Donald Trump’s legal problems are just beginning, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow suggested on her Monday show. He is an unindicted co-conspirator in ongoing state investigations into the 2020 fake electors schemes in Arizona and Michigan.
An investigator for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office described Friday the probe into a certificate that falsely claimed Donald Trump won the state’s 2020 presidential election as “open and active.”
Howard Shock, an agent of Nessel’s office, also said he had outstanding subpoenas or search warrants for information as part of the ongoing investigation. For the second time in two months, Shock said Trump, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee this year, was considered an unindicted co-conspirator, but as of now, there wasn’t enough evidence to recommend charges against him.
“He’s part of the investigation, but he hasn’t been charged with a crime yet,” Shock said of Trump.
Yet.
Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have also launched fake Trump electors investigations. Prosecutors in four have pursued criminal penalties.
In a hint at coming attractions, the Michigan State Police officer who turned away the Michigan fake electors from the state capitol door on December 14, 2020 told investigators he was questioned about the electors scheme on Thursday by the FBI and two prosecutors from Washington, D.C.
That detail suggests additional federal charges could be coming, and coming for Trump.
You think you know the contours of Donald Trump's legal situation, but as Rachel Maddow points out, things are not necessarily going to unfold the way we are expecting. pic.twitter.com/0vJk1LsSN6
Let’s talk about what that means for the November elections.
Ahead of Maddow’s show, Amy Walter of Cook Political Report spoke with Jen Psaki about “double haters.” Dissatisfied with both Joe Biden and Donald Trump as presidential candidates, between 16 and 25 percent of eligible voters fall into that category, slightly more than in 2016, Walters said. And we know how that worked out.
Largely younger and more diverse, these voters are not leaning toward Trump, but may see no reason to vote for Biden either. Walter’s data shows that abortion is a critical issue for them, but so is the cost of living. Daily expenses and housing. Cook’s polling shows they believe Biden can do something about it but has not done enough, and they believe Trump can do better. Jobs and infrastructure improvements under Biden are simply not top of mind.
Two-thirds of double haters already believe Trump should end his campaign. But regarding federal involvement in the fake electors scheme, if double haters want to see Trump held accountable in federal courts, staying home is self-harm. Voting for Trump or staying home or skipping the presidential line on the fall ballot is a decision to let Trump off scot-free for trying to steal their votes in the 2020 election. A vote for Biden is a vote for accountability.
Use your leverage, even Trump advises.
More than simply turning the Department of Justice against his enemies, a Trump win means he will close all federal investigations into himself, even pardon himself. Trump and the Project 2025 team will turn the U.S. into a democracy more phony than Hungary’s. Some double haters may be too jaded to care. But they might care about seeing Trump pay for his crimes against them. Against you.
“Part of the psychology of the American voter is that they want, while there’s a dog fight going on, to see how much fight is in the dog,” says former Republican campaign adviser Rick Wilson.
I saw that Politico article quoting anonymous Democratic “operatives” and “advisors” in “full-blown freakout” over Joe Biden and groaned. Just groaned. What were they thinking? Not Politico, the unnamed Democratic sources.
The new #RickRant is a F-bomb fiesta: @TheRickWilson has some strong words for Democrat operatives who are badmouthing Biden: "You better start thinking of Joe Biden as 12 ft. tall, covered in steel, brilliant, with a 12-inch dick. Stop acting like he's a feeble old man." pic.twitter.com/HvuPQ2BFjb
How many times have I cited … well, how many times did Sylvester Stallone redeploy his successful formula for Rocky? Six times, just in the original franchise. Repetition is important.
I’ve noted before: How many Rocky movies did Stallone make? And they’re all the same movie. So why do people keep going? Because so many Americans themselves feel like underdogs. We want to root for the little guy with heart. Facing insurmountable odds. Risking it all. We want to feel the thrill up our spines and in the tops of our heads when Bill Conti’s trumpet fanfare introduces the training sequence. We want to hear that. Wait for it. Cheer for it. Pay for it. Over and over and over.
My college roommate started eating raw eggs before going for his morning runs, fergawdsakes.
Hand-wringers need not apply
My friend Anat Shenker-Osorio gave a workshop for Democrats over the weekend in Greensboro. Among other things she told us, Americans share a basic desire for safety.
I do. Who would you rather have watching your back, lackadaisical voter? Dick Durbin or Rocky Balboa? Hell, MAGA grafts Trump’s head onto Rocky’s body. No, don’t start doing that with Biden, but….
“You better start thinking of Joe Biden as 12 ft. tall, covered in steel, brilliant, with a 12-inch dick. Stop acting like he’s a feeble old man,” Wilson shouts at Democrats. “Toughen the fuck up!”
The Amplify project (one of Anat’s collaborative efforts) is already promoting that message with a set of free-to-share, open-source videos tested “to break through the noise and mobilize voters in our base to repeat our persuasive message.”
“The left is losing the fight against fascism politically,” Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel) fumed last week. “That’s not [Merrick] Garland’s fight. It’s yours.”
Defeating fascism is not someone else’s job. Sadly, many among the Democrats’ gerontocracy are not up to that job. But if you’re cocky enough to think you are, then you need to get into the fight.
“The Republican Party says the criminals are the heroes,” MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said Monday night. Or is it you?
Scott Jennings and other regular CNN Trump supporters make it almost impossible to watch their “panels.” It’s not that I can’t sit through arguments between conservatives and liberals on TV. There’s nothing new about that. But the Trump henchmen are such liars and rarely get any fact checking in real time and it distorts the truth in ways that are very destructive.
George Conway called Jennings out in real time and it was glorious:
You know what it means to kvell? This takedown of Scott Jennings on CNN by George Conway, this unabashed call-out of THE LYING, was great to watch, doesn't happen often enough, and – it made me kvell with pride. Truth matters. If enough truth prevails, democracy prevails. pic.twitter.com/KsC1G7cddf
— The Shallow State (@OurShallowState) May 31, 2024
The other day on CNN, prominent Never Trump lawyer George Conway did something you rarely see in Washington. He dressed down a GOP commentator for lying his ass off about Donald Trump—and then, right on the air, he asked why CNN was paying this Republican to spread lies on Trump’s behalf. We think this episode illustrates a deep problem with the media’s handling of pro-Trump propaganda. So we chatted with Conway about why he unloaded—and in the process, he revealed some interesting things about the network. Listen to this episode here.
It’s well worth your time. Conway doesn’t name names but he does say that he’s heard from CNN employees that there is a lot of concern about their coverage of the trial. It truly was terrible. He goes into some detail and it’s fascinating.
At one point, Conway called Trump a narcissistic psychopath just before the CNN Townhall and was blackballed by “camp Mar-a-Lago.”
We’ve all seen the threats and the pardon dangling Trump has done from the moment he became president. He even asked the director of the FBI to go easy on his buddy Michael Flynn and then fired him when he refused to do it. The corruption is boundless.
And now we find out he’s literally paying people off as well. Pro Publica has a big expose today showing that some of the witnesses in the criminal cases against him have been given fancy jobs, cash bonuses, board seats, shares in his companies and plum jobs for family members often at very important times in the legal process. And the dollar amounts are impressive.
Recall the recent story of Brian Butler, the Mar-a-Lago employee who witnessed the handling of those bankers boxes full of classified document and came forward to say that he was offered a new job with a big raise. Cassidy Hutchinson was offered a job and they sent her a lawyer paid by the campaign. This is how they operate.
According to the experts they interviewed, cases like this are very difficult to prove. But prosecutors will certainly use the information to question these witnesses credibility if Trump is ever brought to trial on these charges.
I’m sure they would say that they are only speaking of election day. But they actually mean so much more and we know it. It is a direct threat to Biden.
Trump is ginning up his rabid cult to take up violence if he loses, there’s no doubt about that. And if he wins, he will exact retribution by using the Department of Justice. In fact, he will do exactly what he falsely claims Joe Biden is doing.
Four years ago today, after Trump tear gassed peaceful protestors outside the White House, he went on national TV to say “they just moved them back” and “everything was handled very well” pic.twitter.com/h7SSClWdxG
By the way, Nate Cohn, DC’s polling god, put this little tid bit out this morning:
While Mr. Trump has survived many controversies, he has also suffered a political penalty for his conduct. He did lose re-election, after all. And this cycle, there is one reason to wonder whether Mr. Trump might now be more vulnerable: He depends on the support of many young and nonwhite voters who haven’t voted for him in the past, and who might not prove as loyal as those who have stood by his side from the start.
Huh. You’d think this odd fact would be more salient in the coverage but I see little evidence that many in the mainstream media have noticed. But maybe that’s a good thing.
Anyway:
Mr. Trump doesn’t just count on the support of Republicans and MAGA loyalists in the conservative information ecosystem. His strength in the polls increasingly depends on surprising strength among voters from traditionally Democratic constituencies, like young, nonwhite and irregular voters. Many of these voters are registered as Democrats, back Democrats in races for U.S. Senate and may have even backed Mr. Biden in the last election. This is not Mr. Trump’s core of proven support. This is a group of voters whose loyalty hasn’t yet been established — let alone tested.
The Times/Siena and Marquette Law polls both suggest that these young and nonwhite voters might be especially prone to revert to their traditional partisan leanings in the event of a conviction, with Mr. Biden getting back to a far more typical lead among young and nonwhite voters. In fact, almost all of the unusual demographic patterns among young, nonwhite and irregular voters disappear when voters are asked how they would vote if Mr. Trump were convicted.
In the Times/Siena poll, 21 percent of Mr. Trump’s young supporters said they’d back Mr. Biden if there were a conviction. In comparison, only 2 percent of 65-and-older Trump supporters said the same. Similarly, 27 percent of Black voters who backed Mr. Trump flipped to Mr. Biden, compared with just 5 percent of white respondents.
Right.
Four years ago today, Trump was trying to get the national guard to shoot protesters who were out in the streets over the killing of George Floyd. Maybe it would be worth reminding some of these soft Trump supporters about that. You can be sure that next time he’ll actually do it.
Trump and the Republicans must be shocked that he didn’t attack the judge (Trump appointed) and the prosecutor (Republican) Doesn’t he understand how this is done?
By the way, Jill and Hallie Biden are in court today. Weird.
We are seeing a lot of press lately about Donald Trump’s promises to wreak revenge on his enemies should he get back into power next year. Some of us have been focusing on this for years because Trump made “vengeance is mine” his credo going back decades. He’s never made a secret of it. He even gave a speech at the Christian right’s flagship Liberty University before he ever ran for president and gave them two pieces of advice: always get a pre-nup and:
I always say don’t let people take advantage — this goes for a country, too, by the way — don’t let people take advantage. Get even. And you know, if nothing else, others will see that and they’re going to say, You know, I’m going to let Jim Smith or Sarah Malone, I’m going to let them alone because they’re tough customers.
Years before that he told an audience in Colorado, “If someone screws you, screw them back 10 times harder. At least they’re going to leave you alone, and at least you’ll feel good. I believe in screwing people when they screw you.” In his book “Think Big” he wrote:
I love getting even when I get screwed by someone. … Always get even. When you are in business you need to get even with people who screw you. You need to screw them back 15 times harder. You do it not only to get the person who messed with you but also to show the others who are watching what will happen to them if they mess with you. If someone attacks you, do not hesitate. Go for the jugular.
He famously declared “I am your retribution” at CPAC in March of 2023 and last December, he proudly posted a word cloud with “revenge” as the word most closely associated with him.
It is a defining characteristic which he has never tried to hide until recently. So when he spouts this sanctimonious line (that probably came from a GOP pro like KellyAnne Conway) “my revenge will be success” it’s obvious that he doesn’t mean it. In fact, he can hardly spit it out. On Fox News on Sunday he was squirming with discomfort:
Trump says Americans who don’t support him are “evil” and he wants to seek “revenge” on them by sending his Justice Department after them pic.twitter.com/zVFvnjCOwf
For the record, he said “lock her up” many, many times at his rallies and never once tried to stop his crowds from chanting it.
The Guardian reported that the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington did an exhaustive study of his threats to exact revenge on his political opponents and perceived enemies in law enforcement:
The presumptive Republican nominee has threatened to use the federal government to go after Biden during a second Trump administration 25 times since the start of 2023, the study found. These threats include FBI raids, investigations, indictments and even jail time. He has also threatened or suggested that the FBI and justice department should take action against senators, judges, members of Biden’s family and even non-governmental organisations.
Why would anyone expect anything different from the man who posts, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
The new immunity claim that he and his legal team have hatched for the January 6th case adds yet another wrinkle to his threats. In the recent TIME Magazine interview, he said that unless the Supreme Court gives him immunity for his crimes if he wins he is going after Joe Biden. It’s a very cute construct
President Trump, isn’t going after your political opponents what they do in a banana republic?
Trump: That’s what’s happening now. Yeah.
[…]
Well, sir, just to be clear—
Trump: Wait a minute, I haven’t had a chance to do it to them. I would be inclined not to do it. I don’t want to do it to them. But a lot of that’s going to have to do with the Supreme Court. Look, we are going in another two weeks to the Supreme Court. And they’re going to make a ruling on presidential immunity. If they said that a president doesn’t get immunity, then Biden, I am sure, will be prosecuted for all of his crimes, because he’s committed many crimes…
Sir—
Trump: Allowing all of this stuff. If a president doesn’t have immunity. So when you asked me that question, it depends on what the Supreme Court does.
It really would be win-win for him. If he gets immunity and he loses, at least he’s off the hook on all the federal charges. (He and his legal advisers all think he’ll be bailed out on appeal in the state charges in NY and that the Georgia case is dead on arrival.) If he gets immunity and wins he’ll find other ways to get his revenge using his loyal MAGA executive branch. They’ve already shown a willingness to go after family members, for instance. If he doesn’t get immunity and wins, he’ll just direct his flunky Attorney General to dismiss the federal cases and devote himself to destroying his enemies using the full power of the federal government.
The only scenario that guarantees accountability for the federal crimes stemming from January 6th and theft of classified documents, is if the Supreme Court denies his immunity claim and he loses the election. We live in hope but I wouldn’t count on it coming down that way.
If he does manage to make it to the White House again, his allies are all onboard:
“We’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out,” Patel, a National Security Council and Defense Department official during the Trump administration, told Steve Bannon on his podcast.
We will go out and find the conspirators — not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” he said,
Mike Davis is a man often discussed as a potential Attorney General or White House Counsel in a new Trump administration:
Dear Republicans:
If your response to Biden’s Republic-ending lawfare against Trump is:
1. we must respect the process
and/or
2. we are too principled to retaliate
Please do two things:
1. fuck off
2. leave the party
You are too weak, stupid, and dangerous to keep around.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, circulated his own letter in which he suggested it was the White House that “made a mockery” of the rule of law and altered politics in “un-American” ways. He and other senators threatened to stall Senate business until Republicans take action.
“Those who turned our judicial system into a political cudgel must be held accountable,” Lee said.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Oh., is demanding that Manhattan DAs Alvin Bragg and Matthew Colangelo appear before his “weaponization of the federal government” committee to explain their “political prosecution.”
The whole GOP establishment has lined up behind Trump to degrade the jury system, the rule of law and any form of accountability for Trump’s crimes.
Jason Stanley, a professor at Yale and the author of “How Fascism Works” told the AP that history is full of examples of people not believing the rhetoric of authoritarians.
“Believe what they say,” he said. “He’s literally telling you he’s going to use the apparatus of the state to target his political opponents.”
Trump says a lot of foolish things and half the time he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. But when it comes to his lifelong thirst for vengeance there is no doubt that he means it. And he is now backed by the vast majority of elected Republicans who are clearly slavering at the prospect of taking down their political enemies. They will do it.
A pair of Texas professors figured out that their female students have sex and, boy, they do not like it. So now the philosophy professor and finance professor are suing for the right to punish their students who, outside of class, have abortions.
“Pregnancy is not a disease, and elective abortions are not ‘health care,'” University of Texas at Austin professor Daniel Bonevac sneers in a federal court filing with professor John Hatfield. Instead, Bonevac writes, because pregnancy is the result of “voluntary and consensual sexual intercourse,” students should not be allowed time off to get abortions. If the students disobey and miss class for abortion care, the filing continues, the professors should be allowed to flunk students. Additionally, Bonevac asserts that he has a right to refuse to employ a teaching assistant who has had an abortion, calling such women “criminals.”
Two male Texas professors are suing to flunk students who get abortions.
Their reason? The students had "consensual sexual intercourse."
The sexual hang-ups of abortion opponents are rarely far from the surface, but even by those low standards, the unjustified male grievance on display in this new Texas lawsuit is a doozy. At issue are federal regulations, called Title IX, first signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972. They currently bar publicly funded schools from discriminating on the basis of sex or gender. This means that schools cannot penalize students for health care based on sex. As a male student would be granted leave if he had to travel for surgery, so must a female student, the federal statute requires. The two men argue that granting students an excused absence in such cases violates their First Amendment rights.
Even though the plaintiffs suing for the right to flunk female students for abortion include boilerplate arguments in which they feign concern that abortion is “killing,” the legal filing makes it clear that what really outrages Bonevac and Hatfield is that Title IX prevents them from controlling the private lives of students. Along with their anger about abortion, they grouse about not being allowed to punish students “for being homosexual or transgender.” They also argue they should be able to penalize teaching assistants for “cross-dressing,” by which they appear to mean allowing trans women to wear skirts.
Oh, and they went judge shopping:
Even though Bonevac and Hatfield work in Austin, Texas, they filed their lawsuit 486 miles away in Amarillo, Texas. The reason for this is not mysterious: Donald Trump-appointed judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. The right-wing judge has a long and frankly unhinged history of screeching at top volume about the evils of “sexual revolutionaries.” (Yes, that does sound like a compliment, but he doesn’t mean it as such.) It takes very little to draw Kacsmaryk’s sexualized condemnation. Premarital sex, for instance, makes one a “sexual revolutionary.” Using contraception within marriage also makes one an irredeemable pervert. In his legal writings, Kacsmaryk is very clear that sex is only for procreation within marriage, and anything outside of that should draw legal sanction. He has not weighed in on whether there should be restrictions on what sexual positions are legally permissible within the procreation-only marital sex, but give him time.
Change is hard, boys. Are you manly enough to handle it?
