What a week for MAGA madness
A review of Trump's takeover of the RNC, the slow walking of his court cases and more dangerous MAGA efforts.
The fire hose of news is overwhelming. And, in the rush to get stories online, a lot of the headlines are misleading. Here’s a quick recap of some of the relevant stories. In the aggregate, they suggest what we already know- only Americans can save our democracy and assure our rights. Only Americans, and only through the ballot box, can we put an end to the malice of the MAGA. And, because Mr. Trump knows this, the efforts to undermine the election are already ongoing.
This week both Donald Trump and Joe Biden locked up enough delegates to be the nominees of their parties. On the Republican side, Donald Trump did not just become the nominee, he also took over the party apparatus- officially. He installed loyalists to lead the RNC, including his daughter-in-law, and immediately began to purge the organization. Gone are the outreach efforts to minority communities. In are Trump loyalists, and a new “election integrity” unit led by an election denier. This signals a concerted effort to undermine elections rather than to win them.
This week, the effort to hold Mr. Trump accountable through the courts suffered a series of setbacks. The Supreme Court’s slow walk on hearing the Trump immunity appeal (the one where he argues a President can order SEAL Team six to murder his political opponents and suffer no legal consequences unless he is first impeached by the House and convicted in the Senate) means we are less and less likely to get a trial on election subversion before November. Also this week, the New York trial to hold Mr. Trump accountable for hiding campaign contributions to silence a porn star was delayed another month. And in Georgia, while that RICO trial now may continue, the prosecutor must change the team in charge of the case- a change that will take time. Finally, in the classified documents case, the judge ruled in favor of the government, but still resists setting a trial date. Bottom line, Americans cannot count on the judicial system to adjudicate the multiple felony charges, including ones that go to the core of our electoral system, before November. This is a disgraceful and dangerous failure.
This week, White House Counsel Edward Siskel wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson to urge him to bring an end to the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. In the letter, Siskel noted that the investigation has failed to turn up any evidence linking the President to his son’s business dealings. Speaker Johnson quickly rejected the idea, promising instead to continue wasting precious legislative time and taxpayer money.
Also in the House, Special Counsel Robert Hur testified this week that he stands by his decision not to charge President Biden with mishandling of classified documents. The previous week, the President’s widely praised State of the Union speech swiped away Hur’s canard that Joe Biden couldn’t be successfully prosecuted because of his age. What we were left with was that Joe Biden couldn’t be successfully prosecuted because there was no crime.
Across America this week, we saw more examples of MAGA madness. In Utah, Governor Cox urged teachers to carry arms into their classrooms and approved legislation to train them in gun handling. In Georgia, Governor Kemp signed into a law a bill that will allow a partisan commission to sanction and remove prosecutors. The state’s supreme Court had previously cast doubt on the idea. This new legislation specifically removes the requirement of Court approval. That means the already delayed RICO case against Mr. Trump can now be derailed by the Governor. This week, we also learned that Mom’s for Liberty book banners make up half of Florida’s Department of Education work group tasked with developing librarian training programs. And, in Texas, Governor Abbott ousted nine Republicans who stood between him and a comprehensive school voucher program- just like the ones that have failed in other states. Look at the states to see the terrible damage MAGA will do if they grow in power.
I haven’t even touched on foreign policy news, or the ongoing efforts to fund Ukraine. I haven’t touched on the progress of spending bills in Congress, or the status of the other impeachment effort- the one the House approved against Secretary Mayorkas but will not walk over to the Senate for a trial. I also have to add that this week MAGA leaders told us we were better off four years ago when businesses were shuttered and people were dying from COVID.
Every week is going to be like this. Some really important news buried in a stream of nonsense from the MAGA world. The important thing is to keep focused on securing our electoral system and then turning out in record numbers to put an end to this madness.