Last week Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said she was “very seriously” considering withholding funds from schools that don’t open: Without getting into whether she even has the authority to do that, it’s worth recalling that Trump refused to use the Defense Production Act to mass-produce PPE because he didn’t want to bring down the …
As I’m sure you all know, Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend Roger Stone on seven felony crimes. Yeah, he corruptly used the power of his office to let a co-conspirator off the hook. In the words of judge Amy Berman, the judge who sentenced Stone, “Mr. Stone was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing …
Roger Stone, the Corruptly Issued Sentence Commutation, and more on Covid-19 Read More »
The Vance opinion (the case about whether the NY prosecutor can have access to grand jury material for use in a criminal investigation against the Trumps) is here. The case was a loss for Trump. The justices voted 7-2 with only Thomas and Alito dissenting. Think about that: Ginsburg, Sotomayer, Roberts, Gorusch, Kagan, Breyer and …
A follower asked: Trump wants to pretend like everything is normal. His solution to the virus is to pretend like there’s no problem. He has the idea that if the economy is strong, he’ll get reelected. Closing schools means parents have to work at home, which slows down everything. It also means acknowledging that there …
Trump is doubling down on the crazy. This morning, he tweeted this: Other Trump family members and spokespeople have similarly said that the concerns for Covid-19 are politically motivated to make Trump look bad. They claim that once Biden is in office, or Trump wins reelection, everyone will stop caring about the virus and will …
A few lawmakers are a bit confused about the Constitution. For example, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky tweeted this: I responded: Then my Twitter followers jumped into the act. This is from Ryan @boise3981: For those who read the “general welfare clause” in a restricted manner, the Tenth Amendment relegates to the states any powers …
Yesterday I wrote this post asking whether Trump’s lies were wishful thinking, deliberate lies, or pure lunacy. I wrote this: I suspect that some (definitely not all) Never Trumpers want to return to the Republican Party as it was in 2015. So they harp on Trump’s mental unfitness because they want to see Trump as …
A Twitter follower asked: I suspect this particular lie sprang from pure delusion. For me, though, what matters more are the historical patterns, and why 40% of voters—including many who know Trump is lying—line up behind him. We know that lying is a fascist tool. We know that disinformation is used strategically by tyrants. We also …
Wishful Thinking, Deliberate Lies, or Complete Lunacy? Read More »
You may be feeling whiplash if you’re trying to follow all the latest news stories. Here are a few doozies: Trump has known since early 2019 about the Russian bounty on US soldiers. After spending the weekend denying that Trump had been briefed, the White House released this statement: Yeah, that totally reads like satire. …
In another blow to the Fox-Trump-GOP Evangelical base, the Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion restrictions. I don’t think the MAGA people will be happy about this. [I typed that in the understatement font] Decisions like this one are going the way they should go. Nobody can predict with perfect accuracy what a court will …
The Supreme Court’s Latest Abortion Case: The Intersection of Law and Politics Read More »
