The Donald Trump Score Card

New book details how McCarthy came to support Trump after Jan. 6
The Republican House leader berated a member of his conference, leading her to cry, in a previously unreported meeting as he wrestled with fallout from Jan. 6, 2021
By Marianna Sotomayor
October 11, 2022 at 5:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/11/kevin-mccarthy-jan-6-trump-book/

excerpt:

“Republicans were coming to him, seeking answers on whether they should vote to impeach the president. McCarthy didn’t know what to tell them. How could he turn on Trump when he needed him to land his dream job someday — yet how could he corral his rank and file into opposing impeachment when he knew Trump was guilty,” the authors write.

 

Easier to "shoot them in the head"- Lindsay Graham.

 

How Republicans conspire with churches for social and political control - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

 

US justice department urges supreme court to reject Trump appeal on Mar-a-Lago documents

excerpt:

"The US justice department has asked the US supreme court to reject Donald Trump’s attempt to re-include 103 documents with classification markings in the special master review that is examining whether materials the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort are protected by privilege.

The justice department argued in a 34-page brief that the supreme court should reject the former president’s motion and keep the 103 documents out of the special master’s purview since Trump did not show he was being irreparably harmed and that his arguments about jurisdiction lacked merit.

“He does not acknowledge, much less attempt to rebut, the court of appeals’ conclusion that the district court’s order was a serious and unwarranted intrusion on the Executive Branch’s authority to control the use and distribution of extraordinarily sensitive government records,” the justice department wrote.

“The application should be denied.”

The filing – submitted by the US solicitor general on behalf of the justice department – was the latest turn in what began as an effort by Trump to slow down the criminal investigation into possible retention of national defense information that has expanded into a fraught legal battle."

 

Exclusive: McConnell ignores Trump's attacks and says 'I have the votes' in quest to make history | CNN Politics

excerpt:

"It’s become a throwaway line at former President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies: GOP senators must boot Mitch McConnell from the leadership position he’s held longer than any Republican in American history.

But McConnell has a message.

“I have the votes,” the Senate GOP leader said bluntly, indicating he’s locked down enough support to claim a new feat: The longest-serving Senate party leader ever, a record held by Democrat Mike Mansfield for more than four decades and which McConnell would surpass in the next Congress.

Yet whether he’s in the minority or majority next year – and if he continues to serve as GOP leader after 2024 – are different questions altogether."

 

I think this development may be the greatest threat to Christianity since Diocletian. I think of the development of religion in cultural evolutionary terms, following Dawkins theory of social evolution in terms of memes or units of culture (not to b confused with the popular internet of memes as those cutesy images that substitute for argument.) To Dawkins, a meme is analagous to a gene. As in the case of biological evolution, he thinks cultural evolution takes place by process of natural selection, in which an idea survives and spreads in competition with rival memes by virtue of its superior adaptability to its environment. Thus Christianity triumphed over paganism because it had features that gave it the edge. better treatment of women, charitable behavior that impressed people during plagues of the third century, promise of resurrection and an afterlife, and yes, intolerance of other religions and a vision of hell for non-believers.

Unfortunately, evolution is concerned with survival and propagation, not with the intrinsic merits of a belief. Early Christianity triumphed over Judaism because it abandoned kosher and circumcision. And it triumphed over Gnosticism because of superior hierarchical organization. (and yes, Meagan, its biggest advances came after Constantine's conversion and the acquisition of coercive muscle.)

The same is true today. "Mainline" churches, which have made their peace with Darwin and the Elightenment, are losing ground to more emotional and fundamentalist mutants like the charismatics, evangelicals, and metro churches. The Life Church in my community serves popcorn. Us Methodists are hard pressed to compete with that And so we have a formidable new variant, Christian nationalism, which combines godly religion with a previously secular phenomenon. Many churches seem to be embracing this because it gives them power. In other words, they have gone whoring after a false god. That never goes well. My fear, as a Christian, is that they will triumph and resume the old fashioned pattern of persecuting other religions. Or that they will so alienate a younger generation that Christianity will be abandoned as a menace to society. Various writers have identified versions of the faith they call "toxic faith syndrome". Christianity can be a mind-crippling disease. This is just one more evil Trump has unleashed on the world. I hope my co-religionists will be able to resist it!

 

Your best post in a long time. It should be a Master's Thesis!

 

The Trump team's many claims on classified documents at Mar-a-Lago • Missouri Independent

excerpt:

1) These documents were taken by accident in the January chaos

2) These documents were planted by the FBI

3) Trump was just bringing his work home, like so many hard-working Americans

4) Other presidents took home classified documents

5) These documents were declassified by Trump

 

More excuses by Trump:

The General Services Administration packed the document boxes at the White House.

Bush, Clinton, and Obama supposedly mishandled government documents and worse than Trump.

Trump was exercising his (perceived) right to negotiate with the National Archives for what he had already kept and didn't want to return.

Trump needed the documents as bargaining chips to obtain government documents related to the Russia investigation in 2016 that he wanted.

The Secret Service at Mar-a-Lago was securing the documents he had taken.

 

Trump legal fees eat up money that could be spent on other GOP candidates, data shows

excerpt:

"The nearly 20 major lawsuits and investigations facing Donald Trump are draining millions of dollars away from supporting other GOP candidates, according to campaign filings.

So far, according to election filings tracking spending through the end of August, Donald Trump’s Save America leadership political action committee has spent about as much paying Mr Trump’s legal bills as it has backing Republicans in the midterms.

The group has spent $8.4m on GOP campaigns and committees, while doling out $7m on legal fees and another $2m to nonprofits run by former top Trump officials.

Save America spent $3m on a single check to a Florida law firm representing the former president during the Department of Justice’s investigation into top secret documents kept at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate."

 

Supreme Court declines to hear case on DOJ ‘filter teams’ used in Trump search
by Julia Mueller
10/03/22 10:32 AM ET

https://thehill.com/regulation/cour...ase-on-doj-filter-teams-used-in-trump-search/

excerpt:

"The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case about whether the Justice Department (DOJ) can use “filter teams,” such as the one enlisted by the DOJ to begin a review of evidence collected at former President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago to determine whether they are privileged.

The Justices denied a writ of certiorari in Korf v. United States, which questioned the legality of “filter team” protocols that allow teams of federal prosecutors and agents not assigned to a given case to review seized documents claimed to be privileged before the privilege question has been resolved.

The DOJ used a filter team to begin a review of the evidence collected during the execution of a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence before Trump successfully pushed for a “special master” to review the documents he said were privileged.

FBI agents at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort recovered classified documents taken from the White House and kept past the end of Trump’s time in office."

 

Trump rioter from MN pleads guilty.


Minnesota man sentenced to probation for involvement in Jan. 6 capitol riot

excerpt:

"A Minnesota man was sentenced to probation as part of a plea deal for his actions in the Jan. 6 capitol riot.

Court documents state that various surveillance cameras captured Frank Bratjan on video in the building at the time of the riot.

Court documents show that pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.

As part of the deal, Bratjan was sentenced to six months of probation and must serve 60 hours of community service. He will also have to pay a $1,500 fine and a $500 restitution.

Federal court documents say the FBI’s Minneapolis office received a tip in January 2022 that a man named “Joe” was involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, adding that “Joe” had taken a selfie in the Capitol and sent it to his mother. The tipster also said the man had moved back to Minnesota to live with his mother after the Capitol riot investigations started instead of staying with his father in Syracuse, New York."

 

The QAnon shaman was in his 30's and living with his mother.

A judge recently scolded three Trump supporters who were convicted of rioting at the Capitol, telling them they come across as knuckleheads, are still living with their parents, and are not advancing themselves.

One of the three received a call from the White House switchboard the day of the riot at the Capitol.


The mysterious nine-second call from the White House to a January 6 rioter: CNN reveals the rioter's identity for the first time | CNN Politics

 

Trump knows how to pick them. He told them they're very special people and to go home (to their mother's house) after the riot and remember the day forever.

 

Trump has squandered a few million on a lawyer for taking government documents to Mar-a-Lago and millions more on other lawsuits that stem from his misbehavior.

It could have been spent promoting candidates.

 

Another Trump winner.

Molla set his own property on fire and claimed it was done by Biden supporters.


Minnesota man pleads guilty to arson he blamed on politics
The Associated Press
October 12, 2022 5:36 AM

Minnesota man pleads guilty to arson he blamed on politics

excerpt:

"Police discovered that Molla started his own property on fire and spray painted the graffiti on his own garage. He them submitted multiple insurance claims seeking coverage for the damage to his garage, camper, vehicles, and residence caused by the fire, court documents show.

Molla also created and allowed others to start two GoFundMe accounts to benefit Molla and his family. In total, Molla submitted more than $300,000 in fraudulent insurance claims, of which he received approximately $61,000 from his insurance company. Molla also received more than $17,000 from individual donors via GoFundMe.

Molla pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud."

 

New book details tense call between Trump and moderate Republicans ahead of first impeachment

excerpt:

"In October 2019, then-President Donald Trump faced the real possibility of Republicans voting to impeach him. In the middle of that fight, Trump announced publicly that he planned to host the next G-7 summit at his Miami golf resort, potentially enriching himself with foreign money.

The announcement infuriated some GOP lawmakers who were already on the fence on impeachment, leading to a tense confrontation at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, between moderate Republicans and Trump's acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, according to excerpts from a new book on Trump shared exclusively with NBC News.

Trying to salvage his summit at Doral, Trump himself phoned the group at Camp David, and the moderates gave the president an earful as well.

The Camp David confrontation is yet another example of the challenging and complicated relationship between GOP lawmakers and Trump, who would be the favorite to become the Republican nominee if he runs again in 2024. The episode is captured in “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump,” a new book by Politico’s Rachael Bade and The Washington Post’s Karoun Demirjian that examines why Congress twice failed to oust and bar Trump from office. It will be released Oct. 18."

 

New book details tense call between Trump and moderate Republicans ahead of first impeachment

excerpt:

"Mulvaney was fresh off a disastrous news conference where he announced that the G-7 summit — a gathering of the world's largest developed economies — would be held at Trump’s Doral resort in Florida, shocking many Hill Republicans at the very moment they were trying to defend Trump from his Ukraine scandal and a looming impeachment inquiry.

On top of that, Mulvaney publicly conceded that Trump had, in fact, held up $400 million in military aid to Ukraine to pressure that country to launch an investigation into the Democrats and told reporters to “get over it” — before trying to walk back his remarks."

 

Difficult for Trump to top the outlandishness of his plan to hold the G-7 summit at his golf resort after extorting Ukraine, which precipitated his first impeachment.

Trump could have offered to have his impeachment hearings at his Doral golf course instead of Congress.