Warning, the news bits are toxic today.
The WaPo writes about blatant political corruption right out in the open:
What Trump promised oil CEOs as he askedthem to steer $1 billion to his campaignAs Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.
Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.
Despite the oil industry’s complaints about Biden’s policies, the United States is now producing more oil than any country ever has, pumping nearly 13 million barrels per day on average last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade last year.
Yet oil giants will see an even greater windfall — helped by new offshore drilling, speedier permits and other relaxed regulations — in a second Trump administration, the former president told the executives over the dinner of chopped steak at Mar-a-Lago.
There it is, right out in the open. Pay Trump $1 billion and he will pay them back in spades, the environment and public opinion be damned. Trump kleptocracy cannot be denied or justified. This is what the pro-corruption, anti-environment Citizens United USSC decision has led us to.
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The WaPo reports that Barron Trump is going to play hardball politics, making him fair game for criticism:
Barron Trump makes political debut asFlorida delegate for GOP convention
Donald Trump’s son Barron, 18 and about to graduate high school, was named as a delegate at large for the GOP national convention in MilwaukeeFormer president Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, is making his political debut: The 18-year-old has been named to the slate of Republican Party delegates that will represent Florida at the party’s national convention this summer.
Barron Trump, who was only 10 when his father was inaugurated as president in 2017, has largely been shielded from the political limelight. His selection — along with three of Trump’s other children — reflects the latest expansion of the clan’s takeover of the party.
Barron asked for it
He is gonna get it because he deserves it
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In my opinion, those Republicans are traitors.
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The Hill reports that judge Aileen Cannon has gone all-in on stopping the Mar-a-Lago case against DJT to protect him:
Senate Democrats are venting their fury over Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to cancel the start date of former President Trump’s federal trial in Florida for mishandling classified documents, accusing the Trump appointee of “deliberately slow-walking” the case.
Cannon, who serves on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asserted in a five-page order that too many pretrial issues remain unresolved to schedule a later date to hear arguments from federal prosecutors and Trump’s defense.
The judge’s decision cancels Trump’s May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely.
Democrats are close to giving up hope that the 40 felony charges accusing Trump of mishandling classified documents, obstructing justice and making false statements will reach a verdict before Election Day.
And they fear he will immediately kill the case if he defeats President Biden in November and returns to the Oval Office.
“Justice deferred is often justice denied. It is profoundly frustrating that the judge is managing this case in a way that is making it highly unlikely that it will be resolved in a timely fashion,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Well, that kills one of the four cases against DJT. Trump's strategy to stop the prosecution here was brilliant. His attorneys filed lots of motions and complaints, many of them frivolous, giving loose cannon Aileen an excuse to stop the case so she has time to deeply consider all the lunacy that Trump has loaded the case with.
The USSC will probably effectively kill prosecution in DJT's immunity case by forcing the lower courts to reconsider everything. That pushes that case out far past the Nov. elections. Meanwhile, in Georgia, Republican legislators are moving to fire Fani Willis in the Georgia state election racketeering and fraud trial against DJT. It is starting to look like that case will either die forever, or be pushed back until after the Nov. elections.
Things are looking grim for democracy and the rule of law. Only the New York fraud case is viable at this point. Trump and authoritarianism are winning. The democracy and the rule of law are losing. We and our democracy just might be royally screwed.
Once again, the ramifications of of Merrick Garland's staggering incompetence for failure to act are coming into focus. If things turn out horribly, Garland arguably will have been the key factor that killed our democracy and the rule of law.
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