Illiberalism
Gilead
Donald Trump
Finances
Fig. 1. Trump International Hotel, Las Vegas, undated image credited to https://www.flickr.com/photos/glynlowe/ [bad link], via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
It’s like a train wreck. I can’t look away. It looks like Letitia James is preparing to go after the Seven Springs resort and golf course in Westchester County as well as 40 Wall Street.[1] I should be looking very hard at this:
Even one of [Donald Trump’s] legal cases would have been enough to drive any conventional candidate from the race long ago. But Trump leads many national and swing state polls, a sign that his attempts to spin his flurry of legal duress as persecution are working among many Republican voters. His standing in the race also reflects the daunting problems shadowing Biden’s reelection bid as the unpopular president tries to convince Americans that a recovering economy is healthier than they perceive in their daily lives, despite increasingly expensive groceries and the high interest rates that make housing and other major purchases so daunting.[2]
But the truth is, after having written a dissertation on conservatism, observed all I’ve observed since, I still really have no explanation.
James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey, “Trump Says He Can’t Secure Bond for $454 Million Civil-Fraud Judgment,” Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2024, https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-cant-secure-bond-for-454-million-civil-fraud-judgment-6c6fb7f1
Tori Otten, “Broke Donald Trump Admits He Can’t Post That Massive $464 Million Bond,” New Republic, March 18, 2024, https://newrepublic.com/post/179901/trump-cant-secure-fraud-bond
Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian, “Trump has been unable to get bond for $464 million judgment, his lawyers say,” NBC News, March 18, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-unable-get-bond-464-million-judgment-lawyers-say-rcna143860
Matt Stieb, “Trump Says He Can’t Pay His $464 Million Bond. Now What?” New York, March 18, 2024, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-says-he-cant-find-a-usd464-million-bond-now-what.html
John Cassidy, “A Financial Reckoning for Donald Trump,” New Yorker, March 19, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/a-financial-reckoning-for-donald-trump
Joshua Chaffin, “NY attorney-general rejects Donald Trump’s pleas for leniency over $464mn bond,” Financial Times, March 20, 2024, https://www.ft.com/content/1237571f-56d4-4248-bafd-c0ed44e21ff8
Jonathan O’Connell and Josh Dawsey, “Bankruptcy is one way out of Trump’s financial jam. He doesn’t want to take it,” Washington Post, March 20, 2024, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/20/trump-bond-bankruptcy/
Bess Levin, “Donald Trump Should Probably File for Bankruptcy, but Likely Won’t Because He’s Worried It Would Make Him Look Like a Loser: Report,” Vanity Fair, March 21, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/donald-trump-bankruptcy-finances
Kara Scannell, “New York Attorney General takes initial step to prepare to seize Trump assets,” CNN, March 21, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/21/politics/trump-calls-ny-attorney-generals-bond-suggestions-impractical-and-unjust/index.html
Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu, and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “Brother, Can You Spare Half a Billion Bucks?” CNN, March 22, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters
Imperialism
Israel
Palestine
Fig. 1. The ruins of a terminal at the Gaza airport. Image by Said Khatib (Agence France-Presse) on September 9, 2018, via the Times of Israel,[3] fair use.
What happens when a wet noodle meets an unstoppable force? About what you’re seeing with Joe Biden and Binyamin Netanyahu.[4]
Eric Lutz, “Will Biden’s “Immediate Ceasefire” Resolution Actually Change Netanyahu’s Calculus?” Vanity Fair, March 21, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/will-bidens-ceasefire-resolution-change-netanyahus-calculus
- [1]Kara Scannell, “New York Attorney General takes initial step to prepare to seize Trump assets,” CNN, March 21, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/21/politics/trump-calls-ny-attorney-generals-bond-suggestions-impractical-and-unjust/index.html↩
- [2]Stephen Collinson, Caitlin Hu, and Shelby Rose to Meanwhile in America list, “Brother, Can You Spare Half a Billion Bucks?” CNN, March 22, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/newsletters↩
- [3]Agence France-Presse and Times of Israel, “20 years after its opening, destroyed Gaza airport embodies grounded peace hopes,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2018, https://www.timesofisrael.com/20-years-after-its-opening-destroyed-gaza-airport-embodies-grounded-peace-hopes/↩
- [4]Eric Lutz, “Will Biden’s “Immediate Ceasefire” Resolution Actually Change Netanyahu’s Calculus?” Vanity Fair, March 21, 2024, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/will-bidens-ceasefire-resolution-change-netanyahus-calculus↩