: Trump promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade (and he does). 

September 2020: With Trump running for a second term, Candidate Biden says abortion rights are at stake. Trump replies, “It’s not on the ballot.” 

June 2022: The court overturns Roe v. Wade. Trump tells the nation, “I delivered everything as promised.” 

Across the nation, measures to protect access to abortion pass by wide margins, even in red states like Kansas and Ohio. 

April 2023: Trump promises, if elected in 2024, to get “something done” on abortion. He says he would look at a nationwide “15-week” ban if it passed Congress. (Wait, only unborn babies after fifteen weeks deserve protection?) It is estimated that a 15-week ban would allow more than 90% of all abortions to proceed, as before. A second estimate agrees. (I  could not find an estimate from the Susan B. Anthony group, a leading organization in the anti-abortion fight.) 

September 2023: What’s Trump’s plan for banning abortion, should he be reelected? “It could be state or it could be federal,” Trump tells NBC. “I don’t frankly care.” 

(That’s right, he said, “I don’t frankly care.”) 

 

April 2024: Donald says a nationwide ban on abortion at fifteen weeks, a measure supported by Sen. Lindsey Graham, is a bad idea. Graham “is doing a great disservice to the Republican party, and our Country” by pushing such an extreme measure [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted],” Donald says. 

You know: the one he supported last year. 

“Many Good Republicans lost Elections because of this Issue,” Trump posted on Truth Social, “and people like Lindsey Graham, that are unrelenting, are handing Democrats their dream of the House, Senate, and perhaps even the Presidency.” 

(Trump definitely cares about elections!) 

(Especially the coming one: Because if he wins, he thinks he can pardon himself.) 

 

During a trip to Georgia, Donald was asked if he would sign a nationwide abortion ban if he was elected, and Congress passed it? Allow me to rephrase the question: “Well, sir, you have claimed for years that you want to protect the unborn. Now, will you do so if Congress passes a nationwide ban?” 

No,” he says. 

August 20, 2024: The former president announces that he would not use the 150-year-old Comstock Act to ban mail delivery of abortion pills if elected in November, insisting: “The federal government should have nothing to do with this issue.” 

That law, named after Anthony Comstock, also bans all “lewd or lascivious material” from the mails. 

Comstock was also opposed to masturbation. 

In any case – and stop that right now – pills are used in two-thirds of all abortions. So Donald is chickening out.

 

August 24, 2024: Appearing on “Meet the Press,” J.D. Vance says Donald has “explicitly” said he would not sign a national abortion ban, if he had a second term in office. Case closed! Too bad, babies. 

(Trump’s anti-abortion allies are apoplectic.) 

 

August 29, 2024: Trump indicates he will vote for a ballot measure to overturn Florida’s six-week abortion ban. “I think the six-week is too short; it has to be more time,” he tells a reporter. 

I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” he says. 

 

September 2024: Okay, case NOT closed. Asked during his debate with Kamala Harris, about Vance’s comments, he waffled completely. “I didn’t discuss it with JD,” he claimed. “And I don’t mind if he has a certain view. But I think he was speaking for me — but I really didn’t.” 

September 2024: Donald is forced to duck and cover once more. He says he’ll vote “no” on the Florida ballot measure. A six-week ban isn’t good, he says, but Democrats … yeah, they want abortions all the way to the ninth month. 

And even after the baby is born. 

(This is more lying, of course.) 

 

What is true is that Donald doesn’t really care about the unborn, at any stage of gestation,  and in his dark heart never did. Votes? Donald J. Trump definitely cares about those. F**k the unborn. 

 

Now: Back to court news. 

1252. April 10, 2024: Former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen H. Weisselberg is headed back to prison. This time, he’ll serve five months for perjuring himself during the Trump business fraud trial. His first stint in an orange jumpsuit involved tax fraud. 

1253. In the wake of sentencing in that case, the Trump family decided to reward him with a $2 million severance package – almost as if they might be paying Allen to keep his mouth shut. 

UPDATE: A little more digging reveals this detail: When Weisselberg left the company, he had to agree, if he wanted the package, that he would not cooperate with any law enforcement investigation unless legally required. 

(Allen’s name goes up on the Team Trump “Wall of Shame.”) 

 

1254. Team Trump lawyers filed a third motion to halt Trump’s hush money trial, scheduled to begin next week. It was the turn of Justice Ellen Gesmer to tell the president’s legal team that the show must go on. 

 

Mr. Musk brings the BS. 

1255. April 11, 2024: Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County (Arizona) Recorder, recently explained his approach to getting accurate vote totals in elections, which all Americans should crave. He’s a Republican, and said he was “somebody who will say that two plus two equals four, even if my party doesn’t want it to be four.” 

Gabriel Sterling, the Chief Operating Officer for the Georgia Secretary of State, another Republican, replied, “We need more men and women like @stephen_richer engaged in public service.” 

1256. This issue came up again, after Elon Musk posted on “X” that it was “extremely concerning” to learn that 220,731 illegal immigrants had registered to vote in Arizona this year. 

Musk was responding to a post by some “expert” who goes by the title “End Wokeness,” and posts on the internet, who cited data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to prove his point. Richer responded firmly, as if explaining how voter registration works to a four-year-old. For starters, he told Mr. Musk that in all of Arizona this year, only 60,000 new voter registrations had been filed – mostly young people turning eighteen. Even more tellingly, he noted that SSA data is not used to prove that individuals have registered to vote. 

You can read what else he said, if you care about facts. 

 

Lawsuits fail, maybe gunfire! 

1257. April 16: The good news for election denier Mike Lindell? He manages to advance a case to the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue: Did the F.B.I. have the right to snag his phone in 2022 – at a Hardee’s drive-thru, no less – as part of an investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. 

The bad news? 

The high court rejects his suit. 

 

1258. If Mike is deluded, Candidate Kari Lake, who now dreams of becoming Arizona’s next U.S. senator, is f**king crazy. Having been defeated in her race to become governor in 2022 – and having filed and lost multiple lawsuits to have herself declared victor – she has a new plan for winning a Senate seat. Standing before a rowdy, riled up audience at a campaign rally, Ms. Lake predicts grave troubles to come, should she and Donald Trump not prevail in November. 

“The next six months are going to be difficult. If you are not ready for action, and I have a feeling with as many veterans and former law enforcement, active law enforcement, you guys are ready for it,” she said. “It’s going to be a crazy run, the next six months. This is the moment we have to save our country.” 

These next six months, she continued, were “going to be intense.” Some diabolical “they” (she didn’t specify who that would be) would be coming after her and Trump and all the Trump fans. 

Then Lake outlined her victory plan: “And we need to strap on our – let’s see. What do we want to strap on? We’re going to strap on our, our seat belt,” she said, acting coy. “We’re going to put on our helmet or your Kari Lake ball cap. We are going to put on the armor of God. And maybe strap on a Glock on the side of us just in case.” 

(The “enemy” plan is to beat Lake and her crew with more votes.) 

(Polls, on October 20, 2024, show Lake trailing badly in her election bid.) 

 

1259. In other news Smartmatic settles a defamation suit against One American News, although terms are not disclosed. OAN had claimed that Smartmatic played a key role in rigging the 2020 election. 

(We can assume OAN forked out some dough.) 

 

1260. April 17: Courtroom defeats come in clusters and bunches for Trump and other members of his crime-committing team. Today, with jury selection still underway, Donald left court to complain about the way juries are selected in the State of New York – and pretty much every state in the Union. It’s almost as if the former president has no clue how the justice system works. 

Today, he whined about how his lawyers (he has at least four on his team) were limited to only ten challenges of jurors that they didn’t want seated. Prosecutors are also allowed ten. Knowing Trump, he’d probably say it was a “rigged” jury, if he got 500 challenges, and prosecutors got none. 

At any rate, both defense attorneys and prosecutors can make an unlimited number of challenges to jurors, “for cause.” 

For example, if a prospective juror said, “I personally believe Trump was chosen by God to rule America, and Joe Biden is Satan’s spawn,” the prosecutors would challenge “for cause,” and with success. 

Or, if a potential juror said, “You know, I wish Donald was dead.” Okay, challenge “for cause.” 

1261. As a number of legal experts pointed out, if defense lawyers had “unlimited” challenges, as Donald thinks his lawyers deserve, they could keep challenging jurors, until the entire population of adults in New York was exhausted, and not only the election of 2024 had passed, but also the elections of 2028, and 2032. 



BLOGGER’S NOTE: We have fallen behind on the news, because we were busy pedaling across the United States on a bicycle this summer (although we only made it from Maine to Glacier National Park, and then Kalispell, Montana. We will catch up on news as quickly as possible. 

 

The dumbest animals don’t get to lead the pack. 

Mr. Blogger returns to Cincinnati on July 26, twenty pounds lighter, after pedaling 3,200 miles.


That's right: I pedaled the Going-to-the-Sun highway in Glacier National Park.


He picks up again on his blog, and starts by going back to look at comments Nikki Haley made during the Republican primaries. Regarding Mr. Trump, she said he was no longer the same person he was in 2016. Mr. Blogger would beg to differ – he was despicable then, and he’s despicable now – but here’s what she said earlier this year. 

1262. “He is unhinged; he is more diminished than he was, just like Joe Biden’s more diminished than what he was. We have to see this for what it is. This is a fact: He is now saying things that don’t make sense.” 

(Mr. Blogger does not think this is anything new.) 

 

After the former president mocked Haley’s husband, who was serving overseas with the South Carolina National Guard, she delivered this deep cut: “The reality is – he’s never been anywhere near military uniform. He’s never had to sleep on the ground. He’s never known how to sacrifice. And the most harm he’s ever possibly had is getting hit by a golf ball when he’s sitting in a golf cart.” 

Donald, she said, was “not qualified” to be president again. 

1263. Michael Haley, her husband, seemingly responded on “X,” himself, simply noting: “The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack.” 

(Haley now says she supports Trump for a second term.)


Trump now calls Haley "Birdbrain."
She was his U.N. ambassador.


FUN FACT (IF YOU HATE IMMIGRANTS): In a post on Truth Social, we also note that Donald made a point of ignoring Ambassador Haley’s choice of names, just as he once specialized if putting emphasis on Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name. Haley is the daughter of immigrants from India, and her given first name is “Nimirata,” but she has always gone by Nikki. 

Trump thrice referred to her as the foreign sounding – but also incorrect, “Nimbra.” 

Because Donald is a dick. 

 

1264. Spencer Gear, another Trump fan, is going to jail, after he was found guilty of engaging in an eight-month campaign to threaten various individuals involved in prosecuting the former president for crimes, both alleged and now proven. At one point this threat was played in court: 



1265. John Woodbury, a Georgia man of similar ilk, has been arrested and charged for sending threats to F.B.I Director Christopher Wray. He suggests that he and his friends should put an end to their political foes, and “hang them from trees.” “Make his family fear stepping one foot outside their [expletive] door,” he adds. 


1266. May 14, 2024: We all know, if we have ears, that Donald Trump hates the judges who keep hearing cases brought by prosecutors before them. You know, after grand juries agree evidence presented merits prosecution. Search warrants to gather evidence. All that legal stuff. 

So, when Trump attacks the judges, his nutty supporters respond as you expect: As Reuters reports, they are happy to offer “solutions” to his problems online. A sampling:

 

“This judge must be arrested for treason the minute Trump is inaugurated.”

 

“Treason is a hangable offense,” one wrote.

 

“They should all be executed,” added another.

 

“Gallows!!! For traitors!!!”

 

“Judge needs a hatchet to the face.”

 

“Yep, I hope Trump has that judge hanged for Treason.”

 

“And his whore daughter.” 

“Needs to be strangled with piano wire before he makes it to the hangman.” 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: That last example strikes me as most appalling, since Hitler ordered individuals involved in a plot to assassinate him in 1944, to die in that very manner. He even ordered their hideous deaths to be filmed for his enjoyment. He also had their family members murdered. In other words, you get “Hitler talk” from Donald, and Nazi-type hatred from the very worst of his followers. 

 

1267. May 17: Dr. Eastman’s legal problems grow after he is indicted in Arizona, for his role in attempting to steal that state’s electoral votes, and hand them to Donald “Sacred Landslide” Trump. 

He has pleaded, “Not guilty.” 

Again.

 

1268. MEMORIAL DAY 2024: You can’t say Donald doesn’t respect the memory of our fallen soldiers, sailors, marines, and air personnel. Today, he wishes them the best… 

Or not:



 

If you fail to notice how often Trump uses the most dehumanizing terms to describe his enemies, you might want to do a little more reading about Adolf Hitler, the past master of the form. 

1269. May 28: Trump’s trial is wrapping up in New York – but the dolt still hasn’t figured out how the courts work. After his lawyers present their closing arguments, the prosecution offers rebuttal. 

Donny Whiner starts screaming on Truth Social:



“Very unfair?” 

Kyle Cheney, the senior legal affairs reporter for Politico posts: “Donald Trump [is] learning in real time how trial procedures work in virtually every criminal court. Prosecutors typically get a rebuttal during closings because [the] burden of proof lies with them, not [the] defense.” 

 

1270. Today, May 30, former president Donald J. Trump is convicted by a jury of his peers in his hush money case. There were 34 felony counts – and he was convicted on all 34. 

Here, we should stop to remind the MAGA faithful that Donald had the best lawyers that money could buy – assuming you wanted to hire Alina Habbab on the basis of her Botox lips and shapely breasts.

 


Habba may be hot. She's not a very good lawyer.


1271. We should also remind the faithful folks that they donated millions to the Orange Dumpling’s defense fund, which was thoughtful and sweet, and those millions were spent and not a single juror had a reasonable doubt. Not even on one of the 34 felony charges. It was unanimous, 34 times, as required in criminal cases. 

Twelve “good men and women, and true” agreed. The former President of the United States was a crook. 

This seems like piling on, kicking the Dumpling when he’s down. But we should also remind those who worship at the MAGA Temple, that two juries in two defamation cases – which were civil – also voted unanimously. In a civil case a unanimous jury is not required; but Trump spent millions more. And lost. And lost again. The first jury believed that Donald had sexually assaulted a woman and defamed his victim. Then the second jury agreed that he had defamed her again. 

Not one juror bought Trump’s defense. 

(We have counted those examples before.) 

 

1272. Meanwhile, defeated Arizona candidate for attorney general, Abe Hamadeh, has continued to file lawsuits, insisting he won. Maricopa County Judge Susanna Pineda orders Hamadeh and his lawyers to pay more than $200,000 in legal costs to defendants he has tried to sue in court.

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