I wonder if he has thought about how most kings’ reigns have ended throughout history.
I don’t understand this. He wasn’t president when he paid the hush money. Does the immunity extend to candidates for office?
The way the fucked up opinion was written, it means that anything he did in the Oval Office has to be reviewed to see if it was an “official act”. He signed some of the checks in the Oval and fake documents were ginned up to support those checks, each of which was one of the 34 counts.
So taking the ruling to its maximalist fuckery, nothing involving those checks and supporting documents can be criminal act unless and until the presumption of immunity has been broken. Oh, and you can’t use any documentary evidence or witness testimony from inside the administration either to break the immunity presumption or try the case.
So Judge Merchan is facing the possibility of having to throw out any number of the 34 convictions but, of course, Team Trump is trying to throw out the entire trial and start again.
But not just starting again from Square One, no. Starting again from Square Minus Eleventy because first Team The People has to prove - with all their arms and legs trussed up behind their backs - that writing hush money checks to a porn star to cover up an affair that would have damaged your candidacy for president might, on Earth 2, be an “official presidential act”.
Moreover, should Merchan find that Trump’s actions were not official, that then gets appealed through the New York system and presumably - because it involves a SCOTUS decision - to SCOTUS. I wonder how they would rule…
So, is the responsibility on Merchan to sort through shit, or on Trump to appeal said shit based on the logic of the SCOTUS ruling.
Also, much of the Trump circle testimony wasn’t from the period while he was in office, it was around the release of the Access Hollywood tape.
Also, while I agree that SCOTUS right is now is a hot pile of corrupted shit, I also suspect the hubris demonstrated this session will be the beginning of this court’s end.
It’s a mess. Trump now has a presumption of immunity, so he will argue that he was immune for at least some of the charges and so the whole trial has to be thrown out as the evidence of crimes for which he is immune was included and that was prejudicial.
My fear from the wording of Merchan’s order above is that he thinks this is entirely possible.
It takes 60 votes in the senate to expand the court. It takes 66 votes in the senate to convict on an impeachment charge. It takes only a majority in the House to have an impeachment hearing.
Even without the votes in the Senate, a Democratically-controlled House could drag the Trump Six into Congress for some very uncomfortable hearings. Also, the IRS should be all over the Thomases and Alitos like a rash.
I don’t think it’s an overnight thing; it’s just the beginning of the end. Also, if they get rid of the filibuster, it’s just a 50 vote threshold to expand, or term-limit, or ethics reform.
I don’t think it does a lot of good to talk about impeaching SCOTUS members, like AOC is doing, that just looks weak. Just start a conversation with the public on what qualities a fair court would have. For example, would you want to be in a divorce hearing where your ex had paid off the judge? Is that fair? Do we want judges/attorneys masking decisions on bodily autonomy, medicines, dam designs, airplane safety, etc? Why did SCOTUS allow the powerful to control politics through Citizen’s United? There’s a shitload of other issues smart people can come up with to convince people.
It will be a long educational process. My concern is that it will never happen when Biden loses, or it will be spearheaded by certain Dems that seem out of touch with the center.
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Dems need to abandon their adherence to norms and collegiality. The other side tried to have some of them murdered on Jan 6. This is asymmetrical warfare, and Congressional Dems don’t seem to realize that it’s any kind of war.
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This is absolutely radicalized bullshit to the highest degree. Stop making stuff up because you don’t like that Trump is going to win in November and that the Supreme Court is putting a stop to the weaponization of the justice department by the Soetoro team. What you are making up is extremely dangerous to say.
The idea of a long-educational process to convince people the current Supreme Court is corrupt is ludicrous. The current Republican Party has no problem playing dirty to get what they want. The Democratic Party needs to fight fire with fire. They are always reticent to do so, and that’s a big problem. There also isn’t time for a long, drawn out educational process showing the current Supreme Court is corrupt. Their rulings the last few years will have significant, damaging consequences for many years to come.
If a Democratic majority can be achieved in Congress, they need to make it a priority to figure out how to reform the current Supreme Court and change how justices are chosen along with instituting term limits through legislative action.
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Every accusation is a confession by Democrats.
I agree with your sentiment, but I have much less faith in Democrats. They aren’t leaders, they have to be pushed. If nothing else, the last week has shown us that boldness isn’t in their DNA.
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So this week we learned that:
- RFK Jr. once ate a dog and is a sex pest
- In 2004, Trump was blowing up Jeffrey Epstein’s phone
- Biden takes naps.
Guess which one is exclusionary for being president?
Biden also showers with his daughter. He also sexually harasses women. You forgot all of that. But we all know that is intentional.
Come on, it’s not about Biden napping, it’s far more. Also, merely convincing voters how bad Trump is, is just not enough. Out of 100% of voters who know how terrible Trump is, probably only 70% will cast a vote for Biden. The rest will just not vote.
I type this as that poor lady is giving a press conference and taking all the heat. That should be Biden’s job. Again, fuck him, and all those who those who are propping him up.
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Apropos of nothing…I need to know more about these things.
He was invited to the South Dakota governor’s place. I think you can figure it out from there.
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