Everyone seems to be very upset with Biden for pardoning his family members ahead of Trump’s restoration. Considering that Trump made clear that he planned to pardon at least some of the people who tried to overturn the election by storming the capitol as it was counting the electoral votes, you’d think it wouldn’t ‘t really be necessary. He wouldn’t have the balls to go after Biden’s family after that, right?
And since he is flamboyantly swallowing a firehouse of corrupt money without even trying to hide it, no one would think it makes sense for him to try to continue the jihad against the Bidens. Well, he went even further and pardoned almost all of them, even the ones who tried to kill cops. And he granted clemency to those who plotted it. Does anything still think he has any limits?
Well, not everyone agrees with that. This is from Townhall:
Congress should immediately launch an investigation into this, both the House and Senate. Subpoena everyone. Joe can shield his documents in the decision-making process, he can’t claim executive privilege over people who had zero role in the Executive Branch or were not government employees.
While the pardons may hold, they will not protect anyone from a perjury charge should they lie under oath; or a contempt of Congress charge, should they refuse to answer questions. Veterans of the first Trump administration went to prison for this, and no one is above the law, right?
We need to know just how corrupt the Biden family was. Even if most of them are protected from prosecution by these pardons – and I think it’s an open question, depending upon if those pardons came to be as part of a criminal conspiracy – the country needs to know for posterity and to protect against future corruption.
If you thought that the Biden family was immune from this fun house mirror projection you would be wrong. Trump’s only raison d’etre now that he’s been restored is vengeance and money. Never doubt what he and his henchmen are capable of when it comes to those two things.
Puck’s Peter Hamby wonders whether the grotesquely ostentatious display of massive wealth dominating the inauguration pageant yesterday might penetrate the image of Trump as an avatar of the working man.
This was not a tableau that Steve Bannon and his America First crowd would have chosen. It is true that Trump became the Republican establishment when MAGA swallowed the G.O.P. many years ago, and all the while, Trump was never shy about giving powerful corporate interests a seat at the table, as long as the invite was hashed out in the lobby of a gilded Trump property. But whether in the White House or not, Trump has always possessed a magical ability to convince voters that he’s still a populist outsider, the anti-politician, fighting for Joe and Jane Six-Pack against the “elites”—even as he takes private Mar-a-Lago meetings with multibillionaires expecting favors in return for their campaign checks.
Hamby says that Trump’s populist rhetoric, in contrast to the old country club Republicans, has worked all this time because he sounds more like Rush Limbaugh (or Joe Rogan) than Mitt Romney. His trade policies are supposedly designed to appeal to the working man but I’m not sure that holds up. Trump never really extols the virtues of blue collar America in any specific sense. He says things like “America is being ripped off” and the blue collar workers simply assume he’s talking about them.
Trump’s signature talent is the ability to play to the cultural impulses of the working class while also fattening the portfolios of the wealthy. (Or, more recently, the Coinbase and Kraken accounts of crypto goons.)
Obviously, the working class cares more about their culture war issues than about economic issues which really should make people question whether economic determinism is the panacea everyone always thinks it is.
Anyway, Hamby explains that since Trump is a colossus who dominates everything you can’t really blame rich people for bribing the most corrupt politician in American history. (He didn’t say that exactly but I think that’s a fair interpretation.)
He says that Democrats have “lost their cachet” and their voters are tuning out the news as their leaders retreat waiting for Trump to overstep. (Is that even possible? He just pardoned over 1500 insurrectionists, many of whom beat the shit out of police officers on his behalf! What could possibly be an “overstep” now?)
He wonders how long Trump can maintain his outsider image:
Can Trump plausibly claim to be standing up to powerful tech overlords and moneyed interests when every photo and camera angle shows him surrounded by America’s private sector royalty? Thought about another way: Trump has always derived his power from running against enemies—hated elites and the establishment. But who do you run against when you win so bigly that your enemies just give up and join your team?
Nah. Trump’s true enemy is Blue America and it looks like his cyberbaron oligarchs are just fine with all that even though they have derived their fortunes from it. He’s got plenty of targets to thrill the rubes and the tech-bros alike —- us.
Yes, it’s true that Trump did not actually win the youth vote by 34 or 36 points. But his embrace of Tik Tok is still almost certainly because of his gains among young voters in 2024:
In NBC News’s exit poll, Trump won first-time voters by 55 to 44 percent. This was a massive reversal from 2020, when Biden won them by 32 points in the same survey. And a large part of Democrats’ woes with first-time voters seems attributable to the declining liberalism of young Americans. In 2020, Biden won voters under 25 by 34 points, according to NBC’s exit poll. Four years later, Harris won them by just 11.
Exit polls are highly flawed. But Democrats’ performance with young voters looks even worse in more reliable data sources. For example, AP VoteCast shows Harris winning voters under 30 by just 4 points in 2024 after Biden had won them by 25 — a development that suggests the youngest, newly registered voters were unusually rightwing last year.
Meanwhile, election returns show that Democrats lost more ground between 2020 and 2024 in younger parts of the country than in older ones.
Finally, the fact that the youngest zoomers are aberrantly conservative is also apparent in some states’ voter registration data. Voters 18 to 25 in North Carolina were more likely to register as Republicans than Democrats over the past four years, a break with that purple state’s historical pattern.
This is not good. Young voters, steeped in shallow social media infotainment, don’t really remember a time before Trump. He is perfectly normal to them.
This could be a big problem. People tend to maintain their partisan identities. My only hope here is that this is so Trump centric and so devoid of real ideology for most of these kids that it may not stick when someone without his celebrity power is on the ballot. We’ll see. But it’s awfully depressing to think of young people, whom we’ve all seen as more tolerant and open embrace this fascist leadership.
Trump is so shameless that he has no problem completely reversing himself on the Tik Tok issue. His main reasoning is undoubtedly the massive donations from Jeffrey Yass, one of Tik Tok’s major investors. And he clearly has dreams of Global social media domination with his pals Musk and Zuckerberg. But I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s very impressed with Tik Tok’s ability to sway young people to join his cult.
There is a lot to say about Trump’s Executive Order zone-flooding yesterday and I’m sure most of them will be flying into the ether and soon forgotten. That’s the point.
Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional immigration order
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution makes it achingly clear: Anyone who is born in the United States is a citizen.
Trump’s most troubling executive order attempts to overturn this constitutional right by executive fiat, ordering US officials to stop issuing citizenship documents to any future children born to undocumented migrants. It’s an order that will test just how willing the federal bureaucracy and the courts are to defend against unlawful Trumpian behavior.
If they get away with this one, it will be clear that the Constitution is dead. (I would suggest it’s on life support already with the immunity ruling but this would pull the plug.)
The article explains the fatuousness of the right wing’s legal theory around this if you want to read it. But it’s obvious that everyone but Native Americans trace their ancestry to parents who were not born here. If being born in this country isn’t enough to prove our citizenship what is?
Trump’s Schedule F ticking time bomb
At the tail end of Trump’s first time in office, he issued an executive order creating a new classification for federal civil servants called Schedule F — essentially, a tool for converting civil servant jobs protected from removal based on party into political appointments he could fire at will. The order got nowhere before former President Joe Biden took office and promptly repealed it.
Well, Schedule F is back. One of Trump’s Day 1 executive actions restored the 2020 order and added a few tweaks, including an inquiry as to whether “additional categories of positions” should be included in Schedule F beyond the ones considered in the first executive order.
In theory, this could be as damaging to democracy as the birthright citizenship order — if not more so. Schedule F in its original form applied, per some estimates, to somewhere around 50,000 civil servants (and potentially quite a lot more). Purging that many people and allowing Trump to replace them with cronies would be a powerful tool for turning the federal government into an extension of his will.
They will have to go through some hoops to get that done. But if they do, we will have a serious problem. Let’s just say that there are not 50,000 competent Trump cronies in this country. I doubt there are even 500.
Trump’s dangerous pardons for January 6 offenses
When it came to people convicted of crimes relating to January 6, a group Trump calls J6 hostages, there was a range of plausible predictions — including, for example, reserving pardons for only nonviolent offenders.
Trump chose maximalism.
It’s just shocking. As the article points out, this incentivizes political violence:
Any extreme right-wingers who want to attack Democrats now have at least some cause to believe that the president will shield them from legal consequences.
There is no doubt. This is not just about January 6th, which we all know Trump excused because the people had allegedly had the election stolen from them. He’s always been this way. Recall back in 2016 when Trump was first running and two men attacked a homeless man with a pipe saying “Donald Trump was right” and Trump’s instinctive response was:
“I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate,” Trump said. “They love this country, they want this country to be great again.”
It’s now clear that Trump will use his pardon power broadly to protect anyone who breaks the law on his behalf. It means not only that he has immunity from criminal behavior as president but practically speaking so do every one of his henchmen.
Trump’s potentially dangerous investigations
Two Trump executive orders, covering “weaponization” of government and “federal censorship” respectively, initiate formal inquiries into government conduct during the Biden administration.
What this means, in brief, is that the attorney general and the director of national intelligence are instructed to start looking into actions taken by the formal government in a series of areas ranging from January 6 prosecutions to FBI investigations of threats against teachers to cooperation with social media companies. Once the inquiries are complete, these officials are to recommend unspecified punishments for any wrongdoing uncovered.
I seem to recall Trump saying just the other day that he would leave any decisions about whether to investigate up to the Department of Justice. Of course he lies about everything so there’s no surprise that he lied about that.
This is very bad. Much depends upon the judiciary and I wish I had more faith that they would draw the line. But after overturning Roe v. Wade and creating a get out of jail free card for Trump I’m not sanguine.
I have to admit that yesterday hit me way harder than I anticipated. maybe even harder than the election itself. Watching that grotesque spectacle was almost too much to bear.
Unfortunately, reading this this morning took me right back there:
He literally became president yesterday, I know that. But according to John Harris, the founder of Politico, he became a great president yesterday.
Yes, he did say that once the Democrats gargle and spit they’ll feel liberated. That is not a joke although I’m sure Harris had a cigarette himself after he wrote that pithy line. Evoking it as non-consent is just … chef’s kiss.
That is because they can no longer place confidence in a strategy that once looked plausible but now has been exposed as illusion. They cannot push Trump to the margins, by treating him as a momentary anomaly or simply denouncing him as lawless and illegitimate.
Just lie back and think of Dear Leader:
That contest may be more effective if opponents embrace the reality that Trump has already demonstrated some familiar signatures of the most consequential presidents. Like influential predecessors, his arguments have shifted the terms of debate in ways that echo within both parties — in this case, on issues such as trade, China, and the role of big corporations.
Like other large presidents, Trump has been a communications innovator and exploited technological shifts more effectively than rivals. In that sense, Trump’s use of social media recalls Franklin D. Roosevelt’s mastery of radio, and John F. Kennedy’s and Ronald Reagan’s mastery of television — even as his banter and insults don’t aspire to anything like traditional presidential eloquence.
One more signature shown by the most consequential presidents: Uncommon psychological toughness. Have you ever known someone who was facing legal hurdles? In many cases, even if people ultimately win the case, they end up being consumed and shrunken by the searing nature of the experience. Imagine running for president amid huge civil suits, criminal prosecutions, and even felony convictions — then emerging from this morass as a larger figure than before. No one needs to admire the achievement to recognize that Trump is possessed by some rare traits of denial, combativeness and resilience.
About that combativeness: Could someone so zealously divisive ever join the roster of presidents who even schoolchildren can typically recite as the nation’s greatest?
You know who else was zealously divisive? I know that you do:
Anyway, Harris says that being divisive is a good thing because it leads to unifying the country. The implication being that once you gargle and spit you’ll be nice and docile and do whatever you’re told like a good submissive.
It reminds me of a famous line from Grover Norquist from 2004:
“Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans. Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they’ve been fixed, then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful. They don’t go around peeing on the furniture and such.”
I don’t recommend reading the whole thing. Harris is so aroused by all this that it feels downright intrusive.
I deliberately did not watch the inauguration, opting instead to attend a local MLK-day march that I found upon arrival had been cancelled because of single-digit wind chills.
Luckily, a couple of people reported all the juciest bits.
Daniela Elser, entertainment writer for news.com.au found the event summarized in the bra advertisement worn by fiance to Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez. She “appeared at Donald Trump’s inauguration wearing a white blazer with her nether things on full display.”
Sanchez didn’t wear an outfit that reflected the gravity and the importance of the swearing of a president, some deferential, demure bit of conservative cos-playing and faux seriousness. No, she arrived looking like she was ready for a Real Housewives weave-yanking-a-thon.
And that’s exactly what Trump’s second term is: A reality show.
Sanchez has just exposed Trump’s second term for the phony Louis Vuitton with two ‘i’s, cheap Bali knock-off of a presidency it really is.
The Hollywood Reporter observed that once again Trump “showcased his multiple personalities, turning the United States of America into something closer to United States of Tara.” Daniel Fienberg predicted that reporting would focus on Trump’s more scripted Rotunda speech when his off-the-cuff Emancipation Hall speech was more … emancipated:
To me, though, it felt more like a Comic-Con presentation, albeit in a room dwarfed by Hall H. Trump began with the promise “The Golden Age of America begins right now,” a meaningless classification comparable to whatever phase of the MCU Kevin Feige has chosen to classify at any given time. Trump proceeded to make his way through various announcements that were leaked in the press hours and days and weeks ago, earning those standing ovations for each confirmation instead of each announcement.
“Is he going to announce a sequel to The Wall?” He announced a sequel to The Wall!
“Is he going to talk about a reboot of drilling?” He actually used the phrase “Drill, baby drill.”
“Is he going to trot out his best-known catchphrases?” There was one point at which he referred to “winning like never before” twice in under three minutes. Wakanda forever, President Trump.
The only way this could have felt more like a Comic-Con presentation is if he had shown the crowd a clip package of God saving him from an assassin’s bullet, asked fans if they wanted to see the clip package again and then played it three more times.
Certainly the dude outside shouting, “The king has returned!” would be in the front row dressed as a soldier of Gondor.
Donald Trump is a showman and a con man. He is not a strategist. Nor are most of his closest advisers. But he is at his core insecure, so breaking out his sharpie to sign a raft of Day 1 orders was a display of strength that appealed to him. Soon after the convicted felon swore an oath to the U.S. Constitution no one expected him to uphold, Trump launched an attack against the rule of law on Monday. His goal? To consolidate power in his hands and crush opponents in the “old republic” before they can mount any resistance.
At best, the supine press will call Trump’s actions shock-and-awe, after the Bush II-era invasion of Iraq. But blitzkrieg is likely his strategists’ inspiration even if yesterday’s actions were no surprise.
Wikipedia defines shock-and-awe, or “rapid dominance” (something Trump practices in person), as “the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy’s perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight.” The distinction may not be academic, but since Trump’s actions on Monday did not involve armor, artillery and warplanes, blitzkrieg is not quite the right metaphor. But everyone gets the point. Bottom line: Trump declared war on anyone not kneeling before him.
The White House issued an official list of Trump’s recissions of Biden executive orders, plus a multi-page list of his own Christmas morning gifts to himself, to his oligarch allies, and finally to his political ones. The Associated Press reports that with the executive orders Trump signed, he “began his immigration crackdown, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords and sought to keep TikTok open in the U.S.” He also “pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
If you thought “stand back and stand by” was a winking signal to Trump’s would-be Sturmabteilung in 2020, with those pardons on Monday he all but began peddling armbands and Sam Browne belts online. Locking and loading will come later.
I won’t try to summarize the lot. The press has all that. But if one headline encapsulates the royalists’ impulse for rolling onto their backs and peeing into the air when the king barks, it is this from Politico’s landing page. The firm’s founding editor and global editor-in-chief declares Trump, not necessarily for good, “a force of history“:
I’m not exaggerating about royalists.
Richard Hofstadter famously decribed the “paranoid style in American politics.” But do not underestimate the royalist strain. Plenty of our flag-waving countrymen secretly yearn to be subjects. They never believed in popular sovereignty. They never bought into the founders’ “created equal” nonsense. They remain committed to a system of government by hereditary royalty and landed gentry. They just won’t admit it to themselves.
At noon Monday, the news rippled through a snaking mass of people in downtown D.C. One man, tall and bundled against the frigid air, raised his arms and pumped his fists. He jumped and released a joyous scream.
“It happened! Fooour looong years. The king has returned!”
Do not be distracted by the shiny baubles and sharp barbs among Trump’s first actions meant to catch your attention. As much as to effectuate his agenda, they are there to signal his intentions to friend and foe alike that the king has returned. Whether supporters like the man above like what they get depends on what Trump does next, on how much he can actually accomplish between trips to the golf course and his cult rallies. And on how much Americans who want to remain Americans can do to preserve the world’s oldest democracy from the predations of Trump and his team of neo-feudalists.
Given the present compostition of the Democratic Party leadership in Congress, I’m less than optimistic.
Democrats’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer lost no time in proving he can’t chew the leather anymore:
It is time to look to the future.The challenges that face America are many and great.The Senate must respond with resolve, bipartisanship, and fidelity to the working and middle class of this country.
BREAKING: "Who's Streets Our streets, FK Antifa!" large group of Proud Boys chant as they walk through Washington DC streets pic.twitter.com/h7i7Jpnibv
President Trump on Monday signed pardons for members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as executive orders addressing the first priorities of his administration.
Mr. Trump gave what he described as “full pardons” for about 1,500 defendants tied to the attack. He said he also signed commutations of sentences for six defendants but did not say who they were.
The lawyer for Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys who is serving a 22-year sentence on a seditious conspiracy conviction connected to Jan. 6, said Tarrio is currently being processed for release from a federal prison in Louisiana. Even though Trump has not yet formally granted clemency to Jan. 6 defendants, the lawyer, Nayib Hassan, said Tarrio could be out of prison by as early as Monday night.
Lawyers for other Proud Boys convicted with Tarrio on sedition charges have also been called from their cells this evening to sign release papers, according to defense lawyers and Condemned USA, a group that has provided legal funds and advocacy for Jan. 6 defendants.
The law and order president has spoken.
Trump responds to a question about pardoning J6 criminals who assaulted by police officers by saying "there will outside agitators involved. And obviously the FBI was involved."
Marjorie Taylor Greene: "These people would line us up in front of a firing squad & kill us if they could. We know exactly who the Democrats are … Democrats, until you start writing big checks to Republicans & start voting Republican … then we can start talking about unity."
