Sorry Mr Cutter but I respectively disagree regarding the Alvin Bragg prosecution; I find it to be “lawfare” at its most odious. Even Bragg predecessor Cy Vance and DOJ thought the case a dog. Of course Trump wanted the payments hidden— (who wouldn’t!) but non-disclosure payments are perfectly legal. And even a violation of this, (falsification of a business record) would be a misdemeanor and outside of the statute of limitations. But NY extended the statue of limitations because of Covid, Bragg campaigned on his ability to nail Trump and he charged the individual payments (stacking counts from my days as a prosecutor) to Stormy Daniels as felonies, bootstrapped onto a specious federal campaign violation to get under the SOL.
N.R.’s legal writer Andy McCarthy calls it the worst example of prosecution miscarriage of justice he has ever seen. It might result in a conviction (temporarily I would suspect if Appeals courts have any integrity) in one of the most liberal districts in America but it isn’t fair and it sure isn’t justice.
Fair minded liberals can disdain Trump but they should have a queasy feeling in their stomachs over this tawdry business.
I agree with everything Joe writes here but want to make 3 points. (1) I fail to see why the NY case continues to be seen as sort of a low quality minor league case. Trump broke the law and everyone in the known universe knows he did it tohide his payments in order not to hurt his election chances. It’s a serious case and should be seen as such. (2) Mîe Johnson did the right thing but lets be light on the plaudits. He didn’t bet his speakership, the D’s were always going to back him and as a politician he is vastly better off than hunkering down with the MAGA thugs (3) maybe it’s time to start acknowledging that Joe Biden that decrepit, faltering, way too old, man who everyone wants to be gone is a pretty good president. He worked with Jihnson for months; he is the reason Israel did not blow Iran to smithereens. It’s tu,e for a national front of normal people to support the guy.
Nice essay today, Joe! The NPR debacle is growing legs… I have loved NPR’s coverage for years, but over the past 4 years or so I have felt there was an increasing amount of spin being inserted into my favorite segments like Fresh Air and All Things Considered that felt like anything but! So, I tuned out and switched to POTUS. Sad! I really hope they sort themselves out or get adult supervision to do so; we are paying for NPR. Cheers, and Keep Trucking!
The Republican Party had its chance, both in 2016 with the "deep bench" and 2024 with a candidate who beat Biden nationally by 9 while Trump was and is in a statistical dead heat. I have a few Republican loved ones but I am forced to tell them that when they see this slow crucifixion by Herod Bragg they are seeing a crucifixion not of Christ, but of the bad thief or maybe, in an alternate universe, Barabbas. Trump is a PT Barnum figure without Barnum's humanitarian streak.
My real motive was just now seeing Mike Johnson on the Columbia campus. He does seem like a mildly interesting pharmacist or CPA, but right now he is an unlikely unifier. Lawler's speech was the only one with oratorical guts. National Guard? Kent Sate x 1000? Tune in tomorrow because I will be. TV sucks unless people are rioting or phony wars are being orchestrated (recall the Gulf War? Baudrillard's "The Gulf War did not take place" is a good source for the reality behind that travesty. Apparently, he knew what deep-divers into documents know; that Saddam expected Kuwait as payment for fighting Iran needlessly, was encouraged by select double agents in the CIA, and was truly shocked when he fell into the Pentagon's give-us-more-$ propaganda trap.) Of course, gut-wrenchingly, the gruesome low-tech murders in Israel and high-tech atrocities in Gaza are all too real.
Sorry Mr Cutter but I respectively disagree regarding the Alvin Bragg prosecution; I find it to be “lawfare” at its most odious. Even Bragg predecessor Cy Vance and DOJ thought the case a dog. Of course Trump wanted the payments hidden— (who wouldn’t!) but non-disclosure payments are perfectly legal. And even a violation of this, (falsification of a business record) would be a misdemeanor and outside of the statute of limitations. But NY extended the statue of limitations because of Covid, Bragg campaigned on his ability to nail Trump and he charged the individual payments (stacking counts from my days as a prosecutor) to Stormy Daniels as felonies, bootstrapped onto a specious federal campaign violation to get under the SOL.
N.R.’s legal writer Andy McCarthy calls it the worst example of prosecution miscarriage of justice he has ever seen. It might result in a conviction (temporarily I would suspect if Appeals courts have any integrity) in one of the most liberal districts in America but it isn’t fair and it sure isn’t justice.
Fair minded liberals can disdain Trump but they should have a queasy feeling in their stomachs over this tawdry business.
I agree with everything Joe writes here but want to make 3 points. (1) I fail to see why the NY case continues to be seen as sort of a low quality minor league case. Trump broke the law and everyone in the known universe knows he did it tohide his payments in order not to hurt his election chances. It’s a serious case and should be seen as such. (2) Mîe Johnson did the right thing but lets be light on the plaudits. He didn’t bet his speakership, the D’s were always going to back him and as a politician he is vastly better off than hunkering down with the MAGA thugs (3) maybe it’s time to start acknowledging that Joe Biden that decrepit, faltering, way too old, man who everyone wants to be gone is a pretty good president. He worked with Jihnson for months; he is the reason Israel did not blow Iran to smithereens. It’s tu,e for a national front of normal people to support the guy.
Nice essay today, Joe! The NPR debacle is growing legs… I have loved NPR’s coverage for years, but over the past 4 years or so I have felt there was an increasing amount of spin being inserted into my favorite segments like Fresh Air and All Things Considered that felt like anything but! So, I tuned out and switched to POTUS. Sad! I really hope they sort themselves out or get adult supervision to do so; we are paying for NPR. Cheers, and Keep Trucking!
Jay Turney
The Republican Party had its chance, both in 2016 with the "deep bench" and 2024 with a candidate who beat Biden nationally by 9 while Trump was and is in a statistical dead heat. I have a few Republican loved ones but I am forced to tell them that when they see this slow crucifixion by Herod Bragg they are seeing a crucifixion not of Christ, but of the bad thief or maybe, in an alternate universe, Barabbas. Trump is a PT Barnum figure without Barnum's humanitarian streak.
My real motive was just now seeing Mike Johnson on the Columbia campus. He does seem like a mildly interesting pharmacist or CPA, but right now he is an unlikely unifier. Lawler's speech was the only one with oratorical guts. National Guard? Kent Sate x 1000? Tune in tomorrow because I will be. TV sucks unless people are rioting or phony wars are being orchestrated (recall the Gulf War? Baudrillard's "The Gulf War did not take place" is a good source for the reality behind that travesty. Apparently, he knew what deep-divers into documents know; that Saddam expected Kuwait as payment for fighting Iran needlessly, was encouraged by select double agents in the CIA, and was truly shocked when he fell into the Pentagon's give-us-more-$ propaganda trap.) Of course, gut-wrenchingly, the gruesome low-tech murders in Israel and high-tech atrocities in Gaza are all too real.