Below is a slightly expanded version of my column in the New York Post on the verdict in the Trump trial. The Manhattan case, in my view, was a raw political use of the criminal justice system. It is only the latest example of the use of the justice system for political purposes and harkens back to the Adams Administration at the start of our Republic. I discuss that period in my book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (which is available this month).
Here is the column:
After years of trying — in the words of the judge — “to get the damned rascal in this court,” it was a conviction that many welcomed.
But those words were not from Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, and the conviction was not that of former President Donald Trump.
Rather they were from US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase, at the end of the 18th century, when America embraced political prosecutions to target critics and opponents.
The man on trial then was James T. Callender, a muckraking writer critical of President John Adams.
For accusing politicians of corruption, Callender was charged with sedition, fined $200 and put in prison.
It was one of the many political prosecutions carried out by the Adams administration.
Undeniable reality
Political prosecutions are something most citizens associate with dictatorships.
But the Trump prosecution has forced many to confront the undeniable reality of the politicization of our legal system.
In many respects, President Biden and Democrats have re-created the Adams era.
Biden has led calls for censorship of political critics and his administration has coordinated the silencing and the blacklisting of those with opposing views.
Democratic politicians have pressured social-media companies to serve as surrogates for the government in banning, throttling and defunding individuals and groups.
Indeed, I have previously written that Biden is now the most anti-free-speech president since Adams.
The Adams era also reflected the same blind loyalty of many media outlets.
Federalist publications supported the crackdowns while echoing charges against political opponents as seditionists and insurrectionists.
Jeffersonian publications, like Callender’s, attacked Adams for his “unbounded thirst for ridiculous pomp, foolish adulation, and selfish avarice.”
The nation was divided down the middle as both sides accused each other of being traitors and insurrectionists. Sound familiar?
A chilling return
Yet, it is the politicization of the legal system that is the most chilling return to the Adams era.
Even liberal legal analysts and figures have admitted that the case against Trump was unprecedented and would not have been brought against anyone other than Trump.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig recently wrote that there should be concern over a judge being appointed (not randomly selected) who is not just a Biden donor but someone who “has earmarked donations for ‘resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.’”
Adding to these concerns is the movement of the third-highest official in the Biden Justice Department to the staff of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to build the case against Trump.
Before joining the case, Matthew Colangelo was also paid by the Democratic National Committee for “political consulting.”
So Trump was convicted in a trial with a Biden donor judge, who has a daughter who is a major Democratic operative, a lead prosecutor previously paid as a DNC political consultant and a jury selected in a district that voted roughly 90% against Trump.
The trial itself was a travesty.
Even after sitting in the courtroom watching the trial and the verdict, I still have no idea what Trump was convicted of in the case.
The charges were built on a dead misdemeanor barred with the passage of the statute of limitations.
It was zapped back into life by alleging that the falsification of business records occurred to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.
Merchan told the jury members that they did not have to agree on what those unlawful means may have been.
Specifically, he allowed them to base their verdict on any one of three vaguely defined crimes of a federal election violation, falsification of business records or taxation violations.
Thus, the jury could have divided 4-4-4 on what actually occurred but the verdict was still treated as unanimous by Merchan to convict Trump.
Like much else in the case, that didn’t matter in deep-blue Manhattan.
Legal analysts and commentators openly celebrated on MSNBC and CNN — joining many in the streets.
This was a thrill-kill conviction, and the response of many in the media bordered on the indecent.
For many outside of Manhattan, the scene was repulsive and chilling.
You can hate Donald Trump but still be repelled by the use of the criminal justice system for political purposes.
There is, however, one silver lining. We went through political prosecutions under Adams and, to a lesser extent, Thomas Jefferson.
Yet, we survived. Our system corrected such abuses over time.
The Alien and Sedition Acts used to prosecute Callender expired.
Justice Samuel Chase was impeached for his partisanship (though not convicted).
With this case, you feel the weight of history in the conviction of a former president, but also a historical awakening.
Sometimes it takes a great abuse to shock the public into recognizing the need to act.
That was the case when the public finally saw Sen. Joe McCarthy in the first televised hearing of an Un-American Activities hearing. It was enough to stop the Red Scare and the abuses of political dissidents. Back then, the left was the target of such weaponization of the legal process. Today, it is the left pushing such abuses.
In the faces of ecstasy of demonstrators and commentators alike this week, we see the same joyful release from the bounds of legal process. The addictive quality of rage.
For them, it was a cathartic moment that was described by one commentator as a reason to celebrate and a “majestic” moment.
For the rest of us, it was more menacing than majestic.
It could prove to be the moment that galvanized many outside of Manhattan; the moment when citizens saw where our rage has taken us.
Sometimes we have to be forced to see what we have become to better understand who we are.
We are better than this.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
You are a horrible writer
The historical treatise was invaluable as well as insightful however the leap from Jeffersonian America to the current state of affairs is one which is not necessarily valid. 225 odd years ago, America was not saddled with a totalitarian state bureaucracy nor wholesale corruption of every facet of society. Even as recently as 70 years ago, the American people were singular in intent and purpose in spite of oddballs like McCarthy. Much like a boat in a storm, for a nation to right itself, it must have an intact superstructure (laws, purpose), helm (government, judiciary), and crew (culture). The left has so insidiously and systematically destroyed every facet of this nation from religion, to sports, to media, to the judiciary, to the educational system, to corporations, to the family, and the citizen as a free-thinking rational individual that there is nothing but pieces of ship being consumed in a storm. The underpinnings of what held us together as a nation have been scattered to the winds, and I daresay we are all clinging to remains of flotsam, desperately holding on.
So, what happens at this point? Will there be a mass rejection and sudden enlightenment of our new-found tribalized, diverse nation as you suggest? As much as I wish and pray that would be the case, I foresee continued descent and decline as this nation becomes more globalist in a minimally functioning society much like most of Latin and South America where corruption goes hand-in-glove with poorly functioning health care, public sector utilities, fragmented and failing transportation, and class/racial divides. That’s the vision enabled by George Herbert Walker Bush and refined by the hope and change of Barak Obama.
Clearly we are not better than this. This is the beginning of the end of this republic. This is our crossing of the Rubicon moment. The dye is cast.
The “die” is not cast yet. Nobody in my sphere of friends & relatives is ready to give up. Remember, at least 50% of this nation is on “our” side, and we have most of the guns and (I believe) most of the determination and fortitude. Pitch in and we can win this nation back from the ignorant, misguided, and those with dementia!
Who are you going to kill with your guns? Your neighbor? His daughter? The police?
Please tell us who you are going to kill.
Hopefully the first big mouth lefty like you that he sees.
And the dye is blue.
Many thanks for the context and the insight.
Stunning article. Turley nails it so good. Have really appreciated his insights through this massive corruption.
This may well be the most commented-on piece by Prof. Turley in a long time if ever, and no doubt this subject of the Manhattan DA creating a way to bring the charges against #45 will be written about and spoken about for a very long time.
Senator Joseph McCarthy was a great man, and he never had anything to do with Un-American Activities, or any other House committee
Your daily dose of Leftist smears:
“The majority of Trump supporters are clueless about how the law works in NY. IGNORANCE is so pervasive within trumps fans . . .”
The subtext:
How dare you Trump supporters use your own two eyes to see that the NY legal system is corrupt.
Because you have two eyes, you cannot see. And because you have a brain, you cannot think.
I am the Anonymous who wrote weeks ago that I was absolutely certain that DJT would be found guilty by the New York City Leftist “judge”, the Leftist persecutor, and the Leftist jury. I further wrote that the primary objective of the entire case was to enable the Democrat bosses to change the focus from their miserable record of failure after failure after failure to “DJT is a convicted felon,” a phrase that I said they would use over and over and over again.
Now, I will tell you what will happen next. Many think that Juan “The Con” Merchan will sentence DJT to prison because he’s drunk with power. Well, Juan “The Con” may be drunk with power, but he will only do what his Democrat Party Masters tell him to do, and no more. The Democrat bosses know that if DJT serves any time in prison, he will be declared by the public to be a Political Prisoner and he will be elevated to martyrdom status. The public would broadly recognize that the Biden Administration is a Banana Republic that pisses on the Constitution and the rule of law to serve its own selfish purposes. This cuts strongly against the narrative the Democrat bosses want to convey.
So, instead, while Alvin Bragg will argue for prison time, playing the role of the “bad cop,” Juan “The Con,” playing the “good cop,” will proclaim that prison, while it could be “appropriate,” would be too harsh given that this is DJT’s first conviction. Juan “The Con” will make some prepared speech by his Democrat bosses that even though DJT insulted him, he will be “fair and balanced” and will punish DJT with a fine and probabtion. The media will pounce on this as “proof” that the “judicial system” in DJT’s case was totally fair and that Juan “The Con” is a magnanimous and sound-minded jurist. Biden will similarly make a statement that we must totally respect the New York City “judicial system,” and that DJT was treated fairly and with integrity throughout the entire process, and other such similar BS.
Some of you may wonder how the Democrat Party bosses will tell Juan “The Con” what to do and what to say. It’s simple, really. Juan “The Con’s” orders will come from his Democrat Party Masters via his primarily political intermediary, namely his daughter, Democrat Party millionaire consultant Lauren Merchan, who is in direct contact with “The Con’s” Democrat Party Masters. Lauren will tell “The Con,” “here’s what our bosses want you to say and do at sentencing. and why. And Juan “The Con” will obsequiously obey, even though he would love to sentence DJT to prison.
So, watch and see how this continues to play exactly as I’ve stated. After all of these predictions are proven to be correct, I’ll be back again with my next set of 100% balls-accurate predictions.
Good summary of the con.
Great reference to My Cousin Vinny.
No, you’re not.
I like your predictions…they sound like they will come to pass.
DeSantis, start warming up in the bull pen.
The Supreme Court will support not the Constitution and its American republic but the Communist Manifesto.
By the time November arrives, Real President Donald J. Trump will be in solitary confinement in SuperMax for life.
“Crazy Abe” should have never been allowed to shred America’s Constitution, commencing the Progressive shift to liberal one-man, one-vote “Democracy,” Socialism, and finally Communism.
Except, these charges were brought by a state prosecutor in New York. Hang it up, Jonathan, you’ve lost your scholarly abilities.
I know this is hard to comprehend, but there is a reason Dr. Turley is referencing history. That gives one context and relevancy. Maybe read the article again and try to think it through. It may feel strange to you, but give it a try.
Yes!
Trump verdict makes significant number of Republicans less likely to support him: poll
Here is the link:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-verdict-makes-significant-number-republicans-less-likely-support-him-poll
It’s from Fox News, so it must be true. right ???
Wrong.
Fox News is WRONG !!!!!
I don’t believe it.
That is simply not possible.
You haven’t been paying attention, have you?
Fox is done…
Newsmax
Americas Voice
Onan
Reuters
Epoch Times
Not the Democrats propaganda media!
A Reuters/Ipsos survey…
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/05/30/trump-guilty-verdict-voters-election/73912611007/
USA Today says it won’t make any difference and 25% of GOP are more likely to support Trump.
It’s from USA Today, so it must be true. Right ???
Diogenes,
Read an article yesterday about a bunch of Never Trumpers are now supporting, donating and going to vote for Trump.
A week or so ago, read an article about a new group, Never Biden. It is a bunch of Democrats who see Biden as a greater threat to the nation. Most indicate they will vote for RFK, third party or not at all. A few said they would back Trump.
It is early – but nothing is showing up in polling so far.
And the anecdotal data we have is the opposite.
Comment from Joe Tacopina (Trump lawyer).
Tim Scott is someone who I used to respect, but I lost a lot of respect from what I just heard… To say that Biden brought this case is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard. We know that’s not the case, and even Trump’s lawyers know that is not the case.
Source please.
Biden absolutely brought the fraudulent “hush money” “Stormy” case, having moved Matthew Colangelo from DOJ to NY DA to do so.
Not a Tim Scott fan, but if he said that, it is factually correct.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-trump-lawyer-says-ridiculous-005538742.html
Dumb comment by Tacopina.
Dumb move by Tacopina going on tax fraud Sharpton’s show.
Notice Tacopina doesn’t work for Trump any more.
Always attack the messenger when you don’t like the story.
I attacked Tacopina, not you.
Tim Scott’s statement is factually correct. Biden indisputably brought this case, and saying otherwise ignores objective reality and fact.
That’s right, but you said Tacopina is “dumb” and you attacked AL Sharpton.
That’s what I meant. Poorly phrased on my part.
My statements are objectively true.
That was a stupid comment by Tacopina given this case had to be resurrected from the dead BY A BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL (#3 guy in fact), and Al Sharpton is a tax fraud race hustler who destroyed the life of a Dutchess County ADA in his Tawana Brawley fraud – just one of his many, many crimes for which he’s never faced accountability.
(Fat Al Sharpton was much more entertaining than skinny Al).
And wasn’t a Rabbi murdered as part of the Tawan fiasco?
Trump and republicans are going to tie this to Biden everytime they talk and they are fully entitled to do so.
But this is NOT Pres. Biden forcing the democratic party to do something it did not want to do.
It is not Pres. Biden commanding them.
It is a large collection of those on the left working together to accomplish something in their own political interests to the detriment of the rule of law or the country.
Absolutely Colangelo’s appearance everywhere is damning. And republicans will and should use it.
But honestly Joe Biden is neither smart enough not competent enough to direct this.
Obviously, but that is why everyone should use “Joe Biden” in quotes because he is only the nominal figurehead.
Someone else is calling the shots, and someone else is behind much of the chaos we now see elsewhere.
The key to unraveling who is pulling the strings involves extremely unsavory and uncivilized things.
ATS – Did Biden litterally force this case to happen – probably not. Did lots of Democrats including Biden FORCE this stupid case as well as the rest of the idiot Trump cases to happen.
Not only without any doubt – but increasingly PROVEN.
A reported asked Biden about this as he was leaving the room today.
Biden stopped, turned, gave the reporter a giant $hit eating grin, turned and left.
You can say that means nothing. Maybe it does not.
But to the vast majority of people it is a clear message “I did this”.
John Say,
One reporter used the word “evil” in describing Biden’s grin.
So explain why a top DOJ liar left the DOJ – a demotion – and immediately found himself in Bragg’s office – prosecuting Trump. You think this is not direct WH interference ?. You would be quite daft to think otherwise.
Apparently “Joe Biden” is preparing to seize Alex Jones’ studios and assets for liquidation, and shut him down.
He’s so dangerous they have to silence him.
They are taking over completely.
Old Man From Kansas Says:
“Trump could have stayed in the private sector and made far more money”.
…………………………………..
Old Man, the wealthy aren’t necessarily doing the country a favor by running for high office. If you’re measuring by only that standard, any billionaire meddling in politics is somehow doing a ‘public service’.
Because in your alternate reality, running for office and meddling in politics are synonymous.
Brilliant, douchebag
Trump is not wealthy.
Trump is not a billionaire.
Trump is a loser at everything including business.
Trump has had many failed businesses and bankruptcies.
Trump lost money running a casino.
Tim O’Brien wrote the book, “TrumpNation, the Art of Being The Donald”. Trump allowed O’Brien to have access to the day to day operations of his business in Trump Tower. He spent almost a year in Trump’s offices observing him and his employees making deals. He had access to financial records. He concluded that Trump’s net worth was somewhere between $150 million and $250 million. Trump sued O’Brien for $5 billion claiming he was defamed by this disclosure. As part of the discovery process Trump was required to hand over a huge number of business records and tax returns to O’Brien. The records proved that O’Brien was correct. The case was dismissed because the truth is an absolute defense in a defamation case.
Trump is a total loser, and is close to being broke.
Why is he begging his supporters for money if he is so wealthy.
Why did he have to sell his Cessna Citation jet.
He is almost broke.
Lmao why is biden begging for money? He made 17 million in 2017.
Not to mention the “half” he has “forced” Hunter to give him.
What a douche.
Whether or not Biden is wealthy or “begging for money” does not change the fact that Trump is a total loser, lousy businessman, who is almost broke.
Trump’s DJT stock is worth 3-4B, MAL is worth Between 1-2B – if it was 80% leveraged – the max banks would ever do, that still means Trump has 100M-200M in equity in MAL alone. only a moron would claim Trump is broke.
Trump owns a 30% stake in 1290 Avenue of the americas. That is a 1.8B property with 950M in debt.
Trumps share of the NET after debt is 250M
Forbes has Trump’s commercial reasl estate holding s AFTER DEBT at $1.1B – most of those are in NYC
Forbes calculates Trump’s NET after debt holdings of Clubs and resorts at approx. 810M – NONE of this is in NY. Most of it has nodebt at all.
Forbes found Trump’s Cash on hand to be about $410M
Trump has total Other assets or about 100M Most of this is in licensing and the retained earnings of businesses that are not realestate holdings.
Against all of that Forbes found that Trump has 542M in legal liabilities – these are values of the judgements against him – if they were upheld.
Is that you Letitia …….
Yea he has been living the high life and almost broke for 10 years lmao
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
All false.
Trump has completely broken you.
Tim O’Brien proved his case in court that Trump is not a billionaire.
In his book O’Brien quotes a conversation with Weisselberg. He told Weisselberg that he didn’t understand Trump’s claims to be a billionaire. He said that Trump always quotes the valuations of his properties, but never mentions the liabilities. All his properties are mortgaged to the hilt, so he has very little equity. As far as O’Brien could determine Trump’s net worth was no more than $250 million. Apparently Weisselberg laughed and said, “Now you are beginning to understand how Donald operates”.
Tim O’Brien is completely irrelevant.
You are so broken that you desperately want to label and taunt Trump to cover for your own insignificance.
Trump could not maintain the lifestyle and property assets he has if he were not substantially wealthy.
Your objective is to childishly smear him because Orange Man Bad.
Pathetic.
So why is he constantly begging for your hard earned money ??
And why are sending it to him ??
When he announced his candidacy in 2016 he said he was so rich he wouldn’t need money from anyone to run a campaign.
HE’S RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT DUMBASS
AND YOU ASSCLOWNS KEEP TRYING TO ILLEGALLY PROSECUTE HIM FOR NON-CRIMES AND FABRICATED HORSESHIT.
Christ are you stupid.
I’ve not sent a dime to him, but may do so now because I want him to jail ALL of you leftists.
He is running a political campaign that will cost probably $2B by the time 2024 is done.
As to the rest – offering something for sale is not begging.
If you do not want a golden Trump bible – do not buy one.
And he is so rich he does not need anyone’s money.
He also intends to stay rich, and you do that by not spending all your own money.
Regardless people are glad to spend money to get Trump elected.
I would note that Trump will spend more on lawyers this year than Joe Biden has made in his entire lifetime – including through bribery.
ATS – you have been buying this TDS nonsense for almost a decade.
Every single claim has proven wrong.
When is it that you start to grasp that you are been fed Bull Schiff ?
Regardless, if you wish to beleive this kind of stupid nonsense – go ahead.
Lets say Trump is only worth 150M. That is ludicrously false – but it is still way more than Biden and it is still far more than enough to win the election in November.
Or lets say that somehow he goes Bankrupt – not going to happen – but even if it did – does not change the fact that he is winning in November.
Why is biden?
You earlier replied “that doesnt change the fact…”
No stupid ass, the rhetorical question impugns your ignorant fvck assertion that “begging for money” proves he is broke.
Is this a 6th grader i am conversing with?
I am sure most of Trump’s properties are mortgaged – though no bank will mortgage a commercial propetty “to the hilt”.
The norm is that the mortgagee MUST hold 20% equity or the mortgage will not be issued.
Regardless, you idiotically assume that assesssments of Trump’s wealth are entirely based on What Trump says.
That the banks who have lent him money or forbes and fortune who assess his wealth are all morons and just take his word
Regardless if you want to beleive Trump is facing bankruptcy – go ahead.
Melania’s estimated personal net worthy is 100M.
Barron 80M
Ivanna 100M
Don Jr. 350M
Eric 350M
Ivanka 350M
Kushner 1.8B
Are they all lying ?
Trumps share of DJT stock is about $4B alone.
No OBrien was found in court not to have defamed Trump – that is something radically different.
You are hear claiming Trump is broke, that is false, If Trump sued you for defamation – he would lose – your opinion is not defamatory.
Nor is your expression of that opinion harmful.
Further Trump is a public figure, the standard for Trump to prove defamation against him is incredibly high.
Whoa , worst case of TDS we have smelled in awhile. Get a grip orange hater.
ATS – you can beleive whatever you wish.
I have no problem with Obrein holding the opinion he does.
But Forbes and fortune disagree – as does the NY Stock exchange.
MAL alone is likely worth between $1B and $2B
If as you claim – Trump is a giant loser – 99.9999% of the country wishes they could lose like that.
You support child sniffing , showering with their daughter foreign money laundering plagiarist serial liars then . Imagine that.
Ah but that’s where you err. I’m not measuring only by that standard. Read the remainder of my comment and you’ll see the full standard by which al’m measuring.
The nation needs competent leaders.
In arguably our political class is completely incompetent.
It would be hard for Billionaires to do worse.
Regardless, Trump did much better than Either Biden or Obama or Bush.
Is Trump Really A Winner?
Trump prevails when he can bully, yell or distract. But when forced to play by rules, in a structured setting, Trump tends to flounder.
It’s because Trump always had money. And he’s a tall man with a loud voice. That combination: money, height and loudness, carried Trump through life.
Yet the Jean Carroll civil case previewed this conviction. Trump is not emotionally equipped to win through strength of character. That’s simply not him.
Trump loves America, and his enemies are those who hate America. Trump could have stayed in the private sector and made far more money. Instead he gave that up, even have up his salary as President, and delivered a booming economy, a secure border, an end to new international wars, and energy independence. Biden delivered the opposite: economic misery, new wars, American weakness on the world stage, an all out invasion at the border, suppression of the energy industry, unaffordable groceries, and rampant crime in the streets. Apparently you prefer all that misery for yourself and all the rest of us. I say, no thanks, bring back the good times with Trump.
Old man: nothing you wrote is true. If Trump loves America, why did he dodge the draft? Why did he call military personnel “suckers and losers”?
Trump wanted the presidency because of his malignant narcissism— he desperately needs attention, praise, adulation and power. Add to that list a get out of jail free ticket,
We don’t know about the money aspect because he’s a pathological liar, but he never divested from his businesses and he never disclosed his tax returns. We do know he’s been lying about his wealth for years and has to borrow money to keep his businesses running.
Trump absolutely did NOT “deliver “ a booming economy—he inherited one from Obama that he proceeded to destroy with his incompetence. In 4 short years, we went from a booming economy to the worst recession since the Great Depression. He drove the national debt to a record level with his tax cuts and utter economic incompetence. His tariffs drove up the cost of goods and a shortage of computer chips. His lies about COVID and lack of leadership caused unnecessary deaths and illnesses, shut downs of schools, businesses and restaurants. The US did much worse than other developed countries.
The US was energy independent starting under Obama. Trump lied about crime in New York—crime is way down.
Biden is not responsible for Russia invading Ukraine—-Trump alienated our NATO and EU allies which emboldened Putin.
Biden turned around all of chaos Trump caused. Our economy is the envy of the world. Semiconductor chips are being made in America. Unemployment is at a 50 year low, the stock market has set new records and we no longer set new daily records for deaths and infections. Our economy is growing again. Real wealth is going up and fewer Americans lack health insurance than ever before. Biden mended relations with NATO and now Finland and Sweden are joining.
Trump would destroy all of this progress. He would ban all abortions, lower taxes for the wealthy, cut Medicare and Social Security, abolish the Department of Education, and pardon the insurrectionists. He would withdraw the US from NATO and cut aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy would be a dead man. We can’t let this happen.
Welcome to Gigi’s reality
In her world the inflation rate was 8% whenTrump left office
In her world, the 12th Amendment prohibits the prez and VP from being from the same state.
In her world, more people died of Covid under Trump than Biden
In her world, Texas makes electricity from crude oil
In her world, the President can ban all abortions.
In her world, unemployment isnt essentially the same as it was before Covid
In her world, the President creates jobs
In her world, the Biden planned tax rollbacks wont cost families making less than 250k, teo grand a year
In her world, real mean wages have not gone down under Biden
In her world, printing $6T dollars doesnt cause inflation, tariffs do (but not bidens tariffs)
In her world, the average cost for financing a new home has not QUADRUPLED under Biden
In her world, Section 1182(f) does not exist.
In her world, Trump emboldened Putin but he waited until Trump was gone to act on it.
In her world, the US doesnt have the 60th ranked GDP growth rate
i reject your reality and substitute my own
——-Gigi the Pathological Liar
A booming Obama economy!😂 Obama single handily put $20T on the National debt.
Booming for Obama’s but no one else!
Baloney!
Obama $8.335 trillion
Trump $8.184 trillion
Bush (GW) $6.102 trillion
Biden has a long way to go to catch these other evil spendthrifts as he’s only at around $5 trillion
https://www.self.inc/info/us-debt-by-president/
By months in office, Trump is the clear winner in the stooped govt spending race.
oops that’s Stupid. Only Biden, among the four of them is stooped.
Pandemic
Ah yes, the old standby excuse for everything now. BTW, from the looks of the cited source, the figures are from September 2023. So given the recent spending on the several foreign kill-fests Biden will probably match trump for addition to the debt.
“Trump wanted the presidency because of his narcissism— he desperately needs attention, praise, adulation and power.” sounds like every politician that ever was.
” Add to that list a get out of jail free ticket,”
If Trump was looking to avoid jail all he had to do was stay out of politics.
“We don’t know about the money aspect because he’s a pathological liar”
Peoples wealth is not measured by their words. It is assessed independmently
DJT is a publicly traded stock – we know how much Trump owns and what it is worth – about 3-4B.
Regardless forbes and fortune do not use Trump’s valuations.
“but he never divested from his businesses”
Do you even know what that means ?
Regardless Trump is free to manage his businesses as he pleases.
“he never disclosed his tax returns.”
He is not obligatged to do so, and even if he did that will not tell you what he is worth.
“We do know he’s been lying about his wealth for years and has to borrow money to keep his businesses running.”
Actually you know none of those things. BTW Borrowing in commercial real estate is probably the key component to making money.
It is called leveraging – the more highly leveraged your properties are the more risk is transfered tot he banks and the greater your return on investment.
“Trump absolutely did NOT “deliver “ a booming economy—he inherited one from Obama that he proceeded to destroy with his incompetence.”
Obama’s average growth rate was 1.68%. Trump’s including 2020 was 2% Trump did better including the pandemic.
When Trump was elected the country was headed into a recession. When trump left in 2021 it was headed into a boom.
“He drove the national debt to a record level”
He did – as did Bush, Obama and Biden.
“his tax cuts and utter economic incompetence.”
Which is why ordinary people did 4500/yr better under Trump than Obama, and are doing 3500/year worse under Bident han Trump.
“His tariffs drove up the cost of goods”
Yes, and Biden has ciontinued and expanded those Tarrifs.
“a shortage of computer chips.”
Nope, that was partly a major semiconductor plant fire in Taiwan – where half of all semiconductors come from and partly generational changes in production.
“His lies about COVID”
Trump lied about Covid ?
Don’t you mean Fauxi and Biden ?
“lack of leadership caused unnecessary deaths and illnesses, shut downs of schools, businesses and restaurants. The US did much worse than other developed countries.”
Really ? Britian did substantially worse than the US. The western countries that did better had LESS draconian rules.
“The US was energy independent starting under Obama. ”
Correct, and Trump increased that and increased exports, which disempowered Russia and Disempowered IRan and the mideast and that made the worlds safer.
“Trump lied about crime in New York—crime is way down.”
According to the FBI data Violent Crime in NY in 2022 – the last data available, was the highest it has been since 2012, and was headed US steeply. Conversely the violent Crime rate in Jan 2021 is the lowest it has been since 2012 – though probably because of the pandemic.
“Biden is not responsible for Russia invading Ukraine”
Of course he is.
It happened on his watch
It happened after he botched Afganistan and made the US look weak.
It happened after he and his aparatich’s resusitated the idiotic talk of Urkaine joining NATA which previously resulted in Russia anexing Crimea,
Biden failed to keep US energy production increasing with global enegy demand which lead Putin to beleive that Europe and the US would not come to Ukraines aide.
“Trump alienated our NATO and EU allies”
No he pissed them off by making them move towards covering more of the cost of their own defense something that will CONSTRAIN Russia.
“Biden turned around all of chaos Trump caused.”
Which is why we are a massive chaotic mess right now ?
“Our economy is the envy of the world.”
That has been true for over 150 years.
“Semiconductor chips are being made in America.”
They were before. It takes years often Decades to bring a semiconductor plant on line.
Regardless we are in the midst of a large scale reshoring.
That is driven by an increasingly fascist China under Xi.
and other global economic realignments.
That has nothing to do with Trump Obama or Biden.
Exce[pt that Trump has encouraged it.
“Unemployment is at a 50 year low,”
Not really. We have atleast 10M more illegal aliens. Your looney if you think unemployment is at some long term low.
There is a tech slump right now.
My DD Bussiness is down 1000% since Trump.
“the stock market has set new records”
I would hope so – the economy is growing – albeit slowly.
“we no longer set new daily records for deaths and infections.”
In 2016 the US death rate was 8.4/100, in 2020 it was 8.8 today it is 9.3,
In fact we have been seeing a linear increase in the death rate since 2013.
If you look at the long term US death rate DATA – you can not find Covid at all.
Covid mostly killed people who were going to die a few months earlier than they would have otherwise died.
“Our economy is growing again. ”
2020 Q3 growth 34.8% highest recorded EVER,
2020 Q4 rate 4.8%
2024 Q1 rate 1.3%
“Real wealth is going up”
Which is why working clas real income is DOWN 3500/year
“Trump would destroy all of this progress.”
Correct – he would destroy the NEGATIVE progress of the Biden admin.
“He would ban all abortions”
Nope, already promised that will not happen.
“lower taxes for the wealthy and everyone”
“cut Medicare and Social Security”
Nope, but that is coming eventually
“abolish the Department of Education,”
I wish, but no.
“pardon the insurrectionists.”
False, he would pardon the victims of left wing nut lawfare.
“He would withdraw the US from NATO”
Nope, but he absolutely would require NATO to take more responsibility for its own defense.
” cut aid to Ukraine.”
He would end the war first.
“Zelenskyy would be a dead man.”
Nope but not relevant.
Are you actually so stupid as to argue that the US shoudl spend hundreds of billions to keep Zelensky alive
Just grant him asylum.
“We can’t let this happen.”
It wont – but many things that are good for the country that you do not like will happen.
John Say,
Once again, another epic take down of Natasha!
Well done!
YAWN
Trump prevails because he is unbelievably smart.
Despite your lawfare against him – he is STILL leading in the polls.
He is within a pint in VA, MN is in play NY is in play NJ is in play, NM is in play
Many other Blue states will still go to Biden but by much smaller margins.
So far this case has not changed that.
Further it has even further untied republicans.
Senate Republicans have vowed no more legislation until after the election.
This is what happens when you burn trust to the ground.
Many many many republicans are after revenge.
If Statutes of limitation do not matter, facts do not matter, the law does not matter.
All democrats are fair game.
People here are fighting over whether this is all Biden. WHY ?
Biden is losing in November and does not matter.
Whether Biden personally drove this lawfare – as if he is smart enough,
Democrats as a whole are responsible, and should all be held accountable.
Want a reasonable revenge ? Win the house, the senate and the WH in November,
The senate can eliminate the fillibuster – that would allow Republicns to fill the federal government with people who Will use the power of the executive to go after Democrats. If those within these executive branches can not go along with doing to democrats what they were doing tot republicans – they can resign. Regardless, A focus of the Trump administration should be to assure that democrats remain under investigation for the next 4 years. And maybe bag a few.
But the most important thing Trump and republicans must do in 2025 is succeed. End the war in Ukraine, end the War in Israel,
End the mess on the border, bring down inflation bring back the economy. End the chaos and return to normalacy.
John Say,
“End the chaos and return to normalacy.”
That right there!
The Biden admin is the admin that campaigned on bringing back the adults into the room and bringing back norms.
They have done any BUT that!
Absolutely everyone who has ever worked with Trump, such as authors, former members of his administration and associates, all say that Trump is NOT smart—they literally had to “dumb down” the daily presidential briefing and shorten it because in addition to not being very bright, he has a short attention span and general lack of interest in the affairs of state.
On what planet is Trump “winning “? He is a consistent loser—he lost the popular vote in 2016, lost for Republicans in 2017, 2028, 2019 and lost in 2020. He lost the lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, twice, he lost the civil fraud case brought by the State of New York, and now, he has been convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Polls are all over the place—he’s not clearly winning there either.
And you say that a major focus of Trump, if he cheats his way into office again, (because that’s the only way he will get in) should be revenge? Do you think that the majority of the American people are so deeply enthralled with Trump that this is what they want?
Republicans can’t end the war in Ukraine unless they pull all support so as to let Putin get his way— and all that will do is pave the way for Putin to go after Poland and the Baltic countries—which he has indicated he would do. There would be a larger war that the US would get drawn into—unless, of course, Trump made good on his promise to not honor our treaty obligations with the United Nations. In fact, by delaying aid to Ukraine, Republicans have already set back progress Ukraine had made. The simplistic claim that Trump could end the war in Ukraine may appeal to the gullibles but it’s unrealistic.
Trump can’t end the war in Israel either. Netanyahu is on a killing spree and ignores not just the calls by UN but also calls by the United States for a ceasefire. Israel is deliberately obstructing humanitarian aid, too.
You speak of “bringing back “ the economy? Trump destroyed our economy. His incompetence is the reason we have inflation— something else that unsophisticated people don’t understand and MAGA media lie about. Our economy is booming now— steady growth, unemployment at a record low, and inflation is coming down. The stock market is at a record high. The 6 bankruptcies prove that Trump can’t even manage his own finances, much less anyone else’s. Remember that he had to lie about his wealth to borrow money which is why the State of New York went after him.
John Say,
“ Trump prevails because he is unbelievably smart.”
LOL!!!!!!!!!
He’s an idiot. He can’t figure out why he’s been convicted. If he was smart he wouldn’t be in court in the first place.
“ Biden is losing in November and does not matter.”
You predicted Trump would get a hung jury. It’s better to wait and see. There’s too much time between now and November.
You seriously need help…your grasp of reality is unhinged.
NOTE TO SUPREME COURT:
Duke Lacrosse Case
On August 31, 2007, Mike Nifong, Durham County District Attorney, was held in criminal contempt of court for knowingly making false statements to the court during the criminal proceedings. Durham Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong to one day in jail, which he subsequently served.[130]
On April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges, declaring the three lacrosse players “innocent” and victims of a “tragic rush to accuse”.[6][7]
– Wiki
The Time Andrew Weissmann Was Reversed 9-0 by the Supreme Court and 85,000 People Still Lost Their Jobs
I doubt Weissman has ever lost a night’s sleep over it.
The accounting firm Arthur Anderson was the outside auditor for Enron Corp., a Texas-based oil and natural gas energy conglomerate. In 2001, news reports started to surface that Enron was in financial trouble. As Enron’s outside auditor, Arthur Anderson had all Enron’s financial records, and Arthur Anderson has certified Enron’s financial statements and SEC disclosures. Arthur Anderson set up a “crisis management” team to deal with what it expected would be coming if the Enron problems did not resolve. From August to October, the guidance from the “crisis” team to the rest of the company regarding Enron was to “follow our document retention policy, that’s why we have one.” The policy had very specific procedures in terms of document destruction. It was also very specific about when any ongoing document destruction must be halted. On November 8, the SEC served a subpoena for Enron’s financial records on Arthur Anderson. On the morning of Nov. 9, a company-wide email ordered a halt to any document destruction underway pursuant to the company’s policy.
Andrew Weissmann was appointed by Pres. Bush to head up a DOJ Enron Task Force to look into all possible instances of illegality connected to Enron’s accounting scandal. Several members of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office were part of the Enron task force of attorneys selected by Mueller to handle a series of criminal prosecution coming out of the scandal.
Weissmann decided that Arthur Anderson’s destruction of some Enron records was criminal obstruction of justice, and indicted the company on a single count of having violated 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1512(b)(2)(A). That statute reads as follows:
(b) Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct toward another person, with intent to—
(2) cause or induce any person to—
(A) withhold testimony or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding;
(B) alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal an object with intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding;
Arthur Anderson took the case to trial and was convicted by a jury. Because federal regulations do not allow a convicted felon to audit publicly traded companies, Arthur Anderson had to surrender its firm CPA license, and went out of business, with 85,000 people losing their jobs.
The conviction was affirmed on appeal, but the Supreme Court voted to take the case up and look at a particular legal issue involving the jury instructions given by the District Court Judge.
The manner in which jury instructions are written is a key determination in most criminal jury trials. Nearly all the instructions read to the jury are “standardized” and are the same in case after case. But in every case, the instructions given to the jury on the specific charges in the indictment, and the meaning of some of the terms in those charges, are hotly contested issues between the parties, with the District Judge having the final say on how the instruction will read.
At issue in Arthur Anderson’s case was the meaning of the words “knowingly …. corruptly persuades another person ….”, within the context of the instructions given by Arthur Anderson’s “crisis management” team for the firm to follow the normal “document retention policy” until there was a specific justification to not follow the policy as it was written.
Some who were involved in the case, or who wrote about it later, point to Weissman’s hyper-aggressive legal theory on the question of whether “corruptly persuades” included a need for the jury to find there was a “consciousness of wrongdoing” needed to determine that someone at Arthur Anderson acted “corruptly.”
Weissmann argued such proof was unnecessary.
Not a single Justice wrote a concurring opinion.
Not one wrote separately to say “I agree with the outcome, but I disagree with the opinion of the Chief Justice for the following reasons….”
Every Justice REJECTED Weissmann’s view of “criminality” without hesitation.
– Red State https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2020/08/17/the-time-andrew-weissmann-was-reversed-9-0-by-scotus-and-70000-people-still-lost-their-jobs-n251429
Only 1 “side” has destroyed the legal system in their jihad against the constitutional republic.
The only remedy is to destroy them.
Trump is a white privileged man toting a Bible. What could be more frightening to a gay black man or a poor brown woman?
He was charged with campaign finance violations by the the state but he was a federal candidate. He’d need a federal prosecutor and Garland didn’t order this, did he?
@Anon
What a great description of yourself and your laptop colleagues. By all means, keep shouting the whispers.
By “white privileged man,” do you mean an American in his own country?
“Trump is a white privileged man toting a Bible. What could be more frightening to a gay black man or a poor brown woman?”
Anyone on the left.
If this happened at the dawn of the republic and is repeating there is a serious flaw in the system. The lesson has not been learned or applied. The supposed “exceptional” American system is not. The republic is not ripe for overthrow but collapse.
The actual American system is exceptional.
The affirmative action, illegal alien invader, third world, tin pot, banana republic, s-hole, savage rendition is merely chintzy.
The actual American system WAS exceptional.
Conservative Analyst Notes Ill-Conceived Defense
Strategically speaking, Team Trump has presented one of the most ill-conceived, self-destructive defenses I have ever seen in decades of trying and analyzing criminal cases. The reason for this is clear: Trump insisted that his lawyers subordinate his defense at trial to the political narrative he wants to spin in the 2024 campaign. In this instance, the legal and political strategies cannot be synced. Hence, Trump is helping Bragg get his coveted convictions.
Against the weight of evidence and common sense, Trump insists on telling voters that Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal — respectively, the porn star and Playboy model who quite credibly allege to have had flings with Trump circa 2006 — are lying. But no one with even passing familiarity with Trump’s combative and parsimonious nature would believe for a second (a) that he would agree to pay $130,000 to Stormy and $150,000 to McDougal if they were falsely claiming to have had affairs with him, or (b) that Cohen would have paid Stormy, and Trump’s pal David Pecker would have paid McDougal, unless Trump had green-lighted the payments and assured them of repayment.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/05/merchan-and-trump-conceal-the-holes-in-braggs-case/
………………………………………
This was written by Andrew McCarthy of The National Review. McCarthy prefaced most this piece by saying how outrageous the prosecution was for what should have only been an ‘expired misdemeanor’.
“It’s the [Matthew Colangelo coveted convictions], stupid!”
– James Carville
___________________
Matthew Colangelo
Manhattan District Attorney
New York County, New York
^^ Paid DNC troll. Ignore. ^^
YAWN