Democrats remain terrified of Donald Trump and will continue to do their worst to keep him from the ballot, where he has beaten them before. Political assassination attempts stretch from the near-comical to the deadly serious.
The most current attempt harkens back to one of the earlier ones. A handful of lawyers discovered the 14th Amendment, hidden away in plain sight inside the Constitution, actually was designed to drive Trump from the ballot. The Amendment, Article 3, states government officials who supported insurrection against the United States were not eligible for future office. Now despite that this was written to address the question of what to do with Confederate officials following the Civil War, modern lawyers have decided: a) Trump made a speech on January 6 as part of an insurrection and so b) his name cannot appear on any state ballot. Left undiscussed is who the hell are “they” to determine J6 was an actual insurrection on scale with the Civil War and not some naughty MAGA cosplay with absolutely zero chance of altering the election results, and the fact that Article 1 of the same Amendment mentions due process, of which the current legal thinking includes none.
This all reminds of the early Trump days citing of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, basically saying a president could not accept gifts from foreign countries (full disclosure: one of the worst Emoluments violators was eighth President Martin Van Buren, no relation.) The thinking way back in 2016 was the Founders had this scenario in mind: Trump owns some foreign hotels. Foreign people stay there. Some of the foreigners were government officials. Some tiny portion of each stay went into Donald’s pocket. Shazam! He was guilty of accepting official foreign gifts and violating the Emoluments Clause.
But that was all small change; the real money on getting rid of Trump before he was even sworn in, or handicapping his administration if he took office, was Russiagate. It was all the rage in 2016 and beyond — Trump colluded with the Russians because they had a tape of him with prostitutes doing Golden Showers. Or because he wanted to build a hotel in Moscow, one or the other. There was proof everywhere and Robert Mueller’s corpse was shocked back to life to investigate it all ahead of an impeachment-lynching party. In the end the whole thing was made up. A multi-year effort involving the three-letter agencies FBI, CIA, CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS was based on tall tales from anonymous sources sifted into the zeitgeist by a former MI6 operative named Chris Steele. Oh, right, and Steele was paid entirely by the Clinton campaign.
The next swing at the piñata came from some little scab of a Lieutenant Colonel on the National Security Council, and some punks at the State Department, known as Impeachment 1.0. Using a cutout “whistleblower,” the cabal alleged Trump temporarily withheld arms from the Ukraine (before it became our 51st state under Joe Biden) until Kiev investigated and turned over the dirt on the Biden family. It turned out Trump did indeed temporarily withhold arms from the Ukraine (before it became our 51st state under Joe Biden) hoping Kiev would investigate and turn over the dirt on the Biden family. This is known as “foreign policy” or an “investigation.” Somehow the impeachment hinged on one transcripted phone call by Trump, so the evidence was not even in question, just how stupid the interpretation could be. Nothing stuck and the process failed to remove Trump from office.
After all that there was Impeachment 2.0 which had something to do with January 6, wasn’t finished until Trump had already left office, and did not matter because, significantly for the 14th Amendment crowd, Trump was not convicted of incitement or insurrection.
The broader problem is short of simply shooting Trump in the head, the guy never seems to go down. Every effort, and there were many, failed to get him off the ballot in 2016, cripple his administration, or drive him from the White House. Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020 and that should have ended the matter. Trump should have taken his seat on The View and all these efforts to depose him should have faded into political history. The specific problem is that Trump never stopped running for president, and now must finally be stopped. The plan this time is to use the judiciary to achieve what it looks like the ballot box cannot, literally locking Trump in jail in hopes that from behind bars he cannot become president. There are five current efforts.
First up is Stormy Daniels again. Somehow a partisan prosecutor in a fully Democratic district managed to squeeze 34 felony counts out of this, centered on falsifying business records, which Trump is accused of doing to cover up the hush money payments to Daniels. Now leaving aside there is nothing illegal per se about “hush money,” (people receive payments all the time as part of nondisclosure agreements) this attempt to throw Trump in jail will rely on witnesses as pristine as Stormy herself, followed by stand-up guys like Michael Cohen. If the jury is at least close to fair when seated, the case has little chance of jailing Trump.
Second in line is a civil defamation case financial judgement. Four months after a jury found that Donald Trump defamed advice columnist Jean Carroll, a judge ruled still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means an upcoming second trial will concern only how much more he has to pay her. No possibility of jail time.
Next is the so-called Mar-a-Lago documents case. This centers on the former president endangering national security by mishandling classified documents after leaving office. Additionally, the case looks at how Trump obstructed FBI efforts to take back the documents. It will delve into the minutia of the classification system, and likely invoke the Supreme Court to decide how much leeway a former president has in declassifying documents. It is no small matter, legal-issue wise, as it affects not only Trump but every president to come (Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton also unlawfully had classified documents in their possession outside of the office but we don’t seem to care much about these cases.) Classification cases cases which don’t involve major espionage or spillage are usually settled by fines, as may be this one, unless the government can make a big deal about the obstruction part. A lot depends on proving Trump knew he was doing something wrong, mens rea, a tough ask with a fella like Trump who talks pretty. The matter is unlikely to result in jail time.
The Georgia election interference case, like Impeachment 1.0, seems to hinge on a single phone call, in this instance an ambiguous request by Trump to an election official to find him some more votes. Ambiguous in the sense that one reading is Trump requesting some sort of recount, while another is he is demanding the official create votes by some nefarious means. Another case of a partisan Democratic prosecutor in a fully Democratic district showing how her predecessors once rigged trials by choosing all-white juries. The new feature here is the prosecutor has come up with not only 13 felony counts against Trump himself stemming from a single incident, but also charged 18 associates, including Rudy Giuliani (once America’s mayor, how fast the looks fade) with various crimes. The implication is one of those people will turn evidence on Trump to save their own skin. The problem is that the Georgia case did not have any successful interfering; Trump still lost the state. That means the whole thing is going to bog down in conspiracy accusations — boring — and fail to capture public attention. Trump’s lawyers are also actively seeking a change of venue to get the case to more neutral jury selection territory. If they succeed, the chances of success against Trump seem slim. A guilty conclusion with some sort of fine seems likely.
The prosecution which has the greatest potential of shaping the next part of the Trump story is also likely to be the first major case heard, in March 2024, regarding Trump’s role in the events of January 6. At stake is not only a good portion of Trump’s political future, but also very serious questions about the First Amendment. What can someone legally say and do after losing an election? Of all the charges, incitement is not on the list, though it looks in part as if Trump is being held responsible for the actions of the mob. The charges focus again on conspiracy, though this time the stakes are very high, conspiracy to defraud the United States and its voters, practically a hanging offense. The J6 mob (and Trump) had no chance of overturning the 2020 election, so in some ways conspiracy is a thin thread to suspend the whole affair from. On the other hand, it may be easy to prove, especially if Mike Pence or another senior official turned evidence in their depositions and testified against Trump. The seriousness of the matter points towards jail time, as has been the case with all the other J6 defendants. It may not be the future of our democracy at stake, but it is certainly a good shot at the future of Donald Trump if the prosecution can wrap things up before the election.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
“Democrats remain terrified of Donald Trump and will continue to do their worst to keep him from the ballot, where he has beaten them before. Political assassination attempts stretch from the near-comical to the deadly serious.”
Terrified? Keep him off the ballot? Apparently, Peter has been brainwashed by the Fox Propaganda Network. In is in the interest of the Dems to wound, not assassinate, the old horse-face. The strategy is to Increase the criminal charges to slow Trump down to the finish line. Trump slowly coming apart down the stretch is a drag on the entire GOP chances in 2024, just as the has-been has been the past four years. Even old Murdock and the WSJ wont bet on him.. Watching his recent unglued performance in Iowa, it is obvious Trump is ready for the glue factory. If the Repugs want to win, perhaps they should put Trump down. They shoot horses, don’t they?
Speaking of assassination, Presidense Bonespurs is shooting his big mouth off…again:
“_______who led perhaps the most embarrassing moment in American history with his grossly incompetent implementation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, costing many lives, leaving behind hundreds of American citizens, and handing over BILLIONS of dollars of the finest military equipment ever made, will be leaving the military next week. This will be a time for all citizens of the USA to celebrate! This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! “
Shazam!
Thank you for that one Peter. Always enjoy your work.
Apparently, Peter is not terrified of another four years of Demented. One has to wonder if he ever meant well.
Did Demented shoot himself as he violated the very same one that the feds used to indict President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter?
The federal law that restricts how someone may buy or sell firearms is 18 U.S. Code § 922. Demented violated the law in buying a gun from a licensed dealer. He must fill out ATF Form 4473, which asks: “Are you under indictment or information in any court for a felony, or any other crime for which the judge could imprison you for more than one year, or are you a current member of the military who has been charged with violation(s) of the Uniform Code of Military?” Answer “yes,” and no gun shop can legally sell you a gun.
Demented who is facing criminal charges across the eastern seaboard, would have to answer in the affirmative.
He can’t take the Fifth. So the person he shot on Fifth was himself.
“Punishment by DEATH” has always been the Trump Cult end game. While Repugs refuse to compare the Trump MAGA cult with Jim Jones, who ended his cult in a jungle, I AGREE. JONES WAS A SMALL TIME CULT KILLER.
NPR examined COVID deaths per 100,000 people in roughly 3,000 counties across the U.S. from May 2021, the point at which most Americans could find a vaccine if they wanted one. Those living in counties that voted 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.26 times the death rate of those that went by the same margin for Biden. Counties with a higher share of Trump votes had even higher mortality rates.
The scale of the preventable loss of life is staggering. According to a recent analysis by Brown University, nearly 320,000 lives nationwide could have been saved if more people had chosen to get vaccinated. The Brown analysis also shows a partisan split in how those preventable deaths are distributed. States that went most heavily for Trump – including Wyoming and West Virginia – have among the highest rates of preventable deaths, while states that voted heavily for Biden – such as Massachusetts and Vermont – had among the lowest.
Give Jones some credit. He killed himself for his delusions. Trump would never do that.
PvB panders to the Proud Boy crowd, which is obsessed with sex and violence (Under the heading “No wanks,” the PB rules decree that Proud Boys may only ejaculate by themselves once every 30 days. They are allowed to masturbate more often than that, so long as they are within one yard of a woman who has consented to the emission and is not a prostitute. Hello, Mel Tucker! They’re cautioned that phone or video sex is not a suitable substitute. Violators will be spanked severely.)
So I will be rating PvB articles on the Sex Violence content.
This article rates a 10!
Peter ignored the most damaging prosecution of the Great Exaggerator, the one that threatens to take his exaggerated fortune. Getting fined $250 million and losing his ability to work in New York again will be the fatal headshot. His followers were blinded by his exaggerated great wealth. The fake emperor has no clothes…other than his orange prison jumpsuit.
Maybe Trump is unstoppable. He’ll have one term and then that will be the end of him. He can’t change the rules unless the Democrats allow him to. They’ll be thwarting him for four years. His zealots will never be a majority. It may not be as awful as you think if Trump wins in 2024. I worry more about some doofus VP who is a religious nut.
JP,
If DEMENTED serves another four years in the Whore House rather than 10 to 20 years in the Big House, all bets are off. The guy is a pathological lunatic who would burn the world if he thought it could save his pathetic life.
Both parties seem annoyed at having to operate within a mandated democratic operational blueprint.
George Bush said being a dictator would make things easier for him. Plenty of Democrat politicians agree. Trump’s tactics are just more bold and transgressive than say Obama’s ambition constraints.
JP,
Guess you haven’t been watching the news since 1964. There are no “Democratic constraints” to prevent wannabe dictators from starting illegal wars. The MIC owns the MSM which lies to the people. Ignorance dictates our war policy.
While Milley says the military is loyal to the Constitution, most dumbass American are as dumb as Trump and couldn’t write two sentences about it. If the Constitution was truthful, it should begin, WE, THE IGNORANT PEOPLE.
“Political assassination attempts stretch from the near-comical to the deadly serious.”
Trump’s recent comment considering suicide by electrocution rather than be eaten by sharks (read: DOJ) surrounding his sinking ship is both comical and serious. The question remains where he would kill himself. His business is in the toilet, where he committed the crime of hiding tiptop secret documents, and his future is in the cemetery, where he committed the unforgivable crime ridiculing our military heroes. He is deadman walking either way. And anyone who would vote for this scumbag is brain dead too.
Saw this on Trump TruthSocialist today:
Trump has promised if he is re-elected that he will change the name of Arlington National Cemetery to Losers and Suckers National Landfill.