Tag: Trump

Sympathy for the Invader?

Reminder to GOP voters regarding the party’s frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination for next year’s election: Donald J. Trump refused to take sides in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in his CNN Town Hall last May.

“I want everyone to stop dying. They’re dying. Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”

After Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the former president said the following on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show on radio:

“I think nobody probably knows him better in terms of the discussions that we have or that we’re having this morning. I knew that he always wanted Ukraine. I used to talk to him about it. I said, ‘You can’t do it. You’re not gonna do it. But I could see he wanted it. …

“I knew Putin very well. I got along with him great. He liked me. I liked him. I mean, you know, he’s a tough cookie, got a lot of great charm and a lot of great pride. But the way he – and he knows his country, you know? He loves his country. He’s acting a little differently, I think, now.”

“Traditional” Republicans, particularly in the Senate, are squarely behind Volodymyr Zelinskyy and Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion. But several House Republicans from the MAGA/Freedom Caucus wing who back Trump on every issue want to cut off military aid to Ukraine.

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NY Grand Jury Votes to Indict Trump

THURSDAY-FRIDAY 3/30-31/23

A Manhattan Grand Jury voted to indict the former president, Donald J. Trump in a case focusing on hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Associated Press report. No details are yet known, as the indictment remains sealed, though AP reports that Trump is expected to surrender to authorities next week, according to an unnamed source. 

The indictment comes after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg told New York court officials that the grand jury would not be hearing further evidence for weeks, and other matters were on the panel’s agenda before the Passover holiday (WaPo).

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was the first Congress member to comment WaPo says, tweeting “President Donald Trump always fought for us. He puts the American people above corrupt interests. For that reason alone, the powerful will never stop coming for him.”

Or… While House Republicans, with their wafer-thin majority will continue to echo Trump’s “Witch Hunt” response it remains to be seen whether Senate Republicans are ready to move on from 45 and repudiate supporters’ claims.

Perp Walk: Meanwhile, Trump already has said he wants to be cuffed (and martyred) for his supporters.

Bigger Indictments to Come?: On the other side, Democrats and never-Trump Republicans expect Fulton County, Georgia’s investigation into his efforts to alter the Electoral College and investigations in Washington, D.C., over his alleged involvement in the January 6th Capitol insurrection and for Mar-a-Lagogate, his handling of classified documents at his Florida home.

•••

Russia Holds WSJ Reporter – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Moscow on charges of “espionage” in the first such case involving a Western journalist since the Cold War. Gershkovich, 31, is a Russian speaker whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. seeks immediate consular access to Gershkovich so that it can provide consular support, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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...meanwhile...

WED 3/29/23

Pence Must Testify, But – U.S. District Judge James Boasberg has ruled that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify before prosecutors in the investigation of former President Trump’s efforts to overturn 2020 election results. While the sealed decision, reported by several news outlets including The Washington Post rejects executive privilege for Pence, the judge upholds Pence’s claim of legislative privilege, which means he will not be compelled to give testimony over his role in the formal count of Electoral College votes January 6, 2021, as president of the Senate.

•••

Blame Bank Execs, Not Regulators – Regulators warned Silicon Valley Bank of interest rate and liquidity risks before the bank failed in March, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Michael S. Barr told the Senate Banking Committee Tuesday, Roll Call reports, where Republicans and at least one Democrat sought to blame the regulators. 

Barr told the Senate committee that it is not regulators’ job, but of the bank’s board and senior management to fix such problems, according to Marketplace.

Wednesday: The House Financial Services Committee holds its first hearing on SVB and Signature Bank failures.

--TL

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MON-TUE 3/27-28/23

UPDATE II: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on Israeli television Monday night to say he is postponing the vote on judicial reform by one month (NPR).

UPDATE: Sources tell Israel's Haaretz that Netanyahu is expected to freeze judicial overhaul following protests over Defense Minister Gallant's firing.

Another Democracy in Peril? – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s (above) right-wing coalition government is debating whether to delay judicial changes that have sparked civil protest in Israel, The New York Times reports. Worker stoppages have spread throughout the country over the weekend, with the national trade union calling for a strike, which has blocked flights from Ben Gurion airport. Netanyahu last weekend sacked Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who objected to the government’s attempt to give itself greater control over Supreme Court judge selection and to limit the court’s authority over Israel’s parliament. 

Netanyahu, once a “staunch defender” of a strong, independent Supreme Court, according to the NYT, is standing trial on corruption charges. Netanyahu’s Likud party-based coalition government risks collapse if he delays judicial control.

•••

In Waco, Texas – From the kick-off rally to former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, as covered by Politico:

•”Man, he’s dropping like a rock. … They keep saying ‘DeSanctus’ could do well with farmers. I don’t think so. Based on polls, he’s not doing well with anything.”

•The “biggest threat” to the U.S. isn’t China or Russia, but “high level politicians that work in the U.S. government like McConnell, Pelosi, Schumer and Biden.”

Despite Donald J. Trump’s concentration on “grievance” politics, he did make a few campaign promises, Politico reports:

•Mandatory term limits.

•Keeping “men out of women’s sports.”

•Ending “the invasion of the Southern border.”

•End the war in Ukraine and prevent “World War III.”

Meanwhlie: The Trump-Fox News relationship, bumpy to say the least over the last year or so, takes a “warmer turn” when Sean Hannity interviews the former prez Monday night, The Hill says.

•••

This Week – The Senate and House are in session Monday through Thursday. The Senate only is in session Friday. Spring break begins for both chambers next week.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Biden’s Strategy Wins

By Ken Zino

Presidents Biden began his State of the Union speech to set this up: “The story of America is a story of progress and resilience … We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again.” The president too was stronger -- much stronger. He used the Republican politics of grievance and destructive posturing against them to promote another two years of progressive headway.

“We’re building an economy where no one is left behind. Jobs are coming back, pride is coming back because of the choices we made in the last two years. This is a blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and make a real difference in your lives,” Biden said. 

Then Biden out-foxed, the Republicans starting with a jab at Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “I look forward to working with you,” he said, adding the caveat; “I don’t want to ruin your reputation.” Biden then loaded his speech with facts in the spirit of New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who in similar situations called on his political opponents to look at the record. 

Enter a tsunami of Administration triumphs: 

  • “Two years ago, our economy was reeling.”
  • “As I stand here tonight, we have created a record 12 million new jobs, more jobs created in two years than any president has ever created in four years.”
  • “Two years ago, COVID had shut down our businesses, closed our schools, and robbed us of so much. Today, COVID no longer controls our lives.”
  • “And two years ago, our democracy faced its greatest threat since the Civil War. Today, though bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”
  • "As we gather here tonight, we are writing the next chapter in the great American story, a story of progress and resilience. I define our country in one word: Possibilities.”

Republicans face crossroads. Will sanity prevail and dump Trump and his losing, racist, sexist, fascist, insurrectionist ways? A party overhaul is needed. Biden Democrats did it: Look at the party’s stunning reversal of a global trade policy that had made the rich richer and harmed the middle class. Now the rest of the Democratic Party is firmly backing Biden’s policy of building and buying American. 

Biden’s jab at Republicans who wish to end Social Security was brilliant. When a witness heckler said that it wasn’t so, Biden offered to produce the document. Heckling ensued claiming it was only one individual’s position (Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who also was chair of the party’s midterm campaigns last year). 

Biden used an assumptive close that shut down the obstructionist noise. “So Medicare and Social Security are off the books in the next budget?” Biden stared them down, into silence. 

During his first State of the Union, Biden’s Unity Agenda sought areas where both parties could work together and make progress for We The People. These are now -- again -- populist policies that only heartless Republicans could oppose: a “moonshot” at finding a cure for cancer; delivering on obligations to veterans; tackling the mental health crisis; beating the opioid and overdose epidemic; immigration reform. 

I realize that many Republicans have a George Santos-like relationship to facts. However, Biden signed more than 300 bipartisan bills. And the positive effects of, say, his infrastructure bill are just beginning, including projects in Republican districts where Biden promised to attend the groundbreaking ceremonies. 

Biden Tuesday announced a new wave of plans toward more progress, with better results for families. Along the way, Biden had Republicans on the ropes with jab after jab and devastating left hooks. 

The president said he was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans to enact major legislation that delivers on all aspects of this agenda. This starts with the deficit. As I looked at the Republicans, I saw later-day Benedict Arnolds who spent too much on tax cuts for the rich. Now they want the middle class, the poor and retired to pay the price for their actions. 

Biden’s predecessor signed nearly $2 trillion worth of unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. This Republican deficit went up every year under Trump’s mis-administration. Biden has cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion. Democratic reforms to take on Big Pharma, lower prescription costs, and make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars more.

Here’s the key to the winning strategy: Biden knows that the work to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out is far from done. “Let’s finish the job” is the rallying cry. Biden teased the budget he will send to Congress on March 9th, building on the historic economic progress of the past two years by continuing to invest in America and its people, continuing to lower costs for families; for child care, housing, college costs and health care, while protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and reducing the deficit through additional reforms.

Why abandon a winning strategy? 

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Biden Negotiates Budget in SOTU

By Todd Lassa

In the buildup to his sucker-punch of MAGA Republicans, President Biden in his State of the Union address repeated recent Democratic talking points of how he has cut the federal deficit after Congress raised the debt ceiling for his “predecessor.” Even without mentioning Donald J. Trump by name, Biden riled up those Republicans in the House of Representatives who remain resolute in support of said predecessor by describing the last administration’s budget battle in a manner few would have expected from the longtime politician.

“For the last two years my administration has cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion. The largest deficit reduction in American history.” Biden’s fellow Democrats began applauding. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), sitting behind the president and next to Vice President Kamala Harris, appeared to be looking in the direction of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) while he silently mouthed appeals to shut up. 

“In the previous administration, the deficit went up four years in a row,” Biden continued. “Because those deficits, no president added more to the national debt in any four years of my predecessor. Nearly 25% of the entire national debt that took over 200 years to accumulate was added by just one administration alone … the last one.”

GOP grumbling began to build. 

“That’s a fact,” Biden dug in. “Check it out.” 

Boos from the MAGA wing rose to a crescendo when Biden said “some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset … some Republicans. … I’m politely not naming them, but it’s being proposed.”

From the Republican side of the gallery, MTG rose to call out “Liar!” She took Biden’s bait.

“So, folks,” Biden responded, “as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the table.” 

Biden Tuesday evening gave his most loyal supporters reason to feel good about his deft balance of pugilistic politics and bipartisan comity. But it’s hard to tell whether the most progressive Democrats were sufficiently impressed with the considerable dose of anti-supply-side reverse-Reaganomics that Biden served up.

“Let’s sit down and discuss our mutual plans together” for raising the debt ceiling, Biden continued. He wants to cut the deficit by another $2 trillion. This will entail Biden’s decidedly un-bipartisan plan to impose a minimum 15% tax on billion-dollar businesses and raise taxes for rich individuals (while funding better IRS enforcement) but with no tax increases for anyone making less than $400,000 per year.

Continuing with his theme of a more blue-collar, less limousine-liberal Democratic Party, Biden outlined his new Junk Fee Protection Act, which would reduce exorbitant bank overdrafts and credit card late fees, and force airlines to return payments for cancelled flights.

Biden called for restoration of the full Child Tax Credit and proposed a public education package that would make pre-school available to all 3- and 4-year-olds, increase public school teacher pay, increase Pell Grants and expand two-year colleges. 

With Row Vaughn and Rodney Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols, in the audience as guests of first lady Jill Biden, the president voiced support for police, but said, “when police violate the public trust, they must be held accountable.” He called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Calling out Brandon Tsay, another guest of the first lady, who in January disarmed a shooter at a Monterey Park, California, Lunar New Year celebration, Biden demanded a ban on assault weapons. 

He called on Congress to “restore the right” taken away by the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

“If Congress passes a national ban [on abortion], I will veto it,” Biden said.

And Biden expressed continued support of Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Some hard-conservative Republicans want to limit U.S. spending on military aide, while a few MAGA Republicans are more blatantly sympathetic to Vladimir Putin.

“Putin’s invasion has been a test for the ages,” Biden said. “Would we stand for the defense of democracy?”

For at least the two-plus hours of his State of the Union address Tuesday night, it was hard to objectively avoid the conclusion that President Biden was owning the MAGAs. But as Capitol Hill returns to the cold, hard reality of a politically split 118thCongress, much of Biden’s agenda still faces likely opposition in the House, as well as four more months of arguments against raising the debt ceiling.

-30-

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Say Goodbye, Joe

By Stephen Macaulay

Warren Buffett is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a multinational holding company with a wide range of investments. The so-called “Oracle of Omaha”—a moniker he earned because of prescient investment decisions that have made a whole lot of people a whole lot of money — is 92. His sidekick (a.k.a., Berkshire vice chairman) Charlie Munger is 99.

And so we wonder about Joe Biden, president of the United States (a.k.a., leader of the free world), who is 80. His birthday is November 20, 1942, so fifteen days after the 2024 presidential election, he will be 82.

If Buffett or Munger make a mistake — a big mistake — in their roles at Berkshire Hathaway, then, comparatively speaking, the fallout will be limited. Lots of people will lose lots of money, but the losses are bounded.

If Biden makes a mistake — a big mistake — in his role as the guy who has access to the nuclear codes, then comparatively speaking, the fallout will be horrifying.

Too much? Weren’t people feeling profoundly uneasy a few years back knowing that Trump had access to the codes?

According to recent polling by Gallup, Biden averaged a 41% job approval rating during his second year in office (January 20, 2022 to January 19, 2023).

Arguably, 41% is the very definition of “meh.”

And while people might pound the desk and say “But Trump was worse!,” while true, Gallup measured that in his second year (January 20, 2018 to January 19, 2019) Trump was at 40.4%.

Arguably, 0.6% is the very definition of “not much.”

Consider this:

There are three things that are required of someone who is running for president:

  • Natural-born citizen of the United States
  • At least 35 years old
  • Resident of the U.S. for 14 years

Scranton, Pennsylvania-born Biden checks all those boxes. No question about it.

But here’s an interesting thing: Biden first ran for president in 1988. That’s 35 years ago.

So arguably someone who was born the year he made his first unsuccessful attempt could run against the Biden.

As he might put it, “C’mon, man.”

Biden has been committed to public service since winning a seat on the New Castle County Council in Delaware in 1970. More than half a century ago.

There can be little doubt of the man’s dedication to helping make his county — or his country — a better place.

Certainly being president puts him in a good place to do this — and he has certainly done a considerable amount of good, with things including the Inflation Reduction Act to the CHIPS and Science Act to actual infrastructure funding rather than another week of bloviation.

Certainly he has a list of other accomplishments that he’d like to check off. While this is laudable, it simply may be something he may not even get a chance to start working on. It seems as though the country — yes, even Democrats — thinks there needs to be change of a generational nature.

In his State of the Union he said he wanted to “finish the job.” 

The job is never finished. There is always something else to do in the same way the Buffett has another investment to make.

One of the phrases heard over the past few years was that there are too many politicians who are putting “party ahead of country.”

All of his good work notwithstanding, it seems as though if Joe Biden decides to run again he’ll be putting “personal interest ahead of country.”

Stepping down doesn’t mean he’s out. He becomes the quintessential “elder statesman.” His predecessor didn’t get that gig.

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What’s Right?

Is Herschel Walker’s defeat in the Georgia Senate runoff race yet another opportunity for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to move his party past declared 2024 presidential candidate Donald J. Trump? 

If/when that doesn’t happen, how will Trump blame Walker’s loss on McConnell, or some of if not all the rest of the remaining traditional conservative Republicans? 

Also in This Column: Scroll down to read Stephen Macaulay’s commentary on Donald J. Trump’s demand to suspend the Constitution so he can be re-instated as president; “Angels & Delirium.”

Whether you lean right or left – even if you’re a defender of ex-President Trump, we want to hear from you. If you are conservative or pro-MAGA, please enter your Comments in the space provided below. If you lean left, please go to the Comment box in the left column. Or, in either case, you may email us at editors@thehustings.news. 

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Trump to Constitution: Drop Dead

By Todd Lassa

Donald J. Trump last weekend claimed the United States as his very own banana republic by calling for suspension of the Constitution so he could be reinstated as president, because, you know … the Big Lie. 

In case you missed it, this is what he said (via Politico) on his Truth Social site (as Elon Musk awaits his return to Twitter): “A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

Wonder whether it was one of Trump’s star attorneys who suggested it was within his right to call for ditching the Constitution? Or perhaps the advice came from antisemite Ye, white supremacist Nick Fuentes and/or far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopolis (who has just departed Ye’s 2024 presidential bid according to the Daily Beast – the campaign for which the artist formerly known as Kanye West wants Trump to be his running mate).

“Republicans are going to have to work out their issues with the former president and decide whether they’re going to break from him and return to some semblance of reasonableness,” said incoming House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), “or continue to lean into the extremism, not just of Trump, but Trumpism.” (PBS News Hour.)

One might also wonder what constitutional originalists on the right think of Trump’s call for “termination” of rules, regulations and articles found in the Constitution. 

GOP lack of reaction to Trump’s latest comments so far rival the party leadership's lack of their reaction to his dinner with Ye, Fuentes and Yiannopolis. ABC News This Week host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday had to press Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) for his comments on the Truth Social post. 

Joyce, chairman of the Republican Governance Group said, “It’s early. I think there’s going to be a lot of people in the primary … I will support whoever the Republican nominee is.”

At first glance, the defeat of many Trump-backed candidates in the midterms, and then the notorious Mar-a-Lago dinner two weeks later have been hailed as a voter affirmation of American democracy. Even the New York Post was ready to write the obituary for Trump’s political career as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emerged as the new darling of the hard-right wing. But the inability of such GOP leaders as Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Mitch McConnell, topped by Joyce’s comments on This Weekhave kept Trump’s future alive and well. According to Politico, latest polls show the ex-president remains the most likely 2024 GOP nominee.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

…meanwhile…

(WED 11/16/22)

It’s Official: GOP Wins House – Republican Mike Garcia defeated Democratic challenger Christy Smith to win California’s 27th District House seat Wednesday, the AP reports, to finally give the GOP the majority in the lower chamber it had expected to come much more easily a week earlier. Garcia’s victory puts the House count at 218 Republicans and 211 Democrats, per The New York Times, with six more seats to call. 

Reddish Trickle: The GOP House margin, which will be anywhere from one to 14 seats -- though more likely between five and seven -- is good enough for the party’s first declared 2024 presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump. The jury was still out 24 hours after Trump’s Mar-a-Lago announcement on whether his fall from party leadership finally is over. Rupert Murdoch’s news empire is sticking to its guns so far – Sean Hannity even broke away from the drone of Trump’s “low energy” speech, and ABC News’ Jonathan Karl reported that Mar-a-Lago security had to keep several in the gaga-for-MAGA crowd from leaving his speech early. 

Why would GOP leadership break up with Donald J. Trump this time, and not after three election losses – the House in 2018, the presidency and Senate in 2020 and essentially both chambers this year (and his only win was by electoral count, not popular vote) – as well as two impeachments, one insurrection, and an FBI seizure of top secret documents? 

Consider that when Mitt Romney lost, miserably, in his bid to unseat President Obama in 2012, the GOP conducted an “autopsy” on the party’s apparent lack of popularity.

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in Florida’s winds, where Gov. Ron DeSantis offers the party sanctuary, and he won’t fly you on a chartered airplane to get there.

Meanwhile, McConnell Holds: SCOTUS- and federal court-crusher Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) won over his party’s caucus to remain minority leader, with 37 votes to Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) 10 votes. One Republican voted “present” in the secret ballot held in the Old Senate Chamber according to Politico, which adds that Scott sent out a memo during the vote accusing the outgoing National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Indiana’s Todd Young, for distributing “hundreds of thousands of dollars of unauthorized and improper bonuses to staff.”

McConnell has been GOP leader for nearly 16 years, and when asked whether he might soon consider stepping down, he told reporters “I’m not going anywhere” (Politico again). 

•••

Senate Moves to Codify Same-Sex Marriage – The Senate Wednesday passed a procedural provision, 62-37, to advance a same-sex marriage bill that could reach its final vote this week, per Roll Call. The bill would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which was ruled largely unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a 2013 decision. The bill “will not take away or alter any religious liberty,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), chief negotiator and the first openly gay U.S. senator. 

Among the 12 Republican senators voting to advance the bill was its primary GOP sponsor, Susan Collins, of Maine. It is the first among several bills the lame duck Congress will take up in a rush to beat the end of its 117th session.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Trump Trumps, Again

(WED 11/16/22)

It’s 2015 again, with the fabulosity of Mar-a-Lago – where FBI agents seized top secret government documents just three months ago -- substituting for Trump Tower’s Golden Elevator. Some 20 minutes after beginning his speech – which came off sounding like a low-key MAGA-hat rally in which he described the magnificent success of his administration and the dismal failures of his successor -- Donald J. Trump announced his third bid for president of the United States. 

“In order to make America great and glorious again tonight I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States.” Though Trump did not conjure up his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, he did suggest China had somehow meddled in the 2022 midterms. And the GOP did win the midterms thanks to Trump’s involvement, he suggested, but Republican leaders had overblown expectations they would win 40 House seats. 

Trump threw in this statement, devoid of any irony or self-awareness: “This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign.”

Biden on Strike on Poland: Before Trump in his very big announcement could blame on the current president a missile that struck Poland – he perversely suggested that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine had he still been in office – Biden spoke at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, telling reporters “there is preliminary information that contests that … it’s unlikely given the trajectory that it was launched from Russia.“ It has been identified as a Russian missile, however, and it killed two people in rural Poland. In discussions with Polish President Andrej Duda and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Biden says the U.S. has offered support to Poland’s investigation “and we need to determine exactly what happened.”

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Beware 1/6 Redux, Graham Warns

How is GOP leadership reacting to the latest Trump scandal that would immediately end any other politician’s career, at the least? Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News’ Sunday Night in America there will be “riots in the streets” if Trump is indicted for storing the documents at his Florida estate and private club. Just a bit more subtle than Steve Bannon’s January 5, 2021 tweet; “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow!”

Graham is arguably the most “mainstream traditional” of Trump’s acolytes. A grand jury subpoena of Graham in the Fulton County, Georgia investigation of Trump’s alleged interference in the state’s Electoral College count after the November 2020 presidential election is on temporary hold to determine whether the senator “is entitled to a partial quashal or modification of the subpoena to appear before the special purpose grand jury,” according to Vanity Fair.

Meanwhile: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which officially keeps all presidential records and papers has joined the FBI and Department of Homeland Security in facing “a spike in threats and vitriol in the weeks since the FBI search” of Mar-a-Lago, August 8.

What do you think?: Is there any excuse for Sen. Graham’s warning of another MAGA uprising? Will Donald J. Trump survive yet another legal scandal? Should the Justice Department filed charges against the former president?

Hit the Comments box in this column or the left column, or email editors@thehustings.news and identify yourself as “leaning right” or “leaning left” in the subject line.

--TL

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Of Scanners, Stars and Boxes

By Stephen Macaulay

For about $100 you can buy a computer scanner.

In a matter of moments even documents that are labeled “top secret/sensitive compartmented information” could be deposited on a hard drive for quick email distribution or stuck on a thumb drive.

Donald Trump, not a man known for his dynamic reading capability (or even for, well, reading), took 26 boxes of documents to Mar-a-Lago, which is described on its website as “the only private club world-wide to attain the prestigious 6-Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.”

The what?

Well, according to a May 2016 AP story, “when it comes to Trump, the academy isn't an independent observer.

“The organization is run by Joseph Cinque, a longtime Trump acquaintance who goes by the nickname "Joey No Socks" and has a felony conviction for possessing stolen property.”

And it goes on to report:

“As recently as last May, Trump himself was listed on the group's website as its "ambassador extraordinaire," and he appeared in a 2009 tribute video to Cinque in which he said: "There's nobody like him. He's a special guy."

“But Trump told The Associated Press on Friday that he doesn't know Cinque well and was unaware of Cinque's criminal conviction.”

All of this sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Now anyone who has moved house, even if it isn’t from one of the most legendary houses in the world to a prestigious 6-Star Diamond manse, knows that when you pack boxes often things go awry. Somehow no matter how carefully you mark things, there is a nearly metaphysical impossibility that all of the forks disappear. And sometimes upon unpacking there is the discovery of something that was long thought to be lost.

So let’s give Trump a benefit of a doubt. Certainly something in that move—a move that he still argues shouldn’t have occurred because the election was stolen, rigged or otherwise stacked against him (and let’s not forget, he, too, is a special guy)—probably got misplaced. After all, he had to be in a bit of a rush.

Maybe it just so happened that some documents that are top, top secret just happened to get snagged on a paper clip on the stack of love letters (his adjective) to Kim Jong-un and was shipped to his swank (six diamonds!) digs purely by accident.

But then there is that little matter of him taking things he had no legal right to. Boxes and boxes.

On Meet the Press August 14, Andrea Mitchell put it to presidential historian Michael Beschloss that Trump tweeted, “President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots.”

Beschloss responded, surprisingly, “Well, President Trump is absolutely right. Barack Obama has tens of millions of documents. . .” YIKES! but the shoe drops. . .”and they are in a National Archives installation, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, under armed guard with heavy surveillance, using the procedures that are supposed to be used for a former president. We have never in history seen a former president take ultra-classified documents, stick them in his basement, loosely watched by government standards, and with the shadow of we still don't know what his motive was.”

Well, it is the basement of that venue that won that coveted award.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump Tower got one of those plaques, too.

But I wonder about that scanner.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Congress Takes Recess

After Friday’s House vote on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Congress is on its scheduled summer recess until after Labor Day. The House Select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack will continue its investigation, though with no plans for public hearings before September. The Hustings is taking a break, too, though with news updates, including coverage of the Wyoming Republican primary Tuesday, August 16, in which Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the House Select committee, faces challenges from pro-Trump candidates. 

Scroll down to read our aggregate coverage of the FBI’s search of Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and the fallout, with commentary in the left and right columns. Contributing pundit Jim McCraw’s commentary, “The Documents Were There. Really. The FBI Took Them Back,” is below in the left column.

COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news.

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Donald Trump and the Art of the Flush

By Stephen Macaulay

As you may recall from the early days of the pandemic, there was a monumental difficulty in acquiring toilet paper. It was just one of those things that people suddenly realized that were there to be a dearth of, things would not come out particularly well in the end. And because of that realization, the amount of available toilet paper was nearly non-existent.

One thing that continued to be available — more or less, with the emphasis on the latter — was facial tissue. The stuff you use to blow your nose with.

While the configuration of the two — toilet paper and tissues — is different, the material seems to be reasonably the same.

So people, not surprisingly, thought that if they couldn’t get their grip on Charmin, they could use the box of Kleenex.

Turned out that that was a bad move. Warnings came out that while toilet paper is formulated to be dissolved in water, that’s not the case for seemingly similar paper products. The latter would lead to clogs in sewers and septic systems.

One wonders how busy Emergency Plumbing of West Palm Beach is.

Maggie Haberman gave Axios two photographs that show the toilet in the White House residence during the Trump residency: Two pictures of torn up paper — as in copier paper, not something with a flimsiness to it — with Trump’s handwriting visible.

According to Haberman, Trump has a penchant for ripping and flushing.

So the FBI searches Mar-A-Logo.

There is a federal law, the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which, among other things, according to the National Archives:

  • Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.

Hmm . . . seems that Trump has taken a whole lot of documents when he left Washington. Back in January the National Archives and Records Administration got 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago.

Presumably there were more.

There is a federal law. If he didn’t “automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist,” isn’t that, ipso facto, a crime?

Maybe it is much simpler.

Possibly the Justice Department was worried about the plumbing situation in Palm Beach.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Trump Must Resign

By Bryan Williams

Since the release of the smart phone upon the world in the latter half of the first decade of the 21st Century, our collective societal will to have patience has been nearly eliminated. These Internet connected devices have allowed for instantaneous communication, instantaneous transfer of money across the world, and food delivered to our door within an hour. Our political and governmental machinations have not caught up. They are still painstakingly slow. That it takes two and half months between a presidential election and the inauguration of the next president is enough to make us tear our hair out (and have enough time to order a wig on Amazon to be delivered within two days).

Let me be clear: Any admiration I had for President Trump is now gone. He must go. But how? It is agonizing to think he has (as of my writing this) 291 hours left in his presidency before Joe Biden is sworn in. How do we wait that long?

Many have said Vice President Pence and the Cabinet should invoke the 25th Amendment. Cabinet secretaries are dropping like flies with resignations over Wednesday's chaos, so soon there may not even be enough of a Cabinet left to invoke the 25th. But even if there were, in my opinion, this would be the wrong course of action. The 25th Amendment is to be used when the president is physically or mentally incapacitated. Working in the mental health field as I do, I can tell you it would be a stretch to declare Trump mentally incapacitated. Trump is mentally capable of doing many things. He is of sound mind. The problem is, he just won't do what is right. We should not degrade the 25th Amendment even though it would be tempting to do so, and I believe, could be up to legal challenge in this case.

How about impeachment by Congress? This is most attractive and should be undertaken even if there is not enough time considering how slow this process is. At the very least Congress should censure Trump.

What should happen is for Trump to resign and let Pence be our President for the balance of the remaining 291 hours. But we all know he won't. Trump is going to ride this horse until its time is up on January 20th at 11:59AM EST.

So the rest of us here in America have to be adults and have a little patience - 291 hours isn't so bad, is it?

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The Decline in Standards

By Stephen Macaulay

Marco Rubio did not attend an Ivy League school. After graduating from South Miami Senior High School, he went northwest, to Missouri, where he spent a year at Tarkio College, as he received a football scholarship. Then it was back to Florida, Gainesville, where he attended what was then Santa Fe Community College. That was followed by attendance at the University of Florida, where he received a BA in political science in 1993. Then he attended the University of Miami School of Law in 1996.

Using what seems to be the communication tool of choice for Trump wannabes, Twitter, Rubio tweeted out that Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees “went to Ivy League schools, have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences & will be polite & orderly caretakers of America’s decline.”

There’s a lot to break down there. And we’ll give Rubio the benefit of the doubt that he’s not simply annoyed that he didn’t make that league.

But let’s start with the conclusion. That America is in decline. And who has been the president for the past four years? Who has failed to rally the American public to do the right things to stop the coronavirus in the way that a leader who has lost more than a quarter million of his people would? Whose lack of response has led to not only high rates of unemployment right now, but what is likely to get worse as the fall turns to winter. . .and the funding and restrictions against evictions run out?

Oh, and who had control of the Senate?

If America is declining, we can see where it started. And would it have been better to reinforce that decline by re-electing the person who has gotten the proverbial ball rolling?

Are manners now a thing of the past, politeness something that is to be demeaned?

If you are a parent and have a high school student, odds are it would be your fondest dream for them to attend an Ivy League school. You would be so very proud if they can achieve a strong resume. It would be something to brag about if they were able to attend the right conferences. And regardless of all of that, you want them to be polite and orderly.

When people start calling out other people for being smart and good mannered, there is evidently decline.

A decline in standards.

And we can clearly identify when that started: June 16, 2015.

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