You are one-fifth of a person to Donald Trump Donald Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen is trestifying this morning in Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial. He’s begun by explaining how Trump would would instruct him to pay creditors twenty cents on the dollar. Take it or get nothing. Even for struggling small, family businesses. Screw you. Anna Bower (Lawfare correspondent) tweets (thread): Before Cohen moved over to Trump Org, Cohen presented Trump with a bill for 100K, which Trump owed for work Cohen’s firm did on a real estate transaction. Trump told Cohen to come work for Trump Org, and Cohen agreed. Later, when Cohen mentioned the bill owed to his law firm, Trump said “Do you want to get fired on your first day?” The bill never got paid, Cohen says. Cohen said that he always reported directly to Trump. There were times when he asked Cohen to negotiate payments or bills. He provides an example: Trump University ran into trouble, and there were vendors who were unpaid. Cohen contacted the vendors, negotiated a reduction in what was owed. Mens rea on two legs Trump did not use email.
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It’s not going to be pretty The mainstream press has finally turned its focus to what a second Donald Trump administration will look like should he win the White House in 2024. Salon has been covering this since Trump first flew off to Mar-a-Lago in 2021 and it was obvious that unless something happened to his health, Trump would be the 2024 nominee and the rest of the GOP would be developing a multi-faceted program to grant themselves unlimited power. None of this was anything but predictable once we saw what they were capable of during the post election period of 2020 and the events of January 6th. The mainstream media has caught up and over the past few months has produced in-depth features and front page articles on the new MAGAfied Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, Schedule F, Agenda 47 and the details within all of those and other plans which reveal an authoritarian, anti-democratic crackdown on Americans’ rights and a full rollback of safety regulations and vital programs. The proposals for foreign policy and national security are even more horrifying.
This obviously coordinated “mental anguish” and “torture” line seems like a double edged sword to me. Plenty of Americans have been involved with the legal system and those who haven’t have seen trials, both real and fictional, portrayed on television for years. They’ve even been exposed to the Manhattan courts in the “Law and Order” series for decades. They know what this process looks like. Saying Trump, the alleged alpha male, is being tortured by having to endure it isn’t exactly a compliment. If it’s true then someone needs to tell Trump to man up. His surrogates are making him sound like a wimp. But if the shoe fits… Oh, and by the way, Tuberville going after the jury is really something. That guy is brain damaged — and evil.
Nothing can shake them Here was Trump’s economy in 2020. Massive unemployment, food lines, tens of thousands of deaths with no end in sight. He only cares about himself. And they love him for it. They love him so, so much Michael Tomasky took a look at this issue today and it’s mind-boggling: Politico and Morning Consult asked respondents a series of questions about all the major economic legislation Biden has signed. Majorities know little or nothing at all about the infrastructure bill, the CHIPS act, the American Rescue Plan, and the Inflation Reduction Act. And get this: While 40 percent said Biden has done more than Trump on infrastructure, 37 percent said Trump had done more. In January, NBC found that Trump has a 22-point advantage over Biden on the question of whom voters trust more with the economy—up 15 points from the same poll in 2020. How can this possibly be? Fine, we know that most people pay scant attention to politics. But even scant attention should produce some knowledge.
A love story? That’s doubtful In court today, Michael Cohen testified: He also said that it was Melania who came up with the “it was locker room talk” talking point after the Access Hollywood tape. Yeah, it’s a real love story. Get a load of this bs from the NY Times: Donald Trump sat silent, stone-faced and staring straight ahead as he listened to the intimate details in Stormy Daniels’s testimony on Tuesday, closing his eyes at times in an apparent attempt to maintain his composure. But there was one moment when he lost it — when Ms. Daniels recounted asking Mr. Trump about his wife, Melania Trump, and recalled that he told her they didn’t “even sleep in the same room.” From the defense table Mr. Trump shook his head in disgust and muttered “bullshit” loud enough that he drew a rebuke from the judge, who called his actions “contemptuous.” Mr. Trump has a great deal of experience sending a specific message to his intended audience — whether on television, at rallies, through social media or in the Oval Office. His intended audience, on Tuesday and throughout the trial, is the jury.
The new NY Times’Sienna poll (gift link) has the entire political world besides themselves with excitement because it shows Trump winning in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia. (The other swing states are essentially tied.) Maybe it’s right and Biden is fucked in the sunbelt and the south. Other polls aren’t showing this but as we all know the only poll that seems to matter to the cognoscenti is this one and it therefore influences the narrative that Biden is toast. In reality, almost all the polls are showing the race tightening with Biden gaining ground. Simon Rosenberg also keeps pointing out that their poll and some of the others continue to poll registered voters rather than likely voters (people who have voted in the past) which are showing, in these current snapshots, Biden winning narrowly. Maybe all these new voters are champing at the bit to come out and vote but I have to say I’d find that surprising. 2020 had a gigantic turnout, mostly because everyone was still in the throes of the pandemic and paying attention to politics. I’m not sure that’s true today.
Here’s one thing he has in mind: Mother Jones reports: The comments come amid Republican-led efforts to brand all anti-war protesters as supporters of terrorism and a continued push to criminalize protest. Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) re-upped an effort he first made last fall to deport protesters who have “endorsed or espoused the terrorist activities of Hamas” or other anti-Israel terrorist organizations. Rubio wrote a letter to the secretaries of the State and Homeland Security departments to initiate “expedited deportation proceedings” for participants in “antisemitism and pro-Hamas protests.” Earlier this month, Rep.
I wrote about the attempts to make Haley “reach out” to Trump to try to mend fences the other day. They are clearly getting worried about her ongoing support in these GOP primaries which continues to come in at 15 to 20%. So far, she doesn’t seem inclined to do it. Then came a rash of stories, undoubtedly from the Trump camp, saying he was considering her for the VP slot, probably intended to make her hold out the olive branch. She hasn’t. Lol: Former President Donald Trump is dismissing a report that he is considering his GOP primary opponent Nikki Haley as a running mate. Trump wrote on his social Media platform Truth Social Saturday that “Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!” Axios, citing “two people familiar with the dynamic, reported that Haley was in the running to be Trump’s nominee for vice president. The two had a contentious primary battle and Haley has not endorsed Trump. Many of her supporters also continue to be wary of the former president, a warning sign as he seeks to consolidate Republicans ahead of the general election.
What are the odds Gaza will be your top issue? What was your top issue two years ago? Climate change? Gun violence? Abortion rights? Preventing another Trump term? What will be your top issue two years from now? What are the odds it will be Israel’s war in Gaza? I want to follow up on Digby’s (and Rick Perlstein’s) reflections on Saturday about Gaza and young people voting (or not). It’s my regular complaint every four years that the presidential race is not the only one on the ballot or the only reason to cast one. There will be over three dozen races alone on the ballot in my county, one of over 3,100 in the country. Only one race is for national office (two counting the VP). For some states with ballot measures, the fate of women’s reproductive rights is on the ballot. State district, appeals, and Supreme Court races may be on your ballot. Remember how we held our breath over Janet Protasiewicz in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race in April 2023?
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