Suggestions of an impending indictment.
February 17, 2023
[No audio version due to travel.]
Excerpts released from the report of the special grand jury in Fulton County confirmed what was obvious—that there was no election fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. The excerpts also confirmed what has been obvious about Trump’s enablers and advisers since the January 6th insurrection—that they are willing to lie to protect him. (Excerpts are here.) The fact that the special grand jury included both conclusions in its report is consistent with a recommendation to indict Trump—or not. It is conceivable that the grand jury believes there was no election fraud but concluded that the District Attorney failed to present sufficient evidence to support issuance of an indictment.
Predicting whether the grand jury recommended issuance of an indictment is tricky business, so I will defer to others. Dennis Aftergut grappled with this question head-on in his essay in Slate, The Georgia Trump grand jury report suggests indictments are coming. Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, writes that
The released pages give little if anything away. But to a former federal prosecutor, the tea leaves are there to read, and they say that indictments are coming.
The key sign is in the released section of the report that says, “A majority of the Grand Jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it.” The report goes on to recommend that Willis seek to indict the liar or liars.
Translation: “We are insulted and angry that people think that they can come before us and lie under oath. Please, DA Willis, act so they know they can’t get away with it.”
Aftergut concludes that people lie to cover up misconduct and believes that grand juries “typically will not target the perjury without targeting the underlying misconduct.”
If Aftergut is correct, the grand jury’s report recommends issuance of an indictment against Trump. District Attorney Willis has said that prosecutorial decisions are “imminent”—a relative term that could cover weeks or months of delay before issuance of an indictment. But for those hoping that the rule of law will finally be vindicated by holding Trump accountable, the excerpts of the grand jury’s report provide a reasonable basis for believing that the day of reckoning is drawing near.
Ohio train derailment.
Readers have noted in the Comments section that I have not yet addressed the train derailment in Ohio and the release of toxic chemicals that ensued. The accident and response are an unfolding story with many competing crosscurrents, so I have been reluctant to add my thoughts to a fluid situation. But on Thursday, I watched the pleas of the citizens of East Palestine, Ohio, during a televised public hearing. The over-arching sentiment from those who spoke was, “We need help and answers from the federal government.” Their pleas are appropriate and heartfelt. They deserve unqualified, immediate help and answers from the federal government in addressing the disaster.
Commentary about the incident strongly suggests that the rail industry’s resistance to federal regulation and safety proposals likely contributed to the accident and to its severity. For a deep dive into the successful efforts by the rail industry to avoid federal regulation regarding braking and safety systems, length of trains, staffing, inspections, and more, see Vox, The Ohio train derailment was an accident waiting to happen. As noted in the Vox article,
Rail workers, government officials, and industry analysts have long warned that such disasters are an expected consequence of an industry that has aggressively cut costs, slashed its workforce, and resisted regulation for years.
To similar effect are articles in WaPo, Ohio train wreck shows toxic risk of valuing efficiency over safety, and Mother Jones, We Need to Talk About Norfolk Southern’s Anti-Labor Policies.
The commercial imperative to maximize profit at the expense of safety has been a centuries-long struggle, one in which the federal government inevitably assumes the role of the protagonist advocating for safety. It is cheap and easy to vilify the government’s concern for safety as “anti-business” or “bureaucratic over-reach”. Those attacks strike a populist chord that resonates with ill-conceived notions of absolute liberty—a notion antithetical to civilized society that is a pre-condition to the enjoyment of true liberty.
Demonizing government for attempting to protect its citizens is destructive and deadly—but forms an essential part of the GOP playbook. Foresight, planning, and patience are necessary to create and implement regulations that protect against disasters that may never materialize. But when disaster does materialize, it is too late to curse the absence of regulations that would have avoided the disaster. Sadly, that is the situation developing in the political response to the Ohio train derailment.
The people of Ohio and America deserve federal support and concern before disaster strikes, not merely after the fact. And we must help defend those efforts against attacks from demagogues and profiteers who seek to prioritize power and greed over public safety.
The normalization of Ron DeSantis.
Trump succeeded in 2016, in part, because the media quickly tired of his outrageous conduct and pivoted to the easiest story in journalism: Who is ahead in the polls? While that question is newsworthy, it can also be dangerous by distracting from the essential unfitness or immorality of the candidate involved in an electoral horserace. Treating someone who is immoral and unfit for office like any other politician normalizes the candidate.
Coverage of Ron DeSantis is normalizing him as “just another politician” who is ahead (or behind) in the polls. A variant of such coverage asserts that because DeSantis is climbing in the polls, his campaign positions have merit worthy of consideration by the opposing party. Molly Jong-Fast warns against that trap in her article in Vanity Fair, Ron DeSantis Shouldn’t Be Covered Like Just Another Republican. Jong-Fast writes, in part,
Some mainstream news outlets, meanwhile, though not heralding DeSantis, seem to be normalizing his authoritarianism. The New York Times is not alone in this department, but as the paper that most sets the nation’s news agenda, its framing of DeSantis certainly warrants scrutiny.
Jong-Fast cites numerous examples of the NYTimes’ coverage of DeSantis “as pure horse race,” but focuses on a recent op-ed by Pamela Paul titled, Opinion | What Liberals Can Learn From Ron DeSantis. Paul described DeSantis as
a “maverick” with a “knack for action” and noted the “appeal to Floridians tired of racial and ethnic divisiveness and the overt politicization of what’s taught in the classroom.”
While that is one way to describe a racist, anti-LGBTQ, anti-education, aspiring dictator, it is the wrong way. Of course, Paul’s piece is labeled as opinion, and she is certainly entitled to her opinion. But Jong-Fast provides numerous examples of news stories in the Times that repeat the framing of DeSantis as a man of action whose bold initiatives are drawing criticism.
Another example appears in Thursday’s edition of the NYTimes by John McWhorter in his essay, Opinion | DeSantis May Have Been Right. McWhorter is one of my favorite authors (regarding language). McWhorter’s thesis is that DeSantis may have been correct in his assessment of the deficiencies of the AP course on African American studies. I disagree, but even if McWhorter is correct about deficiencies in the AP course, he could have made those points without praising DeSantis. But McWhorter—and the NYTimes—made the editorial decision to craft the story as an example of DeSantis being correct in his culture war attack on the AP. That choice normalizes DeSantis.
The drip, drip, drip of stories that fail to begin and end with a reminder that DeSantis is a budding authoritarian follow the path that brought us Donald Trump. Journalism should be objective and fair, but there is nothing unfair about identifying evil, condemning immorality, and speaking the truth. Some people are bad, and it is no journalistic sin to say so.
Concluding Thoughts.
Ugh! So many stories to cover, and so little time, and I got off track with my criticism of the media (again). Apologies.
My Managing Editor and I are visiting Alaska with a tour group, so I am following a schedule not my own. My wife and I had the pleasure of meeting with a half-dozen readers of the newsletter in Anchorage on Thursday morning. I had the same reaction I always do when I meet with readers of the newsletter: I gain new hope, optimism, and confidence about the future of our democracy.
To be clear, the political challenges for Democrats in Alaska are daunting. But if the readers we met on Thursday are any indication of our prospects for success over the long-term, we are in good hands. And then take those half-dozen readers and multiply them by millions of Americans whose lives were transformed on November 8, 2016—the day we learned that Trump had been elected president. Every person around the table in our discussion on Thursday pointed to that event as the beginning of their political engagement or a re-birth of their existing involvement.
The millions of Americans who first joined the struggle to preserve democracy in 2016 now have three successful elections under their belts—2018, 2020, and 2022. Sure, we did not win every race. We don’t have to. We just need to win enough of them to maintain the balance of power and serve as a check on the extremists who have seized control of the Republican party. Democrats are winning because they are appealing to persuadable Independents. We can do that.
The rightward lurch of the GOP after losing the 2022 midterms signals a continuation of Democratic gains in 2024 and beyond. We cannot dismiss the extremists in the GOP (including DeSantis), nor can we count on Republicans to defeat themselves. But we are on the right path and have joined common cause with tens of millions of like-minded citizens willing to step outside of their comfort zone to make a difference. With that advantage, we cannot lose in the long run. So, stay strong and keep the faith!
I will send a short newsletter on Friday evening to open the Comments section for the weekend. Next week, I will be in remote areas and may not publish on a regular schedule but will do my best! I appreciate your understanding!
My conversion to paying attention to politics happened in April, 2016, when I realized someone as sick as DT could become the nominee of the GOP for President of the United States. For two weeks I studied Narcissistic Personality Disorder for which DT is the poster child. Getting rid of any shame in his actions by projecting his shame on others, the gaslighting that came with his need for his narcissistic supply of adoration because of the weakness of his self esteem, playing the victim to gain the support of those forgotten by the politicians owned by the big patrons and suffering from the horrendous and unfair income disparity that comes from putting Party and Patrons over Country and Constituents. The day after the election I was extremely upset, couldn't stay for refreshments with friends after our weekly chamber music session because I was so distraught and in tears by DT's election. Even so, I didn't fully realize how bad the sycophantic politicians supporting DT would make the next four years and beyond. In the 2020 election I shocked a friend who was born in Germany in the 1940s that I would vote for Hitler before I'd vote for DT. I felt like one of the few people in the movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers who could clearly see the aliens who had taken over human bodies in the MAGA Republicans. I'm flummoxed that Ron DeSantis could be the American Hitler who despite never winning the popular vote still becomes the leader of a very sick blind country once the leading example however imperfect of democracy and human rights. Now I'm appalled by the normalization the media puts on these followers empty of morals or values like integrity and empathy for others. These followers that are being duped and bought by the lies dark money buys. The Rule of Law so essential to a functioning democracy is being torn apart by a rogue Supreme Court and the greedy 1% phantoms who have bought them as illuminated by the books like "The Scheme" by Senator Whitehouse and "The Laboratories of Autocracy" by David Pepper and "On Tyranny" by Timothy Snyder warning one to vote as if this is the last election you'll be allowed to vote. Still in all this I believe there is a majority of Americans who believe in human rights and the rule of law and the promise of a more Perfect Union that are coming together especially from the idealism of undaunted youth in a movement to assert the People's Agenda of protecting the rights of other and the defense of the democracy. We, the People, All of us this time creating a world valuing each and all our differences and doing the right thing by each other.
I saw Gov. DeWine on The News Hour last night saying that the situation was basically resolved, that if he lived in the area that had been evacuated, he'd feel safe to go home, and rejecting any need for the help from FEMA that Biden has offered. This is malpractice! The next segment was a scientist saying the area need much more thorough and sophisticated testing to determine its safety.