Gonna make my time here w/ the last gasp of my blue check mark count. A rant.
I see that the new standard among my Republican friends is that we cannot indict anyone running for president, anyone who is president, or anyone who used to be president. Cool, cool.
Why stop there though. Let's make this fair. Let's repeal all campaign finance laws. Let people buy off whoever they want whenever they want on whatever terms. Make this fair.
Also, get rid of all business and banking fraud regulations. Fair is fair. If Donald Trump gets to hide illegal payments to deceive voters before the most important election our country conducts, everyone else should be able to do so as well.
Oh! And, I totally understand why people are clutching their mf-ing pearls that this is the first indictment. Wah-wah. You want it to be easier. I totally understand. Stormy Daniels makes you feel icky. So, better to let Trump off. You pansy whiners.
But that's where this goes. Election criminality is cool as long as it's tawdry and white collar. You can't get angry about fraudulent business expenses! Even if they were used to lie to an entire country about the character of the most powerful person in the world.
You want some other indictment to go first. Because somehow you have convinced yourself that THAT INDICTMENT WILL BE DIFFERENT and Trump's voters will accept it. It's delusional but it's your belief. Guess what: it doesn't get easier.
And if you can't understand how this is just ONE PART of Trump's overall ELECTION CRIMINALITY that runs thru hush money payments to Russian contacts to Ukraine shakedowns, to January 6 you are not paying attention and I can't help you.
With that I'm gonna go finally eat a sandwich now. I feel like that's good use of my final mark. Thx.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Given how more people are now focusing on Trump's most radical 2025 promises, I want to draw attention to what poses the biggest risks and why this is different than normal political gamesmanship. Specifically: 1- Pardon abuse (couples with new immunity) 2- Weaponization of DoJ and other fed depts 3- Regulatory retaliation
4-Federal law enforcement overreach, like Alien Enemies Act 5- Domestic deployment of military, thru Insurrection Act 6- Election corruption, refusal to leave office
A close study of his promises since he left office shows he and his allies have specific plans to do all of this. The looked at the obstacles they faced in the first term and devised strategies to get around them in 2025. That's why they are, for example, reaching far back into the 1700s for laws they can exploit to maximize power.
Doing things like pardoning rioters who breached the Capitol, ordering investigations against Americans who challenge Trump's power, punishing companies with tariffs, ordering roundups, and putting the military in our streets to shut down dissent will fundamentally change American life for the worse. These are democracy dismantling ideas.
There is a real “believability gap” regarding the authoritarian threat we are facing. But you don’t have to believe what COULD happen. Look at what IS happening right now. Could you stick with me for a thread? 🧵
Over the weekend Trump, once again, threatened to jail folks for supposedly committing election crimes.
It’s all based on nothing—he promises to jail people for actions they have not committed, based on activities that took place in 2016 that were not crimes.
Maybe you think this is an empty threat by Trump. It’s real and it’s not just from him. Look at what is happening in Texas. Attorney General Paxton’s “election integrity unit” keeps sending officers to raid homes and search people for alleged election fraud crimes. The results? A whole lot of fear, intimidation, and ONE judgment. One. washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/09…
Here, Bill O'Reilly has fallen prey to the idea that Trump won't be able to enact the "biggest deportation raid in history" because...people will stop him. Let's chat. mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreill…
Basically, O'Reilly argues that ACLU lawyers, Trump's civil service, and the courts will stop him. It's dangerous to assume these guardrails will hold. Let's talk about each one.
First, the notion that "ACLU lawyers" will stop him. Or maybe we just lump immigration lawyers into that, too. Fine. The action has to TAKE PLACE before lawyers have standing to sue. And Trump's allies have openly talked about a "blitz" so they can move faster than lawyers can sue.
We discussed what I predicted would be a growing trend of GOP officials, including VP hopefuls, appearing courtside on @allinwithchris Thursday. Let me recap some thoughts.
First of all, Trump is under order a gag order. If he directs anyone to make statements that his prohibited from making that is a direct violation of the gag order and the judge must be monitoring these surrogate statements. (As if there wasn't enough going on.)
Second, previous surrogates have not opted to defend Trump on the merits. They following the Trump playbook of attacking family members of the court, which Trump's former lawyer Ty Cobb described as a “strategic” act of intimidation, “designed around his traditional approach to delegitimizing the proceedings.” That's a real threat afoot here, which I wrote about when the trial began ifyoucankeepit.org/p/the-real-thr…
There is a real threat to democracy behind Trump's hush money trial drama. It's how Trump deliberately puts people who uphold the rule of law in danger. From me, a thread and a piece. ifyoucankeepit.org/p/the-real-thr…
Trump could present a sober defense of his case, on the merits. Instead he chooses to attack the judiciary and the process. This is the autocratic impulse he displays anytime he faces any sort of legal accountability.
Ahead of all his trials, relentlessly threatened judges, their family members and prosecutors involved in the case. Ty Cobb told Politico it's a “strategic” act of intimidation, “designed around his traditional approach to delegitimizing the proceedings.”
This is quite an analysis. Donald Trump won't be a full dictator on Day 1. Calm down! It would only take between four and 10 years to completely lose America. So...it's fine? Let me go on record with a HARD DISAGREE. politico.com/news/magazine/…
Also, ahem, here is the Authoritarian Playbook for 2025. In shows, in detail, the specific ways Trump has pledged to dismantle democracy and the plans and powers that will be used to enact them. Summary here where you can download full report authoritarianplaybook2025.org
In the Politico piece the author specifically points out that authoritarians need to take over the media, the courts, and override will from state and local authorities. The Authoritarian Playbook specifically examines how Trump targets those institutions.