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- Donald Trump got 408 confirmed “guilty” votes. There was even a recount. None were mail-ins; they were all ballots cast in-person, yet he still says the results are invalid. The man simply doesn’t like people voting.
- Flags have less impact and women have more autonomy in Alito’s household than he allows in anyone else’s lives. Remember when conservatives thought it was not just disqualifying, but imprisonable, if someone disrespected the Flag? They wanted a goddamn Amendment!
- Donald Trump’s crime was far more damaging to American society than your average drug dealer and should be sentenced as such.
- Biden’s smart in largely staying out of the verdict fray, both Constitutionally and politically. Trump’s guilt will be used, no doubt, but there’s no political need to dirty the Presidency with it right now. When you play politics, play hard, but when you’re President, act like it. Now is not the time to pour the salt on.
- Pay attention to the polls that report Trump’s eroding support, not the ones about his increasing support. “More likely to support” presumes they already supported him.
- Rumor is Trump directed his own legal strategy in the Manhattan fraud case, which indicates his defense in the federal cases will be laughable. Unless he hires a lawyer strong enough to stand up to him–and he would never accept such impertinence–his legal perils are predestined because his chief counsel doesn’t change.
- After being outraged by Trump being tried with a judge who donated to a politician, imagine their outrage when he goes to trial with a judge appointed by a politician directly involved in the trial.
- If you’re still a Trump-supporting Republican, you’re nothing short of a Quisling for a criminal cabal taking over the Party. You are no longer a conservative; you’re exactly the opposite. You’re a loud-mouthed, overspending, anti-law-and-order, authoritarian MAGAt.
- Prior to Thursday, Michael Cohen was the only person held responsible for Trump’s affair. Weisselberg, Pecker, the Trump sons, and everyone else involved in the cover-up and payoffs either got immunity or weren’t prosecuted. The person who benefited from the crime is finally found culpable.
- How egregious was Trump’s crime and how conclusive was the evidence? It convinced Juror #2, who on jury questionnaires said that he gets his news nearly exclusively from Truth Social.
- The people who chanted “Lock her up!” are upset about a man being found guilty after a trial? Spare me.
- While the Trump conviction is satisfying–for me, simply for the preservation of the rule of law–I have far more schadenfreude for his minions who have destroyed themselves for his glory at the cost of their careers and reputations. The Kraken and Head Cheese pleaded guilty. Giuliani’s going down–in a courtroom or to Hell. But I enjoy the fall of Jenna Ellis, who lost her law license for three years this week on top of her Atlanta guilty plea, the most: to me, she personifies the smug sub-mediocre talent Trump relies on.
- Sinclair Broadcasting’s CEO is testing out talking points about school corruption to swing local elections. Watch out for your local Sinclair stations to do the same. They run the same packages with different segments cut in for local markets.
- Biggest disappointment this week: the number of senior Republicans and Senators who have denigrated the trial outcome by questioning the legitimacy of the Courts. That really is Third World Banana Republic politics. Republicans intentionally started hyper-politicizing judicial picks in the Obama Administration, but when even those judges start overruling Trump’s incompetent appointees, they should stand up for the law, not the man.
- Mrs. Alito’s distress flag was up after January 6th but before Biden was inaugurated. She didn’t put it up in some fit over a neighbor’s screed. Like millions of Trump supporters and Trump himself, she could not accept the outcome of the election and she got pissy as others celebrated the end of Trump’s term. She, and her husband, need to learn to grow up and accept reality and responsibility.
- In Baltimore, sno-cones and snowballs are distinct. A sno-cone is shaved ice with syrup in a paper cone (duh). A snowball, on the other hand, is flavored shaved ice with marshmallow in the middle or on top. Different tastes, different names, but both a summer treat.
- Nikki Haley is the type of politician who would say in public that she’s voting for Donald Trump just to stay in the hunt of GOP hierarchy when Trump collapses (figuratively or literally), but when she’s in the voting booth, she pulls the handle for Joe Biden. She’ll justify it to herself, saying she’s not that influential. But deep inside, she knows she must preserve the democracy to potentially one day lead it. I think the same holds for 10% of Republican Senators.
- Grant me a moment of personal privilege and congratulate Mrs. Jack on coaching a high school sophomore first-year debater to the national finals, finishing in the top six. The dedication she and the other team leaders show the competitors who don’t thrive on prep school money and budgets cannot be underestimated, particularly because many are volunteers paying their own and their students’ travel to Nationals. Great coaches don’t need balls.
- I took a long train for the first time in a while this week, and I had forgotten how pleasant it is to comfortably travel a long distance, enjoying the countryside along the way. Trains > planes. I get it, Joe, I get it.
