Trump's Card

[ursus arctos]

The rate of burnout is incredibly high

[Amor de Cosmos]

We watched HBO's Four Hours at the Capitol last night. If Trump decides to run again it should be required viewing in as many places as possible, as frequently as possible. Live TV just didn't do justice to the insanity.

[Nocturnal Submission]

We watched HBO's Four Hours at the Capitol last night. If Trump decides to run again it should be required viewing in as many places as possible, as frequently as possible. Live TV just didn't do justice to the insanity.

Yes, it was really good. If did an excellent job of stitching together all of the disparate clips of the events that I'd seen into a clear chronological line.

The arrest of the wheelchair-bound Proud Boy seemed a touch OTT.

[ursus arctos]

He's still at it

[beak]

He really is coming out with some of his best work right now, and at a time when many others would have at least half an eye on retirement.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Pathetic as it is, at least it's not what I expected it to be, a dig at Alec Baldwin in the wake of the gun accident.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/jasminmuj/status/1458828590510837760?s=21

[Hot Pepsi]

That’s specifically unconstitutional, isn’t it?

[ursus arctos]

I would say yes, but it isn't a slam dunk.

It is a prima facie violation of the Logan Act text below), but it has been more than a century since anyone has been charged with violating that 18th c statute and there are arguments that the Act itself is unconstitutionally broad.

[Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

[Satchmo Distel]

https://twitter.com/MichaelAShort/status/1459236050723872778

Jonathan Karl: "Were you worried about him during that siege? Were you worried about his safety?"

• Trump: "No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape. But, but, no, I think — "

Karl: "Because you heard those chants — that was terrible. I mean — "

• Trump: "He could have — well, the people were very angry."

Karl: "They were saying 'hang Mike Pence.'"

• Trump: "Because it's common sense, Jon. It's common sense that you're supposed to protect. How can you — if you know a vote is fraudulent, right? — how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress? How can you do that? And I'm telling you: 50/50, it's right down the middle for the top constitutional scholars when I speak to them. Anybody I spoke to — almost all of them at least pretty much agree, and some very much agree with me — because he's passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent. How can you pass a vote that you know is fraudulent? Now, when I spoke to him, I really talked about all of the fraudulent things that happened during the election. I didn't talk about the main point, which is the legislatures did not approve — five states. The legislatures did not approve all of those changes that made the difference between a very easy win for me in the states, or a loss that was very close, because the losses were all very close."

[caja-dglh]

But it wasn't a functioning set of gallows anyway.

[anton pulisov]

To be fair, he's mid verbal diarrhoea when the reporter mentions, "They were saying hang Mike Pence". He's not even listening. He never is. Unless the comment is about Trump himself, he's not listening. Surely they get that by now.

[ursus arctos]

It is an interesting criminal defence

[anton pulisov]

Not guilty by reason of insanity would probably apply to Trump

[Sits]

I assumed that would be the tactic, when the time comes.

[Satchmo Distel]

His admission that the protestors "were very angry" could bite him in the arse as it undermines any subsequence defence of his Jan 6th conduct that he thought "hang Mike Pence" was just rhetorical hyperbole from the crowd. The legal question would become "why were the crowd angry?" and Trump's taped response is they're angry at Pence because "he's passing on a vote that he knows is fraudulent."

[Hot Pepsi]

I would say yes, but it isn't a slam dunk.

It is a prima facie violation of the Logan Act text below), but it has been more than a century since anyone has been charged with violating that 18th c statute and there are arguments that the Act itself is unconstitutionally broad.

I dunno. That seems clear to me.

I vaguely remember Jesse Jackson nearly or actually running afoul of this. I recall my social studies teacher discussion it. But that was 33 years ago and I don’t have my notes.

[ursus arctos]

I assumed that would be the tactic, when the time comes.

A number of his former lawyers (a very large group of people) have said that his vanity would never allow him to enter such a plea

[ursus arctos]

I don't recall Jesse Jackson, but I do remember George McGovern

In 1975, Senators John Sparkman and George McGovern traveled to Cuba and met with officials there. In considering that case, the U.S. Department of State concluded:

The clear intent of this provision [Logan Act] is to prohibit unauthorized persons from intervening in disputes between the United States and foreign governments. Nothing in section 953 [Logan Act], however, would appear to restrict members of the Congress from engaging in discussions with foreign officials in pursuance of their legislative duties under the Constitution. In the case of Senators McGovern and Sparkman the executive branch, although it did not in any way encourage the Senators to go to Cuba, was fully informed of the nature and purpose of their visit, and had validated their passports for travel to that country.

Senator McGovern's report of his discussions with Cuban officials states: "I made it clear that I had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the United States—that I had come to listen and learn ..." (Cuban Realities: May 1975, 94th Cong., 1st Sess., August 1975). Senator Sparkman's contacts with Cuban officials were conducted on a similar basis. The specific issues raised by the Senators (e.g., the Southern Airways case; Luis Tiant's desire to have his parents visit the United States) would, in any event, appear to fall within the second paragraph of Section 953.

Accordingly, the Department does not consider the activities of Senators Sparkman and McGovern to be inconsistent with the stipulations of Section 953.^[11]

[Amor de Cosmos]

Steve Bannon's been charged by the Justice Department for ignoring his subpoena. Seems he'll do anything to keep himself in the headlines, even if it costs him $100,000 or a year in jail.

[S. aureus]

tee-hee

https://twitter.com/TomDreisbach/status/1459285825271709700

[Hot Pepsi]

Apparently, Reagan just threatened Jackson with the Logan act after he met with Castro
and got some prisoners out of Nicaragua, or something like that.

[Satchmo Distel]

Wouldn't Jackson have claimed he was operating in his capacity as a pastor?

Trump is a unique case AFAIK because it's very unusual for a defeated one-term President to be a viable candidate four years later and thus to be constantly in campaign mode, meaning that every public statement is a political stunt.

However I am not sure that any foreign power needs to take Trump seriously when he's three years away from any chance of exercising any power, and there are many variables in play between now and Nov 2024.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1466049311855329280?s=21

The whole thread is worthwhile

[caja-dglh]

Devin Nunes retiring to run Trump Media, the SPAC with the interesting PIPE that is about to mug a bunch of investors for at least a few hundred million bucks, maybe more. It is wilder when a pump-and-dump / completely speculative nonsense is done in such an open fashion and people will still go for it.