answer: yes! Serving in a minority is no fun, but serving in a minority with colleagues who benefit from MAGA is even less fun. The smarter, saner members want to quit. Unfortunately, this means the rest of the Republican caucus is likely to fare worse than ever.
Readers ask: Democrats have argued that the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States would be extremely unfair, and if the United States does not return it, they are running the election with the possibility that President Trump will bow to calls from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Shouldn’t we do some activities? , Will President Putin follow President Trump’s instructions and do anything to take it back?
answer: Democrats should push for Alaska (and other states they could flip) not because they fear President Trump will sell the state to Putin, but because Trump is Because they know they will sell America down the drain to appease their idols. said former Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). [Alexei] Navalny is the picture of retribution in a country whose leaders are not subject to the rule of law. …Now you have the Putin faction of the Republican Party. ”
reader asks: Why are people overlooking President Trump’s motives regarding Ukraine? President Trump hates Ukrainian President Volodymyr Trump was first impeached for his actions against Ukraine in 2020, when Zelenskiy failed to produce false evidence against Joe Biden. Withhold aid.Trump holds a grudge., And now he is taking his revenge, no matter how many lives it costs.
answer: Probably, but Trump has made his motives clear. He respects President Putin and wants to emulate him. Powerful people who enjoy violence, disdain democracy, and display misogynistic and ethno-nationalist biases flock to other powerful people with the same profile.
reader asks:This was an insane 8 times A year in which one person continued to control the narrative of this country for almost cruel purposes.Are there any other politicians or other figures that come to mind? Stalin, Hitler, etc., certainly, But what about other Americans?
answer: Watergate, domestic espionage, the Vietnam War, Richard M. Nixon approaches. Millions of people have given power to an unparalleled evil man.
reader asks: I have been following the broadcast and print coverage of this relationship issue. Fulton County, Georgia, between District Attorney Fannie Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. It is obvious that Trump’s lawyers will try to exploit this controversy in some way., Despite all the reporting, this sounds to me more like a personnel issue within the District Attorney’s Office than a lawsuit, at least not one involving Trump. Is there a legitimate connection to the Trump incident here? Could you please explain what that is and what the potential implications are? Thank you.
answer: I wish Judge Scott McAfee was as smart as you! As I explained, this relationship is not the basis of Willis’ claim. evasive. It should not have been the subject of two days of testimony, with details about when it started and when it ended.of only The question is whether she received any financial benefit (such as a gift) from Wade that would motivate her to seek prosecution.because There was no evidence of that at all, and the entire hearing was supposed to take several hours. This was a gross invasion of her privacy, undermined her respect for the justice system, and perpetuated her stereotypes of powerful black women.
reader asks: I read about President Trump’s armed vigilantes monitoring polling places and his intention to question the legitimacy of mail-in voting, which many Democratic voters use. These are just a few examples of tactics used to subvert fair elections. Are plans underway to counter these attacks for 2024?
answerLawyers representing Democratic state parties and candidates, including Marc Elias, and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Defense Fund are litigating these issues across the country. To a lesser extent, the Justice Department is doing something similar (albeit calling for a more aggressive strategy). Many state attorneys general and secretaries of state are also working to stop the suppression and ensure access to voting. Part of that responsibility also falls on ordinary voters, who must volunteer to work at polling stations and act as poll watchers. This is a collective moment in which law enforcement, the courts, elected officials, and all Americans who support democracy must do their part.
reader asks: How is President Trump always able to appeal to a higher court? He believed that additional or new evidence was needed for the appeal to succeed.
answer: That is the standard for new attempts. rear belief. However, appeals to the High Court are usually based on legal issues. Circuit courts must hear appeals even from summary dismissals. The Supreme Court has discretion over which cases to take up. If the issue is new (such as a disqualification under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment) or if there is a conflict between circuit courts, the judges are more likely to take the case.
reader asks: Irony that President Trump slams President Biden’s mental acuity is intolerable. Why don’t we see more ads representing Biden that show clips of President Trump’s ramblings and discourse? These are so damning that they clearly point to Biden’s own mental incompetence and indirectly attack President Trump’s attacks on Biden’s mental fitness to serve as president.
answer: Even with Trump’s own Truth Social, they’re certainly starting.with the Democratic Party external group is also powered up. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is making the donation herself. We’re likely to hear more from the Biden camp about President Trump’s haphazard, sick, and unpatriotic comments.
Many readers expressed understandable anger that President Trump and his ilk remain in the thrall of President Putin. President Putin is responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny, is the one who invaded Ukraine, committed war crimes, oppressed the people, and blindly usurped the homeland. This is the model of Trump and Trumpism. If Americans don’t want to lose their freedoms and the qualities that make America great and go down the dark path to tyranny, we must come together in droves to not only oppose Trump, but also to oppose his promoters in Congress. I’ll have to vote. The alternatives are frightening to imagine.
“Why Russia Killed Navalny: Even in Prison, the Opposition Leader Was a Threat to the Corrupt Russian Dictator”.That was the Atlantic headline for a column by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Anne Applebaum about Navalny’s death at the hands of Russian guards last week. This is a near-perfect headline, avoiding the trap that many other publications fall into.
First, the headline made it clear that he didn’t just die.he was there killed. If he hadn’t been imprisoned, the 47-year-old would still be alive. Secondly, the murderer is “Russia” – the state, the entire system. Third, the subheading succeeded in conveying all the salient facts: Mr. Navalny is a dissident that dictator Putin wanted killed.
Complete, concise, and in context. That’s the best you can hope for from a headline. This did all three.
Now, compare this to this terrible headline from the New York Times. “Navalny’s death increases tensions between the United States and Russia.” Count the ways this misses the boat. Navalny didn’t just die. he was killed Tensions are high as Russia invades neighboring countries, committing atrocities and killing dissidents. Tension is not a reciprocal or neutral phenomenon. This is caused by the actions of a malicious actor.Let’s fix this: “Mr. Navalny’s The killing sparks outrage in the United States. ” Much better.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over Trump’s New York civil case, sentenced the former president to a $354 million fine and a three-year ban on serving as a director or officer of a New York company. Mr. Engoron explained the necessity of such strict judgment as follows.
After nearly four years of investigation and litigation, the only mistake they’ve acknowledged (“inadvertent,” of course) is that the Trump Tower penthouse has tripled in size, but that can’t be denied. Their lack of repentance and remorse is almost pathological. They are only accused of inflating asset values to make more money. Documents prove this time and time again. This is a venial sin, not a mortal sin. The defendant did not commit murder or arson. They didn’t rob banks at gunpoint. Donald Trump is not Bernard Madoff. However, the defendants cannot admit the error of their ways. Instead, they adopt a “see no evil, hear no evil, tell no evil” attitude in which the evidence is a lie. This court is not constituted to judge morality. It is structured to find the facts and apply the law. In this particular case, in applying the law to the facts, the court intends to protect the integrity of financial markets and, by extension, the integrity of the nation as a whole. Defendants’ refusal to admit they made a mistake, and according to the Independent Monitor, to actually continue making a mistake, makes this court unlikely to continue making mistakes unless judicially bound. I came to the conclusion that I would continue to commit crimes. In fact, Donald Trump has testified to this day that he doesn’t believe the Trump Organization needs to make any changes based on the facts revealed in this trial.
This is Trump’s third civil defeat in New York.He is scheduled to appear before a jury soon. Criminal case. So far, whether by judges or juries, President Trump seems to have been consistently found to be a pathological liar.
We’ll be hosting an online chat next week so you can ask us your questions. Questions submitted after February 28th will be published in the next email His Bag Newsletter on March 6th.