Erin Burnett OutFront: ‘Ex-Donald Trump Official Has Theory On Why Melania Trump Hasn’t Appeared At Hush Money Trial’

Posted on May 29, 2024 by FredSchneiderUS

CNN_ Ex-Donald Trump Official Has Theory On Why Melania Trump Hasn't Appeared At Hush Money TrialSource:CNN talking about former First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump.

Source:The New Democrat

“Former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham discusses former first lady Melania Trump’s absence from her husband’s criminal hush money trial.”

From CNN

“Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said Melania Trump has not attended her husband’s hush money trial because she is “thinking of her own optics.”

Grisham, a former top aide to Melania Trump, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday that it “doesn’t surprise” her that the former first lady has not paid a trip to the Manhattan courthouse where former President Trump has been on trial for weeks.

“This family is really focused on optics. They’re always focused on optics,” she said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

A handful of family members have attended the trial to show support for the former president, but Melania Trump and the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, have yet to make an appearance as the court enters its seventh week of proceedings.

“But you know, I think that Melania and Ivanka are both thinking of their own optics, and they haven’t been here the whole time. And I’m just not sure showing up now would do anything but cause more speculation,” Grisham added later on.

During closing arguments Tuesday, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump were all in attendance, as well as the former President’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, and his son-in-law, Michael Boulos. Throughout the trial, numerous Republicans and other Trump allies have also attended the proceedings to rail against the case and its key players.

Grisham said she does not believe Melania will show up to court as the jurors begin their deliberations this week. She also said she think the campaign and the former president have asked her to attend.

“I would be absolutely floored if she showed up. There’s just no way, and again, she hasn’t shown up this whole time now. And so, in her mind, I think she would think that she was caving or even look weak to suddenly show up,” Grisham said.”

From The Hill

As I wrote about this 2 weeks ago:

“I’m not going to claim that I know Melania Trump well, or even personally. Very few people do. She gives new meaning to the term human confidential. (Actually, I think I just invented that term) She’s one of the most private people in the world.

But, as Melania’s own former aid Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told CNN anchor Jake Tapper and SW Wolkoff does know Melania very well, I mean she worked for her in New York and at The White House, her marriage with Donald is transactional.

Every relationship that Donald J. Trump has ever had has been transactional. So why would the relationship with his youngish and still very youngish looking, gorgeous, babydoll wife, whose still better looking than his daughters, be any different? She’s with Donald as long as that’s good for her.”

From The New Democrat

Maybe I’ve thought about this for a while, but instead of creating The Apprentice 20 years ago, Donald Trump should’ve produced a real-life, real, reality TV show called The Trump’s. Or Trump Family.Org, because that’s exactly what they are.

Whatever you think of the case against Donald J. Trump (and The New Democrat has been very clear where it stands) this has been a horrible, real life, made for tabloid TV, and broadcast network TV movie of the week, from like the 1980s, nightmare for his current transactional wife Melania.

Again, I don’t pretend to know this woman, but she obviously doesn’t think her transactional husband is innocent. And apparently neither does Donald’s kids because they only show up after being criticized for not showing up at all. And nothing yet from his oldest daughter Ivanka and her husband, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Posted in CNN, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MSNBC: Former Judge John Jones: ‘The Law of The Case’ Will Be ‘Most Important in The Deliberations’

Posted on May 29, 2024 by kireschneider

MSNBC_ Former Judge John Jones_ ‘The Law of The Case’ Will Be ‘Most Important in The Deliberations’Source:MSNBC talking about Defendant Don. 

Source:The New Democrat

“The jury is deliberating in former President Trump’s hush money criminal trial, weighing the evidence and witnesses presented by the prosecution to determine if Donald Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Andrea Mitchell is joined by Vaughn Hillyard, Andrew Weissmann, Jeremy Saland, Barbara McQuade, and former federal Judge John E. Jones to review the closing arguments and discuss what the jury is considering in their deliberations.”

From MSNBC

I’m paraphrasing Barbara McQuade here. But she said the strongest evidence against Donald J. Trump, has to do with the checks for the payoffs to Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal. She was talking about he faces 34 felony counts. But he only has to be convicted of 1 of them to be convicted of a felony.

Former New York City Judge George Grasso was on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 last night and he was basically saying this, as well as the Allen Weisselberg memo, is the “smoking gun” evidence against Donald Trump in this case:

“I think he made a real legal and tactical mistake, by diving into People’s Exhibits 35 and 36, the Weisselberg notes. So, I think they are the smoking-gun evidence. And I think he dove into a minefield without a plan to get — to get through it.

COOPER: Do you think he should not have even brought those up?

GRASSO: If anything, I wouldn’t — he like lead with it.”

From CNN

And apparently the jury is already asking questions like: “Do we have to vote to convict on every count to convict the defendant on any of the counts?” And the answer to that is no, as Judge Juan Merchan has already ruled.

So I think you can see why the legal analysts in this case (who aren’t MAGA lawyers and other partisan Republicans lawyers) believe that there’s a strong chance that Donald J. Trump will be convicted of at least 1 felony in this case. They have 34 counts against him. They only need conviction on one count to make him a convicted felon.

Posted in NBC News, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Donald J. Trump VS Mother Teresa

Posted on May 29, 2024 by Rik Schneider

Donald J_ Trump_ Mother Teresa Could Not Beat These ChargesSource:Donald J. Trump (also known as Defendant Don) & his lead defense counsel Todd Blanche.

Source:The New Democrat

“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged!”

From Donald J. Trump

“Former President Trump fumed Wednesday just after his New York City criminal case was turned over to the jury for deliberations, blasting the judge in the case and bemoaning that “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges.”

Trump spoke to reporters gathered outside the courtroom moments after a jury of 12 New Yorkers began deliberating in the former president’s hush money criminal case.

“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole country’s a mess, between the borders and fake elections, and you have a trial like this where the judge is so conflicted he can’t breathe,” Trump said.

“It’s a disgrace. And I mean that. Mother Teresa could not beat those charges. But we’ll see. We’ll see how we do,” he added…

From The Hill

On a personal note first: this is my first post for The New Democrat in almost 4 years. I’ve been spending the last 4 years doing outside work, as well as maintenance work related to this blog. But it’s great to be back and I’m back full-time now as a blogger for this blog.

Before I get into ripping Donald J. Trump about his comments relating to Mother Teresa, I must say almost no one can really compare themselves to her. I mean she was the definition of a saint. She literally spent her entire life even though she came from very humble beginnings growing up in what later became Yugoslavia, before moving to India, trying to help the very less-fortunate improve their own lives.

And just because someone like a Donald J. Trump has the balls (to be frank) to compare himself with Mother Teresa, doesn’t mean that there’s a long line of people who are even close to her neighborhood, when it comes to saints on this planet.

But having said that and just for the fun of it I guess. How many saints are you aware of who’ve not only been married 3 times, get accused of rape by their first wife, who are not just serial adulterers, who’ve cheated on all 3 wives, who’ve cheated on their 3rd wife with a porn actress, and then paid her off to prevent her from going public about their affair, right before a presidential election, where they just happened to be one of the major party’s presidential nominee?

But then add to the fact that Mr. Trump is still lying about his Stormy affair (pun intended) almost 6 years after the story broke, but has his lead counsel Todd Blanche lie for him during his closing statement yesterday.

You could spend the rest of this year trying to find the answer to this question, because Donald J. Trump literally is in a league of his own, when it comes to American swines. He’s the swine to Mother Teresa’s sainthood. He’s the dark storm cloud to Mother Teresa’s bright, shiny, beautiful, warm day.

Posted in The Donald, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ben Meiselas: ‘Donald Trump Lawyer YELLED AT by Judge at CLOSING ARGUMENT’

Posted on May 28, 2024 by kireschneider

Meidas Touch: Donald Trump Lawyer YELLED AT by Judge at CLOSING ARGUMENTSource:Meidas Touch talking about Donald Trump’s lack of a defense at his criminal trial.

“MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the ending of the closing argument by Donald Trump’s lawyers at his criminal trial where the lawyers engaged in misconduct and were severely admonished by the judge.” 

From the Meidas Touch

“In closings Tuesday, defense lawyer Todd Blanche tried the classic ” but if he did do it” defense.

If Trump did falsify documents, he didn’t do it with the required criminal intent, Blanche argued.

He then showed jurors 3 prosecution exhibits where Trump admits to the hush-money reimbursement.

It’s the classic defense closing argument: My client didn’t do it, ladies and gentlemen — but if he did do it, it wasn’t intentional.

This is the argument that Donald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, tried out on the hush-money jury in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Yes, Blanche spent the bulk of his arguments denying that Trump committed the charges he’s on trial for.” 

From Yahoo News

No offense to Ben Meiselas and I completely agree with him here, but Yahoo News has the best story here.

Not that I would suggest to the Manhattan DA that they rest their case on what Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche (who proves every single day how inexperienced a defense lawyer that he is) said in his closing argument, because he almost made the prosecution’s case for them, but when the defense is making your case for you, you can almost sit back and relax. Perhaps open up some Cognac and a cigar. (If you drink alcohol and smoke) 

So what the defense is basically saying here is: “If my client were to commit the crimes that he’s being charged with, (including 2 felonies) he wouldn’t have been so stupid in how he would’ve gone about committing them.” 

If you remember O.J. Simpson’s book from 2004 where he’s still officially claiming that he was innocent of the two murders that he got off on 10 years earlier, but he writes a book with the title: “If I Did It” And he argued in that book if he were going to murder Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, this is how he would’ve murdered those two people. It’s the old admitting guilt without pleading guilty defense. So if you are on that jury, how do you not think to yourself: “Even the defense thinks their client is guilty.” 

You can also see this post on Blogger.

Posted in Meidas Touch, Originals | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Michael Smerconish: American Exceptionalism

Posted on May 28, 2024 by FredSchneiderUS

Michael Smerconish_ When Was America Greatest_Source:Michael Smerconish talking about when America was the greatest.

Source:The New Democrat

“When was America greatest?”

From Michael Smerconish

“When Donald Trump says we need to ‘make America great again,” most Republicans think about the 1950s.

According to Andrew Van Dam at The Washington Post, Republicans believe that the 1950s was the happiest, safest, most communitarian, and moral society of the last 100 years. They think that the 1950s was the decade with the most reliable news reporting, although they believe that the 1980s was the decade with the least political divisions.

Democrats, as you might guess, answered the questions differently…

From Current

Just to go on the record on this question; even with America being addicted to new technology and always feeling the need to be seen as up to date on new technology, especially as it relates to their smartphones and feel the need to be seen holding a coffee up, especially while they’re on the phone or staring at their phone and this country’s addiction to celebrity culture, (perhaps all these issues can be blamed on Millennial’s) there’s no other time that I rather be living in America and no other country in the world that I rather live in, than America. And I’ll get into why.

But before I get into why I think right now is the best time to be an American and living in America, I want to get into what this whole MAGA (or “Make America Great Again”) movement is really about.

There was a time when the Republican Party was stereotyped as the American patriots, the patriotic party, the people who love America. And you still have plenty of Republicans like that. But most of them are now Never-Trump’ers.

People like:

S.E. Cupp,

former U.S. Representative’s Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Charlie Dent, Ken Buck, and many others who are either still in the House, (because perhaps they’re glutens for political punishment)

as well as current U.S. Senator Mitt Romney

former Republican governor’s John Kasich and Larry Hogan.

But today thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, you now have 60-70% (depending on which polls you look at) of the Republican Party now saying that America is no longer a great country. And that they need to: “take back America and give it back to the real Americans” because it’s now a country that they no longer recognize. And if you go with Andrew Van Dam article, it’s the 1950s and even the 1940s as the two decades they point to as saying that was when America was a great country.

But if you are a woman of any ethnic or racial background, or any ethnic or racial minority, if you are gay today, would you rather be living in the 1950s or 40s in America, than right now, where you not just have the same constitutional rights and protections as Anglo-Saxon men and other Caucasians, but where those constitutional rights by an large (so system is perfect) are enforced equally under law as the Anglo-Saxons, especially Anglo-Saxon men?

Yes, The American President is a fictional film, but there are times in our lives when even Hollywood can get it right and avoid screwing it up. And to quote President Andrew Shepard (played by Michael Douglas) in that great speech that he gave in that film:

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.

Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”

From American Rhetoric

I know this going to sound partisan, but what actually makes America great right now and has always made America a great country, at least since the 1960s, is what MAGA hates about our great country.

America is that one country in the world where everyone can make it in America, regardless of our race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, culture, region, etc. If you have the talent and the skills, the character, you’ll make it in America.

No other country in the world has created more freedom, more opportunity, for more people, as well as different kinds of people, as the United States of America. And because of all our advanced freedom for more Americans and people today, no better time to be an American than right here and right now.

Posted in Michael Smerconish, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Michael Popok & Karen F. Agnifilo: ‘Judge in Donald Trump Case Makes KEY DECISION in FINAL MOMENTS’

Posted on May 24, 2024 by kireschneider

Meidas Touch_ Judge in Donald Trump Case Makes KEY DECISION in FINAL MOMENTSSource:Meidas Touch– left to right: Manhattan Criminal Judge Juan Merchan & Defendant Don.

Source:The New Democrat

“Michael Popok and Karen Friedman Agnifilo on the Legal AF podcast debate: the end of the NY Trump trial, including whether the judge’s decision that the prosecution doesn’t have to prove one particular second crime in order for Trump to be convicted of a felony, is an advantage for the prosecution.”

From the Meidas Touch

I’m not a lawyer, so bare with me. (If you must) But Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Brooklyn defense attorney Arthur Aidala were on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 about a month ago talking about this exact same issue. And even Aidala admitted that Friedman Agnifilo was very informative and helpful in explaining the Manhattan DA’s theory for this case. That they’re arguing that the Trump Campaign back in October, 2016, were committing misdemeanors (in this case filing false business records) to commit a felony. (This case election fraud)

So if two NYPD detectives were in a suspect’s apartment with a search warrant looking for illegal narcotics and they go in there and the suspect is assaulting someone. Even though they didn’t go into the apartment looking for evidence about a criminal assault, they can still not just complete their legal search, but they can arrest the suspect for assault as well. That’s a similar example. Police evidence see another crime happening, while they’re looking for evidence to another crime.

What the Manhattan DA is arguing to this jury is that Donald J. Trump filed false business records, to cover up his illegal campaign contributions to his own 2016 presidential campaign.

DJT paid off Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal, to keep them quiet about the alleged affairs that they had with them, so they wouldn’t make their stories public before the 2016 election. And he filed those payments as legal expenses to his then lawyer Michael Cohen. So yes he’s guilty of filing false business records, which is a misdemeanor in New York. But it’s also a felony because the 150,000 dollar campaign contributions to his own campaign is illegal on two counts: the contributions were too high under New York law and he failed to report them.

Posted in Meidas Touch, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Michael Smerconish: Robert F. Kennedy JR. For President

Posted on May 24, 2024 by FredSchneiderUS

Michael Smerconish_ TGIFSource:Michael Smerconish talking about the news stories that he’s interested in.

Source:The New Democrat

“Today’s Headlines from Smerconish.com – Friday, May 24th 2024”

From Michael Smerconish

As I wrote about Robert F. Kennedy JR. back in March:

“As an at best Independent Democrat at this point, whose not in love with the Democratic Party politically, or really anything else, for that matter, I would love to see Robert F. Kennedy JR. run for President as a Libertarian. Why? Because it would just confirm what I, what this blog, and what a lot of other Democrats believe about RFK JR. that he’s simply a MAGA man, who at the very least doesn’t want Joe Biden to be reelected and perhaps even wants Donald Trump back in The White House, where all their MAGA conspiracy theories and avenues to financially profit for them, would open up.”

From The New Democrat

There are 3 main roadblocks that are and could keep Donald J. Trump from getting back to The White House. (Hell, I wish there were 100, especially with all the traffic and people in Washington)

The 1st roadblock would be Defendant Don getting convicted of felonies next week in Manhattan. Perhaps as many 1-4 Republicans, not just Democrats and Independents, but 1-4 Republicans don’t want, or won’t vote for a convicted felon for President of the United States. If there’s a large turnout for President this year, losing 10% of the Republican Party, would cost Donald Trump the presidency in 2024. Which is about the same percentage that he lost in 2020, especially in Arizona, Georgia, and perhaps Wisconsin as well.

As my colleague Kire Schneider wrote about Nikki Haley yesterday: 

“But as all the Republicans on this post have already said, Nikki Haley voters, are just people who voted against Donald Trump. And I would add they are not members of her political fan club. Unlike Trump, she doesn’t have her own political cult.”

From The New Democrat

Nikki Haley’s voters are not Nikki Haley’s voters. Which I know sounds like a car is not a car, a house is not a house, etc. But what that means is they didn’t vote for her by and large (exceptions to every rule) because they love Nikki Haley. They voted for her because she’s a normal Republican (at least pre-Donald Trump) and she was running against Donald Trump.

The Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley this year, are center-right, fiscally and economically conservative, hawkish, pro-Constitution, rule of law, Republican voters. Not people who want to take America back to the 1950s and 40s, where it seemed very unlikely that a woman of any background, or any minority, would ever even be thinking about running for President of the United States. Nikki Haley voters are traditional, center-right, Republican voters, who many cases voted for Joe Biden for President in 2020 and did their part in costing then President Trump reelection.

I’ve already touched on Robert F. Kennedy JR. But as Michael Smerconish said so himself (maybe he should be working for the Kennedy Campaign with all the free publicity that he gives him on his show) both Bob Kennedy and Don Trump will be at the Libertarian Party convention this weekend.

RFK and DJT are going after the same voters. We’re talking about anti-government, conspiracy minded people, who in some cases have Libertarian leanings, but in many more cases have MAGA leanings. Where at least the militants in the MAGA movement, want to take down the current U.S. Government and replace it with their own nationalistic form of government, that would be there to serve Donald J. Trump’s every need and “take back America” to give it back to the “real Americans”, as they see themselves.

Bob Kennedy might try to run as some whacked-out, hippie revolutionary, whose still addicted to drugs and has lost more brain cells and has more brain damage that he’s even admitted too, and make Bernie and Liz, along with Alex Cortez, and the rest of the so-called Squad in the House, and Jill Stein even, look like flaming moderates. And he would do that just to take votes away from Joe Biden, if that’s the campaign that he runs. But he’s a MAGA man. He”ll be at the Libertarian Convention, perhaps even seeking their nomination. Not at the Green Party Convention going after the hippie-lefty vote for President.

Posted in Michael Smerconish, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Tim Miller On Nikki Haley’s Endorsement of Donald Trump

Posted on May 23, 2024 by kireschneider

The Bulwark_ Nikki's Endorsement Won't Help!Source:The Bulwark talking about Nikki Haley’s calculating (my words) endorsement of Donald J. Trump. Who right now is Defendant Don and perhaps by next week will be Convicted Felon Don. But that’s her choice for President of the United States anyway. Interesting notion of the rule of law.

Source:The New Democrat

“Nikki Haley’s EMBARRASSING OUTRAGEOUS Excuse for Supporting Trump… Tim Miller explains why Nikki Haley’s endorsement of Trump won’t help Trump.”

From The Bulwark

“The former United Nations ambassador said she prioritizes a president who will hold enemies to account, secure the border and support “capitalism and freedom” — and that while “Trump has not been perfect on these policies,” that “Biden has been a catastrophe.”

“So, I will be voting for Trump,” Haley said.”

From ABC News

“Unhinged,” “Not Qualified,” “Can’t Win a General Election”: All the Things Nikki Haley Said About Donald Trump Before Announcing She’ll Be Voting for Him in November

After Trump questioned why Haley’s husband, Michael Haley, was not on the campaign trail back in February, saying to supporters, “Where is he? He’s gone. He knew. He knew,” the former UN ambassador wrote on X: “Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about.” Then, in an interview on Today, she called him “unhinged” and “more diminished” than he was in 2016.

“Can’t win a general election”

Mentally unfit

Last year, without directly naming Trump (or Biden), Haley said the US should have compulsory competency tests for elected officials over the age of 75, saying, “In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire.” Earlier this year, she directly questioned Trump’s mental fitness after he appeared to confuse her with Nancy Pelosi. “They’re saying he got confused, that he was talking about something else, he’s talking about Nancy Pelosi,” Haley said in Keene, New Hampshire. “The concern I have is—I’m not saying anything derogatory, but when you’re dealing with the pressures of the presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do this.” Later, she added: “My parents are up in age, and I love them dearly. But when you see them hit a certain age, there is a decline. That’s a fact—ask any doctor. There is a decline.”

Voting for him is “suicide” for the country
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in February, Haley said that the idea of making Trump the party’s nominee “is like suicide for our country.”

Might not abide by the Constitution
Asked earlier this year if she thought the ex-president would follow the Constitution were he to win reelection, Haley responded: “I don’t know. I don’t—I don’t know…. I mean…you always want to think someone will, but I don’t know.”

A sexual abuser whom America is too good for
Haley wrote this on social media after a jury ordered Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll more than $83 million in damages for having defamed her by claiming she was lying about his assault on her in the ’90s..”

From Vanity Fair

“Griffin, who worked under Mike Pence and Donald Trump, criticized Haley for saying she’d vote for the former president after dragging him during her campaign.

After regularly using her platform on The View to voice support for former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley leading up to the November election, former Donald Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin has slammed Haley after the politician publicly endorsed Trump on Wednesday — despite Haley staunchly criticizing him over the last year.

The 34-year-old — who’s also a regular CNN contributor — appeared this week on the network’s Erin Burnett OutFront program to react to Haley’s endorsement.

“It was disappointing but not surprising. She joins a long list of people who are deeply critical of Trump, who have said he was unfit for office, who have launched every attack against them that they could,” but ultimately come back into the fold, Griffin told Burnett…

Griffin speculated that “at the end of the day, careerism, ambition, and being able to have long standing in the GOP is more important to most politicians” than overall integrity.

When Burnett played clips of Haley criticizing Trump in recent months — including footage from a February interview in which Haley said “there is no way that the American people are going to vote for a convicted criminal” if Trump is convicted amid his ongoing legal woes — Griffin went in even further on the former South Carolina governor, who suspended her campaign in March.”

From Yahoo News

“I react to Nikki Haley’s endorsement of Trump. While I’m disappointed, I’m not surprised. Politicians have been putting their ambitions ahead of what’s best for the country for a long time. Now the question becomes: do her voters follow her? I’m not convinced most do. My take on…

From Alyssa Farah Griffin

I’m going to paraphrase 1 key point that Tim Miller makes here:

“Nikki Haley’s voters aren’t Nikki Haley voters. They were Republicans who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 who were looking for a Republican to vote for other than Donald Trump. They were anti-Trump voters who saw Nikki Haley as the vessel to voting against Donald Trump in the Republican primaries…

Pretty much everything has been said here. But imagine back in 2008 had the Democratic Party not just have nominated Barack Obama, who certainly ran as a mainstream Democrat in the general election and they nominated Dennis Kucinich in the primaries instead of then Senator Obama and Hillary Clinton.

And Kucinich was talking about:

nationalizing banking and energy, to go along with health care, as well gutting the Defense Department by 80%

pulling out of NATO

cutting off of Israel and endorsing Hamas

and threatening to shut down Fox News and other right-wing media outlets, if he became President.

But then Senator Clinton endorses Dennis Kucinich anyway. Even though in the primaries she said something like: “America can’t afford to have an unhinged Communist as President of the United States.” or words to that effect. That’s how I see Nikki Haley.

Look, I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in Maryland in 2008. But I see Nikki as the Hillary Clinton of the Republican Party. Someone whose very calculating, who takes hours, if not days, weeks even, who knows, maybe months, to make any basic decision. If she thinks her decision could effect the rest of her political and governmental career one way or another.

As Tim Miller said, Nikki Haley thinks she has a career post-Donald Trump, perhaps even in a 2nd Trump Administration (if God forbid our long national nightmare turns into a Trumpian State instead) and she’s thinking by endorsing anyone other than Donald Trump, or not endorsing anyone for President in 2024, her carer in politics and government is over.

But as Tim Miller also said, unless Trump nominates her for Vice President and they win, her career is probably over anyway. And this will be really bad for her legacy, especially if Trump loses in 2024 anyway.

But Haley is endorsing Trump in May, because I guess she still wants to be in the running for Vice President. But if it’s still a 50-50 election in September or October, her endorsement would mean more at that point. Which goes again to her political calculator that says she’s not expecting him to win. Her endorsement won’t even be remembered 4-5 months from now, and she thinks she still has a career in the Republican Party post-Donald Trump.

But as all the Republicans on this post have already said, Nikki Haley voters, are just people who voted against Donald Trump. And I would add they are not members of her political fan club. Unlike Trump, she doesn’t have her own political cult.

Posted in The Bulwark, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Anderson Cooper 360: Why James Comey Thinks Donald Trump’s Trial Will Result in Conviction

Posted on May 23, 2024 by FredSchneiderUS

CNN_ Why James Comey Thinks Donald Trump’s Trial Will Result in ConvictionSource:CNN– former U.S. Deputy Attorney General & FBI Director, and now author James Comey, talking to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper about Defendant Don.

Source:The New Democrat

“James Comey, former FBI Director, joins CNN’s Anderson Cooper and shares his views on former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York.”

From CNN

First of all, the easiest and most accurate answer to where or not this Manhattan jury will convict Donald J. Trump is, no one knows. Unless you are a psychic or something and perhaps you are just keeping what they’re going to do to yourself. Perhaps you are too busy at Atlantic City to share that piece of information with the public or something. Might as well do something with your psychic powers.

But Comey, whose still a lawyer, (or at least still has his law license) made the case for why this jury would convict Donald Trump, if that’s what they will do:

The Manhattan DA established not just motive with Stephanie Clifford (also known as Stormy Daniels) but will all of Mr. Trump’s own people testifying against him that they believed that paying off Clifford and Karen McDougal was about saving the 2016 presidential campaign. Not about keeping this information from Mr. Trump’s wife or young son.

But then you have the phone call between Michael Cohen who was DJT’s lawyer at the time and DJT himself, talking about the payments to Clifford before the election and how they would hide that money and prevent the public and government from finding out about it, with a shell company. I’m not a lawyer, but I think they could’ve charged DJT Inc. with money laundering, as well as making false business records and illegal campaign contributions.

As far as who to vote for in November: Joe Biden, Donald Trump, or someone else, perhaps not voting at all?

If you are a true patriot in the real sense, meaning someone who not just loves America and not just your corner of the store, section of the woods, your own people, (so to speak) you love America as a whole and care about it’s future, there’s only one choice here.

If you don’t like President Biden and you don’t like the job he’s doing 2 years from now, you can hold him accountable during the 2026 mid-terms. Even if Democrats hold the Senate and win back the House with President Biden being reelected, the Democrats won’t have large majorities in the next Congress. Republicans could still win back the House at least, especially if President Biden is still unpopular 2 years from now.

Whatever you think of Joe Biden (and I personally like, respect , the man, think he’s a good President) unlike Donald Trump, Biden is not a threat to our rule of law, our form of government, check and balances, not arguing that he could stay in power after his term is over, etc, not a fan of the Third Reich, doesn’t want a Fourth Reich. The choice in November for President couldn’t be any more obvious.

Posted in CNN, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Michael Popok: ‘Ex-Donald Trump Lawyer BLASTS Trump Trial STUNT’

Posted on May 22, 2024 by kireschneider

Meidas Touch_ Ex-Donald Trump Lawyer BLASTS Trump Trial STUNTSource:CNN ex-Defendant Don criminal lawyer Tim Parlatore, talking about his former client.

Source:The New Democrat

“A Former TRUMP CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY believes that Trump’s tactic of having MAGA politicians come to court and show support for him and bash the witnesses and judge and criminal justice system IS HAVING A TERRIBLY NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE JURY, and could backfire and help lead to a GUILTY VERDICT. Michael Popok a practicing NY trial lawyer explains what is likely going on in the minds of the jurors who have rallied around the judge.”

From the Meidas Touch

As I wrote about Donald Trump’s MAGA support at his trial last week, instead of his family support:

“As far as Senate MAGA, (as I call Senate MAGA Republicans) other than Crazy Marge, also known as Moscow Marge, (who some people call Marjorie Taylor Greene) these senators are the only Republican members of Congress to show any official support for their Dear Leader Defendant Don, at the Manhattan courthouse. I guess Speaker Mike Johnson made a half-ass (to be be frank) appearance for Defendant Don today. But he didn’t actually go into the courtroom itself.

If all of us are the people we associate with, Donald J. Trump is getting exactly who he deserves and is exactly who he deserves to be. Which is a man whose surrounded by professional boot-lickers, who are simply trying to get something from him and raise their profiles.”

From The New Democrat

Just to give you a little background about Tim Parlatore first and sort of add on to what Michael Popok already said about him: Parlatore is still loyal to Donald J. Trump. But not to the point that he’s willing to risk his own credibility as a lawyer, at least not with the mainstream media, or his legal license. Which is why CNN, perhaps MSNBC, and perhaps the network news divisions are willing to talk to him because he tells them what he thinks.

I agree with Michael Popok that having these MAGA, Donald J. Trump wannabes and Congressional MAGA cultists from both the House and Senate up there to essentially say: “We got you, man! We’re down for you 100%!” probably doesn’t look good to this jury. I mean this is a Manhattan jury, Donald J. Trump might actually have to pay someone (even if he couldn’t afford it) to support him in Manhattan.

And again, this is a Manhattan jury, this idea that they’re just hearing about their fellow Manhattanite Donald J. Trump, or even his MAGA movement, or the Republican Party for that matter, for the very first time, makes as much sense as someone saying that if you jump in the lake, there’s a chance you might not get wet. So in a heavily, wealthy, highly educated, Democratic jurisdiction like Manhattan, it’s safe to assume that they know who these MAGA people are and what they’re about.

But as someone whose not a real lawyer, I think there’s a bigger problem for Donald J. Trump relating to this jury. While MAGA has his back, his family apparently doesn’t. I mean if your own wife and kids don’t even support you, how can you expect 12 complete strangers to believe that you are innocent. Yes, they’ve made a few outside guest appearances for their father and father-in-law.

But if I was married, (God forbid) and my wife or father was on trial for their personal freedom and I believed she or he were innocent, I would be in court everyday for them. That’s not what you are seeing from the Trump Family for their father, husband, and father-in-law.

Posted in Meidas Touch, The New Democrat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment