THE UNITED STATES FACES A CHARACTER TEST
As the Daily Show put it: “Hard to believe that Donald Trump having sex resulted in something worse than Don Jr.”
Many people are trying to Present President Trump’s Thursday indictment as evidence of a historical first in U.S. jurisprudence, one that brings us in line with the public prosecution policies that are the norm in most other advanced democracies.
Those same people are also arguing that since the precise nature and number of charges voted by the New York grand jury remains unknown, we should wait to hear the charges read at his arraignment next Tuesday.
But however one argues, the fact of a felony indictment voted by an American grand jury and filed against a former head of state tears down a political and judicial barrier that has stood since the the founding of The United States.
For nearly 250 years, no president has ever faced criminal liability for their actions - because until this former president, no president ever committed actual felony crimes, other than Richard Nixon, who was pardoned for his criminal behavior in a mistaken belief that prosecution would tear the country apart, a decision seen as wrong at the time that is only more wrong in retrospect since it led to the election of an actual criminal who did nothing to hide his criminal nature, something that might not have happened had Nixon faced prosecution.
This indictment demonstrates the unique place Trump occupies in the hearts and minds of Republicans, of how far the Republican Party has fallen from the standards set by everyone else in the past 250 years.
In the wake of the indictment, every single member of Conservatism Inc. and the Republican Party has realized they must is nowstate publicly that Trump is innocent, the prosecution is a witch hunt, and that the entire action is dangerous to America. That is now the minimum for any Republican officeholder who aspires to continue a public career in politics, because the only thing the Republican base will tolerate hearing about their Dear Leader Trump is that he’s innocent and that Soros-funded Radical Socialist DA Alvin Bragg / The Democrats are evil and that all Republicans must fight for Trump.
If you still doubt that fact, the words and actions of the New York Young Republican Club are a good example of what is going on in MAGAworld.
For starters, when Trump unilaterally announced he would be arrested on Tuesday of last week and called for protests by supporters, the NY YRs were almost the only people to show up in front of the Manhattan courts to show their support for him, and they contacted nearly every reporter in New York City and Washington D.C. to inform them they were doing so.
After Trump’s indictment yesterday, they issued a statement which demonstrates everything wrong in the Republican Party today.
“President Trump embodies the American people - our psyche from id to super-ego - as does no other figure; his soul is totally bonded with our core values and emotions, and he is our total and indisputable champion. This tremendous connection threatens the established order.”
This is the literal definition of Autocracy. Understanding that the Republican Party has become an autocracy makes it easy to see and understand what’s going on.
The heart of this autocracy are all the lies of Donald Trump, not just the Big Lie. Republican politics today cannot be understood as anything but lies.
The indictment of Donald Trump demonstrates that the Republican Party has embraced a man who had sex with a porn star while his wife was pregnant. That fact demonstrates the complete moral bankruptcy, the corruption that comes from basing all actions on the support of lies, of telling lies, of being focused on nothing but the desire to hold power.
Whether it was Trump’s Access Hollywood comments about being able to grab women’s privates because he could; whether it was the “Muslim ban” that violated the founding tradition of this country; whether is was his supportive statements about “the very fine” Nazi participants in the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville; whether it was his promotion of fake “cures” for COVID; or whether it was anything that got Trump into the papers over the 40 years before he came riding down his golden escalator to announce his candidacy for president, it has been obvious to anyone paying attention that Donald Trump is a Bad Person. A criminal. A wannabe Mafia mob boss.
Republicans used to know that. Before they decided that none of it mattered if it meant they could win.
Debating whether the indictment helps or hurts Trump’s fight for the GOP nomination is irrelevant. For all Republican office-holders or wannabe office-holders, the mantra all must say and adhere to is clear: “We are all Trump Believers now.”
None of the quotes I pulled yesterday from the responses of House Republicans to the news of his indictment were surprising.
What is striking is how many elected Republicans sound like Trump, how their statements change immediately after anything he says changes.
Trump claims the indictment is “Political Persecution.”
The term “Political persecution” shows up in the statements of House Republicans Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee; Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma; Claudia Tenney of New York; and Paul Gosar of Arizona..
Trump says the indictment is “Blatant Election Interference.”
Opportunistic striver Elise Stefanik’s statement begins with, “This is unprecedented election interference.”
Speaker in Name Only Quiverin Qevin’s statement starts, “An attempt to interfere in our Presidential election.”
Trump declares the indictment a “Witch hunt.”
George Santos, Lauren Boebert, Ralph Norman, Matt Gaetz, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer - to name only the better known members of the caucus, declare the indictment a “Witch hunt” in their statements.
Trump says the indictment is “Weaponizing our justice system.”
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, David Rouzer of North Carolina, Austin Scott of Georgia, and , Rich McCormick of Georgia all declare that the indictment “weaponizes our justice system.”
Trump blames George Soros.
All of those listed above, plus Wesley Hunt of Texas, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, and Senators Rick Scott and Ron Johnson use Soros’ name in defaming DA Alvin Bragg.
Trump also introduced vulgarity in his speech as candidate and president in ways never seen before, and that has also filtered down.
“Enough of this witch hunt bullshit,” tweets Rep. Marjorie Traitor Goon, who actually seems to sincerely believe her own bullshit.
Trump posts in ALL CAPS.
And walking embarrassment to everything else he ever did before in his life Ronny Jackson tweets“WITCH HUNT!” and “Alvin Bragg is a NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT.”
Trump demands vengeance.
Indicted car thief Darrell Issa tweets “Hunter Biden: Call your lawyers.”
Quiverin’ Qevin echoes Jungle Gym Jordan’s letters last week: “The House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”
Ronny Jackson puts the half-downed fifth of Old Overcoat back in his desk drawer while he tweets, “When Trump wins, THESE PEOPLE WILL PAY!!”
Trump posts Deep State conspiracy theories.
White Supremacist and attender of actual Nazi rallies Paul Gosar tweets: “The Regime occupying our country and systematically killing America is most afraid of President Donald J. Trump.”
Fellow Arizona MAGAnut Andy Biggs tweets: “If they can come for him, they can come for anyone!”
Trump posts threats of civil disorder.
General Jack D. Ripper, er, I mean Michael Flynn, who called for Trump to use the military to reverse his loss in the 2020 election, tweets: “This indictment is not only an insult of historic proportion to our Founders & all Patriots since then who shed their blood to preserve our freedoms.” and “Stand firm in what you believe in, strengthen your own personal faith & consider again, is your community worth sacrificing for? Time now to speak up!”
And of course, these people seem unable to understand how Trump views them and the rest of the mental defectives who live in GooberWorld with contempt as demonstrated by the first thing he did after being indicted:
He led with a merch drop.
Thursday night, Trump’s campaign put out an email to his supporters asking them to purchase a t-shirt to mark the occasion.
“What better way to show your support for President Trump and our incredible movement during this dark chapter in our nation’s history than to proudly wear the brand-new ‘I Stand with President Trump’ T-shirt.” The T-shirt, emblazoned with “3-30-2023" beneath the statement, is available for a minimum donation of $47.
Mizz Linzey was all in on this when the senator appeared on Sean Hannity’s show last night. “They’re trying to drain him dry. He’s spent more money on lawyers than most people spent on campaigns,” Graham told Hannity’s viewers and live studio audience. “Go tonight. Give the president some money to fight this bullshit! To those who are listening tonight: If you believe Trump is being treated poorly and wrongly, stand up and help the man!” “Thank you,” Hannity replied as applause broke out in the studio.
Hannity of course clearly demonstrates how much that hammerheaded moron has learned from the Dominion law suit. Roger Ailes was right, back when he explained why he had rescued Hannity from his failed political shock jock radio show in Atlanta, “He’s stupid enough to follow orders.”
All this crap from all these people do have an effect on the Lumpenproletariat losers who infest the far right dark web.
Those who keep track of the stirrings in the fever swamps are reporting posts stating Alvin Bragg’s wife and children are “being watched.”
Whether there are any mass demonstrations in New York City next week or not, threats like that from defective fools like these are real.
This morning, District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office sent top House GOP leaders a letter, responding to Jungle Gym Jordan’s letter last weekend, in which he called the investigation an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority” and doubled down on his demand that Bragg testify about any political motivations underpinning his investigation, and provide any communications between his office and the Justice Department — all lines pulled from Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory playbook that he’s published on Truth Social.
Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel, wrote:
“We did not engage in a point-by-point rebuttal of your letter because our Office is legally constrained in how it publicly discusses pending criminal proceedings, as prosecutorial offices are across the country and as you well know. That secrecy is critical to protecting the privacy of the target of any criminal investigation as well as the integrity of the independent grand jury’s proceedings.”
Trump’s email to GooberWorld read:
“With George Soros’ bought-and-paid-for Manhattan D.A. having answered his puppet master’s call to INDICT President Trump for committing NO CRIME, these truly are dark times for our country.”
These truly are dark times for our country.
Peter Baker writes in the New York Times that America faces a character test.
He’s right.
Character tests reveal if you have any.
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It was a grand jury, a group of people, that voted to indict. Bragg is just one man doing his job. But authoritarians never defer to juries or any laws when they're in charge, which, as you point out, Trump actually is in the republican party. In many ways the wailing supporters are more reprehensible than Trump himself because he lacks any self-awareness needed for character, but some of them used to know something about decency before they forfeited their souls to the Sirens' call to power. And their high blown demands in the name of "the American people" are the most annoyingly pretentious and manipulative of all because a majority of us voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Someone might mention to these yahoos that once you’ve found the witch it’s not a hunt anymore. May the Republican Party spend the rest of its time and treasure pissing up this ridiculous rope they’ve conjured for themselves.