Politics

The Misinformation-Outrage Cycle When news becomes entertainment, facts get lost. People get mired in conspiracy thinking and they begin exhibiting authoritarian tendencies. This is Part 2. It’s generally best to follow the advice given to Alice and the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “Begin at the beginning, go on to the end, and […]

This is Part 1. It’s generally best to follow the advice given to Alice and the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “Begin at the beginning, go on to the end, and then stop.” But if you must read out of order, here are all the links: Part 1: There are no Yankees here.

In a blog post I wrote a few weeks ago, Trump, Gag Orders, and the First Amendment, I laid out the problems with prior restraints and preventing citizens from criticizing the government. The D.C. gag order began on September 15, The DOJ requested a gag order for Trump. The request is here. Basically, the DOJ wanted the

I’ve been getting comments and questions like these on social media: Why isn’t there a gag order for Trump? he puts out dangerous statements constantly.  I read that former prosecutors are worried about the danger Trump poses through his social media posts. Why isn’t anything being done? He needs pretrial detention, and he needs it

A Change in my Blogging Schedule I signed a contract to write a book about the Bill of Rights for my favorite publisher (Abrams). It’s called Getting the Bill of Rights Right and it’s for young readers, basically ninth-grade level. Want to see how the proposal opens? Here you go: The Bill of Rights—which includes

Teri, what do you think of Mark Meadow’s potential perjury exposure after being caught lying in cross-examination? After a number of people asked me this, I started poking around to see where the question was coming from. I learned that a former prosecutor who often appears on TV posted this: “Meadows’ perjury in the removal hearing

If you’re having trouble keeping track of the details in all the criminal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, you are not alone. Now that we are in the stage of pre-trial motions, we may need scorecards or bingo cards. Fortunately, criminal procedure is utterly fascinating. 🤓 First, a quick review of this week’s happenings in

🎶 The devil went down to Georgia he was looking for some votes to steal. He was in a bind cause he was way behind and he was willing to make a deal.🎶 Put on your nerd glasses for this one. We’re diving into the legal documents. (I asked my readers once what I should

(I posted portions of this on Tuesday, August 9) In 2021 and 2022, I worried that the “Indict Trump Now” people had an unrealistic sense of what a criminal trial is actually like. For example, this person told me: So about a year ago, I wrote this: The “indict him right now!” chants are premised

For this weekend’s blog post, I’ll answer questions about Trump’s third indictment. If you want to start with a summary and analysis of the indictment, see this post. Question #1:  Major outlets are reporting that the allegations against Trump require proof of Trump’s state of mind, specifically, that he knew he lost the election, but

As you’ve no doubt heard, Trump was indicted Tuesday for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and remain in power. This is the Big One. The indictment is here. (A word about the title: I asked my readers once what I should call my detailed notes about legal documents and my favorite

On Thursday, the DOJ filed a superseding indictment against Trump and a new co-conspirator listing multiple new charges including Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice by “attempting to delete security camera footage from The Mar-a-Lago Club to conceal the footage from the FBI and grand jury.” (I asked readers once what I should call my breakdown and

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, DOJ prosecutors have given Trump a letter telling him he is the target of the criminal investigation into the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. (Trump’s lawyers confirmed this in court.) Trump also said he had a deadline (which has now passed) if he wanted to talk

Missouri v. Biden (the case seeking to limit the Biden administration’s contacts with social media platforms) is, at heart, a dispute about content moderation on social media. It’s also about whether right-wing conspiracy theories about Covid, vaccines, and the election should be allowed to spread unchecked and unchallenged. It also embraces the libertarian (and anarchist)

I. Keep Your Eye on Trump’s Lawyers A chaotic meeting on December 18, 2020 On December 18, 2020, Sydney Powell, Michael Flynn, Patrick Byrne, and Rudy Giuliani came to the White House with unhinged ideas about how Trump should declare martial law, seize voting machines, and name Powell special counsel to investigate the already debunked