DocMack's Politics Thread

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Donald Trump is planning an assault on the American justice system should he win re-election to the White House, in which he would seek to destroy the independence of the justice department and turn it into an attack machine for his Make American great again (Maga) movement.

At the heart of his plans is the desire to impose his will on the individual prosecutorial decisions taken by the Department of Justice. The move, if successful, would end half a century of accepted practice that prevents presidents from politically interfering with specific cases.

It would allow Trump in his second term to eradicate the federal prosecutions currently being pursued against him as well as against insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 whom he has championed as “hostages”. It would also free him to instigate legal investigations as acts of revenge against his perceived political enemies, including Joe Biden and family.

“I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” Trump said last year.

No evidence has been presented linking Biden to any crime, though his son Hunter Biden did go on trial on Monday accused of falsifying a firearms license application.

Trump repeated the threat that he use the justice system to go after his opponents on Tuesday, telling Newsmax that the prosecutions against him had set a “terrible precedent” that he implied he would turn against Democrats should he win in November. “It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s gonna have to happen to them.”

In his first White House term, Trump made clear that he aspired to total control of the DoJ. He failed in that attempt, largely because of the resistance of top justice officials.

Trump’s determination to overcome the norm is now much more advanced than it was four years ago. His disdain for the fundamental building blocks of the justice system was on full display following his New York conviction last week on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up an affair with the adult actor Stormy Daniels.

In comments widely echoed by senior Republicans, Trump denounced the trial as “rigged” – an echo of his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

“His message is that whenever anything comes out in a way that isn’t positive for me, it’s illegitimate,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a law professor at New York Law School. “If people start to believe that, then really, you don’t have any rule of law.”

Independence and impartiality were baked into the justice department in the wake of Richard Nixon’s abuses in the 1970s Watergate scandal, ensuring that while presidents can appoint the attorney general who heads the DoJ, as well as set general law enforcement priorities, they cannot influence individual cases.

That norm has held steady for 50 years, but it remains vulnerable to attack. Roiphe co-authored a study into whether presidents can control the justice department, concluding that while DoJ independence has become a cornerstone of American democracy, it is not so secure that “it couldn’t be dismantled by a president who was firmly committed to doing so”.

Trump allies have been busy in recent months in laying down legal arguments for why he should be permitted to wield absolute power over federal legal decisions. The most significant work has been done by Jeff Clark on behalf of the Center for Renewing America, the rightwing thinktank led by Russ Vought.

Vought, Trump’s former budget director, is considered a contender for White House chief of staff in a second term. He is a central participant in Project 2025, a mammoth effort by a coalition of rightwing groups to prepare a blueprint for a renewed Trump presidency.

In an article titled “The US Justice Department Is Not Independent”, Clark argues that the practice of avoiding direct contact between the White House and the attorney general that has pertained since the Carter administration must be swept away. “Under the constitutional system as it stands, DoJ independence does not exist,” he wrote.

This quasi legal doctrine has been dubbed the “unitary executive theory”, signifying the sole power of the president over all federal government affairs.

Clark was at the center of Trump’s most egregious attempt to seize control of DoJ decision-making during his first term. In January 2021, at the climax of the “stop the steal” campaign, Trump tried to make Clark acting attorney general in place of Jeffrey Rosen who was refusing to play along with his election denial conspiracy.

Clark, a relatively unknown justice official, was only stopped after several senior DoJ officials threatened to resign.

He has written the roadmap that would allow Trump to demand a halt to the federal prosecution for his role in January 6 in which Clark himself is an unnamed co-conspirator.

As Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief White House strategist, put it on his War Room podcast, the DoJ would be purged and restructured to “get rid of lots of personnel”.

A key early move would be choosing an attorney general open to the idea of the unitary executive theory. Problems with senate confirmation, which is designed as a check on presidential power, could be overcome at least in the short term by appointing an acting attorney general who can operate without congressional approval.

Early moves on the part of the new attorney general would include dismissing the current special counsel Jack Smith. That in turn would pave the way for the termination of Smith’s two federal prosecutions against Trump – the January 6 case and the charges relating to Trump’s hoarding of confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The former president has also proposed forming a taskforce to review the cases of what he has called “every political prisoner who has been unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration”. The trawl would likely be directed at pardoning January 6 rioters.

Trump has indicated that he would deploy prosecutorial powers against Democratic foes, but he also has Republicans in his sights. The Washington Post reported that in private he has expressed a desire for revenge even against leading figures in his first administration who have since become critics. They include his former chief of staff John Kelly, former attorney general Bill Barr and ex-attorney Ty Cobb.

Roiphe said that the structure of the criminal justice system, including grand juries and trial procedures, would stand in the way of any attempt to prosecute innocent people. But she warned of the possible corrosion of faith in the system that could ensue, with potentially dire long-term consequences.

“That’s what happens in authoritarian states – there is a semblance of a legal system, but it becomes useless,” she said. “If that happens here it would be extremely troubling. We’re not there yet. But I do think a second term could cause significant damage that may or may not be permanent.”


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/arti...department

[DocMack]

By Dean Minnich


For some time, I’ve been keeping this to myself, but I have to say it: The people at the top of Donald J. Trump’s MAGA Inc. are insulting Americans’ intelligence and risking the credibility of the party to lead.

Abraham Lincoln said, “If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never again regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”

Think about this for a moment: Republican Senate candidate and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said last week when the jury was considering the evidence against the former president on charges of 34 counts of fraudulent records, “Regardless of the results, I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process.”

I thought that was a classy and adult display of fairness, in contrast to recent muck-wading.

The response from the Republican National Committee’s co-chair, Lara Trump (it’s a family business, now), “ As the RNC co-chair, I think he should have never said something like that. He doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point.”

Why not? Isn’t the rule of law the clarion call of the G-Maga-OP? Justice, law and order, the constitution, fairness?

Others joined the MAGA chorus — I hesitate to use the term Republicans because I don’t like to associate all of them with those who blindly follow Pied Pipers of cult. I was a Republican for 40 years because I share the values of personal responsibility, the rule of law and not loyalty to a king, democracy and representational government instead of chaos by committee, where everybody gets a trophy (or a government job).

But when I ran for public office, I learned that one is supposed to pay dues before they can seek office. Earn favors, prove loyalty not to the public at large, but to the party. It made me more determined to be non-partisan if elected. And I was.

Some Republicans — especially the most zealous party-liners, dismissed me as a RINO —  Republican in Name Only.

I wore it as a badge of honor.

There was nothing in the oath of office Hogan took as governor to require him to serve only the Republican Party. Same with the oaths for county commissioner, or anyone sworn in as a mayor, town council member, delegate or state senator.

Federal candidates have become more and more marginalized over the past 20 years or so. Good, reasonable centrists who might lean a little to the liberal side, or to the conservative side, have been targeted by overly zealous partisans — mostly on the right — as demons.

Ironically, the same GOP soldiers who took up the sword and shields of Christian Soldiers against society’s slide into debauchery dedicate themselves to supporting liars, cheats, womanizers, warmongers and felons, in the name of God.

Fans of the MAGA candidate complain of the dangerous decline of law and order, but when asked what they’ll do if Trump is defeated at the polls or winds up being sentenced to prison, they wave war flags or allude to slogans that translate into a call for armed revolution.

So much for the constitutional construction of orderly succession of a government that can change without armed revolt.

Honorable and able Republicans, lawmakers and voters, are beginning to stand up to the MAGA radicals. Others are leaving, most choosing to register as independents, but are speaking out, as I did.


https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/08/...ommentary/

[DocMack]

[DocMack]

Trump Media stock is once again slumping.

Donald Trump’s social media venture reaudited its finances and filed them with the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday, confirming that the company had a whopping net loss of $58.2 million in 2023. As a result, Trump Media shares dropped more than 6 percent Monday afternoon.

The company had to change auditors last month after its previous firm, BF Borgers, was charged with “massive fraud” and subsequently barred from ever serving as accountants again.

“As a result of [BF Borgers’] fraudulent conduct, they not only put investors and markets at risk by causing public companies to incorporate noncompliant audits and reviews into more than 1,500 filings with the Commission, but also undermined trust and confidence in our markets,” Gurbir S. Grewal, the director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said at the time, calling the firm a “sham audit mill.”

Trump Media executives have reached out to the SEC to see why the company’s stock is performing so poorly, and its CEO, former Representative Devin Nunes, complained in April to Nasdaq’s CEO that the company was the victim of illegal “naked short selling.” In response, he was brutally mocked on Wall Street.

It’s the latest piece of bad news for what was expected to be a cash cow for Trump. The company reported a staggering $327.6 million loss last quarter, and only brought in $770,500 in revenue. The company is trading at just $42 per share, much less than the $72 it was trading at in March after its initial public offering. Trump can’t brag his way out of his media company’s issues, either: The SEC could see it as an illegal attempt to pump up Trump Media stock. And even if he could get away with it, he still can’t sell off any of that stock for six months without board approval, a difficult prospect considering his hefty legal bills.


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-med...47736.html

[DocMack]

[DocMack]

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[DocMack]

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Trump Compares Himself to Jesus Christ – Again


Donald Trump took to Truth Social to once again compare himself to Jesus Christ as he complained about the criminal and civil cases against him, which he views as politically motivated persecution.

On Monday, Mr Trump claimed that he received a message stating: “It’s ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you.”

“Beautiful, thank you!” Mr Trump responded, seemingly moved by the message that his $464m fine for decades of financial fraud is on the same level as the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fine stems from a civil case in which New York State prosecuted Mr Trump for inflating the value of his assets to get better deals on loans and insurance.

Mr Trump’s Truth Social post came as he was in court for a hearing in the hush money case involving adult actor Stormy Daniels. Mr Trump faces dozens of counts of business fraud for allegedly filing a hush money payment as legal expenses after he directed his then-fixer Michael Cohen to pay Ms Daniels $130,000 to stay silent about an alleged 2006 affair during the final stretches of the 2016 campaign. Mr Trump has rejected all notions of wrongdoing and has been attempting to delay all the cases against him. The start of the hush money trial has now been set for 15 April.

The supposed sender of the message also included a verse saying, “They have also surrounded me with words of hatred – and fought against me without a cause – In return for my love they are my accusers ... let an accuser stand at his right hand – when he is judged – let him be found guilty – and let his prayer become sin – let his days be few – and let another take his office”.

It was unclear if Mr Trump believed that the last line was intended to refer to President Joe Biden, but the former president has repeatedly claimed that he’s being prosecuted because he’s standing in the way of the authorities going after his supporters.

The message Mr Trump shared said, “Thank you again for taking the arrows intended for us”.

The verse shared was Psalm 109, which members of the Christian right have been using as a rallying cry since at least the early days of the Obama presidency, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

“The verse immediately following the psalm referenced is a bit more ominous: ‘Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow’,” the outlet noted in November 2009, less than a year into president Barack Obama’s time in office.

Deborah Lauter, the then-director of civil rights at the Anti-Defamation League, told The Monitor at the time that “the problem is you don’t know if people who are donning that message in a shirt or on a bumper sticker are fully aware of the quote or what follows. Obviously, that message makes the ambiguity disappear”.

“If they’re just referring to him being out of office, that’s one thing. If they’re referring to him being dead, that’s so offensive. It’s protected speech, but it’s clearly offensive,” she added.

Robert Reich, who served as Bill Clinton’s labour secretary, wrote on X that “Donald Trump is starting the week by comparing himself to Jesus. Whether he has an [actual] messiah complex or is just conning his supporters, he’s playing to a growing GOP faction that wants America to be [a] white Christian Nationalist state, with Donald Trump as a divine ruler”.

The Biden campaign also issued a statement slamming Mr Trump, calling him “weak and desperate both as a man and a candidate”.

“He spent the weekend golfing, the morning comparing himself to Jesus, and the afternoon lying about having money he definitely doesn't have,” the campaign said.


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world...18772.html