In the next few days (hours), we’ll find out whether the former president of the United States is a convicted felon. Once the jury’s verdict comes down, we’ll have plenty of time for analysis, game theories, predictions, and torrents of bullshit.
But as we wait, how about some serenity now… plus an obligatory dog picture?
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On Thursday, Trump posted on social media that because of his extra-special relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he — and only he — can free the innocent young American who has been languishing in a foreign jail for over 400 days. Trump claims that Putin will free the reporter as a unique personal favor to him — but will not do it for anyone else, which presumably includes President Joe Biden and the rest of the United States government.
Trump claims that Putin will free the reporter as a unique personal favor to him — but will not do it for anyone else.
And this will apparently only happen if Trump is returned to the White House, according to the post:
Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office. He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!
Trump explicitly framed his request to Putin as an act of retaliation not just against Biden, but against the United States itself.
“As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country,” he said in a 2022 interview,“I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it.”
There’s no indication that Putin responded to Trump’s request.
Breaking this afternoon: Justice Alito isn’t going to recuse himself, and blames his wife for flying the upside down flag at their home.
Alito, in two letters sent to congressional Democrats, said the flags at issue were flown not by him but by his wife, who he said was exercising her right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution. Trump, who is seeking to regain the presidency this year, quickly praised Alito's decision.
The New York Times this month reported on two flags like those carried by some Trump supporters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that were flown at the justice's homes. An upside-down American flag flew at his Virginia home in the Washington suburbs, while a flag bearing the words "Appeal to Heaven" flew at his vacation house in New Jersey.
Quote of the Day: "My wife is fond of flying flags," Alito wrote. "I am not."
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David Lat, over at Original Jurisdiction, has a thoughtful and even-handed discussion of the controversies. But I feel a rant coming on about a larger question: Whose Flag is It Anyway?
This is what I wrote a few years ago after a kerfuffle about whether the Betsy Ross flag was now a symbol of white supremacy:
Why do the bigots get to hijack our symbols? It’s not their goddamn flag. It’s ours.
So why are we giving them veto power? Are we really going to let every mouth breathing, skinhead, proud boy, incel define what symbols we can use?
This isn’t the Confederate flag; it’s not a statue of a Confederate general or slaveholder. It’s a part of American history and the only way they get to f*** it up is if we let them. The woke left is only too happy to cave to claims of racism no matter how tenuous the connection.
Let’s stipulate that some woke progressives find patriotism and flag waving in the Era of Trump to be problematic (and, honestly, did so even BT—Before Trump)….
No matter who waves the American flag, or celebrates our nation’s founding—no matter how boorish, ignorant, or even bigoted they might be—they don’t get to take it away from us.
Some have closed their eyes to the evidence presented at the New York trial. The defendant has done so literally, and his political supporters have done so metaphorically. But for those of us who have kept our eyes open, the evidence has been appalling. (I have not been there, but I have followed my colleagues’ live-tweets and other reporting closely.) The evidence has shown that this defendant and his subordinates propagated blizzards of lies to facilitate the defendant’s disgusting and criminal ends.
Weighing this evidence in the context of the many civil frauds Trump has been adjudicated to have committed, and the many crimes of which his closely held corporation and most essential business colleagues, Weisselberg and Michael Cohen, have been convicted, I have been persuaded. District Attorney Bragg was right to bring this case.
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National Review’s Andy McCarthy really really hates the case and is a harsh critic of both Judge Marchon and Bragg. But he has an interesting take on the Trump defense, which relied on a series of what he thinks were completely unnecessary lies.
[Strategically] speaking, Team Trump has presented one of the most ill-conceived, self-destructive defenses I have ever seen in decades of trying and analyzing criminal cases. The reason for this is clear: Trump insisted that his lawyers subordinate his defense at trial to the political narrative he wants to spin in the 2024 campaign. In this instance, the legal and political strategies cannot be synced. Hence, Trump is helping Bragg get his coveted convictions.
Against the weight of evidence and common sense, Trump insists on telling voters that Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal — respectively, the porn star and Playboy model who quite credibly allege to have had flings with Trump circa 2006 — are lying.
But no one with even passing familiarity with Trump’s combative and parsimonious nature would believe for a second (a) that he would agree to pay $130,000 to Stormy and $150,000 to McDougal if they were falsely claiming to have had affairs with him, or (b) that Cohen would have paid Stormy, and Trump’s pal David Pecker would have paid McDougal, unless Trump had green-lighted the payments and assured them of repayment. Since Trump knows that, if he acknowledges being complicit in the payment arrangements, voters will conclude his denials of the affairs are lies, Trump has decided he must distance himself from the NDA payments.
Politically speaking, this is dumb because voters long ago made up their minds about Trump’s extramarital affairs, and if he admitted them at this point, he’d merely be admitting what is notorious and not credibly deniable.
Legally speaking, Trump’s gambit is disastrous.
It makes no sense in a criminal courtroom for a defendant to deny his complicity in legal conduct when there is daunting evidence that he was complicit up to his neck. The prosecutors framed the case to the jury as a criminal conspiracy to bury damaging information. That’s not a crime, and NDAs are legal. But rather than go with that, his best defense, Trump has acted guilty: As if a candidate’s suppression of negative information, rather than routine, is criminally condemnable, and as if the NDAs are radioactive — the diabolical compacts of Cohen and Pecker from which he must stay a millions miles away (a choice at which the evidence is having a hearty laugh). For Bragg, this is a gift from prosecutorial heaven.
Re the flag… exactly! When I put my Ukraine flag up, I also put the American flag beside it (shamefully the first time I’d flown a U.S. flag, even after 9/11…). An uber left friend cautioned me about flying the U.S. flag, and I told her I was taking MY flag, that represents MY country back from those who don’t appreciate, understand or respect it.
Flag perspective absolutely correct and much appreciated. Those raving asswipes do not get to define American identity, patriotism or any symbols thereof.
Don't know Alito or his wife, nor do I care what the intentions are of how they fly their flags. They do not get to set any standards but their own. No pun intended.
The photos… needed and appreciated!
Re the flag… exactly! When I put my Ukraine flag up, I also put the American flag beside it (shamefully the first time I’d flown a U.S. flag, even after 9/11…). An uber left friend cautioned me about flying the U.S. flag, and I told her I was taking MY flag, that represents MY country back from those who don’t appreciate, understand or respect it.
Flag perspective absolutely correct and much appreciated. Those raving asswipes do not get to define American identity, patriotism or any symbols thereof.
Don't know Alito or his wife, nor do I care what the intentions are of how they fly their flags. They do not get to set any standards but their own. No pun intended.