Saying the quiet part out loud

Saying the quiet part out loud

Steve Breen

Honestly, it has never been quiet. But now the message is loud and clear: T**** is a fascist. He wants to be a dictator. He has the cult following. He has the ideology. And he is using the language. 

He has really and truly crossed into Hitler territory. At a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire, on Veterans Day no less, he said the following: "We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country." When citizens are equalled to "vermin" that must be destroyed, it gives permission for hatred and violence. This is not ok. 

And he went on: "They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream." He continued: “The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within. Because if you have a capable, competent, smart, tough leader, Russia, China, North Korea, they’re not going to want to play with us.”

It is not simply a narcissist's pathological projection, though it is that. No, this kind of language is horrifying. Historians are sounding the alarm from coast to coast. It matters.

Tom Nichols writing in The Atlantic has reserved the words "T**** is a fascist" until now. Now it's obvious. You can read his thoughts here. 

Many of the rest of us have called it out long ago. I have used the words fascism and fascist on these pages numerous times. My most driect treatment was looking directly at fascism and outlining the parallels of fascist tendencies and T****'s traits. You can read what I published on June 24, 2018: Descending into Darkness. I also wrote Dictatorship 101 back on February 26, 2020.

Here's a video I included in that post; it briefly describes authoritarian strategies and how to resist. It was made five years ago and remains supremely relevant. 

 

T****'s campaign is fine n dandy with authoritarian language, too. In a follow-up statement about his "vermin" comments, Steven Cheung, T**** campaign spokesperson, told the Washington Post, "Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House." In the shocked aftermath, he clarified he comments, stating that he meant to say their “sad, miserable existence" instead of their “entire existence.” So much more comforting!!

And just this week, down in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton showed his true Nazi colors when he filed a lawsuit against a journalism organization who called out Elon Musk and his Nazi sympathizing social media site (By the way, demonizing journalism and controlling mass media is #6 in the list I outlined about fascist tactics in my Descending into Darkness post).

T**** and his gang are embracing fascism and authoritarianism, and very single one of us has the power to  RESIST. Keep your guard up! Our democratic republic is hanging on by a thread. The bottom line is, the only way to preserve it is to vote. Do what you can to help to empower voters, support the candidates you want, and vote. 

Court News: 91 criminal charges and a civil fraud charge still pending

The Civil Fraud Case in NY has been most active. 

This is the bench trial, no jury, in which the judge has already determined that T****, his sons, and his company committed fraud when they grossly inflated property values in order to get better loan terms. The trial is simply to assess for punishment. 

Hunter Biden much?

"The children" were called to testify. Daddy protested much. "Leave my children alone, Engoron!" What, are they four years old? 

Da boys (both co-defendants), scraggly and unshaven, sat smugly in the witness box and proclaimed that "I don't focus on appraisals" and anyway it was the damn rogue accountants who did the deeds. Pesky!

Ivanka (not a defendant) testified that she was "not privy" to Daddy's personal financial statements. 

Prickly testimony

And dad himself testified, in what has been described as meandering and bombastic. Do we expect different? The Washington Post described that, "He alternately appeared boastful and frustrated, proud and irritated, bored and distracted."

Not surprisingly, he did not stick to facts and went off the rails during his testimony, lambasting the court as well as the prosecutor, calling the judge "hostile" and the trial "a scam." Judge Engoron rebuked him strongly and told T****'s lawyers "this is not a political rally" and ordered the attorneys to "control him."

The Toddler-in-Chief still cannot sit still and be quiet for two dang minutes.

Jack Ohman

Jack Ohman

Here is a live-feed version of that day's events from NBC.com.

The prosecution rests

The prosecution wound up its case last week, and now it is the defense's turn. In looking at ABC's live feed of goings-on, it looks like it is not going super well for the defense. For example, one "expert" ended testimony rather abruptly after he contradicted his earlier findings in a report that he authored. 

The continuing saga of the gag order

The gag has been removed by an appellate court, and, unmuzzled, T**** has taken off running. He resumed his attacks on Judge Engoron's clerk, as well as the judge himself, District Attorney Leticia James, and his former attorney Michael Cohen, who testified earlier in the trial. 

The federal January 6 case

This is the case brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith. The indictment charges T**** with four felony charges surrounding the conspiracy to obstruct a free and fair election.

The continuing saga of this gag order

The federal gag order is also under appeal, and a three-judge panel is deciding whether to sustain it or pare it back. They heard arguments Monday morning. They are trying to balance free speech issues as well as trial justice issues. T****'s argument is that the order will stifle free speech regarding campaign issues. The prosectutors do not want him to malign court officers or intimidate witnesses. As it stands, the gag order is narrow already: it keeps him from talking about witnesses, court personnel, and his co-defendents. The court seems to have indicated that they may narrow it the order further. Grrrrr. Why should his status as candidate give him special leeway? To learn more, the Washington Post has analyzed it better than I ever could. 

Motions

Judge Tanya Chutkan has considered a couple motions in recent weeks: 

1. T****'s team actually joined in media outlets asking that the federal trial be televised. No decision yet on that. 

2. The Judge gave his legal team until January to decide whether they will present a "advise of counsel" defense, which essentially says, "My lawyers said it was ok to do it." If they go ahead with this defense, it allows the attorney-client privilege wall to come down. 

3. T**** asked for any mention of the Capitol riots to be removed from the indictment so that the jury would not see it. She ruled that it is a moot point; she hadn't planned to show the indictment to the jury.

Trial is still set for March 4.

The federal classified documents case

This case surrounds the illegal retention of dozens of classified documents in unsecured locations, including the bathroom and the ballroom of Mar-a-lago. T**** is charged with 40 felony counts surrounding the keeping of the documents and the obstruction of the United States to get them back. 

Not much movement

There hasn't been a lot of movement, mostly because of the amount of classified material that must be handled. 

Trial is set for May 20, and though Judge Aileen Cannon has thought about changing it, it stands today. She doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to set it in stone, and her delays in entertaining motions may delay the start all by themselves. 

The Georgia election interference case

This case involves T**** and 18 co-defendents, four of whom have pled guilty already. They are charged under racketeering statutes with conspiring to obstruct the election results in Georgia. 

It's been mostly quiet

Not a lot of movement with the case, except for prosecutor Fani Willis's request for an August 5 start date. 

Also, Judge Scott McAfee has barred the release of "sensitive" evidence. This, after a couple of the co-defendents' video-recorded statements during their plea arrangements were leaked to the media. See here at WaPo or here at ABC News!

The New York hush-money case

There has been very little movement in this case revolving around paying off Stormy Daniels to keep her from talking about a sexual encounter. Trial date is set for March 25 in Manhattan. 

Remember the 14th Amendment Angle?

I had prematurely called the Section Three idea to disqualify T**** from state ballots dead in the water, but now it's creeping closer to the dustbin. Last week, a Colorado court found that although T**** engaged in an insurrection, he is still eligible to run for president because, "The Court holds there is scant direct evidence regarding whether the Presidency is one of the positions subject to disqualification." 

You may remember that Section Three of the 14th Amendment reads:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Apparently the judge, the first one to have the cajones to say plainly that T**** engaged in insurrection, was not willing to say that President of the United States is an "officer of the United States." 🙄

Still, theres's life! The groups that brought the lawsuit is bringing it to the Colorado Supreme Court. We'll see how far it goes!

The 2024 Campaign

Not much to say. There have been Repug debates. I have not watched a single minute. Have you? There have been candidates drop out, including Mike Pence, and the field is now down to eight. Somehow T**** remains the frontrunner by far. 

The Chaos in the Capitol or, Repugs Run Amok

Drew Sheneman

The boys have been acting badly. It's such an embarrassment. 

GOP representative Tim Burchett (Tenn.) accused former speaker Kevin McCarthy of elbowing him in the kidney as he passed by. It was caught on tape by an NPR reporter. Burchett just happened to vote for McCarthy's ouster last month. Mc Carthy denied intentionally elbowing him, saying, that it was a "tight hallway."

Meanwhile, down at the Senate chambers, a United States Senator challenged a hearing witness to a fist fight. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) seems to have a score to settle with Teamster president Sean O'Brien.

See the video here, and after that, Stephen Colbert's take.

Colbert:

Other Bad Boys: Members of the United States Supreme Court

SCOTUS finally adopted a code of ethics, but there is no mechanism for enforcement or for oversight of any kind. So, Mr. Thomas can keep on accepting millions in bribes, I guess. 😑

The Good News: A lot to be thankful for

Reproductive Rights got a win this past Election Day!
Voters in three states voted to protect a woman's right to make her own reproductive choices. Democrats and abortion rights activists won big in Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky. This is very good news for 2024. Go, blue voters, go!!

SCOTUS actually made a couple good decisions. They refused to uphold Florida's ban on drag shows, and they appeared to hold up a law preventing perpetrators of domestic violence from owing a gun. 

People who were closest to T**** have been speaking out, and you can use their words around the Thanksgiving dinner table. Maybe they will sway "Uncle Maga" – and maybe not. But it's that good these citizens are lending their voice. 

Our system of checks and balances seems to be holding. 

Court cases are moving along as they do, people are being held accountable, and there is an election in just under one year in which we will wrestle back our democracy. Be grateful this Thanksgiving and have a wonderful, warm holiday!

Clay Bennett