Category Archives: Donald Trump

Yesterday, an ex-president who had tried to overturn a democratic election by violence returned to Washington, D.C., to call for law and order. Again and again, the speech reversed reality. The ex-president who had spread an actual big lie against the legitimacy of the 2020 election tried to appropriate the phrase big lie to use against his opponents. The ex-president who had fired an acting FBI director days before that officials pension was due to be vested lamented that police officers might lose their pension for doing their job.

Yet scrape aside the audacity, the self-pity, and the self-aggrandizement, and there was indeed an idea in Donald Trumps speech at a conference hosted by the America First Policy Institute: a sinister idea, but one to take seriously.

Trump sketched out a vision that a new Republican Congress could enact sweeping new emergency powers for the next Republican president. The president would be empowered to disregard state jurisdiction over criminal law. The president would be allowed to push aside a weak, foolish, and stupid governor, and to fire radical and racist prosecutorsracist here meaning anti-white. The president could federalize state National Guards for law-enforcement duties, stop and frisk suspects for illegal weapons, and impose death sentences on drug dealers after expedited trials.

Much of this may be hot air. All of it would require huge legal changes, and some of it would require the 63 conservative majority on the Supreme Court to overturn established precedents. You should listen to Trumps speech less as an agenda of things to be done, and more as an indication of the direction of Trumps thought.

David A. Graham: Trumps 2024 soft launch

The Trump Republican Party faces a strategic problem and a constitutional opportunity. The problem is that under Trump, the Republican Party is a minority force in American life. The opportunity is that an ever more unbalanced federal structure can enable a minority party based in many small states to control the majority population that lives in fewer big states. Abortion rights are one area where Republicans can use this opportunity, but that is not an area that especially interests Donald Trump.

Instead, and as always, the opportunity that most fascinates Trump is the opportunity to use the law as a weapon: a weapon to shield his own wrongdoing, a weapon to wield against his political opponents.

Trumps first term was mitigated by his ignorance, indolence, and incompetence. Since the humiliation of his 2020 defeat, however, Trump has been studying how to use a second chance if he gets one. The one abiding interest of his life, revenge, will provide the impetus. Next time, he will have the wholehearted support of a White House staff selected to enable him. Next time, he will have the backing in Congress of a party remade in his own image. Next time, hell be acting to ensure that his opponents never again get a next time of their own.

He may not succeed, but hell know what hes trying to do.

More here:

Trumps America First Speech Revealed a Plan for Power - The Atlantic

OPINION:

After more than a year of calling him, my predecessor or the other guy President Joe Biden mentioned former President Donald Trump by name this week during a speech about law enforcement. For some pundits, this was used to add fuel to the notion that Democrats are nervous about the former president running again.

But like in the classic Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? things may not be what they seem.

The narrative that Mr. Trump is the only solution or that Democrats are reflexively terrified of his resurgence is at once dubious and silly. Thats not stopping some folks from trying to sell it though.

Americas 45th president clearly remains a tour de force with his hardcore supporters. After the last 18 months, even many Democrats acknowledge that his policies are better for the country. That gives him an opening for a comeback, but its not as wide as some want Americans to believe.

Those close to Mr. Trump either want to drive the perception that hes the invincible, inevitable and only alternative. The numbers though are starting to tell a different story. This months Quinnipiac poll showed 64% of voters dont want to see him make another run, including 27% of Republicans and 68% of independents.

The same New York Times poll that recently showed Mr. Bidens popularity in the tank also showed less than half of Republicans saying Mr. Trump was their preferred choice.

Lesson? Invincibility in politics is an illusion. Selective reading of polls is dangerous.

For Mr. Trump to be truly viable, he and his team need to find a way to drive genuine enthusiasm beyond the adoring crowds. You dont win national elections playing only to your base.

A second Trump term will require him to actually win over moderates, women and even Republicans who grew disenchanted with his style. Despite the collapse of Bidens popularity, Mr. Trump still has plenty of work to do.

The race against Hillary Clinton was a choice between two candidates who were upside down on favorability, forcing voters on the margins to make the less uncomfortable decision.

2024 wont be that kind of a race.

Folks in Mr. Trumps orbit continue to suggest that Democrats and the media will do anything to keep him out of politics. On the contrary, they hope for the exact opposite.

The Jan. 6 hearings, for instance, arent about damaging Mr. Trump enough to prevent him from running for a second term. Democrats are hoping to enrage him enough to ensure hell take the bait and run while making it all but impossible for him to win a general election.

The real impact of the committees work is intended to be the political equivalent of death by a thousand cuts. The one-sided political show trial Republican leaders allowed to happen hasnt even been syndicated into documentaries, television and online advertisements yet.

Democrats know Mr. Trumps entry into the race will box out an exceptional field of other potential candidates and expose significant fissures within the Republican Party. Like a number of Trump-backed Senate candidates, he may lay claim to a solid 30 to 40% of the GOP primary vote, but that means a lot of other voters will still need convincing.

Democrats are terrified that he doesnt run. With unpopular, radical policies driven by the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders and the far left, poorly parroted by the current occupant of the White House, Mr. Trumps style is all they have to give them hope.

This year Democrats are spending money to boost Trump-backed candidates in GOP primaries they consider more beatable in the general election. If they were really afraid of the former presidents political prowess, they wouldnt be spending that money.

Democrats desperately want another campaign where everything is all Trump, all the time, where the GOP is branded as his party and where the press clamor for the first-person social media message with exclamation points that flattens the news cycle like a steamroller.

Its the only way for the left to win. Democrats arent afraid of Mr. Trump. Theyre desperate for him to stage a comeback. Its proof positive just how bereft they are of ideas and talent.

For the Beltway insiders, this game of illusion is captivating, but for the American people, its corrosive.

There are grave risks for all sides here. Republicans and Trump acolytes, in particular, would do well to remember, that just like in Virginia Woolf, illusion is ultimately never more than illusion and reality, however hard to handle, is inescapable.

Tom Basile is the host of America Right Now on Newsmax Television, an author and a former Bush administration official.

Go here to see the original:

Who's afraid of Donald Trump? - Washington Times

Commentary

Midway through viewing The Epoch Times excellent documentary about Jan. 6, I started wonderingand not for the first timewhether we are on the brink of civil war and if an indictment of Donald Trump by Attorney General Merrick Garland would take us over that brink.

Consciously or unconsciously, that appears to be the ultimate goal of the committee, especially now that its being reported that few are paying close attention to it. Such an act would clearly garner that attention, to say the least, in a divided land where the former president has in the vicinity of 100 million supporters, many of them adamant.

It also would pretty much erase the word unconsciously from the previous paragraph, barely there in the first place.

Michael Anton, of The Flight 93 Electionfame, wrote just a few days ago in another epochal essay, They Cant Let Him Back, that begins, The people who really run the United States of America have made it clear that they cant, and wont, if they can help it, allow Donald Trump to be president again.

He also writes, Anti-Trump hysteria, in the final analysis, is not about Trump.

Indeed. This hysteria is about the preservation of a system almost as far from our envisioned original democratic republic as you could go and heading further off, a kind of bureaucratic oligarchy commonly called the administrative state. Its ultimately about preserving thousands, probably hundreds of thousands and possibly millions, of lifetime ruling-class jobs, high and low, or jobs related to them or depending on them.

The vast majority of these jobs, as many already and an increasing number know, shouldnt exist. They do nothing to enhance the life of the average citizen and in many, if not most, cases make it worse.

You might even call it Rule-by-Kafka, especially since the advent of COVID-19, the Czech genius having given us the best descriptions of our current existence in works such as The Trial and more specifically The Metamorphosis, when a man awakens to find he has become a cockroach.

Trump was rather naive at the outset of his administration, unwittingly employing and therefore enabling a surprising number of these tribunes of the Deep State. No longer, if his recent statements are any indication. He seems bent on the destruction of the administrative state and a positive return to the republic for which it stands. Its also likely that Gov. Ron DeSantis, having observed the situation well, would behave similarly.

What we could be seeing in the next months is an indictment of Trump, based on findings of the Jan. 6 committee, accompanied by, within weeks either way as a palliative, some kind of indictment of Hunter Biden that would almost certainly come in the form of a settlement. That settlement, given, as Kafka well knew, the behavior of those who control your lives, would include the agreed-upon permanent sealing of documents, including laptop contents, possibly their destruction as well, by all sides, flushing concrete evidence of Biden Family legal and arguably traitorous doings, presidential and otherwise, in China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and wherever else down the proverbial memory hole.

Would that palliative be enough to avoid civil war and get the masses to acquiesce?

If there is a civil war, we can blame, in part, Liz Cheney (somewhat of a comedown from Archduke Franz Ferdinand) whose obvious overwhelming motivationunremitting vengeance for a slight to her fatherwould get an understanding nod from Sophocles and Euripides, both of whom wrote magnificentElectra plays.

Watching the documentary also sent my mind back more than a decade when, for PJTV, I went to Stanford University to video a lecture by the historian/classicist Victor Davis Hanson, well known to almost all readers here. I recall Victor saying something obviously true that I had never thought of before and made me feel a little dumbthat war was the basic human condition and we were living through an exceptionally rare moment of peace or semi-peace.

That the current Ukraine war is relatively contained comports with Hansons observation.

But will it last?

So, to channel Herman Kahn of thermonuclear war fame, it may be time to think about the unthinkable. Thomas Jefferson certainly did when he wrote in a letter to James Madison, I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

He also wrote in a letter to William Smith: God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion

Of course, those were the days when weaponry was but bows and arrows compared to what we have today.

War has a way of sneaking up on you. As Leon Trotsky is reputed to have put it, You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. This quote from the famous communist is oft-repeated because, unlike much of his propaganda, it has the ring of truth.

Events spin out of control. Think what an insane-sounding moment in history it would appear if Liz Cheneys fury at Trumps insulting her father about the Iraq War turned out to be the igniting point of a second American civil war. (Insane-sounding, yet straight out of Greek tragedy.) And yet where would the Jan. 6 committee be without the cover of Liz, the putative Republican? Would it even exist?

The second American civil war may already have begun with the arrests of Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon because of their refusal to speak with the committee. These are initial shots across the bow. Bannons relationship with Trump has sometimes been equivocal, but Navarro was his virtual right-hand man, indispensable in how he dealt with China.

Moreover, the two most recent Democratic administrations appear to have been making preparations for such an internal fight by appointing the so-called woke to the highest ranks of the military. This makes no sense if you think about our well-armed adversaries in China and Russia, who must have rolled their eyes in untold delight at such a strategy, even more so after the Afghanistan debacle. What a gift from what was once the strongest military in the world.

But if you think about it in terms of civil war, if you think that the real concern of our present government, is internal, it starts to compute, as do recent activities of our Justice Department, FBI, CIA, and so forth.

Which side would the military be on is definitely a Kahn-style unthinkable question. Its also a hard one to answer. Traditionally, the military would be on the side of the people, especially since its ranks generally consist of the working class young. But considering much of its leadership, it would likely be split, though its unclear in what percentages. A war within the military is a distinct possibility. Similarly, there would be wars among the police.

Whatever the case, given that this wouldnt be nearly as much a NorthSouth war as the first onesince many red enclaves exist in blue states and many blue enclaves, particularly in the cities, exist in red statesand given that more families themselves are riven, everything is unpredictable.

Perhaps its time to give an American separationseceding intelligentlymore serious thought, heartbreaking as it is to contemplate. Maybe if we separate, we can learn to live together, after a time anyway. The Israelis and the Arab world are edging closer together. (Yes, they have a common enemy in Iran, but still )

In any case, Civil War II is horrifying to contemplate, with potentially more corpses than the first time around, when an estimated 620,000 men died. That was out of a paltry 19.2 million population. We are currently well over 300 million. Do the mathand add women who would now more likely be participantsand the numbers are pretty mortifying to calculate.

Continuing to think the unthinkable, doing that Kahn thing, unfortunately also encompasses considering the final result, if we are to be in any way complete.

Pondering this while driving across Middle Tennessee the other day to visit a friend who lives in a rural area, gazing out at the endless farms with the strong men and women working the landwe can call them unabashedly The PatriotsI knew they would win in the end, bitter as it would be. They are godly, they are brave, they would persevere, and they are already armed and know well how to use those weapons.

After all, if we are but Kafkas cockroach, its worth remembering cockroaches have been around for at least 300 million years and are showing no signs of extinction.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Follow

Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, co-founder of PJMedia, and now, editor-at-large for The Epoch Times. His most recent books are The GOAT (fiction) and I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasnt Already (nonfiction). He can be found on GETTR and Parler @rogerlsimon.

More:

Would the Indictment of Donald Trump Lead to Civil War? - The Epoch Times

We regretfully interrupt this typically joyful moment of time on the NFL calendar, as teams file back into their buildings for training camps, to ask a difficult question that may have been lingering in the back of our collective minds, one we did our best to keep dormant until now.

The following is not a political endorsement or ideological finger-pointing. We are not rehashing the previous term or delving into issues of morality. There will be plenty of time and space for that later.

Instead, this is a question of preparedness, of fitness. Its a question for coaches and general managers and player agents andoverwhelminglyteam owners. What did we learn from 2016 to 20? Lets assume everyone gets a free pass and that no Republican, Democrat or Freak Power party member could have predicted what shape the world would take under a Trump presidency.

Susan Walsh/AP

Is the NFL ready for the return of Donald Trump?

Can the league ensure it will not again be a cowering minnow trying to keep itself from the open mouth of a passing-by shark, like when it altered its national anthem policy in the wake of criticism from the former president? During Trumps campaign and presidency, he successfully convinced supporters that a television ratings dip across the board (thanks to the rise of streaming services and other cable-cutting mechanisms) was proof that fewer people were watching the NFL because of Colin Kaepernick. Actually, it was because of Trump and his now infamous speech in which he implored NFL owners to fire kneeling players, saying: Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out! Hes fired. Hes fired! It was a sleight of hand, for sure. It was also a successful tool to promote his cause and stoke his base.

Midterm elections are 103 days away, which means we are mere footsteps from the start of another charged bit of mudslinging, and Trump will surely be on the campaign trail for his desired candidates. We are going to have amplified for us every potentially divisive issue imaginable. We are going to be told that if you believe in X, you cannot vote for Y, and so on and so on. We are going to argue about world conflict, public health and safety, womens rights, economics, gas prices, immigration, racial inequality and the state of our country as a free and fair society. All of those issues will be neatly skewed and distilled for us by our preferred news outlets, bringing us to the public octagon ready to throw hands.

Kaepernicks silent protest of racial inequality and police brutality became a national flash point.

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

NFL players have become a vehicle for discussion, awareness and collective action, all of which took some teams by surprise six years ago. I remember talking to one coach who feared for players demonstrating during the national anthem, not because of any ideological difference, but because there was nothing they could do to protect the players if that teams owner wanted them gone. The temperature in team facilities was higher than we understood at the time.

If we remember correctly, there was so much awkwardness. Before teams became reluctant, corporate-style partners to various progressive causes, they ranged from outright impediment to or strategic ignorance of any potentially divisive action.

Pointing out that President Joe Biden and former president Trump are stylistically different should not be controversial. Indeed, Biden hinged the hopes of his campaign on a presidency that would rein in the noise instead of amplify it. His only brief shoulder brush with the NFL so far came from a quip about Aaron Rodgerss vaccination status, which Rodgers loudly rebuked in a pre-playoff interview with ESPN. It also shouldnt be controversial to point out that Trump, more than any president in recent history, pulls from the pop culture universe in an effort to help him craft more relatable points. This is how Kaepernicks silent protest of racial inequality and police brutality became a national flash point, with Trump using the demonstration as a way to promote a campaign that would frame your opinion on law enforcement tactics and practices as a matter of good and evil, of pro-country and anti-country.

While Kaepernicks efforts have largely softened societys stanceathletes demonstrating, speaking out or raising awareness of issues has become commonplace nowthey also represented some modicum of success for Trump. Owners were supposedly buried under mountains of fan mail. Kaepernick became unsignable. The idea of removing politics from sportswhich really meant removing the kind of politics I disagree with from sportsbecame a popular battle cry.

Scroll to Continue

While not a direct parallel, the tactic seems to be standard politically now (and probably, in some lesser sense, always was). Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is battling the Disney corporation (firmly in bed with the NFL as a content partner and owner of ESPN) over its opposition to the statesParental Rights In Educationor 'Dont Say Gay'bill, in what is largely a culture war meant to appease voters in a Trumpian style.

What could Trump latch onto now?

Sports are an important part of the former presidents daily life and consumption habits. Despite pleas from the families of 9/11 victims, Trump spent the past week lauding LIV Golf, a Saudi-backed enterprise looking to dismantle the PGA and steal all its top talent, and urging PGA tour players to take the startups money before an inevitable merger.

The rhetoric will become more heated the closer we get to Nov. 8 and the closer Trump comes to finding his way back to mainstream social media and a stranglehold on the daily news cycle, especially if he decides to run for president in 24. In recent months, the congressional investigation of Commanders owner Daniel Snyder has turned into outright political theater, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell being asked by Republican senators about the teams fine of defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio for referring to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as a dust-up, and about the NFLs banning of Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy from covering its events. (Goodell said he wasnt familiar with the latter issue).

The NFL is an extraordinarily popular microcosm of society, which means our problems inside these walls are some version of the problems the country faces at large. There are high-profile issues of racial inequality making their way through the courts in relation to the NFL, via the Brian Flores suit. Trump could find sympathy for the similarly raw Jon Gruden, who saw his coaching career come to an end over leaked documents revealing racist, anti-LGBTQ and misogynistic language. (Trump has repeatedly made an issue of leaked documents and utterances in meetings during his presidency, apparently believing the leaks and not the content of the leaked material was the problem.) The NFL is investigating credible accusations of tanking amid a gambling boon, and we all know how much the former president enjoys pointing out an institution he finds rigged.

Player protests became a common occurrence after Trump implored owners to fire kneeling players.

David E. Klutho/Sports Illustrated

In 2020, Falcons owner Arthur Blank topped all fellow owners with more than $1.1 million in donations heading to Democratic causes. The financial support for Trump waned noticeably in comparison to the 16 election cycle, with retired Raiders guard Richie Incognito personally donating nearly as much to the outgoing president directly ($11,549) as most all other NFL personnel combined ($14,738).

This certainly doesnt shield the NFL from any criticism. Trump was, and always will be, a business person with confrontational tendencies. If he views the league as against him, he wont hesitate to yank it into this culture war.

We often wonder whether the NFL is evil, incompetent or, perhaps, still incredibly surprised and incapable of grasping its mammoth reach within society. The last of the three might be true, given the leagues consistent inability to see beyond the financial recourse of its actions. Rarely does the NFL heed warnings. However, the rise of Trumpism is another real speedbump (others being player concussions and domestic violence) for the league amid its massive climb to American Sports Monolith. What happens, after two years of strategizing with a broader political network, a mainstream party supporting his every move and a political war chest greater than both the Republican and Democratic parties?

The NFL will be fine, ultimately. It is too big to truly fail. But that doesnt mean the league will enjoy sweating it out when that status is, even momentarily, in jeopardy. Perhaps its time to make a plan.

Read More Daily Covers:

Ranking the Best QB Moves of the 2022 NFL Offseason The Unbreakable Bond of Stefon and Trevon Diggs Whos Still Got Milk? Oh, You Look Like the Rock: Finding Rockys Family

Excerpt from:

Is the NFL Ready for Donald Trumps Return? - Sports Illustrated

A former president took a shot at another former president when asked a question on a late-night talk show.

What Happened: In an appearance on last weeks Late Late Show With James Corden, former President Bill Clinton was a featured guest.

The economy, international relations and aliens were among the key topics the duo talked about.

Corden also asked Clinton to take part in a segment called Ask a President, which hadmembers of the audience and staff ask the former president questions.

The show, which aired on Paramount Global PARA PARAA owned channel CBS, saw Clinton answer what makes a good leader, what plant-based milk is the best and if we could see a woman president.

Clinton answered yes that we will likely see a woman president, a Latino president and a gay president over the coming years.

Clinton also shared that he drinks almond milk, but it is vodka that is his favorite plant-based drink.

For a question aboutfictional presidents, he answered: I like Tony Goldwyn, I like Martin Sheen, I liked Michael Douglas, I loved Harrison Ford and Morgan Freeman and Donald Trump."

Related Link: 2024 President Election Betting Odds: Is Donald Trump Or Joe Biden The Current Favorite

Why Its Important: Trump served as the 45th president of the U.S. In the 2016 election, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, the wife of Bill Clinton.

There is a long standing feud between Hillary Clinton and Trump, which likely led to the comments by Clinton on the late night talk show. The rest of the names singled out by Clinton portrayed presidents in movies or on television shows.

Hillary Clinton has ruled out another run for president of the U.S. Neither Trump or current PresidentJoe Biden, the last two presidents, have announced their intentions for the 2024 election, but both are expected to run.

Trump owned Trump Media & Technology Group is working to become a publicly traded company with a pending SPAC merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp DWAC.

Photo:Anthony Correia(Clinton) andEvan El-Amin(Trump) via Shutterstock

Original publication: 2022-06-21

See the original post:

Bill Clinton Takes A Shot At Donald Trump: Here's What He Said - Benzinga

For many, Tuesday night was an evening of contrasts. There was a calm, measured attorney general assuring the public that the Department of Justice will hold accountable anyone found criminally responsible for the events of Jan. 6, 2021, or for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. When NBC News Lester Holt asked Merrick Garland whether that approach might even apply to former President Donald Trump even if Trump were to announce hes running for president again Garland repeated the refrain that no one is above the law.

Garland remained expressionless while never showing his hand, the consummate poker player.

Garland, likely aware that his every word and movement would be scrutinized for clues, remained expressionless while never showing his hand, the consummate poker player. Later that same night, The Washington Post reported, to much fanfare, that it has seen some of the cards Garland is holding and it sure looks like the Department of Justice is investigating Trump.

While Tuesday night may have been confounding to some, for me, it was an example of how things are supposed to work. Prosecutors and media outlets play different roles and move at different speeds as both seek to ferret out the truth.

Its been so long since we had a by-the-book attorney general that many Americans still dont quite understand if theyre supposed to be encouraged or disappointed by what they heard from Garland Tuesday evening. Since Trump left office, many have demanded swift justice for the man they hold responsible for assaulting our democracy. The pressure on Garland to move faster, say something, arrest somebody, anybody, close to Trump intensified when some members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol began expressing their own frustration with him. But Garland wasnt going to cave to public pressure. Thats not how a healthy Justice Department is supposed to do things. The department is supposed to follow the facts and the law not the op-ed pages.

The many people demanding immediate action from Garland can be forgiven if theyve forgotten how justice and the rule of law are supposed to be executed. After all, those people saw one of Trumps attorneys general, William Barr, shamelessly jump in front of the release of the Mueller Special Counsel Report with his own press conference that included a fabrication-filled four-page summary. They saw that same attorney general appoint special counsel John Durham to try to destroy the original investigation into Russian interference with Trumps campaign even after the DOJs own inspector general determined the case was properly predicated. And, they saw that same lackey attorney general mislead the public about the perceived perils of mail-in balloting.

Now, we have a Justice Department thats back to methodically focusing on facts. We have an attorney general who wont call a press conference to tell us his opinion about investigative findings or even to tell us that an investigation exists. That may be frustrating for some people, especially those who believed that if there were an investigation, that we would have already seen leaks indicating an investigation. Thats OK. Thats how the Justice Department is supposed to work its not supposed to leak.

People demanding immediate action from Garland can be forgiven if theyve forgotten how justice and the rule of law are supposed to be executed.

Garlands careful approach contrasted with the crashing wave of reporting that soon drowned out his quiet comments. The reporting began Tuesday night with The Washington Posts news that the DOJ had called at least two high-ranking aides to Vice President Mike Pence into a grand jury and questioned them for hours about Trumps actions related to the alternate electors scheme. That report was quickly followed by reporting from NBC News that essentially corroborated the DOJs interest in Trump. The New York Times weighed in with further confirmation. The far-right, including an editor at large at Breitbart News, immediately cried foul about The Washington Posts scoop and claimed that someone at Justice must be leaking. Yet, that report made no mention of DOJ sources. To me it sounded much more like the information came from either the grand jury witnesses or people close to them.

The media doing its job pursuing the facts and sometimes loudly reporting the news with breaking news banners is just as essential as the Justice Department quietly and methodically doing its job. This may seem like a confounding contrast, even a conflict. But thats how things are supposed to be. Its all part of a healthy democracy.

Garland previously responded to questions about the perception that the Justice Department is moving too slowly in its investigation of Jan. 6 by saying, We have to get this right. So far, he is.

Frank Figliuzzi is an MSNBC columnist anda national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. He was the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, where he served 25 years as a special agent and directed all espionage investigations across the government. He is the author of "The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence."

See more here:

Merrick Garland dropping hints about Donald Trump would be out of line - MSNBC

Country

United States of AmericaUS Virgin IslandsUnited States Minor Outlying IslandsCanadaMexico, United Mexican StatesBahamas, Commonwealth of theCuba, Republic ofDominican RepublicHaiti, Republic ofJamaicaAfghanistanAlbania, People's Socialist Republic ofAlgeria, People's Democratic Republic ofAmerican SamoaAndorra, Principality ofAngola, Republic ofAnguillaAntarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)Antigua and BarbudaArgentina, Argentine RepublicArmeniaArubaAustralia, Commonwealth ofAustria, Republic ofAzerbaijan, Republic ofBahrain, Kingdom ofBangladesh, People's Republic ofBarbadosBelarusBelgium, Kingdom ofBelizeBenin, People's Republic ofBermudaBhutan, Kingdom ofBolivia, Republic ofBosnia and HerzegovinaBotswana, Republic ofBouvet Island (Bouvetoya)Brazil, Federative Republic ofBritish Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)British Virgin IslandsBrunei DarussalamBulgaria, People's Republic ofBurkina FasoBurundi, Republic ofCambodia, Kingdom ofCameroon, United Republic ofCape Verde, Republic ofCayman IslandsCentral African RepublicChad, Republic ofChile, Republic ofChina, People's Republic ofChristmas IslandCocos (Keeling) IslandsColombia, Republic ofComoros, Union of theCongo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, People's Republic ofCook IslandsCosta Rica, Republic ofCote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of theCyprus, Republic ofCzech RepublicDenmark, Kingdom ofDjibouti, Republic ofDominica, Commonwealth ofEcuador, Republic ofEgypt, Arab Republic ofEl Salvador, Republic ofEquatorial Guinea, Republic ofEritreaEstoniaEthiopiaFaeroe IslandsFalkland Islands (Malvinas)Fiji, Republic of the Fiji IslandsFinland, Republic ofFrance, French RepublicFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaFrench Southern TerritoriesGabon, Gabonese RepublicGambia, Republic of theGeorgiaGermanyGhana, Republic ofGibraltarGreece, Hellenic RepublicGreenlandGrenadaGuadaloupeGuamGuatemala, Republic ofGuinea, RevolutionaryPeople's Rep'c ofGuinea-Bissau, Republic ofGuyana, Republic ofHeard and McDonald IslandsHoly See (Vatican City State)Honduras, Republic ofHong Kong, Special Administrative Region of ChinaHrvatska (Croatia)Hungary, Hungarian People's RepublicIceland, Republic ofIndia, Republic ofIndonesia, Republic ofIran, Islamic Republic ofIraq, Republic ofIrelandIsrael, State ofItaly, Italian RepublicJapanJordan, Hashemite Kingdom ofKazakhstan, Republic ofKenya, Republic ofKiribati, Republic ofKorea, Democratic People's Republic ofKorea, Republic ofKuwait, State ofKyrgyz RepublicLao People's Democratic RepublicLatviaLebanon, Lebanese RepublicLesotho, Kingdom ofLiberia, Republic ofLibyan Arab JamahiriyaLiechtenstein, Principality ofLithuaniaLuxembourg, Grand Duchy ofMacao, Special Administrative Region of ChinaMacedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic ofMadagascar, Republic ofMalawi, Republic ofMalaysiaMaldives, Republic ofMali, Republic ofMalta, Republic ofMarshall IslandsMartiniqueMauritania, Islamic Republic ofMauritiusMayotteMicronesia, Federated States ofMoldova, Republic ofMonaco, Principality ofMongolia, Mongolian People's RepublicMontserratMorocco, Kingdom ofMozambique, People's Republic ofMyanmarNamibiaNauru, Republic ofNepal, Kingdom ofNetherlands AntillesNetherlands, Kingdom of theNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNicaragua, Republic ofNiger, Republic of theNigeria, Federal Republic ofNiue, Republic ofNorfolk IslandNorthern Mariana IslandsNorway, Kingdom ofOman, Sultanate ofPakistan, Islamic Republic ofPalauPalestinian Territory, OccupiedPanama, Republic ofPapua New GuineaParaguay, Republic ofPeru, Republic ofPhilippines, Republic of thePitcairn IslandPoland, Polish People's RepublicPortugal, Portuguese RepublicPuerto RicoQatar, State ofReunionRomania, Socialist Republic ofRussian FederationRwanda, Rwandese RepublicSamoa, Independent State ofSan Marino, Republic ofSao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic ofSaudi Arabia, Kingdom ofSenegal, Republic ofSerbia and MontenegroSeychelles, Republic ofSierra Leone, Republic ofSingapore, Republic ofSlovakia (Slovak Republic)SloveniaSolomon IslandsSomalia, Somali RepublicSouth Africa, Republic ofSouth Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsSpain, Spanish StateSri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic ofSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre and MiquelonSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesSudan, Democratic Republic of theSuriname, Republic ofSvalbard & Jan Mayen IslandsSwaziland, Kingdom ofSweden, Kingdom ofSwitzerland, Swiss ConfederationSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwan, Province of ChinaTajikistanTanzania, United Republic ofThailand, Kingdom ofTimor-Leste, Democratic Republic ofTogo, Togolese RepublicTokelau (Tokelau Islands)Tonga, Kingdom ofTrinidad and Tobago, Republic ofTunisia, Republic ofTurkey, Republic ofTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos IslandsTuvaluUganda, Republic ofUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited Kingdom of Great Britain & N. IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

Read more from the original source:

Opinion: Donald Trump is an evil man | Letters to the Editor | postregister.com - Post Register

Well, I made it. I am 100 years old today. I wake up every morning grateful to be alive.

Reaching my own personal centennial is cause for a bit of reflection on my first century and on what the next century will bring for the people and country I love. To be honest, Im a bit worried that I may be in better shape than our democracy is.

I was deeply troubled by the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 by supporters of former President Donald Trump attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. Those concerns have only grown with every revelation about just how far Mr. Trump was willing to go to stay in office after being rejected by voters and about his ongoing efforts to install loyalists in positions with the power to sway future elections.

I dont take the threat of authoritarianism lightly. As a young man, I dropped out of college when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. I flew more than 50 missions in a B-17 bomber to defeat fascism consuming Europe. I am a flag-waving believer in truth, justice and the American way, and I dont understand how so many people who call themselves patriots can support efforts to undermine our democracy and our Constitution. It is alarming.

At the same time, I have been moved by the courage of the handful of conservative Republican lawmakers, lawyers and former White House staffers who resisted Mr. Trumps bullying. They give me hope that Americans can find unexpected common ground with friends and family whose politics differ but who are not willing to sacrifice core democratic principles.

Encouraging that kind of conversation was a goal of mine when we began broadcasting All in the Family in 1971. The kinds of topics Archie Bunker and his family argued about issues that were dividing Americans from one another, such as racism, feminism, homosexuality, the Vietnam War and Watergate were certainly being talked about in homes and families. They just werent being acknowledged on television.

For all his faults, Archie loved his country and he loved his family, even when they called him out on his ignorance and bigotries. If Archie had been around 50 years later, he probably would have watched Fox News. He probably would have been a Trump voter. But I think that the sight of the American flag being used to attack Capitol Police would have sickened him. I hope that the resolve shown by Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and their commitment to exposing the truth, would have won his respect.

It is remarkable to consider that television the medium for which I am most well-known did not even exist when I was born, in 1922. The internet came along decades later, and then social media. We have seen that each of these technologies can be put to destructive use spreading lies, sowing hatred and creating the conditions for authoritarianism to take root. But that is not the whole story. Innovative technologies create new ways for us to express ourselves, and, I hope, will allow humanity to learn more about itself and better understand one anothers ideas, failures and achievements. These technologies have also been used to create connection, community and platforms for the kind of ideological sparring that might have drawn Archie to a keyboard. I can only imagine the creative and constructive possibilities that technological innovation might offer us in solving some of our most intractable problems.

I often feel disheartened by the direction that our politics, courts and culture are taking. But I do not lose faith in our country or its future. I remind myself how far we have come. I think of the brilliantly creative people I have had the pleasure to work with in entertainment and politics, and at People for the American Way, a progressive group I co-founded to defend our freedoms and build a country in which all people benefit from the blessings of liberty. Those encounters renew my belief that Americans will find ways to build solidarity on behalf of our values, our country and our fragile planet.

Those closest to me know that I try to stay forward-focused. Two of my favorite words are over and next. Its an attitude that has served me well through a long life of ups and downs, along with a deeply felt appreciation for the absurdity of the human condition.

Reaching this birthday with my health and wits mostly intact is a privilege. Approaching it with loving family, friends and creative collaborators to share my days has filled me with a gratitude I can hardly express.

This is our century, dear reader, yours and mine. Let us encourage one another with visions of a shared future. And let us bring all the grit and openheartedness and creative spirit we can muster to gather together and build that future.

Norman Lear produced All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons and Good Times, among other groundbreaking television shows. He is a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honors. An activist and philanthropist, he co-founded and serves on the board of the advocacy organization People for the American Way.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

See the original post:

Opinion | Norman Lear: What Archie Bunker Would Have Thought of Donald Trump and Jan. 6 - The New York Times

One, a 74-year-old widow, voted Republican for her late husband. She now realizes that was not the thing to do, her lawyer said.

State investigators also found no merit to Trumps claims that thousands of underage teenagers and others who were not registered to vote had cast ballots.

The FBI also investigated Trumps false claims of fraud at State Farm Arena, where he told Raffensperger maybe 18,000 fake ballots had been brought out of what looked to be suitcases or trunksbut they werent in voter boxes.

BJay Pak, Trumps U.S. Attorney based in Atlanta, told the Jan. 6th committee in sworn testimony that his office and the FBI interviewed State Farm witnesses themselves and concluded that there was nothing to substantiate anything Trump was claiming about fraud there. Also, the suitcases Trump talked about were, in fact, ballot boxes.

Bobby Christine, Paks replacement as U.S. Attorney after Pak resigned under pressure from Trump, agreed and closed the State Farm investigation, telling his staff of the allegations on a phone call, Theres just nothing to them. Theres no there there.

More false claims spun off more state investigations. In one, the head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told the Georgia Republican Party that there was never enough evidence presented to pursue Trumps allegations of ballot harvesting.

The State Board of Elections agreed and voted unanimously in May to dismiss claims, including one from the movie, 2000 Mules.

Just because something looks compelling doesnt mean its accurate, said Matt Mashburn, the Republican chairman of the State Election Board.

Trumps lies about election fraud in Georgia are too numerous for one column. But I hope youll go back and read the AJCs years-plus worth of reporting on Trumps disproven claims of everything from ballot shredding, fake ballots, hacked voting machines, out-of-state voters, ballot harvesting. Different GOP groups and actors came forward with accusations but none ever produced evidence to back up their suspicions.

At the federal level, the Jan. 6th committee hearings have shown over and over that Trumps own staff and cabinet knew Trumps claims were baseless, too, and told him so.

There was Trumps Attorney General, Bill Barr, describing the many times he told the president and his outside lawyers the theories he was spreading about winning the election were nonsense.

I told them that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time and that it was doing grave, grave disservice to the country, Barr testified.

Cassidy Hutchinson, one of the youngest aides in the White House, described her horror watching the Capitol violently overrun on Jan. 6 because of Trumps dishonesty.

It was unpatriotic. It was un-American, she said. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.

If it all seems like Im repeating myself, I am. I have written many times that the election was not stolen.

Professional federal and state investigations and more than 60 different court cases have proven thats the case.

And if youve lost track of the official tally by now, the 2020 election wasnt even close. Joe Biden won the White House by more than 7 million votes, 4.4% of the popular vote, and 74 electoral votes.

But true or not, Trumps lies about the election not only spawned the attack on the Capitol, they also led to death threats for election workers and elected officials across the country, including in Georgia.

Just as dangerous, theyve eroded peoples trust, not just in their own government, but in each other.

Mark Niesse reported this week that Republican activists are working to disqualify thousands of voter registrations theyve deemed to be suspicious.

Language in SB 202, the states election law overhaul passed as Trump continued to claim the Georgia election was stolen, empowered any individual citizen to challenge as many registrations of their neighbors as they like. Plenty of people are taking their opportunity to do just that.

Trumps claims were false, but the effect theyve had on the country has sadly been very real.

And yet, almost like clockwork on Friday night, the former president was back in Arizona on a rally stage lying about the 2020 election again.

The election was rigged and stolen and now our country is being systematically destroyed because of it, Trump said.

I ran twice, I won twice, and I did much better the second time than I did the firstand now, I may have to do it again.

The crowd roared for Trump when he said it. Incredibly, they still seemed to believe every word.

See the rest here:

OPINION: Donald Trump is back, and he's still lying about the last election - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Donald Trump took aim at the Jan. 6 committee during a speech in Arizona Friday evening, painting the ongoing investigation into his actions on the day of the Capitol insurrection as a conspiratorial witch hunt designed to permanently blacklist him from politics.

If I announced that I was not going to run any longer for political office, the persecution of Donald Trump would immediately stop, he said. Theyre coming after me because Im standing up for you.

The former presidents appearance at the so-called Save America rally in Prescott Valley was intended to build support for a handful of Trump-endorsed candidates in Arizona including gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and senate candidate Blake Masters but rapidly devolved into the type of meandering, ego-stroking affair emblematic of the Trump presidency.

Taking the stage over an hour late, Trump delivered a rambling speech focused primarily on touting his self-proclaimed achievements while in office and perpetuating the unfounded narrative that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 election. The former president also zeroed in on the Biden administration and Democrats, pushing the popular conservative dog whistles du jour rising gas prices, border control, critical race theory, LGBT awareness in schools, voter fraud, and (amusingly) the war on Christmas. He also falsely claimed to have completed the border wall, a statement that was met by applause from the crowd.

It wasnt until nearly two hours had elapsed before Trump finally mentioned the Jan. 6 proceedings. Where does it stop? Where does it end? he said of the committees investigation. Never forget: Everything this corrupt establishment is doing to me is all about preserving their power and control over the American people, for whatever reason. They want to damage me in any form so I can no longer represent you.

At one point, Masters joined Trump at the podium, stating the former president literally saved this country a curious claim considering the committees latest findings showed Trump willingly and deliberately refused to take any action during the siege of the Capitol, despite repeated pleas from White House staff and other officials.

Trump then railed against his former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, one of the committees witnesses, accusing her of being an attention-seeking hypocrite. I watched this hoax last night where this young lady said, Oh, Im so heartbroken,' he said, referring to Matthews appearance during the July 22 primetime hearing. But, three weeks after January 6th, she wrote us a letter saying, Oh, I loved working for the President. Hes so great.'

He also attacked the credibility of Cassidy Hutchinson, the aide to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows whose bombshell testimony before the committee gave damning insight into the inner workings of the Trump administration in the days leading up to Jan. 6. I mean, Im the President of the United States. Can you imagine this made up story? he said while recounting the now-infamous incident where he allegedly lunged at a Secret Service agent. Its total fiction.

Trump appeared most enraged not by the investigation itself, but by the unflattering anecdotes shared during hearings that revealed his penchant for childish temper tantrums. They have me throwing food. I dont throw food in the White House. I dont throw food anywhere. I eat the food, which is a problem, he said, referring to a segment of Hutchinsons testimony during which she revealed Trump staffers witnessed the president throwing a plate of food at the wall in a fit of rage. I have too much respect for the White House.

The beleaguered ex-president spent the rest of the speech emphasizing his self-imposed martyrdom I had a very good and luxurious life before entering the wonderful world of politics, he said peddling sexism and transphobia, and declaring war against the education system. Its time to finally and completely smash the lefts corrupt education cartel, he said. Our children are captives to unhinged, Marxist educators. Where do they come from?

Yet, for all the talk of protecting children from liberal boogeymen, Trump failed to mention the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas let alone any of the recent mass shootings that have taken place across the country this summer. (He did, however, tout the Arizona candidates commitment to protecting the Second Amendment.)

The House committee will resume hearings in September after a brief recess and, as members of the committee have previously suggested, the investigation is far from over. We are receiving new information every single day, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said during a recent appearance on CNN. You will definitely be hearing from the committee again.

Visit link:

Donald Trump Blasts Jan. 6 Committee 'Persecution' at Arizona Rally ...