Expect More, Pay Less 🌻 🌻 🌻    

Moving Target:  Trump’s weekend Truth Social posts were more off the rails than usual and now we know why.  Yesterday, in still another deranged Truth posting he revealed that his weekend mail included a target letter from the Department of Justice informing him that he is being investigated, this time for screwing with the 2020 election not to be confused with his other crime of refusing to return stolen secret documents.  The target letter is an indication that Special Counsel Jack is nearing the end of his investigation into the events surrounding January 6 and will probably indict Trump and maybe one or more of his co-conspirators shortly as in next week perhaps if not sooner, though at least two of those co-conspirators, Rudy Guiliani and John Eastman say that they haven’t received a similar letter.  It’s not clear what exactly Trump will be indicted for, possibilities include obstruction of a legal proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government and/or wire and mail fraud related to deceptive fund raising over lies about the outcome and validity of the 2020 election. It’s fair to assume that Trump’s Republican competitors were inwardly jumping for joy, however, most stuck to the same theme, saying that though Trump should have acted more quickly to calm the January 6^th rioters, the DOJ investigation and the impending indictments are just more evidence that Biden’s DOJ is biased, engaging in unfair persecution of their hero instead of Hunter. Nikki Haley added that all these Trump investigations were just adding too much drama to the primary process but didn’t come out and condemn Trump while Asa Hutchinson called for Trump to suspend his campaign as if he ever would.  Chris Christie was off somewhere smirking. Speaker Kevin responded with some of his usual obsequious prattle, saying that you’d expect this in “Biden’s America” because of all his government weaponization, a sentiment shared by the House’s other MAGAs.  Last night during a Sean Hannity hosted townhall, Trump said he was “bothered” by the letter and then went on to praise China’s Xi as brilliant because he uses an iron fist to keep China’s 1.4 billion population under control.  No doubt Trump who also recently doubled down on his admiration for that other genius Vladimir Putin is hoping that both will do their best to help him retake the presidency and at least with regard to Putin, there’s no doubt that he will try because he knows that a Trump victory would go far to making a Russia victory over Ukraine more likely.  That said, a Ron DeSantis victory might help Vlad too as yesterday during his interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, he said that helping Ukraine wouldn’t be one of his priorities adding that he wouldn’t want to drain our ammunition pile when all those guns, bullets, and drones could be better used defending our immediate border, as in the one with Mexico.  DeSantis did a lot of hedging during his interview, he asserted that no one’s more pro-life than him but wouldn’t say whether he’d impose a six-week abortion ban, not because he wouldn’t but because he knows it doesn’t poll well with those outside of his party’s base.  

 

Legal Landscape:  Elsewhere in legal land Trump’s lawyer were down in Florida for a hearing in front of Judge Eileen Loose Cannon where they were pressing their argument that the purloined document case trial should be pushed off until after the 2024 election in the hopes that Trump or another pardon friendly candidate wins.  Cannon didn’t appear to buy that, but she also seemed skeptical about Special Counsel Jack’s request that the trial start before year end.  Given the complexities of dealing with all those secret documents, it’s likely that the trial won’t start until sometime next year, later than Jack wants, but probably before the election, at least until Trump’s team comes up with more reasons to delay.  Cannon hasn’t ruled yet but is expected to do so shortly. No indictments yet from Fulton County’s Fani Willis but a few out of Michigan where state Attorney General Dana Nessel has pushed to the head of the line, charging sixteen Republicans for falsely portraying themselves as electors in an effort to overturn Trump’s Michigan defeat. Each of the sixteen were charged with eight felony counts including forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery. Trump isn’t named, at least so far, but her case dovetails nicely with the DOJ’s and with one ongoing in Arizona, another state that Trump tried to swing to his side.

 

No Labels:  The so called No Labels party, the group that has a far greater chance of helping Trump retake the White House than winning even one state, held a townhall of its own in New Hampshire on Monday.  Guests of honor were their bipartisan “dream” ticket West Virginia’s Democratic Senator Joe Manchin and Utah’s former Republican Governor Jon Huntsman.  Manchin hasn’t committed to run for president but neither has he committed to run for reelection to the Senate where he’s likely to face a tough opponent, the state’s popular Republican Governor Jim Justice who was once a Democrat. Huntsman briefly served as Trump’s ambassador to Russia before returning to the US, where he launched a failed bid to again become Utah’s Governor. It’s not clear that either candidate could win another election in their own state so naturally they are seeking to muck up the presidential race. Though the two present themselves as a possible unity ticket targeted to moderates, they don’t agree on some key policy issues.  Huntsman is opposed to gun regulation while Manchin is okay with some regulation especially background checks. Coal state Manchin’s main beef with Biden is over energy policy, but Huntsman is okay with carbon reducing policies.  And though he’s personally not in favor of abortion, Manchin has historically towed the Democratic party line on the issue, while Huntsman is in the no abortion camp.  It’s hard to take these two seriously accept that we should because Ralph Nader, Jill Stein, Ross Perot.   

 

And:  Despite his outrageous claims about COVID being designed to spare Jewish and Chinese people, RFK Jr’s is still invited to testify in front of Gym Jordan’s weaponization of government committee on Thursday because of course.   Margie Q, who many still expect to get into a physical fisticuff with “little bitch” Lauren Boebert, delivered a speech in front of the right-wing Turning Point America conference where she attempted to disparage Joe Biden by equating his Build Back America legislation to LBJ’s Great Society throwing some of FDR’s accomplishments into the mix as well. She specifically targeted Medicare and Medicaid and all those other “big” government programs that target rural poverty and hunger, improve transportation and fund education apparently unaware that many Republicans, an aging group, benefit from and couldn’t live without those programs.  The Biden White House tweeted out their thanks for her unintended support.  Worth noting, given how red her district is Margie Q is a shoo in for reelection. Sad but true.