August 2022 – Page 3 – Irregular Bullshit

You vote for everything, you expect your politicians to be accessible. We like people from our own regions. We’re suspicious of people from other regions. We don’t like outsiders. . . . Pennsylvania doesn’t have a positive personal identity, but we definitely have a negative one, and that’s where Dr. [Mehmet] Oz is provoking some sort of weird immune response.^[1]

I think because we’re located between New York and Washington, it builds up a little bit of an inferiority complex, which breeds parochialism. We don’t like to be used, no matter who it is. We wouldn’t like to be used by Hillary [Clinton] or Bobby [Kennedy] or Mehmet Oz.^[2]

If you’re in a place with a lot of cosmopolitan transplants, then being a cosmopolitan transplant doesn’t matter so much. That’s not this state.^[3]

More yard signs are starting to appear for Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz in their respective statewide electoral races around southwestern Pennsylvania. But not as many as for Donald Trump, who isn’t even formally on the ballot. I am unsure as to the significance of that discrepancy, but having lived in California the vast majority of my life, and moved to Pittsburgh a little more than three years ago, I have to say it does feel like that even if I had the time to begin a social life here, there would be little opportunity for me to do so.

Part of it is interest: Football and drinking to get drunk predominate in social life here and I am interested in neither. But part of it, too, is that most people who live here were born here^[4] and there is a certain wall, that locals have, where with nearly all my relatives here six feet under, I am not from here and have no introduction here. How would I even, if I were even so inclined, walk into a local bar? There is a forbidding quality to these places for me simply because I am not from here.

It’s the kind of thing that if I could even say, I live in my grandparents’ house in Dormont or the duplex where I lived for a couple years as a kid in Mt. Lebanon, it would help to establish a connection to this place. I can’t, and have little prospect of being able to do so. That’s the barrier that Dr. Oz still faces even as it seems he has a stronger connection to Pennsylvania^[5] than I do..

Julia Terruso, “Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-parochialism-senate-fetterman-20220814.html

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

In a previous blog post, I expressed doubt that, due to uncertainties as to his state of mind, Donald Trump could be shown beyond a reasonable doubt to have committed seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 coup attempt.^[6] Renato Mariotti argues that that defense would be unlikely to succeed against charges flowing from the search of Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.^[7]

[The Department of Justice’s] repeated requests and demands to [Donald] Trump and his team served the same purpose [of demonstrating willful conduct]. It will be difficult for Trump to claim that he did not realize that the records he kept were national security secrets that rightfully belonged to the government, given that the government repeatedly told him so and demanded their return. Moreover, Trump was present when the DOJ visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with his lawyers and demand the records.^[8]

It also appears that Trump would not be able to evade a conviction by claiming he had declassified all documents at Mar-a-Lago and that “one of Trump’s lawyers signed a written statement falsely asserting that ‘all material marked as classified’ had been returned to the government” could be the basis of a charge of obstruction of justice.^[9]

Mariotti thinks the Department of Justice has a strong case to bring against Trump should it choose to do so. That doesn’t mean that it will and Mariotti writes that he “would not be surprised if DOJ refuses to pursue charges, regardless of their strength, in the absence of a ‘plus factor’ like obstruction.” Trump would apparently need to waive attorney-client privilege to blame the lawyer for that misrepresentation and the lawyer in question would thus be accepting personal liability for it. Mariotti seems to think that’s a stretch.^[10] That “plus factor” would thus seem to be present.

The question, as it has been from the beginning, remains whether Merrick Garland has the cajones.

Jonathan Capehart, “Liz Cheney is the Obi-Wan to Trump’s Darth Vader,” Washington Post, August 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/08/liz-cheney-obi-wan-kenobi-trump-darth-vader/

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump says FBI conducting search of Mar-a-Lago estate,” Associated Press, August 8, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-9e8d683afe87389407950af7ccfdbdd6

Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search

Devlin Barrett et al., “Mar-a-Lago search appears focused on whether Trump, aides withheld items,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/trump-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/

Jan Murphy and Charles Thompson, “FBI delivers subpoenas to several Pa. Republican lawmakers: sources say,” Harrisburg Patriot-News, August 10, 2022, https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/08/fbi-delivers-subpoenas-to-several-pa-republican-lawmakers-sources-say.html

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246

Amber Phillips, “What could the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/what-is-presidential-records-act-how-did-trump-violate-it/

Devlin Barrett et al., “FBI searched Trump’s home to look for nuclear documents and other items, sources say,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/11/garland-trump-mar-a-lago/

Erik Larson, “Trump’s ‘Planted Evidence’ Claim Unlikely to Stand Up In Court,” Bloomberg, August 11, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-11/trump-s-planted-evidence-claim-unlikely-to-stand-up-in-court

Erin McCarthy, “Who is Rep. Scott Perry, the Trump ally from Pa. whose phone was seized by the FBI?” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 11, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/pennsylvania/scott-perry-jan-6-trump-fbi-raid-20220811.html

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent, “Merrick Garland’s surprise announcement calls the Trump-GOP bluff,” Washington Post, August 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/11/garland-announcement-trump-fbi-bluff/

Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey, “Agents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/12/trump-warrant-release/

Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha, and Sadie Gurman, “FBI Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-recovered-eleven-sets-of-classified-documents-in-trump-search-inventory-shows-11660324501

Lisa Rein, “Under fire, Homeland Security watchdog delays probe — with GOP help,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/12/joseph-cuffari-homeland-security-watchdog-investigation/

Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump calls for ‘immediate’ release of Mar-a-Lago warrant,” Associated Press, August 12, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-search-unsealing-the-warrant-5e00a3e6728cd77daa0d2180d078fcb6

Clyde Hughes, “Rep. Greene files articles of impeachment against Attorney General Garland,” United Press International, August 13, 2022, https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/13/-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-articles-impeachment-Merrick-Garland-Attorney-General/4231660394406/

Arwa Mahdawi, “The Mar-a-Lago search prompts a big question: who snitched?” Guardian, August 13, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/13/mar-a-lago-search-ivanka-trump-week-in-patriarchy

Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

^[1]Ben Forstate, quoted in Julia Terruso, “Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-parochialism-senate-fetterman-20220814.html ↩
^[2]Ed Rendell, quoted in Julia Terruso, “Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-parochialism-senate-fetterman-20220814.html ↩
^[3]Robin Kolodny, quoted in Julia Terruso, “Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-parochialism-senate-fetterman-20220814.html ↩
^[4]Julia Terruso, “Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-parochialism-senate-fetterman-20220814.html ↩
^[5]Julia Terruso, “Fetterman keeps attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. That’s resonating in parochial Pa.,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/mehmet-oz-pennsylvania-parochialism-senate-fetterman-20220814.html ↩
^[6]David Benfell, “Reasonable and unreasonable doubt in ‘seditious conspiracy,’” Not Housebroken, June 20, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584 ↩
^[7]Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584 ↩
^[8]Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584 ↩
^[9]Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584 ↩
^[10]Renato Mariotti, “Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That,” Politico, August 14, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584 ↩

Federal Election Commission opens floodgates for political spam

August 13, 2022benfell

Spam

Jon Brodkin, “US approves Google plan to let political emails bypass Gmail spam filter,” Ars Technica, August 12, 2022, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/08/us-approves-google-plan-to-let-political-emails-bypass-gmail-spam-filter/

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

There is a new blog post entitled, “I cannot yet tell you my 2024 forecast was wrong.”

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Violations of the Espionage Act

August 13, 2022benfell

Gig economy (neoliberal wet dream)

‘Rideshare’ driving

Joe Napsha and Megan Guza, “Fight between Lyft driver, passenger ends with fatal shooting in Wilkins,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 12, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/man-killed-in-wilkins-township-shooting/

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

The warrant [for the search at Mar-a-Lago] shows federal law enforcement was investigating [Donald] Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act — which can encompass crimes beyond spying, such as the refusal to return national security documents upon request. Conviction under the statutes can result in imprisonment or fines.^[1]

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Infrastructure

Tony Romm, “House passes Inflation Reduction Act, sending climate and health bill to Biden,” Washington Post, August 12, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/08/12/inflation-reduction-act-house-vote/

^[1]Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney, and Nicholas Wu, “FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations,” Politico, August 12, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507 ↩

Donald Trump’s world spins, but he probably wins

August 12, 2022benfell

Before I took my trip west, I had noticed that Uber had cut driver pay, impacting my attempts to recover financially from a difficult 2021, in which I purchased a new car and moved to a new apartment. I think they have cut the pay again. My earnings now appear to be below winter levels, which, especially coming at the very time I expect to be making more, is simply disastrous. In addition, of course, the omen for this winter is especially alarming.

Pittsburgh

Infrastructure

Jamie Wiggan, “Pittsburgh’s Hill District prepares for $11 million infrastructure injection,” Pittsburgh City Paper, August 11, 2022, https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburghs-hill-district-prepares-for-11-million-infrastructure-injection/Content?oid=22212279

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

There is a new blog post entitled, “In Alice’s Wonderland, or, rather, its Gilead equivalent, a bluff is not a bluff.” This post has been updated since it was first published.

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

Donald Trump may have kept nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago

August 11, 2022benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Tara Palmeri, “The Trump Informant Guessing Game: Knives Are Out!” Puck News, August 11, 2022, https://puck.news/the-trump-informant-guessing-game-knives-are-out/

Andrew Solender, “Political threats spiral,” Axios, August 11, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/08/12/political-threats-spiral

That chill you feel might be the wind at Donald Trump’s back

August 11, 2022benfell

Ukraine

Samantha Lock and Dan Sabbagh, “Russian warplanes destroyed in Crimea airbase attack, satellite images show,” Guardian, August 10, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/11/russian-warplanes-destroyed-in-crimea-saky-airbase-attack-satellite-images-show

Associated Press, “Russia struggles to replenish its troops in Ukraine,” August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-world-news-st-petersburg-treatment-of-prisoners-f20273227cf4c4e65ba6f4866dc975ea

Gilead

Competitive authoritarian regime project

Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker, and Tyler Pager, “Historians privately warn Biden that America’s democracy is teetering,” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-us-historians-democracy-threat/

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

The rapid developments crystalized the former president’s singular status atop a party he has spent the past seven years breaking down and rebuilding in his image. Facing mounting legal vulnerabilities and considering another presidential run, he needs support from the party to maintain his political career. But, whether they like it or not, many in the party also need Trump, whose endorsement has proven crucial for those seeking to advance to the November ballot.

“For a pretty good stretch, it felt like the Trump movement was losing more ground than it was gaining,” said Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who is urging his party to move past [Donald] Trump. But now, he said, Trump is benefiting from “an incredibly swift tail wind.” . . .

But even before the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] showed up at Mar-a-Lago, Trump was gaining momentum in his post-presidential effort to shape the GOP. In all, nearly 180 Trump-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot have won their primaries since May while fewer than 20 have lost.^[1]

The question, really, however, is this:

Mishandling of such records can create potential criminal liability under the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act. At first, the [Washington] Post quoted legal experts saying that criminal prosecution for violation of federal records laws seemed “unlikely.” Soon, though, the paper uncovered that the boxes from Mar-a-Lago contained “clearly marked classified documents”—a development that raised questions over possible violation of statutes criminalizing mishandling of classified information. According to the [Washington] Post, among the documents obtained from Mar-a-Lago were some classified in the most sensitive category of “Top Secret,” including some apparently marked to further restrict access within an even smaller group of approved officials.^[2]

In this context of a potential return to the Civil War as an actual shooting war,^[3] will Merrick Garland accept the risk of violence^[4] and prosecute Donald Trump?

It’s not clear why the dispute over Trump’s retention of these records is being treated as a criminal matter, rather than a set of administrative errors.

Nor is it clear what sort of information the FBI was seeking or what sort of information it has seized.

One possibility is that the purpose of the seizure was not to gather evidence for a criminal prosecution but simply to recover material of particular sensitivity.

That said, we don’t know for sure that the search was limited to material related to the classified records dispute. The activities of the Trump White House and the entourage around the former president in the wake of the 2020 election, after all, are also the subject of Justice Department investigations. And while the Mar-a-Lago search appears to be connected to the classified materials matter, the parameters of the search and the investigation that spawned it are not public—nor do we know if the investigations are in any way related to one another.^[5]

It appears that to do so even over classified material—this ground was trodden with the scandal over Hillary Clinton’s email server—would break precedent. It is also likely that even a conviction under relevant statutes would not prevent Trump from returning to the presidency.^[6] This almost certainly does not solve the problem. There will need to be something more.

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

Secession movements

California

The threat of secession has long been a weapon for dissatisfied political minorities in California, the most populous state in the nation and one of the most liberal. Conservative forces in far Northern California have tried repeatedly to create their own state with no success. A proposal to break up California into multiple states also foundered. There is no indication this one would turn out any differently.^[7]

This is really about funding and San Bernardino folks can pretty safely vote yes without fearing that secession, and the problems it would pose for the county, would actually come about.^[8] That said, it isn’t like San Bernardino is like Los Angeles or San Francisco politically and this isn’t the first time that San Bernardino County has been part of a secession proposal;^[9] these voters will include some who may feel effectively disenfranchised by a Democratic Party lock on California state government.

David Allen, “Support for San Bernardino County secession ‘overwhelming,’ backer says,” San Bernardino Sun, August 10, 2022, https://www.sbsun.com/2022/08/09/support-for-san-bernardino-county-secession-overwhelming-backer-says/

^[1]Steve Peoples, “Trump’s bond with GOP deepens after primary wins, FBI search,” Associated Press, August 11, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wisconsin-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-b5c2ee83bb655c43e1deb9c46f2a6020 ↩
^[2]Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search ↩
^[3]Greg Sargent, “An expert in political violence urgently warns: The worst is coming,” Washington Post, July 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/11/gop-political-violence-militias-jan-6-democratic-breakdown/; Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker, and Tyler Pager, “Historians privately warn Biden that America’s democracy is teetering,” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/10/biden-us-historians-democracy-threat/; Zoe Strimpel, “America is headed for another civil war where one side has to vanquish the other,” Telegraph, June 25, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/06/25/america-headed-another-civil-war-where-one-side-has-vanquish/↩
^[4]Farnoush Amiri and Michael Balsamo, “Jan. 6 panel puts Garland in ‘precarious’ spot, ups pressure,” Associated Press, April 1, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-merrick-garland-donald-trump-f70143880cb9be8a0610edcad1ed18e8 ↩
^[5]Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search ↩
^[6]Scott R. Anderson et al., “What We Do and Don’t Know About the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Search,” Lawfare, August 9, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.com/what-we-do-and-dont-know-about-fbis-mar-lago-search ↩
^[7]Christian Martinez, “Could San Bernardino County secede from California? Voters may have a say in November,” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-05/san-bernardino-county-secession-california-november-ballot-measure ↩
^[8]David Allen, “Support for San Bernardino County secession ‘overwhelming,’ backer says,” San Bernardino Sun, August 10, 2022, https://www.sbsun.com/2022/08/09/support-for-san-bernardino-county-secession-overwhelming-backer-says/; Christian Martinez, “Could San Bernardino County secede from California? Voters may have a say in November,” Los Angeles Times, August 5, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-05/san-bernardino-county-secession-california-november-ballot-measure ↩
^[9]CBS News Los Angeles, “Official Calls For Riverside, 12 Other Counties To Secede From California,” July 1, 2011, https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/official-calls-for-riverside-12-other-counties-to-secede-from-california/; Jennifer Medina, “California Counties Talk of Cutting Ties to State,” New York Times, July 12, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/us/13secession.html ↩

Donald Trump plays the ‘victim card’

August 10, 2022benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Finances

[Donald] Trump has suggested on many occasions that people who invoke their right against self-incrimination are guilty. “You see the mob takes the Fifth,” Trump said during a 2016 rally in Iowa. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” The line was a jab at his opponent, Hillary Clinton, whose aides had invoked the Fifth in a congressional investigation. Trump used similar attack lines so many times that MSNBC was able to put together a compilation video earlier this year.^[1]

Margaret Hartmann, “Trump, Who Once Said ‘the Mob Takes the Fifth,’ Takes the Fifth,” New York, August 10, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/08/trump-takes-the-fifth.html

Corinne Ramey and James Fanelli, “Donald Trump Takes Fifth Amendment in New York Attorney General’s Probe,” Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-says-he-will-meet-with-new-york-attorney-general-on-wednesday-11660128666

Coup attempt

It’s still unclear, of course, what the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] was really looking for in the Mar-a-Lago basement, or how the raid fits into a presumably broader [Department of Justice] investigation, or why the typically over-cautious Merrick Garland apparently blindsided the White House by taking such an extraordinary action. The legal implications for [Donald] Trump are similarly unclear. But as a source close to Trumpworld put it to me, inadvertently quoting Rahm Emanuel, you “never let a crisis go to waste.” Absent some kind of justification from the D.O.J., which would represent a Comeyesque breach of protocol, Trump and his allies are perfectly positioned to exploit the informational asymmetry. Not since Trump’s first impeachment have all the political and media organs of the conservative movement aligned around a single, undeniably potent message: They’ll do anything to keep him from running again.^[2]

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/

^[1]Margaret Hartmann, “Trump, Who Once Said ‘the Mob Takes the Fifth,’ Takes the Fifth,” New York, August 10, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/08/trump-takes-the-fifth.html ↩
^[2]Tina Nguyen, “‘The DeSantasy Is Over,’” Puck News, August 10, 2022, https://puck.news/the-desantasy-is-over/↩

Does mishandling presidential records bar Donald Trump from the presidency?

August 10, 2022benfell

Still not caught up.

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

It looks to me like the argument that Donald Trump could not be barred from the presidency for mishandling presidential records because the qualifications for the presidency, which say nothing about criminal conduct, are set forth in the Constitution, overriding any statute, is the stronger argument. But I am not a lawyer and I guess there’s an argument to be made.^[1]

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

Gig economy (neoliberal wet dream)

‘Rideshare’ driving

I’m not sure how the companies were supposed to meaningfully screen drivers for COVID-19 at the beginning of their shifts and there were certainly limits to what they could do about passengers who refused to wear masks.^[2] I think what this complaint really shows is the disconnect between the workplace protections that are supposed to be afforded workers and Uber and Lyft’s entire business model.

Chase DiFeliciantonio, “Uber, Lyft facing fines for failing to provide drivers with proper COVID-19 protections,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 9, 2022, https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/Uber-Lyft-facing-fines-for-failing-to-provide-17362972.php

^[1]Amber Phillips, “What could the Mar-a-Lago search mean for Trump legally?” Washington Post, August 10, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/what-is-presidential-records-act-how-did-trump-violate-it/↩
^[2]Chase DiFeliciantonio, “Uber, Lyft facing fines for failing to provide drivers with proper COVID-19 protections,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 9, 2022, https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/Uber-Lyft-facing-fines-for-failing-to-provide-17362972.php ↩

Elon Musk knows he’s losing and Donald Trump thinks he’s winning

August 10, 2022benfell

I am not caught up. But I have appointments today to get to.

Twitter

It appears that even Elon Musk realizes his bullshit is unlikely to prevail. He has sold more Tesla stock in preparation for a contingency in which the court forces him to go through with the purchase of Twitter.^[1] He of course frames it a bit differently:

Yes.

In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 10, 2022

Parse the language: Musk seems to be acknowledging that Twitter, not the judge, but Twitter has the ability to “force[] this deal to close.”^[2] I think we can reasonably infer from this that Musk is indeed seeking a settlement^[3] and does not anticipate this getting to a stage where the judge would issue such an order. That this stock sale occurs after Musk “said less than four months ago he had no further stock sales planned” suggests further that this is costing him more than he anticipated.^[4] He’s not winning. He’s losing. He’s losing big. And he knows it.

Peter Vercoe, “Musk Sells $6.9 Billion of Tesla to Avoid Twitter Fire Sale,” Bloomberg, August 10, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-10/elon-musk-sells-4-3-billion-of-tesla-shares-first-since-april

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

I’m no Trump fan. I want him as far away from the White House as possible. But a fundamental part of his appeal has been that it’s him against a corrupt government establishment. This raid strengthens that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution.

— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) August 9, 2022

Andrew Yang took a lot of flack for these tweets. He was very likely wrong about the search being authorized only at a low level:^[5]

It seems like this was authorized by a local judge and a particular FBI office without buy-in or notification of higher levels of government. But literally no one will believe that or make a distinction. It’s probably bureaucratic but it seems political.

— Andrew Yang🧢⬆️🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) August 9, 2022

I, myself, asked,

How is this argument different, if at all, from one that Donald Trump should not be prosecuted, that is, he should be above the law, for precisely the same reason? https://t.co/tzh1740M8l

— David Benfell, Ph.D. (Public) (@BenfellPhD) August 10, 2022

But it appears to have solidified Republican support for Donald Trump and made an early announcement of his 2024 candidacy more probable.^[6]

Former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg said Monday’s FBI search would almost certainly strengthen Trump’s standing among Republican primary voters, especially those Republicans who had begun to lean toward DeSantis or another fresh face. But if Trump is ultimately indicted for a federal crime related to the search, as Nunberg said he expects, the former president’s ability to win over a broader group of voters in the 2024 general election could take a major hit.

“Despite the fantasies of everyone from Sean Hannity to Steve Bannon, I can promise you that someone under indictment isn’t going to get elected president of the United States,” Nunberg said.

But on Tuesday, at least, the Republican Party was squarely behind Trump, its undisputed leader.^[7]

I have underestimated Trump before.

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

^[1]Peter Vercoe, “Musk Sells $6.9 Billion of Tesla to Avoid Twitter Fire Sale,” Bloomberg, August 10, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-10/elon-musk-sells-4-3-billion-of-tesla-shares-first-since-april ↩
^[2]Elon Musk, “Yes. In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” Twitter, August 10, 2022, https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557198421206769664 ↩
^[3]Ankush Khardori, “I Used to Work on Cases Like Twitter v. Musk. Here’s What Will Happen Next,” New York, July 30, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/07/what-will-happen-next-with-the-twitter-v-musk-lawsuit.html ↩
^[4]Peter Vercoe, “Musk Sells $6.9 Billion of Tesla to Avoid Twitter Fire Sale,” Bloomberg, August 10, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-10/elon-musk-sells-4-3-billion-of-tesla-shares-first-since-april ↩
^[5]Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/↩
^[6]Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246 ↩
^[7]Steve Peoples, “GOP rallies around Trump following FBI search of his estate,” Associated Press, August 10, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/gop-rallies-around-donald-trump-a0f20a219b1090fd02f529acf744f246 ↩

Gonzo territory

August 9, 2022benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt

Jonathan Capehart makes the mistake of treating a constitutional oligarchy,^[1] that fraudulently takes on the airs of a representative system of government,^[2] as having some mystical force that will resurrect Liz Cheney like “The Force” in Star Wars resurrected Obi-Wan Kenobi.^[3] It is a sad but dangerous, if somewhat romantic, delusion that assumes that good, or in Liz Cheney’s case, a lesser evil, will prevail. Our system of government is not, however, by any means, “The Force,” and there are no Jedi Knights to save it or us from a forthcoming white Christian nationalist regime.

But there is this really very curious search at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence that no one really seems to know very much about. The predominant word is that it’s about violations of the Presidential Records Act but I’m also seeing that, that act lacking an enforcement mechanism, probably wouldn’t suffice to warrant a search of this political magnitude.^[4]

On Tuesday, a lawyer for [Donald] Trump said the agents who brought the court-approved warrant to Mar-a-Lago a day earlier took about 12 more boxes [in addition to 15 returned earlier] after conducting their search. . . .

[Christina] Bobb did not share the search warrant left by agents but said that it indicated agents were investigating possible violations of laws dealing with the handling of classified material and the Presidential Records Act.^[5]

Stanley Brand, a former House counsel who represents some of the Jan. 6 defendants and witnesses, said that search warrants don’t always yield any blockbuster or useful information. He called the FBI search of Trump’s property a huge escalation in the investigation of documents improperly taken to Mar-a-Lago. If investigators don’t recoup materials that showed that there were serious national consequences for the materials he potentially kept, Brand said, it could tarnish the Justice Department’s reputation.^[6]

The other angle here is a ferocious reaction from Trump’s supporters. The search is alleged to galvanize Trump’s base.^[7]

Particularly feeling a dissonance about now between on the one hand, white Christian nationalist "thin blue line" support for white supremacist gangsters (police), and on the other hand, their support for the #January6 coup attempt and their objection to the @FBI #MarALagoRaid.

— David Benfell, Ph.D. (Public) (@BenfellPhD) August 9, 2022

Julia Ioffe noticed it too:

[The search] did produce one deeply unexpected wrinkle in the political universe. Two years after Republicans made quick work of tying even the most moderate Democrats to their more progressive colleagues who called to “defund the police,” attempting to sink them in the 2020 elections, Republicans took to social media last night to loudly call for defunding, well, federal law enforcement.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, who by now needs no introduction, led the charge by declaring, simply, “DEFUND THE F.B.I.!” Others quickly followed. Erick Erickson, the conservative commentator who went from Never Trump to Always Trump, tweeted that, even as he struggles to form an opinion about what happened, he can already say that the F.B.I. should “be in line for defunding right behind the I.R.S.” The white nationalist House Republican Paul Gosar went so far as to call the F.B.I. “brown shirts” and to demand their “dismantling and elimination.” A Republican state representative from Florida who is running for Congress, Anthony Sabatini, said local Florida law enforcement should arrest F.B.I. agents on sight and that “it’s time to completely gut the F.B.I. and D.O.J.” Russ Vought, a conservative think tanker, went on Fox News, to preach the same gospel: defund the F.B.I. In a matter of hours, the idea had spread like wildfire. . . .

It is also deeply ironic, if you can call it that. When the national spotlight finally turned on law enforcement killing unarmed Black civilians, Republicans saw the call to “defund the police” as offensively unpatriotic. When the F.B.I. came after a former president who obstructed justice, flushed public records down the toilet, and did all kinds of other things that, let’s just say, weren’t extremely friendly with the law, it was suddenly time to get serious about defunding law enforcement. Funny how that works.^[8]

This, of course, wasn’t all. On Twitter, there was a lot of this sort of thing:

True.

Of course you’re leaving out the part with that former president was protected from prosecution after the Mueller report, was protected from impeachment by oath breaking traitors, and then attempted a coup.

That seems more directly relevant.

Traitor.

— Gregory Boyce (@techstoa) August 9, 2022

As for what will be next, Ioffe is skeptical^[9] and I sure as hell can’t tell you she’s wrong.

“If they are trying to rebound from the perception that their decision-making was skewed from the [Donald] Trump era, this is not going to help that,” [Stanley] Brand said. “Part of it depends on what happens hereafter.”^[10]

All I can really tell you here is 1) we’re in gonzo territory now, and 2) stay the fuck tuned because, one way or another, this story ain’t over.

Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/

^[1]David Benfell, “A constitutional oligarchy: Deconstructing Federalist No. 10,” Not Housebroken, July 3, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/22/a-constitutional-oligarchy-deconstructing-federalist-no-10/↩
^[2]David Benfell, “Why I do not vote,” Not Housebroken, February 25, 2016, https://disunitedstates.org/2016/02/23/why-i-do-not-vote/↩
^[3]Jonathan Capehart, “Liz Cheney is the Obi-Wan to Trump’s Darth Vader,” Washington Post, August 8, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/08/liz-cheney-obi-wan-kenobi-trump-darth-vader/↩
^[4]Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo, “Trump says FBI conducting search of Mar-a-Lago estate,” Associated Press, August 8, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-government-and-politics-9e8d683afe87389407950af7ccfdbdd6; Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/↩
^[5]Devlin Barrett et al., “Mar-a-Lago search appears focused on whether Trump, aides withheld items,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/trump-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/↩
^[6]Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/↩
^[7]Devlin Barrett et al., “Mar-a-Lago search appears focused on whether Trump, aides withheld items,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/trump-fbi-search-mar-a-lago/; Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/↩
^[8]Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/↩
^[9]Julia Ioffe, “Defund… the F.B.I.?” Puck News, August 9, 2022, https://puck.news/defund-the-f-b-i/↩
^[10]Perry Stein, “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” Washington Post, August 9, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/09/garland-trump-raid-politics/↩