Police, Military and Bikers

Who’s Crazy Now?  Yesterday the Senate rebuked Trump, voting 59 to 41 for the resolution condemning his faux immigration emergency declaration.  Twelve Republican Senators including Collins, Murkowski, Paul, Alexander, Lee, Moran, Portman, Romney, Rubio, Wicker and Blunt stepped up to vote alongside Democrats, notably Blunt is the fourth most powerful member of Republican leadership. To be clear, many of these Republican Senators are on record supporting Trump’s immigration policies but voted in objection to express disapproval of his executive overreach and his attempt to usurp the powers of Congress. Missing from that list was North Carolina’s Thom Tillis who by voting against the resolution and with Trump gave new meaning to the term abject hypocrisy, with Senators Cruz and Sasse giving him a run for the money.  Tillis’ vote was particularly notable because just two weeks ago in an impassioned Washington Post Op-Ed he said that he would support the resolution because “as a US senator” he couldn’t “justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress.”  Apparently, serious arm twisting in the form of a threat from Trump that he would ensure that Tillis gets primaried from the right in 2020 was all it took to get him to abandon his principals. As to the other two, Cruz, the haughty, hated Texan, holds himself up as a constitutional scholar, he spent much of Obama’s term slamming him for overreach every time he sneezed in the direction of Congress, yet he had no problem supporting Trump’s effort to interfere with Congress’ appropriation power here.  And then there is Sasse, he holds himself up as a righteous, pure conservative, whatever that is, he spent the last two years pontificating about the unique threat that Trump presents to the office of the president, he even wrote a book about it; nevertheless he had no problem jumping on the Trump train. Notably, like Tillis, Sasse is up for reelection in 2020 and job maintenance appears to be far more important to him than any of his so-called higher principals.  Following the vote Trump tweeted out “VETO” and he is sure to do so, right after he vetoes that other rebuke, the one ordering the US military to stop supporting Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.  It’s probably too early to say that the Republican tide is turning against Trump but it may be fair to say that inroads are being made, and more than ever we need those inroads to grow, quickly. Yesterday, Trump critiqued new Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, calling his arm movements crazy.  By now we should know that Trump, is a projection artist, he  only calls others out for his own traits and misdeeds.  Calling Beto crazy is an admission that even Trump knows that how unhinged he is.  So unhinged that during an interview with Breitbart he threatened to unleash armed forces against the rest of us.  Specifically he said “the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay? I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”  That’s the most powerful person in the country speaking, threatening to unleash gun wielding motorcyclists and armed “peace officers” on the rest of us.  Could you imagine for a moment what the reaction would have been if Obama ever said anything like that.  Trump’s outbursts have become frighteningly normalized so it’s important to remember THIS IS NOT NORMAL.      

The Legal Front:  Yesterday, the New York Appellate Court ruled that Summer Zervos’ defamation case against Trump can move forward.  Zervos is the former Apprentice contestant who Trump called a liar after she accused him of sexual harassment and intimidation. The court rejected Trump’s lawyers’ argument that “the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents a New York State court - and every other state court in the country - from exercising its authority under its state constitution,” instead finding “that the Supremacy Clause was never intended to deprive a state court of its authority to decide cases and controversies under the state's constitution.  Trump plans to appeal but if Zervos keeps winning in court, he will have to sit for a deposition, a bigly problem given his propensity to lie. Yesterday, Judge Amy Berman Jackson admonished Roger Stone again for his inability to abide by the terms of her gag order but didn’t throw him into jail saying that she didn’t want to waste her time on such stupid matters, right now anyway. His trial is now set for November, and in all likelihood he will violate the gag order again giving Judge Jackson another opportunity to put him away.  It’s Friday, also known as indictment day in Mueller land so maybe, just maybe a few will be handed down shortly, or not.  In any case Mueller’s most dogged prosecutor is on his way out.  Yesterday the much feared Andrew Weissmann announced that he is stepping down from the team, another indication that the Mueller investigation is nearing its end.  

International Terror:  Late last night our time, at least one anti-immigrant assailant opened fire in two New Zealand mosques killing 49 worshipers during their Friday prayers.  The murder spree was livestreamed online in all its gruesome detail.  North Korea’s Kim Jong un is saber rattling again, threatening to end talks and restart his missile testing program.  And, as expected the Brits are now trying to extend the deadline for Brexit because they have no idea how to do it and what to do next.  A feeling we all share.