Dating back to its likely first use by the crowd at the Republican National Convention in July 2016 and employed by Donald Trump and others at virtually every rally that followed to attack the conduct of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, I’ve always been deeply unnerved by the assertion and chant to “lock her up.” Every time, it had the emotion-laden, overheated feeling of a mob hungry for a lynching, facts and real justice be damned.
So as often as Trump criminality has led me to wonder when or if it would lead to a real probe, prosecution and even incarceration, I never used the phrase. America is not heading in a productive direction if mob rule and the pursuit of vigilante justice—like we saw play out on Jan. 6, 2021—becomes a frequent pattern of America’s future. “Hang Mike Pence” is the more terrible cousin to “lock her up.”
But the expanding awareness of the depth of Trump’s theft of classified government property, the Department of Justice’s 19-month effort to retrieve the material and Friday’s revelations from the unsealed, redacted affidavit has made me question whether enough is finally enough. The reasons are manifold, including the illegal taking of the documents; the careless storing at Mar-a-Lago of this collection of highly sensitive, top secret materials that—if shared—can endanger the lives of intelligence operatives and others; and the refusal of Trump to return these national security documents despite repeated entreaties. Indeed, the redacted affidavit gives additional reason to wonder and worry whether these materials already have been shared and exploited for nefarious purposes by foreign adversaries or other bad actors.
I think it’s reasonable to ask how much longer Attorney General Merrick Garland and the DOJ are going to treat the former White House occupant, now a private citizen without executive privilege, with kid gloves. How much danger are all Americans in the longer he’s free to exploit what he knows and what material he might still have? Shouldn’t violations of the Espionage Act and related obstructions of justice be treated with sufficient gravity?
So with this in mind, I ask this Saturday’s question: Is it time for the DOJ to take him into custody and lock him up? Do they not possess probable cause? Despite all the questions that may arise from taking such an unprecedented step and the probable violent response it would trigger, can you imagine any other person on the face of the earth who would still be walking free with what we already know? Would this move finally indicate that Justice recognizes that rule of law must be asserted—that no one is above the law, especially in a case involving the safety and security of every American? As much as DOJ is focused on building its case before taking further action, how much additional danger is it spurring by allowing him to remain free?
*Photo: Outside the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach where the court decided to unseal the affidavit to justify the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images.
I agree with your sentiments and wonder if confining him to his penthouse with a cell phone jammer “house arrest” as it were would be a step in the right direction. He has too many minions to do his bidding and probably already has plans in place to take democracy down with him (gleefully) when Justice comes calling. He’s a dangerous man to any American citizen here and abroad
For the life of me, I cannot understand why Trump is treated with such deference? From the time before the election, when he was colluding with Russia (Putin), through his years in "office" when he tried to rip apart the social fabric of this country and worked to destroy NATO, to his fomenting of an armed insurrection while stealing top secret documents, the guy has demonstrated his utter criminality at every turn. I could go on and on, but you, Steven, have been spelling out the details of his nefarious behavior on an ongoing and eloquent basis.
Yes, he needs to be indicted as soon as possible. I have to believe he will be - or we will lose any pretense at being a nation governed by law with equality for all.
Sure, we've all heard the limp-wristed arguments about Trump's arrest fomenting civil violence. That issue should not even enter into the equation when every American ideal is on the line. In any case, I contend that any such unrest would be far, far greater if the DoJ fails to charge him. We, as a nation, have too much at stake.
I hesitate to second-guess Merrick Garland. So far, it seems to me, he has steered this investigation brilliantly, as he did with the Oklahoma City bombing.
Tfg thinks he has the trump card, his hordes of armed and angry white men. The timing of an arrest is critically important. Those who are persuadable need a bit more time to absorb the full implications of his perfidy. The ballot box is the last and best remedy for the situation; in the meantime, as anagnorisis prevails (we hope!), we can get involved and carry the message to the Persuadables.
“Indeed, the redacted affidavit gives additional reason to wonder and worry whether these materials already have been shared and exploited for nefarious purposes by foreign adversaries or other bad actors.”
I have no doubt that he has already monetized this material. He should be charged and taken into custody, held without bail immediately. He is the definition of “Flight Risk.”
I defer to our legal system on that one, given that at least the vast majority of Americans do continue to support law and order!
I do have a parallel concern I thought to share. Has Trump become too 'hot' for both our allies and non-friendly states (ex., Iran). Our allies know he has proven to be completely without allegiance, honor and--at the most basic level--awareness of the consequences of his choices to put self and profit over country. The damage he can do, or has done, is so extraordinarily high, that any risk assessment of Trump the man we can now assume to be assessed as too high. Is the continued consequences of his actions now too costly for our allies, and those states who do not want a return to erratic, unpredictable, nationalistic Trumpism?
This is an unthinkable line of thought, however we are in very unusual times, and we have never had this situatiin in history. This thought line is worthy of discussion for what the future might bring. I am certain risk assessments of this nature are now being conducted by most countries. We are indeed in unthinkable times.
You started out perfectly. But then the whole thing about “kid gloves?” The search and the affidavit make it clear that’s unwarranted criticism.
It’s so hard watching him walk free. We all believe he’s abused power, defied our justice system, and uses his wealth even now to manipulate things in his favor.
DOJ is doing the right stuff. And we as voters need to continue to vote corrupt Republicans who back Trump or enable him out of office.
But to answer your question - “when is enough enough?” - it’s when the indictments come. It’s hard to wait, but our system only holds together if we respect it.
All those redactions weren’t just to protect sources - that would have required a far lighter touch of the pen. They are to protect the integrity of the largest investigation in US history.
It's a very frustrating thing. It makes me want to "cultivate my garden."
From Voltaire's "Candide":
"Vous devez avoir, dit Candide au Turc, une vaste et magnifique terre? Je n’ai que vingt arpents, répondit le Turc; je les cultive avec mes enfants; le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux, l’ennui, le vice, et le besoin.
"Candide en retournant dans sa métairie fit de profondes réflexions sur le discours du Turc. Il dit à Pangloss et à Martin: Ce bon vieillard me paraît s’être fait un sort bien préférable à celui des six rois avec qui nous avons eu l’honneur de souper. Les grandeurs, dit Pangloss, sont fort dangereuses, selon le rapport de tous les philosophes; car enfin Églon, roi des Moabites, fut assassiné par Aod; Absalon fut pendu par les cheveux et percé de trois dards; le roi Nadab, fils de Jéroboam, fut tué par Baasa; le roi Éla, par Zambri; Ochosias, par Jéhu; Athalie, par Joïada; les rois Joachim, Jéchonias, Sédécias, furent esclaves. Vous savez comment périrent Crésus, Astyage, Darius, Denys de Syracuse, Pyrrhus, Persée, Annibal, Jugurtha, Arioviste, César, Pompée, Néron, Othon, Vitellius, Domitien, Richard II d’Angleterre, Édouard II, Henri VI, Richard III, Marie Stuart, Charles Ier, les trois Henri de France, l’empereur Henri IV? Vous savez….. Je sais aussi, dit Candide, qu’il faut cultiver notre jardin. Vous avez raison, dit Pangloss; car, quand l’homme fut mis dans le jardin d’Éden, il y fut mis ut operaretur eum, pour qu’il travaillât; ce qui prouve que l’homme n’est pas né pour le repos. Travaillons sans raisonner, dit Martin, c’est le seul moyen de rendre la vie supportable."
I agree with your assessment whole heartedly. Enough is enough. Why do we let people threaten judges and law enforcement personnel and many private and public officials for their opinions without repercussion? Do we not have the technology to tract the worst of the worst of those doing the threatening and arrest them, and to make examples of them as we have with not enough of the militia folks at the Capitol on 1/6? C'mon, man! A majority of the people in this country and getting sick and tired of these rats getting away with bullying and threats based on a LIE. It will more than likely take one of these idiots to actually hurt, or possibly kill, someone they are threatening before anything happens. Maybe someone will listen and do something about this. Are our law enforcement agencies so infiltrated by these idiots that we are in trouble of losing it all? Has someone asked this question in Washington and/or our state capitals? Maybe someone should! Same with the military.
He needs to be locked up regardless of fallout from his cultists supporters. It sets a dangerous precedent not to do so. Anybody else would already be in custody at this point.
Simple theft can be punishable with 1 year in jail. More serious, 10 years. And the offenders are not given 19 months to explain. trump stole @ 35 boxes of government property containing info that few are even allowed to see. Why? He is not a kleptomaniac .Others caught for skipping out on a restaurant bill, drugs, hungry children, one man with previous law problems, given a life sentence for putting a stolen hotdog in his pocket !! I am reminded of Kim Philby, an Englishman part of the Manhattan Project who stole and turned over to the Soviet Union top, classified US atomic info, secretly putting them on a par with us. Upon discovery, he fled to Russia. Putin is trump's pal. He loves Kim. ( I don't believe the affection is returned. They are like cats that ate the canary.) I would not hesitate to call trump a traitor. Perhaps in the dark on night, he could fly his big show off jet to Russia, be given a room or two in one of their big concrete buildings & see how far he would get pulling off his shenanigans there.
“Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done”. The only precedent in US history resulted in the execution of both perpetrators and, while not leaning to that extreme, I would point out that some of the secrets in question now reside outside of their controlled compartments and inside the Donald's head. Don't want him blabbing (selling) those thoughts for favors, to foreign powers, domestic bad actors, fellow inmates, or sympathetic Secret Service smuggling cell phones do we? That's why the death penalty is a tidy solution. However, he needs to be visibly on camera in cuffs, then at trial, and in prisoner's garb after his convictions. Note that they will not be singular, in scope of crime nor jurisdiction. Then he can be left to fade into history in isolation, the final inmate at GITMO sounds about right.
I tend to agree with runfastandwin about AG Garland. I wouldn’t say he’s our enemy yet...but I recognize that by the time I feel comfortable saying he’s our enemy, it will very likely be too late-the damage will have been done.
Although we keep hearing (or at least I do) Garland is the type of person who’s somewhat obsessive/compulsive about working up a case, that has to be weighed against the ongoing damage. President Biden made it very clear that he wouldn’t interfere in DOJ matters, which is technically how it should be, but I hope he’ll consider nudging the DOJ if he believes it’s in the best interest of our country to do so.
The other factor as to why DOJ seems to be dragging its feet is possibly the fear of violence erupting when Trump is legally penalized for breaking the law. If so, it’s not a valid excuse because the alternative is to allow him to keep breaking the law. That’s not acceptable.
Trump’s supporters are spoiling for a fight anyway. At this point they’ll carry on with domestic violence whether Trump is around or not. He may be the trigger for it in the short term, but many, if not most of them, are blood-thirsty bullies, criminals and/or mentally unstable people who will continue bullying regardless. The bottom line is, more you cater to bullies the worse their bullying will get. The longer it gets dragged out, the worse it will get. That’s been the case since Day One of Trump’s presidency…which leads me to another point.
Trump wasn’t legally, legitimately elected to the presidency in the first place. He cheated, or rather Russia cheated on his behalf. That’s the truth. He doesn’t deserve the deference with which he’s been treated all along. It’s about time to bring it up. It won’t change how his fans think about him but it’ll change how everyone else thinks, including the DOJ.
The Great Mistake that was made was made on the afternoon of Jan. 6th. Trump should have been arrested that day. And the ramifications of not arresting him can be found in the fact that for 19 months he's been a free man, attending his rally's where he continues to lie and attack our institutions, allowed to fund raise, allowed to primary "RINO's", and now, as we see, free to take documents that weren't his. For the latter we are seeing a news report about a CIA report generated sometime in Oct. 2021 about how an unusual number of overseas intelligence assets have been killed. Circumstantial evidence points to Trump.
From the very beginning Trump embraced Russian help in his campaign. The Mueller Report investigated and found an unusual amount of communications between the Trump campaign and Russian agents. Trump fired Comey for not dropping the FBI investigation into Gen. Flynn. And because Comey wasn't loyal to him. After Trump assumed the presidency his first foreign visitors were the Russian Foreign Secretary and the Russian ambassador who met with him in the Oval Office without any other American representation. We saw the same kind of meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki where Trump announced that he believed Putin over his own intelligence agents concerning campaign interference accusations. Now? We see this Oct. 2021 report.
We KNOW that Trump admires Putin and seems to want a station in life and in our government much like the one Putin holds. It isn't a far leap to assume that Trump, with very important and revealing documents in his possession, has already shared that information with America's nemesis Russia.
The question we now need to ask is what's it going to take to arrest this guy? Does the entire nation have to burn to the ground first?
My knee-jerk reaction as I sit alone in my kitchen watching the news on tv is "lock him up". However, he has such a group of cult flowers, many of whom are prone to violence, that I worry what will happen to our country. Just yesterday I saw a GOP talking head saying that when they retake the House in the midterms they are going to investigate FBI director Wray for politicizing the FBI and conducting this improper search. AG Garland and Judge Reinhart in FL have received threats, and even worse, anti-semitic threats. I totally believe that Trump should be indicted if the facts lea there (and I believe they do). However, I also worry about what the Trump cult bullies are going to do. Could it be worse than January 6. What safeguards does out country have to put in place so that the authorities can indict Trump for his crimes while also keeping the rest of use and our Democracy safe. The other side doesn't play with the facts. And that is very scary. It seems as if we are descending into a 3rd world banana republic; and that is so wrong. At home I scream that we are all equal under the law and that we should lock him up and that after all of these years with his illegal business practices and 4 years of defrauding our country and now blatant acts of crimes against our country, our Democracy, while still spewing misinformation to his base and riling them up, he belongs in an orange jump suit, I worry that it won't happen. Can someone reassure me that there will be Justice. Justice Justice Thou Shall Pursue, from Deuteronomy, actually this weeks Torah portion, which I am going to chant in synagogue next Shabbat.
I’m still, even after all the recent developments, extremely sceptical that Trump will face justice, let alone be convicted and sentenced. Maybe one or two of his acolytes from lower down the trough, but not him. The ruling elites really do operate as if they live in a different world to ordinary people, with different to non-existent rules and laws. Only when the elites turn on an individual and wash their hands of them (mainly in the cause of self-preservation), as happened to Harvey Weinstein, do any of their ilk face a comeuppance. The GOP aren’t yet ready to do that, as witnessed by their sickening fealty and sycophantic grovelling at his feet, competing who can be his loudest defender, berating the FBI.
Sadly Garland is not going to do it, or if he is finally backed into a corner, he will do all he can to sandbag the case. He’s a Federalist Society Republican. He was recommended by Orin Hatch fer chrissakes. He is not our friend. He is the enemy. Biden’s biggest mistake.
I agree with your sentiments and wonder if confining him to his penthouse with a cell phone jammer “house arrest” as it were would be a step in the right direction. He has too many minions to do his bidding and probably already has plans in place to take democracy down with him (gleefully) when Justice comes calling. He’s a dangerous man to any American citizen here and abroad
For the life of me, I cannot understand why Trump is treated with such deference? From the time before the election, when he was colluding with Russia (Putin), through his years in "office" when he tried to rip apart the social fabric of this country and worked to destroy NATO, to his fomenting of an armed insurrection while stealing top secret documents, the guy has demonstrated his utter criminality at every turn. I could go on and on, but you, Steven, have been spelling out the details of his nefarious behavior on an ongoing and eloquent basis.
Yes, he needs to be indicted as soon as possible. I have to believe he will be - or we will lose any pretense at being a nation governed by law with equality for all.
Sure, we've all heard the limp-wristed arguments about Trump's arrest fomenting civil violence. That issue should not even enter into the equation when every American ideal is on the line. In any case, I contend that any such unrest would be far, far greater if the DoJ fails to charge him. We, as a nation, have too much at stake.
I hesitate to second-guess Merrick Garland. So far, it seems to me, he has steered this investigation brilliantly, as he did with the Oklahoma City bombing.
Tfg thinks he has the trump card, his hordes of armed and angry white men. The timing of an arrest is critically important. Those who are persuadable need a bit more time to absorb the full implications of his perfidy. The ballot box is the last and best remedy for the situation; in the meantime, as anagnorisis prevails (we hope!), we can get involved and carry the message to the Persuadables.
I share your initial reluctance but also agree that it’s time to act. Too many lives are at stake.
“Indeed, the redacted affidavit gives additional reason to wonder and worry whether these materials already have been shared and exploited for nefarious purposes by foreign adversaries or other bad actors.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/politics/trump-affidavit-intelligence-spies.html
I have no doubt that he has already monetized this material. He should be charged and taken into custody, held without bail immediately. He is the definition of “Flight Risk.”
I defer to our legal system on that one, given that at least the vast majority of Americans do continue to support law and order!
I do have a parallel concern I thought to share. Has Trump become too 'hot' for both our allies and non-friendly states (ex., Iran). Our allies know he has proven to be completely without allegiance, honor and--at the most basic level--awareness of the consequences of his choices to put self and profit over country. The damage he can do, or has done, is so extraordinarily high, that any risk assessment of Trump the man we can now assume to be assessed as too high. Is the continued consequences of his actions now too costly for our allies, and those states who do not want a return to erratic, unpredictable, nationalistic Trumpism?
This is an unthinkable line of thought, however we are in very unusual times, and we have never had this situatiin in history. This thought line is worthy of discussion for what the future might bring. I am certain risk assessments of this nature are now being conducted by most countries. We are indeed in unthinkable times.
You started out perfectly. But then the whole thing about “kid gloves?” The search and the affidavit make it clear that’s unwarranted criticism.
It’s so hard watching him walk free. We all believe he’s abused power, defied our justice system, and uses his wealth even now to manipulate things in his favor.
DOJ is doing the right stuff. And we as voters need to continue to vote corrupt Republicans who back Trump or enable him out of office.
But to answer your question - “when is enough enough?” - it’s when the indictments come. It’s hard to wait, but our system only holds together if we respect it.
All those redactions weren’t just to protect sources - that would have required a far lighter touch of the pen. They are to protect the integrity of the largest investigation in US history.
Absolutely. The time was months if not years ago.
It's a very frustrating thing. It makes me want to "cultivate my garden."
From Voltaire's "Candide":
"Vous devez avoir, dit Candide au Turc, une vaste et magnifique terre? Je n’ai que vingt arpents, répondit le Turc; je les cultive avec mes enfants; le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux, l’ennui, le vice, et le besoin.
"Candide en retournant dans sa métairie fit de profondes réflexions sur le discours du Turc. Il dit à Pangloss et à Martin: Ce bon vieillard me paraît s’être fait un sort bien préférable à celui des six rois avec qui nous avons eu l’honneur de souper. Les grandeurs, dit Pangloss, sont fort dangereuses, selon le rapport de tous les philosophes; car enfin Églon, roi des Moabites, fut assassiné par Aod; Absalon fut pendu par les cheveux et percé de trois dards; le roi Nadab, fils de Jéroboam, fut tué par Baasa; le roi Éla, par Zambri; Ochosias, par Jéhu; Athalie, par Joïada; les rois Joachim, Jéchonias, Sédécias, furent esclaves. Vous savez comment périrent Crésus, Astyage, Darius, Denys de Syracuse, Pyrrhus, Persée, Annibal, Jugurtha, Arioviste, César, Pompée, Néron, Othon, Vitellius, Domitien, Richard II d’Angleterre, Édouard II, Henri VI, Richard III, Marie Stuart, Charles Ier, les trois Henri de France, l’empereur Henri IV? Vous savez….. Je sais aussi, dit Candide, qu’il faut cultiver notre jardin. Vous avez raison, dit Pangloss; car, quand l’homme fut mis dans le jardin d’Éden, il y fut mis ut operaretur eum, pour qu’il travaillât; ce qui prouve que l’homme n’est pas né pour le repos. Travaillons sans raisonner, dit Martin, c’est le seul moyen de rendre la vie supportable."
I agree with your assessment whole heartedly. Enough is enough. Why do we let people threaten judges and law enforcement personnel and many private and public officials for their opinions without repercussion? Do we not have the technology to tract the worst of the worst of those doing the threatening and arrest them, and to make examples of them as we have with not enough of the militia folks at the Capitol on 1/6? C'mon, man! A majority of the people in this country and getting sick and tired of these rats getting away with bullying and threats based on a LIE. It will more than likely take one of these idiots to actually hurt, or possibly kill, someone they are threatening before anything happens. Maybe someone will listen and do something about this. Are our law enforcement agencies so infiltrated by these idiots that we are in trouble of losing it all? Has someone asked this question in Washington and/or our state capitals? Maybe someone should! Same with the military.
He needs to be locked up regardless of fallout from his cultists supporters. It sets a dangerous precedent not to do so. Anybody else would already be in custody at this point.
Simple theft can be punishable with 1 year in jail. More serious, 10 years. And the offenders are not given 19 months to explain. trump stole @ 35 boxes of government property containing info that few are even allowed to see. Why? He is not a kleptomaniac .Others caught for skipping out on a restaurant bill, drugs, hungry children, one man with previous law problems, given a life sentence for putting a stolen hotdog in his pocket !! I am reminded of Kim Philby, an Englishman part of the Manhattan Project who stole and turned over to the Soviet Union top, classified US atomic info, secretly putting them on a par with us. Upon discovery, he fled to Russia. Putin is trump's pal. He loves Kim. ( I don't believe the affection is returned. They are like cats that ate the canary.) I would not hesitate to call trump a traitor. Perhaps in the dark on night, he could fly his big show off jet to Russia, be given a room or two in one of their big concrete buildings & see how far he would get pulling off his shenanigans there.
“Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done”. The only precedent in US history resulted in the execution of both perpetrators and, while not leaning to that extreme, I would point out that some of the secrets in question now reside outside of their controlled compartments and inside the Donald's head. Don't want him blabbing (selling) those thoughts for favors, to foreign powers, domestic bad actors, fellow inmates, or sympathetic Secret Service smuggling cell phones do we? That's why the death penalty is a tidy solution. However, he needs to be visibly on camera in cuffs, then at trial, and in prisoner's garb after his convictions. Note that they will not be singular, in scope of crime nor jurisdiction. Then he can be left to fade into history in isolation, the final inmate at GITMO sounds about right.
I tend to agree with runfastandwin about AG Garland. I wouldn’t say he’s our enemy yet...but I recognize that by the time I feel comfortable saying he’s our enemy, it will very likely be too late-the damage will have been done.
Although we keep hearing (or at least I do) Garland is the type of person who’s somewhat obsessive/compulsive about working up a case, that has to be weighed against the ongoing damage. President Biden made it very clear that he wouldn’t interfere in DOJ matters, which is technically how it should be, but I hope he’ll consider nudging the DOJ if he believes it’s in the best interest of our country to do so.
The other factor as to why DOJ seems to be dragging its feet is possibly the fear of violence erupting when Trump is legally penalized for breaking the law. If so, it’s not a valid excuse because the alternative is to allow him to keep breaking the law. That’s not acceptable.
Trump’s supporters are spoiling for a fight anyway. At this point they’ll carry on with domestic violence whether Trump is around or not. He may be the trigger for it in the short term, but many, if not most of them, are blood-thirsty bullies, criminals and/or mentally unstable people who will continue bullying regardless. The bottom line is, more you cater to bullies the worse their bullying will get. The longer it gets dragged out, the worse it will get. That’s been the case since Day One of Trump’s presidency…which leads me to another point.
Trump wasn’t legally, legitimately elected to the presidency in the first place. He cheated, or rather Russia cheated on his behalf. That’s the truth. He doesn’t deserve the deference with which he’s been treated all along. It’s about time to bring it up. It won’t change how his fans think about him but it’ll change how everyone else thinks, including the DOJ.
Unfortunately, they probably couldn't prosecute him anyway because of the nature of the papers he took can't be offered in evidence.
Amen.
The Great Mistake that was made was made on the afternoon of Jan. 6th. Trump should have been arrested that day. And the ramifications of not arresting him can be found in the fact that for 19 months he's been a free man, attending his rally's where he continues to lie and attack our institutions, allowed to fund raise, allowed to primary "RINO's", and now, as we see, free to take documents that weren't his. For the latter we are seeing a news report about a CIA report generated sometime in Oct. 2021 about how an unusual number of overseas intelligence assets have been killed. Circumstantial evidence points to Trump.
From the very beginning Trump embraced Russian help in his campaign. The Mueller Report investigated and found an unusual amount of communications between the Trump campaign and Russian agents. Trump fired Comey for not dropping the FBI investigation into Gen. Flynn. And because Comey wasn't loyal to him. After Trump assumed the presidency his first foreign visitors were the Russian Foreign Secretary and the Russian ambassador who met with him in the Oval Office without any other American representation. We saw the same kind of meeting between Trump and Putin in Helsinki where Trump announced that he believed Putin over his own intelligence agents concerning campaign interference accusations. Now? We see this Oct. 2021 report.
We KNOW that Trump admires Putin and seems to want a station in life and in our government much like the one Putin holds. It isn't a far leap to assume that Trump, with very important and revealing documents in his possession, has already shared that information with America's nemesis Russia.
The question we now need to ask is what's it going to take to arrest this guy? Does the entire nation have to burn to the ground first?
Damn!
My knee-jerk reaction as I sit alone in my kitchen watching the news on tv is "lock him up". However, he has such a group of cult flowers, many of whom are prone to violence, that I worry what will happen to our country. Just yesterday I saw a GOP talking head saying that when they retake the House in the midterms they are going to investigate FBI director Wray for politicizing the FBI and conducting this improper search. AG Garland and Judge Reinhart in FL have received threats, and even worse, anti-semitic threats. I totally believe that Trump should be indicted if the facts lea there (and I believe they do). However, I also worry about what the Trump cult bullies are going to do. Could it be worse than January 6. What safeguards does out country have to put in place so that the authorities can indict Trump for his crimes while also keeping the rest of use and our Democracy safe. The other side doesn't play with the facts. And that is very scary. It seems as if we are descending into a 3rd world banana republic; and that is so wrong. At home I scream that we are all equal under the law and that we should lock him up and that after all of these years with his illegal business practices and 4 years of defrauding our country and now blatant acts of crimes against our country, our Democracy, while still spewing misinformation to his base and riling them up, he belongs in an orange jump suit, I worry that it won't happen. Can someone reassure me that there will be Justice. Justice Justice Thou Shall Pursue, from Deuteronomy, actually this weeks Torah portion, which I am going to chant in synagogue next Shabbat.
Lock him up NOW!
I’m still, even after all the recent developments, extremely sceptical that Trump will face justice, let alone be convicted and sentenced. Maybe one or two of his acolytes from lower down the trough, but not him. The ruling elites really do operate as if they live in a different world to ordinary people, with different to non-existent rules and laws. Only when the elites turn on an individual and wash their hands of them (mainly in the cause of self-preservation), as happened to Harvey Weinstein, do any of their ilk face a comeuppance. The GOP aren’t yet ready to do that, as witnessed by their sickening fealty and sycophantic grovelling at his feet, competing who can be his loudest defender, berating the FBI.
#STRAPHIMDOWN / TRUMP IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY
~~2 sides of a protest sign I made in 2019.
Sadly Garland is not going to do it, or if he is finally backed into a corner, he will do all he can to sandbag the case. He’s a Federalist Society Republican. He was recommended by Orin Hatch fer chrissakes. He is not our friend. He is the enemy. Biden’s biggest mistake.