August 15, 2023

Unique difficulties.

I'm reading "In Georgia and federal indictments, two vastly different approaches/Fani Willis’s sprawling case allows prosecutors to target Trump’s broad scheme. But legal experts and critics say both the scope and specificity could be a problem" (WaPo).
Legal experts said the difference in strategy comes with some advantages: District Attorney Fani Willis’s sprawling case will allow Fulton County prosecutors to tell the jury a story of a broad conspiracy to reverse election results in multiple states and build a forceful narrative of Trump’s actions in concert with numerous aides, lawyers and local officials. But experts warned that the logistics of putting Trump on trial along with 18 other people — each of whom may file a flurry of pretrial motions — in a racketeering indictment so complex and multilayered could carry unique difficulties....

It seems the elite experts believe the prosecuting ought to be left to the elite — the feds. The "unique difficulties" here include depriving the federal prosecutors of control over how big of a bite to take. How can they regain control without insulting the Fulton County DA?

In this other article in The Washington Post — "Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who is taking on Trump" — they're criticizing Trump for criticizing Willis.

The former president has long dismissed the investigation as a “political witch hunt,” and has described his calls to Raffensperger and others as “perfect.” More recently, he has intensified his attacks on Willis and other prosecutors examining his activities, describing them as “vicious, horrible people” and “mentally sick.” He has referred to Willis, who is Black, as the “racist DA from Atlanta.”

Who is Black. Well, then, you elite experts who want to cast doubts on the Georgia prosecution, you'd better continue assiduously in your subtlety. But I'm already thinking the question: How do I know you're not racist?

68 comments:

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Mark Meadows wanted to watch some of the signature verifications.

He was indicted for that.

We live is a Democratic-Soviet-Banana-Republic.

Mr Wibble said...

How do I know you're not racist?

I am absolutely racist. I figured that if I was going to be accused of being so, I might as well embrace it.

hombre said...

Read Soros' Fani's indictment. I doubt even the sleazebags at DOJ will want to take it on. It is crap and she should be disbarred for filing it. But she is a black woman and a Democrat, so maybe not culpable....

Read it. Please. It beggars belief.

Rich said...

Let's not forget that all of the Georgian elected officials that Trump talked to were Republicans. They all stood up to him and protected the Constitution. That can't be said for many Republicans across the Nation. For shame.

Trump will continue to make terrible misjudgments which will sink him deeper into the mess he’s created. I don’t know what they’ll be. But Trump’s whole career has been defined by misjudgments. And he’s not going to change now.

Chuck said...

What??!!??

Althouse, exactly what is wrong with these sentences from the Washington Post:
"More recently, he has intensified his attacks on Willis and other prosecutors examining his activities, describing them as 'vicious, horrible people' and 'mentally sick.' He has referred to Willis, who is Black, as the 'racist DA from Atlanta.'"

They are true, accurate quotes from Trump. They are not taken out of context.

And, the Trump comments are part-defamatory, part-ugly, part-crazy, part-threatening, and all-Trump.

Is there some part of these Trump quotes that you find defensible? Acceptable? I'm not speaking to any question of criminality. I'm just asking you -- because this is one of the most oblique blog posts I've seen from you recently -- if you think that there is anything worthy of criticism or condemnation in Trump's comments.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Orwell called it years ago.
More accurate than Nostradamus?
Having read this book in high school, it is amazing to watch it come to pass.
Your kids are F*cked.

n.n said...

Insidious (i.e. progressive) diversity emanating from the penumbra of elitist convocation and conception.

Narr said...

Many prominent B/black female attorneys and judges strike me as mentally subnormal.

bobby said...

Old and tested prosecutor trick - charge your one main target, along with a bunch of lowly sidekicks and helpers. Some of those lowlies will be desperate enough to escape that they will turn on your main target.

Mutaman said...

I guess expecting some insight on the merits of the indictment from a former law professor at a prestigious university is too much to ask. Instead, we get this gibberish, where Althouse uses the word "elite" three times in a short post. Anybody want to translate what she's talking about?

chickelit said...

This smells like a grudge too far. Hope it fails on obvious technicalities, teaching the DA a hard lesson.

chickelit said...

Georgia is the same state where Stacey Abrams was allowed to whine and complain about election integrity until she got the ultimate comeuppance: Losing again to the same guy but by a bigger margin. If Georgia politics are racist in any way, it favors black Democrat women.

Mutaman said...

chickelit said...

" This smells like a grudge too far. Hope it fails on obvious technicalities, teaching the DA a hard lesson."

What are the "obvious technicalities"?

Anna Keppa said...

Althouse: "well, then, you elite experts who want to cast doubts on the Georgia prosecution, you'd better continue assiduously in your subtlety. But I'm already thinking the question: How do I know you're not racist?
**
How many brain cells have you---a former law professor---sloughed over the years, to even HINT that legal and political objections to the Georgia prosecution are based on racism?

That's some pretty disgusting shit, right there.

Buckwheathikes said...

Remember when the courts refused to take Trump's election fraud cases, because they didn't want to undermine Democracy by allowing Trump the election was in fact stolen?

Well, now Trump has the opportunity to do that.

That is the danger.

I do not think these Trump cases will EVER reach a courtroom, because what if Trump wins? What if he proves that the 2020 election was in fact stolen? What then?

That is the threat to "our Democracy." The threat is that the American people are shown definitely that their elections are crooked.

Inga said...

Who are these “elite experts”? The people who counseled Mark Meadows to try to get the case moved to federal court?

iowan2 said...

Power Line has some of the "overt acts" that support the crime.

Trump gave a speech. AND conspired with a speech writer.


Mark Meadows texted a guy to get a phone number of a third guy.


Also Trump posted that people should watch some tv networks.


EGAD! the mans worse that Hitler!

walter said...

Chuck said... I'm not speaking to any question of criminality.
--
Then shut the fuck up "lawyer" Chuck(!).
Irony meter disintegrating over this shiite leveled in Stacy Abrams' Georgia.
Process as punishment pushed into blatant absurdity.
Chuck: "Fraudulent or not, if Trump loses, it's a win for me."

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

24 minutes of Democrats denying election results

Mutaman said...

Narr said...

"Many prominent B/black female attorneys and judges strike me as mentally subnormal."

You strike me as a first class cracker.

Dave Begley said...

Mark Meadows has moved to have the case removed to federal court. McCullough v Maryland

Rt41Rebel said...

It’s almost like they want a civil war.

gadfly said...

Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker said...
Mark Meadows wanted to watch some of the signature verifications.

He was indicted for that.


You know that Mark Meadows was not an appointed vote count auditor and he had no right to be in the counting area, but like his boss, he simply broke the law.

He was also charged with the RICO charge and the solicitation charge tied to the taped Raffensperger call.

Mutaman said...

Buckwheathikes said...



"I do not think these Trump cases will EVER reach a courtroom, because what if Trump wins? What if he proves that the 2020 election was in fact stolen? What then?"


Knowing Trump and his crowd, I suspect anything that he puts in evidence will just end up being used against him. Trump will just keep shooting himself in the foot.

tim in vermont said...

If the DOJ can't convict Trump of "insinuating," and Georgia can't convict Trump of urging people to watch hearings on OAN, when we have the tweets in both cases, and he doesn't do hard time for those crimes, then there is something wrong with our justice system.

traditionalguy said...

In Atalanta one has to factor in that 50 years of affirmative Action for Black Women in law schools and Judiciary appointments has warped the system. Letting one side always win in a competitive system dumbs those winners way down. They expect to always win just because those ARE the rules.

Yes that is racism. It’s their turn now.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

“How can they regain control without insulting the Fulton County DA?“

It’s not illegal for DA’s to, you know, collude?

Rich said...

@ Althouse Read the indictments, have you? Thought not...

If Trump gets out of this lot (almost 90 charges and counting) then he will go down in history as the greatest escape artist ever. Georgia is a particular problem for him. If convicted there is a mandatory five year term in prison; a Governor without the power to pardon; and even if the case is moved to the federal courts (possible) it still concerns state crimes, and no President has the power of pardon. Trump will be praying he can put Houdini to shame, but I wouldn't bet on it...

Enigma said...

There are some stupid black people.
There are some stupid white people.

Call out stupid people everywhere. Cut them off. Castrate them. Hamstring them to prevent greater harm. Stick to the facts and avoid judging on race/sex/gender/ethnicity, but don't allow stupid people to poison situations with their stupid destructive ways.

A local DA hamming it up for her (stupid) in-party supporters but way out of her legal and pragmatic depth is obviously stupid. Metaphorically give her a cookie, pat her on the head, and send her to the children's table to eat.

Trump was politically stupid for how his tone deafness ignited blind tit-for-tat primal rage among his enemies. He is and was often dead-on correct regarding basic needs, but clueless about why others didn't say it out loud and clueless about how to move through the realities of political systems. He thereby gave many stupid people a foot in the door when he didn't have to.

Breezy said...

Big picture view is Trump is the only one looking for the truth re the amount of fraud in the 2020. Everyone else is blocking him, even prosecuting him for trying to find that truth. His calling them out is righteous. Anyone who claims to know for a fact that the amount of fraud didn’t alter the outcome of 2020 is not being objective. He obviously is not objective either but he and millions of us see an awful lot of smoke which in normal times would absolutely require an in-depth inspection. How will we ever have confidence in our elections if we don’t even dare to look for the fire?

Clyde said...

Fani Willis reminded me of Kamala Harris without the cackle.

Rusty said...

Information must be filtered so that you come to the correct conclutions. "Misinformation" is any information that does not agree with the filter. It is then easier to apply the law unequally. Your political opponents can then be labeled villians while your party promotes division based on race, class or ethnicity. This has worked for 81 million people.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

gadfly - watching vote counters is a felony?

Wow - you sure do embrace the Democratic Sovietism.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Gadfly(D-Soviet) agrees that anything a F**king Democrat a-hole doesn't approve of - is a felony.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Re-Elect Soros 2024!

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

X

"As predicted 👇 there'll be "removal" motions from likely all the defendants who were federal officials at the time of the acts. This is because, in general, the states CANNOT use state law against federal officials for things they did as feds. Federalism doesn't work otherwise."

Dude1394 said...

“ Rich said...
@ Althouse Read the indictments, have you? Thought not...

If Trump gets out of this lot (almost 90 charges and counting) then he will go down in history as the greatest escape artist ever”

No he will actually go down as one of the most law abiding POTUS in modern history. No one could take this level of corrupt persecution by a now illegitimate government and survive it. He is literally risking his life and liberty for the country. One of the bravest politicians in my lifetime.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

This just in: Democratic Soviets now agree, taking in air is a felony - unless you suck Biden's corrupt saggy balls.

Tina Trent said...

In Atlanta, there are shockingly incompetent black judges, mostly female because by large numbers most of the minorities who pass the bar are women.

There are also shockingly incompetent white judges. We went through a spate of unbelievable disbarments of judges statewide some years ago. One involved using a penis pump while court was in session.

That was a white judge. I won't belabor the gender.

It is true that there is extreme bias towards hiring and appointing blacks over whites throughout Atlanta's government and justice systems. Our city clerk is a corrupt joke. I've been told openly I couldn't be hired for one city job because I'm white. And I turned down the offer to apply for another post because I knew my skin color would make life hell for me there, and I just couldn't take any more racial Mau Mauing. Just a brief glance at the statistics -- 95% of City Employees were black up until recently, while the population was 50/50, and similar statistics pertaining to lawyers and others in the courts makes this clear, though it's important to note that a generation of preening sexist and leftist aging white male judges started this whole prejudice ball rolling.

But as I said yesterday, don't underestimate Fani Willis. Sure, she's partisan, and one case has been moved from her prosecution for this reason (she approved the move). But she's very smart, very good at what she does, and even if she ever was an affirmative action hire, she was a good choice anyway. She proved herself. She doesn't waver to prosecute black defendants whom others wouldn't touch. Of course I think the charges are inappropriate and biased. But Fani Willis is no dummy. She's a formidable prosecutor.

Rich said...

The reality is that the core support of Trump really will stick with him come what may. They are immune to rational thought or evidence of criminality. The party of Lincoln is a pathetic caricature of itself and just a cult. Just look at our poor friend Dude 1394 — enthusiastic nonsense. The job for the rest of us is to make sure these people never get in to power again, If they do it will be the end of democracy, the rule of law and the Constitution. So, for non-cultists, put aside petty differences and become one-issue voters. And that issue is the preservation of democracy.

wendybar said...

"No he will actually go down as one of the most law abiding POTUS in modern history. No one could take this level of corrupt persecution by a now illegitimate government and survive it. He is literally risking his life and liberty for the country. One of the bravest politicians in my lifetime."


HEAR!!HEAR!!Dude!!

iowan2 said...

"They are immune to rational thought or evidence of criminality. The party of Lincoln is a pathetic caricature of itself and just a cult. Just look at our poor friend Dude 1394 — enthusiast"


Im waiting for the first crime.

This is easy. Just name the crime.
The deep state has been at this for 7 years, The CIA has violated the law and spied on him, the DoJ has gotten illegal warrants to search every bit of his communication. The sent the armed gestapo to raid his house, they went through his wife's underwear drawers.

No crimes.

(indictments are no evidence of crimes)

Rusty said...

Rt41Rebel said...
It’s almost like they want a civil war.
They do. They want us to provide them with a Riechstag(Jan6) fire on a national scale. If they want that then it is up to them to publically and overtly provide impetus.
Dude 1394
Yep.

Aggie said...

Rich would like to think - and would like everybody to think - that Trump is treated like some kind of god by the people that would vote for him. There is a fan-boy worship clique with any public figure, but many Progressives like Rich would like to imagine that over 70 million people are all robe-wearing, torch-carrying cult members. All of them.

The Normal people, meanwhile, look at what is happening to their society - the ruthless lawfare against political opponents, the public debt gone hyperbolic, the fresh round of foreign war-mongering adventures and reckless, unfettered funding, the ravenous grab for power over the public square with rampant, illegal back-room censorship and First Amendment violations, the squalid greed and influence-peddling of the First Family, all enabled by the Establishment machine, while the coverage is squelched.

Normal people survey all of this, and then start looking at their options, and there are very few of them, maybe only a couple of acceptable ones. That - in the Progressive mind, consistent with their mentality that would punish noncompliance, any kind of deviation or dissent - that, is what people like Rich would call 'cult behavior'. People wanting to make a choice of their own volition, instead of according to the approved Progressive conditioning.

Rich said...

@ Aggie — Emphasizing Trump’s cult/GOP base numbers and ignoring the rest is looking out of the wrong end of the telescope.

Pollsters need to start tracking the percentage of likely voters who would crawl on broken glass in a raging hailstorm of lemon juice no less to vote against him.

Rocco said...

Chuck said...
"They are true, accurate quotes from Trump. They are not taken out of context."

I agree. Definitely true and accurate. So what's the problem?

Rob C said...

Per Rich
"The reality is that the core support of Trump really will stick with him come what may. They are immune to rational thought or evidence of criminality."

Actually I think a lot of people are coming around to supporting Trump because of now six years or increasing proof that he has been deliberately targeted and persecuted. This started before he was even sworn in with the "Russian dossier" crap and just got worse from there.

To make matters worse, we see rather strong "evidence of criminality" being routinely ignored in other cases.

Rich said...

Trump's net favorable rating with all voters was around -9 points in April 2022. Currently they are -16 points (pre Georgia indictments in the 538 aggregator), which is about where they were following the Jan 6th riots.

Trump's indictments may have boosted his standing within the GOP, but the exact opposite is the case with the general public. The indictments are clearly having an impact.

As far poll movements go too, I wouldn't use the indictment dates strictly as the measure since Trump was complaining pretty loudly weeks in advance of the news of indictments. There have also been public legal battles going on over discovery and the grand juries, which have almost certainly shaped public opinion. The high water mark of Trump's post-presidency approval is really at a time when he had started to fade away from the public spotlight and when these legal cases were still operating out of public view (e.g. April 2022).

Rocco said...

Chuck said...
"Is there some part of these Trump quotes that you find defensible? Acceptable?"

Perhaps instead of mean tweets, we should bring back burning people in effigy.

Rich said...

Trump was impeached but found not guilty because GOP Senators almost all voted against, in line with their leader in the Senate McConnell. But McConnell said on 8th Jan “We saw it happen. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”

In Feb, after leading the GOP to vote against the impeachment, McConnell said “there is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” and that “a mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name."

So the charge was Incitement of insurrection, McConnell said it was an Insurrection and no question Trump was practically and morally responsible. Yet he voted to acquit. That's why legal charges are required to do what McConnell clearly stated was the Senate's duty and find Trump guilty.

In other circumstances men who were felt to have failed to perform the duty of defending their nation were accused of "Lack of Moral Fibre". Many were unjustly shot for it, suffering, as they were, from shell shock. Mitch McConnell has no such excuse. Trump must face judgement for the crimes he was condemned by McConnell and others, even in the GOP.

wendybar said...

Chuck and Rich are the same person. Chuck can get more idiotic comments in now, and thinks we buy that Rich is somebody else.

Rusty said...

Rich said...
"Trump's net favorable rating with all voters was around -9 points in April 2022. Currently they are -16 points (pre Georgia indictments in the 538 aggregator), which is about where they were following the Jan 6th riots.

Trump's indictments may have boosted his standing within the GOP, but the exact opposite is the case with the general public. The indictments are clearly having an impact."
MMmmm. Nope.
See what I did there.

Rusty said...

Aggie said...
"Rich would like to think - and would like everybody to think - that Trump is treated like some kind of god by the people that would vote for him. There is a fan-boy worship clique with any public figure, but many Progressives like Rich would like to imagine that over 70 million people are all robe-wearing, torch-carrying cult members. All of them."
Progressives are such shallow people. They can't understand that you don't have to worship people to like what they do. Trump as an individual can be a dislikeable person, I don't know the guy, but his actions have proven he's a leader and he'll do what he says he'll do. Aparently people like our usual suspects need a demigod in order to vote.

Laughing Fox said...

Rich says: Pollsters need to start tracking the percentage of likely voters who would crawl on broken glass in a raging hailstorm of lemon juice no less to vote against him.

Sounds like a cult--the "Orange Man Bad" cult. And the worshipers have been flinging accusations and calling for burning at the stake for more than 8 years now.

Inga said...

“The Normal people…”

“Normal people”, oky-doky then. Thanks for the chuckle.

Aggie said...

Here's one of your Progressive pals looking through the right 'end of the telescope.' She's starting to wonder.....a dangerous thing to be thinking.

https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/on-hearing-president-trump-in-person?r=b9bca

Inga said...

“The party of Lincoln is a pathetic caricature of itself and just a cult. Just look at our poor friend Dude 1394 — enthusiastic nonsense. The job for the rest of us is to make sure these people never get in to power again, If they do it will be the end of democracy, the rule of law and the Constitution.”

Indeed.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"District Attorney Fani Willis’s sprawling case will allow Fulton County prosecutors to tell the jury a story"

I'd prefer facts, but that's just me.

Rich said...

“In November 2020, a few hours after the US presidential election had been called for Joe Biden, Virginia Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, sent a bizarre text to Donald Trump’s chief of staff, her old friend Mark Meadows. It read: “Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days & will be living in barges off GITMO [Guantánamo Bay] to face military tribunals for sedition”.

Thomas’s fantasy had not originated in her own head. It had been generated online by some part of what we must now call the “QAnon community” — a sprawling nebulous matrix of individuals who adhere to a compendious almost rococo conspiracy theory.”

Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped the World ~ Will Sommer

One might widen the gaze and say that in the ever-increasing greatly expanded information space, there are going to be wacko neighborhoods, places infused with the black magic of dark conspiracy.

A vast information space must be assumed a permanent feature going forward, therefore the "kitemarking" concept should be pursued and expanded so that all participants have some opportunity to see and hear all the voices in the public square, not just a few. There's too much self-reinforcing self-selection going on today (which is a form of censorship that is self-created and what is worse subject to manipulation by others).

A key feature of the coming Trump criminal trials is that speech (information beliefs) are unregulated and not subject to public censorship but that actions are subject to strict accountability; otherwise a functioning, interacting human society becomes impossible.

The best inoculation against conspiracy theories from the fringe infecting the broader political process with a view of overthrowing democratic governance in favor of some reactionary "elite" is to stigmatize political parties with defeat who peddle extremist doctrines.

Trump rode a populist wave into power -- and populist is very people based -- and then tried to leverage that people power into an autocratic overthrow, which is the opposite of being people based. One would expect most of Trump's populist base to erode down to a much narrower conspiracist base as additional information is exposed in the public square. If that doesn't happen, then some very harrowing questions are in the offing.

One question might be whether or not the plutocracy is using their money as Supreme Court sanctioned free speech to overthrow a democracy supposedly based on free speech? The opening anecdote about Virginia Thomas raises disturbing questions. We now know who her husband works for. Who does she work for?

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"Our city clerk is a corrupt joke. "

I didn't realize you lived in Atlanta. I had the pleasure of living in North Druid Hills for awhile, just a few blocks from Emory. What a beautiful place to live. I do miss it.

GrapeApe said...

This is nothing more than election interference. And fanny trying to get her twenty-five cents of fame.

Dude1394 said...

McConnell said. Who gives a flying **** what McConnell says.

walter said...

wendybar said...
Chuck and Rich are the same person.
--
Lone Justice didn't kill himself.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

He has referred to Willis, who is Black, as the “racist DA from Atlanta.”

The situation being that the writer, who is a racist pig, believes that being "black" makes you incapable of "being racist".

Just how stupid do you have to be, to make that claim?

1: Racism is wrong
2: Only white people can be racist

There, it two steps, you have a perfectly racist claim

Greg the Class Traitor said...

District Attorney Fani Willis’s sprawling case will allow Fulton County prosecutors to tell the jury a story of a broad conspiracy to reverse election results in multiple states

Really? News flash: GA law doesn't cover the "crime" of trying to "reverse election results" in States other than GA. There's this whole thing called "Federalism", maybe they've heard of it?

My main fear is that Trump's lawyers were completely incompetent in dealing with election law issues in 2020, so I have no reason to believe they'll do a better job this time.

But Competent lawyers would be bringing in the Fulton County Democrat "vote counters", and discussing for the jury, and the American people, all the different ways those "vote counters" violated election law.

Massive chain of custody issues, paperwork never filled out, or filled out well after the legal deadlines, the whole kicking out all the poll watchers and press, then resuming counting.

Competent attorneys will have an easy time showing that the country that flipped the State to Biden had a totally illegitimate vote process, and that as a consequence, no sane person would believe that the result was legitimate.

But Trump doesn't appear to know how to hire competent people

Rich said...

“In November 2020, a few hours after the US presidential election had been called for Joe Biden, Virginia Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, sent a bizarre text to Donald Trump’s chief of staff, her old friend Mark Meadows. It read: “Biden crime family & ballot fraud co-conspirators (elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, etc) are being arrested & detained for ballot fraud right now & over coming days & will be living in barges off GITMO [Guantánamo Bay] to face military tribunals for sedition”.

Thomas’s fantasy had not originated in her own head. It had been generated online by some part of what we must now call the “QAnon community” — a sprawling nebulous matrix of individuals who adhere to a compendious almost rococo conspiracy theory.” ~ Will Sommer Author of: Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped the World


One might widen the gaze and say that in the ever-increasing greatly expanded information space, there are going to be wacko neighborhoods, places infused with the black magic of dark conspiracy.

A vast information space must be assumed a permanent feature going forward, therefore the "kitemarking" concept should be pursued and expanded so that all participants have some opportunity to see and hear all the voices in the public square, not just a few. There's too much self-reinforcing self-selection going on today (which is a form of censorship that is self-created and what is worse subject to manipulation by others).

A key feature of the coming Trump criminal trials is that speech (information beliefs) are unregulated and not subject to public censorship but that actions are subject to strict accountability; otherwise a functioning, interacting human society becomes impossible.

The best inoculation against conspiracy theories from the fringe infecting the broader political process with a view of overthrowing democratic governance in favor of some reactionary "elite" is to stigmatize political parties with defeat who peddle extremist doctrines.

Trump rode a populist wave into power -- and populist is very people based -- and then tried to leverage that people power into an autocratic overthrow, which is the opposite of being people based.

One would expect most of Trump's populist base to erode down to a much narrower conspiracist base as additional information is exposed in the public square. If that doesn't happen, then some very harrowing questions are in the offing. One question might be whether or not the plutocracy is using their money as Supreme Court sanctioned free speech to overthrow a democracy supposedly based on free speech?

Tina Trent said...

Free Manure: I lived by the Federal Prison for 20 years. I liked my neighbors, but they kept getting murdered. The wealthy trust fund and ponytailed defense attorneys who sprung the thugs who killed my neighbors all live around Druid Hills. Otherwise, it is indeed a very pretty place. But, the traffic! And the pollen. If there are druids living in those hills, they must be trying to wipe out human civilization one sneeze at a time.

I used to poll watch in Fulton and DeKalb counties. I always made my last stop Cynthia McKinney's district, to watch the show she'd put on every election day. At 6:59, the busses trailed by national media would roll in; people would pour off the busses singing freedom songs and claiming they were being deprived of the right to vote, and Cynthia would babble about injustices in our voting system to the eager reporters she brung to the dance. Totally staged. Every time. Sixty seconds before the polls closed -- or were strong-armed to stay open.

Then there would be a public outcry over "voter suppression." Then there would be court cases and editorials and new rules weakening accountable voting. And this is the story of how we got to today. Long game, those demorats. Disciplined as hell compared to our shambolic Republican Party, though.

And that is how we got here today.

Rusty said...

wendybar said...
"Chuck and Rich are the same person. Chuck can get more idiotic comments in now, and thinks we buy that Rich is somebody else."
Whos sole purpose is to destroy this website.