Self-Involved, Clueless, and Doesn't Care to Learn

Donald Trump is to-the-bone narcissistic, and has no understanding of our Constitution.

In a CNN interview that aired Monday 07/08, Trump was his usual coy self, suggesting that he might defer announcing his pick for vice president, originally scheduled for the upcoming Republican Convention on July 15, until he knew if President Biden would stay in the race.

Here's the stunner. In the interview with Sean Hannity, Trump displayed his utter ignorance of anything to do with our foundational document. Presenting his view of the (real) President's options for withdrawing, 45 said Interestingly, Biden’s got a lot of power, because he’s got the delegates. You know, when you have the delegates, unless he says, ‘I’m getting out,’ they can’t do anything to get him out, other than the 25th amendment. If they want to do it .. it would be the 25th Amendment.

News flash, Orange Dude. The 25th Amendment applies, not to a candidate, but to whomever actually holds the office of President of the United States.

No Matter the Language, It Applies to Trump

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my teaching career was the chance to work with students of a number of cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. From Bangladesh to Cuba to Hungary to Iran to Morocco to Turkey to Ukraine, I was privileged to get to know so many.

One offshoot of those relationships was my asking students how to curse in their native languages. So, Hora refused to tell me how to say shit in Farsi. But I did learn it in several other languages. And none did or could do justice to Donald Trump.

In a recent post on Truth Social, 45 called for a televised military tribunal for Liz Cheney, charging her with treason.

That's merde (Frenxh) or лайно (laino: Ukrainian) or scheisse (German) or si (Cantonese) no matter how you say it.

Almost as Many Lies as Felony Convictions

According to CNN, Donald Trump made more than 30 false claims during the Presidential debate Thursday.

The lies included a number of claims that CNN and others had already debunked.

Absolute Immunity

The Supreme Court's final rulings for this session, including that on Donald Trump's claim to absolute immunity, will be released on Monday, July 1.

Trump’s appeal for immunity from special counsel Jack Smith’s election subversion charges is based on 45's claim that without immunity, presidents would be hamstrung in office, always fearful of being second guessed by a zealous prosecutor after leaving the White House. When oral arguments on the question were first heard this past April, it appeared that the conservative Justices gave it some credence, but didn’t feel themselves able to get Smith’s case tossed entirely.

The fate of the immunity case rests upon whether Trump’s post-election actions were “official” – that is, steps he was taking as president – or whether they were “private,” which would not likely receive immunity.

Yet Another Falsehood

In the run-up to Thursday's debate, Donald Trump not only maligned President Biden, but also slurred the black community whose votes he has so assiduously sought. During a speech on Saturday, 45 claimed that efforts for such things as renaming a (fictitious) school called George Washington Hogh School were unneeded, since, according to Trump, You know, they thought he had slaves. Actually I think he probably didn’t.

No one should be surprised that there were 317 enslaved people at Mount Vernon, Washington's home and plantation in Virginia, including 123 people owned by Washington himself.

It Bodes Well

The U S Suprene Court announced a decision today on a controversial topic; that ruling has implications for an upcoming opinion on a subject even more unsettling.

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld access to a widely available abortion pill, rejecting a challenge from anti-abortion groups. In the decision, written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the F.D.A.’s approval of the pill called Mifepristone. AKA those bringing the suit couldn't demonstrate that the drug as tested and approved by the F. D. A. woud do harm.

Mifepristone is one of two drugs that work together to terminate a pregnancy. It's approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration through 10 weeks gestation. It was first okayed for use in the U.S. in 2000.

The assiduous lobbying of the right for limiting access to birth control is somewhat reminiscent of their wish to rewrite our Constitution by granting unquestioning immunity from prosecution to Donald Trump.

Here's hoping ...

Hallelujah!

Nate Silver's record as a political prognosticator is unblemished. In national elections from 2008 through 2020 (but excluding 2016), Nate and his site FiveThirtyEight.com have correctly predicted the great majority of all state and federal contests.

That's why the hallelujah. Nate just published the first forecast of the 2024 Presidential face-off. Across a set of 1000 simulated competitions, Joe Biden won 520.

Accountability Is Not a Warm Gun

Under Federal and state laws, a convicted felon may not have a gun, or a license to carry one, in either Florida or New York. So, for Donald Trump, there's no parallel with the Beatles song.

You Go, Girl

Liz Cheney's recently-established PAC offers refreshingly non-MAGA thoughts:

Ukrainians fighting on the front lines of freedom should not have had to wait so long for U.S. aid. Today, April 20, 2024, 311 members of the House defied Trump and the GOP Putin caucus.

No President who tries to steal an election and seize power is entitled to immunity for those acts. The American people deserve to hear all evidence presented. in open court. SCOTUS should conclude without delay that no immunity applies here.

She's a Joke

But not one that is enlightening, entertaining, or informative.

On Monday, June 3, Marjorie Taylor Greene hit for the cycle. In one meeting of the House Select Commttee on Corona Virus, she managed to:

• insult Dr. Anthony Fauci
• refuse to use his title while speaking to hin
• threaten him with jail

all without geeting her facts straight.

Will He or Won't He?

After his stunning conviction (guilty on all 34 felony counts) in the Manhattan election interference trial, and his subsequent 30+ minutes rambling rant the next day, Donald Trump seems even more unstable than ever.

That raises this question. Will he even show up for the first debate with President Biden on June 27?

Trump Still Has the Lawyers He Deserves

Todd Blanche, the lead attorney of DJT's defense team for the hush money trial, completed his closing arguments today.

For about 3.5 hours, Mr. Blanche presented two points, over and over.

Donald Trump did nothing wrong, or at least nothing illegal.

In any case, it was all Michael Cohen's fault.

Trump Has the Lawyers He Deserves

On Monday, May 20, Donald Trump's defense team in his New York election interference case decided, at the last minute, to call a surprise witness. It turned out that the surprise was mostly on them.

Robert Costello, an associate of Rudy Giuliani and someone Michael Cohen rejected as a possible legal advisor, was uncooperative and even contemptuous while on the witness stand. Costello, himself an attorney, foolishly insisted not only on openly disagreeing with the judge in the case, Juan ?Marchan, but even on challenging some of the judge's rulings.

Albeit without the jury present, Judge Marchan robustly chided Team Trump, which doesn't bode well for said team's chances of success in clearing their client.

So What Else Is New?

CNN called 45's recent interview with Time magazine a bombardment of lies. Here's the breakdown.

Our personal favorite? Trump's apparent inability to distinguish between an executive order and a law ...

O PLeez O Pleez O Pleez

It's reported that the Secret Service has begun to plan what it will and must do if former President Donald Trump is held in contempt in his criminal hush money trial and sentenced by Judge Juan Merchan to short-term confinement.

We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty, one assistant district attorney said. But the defendant seems to be angling for that.

Few observers believe Judge Merchan will jail Trump before or during the trial. But more notably, there's been little if any discussion about what to do if Trump is indeed convicted and sentenced to prison.

Space Lasers and Iron Domes

When Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene used a typically under-the-radar legislative process to send political messages Wednesday about foreign aid funding bills, one of her Democratic colleagues decided to strike back.

Greene filed a flurry of amendments to the Ukraine aid bill with the House Rules Committee, including one to require any member who votes in favor of the package “to conscript in" the Ukrainian military. Several congressional experts dubbed it a troll amendment, AKA something outrageous meant to provoke a response.

Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz took the bait. He offered his own amendments. One would appoint Greene as Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress. Another would rename her Cannon office the Neville Chamberlain Room.

Our favorites of MTG's shensanigans? She filed more than 20 amendments to the Ukraine aid bill and four to the Israel aid bill. Her first proposal on the Israel package would provide funding for the development of space laser technology on our southwest border – apparently a reference to her comments, made before she was elected to the House, regarding the cause of a massive 2018 wildfire in California. Another Greene amendment calls for an iron dome to be built on our border with Mexico.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

MTG, Matt Gaetz, and a couple of their MAGA buddies, as part of their effort to oust Mike Johnson as Speaker, have designated themselves the Floor A ction R esponse Team.

Emphasis mine; the fact that they didn't anticipate it says everything

A Not-So-Thinly-Veiled Threat

In the New Testament, the Book of Revelations lists the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as conquest, war, famine, and death. In Trump-era politics, there are only three horsemen, but they're almost as scary and dangerous as the Four.

We consider the three to be (no surprise here) Marjorie Taylor Greene (R GA 14), Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R FL 01) who today threatened Speaker Mike Johnson with removal.

We notified him that any effort to change the threshold of motion to vacate would likely induce the motion to vacate, Gaetz is reported to have said.

Translating HAGA-speak, what Gaetz meant was that, if Johnson should change House rules in order to require more than a single Representative to move to fire the Speaker, the Maga caucus would fire the Speaker.

Another Hardship for 45

Trump's hush-money trial kicked off on Monday in a Manhattan courtroom; by the close of business Tuesday, seven jurors had been selected, and Defendant Trump had been chided by the judge.

As the court prepared for the first day of jury selection, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said Trump's attorneys had asked that the former president be allowed to be absent from the trial on May 17, so that he could attend Barron Trump's high school graduation in Florida. Marchan declined to rule on the request at that point, sayig It really depends on if we are on time and where we are in the trial.

Jury selection, once expected to last up to two weeks, is at least one-third complete.

Under the Microscope

Jury selection for Donald Trump's frst criminal trial will begin n Monday, April 15. Prosecutors and defense lawyers will have differing goals. Mr. Trump’s attorneys will want a jury that includes:

• white working-class men
• public employees like police officers, firefighters and sanitation workers

because such folks may believe that the trial is politically motivated.

On the other side of the dress rehearsal, prosecutors will seek more educated voters from Democratic neighborhoods, fishing for those who consume news from sources like MSNBC. Each potential juror will answer a uniform set of questions, and lawyers can ask follow-ups. Some queries may be designed to uncover biases against — or allegiances to — Mr. Trump. And even after the questioning is complete, each side will be able to remove a few potential jurors without explanation, using what's called in legalese a peremptory challenge. Finally. either side can ask for jurors to be removed if it's felt those individuals cannot be fair and impartial.

Counting Down to a Different Date

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity from prosecution on April 25, 2024.

The court released the hearing date shortly after it agreed to take the case. Just this week, Special Counsel Jack Smith fied a brief strongly urging SCOTUS to overrule 45's claims to immunity. Also at that time, another request, called an amicus brief, was put before the Supremes, in which a number of former military and executive-branch officials pointed out that Trump's claim of immunity could result in serious threats to national security.

Depose This!

Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, former contestants on Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice who were closely ivolved with setting up Trump's Truth Social platform claim that in 2021 they were pledged 8.6% of pre-merger Trump Media stock for helping to launch the company.

The co-founders accused Trump Media of denying them their stake, which they own through their United Atlantic Ventures partnership, by trying to dilute their stock. Trump Media, for its part, sued Litinsky and Moss in Florida on March 24, and is seeking to strip them of their stock, which it said they failed to earn due to mismanagement.

Does this surprise any of us? Devotees of 45 havibg the rug pulled out from under them, and 45 doing the pulling?

Delaware judge Sam Glasscock is expected to hold a hearing to resolve the dispute before the end of April. What's particularly piquant about all this is that the date set for Mr. Trump's deposition is the sane on which his trial in Manhattan will launch - April 15 2024.

Speaker Jeffries?

If Marjorie Taylor Greene gets her way, this post's title might becoe a reality. CNN reports that while Greene officially filed her motion to vacate before the Easter recess break, she has yet to take the necessary step to force a floor vote, essentially keeping the threat in her back pocket. It's reported that Speaker Mike Jpohnson is keenly aware of the motion, and is factoring it into key decisions he must make - especially about Ukraine aid. That's why, over the two-week Easter recess, Johnson has been quietly working to create a Ukraine strategy.

Democrats have made it known they will save Johnson if he moves a Ukraine bill they can support. But if he moves a bill that is narrower than their demands, or includes wrinkles such as new restrictions on our border with Mexico, he risks putting off both Democrats and right-wing Republicans who are opposed to a dollar more for Ukraine. Plus, adding spending cuts to offset the Ukraine package — as Matt Gaetz and other hardliners want— would prompt stiff Democratic opposition. Meanwhile, Greene is trying to determine where all members, Republican and Democrat, stand on Ukfraine ande on Johnson as Speaker.

Given the microscopically thin advantage Repubklicans have in the House, and the fact that at least a few hard-core, far-right Republican members might very well support a motion to vacate, Democrats may end up with the chance, not to prederve Mr. Johnson's Speakership, but rather to elect a new Speaker - Hakeem Jeffries.

The Little Engine That Can't

In two hours on March 28, the Biden / Harris campaign raised over $25,000,000.00 - $25 million. In the entire month of February, the Trump campaign raised only about $20 million, making it about 0.026 as effective as Dems' efforts.

That doesn't bode well for 45. In order to match his opponents' fundraising successes, Mr. Trump would have to sell over 416,720 God Bless the USA Bibles, or more than 62,650 pairs of Never Surrender sneakers.

The Man Has No Shame

Even a long-lapsed-Catholic-turned-Bhddhist like me is nauseated by Donald's latest pitiful exercise in narcissism.

Can He Do It?

Being a talkative little person (the dad of a dear friend once called it vaccinated with a phonogaph needle), I sometimes have difficulty keeping quiet. Years ago, that same friend bet me I couldn't stay silent for five minutes straight. I only made it to 3 ...

But that's nothing to the struggle with which 45 will be faced in less than three weeks. Today, Judge Juan Marchan imposed a gag order on The Donald, to commence when his trial iin Manhattan begins on April 15.

You Go, Girl

Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski, always an independant thinker, has had her fill of 45. Recently, she disclosed she's thinking of leaving the Republican Party altogether, because of Trump's shenanigans.

My Kind of Poll

In his upcoming rematch with Donald Trump, President Biden’s winning 2020 coalition appears to be intact in Pennsylvania. A CNN poll conducted in PA finds Biden leading among women, voters of color, college graduates and independents, and running about even with Trump among voters younger than 35.

Kiss the Carpathians Goodbye

Viktor Orban,  Hungary's prime minister and  amigo of Donald Trump, requires our attention.  Orban spends large amounts of his taxpayers’ money on nationwide billboard and media campaigns with fearmongering disinformation about migrants, LGBT people and European allies.  But wait - there's more.  Orban's political opponents, get only five minutes on public service TV every four years to talk about their hopes for the future of their country.

And still more.  With his two-thirds majority in parliament, Orban has changed Hungary's constitution 13 times.  Orban has taken control of the country’s media, using it to demonize the opposition and to smear imagined enemies. His crackdown on the media is a direct threat to a functioning democracy.

Corruption is widespread in Orban's Hungary, so much so that the EU froze funds to Hungary, as it became evident that EU funds were misused to award contracts to Orban’s allies. While some of those funds were released in December, a sizable amount remains frozen.  In addition, European Union institutions have initiated numerous legal proceedings against the Hungarian government and triggered a mechanism that could ultimately lead to Hungary being stripped of its voting rights in the EU.

The Hungarian government’s alignment with Russia has put the country on a collision course with the rest of the EU over Ukraine. Hungary tried to block EU support to Ukraine and obstructed Sweden’s NATO membership bid. 

What really hits home with Bodhi is that  Orban reportedly has designs on the Carpathian Mountains,  of the sort Putin exercised regarding Ukraine. - a sentimental longing for the region, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both sides of my family came from the Carpathians, near the city of Uzhgorod.

Democracy is not, you should pardon the pun, free. It requires constant attention,   Hungary demonstrates how one leader can kick-start the deterioration of democracy.  When it comes to government of, by, and for the people, Viktor Orban is no hero. What has happened to Hungary should be a wake-up call for the U.S.

Tikho budt!

That's what one of my бабуся would say when we got too noisy.  Someone should tell 45 he's having the same effect on the campaign for the Presidency.

The more Mr. Trump fails to keep his mouth shut, the more it will cost him in Nov.

Self-Inflicted Wounds

Bodhi's most recent countdown, and the March 25 trial of Donald Trump for attempting to bribe Stormy Daniels, have been interfered with.

It was reported today that the U S Attorney for the Southern Distrct of New York neglected to supply 45's legal team with sufficient discovery materials.

Don't throw in the towel just yet. If Mr. Bragg is able to insist upon no more than the 30 days' delay he proposed, Mr. Trump's trial might still take place well before Memorial Day, and certainly before his (Trump's) coronation at the Republican National Convention this coming July.

Counting Down to Another Goal

Almost a year ago, Manhattan Dstrict Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Donald Trump with 34 felony ounts of falsifying business records in the first degree

Read the charges against Mr. Trump.

A Stellar SOTU

So much for an aging, doddering, cognitively dysfunctional Joe Biden. The President took the worst of his nemeses - Marjorie Taylor Greene, members of the Supreme Court, and the unnamed "my predecessor" - to task for their lack of cooperation and even of interest in improving the lives of Americans.Great speech, Mr. President.

A Super-Tuesday Later

Litte doubt remains about who will be the candidates in November for the Presidency of the United States. In about another 244 days, it'll be Joe Biden vs Donald Trump. Or decency vs arogance, conceit, and hubris.

To quote President Biden: Today, millions of voters across the country made their voices heard — showing that they are ready to fight back against Donald Trump’s extreme plan to take us backwards. He is driven by grievance and grift, focused on his own revenge and retribution, not the American people. He is determined to destroy our democracy, rip away fundamental freedoms like the ability for women to make their own health care decisions, and pass another round of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy — and he’ll do or say anything to put himself in power. Today's results offer a clear choice; we must not let Trump drag us backwards into the chaos, division, and darkness that defined his term in office.

Counting Down

8 months and change.

That's how long we, the good guys, have to wait for the chance to exile Donald Trump once and for all. Unless you start the count at March 25, 2024 - three weeks and change from this writing, when Mr. Orange goes on trial in Manhattan for attempring to silence Stormy Daniels with a bribe.
Bodhi would welcome any tricks any of you might have up your sleeve in the Saving Our Democracy department ... And be aware that this site's counter will continue to tick every day until the general election on November 5th.

Batting 0.00

Having recently added the MLB channel to my Xfinity lineup, I'm again, as always at this time of year, infatuated with baseball   Ergo the title of this post.  Donald Trump continues to strike out in his efforts to circumvent the rule of law.  Today, a Federal Appeals court has declined to scrap the gag order imposed on 45 by Judge Tanya Chutkan.  There were no dissents to this decision by any of the 11-member panel.

OMG

Trump has declared himself an instrument of God …

Seriously …

Negotiate, Mr. Lincoln

CNN reported today (Sunday, 01/07) that yesterday, Donald Trump suggested the Civil War could have been avoided through negotiation, contending that the fight to end slavery in the US was \unnecessary, and that Abraham Lincoln should have done more to avoid bloodshed.
As is almost always the case, Mr. Trump operates in an alternate reality, with alternate facts. There were indeed a series of efforts before the Civil War began to find a way to save the Union. But the future of slavery in the South could not be settled through compromise. As had been the case when the Constitution was written and approved, the southern sates would accept no compromise on what can be called the three-fifths principle. So, our nation went to war with itself.
Mr. Trump neglected to say how he would have prevented that war. But sickeningly, he called it horrible but [so] fascinating. It was, I don’t know, it was just different, he continued.  I’m so attracted to seeing it. He also suggested that Lincoln would not have the same historical cachet had he negotiated an end to the conflict. Cheney wrote Which part of the Civil War could have been negotiated? The slavery part? The secession part? Whether Lincoln should have preserved the Union?

If you weren't terrified by Trump before this, now's the time. Anyone who can say, of the bloodiest and most catastrophic conflict in our history, I’m so attracted to seeing it is completely unfit for any office in the United States, let alone the Presidency.