There are many older republicans in Congress who should consider retiring at the end of their terms. They don’t have to worry about being threatened by Trump and shouldn’t fear Elon’s threat that he would fund a primary to defeat them in the next election. They can stand up to Trump and finally exhibit a spine for the good of the country.
Thank you, Liza. I’m feeling that Jack Smith is heartbroken about this, and I do hope the cases can be resurrected eventually. I wonder what would happen if the MAGA people oust him early because of his mental decline. Could he then be prosecuted as a private citizen?
You say 'if', I say 'when'. The downside would be he then could be certified mentally incompetent, excluding him from being tried for other crimes. It looks an awful lot like a government takeover by parties to be named later.
According to Glenn Kirshner, the ruling is without prejudice and can be taken up when and howsoever Trump leaves office. The problem is the statute of limitations.
Don't fret over Gatez, he won re-election and will be sworn in with the new congress. 😱
As for Thanksgiving; we have a table for two at the Lazy Cat Ranch, i.e. home. Then on Saturday morning I drive here to the aerodome so she can visit family in Germany, Austria, and possibly France.
The fact that Hillary won the popular vote was consoling (and enraging) in 2016. Trump’s victory may not be a landslide or a mandate, but it might as well be. He has all of the money and power he needs to completely dismantle our government and the institutions that protect its citizens. The federal cases against Trump will never be resumed, because he will not leave office until he dies. Until there are real consequences for spreading the kind of disinformation that got him elected, I don’t know how any amount of engagement in a system with no guardrails will help.
There are plenty of guardrails at every level which you might not know about. It helps to read Joyce Vance's substack as well as Heather Cox Richardson's.
Thank you. I will do that. I don’t mean to discourage engagement or organizing or to spread defeatism. I listened to nearly an hour long discussion of the impact that Elon and Vivek could have in their new roles, and that left me feeling very afraid. As I understand it, unless I’m missing something, there is very little standing in the way of Trump declaring tens of thousands of employees “F status,” thereby changing their roles from career posts to appointments. He could literally do it with the wave of a hand (pen). And no one who isn’t directly affected will notice at first. By the time people realize that there’s no one protecting their food or their or their water, much less their security and natural resources, it will be too late.
You are very optimistic Lisa if you think there will be a case after Trump leaves office (should he leave office??). I seriously doubt it. Too much time and too many other things taking up space in 2029. It's over.
I read a headline for an editorial recommending that Biden pardon Trump. The only benefit I can see of a pardon by Biden is that is that it leaves a little permanent greasy stain in the history books by calling out that Biden expected Trump would be found guilty and actually needed the pardon. But the gesture would be lost on Trump and his supporters, and it has no practical utility. To the contrary, it would undermine the potential future relaunch of the carriage of justice if Jack Smith's prosecution were to be reignited in a few years.
I'm deliberately vague about the duration of Trump's tenure ("a few years" rather than "four years") because (1) Trump may spin out within his term, from myriad causes, not least of which is JD Vance invoking the 25th amendment, and (2) if Trump makes it through four years intact, he may not let go of the reins.
Trump picked Gaetz for many reasons. (1) He likes to test to see how much he can get away with. If Gaetz had made it through, all the other nominees would have been shoo-ins. (2) It's a bluff that scares/ bullies people into accepting other nominees because "at least this one is not as bad as Gaetz". (3) It created a lot of noise, and while people were focused on Gaetz, Trump slipped in other nominations that didn't get nearly as much public visibility. (4) He likes the way Gaetz IS. Gaetz behaves outrageously and thrives on bad press. He is a mini-Trump. Trump likes people who know how to project and how to attract attention. (5) And he's loyal, whatever that means. (If Trump's popularity collapses, there will be a feeding frenzy among his supporters to say how bad he REALLY was and that they were just in the game to serve as guardrails.)
The key is to mitigate some of Trump's tactics: (1) Don't let the threat of Gaetz cause us to be bullied into accepting other bad candidates. We have to write our senators and congressmen to let them know how upset we are. (Even one of my Trump-voting conservative friends didn't like Gaetz). We need to let our representatives--regardless of party or office held--know that we are paying attention and distressed. (2) Don't let the Gaetz nomination distract us from other bidg issues. (3) In any case, we need also to let our representatives know what we think of the clown car and what we think the right policies should be.
I keep wondering, where is the Democratic party in all of this now? I canvassed before the elections, and the Dems were constantly calling me to participate. Now, when we still have work to do (calls and letters to representatives, boosting attendance in meetings held by our representatives, organizing activities), the party is no where to be found. Was I really successful submitting "unsubscribe me from this list" to all senders?
Sadly, Trump will not survive to face his crimes...if his health doesn't kill him, repubs will have him 'removed" before the 2026 elections as incompetent, so a strong man (Vance?) can fulfill the republican "2025" mandate. Before 2026 works best, so the new leader has 10 yrs rather than 8.
That or a disgruntled, disillusioned MAGA will put him down.
I was most disheartened to read about this dismissal. I'm sure Jack Smith and everyone who worked with him is as well. It's unfortunate that these cases couldn't have moved along faster so that the trials could have occurred before the election. But, tRump and his loyal legal stooges made sure that didn't happen. So, once again, he doesn't have to be held responsible for anything, just like his whole life. Makes me sick!
Very astute observance. One never knows what's behind any chess moves the orange man makes. Surely, a lot of what he does is show, bullying, or a behind-the-scenes maneuver towards some motive we know nothing about. He is very crafty and evil and knows no boundaries. And we can never put anything past him. Thanks for staying on top of this for us, Liza.
Revolutionary SamueI Adams defined our current situation with Trump. "If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." A call for us to stand firm.
angry. I look forward to the day after Trump leaves office and the case is resumed.”
Fascism is being installed, Jack. Donald John Nazi will not willingly leave office in 2029. Laws will mean nothing on January 20, 2025. Shit. There will be NO election in 2028.
Keep up the good work of speaking up, giving us the true narrativ. I prayed for all those who put so work into this, only to have to accept what the law says. That needs to be changed in the future.
My general policy is only to make predictions about things that have already happened. In the present case, however, I’ll make an exception and predict that Jack Smith’s cases against Trump will never be revived. Equally kaput are the state cases. Lawfare didn’t work. Indeed, it backfired. That’s why Trump is now the president-elect while Jack Smith is preparing to spend more time with his family.
Democrats, progressives, et. al should be conducting an after-action review right now. Things went badly wrong for them and they should be interested in the reasons why. Instead they’re indulging in 2029 lawfare fantasies. What good will that do?
There are many older republicans in Congress who should consider retiring at the end of their terms. They don’t have to worry about being threatened by Trump and shouldn’t fear Elon’s threat that he would fund a primary to defeat them in the next election. They can stand up to Trump and finally exhibit a spine for the good of the country.
Thank you, Liza. I’m feeling that Jack Smith is heartbroken about this, and I do hope the cases can be resurrected eventually. I wonder what would happen if the MAGA people oust him early because of his mental decline. Could he then be prosecuted as a private citizen?
You say 'if', I say 'when'. The downside would be he then could be certified mentally incompetent, excluding him from being tried for other crimes. It looks an awful lot like a government takeover by parties to be named later.
According to Glenn Kirshner, the ruling is without prejudice and can be taken up when and howsoever Trump leaves office. The problem is the statute of limitations.
Don't fret over Gatez, he won re-election and will be sworn in with the new congress. 😱
As for Thanksgiving; we have a table for two at the Lazy Cat Ranch, i.e. home. Then on Saturday morning I drive here to the aerodome so she can visit family in Germany, Austria, and possibly France.
The fact that Hillary won the popular vote was consoling (and enraging) in 2016. Trump’s victory may not be a landslide or a mandate, but it might as well be. He has all of the money and power he needs to completely dismantle our government and the institutions that protect its citizens. The federal cases against Trump will never be resumed, because he will not leave office until he dies. Until there are real consequences for spreading the kind of disinformation that got him elected, I don’t know how any amount of engagement in a system with no guardrails will help.
There are plenty of guardrails at every level which you might not know about. It helps to read Joyce Vance's substack as well as Heather Cox Richardson's.
Thank you. I will do that. I don’t mean to discourage engagement or organizing or to spread defeatism. I listened to nearly an hour long discussion of the impact that Elon and Vivek could have in their new roles, and that left me feeling very afraid. As I understand it, unless I’m missing something, there is very little standing in the way of Trump declaring tens of thousands of employees “F status,” thereby changing their roles from career posts to appointments. He could literally do it with the wave of a hand (pen). And no one who isn’t directly affected will notice at first. By the time people realize that there’s no one protecting their food or their or their water, much less their security and natural resources, it will be too late.
You are very optimistic Lisa if you think there will be a case after Trump leaves office (should he leave office??). I seriously doubt it. Too much time and too many other things taking up space in 2029. It's over.
Jack Smith is one of my heroes.
I read a headline for an editorial recommending that Biden pardon Trump. The only benefit I can see of a pardon by Biden is that is that it leaves a little permanent greasy stain in the history books by calling out that Biden expected Trump would be found guilty and actually needed the pardon. But the gesture would be lost on Trump and his supporters, and it has no practical utility. To the contrary, it would undermine the potential future relaunch of the carriage of justice if Jack Smith's prosecution were to be reignited in a few years.
I'm deliberately vague about the duration of Trump's tenure ("a few years" rather than "four years") because (1) Trump may spin out within his term, from myriad causes, not least of which is JD Vance invoking the 25th amendment, and (2) if Trump makes it through four years intact, he may not let go of the reins.
Trump picked Gaetz for many reasons. (1) He likes to test to see how much he can get away with. If Gaetz had made it through, all the other nominees would have been shoo-ins. (2) It's a bluff that scares/ bullies people into accepting other nominees because "at least this one is not as bad as Gaetz". (3) It created a lot of noise, and while people were focused on Gaetz, Trump slipped in other nominations that didn't get nearly as much public visibility. (4) He likes the way Gaetz IS. Gaetz behaves outrageously and thrives on bad press. He is a mini-Trump. Trump likes people who know how to project and how to attract attention. (5) And he's loyal, whatever that means. (If Trump's popularity collapses, there will be a feeding frenzy among his supporters to say how bad he REALLY was and that they were just in the game to serve as guardrails.)
The key is to mitigate some of Trump's tactics: (1) Don't let the threat of Gaetz cause us to be bullied into accepting other bad candidates. We have to write our senators and congressmen to let them know how upset we are. (Even one of my Trump-voting conservative friends didn't like Gaetz). We need to let our representatives--regardless of party or office held--know that we are paying attention and distressed. (2) Don't let the Gaetz nomination distract us from other bidg issues. (3) In any case, we need also to let our representatives know what we think of the clown car and what we think the right policies should be.
I keep wondering, where is the Democratic party in all of this now? I canvassed before the elections, and the Dems were constantly calling me to participate. Now, when we still have work to do (calls and letters to representatives, boosting attendance in meetings held by our representatives, organizing activities), the party is no where to be found. Was I really successful submitting "unsubscribe me from this list" to all senders?
I’ll stand with Jack Smith. And you Liza. Solid insight and essay on this. We will get through this.
Sadly, Trump will not survive to face his crimes...if his health doesn't kill him, repubs will have him 'removed" before the 2026 elections as incompetent, so a strong man (Vance?) can fulfill the republican "2025" mandate. Before 2026 works best, so the new leader has 10 yrs rather than 8.
That or a disgruntled, disillusioned MAGA will put him down.
I was most disheartened to read about this dismissal. I'm sure Jack Smith and everyone who worked with him is as well. It's unfortunate that these cases couldn't have moved along faster so that the trials could have occurred before the election. But, tRump and his loyal legal stooges made sure that didn't happen. So, once again, he doesn't have to be held responsible for anything, just like his whole life. Makes me sick!
Very astute observance. One never knows what's behind any chess moves the orange man makes. Surely, a lot of what he does is show, bullying, or a behind-the-scenes maneuver towards some motive we know nothing about. He is very crafty and evil and knows no boundaries. And we can never put anything past him. Thanks for staying on top of this for us, Liza.
That's a man hole all right.
Revolutionary SamueI Adams defined our current situation with Trump. "If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." A call for us to stand firm.
I’M SCREAMING! As LOUD AS I CAN!!!
“ The NY Times characterized Smith's letters as
"terse.
." I can imagine Jack Smith is extemely
angry. I look forward to the day after Trump leaves office and the case is resumed.”
Fascism is being installed, Jack. Donald John Nazi will not willingly leave office in 2029. Laws will mean nothing on January 20, 2025. Shit. There will be NO election in 2028.
Keep up the good work of speaking up, giving us the true narrativ. I prayed for all those who put so work into this, only to have to accept what the law says. That needs to be changed in the future.
My general policy is only to make predictions about things that have already happened. In the present case, however, I’ll make an exception and predict that Jack Smith’s cases against Trump will never be revived. Equally kaput are the state cases. Lawfare didn’t work. Indeed, it backfired. That’s why Trump is now the president-elect while Jack Smith is preparing to spend more time with his family.
Democrats, progressives, et. al should be conducting an after-action review right now. Things went badly wrong for them and they should be interested in the reasons why. Instead they’re indulging in 2029 lawfare fantasies. What good will that do?
So sorry for Jack Smith. I hope he will survive this and come away better off. And get trump in the end!