Just catching up here: Rudy Giuliani found out that he is a target in the Georgia grand jury probe of attempts to overturn the 2020 election; Lindsey Graham lost a bid to avoid testifying under oath in the same criminal probe. Meanwhile, we are learning that Trump’s team “copied sensitive data from election systems in Georgia as part of a secretive, multistate effort to access voting equipment that was broader, more organized and more successful than previously reported.” Another former White House lawyer was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating the January 6 Insurrection. It looks like the former Trump org’s CFO is about to plead guilty to criminal charges. And, of course, a week ago, the former president pled the Fifth amendment more than 440 times, and the FBI raided his home as part of an investigation into violations of The Espionage Act. Happy Tuesday. For those of you following along at home, my colleague Tim Miller is keeping track of the Trump Criming Score:  Tom Winter @Tom_Winter NBC News: Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges tied to his indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as soon as this Thursday at 9am, according to two people familiar with the matter and a public court filingI regret to tell you that many people in Trump’s orbit regard all of this as somehow a “win” for the former president, which says more than we would perhaps like to know about our thoroughly deplorable political moment. Tom Nichols writes in The Atlantic:
The result is the advent of a “new era of political violence.”
** In a wholly fictitious Earth 2.0, this uniquely dangerous moment would incline our political/media class to sobriety and restraint. In a rational world, the possibility that the former president might have committed crimes by absconding with sensitive, perhaps super-secret nuclear related documents, and then lied about it, would have shaken the confidence of even his most devoted followers. But, alas, Trump’s reptilian instinct continues to serve him well. He knows that he can shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue, extort our allies, fawn on Vladimir Putin, flirt with racists and anti-Semites, foment an insurrection, and disgorge endless streams of lies, conspiracy theories, and utter bullshit — with complete and utter impunity. He knows that he can project his crimes onto others, insult and attack his critics, and delegitimatize any institution — any investigator or jury — that threatens him. He has read America’s id. Or at least the GOP’s. So, the party that claims to Back the Blue has instead rallied around the Orange. As he knew they would. Via Brian Stelter:
** On a segment of Deadline White House yesterday, guest host John Heilman asked Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman and me a provocative question: Could the GOP actually nominate someone who was under indictment for espionage? We were asked only to give one-word answer. We both said: yes. Which seems extraordinary, except that I’m afraid that it is now self-evident. Of course they would. Who would stop them, as Trump waves the bloody shirt of his martyrdom? I can’t speak for Jake’s thinking here, but I was thinking of this thread from David Frum:  I’ve unrolled Frum’s thread here:
Liz’s Closing ArgumentEven in the face of what seems like imminent defeat, she’s not blinking. “If the cost of standing up for the Constitution is losing the House seat, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay,” Cheney told the NYT’s Jonathan Martin earlier this month. Here’s Liz Cheney’s final campaign ad for Wyoming voters:  “America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth,” Cheney said. “The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious, it preys on those who love their country, it is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.” If the polls are any indication, she will lose to this goggle-eyed deplorable:   This paragraph from Mark Liebovich’s magnificent profile sticks in my mind:
Quick HitsIn today’s Bulwark: “‘But Her Emails’—Trump’s Dishonest Whataboutism,” by Philip Rotner.“Liz Cheney’s Staunch Constitutionalism,” by James M. Banner, Jr.“Afghan Refugees in the U.S. Need Help,” by Linda Chavez“Smaller, Safer Nuclear Power,” by Ted NordhausCheap ShotsNot ready for prime time.   “Not left or right — but forward,” is okay as a slogan. But… As this clip suggests, when it becomes your go-to answer to questions about issues like abortion, or war and peace, it becomes, well, basically argle-bargle. As much as we’d like to think that Yang is offering a viable third way, it’s a fanciful notion that our moment of incendiary nihilism can be countered by a rallying cry for… TBD. Doesn’t really sing, does it?
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Would the GOP Nominate An Indicted Trump?
August 16, 2022
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