Not only is he guilty, he is mortal. Conway was guilty from her first WH press interview, in my humble mean-spirited opinion. If the case is proven, it will be interesting to see how the SC reacts, and what remedies will be found. At last, the GOP is experiencing the level of infighting that Dems have been accused of particularly since 1968, but unless we get rid of Citizens United, the whole system is corrupt, no matter who is in charge. Lots of Love, Scrooge
"Let’s hope that Jack Smith focuses on prosecuting those crimes that can be easily and expeditiously tried to conviction."
Thank you Robert for distilling this whole scenario down to one critical sentence. I suspect we will see a cascading effect - one or two charges and then more and more. Tax fraud will be in the mix, I am sure.
But the most obvious to me is the theft and reckless handling of top secret documents. This careless selfish act may have created national security threats and threatened the lives of intelligence officials - not just Americans. Imagine being an intelligence officer of a country allied with the US and seeing that your cover may be blown or that a project that your team had been working on for years just fell apart. Or just the thought of it rattling an entire security apparatus of thousands of dedicated agents/workers.
Donald J. Trump admitted that he had such documents. That is theft of government documents just to start. Endangering national security is next. He should have been arrested immediately. The case was pre-built by the perpetrator himself. Airtight, on tape. Cuff him.
So the IRS did not have enough resources to examine all of the potential issues in Trump’s tax returns but had the resources to audit James Comey’s and Andrew McCabe’s ? Really hard to believe it was a true coincidence.
Regarding the bomb thrower's threat, Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) was unhappy with McCarthy’s threat to block bills from Senate Republicans if they back the omnibus funding bill to keep the government afloat. “Statements like that and statements coming from House Republicans is the very reason that some Senate Republicans feel they probably should spare them from the burden of having to govern.”
All my life I have heard that free speech does not give one permission to yell “fire” in a crowded theater. That is essentially what chump did; we all saw it, heard it, and felt the repercussions. That should be on the agenda…
Here’s an example of what’s wrong with the media and how they present information. Presidents are required to have their tax returns audited by the IRS. It’s a law. Trump refused and threatened or bullied the IRS not to act while running the clock out. The reason he conspired to do that and not make the taxes available is because their content would be damning and possibility show tax invasion. It was another criminal offense on multiple levels. The media makes it sound like it’s a political move rather than enforcing an existing law. The Republicans are saying that this opens the door for political use of tax returns and the next thing you know the Supreme Court justices taxes will be made public. I for one would love to see the judges tax returns and see the income they earn fro “other sources”.
Robert, first: thanks for your informative and inspiring work!
Second, whatever happened to the investigation of the Secret Service scandal(s)? This seemed a blockbuster to me and potentially one that would require a housecleaning from top to bottom. What's going on there, have you heard?
Praying that Jack Smith actually gets to prove seditious conspiracy against Dump. And Kellyanne...looks like she might be singing like a canary. Leonard Leo must be taken down somehow. He is as evil as they come and that’s saying a lot, coming from me. I have always felt Mitch was the devil incarnate and he is, but I think he’s met his match in Leo.
Thank you Robert. We must gird our loins. 2023 will be a continuation of the battle. Everyone take time to enjoy your families and the victories achieved for democracy thus far. There is still happiness to be found during this holiday season.
The Conway disclosure confirms the fundamental corruption of the Federalist-led judicial appointment process and the now unquestionable illegitimacy of the Trump-appointed Supreme Court "justices." All of them should immediately resign - for the good of the Court and the Nation!
I keep going back and rereading your revelation the the IRS did not perform the mandatory audits of Trump’s tax returns while he was president. What!? How can a federal bureaucracy just not do something it is required to do? I find this even more troubling than the expected Trump malfeasance and the idiotic letter by the far right radical “Freedom Party”. I hope that Rep. Neal will continue to follow up on this even as Republicans in the next Congress. try to sweep it under the rug.
Kraft-Heinz, parent company of Jell-0 , has sued Kevin McCarthy and all members of the Freedom Caucus for patent infringement and misuse of their product. The suit alleges the named defendants used the product to replace their spines. One anonymous defendant offered this response, "Duh".
1) Former IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, appointed by Trump, was a problem from the start. He was an accountant and wrote an editorial for a magazine that justified Trump not releasing his tax returns. Trump was informed of the article and named him to head the IRS. Under his leadership, the IRS did not audit Trump's tax returns, as required by law. This was the Trump government. Sycophants and corruption.
2) Justice delayed is justice denied! It is now almost 2 years since Jan. 6, 2021. Where is the sense of urgency? The DOJ must bring to justice the insurrectionists who led the plot to overthrow our government. Merrick Garland and his department owe it to the American people. And it should be done soon!
As always, thank you for your insights and summaries. Your newsletter is my first read every morning. A quibble: it is not shocking that Congress leaves the debt ceiling job to the very end - how could something they do every single time (as you point out) be shocking? Is it shocking that you pay your taxes every single year? It is an opportunity for politicians to obtain tons of free publicity. “I oppose this!” “I saved the nation!” It won’t be shocking the next time either.
Thank you, Robert, for distilling all of the Congressional hullabaloo into a one cup of coffee read!
I have two questions, one (probably) stupid and the other serious:
The Stupid Question: How can the appointment of Electors occur on "election day" when, as is often the case with mail-in voting, it takes several days or even weeks after election day to tally the votes and determine the winner? And what if an election is in dispute? I read the modification to the term "election day" (p.1935) and other than modifying the term to include any delay caused by force majeure, the day remains "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November...." So, is the tail wagging the dog?
The Serious Question: Does the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 negatively impact the National Popular Vote interstate compact in which States agree to cast their votes to the winner of popular vote? While the compact does not become effective until states representing 270 electoral votes sign the compact, does the foregoing (stupid) question jeopardize the compact effort?
Not only is he guilty, he is mortal. Conway was guilty from her first WH press interview, in my humble mean-spirited opinion. If the case is proven, it will be interesting to see how the SC reacts, and what remedies will be found. At last, the GOP is experiencing the level of infighting that Dems have been accused of particularly since 1968, but unless we get rid of Citizens United, the whole system is corrupt, no matter who is in charge. Lots of Love, Scrooge
"Let’s hope that Jack Smith focuses on prosecuting those crimes that can be easily and expeditiously tried to conviction."
Thank you Robert for distilling this whole scenario down to one critical sentence. I suspect we will see a cascading effect - one or two charges and then more and more. Tax fraud will be in the mix, I am sure.
But the most obvious to me is the theft and reckless handling of top secret documents. This careless selfish act may have created national security threats and threatened the lives of intelligence officials - not just Americans. Imagine being an intelligence officer of a country allied with the US and seeing that your cover may be blown or that a project that your team had been working on for years just fell apart. Or just the thought of it rattling an entire security apparatus of thousands of dedicated agents/workers.
Donald J. Trump admitted that he had such documents. That is theft of government documents just to start. Endangering national security is next. He should have been arrested immediately. The case was pre-built by the perpetrator himself. Airtight, on tape. Cuff him.
So the IRS did not have enough resources to examine all of the potential issues in Trump’s tax returns but had the resources to audit James Comey’s and Andrew McCabe’s ? Really hard to believe it was a true coincidence.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/us/politics/irs-audit-comey-mccabe.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Regarding the bomb thrower's threat, Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) was unhappy with McCarthy’s threat to block bills from Senate Republicans if they back the omnibus funding bill to keep the government afloat. “Statements like that and statements coming from House Republicans is the very reason that some Senate Republicans feel they probably should spare them from the burden of having to govern.”
All my life I have heard that free speech does not give one permission to yell “fire” in a crowded theater. That is essentially what chump did; we all saw it, heard it, and felt the repercussions. That should be on the agenda…
Here’s an example of what’s wrong with the media and how they present information. Presidents are required to have their tax returns audited by the IRS. It’s a law. Trump refused and threatened or bullied the IRS not to act while running the clock out. The reason he conspired to do that and not make the taxes available is because their content would be damning and possibility show tax invasion. It was another criminal offense on multiple levels. The media makes it sound like it’s a political move rather than enforcing an existing law. The Republicans are saying that this opens the door for political use of tax returns and the next thing you know the Supreme Court justices taxes will be made public. I for one would love to see the judges tax returns and see the income they earn fro “other sources”.
Robert, first: thanks for your informative and inspiring work!
Second, whatever happened to the investigation of the Secret Service scandal(s)? This seemed a blockbuster to me and potentially one that would require a housecleaning from top to bottom. What's going on there, have you heard?
Praying that Jack Smith actually gets to prove seditious conspiracy against Dump. And Kellyanne...looks like she might be singing like a canary. Leonard Leo must be taken down somehow. He is as evil as they come and that’s saying a lot, coming from me. I have always felt Mitch was the devil incarnate and he is, but I think he’s met his match in Leo.
Thank you Robert. We must gird our loins. 2023 will be a continuation of the battle. Everyone take time to enjoy your families and the victories achieved for democracy thus far. There is still happiness to be found during this holiday season.
The Conway disclosure confirms the fundamental corruption of the Federalist-led judicial appointment process and the now unquestionable illegitimacy of the Trump-appointed Supreme Court "justices." All of them should immediately resign - for the good of the Court and the Nation!
I’m just happy so many good people are clearly on board for saving our democracy. Things are looking up!
I keep going back and rereading your revelation the the IRS did not perform the mandatory audits of Trump’s tax returns while he was president. What!? How can a federal bureaucracy just not do something it is required to do? I find this even more troubling than the expected Trump malfeasance and the idiotic letter by the far right radical “Freedom Party”. I hope that Rep. Neal will continue to follow up on this even as Republicans in the next Congress. try to sweep it under the rug.
(Sarcasm)
Kraft-Heinz, parent company of Jell-0 , has sued Kevin McCarthy and all members of the Freedom Caucus for patent infringement and misuse of their product. The suit alleges the named defendants used the product to replace their spines. One anonymous defendant offered this response, "Duh".
1) Former IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, appointed by Trump, was a problem from the start. He was an accountant and wrote an editorial for a magazine that justified Trump not releasing his tax returns. Trump was informed of the article and named him to head the IRS. Under his leadership, the IRS did not audit Trump's tax returns, as required by law. This was the Trump government. Sycophants and corruption.
2) Justice delayed is justice denied! It is now almost 2 years since Jan. 6, 2021. Where is the sense of urgency? The DOJ must bring to justice the insurrectionists who led the plot to overthrow our government. Merrick Garland and his department owe it to the American people. And it should be done soon!
As always, thank you for your insights and summaries. Your newsletter is my first read every morning. A quibble: it is not shocking that Congress leaves the debt ceiling job to the very end - how could something they do every single time (as you point out) be shocking? Is it shocking that you pay your taxes every single year? It is an opportunity for politicians to obtain tons of free publicity. “I oppose this!” “I saved the nation!” It won’t be shocking the next time either.
Thank you, Robert, for distilling all of the Congressional hullabaloo into a one cup of coffee read!
I have two questions, one (probably) stupid and the other serious:
The Stupid Question: How can the appointment of Electors occur on "election day" when, as is often the case with mail-in voting, it takes several days or even weeks after election day to tally the votes and determine the winner? And what if an election is in dispute? I read the modification to the term "election day" (p.1935) and other than modifying the term to include any delay caused by force majeure, the day remains "the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November...." So, is the tail wagging the dog?
The Serious Question: Does the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 negatively impact the National Popular Vote interstate compact in which States agree to cast their votes to the winner of popular vote? While the compact does not become effective until states representing 270 electoral votes sign the compact, does the foregoing (stupid) question jeopardize the compact effort?