We just passed the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, which the poster above commemorates.  The Nazis, every year after they came to power, commemorated their failed coup attempt.

Of course, we know how this story goes. German politics were a mess in 1923, but by the early 1930s they were becoming more and more polarized and voters feared the choice was between the Communists and the Nazis. Parties in the center, like the SDP and the CDP were abandoned as voters flocked to vote against the left or the right.

The Nazis came to power, to Germany's everlasting discredit, and through Europe into murder and the world into war.

On Veterans Day Donald Trump, who never served a day in the military, posted this:

Truly, this is frightening.

Wednesdsay, September 26, 1923. Extreme right wing coup attempt. . .

 in 1923.

In a way, it's nice to know that political extremists have attempted to subvert democracy under cover of political legitimacy before.  It makes today's headlines less wacky.

Bulgarian troops attacked Ferdinand and Boychinovtsi to put down a rebellion.

German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann suspended seven articles of the German constitution and declared a state of emergency over the upset caused by the abandonment of German passive resistance n the Ruhr.

Lothar Witzke, German intelligence agent who was apprehended and sentenced to prison by the US in 1918, was pardoned by President Coolidge and deported.

One way to tell the difference between a democracy and a repressive regime is coups.

In repressive regimes, the coup plotters lose their lives, maybe even being blown out of the sky.

In democratic countries, the would be caudillo runs around like a giant irritating spoiled child spreading lies, claiming the whole thing never happened.

Something, maybe, for Russia fanboys like Tucker Carlson to remember.

Trump’s bonkers plan to impeach Biden Kevin McCarthy and right-wing House Republicans are ready and eager to do it.

 

Trump’s bonkers plan to impeach Biden

Kevin McCarthy and right-wing House Republicans are ready and eager to do it.

Lex Anteinternet: Thick cut baloney. And while we are at it . .

Lex Anteinternet: Thick cut baloney.:   What on earth is the matter with Trump's diction?  "Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable"? Does this mean he generally f...

I saw a link of Ted Cruz from News Max (why would anyone watch News Max?) stating something to the effect that the country is 200 years old, and we've never had a former President indicted, and that's a reason that this must all be politically motivated baloney.

Ted Cruz is a Harvard Law graduate and former U.S. Supreme Court Clerk.  If this doesn't give a really good indication of the complete moral sewer the practice of law actually tends to be, and that the time has long come to quit hiring Harvard Law graduates to anything, and dismantle Harvard law brick by brick, nothing will.

That is about the dumbest argument for not indicting Trump there is.  It's actually a really good reason to indict Trump.  In 200 years, we've never had a President before who tried to overthrow an election.

D'uh. 

Is the kind of sloppy thinking that Harvard is proud of?

Blog Mirror: The Sweep and Force of Section Three

 This is gaining traction and needs to be taken seriously.

The Sweep and Force of Section Three

University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 172, Forthcoming

126 Pages Posted: 14 Aug 2023

William Baude

University of Chicago - Law School

Michael Stokes Paulsen

University of St. Thomas School of Law

Date Written: August 9, 2023

Abstract

Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids holding office by former office holders who then participate in insurrection or rebellion. Because of a range of misperceptions and mistaken assumptions, Section Three’s full legal consequences have not been appreciated or enforced. This article corrects those mistakes by setting forth the full sweep and force of Section Three.

First, Section Three remains an enforceable part of the Constitution, not limited to the Civil War, and not effectively repealed by nineteenth century amnesty legislation. Second, Section Three is self-executing, operating as an immediate disqualification from office, without the need for additional action by Congress. It can and should be enforced by every official, state or federal, who judges qualifications. Third, to the extent of any conflict with prior constitutional rules, Section Three repeals, supersedes, or simply satisfies them. This includes the rules against bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, the Due Process Clause, and even the free speech principles of the First Amendment. Fourth, Section Three covers a broad range of conduct against the authority of the constitutional order, including many instances of indirect participation or support as “aid or comfort.” It covers a broad range of former offices, including the Presidency. And in particular, it disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election.

Keywords: Constitution, Fourteenth Amendment, Section Three, Insurrection, Rebellion

This will end up being litigated. Frankly, with the current Supreme Court, I'd expect a 6 to 3 decision in favor of this view.

The authors are conservative law professors and members of The Federalist Society.

The Post Insurrection. Part V. Wyoming politicians react to the Trump Indictment and pour another heartly glass of Trump flvored Kool Aid for the voters.

Sigh. . .

Rather than try to summarize them, this collection of statements by various Wyoming politicians, is linked in here from the Cowboy State Daily.

The question really is, how many of these figures believe what they're saying.  My guess is that Lummis and Barrasso almost certainly do not.  Gray has probably convinced himself of their truth, as otherwise his angry rise would itself be a species of falsehood.

Sadly, a lot of Wyomingites, hearing just what they want to hear, will endorse the statements of their politicians, whom of course depend on those votes to keep them in their jobs.

Go ahead . . . have another glass of the orange Kool-Aid.

Last Prior Edition:

The Post Insurrection. The Defendant. Part VI

The Post Insurrection. The Defendant. Part VI

April 6, 2023

This story certainly has taken an odd turn, with Donald Trump being indicted for payments to try to silence two bare it all women.

Worst money ever spent, it would appear.

Additional indictments are likely coming, and prosecutions for campaign violations are frankly very rare.  It's an open question whether this is a good development or a bad one for those who regard Trump as a real danger, or those who admire him.  From my prospective, these charges are the most likely to be regarded as political, and it likely would have been best for the country if they had not been brought, for that reason.

As for the coming probable more substantial charges, they can't come soon enough.

April 19, 2023

$787,000,000.

That's the amount Fox News agreed to pay Dominion in settlement for spreading lies about Dominion's voting machines.

I guess the press was concerned that the Supreme Court might dump the New York Times v. Sullivan standard when the case got there, which it would have.  At least two conservative judges and one liberal one had previously indicated that they might.  Too bad it didn't make it all the way up.

April 21, 2023

The Wyoming County Clerks Association issued a lengthy letter defending Wyoming's elections prior to Secretary of State Chuck Gray's meeting with touring election denier Douglas Frank.

April 25, 2023

Propagandist Tucker Carlson has been fired from Fox, but not for spouting Trumpist lies and pro Russian propaganda, but for criticizing the leaders at Fox News behind their backs.

Modern medial being what it is, Carlson will undoubtedly land on his feet, but this does amount to a blow which will reduce Carlson's exposure.  Fox has really taken a beating over this past week.

And CNN let Don Lemon, news anchor, go, although the reasons are murky.  Lemon had made the comment that Nikki Hailey "wasn't in her prime".  The reasons, however, for his termination are less clear.

Carlson has a group of loyal followers and a large pool of angry detractors as well.  His most loyal followers will follow him wherever he goes, but it won't be Fox's bullhorn.  Prior Fox figures who have left it have in fact seen their star very much fade, and while Carlson won't disappear, he'll be very much less visible, and for that matter, probably to most Americans soon invisible.

April 26, 2023

A defamation case in which the plaintiff asserts that Donald Trump raped her has commenced with explosive testimony, including something alluding to DNA, which Trump commented on via Truth Social.  This resulted in a really strong rebuke from the Court ordering Trump to shut up as he was violating a prior order of the Court.

June 11, 2023

As we all know, Trump was found liable for defamation, but not sexual assault.  I failed to note that when it occurred.

Now he faces 37 counts in a Federal indictment, which includes violating the Espionage Act for taking classified material and refusing to return it.

All three of Wyoming's Congressional delegation have questioned the indictment, which was predictable, if sad.

June 13, 2023

Trump will appear in Federal Court in Florida today.

The indictment is so clear that it's almost impossible for this not to result in a conviction, making the feigned outrage expressed by Republican politicians, and the genuine outrage expressed by GOP loyalists, all the more questionable.  Trump will be convicted.

The big question, right now, which is largely not asked by the press, is why Trump took these documents. There's some reason he did it. And as some are in the super secret national defense category, the question is all the more baffling and important.

If it is that he was going to use them for his memoirs, it conclusively shows that he simply doesn't grasp the importance of things.  How a person could live to his advanced old age and not grasp this is hard to imagine, but it would suggest the operation of at least the insulation of privilege, and also perhaps something else mental or in the serious character flaw category.

But it might suggest something more than that, which is all the more disturbing.  Why would a former President walk out the door with matters pertaining to national defense?

There have always been a lot of unanswered questions in this area regarding Trump.  Perhaps his trial will reveal them.

June 21, 2023

Trump's trial is scheduled for August, but it won't really occur anywhere near that soon.

June 28, 2023

Donald Trump has now sued E. Jean Carroll for defamation, alleging she falsely accused him of rape after a jury in a civil trial found that he sexually abused her.  The suit will fail.  In fact, it'll give her the chance to reiterate her claims.

In his espionage act case, he called the audio recordings of him discussing defense plans a hoax.  They're not a hoax, but his most devoted followers will adopt this absurdity.

These two moves are really odd, and smack of desperation.

June 30, 2023

A judge refused to dismiss the first of E. Jean Carroll's lawsuits against Trump, this one also for defamation.  I wasn't aware until now that there were two, but there are, and the second one goes to trial in January.

July 11, 2023

Trump is seeking a lengthy delay of his espionage act case, citing in part the election as a grounds for the same.

July 15, 2023

Well into the 2024 election cycle, unfortunately, politicians who have lashed themselves to the deck of the Stolen Election Myth are in the increasingly awkward position of having it pass over the horizon.  Individuals who are convinced that the election was stolen are capped in number, while also incapable of considering any other evidence at this point.  Politicians, whose issue was this issue, need to keep it alive, or think they do, even though it appears to be of fixed political capital.

Enter Hunter Biden, the troubled son of President Biden, whom the general public cares next to nothing about.  The Right Wing has been harping on him ever since Hillary Clinton quit being interesting, more or less, and is now flogging the story.

Six state Secretary of States in the stolen election camp have signed onto a letter in which they express concern with U.S. Secretary of State Blinken's role as a member of Biden's campaign. They have stated in their letter:  “To cast informed ballots, Americans need transparency into actions by former, and perhaps current, federal government officials to weaponize false information for political purposes,” and “Congress should hold perpetrators accountable and consider all available corrective measures to provide transparency to the public of any improper actions set forth in the report."

They go on to reference the tired Hunter Biden laptop story.

The irony here is that the "weaponizations of false information" is Donald Trump's entire post insurrection modus operendi, and he was working towards stealing the election himself prior to it taking place.  The destruction of the U.S. Post Office seems to have been part of the effort, from which it has not recovered. So yes, there should be accountability, including criminal accountability where appropriate, but that's not exactly going to lock any 2020 Democratic operatives up . . . . 

Wyoming's Secretary of State is one of the signatories.

With the office holders from the last election having been put in office, and having ridden this in some cases into office, the gold on this currency seems to have tarnished into brass. We can predict we'll keep hearing the stolen election mantra, but it doesn't have the shine it used to.  The public may actually have moved in significantly.

July 18, 2023

From the NYT:

Trump Says He’s a Target in the Special Counsel’s Investigation Into Jan. 6

 

It would be the second time the special counsel has notified former President Trump that he is likely to face indictment, this time in connection with the criminal investigation into the events leading up to the Capitol attack.

July 18, cont.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed charges against 16 people who signed paperwork falsely claiming that President Donald Trump had won the 2020 election as part of an effort to overturn the election results.

While individual January 6 Insurrectionist have gone on trial and been convicted, these are the first charges of these type and this, combined with Trump being a target of the Special Counsel's investigation, is a turning point in this story.  My prediction, which is probably contrary to what most might suspect, is that this is really the beginning of the end for Trump.  From here on out, denial of his association in an effort to subvert democracy will become increasingly more difficult for even diehard populists to deny, and denying the result of the 2020 election will become politically risky.

July 21, 2023

Donald Trump's trial under the Espionage Act is now scheduled for May 2024.

July 28, 2023

A revised indictment ads new charges against President Trump and adds a new defendant.

August 2, 2023

Trump indicted for the insurrection and surrounding activities:

Last prior edition:

The Post Insurrection. Unfit for any office. Part V.

Two Observations

 1.  The same political party that found that breaking into an opponents' headquarters for political advantage was beyond the pale, and impeachable, now holds, to a large degree, that prosecuting a former President is an act of political terrorism.

Richard Nixon must be spinning in his grave.

History will find the GOP, and in particular those candidates who cannot bring themselves to condemn Trump for his actions, cowardly and trace this moment as the one at which the demise of the GOP became fixed.

2.  Ukraine is going to lose a lot of armor in its offensive.

Everyone loses a lot of armor in armored offensives.  That, in and of itself, doesn't mean they're fighting poorly or that the armor is bad.

Malignant

Trump posted this yesterday:

Whether it's bringing up "woke" when a beer company is just trying to introduce a new beer, or posting seditious crap like this, there's something seriously wrong with a section of the populist right.

Listening to too much Prince? Parlor Pink Insurrectionist? Trump red with reservations? A surprising look for a January 6 Insurrectionist.

 #FBIWFO released photos of this woman who allegedly participated in the U.S. Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. If you recognize her, call 1-800-225-5324 or visit http://tips.fbi.gov to submit a tip. Refer to photo 537 in your tip.

10:02 AM · Apr 27, 2023

·

1.4M

Views

Tuesday, April 24, 1923. Black Shirts.

The Fascist Grand Council voted to approve Benito Mussolini's motion to place all the Fascists into a national militia, categorizing them as volunteers, so they didn't have to be paid.  That gave the Italian army a 500,000 men reserve, albeit not one trained as a fighting military, which was officially called the Voluntary Militia for National Security (IMilizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale) and unofficially the "black shirts" for their attire.

Symbol of the black shirts.  By Arturolorioli - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46385297

The militia contributed over 300,000 men to the Italian forces during World War Two, and its hard-line elements were sent to Spain during the Spanish Civil War.   The movement was the partial inspiration for many other fascists paramilitary organizations of the time, although in much of Europe military wings of political parties were already common.

Flag of the Black Shirts, By RootOfAllLight - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114802748

Just the other day I ran this item, which these events cause me to recall:

Blog Mirror: Prepare for the Shock Troops

It's interesting how authoritarian movements acquire their own militias, which glorify supposed martial values to the extreme.  Now, for the first time since the Civil War, the US finds itself, effectively, with Black Shirts.

Beverly Hills voted not to be annexed by Los Angeles and remain an independent municipality.

 

Warning (if you needed it): Trump is nuts, and he’ll do anything — anything — to win

Monday at the Bar. So, Yeoman, what do you think about. . .

Lots of legal news recently.

1. Donald Trump indicted.

He deserves to be charged with a crime, but that crime is sedition.  Maybe other things connected with taking documents and the like, but sedition is the big one.

The current charges?  Hmmmm. . . .

Frankly, those who regard the New York DA as pushing it are probably correct.  These charges are never brought and they look weak.  Added to that, New York prosecutors are subject to claims which at least have some merit that they tend to be influenced by politics.  The state's going after the NRA, for example, had that appearance. This does as well.  

Given that, this probably only serves to discredit the more serious claims to come, assuming that something surprising isn't revealed.

2.  Fed Judge says name the names.

In Wyoming, that is.

This is the suit involving the UW sorority, which has admitted as a member a guy claiming to identify as a girl, even though his anatomical reactions to the girls suggest that his biology isn't that confused.  The plaintiffs, member of the sorority, wanted to sue anonymously. The Federal District Court judge presiding over the case said no to that.

He's right.  It's not like anyone is a minor, and while I don't even think there really is such a thing as transgenderism, we all know who the guy is.  The Plaintiffs' should be known, and for that matter, there's honor in being known in a cause, even amongst those who oppose those in it.

3. Gwenyth Paltrow v some guy.

Didn't follow it and don't care.

4. The Justice Thomas vacation "scandal"

M'eh.

There's no law that says members of the Supreme Court can't accept gifts, even lavish ones, from their admirers.  Accepting them may not be wise, but it's not illegal.

Is it supposed to be reported?  The law seems vague on that.

Basically, this amounts to an effort to get Thomas to resign, which the political left has been working on for some time.  The Thomas' for their part don't seem to act wisely in this area, giving fuel to those who are trying to ignite it.

This is also part of the unfortunate modern trend of dragging the privileged down.  That may sound odd, but the real story of American wealth since World War Two is that the population has moved from mostly being lower middle class to mostly being upper middle class.  Not everyone, of course, but that's been the move of the economic center.  Oddly, as it has happened, resentment towards the really wealthy has increased, even though more Americans than ever are in the wealthy class at some point in their lives.

5.  Amending Title IX to include transgenderism

It's an attempt to usurp democracy at the state level.

You can't really have it two ways with democracy, for the most part.  Democrats became very used to rule through the courts until the court turned to the right and started sending stuff back to legislatures.  That's distressed the left no end, even though court rule fed the populist right.  Since the January 6 Insurrection, the left has rediscovered democracy, but it can't quite break itself of its old habits.

5.  Booting legislators out of their legislatures.

We've all been reading about the three legislators who have been booted out of Tennessee's legislature for violating decorum rules.  It's being portrayed as a shocking attack on democracy.

Frankly, this example should be followed more. There's a Wyoming legislator right now who is in trouble for wearing an assault rifle themed transgender shirt, right during a time period in which it seems there were in fact two armed assaults by people identifying themselves in that fashion.  She's apologized, but maybe she should get the dope slap.

Anthony Bouchard of Wyoming's legislature certainly should have.  MTG should have been booted out of Congress.

The Post Insurrection. Unfit for any office. Part V.

Trump and Mark Meadows.

December 20, 1922

Lex Anteinternet: The Post Insurrection. Falling chips. Part IV.: December 19, 2022

The January 6 committee has referred Donald Trump to the U.S. Attorney General on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting, assisting or providing aid and comfort to an insurrection.  It has also referred Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry and Andy Biggs to the ethics committee for failure to honor a subpoena to the committee.

The committee has completed its work and issues its report.

The U.S. Attorney General is unlikely to specifically act on the committee's referral, as it is conducting its own investigation.

The committee's report declared Donald Trump "unfit for any office".  Truly, he is unfit for any office and was unfit to occupy his last office, at least after the November election.

In addition to those noted above, Trump lawyer John Eastman was included in the referral on two of the charges.

As noted, I feel it's unlikely that the Attorney General will act on the referred charges, which does not mean that it will not independently charge Trump. Given the current pace of US justice, that risks being so slow as to being meaningless.  It'll happen, but my guess is that it will actually occur in late 2023 or in 2024.

For that reason, the Committee's findings and referral are significant.

The committee's work was significant, even though it has been generally discounted by Republicans and wholly discounted by Trump loyalist.  Wyoming's GOP, which has some figures who were at the insurrection, has actually bellied up to the bar and had repeated shots of the Kool-Aid.  Wyoming has set itself on the path of conservatives who are destroying conservatism through their obstinate insistence on being tied to Trump, who ironically may not really be a conservative at all.

Nonetheless, nationally, it appears the bloom may finally be off the rose.  After Trump's third (or fourth, depending upon how you read it) election defeat for the GOP, Republicans have been pulling away.  It'll be interesting to see if they manage the break.  Kevin McCarthy, who briefly broke away from Trump immediately after the election before running back into his embrace, is in real trouble in his bid for Speaker of the House and might not make it.  He's been referred for charges, and he just received a Trump endorsement for the position, something aimed at Trumpites in the House who may no longer really listen all that much to Trump either, the Führerprinzip having now exceeded even Trump.

The message there is that even as Trump has crashed into the GOP and caused it to burn down in a recent election, the House, for two terms threatens to lurch to the right, thereby pouring gasoline on the fire the Trump flame out has caused.

Mirroring that, Rona McDaniel, head of the Republican National Committee, is facing opposition from Trumpites and may lose her seat to even more hardcore populist Republicans, thereby virtually guaranteeing a 2024 electoral disaster for the party.

On an illuminating personal note, as I am generally usually (if not wholly relably) conservative myself, I was recently included in an email chain of a set of highly educated conservatives regarding an article by a conservative columnist who was writing that Trump, while in the author's view having been a really good President, was destroying his legacy.  He clearly is doing that, which is no surprise in these quarters. What was a surprise was the reaction of some of "why are the Democrats so fixated on Trump?"

That was an illumination. 

May on the Republican right truly believe that the reason that Trump remains in the news is that the Democrats and a Democratic press are focused on him as they have nothing to offer themselves. They are flat out wrong.

Like it or not, the GOP is a minority party and, through its current adherence to Trump, is likely to make itself a very tiny one.  Elections right now are decided by independents who disdain Trump and who lean towards the Democrats for the most part.  Trump remains in the news as Trump insists on being the leader of the party, and he makes himself rather difficult to ignore.

Witness, he's running for the Oval Office again, as somebody who tried to steal the election, and he resorts to such drivel as this:

WY Rep. Landon Brown

@lbrownhd9

Who the actual hell is going to buy this? Please let me know if you are. One cannot simply laugh hard enough at this showcase of lunacy.

1:31 PM · Dec 15, 2022

Why are Democrats fixated on Trump?  Because large numbers of Republicans won't recognize that the man threatened to end American democracy and failed to do so only because a few stood in his way.  He's lied about the result of the election and, moreover, while President, we now know, was so internally unstable that no matter what a person thinks of his implemented policies, to a significant degree it was only the restraint that his employees showed that kept some truly scary things from potentially happening.

Democrats are fixated on Trump because the Republicans are.  He commands a significantly loyal based that worships him in the mold of men on horseback.

From the Republicans who wonder, "why can't we move on?", well look.  Kevin McCarthy, who first acknowledged the insurrection, went immediately down to Mar-a-Lago to cut some sort of deal with the disgraced would be caudillo and is threatened not from the center of the GOP, for the most part, but from the right.  If he doesn't become speaker, it'll be because he didn't have triple shots of the Kook-Aide.  Rona McDaniel, who should be a disgraced failure, faces a threat from her right, not the center.

Want to restore conservative election hopes, and move past Trump? Republicans can do that by openly moving past Trump themselves.

March 19, 2023

Donald Trump, the subject of a New York state grand jury, has announced he expects to be arrested Tuesday.  He additionally posted:

PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!

 IT'S TIME!!!

WE JUST CAN'T ALLOW THIS ANYMORE, THEY'RE KILLING OUR NATION AS WE SIT BACK & WATCH. WE MUST SAVE AMERICA!PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!

Given what occurred last time he called for action, it's reasonable to regard this as an incitement to insurrection.

March 20, 2023

Secretary of State Buchanan, in order to counter claims that the election was tainted, published a set of facts on the Secretary of State's website demonstrating that it wasn't.  When he abandoned his post for the judiciary, the Interim Secretary of State left it up.

The new Secretary of State, Chuck Gray, who campaigned on "election integrity", is now in office and its gone.  Of course, by "election integrity" he meant the fable he campaigned on, that there was something amiss with the 2020 election.

March 30, 2023

Frank Eathorne, head of the state GOP and an individual who has taken the party deep into populist GOP territory, is running for an unprecedented third term as head of the party.

Repeatedly failed far right GOP candidate Rex Rammell is suing the Sublette County Sheriff's Office for its actions searching his horses for brand inspection. That inspection resulted in his being cited and convicted in a jury trial.

An early prediction on this is that Rammell is going to lose this suit.

March 31, 2023

A New York Grand jury has indicted Donald Trump in connection with the hush money he paid to pornographic actress Stephanie Clifford, "stage" name Stormy Daniels, which as an aside might be noted as the least effective hush money of all time.

That apparently isn't the actual crime, and while asking for hush money probably is, paying it very well might not be.  This is apparently connected with something else in the nature of being a campaign violation due to the way the money was handled.

There is, it might be noted, a second film femme fatale, in the form of a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who also received hush money which might be part of this or which might end up in a separate charge.

My prediction is that this is only the first of what will be several indictments, and this may prove to be an unfortunate one.  Prosecutions for campaign violations are rare, and New York's legal system can be accused of having taken on prosecutions for political reasons in recent years.

Wyoming Congressman Hageman decried the prosecution as a "witch hunt", which brings about the embarrassing flip side of this.   Trump is personally icky, and his payoffs in this area expressed a fear that Americans still had some sense of shame, which proved to be an inaccurate fear. They should.  The party that generally associates itself with "family" and values is now really cosied up with a guy who had at least two affairs with women who had prostituted their image for cash, something that in any prior era would have been the end of his political fortunes. Granted, he apparently denies the affairs.

April 4, 2023

Donald Trump was indicted by the State of New York.  He plead "not guilty"

Indictment.

And so we conclude this installment.

Last edition of thread:

The Post Insurrection. Falling chips. Part IV.