HOW ARE AMERICANS REACTING TO THE VERDICT?
“In interviews with nearly 2,000 voters who previously took New York Times/Siena College surveys, President Biden appeared to gain slightly in the aftermath of Mr. Trump’s conviction last week for falsifying business records,” NYT’s Nate Cohn and Ruth Igielnik write. “The group favored Mr. Trump by three points when originally interviewed in April and May, but this week they backed him by only one point.”
While the dip for Trump isn’t quite a cliff, “losing 7 percent of your supporters can be decisive. In recent polls, Mr. Biden either leads or is within two points of Mr. Trump in states and districts worth the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. A potentially crucial sliver of Mr. Trump’s former supporters — 3 percent — now told us they’ll back Mr. Biden, while another 4 percent say they’re now undecided.” (Politico)
Most Republicans are standing by their man. But 10% of Republicans, and 25% of independents, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll are now less likely to vote for Trump. (Axios)
Many Americans have not yet fully tuned in to the election. Many potential voters still fantasize about different candidates when it comes to the presidency. There are two debates between Biden and Trump scheduled: the first on June 27 hosted by CNN and the second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC. They should help to end the wishful thinking and uncertainty in the minds of American voters about their choice in November. There is a binary choice here: Trump or Biden.
What kind of country do you want? The choice is stark. The difference could not be clearer: A win for Biden means a continuation of our democracy. Trump, on the other hand, has vowed to turn the country into a dictatorship with him as the authoritarian leader. He and the MAGA Republicans have vowed to pursue revenge and retribution.
TRUMP’S CONCLUSION ABOUT THE TRIAL IS A WARPED VIEW OF WHAT HAPPENED
A jury of 12 ordinary people heard the evidence in the Manhattan election interference case against Trump and decided he was guilty on all 34 counts. The witnesses who testified at Trump’s trial had all formerly been devoted to him: they were people like Hope Hicks, David Pecker and Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen. These witnesses were on the inside of the campaign and wanted Trump to win the presidency. They are not Democrats or the “deep state” or Trump’s enemies.
The federal government and specifically Joe Biden had nothing whatsoever to do with the indictment and prosecution of the case Trump just lost. Alvin Bragg, the State’s Attorney in New York, was the state prosecutor who decided to investigate and charge the case against Trump based on the strong evidence that was obtained from both witnesses and documents that exposed what Trump did to get elected president. The facts are clear, which is why the jury came back with a verdict so quickly.
Trump paid to silence Stormy Daniels to keep his prior bad acts from voters because he wanted to get elected and if this information had gotten out he would have lost the election, at least that is what his campaign believed as testified to by witnesses in this trial. Trump entered into a conspiracy with the National Enquirer to hide the truth which violated federal laws that require campaign transparency. Trump also caused Michael Cohen, his fixer, to fabricate state financial documents in the process- also a crime. Trump claims he is being unfairly persecuted instead of fairly prosecuted. He claims the charges are made up or that the prosecutors don’t even know what the charges are. But that is not correct. He is not alone when it comes to piggybacking charges to reach a felony under the laws of New York. The use of a federal law to elevate a state crime of falsifying financial documents to a felony under New York law has been charged close to 10,000 times since 2015.
But Trump is outraged and has gone on a rampage. He’s lashing out and vowing revenge against high profile Democrats including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, enlisting his supporters and allies to go on attack mode on his behalf. They are complying. This is very ugly. But it is predictable behavior for Trump and his MAGA allies. When does Trump ever take responsibility for anything he does? Instead, he claims he is being persecuted. He is aggrieved. He is wronged. He is like Mother Teresa or Jesus suffering for his followers. Naw. Maybe he’s MAGA Theresa. He is not sacrificing his life for his followers. He is ginning up his followers to get mad and rise up to threaten other people on his behalf.
WHAT HAPPENED TO TRUMP-WORLD AFTER THE CONVICTION
After his conviction on 34 felony counts, Trump-world seemed momentarily surprised about the result. They may have gotten high on their own supply, thinking that the case was sure to be a hung jury. A hung jury is never a sure thing. For whatever reason, Trump-world did not seem prepared for a conviction on all counts.
But it was only a matter of time before Trump’s allies rallied around him giving him some big wins.
There were some big “wins” for Trump in separate courts [after the conviction], both of which significantly reduced the chances he’ll face another trial before the Nov. 5 election:
- In Georgia, an appeals court froze the Fulton County case in which he’s accused of leading a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. A court panel will have a hearing on whether Fulton DA Fani Willis should be disqualified, CNN reported.
- And in Florida, where Trump faces federal charges related to his handling of classified documents, Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon changed the timing of several hearings on key legal issues, the New York Times reports. Cannon’s slow pace of deciding on motions and rescheduling hearings has frustrated prosecutors.
- Meanwhile, Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc. PAC raised nearly $70 million in May, according to the Times. Trump’s campaign said this week he raised $141 million last month, alongside the RNC. The numbers can’t be independently verified until the next round of finance reports, but it’s a signal Trump’s GOP is catching Biden’s Democrats in fundraising.
On June 4, the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal printed a story saying that “behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping,” but the piece quoted only former House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who previously had hammered Biden in public but privately assured colleagues he was mentally sharp. (Heather Cox Richardson)
RETRIBUTION AND REVENGE
Trump has floated the idea of the potential that Democrats could be subject to investigations and possible imprisonment because they have gone after him.
“It’s a very terrible thing, it’s a terrible precedent for our country,” said Trump in an interview with Newsmax earlier this week. “Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question, you know.”
“So, you know, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them.”
Then, on Thursday, during an interview with KNXV, a Phoenix ABC station, Trump repeatedly declined to rule out prosecuting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the hush-money payment case to court.
He reiterated the idea that retribution is called for in a fawning interview conducted by Dr. Phil over the weekend.
TRUMP’S ALLIES ECHO TRUMP’S CALL FOR RETRIBUTION AND REVENGE
Republican allies of Donald J. Trump are calling for revenge prosecutions and other retaliatory measures against Democrats in response to his felony conviction in New York.
Within hours of a jury finding Mr. Trump guilty last week, the anger congealed into demands for action. Since then, prominent G.O.P. leaders in and out of government have demanded that elected Republicans use every available instrument of power against Democrats, including targeted investigations and prosecutions.
The intensity of anger and open desire for using the criminal justice system against Democrats after the verdict surpasses anything seen before in Mr. Trump’s tumultuous years in national politics. What is different now is the range of Republicans who are saying retaliation is necessary and who are no longer cloaking their intent with euphemisms. (NYT)
PLANS TO DISMANTLE OUR DEMOCRACY
Along with the theme of retribution and revenge, Project 2025 is promising to dismantle the federal government in ways that would permit Trump to fire anyone who is not loyal to him and to hire only his loyalists. The plans include expanding the power of the president so that our country’s leader is no longer subject to a check and balance system. Trump would simply grant himself immunity to do what he wants to do. That is called a dictatorship.
There is even more mayhem and chaos in the revisionist goals that Project 2025 will pursue if Trump is elected. Their plans include defunding the FBI (which is already very underfunded while it is trying to protect our country from cyberattack and protect our elections from people and groups that want to use the threat of force and fear to keep Democratic leaning voters away from the polls), using the army against the American people if there are protests, and dismantling our government which they call the “deep state”.
Remarkably, unlike any other presidential hopeful in the history of our country, the more Trump is held to account by our legal system for breaking the law, the more he gains in fundraising, at least so far. His ability to recast the narrative with the help of his rightwing megaphone media, his supporters and sycophants as well as our enemies (his friends) including Russia and China, nations that are engaged in pumping disinformation into our social media platforms to help Trump win, is reminiscent of Hitler and other strongman leaders who come to power as virtuous populist saviors but then turn the country into an authoritarian hell hole once they are in charge.
THE STAKES OF THE NEXT ELECTION
If Trump wins the next election because enough Americans vote for him in battleground states, then everyone needs to know what will happen to the United States: Trump and his allies will end our democracy, our freedoms and our rights. If you think the Dobbs decision was bad for the rights of women because they can be forced to carry pregnancies to term even when the pregnancy is unwanted or is dangerous to their health or were the result of rape or incest, then just brace yourself. Even now, women have to be close to death before they will be treated by doctors in Texas and other states with restrictive anti-abortion laws. It will get worse. Contraceptives are the next target. The Comstock Act is ready to be revitalized if Trump wins. That antiquated law from the Civil War era, is still on the books. It can be used to immediately ban contraceptives, morning after pills, mifepristone, IVF and anything else related to abortion or contraception.
If Republicans win more state and federal elections, they will stock the courts with more extremist judges, putting our rights and freedoms at risk. We will almost certainly have a national abortion ban. Insurance companies will stop paying for anything related to contraceptives or abortion. And the loss of our shared freedoms will not stop there.
The LGBTQ community will be targeted even more than they are currently, along with immigrants, Jews and other minorities. The right to vote will be manipulated even more than it currently has been in battleground states, to help to get and keep white Christian nationalists, a minority party, in power. The current composition of the Supreme Court is already too far to the right. It no longer represents the views of the majority in America. We can already see the damage to our values from their rulings in cases like Citizens United, Dobbs, and the dismantling of voting rights.
If the American people re-elect Trump, he will not face further consequences for breaking the laws of our country. Trump will shut down those pending cases. If Trump is not elected again, he will face three more criminal trials and, if he loses even one of those trials, he faces more likely incarceration because he now has a record of 34 felony convictions. The stakes for Trump are huge and will create a tremendous incentive for Trump to lie, cheat and claw his way back into power with the help of some very rich and powerful allies who want a president they can manipulate and who will be beholden to them and will reduce their taxes. We have to rise up and vote like our lives depend on it because they do. Write post cards to swing states, serve as judges of election, participate in election protection efforts, cure ballots, talk with your friends and family to help them understand what is at stake.
We cannot afford to elect Republicans. Not until they reject the extremism of the Trump era.