Karen F. Agnifilo: 'Donald Trump NY CRIMINAL Case Becomes MORE URGENT After Latest News'

Source:Meidas Touch- left to right: Manhattan, NY District Attorney Alvin Bragg & Defendant Don.

"Former Prosecutor and Legal AF Host, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, reports on the Supreme Court’s decision to hear Trump’s appeal on Presidential Immunity and explains why all eyes now turn to the Manhattan DA Hush Money case." 

From the Meidas Touch

"Each count for which Trump is convicted could result in a prison sentence of up to four years, to be served consecutively, or the judge could impose no prison sentence.[114] A conviction would not legally prohibit Trump from continuing his campaign in the 2024 presidential election, nor would he be forbidden from assuming presidency should he win, even if he were in prison.[115] Trump stated in an April 2023 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson that he would not drop his candidacy in the 2024 U.S. presidential election if he is convicted." 

From Wikipedia

I mostly agree with what Karen Friedman Agnifilso is saying here. But before I get into that, I just want to say something on behalf of The New Democrat. 

Myself and my colleague Fred Schneider both predicted on The New Democrat this year, that the Supreme Court wouldn't just deny Donald Trump's bogus (to be kind) presidential immunity claim but that the Supreme Court wouldn't even take that case. We would've talked about this yesterday, or one of us would have, but the story didn't break to after 5PM. And we wanted to get more information on this story before we tried to put something on this blog.

Now again, I'm not a lawyer and if you are getting tired of hearing us say this, then we're getting through. I don't see how the Washington trial gets started and finished before election day. But, I still think that by August, or perhaps September, we could at least see the discovery portion of this trial of this case take place and we can see a lot of what Special Counsel Jack Smith and company have on Donald Trump in this case. Which is something that voters would be able to consider in deciding who to vote for during the election. And perhaps even the trial started. But the 2nd part is a bigger long shot.

So this is where I completely agree with Karen Agnifilo: Manhattan is now front and center. District Attorney Alvin Bragg has 34 felony counts against Donald J. Trump. Yes, this is the smallest and least important case against Donald Trump. But imagine a career mobster who has 4 separate felony cases against him, with a tone of solid evidence against him. And the crime that's the least important against him, is an arson charge, where he's charged with blowing up the offices of one his competitors, or something. But he's also being charged with murder 1 or murder 2, rape, and being the lead conspirator of a bank robbery. That's the world that Donald J. Trump now lives in. 

If Donald Trump is just convicted of one the charges that Alvin Bragg has against him, he's a convicted felon. Unless he wins that case on appeal, which might not be until a year later from after he's convicted. But, any felony convictions after the 1st one, makes Donald Trump a serial felon, who thinks that he's above the law, whose also running for President of the United States. I don't see how that helps him, plus with all the evidence against him, not just in Manhattan, but in Washington as well, during the election. 

You don't see a lot of Independents rallying for career criminals to be President of the United States. Show me the people who are saying: "You know what, we need more criminals in our government, just to shake things up." Because most Americans tend to not just believe in the rule of law, but the rule of law for everybody. And that includes not just the current President of the United States, but former President's as well. 

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Library of Congress: 'The Dewey Story'

Source:Library of Congress with a short bio of Governor Thomas E. Dewey (Republican, New York)

"Summary: "The story of the career of Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Includes scenes taken from his private and political life and concludes with his nomination for president in 1948"--Summary from title card. Made for the Republican National Committee. " 

From the Library of Congress

"Remembered as "an odd mix, a pay-as-you-go liberal and a compassionate conservative"[49] and usually regarded as an honest and highly effective governor, Dewey doubled state aid to education, increased salaries for state employees and still reduced the state's debt by over $100 million. He referred to his program as "pay-as-you-go liberalism  ... government can be progressive and solvent at the same time."[50] Additionally he put through the Ives-Quinn Act of 1945, the first state law in the country that prohibited racial discrimination in employment. As governor, Dewey signed legislation that created the State University of New York. Shortly after becoming governor in 1943, Dewey learned that some state workers and teachers were being paid only $900 a year, leading him to give "hefty raises, some as high as 150%" to state workers and teachers.[51]

Dewey played a leading role in securing support and funding for the New York State Thruway, which was eventually named in his honor.[52] Dewey also streamlined and consolidated many state agencies to make them more efficient.[53] During the Second World War construction in New York was limited, which allowed Dewey to create a $623 million budget surplus, which he placed into his "Postwar Reconstruction Fund." The fund would eventually create 14,000 new beds in the state's mental health system, provide public housing for 30,000 families, allow for the reforestation of 34 million trees, create a water pollution program, provide slum clearance, and pay for a "model veterans' program."[51] His governorship was also "friendlier by far than his [Democratic] predecessors to the private sector", as Dewey created a state Department of Commerce to "lure new businesses and tourists to the Empire State, ease the shift from wartime boom, and steer small businessmen, in particular, through the maze of federal regulation and restriction."[37] Between 1945 and 1948, 135,000 new businesses were started in New York.[37]

Dewey supported the decision of the New York legislature to end state funding for child care centers, which were established during the war.[54] The child care centers allowed mothers to participate in wartime industries. The state was forced to provide funding for local communities that could not obtain money under the Lanham Act.[55] Although working mothers, helped by various civic and social groups, fought to retain funding, federal support for child care facilities was considered temporary and ended on March 1, 1946.[56] New York state aid to child care ended on January 1, 1948.[55] When protesters asked Dewey to keep the child care centers open, he called them "Communists."[54]

He also strongly supported the death penalty. During his twelve years as governor, more than ninety people were electrocuted under New York authority. Among these were several of the mob-affiliated hitmen belonging to the murder-for-hire group Murder, Inc., which was headed up by major mob leaders Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Albert Anastasia. Buchalter himself went to the chair in 1944." 

From Wikipedia

I think to understand someone like Tom Dewey's politics, you also have to understand the politics of the Republican Party back in the 1940s and 50s. And not just in New York, but the entire country as well. 

In Tom Dewey's time, being a Republican was about being in favor of the rule of law, strong national security, strong economy that benefited both workers and management, the U.S. Constitution, equal rights, equal justice, individual rights for everyone. That was what the Republican Party by en-large, before Richard Nixon's silent majority movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, that was made up of Dixiecrat Democrats who moved into the Republican Party in the 1960s and 70s. 

In Tom Dewey's time, the Republican Party had a conservative wing that believed in conserving our form of government, our Constitution, national security, the American way of life for everyone. But it wasn't an authoritarian wing who believes the U.S. Constitution is outdated and that not every American in equal, or that not every group in America is equal. 

And this is going to sound as strange as sunbathers spotted in the North Pole, or people spotted going ice fishing in the desert or something, but the Republican Party also had a progressive wing that believed in the same values as the Conservative Republicans. But that government could be used to help create progress. But that if had to be efficient. And that the best government especially as it related to safety net and social policies, was the government that was closest to home. Which is where Tom Dewey fitted in to what today would be called a Progressive and perhaps even a Liberal Republican. 

And when I say Progressive or Liberal, even in a Republican sense, I'm not talking about left-wing, revolutionary, hipsters, who want to change the world and try to eliminate everything that actually makes America great. And try to replace the American form of government with some type of socialist state. Those are actually the false stereotypes of what it means to be a Liberal or Progressive. 

Progressive or even Liberal in the Republican sense, still sounds pretty conservative. Government should conserve, government should move cautiously when it comes to reform, government should be fiscally responsible, which means pay as you go. And when government helps people, it helps them get on their feet and expects people to do as much for themselves as they can. 

That's the kind of Republican that Tom Dewey was, along with Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Rockefeller, even Richard Nixon, at least on national security, foreign, and even economic policy, and even George H.W. Bush, at least when he was in the House of Representatives in the late 1960s and even as President. Today, Senator Mitt Romney fits in that wing of the old Republican Party. But the Progressives are obviously not what's called the Republican Party today. 

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Michael Popok: 'Donald Trump CAN’T AFFORD to Pay MASSIVE DEBT, ADMITS He Is BROKE'

Source:Meidas Touch- left to right: New York State Judge Arthur Engoron & Defendant Don.

"Trump is so out of cash that his lawyer’s just had to admit in court filings that in order to come up with the over $500 million needed to stop enforcement of the NYAG civil fraud judgment he has to “sell assets” and “raise capital” and only has 25 percent of it now to put up in cash. Michael Popok explains what happens next when an emergency Justice of the appellate court decides today whether Trump should get a stay without posting ALL the money." 

From the Meidas Touch

As I wrote about this on Monday: 

"No offense to Ben Meiselas's statement here, but I think NY Attorney General Letitia James statement here is the key. I don't believe she would make a statement like that, if she were expecting Donald Trump to be able to come up with the cash, or has the cash, to even come up with the bond that he has to have first, to even be eligible for 450 plus and growing, million dollar judgement against him in New York State. 

The reason why I say this, is because the NY Attorney General probably not only has Mr. Trump's business records and his Trump Organization's business records, but she probably also has his personal financial records as well. She knows how much money this man is worth. And I''m not just talking about how much he's personally worth. Not his properties, but how much money Donald J. Trump has in his personal bank accounts. 

So it would be very foolish on Attorney General James part, to say that she's ready to start seizing Trump properties, to pay off the judgement against him, if she believed that he could personally financially do this. She's too good of a lawyer for that to make such a foolish statement like that. Mr. Trump, hasn't even posted a bond in the E. Jean Carrol case, which is 83 million. That's a lot money as well, but it's not even a 5th of what he owes New York State. 

So the bottomline here, is Donald Trump has 25 days to come with 450 million, perhaps 500 million by then, or he goes bankrupt, just as he's trying to run for President again, just as he's facing two felony convictions, in separate jurisdictions, by the end of this summer." 

From The New Democrat

To sum this up really quickly: Donald Trump is not only not a billionaire, but he's a fraud. We've known (well, at least anyone whose not confined to the national mental institution known as MAGA) for at least 10 years that Donald Trump is a fraud: 

Donald Trump's own personal creation, his own personal piggy bank, also known as Trump University, was sued out of business right before he ran for President the 1st time back in 2015 (before this seemingly, never-ending, long national nightmare, known as Trumpism, invaded America) 

and of course his own presidency and all the ridiculous, out in far-right field promises that he made to everyone, that he thought might vote for him, like the border wall, and claiming that Mexico would pay for it 

the self-proclaimed King of Debt, claiming that he would pay off the national debt, before his presidency was over, etc.

But, thanks to New York Attorney General Letitia James, now America (except for the national mental institution, as well as idiots convention, known as MAGA) knows that Donald Trump is not only not a billionaire, but perhaps the world's biggest fraud as well. 

America simply can't risk anyone like Donald Trump, ever getting to The White House even on a tour, let alone becoming President of the United States again.  It's the obligation of every true American patriot, who loves America, who loves American liberal democracy, to do everything that they can within the law, as well as being true to themselves and true to the country, to make sure that Donald Trump and his MAGA cult, never get any real power in America again. 

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The Lincoln Project: CPAC 2024 in 120 Seconds

Source:The Lincoln Project- U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (Republican, New York) was one of the original Never-Trumpers, at least in the House, before she decided she want to be Vice President of the United States. 

"The Lincoln Project is a leading pro-democracy organization in the United States — dedicated to the preservation, protection, and defense of democracy. Our fight against Trumpism is only beginning. We must combat these forces everywhere and at all times — our democracy depends on it." 

From The Lincoln Project

I already talked about what I think of CPAC (which actually stands for Crazy People At a Convention) last Friday. But here it is again, for anyone who wants to see it. 

Former U.S. Representative Charlie Dent (Republican, Pennsylvania) talking to Brianna Keilar and John Berman on CNN:

“CPAC has always been an odd gathering. But now it’s been taken over by radicals, anti-vaxers. It’s a land of misfits, toys, it’s a political freaks show. It’s the Star Wars bar, it’s bizarre… Serious people are not showing up to this thing. They had their stupid straw poll, its rank choice now. They’re not serious and one doesn’t know if they should laugh or they should cry about what they’re watching and witnessing at these CPAC gatherings.”

I’m well aware that CPAC stands for: “Conservative Political Action Conference”, but come on, is this really a conservative event anymore?" 

You can see the rest of this post on The New Democrat

I guess another good way to describe Crazy People At A Convention, (also known as CPAC) is with a hypothetical: 

Imagine if there were let's say 100, maybe a 1,000 people, whoever showed up at CPAC last weekend, who not just got our prison, perhaps a mental hospital, but just got out of solitary confinement either in prison, or at a secure forensic hospital, (which is a prison for mentally ill criminals) and they've been institutionalized for a very longtime and perhaps were just released because of prison overcrowding.

So now these folks our out of the institution, they've been out of society for a very longtime, the world even in real life, doesn't look the way it did lets's say 20-30 years ago, before they were institutionalized.

So now you have all these career criminals and career mental patients, who decide to invade Washington, for let's say their annual get together. That's what CPAC looks like, at least in a political sense. You have a lot of people there who look and act like they're from not even the 1950s, but perhaps even in the 1920s, and still think that's what America is culturally, ethnically, racially, religiously. And they just get out of the institution and see this new country that's also called America and feel the need to fight back and "take back America" and return America to the "real Americans" as they see themselves. 

MAGA doesn't live in the same country as everyone else. This is not the Conservative Political Action Conference. This is as one of the CPAC speakers said Jack Posobiec, this is a movement that wants to not end American democracy, but American liberal democracy and replace it with some type of Christian Nationalist government, where life for Americans who aren't Northern European, who aren't Protestant, who aren't male, would very different from the way it is today. 

To the outside world, MAGA looks like a bunch of escaped mental patients. The problem is, they're big enough, they're crazy enough, they're violent enough, to take down the American form of government and all our individual rights, if the real American patriots don't stand up, fight back, and prevent these folks from ever getting any real power in this country.

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Jesse Dollemore: 'Kenneth Chesebro LIED TO PROSECUTORS To Hide His Conspiracy With Donald Trump!!!'

Source:Jesse Dollemore talking about MAGA Georgia lawyer Kenneth Chesebro.

"Jesse talks about Kenneth Chesebro and his plea deal that is now possibly in jeopardy after it's been revealed that he lied to investigators and prosecutors about his social media usage." 

From Jesse Dollemore

"As Mr. Popok mentioned, it's not just the State of New York, or the U.S. Department of Justice, or Fulton County, Georgia, where Donald Trump is in current legal jeopardy, but the other states where he and his wannabe Keystone Cops crew tried to interfere in their 2020 presidential elections, simply to declare Donald Trump the winner, instead of Joe Biden, who democratically and legally won the 2020 presidential election, not Donald Trump." 

From The New Democrat 

"Kenneth Chesebro is a co-defendant in the Fulton County, Georgia, election overturning case, that's being prosecuted by District Attorney Fani Willis. But he's a cooperating co-defendant, which means he pleaded guilty to a felon here in Georgia, in exchange for a lighter sentence, that probably keeps him out of prison. 

But to stay out of prison, Ken Chesebro has to spill the beans, (to use an old cliche) he has to let the dogs out (to use a more modern phrase) and tell Fulton County DA everything that he knows about his involvement, in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election and just automatically declare Donald J. Trump as the winner of the 2020 presidential election." 

From The New Democrat

I only mention a few paragraphs from my two previous posts about Kenneth Chesebro from 2023, because I know there are insomniacs who read The New Democrat and I want to help them get some sleep. No, seriously, I'm a recovering insomniac myself and I'm up late on a regular basis talking about The New Democrat with my fellow readers of this blog, so we can get some sleep. Actually, there's another reason why I mentioned a few paragraphs from my previous posts about Ken Chesebro. 

I'm going to give you a hypothetical. Imagine being caught shoplifting at a department store and instead of security there turning you into the police, they let you go, as long as you promise to never steal from that store again and put the stuff back that you tried to steal. So now you have a stay out of jail free card. So what do you do with that? 

Well, if you are Mr. Chesebro or perhaps some kleptomaniac, you rip up your stay out of jail free card and go to the next store next door, perhaps thinking the security there is not as good and you can get way with it. But guess what, they have security as well to and catch you as you are walking out the door because the security alarm goes off. Or they're simply not blind and just happened to notice one of the things that you were trying to steal, falling out of your jacket. And grab you right away. 

That's who Ken Chesebro is right now. The political kleptomaniac, who was caught redhanded trying to steal a presidential election. Who was not just given a stay out of jail card, by the Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney, but a chance to keep his law license as well. And what does he do with that stay out jail free card? I'll give you a big clue: he doesn't say something like: "Geez, that was too close. If it wasn't for those kind security officers, I might be eating a week's old baloney sandwich, in a jail cell, for dinner tonight. I've learned my lesson about stealing." Instead, he rips that up and gets caught lying under oath about his past Twitter account, trying to hide his MAGA tweets about trying to overthrow the 2020 presidential election, in favor of then President Donald J. Trump.

So now it's not just Mr. Chesebro's law license that is at risk, but his personal freedom as well. Imagine the balls of this guy (to be frank) that he thinks he could openly perjure himself, thinking that the prosecutors and the police detectives on this case, would never bother to to track what he said under oath. Or that journalists who've been following this case on day one, like from CNN and other news organizations would just automatically take your word and never track what you said either. 

Ken Chesebro must have thought he was main speaker at an idiots conventions, thinking they would believe he was Jesus Christ, if he told this audience that. Which is not that different from how the rest of MAGA thinks of Donald Trump.

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Harry Litman: 'Donald Trump DESPERATE To Avoid $454 Million Fine, FILES APPEAL'

Source:Harry Litman talking about Defendant Don.

"Only a few days after Justice Arthur Engoron issued the $464 million verdict in the civil fraud case, Trump appealed it asking an appeals court to determine whether Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact, and whether he abused his discretion and/or acted in excess of his jurisdiction.”

From Harry Litman

"MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas and Harry Litman report on what’s going on behind the scenes with the Supreme Court as it prepares to make its decision on Donald Trump’s application for a stay pending certiorari related to his claim of presidential immunity." 

From the Meidas Touch

From what my colleague Kire Schneider wrote yesterday. 

"So the bottomline here, is Donald Trump has 25 days to come with 450 million, perhaps 500 million by then, or he goes bankrupt, just as he's trying to run for President again, just as he's facing two felony convictions, in separate jurisdictions, by the end of this summer." 

From The New Democrat

No offense to Harry Litman: but there's only one interesting story here, because the rest of these stories are fairly well-known as far as Donald Trump's potential bankruptcy, if he can't meet the bond payment on his New York State judgment against him. As well as what's going in Atlanta, Georgia right now, with Trump's lawyers trying to get the District Attorney there, Fani Willis, removed from the case, for having an adulterous affair with her lead prosecutor in that case and being inaccurate about the timeline there. 

The interesting story here, the newsworthy story here, is Harry Litman's theory for why the Supreme Court is taking so long to either grant or deny Donald Trump's stay on his immunity claim. Litman believes that they've already decided this case, but the Chief Justice, John Roberts, is simply waiting for the dissent opinion from either Justice Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito. Meaning the Supreme Court will deny Trump's request for a stay. But they're simply waiting on the dissenting opinion from Justice Thomas or Justice Alito, perhaps they'll write a joint dissent in this case. 

I have my own theory here. Justice Thomas seems even more partisan than Justice Alito. We saw that during Donald Trump's appeals to deny Joe Biden the election back in late 2020. He simply turned away a big case that then President Trump had and simply didn't take that case and let the lower court ruling stand. Also, Justice Thomas's wife Ginni, is all in when it comes to MAGA. She was part of the "stop the steal movement" in late 2020 and perhaps one of the organizers 2021 insurrection attempt. 

My theory is that the Court has already ruled against Donald Trump. But they're waiting on whether Justice Thomas will either vote no and go down 8-1 in one of the biggest cases in the history of the Court and be remembered as the one U.S. Justice who believes Donald Trump is above the law. And risk looking pretty bad, perhaps even corrupt and looking like a partisan politician, instead of a judge. Or, will he just recuse himself and not vote at all and save himself from a little historical embarrassment. But that's my theory as an outsider in this case, whose not even a lawyer. 

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Ben Meiselas: 'Donald Trump RUSHES NY Appeal, But WITH NO BOND'

Source:Meidas Touch looking at Defendant Don's lack of cash.

"Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump filing a notice of appeal in the NY civil fraud case despite not posting bond." 

From the Meidas Touch

"Donald Trump could be at risk of losing some of his prized properties if he cannot pay his staggering New York civil fraud penalty. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million — and the amount is going up $87,502 each day until he pays.

New York Attorney General Letitia James told ABC News that she will seek to seize some of the former president’s assets if he is unable to cover the bill from Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling.

Engoron concluded that Trump lied for years about his wealth as he built the real estate empire that vaulted him to stardom and the White House. Trump denies wrongdoing and has vowed to appeal." 

From the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

No offense to Ben Meiselas's statement here, but I think NY Attorney General Letitia James statement here is the key. I don't believe she would make a statement like that, if she were expecting Donald Trump to be able to come up with the cash, or has the cash, to even come up with the bond that he has to have first, to even be eligible for 450 plus and growing, million dollar judgement against him in New York State. 

The reason why I say this, is because the NY Attorney General probably not only has Mr. Trump's business records and his Trump Organization's business records, but she probably also has his personal financial records as well. She knows how much money this man is worth. And I''m not just talking about how much he's personally worth. Not his properties, but how much money Donald J. Trump has in his personal bank accounts. 

So it would be very foolish on Attorney General James part, to say that she's ready to start seizing Trump properties, to pay off the judgement against him, if she believed that he could personally financially do this. She's too good of a lawyer for that to make such a foolish statement like that. Mr. Trump, hasn't even posted a bond in the E. Jean Carrol case, which is 83 million. That's a lot money as well, but it's not even a 5th of what he owes New York State. 

So the bottomline here, is Donald Trump has 25 days to come with 450 million, perhaps 500 million by then, or he goes bankrupt, just as he's trying to run for President again, just as he's facing two felony convictions, in separate jurisdictions, by the end of this summer.

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CNN: ‘Donald Trump’s Plan To Use Judge Cannon to Block Judge Chutkan & Avoid Trial’

Source:CNN looking at Defendant Don's criminal cases.

Source:The New Democrat

“Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers see a major opportunity this week to use his criminal document mishandling case in Florida to create an impasse on his calendar for the two federal judges overseeing his major criminal cases.

Juggling his campaign and court calendar and playing his cases off one another is a key part of Trump’s legal strategy. The ultimate goal, his team has said openly, is to prevent Trump from being tried in federal court before voters cast their ballots in the 2024 general election.

A primary aim for Trump’s legal team, according to people familiar with the strategy, is to put the judge in DC overseeing the 2020 federal election obstruction case, Tanya Chutkan, in a position where she can’t start a trial before Election Day.

“Meaning, ice her,” said a person familiar with Trump’s trial schedule strategy. “Making it impossible for her to jam a trial down before the election, by things that are out of her control.”

Chutkan set an initial trial date for March 4, which has been delayed indefinitely because of appeals. Yet if the Supreme Court returns the case to Chutkan, that trial could be back on the calendar within a month or two.

One way to hamper Chutkan is to convince the judge in Florida, Aileen Cannon, to move Trump’s Mar-a-Lago document mishandling trial from late May until the summer.

Then, as summer approaches, the Mar-a-Lago case may require Cannon to push the trial back again and again because of the legal complexities around classified documents that still have to be worked out, according to people familiar with the case.

Then, as summer approaches, the Mar-a-Lago case may require Cannon to push the trial back again and again because of the legal complexities around classified documents that still have to be worked out, according to people familiar with the case.

Trump has already asked the federal judges and a state judge in a third criminal case he faces, the Georgia election subversion case, to delay any trials until after the November election. Both federal judges, Chutkan and Cannon, have said no. But a gradually shifting calendar could be just as effective at shielding Trump from other trials through the summer, multiple sources familiar with the former president’s legal strategy told CNN.

Cannon has signaled a willingness in recent months to considering pushing back the date. And the prosecutors and defense teams are engaged in protracted court fights over access to evidence – classified records and information from far corners of the federal government – that Cannon still has to resolve. Cannon is a Trump appointee in an area of Florida with many Trump voters in a potential jury pool. She drew bipartisan criticism in the legal world for how she handled an earlier part of the case and has moved slowly to resolve the pretrial issues.

Chutkan’s court is an entirely different profile – where the Washington, DC, jury pool leans liberal and has convicted many January 6, 2021, rioters at trials. Chutkan is a Barack Obama appointee who ruled against Trump on the key issue of the case – presidential immunity – and also issued a limited gag order against the former president.”

From CNN

“Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers see a major opportunity to use his criminal document mishandling case in Florida to create an impasse on his calendar for the two federal judges overseeing his major criminal cases. Juggling his campaign and court calendar and playing his cases off one another is a key part of Trump’s legal strategy.”

From CNN

“CNN analyst Elie Honig reacts to Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is trying to use his mishandling of criminal documents in Florida to cause a scheduling conflict with the federal judges handling his major cases.”

From CNN

I can’t repeat this enough, but I’m not a lawyer. But what Donald Trump wants is his friendly judge in Miami, Judge Aileen Cannon, to go first and then delay that trial as much as possible, so he’s not only not convicted there before November, but Judge Tanya Chutkan’s trial in Washington wouldn’t even be able to get started before the election.

But there’s one glaring weakness to this latest Trump strategy. If the Supreme Court throws out both Donald Trump’s stay when it comes to his presidential immunity claim, then the Washington case goes back to Judge Chutkan and then she can put that trial back on her calendar and it could be ready by let’s say May, but the time the Manhattan trial with Donald Trump should be over.

So if everything goes the way it should here, Donald Trump is tried and convicted probably by late April, or early May in Manhattan, New York and then he goes back to Washington to be tried there in May, maybe June and that case is finish by the end of the summer.

Newsmax: Robert Finnerty - Alina Habba Interview: 'Working For Donald Trump Has Left Her Worried About ‘Seemingly’ Promising Career?'

Source:Farron Balanced with a look at Donald Trump's Manhattan, New York civil attorney Alina Habba.

"During an interview on Newsmax this week, Alina Habba was asked about her future as a lawyer due to the damage that she could incur to her reputation for representing Donald Trump. It took Habba a moment to digest that thought, and it clearly made her realize that her future isn't looking very bright at this point. Her entire demeanor changed after this question, and it was evident that she knows she's not going to go on to bigger and better things. Farron Cousins discusses this." 

From Farron Cousins

"Rob Finnerty then asked, “Since you hooked on with the former president, and started representing him. Your career has has skyrocketed. I think Alina Habba is now it’s a household name. Really? But you’re young. You’re young in your career. How concerned are you about what this could mean for your reputation down the road?”

“In terms of what?” Habba questioned.

“Well, there are a lot of attorneys out there that no longer want to represent the former president. Right or wrong. I’m not casting judgment right or wrong because of what it, the implications it has for their careers. And you’ve got a bright future seemingly,” Finnerty added.

“I have to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t do anything differently,” Habba replied, adding:

I’m so proud of the work that I’ve done. And any attorney who actually reads transcripts and looks at the rulings that we got before we got into court, evidentiary rulings, things like that, losses that have happened. And we’ve had wins, many wins, but nobody reports them. But the losses that have happened are not a result of the facts not being on our side or bad lawyering.

They are a result of the fact that he is the leading candidate, for the Republican Party and frankly, for president in general. So I can say that, look, trolls will be trolls and I would never change a thing. I am proud of the work I’ve done, and it is truly an honor to work for a sitting, a former president and, future president again. So as for anybody else that has an issue with that, that can’t see through that, you’re just you’re you’re not looking at the big picture here. We’re changing the country and fixing the country, and I’m proud to be part of that mission.

From Mediate

As far as Rob Finnerty's key question of Alina Habba here: she basically dodged it, after he rephrased it. She sort of acted like she didn't understand it and then just went into: "The media only reports about our losses (meaning her losses) and not about her wins." The obvious being there: what wins?  

And before that, Alina basically putting the blame for all these cases and her horrible losses trying to defend Donald Trump, on the fact that she believes the media thinks that Donald Trump is unbeatable in the 2024 presidential election. 

So again, to go to my original point about Alina Habba that I made back in November, she's not a real trial lawyer. At best, she's a legal spokesperson, or partisan political lawyer, who argues her cases through friendly media like Newsmax, not on court where all these cases are actually tried and decided. (She would've learned that in law school) It's as if she went to journalism school, or majored in political science, thinking that's where you become a lawyer. 

"Alina Habba is not really a trial lawyer. She can barely afford to do whatever she does as a lawyer right now. She's more of a public relations lawyer, if anything at all, who makes her living trying her client's cases on TV and on social media. But she's officially Donald Trump's civil lawyer right now because she's about the best of what's left to try to defend him, because of his own financial situation and all the evidence that's against him right now, in multiple cases. 

Perhaps one of the reasons right now that Alina Habba owes millions of dollars, is because her own client is not paying her. But she's trying to work for him anyway, perhaps banking on the fact that defending a former President of the United States, would lead to clients who can and would pay her very well for her legal advice and actions in the future. But that career strategy is obviously not working out for her right now. " 

From The New Democrat

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CPAC 2024: Crazy People At a Convention

Source:CNN- far-right, Christian Nationalist speaker Jack Posobiec. Apparently the woman behind him can't even take him seriously. 

Source:The New Democrat

"CNN's SE Cupp reacts to far-right conspiracy theorist, Jack Posobiec, speaking at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, to "replace" democracy." 

From CNN

"Republican former congressman Charlie Dent shares his thoughts on the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, where former President Donald Trump won the conference's informal straw poll to be the Republican nominee in 2024." 

From CNN

"Clips on social media show activist Jack Posobiec talking about the "end of democracy" at the Conservative Political Action Conference and saying, "We are here to overthrow it completely."

Posobiec was speaking at the CPAC event, which was a panel session hosted by former White House strategist Steve Bannon.

Newsweek has approached CPAC for comment via an email outside of normal working hours. A direct contact for Posobiec could not be found, but an out of normal hours approach was made to the online publication Human Events via Instagram and an online form.

"Welcome to the end of democracy," Posobiec said, also referring to the Capitol riots. "We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn't get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here."

Posobiec then held up his fist, and added: "All glory is not to government. All glory to God." Some people in the crowd responded with applause.

On the social media site X, formerly Twitter, Posobiec responded to comments reacting to what he said, with some speculating he was being sarcastic.

Newsweek has approached CPAC for comment via an email outside of normal working hours. A direct contact for Posobiec could not be found, but an out of normal hours approach was made to the online publication Human Events via Instagram and an online form.

"Welcome to the end of democracy," Posobiec said, also referring to the Capitol riots. "We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn't get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here."

Posobiec then held up his fist, and added: "All glory is not to government. All glory to God." Some people in the crowd responded with applause.

On the social media site X, formerly Twitter, Posobiec responded to comments reacting to what he said, with some speculating he was being sarcastic.

Posobiec posted a clip of him saying, "no, that's a right-wing conspiracy theory" to a post that said: "They are telling us exactly what they will do. Believe them. Vote against them."

From Newsweek

Former U.S. Representative Charlie Dent (Republican, Pennsylvania) talking to Brianna Keilar and John Berman on CNN: 

"CPAC has always been an odd gathering. But now it's been taken over by radicals, anti-vaxers. It's a land of misfits, toys, it's a political freaks show. It's the Star Wars bar, it's bizarre... Serious people are not showing up to this thing. They had their stupid straw poll, its rank choice now. They're not serious and one doesn't know if they should laugh or they should cry about what they're watching and witnessing at these CPAC gatherings." 

I'm well aware that CPAC stands for: "Conservative Political Action Conference", but come on, is this really a conservative event anymore? 

If you look at the American political spectrum as far as where Americans are politically as far as which party that they're registered with: Democrats are at around 30%, Republicans are at around 30% and then you have that 40% that aren't either and in many cases are registered Independents. 

There's always been a hardcore, far-right in America, as well as far-left, that doesn't register with either party, for the simple reason that they don't believe either party is radical enough for them. 

The so-called Republican Party today, has what's left of the center-right in that party, the Adam Kinzinger's, the Liz Cheney's, the S.E Cupp's, the Charlie Dent's, the Nikki Haley's. But their far-right is the party now primarily, because those far-right Independents and former far-right 3rd party people, who again always believed that that the Republican party was too establishment, too mainstream for them, are now also members of the Republican Party. Or as I like to call the Republican Party today: Republicans in Name Only. Why? Because they don't even believe in the concept of the republic, let alone Republicanism. 

You think Jack Posobiec is a far-right radical? Well, he is, but not in the modern Republican Party, that's more willing to believe Russian political and intelligence operates, than own country's intelligence community. And that's not just today. That was back in the Trump Administration as well. 

Russia didn't interfere into the 2016 presidential election, because Vladimir Putin said so. (According to these far-right RINOS) Even though the entire American intelligence community said that of course Russia interfered into the 2016 elections. Including people that President Donald Trump appointed, like Mike Pompeo, Chris Wray, Nikki Haley, Marx Esper, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, and many others. But Russia said no, so that's who these RINOS believe. 

CPAC today is really just: Crazy People At a Convention. And I mean that in a political sense. Before these escaped political mental patients accuse me of slander or defamation. As Charlie Dent said, this is not a serious group. Or as I would like to put it, they're the American political version of a Star Trek Convention, except that these folks aren't loyal to Star Trek. They're loyal to Donald J. Trump. 

Michael Popok: 'PANICKED Donald Trump Tries to FLEE Court Ruling'

Source:Meidas Touch- left to right: New York Attorney General Letitia James & Defendant Don.

"Trump’s lawyers want to convince the voting public that Judge Engoron was wrong in his decision that Trump committed 6 more counts of fraud, and should be banned from NY business as well as cough up almost $500 million plus interest. Michael Popok of Legal AF is joined by an expert on NY judgment procedures, who explains how it is more likely that the Judge and his law clerk (whom Trump despises) will draft the actual written judgment which will be used to go after his assets." 

From the Meidas Touch

"The judge in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud case has rejected a request from the defense to delay the enforcement of the penalties in the case.

The defendants had asked Judge Arthur Engoron to delay the enforcement of the penalties by 30 days to allow for an "orderly post-judgment process."

"You have failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay," Engoron wrote in an email posted Thursday to the court docket. "I am confident that the Appellate Division will protect your appellate rights.

Trump last week was ordered to pay a $354.8 million fine plus interest and was barred from leading any New York company for three years. His sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were also fined $4 million apiece and barred for two years.

The defense's request for a delay in the penalties stemmed from a dispute about the case's judgment order, the court document that, at the end of a trial, starts the clock for the penalties in a case. Lawyers for New York Attorney General Letitia James submitted a draft judgment on Tuesday, prompting criticism from Trump's defense lawyer Clifford Robert.

"To deprive Defendants of the opportunity to submit a proposed counter-judgment would be contrary to fundamental fairness and due process," Robert wrote in a letter to the court Wednesday morning.

Later that morning, Engoron requested that Robert submit a written response articulating what would make the defense's judgment different from the proposed order. Robert replied Wednesday afternoon by arguing that the attorney general's judgment broke with standard practice and included at least two errors.

"The Attorney General has not filed any motion on notice, nor moved to settle the proposed Judgment," Robert said in the filing. "Her unseemly rush to memorialize a 'judgment' violates all accepted practice in New York state court."

Citing the "magnitude" of the penalties in the case, Robert requested a stay of penalties by 30 days if Engoron opts to sign the attorney general's proposed judgment.

"Given that the court-appointed monitor continues to be in place, there is no prejudice to the Attorney General in briefly staying enforcement to allow for an orderly post-judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment," Robert wrote.

In a short letter to Engoron Thursday, state attorney Andrew Amer opposed the request, arguing that Robert failed to justify why an additional delay of 30 days would be necessary and writing that Engoron's decision in the case left "no room for further debate" about the judgment.

"Nor do Defendants provide any basis for staying enforcement of the judgment; indeed, they requested such relief in their post-trial brief, which the Court declined to grant," Amer wrote.

Amer also objected to a change proposed by Robert to move the address of six of Trump's businesses -- which are defendants in the case -- from New York to Florida." 

From ABC News

With all due respect to Michael Popok here and perhaps he did this video before Judge Arthur Engoron's ruling denying Donald Trump's lawyer Cliff Robert motion to delay the penalties against his client: it's the ABC News story that counts here. 

The Trump lawyers are simply trying to buy time here. Popok is right about that. But any competent, responsible, professional judge in the country, whose not just on the bench because they want to play golf in the afternoon, poker at the country club, get loaded at the local bar, check out the shows at the strip club, (you know, whatever their afternoon hobbies are) who also isn't blind and illiterate, is going to see exactly what Cliff Robert and company are trying to do here. 

Donald Trump doesn't have the money to even cover the premium for his appeal. The so-called billionaire, has at last count, under 500 thousand-dollars in his Go Fund Me account and they only have 25 days to come up with the rest of the 500 or so million dollars. And the Judge Engoron has already denied Cliff Robert's motion here. 

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The Daily Show: Desi Lydic: 'Fox News Reacts to FBI Informant Arrest & Donald Trump Fishes For a VP'

Source:The Daily Show anchor Desi Lydic talking about Fox News MAGA propagandist Jesse Walters. Perhaps you can tell for yourself who is who. 

"Desi Lydic dives into Trump’s Laura Ingraham Town Hall, and how Biden’s impeachment case is falling apart after informant Alexander Smirnov was revealed to be lying to the FBI. Plus, Jordan Klepper weighs in with some political analysis on Biden’s ability to be both a doddering old man and a criminal mastermind simultaneously." 

From The Daily Show

To look at the MAGA House investigation of President Biden and his son Hunter, I think the best way I can do that is through a hypothetical: 

Imagine if there was a crooked DA, who only has his law license, because he was the hottest man in law school, who banged every women there (especially the female law professors) over and over, getting incredible reviews about his performances in bed. Whose father is an alum at that university and law school, who also happens to be a billionaire, who can personally finance that law school all by himself, or put it out of business. 

Now, this hotshot, (pun intended) cooked lawyer, is now a municipal prosecutor, who hates the current Mayor of this town, because he put his father in prison for embezzlement. And now sees it as is number one priority to put the Mayor in prison, as retribution for what the Mayor did to his father when he was the DA. 

To get into the crooked DA's case against the Mayor: the only witness that this DA has, is a pathological liar, whose done time in prison for perjury. Who also happens to be a major political operative in the Mayor's main opponent in the upcoming Mayor's race for this city. That's what House Judiciary Republicans were relying on here. A known liar, a known Russian government operative, who hates Joe Biden, as their key witness to take down the President of the United States. 

So all this comes out and the chief media opponent of the Mayor's goes on his local TV show, who previously was relying on known perjurers to make their case against the Mayor, not even bothering to try to offer even any additional witnesses against the Mayor, let alone any documents that backs up this professional liar's claims against the Mayor. So what does this TV host do? Of course he doesn't apologize, even to himself. He just makes up from the top of his head, new garbage claiming that the Mayor is simply locking up his political opponents, to stay in power. That's Fox News host Jesse Walters.

As far as Senator Tim Scott: I guess when your future, your credibility, your integrity, is worth as much to you, as week's old bread found by the local homeless person, in a dumpster, you have the freedom to make a complete asshole out of yourself and treat Donald J. Trump as God, or at least the son of God. Because he and his followers are all you care about anyway. 

DJT was actually caught being honest (which happens as often Iceland gets heatwaves) in this Laure Ingraham, Fox News townhall when he was talking about Tim Scott: "He's been much better for me than he has for himself." DJT perfectly summed up Tim Scott right there. 

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CSPAN: Representative Jim Jordan: On Indictment of Ex-FBI Informant: 'Doesn't Change The Fundamental Facts'

Source:CSPAN- U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (Republican, Ohio) Chairman of the Judiciary Committee (118th Congress)

"House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) says that the indictment of ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov "doesn't change the fundamental facts" about the Bidens. Mr. Smirnov is charged with lying about the Bidens' business dealings, and the former informant has said that he received his information from Russian intelligence officials." 

From CSPAN

At risk of getting really personal and even sounding insulting: doesn't Representative Jim Jordan look and sound like the guy who was forced to other guys homework in high school? As well as give them his lunch money? And yet, he's Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, one of the most powerful members of the entire U.S. Congress. Along with the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Finance Committee, Appropriations Committees, Oversight Committees, and that's before you even get into the party leaderships in the House and Senate. 

Jim Jordan doesn't even have a law degree, but that's the state of the MAGA movement in the Republican Party. They're basically relying on very inexperienced and unaccomplished people, do to their political dirty work, which is to try to hurt as many Democrats as they possibly can. Speaker Mike Johnson, was basically a House backbencher, before he became Speaker of the House. And his lack of experience and accomplishments in the House, really shows in his speakership right now. 

Having said all that; the fact that House Republicans main witness against Hunter Biden (who just happens to be President Joe Biden's son) is currently under investigation for committing perjury by the U.S. Justice Department, as well as other felonies and that House Judiciary Republicans are relying on Russian Nationalist propagandists, who obviously hate Joe Biden for multiple reasons and want him to lose in November (one way or another) and that's all they have against Hunter and company, just shows you how unqualified that these MAGA members are. 

I mean Chairman Jordan can say that the indictment of their key informant Alexander Smirnov: "Doesn't change the fundamental facts." all he wants. But I guess when you are not even a professional investigator, let alone a lawyer and your whole career in Congress up to this point, has been trying to dig up dirt on Democrats that you don't like and leading government shutdowns, you wouldn't just say that, but you might actually might be dumb enough to believe that as well. 

Jim Jordan, Mike Johnson, and company, are qualified to be leading MAGA super pacs and MAGA political action committees and doing their own MAGA radios shows and podcasts. But that alone, doesn't make you qualified to lead Congressional investigations and serve in government more broadly.

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Piers Morgan: Coleman Hughes: 'I Don't See Myself As Any Kind Of Race Traitor'

Source:Piers Morgan Uncensored talking to conservative writer Coleman Hughes.

"Piers Morgan Uncensored is joined by one of the world's most incisive commentators, Coleman Hughes, to talk about the controversy his theories on race have created in the black community.

Accused of being radical and even racist, Coleman joins Piers Morgan to explain why he thinks the world should be 'colour blind' and more." 

From Piers Morgan Uncensored

"An exciting new voice makes the case for a colorblind approach to politics and culture, warning that the so-called ‘anti-racist’ movement is driving us—ironically—toward a new kind of racism.

As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimistic about the state of American race relations than his own grandparents–who lived through segregation. The End of Race Politics is the culmination of his years-long search for an answer.

Contemplative yet audacious, The End of Race Politics is necessary reading for anyone who questions the race orthodoxies of our time. Hughes argues for a return to the ideals that inspired the American Civil Rights movement, showing how our departure from the colorblind ideal has ushered in a new era of fear, paranoia, and resentment marked by draconian interpersonal etiquette, failed corporate diversity and inclusion efforts, and poisonous race-based policies that hurt the very people they intend to help. Hughes exposes the harmful side effects of Kendi-DiAngelo style antiracism, from programs that distribute emergency aid on the basis of race to revisionist versions of American history that hide the truth from the public.

Through careful argument, Hughes dismantles harmful beliefs about race, proving that reverse racism will not atone for past wrongs and showing why race-based policies will lead only to the illusion of racial equity. By fixating on race, we lose sight of what it really means to be anti-racist. A racially just, colorblind society is possible. Hughes gives us the intellectual tools to make it happen." 

From Amazon

What I wrote about the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action back in June, 2023: 

"If the Equal Protection Clause, equality, equal justice, equal rights, if every American regardless of racial, ethnic, gender, has the same individual rights and responsibilities as everyone else, then affirmative action had to be thrown out, because it violates all of those great, American, liberal values, that most Americans believe in, but too many of take for granted.

I understand the importance of building a society where everyone can succeed. Not only do I understand that, but I actually believe in that as a Liberal. (Meaning real Liberal) But you don’t create that free society for everybody by denying people access in America, like with education, simply because too many members of their race or ethnicity, are already doing well in America.

What a lot of supporters of so-called affirmative action laws have never understood, is that affirmative action just doesn’t hurt European-Americans, especially European-American men, (which affirmative action supporters don’t seem to have a problem with) but it hurts Asian-Americans as well, it hurts Latino-Americans who are primarily of Spanish or other European descent, it hurts Middle Eastern-Americans, it hurts Jewish-Americans. Why? Because these folks are already doing well in America and aren’t from the right racial or ethnic background, according to supporters of affirmative action." 

From The New Democrat

I haven't read Coleman Hughes book, yet, but based on this interview with Piers Morgan and what he's saying here, I completely agree with him as a Liberal. (Meaning someone who believes in liberal democracy, not total equality at all costs) 

We would literally have to be physically blind to ever have a totally, colorblind, or race blind, or ethnic blind country. I see race, ethnicity, and color, in every person I've ever seen, as well as when I look in the mirror. But as Coleman Hughes said, that's not the point. 

What people like myself and others believe when we're talking about a non-racial and non-ethnic America, has to do with law and how we treat each others as human beings. Not to act like we don't see European, African, American-Indian, Middle Eastern-American, or Asian-Americans. But that we instead look and treat each other as human beings, as individuals. Instead of treating each other as members of teams or groups. 

The only team that each of us as American citizens should be cheering for and promoting when it comes to America, is America itself as one country. Not our particular race or ethnicity.

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Ben Meiselas: 'Donald Trump’s Lawyer CLOWNS HERSELF Again During Interview'

Source:Meidas Touch looking at Defendant Don's lawyer & perhaps Trump University graduate Alina Habba.

"MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on yet another embarrassing television appearance by Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba." 

From the Meidas Touch

From what I wrote about Alina Habba back in November: 

"Alina Habba is not really a trial lawyer. She can barely afford to do whatever she does as a lawyer right now. She's more of a public relations lawyer, if anything at all, who makes her living trying her client's cases on TV and on social media. But she's officially Donald Trump's civil lawyer right now because she's about the best of what's left to try to defend him, because of his own financial situation and all the evidence that's against him right now, in multiple cases. 

Perhaps one of the reasons right now that Alina Habba owes millions of dollars, is because her own client is not paying her. But she's trying to work for him anyway, perhaps banking on the fact that defending a former President of the United States, would lead to clients who can and would pay her very well for her legal advice and actions in the future. But that career strategy is obviously not working out for her right now. "

From The New Democrat

Alina Habba talking to Fox News anchor Martha McCallum yesterday: 

"Look, it's no coincidence they know by looking at his (meaning Donald Trump's) statement of financial conditions that this guy (meaning Donald Trump) is worth a lot of money, billions and billions and billions of dollars. And that even doesn't include his brand, Martha. But what they're trying to do with this case and my case (both cases where Alina Habba lost a lot of Donald Trump's money) is put him out of business. It's not going to work, number 1... 

Look and at risk of giving Alina Habba lesson on financial disclosure: if Donald J. Trump was a billionaire, we would already know that. This is an old story, but back in 2014, Donald Trump tried to buy he Buffalo Bills of the NFL. They obviously asked for his financial records to make it clear or not, that Mr. Trump could afford to buy the Bills. He didn't show him his records. But what instead he did was give them an article from Forbes Magazine that claimed he was a billionaire. He's also said in the past that his name alone, makes him worth a billion dollars. 

In the MAGA world, it's not about facts and evidence. It's about political marketing. It's about what they can sell their followers about themselves and their opponents and the mainstream media (whether it's true or not) and if they need to try to prove their claims later on, they'll claim fake news, or act as if they never claimed they said and did what they did, or simply move on to their next story. 

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Michael Smerconish: Should Joe Biden Stay Or Go?

Source:Michael Smerconish talking about President Joe Biden's reelection campaign.

"A Challenge To The White House" 

From Michael Smerconish

"If you’d asked me a year ago, I would have told you that Joe Biden was a reasonably clear favorite in the event of a rematch against Donald Trump.

Not an overwhelming favorite, mind you. But perhaps a 65:35 favorite. The case for Biden seemed obvious enough. Incumbents win re-election more often than not — and, of course, Biden beat Trump in 2020. The economy was beginning to recover from a period of intense inflation, and the labor market was strong. Trump had to fade a number of downside risks, being subject to a series of criminal trials and what looked like it could be a competitive Republican primary. (This was before Ron DeSantis began his long and embarrassing decline in the polls). Democrats were coming off a relatively strong midterm, buoyed by voter concerns about extreme and under-qualified Republican candidates and the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

So I don’t begrudge people who took their time to realize that Biden’s re-election would be a heavy lift. The first time my internal needle began to shift was in late summer, when Biden’s approval numbers remained poor even as the economy was improving and it was becoming more apparent that his advanced age — Biden turned 81 in November (Trump is 77) — was an enormous problem for voters and one that Democrats weren’t going to be able to spin away. Still, as of late September, I thought that (i) it had become too late for a full-fledged primary challenge to Biden, and (ii) Biden voluntarily announcing that he wouldn’t run for a second term was a close call but probably failed a cost-benefit test for Democrats.

Since then, Biden’s situation has become considerably worse. If he were 10 years younger, he might still be a 65/35 favorite. But if his campaign is substantially encumbered by his age, he's probably the underdog. If you’re someone who would rather not see Trump re-elected again or who cares about the election for other reasons, it’s time to face the facts. You need to adjust to the new reality and not be mired in anchoring bias by your previous impression of the race." 

From Nate Silver

David Axelrod on CNN's Anderson Cooper 350 last night talking about Ezra Klein's article arguing that President Biden shouldn't run for reelection: 

"Well, I think the president probably cares. I think he reads it. I'm sure it irritates him. I know I've irritated him when I've raised this issue in the past. But I'll tell you what that Monmouth poll didn't pull me because if they had pulled me, I would have said, no, I think Joe Biden is going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party.

I said last November a few things. I said, if you gave me Biden's record and took 10 years off of him, I would have no concerns about this election. But that I thought age was an issue and that screams through every poll.

But the last thing I said was, if Joe Biden wants to be the nominee of the Democratic Party, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party, because there is tremendous loyalty among a lot of the party to the president. I think there's a lot of respect for the president.

And so, I think that's where we are right now. I think only -- there's -- the idea that some delegation of party elders are going to come and visit him at the White House and persuade him to step down is a fantasy. First of all, that's not the way politics works anymore. We're not, you know, in another century.

Secondly, that belies the fact of who Joe Biden is. Joe Biden is a guy who spent his whole life kind of coming up from nowhere to proving to people, you know, that he can -- that he's going to hack it. That he has a chip on his shoulder, and he deserves to. He's accomplished a great deal.

And his attitude is always people underestimate me in there. I'm sure his attitude is they're underestimating me now. So I just, you know, I read Ezra's piece. He said a lot of things that I had said previously, but I don't think that's where we're going to end up.

Well, I think it's true. I mean, listen, Anderson, the body of work that he's done, the things that he's accomplished, the bills that he's passed on a bipartisan basis against all odds, the coalitions he's forged globally and so on, those things don't happen by accident.

He's clearly doing the job and you speak to people around him and they say that. You know, they say he's sharp in meetings and so on. He is not good in front of a camera anymore. I mean, that's pretty clear. And he has trouble with that. And that's how most Americans see him.

And worse than that, that's how social media sees him. They, you know, he can give a brilliant speech and have nine bad seconds, and that becomes a -- it's part of the mean, and that gets, you know, circulated to millions of people on TikTok, particularly younger people. And that's, you know, that has been a real problem for him.

So, yes, no, I do accept that he has governed very, very competently. And Anderson, people -- you spent some time with him for your podcast. You know, I'm sure he was very cogent when he... 

From CNN

This is from what I wrote about President Biden's reelection campaign back in October, responding to bedwetting Democrats and bedwetting commentators who are friendly to Democrats: 

"It's one thing to say that Joe Biden shouldn't run for reelection. But I didn't hear Bill Maher mention anyone who should run for President as the Democrat in the President's place. You can quote James Carville all you want, but Carville doesn't have a Democratic alternative to Trump either. 

What we learned during the Barack Obama years is that the Democratic Party is not good at developing its bench or its farm system, at least at the national level. They're not good at grooming people to take over and become the next leader of the Democratic Party, let alone the next President of the United States. And if you look at approval ratings even in the Democratic Party of Vice President Kamala Harris, someone who I do personally approve of and think she's been good for President Biden, as far as running his administration, but perhaps not politically, the Democratic Party still doesn't have any alternative to President Biden. 

So it's either stick with Joe, or Joe drops out and we see a Democratic free for all, between left-wing Democrats who'll promise the world to everybody and tell everyone it won't cost anything. Versus center-right Democrats who will try to run a general election campaign during the Democratic primaries, but when they think they need more Democrats, while try to talk like they're actually leftists, leaving everybody to believe who is this person and why do they actually believe. Versus The Devil in Donald Trump, with American voters probably choosing The Devil that they already know, over the Democrat." 

From The New Democrat

I talked about this back in October, when Bill Maher was basically trying to make Joe Biden look like the presidential version of deceased U.S. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who stayed in too long and then ends up dying, when the Republican Party still had The White House and Senate back in 2020. And then the country goes to hell, etc, because Justice Ginsberg stayed in too long and was replaced by a Conservative Republican. 

And now what those bedwetters are arguing is that if President Biden runs for reelection, he'll lose to Donald Trump, even if Donald Trump is a two-time convicted felon by the time the presidential election comes around. So again we would have a MAGA White House and a MAGA Congress, with Republicans holding and adding to the House and winning back the Senate.

But, as time goes on, things tend to change in American politics. Back in October, it didn't look like Donald Trump might even get one trial and conviction before presidential election. The economy wasn't looking very good, with weak economic and job growth, inflation was still a problem. 

But guess what, 5 months later, Donald Trump is now looking at the possibility of bankruptcy, unless he can meet the premiums on those two New York civil judgements against him and even if he does that, he still might be looking at bankruptcy. 

Mr. Trump will now have to go trial in Manhattan in March, be looking at felony convictions, just from that case. And it looks like the Supreme Court will not just allow for the Washington case against Trump will be tried and decided before the presidential election as well, but his immunity could be tossed by Chief Justice John Roberts and that case gets sent back to Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington. And the economy moving really well right now, with both strong economic and job growth, rising wages, and even inflation is coming down now. 

I think David Axelrod nailed it last night when he said: 

"And his attitude is always people underestimate me in there. I'm sure his attitude is they're underestimating me now. So I just, you know, I read Ezra's piece. He said a lot of things that I had said previously, but I don't think that's where we're going to end up.

Well, I think it's true. I mean, listen, Anderson, the body of work that he's done, the things that he's accomplished, the bills that he's passed on a bipartisan basis against all odds, the coalitions he's forged globally and so on, those things don't happen by accident.

He's clearly doing the job and you speak to people around him and they say that. You know, they say he's sharp in meetings and so on. He is not good in front of a camera anymore. I mean, that's pretty clear. And he has trouble with that. And that's how most Americans see him.

And worse than that, that's how social media sees him. They, you know, he can give a brilliant speech and have nine bad seconds, and that becomes a -- it's part of the mean, and that gets, you know, circulated to millions of people on TikTok, particularly younger people. And that's, you know, that has been a real problem for him.

So, yes, no, I do accept that he has governed very, very competently. And Anderson, people -- you spent some time with him for your podcast. You know, I'm sure he was very cogent when he... 

Let's face the facts: in a perfect world, at least from a Democratic perspective, we wouldn't have an 81 year old Democratic President of the United States right now. In that world, that President would be in his mid to late 50s right now, with the same economy that President Biden has, but perhaps without a trillion-dollar deficit and 3% inflation. So of course the President has some real reelection challenges that are mostly about his age and how people view his competency. But those problems are easily correctable. 

The way President Biden deals with the weaknesses of his reelection campaign, is to take Nate Silver's advice. Do a series of national TV news interviews and not with just the friendly Democratic news sources like MSNBC. But talk to the network news divisions, including FOX News, someone like a Shannon Breem or even Brett Baier wold give President Biden a fair interview and let the President speak and answer the questions. 

President Biden should also talk to CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, the PBS NewsHour, CNN, or if The CW Network wants to have a prime time special with President Biden, do that as well. 

And then the President should also do some swing state townhalls, where he's talking to mostly Independent voters, as well as blue-collar Democrats and African-American Democrats, who aren't in love with either Joe Biden and Donald Trump and looking for an alternative instead.

To paraphrase David Axelrod, Joe Biden is no longer a good political campaigner in the sense that he can do one campaign event after another and look good in front of the camera, without making any serious mistakes. But he's good with live interviews and he's still very good at the townhalls and talking to people one-on-one.

If President Biden solves the age and competency issues, his approval rating gets up to around 50% or better. He doesn't do that, it will remain in the high 30's. But considering who his likely opponent is in the fall, that might be good enough to get the President reelected anyway. 

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