247 Comments

As expected, and as clearly evidenced in his toothless unenforced "gag order" Merchan does not possess the cojones to rule as per the law. His popularity or rather fear of unpopularity is his overriding concern, hence his glaring mediocrity. It is doubtful that he would ever consider that he himself might be "losing all credibility", along with our entire legal process in this farcical pantomime. He is being played like all the other elite dummies, including SCOTUS. Those black robes should include a yellow streak down the back.

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To be accurate, none of Trump's social media postings above violated that gag order; it doesn't cover the judge.

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Poor Bill Kristol!! Just can’t bring himself to say that Republicans NEED to vote for Biden & rid us of MAGA forever! Bill, it’s a binary choice: Biden or Trump. Do the country a favor & just endorse Biden

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It was only months ago that congressional Republicans, in a fit of pique spurred by Donald Trump, killed a nearly identical aid package that also contained a number of border security measures. Those measures had been endorsed by the Border Patrol Union, but Republicans sniffed that they weren’t nearly enough to solve America’s border woes. So instead they get nothing on the border, and the aid passed anyway. Happy Wednesday! Bravi!

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Mr. Kristol you don't know how much I want you to be correct on Normie republicans, and how much I know you are not.

As for shutting up t***p, putting him in jail would play to him, so charge him money. Start out with maybe $5000 for what he has done so far, then double it to $10,000 for the next tweet (whatever) then $20,000, and of course the fines must all be paid guilty or innocent.

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Some Rs are starting to see the light: "BREAKING NEWS Arizona lawmakers advanced a bill to scrap an 1864 abortion ban that would go into effect as soon as June 8 if not repealed."

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Too much is being made of Trump's ability to fund raise and messaging his "martyrdom" for locking him up for contempt.

It is time to treat him like every other criminally indicted defendant that comes to court.

The fact he can fund raise off of it is irrelevant.

He already is a martyr and victim in the eyes of his cult. So please stop letting him get away with trolling the justice system in ways NO ONE else would be allowed.

Put him in the slammer. Take away his cellphone and do not allow him to speak to the press during breaks and confine him to the couurtroom.

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founding

There is no rational basis for thinking that another financial penalty, no matter how big, will cause any change in TFG's disregard of court orders. It is time to try something else in the quiver of powers that a trial judge possesses, confinement. Let TFG stew in a cell without access to outside media for 24 hours, dressing in a suit to match his complexion, eating whatever is served, i.e., not being able to order out for Diet Coke and Double Cheeseburgers, sleeping on a hard cot and hoping that the Judge does not change his mind and make it 48 hours.

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Another thought: As a former CA judge suggested yesterday, impose jail time, but stay it until the trial is over. Include additional jail time, also to be stayed, for subsequent infractions. If he still violates, so be it: He's iced for a good while. If he raises money behind bars, so be it. Sounds like a good trade off to me :)

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With the passing of Ukraine funding et al, seems to me that Biden should strike while the iron is hot: Push to pass the immigration bill negotiated last month. Force the Republicans to vote against it again. Protect his flank. Your thoughts?

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OOOH snap Mitch!

"Supreme Court hears abortion clash over emergency room treatment for pregnant women"

No I didn't read it, just the headline, you know kind of like they are arguing if they should treat an animal. Does this total dehumanization of women bother anyone else or is it just me. It has gotten so every time I see something like this which is more or less "how close to death does she have to be" question it makes me really angry.

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How refreshing to see "Marx" in print again. The old boy and his class analyses have pretty much vanished in history departments, kidnapped and killed by race and gender. I haven't been a Marxist since my undergrad days (somewhat obligatory, that) but I still adhere to class as the superior tool with which to analyze what ails society. After all, class encompasses race and gender; in fact it's all-encompassing as an analytic (as is history itself). I'm also happy to see that Mr. Kristol read beyond "solid melts into air." For as Marx continued — "man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life" — so does Bill. Karl prefaced the passage with another that can be applied to Trumpian thinking, as it were: it's "train of ancient and venerable prejudices." May they be "swept away."

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Apr 24·edited Apr 24

Newsletter should have mentioned the Pennsylvania primary yesterday. Trump got only 82% of the GOP primary vote even though he is the only remaining candidate. Nearly 157,000 PA Republicans voted for Nikki Haley even though she hasn't had an active campaign for what...two months?

I know Tim writes off the large GOP primary vote against Trump as just being Democratic-leaning independents and Democrats voting in the Republican Primary to vote against Trump. That's so not true. I live in Indiana, which is an open primary state. Even though it's easy to cross-over here in the primary, very few do even when there is an organized effort to do so. PA is a CLOSED primary state. You have to be a registered Republican to vote in the PA GOP primary. Tim, those are REAL REPUBLICANS voting against Trump in PA.

I know people are pointing to the polls that say Trump has a lead in the swing states. While I don't discount polls, I would be much more inclined to make election predictions by looking at past election results.

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I am appalled at how the committee members treated Mayorkas. A pox on them all. His continuation in the job after we win again in November will be sweet revenge. Though after being so badly treated I wouldn't blame him if he wouldn't want i.

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RE Vox article on TFG’s promise to increase inflation: I would love to see the Biden campaign turn the talking points from this article into a political ad to be shown over and over again in red and swing states.

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We are too scared of Trump. If he wants to be incarcerated, then let him have it. The man is not a genius; he merely got in front of the crowd and drew an inside straight with Hiliary's inability to connect with voters and unwillingness to confront Trump when he stalked her oh the stage. Remember, he won one election, period. Put him in jail and be ready for an armed insurrection if it comes to that, but quit being timid with a bully. That never turns out well.

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