Hi james,
In perhaps the least surprising development in recent memory, it turns out that felon Donald Trump has been aggressively working behind the scenes to undo his historic conviction. According to new reporting from Politico, in the immediate aftermath of the verdict, Trump called up the professionally invertebrate Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to enlist his help in overturning the jury’s decision.
Johnson, showcasing the same pathological cowardice that defines the entire GOP under Trump, was eager to please and responded enthusiastically to the request. Of course, Trump had good reason to believe that he’d be find a pliant minion in Johnson because the speaker had already shorn himself of all dignity by lining up behind him during the trial to attack the judge and witnesses.
Crucially, Johnson has been helping push forward a Republican bill that would allow presidents to shift state level cases to federal court. The ultimate goal is to completely neuter the ability of states to prosecute federal officials like New York did with Trump. As usual, the conservative fetishization of “states’ rights” lasts right up until the states do something that doesn’t square with their right-wing goals. By the same token, they’re are all about “law and order” right until those laws start applying them.
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If that weren’t enough, Johnson has also been working with Congressman Jim Jordan to abuse the appropriations process to target Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions. They can’t make the mountains of evidence he’s unearthed vanish, so they’re trying to drain away his funding, smothering his ability to get anything more accomplished.
It’s worth noting that just last month Johnson voiced strong opposition when Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested defunding Smith. The speaker is tacking further and further to the right with each passing day. In his desperation to curry favor with the MAGA base, he’s setting the table for a full-blown fascist revolution if Trump wins in November.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Trump is trying to subvert justice by undoing a lawful conviction. He’s an arch criminal who can be counted on to do the worst thing imaginable at any given moment. What should alarm us is how increasingly fanatical the Republican establishment is becoming in its support of his criminality. If a felony conviction didn’t convince them to finally ditch him, nothing will. Johnson and his ilk will choose their own power over democracy every single time. If that power ends up residing in the presidium of fascist monarchy rather than a constitutional republic, all the better in their eyes.
As grim as all of this sounds, there remains one very simple solution. All of these conservative schemes hinge on Trump winning the election and seizing the vast powers of the Executive Branch. If Biden is reelected instead, there will be no pardon for Trump, no shuffling of state cases to federal court. He’ll be naked in front of the law and in that scenario, he could very well die in prison. There is no more fitting end for such a man.
Stay focused, stay energized.
Brian
Democracy Watch
Marc Elias discusses Republican efforts to starve our election of funding.
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Glenn Kirschner discusses a surprise move by Fulton County prosecutors to get Trump's trail back on track.
Interview
Brian interviews Vice President Kamala Harris about Trump’s conviction, Senate Republicans blocking a vote to guarantee access to contraception, and her reaction to Byron Donalds yearning for the Jim Crow era.
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