591 Comments

What happened to the investigation into the 2016 acceptance of illegal payments from Egypt? Has there been any mention of a report in that investigation?

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The 'media' are setting T up by asking leading questions for one thing...THEY are giving him ideas. Also, the R uses basically one news source, they only know what they are fed. And they are fed lies and hate and in turn emit lies and hate.

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I say Trumpers need to enforce their agenda everywhere with complete disrespect and disregard to others. That’s what bullies do. No boundaries and no consequences some people never get out of school. They go to intimidate dictate etc. I hope they speak themselves raw. I’m sick of them and pray for our democracy every day.

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We, as a country, should be taking notice versus being a group of ostriches. Jack Smith should publish the report as mandated by the FEDERAL rules not the Trump “stooge” & let the public know what they have a RIGHT to know. That one little judge in Florida can order him to not perform his duty is but one of many signs that Democracy is virtually in her death throes! It is a slap in the face to ALL who defend our Constitution with their hearts, minds & bodies. Wake up, people!!

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Biden's actions these days flummox me. He recently said that had he run he would have won the election. Strangely, I had considered the possibility that he would say this months ago. I didn't reach a final decision on it then but now I would say that this, along with his other recent actions, tells me that he can no longer function in his job or perhaps any job. I think he has reached that level of senility were he has returned to a second childhood and sees the world in those terms.

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I’m suspicious the emerging parlor game of determining what the “real important issue” is that Trump’s antics are “a distraction” from.

1. Like post-election analyses, these almost always seems to reflect the speaker/writer’s personal priors about what the “real important issue” is.

2. Like with all things Trump, we don’t get to choose. It’s always both. Take Greenland for example. Maybe he’s distracting from the Jack Smith report release. But he also gets to gain attention that he can use to whatever purpose he pleases while moving the Overton window on the post-WWII international order. It’s win-win-win for him and no matter what the rest of us do, we’re on some level playing his game.

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I think the idea is to prioritize issues based on a framework of importance as opposed to how much they grab the public's attention through sensationalism. I'm just spitballing this, but to me that framework would be some weighted interaction between

* Potential direct harm from even the statements. The Greenland example saying that it weakens our alliances would fall into this category.

* Likelihood of crystalizing into real policy changes.

* Number of people directly harmed if policy change occurs.

* Ability to change course under a new administration mitigating ongoing harm.

* Harm to the mechanisms of political change like elections, corrupt judges, law enforcement, etc.

* Harm to the international world order of peace and the likelihood of being able to repel threats from current or potential adversaries.

And you force yourself to prioritize issues based on this formula so that we are keeping our eyes squarely on the real risks.

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Biden will not act. He could not muster the courage (1) to bow out gracefully, (2) to admit failure in Afghanistan, (3) to hold anyone accountable for the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. I hope he uses the tools he has before leaving office. I’m afraid it’s wishful thinking.

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So what should we do?

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I would like to see these reports and believe they should be released. I wonder, though, how effective any political maneuvering can really be in the face of Donald Trump. He recognizes no authority other than his own and his supporters appear unaffected by multiple, well-documented accounts of his past and ongoing criminal acts. My reading of Donald Trump tells me that he will only be stopped by someone or many someones who have power greater than his own and a willingness to use it. The implications of this understanding are almost more than I want to contemplate but I don't think I'm wrong about him.

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Not sure if someone already made this point but on day one Trump will surely order DOJ to dismiss the case against his co-defendants in the documents case. Surely Merrick Garland understands this which makes his rationale for not releasing the full Smith report inexplicable

Inexplicable to be quoting “policy” as the rationale in this situation.

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If, it is the last thing he does Joe Biden needs to ensure that Jack Smith’s report is released to the American people so that they know the truth about how enormous Trump’s crime spree really was.

As JVL wrote today, President Biden has the legal immunity to do this so there is no for him reason not to. If, this action involves US Attorney General Merrick Garland Biden can issue Garland a preemptive pardon so that he does not face any legal repercussions, as JVL also stated.

Speaking of pardons, one of the first actions Trump is likely to take when he returns to the presidency on January 20 will be to pardon some, maybe all, of the January 6 insurrectionists including himself. I actually think Trump wants his supporters to commit acts of violence against his perceived political enemies, but he won’t outright say it at this time for fear of legal consequences. And pardoning the January 6 rioters is the perfect way for Trump to signal this message to his most fanatical and rabid supporters.

But Trump is such a schmo that what he probably does not realize is that in a country where people are not held legally accountable for committing acts of political violence it will inevitably lead to retaliatory acts of political violence and no one will ultimately be safe, including him and members of his administration.

Trump and his administration’s cluelessness, recklessness, corruption, cruelty, and likely gross abuses of power may very well lead to a financial, health, national security, and constitutional crisis. I predict that Trump will crash and burn hard soon after he reassumes office on January 20, but also sadly that he will take a lot of us down with him in the process of doing so.

I predict as well that the American legal, political, and economic system that does not really work right now will be in ruins by 2028. But those of us fortunate enough to survive Trump’s “Reign of Terror” over the next four years may witness a new “birth of freedom” that includes an expanded Supreme Court, single-payer heath care system, fair tax code, and removal of big money from American politics.

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I hate "shoulds" because nearly every one I have read in the last 9 years failed, so I apologize in advance for using them. While Biden certainly should (& sadly, probably won't) release on the report, that is not what "should" be the top priority of Democrats and Never-Trump Republicans over the next 4 years. Nor "should" it be expanding SCOTUS, single-layer health care, fairer tax code etc. Rather they "should" let the MAGA cult get "almost" everything it wants, because Trump voters who are not high in the cult hierarchy (like Musk, Vance, etc.) will feel the pain. And they will not have Biden or the GOP "guardrails" of Trump's first term to blame for that inevitable pain. Rather, priority one "should" - make that "must" - be to prevent the MAGA cult from stealing the '28 election. Trump himself may be deluded enough to think his public support will increase, but nearly all of his protectors know it can only go down from here.

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Who will appeal to Biden and Garland, making the case that they really, really must use the power that they now have because it will soon be beyond their control? I urge those on the Bulwark to do everything that they can to make sure that their arguments reach the White House immediately.

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Hey hey hey I am an old 1960s hippie and I absolutely am not for "unilateral disarmament". No fair, JVL, painting that snarky brush on us hippies.

Biden, Garland, Smith, the xerox copy person, someone, should get every word of Smith's reports out to the public. I expect it will happen, hopefully sooner than 10 years down the road. Where is a Daniel Ellsberg when we need him, or her, now?

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Yes, this is really important!

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JVL, you are so achingly right about Biden, Garland, the urgent need to release the Smith report & stop fighting fire with wet noodles. But you doubt the Orange Rump could make good on his bullying threats to staunch allies Panama, Denmark, Canada and Mexico -- because there's no "viable legal structure" to allow him to seize sovereign territory by force? I'm not so sure. See how Hitler undid German democracy seizing a vague constitutional definition. The parallel's haunting. Meanwhile, Rump is undoing decades of diplomacy with Puninesque bullying. America's new era of shame.

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Please get this into Biden's hands. I'm all for doing things right but there must be a paper trail for the sake of truth and history.

Please expose the entire Jack Smith file!!!

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