" If the next Democratic administration doesn’t take note and prosecute the criminals of today to the fullest extent of the law, then that criminality is doomed to repeat itself in the future."
If only Merrick Garland had started the ball rolling earlier, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And Cohen is right: if the next Dem admin doesn't learn from that disaster, we are toast. We are truly on the cusp of a tipping point as far as inequality in America goes.
The real fault lies not with Merrick Garland who faced the daunting prospect of bringing a former president before the bar of justice, but with those Republican Senators who voted to aquit Tump after January 6th. THEN we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Let me ask you whether the next Dem-appointed AG will be daunted by bringing a former president to the bar of justice. Talk about the buck stopping there—it either does or it doesn’t. I would say that his failure pays forward to the next failure, or at least makes success that much less likely.
Unfortunately, SCOTUS giving Trump almost total immunity will delay any accountability directed at him personally. We'll first have to rebuild DOJ, then go through the expected process of targeting all his underlings before we get to him. Everyone also has to remember and acknowledge that Trump will pardon all those he wants, further complicating the accountability process. America will have to settle on compelling Congress to identify and fix all the loopholes and flaws inn existing statutes. AND we have to hope that Democrats do the right thing, even if it is in their best political interests to keep what Trump has done on the books. We'll see soon enough. I'm not holding my breath.
Trump only has immunity for acts arguably within his official duties. Phony lawsuits against the IRS in his personal capacity, selling crypto and all manner of logo shit, etc. are not within his official responsibilities. So he can be prosecuted -- and certainly impeached.
I don't disagree. My seemingly skeptical comment only reflects what I see is the most likely outcome following the mid-terms, should the Dems take control of Congress. I've actually mentioned in prior postings that I believe Trump will actually quit/resign if he loses Congress. Honestly, I don't think my prediction is all that farfetched or inane. Trump is ill (both physically and mentally), he will be a lame duck, and he knows there will be an overwhelming push to impeach him. So, he can resign, claiming health issues, after first pardoning everyone he feels is/was loyal, then retreat to Mar-A-Lago with Blanche as his again personal attorney. The chaos of a new Vance Administration, the need to restructure DOJ and other critical government functions, and new confirmations in a Congress trying to get its feet on the ground, will take priority. All that will take time. I seriously think Trump will be dead before all this mess gets to SCOTUS. We will be dealing with the fallout of this administration for a generation. I can only hope Congress actually gets the message about needed reforms.
I wonder if you are really aware of the legal issues involved in doing what Garland and Smith were attempting. It is awfully easy to second guess someone operating in unknown territory. No American justice official has ever been faced with anything like that. And in any case, the charges against Trump would likely have been brought to court had it not been for the SCOTUS decision in Trump v USA. It was a decision Garland could not easily have anticipated.
I myself don’t know what was involved, but Garland was a pro, and I’m not willing to second guess him in so intricate an area.
I honesty don’t know what the next Democratic appointed AG may or may not do. The SCOTUS decision in Trump v USA complitcated the issue. And we know how Trump and his morally challenged lawyers can drag such proceedings out.He would likely be dead long before the appeals ran out.
To be honest with you, the crucial thing here is that Trumpism goes into the historical waste basket. That will not happen if he’s convicted. He has shown himself able to make all too much hay out of any attempt to do so.
Of course I am not versed in all of the legal routes, and I did give Mr. Garland leeway and support at the time. However, he failed, and it would appear that he did because the clock won. He did know that his opponent used delay and obstruction and the slow course of court proceedings to manipulate the legal system for an entire lifetime. If that was not enough evidence that haste was required, and that he had a few short years to get the job done, then I can only conclude that he was not the man for the job.
And I don't accept that we can't hold Trump or any other president accountable. Gerald Ford didn't foresee what not prosecuting Nixon would do. It's no coincidence that Trump is handing out pardons like candy throughout his term. His example will draw more malevolent candidates to high office.
Not bothering to prosecute because it is hard or because some people are stupid is not a solution. Americans used to do difficult things, and if we don't continue trying, we won't have to any longer.
I’m not suggesting that Trump shouldn’t be brought before the bar. But I just don’t see what that will accomplish if we don’t at the same time understand what led to him and at least attempt to deal with that.
I’m just over 81. I was born exactly nine months after DDay, and exactly five months before the Enola Gay opened her bomb bay doors over Hiroshima. So my life has almost exactly spanned the all-too- brief time between our being the Arsenal of Democracy which, with our allies, defeated the greatest evil in human history and the political, social, and religious morass in which we now find ourselves – a time when a man who would not have been out of place in the Nazi hierarchy, that of Imperial Japan, or indeed as a member of the pre-Civil War southern slavocracy now sits in the Oval Office.
That problem will not be solved by convicting Trump. He is not the problem. The problem is that nearly half of all American voters so misunderstood the nation we were designed to be that they twice chose as President a man who utterly disdains and disavows our electoral process, our Constitution, and the rule of law - a man who has neither understanding of nor concern for the fact that we are the most extraordinary, the most crucial, the riskiest, and the most complex ongoing experiment in human society and government ever attempted.
That’s the problem. That says more about them than it does about Trump. And it says more about our current situation than it does about either.
It may seem a bit nuts, but I look at Trump as a remarkable gift. He has shown us how fragile our Republic is, while at the same time being so incompetent a president that he is rapidly losing his own supporters, let alone the rest of us.
I would love to see Trump behind bars. But in truth, I’d much rather see him squatting like a giant malignant toad at Mar-a-Lago, flailing around helplessly and croaking futilely at the wind while he watches his regime being dismantled by a vast group of Americans who have finally realized just how incompetent and destructive he was and who are now utterly ignoring him while we rebuild our Republic.
That way he would truly be not a self-proclaimed victim who would continue to promote his madness and incite his followers to go underground and seek a new champion, but just a pathetic old fool baying at the moon.
You are far more patient and accommodating than I am. I'm guessing both scenarios would be satisfying though.
Thanks for giving me some of your background. I wonder if you share my suspicion that the disconnect from our civic life among so many coincides with their turning to virtual society via social media and phones. It seemed like a small but important step when we lost our shared information source, television news, when cable and CNN moved in and finally all of broadcasting and publishing splintered.
Between not having to deal with others one-on-one and not agreeing on a shared set of facts, I believe society as a structure, not just the awareness of individual voters, has declined to a nonfunctional level. It's lonely and disconcerting, and promises more and more trickle-down problems in the future.
Seems to me the only chance to do anything would be by mass impeachments by a Democratic congress, IF the orange convicted felon allows free and fair elections in November. I have serious doubts that will happen.
Otherwise, the orange convicted felon will pardon every last member of his family and his cult followers.
The pardon power is another thing that needs to be looked at closely and revised.
...If only Joe McCarthy had been convicted for his lies, or if Ford had not pardoned Nixon for his crimes... Roy Cohn is the link between both of them and iDJT. For too long we have let these criminals off lightly.
Yes..I’m 83 yrs along and have been watching that link for too many decade's. The shadowy puppet masters, and they are there now. We just have more outspoken articulate, tech savvy voices to push back now, thank goodness.
You left out Bush Sr. shoving the whole Iran-Contra mess under the rug before Reagan could be indicted for his crimes.
Republicans forgiving Republicans is a time honored tradition for them now.
Although Biden giving Garland a "consolation prize" as AG after having his Supreme Court seat denied by Mitch McTurtle was clearly a mistake on Biden's part!
You might also say that had Mitch McConnell and his toadies in the senate followed the House of Representatives in the impeachment process and convicted and removed Trump, what we're facing today would have been avoided. Don't forget what they did to the supreme court either.
RIGHT ON, KnockKnock. If a criminal is caught he is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Trump has not only been caught but we ALL have seen it daily, on the news, yet he still walks a free man.
He has scrapped our democracy. I, as an American citizen, demand to know why he is NOT in jail!!
"If the next Democratic administration doesn’t take note and prosecute the criminals of today to the fullest extent of the law, then that criminality is doomed to repeat itself in the future."
The Democratic Congressional leaders must be ready on Day One to hit the ground running with a list of actions they are begining THAT DAY. A list of persons to be investigated. A plan for recouping the president's irresponsible and unlawful expenditures. A plan to stop any further work on the White House grounds ir other public land. (No arches, no walkways, no heliports, and especially no ballroom.) If the Dems gain a Senate majority they must take back the power of the purse. They must have credible, effective plans they are prepared to go public with on January 3, 2027.
This is what we have been missing forever. I had hoped someone was keeping a spreadsheet of Trump 1's destruction and would systematically counteract it rapidly. Joe Biden was not Mr. Rapid. He tried, but he had a pandemic to deal with.
But at this point, we are sick of Democratic representation that is reactive, not proactive. The only way we fix this current mess is with A PLAN. You know, like the Project 2025 guys had? I also do not see A LEADER on the horizon, unless it is Pete Buttigieg--and he's campaigning for other people. This clip of his speech in Iowa is what a leader sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfdsbScRXs&t=790s
How right you are, KKG. I loved hearing Liz Warren say "I have a plan for that," regardless of what the issue was, and I believe she did. I hope she and other smart members of Congress will craft plans that have a hope of working in real time.
There must be someone out there who is keeping a record of his wasteful, recoverable spending.
And I'd love to hear Pete on this. So far he has a lot of support.
I will never forget getting my first covid shot at the airport, with hundreds of people leaving there happy and relieved for the first time in months if not years. Thank you, thank you, Joe Biden, for your action and compassion at that time.
This is crucial! We/they cannot wait until the day after the election to develop strategy and tactics for implementing reform and accountability. We are already 7 years late.
When I see the word “investigate” I roll my eyes. These things take months if not years. When Dems take over they need to arrest the criminals first, then investigate. Or better yet, prosecute. There’s plenty of evidence of egregious wrong doing by this band of criminals right out in the open.
Democrats need to take a pledge Now to walk and chew gum at the same time. Develop a 2026/2028 Plan Now. They cannot neglect their primary responsibility to work for the American people by passing bills that will better the lives of all citizens, and clean-up the MAGA MESS. Don't get bogged down in investigations and endless hearings. Hire professional teams of lawyers, investigators etc. to get the goods on the Rats and get them out of their holes. Then spend quality time on serious hearings and convictions while continuing legislative work. The Nuremberg trials did not take years or stop the governing of the Free World or rebuilding Europe. Get to work!
I have, literally for decades, faulted the democratic party for being too timid and wishy washy when they find themselves in power and very poor at messaging and countering the propaganda of the Republicans. If they win the midterms, they must leave those tendencies behind and hold the Trump administration accountable and prosecute his cronies where they have broken the law and their faith with the American people.
I partially agree with you. I do think we'd be better in a system that allowed more than two parties to hold power, e.g., a parliamentary system, but even so, when the Dems have held power they fail to wield it as effectively as they might. (BTW, Biden was better than I expected, in part, because he took Bernie Sanders and the more "extreme" left seriously and worked to pass legislation that included some of their ideas in a number of areas. I feel compelled to use quotes around extreme, because the U.S.'s idea of extreme left is often less left than some European nations.)
There was a poll released yesterday that said among voters 65+, the progressives are most popular by far. The older I get (I’m 86), the farther left I find my opinions. I’m thrilled that Zoran Mamdani was elected mayor of NYC. If the DSA can run candidates who speak truth to power, we will have all of the accountability we need. Get out and VOTE!
Madison himself envisioned not a Parliamentary system, but rather a collection of competing interest groups that would be forced to endless compromises in order to make the system work for the maximum number of people.
The real essence of our system ought not to be that one faction or another ‘wields’ power. The Framers understood where that could go. although of course they went ahead and initiated it anyway. But the Constitution was written without the idea of political parties as we know them. We have thus created a system unintended by the Framers, Our real aim ought to be the weakening of political party power. What worries me most about what may follow Trumpism is that we may, out of exhaustion and inertia simply continue this political see saw.
I am heartened by the fact that more and more Americans see themselves as Independents. (A curse on both your houses!) and see if we can’t alter our trajectory, but I don’t know if enough of us understand the real nature of our situation.
Yes, Madison and other founders thought that competing interests would prevent the two party system we have now. And Washington and others warned against the development of political parties. However, I think history has shown that their hope was naive. Folks banding together to form parties in a free society seems to be an inevitable development. If that is right, I'd much rather have something like a parliamentary system that is multi-party and, therefore, requires cooperation and compromise among the competing interests. It also allows for a much wider range of political opinions and options to be part of the conversation.
And how many prime ministers has England had in the past two decades? The fact is that any form of government can be beneficial if the right people are running it, and the most beneficial form of government can be a disaster if the wrong people are running it.
I think I understand your point and also recognize any system has weaknesses. In my case, after nearly a lifetime of observing the strengths and weaknesses of how our democratic republic is structured and particularly the systems in Europe (only western Europe when I was younger), I feel that the other systems' shortcomings don't outweigh their strengths in comparison to ours.
Yes indeed. We need to become as loud (or louder) than the liars, literally combatting them with facts, truth and holding MAGA leadership and operatives (listen up, Stephen Miller) accountable. Investigate and prosecute.
Trump will just use his pardon power to continue to keep his cronies from facing consequences. He must be impeached immediately followed by his cabinet of narcissistic, corrupt drunks and brain damaged drug addicts. Lots of charges to choose from with that group.
Vance could still use the pardon for all the Trump administration’s massive criminality, so he would need to be impeached as well. It wouldn’t take him long to rack up charges. Afterwards the “President to be” (3rd in line) is the newly elected Speaker of the House, a Democrat from congress’ majority win.
Any corrupt Trump holdover would need to be purged before we would have clean governance that works for the people instead of the billionaires.
I like your idea about impeachment, but practically, it's almost certainly a non-starter. For conviction in the Senate a 2/3 vote is required. It's extremely unlikely the Dems will have that supermajority after the midterms, and the Republicans have shown no willingness to cross the aisle and vote with the Democrats after a trial.
I'm not shocked. I've been expecting the collapse of the country since November of 2024. I'm not sure he (or those pulling his strings) could actually shock me. Although, teaming up militarily with Israel does come close.
Thanks Brian. Your message is so clear. Democrats holding office or who will be sworn in to official positions have to empower the courts. They must work vigorously to get justice for those terrorized by DOGE & ICE.
There are steps that need to be taken, the first being to change the majority in Congress. Next, repair and strengthen the agency that enforces the emoluments clauses (domestic and international). The repair to the department of justice will likely have to wait until 2028, and untill then, the attorneys will be busy filing complaints and lawsuits against the con-man who is bilking the American people. This was a fine piece of writing with good direction. It is worth attention.
As do I, but we all know his deny/delay tactics will run the clock with appeals. This is what he does. Just look at what he's pushing for with the E Jean Carroll settlement. He obviously wants to tie the case up in litigation until the poor woman dies.
That might be a bit hard to prove. He had his lackies and toadies do the dirty work. He didn't, as he said, "shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue".
Crimes against humanity, on the other hand, should be a piece of cake.
From what I have seen I do not think that it would be very hard at all to nail him as an accessory to these murders. As a mater of fact, I think it would be relatively easy to prove that his actions as president created these murders (now in the dozens).
Ah, but were they "official" acts of the president? Remember the immunity in vague terms that the supreme court granted Trump in conducting the business of the presidency? His buddies in the court might well contest the charges. This is how badly our system of justice has been perverted.
It is time for the media to explain in articles what billions and trillions of dollars are in terms we have a chance to understand. A billion dollars is 1000 million dollars! A trillion dollars is a million million dollars!!! Journalists and DEMOCRATS should note these big amounts with the number of millions in parentheses in every article. Examples:
$1.8 billion ($1,800 million) for a slush fund
$70 billion ($70,000 million) for ice and border patrol
$350 billion ($350,000 million) additional for military spending
$1 trillion ($1 million million) in additional debt or describing Elon Musk’s net worth (surely good we gave him additional tax breaks)
There does come a point where the amounts become unrecognizable to most of us, and problably even to the legislators foking it over. It's not their money so they believe that they can be extravagant and irresponsible.
Yes, the future of our democracy absolutely depends on what we do this fall and next year to take back our govt from the hands of maniacal self dealing monsters.
If we're going to rely on GOP Senators to care about our multi-cultural, vision of democracy with equal justice for all, we're fools. Many of these "Americans" have been waiting for the South to Rise Again. And so it has. We need a landslide in 2026 to start wiping MAGA out of national politics.
The new ICE detention center in Texas will be called the "Auschwitz Correction Center". They are doing everything they can to get the gas contract down there. Very sick people inhabit our Oval office and Congress. Does anyone care?
Given that Trump’s address to the nation on Thursday will be almost exclusively political in nature, including reassertions that he was cheated out of winning the 2020 election, the Democrats should demand rebuttal time to rip his claims to shreds.
The worst part of this is that WE KNEW WHAT TRUMP WAS in 2024!
Even if you give MAGA a pass for 2016, for believing Trump would deliver the changes he promised, you cannot give them the same pass for trusting him a second time in 2024. They have no excuse for supporting a convicted criminal, a tax cheat, a liar and a person who was simply "bad at the job" of being President the first time!
Never believe anyone who voted for Trump in 2024 who tries to lie and tell you they believed he was going to fix or clean anything up in his second term.
I believe, like you, in the rule of law. I also believe in the rule of grammar. Your over-correction in the following sentence reveals a violation: "In the 1990s, the post-Soviet Russian government auctioned off state assets to whomever was positioned closest to power." You use "whomever" as an object of the preposition "to": wrong. It should be "whoever" as the subject of the verb phrase "was positioned." What follows "to" as the object of the preposition is a noun clause "whoever was positioned closest to power."
`How blissfully irrelevant. The information came through, even though a grammarian finds fault in it. Let's get out the thought and forgive the lesson in good editing.
When he first hit the international headlines I wondered how on earth the simultaneous translators were going to manage. I still wonder how they did. If they did.
The brand new ICE detention center in Texas will be called the "Auschwitz Correction Center". They are doing everything they can to get the gas contract down there. Very sick people inhabit our Oval office and Congress. Does anyone care?
Another lesson from Putin's Russia that is often overlooked: Putin used the power of the state to seize the assets of oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former ally whom he came to perceive as a rival.
The kleptocracy can be bad for billionaires, too. The ultra-wealthy supporting Trump don't seem to realize this.
" If the next Democratic administration doesn’t take note and prosecute the criminals of today to the fullest extent of the law, then that criminality is doomed to repeat itself in the future."
If only Merrick Garland had started the ball rolling earlier, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And Cohen is right: if the next Dem admin doesn't learn from that disaster, we are toast. We are truly on the cusp of a tipping point as far as inequality in America goes.
The real fault lies not with Merrick Garland who faced the daunting prospect of bringing a former president before the bar of justice, but with those Republican Senators who voted to aquit Tump after January 6th. THEN we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Let me ask you whether the next Dem-appointed AG will be daunted by bringing a former president to the bar of justice. Talk about the buck stopping there—it either does or it doesn’t. I would say that his failure pays forward to the next failure, or at least makes success that much less likely.
Unfortunately, SCOTUS giving Trump almost total immunity will delay any accountability directed at him personally. We'll first have to rebuild DOJ, then go through the expected process of targeting all his underlings before we get to him. Everyone also has to remember and acknowledge that Trump will pardon all those he wants, further complicating the accountability process. America will have to settle on compelling Congress to identify and fix all the loopholes and flaws inn existing statutes. AND we have to hope that Democrats do the right thing, even if it is in their best political interests to keep what Trump has done on the books. We'll see soon enough. I'm not holding my breath.
Trump only has immunity for acts arguably within his official duties. Phony lawsuits against the IRS in his personal capacity, selling crypto and all manner of logo shit, etc. are not within his official responsibilities. So he can be prosecuted -- and certainly impeached.
Then, unfortunately Jim Bombguy, your children and mine will live in an Autocratic Fascist state.
Explain that to them, will you?
I don't disagree. My seemingly skeptical comment only reflects what I see is the most likely outcome following the mid-terms, should the Dems take control of Congress. I've actually mentioned in prior postings that I believe Trump will actually quit/resign if he loses Congress. Honestly, I don't think my prediction is all that farfetched or inane. Trump is ill (both physically and mentally), he will be a lame duck, and he knows there will be an overwhelming push to impeach him. So, he can resign, claiming health issues, after first pardoning everyone he feels is/was loyal, then retreat to Mar-A-Lago with Blanche as his again personal attorney. The chaos of a new Vance Administration, the need to restructure DOJ and other critical government functions, and new confirmations in a Congress trying to get its feet on the ground, will take priority. All that will take time. I seriously think Trump will be dead before all this mess gets to SCOTUS. We will be dealing with the fallout of this administration for a generation. I can only hope Congress actually gets the message about needed reforms.
I wonder if you are really aware of the legal issues involved in doing what Garland and Smith were attempting. It is awfully easy to second guess someone operating in unknown territory. No American justice official has ever been faced with anything like that. And in any case, the charges against Trump would likely have been brought to court had it not been for the SCOTUS decision in Trump v USA. It was a decision Garland could not easily have anticipated.
I myself don’t know what was involved, but Garland was a pro, and I’m not willing to second guess him in so intricate an area.
I honesty don’t know what the next Democratic appointed AG may or may not do. The SCOTUS decision in Trump v USA complitcated the issue. And we know how Trump and his morally challenged lawyers can drag such proceedings out.He would likely be dead long before the appeals ran out.
To be honest with you, the crucial thing here is that Trumpism goes into the historical waste basket. That will not happen if he’s convicted. He has shown himself able to make all too much hay out of any attempt to do so.
Of course I am not versed in all of the legal routes, and I did give Mr. Garland leeway and support at the time. However, he failed, and it would appear that he did because the clock won. He did know that his opponent used delay and obstruction and the slow course of court proceedings to manipulate the legal system for an entire lifetime. If that was not enough evidence that haste was required, and that he had a few short years to get the job done, then I can only conclude that he was not the man for the job.
And I don't accept that we can't hold Trump or any other president accountable. Gerald Ford didn't foresee what not prosecuting Nixon would do. It's no coincidence that Trump is handing out pardons like candy throughout his term. His example will draw more malevolent candidates to high office.
Not bothering to prosecute because it is hard or because some people are stupid is not a solution. Americans used to do difficult things, and if we don't continue trying, we won't have to any longer.
I’m not suggesting that Trump shouldn’t be brought before the bar. But I just don’t see what that will accomplish if we don’t at the same time understand what led to him and at least attempt to deal with that.
I’m just over 81. I was born exactly nine months after DDay, and exactly five months before the Enola Gay opened her bomb bay doors over Hiroshima. So my life has almost exactly spanned the all-too- brief time between our being the Arsenal of Democracy which, with our allies, defeated the greatest evil in human history and the political, social, and religious morass in which we now find ourselves – a time when a man who would not have been out of place in the Nazi hierarchy, that of Imperial Japan, or indeed as a member of the pre-Civil War southern slavocracy now sits in the Oval Office.
That problem will not be solved by convicting Trump. He is not the problem. The problem is that nearly half of all American voters so misunderstood the nation we were designed to be that they twice chose as President a man who utterly disdains and disavows our electoral process, our Constitution, and the rule of law - a man who has neither understanding of nor concern for the fact that we are the most extraordinary, the most crucial, the riskiest, and the most complex ongoing experiment in human society and government ever attempted.
That’s the problem. That says more about them than it does about Trump. And it says more about our current situation than it does about either.
It may seem a bit nuts, but I look at Trump as a remarkable gift. He has shown us how fragile our Republic is, while at the same time being so incompetent a president that he is rapidly losing his own supporters, let alone the rest of us.
I would love to see Trump behind bars. But in truth, I’d much rather see him squatting like a giant malignant toad at Mar-a-Lago, flailing around helplessly and croaking futilely at the wind while he watches his regime being dismantled by a vast group of Americans who have finally realized just how incompetent and destructive he was and who are now utterly ignoring him while we rebuild our Republic.
That way he would truly be not a self-proclaimed victim who would continue to promote his madness and incite his followers to go underground and seek a new champion, but just a pathetic old fool baying at the moon.
I agree with your view that Trump will end up isolated and ignored in Mar-A-Lago. Perhaps we could dismantle Truth Social at the same time.
You are far more patient and accommodating than I am. I'm guessing both scenarios would be satisfying though.
Thanks for giving me some of your background. I wonder if you share my suspicion that the disconnect from our civic life among so many coincides with their turning to virtual society via social media and phones. It seemed like a small but important step when we lost our shared information source, television news, when cable and CNN moved in and finally all of broadcasting and publishing splintered.
Between not having to deal with others one-on-one and not agreeing on a shared set of facts, I believe society as a structure, not just the awareness of individual voters, has declined to a nonfunctional level. It's lonely and disconcerting, and promises more and more trickle-down problems in the future.
The next Dem-appointed AG will be daunted only if he or she sees no one standing tall beside him (or her). I, for one, will stand up tall and proud.
How about you?
Thanks, James Quinn. This line connects directly with McConnell's actions during the Obama administration.
Seems to me the only chance to do anything would be by mass impeachments by a Democratic congress, IF the orange convicted felon allows free and fair elections in November. I have serious doubts that will happen.
Otherwise, the orange convicted felon will pardon every last member of his family and his cult followers.
The pardon power is another thing that needs to be looked at closely and revised.
“Pardon” is far too polite a word for what the Loser has done to the rule of law.
"Perverted" and "ransacked" come a lot closer to the reality,
...If only Joe McCarthy had been convicted for his lies, or if Ford had not pardoned Nixon for his crimes... Roy Cohn is the link between both of them and iDJT. For too long we have let these criminals off lightly.
Yes..I’m 83 yrs along and have been watching that link for too many decade's. The shadowy puppet masters, and they are there now. We just have more outspoken articulate, tech savvy voices to push back now, thank goodness.
You left out Bush Sr. shoving the whole Iran-Contra mess under the rug before Reagan could be indicted for his crimes.
Republicans forgiving Republicans is a time honored tradition for them now.
Although Biden giving Garland a "consolation prize" as AG after having his Supreme Court seat denied by Mitch McTurtle was clearly a mistake on Biden's part!
You might also say that had Mitch McConnell and his toadies in the senate followed the House of Representatives in the impeachment process and convicted and removed Trump, what we're facing today would have been avoided. Don't forget what they did to the supreme court either.
True, but we had our chance, and it appears that simple lack of time did in Jack Smith’s prosecution and Fani Willis’s RICO case.
Jack Smith was thwarted at every turn by the administration and abetted by congress.
RIGHT ON, KnockKnock. If a criminal is caught he is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Trump has not only been caught but we ALL have seen it daily, on the news, yet he still walks a free man.
He has scrapped our democracy. I, as an American citizen, demand to know why he is NOT in jail!!
"If the next Democratic administration doesn’t take note and prosecute the criminals of today to the fullest extent of the law, then that criminality is doomed to repeat itself in the future."
The Democratic Congressional leaders must be ready on Day One to hit the ground running with a list of actions they are begining THAT DAY. A list of persons to be investigated. A plan for recouping the president's irresponsible and unlawful expenditures. A plan to stop any further work on the White House grounds ir other public land. (No arches, no walkways, no heliports, and especially no ballroom.) If the Dems gain a Senate majority they must take back the power of the purse. They must have credible, effective plans they are prepared to go public with on January 3, 2027.
This is what we have been missing forever. I had hoped someone was keeping a spreadsheet of Trump 1's destruction and would systematically counteract it rapidly. Joe Biden was not Mr. Rapid. He tried, but he had a pandemic to deal with.
But at this point, we are sick of Democratic representation that is reactive, not proactive. The only way we fix this current mess is with A PLAN. You know, like the Project 2025 guys had? I also do not see A LEADER on the horizon, unless it is Pete Buttigieg--and he's campaigning for other people. This clip of his speech in Iowa is what a leader sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfdsbScRXs&t=790s
How right you are, KKG. I loved hearing Liz Warren say "I have a plan for that," regardless of what the issue was, and I believe she did. I hope she and other smart members of Congress will craft plans that have a hope of working in real time.
There must be someone out there who is keeping a record of his wasteful, recoverable spending.
And I'd love to hear Pete on this. So far he has a lot of support.
Haven't heard from Pete for a little while. I hunger to do so.
Joe Biden gave America - and the world - an all-too-brief respite. Honesty, sanity, reason, hard work, efficiency, diplomacy.
I will never forget getting my first covid shot at the airport, with hundreds of people leaving there happy and relieved for the first time in months if not years. Thank you, thank you, Joe Biden, for your action and compassion at that time.
This is crucial! We/they cannot wait until the day after the election to develop strategy and tactics for implementing reform and accountability. We are already 7 years late.
You're so right. He's terrified of the election. And that means...
When I see the word “investigate” I roll my eyes. These things take months if not years. When Dems take over they need to arrest the criminals first, then investigate. Or better yet, prosecute. There’s plenty of evidence of egregious wrong doing by this band of criminals right out in the open.
Democrats need to take a pledge Now to walk and chew gum at the same time. Develop a 2026/2028 Plan Now. They cannot neglect their primary responsibility to work for the American people by passing bills that will better the lives of all citizens, and clean-up the MAGA MESS. Don't get bogged down in investigations and endless hearings. Hire professional teams of lawyers, investigators etc. to get the goods on the Rats and get them out of their holes. Then spend quality time on serious hearings and convictions while continuing legislative work. The Nuremberg trials did not take years or stop the governing of the Free World or rebuilding Europe. Get to work!
What in the world did everyone expect. We knew he was out for himself and that he was/is a corrupt s.o.b.
Completely agree. Anyone with any prior understanding of Trump, going back to his earliest days should have expected nothing less.
I have, literally for decades, faulted the democratic party for being too timid and wishy washy when they find themselves in power and very poor at messaging and countering the propaganda of the Republicans. If they win the midterms, they must leave those tendencies behind and hold the Trump administration accountable and prosecute his cronies where they have broken the law and their faith with the American people.
My sense, rather is that the primary fault lies not with one party or another, but with our ossified binary political party system.
I partially agree with you. I do think we'd be better in a system that allowed more than two parties to hold power, e.g., a parliamentary system, but even so, when the Dems have held power they fail to wield it as effectively as they might. (BTW, Biden was better than I expected, in part, because he took Bernie Sanders and the more "extreme" left seriously and worked to pass legislation that included some of their ideas in a number of areas. I feel compelled to use quotes around extreme, because the U.S.'s idea of extreme left is often less left than some European nations.)
There was a poll released yesterday that said among voters 65+, the progressives are most popular by far. The older I get (I’m 86), the farther left I find my opinions. I’m thrilled that Zoran Mamdani was elected mayor of NYC. If the DSA can run candidates who speak truth to power, we will have all of the accountability we need. Get out and VOTE!
Madison himself envisioned not a Parliamentary system, but rather a collection of competing interest groups that would be forced to endless compromises in order to make the system work for the maximum number of people.
The real essence of our system ought not to be that one faction or another ‘wields’ power. The Framers understood where that could go. although of course they went ahead and initiated it anyway. But the Constitution was written without the idea of political parties as we know them. We have thus created a system unintended by the Framers, Our real aim ought to be the weakening of political party power. What worries me most about what may follow Trumpism is that we may, out of exhaustion and inertia simply continue this political see saw.
I am heartened by the fact that more and more Americans see themselves as Independents. (A curse on both your houses!) and see if we can’t alter our trajectory, but I don’t know if enough of us understand the real nature of our situation.
Yes, Madison and other founders thought that competing interests would prevent the two party system we have now. And Washington and others warned against the development of political parties. However, I think history has shown that their hope was naive. Folks banding together to form parties in a free society seems to be an inevitable development. If that is right, I'd much rather have something like a parliamentary system that is multi-party and, therefore, requires cooperation and compromise among the competing interests. It also allows for a much wider range of political opinions and options to be part of the conversation.
And how many prime ministers has England had in the past two decades? The fact is that any form of government can be beneficial if the right people are running it, and the most beneficial form of government can be a disaster if the wrong people are running it.
I think I understand your point and also recognize any system has weaknesses. In my case, after nearly a lifetime of observing the strengths and weaknesses of how our democratic republic is structured and particularly the systems in Europe (only western Europe when I was younger), I feel that the other systems' shortcomings don't outweigh their strengths in comparison to ours.
Yes indeed. We need to become as loud (or louder) than the liars, literally combatting them with facts, truth and holding MAGA leadership and operatives (listen up, Stephen Miller) accountable. Investigate and prosecute.
Trump will just use his pardon power to continue to keep his cronies from facing consequences. He must be impeached immediately followed by his cabinet of narcissistic, corrupt drunks and brain damaged drug addicts. Lots of charges to choose from with that group.
Vance could still use the pardon for all the Trump administration’s massive criminality, so he would need to be impeached as well. It wouldn’t take him long to rack up charges. Afterwards the “President to be” (3rd in line) is the newly elected Speaker of the House, a Democrat from congress’ majority win.
Any corrupt Trump holdover would need to be purged before we would have clean governance that works for the people instead of the billionaires.
I like your idea about impeachment, but practically, it's almost certainly a non-starter. For conviction in the Senate a 2/3 vote is required. It's extremely unlikely the Dems will have that supermajority after the midterms, and the Republicans have shown no willingness to cross the aisle and vote with the Democrats after a trial.
I'm not shocked. I've been expecting the collapse of the country since November of 2024. I'm not sure he (or those pulling his strings) could actually shock me. Although, teaming up militarily with Israel does come close.
Thanks Brian. Your message is so clear. Democrats holding office or who will be sworn in to official positions have to empower the courts. They must work vigorously to get justice for those terrorized by DOGE & ICE.
"How do we hold Trump accountable?"
There are steps that need to be taken, the first being to change the majority in Congress. Next, repair and strengthen the agency that enforces the emoluments clauses (domestic and international). The repair to the department of justice will likely have to wait until 2028, and untill then, the attorneys will be busy filing complaints and lawsuits against the con-man who is bilking the American people. This was a fine piece of writing with good direction. It is worth attention.
All good suggestions, Steve218. But we do not have the time to do these suggestions. Democracy IS out and Autocratic Fascism IS in.
Trump must be charged with murder (or an accessory to the fact) in order to remove him and get his criminal conspirators in Congress out also.
We must take back our government NOW!!
That starts with the midterm election in November unless you advocate for insurrection/rebellion. Planning begins, or should begin now.
No, I do not advocate for insurrection/rebellion. I advocate for holding Trump (and his MAGA thugs accountable for being accessories to murder.
Are you with me? I know Alex Pretti, and Renee Good's family are with me.
As do I, but we all know his deny/delay tactics will run the clock with appeals. This is what he does. Just look at what he's pushing for with the E Jean Carroll settlement. He obviously wants to tie the case up in litigation until the poor woman dies.
Better have a very good Plan B if he manages to block the midterms.
"How do we hold Trump accountable?"
Step 1;
Arrest Donald Trump for First Degree Murder. NOW,
That might be a bit hard to prove. He had his lackies and toadies do the dirty work. He didn't, as he said, "shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue".
Crimes against humanity, on the other hand, should be a piece of cake.
From what I have seen I do not think that it would be very hard at all to nail him as an accessory to these murders. As a mater of fact, I think it would be relatively easy to prove that his actions as president created these murders (now in the dozens).
Ah, but were they "official" acts of the president? Remember the immunity in vague terms that the supreme court granted Trump in conducting the business of the presidency? His buddies in the court might well contest the charges. This is how badly our system of justice has been perverted.
The time for discussion is long over.
He must be removed and prosecuted as an accessory to murder in the FIRST degree.
As always. Thank you, Brian.
HOW MANY MILLIONS IN $2.2 BILLION??????
It is time for the media to explain in articles what billions and trillions of dollars are in terms we have a chance to understand. A billion dollars is 1000 million dollars! A trillion dollars is a million million dollars!!! Journalists and DEMOCRATS should note these big amounts with the number of millions in parentheses in every article. Examples:
$1.8 billion ($1,800 million) for a slush fund
$70 billion ($70,000 million) for ice and border patrol
$350 billion ($350,000 million) additional for military spending
$1 trillion ($1 million million) in additional debt or describing Elon Musk’s net worth (surely good we gave him additional tax breaks)
There does come a point where the amounts become unrecognizable to most of us, and problably even to the legislators foking it over. It's not their money so they believe that they can be extravagant and irresponsible.
Agreed, so many huge figures are tossed around they lose the significance of the values. I keep wondering where all this money is coming from.
Yes, the future of our democracy absolutely depends on what we do this fall and next year to take back our govt from the hands of maniacal self dealing monsters.
If we're going to rely on GOP Senators to care about our multi-cultural, vision of democracy with equal justice for all, we're fools. Many of these "Americans" have been waiting for the South to Rise Again. And so it has. We need a landslide in 2026 to start wiping MAGA out of national politics.
The new ICE detention center in Texas will be called the "Auschwitz Correction Center". They are doing everything they can to get the gas contract down there. Very sick people inhabit our Oval office and Congress. Does anyone care?
Given that Trump’s address to the nation on Thursday will be almost exclusively political in nature, including reassertions that he was cheated out of winning the 2020 election, the Democrats should demand rebuttal time to rip his claims to shreds.
It is time for America to take over its government. The media will NOT tell you how to do it.
The media has drowned us in "whataboutisms".
The revolution will not be televised.
That is a great idea. We need the most articulate, charismatic speaker to rebut Trump’s many lies and claims with actual facts. Maybe Jon Ossoff?
The worst part of this is that WE KNEW WHAT TRUMP WAS in 2024!
Even if you give MAGA a pass for 2016, for believing Trump would deliver the changes he promised, you cannot give them the same pass for trusting him a second time in 2024. They have no excuse for supporting a convicted criminal, a tax cheat, a liar and a person who was simply "bad at the job" of being President the first time!
Never believe anyone who voted for Trump in 2024 who tries to lie and tell you they believed he was going to fix or clean anything up in his second term.
Dear Mark; We have lost our democracy. Our countries future seems quite bleak to me.
Remember what was left inside Pandora's box.
Totally agree with everything you say!!
I believe, like you, in the rule of law. I also believe in the rule of grammar. Your over-correction in the following sentence reveals a violation: "In the 1990s, the post-Soviet Russian government auctioned off state assets to whomever was positioned closest to power." You use "whomever" as an object of the preposition "to": wrong. It should be "whoever" as the subject of the verb phrase "was positioned." What follows "to" as the object of the preposition is a noun clause "whoever was positioned closest to power."
`How blissfully irrelevant. The information came through, even though a grammarian finds fault in it. Let's get out the thought and forgive the lesson in good editing.
Editing djt’s grammar would require a village.
LOL!
When he first hit the international headlines I wondered how on earth the simultaneous translators were going to manage. I still wonder how they did. If they did.
The brand new ICE detention center in Texas will be called the "Auschwitz Correction Center". They are doing everything they can to get the gas contract down there. Very sick people inhabit our Oval office and Congress. Does anyone care?
Another lesson from Putin's Russia that is often overlooked: Putin used the power of the state to seize the assets of oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former ally whom he came to perceive as a rival.
The kleptocracy can be bad for billionaires, too. The ultra-wealthy supporting Trump don't seem to realize this.