Today's Edition, May 26, 2021

Not on our watch.

          The Washington Post and Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the Manhattan District Attorney has empaneled a “special grand jury” to consider evidence regarding Donald Trump and the Trump Organization. See Washington Post, “Trump investigation: Manhattan district attorney convenes grand jury to hear evidence, weigh potential charges.” Per the Post, the special grand jury’s term is six months and will meet three days each week—a longer duration and busier meeting schedule than usual in Manhattan. The Post stated that the schedule suggests “that Vance thinks he has found evidence of a crime — if not by Trump, by someone potentially close to him or by his company.” It appears that the evidence being presented to the jury relates to tax returns and potential insurance fraud—though the actual subjects are not known to anyone outside of the grand jury room. However, the fact that Cy Vance went to the Supreme Court in a quest to obtain Trump’s tax returns is a major clue regarding the focus of the grand jury investigation.

          The story raises a mix of emotions. Although we should not waste time looking backward, it is always newsworthy when a leading presidential contender is being investigated by a grand jury. And the possibility of a Trump indictment may dispel the sense of injustice provoked by the fact that Trump appears to have skirted or flouted the law for decades with impunity. Finally, an indictment relating to tax or insurance fraud may serve as a surrogate for the convictions that Trump avoided in two impeachment trials.

          For anyone who believes in the rule of law, this development should be welcome news. But it would be a mistake if we allowed grand jury proceedings in New York (or Georgia) to distract us from our urgent task or to raise false hopes of conviction. Even if Trump is indicted on strong evidence, proving intent in a fraud case is difficult. Trump will undoubtedly resort to the “I’m-too-dumb-to-commit-fraud” defense, also known as “reliance on advice of counsel.” See Dan Goldman’s comments to Anderson Cooper at CNN, “Ex-prosecutor on reported Trump grand jury: I want to caution your viewers.”

          As always, my advice is to allow prosecutors to do their jobs—while we do ours. We have elections to win in 2022 and 2024. Trump will be on the ballot in both elections, indicted or not, so we must focus our energy on registering new voters and motivating existing voters to show up to the polls. The practical effect of an indictment may be to embolden GOP contenders who would otherwise stay out of the race for fear of drawing Trump’s wrath. See, e.g., The Hill, “Christie says he won't defer to Trump in 2024.” Good. The longer that legitimate investigations of Trump inject uncertainty into the 2024 GOP presidential field, the better for Democrats—and for democracy. Let’s hope that the wheels of justice continue to grind away at Donald Trump’s dissolving veneer of invincibility.

Was Putin involved in the Belarus hijacking of Ryanair flight and kidnapping of a dissident journalist?

          In yesterday’s newsletter, I wrote that Belarus dictator Lukashenko was emboldened to hijack a civilian airliner because he was supported by Putin, “who is a bigger thug than Lukashenko.” Today, experts suggested that Putin may have approved of the plan to intercept a civilian airliner with Belarus fighter jets. See Business Insider,
“Putin Likely Gave Belarus Go-Ahead to Divert Ryanair Plane.” (“Russian President Vladimir Putin likely gave Belarus the green light to force a Ryanair flight to land in Minsk so that authorities could arrest a prominent dissident, top officials and experts say.) Now would be a good time to remember that Trump chose to believe Putin’s denial of 2016 election interference over the US intelligence community assessment that Putin intervened to help Trump. Putin is a thug and a criminal; the GOP infatuation with him is another sign of the moral bankruptcy of the GOP.

Arizona legislature strips Democratic Secretary of State of oversight of elections.

          Local elections matter. A lot. In Arizona, the Democratic Secretary of State has been critical of the sham audit of the Maricopa County presidential ballots. In retaliation, the GOP-controlled state legislature has introduced a measure to strip the Democratic Secretary of State of oversight of election-related litigation—an area traditionally supervised by the Secretary of State. The legislature has instead vested the state’s Attorney General—a Republican—with sole control over election litigation. But it gets worse: The Secretary of State is stripped of oversight of election litigation only until the end of the current term of the Democratic Secretary of State. See NBC News, “Arizona Republicans introduce bill to strip powers from Democratic secretary of state.” Arizona Republicans are out of control; they are running that state as though it is a one-party communist dictatorship. We must never, ever take for granted a local election again.

Volunteers needed in special election in New Mexico.

          Rep. Debra Haaland was appointed as Secretary of Interior. The special election to fill her seat will be held on June 1st, 2021 but early voting has already started! The New Mexico Democratic Party nominated Melanie Stansbury at a statewide convention in March. For details on the race, check out Political Charge, “How To Help Keep Deb Haaland’s NM Seat Blue,” or Stansbury’s campaign site, “Melanie for New Mexico.”

          A reader sent a disquieting note saying that she attended a virtual-phone banking event for Stansbury and the turnout was disappointing. You can join a virtual phone banking event on May 26th at this link: Virtual Phone Bank for Melanie Stansbury · Mobilize. In a similar vein, PostCardsToVoters is running a campaign for Stansbury. Sign up HERE. The PostCardsToVoters Facebook page reports the following:

          We've been asked to write to Democratic voters for this Special Election because while it is a reliably blue district, turnout is key.  The campaign has reported that many of the voters they've reached were unaware of the election.  We've seen from our own success flipping seats that Special Elections are prime opportunities for upset victories.  We cannot afford to lose a single blue seat in Congress.

          Democrats have a razor-thin majority in the House. It would be a travesty to lose a reliably blue seat because voters in New Mexico are unaware of the election. If you can spare a few minutes to help, please do!

You can be a precinct organizer.

A reader sent me a note about his experience in organizing a precinct in North Carolina. I was impressed and asked him to write a note describing his experience. Here is what he wrote (edited for brevity):

          In the May 21 edition of this newsletter, Robert offered suggestions to readers who want to get involved in meaningful political work. One item that should be added to his list: Organize your local precinct. In North Carolina, where I reside, the requirements to organize a precinct are simple: Get five Democrats in a room, vote on a Chair, a Vice-Chair, and Secretary-Treasurer, communicate the results to your county party and voilà, it’s done—you are an organized precinct! This means you’ll have access to VoteBuilder software that will allow you to locate and contact other active Democrats in your neighborhood and town. During election season, your members can be active in municipal, county, and state races. When it’s not election season, you can focus on building relationships and growing a network that is ready to spring into action when campaign season rolls around. 

          Three of many possible benefits of organizing a precinct: (1) The work is good therapy. Instead of quietly pulling out what’s left of your hair at the latest antics of Marjorie Taylor Green, you can join like-minded folks on a variety of political projects in your local community. It feels good to reclaim active citizenship and to work with others on meaningful issues.  (2) There is power in collective action. As individuals, it’s easy to feel isolated and inconsequential. In a group, where your attitudes and actions align with others and reinforce each other, your personal power is magnified. (3) Finally, the times require continuous and sustained political activism; we can no longer afford to wait around for candidates and campaigns to tell us what to do. Our political engagement must be continuous, sustained, and immediate. If there’s any doubt about that, roll the tape from January 6th. Repeat when necessary.

Concluding Thoughts.

There is a lot more to cover today, but my Managing Editor and I finished helping our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter pack up their apartment in Berkeley and move to Los Angeles. On Tuesday, we finished packing the last of 80 boxes, wrangled the moving company, and drove 375 miles to LA. It has been a hectic four days, but we are all safely at home in Los Angeles—anxiously awaiting the arrival of 80 boxes of household items! This is all by way of saying that any lack of coherence or clarity in the newsletter in the last three days is born of exhaustion. I hope to be back to regular form soon.

          Let me close by saying that everyone has a moral obligation to speak out against anti-Semitism. It is a special obligation because the genocide of Jews in the last century is still in the living memory of hundreds of thousands of Americans. I am always amazed when I hear from a reader who is a survivor of the Holocaust or the child of a survivor. The pain and terror of that experience are palpable to them. Over the last four-and-half years, I have written hundreds of times to assure readers that America will not see a repeat of Nazi Germany because millions of Americans will stand against anti-Semitism and its ugly implications. When people like Marjorie Taylor Greene or the neo-Nazis at the Capitol Insurrection spew hateful lies, they frighten people who have a strong historical reason to be frightened. Let’s stand up for them. Marjorie Taylor Greene should be expelled from Congress. Let’s start a campaign to do so. Even if it doesn’t succeed, it will send a message to survivors and their families that America will not see a repeat of the horrors of the last century—not on our watch.

          Talk to you tomorrow!