How Alarmed Should We Be?

A Uniquely Dangerous Moment

Back in the mists of the Before Times — in April 2016 — Wisconsin Republicans handed Donald Trump one of his worst primary defeats. Some of us thought it would be a firewall against Trumpism. Instead, it was a speed bump.

But it was a painful speed bump for Trump. The day after his shellacking by the pre-Reek Ted Cruz, Trump raged:

Lyin' Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him. Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump Super PAC's spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PAC's (which is illegal) who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet--- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump.

A reminder: Trump has never been a gracious loser.

So last night’s Wisconsin primary represented more than just another victory for a Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate.

For the Wisconsin GOP, the result was a stark about-face, and a pretty thorough repudiation of the party’s pre-Trump identity. (I’m old enough to remember when Paul Ryan was the WI GOP’s idea of The Future.)
https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/a-uniquely-dangerous-moment

 

I find Trump and his disciples. to be deranged and dangerous. They WILL destroy America, and there is little we can do to stop them.

 

Judge Who Signed FBI MAL Warrant Faces Threats And Pro-Trump Media Attacks

Almost Unsurprising
Far-right Trump supporters online have been bombarding Bruce Reinhart, the federal magistrate who reportedly signed the search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and his family with anti-Semitic threats.

• Several extremists have even posted what they believe to be Reinhart’s address, phone numbers, and names of his family, Vice found.
• Fox News and other right-wing media have been smearing Reinhart as an anti-Trump hack and, uh, lover of Golden Oreos.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/judge-sign-fbi-raid-warrant-threats

Predictable.

 

Reports are coming in of an apparent break-in attempt at the FBI’s field office in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The FBI’s Cincinnati office issued a statement saying that at around 9:15 a.m. ET, “an armed subject attempted to breach” the office’s screening facility.

“Upon the activation of an alarm and a response by armed FBI special agents, the subject fled northbound onto Interstate 71,” the rest of the statement reads.

The suspect has not been named.

Statements from the FBI field office and the Clinton County Emergency Management Agency describe an unfolding standoff in a rural area 50 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/...e-incident-at-the-fbi-cincinnati-field-office

Not to jump the gun here, but I doubt this was the work of ANTIFA.

 

F.B.I. Search Ignited Violent Rhetoric on the Far Right

For the past six years, Donald J. Trump’s most loyal supporters have gone on the attack against federal law-enforcement officials whenever they have sought to investigate the former president or his allies.

But the reaction this week to the F.B.I.’s court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Fla., went far beyond the usual ire and indignation. Pro-Trump influencers, figures in the media and a Republican candidate for office employed the language of violence to rally opposition.

“Tomorrow is war,” Steven Crowder, a conservative commentator with 1.9 million Twitter followers, wrote on the site within hours of the search. “Sleep well.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/nyregion/fbi-search-violent-rhetoric.html

More evidence of what I've been saying for months. Trumpery is causing the normalization of calls for politically motivated violence.

 

Suspect killed after attempted attack on FBI building

An armed man suspected of attempting an attack on an FBI building in Cincinnati on Thursday morning was later shot and killed by police, according to the Ohio Highway State Patrol.

Highway patrol identified the deceased Friday morning as 42-year-old Ricky W. Shiffer, from Columbus, Ohio.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/11/fbi-building-attacked-in-cincinnati-00051122

Expect more like this.

 

Fox News Airs Doctored Photo of Trump Raid Judge With Ghislaine Maxwell

During Thursday’s broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight, fill-in host Brian Kilmeade mentioned the Florida judge who reportedly approved the search warrant used by the FBI to raid Mar-a-Lago on Monday and who has subsequently faced death threats for doing so.

During Kilmeade’s commentary, however, a fabricated image of two separate photographs appeared on screen depicting Judge Bruce Reinhart on an airplane receiving a foot massage from convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-airs-fake-photo-of-trump-raid-judge-ghislaine-maxwell

Will there be repercussions? Not if Faux sticks with past policy.

 

HE NEVER HAD ANY IMPARTIALITY: Reinhart Recused Self from Trump-Clinton Suit.

​

"The impartiality of Bruce Reinhart, the judge who signed off on the Mar-a-Lago raid, is beginning to collapse. On Tuesday, Nina told us about Reinhart’s ties to the infamous Jeffrey Epstein. Now we learn that he previously recused himself from a lawsuit Trump brought against Hillary Clinton."

6 weeks before he signed off on searching Melania's Drawers for classified docs.

 

It is not the least bit surprising that you folks are trying to assassinate the character of the judge. It's disgusting, and one of the hallmarks of Trumpery.

 

This scumball was working on the Einstein criminal investigation and then resigned and went to work for Epstein. And while he was barred from directly representing Epstein, he happily represented many of Epstein's employees, including one he called his "Yugoslavian Sex Slave".

Epstein employee that Judge Reinhart called "My Yugoslavian Sex Slave"
​

Would you work for Jeff Epstein? No one made this Judge resign from the Epstein Investigation team and go to work for Jeff Epstein, that was his choice. Now you want to bleat that he is criticized for his own free-will decision? You sure have a lot of special rules that you pull out when when you are dealing with the political opposition that I don't see you applying to folks on the Blue team.

Reinhart Recused Himself Six Weeks Before Raid
"On June 22, U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce W. Reinhart of West Palm Beach, FL, filed his recusal, citing a law which requires judges to be impartial. Donald Trump had brought a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other Democrats stemming from the Russian collusion scandal. Reinhart presided the start of the litigation, but then withdrew, writing in his order:"

“The undersigned Magistrate Judge, to whom the above-styled cause has been assigned, hereby recuses himself and refers the case to the Clerk of Court for reassignment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455.”

The statute that the judge cited says, in part, that a judge “… shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned …” The statute continues by describing such concerns, including “a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts.” Reinhart’s order, however, did not specify his conflict with Trump v. Clinton.

"Why did he change his tune just weeks later and issue the warrant for the raid on Trump’s home?"

Did he approve these arrogant heavily armed thugs going through Melania's drawers on the pretext of searching for "nuclear secrets"?

​

In just 88 days Americans have an opportunity to restore some rationality, order and decency to the Federal government.

 

https://www.politico.com/video/2022/08/14/armed-trump-supporters-gather-at-phoenix-fbi-office-668392

No commentary needed.

 

Trump is pushing us toward the abyss

That former President Donald Trump was reportedly hiding nuclear secrets at Mar-a-Lago is shocking, even to those of us who expect the worst of Trump.

Even after the release of the warrant and property receipt on Friday afternoon, we don’t exactly know what the documents were or even if they are related to America’s nuclear arsenal or that of a foreign power. Trump, for his part, predictably slammed the report on social media, calling it a “hoax.” But if the Washington Post’s reporting is even remotely accurate, it raises troubling questions about why the former president decided to purloin the documents. It also explains why the Justice Department was willing to go to such extreme lengths to recover them.

Yet while Attorney General Merrick Garland’s logic in authorizing the search now appears sound, its consequences appear increasingly dire.

On Thursday, a man identified as Ricky Shiffer — a Trump supporter who attended the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot — attacked an FBI building in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a nail gun, ultimately dying in a confrontation with police. On Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, Shiffer indicated that he was motivated by the FBI raid. “We must not tolerate this one,” he wrote in one message.

On Friday, Temple Beth David — a South Florida synagogue attended by the federal judge who authorized the search — was scheduled to host evening services on the beach. But a member of the synagogue on Thursday said that the Beach Shabbat event was canceled amid a deluge of antisemitic threats. The judge’s involvement in the synagogue had been publicly identified in a Tuesday Twitter post by Lenny Dykstra, a former New York Mets outfielder and convicted felon, who followed up with antisemitic comments about Beth David’s religious practices.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant

Judge who approved Trump search warrant attacked for synagogue involvement
https://forward.com/fast-forward/51...h-warrant-attacked-for-synagogue-involvement/

The train isn't going off the rails, it's off the rails.

 

FBI and DHS warn threats to federal law enforcement have spiked since Mar-a-Lago search

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have issued a joint intelligence bulletin warning of a spike in threats to federal law enforcement officials since the search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News.

“The FBI and DHS have observed an increase in threats to federal law enforcement and to a lesser extent other law enforcement and government officials following the FBI’s recent execution of a search warrant in Palm Beach, Florida," the document, dated Friday, reads, according to one official.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...forcement-spiked-wake-mar-lago-sear-rcna43024

Why isn't Trump calling off his dogs? For the same reason he only called for the Capital riot to end after 3 hours of violence was because his aides talked him in to it. He wants violence.

 

I don't approve of violent threats at all, but it doesn't surprise me that we've come to this. This is the type of street violence the left has thrived on for decades, yet are now surprised conservatives are fighting back. Trump is right when he says "In reality, they're not after me they're after you I'm just in the way." There is a civil war coming and it's going to get really ugly.

 

That view is unsupported by the facts. You are free to try to prove otherwise.

 

Public opinion is proving it for me. You can ignore it at your peril, which is fine with me. I look forward to the midterms.

 

No it isn't.

 

Nearly All Pro-Impeachment GOPers Officially Purged


Election Truther Now Set To Be Wyoming’s Next Secretary Of State
Chuck Gray, a Trump endorsee and 2020 election fraud conspiracist, won the Republican primary for Wyoming secretary of state last night. And since no Democrats ran for the position, Gray’s victory means he’ll be overseeing the elections in 2024.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/pro-impeachment-republicans-lose-primaries

We're going to see what happens when the raving Trump lunatics can do more than engage in delusion. Some will have real power.

 

bummer

But pro Trumpers have the same rights to vote as you do.

 

There are checks and balances in our system, we'll be OK.

 

You have more confidence in the system than I do. After all, an unqualified professional conman was elected prez.

Trump’s Man in Arizona Might Get the Last Laugh

PHOENIX — When Arizona state lawmaker Mark Finchem, a 2020 election denier who deals in fringe legal theories, won the Republican nomination for secretary of state earlier this month, many of his GOP colleagues in the state Legislature couldn’t believe it. To be clear, they knew he would win — he had Donald Trump’s endorsement — but they were still stunned. Mark Finchem. Him.

A back-bench lawmaker best known locally for his over-the-top drugstore cowboy get-ups and extreme ideas, Finchem would be in charge of the state’s elections should he win in November. That would also put him first in the line of succession for the governorship since Arizona doesn’t have a lieutenant governor.

“It’s basically from political gadfly within the Republican caucus to potentially the number two person in the state of Arizona,” says Arizona Republican Sen. T.J. Shope. “It’s a meteoric rise.”

“Never in a million years” would Paul Boyer, a fellow GOP state legislator, have imagined that Finchem would crush a field of qualified candidates and win a nomination to statewide office.
https://www.politico.com/news/magaz...-in-arizona-might-get-the-last-laugh-00052519

 

After decades of civil war, the Arizona primaries mark a decisive swing in the state GOP’s balance of power. The center-right, pro-business wing of the party led by the late Sen. John McCain and Gov. Doug Ducey has been defeated, at least for now. Finchem and other far-right outsiders — the original tea party activists and the new Trumpist hard-liners — have taken over.

 

When Election Officials Refuse To Certify Complete Election Results

It’s been over two months since Pennsylvania held its primary elections, but three counties are still refusing to include certain ballots in their certification totals. On July 11, the Pennsylvania Department of State and secretary of the commonwealth sued the three county boards of elections over their obstruction.

This isn’t an isolated, small-scale issue: The counties — Berks, Fayette and Lancaster — have a combined population of over one million people. The skirmish also isn’t simply about Pennsylvania and a specific type of mail-in ballots; the implications of this kind of nuanced election subversion will be widespread in the years to come.

A federal and state court both agreed that the ballots must be counted.
The three county boards of elections are refusing to include in their totals mail-in ballots that were received before Pennsylvania’s 8:00 p.m. deadline on Election Day, but were missing a date on the outside envelope. This might sound like an oddly specific category of ballots, known as “undated mail-in ballots,” but we’ve seen plenty of litigation in the Keystone State itself around this very issue.
https://www.democracydocket.com/new...-refuse-to-certify-complete-election-results/

Not unusual?

 

The Judicial Kingmaker

The New York Times has an important story out this morning on an unusual and ginormous donation by a conservative businessman to a new nonprofit group run by Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the Federalist Society. In his role at the Federalist Society and at the nexus of the conservative dark money network, Leo is the judicial kingmaker on the GOP side.

Now Leo’s vast influence will be boosted by the $1.6 billion donation to his new group: the Marble Freedom Trust. The Times explored the series of transactions in which the electronics manufacturing mogul Barre Seid donated 100% of the stock of his company to Leo’s group right before the company was sold to an Irish conglomerate. Leo has been deeply involved in the nomination and confirmation of every Republican-appointed Supreme Court justice since Clarence Thomas.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/leonard-leo-barre-seid-marble-freedom-trust

The irony being Leo is largely responsible for putting the justices on the bench who voted for the Citizen's United case. Allowing unlimited dark money contributions to corruptly effect our politics. A ruling he is now taking full advantage of.

 

Routine shenanigans of no real importance.