Category Archives: Donald Trump

Former president Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally to support local candidates at the Mohegan Sun Arena on September 03, 2022 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Donald Trump has again claimed the FBI planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago.

It's a claim his lawyers have not made in court appearances.

Trump has offered shifting defences in response to the August 8 raid.

Donald Trump has made fresh claims that the FBI planted evidence in the August 8 search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida an argument notably absent in legal filings by his attorneys.

The former US president repeated the claim in a posting on his Truth Social network Thursday, after the Justice Department demanded that a federal judge reinstate access to hundreds on classified documents the FBI retrieved in its recent search of his Palm Beach residence.

The judge, Aileen Cannon, had on Monday suspended access to the documents until an independent official had reviewed them.

"They leak, lie, plant fake evidence, allow the spying on my campaign, deceive the FISA Court, RAID and Break-Into my home, lose documents, and then they ask me, as the 45th President of the United States, to trust them," wrote Trump.

He also referenced his longstanding, and unfounded, claim that hostile FBI officials had conspired to smear him over his ties to Russia during his presidency.

In an earlier message he praised Cannon, whom he appointed, as "brilliant and courageous."

Trump has previously claimed the FBI planted evidence in the immediate aftermath of the raid, though has not specified what they planted or offered evidence to back his claim.

He has repeatedly suggested the FBI is part of a political plot against him, describing the agency as "monsters" at a rally last Saturday.

But in response to a recent picture released by the DOJ taken during the raid, showing piles of folders with classified markings in Mar-a-Lago, Trump did not deny the folders were in his possession but said the photo had been set up to make him look bad.

The 45th president's defences are different to those his attorneys are offering in court, where false claims of law enforcement misconduct can attract penalties. His lawyers have focussed on claims that many of the documents taken by the FBI are protected under privilege rules, and were successful in arguing for an independent official to review them on this basis.

Story continues

They have also argued that many of the documents were declassified by Trump before leaving office, but no evidence has emerged to substantiate that claim.

The DOJ has requested that Abbott grant it access to the classified documents by September 15, or it will file an appeal.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Read more:

Donald Trump revives claims the FBI planted evidence in Mar-a-Lago raid ...

WASHINGTON (AP) The discovery of hundreds of classified records at Donald Trumps home has thrust U.S. intelligence agencies into a familiar and uncomfortable role as the foil of a former president who demanded they support his agenda and at times accused officers of treason.

While the FBI conducts a criminal investigation, the office that leads the intelligence community is also conducting a review currently on pause pending a court order of the damage that would result from disclosure of the documents found at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

The investigation comes at a perilous time in American politics, with increasing threats to law enforcement and election workers and as a growing swath of officials assail the FBI and spread baseless theories of voter fraud. Theres already a wide range of speculation about what was in the documents, with some Democrats pointing to reporting about possible nuclear secrets while some Trump allies suggesting the case is a benign argument about storage.

So far, the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence has proceeded cautiously, issuing no public statements and declining to answer questions about the reviews structure or how long it will take.

A look at whats known and expected:

NOT A FORMAL DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

According to the government, the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago and papers the Republican former president had turned over previously included highly sensitive Special Access Program designations as well as markings for intelligence derived from secret human sources and electronic signals programs. Those forms of intelligence are often produced by the CIA or the National Security Agency, and the underlying sources can take years to develop.

The ODNI review will try to determine the possible damage if the secrets in those documents were to be exposed. It has not said if its investigating whether documents already have been exposed.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, confirmed the review in a letter to the chairpersons of two House committees. Haines letter says the ODNI will lead a classification review of relevant materials, including those recovered during the search. Experts say that could include non-classified papers with notes written on them that might reference classified information.

Haines letter also says her office will lead an assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents.

Thats different from a formal damage assessment that intelligence agencies have carried out after high-profile breaches like the disclosures of programs by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Damage assessments have specific requirements under intelligence community guidelines published online, including an estimate of actual or potential damage to U.S. national security, the identification of specific weaknesses or vulnerabilities and detailed, actionable recommendations to prevent future occurrences.

Under those guidelines, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, a subsidiary within the ODNI, would lead a damage assessment. The center is led by acting Director Michael Orlando as President Joe Biden has not yet nominated a chief counterintelligence executive.

Its unknown whether the intelligence review will include interviewing witnesses. Haines letter says the ODNI will coordinate with the Justice Department to ensure its assessment does not unduly interfere with the criminal investigation.

For now, the Justice Department has said the ODNI review is paused after a federal judge barred the use of records seized at Mar-a-Lago in a criminal investigation. Uncertainty regarding the bounds of the Courts order and its implications for the activities of the FBI has caused the Intelligence Community, in consultation with DOJ, to pause temporarily this critically important work, attorneys for the government said in a court filing.

THE ANSWERS COULD BE UNSATISFYING

The results may not come for weeks or months, and full findings will likely remain classified.

Lawmakers in both parties are calling for briefings from the intelligence community. None is known to have been scheduled.

Former officials note that its often difficult for agencies to diagnose specific damage from an actual or potential breach. Given the political climate and the unprecedented nature of evaluating a former president, the ODNI is widely expected to be limited and precise in what it says publicly and privately to Congress.

But reviews like the one underway often help top officials and lawmakers better understand vulnerabilities and how to manage risk going forward, said Timothy Bergreen, a former Democratic majority staff director for the House Intelligence Committee.

No healthy organization or society can exist without comprehensive review of its mistakes, Bergreen said. Thats always been a democracys big advantage over authoritarians.

AN OFFICE CREATED AFTER SEPT. 11

Lesser known than many of the agencies it oversees, the ODNI was created in the reorganization of the intelligence community after the Sept. 11 attacks. Amid revelations that the FBI and the CIA did not share critical information with each other, the ODNI was intended to oversee the 18-member intelligence community and integrate the different streams of collection and analysis produced by different agencies.

The ODNI supervises the drafting of the Presidents Daily Brief, the distillation of top American intelligence provided to Biden and top advisers daily. Haines is the presidents principal intelligence adviser and often briefs Biden in the Oval Office along with other national security leaders.

Trump went through three directors of national intelligence in his last year, part of his long-running battles with the intelligence community.

Some of his top officials were accused of selectively declassifying information for political purposes. And before, during and after his time in office, Trump has accused intelligence officials of selectively leaking material to undermine him or not being sufficiently loyal.

He was incensed by the long-running investigations into allegations of Russian influence on his 2016 campaign, calling them the greatest political CRIME in American History. And he excoriated the person who spoke to a whistleblower about his pressuring Ukraine for derogatory information, saying that person was close to a spy who could have committed treason.

Under Biden, Haines and other top officials have been involved in declassifying information about Russias war plans against Ukraine. They have also faced questioning about overly optimistic assessments of Afghanistan prior to the fall of Kabul.

Michael Allen, a former Republican majority staff director of the House Intelligence Committee, said the ODNI is uniquely positioned to handle such a closely watched review.

This, I think, is one of the reasons why you have a DNI, to coordinate across the wide and disparate community of intelligence agencies, said Allen, author of Blinking Red, a history of the post-Sept. 11 intelligence reforms. This is their bread and butter.

Visit link:

EXPLAINER: The intel review of documents at Trump's estate - The Associated Press - en Espaol

Trump deserves credit for marketing his Twitter account to its Everestian heights. Hes always known how to play to the crowds, titillate them and leave them wanting more. During his first campaign and presidency, even a garden-variety Trump tweet could convulse newsrooms. But that was a function of his front-runner status and later his place in the Oval Office. He drew an enormous audience not because he was Donald Trump tweeting but because he was the tweeting president. The power of the office endowed his tweets with muscle that could move financial markets, bury political careers, inspire death threats against his enemies and make the press snap to attention. But exiled to Mar-a-Lago and denied his social media accounts rendered him just another celebrity squeaking noises from a tiny soapbox. When his profile shrank, he became easier to ignore.

Even so, why didnt the tens of millions of the 89 million who followed him on Twitter or the 74 million who voted for him in 2020 make more of an effort to visit his new address? Blame it on the network effect. If you already have a Twitter account, it takes just a millisecond to click and add another persons feed to your account. But downloading a new app just to follow a single somebody takes mental energy, especially if there arent many other accounts on the app you wish to follow. Trump out of office proved to be as boring as Trump in office was disruptive. Everything were learning about Trumps inability to convene a large-scale audience on Truth Social we learned in miniature from the failure of his mid-2021 blog, which he killed after 29 days. Like most media figures, Trump needs the boost of the network effect provided by Twitter (or CNN or Fox News Channel) to build a mass audience. All by his lonesome, hes just a political carny on a lightly trafficked midway shouting invitations to his freak show.

Plenty of Trumps followers were either agnostic about his tweets or politically hostile to them. Many followed him just to stay in the know or for the hate clicks.

This is not to say you cant build a good business serving mostly Trumpians or mostly conservatives or mostly liberals. But such narrowcasting comes at the expense of winning the largest potential customer base. Twitter wisely places no political litmus tests, real or implied, between aspiring account-holders and an account as long as they promise not to spew bilge from their perch. Everybody is accepted. By appearing exclusionary, Truth Social resigned itself to marginal appeal.

Nothing about Truth Socials disastrous beginnings should surprise us. Donald Trump has proved himself again and again to be a wreck of an entrepreneur. Steaks, his university, water, an airline, casinos, the USFL, a mortgage company, vodka the list reads like a guide on how not to succeed in business. Associating Trump with a new venture has become a business death wish.

Trump is still the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and could well wind up in the White House (assuming hes not behind bars). But theres also evidence that Trump has simply exhausted the Trump meme he invented. Trumps deranged outrage style once contained real entertainment value which explains why moderates and liberals followed him on Twitter even if they wouldnt vote for him. But in his post-presidency and especially in the weeks following the Mar-a-Lago search and investigation, the show has gone stale. Vainly, he has sought to top himself by sharing QAnon-related material on Truth Social, denouncing the FBI like a madman trapped in a bunker, and calling for his reinstatement as the rightful winner of the 2020 election. Hes become a carnival geek biting the heads off of snakes, which can be a fabulous show the first couple of times you see it, but after that, meh. Could todays Trump devise enough fresh outrage to produce even a brief TikTok?

Are there any geek shows left? Send updates to [emailprotected]. No new email alert subscriptions are being honored at this time. My Twitter feed has not yet been canceled. RSS is my sort of social media.

View original post here:

Opinion | What the Truth Social Flop Says About Trump - POLITICO

In Tennessee in June, he asked a crowd: Would anybody like me to run for president? Then in Nevada in July he remarked: We have a president who ran twice, won twice and may have to do it a third time. Can you believe it?

In Pennsylvania earlier this month, he vowed that in 2024, most importantly, we are going to take back our magnificent White House.

Donald Trump former US president and architect of the big lie that he was robbed of victory in the 2020 election by electoral fraudsters is now finding fresh political utility in the big tease.

For more than a year he has tiptoed up to the line of declaring his candidacy for the White House in 2024 but never quite crossed it. It is a rare show of self-discipline from a man notorious for saying the quiet part out loud.

It is also a strategy that yields benefits. The coyness about his intentions ensures a steady stream of coverage for his rallies and keeps potential Republican primary rivals guessing. He avoids a conflict with party leaders who fear that an official Trump candidacy would overshadow their midterm elections campaign. And it keeps money flowing to his Save America political action committee, which has raised more than $100m since it was formed after the 2020 election.

Hes an attention whore and everything always has to be about Donald, said the Democratic National Committee adviser Kurt Bardella. He has to make himself the centre of the universe so he goes out there and plays this little flirtatious will he, wont he? card and its just designed to continue to keep that conversation going.

Its also designed to try to keep his would-be competitors like Ron DeSantis or Mike Pence or Mike Pompeo at bay.

When Trump suffered a crushing defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 race, many observers expected him to follow the example of previous one-term presidents such as Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush, accept that his political career was over and contemplate a presidential library and museum.

But Trump has never done anything by the book. He pushed the big lie that culminated in his supporters deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6 2021. Six months later he resumed his raucous campaign rallies with an event in Ohio, and he has since held a further 20 in locations that include Alaska, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming.

At every one of them supporters have thronged in expectation that this might be the day that Trump declares he is staging a great political comeback and running for president again. Invariably he drops a hint or two in that direction, generating headlines that he is floating or teasing a run, but he never makes it explicit.

The closest he came was not an adoring rally but when pressed by a journalist from New York Magazine over what would factor into his decision. Trump replied: Well, in my own mind, Ive already made that decision, so nothing factors in any more. In my own mind, Ive already made that decision.

But one factor, perhaps, does give him pause. If and when Trump formally declares, he will trigger Federal Election Commission requirements about financial disclosures and limits on how much money he can raise from individual donors. The 76-year-olds reticence may ultimately be about financial rather than political expediency.

Henry Olsen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center thinktank in Washington, said, Its a matter of federal law: once one says one is a candidate for the presidency, certain attachments take place with respect to what you can and cant spend money on and with respect to any committees organised.

This is why candidates typically announce an exploratory rather than campaign committee, added Olsen, a senior fellow at his organisation.

Presumably Trump has been briefed on this to the point where he knows that hes not going to come close enough to crossing that line to give people the ability to argue that hes now a candidate and that means he cant do this or that or the other thing with his money.

Although Trump often revels in his reputation of being undisciplined, Olsen said, he can be disciplined when he thinks that being disciplined is in his interest and hes doing that now.

The same financial rules would apply to any would-be Republican primary challenger, making any official declarations from them similarly unlikely. Contenders include Florida governor DeSantis, former vice-president Pence, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin and senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Bardella, a former Republican congressional aide, added: Even if Trump knows right now that hes not going to run, he will make it look like he is as long as he possibly can because that keeps him at the forefront of the conversation. The minute he were to not run, the attention would be immediately focused to the others and he obviously wants to avoid that as much as possible.

The one thing we know about Donald Trump is he does not want to share the spotlight with anybody and in the past has fired people in his orbit who have flown too close to the sun like Steve Bannon.

The big tease plays out against the backdrop of multiple criminal investigations into Trump and his associates. The justice department is investigating his possession of classified material reportedly including information on a foreign countrys nuclear capabilities at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago had a rallying effect on Trumps supporters and led to a surge of donations. But the gravity of the case, combined with the damaging revelations of the congressional January 6 committee, make Republicans anxious that Trumps looming presence could upend their hopes in Novembers midterms by galvanising Democrats and deterring moderates.

Biden last week began taking a more gloves off approach to calling out Trump and Maga Republicans as a fundamental threat to democracy. Two in three independent voters say they do not want Trump to run in 2024, according to a poll from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist.

It is possible, however, that should Trumps legal perils reach a critical point of no return, that will be the spur for him to declare his candidacy and make the bogus claim to his supporters that he is the victim of a politically motivated persecution.

The Center for Politics at the University of Virginias director, Larry Sabato, said: He believes incorrectly that, if hes a formal candidate, that will somehow protect him from legal charges. It will not. Weve had quite a number of candidates in American history who got into legal troubles so I dont know why he thinks that. Somebody probably said something to him once and he never let it go.

But Sabato also admitted: Nobody knows. He is very likely to run again but I can see scenarios in which he wouldnt. He said himself, lets see how my health is. He hasnt had the best diet in the world and doesnt look to me to be in particularly good shape.

Read the original:

Will he, wont he? Trumps big tease keeps 2024 election rivals guessing - The Guardian US

Donald Trumps non-stop drive to paint the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago to recover classified documents as a political witch hunt is drawing rebukes from ex-justice department and FBI officials who warn such attacks can spur violence and pose a real threat to the physical safety of law enforcement.

But the concerns have not deterred Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and other Trump allies from making inflammatory remarks echoing the former US president.

The unrelenting attacks by Trump and loyalists such as McCarthy, senator Lindsey Graham, Steve Bannon and false conspiracy theorist Alex Jones against law enforcement have continued despite strong evidence that Trump kept hundreds of classified documents illegally.

Before the 8 August raid, Trump and his attorneys stonewalled FBI and US National Archives requests for the return of all classified documents and did not fully comply with a grand jury subpoena in a criminal probe of Trumps hoarding of government documents.

The FBI search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago home and club recovered 33 boxes with over 100 classified documents, adding to the 200 classified records Trump had earlier returned in response to multiple federal requests.

Trumps high decibel attacks on law enforcement officials for trying to recover large quantities of classified documents including some that reportedly had foreign nuclear secrets was palpable in Pennsylvania recently when Trump at a political rally branded the FBI and justice department political monsters and labelled president Joe Biden an enemy of the state.

The day before in Pennsylvania, to coincide with a major Biden speech about threats to democracy posed by Trump and some of his allies, McCarthy mimicked Trumps high decibel attacks on the court-approved FBI raid by calling it an assault on democracy.

Former law enforcement officials and scholars warn that using such conspiratorial rhetoric impugning the motives and actions of justice department and the FBI runs the risk of inciting threats of violence and actual attacks, fears that have already been proven warranted.

Consider Trump supporter Ricky Shiffer, who posted angry messages about the Mar-a-Lago raid on Trump Social, and then on 12 August armed himself with an assault rifle and attacked an FBI office in Cincinnati. After fleeing the scene he was hunted down and killed by police.

In another sign of potential violence, federal judge Bruce Reinhart in Florida, who had approved the FBI warrant to search Mar-a-Lago, reportedly received death threats after his name was cited in press accounts.

I have been dealing with law enforcement and the criminal justice system for close to 40 years. I have never seen the type or virulence of attacks being made every day against the FBI, DoJ lawyers, and judges, former justice department inspector general Michael Bromwich told the Guardian. Its a chorus led by Trump but that includes elected officials at every level. It is dangerous and unacceptable.

Bromwich added: Its one thing for professional rabble rousers, liars, and nihilists such as Bannon and Jones to attack law enforcement and DoJ in the way that they have since the search; its quite another for so-called respectable political figures such as McCarthy and Graham to do so. Their recent actions and words reflect that theirs is a politics detached from facts and principle.

Similarly, Chuck Rosenberg, a former US attorney for the sastern district of Virginia and ex-chief of staff to former FBI director James Comey, told the Guardian: The attacks on federal law enforcement are sickening and reckless.

To historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who has studied authoritarian leaders and wrote the book Strongmen, Trumps attacks on the FBI and justice department and his retention of classified documents are consistent with his authoritarian leadership style

Its very typical of authoritarians to claim that theyre the victims and that there are witch hunts against them, Ben-Ghiat told the Guardian.

Trumps furious assaults on law enforcement also targeted the National Archives and Records Administration, causing a notable uptick in threats against the agency, according to sources quoted by the Washington Post.

No NARA official involved in negotiating the return of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago would have acted with any motive other than to ensure the safe return of all of the presidential records back into the custody of the government, said Jason R Baron, the former director of litigation at the US National Archives. It is unfortunate that some would impugn the motives of NARA staff in simply doing their job.

The frenzied attacks on law enforcement began almost immediately after the raid and included some especially rabid Trump supporters.

Former White House adviser Bannon, who has been convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House January 6 panel, made unsupported claims to conspiracy monger Jones on Infowars that the FBI planted evidence against Trump during the Mar-a-Lago raid, and that the deep state is planning to kill Trump.

I do not think its beyond this administrative state and their deep state apparatus to actually try to work on the assassination of President Trump, said Bannon, who on 8 September was charged by New York prosecutors with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy involving his role in a private fundraising scheme to fund constructing the US-Mexico border wall.

Right before he left office, Trump pardoned Bannon who had been indicted on similar federal charges involving fraud and the border wall.

Graham provoked heavy criticism for making the suggestion in a Fox News interview that the FBI raid and investigation would lead to riots in the street, if charges were filed against Trump.

After critics noted Grahams comments could fuel violence, Graham doubled down a week later saying he was just trying to state the obvious.

In a twist, some veteran justice department prosecutors point out that predictions of violence can potentially be criminal.

The risk is that predictions of violence can easily become threats of violence bordering on extortion, former justice department prosecutor Paul Rosenzweig told the Guardian. Explicitly calling for violence against the government can, in context, become criminal. When Trump loyalists like Bannon and Graham seem to cross that line, they are risking criminal prosecution.

On another front, even some former close allies of Trump say that his shifting and hard edged attacks on law enforcement look desperate and dont pass the smell test.

William Barr, Trumps former attorney general who formerly was a close ally, told Fox News on 2 September he didnt see any reason why classified documents were at Mar-a-Lago once Trump left office.

People say this was unprecedented, Barr told Fox News But its also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, okay?

To historian Ben-Ghiat, the fact that Trump had those classified documents and they were mixed in with golf balls and family photos is very typical of authoritarian type leaders who dont recognize any divides between public and private. Everything is theirs to trade, to sell and to use as leverage.

For Bromwich, the attacks on law enforcement by Trump and his ardent allies is unprecedented and very dangerous.

For those of us who have spent time with federal law enforcement personnel, the idea that they are members of the deep state or doing the bidding of the radical left is ridiculous. In my experience, the majority are conservative and Republican. Whatever their politics, they dont let their political views affect their work.

The search of Mar-a-Lago was indeed unprecedented. It was preceded by an unprecedented and colossal theft of government property by the former president.

See more here:

Trumps increasing tirade against FBI and DoJ endangering lives of officials - The Guardian US

The Royal Family announced on Saturday that the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will take place on September 19, but who exactly will make the guest list is still up in the air.

The Queen died on Thursday at age 96 after a historic 70-year reign. Buckingham Palace has long planned for her death, upon which her son, now King Charles III, immediately ascended to the throne.

The Queen's coffin is being prepared to lie in state in Westminster Hall for four days prior to the funeral to allow the public to pay their respects. Officials anticipate more than one million people will attend.

An official funeral service is expected to be held at Westminster Abbey, where the Queen was crowned and where she married Prince Philip in 1947. Around 2,000 people are expected, including Europe's royal families and leaders from around the world.

President Joe Biden said Friday that although he did not yet have details about the service, he would be attending. Whether former US presidents will make the guest list is unclear.

CNN reported Friday that the UK was leaving that decision to Biden.

"I am told by a couple diplomatic officials that Buckingham Palace is leaving it up to every country individually," Jeff Zeleny, CNN's chief national affairs correspondent, said, noting that former President Barack Obama invited George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter to go with him to the funeral of Nelson Mandela in 2013.

"So there is protocol for having US presidents invite other presidents," he continued. "Who knows, maybe in the spirit of forgiving and giving President Biden will invite Donald Trump on Air Force One. I doubt that will happen, but I do expect some type of a bipartisan delegation."

Former President Donald Trump, for his part, was a vocal fan of the Queen, whom he met on several official state visits during his presidency. After the news of her death, Trump shared a long tribute to the Queen in a series of posts on Truth Social.

"Melania and I will always cherish our time together with the Queen, and never forget Her Majesty's generous friendship, great wisdom, and wonderful sense of humor. What a grand and beautiful lady she wasthere was nobody like her!" he wrote, adding: "May God bless the Queen, may she reign forever in our hearts, and may God hold her and Prince Philip in abiding care."

Trump also shared several photos of him and the Queen smiling together during their visits.

Trump and Biden, on the other hand, may be on more hostile terms than ever after the president's address on September 1 in which he said "MAGA Republicans" represented a danger to American democracy.

While discussing whether or not Biden would invite Trump to the funeral, CNN's Jake Tapper said he thought it would be a "clever" move for the president to invite him and see if he goes.

"I don't think former President Trump would want to be subordinate on Air Force One, and I think probably he prefers his own plane anyway," Tapper said.

Go here to see the original:

Trump loved the Queen but may be up to Biden to invite him to funeral - Business Insider

In 2016, Hillary Clinton warned that Donald Trump was a fool who could be baited with a tweet. This past Thursday night, in Philadelphia, Joe Biden upped the ante by asking, in effect: What idiot thing might the former president do if baited with a whole speech? On Saturday night, the world got its answer.

For the 2022 election cycle, smart Republicans had a clear and simple plan: Dont let the election be about Trump. Make it about gas prices, or crime, or the border, or race, or sex education, or anythinganything but Trump. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. He lost control of the House in 2018. He lost the presidency in 2020. He lost both Senate seats in Georgia in 2021. Republicans had good reason to dread the havoc hed create if he joined the fight in 2022.

How likely is Trumps return, and what should we expect? Explore these questions with David Frum, Jeffrey Goldberg, and others at The Atlantic Festival on Wednesday, September 21. Register and find out more here.

So they pleaded with Trump to keep out of the 2022 race. A Republican lawmaker in a close contest told CNN on August 19, I dont say his name, ever.

Maybe the pleas were always doomed to fail. Show Trump a spotlight, and hes going to step into it. But Republicans pinned their hopes on the chance that Trump might muster some self-discipline this one time, some regard for the interests and wishes of his partners and allies.

David Frum: The justification for Bidens speech

One of the purposes of Bidens Philadelphia attack on Trumps faction within the Republican Party was surely to goad Trump. It worked.

Yesterday, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump addressed a rally supposedly in support of Republican candidates in the state: Mehmet Oz for the Senate; the January 6 apologist Doug Mastriano for governor. This was not Trumps first 2022 rally speech. He spoke in Arizona in July. But this one was different: so extreme, strident, and uglyand so obviously provoked by Bidens speech that this was what led local news: Donald Trump Blasts Philadelphia, President Biden During Rally for Doug Mastriano, Dr. Oz in Wilkes-Barre.

Yes, you read that right: Campaigning in Pennsylvania, the ex-president denounced the states largest city. I think Philadelphia was a great choice to make this speech of hatred and anger. [Bidens] speech was hatred and anger, Trump declared last night. Last year, the city set an all-time murder record with 560 homicides, and its on track to shatter that record again in 2022. Numbers that nobodys ever seen other than in some other Democrat-run cities.

Trump spoke at length about the FBI search of his house for stolen government documents. He lashed out at the FBI, attacking the bureau and the Department of Justice as vicious monsters. He complained about the FBI searching his closets for stolen government documents, inadvertently reminding everyone that the FBI had actually found stolen government documents in his closetand in his bathroom too. Trump called Biden an enemy of the state. He abused his partys leader in the U.S. Senate as someone who should be ashamed. He claimed to have won the popular vote in the state of Pennsylvania, which, in fact, he lost by more than 80,000 votes.

The rally format allowed time for only brief remarks by the two candidates actually on the ballot, Oz and Mastriano. Its message was otherwise all Trump, Trump, Trump. A Republican vote is a Trump vote. A Republican vote is a vote to endorse lies about the 2020 presidential election.

On and on it went, in a protracted display of narcissistic injury that was exactly the behavior that Bidens Philadelphia speech had been designed to elicit.

David A. Graham: Trump cant hide from the Mar-a-Lago photo

Every day since the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago has brought new proof that Trump still dominates the Republican Party. He has extracted support even from would-be rivals like Florida Governor Ron DeSantisrituals of submission within a party hierarchy that respects only acts of domination.

Republican congressional leaders desperately but hopelessly tried to avert the risk that this next election would become yet another national referendum on Trumps leadership. Despite Trumps lying and boasting, politicians who can count to 50 and 218the respective numbers needed for a majority in the Senate and Househave to reckon with the real-world costs of Trumps defeats. But Biden understood their mans psychology too well.

Biden came to Philadelphia to deliver a wound to Trumps boundless yet fragile ego. Trump obliged with a monstrously self-involved meltdown 48 hours later. And now his party has nowhere to hide. Trump has overwritten his name on every Republican line of every ballot in 2022.

Biden dangled the bait. Trump took itand put his whole party on the hook with him. Republican leaders are left with little choice but to pretend to like it.

View post:

Biden Laid the Trap. Trump Walked Into It. - The Atlantic

Never one to shy away from giving his opinion, the Packers QB weighed in on everything from abortion, to California state governance and even had a few choice words for former president Donald Trump.

As a native of California, Aaron Rodgers has never hidden his love for his home state. Yet during a recent appearance on Bill Mahers Club Random, it wasnt words of praise that the Packers QB had for the leadership of the Golden State. States going to st but Im hanging on, Rodgers said of California, before going on to reference the effect of coronavirus lockdowns on the business sector. I grew up in a small town, very little cases up in Chico, California but all the small businesses? Fking gone, he said. Rodgers also went on to criticize AB 2098, a bill that was passed but remains unsigned by Gov. Gavin Newsom which would see doctors punished for spreading misinformation about covid-19. Based on whose standard of misinformation? he queried.

With Rodgers refusal to be vaccinated for covid-19 now well documented, its clear that the QB favors bodily autonomy, which make his views on the abortion debate curious to say the least. I think theres a lot of people that believe that you should have your own decision-making on your own medical decisions, Rodgers said. My thing is I have an issue with the hypocrisy in society in general and I know you do as well, but abortion has been a hot topic, right. And especially after Roe v. Wade got overturned and sent back to the states, or whatever. I dont believe the government should have any control over what we do with our bodies.

As much as I might lean more pro-life, I dont want the government to tell me I cant smoke a cigar, I cant have a drink of alcohol, I cant choose my own medical decisions. And if Im a woman, dont fking tell me what to do. Like whether or not I agree with what you decide to do, who cares? And the government should not have a decision that infringes upon my own personal freedoms.

Perhaps one of the more interesting parts of Rodgers appearance was his thoughts on former president Donald Trump and his continued claim that he in fact won the 2020 US election. Rodgers, having made his name and career in the world of professional sports, is all too familiar with the seesaw nature of victory and loss and seemed to suggest that its a matter of honesty and being a man when facing loss. You take it like a man. You dont go, We won that game. Thats what Donald Trump does. We won that game. You didnt. You lost it. It happens. You lose sometimes. Be a f-king man and just own up like every other president has ever done.

Go here to read the rest:

What did Aaron Rodgers say about abortion, California and Donald Trump on Bill Mahers podcast? - AS USA

That Donald Trump has acted recklessly and lawlessly, without empathy, as if he lives in a world devoid of moral rules, should surprise no one. Some of us warned back in the summer of 2016 that Trump was erratic, unstable, and temperamentally unfit for office. He had what I referred to then as a personality disorder. I believed then and I believe now that it is the most essential thing to understand about him. Trump in power couldnt end well.

Trump never found a way to escape the antisocial demons that haunt him. But heres what turned a personal tragedy into a national calamity: He imprinted his moral pathologies, his will-to-power ethic, on the Republican Party. It is the most important political development of this century.

The GOP once advertised itself as standing for family values and law and order, for moral ideals and integrity in political leaders. Such claims are now risible. The Republican Party rallied around Trump and has stuck with him every step of the way.

Republican officials showed fealty to Trump despite his ceaseless lying and dehumanizing rhetoric, his misogyny and appeals to racism, his bullying and conspiracy theories. No matter the offense, Republicans always found a way to look the other way, to rationalize their support for him, to shift their focus to their progressive enemies. As Trump got worse, so did they.

Republicans defended Trump after the release of the Access Hollywood tape and alleged hush-money payments to a porn star. They defended him when he obstructed justice to thwart the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and sided with Russia over U.S. intelligence during a press conference in Helsinki, Finland. They defended him after learning of his effort to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election. They defended him despite his effort to overturn the election by pressuring state officials to find votes and send fake electors, by wallpapering the country with lies, and by instigating a violent assault on the Capitol. The ex-president continues to peddle the Big Lie to this day, and any Republican who challenges it is targeted.

Read: Trumps rejection of observable reality

Something malicious has occurred since Trump won the nomination in 2016. Six years ago, Republicans jettisoned their previous moral commitments in order to align themselves with the MAGA movement. Today, they have inverted them. Lawmakers, candidates, and those in the right-wing media ecosystem celebrate and imitate Trumps nihilism, cynicism, and cruelty. What was once considered a bug is now a feature.

This is the result of individuals and institutions accommodation of one moral transgression after another after another. With each moral compromise, the next onea worse onebecomes easier to accept. Conduct that would have horrified Republicans in the past now causes them, at best, to shrug their shoulders; at worst, they delight in it.

How does that change play out in our politics? Five years ago, leading Republicans were publicly critical of Trumps statements following the white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Now consider that just a few weeks after far more ominous actions by Trumpinspiring and provoking an insurrectionHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy flew to Mar-a-Lago to grovel before Trump. Initially, Republicans accepted the need for a bipartisan commission to find out what had happened on January 6; since then, they have undermined every effort to uncover that days events and how central a role Trump played in them.

The 2016 Republican platform said, The next president must restore the publics trust in law enforcement and civil order by first adhering to the rule of law itself. Today, Republicans, in response to a lawful search of the home of a lawless ex-president, compare the FBI to the Gestapo and the Stasi. Trump himself, during a rally, referred to the FBI and the Department of Justice as vicious monsters. And no political party in living memory has done as much as the GOP to undermine civil order and the publics trust in law enforcement, or to attack the rule of law.

In hindsight, January 6, 2021, was a milestone along not just one path of radicalization, but two. Of course, it represented an unprecedented assault on democracy by the violent mob on Capitol Hill and the president who incited it. But it also represented what turned out to be the last moment when Republicans considered repudiating Trump. For a few days, party leaders seemed, at last, horrified enough to break with him. But when McCarthy slunk to Mar-a-Lago, hat and apology in hand, and when thenSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans backed away from Trumps impeachment and removal, the moment was over, and a door slammed shut. There would be no more wavering. Today, the dominant faction in the GOP is not conservative in the American tradition; it is authoritarian and revolutionary, like far-right parties in Europe.

Karen Stenner, a political psychologist and the author of the groundbreaking The Authoritarian Dynamic, argues that about a third of people across 29 liberal democracies seem to have a psychological predisposition toward authoritarianism. The tendency exists on both ends of the political spectrum, though its more prevalent on the right.

Stenner defines authoritarianism, which she believes is about 50 percent heritable, as a deep-seated psychological predisposition to demand obedience and conformitywhat she calls oneness and samenessover freedom and diversity. Authoritarians have an aversion to complexity and diversity. They tend to be intolerant on matters of race, politics, and morals; to glorify the in-group and denigrate the out-group; and to reward or punish others according to their conformity to this normative order.

The danger, Stenner says, arises when that tendency, which is often latent, is activated by normative threats, a deep fear of change, and a loss of trust in our institutions. She also made this point to my colleague Helen Lewis: In normal, reassuring, and comforting conditions, people with authoritarian tendencies could be your best neighbor. But those predispositions are activated under conditions of threat and produce greater intolerance to differences.

Donald Trump has made his supporters feel permanently panicked, according to Stenner. He never got past the constant-rage-and-fear stage. And it doesnt help that modern lifes complexity is overwhelming for many people.

For those with authoritarian tendencies, Stenner says, theres a need to reassure them and calm them down. Her goal is to help authoritarians live in peace with liberal democracy. We need to reintegrate, rather than triumph over and banish, the authoritarians. Demeaning and dismissing a significant part of the country wont turn out well. And so the focus of her work is to find practical ways to bring activated authoritarians back from the brink, including by means of normatively reassuring messages. The key, she believes, is to reduce the feelings of being threatened and to find the right languagelanguage that is less alienating to those with authoritarian tendenciesto talk about things such as diversity and immigration. She and the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt point out that moral elevation, the response we have when we witness virtuous acts, can also be helpful.

This approach is commendable; my guess is that right now it might have sway with the minority of Republicans who are uneasy about Trump. Perhaps, combined with an indictment of Trump, it might be enough to weaken the ex-president to the point where the Republican Party breaks with him. But will its members break with the authoritarian tendencies that now define the GOP?

That seems unlikely. The majority of the party has gotten more radicalized, more aggressive, and more conspiracy-minded, not less, since Trump left office. The MAGA movement has provided many of its adherents with an identity, a source of personal meaning, and a cause for which to fight. They have created a narrative in which they are heroic figures fighting malevolent forces. They find psychological satisfaction in relentless conflict; their lives seem more vivid and more purposeful within MAGAs ever-combative frame. Politics has become, for them, an ersatz religion. In this activated state, they are not reachable by reason or open to amelioration. In fact, many in MAGA world are looking for reasons to take offense, to feel victimized, to lash out.

Peter Wehner: Dont succumb to MAGA fatalism

There is an analogy to nature: When a thunderstorm cloud has sufficient electrostatic charge, it has to discharge toward the ground. If the lightning bolt doesnt find one target, it will find another. So will Trump supporters.

We have a big faction of one of our two major political parties who wants to unravel our democracy because it no longer serves them, Barbara Walter, a professor at UC San Diego and the author of How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them, recently told CNN. The reality is if you dont say anything, if you stick your head in the ground, this makes it easier for those who do want to create some sort of authoritarian or strongman, minority-rule governmentsort of what you have in Hungaryit simply allows them to do that more easily. They can do it quietly behind the scenes when no ones looking.

Im of two minds about all this. I admire groups such as Braver Angels, which is attempting to bridge partisan divides, decrease affective polarization, and help Americans understand one another beyond stereotypes. If we can help those with authoritarian tendencies reintegrate themselves into liberal democracy, we should certainly do so. Its important to hear perspectives that differ from our own. And its imperative that we relearn how to talk with one another as fellow citizens instead of as combatants.

I also believe we should continue to stay in relationships whenever possible, including with family members and friends whose authoritarian attitudes have been activated, even as we look for the right moment and the right way to name our differences and express our disappointment with those who have aligned themselves with malignant political figures and movements. We should speak with candor but not with malice, striving for grace as well as for truth. Its an impossible balance to always achieve, at least for me; my frustrations can sometimes get the better of me, and perhaps they get the better of you too. But the balance is still worth fighting for.

But even though we shouldnt give up on individuals, I cant escape concluding that the time for mollifying grievances is over. In our political endeavors, the task is now to contain and defeat the MAGA movement, shifting away from a model of psychological amelioration and toward a model of political confrontation. This is the model that Liz Cheney embraces, and so do I.

Mark Leibovich: Liz Cheney, the Republican from the state of reality

It requires defeating Trump Republicans at the polls, but it goes well beyond that. It also means rallying the forces that must rise up to oppose authoritarianism by speaking honestly about the nature of the threat. It means telling the truth about not just Trump but many of his supporters, who remain complicit in a corrupt and corrupting enterpriseone that is inflicting grave injury on our nation and its ideals.

MAGA supporters have had countless opportunities to take the exit ramp, and they have always found reasons not to. At some point, when an enterprise is thoroughly corrupt, staying a part of it, helping it along, refusing to ever speak up, is not just a mistake in judgment; it is a failure of intellectual and moral integrity. This doesnt mean that every area of a MAGA supporters life is devoid of rectitude, of course. But it does mean that one important area is. And that needs to be said.

So, no, I am not suggesting giving up on individual MAGA supporters, writing them off, throwing them out of polite societyeven if I were in a position to do any of those things, which Im not. I am suggesting that much of MAGA world is authoritarian, that Liz Cheney is right to turn all her political energies to opposing it, and that containing and defeating MAGAnot hoping it will change, not placating its grievancesis now the No. 1 priority for friends of democracy. Maybe well succeed, maybe well fail, but the mission is unavoidable. And honorable.

See more here:

Republicans Will Defend Trump Through Anything - The Atlantic

Donald Trumps latest scandal, the ongoing DOJ investigation into his handling of classified documents, could have an effect on the 2024 presidential election. The investigation presents a unique question: if Trump becomes the first ex-president ever indicted, how will that affect his support amongst the GOP?

In President Joe Bidens fiery speech last week, the incumbent described a bifurcated GOP, with a mainstream wing and a MAGA wing. The breakdown is crude and neglects to acknowledge that Trump has enjoyed mainstream conservative support for nearly a decade or that mainstream players have fully supported Trumps agenda but culturally speaking, the mainstream v. MAGA framework seems logical. And for my purposes, exploring a Republican reaction to a Trump indictment, the framework fits well enough.

If Trump is indicted, the MAGA-wing will undoubtedly rally behind their leader. Trump is an icon and a hero to a significant portion of the population. An indictment wouldnt dissuade these loyal constituents from supporting the former president further.

Quite the contrary. An indictment would validate the persecution-complex thing that Trump, and MAGA-world, have been subscribed to for years. And frankly, its not just pure paranoia; Trump has been in the cross-hairs, targeted consistently in criminal investigations for behaviors that are deplorable but not criminal. After Russiagate and the January 6th commission, Trumps base is already on edge. An indictment would whip them into a proper frenzy, as their reaction to the FBIs Mar-a-Lago raid suggests.

The mainstream GOP branchs reaction to a Trump indictment would be more difficult to predict. But polling data suggests the mainstream will stick with Trump. In all likelihood, the political establishments reaction will derive from simple political calculus: if the Donald is still the most viable political candidate, the GOP will rally around him; if Trump has been eclipsed as the GOP standard-bearer by, say, Ron DeSantis, then the GOP will use the indictment as a convenient moment to transition out of the Trump era. Actually, conservatives are actively exploring the potential for moving past Trump right now, indictment or not.

Club for Growth which had been a top supporter of President Donald Trump is taking steps to back other potential White House Contenders, including Floridas governor [Ron DeSantis], POLITICO reported. Its another reminder that DeSantis, who continues to say hes only focused on reelection, is not the frontrunner among potential 2024 GOP contenders not named Donald.

Asked for comment, Club for Growth president David McIntosh, said, the Republican bullpen of leadership is strong, and Club for Growth is engaging these conservative champions with grassroots activists on the issues that matter, especially school choice.

The GOP establishment is going to back whoever offers the best chance to retain and augment power. If that person is a Harvard-educated Reaganite, so be it. If that person is a bar-owning election denier, that is also acceptable. And if that person is a disgruntled former president who has recently been indicted, that will be fine, too. Whoever the establishment gauges conservative voters are willing to vote for, which still, despite the DOJ investigation, looks like Donald Trump.

The Club for Growth polling showed Trump ahead, POLITICO reported, although the gap tightened over the summer as the congressional hearings into the Jan.6 riots were going on. Heres the most interesting bit of polling data: Trump, however, got a bump following the FBI search for classified documents on Mar-a-Lago. While MAGA world conservatives are undoubtedly going to rally behind an indicted Trump, polling suggests mainstream conservatives may do the same.

Image: Creative Commons.

Clearly, Democrats still hoping to catch the Donald are playing a dangerous game. In continuing to pursue Trump, who voters voted out of office two years ago, Democrats appear to be elevating the ex-presidents profile. While it seems unlikely that Trump would allow himself to just fade away into obscurity, the ongoing pursuit of Trump may guarantee he runs again in 2024 while simultaneously bolstering the support he receives while doing so.

Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. He lives in Oregon and listens to Dokken. Follow him on Twitter @harrison_kass.

See original here:

Would the GOP Dump Donald Trump If He Gets Indicted? - 19FortyFive