;)
The Conversation -- September 12, 2023
Rebecca Kaplan & Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., plans to endorse an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in an effort to seek bank records and other documents from the president and his son Hunter Biden, two Republican sources familiar with the speaker's intentions told NBC News. McCarthy plans to tell lawmakers this week that it's a 'logical next step' of the GOP-led investigations that have been going on for months, according to two sources. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will give members an update in a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Thursday morning, the sources said." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The "logical next step" to a couple of clowns coming up with no evidence of wrongdoing in their months-long sideshow is to send the clowns back to their trailers; it is not to put them in the center ring. They have no shame. ~~~
~~~ Update. Haley Talbot, et al., of CNN: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday that he endorsed launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden." According to NBC News reporters who were trying to figure out what it is McCarthy is "endorsing," a House vote is required to open an impeachment inquiry, and it isn't clear McCarthy has the votes to pull that off. In the meantime, an "impeachment inquiry" doesn't mean much. Update Update: Manu Raju of CNN says McCarthy has given up on trying to get a vote, as he had previously said was necessary, and is now going ahead with an "impeachment inquiry" under the direction of Jim Comer, with assistance from Jim Jordan & Jason Smith (chair of the House Ways and Means Committee). Expect a spectacle, one which at this point doesn't even have the support of the GOP caucus. ~~~
~~~ Update. Carl Hulse, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. McCarthy's decision to unilaterally announce an impeachment investigation with no formal House vote entwined the Republican investigations into Mr. Biden with the funding fight that is rattling the Capitol. It appeared to be a bid to quell a brewing rebellion among ultraconservative critics who have accused the speaker of not taking a hard enough line on spending, by complying with their demands to more aggressively pursue the president. Mr. McCarthy said he would task three committees -- Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means -- with carrying out the inquiry into the president and his family as Republicans hunt for evidence of financial wrongdoing or corruption. After months of digging, Republicans have found no such proof.... Mr. McCarthy's announcement appeared to clear the way for House investigators to issue subpoenas for the bank records of Mr. Biden and his family members.... Tuesday's move was a break with the past and a major change in strategy for Mr. McCarthy, who previously indicated that he believed the full House should vote on whether to move forward with an impeachment inquiry." ~~~
~~~ Meredith McGraw & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Donald Trump has been weighing in behind the scenes in support of the House GOP push to impeach President Joe Biden, including talking with a member of leadership in the lead up to Tuesday's announcement authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry. The former president has been speaking weekly with House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, who was the first member of Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment. The two spoke Tuesday, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Republicans would be pursuing the inquiry, according to two people familiar with the conversation.... On Sunday night, Trump had dinner at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), an ally of Trump and McCarthy. At the gathering, the topic of impeachment was discussed, according to a person familiar with the conversation.... Late last month [Trump] wrote on Truth Social: 'Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US.' But the extent of his private involvement ... shows the influence he continues to wield inside the party as its likely presidential nominee."
Marshall Cohen of CNN: "A liberal group filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block ... Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot in Minnesota, the second major lawsuit in two weeks that hopes to invoke the 14th Amendment's arcane 'insurrectionist ban.' The cases are seen as legal long shots.... The lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight Minnesota voters, including a former GOP-appointed state Supreme Court justice, a former Democratic secretary of state and an Iraq War veteran who ran his county GOP chapter. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, acknowledged in a statement last week that Minnesotans have the right under state law to challenge in court a candidate's eligibility for office, and pledged to 'honor the outcome of that process.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I hear people on the teevee argue that efforts to disallow Trump a place on the ballot are undemocratic and we must "let the people decide" if Trump should be president*. A couple of decades ago, many Republicans wished Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, were allowed to run for president even though Schwarzenegger was born in Austria and therefore not eligible under the Constitution to become president. There was a bit of grumbling, but nobody claimed Arnold's fate should be decided by the voters. The Fourteen Amendment restriction is essentially the same thing, only with the added wrinkle that somebody (unspecified by the Constitution) has to decide whether or not Trump is disqualified under this restriction. I suspect the reason the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not specify the mechanism for disqualification is that the presidential election is run by the states -- not the federal government -- and the process of disqualification will vary state-by-state, according to each state's unique laws.
Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A host of the far-right media outlet InfoWars was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Owen Shroyer is one of only a handful of Jan. 6 participants charged with a crime despite neither entering the Capitol building nor being accused of committing violence or destruction on Capitol grounds.... The conspiracy theorist was with Alex Jones on the grounds of the Capitol.... Prosecutors charged Shroyer because he had previously signed a deferred prosecution agreement after interrupting a congressional hearing in 2019 and had agreed as part of that case not to utter 'loud, threatening, or abusive language, or to engage in any disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place upon the United States Capitol Grounds.'"
Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "Joined by his top military officials handling his nuclear-capable weapons and munitions factories, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday, where he is expected to hold a rare meeting with President Vladimir Putin that has sparked Western concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow's war in Ukraine.... Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Kim will lead their delegations in talks and could also meet 'one-on-one if necessary.' He added that Putin will host an official dinner for Kim."
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Donald Judd of CNN: "President Joe Biden marked the 22nd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Monday, telling servicemembers gathered in Anchorage, 'terrorism -- including political and ideological violence -- is the opposite of all we stand for as a nation.... We must not succumb to the poisonous politics of difference and division, must never allow ourselves to be pulled apart attending manufactured grievances, we must continue to stand united,' he said. 'We all have an obligation, a duty, a responsibility to defend, to preserve, to protect our democracy.' Biden, who has previously marked 9/11 with visits to sites in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the Pentagon, and Ground Zero in New York acknowledged that though Elmendorf Air Force Base is not 'located at Ground Zero, we know the distance did not dull or diminish the pain we felt across the nation of September 11.' Biden was speaking at the base as he traveled back from Hanoi, Vietnam, his final stop on a whirlwind trip to Asia to meet with Vietnamese leaders and attend the G-20 summit in New Delhi."
Claire Fahy of the New York Times: "Mourners gathered in grief in Lower Manhattan on Monday, hugging each other and fighting back tears as they remembered their loved ones who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Attendees of the ceremony commemorating the 22nd anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil sat on folding chairs and leaned against trees as flute music filled the air and relatives of those who died read their names aloud -- a ritual that has remained virtually unchanged for more than two decades. Some wore T-shirts emblazoned with photos of their lost loved ones, while others carried posters or framed pictures. Many brought flowers and flags. The families were joined by a number of notable politicians, including Vice President Kamala Harris; Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York; Eric Adams, New York City's mayor; and Bill de Blasio and Michael Bloomberg, Mr. Adams's two most immediate predecessors. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida ... also made a brief appearance. Mr. Adams, who was a police lieutenant at the time of the attacks, told CBS News in an interview that he had gone to ground zero that day, and was struck by the 'eerie stillness.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Uh, where was America's Mayor? At the end of yesterday's Comments thread, Akhilleus had a suggestion on Rudy's whereabouts.
The Trials of the Trump Crime Family
The Perp.Time to File Some Frivolous Motions. Richard Fausset & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump asked a judge on Monday to throw out most of the 13 charges against him in the wide-ranging election interference indictment handed up by a grand jury last month in Georgia. The one-page motion from Mr. Trump's Georgia lawyer, Steven H. Sadow, refers to a more expansive motion also filed on Monday by one of Mr. Trump's 18 co-defendants in the Georgia case, the lawyer Ray Smith III. That motion gives a detailed critique of the 98-page indictment, arguing that its 'defects' are 'voluminous,' and that it is legally unsound." IOW, Trump is too cheap to file his own real motion; he's just piggybacking onto a motion filed by one of his gang.
Marie: Remember that old joke about the astronaut who came back from outer space and a reporter asked him if he had seen God. The astronaut replied, "Yes, and she's Black." Well, Donald Trump doesn't think that's funny, especially when it comes to his own Judgment Day: ~~~
~~~ Fin Gomez & Graham Kates of CBS News: "In a filing Monday, [Donald Trump's attorneys] argued that Judge Tanya Chutkan should recuse herself from the case for previous statements they say give the appearance of bias. They did not outright accuse Chutkan of being biased against Trump, but highlighted statements they claimed 'create a perception of prejudgment incompatible with our justice system.... Judge Chutkan has, in connection with other cases, suggested that President Trump should be prosecuted and imprisoned. Such statements, made before this case began and without due process, are inherently disqualifying,' Trump's attorneys wrote in the filing.... Trump's filing highlights several instances during hearings related to defendants in Jan. 6 riot cases in which Trump's attorneys say Chutkan appeared critical of the former president.... The only case in which Trump has not sought a new judge or jurisdiction is one in which" he appointed the judge (Aileen Cannon). The New York Times story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Appearing on MSNBC, Andrew Weissmann & Neal Katyal didn't think much of Trump's motion, especially inasmuch as federal judges are required to cite reasons for their sentencing decisions.
"The Big One." Marc Elias in Democracy Docket: Missing in the indictments of Donald Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election: "Trump's audacious effort to enlist the U.S. Supreme Court in throwing out the election results in four key battleground states. At the time, Trump called the case 'the big one.' If successful, this one lawsuit would have disenfranchised more than 20 million voters across Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and changed the results of the election.... It was filed by the state of Texas, not gadfly lawyers. It was brought in the name of the state, signed by the state's attorney general with the support of the governor.... Other than the events that took place on Jan. 6, the Texas case was the most profoundly anti-democratic act in the post-election period. The use of state resources and official imprimatur to traffic in false information and overturn an election was a precursor to the fake elector schemes and Jeffrey Clark's attempt to use government resources to overturn Georgia's election results. Most importantly, the Texas case galvanized the Republican political and legal community behind Trump's plan to steal the election. Within two days, 17 other states -- represented by their state's lawyers -- filed a legal brief in support of Texas. Not to be outdone, 106 Republican members of Congress filed their own brief, also supporting Texas." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Elias doesn't say so, but the Supremes threw out the case: Emma Platoff of the Texas Tribune (Dec. 2020): "... the U.S. Supreme Court ... tossed out the Texas lawsuit that had become a vehicle for Republicans across the country to contest President-elect Joe Biden's victory. In a few brief sentences, the high court said it would not consider the case.... 'Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections,' the court wrote in an unsigned ruling Friday evening. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas indicated they would have allowed Texas to bring the case but said they would 'not grant other relief.' None of Trump's appointees indicated they saw any merit in the lawsuit."
MEANWHILE, Down Florida Way, Judge Aileen Is Slow-waltzing with the One Who Brung Her. David Kurtz of TPM: "Welp, we're coming up on a month since U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued any meaningful orders or rulings in the Mar-a-Lago documents case -- and frankly that's a generous application of the word 'meaningful.' Back on Aug. 17, Cannon did issue an order but it was more notable for kicking the can on the case than actually moving it forward. And since then, very little has happened in the Mar-a-Lago case.... Here's what Cannon still hasn't done: 1. Issued a protective order covering the handling of classified documents in the case. 2. Held Garcia hearings on the potential conflicts of interest facing two of the defense counsel in the case. But it's actually even a little worse than that: Cannon hasn't even scheduled hearings on these matters yet, even though they've been pending in one form or another for weeks.... Cannon hasn't held a hearing in the case since July 18."
Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "One of three active-duty Marines who stormed the U.S. Capitol together was sentenced on Monday to probation and 279 hours of community service -- one hour for every Marine who was killed or wounded fighting in the Civil War. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said she can't fathom why Dodge Hellonen violated his oath to protect the Constitution 'against all enemies, foreign and domestic' -- and risked his career -- by joining the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory."
** Heidi Przybyla of Politico: Citizens United "upended nearly 100 years of campaign spending restrictions." Before the decision came down, Ginni Thomas, Leonard Leo & Harlan Crow were ready for it, creating an organization where the initial goals were to block President Obama's agenda, mainly Obamacare. "From those early discussions among Leo, Thomas and Crow would spring a billion-dollar force that has helped remake the judiciary and overturn longstanding legal precedents on abortion, affirmative action and many other issues. It funded legal scholars to devise theories to challenge liberal precedents, helped to elect state attorneys general willing to apply those theories and launched lavish campaigns for conservative judicial nominees who would cite those theories in their rulings from the bench. The movement's triumphs are now visible but its engine remains hidden: A billion-dollar network of groups, most of which are registered as tax-exempt charities or social welfare organizations. Taking advantage of gaps in disclosure laws, they shield the identities of most of their donors and some of the recipients of the funds." They also hide whether or not some of the principals are "using charities for personal enrichment" and whether or not principals like Ginni Thomas are doing any work for the payments they receive. MB: If wingers are dumb, it might be because of inbreeding. This is a truly incestuous bunch. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Ginni and her Courtly hubbie most likely file a joint return, so -- as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night -- Ginni's income is Clarence's income. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) emphasized that the purpose of setting up these dummy corporations, who compensate Ginni (& Leonard), is to hide the real sources of their income so that Clarence's conflicts-of-interest are entirely opaque.
Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: Elon "Musk has acknowledged that he refused a request from the Ukrainian military last September to activate the Starlink satellite communications network, operated by the Musk-founded SpaceX, over Russian-occupied Crimea.... The Ukrainians' 'obvious intent' was 'to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,' Musk posted last week on X.... An impulsive billionaire, unsure of whether he wants to be a superhero or a Bond villain, should not have been in a position to make that call. No private citizen should be making such unilateral decisions about our national security.... The U.S. government should deploy its own low-Earth-orbit satellite array, whose use would be determined by the president and the military chain of command." ~~~
~~~ ** Marie: And that's not all. Musk has cut off Ukraine military communications in much of the area of Ukraine that Russia "annexed" in 2014 and/or controls now. As Rachel Maddow laid out last night, Musk had just spoken with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. before he made that particular decision to cut off the Ukraine military's communications system. Ronan Farrow the New Yorker wrote that Musk also spoke to Vladimir Putin. Musk also has -- and uses -- access to Ukraine's military communications. Musk is a naturalized American citizen. This sounds to me like old-fashioned, Constitutionally-defined treason. Musk is undermining U.S. national security interest during an armed conflict. Not only that, Musk's ability to undermine U.S. and Ukrainian interests is unique. I won't deny that arms-manufacturing giants like Lockheed Martin & Northrop Grumman can influence American military interests by their ability or failure to timely produce weapons & defense technology the Pentagon orders. But that's a far, far different thing from deciding when and where the U.S. and its allies can use those defense products. Something is fundamentally wrong when a wacky private citizen -- on his own quixotic whims and under the influence of an enemy combatant -- can make battlefield decisions.
Laurie McGinley & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a reformulated coronavirus vaccine in a bid to provide increased protection ahead of cooler weather -- even as the nation endures a late-summer uptick of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. The shots, which target an omicron subvariant and were cleared for anyone 6 months and older, are manufactured by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech. If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signs off Tuesday, injections could be available in pharmacies, clinics and doctor's offices by the end of the week." This article is free to nonsubscribers. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the FDA's press release. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Virginia. Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "A Democrat running for a crucial seat in Virginia's House of Delegates performed sex acts with her husband for a live online audience and encouraged viewers to pay them with 'tips' for specific requests, according to online videos viewed by The Washington Post. Susanna Gibson, a nurse practitioner and mother of two young children running in a highly competitive suburban Richmond district, streamed sex acts on Chaturbate, a platform that says it takes its name from 'the act of masturbating while chatting online.'... In a written statement, Gibson called the exposure of the videos 'an illegal invasion of my privacy designed to humiliate me and my family.'... Daniel P. Watkins, a lawyer for Gibson, said disseminating the videos constitutes a violation of the state's revenge porn law, which makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to 'maliciously' distribute nude or sexual images of another person with 'intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate.'... The Republican operative who alerted The Post to the videos denied any connection to the ... campaign [of Gibson's rival] or other groups active in Virginia elections this year." The AP's story is here.
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Morocco. Loveday Morris & Annabelle Timsit of the Washington Post: "Governments far and wide have offered aid to Morocco following a 6.8-magnitude earthquake that has left more than 2,500 people dead and thousands injured and displaced. But, to the bafflement of officials abroad, Morocco has been slow to accept support.... The Moroccan Interior Ministry said in a statement Sunday that it would initially accept search-and-rescue teams only from Britain, Qatar, Spain and the United Arab Emirates -- which it called 'friendly countries' -- after taking into account the 'needs of the field.' But Morocco also appeared slow to take up offers of broader humanitarian and technical assistance."
News Ledes
Libya. New York Times: "Thousands of people have been killed in Libya in the flooding caused by heavy rains that devastated parts of the country this weekend, a disaster exacerbated by the collapse of two dams in the coastal city of Derna, aid agencies said on Tuesday. Tamer Ramadan, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies delegation in Libya, said the death toll from the flooding was expected to reach thousands in coming days. Speaking to reporters at a U.N. briefing via videoconference from Tunisia, he said 10,000 people were missing, and that those figures were based on reports from the Libyan Red Crescent on the ground."
New York Times: "The police in Pennsylvania said Danelo Cavalcante, a convicted murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania prison more than 10 days ago, was armed and had been spotted again on Monday night.... Chester County's Department of Emergency Services issued a report of a shooting, with injuries, on Monday night.... But it was not immediately clear if the shooting, near Pughtown, Pa., had involved Mr. Cavalcante." ~~~
~~~ NBC News Update: "Escaped convict Danelo Cavalcante was shot at by a homeowner who found him in the garage stealing a rifle Monday night, authorities said.... The homeowner opened fire at the man, who was said by police to be Cavalcante, several times as he 'fled with the rifle.' Pennsylvania State Police responded to the scene within minutes but Cavalcante was gone. [George] Bivins [of the state police] said he believed Cavalcante was unharmed in the incident. A green sweatshirt and a white T-shirt believed to belong to the convict were found near the edge of the driveway of the home and the search perimeter was expanded to include that area. Earlier that evening, at 8 p.m. Monday, a motorist reported seeing a male crouched in the woodline along the south side of Fairview Road west at Route 100."
New York Times: "An American cave expert who became ill while he was more than 3,000 feet underground in a cave in Turkey, prompting an international rescue effort, was pulled safely from the cave soon after midnight Tuesday morning local time and immediately brought to a medical tent, the Speleological Federation of Turkey announced in a statement. While he was deep underground, the caver, Mark Dickey, 40, who is himself an expert cave rescuer, suffered gastrointestinal bleeding and lost three liters of blood. He was part of an expedition that was exploring the Morca cave, which he entered on Aug. 30."
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Reader Comments (12)
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn’t exist.
An even better trick is convincing them that he is the good guy.
Both sentiments convey aspects of Trumpism that come into clearer focus when the depth and breadth of Trump’s perfidy and self-serving treasonous impulses are examined as a whole rather than bits of criming here and there. It’s all of a piece.
Thom Hartmann, on AlterNet, offers just such an examination of how it was entirely possible that, had he succeeded in overthrowing the government, the next step would have been (and still might be) aconspiracy to end democracy as we know it, and to replace it with the kind of Potemkin “democracy” and strongman autocracy in Putin’s Russia and Victor Organ’s Hungary. Both characters, you must acknowledge, are revered figures among Republican haters of actual democracy.
Hartmann’s collation of facts contribute to a horrifying possible final conclusion.
He points out the way Trumpists at the Pentagon and in the DoD refused to send out the National Guard to quell Trump’s coup attempt, then lied about their actions before Congress.
He points out the shadow State Department being run by the odious Jared Kushner for personal gain, the many secret calls to Putin from Trump, the lack of any paper trails, the way thousands of phones were wiped clean of text messages on and just before Jan. 6.
These are not unconnected.
His conclusion, which I’m not sure I agree with, is that things were much more plotted out than anyone suspects, that the conspiracy to hold on to power was much worse than we know.
I have no trouble believing that there is a lot we don’t know, a lot of very bad stuff involving authoritarian power plays. What I’m not sure about is how much was due to some master plan of Trump’s and his agents. He can barely plan the efficient moving and hiding of secret documents in his own home. But the end results: chaos, fear, paranoia, power grabs by insidious insiders and opportunistic influences exerted by outsiders (Putin, MBS, etc.) are all very real whether carefully, minutely planned or not.
The problem, as Hartmann sees it is the inability or unwillingness of the press to connect the dots. Indictments galore aren’t just something here and there, this is a pattern of criminality and treason at the highest possible level. And what does the press focus on? Polls. The horse race. Biden’s age. Hunter Biden’s laptop. Trump is STILL being treated like a serious, viable candidate. He’s serious alright. Like cancer is serious.
And often fatal.
We didn’t just dodge a bullet, we dodged a nuke.
And that nuke is still out there. That evil is still out there. And every day we see talking heads on Fox and the Gym Jordans and MTGs, et al, working to convince people that the devil is the good guy.
And they’re succeeding.
Sorry, Victor Orban. Otto is up early today.
As one other thing. The idea that American democracy and democratic institutions could be replaced by an autocratic regime is not some dark flight of fancy, some evil fairy tale. You see what’s happening in Wisconsin? In Alabama? In Florida? In Texas? The move to anti-democratic control has been active for years on the right, and they got so very close on Jan. 6. Too close to give up now.
@Akhilleus: I agree with you about the "planning" thing. It's more like everything Trump does is self-serving and criminal, and everything his henchmen do is designed to benefit themselves, so it all may seem like a coordinated plan, but it's just unfettered greed. The only "curbs" on the operation are those occasions when one greedy guy calls the press to out a rival greedy guy, or the rare moments when somebody not in the Club for Greed gets wind of some plot and blows the whistle.
While a "normal" administration probably aims for some kind of across-the-board consistency in an ever-changing and inherently inconsistent landscape, the Trump Crime Family are not at all hampered by a need to justify their actions and fit them into some overarching for-the-good-of-country umbrella. The public won't find out about most of their schemes, and they use lies and finger-pointing to cover their tracks when and if something untoward and unlawful comes to the public's attention.
Michelle Goldberg on the Right's eager and seemingly sudden embrace of autocracy:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/opinion/columnists/democracies-minority-rule.html
But, as Akhilleus says, it wasn't so sudden; it's been a long time a-coming...
I don't believe the forces of democracy, such as they are, will prevail until we summon the good sense to get some control of money, starting with the dark kind...and that's a very steep hill to climb in this capitalist Eden.
BTW, kinda like Victor Organ...
"...the next logical step...."
More proof, if any were necessary, that logical and rational are easily divorced.
It all depends on the premises, and if those premises are nuts...
From Goldberg's piece that Ken mentions.
"“Tyranny of the Minority” is their { Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt} attempt to make sense of how American democracy eroded so fast. “Societal diversity, cultural backlash and extreme-right parties are ubiquitous across established Western democracies,” they write. But in recent years, only in America has a defeated leader attempted a coup. And only in America is the coup leader likely to once again be the nominee of a major party. “Why did America, alone among rich established democracies, come to the brink?” they ask.
A disturbing part of the answer, Levitsky and Ziblatt conclude, lies in our Constitution, the very document Americans rely on to defend us from autocracy. “Designed in a predemocratic era, the U.S. Constitution allows partisan minorities to routinely thwart majorities, and sometimes even govern them,” they write. The Constitution’s countermajoritarian provisions, combined with profound geographic polarization, have locked us into a crisis of minority rule."
We have bandied about changing our Constitution for years but nothing comes of it. Along with our planet showing us how we fucked it up comes Ak's Devil in a blue dress showing us how we are doing the same to our fragile democracy.
One of the things that is happening, is: hardcore conservatives have for years been pushing for a constitutional convention, to "fix" some of what they see as "problems." The 19 states that have already passed resolutions in favor are:
1. Georgia March 6, 2014
2. Alaska April 19, 2014
3. Florida April 21, 2014
4. Alabama May 22, 2015
5. Tennessee February 4, 2016
6. Indiana February 29, 2016
7. Oklahoma April 26, 2016
8. Louisiana May 25, 2016
9. Arizona March 13, 2017
10. North Dakota March 24, 2017
11. Texas May 4, 2017
12. Missouri May 12, 2017
13. Arkansas February 14, 2019
14. Utah March 5, 2019
15. Mississippi March 27, 2019
16. Wisconsin January 25, 2022
17. Nebraska January 28, 2022
18. West Virginia March 4, 2022
19. South Carolina March 29
Those organizing the national effort claim the convention is
"... a national movement to call a convention under Article V of the United States Constitution, restricted to proposing amendments that will impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress."
Some thoughts:
-- A constitutional convention is a BAD idea. No matter the states' resolution language limiting its scope, once sworn in, a CC can rewrite the constitution.
-- And a look at the list of states that have already passed resolutions gives you a feel for what they would write.
-- One of the non-trivial goals of the GOP's multi-decade drive to take and hold power in state and local governments, is to enable them to rewrite and introduce laws that modify the nature of government. You see this in the changes in voting rights, gerrymandering, fugitive uterus laws, etc. Many of these laws abridge citizens' rights in favor of party (GOP) objectives. If there were a CC, red states would bring these efforts to the front of the rewrite program, locking them in to a "new constitution."
-- In the past few years we have seen SCOTUS, the DiJiT WH, GOP congresses, and right wing media consistently degrade the value of constitutional stability, so that many low-info or even conscientious voters lose respect for constitutional precedents and restraints. Is it possible that they want people to think that rewriting it is a good idea? Just asking questions.
-- I have not observed any Madisons among potential re-writers. Nary one.
I expect that this proposal will come up more frequently, until many are saying "why not just take a look at what we need to change?' Don't fall for it. It would be the most audacious attempt at a right wing coup ever.
@Patrick: The good news is that whatever a Constitutional Convention proposes, it must be ratified by 3/4s of the state legislatures or by conventions in 3/4ths of the states. Congress gets to pick the method of ratification. The bad news is that each state gets one vote, no matter what its population. So while it seems impossible to get a 3/4s vote in this divided country, maybe it isn't. IOW, the country could get a radical new Constitution that far fewer than 50 percent of voters want.
It looks like the wingers need 15 more states to get on board to convene a Constitutional Convention and a total of 19 more states for ratification. It's not exactly unreasonable to think that states like Wyoming, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Alaska, Montana, Kansas, South Dakota and Ohio will sign on. Could they get 6 more? With subterfuge, sure. These are not serious people. But they are liars.
"When Trump is revealed as an agent of foreign governments will America finally wake up?"
Well, so impeachment with no evidence of wrong-doing...it's what Pigface has been yapping ever since he was twice-impeached and quadruply indicted. The name of the game is revenge.
James Comer is so stupid he deserves to be crucified for it. So far the media as a whole is treating all of this as if it were legitimate. I really despise how everything is couched these days.
I agree that most of the right wing perfidy does not lead back to Pigface as the leader. He is not a leader, he's an also-ran who got lucky and has been bequeathed everything. Neither is Coach Potato Head. Thank you, Dickie Durban for being the silly mushmouth you are. If anyone values the military industrial complex, someone should figure out how to flame out the senate "rules." Reading about the corrupt Court and Ginny and Clarence and Sam Alito and the "leader" of same is giving me indigestion.
Now I must go water my plants and ignore all the talking heads.
@Jeanne: The image of Comer on the cross wearing a loin cloth is too much for me to bear. I cannot "Look on the Bright Side," even though in this case, there is a bright side.
Va. Governor Youngkin pardoned a man who was not yet convicted of disorderly conduct at a school board meeting. The only problem is that the preemptive pardon is probably (Va.) unconstitutional. Va's GOP Atty General has not disclosed his advice to the gov prior to the action. This is small beans in terms of the gravity of the charges, but big stuff politically because (a) it furthers the gov's and the AG's "parents' rights" agenda, which is now part of the GOP national agenda and (b) it is one more case of a GOP official short-circuiting the legal process as if his authority overrides the legal process.