Fear and loathing in Trump's defense camp.

July 12, 2023

          Before beginning the newsletter, my wife and I want to express our concern for friends and readers of the newsletter—and everyone else—who is threatened by the heavy rains in the Northeast US. Be safe!

Trump asks for indefinite delay in trial for unlawful detention of defense secrets.

          Donald Trump must be a terrible poker player. He is unable to conceal his thoughts and secret strategies. Rather, he says out loud the very thing he is supposed to avoid saying. (“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have... Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”)

           We saw Trump's “non-poker face” at play in his motion asking Judge Aileen Cannon to indefinitely delay his trial on charges that Trump unlawfully retained defense secrets. The motion betrays desperation and fear. Even though Trump has the deck stacked in his favor—with the unseemly boosterism of Judge Cannon and the heavily Republican composition of the jury pool in Florida—Trump claims that it is “impossible” for him to obtain a “fair” trial. In short, Trump believes that he will be convicted even with a favorable judge and jury.

          Trump's lawyers write:

Proceeding to trial during the pendency of a Presidential election . . . will . . . limit the Defendants’ ability to secure a fair and impartial adjudication.

          In Trump-speak, “a fair and impartial adjudication” refers only to “an acquittal.” For Trump, a conviction would be “unfair,” by definition. Any defendant who believes they will be acquitted should want to stand trial as soon as possible—to clear their name, a result that would be especially beneficial to a presidential candidate. Asking to delay the trial for a year (which Trump did not do) would have signaled weakness and uncertainty. Asking to delay the trial indefinitely (which Trump did do) reeks of desperation and fear.

           Trump's motion to indefinitely delay the trial tells us much about Trump. But Judge Cannon’s ruling on Trump’s motion will tell us much about whether Judge Cannon has learned anything from her national humiliation in the search warrant case. Per Dennis Aftergut’s article in The Bulwark, Trump Plays His Delay Game in Late-Night Florida Filing,

How Judge Cannon responds to Trump’s audacious plea this round may well tell us about whether she learned from the appellate court’s slapdown for treating a former president differently than other defendants.

You don’t need to be Oliver Wendell Holmes to see when a defendant’s game is delay. Before long, we’ll know whether Judge Cannon is willing to play it.

          In other Trump news, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has empaneled two grand juries. One is expected to hear evidence to determine if there is probable cause to indict Trump for interfering in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. See The Hill, Georgia grand jury expected to consider charges against Trump is sworn in.

          With the walls closing in, Trump has been acutely unhinged on social media. In the last 48-hours, he has accused Joe Biden of using cocaine and said that special counsel Jack Smith “looks like a crackhead.” See Mediate, Donald Trump Claims WH Cocaine Was For ‘Hunter & Joe,’ Says Jack Smith ‘Looks Like a Crackhead’. Another of Trump's poker “tells” is that he ascribes to others the illegal conduct that he is engaging in. Just sayin’.

Tommy Tuberville (again) says white nationalists are not racists.

          Three months ago, Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama made news by saying on a local radio show that he called white nationalists “Americans” who should be allowed to serve in the military. Earlier this week, CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins gave Senator Tuberville every opportunity to clarify and amend his remarks by asking him to admit that white nationalists are racists. Tuberville refused: See CNN, What Sen. Tommy Tuberville actually said about White nationalists.

          For several minutes, Tuberville defended white nationalists by saying repeatedly that they are “Americans”—refusing to acknowledge that the very definition of a white nationalist is someone who believes that the white race is superior to all others and should be afforded special status in America. See White nationalist Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster: “Militant white people who espouse white supremacy . . . and advocate enforced racial segregation.”

          After an uproar (even in the GOP) over Tuberville’s comments, he finally conceded what he was unwilling to say to Collins: “White nationalists are racists.” See CNN, Tommy Tuberville now says 'White nationalists are racists' after refusing to denounce them.

          So, is this controversy simply a “gotcha” moment in which journalists are trying to confuse or trip up politicians? Hardly. Tuberville himself raised the subject when he objected to the notion that the US military was seeking to prevent white nationalists from joining the military. See Rolling Stone, Tommy Tuberville Defends White Nationalists in the Military. It was not a “gotcha” moment, but a clearly stated belief. Tuberville’s first comment on the subject was,

“We are losing in the military so fast. Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why? I’ll tell you why, because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists . . . .”

          From the outset, Tuberville understood that “white extremists” and “white nationalists” were the same. Worse, Alabama has a deeply embedded history of racism that continues through the present. Until 2022, the following provisions continued to appear in the Alabama state constitution (even though the provisions violated the US Constitution):

“The Legislature shall never pass any law to authorize or legalize any marriage between any white person and a Negro, or descendant of a negro.”

"Separate schools shall be provided for white and colored children, and no child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race.”

          As a US Senator from Alabama—a former slave state in which 26% of its current population is Black—Senator Tuberville should be keenly aware of and sensitive to his state’s racist history. By defending “white extremists, white nationalists” (his words), he is signaling to his constituents that racism is alive and well in Republican leaders in Alabama. This isn’t about “gotcha.” This is about assuring all citizens of Alabama that they are equal in the eyes of the law—and in the eyes of their elected leaders.

And so it begins . . . the damage wrought by 303 Creative.

          Some commentators claimed that progressives were overstating the holding in 303 Creative v. Elenis, in which the reactionary majority ruled that free speech rights allowed a hypothetical business owner to discriminate against a hypothetical same-sex couple who might request a hypothetical website advertising a hypothetical marriage. We were told “Don’t worry, the holding only relates to businesses involving free speech and creative expression, not general public services.”

          Well, the next “303 Creative” case has emerged in Michigan. A hair salon owner has refused to serve transgender people, telling them they should instead go to a pet grooming service. See Slate, Citing “Free Speech,” a Michigan Hair Salon Refuses to Serve Transgender People. The salon owner wrote, in part,

“If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman please seek services at a local pet groomer. You are not welcome at this salon.”

“ I am not willing to play the pronoun game or cater to requests outside of what I perceive as normal this probably isn’t the best option for that type of client.”

“There are over 800 licensed stylists in the County. There are plenty of salons/stylists willing to cater to what I will not. This is a free country and I am not a slave to any narrative.”

          Apart from the insulting, dehumanizing comments by the salon owner, she relied on the same arguments advanced by the hypothetical business owner in 303 Creative—that there are “plenty of other web designers / salons” that transgender people can patronize. That argument misses the nature of the injury: Refusing to service people at any establishment because of their gender or sexual orientation stigmatizes everyone included in the targeted group. It was no answer in Greensboro, North Carolina that Black customers could find a different lunch counter when Woolworths refused to serve them.

          The case of the salon owner in Michigan drives home the point that every instance of discrimination against LGBTQ must be taken seriously. Conservatives are picking on LGBTQ people because they understand that society (wrongly) believes that it is still acceptable to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Let’s hope that the salon owner in Michigan loses her clientele who choose to stand in solidarity with LGBTQ friends, family, colleagues, and complete strangers who deserve our support.

A newsletter focusing on positive climate news.

          A reader recommended the newsletter Climativity: A breath of fresh air from climate anxiety. Before you grab your keyboard to say that we must use fear to motivate Americans to take climate change seriously, I suggest that you take a look at the newsletter. It is filled with information about small (and large) victories in the fight against climate change. Those victories can motivate others to repeat successful strategies or otherwise encourage Americans to become involved in the fight against climate change. Check it out!

Registering young voters results in high-turnout rates.

          One of my favorite organizations is The Civics Center, a non-partisan organization that focuses on registering voters when they first become eligible to vote—i.e., senior year in high school. The Civics Center model encourages students to run registration drives at their schools (with supervision from faculty, administrators, or parents). It is a worthwhile organization that is always looking for adult volunteers and donations.

          The Civics Center recently launched on Substack and has begun publishing reports on progress in registering young voters. See The Civics Center, Research report: Spotlight on New Hampshire. The report notes the dramatic impact of registering young voters in New Hampshire:

• 83% of New Hampshire 18-year-olds who registered turned out to vote in the 2022 midterms. 

• The overall turnout rate among 18-year-olds was only 24% because only 29% of 18-year-olds were registered in 2022.

• Voter registration rates are a strong predictor of turnout rates. Community efforts to engage students to overcome the obstacles to voter registration will likely have a meaningful impact on turnout in well publicized elections in New Hampshire.

If you are looking for a project to invest your time and energy, helping register young voters is one of the most effective, high-yield ways to promote turnout at the ballot box. Check out The Civics Center.

Concluding Thoughts.

          I frequently write, “We have every reason to be hopeful, but no reason to be complacent.” Tonight, I want to focus on the second clause in that sentence—“no reason to be complacent.” The Iowa state legislature just passed a six-week abortion ban despite the fact that 61% of Iowa voters support reproductive liberty (“abortion should be legal in all or most cases”).

          While those favoring reproductive liberty have had a string of victories ensuring reproductive liberty at the state level, the result in Iowa is a defeat that defies easy explanation. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds was re-elected in 2022 with 58% of the vote and flipped seven counties that previously voted Democratic. And Reynolds ran on a six-week abortion ban—after the decision in Dobbs. So, while 61% of Iowans support reproductive liberty “in all or most cases,” that strong support did not translate into success at the ballot box.

          What happened?

          A partial answer is that Republican voter registrations in the state outpaced Democratic registrations by 80,000 since 2020—giving Republicans a 90,000 voter registration advantage. And per local reporting in 2022, Iowans were motivated by inflation and high gasoline prices to blame President Biden and Democrats for the ills of the economy. And, at the time, a six-week abortion ban was an abstraction that might not pass muster with the Iowa supreme court

          But the ban is now a reality. Will the reality of the ban make a difference? Kim Reynolds won by more than 200,000 votes. If Democrats and Independents hope to overturn the six-week ban, they will need to persuade a fair number of Iowa Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates. That is a heavy lift. We can do it, but we should not assume that polling in support of reproductive liberty automatically translates into turnout.

          We have no reason to be complacent. That is a good reminder for the upcoming vote in Ohio on August 8. Turnout will decide whether Ohio voters can defeat Issue No. 1 by VOTING NO on August 8th. Let’s regain the momentum in support of reproductive liberty by defeating Issue No. 1.

          Talk to you tomorrow!