Month: March 2023

Leopard cubs!

A birth of twins is exceptional, no matter the species. However, when those twins are Amur leopards—and fewer than 300 of those big cats are estimated to exist on Earth—the births are especially significant. This week, wildlife care staff at the San Diego Zoo announced the birth of two Amur leopard cubs, increasing this rare cat’s estimated worldwide population by two and furthering the nonprofit conservation organization’s ongoing work to save this vital Asian species.   

“We are absolutely thrilled with the progress made by the cubs,” said Thomas. “They have grown so much, and have already started showcasing their unique personalities. The cubs will get their first full veterinary exam soon, and we will know more, including their sex.”

The cubs were born as part of a breeding recommendation through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Amur Leopard Species Survival Plan (SSP). Each SSP program, overseen by conservationists nationwide, ensures genetic diversity and healthy, self-sustaining assurance populations of threatened and endangered wildlife. This is the third Amur leopard litter born at the San Diego Zoo. The first litter was in April 2018 (with two females), and the second was in April 2020 (with two males). All three were naturally sired by male Amur leopard Oskar.

Amur leopards are categorized as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species because of tremendous habitat loss and poaching for their thick, spotted coats. Once numerous throughout northeastern China, Russia and the Korean peninsula, there are currently fewer than 300 Amur leopards left on earth, and fewer than 100 remain in their historic range in the Primorye region of the Russian Far East. The rest are in managed human care. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and other accredited zoological organizations have joined in conserving this critical species. More than 94 institutions caring for over 220 leopards participate in the Global Species Management Program (GSMP), an international conservation effort in which scientists work to increase regional wildlife populations.

“San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s work in Asia is essential for conserving endangered species that call that region home,” said Dr. Nadine Lamberski, chief conservation and wildlife health officer for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “The good news is, we see positive results. For example, through the efforts of numerous on-the-ground conservation organizations and zoological institutions, the Amur leopard population has recently increased by more than 50 percent. This is a monumental achievement, proving that conservation works and our vision to build a world where all life thrives can be realized. We only need to maintain the course, and ultimately, we will succeed.”

Zooborns

Of course he is…

Normally, it’s not considered a good idea for a defendant to publicly trash the judge who’s in charge of your criminal case on the very first day. But that’s not how Trump rolls. Remember hen we were all shocked in 2016 when he attacked the judge in his Trump University case because he was Mexican?

TAPPER: What does this have to do with his heritage?

TRUMP: I’ll tell you what it has to do. I’ve had ruling after ruling after ruling that’s been bad rulings, OK? I’ve been treated very unfairly. Before him, we had another judge. If that judge was still there, this case would have been over two years ago.

Let me just tell you, I’ve had horrible rulings, I’ve been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage. I’m building a wall, OK? I’m building a wall. I am going to do very well with the Hispanics, the Mexicans –

TAPPER: So, no Mexican judge could ever be involved in a case that involves you?

TRUMP: Well, he’s a member of a society, where – you know, very pro-Mexico, and that’s fine. It’s all fine, but –

TAPPER: Except that you’re calling into question his heritage.

TRUMP: I think he should recuse himself.

TAPPER: Because he’s Latino?

TRUMP: Then, you also say, does he know the lawyer on the other side? I mean, does he know the lawyer? You know, a lot of people say –

TAPPER: But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about –

TRUMP: That’s another problem.

TAPPER: You’re invoking his race, talking about whether or not he can do his job.

TRUMP: Jake, I’m building a wall. OK? I’m building a wall. I’m trying to keep business out of Mexico. Mexico’s fine.

TAPPER: But he’s an American.

TRUMP: He’s of Mexican heritage and he’s very proud of it, as I am where I come from, my parents.

TAPPER: But he’s an American. You keep talking about it’s a conflict of interest because of Mexico.

TRUMP: Jake, are you ready? I have a case that should have already been dismissed. I have thousands of people saying Trump University is fantastic, OK? I have a case that should have been dismissed. A judge that never, ever gives – now, we lose the plaintiff. He lets the plaintiff of the case out.

So, why isn’t he calling the case? So, we thought we won the case.

TAPPER: So, you disagree with his rulings. I totally understand that.

TRUMP: I’ve had lawyers come up to me and say, you are being treated so unfairly. It’s unbelievable. You know the plaintiffs in the case have all said wonderful things about the school and they’re suing. You know why they’re suing? Because they want to get their money back.

TAPPER: I don’t want to really litigate the case of Trump University.

TRUMP: You have to, because if he was giving me fair rulings, I wouldn’t say that.

TAPPER: My question is –

TRUMP: Jake, if you were giving me fair rulings, I wouldn’t be talking to you this way. He’s given me horrible rulings.

TAPPER: I don’t care if you criticize him, that’s fine. You can criticize every decision. What I’m saying, if you invoke his race as a reason why he can’t do his job.

TRUMP: I think that’s why he’s doing it. I think that’s why he’s doing it.

TAPPER: When Hillary Clinton says it’s a racist attack –

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a stiff. If Hillary Clinton becomes president –

TAPPER: Paul Ryan today – Paul Ryan today said he didn’t care for the way that you are attacking this judge.

TRUMP: Look, I’m just telling you, Paul Ryan doesn’t know the case. Here’s the story –

TAPPER: Isn’t it the –

TRUMP: I should have won this case on summary judgment. This is not a – this is a case I should have won on summary judgment. You know, the law firm paid Hillary Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars to make speeches. You know the law firm –

TAPPER: I do. And we reported – we reported it on my show.

TRUMP: OK. I’m glad. You’re the only one.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Wait a minute. A law firm paid hundreds and thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton for speeches.

TAPPER: Before either of you –

TRUMP: She wasn’t working. Everyone fell asleep during a speech, OK?

TAPPER: Before either of you were running for president, they did.

But here’s the final fundamental question –

TRUMP: Do you know they’ve contributed tremendous amounts of money to her campaign?

TAPPER: Yes.

TRUMP: Do you know they contributed a lot of money to Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general?

TAPPER: Here’s my question –

TRUMP: No, no, do you know that?

TAPPER: I did not know that.

TRUMP: Did you know they went to every attorney general practically in the country that they could and did you know this case was turned down by almost every attorney general from Texas to Florida and to many other states?

TAPPER: Is it not – when Hillary Clinton says this is a racist attack, and you reject that – if you’re saying he can’t do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?

TRUMP: No. I don’t think so at all.

TAPPER: No?

TRUMP: No. He’s proud of his heritage. I respect him for that.

TAPPER: But you’re saying you can’t do his job because of that.

TRUMP: Look, he’s proud of his heritage, OK? I’m building a wall.

Now, I think I’m going to do very well with Hispanics because they are going to get jobs right now. They are going to get jobs. I think I’m going to do very well with Hispanics.

We are building a wall. He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico.

The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can’t even believe. This case should have ended years ago in summary judgment. The best lawyers, I have spoken to so many lawyers, they said, this is not a case. This is a case that should have ended.

TAPPER: I –

TRUMP: This judge is giving us unfair rulings. Now, I say why? Well, I’m building a wall, OK? And it’s a wall between Mexico. Not another country.

TAPPER: But he’s not from Mexico. He’s from Indiana.

TRUMP: He’s of Mexican heritage and he’s very proud of it.

We all thought this infantile whining, crude racism and ignorance would obviously prevent him from becoming president. Little did we know that tens of millions of people would love him for it.

He has some nerve…

With all this tiresome whining about how “the left” and the Democrats are weaponizing the government against Donald Trump and his followers, it’s important to remember who’s the real weaponizer:

Former President Donald J. Trump has regularly railed against a justice system that he contends has been deployed against him by his political opponents.

“The Biden regime’s weaponization of our system of justice is straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show,” he told a rally in Texas on Saturday night.

But as is often the case with Mr. Trump, his accusations — widely repeated by other Republicans — reflect his own pattern of conduct: his history of threatening or seeking to employ the expansive powers of the presidency to go after his enemies, real and perceived.

“He was always telling me that we need to use the F.B.I. and I.R.S. to go after people — it was constant and obsessive and is just what he’s claiming is being done to him now,” said John F. Kelly, Mr. Trump’s second White House chief of staff.

“I would tell him why it was wrong, and while I was there I did everything I could to steer him away from it and tell him why it was a bad idea,” Mr. Kelly said. “I thought we were successful, but he would often ask a lot of people to do a lot of things that he didn’t want to do himself in the hopes that someone would do it and he could claim he did nothing wrong.”

Some of his demands were public, and to some degree a political performance, like his calls, never acted upon, for the prosecution of Hillary Clinton, his defeated rival in the 2016 campaign.

Other actions were personal, and more petty. He blocked then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi from using a military plane in 2019 to visit troops in Afghanistan. Andrew McCabe was temporarily denied his federal pension upon retiring as deputy director of the F.B.I., after intense criticism from Mr. Trump for his role in the Russia investigation.

In some instances, Mr. Trump acted more quietly and persistently. Among those he wanted to see prosecuted was John F. Kerry, the former senator, Democratic presidential nominee and secretary of state under President Barack Obama.

Mr. Trump maintained that Mr. Kerry had broken the law by staying in touch with Iranian officials with whom he had negotiated a nuclear deal that Mr. Trump was unwinding. As president, Mr. Trump repeatedly pressed senior officials behind closed doors about using the Justice Department to target Mr. Kerry, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Ultimately, federal prosecutors in New York were pushed by senior Justice Department officials in Washington to investigate Mr. Kerry, according to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan at the time.

John R. Bolton, who served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, said the former president is now clearly playing to a base that has increasingly embraced his claims of “weaponization” about a range of investigations, and responded to his portrayal of himself as its victim. But, Mr. Bolton said, “The idea that he’s a paragon of virtue who didn’t do this to other people and is now a victim of this unfairness really is laughable.”

Asked to comment about Mr. Trump’s use of the levers of power to go after his enemies, including Mr. Kerry, a senior consultant to Mr. Trump’s campaign, Chris LaCivita, spoke only of Mr. Kerry and reiterated the call for his prosecution, calling him “a threat to national security.”

For decades, Mr. Trump has generally viewed institutions and systems as entities that reward friends and allies of those leading them and that punish their enemies. It was how he perceived the world of machine politics that surrounded him in New York City as he was growing up. He has long made clear that he believes every system and every person is corruptible.

“Anyone will say anything if you pay them enough. I know that, and you know that,” the former C.I.A. director, John Brennan, recalled Mr. Trump saying at their first meeting, in reference to his distrust of human intelligence sources.

They’re trying to drive us crazy with this projection. Sometimes I feel like it’s working.

Hunter was a piker

As the wingnuts chase down Hunter’s dick pics, this is happening in real time, in plain sight:

Wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have invested hundreds of millions of dollars with Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, according to people with knowledge of the transactions, joining Saudi Arabia in backing the venture launched by former President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law as he left the White House.

The infusion of money from interests in the two rival Persian Gulf monarchies reflects the continued efforts by Mr. Trump and his aides and allies to profit from the close ties they built to the Arab world during his presidency and the desire of leaders in the region to remain on good terms with Mr. Kushner as his father-in-law seeks the presidency again.

The Emiratis invested more than $200 million with Mr. Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, two people told about the transactions said. The U.A.E.’s embassy in Washington declined to comment. A Qatari entity invested a similar sum, according to two people with knowledge of that deal. A spokesman for the Qatari embassy in Washington declined to comment.

The investment from the U.A.E. came through a sovereign wealth fund, but the identity of the Qatari investor is unclear. An Affinity Partners official did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Top Emirati officials have a close relationship with Mr. Kushner, forged during the Trump administration. And the Kushner family has previously benefited from Qatari funds. A Qatar-linked company helped bail out the Kushners’ debt-ridden tower in midtown Manhattan, 666 Fifth Avenue, during the Trump presidency.

But despite these relationships, Emirati and Qatari officials were at first reluctant to invest in Mr. Kushner’s private equity fund, at least in part because of the political risks involved, according to people familiar with both governments’ internal deliberations. The Times previously reported that Qatari officials feared they would face unfavorable treatment if they turned down Mr. Kushner’s invitation to invest and Mr. Trump returned to power.

It is not unusual for insiders from both parties to benefit financially from deals abroad after leaving government service, particularly in the Middle East. There is a long history of firms populated by former officials from Democratic administrations signing lucrative contracts with Gulf nations, and there are few laws or ethics guidelines prohibiting it.

But the scale of the investments Mr. Kushner’s venture has received from the Gulf countries — in the range of $2.5 billion — and the timing, coming relatively soon after his leaving the White House, are striking and have drawn criticism from Democrats and ethics experts.

The newly disclosed investments are not especially large coming from energy-rich nations whose sovereign wealth funds manage hundreds of billions of dollars in assets. And they are far smaller than the commitment made earlier by the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund, a $650 billion entity known as the Public Investment Fund, which, as The New York Times has reported, invested $2 billion with Mr. Kushner in 2021. Affinity Partners has confirmed that the Public Investment Fund was backing it without giving details on the amount.

Both the U.A.E. and Qatar have a history of hedging their bets on U.S. politics. The investments appear to be the latest indication that they want to maintain warm relations with prominent officials from the Trump administration — especially if Mr. Trump were to become president again — even as they work with the Biden administration.

But the investments reflect not just an eye toward the future in the U.S., but also an acknowledgment of their relationship with Mr. Kushner, who left the White House with an expansive network of contacts, and with whom they worked closely.

Affinity Partners makes only limited public disclosures, but the branch of the firm that handles money from Mr. Kushner’s overseas backers held $2.5 billion in capital on behalf of three different foreign investors, according to a financial filing dated last March. Updated disclosures, which are expected to be filed by Friday, are likely to show that Affinity Partners now manages roughly $3 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

As a top White House adviser to Mr. Trump while he was in office, Mr. Kushner was an active participant in American diplomacy in the Middle East and helped orchestrate a regional pact, the Abraham Accords, that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, in 2020.

During the final days of the Trump presidency, he played a role in discussions that helped lift an economic and diplomatic blockade of Qatar by its neighbors. The blockade, led by Saudi Arabia, had been imposed in 2017 at a time when Mr. Kushner was cultivating a relationship with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman — who was about to become next in line to the throne in the kingdom.

John R. Bolton, who served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, said he never heard Mr. Kushner directly address the opportunities that his contacts in the Middle East could bring him after leaving government.

“But certainly the way in which he’s approached it upon leaving the White House has been very systematic and very effective,” Mr. Bolton said.

Mr. Kushner is not the only former Trump administration official to benefit from connections in the Middle East since Mr. Trump’s term ended. Steven T. Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, also runs an investment firm with backing from sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf. On Thursday, both he and Mr. Kushner appeared at an investment conference in Miami Beach sponsored by a nonprofit led by the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir al-Rumayyan.

Since leaving office, Mr. Trump, like his son-in-law, has chased Middle East deals. He announced one with a Saudi real estate company, which intends to build a Trump-branded hotel, villas and a golf course as part of a $4 billion real estate project in Oman that is backed by Oman’s government. And he is promoting the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour at his golf courses.

But in Mr. Kushner’s case, investors in the region had raised questions about his lack of investment experience, and Democrats have criticized the speed with which he secured financial commitments from countries he had only recently been dealing with in an official capacity. Mr. Kushner locked in the $2 billion investment from the Saudis only months after he left the White House.

Last year, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, who at the time was chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, opened an investigation into whether Mr. Kushner traded on his government position to secure the Saudi investment.

I’m pretty sure that investigation isn’t going anywhere in Kevin McCarthy’s House.

With all the hoopla around the indictment (and pending indictments) it’s still astonishing to me that he and his spawn have never been held to account for the blatant corruption that took place before, during and after his presidency and apparently never will. The fact that Trump’s minions are pursuing Biden and his son shows monumental chutzpah.

At least she didn’t call her “horseface.”

If you wondered what that shrill, high-pitched wail you heard late yesterday afternoon was, it was the sound of millions of MAGA Republicans hysterically keening over the news that their Dear Leader, Donald Trump, had been indicted in the New York porn star hush-money case. According to social media and Fox News, this so-called “weaponization” of the government by the Democratic Party spells the end of the Republic as we know it, and “the people” aren’t going to stand for it.

Trump released a statement that began:

“This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history. From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.

Same old, same old.

His devoted minion, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, hit all the highlights with a statement he immediately released when the news was announced:

Alvin Bragg has irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election. As he routinely frees violent criminals to terrorize the public, he weaponized our sacred system of justice against President Donald Trump. The American people will not tolerate this injustice, and the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.

Many other elected GOP officials pounded the same drum with statesmanlike sentiments such as “the anti-American left is going to fuck around and find out” from Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins.

Meanwhile, Fox News, which has had a bit of a fraught relationship with the former president lately, immediately jumped to his defense with everything they have. Under a chyron that said, “Third World Banana Republic,” host Tucker Carlson said it was a worse assault on the system than January 6 (which is interesting since he claims that was merely a peaceful tourist visit). He told his audience that it’s “probably not the best time to give up your AR-15s ..the rule of law appears to be suspended tonight — not just for Trump, but for anyone who would consider voting for him.”

Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo.,told Fox News host Jesse Watters that “this is burning down the rule of law. They will regret doing this because I think the American people won’t stand for it.” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham babbled incoherently on the network:

Even the pious Mike Pence went full MAGA, proclaiming it a “political prosecution.” (If he thinks the Trumpers will forgive him his trespasses by doing this, he’s dreaming.)

They’re all rending their garments over “the rule of law” being destroyed because a district attorney is bringing a criminal case against a man he says committed a crime. How this is an assault on the rule of law I don’t know, particularly since none of them even know what the charges are much less the evidence that’s been amassed. Essentially, they are all saying that a private citizen who was once president and wants to be president again cannot be prosecuted. These are the same people who spent the last seven years lustily chanting “lock her up” at the mere mention of Hillary Clinton.

Still, it’s a bit surprising that the reaction was so overwrought considering that there have been reports that this indictment was imminent for the last couple of weeks and Trump himself had been screeching about it non-stop since he announced they were planning to arrest him last Tuesday. But since that didn’t happen and some new witnesses were called in this week, I suppose they may have convinced themselves that Trump’s claim that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg had backed off was true. Trump himself posted on Truth Social on Thursday morning:

That didn’t work out the way he hoped it would, did it?

Despite all the bluster over the past couple of weeks, according to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, Trump and his team were caught off guard by Thursday’s announcement. They had come to believe that any indictment would not be handed down until next month. But they nonetheless wasted no time in getting out the fundraising requests. As much as Trump may be dreading arrest, he’s anticipating a massive haul from his followers who are always thrilled to give the supposed billionaire their hard-earned cash when they feel he’s being persecuted.

And Trump is also buoyed by the recent spate of polling that has him substantially expanding his lead over his potential primary rivals. Fox News released a poll this week that has him over 50%, doubling his lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to 30 points. That’s a 15-point gain since last month which, coincidentally, is when Trump went on the attack against DeSantis and the rumors of imminent indictment started to circulate. Quinnipiac’s latest survey shows that 75% of Republicans believe that an indictment should not disqualify him from running for president and 62% of the general public thinks the Manhattan DA’s case is motivated by politics, not the law. 47% of Republicans support him compared to only 33% for DeSantis.

Perhaps this explains why, after trying to subtly diss Trump by repeating the words “hush money” and “porn star” when responding to the rumor that Trump would be indicted, DeSantis has reverted to unalloyed support with his statement last night in which he vowed not to “help” extradite the former president to New York. Of course, Trump’s lawyers had already announced that he would voluntarily appear for the arraignment so it was just a bit self-serving — but that says something in itself. DeSantis knows that when it comes to Trump and his legal troubles he simply cannot cross him. The GOP base won’t have it. That is the most likely reason why Trump’s poll numbers are up and DeSantis’ are down. It’s going to be very hard to run against Trump when he’s under indictment.

Count me among those who think it’s quite likely that instead of harming his chances of winning the Republican nomination, this indictment and any that follow, will almost guarantee it. As we can see by the reaction from the elected officials, it’s not just the MAGA hardcore who feel compelled to rush to defend him. This is an organizing tool and a fundraising vehicle for the whole party and it may just vault him to the nomination without much competition. It’s even possible that DeSantis might decide not to run after all.

It may have been possible for someone to challenge Trump unless he was indicted at which point the whole party has to circle the wagons to defend him. That’s how perverse the Republican Party has become.

It remains to be seen if the rest of the electorate will be so forgiving. That Quinnipiac Poll may show that Republicans think an indictment has no bearing on his ability to run for president, but by a 57 – 38 percent margin, the general public disagree and believe a criminal charge should disqualify him. Those GOP officials quoted above can read that poll too but, as always, have decided their interest lies in supporting him even if it destroys the party. When he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes, for once in his life he wasn’t lying. 

First the Trump Organization, now Trump

“The new charges against Trump aren’t so much unprecedented, as they simply charge Trump’s biological person with the same crimes for which his corporate persons have already been convicted,” writes Marcy Wheeler:

Paying his former sex partners to hide from voters that he cheated on Melania is not, itself, illegal.

Having corporations pay sex workers for the purpose of benefitting a political campaign is. 

The National Enquirer paid to silence Karen McDougal ahead of the 2016 election; Trump paid off Michael Cohen who paid off Stormy Daniels through the Trump Organization. Trump might have paid off Daniels out of personal funds, but no.

Trump’s eponymous corporate persons have already been found guilty of serving as personal slush funds. In 2019, he admitted the Trump Foundation had engaged in self-dealing. And last year, a jury convicted Trump Organization of compensating employees via untaxed benefits rather than salary.

The new charges against Trump aren’t so much unprecedented, as they simply charge Trump’s biological person with the same crimes for which his corporate persons have already been convicted.

But there’s more history here, too. On multiple occasions, agents of Donald Trump reportedly engaged in further attempts to cover-up this cover-up.

Trump or his agents attempted to cover up his 2016 election cheating six times. Wheeler details them at emptywheel.

There’s a lot of shite being written about how the indictment of a former President — for actions that stem from cheating to win — will test democracy.

But Trump’s serial cover-ups of his own actions in this and other matters already threaten democracy.

Who’s on 2nd?

Trump’s reflexive cheating finally caught up with him. If the “cheapskate billionaire” relies on his usual stable of third-rate, sycophant lawyers to defend him, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will make the charges stick, whatever they are.

Couldn’t happen to a more deserving guy. And he deserves far more than falsified business records charges. Those are on the way.

Waiting on you, Fani Willis and Jack Smith.

It’s George Soros, insist anti-Semites

The Net is awash in speculation since the announcement Thursday afternoon that New York District attorney Alvin Bragg indicted former reality TV star, MAGA cult leader, and insurrection instigator Donald Trump. (Did we mention he was once President of the United States, twice impeached?) The indictment remains sealed until next week, meaning specific criminal charges are not public. Until then, we will endure the endless what ifs and what nows of punditry required to fill web pages and air space on 24-hour cable news.

A U.S. president has been indicted! It’s the first time! Smells like a new car!

It’s all a plot “FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS,” dontcha know. The 92-year-old, Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and Jewish billionaire-philanthropist is so peripatetic in conservative lore that they see him hiding in more woodpiles than Commies during the height of the Cold War.

Buried under the banner headlines is the shameless anti-Semitism on display by Trump and his defenders. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Fox News are so busy hyping the investigation as a dastardly, deep-state plot funded by Soros that they’ve almost forgotten to point out to MAGites that “Soros-backed” Bragg is, you know, Black.

It’s worse than nonsense. After the slaughter of Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, if the party that all but bears Trump’s name in gold letters had any conscience, it would drop that shit. But no. Republicans are laying it on thick.

Find the inflammatory rhetoric debunked here and here and here and here and here.

“George Soros and Alvin Bragg have never met in person or spoken by telephone, email, Zoom etc.,” a Soros spokesperson, Michael Vachon, told Insider via email. “There has been no contact between the two. Neither George Soros nor Democracy PAC contributed to Alvin Bragg’s campaign for Manhattan District Attorney.”

But MSNBC’s Medhi Hasan slapped down the anti-Semites with more panache:

When Trump supporters react to the indictment with violence, it will be the left’s fault. Glenn Beck warned Tucker Carlson:

“What this is all about, I believe, is trying to inflame this country. They’ve wanted violence from the right from the beginning. They can’t wait [for] it. They need it. Because if we strike out—look at January 6!” Beck said. 

The right is as perpetually innocent as doves. Victims always.

Last week, at the University of Georgia School of Law, super conservative Judge Michael Luttig said:

With the former president’s and his Republican Party’s determined denial of January 6, their refusal to acknowledge that the former president lost the 2020 presidential election fair and square, and their promise that the 2024 election will not be “stolen” from them again as they maintain it was in 2020, America’s Democracy and the Rule of Law are in constitutional peril — still. And there is no end to the threat in sight….

We are a house divided and our poisonous politics is fast eating away at the fabric of our society….

The Republican Party has made its decision that the war against America’s Democracy and the Rule of Law it instigated on January 6 will go on, prosecuted to its catastrophic end.

Charlie Sykes’ Bulwark podcast, with Judge Luttig is quite interesting.  You can listen to the whole thing here.

Some highlights:

“Treason-like”

Charlie Sykes: Here you have the former president very openly saying we should terminate the Constitution in order to overturn this election. And yet the Republican party still looks at him and says, ‘Yeah, if he’s the nominee, we’ll support him again for return to the Oval Office.’ What has happened to conservatives and Republicans that they are willing to tolerate that kind of thing?

Judge Michael Luttig: In another day, those words spoken by a president or a former president, for that matter, would be treason-like — not treason. Treason is a defined term in the Constitution. It’s treason-like because that statement, as well as January 6th, the events inspired by the former president, were a betrayal of America and a betrayal of Americans. The former president and his allies betrayed the sacred trust that had been conferred on them by the American people.

Indicting Trump

Sykes: “I don’t want to put words in your mouth. But my sense is that you’re not calling for Trump’s indictment, but you now believe that he will be indicted, and you’ve been laying out the factors … that Merrick Garland should be considering. So, what should we do about this, and what does it say if the legal system does not hold Donald Trump accountable for his attempts to overturn the election and for his role in January 6th?

Judge Luttig: Yes, it’s not my role to call for the indictment and prosecution of the former president — and I’ve studiously not done that. As these various prosecutions have come to the forefront, I have commented on what I thought was their legitimacy and their likelihood. The four in particular that I’ve commented on, beginning with the most important is January 6th — the investigation being conducted now by the Department of Justice in the person of Jack Smith, for the former president’s conduct on January 6th. Second, the investigation of the taking and retention of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, followed closely by the investigation in Georgia by Fani Willis of the former president’s effort to interfere with the election in Georgia in 2020. And last and most recently, this expected indictment in Manhattan related to the Stormy Daniels case.

But I would say today, Charlie, that I would have hoped that the first of any prosecutions of the former president would not have been either the Stormy Daniels matter in Manhattan, or frankly, the classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. And that instead, if there are to be prosecutions of the former president, the first would be by the Department of Justice and Jack Smith, for January 6th.

I’ll go even one step further and say that if it happens to be the case that the Stormy Daniels prosecution and the classified documents investigation are the only two prosecutions of the former president coming out of all of his antics, and that he’s not prosecuted for January 6th, I will believe that that’s a great disservice to democracy and to the rule of law in America.

I think they should throw the book at him for all of it. But I agree that the January 6th investigation is the most vital. These Republicans are watching to see what they can get away with. They will try it again, I have absolutely no doubt, unless Trump is held accountable and the party is fully repudiated.