Today in Trump

[Kirkland Laing]

https://twitter.com/AriDrennen/statu...25126850777089



https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/stat...46838015692802

[Beanz]

FB_IMG_1684478091174.jpg

[Kirkland Laing]

The Meatball doesn't seem to be any different to your standard issue GOP presidential hopeful. Already bought and paid for by corporate interests:

https://twitter.com/AlexThomp/status...00906073120772





The party of small government:

https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1660056580061110274

[palmerq]

Tiny D is announcing his run in twitter with Elon musk tomorrow, great stuff, Elon and Ron v trump and truth social, this has great comedy potential

[Master]

At a speech in Ankeny, Iowa, Mr Pence argued that Mr Trump had encouraged the mob that attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, and had incorrectly asserted that Mr Pence had the power to overturn the election result.

"But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the constitution," he said.

"Now, voters will be faced with the same choice: I chose the constitution and I always will."

He added that Mr Trump's actions on 6 January should disqualify him from returning to power.

"I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the United States," he said.

"And anyone who asked someone else to put them over the constitution should never be president of the United States again."

In a later CNN town hall, he continued attacking his rivals, critising Mr Trump for having previously called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "genius".

"I know the difference between a genius and a war criminal, and I know who needs to win in the war in Ukraine," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65839793

[palmerq]

Trump claims his lawyers have been told he's being indicted over the classified stuff. Mark Meadows testified last week, trumpet could be in trouble this time. He says he's off to court to hear the charges on Tuesday.

[palmerq]

The Disney woke mind virus

https://twitter.com/McJesse/status/1667296912943493120

[Kirkland Laing]

Tiny D is announcing his run in twitter with Elon musk tomorrow, great stuff, Elon and Ron v trump and truth social, this has great comedy potential

I was looking forward to the free speech absolutist grilling the Meatball over Florida crackdowns on free speech, the free press and book bannings but he didn't mention any of those things for some reason. Although nobody said much to anybody apparently. That's what happens when you sack all your engineers.

Also, too:

https://twitter.com/Jason_Garcia/sta...82018269937668

Also also too:

https://theroyfamily.tumblr.com/post/187140576844

[Kirkland Laing]

Youneed to have watched the show to get that last one. Great bloody show.

[Kirkland Laing]

More Musk:

Under Elon Musk, Twitter has approved 83% of censorship requests by authoritarian governments


Twitter’s acquiescence to autocratic or non-liberal regimes is not an exaggeration by critics of the social network. The data, which the public audit receives automatically, speaks for itself. Since Musk’s takeover, the company has received 971 requests from governments (compared to only 338 in the six-month period from October 2021 to April 2022), fully acceding to 808 of them and partially acceding to 154. In the year prior to Musk taking control, Twitter agreed to 50% of such requests, in line with the compliance rate indicated in the company’s last transparency report (none have been published since October 2022). Following the change of ownership, that figure has risen to 83%, according to the analysis of the data by the technology information portal Rest of World.



https://english.elpais.com/internati...html?ssm=TW_CC



and


https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1665439266170609666



and last but not least all og his twitter files bullshit was indeed bullshit:

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/05/...ce-at-twitter/

[Kirkland Laing]

As Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida begins his presidential bid, officials in his administration have solicited donations from lobbyists and endorsements from lawmakers in the state, blurring the line between his taxpayer-funded office and his political campaign.
The outreach by the governor’s office, which would normally fall to Mr. DeSantis’s campaign staff, was described by two people who said they were approached by administration officials and who insisted on anonymity. In at least one case, a member of Mr. DeSantis’s administration sent a text message to a lobbyist with a link to his presidential fund-raising platform.
NBC News first reported the solicitations to the lobbyists.
The people who were approached discussed the conversations only on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of reprisals by the governor’s office, and insisted that the government officials not be named so as to avoid revealing their own identities.
Representatives for Mr. DeSantis’s office and campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. DeSantis has yet to sign Florida’s $117 billion budget, over which he retains a line-item veto — meaning he can, with the stroke of a pen, eliminate spending projects sought by lobbyists and legislators in Tallahassee, the capital, where he has exerted firm control over the Republican-controlled Legislature.



The outreach to lobbyists gave the impression that donations would be tracked by the governor’s office, according to two people familiar with the matter.
In addition to the efforts to secure support from lobbyists, the main super PAC backing Mr. DeSantis’s bid announced last week that 99 of Florida’s 113 Republican state legislators had endorsed Mr. DeSantis for president. Several lawmakers said privately that they feared he might veto their bills or spending projects if they did not support him. Two said they had been contacted by members of the governor’s administration about making endorsements.
As governor, Mr. DeSantis has sought to expand the power of his office and has relied on the specter of political retribution, bending legislators to do his bidding or else face primary challenges and targeting corporations like Disney that he has clashed with.
The unusual outreach to lobbyists and lawmakers highlights the careful line that Mr. DeSantis and his allies must walk as he seeks the nation’s highest post while governing its third largest state.
Under Florida law, state employees are generally allowed to participate in political campaigns if they do so during their personal time, with their personal devices and without making reference to their official duties or authority, among other factors.



Ethics experts said the accounts of DeSantis administration officials’ aiding his campaign merited further scrutiny — but the members of the Florida Commission on Ethics, which looks into allegations of ethical violations by government employees, are appointed by Mr. DeSantis and his allies in the Legislature.
“The conduct raises very serious and substantial questions,” said Anthony V. Alfieri, founding director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami School of Law.
Juan-Carlos Planas, a Florida elections lawyer, said the governor’s executive staff and political team should maintain clear boundaries.
“Government is not supposed to be overtly political,” Mr. Planas said. “People have to be able to deal with the government knowing that the campaign is a separate entity. When you start blurring the line, it becomes autocratic.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/u...donations.html



Mapped: The U.S. states where school librarians face years in prison and tens of THOUSANDS in fines for providing 'harmful' books for children

• Several states have passed laws that could sentence librarians and book vendors to years in jail if they provide 'obscene' titles to minors
• Laws have been introduced in at least five states and are pending in nine others, allowing for the criminal prosecution of school and library personnel involved
• Previously, librarians were exempt from prosecution over obscene materials in almost every state

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-children.html



Comer Takes Credit Out Loud for Tanking Biden Polls With BS Hunter/Family Probe — Just Like McCarthy Did With Hillary

James Comer followed in the footsteps of Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy by admitting out loud that his BS investigations of President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and other family members is about one thing: helping Donald Trump and defeating Joe Biden.
On Monday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends First, Comer leaped at the suggestion that his probes have thrust these amorphous allegations into the media bloodstream and volunteered that they have also helped to put Trump on top and tank Biden’s poll numbers:

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/com...-with-hillary/



Looks like government being weaponised there. How about that.








The Trump crime wave looks like it's gone into reverse:

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/stat...13729436033024

[Kirkland Laing]

Some observations while the Yankees beat the Red Sox.


The Trump indictment.

This is it! We've got him!

Bill Barr says he's toast!

https://www.mediaite.com/news/trumps...e-he-is-toast/


George Conway says the case against him is airtight!

https://twitter.com/RpsAgainstTrump/...34728872017921



Look what he did!

https://twitter.com/bobcesca_go/stat...57450771238940


and


https://twitter.com/keithboykin/stat...58066204692481


and


https://twitter.com/TristanSnell/sta...12086928486401


and


https://twitter.com/AntiToxicPeople/...81899613081602


and


https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1667984450678915072


and

https://twitter.com/mrbenwexler/stat...33797870981124


and Trump's views on classified information back when Hillary was being investigated:

https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsaki/...40447577145347





Not only is his bathroom stuffed with boxes you can see but look either side of the tasteful light fixture above the Wal Mart shower curtain:

https://twitter.com/Philip_Germain/s...74887462219779

It certainly looks like the shower is full of boxes too. I suppose they're keeping that photograph for the trial.



So that's it then. He really is toast.


Not so fast though. Read this:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...707479552.html


and then this:

https://themessenger.com/politics/tr...jury-challenge



And it gets worse. The worst possible judge has been appointed to the case. She's already tried to wreck the investigation once, just read this:

Judge Aileen Cannon Can Absolutely Sink the Federal Prosecution of Trump


Imagine, though, that Cannon does preside over this case. She has infinite tools at her disposal to thwart the prosecution at nearly every turn. Big swings, like tossing out the whole case—a very real possibility in her courtroom of chaos—can be appealed and overturned. But at every step, there are opportunities for sabotage. Cannon can try to rig voir dire to help the defense stack the jury with Trump supporters. She can exclude evidence and testimony that’s especially damning to Trump. She can disqualify witnesses who are favorable to the prosecution. She can sustain the defense’s frivolous objections and overrule the prosecution’s meritorious ones. She can direct a verdict of acquittal to render the jury superfluous. She can declare a mistrial prematurely for any number of reasons, including lengthy juror deliberations, and stretch out various deadlines to run out the clock. Many of these procedural moves could not be appealed until the proceedings have drawn to a close; appeals courts do not referee every little dispute in a jury trial as they happen. Cannon will be in control.

You really need to read the whole thing.


https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...ald-trump.html



How the politics plays out:


https://twitter.com/jefftimmer/statu...85148223131648


and the latest polling:


https://twitter.com/RichardHanania/s...90548152348673



I saw one recently with the Meatball under twenty percent.



How Trump is reacting to the indictment:

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status...01931857309697


and


https://twitter.com/danielsgoldman/s...60621142192133



Sounds familiar.





The GOP just over a decade ago. It had the crazy paranoid racist base but leaders who knew how dangerous that base could be and who refused to ride the tiger even if it would cost them an election:

https://twitter.com/geoffgarin/statu...10211544182784



Now they're going all out for the white racist vote:

https://twitter.com/DeSantisWarRoom/...06460236087303



That nice moderate Christian Mike Pence has also said exactly the same thing too:

Mike Pence: Fort Liberty Will Once Again Be Fort Bragg | C-SPAN.org



Here's the military genius they're on about:

https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/stat...94609700700162

[TitoFan]

WHO assigns judges to these cases... and isn't there some sort of auditing of this process to ensure the impartiality required of this position?

[Spicoli]

Crazy isn't it. Lost elections for the highest Office. State Governors and Mayors, countless endorsements and 101 court cases and appeals. Dunno have lost count. Yet in the face of clear and obvious findings literally in his own words of guilt, the flies flock to the highest mound of grifter shat. 7,8 years of but but whatabouts. And have the nerve to go on about "defending the Constitution" after criminal indictment meanwhile getting bent over once again. Even rats have stronger backbones. Sad.

[Master]

WHO assigns judges to these cases... and isn't there some sort of auditing of this process to ensure the impartiality required of this position?

Normally courts are impartial separate from the government to ensure proper checks and balances of the state.