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Category: Politics

Trump’s threat to democracy is now systemic

Trump’s threat to democracy is now systemic

Ronald Brownstein writes: The long-awaited federal indictment of Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election may be necessary to contain the threat to American democracy that he has unleashed. But it’s unlikely to be sufficient. The germ of election denialism that Trump injected into the American political system has spread so far throughout the Republican Party that it is virtually certain to survive whatever legal accountability the former president faces. With polls showing that most Republican voters…

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Jeffrey Clark is GOP star after trying to use DOJ to overturn election

Jeffrey Clark is GOP star after trying to use DOJ to overturn election

The Washington Post reports: In a conference room near the Capitol, young conservatives gathered in April to learn how to run for office — how to win and wield government power. Among the keynote speakers at the summit, hosted by a group devoted to “training America’s future statesmen today,” was Jeffrey Clark, the former senior Justice Department official who in 2020 sought to use federal law enforcement power to undo then-President Donald Trump’s defeat. Clark, who accused the Biden administration…

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DeSantis calls for ‘slitting throats’ in government, escalating rhetoric

DeSantis calls for ‘slitting throats’ in government, escalating rhetoric

The Washington Post reports: The two largest federal employee unions on Thursday denounced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent vow that as president he would “start slitting throats” in the federal bureaucracy — the latest escalation in intensifying Republican attacks on government operations they want to slash or eliminate. DeSantis, whose campaign for the GOP nomination has included promises to downsize agencies and fire bureaucrats, made the comments this weekend in New Hampshire while criticizing the “deep state,” echoing a term…

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Cornel West owes more than half a million in unpaid taxes

Cornel West owes more than half a million in unpaid taxes

The Daily Beast reports: Veteran Ivy League professor and bestselling author Dr. Cornel West has long advocated for taxing the rich to provide more services to America’s lower classes. But the academic-turned-Green Party presidential candidate isn’t living up to those standards in his own life—as public records from New Jersey and California show, West owes the IRS hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. West’s lament of the concentration of wealth among the nation’s elite and his support for…

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‘Everything has fallen off a cliff’: Battleground state GOPs nosedive in Trump era

‘Everything has fallen off a cliff’: Battleground state GOPs nosedive in Trump era

Politico reports: Michigan’s Republican party is broke. Minnesota’s was, until recently, down to $53.81 in the bank. And in Colorado, the GOP is facing eviction from its office this month because it can’t make rent. Around the nation, state Republican party apparatuses — once bastions of competency that helped produce statehouse takeovers — have become shells of their former machines amid infighting and a lack of organization. Current and former officials at the heart of the matter blame twin forces…

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Trump’s new judge is a tough Jan. 6 sentencer — and has a history with him

Trump’s new judge is a tough Jan. 6 sentencer — and has a history with him

Politico reports: When Judge Tanya Chutkan presides over the new criminal case against Donald Trump, it won’t be her first time tangling with the former president and his lawyers. In fact, the U.S. district court judge already dealt the ex-president one of the most significant legal blows of his lifetime, triggering perhaps the greatest deluge of evidence about his bid to subvert the 2020 election — a scheme for which he now stands charged with serious crimes. The Obama-appointed jurist…

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A deep dive into the 1/6 indictment

A deep dive into the 1/6 indictment

  The indictment of Donald Trump on charges growing out of multiple schemes to steal the election is the most important case in the history of the Department of Justice and probably the country. We’ve had some quick reactions on cable TV. But in this special live tape episode, 3 of the country’s most knowledgeable commentators – Norm Eisen, Renato Mariotti, and Jen Rubin – join Harry Litman for the most in-depth discussion out there of the most important legal…

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Trump Jan. 6 indictment: The statutes

Trump Jan. 6 indictment: The statutes

Lawfare analysts write: The indictment released today by the Jan. 6 grand jury in Washington charges former President Donald Trump with four felony counts: two for obstruction of an official proceeding, one for conspiracy to defraud the United States, and one for conspiracy against rights. These are among the more straightforward crimes the special counsel could have charged; they are commonly used by prosecutors in a variety of contexts, and they avoid some of the legal pitfalls that would have…

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Fitch highlighted Jan. 6 insurrection with Treasury ahead of U.S. downgraded credit rating

Fitch highlighted Jan. 6 insurrection with Treasury ahead of U.S. downgraded credit rating

Reuters reports: Fitch downgraded the U.S. credit rating due to fiscal concerns, a deterioration in U.S governance, as well as political polarization reflected partly by the Jan. 6 insurrection, Richard Francis, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, told Reuters on Wednesday. In a move that took investors by surprise, Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA on Tuesday, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-to-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to…

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Trump is charged under civil rights law used to prosecute KKK violence

Trump is charged under civil rights law used to prosecute KKK violence

The Washington Post reports: A carload of White men who attacked an interracial couple with rocks and bricks. A member of the Ku Klux Klan who built a cross, wrapped it in sheets soaked in gas and oil and instructed two others to set it ablaze in front of the home of a family of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. A social media influencer who spread misinformation aimed at preventing people from voting. And now, a former president of the…

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Even Trump’s indictments haven’t shattered the deadlock between the parties. Here’s why

Even Trump’s indictments haven’t shattered the deadlock between the parties. Here’s why

Ronald Brownstein writes: Former President Donald Trump’s mounting legal jeopardy is raising a stark political question: can anything break the sustained electoral stalemate that has left the country divided almost exactly in half between the Republican and Democratic coalitions? Trump is facing a swarm of criminal accusations unprecedented for an active presidential candidate, much less a former president. But during this ordeal, his lead in the 2024 GOP presidential primary has solidified. And while polls have highlighted some clear warning…

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Trump charged in probe of Jan. 6, efforts to overturn 2020 election

Trump charged in probe of Jan. 6, efforts to overturn 2020 election

The Washington Post reports: A grand jury indicted former president Donald Trump on Tuesday for a raft of alleged crimes in his brazen efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — the latest legal and political aftershock stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol two and a half years ago. The four-count, 45-page indictment accuses Trump of three distinct conspiracies, charging that he conspired to defraud the U.S., conspired to obstruct an official proceeding and conspired against…

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Trump’s indictments are having diminishing returns for his political fundraising

Trump’s indictments are having diminishing returns for his political fundraising

Politico reports: Donald Trump’s legal troubles have created windfalls for his political fundraising in the past. And his team has not been shy about using various investigations, indictments and court appearances to turbocharge his donor base. But new data filed with the Federal Election Commission by WinRed, the premiere GOP donation processor used by Trump and most other Republican candidates, shows that trend may be ebbing. The former president’s fundraising did not spike as high after his second indictment in…

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The Middle East deal that Biden’s considering is a bad idea

The Middle East deal that Biden’s considering is a bad idea

Fred Kaplan writes: President Joe Biden is exploring the possibility of a big deal in which Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel, Israel reopens talks with Palestinians, and the U.S. signs a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has described the deal as “a game changer for the Middle East, bigger than the Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel”—as long as tight restrictions on Israeli settlements are a condition. Certainly, the package is intriguing….

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Why the American far right loves Bashar al-Assad

Why the American far right loves Bashar al-Assad

Leila Al-Shami and Shon Meckfessel write: On April 1, 2023, a conference was held in Lyon, France, under the title “Syria and Its Allies on the March Towards a Multipolar World.” It was held by Egalite et Reconciliation (Equality and Reconciliation), a think tank founded by Alain Soral, a former member of France’s right-wing National Front party (rebranded in 2018 as the “National Rally”). Soral was imprisoned in 2019 for racism, antisemitism and Holocaust denial. The syncretic think tank he…

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Niger coup: Why some people want Russia in and France out

Niger coup: Why some people want Russia in and France out

BBC News reports: In a sign of growing hostility towards the West since the coup in Niger, a businessman proudly shows off his outfit in the colours of the Russian flag in the traditional heartland of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum. Since the coup, there has been a war of words between the military and the West. Mr Bazoum was a staunch ally of the West in the fight against militant Islamists, and was a strong economic partner as well. Niger…

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