In response to Robert's request, I offer this article from Mother Jones 6/23/2023: "No Labels Exposed: Here’s a List of Donors Funding Its Effort To Disrupt the 2024 Race."
I am happy to report that, as far as I know, none of my friends are dumb enough to be taken in by that “No Labels” claptrap. “No labels is a bunch of shills for Trump—so is Dean Phillips—either knowingly or as useful idiots. Tell a friend.
I’ll be very direct in commenting about those citizens who are considering voting for a No Labels candidate, or for some other candidate who is not Joe Biden, or who is thinking that, out of some inchoate angst, she will not vote at all.
The election of 5 November 2024 very likely will be the single most important election that occurs during the lives of current American citizens. Important because it may or may not signal the end of our democracy and of the inclusive, egalitarian society that is the basis for all our freedoms.
That means this will be a BINARY election. Each vote will either be for Joe Biden and the Democrats who will sustain and strengthen our democratic way of life, or it will be for a MAGA candidate who will deconstruct a government and society that truly does provide, more than ever before, liberty and justice for all. A vote for a “third” party or a vote that isn’t cast is a vote against democracy. You can wriggle and dance, but you cannot escape that exceedingly simple fact. Indulge your angst in the election of ’28, but you simply do not have that option now.
I believe we’ll win, IF we ALL are pulling on the same rope in the same direction. This is no time for the slightest wavering from our group purpose. Yes, you’re free to choose, but this is one time when the wrong choice may mean you never get to choose again.
You absolutely nail it, Ronald. The two-party system and the winner-takes-all rule is a serious shortcoming in a truly democratic society. Combined with the Electoral College it is becoming downright lethal in Presidential elections where voting for a third party candidate or narcissist and self-righteous "independents" (looking at you, Cornel West) does nothing more than tip the scales in favor of one of the major candidates.
And in 2024 that candidate will be trump. Just look at who is bankrolling the No Labels movement. So reforming the two-party system definitely would have its merits. But now is not the time as you stated so eloquently, Ronald: "A vote for a “third” party or a vote that isn’t cast is a vote against democracy... you simply do not have that option now."
I include a link to one out of a myriad of good pieces on the danger of third-party voting
And NOT voting as some naive protest or a symptom of irresponsible laziness represents a vote FOR Trump.
We are all on the front lines in a battle for our survival as a democracy with modicum of decency. We either support the only serious way to maintain it by voting Blue or we have aided and abetted fascism. It is simple.
Ronald, I agree with everything you’ve said. What I struggle with is distilling our ideas into short bullet points directed at the “persuadables,” like those in Iowa who voted for Haley or DeSantis and are somehow not in the Trump cult. Yet.
If you are a working-class Evangelical Christian living in rural or even suburban America, what you listen to or read will be critical to how you vote. You listen to your pastor, your neighbors, the guy at the hardware store or the feed store. No, you are unlikely to get your news from the New York Times. Fox News maybe, social media maybe. But not NYT.
I have no problem talking your way with my college-educated neighbors who arrogantly refer to Biden’s age as their reason for voting for a third party. Fortunately, Robert, Heather Cox Richardson, Simon Rosenberg and others here on Substack provide ample ammunition to discuss the binary choice we face.
How do we reach Independents, particularly here in flyover land? Rhetorical question but a critical one
Ronald! I’m standing on my chair and applauding this statement. I have been preaching this to so many when they bring up their reasons of disapproval and disappointment. 👏🏼
Robert, you have a strange idea of what constitutes “short & sweet.” Hope you get some rest. Don’t mislead yourself and stay focused on getting well.
My best to you and your Managing Editor. You have given so much. You deserve good health and good family time. Let “short & sweet” stand for an early start to the weekend comments.
One of Robert's take-aways from his Grassroots Leaders Summit a few months ago was that individual chorus members can pause to take a breath while the rest of the chorus carries the note. Hmmm. What if Robert were to give himself some unplugged time to more fully rest and restore? His fellow Substackers Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance periodically post a nice photo in lieu of their usual letter.
I recognize the danger tRump and the various members of the Republican Taliban are to the country. I have been voting against them for 50 years. I cannot stand to watch tRump stand up at a podium and talk. There is no way what he babbles out could be called a speech. A presentation like his in high school or college would result in a failing grade or firing in the business world. Lucian K. Trescott if you can stand to watch in order to create a transcript, more power to you. I can't even stand to read all his lies.
Thanks for enduring the Trump speech and providing a transcript. It's just pure babble punctuated by the cheers of his supporters who evidently find him hilarious.
Many years ago I watched film clips of some of Hitler’s speeches. I couldn’t comprehend how audiences cheered rather than groaned. Then I came across an interview in which William Shirer (author of “Berlin Diary” and “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”) said that, next to Churchill, Hitler was the greatest orator he’s encountered.
How could such a weird thing be true? It could be understood only by (imaginatively) getting in the minds of the audience – 1930s Germans, in the case of Hitler’s speeches.
The experience makes me think that, instead of reflexively denigrating Trump’s rants, which is easy, we left-of-center citizens need to imagine the mental world of Trump supporters and how Trump resonates with their experiences and thinking.
Since the NYTimes and Wapo, among others, are constantly interviewing Trump supporters in diners, at state fairs and Trump rallies, I think we get a substantial dose of how Trump resonates with their experiences and thinking.
Robert, for the love of all of us, just stay in bed, listen to your Managing Editor and your doctor, and get well quickly. As my favorite line in the movie "All the President's Men" goes (Bradley the editor tells his two tyro reporters), "Make sure you get this right. Not much riding on it, just the future of the Republic."
"Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) challenged his Republican colleagues to introduce a bill that removes the Statue of Liberty because of their stances on immigration at the southern border."
Robert, please take care of yourself. We'll be fine for a little while.
Please allow me to respond to a couple of the stories you featured today, and perhaps the rest of us can have a discussion.
House Democrats again act as “Adults in the room.”:
Again, this shows that Democrats are interested in governing, while Republicans are at best, disinterested, or at worst, fundamentally opposed to doing so. While on the surface, it seems that Mike Johnson has committed the same sin as Subwoofer McCarthy by relying on Democrats for the passage of the CR, he hasn’t yet blamed the Democrats for forcing him to. As long as he doesn’t bite the hand that’s helping him, he should be able to keep his seat with Democrats’ support. While none of the Democrats likely want him as Speaker, they know that the chaos caused by his removal would increase the dysfunction. I don’t trust Johnson, but perhaps he’s learned a lesson here, and will work with Democrats to actually get something done. I’m not holding my breath.
Motion to disqualify Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis:
I agree that her personal life is her personal business, and as long as she hasn’t done anything illegal, it shouldn’t affect the trial. But I’m disappointed that someone so brilliant and thorough may have weakened her standing and her case yet again by doing something so questionable and so visible. She already lost one of her defendants in 2022 because she had a fundraiser for his political opponent. In that case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney commented: “It’s a ‘What are you thinking?’ moment,” McBurney said. “The optics are horrific.” C’mon, Fani!
Congressional Republicans file “friend of the court”…:
I’m not an attorney, and my eyes started to glaze over about halfway thru the Summary of the Argument in the brief, but it struck me that they chose to focus on Congress’s need to pass authorizing legislation:
“A. Federal Implementing Legislation Is Required to Enforce Section 3.
“Congress must pass authorizing legislation to enforce Section 3. The Fourteenth Amendment expressly gives Congress the ‘power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.’ ”
I am dumbfounded by that assertion for two reasons. First, I think it’s laughable that they could interpret “power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article” as either an exclusive responsibility, or a mandate that they exercise it. Second, even more laughable, is the suggestion that this Congress can pass any such legislation!
Then, if that’s not enough, they go into an even more bizarre rant about denying Congress its power:
B. De-Balloting a Candidate Effectively Denies Congress Its Power to Remove a Section 3 Disability.
I don’t see any way that Colorado’s decision, especially with its self-imposed stay pending appeals, is depriving Congress of it’s “express authority to remove a Section 3 “disability” during the election season or even after an election has occurred.” Congress can remove such disability merely by bringing it to a vote in both Houses and achieving a two thirds majority in each.
Lots of good points in your post. let me amplify one: Although Sec 5 does provide for enabling legislation, several people have been disqualified under the 14 Amendment in the post Civil War era without enabling legislation. If Congress thought enabling legislation was necessary, the people who drafted the amendment were still in in Congress--and they didn't think so!
I heard some discussion on MSNBC tonight that if by some means, or if something is yet to be revealed, and Willis is in fact removed, her whole team could go with her. The charges against Trump et al would still be legit, but prosecuting would face a huge setback, if in fact someone else even wants to take them up. It would definitely be long after the election. Which is the point.
Right! It is precisely the point. The Quadefendant makes hay every time somebody sneezes on the prosecution side, and then throws sand in the gears to cause the delay he knows is his only ticket out of jail. When is somebody going to figure out a way to stop him?
If married lawyers have worked in the same firm, and on the same case on the same side, unmarried lawyers having a relationship shouldn't suffer a conflict of interest in the view of reasonable people. They must not work on the same case on opposing sides, but in Fani's case they don't. Her case involves his adultery, but it would be breath-taking hypocrisy (which means it's right up their alley) for Republicans to pretend like that bothers them when their cult leader has a history of flagrant adultery with multiple partners.
Speaking of head spinning hypocrisy, spotting it in Mitch McConnell should surprise no one. He's the one who held up Garland's nomination to the SCOTUS because eight months was too close to the election, but pushed Ms. Coney Barrett's through a pair of weeks before that election. It's what he does.
I hope you, Jill and family continue to heal. Take good care of yourself, Robert. Take a few days off from the Newsletter and focus on your health, instead.
Per your request I looked online for a source that I felt would appeal to someone who is thinking of changing their vote to the No Labels Party. Liberty Champion is the official student newspaper of Liberty University, a Christian college in Virginia. This opinion piece nicely sums up why a vote for a "third party" is a waste of ones vote.
Thanks, Robert. That was quite a bit considering how crummy you feel!
I have been especially discouraged by all the pundits predicting that the Court will say no to immunity but give Trump a pass on the 14th. I realize there are multiple issues being argued related to the 14th and any one of them could give them an off ramp. What I hate is that they would be looking for an off ramp because of the politics and not facing the questions of what the law demands, and thereby setting precedent. Somehow it is enough if they say no to immunity but stop short of what only they can do. If we ever needed to call on that section of the Constitution again, it’s done. Over. So yes, it is in our hands.
As an aside, I visit Speaker Johnson’s Facebook wall everyday. His base is pretty angry with him. Every day the comments are worse, more and more demanding his removal. They do like to demand everything, however. He has led them well down that path.
Several readers have recommended https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-dangerous-illusion-of-a-presidential-third-party-in-2024 as an organization that can help dissuade people from registering for No Labels. I will update this link for additional recommendations!
///////
Also, from reader Charles K: Regarding no labels, this Lincoln Project podcast discusses key (and problematic) issues with that effort:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lincoln-project/id1551582052?i=1000641062613
////////
From reader Gary S:
Gary Stewart
9 hrs ago
In response to Robert's request, I offer this article from Mother Jones 6/23/2023: "No Labels Exposed: Here’s a List of Donors Funding Its Effort To Disrupt the 2024 Race."
This is the link:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/no-labels-exposed-heres-a-list-of-donors-funding-its-effort-to-disrupt-the-2024-race/
////
And thanks to reader Beth for the following resources:
https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-dangerous-illusion-of-a-presidential-third-party-in-2024
https://www.thirdway.org/memo/the-no-labels-partys-radical-new-plan-to-force-a-contingent-election
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lincoln-project/id1551582052?i=1000641062613
https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2020/10/opinion-voting-third-party-diminishes-the-impact-of-your-vote/
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/no-labels-exposed-heres-a-list-of-donors-funding-its-effort-to-disrupt-the-2024-race/
I like this "share" feature that allows me to post all these links directly to my FB page. Thanks!
I am happy to report that, as far as I know, none of my friends are dumb enough to be taken in by that “No Labels” claptrap. “No labels is a bunch of shills for Trump—so is Dean Phillips—either knowingly or as useful idiots. Tell a friend.
I’ll be very direct in commenting about those citizens who are considering voting for a No Labels candidate, or for some other candidate who is not Joe Biden, or who is thinking that, out of some inchoate angst, she will not vote at all.
The election of 5 November 2024 very likely will be the single most important election that occurs during the lives of current American citizens. Important because it may or may not signal the end of our democracy and of the inclusive, egalitarian society that is the basis for all our freedoms.
That means this will be a BINARY election. Each vote will either be for Joe Biden and the Democrats who will sustain and strengthen our democratic way of life, or it will be for a MAGA candidate who will deconstruct a government and society that truly does provide, more than ever before, liberty and justice for all. A vote for a “third” party or a vote that isn’t cast is a vote against democracy. You can wriggle and dance, but you cannot escape that exceedingly simple fact. Indulge your angst in the election of ’28, but you simply do not have that option now.
I believe we’ll win, IF we ALL are pulling on the same rope in the same direction. This is no time for the slightest wavering from our group purpose. Yes, you’re free to choose, but this is one time when the wrong choice may mean you never get to choose again.
You absolutely nail it, Ronald. The two-party system and the winner-takes-all rule is a serious shortcoming in a truly democratic society. Combined with the Electoral College it is becoming downright lethal in Presidential elections where voting for a third party candidate or narcissist and self-righteous "independents" (looking at you, Cornel West) does nothing more than tip the scales in favor of one of the major candidates.
And in 2024 that candidate will be trump. Just look at who is bankrolling the No Labels movement. So reforming the two-party system definitely would have its merits. But now is not the time as you stated so eloquently, Ronald: "A vote for a “third” party or a vote that isn’t cast is a vote against democracy... you simply do not have that option now."
I include a link to one out of a myriad of good pieces on the danger of third-party voting
https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-dangerous-illusion-of-a-presidential-third-party-in-2024
And NOT voting as some naive protest or a symptom of irresponsible laziness represents a vote FOR Trump.
We are all on the front lines in a battle for our survival as a democracy with modicum of decency. We either support the only serious way to maintain it by voting Blue or we have aided and abetted fascism. It is simple.
Ronald, I agree with everything you’ve said. What I struggle with is distilling our ideas into short bullet points directed at the “persuadables,” like those in Iowa who voted for Haley or DeSantis and are somehow not in the Trump cult. Yet.
If you are a working-class Evangelical Christian living in rural or even suburban America, what you listen to or read will be critical to how you vote. You listen to your pastor, your neighbors, the guy at the hardware store or the feed store. No, you are unlikely to get your news from the New York Times. Fox News maybe, social media maybe. But not NYT.
I have no problem talking your way with my college-educated neighbors who arrogantly refer to Biden’s age as their reason for voting for a third party. Fortunately, Robert, Heather Cox Richardson, Simon Rosenberg and others here on Substack provide ample ammunition to discuss the binary choice we face.
How do we reach Independents, particularly here in flyover land? Rhetorical question but a critical one
The last sentence is especially powerful! Thank you.
Ronald! I’m standing on my chair and applauding this statement. I have been preaching this to so many when they bring up their reasons of disapproval and disappointment. 👏🏼
Bravo, Ronald!👏🏼👏🏼
Wonderfully said, Ronald. I will quote you to friends who are thinking of doing that. By the way, you sound just like Robert!!!
Well said!!
Thank you. But you are being too nice.
Robert, you have a strange idea of what constitutes “short & sweet.” Hope you get some rest. Don’t mislead yourself and stay focused on getting well.
My best to you and your Managing Editor. You have given so much. You deserve good health and good family time. Let “short & sweet” stand for an early start to the weekend comments.
One of Robert's take-aways from his Grassroots Leaders Summit a few months ago was that individual chorus members can pause to take a breath while the rest of the chorus carries the note. Hmmm. What if Robert were to give himself some unplugged time to more fully rest and restore? His fellow Substackers Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance periodically post a nice photo in lieu of their usual letter.
Thanks, Ellie. I have turned the corner with the help of Paxlovid and your soup! Thanks!
What he said!
I don't recommend Trump speeches as a regular diet.
Hi, Lucian. Agreed, but somebody has to do it. And thank you for doing it!
As a rule I have to turn them off at the 38 second mark. I just cannot. An occasional transcript is a little more digestible. Thanks.
I recognize the danger tRump and the various members of the Republican Taliban are to the country. I have been voting against them for 50 years. I cannot stand to watch tRump stand up at a podium and talk. There is no way what he babbles out could be called a speech. A presentation like his in high school or college would result in a failing grade or firing in the business world. Lucian K. Trescott if you can stand to watch in order to create a transcript, more power to you. I can't even stand to read all his lies.
I find him utterly nauseating
The orange idiot’s ‘speech’ equals ‘mental masturbation’.
That word can’t be any more offensive than everything that comes out of his mouth.
So true, Lucian ! 🤯But there were nuggets in your newsletter I intend to share when someone tries to tell me Biden is in cognitive decline.⬇️
He (“ great oilman”)takes a straw and he puts it into the ground and oil comes out.”
And don’t forget the straw has to be a paper one and that it’s wrapped in cellophane.
Kathy,
That quote signifies surpassing ignorance, not necessarily cognitive decline.
But thank YOU for doing so and translating (?) the garble. It's frighteningly, maniacally, delusionally ill.
Thanks for enduring the Trump speech and providing a transcript. It's just pure babble punctuated by the cheers of his supporters who evidently find him hilarious.
Many years ago I watched film clips of some of Hitler’s speeches. I couldn’t comprehend how audiences cheered rather than groaned. Then I came across an interview in which William Shirer (author of “Berlin Diary” and “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”) said that, next to Churchill, Hitler was the greatest orator he’s encountered.
How could such a weird thing be true? It could be understood only by (imaginatively) getting in the minds of the audience – 1930s Germans, in the case of Hitler’s speeches.
The experience makes me think that, instead of reflexively denigrating Trump’s rants, which is easy, we left-of-center citizens need to imagine the mental world of Trump supporters and how Trump resonates with their experiences and thinking.
I agree, understanding how they think is the first step to changing minds.
Since the NYTimes and Wapo, among others, are constantly interviewing Trump supporters in diners, at state fairs and Trump rallies, I think we get a substantial dose of how Trump resonates with their experiences and thinking.
Take care of yourself Mr Hubbell, you mean so much to so many of us.
Robert, for the love of all of us, just stay in bed, listen to your Managing Editor and your doctor, and get well quickly. As my favorite line in the movie "All the President's Men" goes (Bradley the editor tells his two tyro reporters), "Make sure you get this right. Not much riding on it, just the future of the Republic."
If you haven’t *read* “All the President’s Men” (the book), read it. It’s gripping and rewarding.
Off topic but no less relevant IMO...
"Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) challenged his Republican colleagues to introduce a bill that removes the Statue of Liberty because of their stances on immigration at the southern border."
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4414275-democrat-frost-gop-statue-of-liberty/
Thank you, Robert, for opening the comments section for us. Best wishes that you get well sooner rather than later.
Heaven help me but I adore Maxwell Frost!!😂👏🏼👏🏼
Send people interested in No Labels to the Third Way website which has lots of info about what a disaster it'll be if people go with No Labels: https://www.thirdway.org/memo/the-no-labels-partys-radical-new-plan-to-force-a-contingent-election
Even people who helped start No Labels ten years ago are against it now. If people vote No Labels, Trump will be re-elected.
Thanks, Sarah. I posted the link and pinned it to the top.
Take time off get well and use the time and effort focused on getting better. We will survive.
Regarding no labels, this Lincoln Project podcast discusses key (and problematic) issues with that effort:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lincoln-project/id1551582052?i=1000641062613
Thanks, Charles. I will include this in post pinned at the top.
Robert, please take care of yourself. We'll be fine for a little while.
Please allow me to respond to a couple of the stories you featured today, and perhaps the rest of us can have a discussion.
House Democrats again act as “Adults in the room.”:
Again, this shows that Democrats are interested in governing, while Republicans are at best, disinterested, or at worst, fundamentally opposed to doing so. While on the surface, it seems that Mike Johnson has committed the same sin as Subwoofer McCarthy by relying on Democrats for the passage of the CR, he hasn’t yet blamed the Democrats for forcing him to. As long as he doesn’t bite the hand that’s helping him, he should be able to keep his seat with Democrats’ support. While none of the Democrats likely want him as Speaker, they know that the chaos caused by his removal would increase the dysfunction. I don’t trust Johnson, but perhaps he’s learned a lesson here, and will work with Democrats to actually get something done. I’m not holding my breath.
Motion to disqualify Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis:
I agree that her personal life is her personal business, and as long as she hasn’t done anything illegal, it shouldn’t affect the trial. But I’m disappointed that someone so brilliant and thorough may have weakened her standing and her case yet again by doing something so questionable and so visible. She already lost one of her defendants in 2022 because she had a fundraiser for his political opponent. In that case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney commented: “It’s a ‘What are you thinking?’ moment,” McBurney said. “The optics are horrific.” C’mon, Fani!
Congressional Republicans file “friend of the court”…:
I’m not an attorney, and my eyes started to glaze over about halfway thru the Summary of the Argument in the brief, but it struck me that they chose to focus on Congress’s need to pass authorizing legislation:
“A. Federal Implementing Legislation Is Required to Enforce Section 3.
“Congress must pass authorizing legislation to enforce Section 3. The Fourteenth Amendment expressly gives Congress the ‘power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.’ ”
I am dumbfounded by that assertion for two reasons. First, I think it’s laughable that they could interpret “power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article” as either an exclusive responsibility, or a mandate that they exercise it. Second, even more laughable, is the suggestion that this Congress can pass any such legislation!
Then, if that’s not enough, they go into an even more bizarre rant about denying Congress its power:
B. De-Balloting a Candidate Effectively Denies Congress Its Power to Remove a Section 3 Disability.
I don’t see any way that Colorado’s decision, especially with its self-imposed stay pending appeals, is depriving Congress of it’s “express authority to remove a Section 3 “disability” during the election season or even after an election has occurred.” Congress can remove such disability merely by bringing it to a vote in both Houses and achieving a two thirds majority in each.
After digesting those two sections, I gave up.
Lots of good points in your post. let me amplify one: Although Sec 5 does provide for enabling legislation, several people have been disqualified under the 14 Amendment in the post Civil War era without enabling legislation. If Congress thought enabling legislation was necessary, the people who drafted the amendment were still in in Congress--and they didn't think so!
I heard some discussion on MSNBC tonight that if by some means, or if something is yet to be revealed, and Willis is in fact removed, her whole team could go with her. The charges against Trump et al would still be legit, but prosecuting would face a huge setback, if in fact someone else even wants to take them up. It would definitely be long after the election. Which is the point.
Yes, heard that too from Alex Wagner. Very frightening if that happens!
Right! It is precisely the point. The Quadefendant makes hay every time somebody sneezes on the prosecution side, and then throws sand in the gears to cause the delay he knows is his only ticket out of jail. When is somebody going to figure out a way to stop him?
Oh, there's a way to stop him alright....but it ain't legal.
I rarely wish anyone ill...but him. I just hope he soon gets what he deserves, not what he demands.
Sending healing energy your way, Robert and Jill.
Vaccines and masks everyone, vaccines and masks. We all have to stay alive and healthy to fight the good fight.
Amen! and I am turning the corner with the help of Paxlovid. After two days, I am feeling much better.
Thanks for amplifying vaccines and masks!
Concerning Willis and Wade:
The optics are terrible, yes. It is a distraction, yes. It will result in a delay of the case, maybe.
Assuming any romantic activity that occurred was consensual, there are only 3 questions that have any relevance:
1. Were any public funds misused, misappropriated, etc.?
2. Are there specific rules of employment that apply to one or both that forbid fraternizing with coworkers?
3. Are one or both married to others?
If #1 is true, that is a problem that will have ramifications.
If # 2 is true, that is a problem between them and their employers but should have no bearing on the RICO case.
If #3 is true, then that is a personal matter between the individual(s) and their spouse(s).
And once again, anything Trump touches dies. The man and his minions are poison.
Good analysis!
He is in the middle of the divorce. The information came from a sealed divorce filing. Not sealed well enough, I guess.
Thanks for that info.
If married lawyers have worked in the same firm, and on the same case on the same side, unmarried lawyers having a relationship shouldn't suffer a conflict of interest in the view of reasonable people. They must not work on the same case on opposing sides, but in Fani's case they don't. Her case involves his adultery, but it would be breath-taking hypocrisy (which means it's right up their alley) for Republicans to pretend like that bothers them when their cult leader has a history of flagrant adultery with multiple partners.
Speaking of head spinning hypocrisy, spotting it in Mitch McConnell should surprise no one. He's the one who held up Garland's nomination to the SCOTUS because eight months was too close to the election, but pushed Ms. Coney Barrett's through a pair of weeks before that election. It's what he does.
I hope you, Jill and family continue to heal. Take good care of yourself, Robert. Take a few days off from the Newsletter and focus on your health, instead.
Per your request I looked online for a source that I felt would appeal to someone who is thinking of changing their vote to the No Labels Party. Liberty Champion is the official student newspaper of Liberty University, a Christian college in Virginia. This opinion piece nicely sums up why a vote for a "third party" is a waste of ones vote.
https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2020/10/opinion-voting-third-party-diminishes-the-impact-of-your-vote/
Hope this helps people looking for logical arguments against voting for No Labels.
Thanks, Robert. That was quite a bit considering how crummy you feel!
I have been especially discouraged by all the pundits predicting that the Court will say no to immunity but give Trump a pass on the 14th. I realize there are multiple issues being argued related to the 14th and any one of them could give them an off ramp. What I hate is that they would be looking for an off ramp because of the politics and not facing the questions of what the law demands, and thereby setting precedent. Somehow it is enough if they say no to immunity but stop short of what only they can do. If we ever needed to call on that section of the Constitution again, it’s done. Over. So yes, it is in our hands.
As an aside, I visit Speaker Johnson’s Facebook wall everyday. His base is pretty angry with him. Every day the comments are worse, more and more demanding his removal. They do like to demand everything, however. He has led them well down that path.
Agree: What I hate is that they would be looking for an off ramp because of the politics