Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

countdown to post saying this doesn't mean anything and he'll never be indicted in 3,2...

For those who don't want to go to the other failing social media site owned by a fascist. pic.twitter.com/3F0nah2bqR

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 18, 2023

At this point the numbers are getting kind of abstract. 34 indictments in NYC, 37 in Florida, that's 71 indictments, with more in the way, apparently re: Jan. 6 and, one presumes, in Georgia. Plus whatever other ongoing Sword of Damocles stuff we've forgotten about.

At what point does the party cut him loose? Never?

Only when he hits a million indictments.

If he loses again and takes out down ticket Rs, I don't see them nominating him for 2028, but he is a lock for 2024.

They can't nominate him in 2028 unless they're explicit about ignoring the Constitution (which, you know).

I think they can if he loses in 2024.

of course at that point he'd be 82.

They can't nominate him in 2028 unless they're explicit about ignoring the Constitution (which, you know).

no because he'll be dead

or we will

Choices choices

no because he'll be dead

I generally wish for an Ariel Sharon situation with this guy, a long, long, LONG period of brain death that will keep his family and hangers-on distracted and infighting for many years.

He would still get the nomination

He may even be more electable

Well, he'd be quiet. We'd only hear the gurgling from the machiens.

*machines.

"And a good day to you, sir!"

I've probably said this before but I'll say it again to get it on the record: when Trump caught COVID, I experienced a terrifying premonition of Ivanka in a tell-all interview tearing up while she talks about how hard it was seeing the entire estate sold off piece by piece to pay her father's creditors.

Terrifying? This sounds amazing.

Somebody got ketchup all over a Dead Sea Scroll

Ancient artefacts sent from Israel to the US four years ago on a short-term basis and intended for display at a White House event have ended up at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to a report.

It is not clear how the artifacts ended up at Mar-a-Lago, or whether Trump is aware they are on the premises.

lol

This is straight out of a super villain origin story

At this point the numbers are getting kind of abstract. 34 indictments in NYC, 37 in Florida, that's 71 indictments, with more in the way, apparently re: Jan. 6 and, one presumes, in Georgia. Plus whatever other ongoing Sword of Damocles stuff we've forgotten about.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, July 18, 2023 8:56 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

🎶 On an award tour, with Mohammad my man 🎵

Ancient artefacts sent from Israel to the US four years ago on a short-term basis and intended for display at a White House event have ended up at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate

Obligatory melting nazi jpg

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.de8d747dee503e952bd120009a2606cd?rik=NJsyBGThX26uqw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fmedia.giphy.com%2fmedia%2fIvcwXzJ1HiTTi%2fgiphy-facebook_s.jpg&ehk=1KfSq8EFZCjfpLw62HIwKxT8zoGDaVqEP2gE7RePUgo%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

Lol Raymond

NEWS—

A federal judge DENIES Trump’s motion for a new trial in the E. Jean Carroll case — and his request to reduce the $5 million verdict. pic.twitter.com/H8aRHuMWQA

— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 19, 2023

One interesting thing Josh Marshall pointed out about the Jan. 6th case is that it is the one we know the least about in terms of evidence. We really don't know yet what kind of communication or coordination was going on behind the scenes. There's a real possibility it could implicate other politicians beyond just Trump. Obviously we'll have to see.

Happy to see shit piling up on him and making him squirm, but I still can't help but feel a little skeptical. Like Aileen Cannon seeming to signal during her questions yesterday that she's going to delay the classified documents trial until after the election.

What did she say that seemed to signal that?

A delay like that could definitely happen, that's not the only trial being lined up though.

https://news.yahoo.com/experts-jack-smith-latest-move-181707108.html

xpost - I can't find the article I read last night, but basically she kept framing her questions in a way that she thinks a trial this year is far too soon for such a complex case:

Cannon zeroed in on arguments that the “voluminous” discovery in the case meant that the trial likely could not start by the mid-December date proposed by the prosecutors.

She had very granular questions for prosecutor Jay Bratt about the status of the production of discovery and the amount of evidence the defendants will have to sift through. She also grilled him on whether the cases that Smith’s team was pointing to as examples of similarly expedited trial schedules were truly comparable to the case that has been brought against Trump.

In a back and forth with Harbach, Cannon described the discovery as “voluminous.” Pointing to the security footage that’s been turned over to the defense, Cannon noted to the prosecutors that the defense team will want to review more than just what the Smith team had identified as the key parts of the video evidence.

To be fair, she also apparently pushed back a little on Trump's team trying to delay it "forever", but she didn't seem sympathetic to a trial starting before 2024. We'll see.

That is probably justified in a case involving classified documents. It's mind-boggling that the DOJ slow-walked everything relating to Trump's Presidency and brought its first case on stuff that happened a year or so after he left office. And is now signalling a Jan. 6 indictment 5.5 months before the primaries start. Way to run your own clock down.

Oh yeah, that has been frustrating as well. I also just am generally skeptical about a Trump appointed judge hearing this case anyway.

I mean if they rushed proceedings before they have sufficient evidence, then they run of the risk of the case being too weak to win.

the goal of special prosecutors/et al in cases like these isn't to "do this all in time to stop Trump from running for office or significantly interfere with his ability to win" (that's OUR goal).

there's definitely been some chatter that DOJ purposefully slow rolled it

Jack Smith is running both of these cases, and he was appointed in November of 2022.

There's something like a million docs to review, many of them classified/sensitive, so in this case I can understand a delay, at least to some degree. There has been some chatter, though, that Smith may have also found evidence in Bedminster, which both makes sense and would allow him to bring charges in New Jersey, potentially circumventing/parallel to Judge Cannon, if necessary. Who knows.

there's definitely been some chatter that DOJ purposefully slow rolled it

That’s because people are idiots don’t know the litigation process

My point being more that there's a wide window between the mid-December start that the DOJ asked for and November 2024 for the trial to start. I'm not throwing away the hope of consequences for it, just saying that the optics of a judge appointed by the defendant even appearing slightly sympathetic to the defense's desired timing for the case is mildly frustrating.

A 2023 trial would be incredibly quick given the issues in the case. Chill.

Thanks for clearly not even reading my posts before telling me to chill.

Interesting insights from @secretsandlaws.

One takeaway I have from Cannon’s initial rulings — she is not doing anything incredibly stupid that will get overturned, like she did in the prior civil case.

She has learned and is acting within the typical bounds for a trial judge. https://t.co/dnU4QKBbU9

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) July 19, 2023

Thanks for clearly not even reading my posts before telling me to chill.

Wasn't just directed at you, but you're welcome.

So she decided not to delay it beyond the election, but she kindly made sure it was past most of the important primaries and that the venue would make sure to draw a jury pool from prime MAGA country. I think a degree of skepticism is warranted.

The federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s prosecution on charges of illegally retaining dozens of classified documents set a trial date on Friday for May 2024, taking a middle position between the government’s request to go to trial in December and Mr. Trump’s desire to push the proceeding until after the 2024 election.

In her order, Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the trial was to be held in her home courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., a coastal city two-and-a-half hours north of Miami that will draw its jury pool from several counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous presidential campaigns.

Judge Cannon also laid out a calendar of hearings, throughout the remainder of this year and into next year, including those concerning the handling of the classified material at the heart of the case.

The scheduling order came after a contentious hearing on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce where prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, and lawyers for Mr. Trump sparred over when to hold the trial.

The timing of the proceeding is more important in this case than in most criminal matters because Mr. Trump is now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and his legal obligations to be in court will intersect with his campaign schedule.

Indeed, the date Judge Cannon chose to start the trial — May 20, 2024 — is one day before the primary in the key swing state of Georgia. But it falls after the bulk of the primary race contests will have already taken place.

TBF, this schedule was also dictated by his other court cases, including the criminal one in March. Also I suspect ending up in the jury pool and being pretty easily clocked as MAGA/Trump-can-do-no-wrong is an excellent way to get dumped during selection.

as I understand it, this is not exactly a crazy amount of time to schedule the trial given the complexity of the case