I’m not sure I’d buy sweet peace, but it’s a relief. We are still going to have to fight. Not with our hands, but the ways in which democracy always fights – engaging our like-minded voters to stay on top of things and speak their minds.
Well, look at all the unhappy people here. I’m so sorry for your unhappiness your sadness, but don’t worry in 20 days or so. It will change for the better. Good luck to you all Godspeed
While I agree, I think the best thing to do with trolls is ignore them. Then they can go shout into the void all they like. I've stopped even using emojis on social media for trolls.
Lynn Bechdolt ; contact your representative in Congress and tell them not to certify trump's electoral college votes, because he is disqualified under the 14th amendment section 3 ,. 20% of Congress can block him from office of any kind. the supreme court has nothing to do with it at this point. I am , along with others, urging that everyone should do this ASAP.
There is a recent influx of un-Substack-like newbies lately. I've noticed them in Bulwark newsletters as well as Charlie Sykes' "To the Contrary". (I'm a new y in this Substack). By their words shall ye know them.
William, I think you are right because the whole thing was so poorly written and said nothing of value, just what one expects from a troll or a Trumper or Trumpette. I think this is a troll.
So if you look up and down this forum, Ruth, you will see time and time again repetitive use of people talking back-and-forth to each other commenting with each other agreeing with each other post after post after post for hours, but as soon as you get an opposing opinion, they become a troll OK now I get it
Don't be so sure.... Reich says SCOTUS can't rubber-stamp whatever Trump & his cronies want to do because less than 1% of federal cases ever reach the Supreme Court. But that ignores the fact of how precedent works within the judiciary. SCOTUS does not need to weigh in on every single case individually. They might only weigh in on 1% of cases, but many of those cases are exemplary of thousands of other pending cases. So, once SCOTUS establishes a precedent in the form of legal reasoning related to a certain issue, lower federal courts then apply that precedent to all the other the cases related to that issue.
Reich also thinks it's significant that 370 federal judges were appointed by Democrats compared to 267 appointed by Republicans. Is Reich not aware that Trump's advisors have already proposed expanding the judiciary by appointing hundreds of new federal judges to "reduce the backlog of cases." Do you think those hundreds of new federal judges appointed by Trump will be fair and objective? Do you think they will even be qualified jurists?
How many cases have reached the Supreme Court since Trump 45?
Of those how many were ruled in favor of the billionaires, the Christian Right, the racists?
If you check the record of SCOTUS from 2017 to 2024, you will find that they rule for the bigots, the racists, 99% of the time. Despite the fact that SCOTUS is corrupted by money and favor, and is ideologically tainted Justice Roberts. despite reaching into his bag of tricks to justify presidential immunity for Trump,
The courts reputation is so bad that Justice Roberts is reduced to pleading that their decisions be honored, and castigating those that claim the decisions are political.
I read through these cases...the second is a Right to Vote case...."In November 2022, thousands of Pennsylvania voters were denied the right to vote based on a meaningless paperwork error". I voted by mail from Pa. in this last election. The instructions were very difficult to follow. I carefully did as instructed. I joked that it was a way to get rid of average intelligence voters. It also required additional an envelope that was not provided in the printed out package. It would be VERY easy to make an error. I have no idea whether my vote was counted.
Recall that in Bush v. Gore, SCOTUS dropped everything and took up this case that the results could be read by the VP on Jan 6th.
Now notice how SCOTUS has done nothing but put in the queue to be heard, too late for the election.
I doubt that your vote was recorded. In Washington State, they have a vote tracking system. Your package is provided an envelope that does not need postage and you are given a tab to tear off with the number of your ballot, you can then go online, to track your ballot.
We need a Right to Vote Act that would mandate every state to make voting as fair and easy as possible. States have the right--and responsibility--to manage the voting process, but they have no right to encumber it. No?
There was a short period of time when Congress was controlled by Democrats. during that period, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, it could have passed a Vote act, and also a Right to Choose act, but didn't.
What chance, that a Vote Act or any liberal act will be passed during the MAGA regime.
Will we even have an honest and fair mid term election, with the Money of Trump, Andrew Mellon and Peter Thiel.
I had been voting from Colorado the last 10 years. It was very easy.
Frankly, I don't care if my vote was counted. I voted for Harris. Then I heard her proclaim that she was PLEDGING to support Israel. I wish my uncounted vote was for Jill Stein.
BTW: the package from Pa. included the main envelope, but one had to provide a business size envelope also. I had a business so I have all sizes of envelopes handy. How many in Pa. did?
You mean, like the judge Marshawn NDA case against Trump meaningless paperwork?
Or perhaps the 850,000 that Bill Clinton paid Paula Jones and there was no investigation. into where the money came from no trial no jury no judge nothing That describes equal justice from the Democrats
SCOTUS got Project 25 started way ahead of time. Our sexually active women are ordered to turnout little worker bees and cannon fodder for our endless wars. Our President is now King.
A friend said it's because they are Catholics. I think it's because they are devoted to the American cause that does not include human rights. Probably being Catholics helped because the Catholic Church does not support human rights. It has stood firming with dictators.
Call Judith first of all you have to determine in what manner or in what act caused the pregnancy.
And I don't know why you're bringing this up now because I don't think any state has actually changed the laws that were in existence before the Supreme Court made it recent ruling ? Not sure you might wanna look that up.
And I'm not sure what you mean by involuntary servtitude? What is the context of that?
Apparently, a few states have increased their restrictions on abortion laws however that's very premature by these states and once the voters get their hands on it, they will be the ones who decide
By the way, it's a free country for people to travel from state to state. I'm sure you knew that.
Well, you could always follow all the celebrities that threatened to leave and didn't and by the way Judith Trump was already president in 2017 And you're still here alive and everything survival what a survivor you are
I find this column to be profoundly disturbing! I'm not sure what reality Reich is living in on this issue: "The Supreme Court didn’t support all of Trump’s moves in his first administration (remember Trump’s Muslim ban?)." Talk about cold comfort. RBG was still alive back then. No reassurance at all.
I'm sure Congress has a say. But Republicans control Congress, and Republicans have very seldom gone against Trump. I can't imagine any reason why they would oppose expanding the judiciary to make it more conservative.
They control it true, but with a razor thin majority. They are going to lose it in ‘26 unless Daddy Musk bails their asses and assets out again. If the Dems and Indies take over the Government by ‘28 it’s time to AMEND the CONSTITUTION SO Criminal and Corrupt Judges, politicians get bounced out of roles of justice. legislation, or law enforcement FOREVER!! They can get a job washing cars or picking fruits and veggies.
Kamala Harris wasted $2 billion and it wasn't enough and if Eli wanted to he would've spent any amount of money but he didn't. She spent him three to one despite Elon's contribution. Ooops
Correct, in that Democrats will tend to appoint experienced, qualified jurists who will do their best to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law; whereas Trump will appoint anyone, regardless of their inexperience and lack of qualifications, as long as they demonstrate loyalty to him as an authoritarian strongman and/or pass the Federalist Society's ultra-conservative (i.e., anti-American) litmus tests.
And that's a very odd use of "ethereal." It sounds like you just tried to make yourself sound smarter by using a word that you really don't understand.
(And why are you replying to a comment of mine that you already replied to once before, and I replied to your reply? Why are you now jumping back several steps in the discussion thread?)
It's funny you should use third-party affiliates and of course name them anti-American
What's really incredible to me is every time there's a event or a rally that Republicans attend you hear the chance USA USA never heard it once at a Democrat rally or other event
In fact, I love that the two top left leaning newspapers in the country when they put the picture of Trump being shot in Butler they actually scrubbed the picture of the American flag in the background only to have to re-do do it because of backlash
Hear the "chance?" Did you mean, hear the chants? Chanting is basically a primitive, tribal exercise. Why are MAGA cult members so proud of behaving like cave men?
And your replies are so scattershot as to be nearly incoherent. Learn how to hold up your end of a logical discussion, and maybe we'd get somewhere. I'm not wasting time trying to talk to someone who, in true Trumpian fashion, can't maintain a train of thought.
I’m voice texting and I don’t go back and check because I do post a lot and so AutoCorrect takes over but I think the people here are intelligent enough to understand what I mean without correcting my 10th grade English paper for syntax structure punctuation or the like
And please stop with a Trumpian fashion when you do that, your needless prejudice comes out. I happen not to like Trump I like every one of his policies. And that’s what you vote for not allowed of the ancient historical crap that’s being brought up here for the crystal ball Ouija board nonsense people guessing what’s gonna happen Sad Prejudice at its finest look up the word
By the way, you should know something that you obviously don’t know
Maga is a good phrase. Maga is a positive phrase. Maga is an American phrase and should not be besmirched . It simply means make America great again and if you don’t want America to be great again, there are many countries you’re free to live in.
You mean the latest addition to the Supreme Court who didn't even know the definition of a woman, and didn't know whether she was one or not ?
Wellness has gone overboard, which is one of the reasons that Trump is in the White House so if you're referring to his cabinet, I'm assuming with your vast experience and knowledge of how to pick a cabinet we should pay closer attention.
Every single president picks people who are loyal to them, except Trump, who picked two Democrats to be in his cabinet for the first time ever, and the misogynist in chief just picked two women to lead the most important post in this cabinet, the first ever woman, chief of staff And a woman who hold the second most important job in his cabinet of attorney general
His cabinet is one of the most diverse without even trying to be diverse
And for you to try to insinuate or make the case for Kamala Harris being the leader of the free world and you call that a qualified candidate, give me a break
Who said anything about Kamala Harris? You're making things up. Try to pay attention before you reply. But yes, anyone, including my dog, would be a better president than the failed-businessman-turned-gameshow-host, cult leader, and wannabe dictator who will be sworn in later this month.
"Wellness has gone overboard?" What does that even mean? That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How can anyone or anything be too well?
Of course, you immediately and needlessly bring up issues of gender/sexuality. Right wingers are obsessed with controlling other people's bodies and sexuality. It's an obvious sign of their own insecurity about their own sexuality. Get over yourself.
Well, then your dog should either be on TV or in a circus or maybe both
So were you talking about Bill Clinton or John Kennedy? Or maybe even Ted Kennedy even better or maybe John Edwards or maybe Anthony Weiner or maybe Gary Hart.
You see.. here’s where you lose, and you lose at the top of your post
Failed businessman ? Omg. This is why ignorance should not be posted here.
There are religious people, mostly on the right who feel that abortion is wrong who feel that it’s killing a living being. Just so you know they were over 73 million of those last year in the world.
Most “right wing” people don’t care what people do with their bodies as long as they don’t get special compensation for doing so or special privileges for doing so You wanna have an abortion pay for it.
75% of the people on the right believe in exceptions. Of course you would know that being a hard left wing Proponent
I voice text everything and what I said, but was apparently AutoCorrect it was wokeness has gone over
Assure you, nobody on the right cares what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. Just don’t try to sell it to the world
I actually feel sorry for you and your one-sided perspective of life.
You have no idea what people on the right side of the ledger think and it’s obvious by your post
And you should understand that the extremes of both party are both more vocal than the middle and maybe that’s why you think the way you think because that’s what you hear unfortunately it’s not the case on either side of the aisle
S. Arch - I'm not sure you are correct about a proposal for "...expanding the judiciary by appointing hundreds of new federal judges to 'reduce the backlog of cases.' " I could be wrong, but I believe the hundreds of new judges proposed by trump's lackeys are to be administrative judges to reduce the backlog of immigration cases, not the types of cases Mr. Reich spoke about in his Substack article here.
Hm. I don't know. Do you have a source for that? None of the articles I've read say anything about the judges being limited to immigration cases only. In fact, the House already passed a bill to add 66 new judges. I don't see what would stop Republicans from adding even more once they take power.....
💓Reich💓 :"The only real firewall against the Trump regime... judges..."...
Me:"The only real firewall against the Trump regime in 2016 were teams of actors faking out judges with videos they staged of "expensive fights" between "MAGA" actors and actors playing the protesters at his rallies... protesters Trump incited violence against... while promising to "pay the legal fees" of the perpetrators😁😁😁😁👍
Here is the documentary ( by UC Berkeley professor ) of the thwarting of the part of democracy that should have prevented Trump in the first place:
Note: It seems like it would have been easy to fool the MAGA that witnessed the "expensive fights" to testify that the "expensive injuries" were real😁😁😁😁
I envisioned hundreds of teams of actors fighting each other...
each team with their own Ambulance... driving off after pulling off the "Perfect Caper" ... like the final scene from the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TV shows...
What are these web addresses pointing to? What kind of site has an address at “youtu.be”????? I’m not going to visit one of those — who the hell knows what that is????
Who’s tying to pull the wool over people’s eyes here?
Gad!
[looked it up and Google says it’s an address “shortener” provided by Google. Other responses say it’s hinky.
So maybe just a shortener???? What the f…. I’m still not going there. Shortened the address by three digits. Wow. Fuhgeddaboutit.]
You guys shouldn't be talking about judges and using them as leverage because I would be willing to bet that a few people could convince Tomas and Alito to step down and put in there Ted Cruz and Trey Gowdy instead. I don't think you want that.
They got there in the same exact manner that every other Cabinet or affiliate gets there by the choice of the winner of the election. And they have to get confirmed by the Senate.
The terrifying reality of Trump's second term: Your job, savings and freedom are at risk
As we come to the end of a difficult year, it’s important to establish a baseline for seeing how much worse Trump will make the American system starting January 20. Here are 20 current realities for where we are now — some brought on by Trump’s first term:
First, forget politics as you’ve come to see it as electoral contests between Democrats and Republicans. Think power. The underlying contest is between a small minority who have gained power over the system — really, an oligarchy of extraordinarily wealthy and powerful white men — and the vast majority who have little or none. Starting January 20, the oligarchy will be far more powerful.
🤔We should not and must not let go and ignore the moral corruption which Trump committed, spread and still commits to our great country. They are his legacy to which decent people must object. He encouraged us to be selfish people, disrespect others, and our democratic and legal system. He poisoned the well of democracy and decency from which we and our children and grandchildren must drink. His cabal of the craven continues to corrupt our fragile democracy. His pardons ignored the proper procedures and mocked the entire justice system. He evaded Congress by appointing acting secretaries and other high officials. He fired and demeaned medical and scientific experts, governmental attorneys, and other top officials who did not loyally bow to his outlandish demands. In May 2018, he disbanded the pandemic response team and sabotaged America's ability to respond to Covid. He inspired and encouraged the January 6 insurrection where MAGA broke into our house and spread feces on the walls. He brought out the worst in millions of people, twisted selfishness into a virtue, and divided us into groups held together by suspicion and even hatred towards others. His egotistical vitriol feeds violence. He continues his 50,000+ documented lies and it destroys the US from within. A president is supposed to be a decent moral and ethical leader not merely a law breaker. In this, Trump failed miserably. This is not what the leader of the USA should do. He has no shame or sense of decency and yet he convinced people to vote for him.
He's not honest with himself first, and that's why he isn't honest with anyone else. He has no integrity or sense of ethics. It's a shameful example to put in front of the people of the United States and the free world.
Americans, by and large, will come to lack ethics... I suppose the majority are already there. Wall Street bankers and lawyers have annulled what the schools taught us.
And what do the schools teach now? Abbreviated sound bites of history? Short form ethical behavior? Morally maximizing profitability?Transparent excuses suitable for those times when naughty fingers have been caught in cookie jar?
I am a semi-retired PhD scientist substitute teaching in my local high school at this moment. My impression is that I can't teach the students much of anything lest I get in trouble with the parents, regular teachers and administration. I try to coach them in STEM subjects and stay away from everything else. Two years ago I didn't behave this way. But, now I do. I hope this helps your understanding. Best,
Do they offer logic in the curriculum- propositional or predicate? COPI like.
I have heard this kind of complaint from others. I heard it from a teacher of 3rd graders who said the only way she could teach to get the kids to learn was to shut the door and ignore what she was being told to do by the administators.This was an intelligent woman with many years teaching experience whose judgement I trusted.
The naieve question is how to make the changes needed so that you can teach on non-STEM?
Bert, thank you for this valuable contribution. The parents are a huge problem. You cannot fight them, but at least you can familiarize your students with Descartes advise: doubt everything!
Mwiener--If that be the case, honest is for losers, we might as well let Trump do as he pleases. Basically, what your inferring is this country has already lost. I envision far more honest people living here than dishonest ones.
Power is in the decency and creativity of the American people. Bob is like a good professor explaining possible ways to control the damage.
But the limits are also evident: it is an American habit to bring everything to the court, but it won't be enough. We should find a strategy to cope with the amorality of the chaos to come. My idea:
- stop hoping for a decisive strategy, but combine strategies;
- realise the decent and social society you want around you, on small scale;
- make use of donors to finance your civil iniatives;
- create a social morality;
- and so on...
Innovation and creativity are in the DNA of every American: appeal to them and don't exclude the misled Trump-voters.
All due Respect Tom. I don't think that Robert goes by the nick Bob. I don't like the nick Bill either. Nick names should only be used in the case of familiarity and friendship, unless the person publicly uses it.
Excellent points, John! I will NEVER forget the horrible behavior and criminal acts this tiny little man has caused and done!! He is making every effort to tear our country apart! They may not write about his horrible acts in the history books but oral history handed down from parent to child will tell the chilling facts about this monster!
There are already books written about trump 1.0 by insiders and persons of good repute. There will be books written about this incoming regime also by insiders and persons of good repute. True, some publishers may avoid being associated with them out of fear, but the books will be published. The books may be banned but they will be read nonetheless.
I read a post about banned books. The person who posted was in elementary school in the 1970’s. The teacher announced to the class the books that were to be banned. Three times. Very slowly. The wise kids wrote down all the titles and then checked them out of the public library.
Many of us could have “little free lending libraries” or book swaps to make certain the censorship fails.
I've started stocking the free libraries around me with pro democracy literature and books relevant to resistance. There are even pro democracy children's books you could purchase and donate.
You're right, A R! I got a mental image of kids hiding books about the orange man's horribleness under their mattresses like I did when I was young with books like Lady Chatterley's Lover, 1984, The Catcher in the Rye and Tropic of Cancer! Kids always find a way to read or talk about those things parents don't want them to!
Don't knock them staring at the tiny screen. I have four kids ages 7 to 27...including the much maligned teen. These kids are WOKE in the best possible way. They're reading and listening and watching. It maybe in a different form and it may be smaller bites, but they are getting the message. Don't crap on them cuz they're young and modern. That's boomer crap.
Didn’t PT Barnum famously note that ‘There’s a sucker born every minute’? And suckers these fools will remain until Trump and his puppets cut off their Medicare and Social Security and enforce substandard education on their children. I tremble to see the rage-filled outcome.
Will they say some of them, we did not know he would do that, to us? how much of it was the love of cruelty, to hurt the other? the immigrants, guess what MAGA, what Trump does to one, he does to all, when it comes to all mighty dollar, his God, as too, he worships himself and his ego, as he looks staring in the mirror, saying to himself, are I not the greatest human being or is it king? on planet earth............🤮
No one will ever convince me that he legitimately won this election! The only way we can really fix this is by fixing the Gerrymandering! Unfortunately Gerrymandering isn’t a partisan issue which the Federal Government managed to infiltrate on a state level. How did our country get to a point where only seven states decide the future of our Government? We truly need to study how states like WI and GA (for that one election) beat the Gerrymandering in their states! This is our true path to victory and saving us from the most transactional, corrupt President in our American history!
Correct you are in that assertion, for if not, then I believe we as humans, we would be extinct already as a species, that said, we as a species, endowed with higher intelligence, are not doing right by other species that share this world, the world of nature and as for Trump, he has been labeled by phycologists as a psychopath, let that sink in America and indeed the world, scary!
How do we break the Trump wannabe mold? so that does not come back, revisited in another? Trump like person, never mind the fact, we have MAGA, they're not simply going away or anytime soon, ah🤔 therein too, lies the rub and the existential problem
Not all of us? got what we earned? it is hard to move on, when this evil monstrosity is going to be president again! but should I not be surprised, MAGA loves their savior, let's see howe long that love affair with him lasts?
Indeed, though, Trump, the consume crook, can we all say, Trump Crime Inc and the grand fleecing of America
Well, of course not all of us. However, how about our vote for the party of Biden/ Harris that supports genocide and endless wars?
How about the take over of the people's interests by greedy Corporations???
We seem to have no say in any of it.
I am waiting to see the legal defense of that Luigi guy who killed the CEO of the criminal "health" insurance company. I knew that if they caught him, and they were sure to, the defense would be ...an incredible big deal.
Feds have stepped in to label him a terrorist, further showing how vitally important it is to our government that our corporations are fully supported.. ........Regardless.
YES, It was impossible to ignore The Greatest Show on Earth for 10 years. Now, I find it predictable. Same same. Just worst.
The new monster in my headlights is Israel....shoving us willingly to WW3.
Corporations are People, remember🤔 for money trumps the real people's free speech, so says the rotten to the core, Supreme Court conservatives, they use the Constitution as T.P when they quote their brand of so-called constitutional originalism
Our last ditch effort. “The upshot is that Donald Trump remains constitutionally disqualified from the presidency and may not lawfully serve in that office or any other unless Congress removes the disqualification by two-thirds majorities of both houses. Nothing in Trump v. Anderson changes that legal reality.”
William Baude and Michael Paulsen, Harvard Law Review, Sweeping Section Three under the Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson
Takes 20% of members of Congress to shift the burden to Trump.
I have asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar about this via email. Her response? A template that ignores those concerns and focuses instead on how she will proceed in vetting regarding cabinet posts! Our Congress seems to be selling out to the oligarchy. I await to hear from my other Senator and hope for a better reply. There's a march on DC Jan. 3-5 on just this matter. Those living nearby are encouraged to attend!
The importance of this action even if it fails makes news and calls attention to the matter at hand. I am appalled by the lack of outrage and oaths broken by not supporting our Constitution!
Laurie, Daniel: march in DC planned for Jan. 3-5 on this huge concern that Congress make the effort to thrawt this nightmare. Too many weak lawmakers, including my Senators from MN that is distressing: they need to get courage or resign.
I question Kamala Laurie, she rushed to concede at 4 Pm on Nov 6th while they ere still counting votes on the east coast not to mention the other 3 time zones.
Daniel Solomon ; Our founders hung traitors. the 14th amendment section 3 disqualification clause is self enforcing, according to Lawrence Tribe and retired conservative Judge J Michael Luttig. Not sure what that means in this situation . The President is supposed to protect us and our constitution, I have read. What, to your knowledge, would that look like if he used the increased power of the Executive recently bestowed by the Current Supreme Court? What could he do today?
I just contacted my representative in Congress and spoke with someone who answered the phone, and requested that Richie Neal not vote to certify Donald trump's Electoral College votes, because under the 14th amendment section 3 disqualification clause, he is disabled and disqualified to hold office anywhere in our government. because of a glitch I had earlier this year been told that my rep for the second district was Mr. McGovern of Worcester, MA. I left an email with the same message, but was messaged that it was not my district. Oh well ; two for the effort of one.
Daniel Solomon ; so Biden uses the enhanced executive powers to deflect this ongoing coup, and since this is an emergency, he appoints a qualified judge to invoke the 14th amendment, section 3 disqualification clause to rid us of the disabled Donald J Trump, and any other disabled disqualified in Congress, or whatever it takes to get him out of holding any office.
William ; contact your representative in Congress and tell them to not certify the Electoral College votes for trump, because he is disqualified under the 14th Amendment section3 disqualification clause. he violated his oath to the Constitution because, after having taken an oath to support the constitution, he engaged in an attack on Our Capitol ; to interfere with the certification of votes. it takes 20% of Congress to block trump. I got through minutes ago by phone, and a person took my message and thanked me.
Daniel Solomon ; The only way this could work with the 20% of Congress doing anything is if they get to it fast enough, and there is enough support. Is there any other remedy? The executive?
I like your ideas, Laurie, but exactly how is President Biden supposed to accomplish these things? He has no constitutional authority to unilaterally carry them out. I see, "should, should, should," but "should" gets us nowhere. We need to be realists.
Daniel Solomon replied to your comment on The only real firewall against the Trump regime.
Not necessary. "https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/5055171-constitution-insurrection-trump-disqualification/ "The unlikelihood of congressional Republicans doing anything that might elect Harris as president is obvious. But Democrats need to take a stand against Electoral College votes for a person disqualified by the Constitution from holding office unless and until this disability is removed. No less is required by their oath to support and defend the Constitution. "
Our hands are tied with our MAGA SCOTUS. I wish Biden would have been more agressive with reforming the Supreme Court. He was too scared about how unpopular this would be and didn’t attempt to fix the problems with SCOTUS. I assure you tump will mess with it and make it even more MAGA. We also need Congress to step in and fix SCOTUS since they are an equal branch of Government and can override some of the stuff they have done.
Bonnie Bonham : Call or contact your representative ASAP and tell them not to certify Electoral college votes for Disqualified Donald Trump. Under the law of the 14th amendment , section 3 disqualification clause he is unfit and disabled for serving in any office in our government. 20% of congress is needed to block him!
CO, ME, and IL tried to get him off the ballot in their states when the Republicans were having their primaries and it went to the Supreme Court and they ruled it unconstitutional to kick him off.
Bonnie , true, but Congress can choose not to certify the electoral college votes for a disqualified, disabled candidate, or even "president Elect". In fact, it is their duty to reject such a person.
I’ll try to contact Josh Hawley and Ann Wagner and let them know I don’t want tump to be certified as our President because he is a certifiable psychopath😖 did I mention I’d have to convince Josh Hawley and Ann Wagner?! Both these lawmakers are as MAGA as it gets. I still try to reach out to let them know how my family and me feel about certain issues, but I don’t ever get very far cause they’re all about tump.
I completely agree! She conceded immediately after she got the news. the Dems were so eager to take the high road to show him how it should be done, but we did want a fight! I am truly changing my voting registration from Democrat to Independent! I get the feeling that this fascist state I live in has a way to purge Democratic votes!😂 However, Anne Wagner for MO District 2 is so gerrymandered it’s ridiculous! Her gerrymander mile radius is off the charts large with the largest county in the state lumped in with 3 large Republican counties. I wish the Democrats in our state Government would be more aggressive with trying to fix the problem. We haven’t voted for a Dem since Pres Clinton. We used to be a swing state.
Denise Donaldson : We need to have information we never learned in school. It's hard to be a realist when we are not Constitutional scholars. See below :
I truly am concerned that our Constitution will be among the documents he will steal for his Mar-a-lago vanity collection! We need to physically protect our original copy of the constitution from his entitlement to take ‘whatever the hell he wants’ from our Government archives!
Now all that information lined up is encouraging! tRump is litigious...he likes the court and used it all the time. It is going to swing back around at him now and that will be satisfying indeed.
President Biden HAS been busy behind the scenes. His appointments of so many Federal Judges will give us a chance to keep Trump and his “friends “ at bay. Biden has done a lot of great things that the MSN hasn’t given him credit for!
What is most disappointing is the amount of time and the taxpayer’s hard earned money that will be spent by our federal government to fight all the court cases that will be brought by Trump and his cohorts. Not to mention, that time and money will not be used where it should which is helping solve real issues and helping people who need it.
That's true, Elaine, but until we can get him out of the White House, we absolutely must fight him at every turn and to do that we will have to take him to court. If we allow him to do any of those things Professor Reich mentioned, the time and money we didn't spend to stop him won't be there for us when we need it.
I am not as optimistic as Dr. Reich. If Trump does not like a decision, he appeals until he gets an appellate court that will rule in his favor. It is clear that many judges (including SCOTUS) have been ruling outside the law--just look at the immunity case. Where in the Constitution or any Federal Statute does it say anything about Presidential immunity? In fact, the founders were dead set against creating a "king." The justices made their decision based upon politics. This behavior shows that many on the bench are willing to do anything to support their candidate--and it is a sad day for the American justice system.
Trump's attorney Alina Habba, appeared on Fox "news" before the verdict was announced on the immunity decision, and actually said that trump's three appointees "owed him", and should do the "right thing". (paraphrasing). I was gob smacked that such a thing could even happen ; A court case being tampered with on that level. Where are the ethics? free speech? Sheesh!
Lonnie--Trump's pathetic attempts at running this country will reach a precipice. After viewing the destructive nature surrounding everything the man favors, I truly feel the walls of Jericho will do as they have done in the past, and Mr. Trump will find himself languishing beneath the rubble.
Joshua succeeded because he convinced a Jericho woman that she and her relatives would be spared. Trump is telling our white women that they will be spared from what is coming to the rest of us.
I use Microsoft Word regularly. I took care to shut off all of the auto-correction and auto-editing functions. Probably all of us have experienced unwanted “correction” by MS Word as well as the auto-correcting function of this forum.
Maybe what’s influencing public opinion against the courts is the realization that justice is influenced (and perhaps determined) by politics. “Not this man,” they shouted, “but Barabbas!”
I’m not optimistic either - he plans to expand federal judges, he CouId also expand the sc, and I’m not convinced violence won’t come in to play. He had a good coach in putin. I do hope Roberts predictions are correct, I don’t mind being wrong in this. Maybe our population is more used to democracy than other countries who have fallen to dictators, and will indeed fight back hard.
Not really. Reich says SCOTUS can't rubber-stamp whatever Trump & his cronies want to do because less than 1% of federal cases ever reach the Supreme Court. But that ignores the fact of how precedent works within the judiciary. SCOTUS does not need to weigh in on every single case individually. They might only weigh in on 1% of cases, but many of those cases are exemplary of thousands of other pending cases. So, once SCOTUS establishes a precedent in the form of legal reasoning related to a certain issue, lower federal courts then apply that precedent to all the other the cases related to that issue.
Reich also thinks it's significant that 370 federal judges were appointed by Democrats compared to 267 appointed by Republicans. Is Reich not aware that Trump's advisors have already proposed expanding the judiciary by appointing hundreds of new federal judges to "reduce the backlog of cases." Do you think those hundreds of new federal judges appointed by Trump will be fair and objective? Do you think they will even be qualified jurists?
I am disappointed that the pundits have not promoted cutting Trump off at the pass. We were attacked by a foreign enemy. There are major dicrepancies in the election. Trump is not eligible to be inaugurated.
Many Substack authors are aking me to reup. I don't think so......
Thank you, for this Professor Reich, that is the most uplifting news I've read. With the lower courts on our side we stand a very good chance of outlasting the 2025er/Mump regime.
Hope that judicial checks will function with Trump control over the other two branches of
Government is our last resort. Dysfunction caused by the competing factions within his regime is the other hope that will result in Congressional losses come 2027 midterms. How much damage will he cause in those two years?
Agreed! We can only hope that he will cause enough damage to turn enough of his current supporters against him. I’m thinking of reductions to safety nets, rising prices due to tariffs, for starters. Meanwhile a strong challenge from the left needs to be developed/promoted. We need to make significant gains in both houses in 2026 to stay his little hands.
Oppose Trumps tax cuts which benefit the Oligarchy. Starving the social programs which disproportionately benefit the red states is the Dems best weapon for exposing Trump hypocrisy and winning the midterms.
The SCOTUS ruled in tRump's favor when Colorado tried to keep him off the ballot. Their 'justification' was that he hadn't been convicted in court yet. If he HAD been convicted before the election, THEN he could be disqualified. Thank you, Merrick Garland and Eileen Canon.
"Heads they win , tails we lose"? wouldn't it be great if Congress managed to reject the illegitimate Electoral College votes for this illegitimate and disabled candidate?
All I can say is C'mon, judges! Prevent this jerk from causing such unwanted and unnecessary pain in our country! I was caught up short when I read in Professor Reich's post about Native Americans, as in people that were here long before Europeans arrived, didn't receive birthright citizenship until 1924? What the hell? They are without a doubt THE AMERICAN CITIZEN! Good Lord! Also, I simply cannot believe this small little orange stain thinks he can decide who can have birthright citizenship? What a load of BS! C'mon, judges! Knock him down every single time!! Cut him off at the knees!! Stand up for our Democracy!!
Yes, it is, Gregg! It is so very hard to combat something that is taught, albeit subconsciously, from birth! Kids pick up on racism when they are young. When they hear their parents calling people of other races and cultures derogatory names and see how they act superior to those people, they begin to do it, too. I wish we could shake that, but I don't know how it would be done. Oh to have the innocence of children who see no color or difference in their friends! I'm reminded of the ad that played so much during the summer. Two little boys, one white, one black, racing down the street toward each other, arms opened wide to greet with a hug. Wouldn't it be great if we could see past color? Wouldn't it be great if we were open to learn from other cultures? What a wonderful world that would be!
This is not in response to your post but I do have an important question and maybe you can answer it. On Jan 20 what will be the order of swearing in - Trump before Musk or Musk before Trump. As I say, an important question. Good luck to us all not matter which.
It may be that there are many Democratically-appointed Federal judges out there. But the problem that We face when it comes to Federal Law is the FINAL court that gets to say the Last Word on any subject is SCOTUS -- which has six justices NOT appointed by Democrats. In fact, three of those six were appointed by Trump himself. And Alito, Roberts, and Thomas are about as crooked as a judge can get without being locked up themselves.
What We DO have on Our side is _TIME_. The judicial process -- going from lower courts through the appeals procedures -- is usually quite time-consuming. That will limit just how many items the GOP can push through in just two years. [HOWEVER, as We saw in Bush v Gore in 2000, SCOTUS is entirely capable of bypassing the judicial process and handing down a VERY quick summary judgement in hardly any time at all.]
"There are people under the delusion that mafia states and dictatorships don't have courts.
Courts are incredibly important to the survival of a dictatorship. They have judges, lawyers, jurisdictions. They have a system to lend an official gloss to the persecution of innocents."
"In authoritarian states, courts are essential. They function as a vehicle to enable white-collar and organized crime. To let police get away with abuse of innocent citizens, often minorities.
The US justice system is not very different."
"You can learn a lot about how America works by studying the legal systems of authoritarian states abroad."
"Laws don't matter once the dictator comes into power as a wrecking ball. Laws are only as good as the people who uphold them and people in US institutions haven't been good at all. Yet pundits and politicians want Americans to retain faith in a broken and, frankly, evil system."
"The US has a legal system that exonerates wealthy abusers of power and is structured around bribery, threats and complicity. That pundits won't bring that up on the air, despite a multitude of concrete examples, is very interesting."
"The US still has freedom of speech and media that citizens of any dictatorship would envy. Instead of taking advantage of it, legal pundits get on TV and lie to the public, throwing these rights away to defend blatant institutional corruption."
"Instead of informing the public about state corruption, they chant little mantras about their reverence for officials who are betraying our country with their inertia, with their inaction, with their complicity."
Nazilaw
"In the early 1930s, Nazi lawyers were engaged in creating a race law founded on anti- miscegenation law and race-based immigration, naturalization, and second-class citizenship law. They went looking for foreign models, and found them—in the United States of America."
Abraham Lincoln, FDR, H, Truman, D. Eisenhower, JFK, L. Johnson well understood the importance of racial integration for US national security. Not so the Confederates supporting Trump.
I am no expert on American law and procedure, but while Trump may be a moron, his backers, and the authors of Project 2025 are not and can afford the very best legal opinions. They will have thought through all the strategies and they know what they are doing. By all means, try everything, but I really doubt it'll be allowed to work.
Trump's more brutal strategy, well suited to a fascist dictator taking control by declaring martial law, would be simply to arrest any Dem leaning judges that dare oppose him. And if that is obvious to me, I am sure it is obvious to Trump and his team.
Which leads to the biggest issue right now - many Dems are still thinking inside the box of law and order, and business as usual, and "it'll all turn out OK because this is America and we believe in all these rules", and even "It's only 4 years and we need a strategy for the next election"! Hellooooo? Anybody home?.
Trump doesn't believe in the rules, or even the Constitution, and Musk and Vance don't believe in these rules, and apparently 55% of Americans are fed up with the Dems and their rules, and many in the police, military and security services will support Trump so won't apply these rules, and all of the above certainly won't be playing by the Dems rules.
I really think some of you guys need a reality check, and will probably get exactly that on the 20th.
well said. If Trump takes over the executive branch then the power of government can be used to persecute all those that stand against Trump regime. This is what Orban has done in Hungary.
“Of the 680 federal district court judges, 370 were appointed by Democrats compared to 267 by Republicans.”
The numbers here don’t add up, of course. Better to say that, of 680 total seats on the federal district judiciary, 370 are occupied by Democrats, and 267 by Republicans.
That leaves 43 vacancies that Trump will surely fill with unqualified political hacks on the order of Aileen Cannon, whose loose-cannon, precedent-defying rulings derailed the classified documents case against Trump.
Ahhhhh… you bring us sweet peace of mind…. Thank you Professor. 🥳 Happy New Year!
I’m not sure I’d buy sweet peace, but it’s a relief. We are still going to have to fight. Not with our hands, but the ways in which democracy always fights – engaging our like-minded voters to stay on top of things and speak their minds.
Also, his supporters are going to learn really soon that he stabbed them in the back, and they will retaliate. I'm expected chaos and some violence.
This situation in Louisiana was horrific and I believe a Trump supporter. Just the beginning.
Did you miss the news??? The Trumplican Traitors ALREADY know Dear Leader F_CKED them royally! 🤣
Sad!
https://t.co/WLjr9fZn5y
I didn’t see that news. Please share
Well, look at all the unhappy people here. I’m so sorry for your unhappiness your sadness, but don’t worry in 20 days or so. It will change for the better. Good luck to you all Godspeed
Oh, go take a long walk off of a short pier.
While I agree, I think the best thing to do with trolls is ignore them. Then they can go shout into the void all they like. I've stopped even using emojis on social media for trolls.
Are you wishing me to die. Tell Bryan and his associated threats
Of your threat.
Janice - "From your mouth to Gods ears".
Lynn Bechdolt ; contact your representative in Congress and tell them not to certify trump's electoral college votes, because he is disqualified under the 14th amendment section 3 ,. 20% of Congress can block him from office of any kind. the supreme court has nothing to do with it at this point. I am , along with others, urging that everyone should do this ASAP.
Yeah, the hell with the voters
Although your party is constantly said anybody that questions the elections results and putting the president Office is committing high treason.
I am sure that the above link is SPAM or a Trojan Horse.
It seems that there has been commenters doing that lately.
There is a recent influx of un-Substack-like newbies lately. I've noticed them in Bulwark newsletters as well as Charlie Sykes' "To the Contrary". (I'm a new y in this Substack). By their words shall ye know them.
The trolls are out for sure.
William, I think you are right because the whole thing was so poorly written and said nothing of value, just what one expects from a troll or a Trumper or Trumpette. I think this is a troll.
So if you look up and down this forum, Ruth, you will see time and time again repetitive use of people talking back-and-forth to each other commenting with each other agreeing with each other post after post after post for hours, but as soon as you get an opposing opinion, they become a troll OK now I get it
I don't click on links, unless I am 100% sure they are safe
Don't be so sure.... Reich says SCOTUS can't rubber-stamp whatever Trump & his cronies want to do because less than 1% of federal cases ever reach the Supreme Court. But that ignores the fact of how precedent works within the judiciary. SCOTUS does not need to weigh in on every single case individually. They might only weigh in on 1% of cases, but many of those cases are exemplary of thousands of other pending cases. So, once SCOTUS establishes a precedent in the form of legal reasoning related to a certain issue, lower federal courts then apply that precedent to all the other the cases related to that issue.
Reich also thinks it's significant that 370 federal judges were appointed by Democrats compared to 267 appointed by Republicans. Is Reich not aware that Trump's advisors have already proposed expanding the judiciary by appointing hundreds of new federal judges to "reduce the backlog of cases." Do you think those hundreds of new federal judges appointed by Trump will be fair and objective? Do you think they will even be qualified jurists?
How many cases have reached the Supreme Court since Trump 45?
Of those how many were ruled in favor of the billionaires, the Christian Right, the racists?
If you check the record of SCOTUS from 2017 to 2024, you will find that they rule for the bigots, the racists, 99% of the time. Despite the fact that SCOTUS is corrupted by money and favor, and is ideologically tainted Justice Roberts. despite reaching into his bag of tricks to justify presidential immunity for Trump,
Here are cases currently before the court, take a guess at how the court will find them. https://www.aclu.org/court-cases?type=supreme-court#all_content
The courts reputation is so bad that Justice Roberts is reduced to pleading that their decisions be honored, and castigating those that claim the decisions are political.
I read through these cases...the second is a Right to Vote case...."In November 2022, thousands of Pennsylvania voters were denied the right to vote based on a meaningless paperwork error". I voted by mail from Pa. in this last election. The instructions were very difficult to follow. I carefully did as instructed. I joked that it was a way to get rid of average intelligence voters. It also required additional an envelope that was not provided in the printed out package. It would be VERY easy to make an error. I have no idea whether my vote was counted.
Recall that in Bush v. Gore, SCOTUS dropped everything and took up this case that the results could be read by the VP on Jan 6th.
Now notice how SCOTUS has done nothing but put in the queue to be heard, too late for the election.
I doubt that your vote was recorded. In Washington State, they have a vote tracking system. Your package is provided an envelope that does not need postage and you are given a tab to tear off with the number of your ballot, you can then go online, to track your ballot.
Washington State is a vote by mail state.
We need a Right to Vote Act that would mandate every state to make voting as fair and easy as possible. States have the right--and responsibility--to manage the voting process, but they have no right to encumber it. No?
There was a short period of time when Congress was controlled by Democrats. during that period, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, it could have passed a Vote act, and also a Right to Choose act, but didn't.
What chance, that a Vote Act or any liberal act will be passed during the MAGA regime.
Will we even have an honest and fair mid term election, with the Money of Trump, Andrew Mellon and Peter Thiel.
How about making it a national holiday? Everybody gets the day off and you have one day to vote How's that?
I had been voting from Colorado the last 10 years. It was very easy.
Frankly, I don't care if my vote was counted. I voted for Harris. Then I heard her proclaim that she was PLEDGING to support Israel. I wish my uncounted vote was for Jill Stein.
BTW: the package from Pa. included the main envelope, but one had to provide a business size envelope also. I had a business so I have all sizes of envelopes handy. How many in Pa. did?
Jill Stein is a Putin Asset,if you are concerned about "genocide" in Israel, she should be doubly concerned about Putins genocide in Ukraine.
Unlike Israel which has not announced genocidal intent, Putin has announced genocidal intent.
Isn't this cozy, Mike Flynn, Jill Stein, Putin at dinner together at a Gala..
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696
If I were you I would be more careful in my choices.
You are a single issue voter?
Just because she stood by Israel?
You should emphasize that Washington is a totally vote by mail state. No polling places.
Yeh I should, I take it totally for granted. There is one problem with that though, you have to have a mailing address to vote.
You mean, like the judge Marshawn NDA case against Trump meaningless paperwork?
Or perhaps the 850,000 that Bill Clinton paid Paula Jones and there was no investigation. into where the money came from no trial no jury no judge nothing That describes equal justice from the Democrats
Isn't it incredible that the SCOTUS is the enemy of the POTUS (the PEOPLE Of The United States)??
Exactly. That's why Reich's assessment that SCOTUS won't greenlight all/most of Trump's nefarious actions is inaccurate.
SCOTUS got Project 25 started way ahead of time. Our sexually active women are ordered to turnout little worker bees and cannon fodder for our endless wars. Our President is now King.
A friend said it's because they are Catholics. I think it's because they are devoted to the American cause that does not include human rights. Probably being Catholics helped because the Catholic Church does not support human rights. It has stood firming with dictators.
Yes! You're exactly right.
AND, they stood/stand firmly with pederasts. Using "god" as the battering ram to control the masses.
That’s not all with Justice Robert said he also said that the lower courts need to be obeyed oooops and stop with the nonsense
You were all fine when Roe v. Wade was enacted by the Supreme Court
You are not fine when Roe v. Wade was sent back to the states
And worse, you are not fine with the fact that the voters will determine Rovy Wade in their own particular states. Not some federal bureaucrats.
troll
That one hurt
Not being able to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is slavery.
Involuntary servitude to another is prohibited by the 13th Amendment.
Slavery should be sent back to the States. Why not?
Call Judith first of all you have to determine in what manner or in what act caused the pregnancy.
And I don't know why you're bringing this up now because I don't think any state has actually changed the laws that were in existence before the Supreme Court made it recent ruling ? Not sure you might wanna look that up.
And I'm not sure what you mean by involuntary servtitude? What is the context of that?
Apparently, a few states have increased their restrictions on abortion laws however that's very premature by these states and once the voters get their hands on it, they will be the ones who decide
By the way, it's a free country for people to travel from state to state. I'm sure you knew that.
For sure, William.
Happy New Year (sincerely, despite tongue-in-cheek).
I say, "Good Luck in the New Year'. In 2026, I will say, "Congratulations on surviving 2025".......if we do.
Well, you could always follow all the celebrities that threatened to leave and didn't and by the way Judith Trump was already president in 2017 And you're still here alive and everything survival what a survivor you are
Our tax-payer monies supporting an expanded R court system for this litigious bastard.
“The Price Of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance”
Eyes wide open
He's litigious? Laughing my ass off.
How about five or six BS court cases and two assassination attempts that's pretty litigious
Your pre-dilection with laughter is self-abnigating
A quite erudite and meaningless message … would you like to make a point now?
I find this column to be profoundly disturbing! I'm not sure what reality Reich is living in on this issue: "The Supreme Court didn’t support all of Trump’s moves in his first administration (remember Trump’s Muslim ban?)." Talk about cold comfort. RBG was still alive back then. No reassurance at all.
Exactly. Such optimism from Reich is the opposite of reassurance. It feels delusional.
Here's an idea, support your president and if he does something bad, criticize him
S Arch, your points are very valid. Reich may have overlooked the plan to expand if that happens. Does Congress have a say for this?
I'm sure Congress has a say. But Republicans control Congress, and Republicans have very seldom gone against Trump. I can't imagine any reason why they would oppose expanding the judiciary to make it more conservative.
They control it true, but with a razor thin majority. They are going to lose it in ‘26 unless Daddy Musk bails their asses and assets out again. If the Dems and Indies take over the Government by ‘28 it’s time to AMEND the CONSTITUTION SO Criminal and Corrupt Judges, politicians get bounced out of roles of justice. legislation, or law enforcement FOREVER!! They can get a job washing cars or picking fruits and veggies.
Kamala Harris wasted $2 billion and it wasn't enough and if Eli wanted to he would've spent any amount of money but he didn't. She spent him three to one despite Elon's contribution. Ooops
They will rig the system in their favor (even more than it already is) long before 2026 gets here.
So, as I understand it, the judges that Biden/democrats installed will be fair and objective
But the one Trump installs won’t be? Do I have that right? lol. Yikes
Correct, in that Democrats will tend to appoint experienced, qualified jurists who will do their best to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law; whereas Trump will appoint anyone, regardless of their inexperience and lack of qualifications, as long as they demonstrate loyalty to him as an authoritarian strongman and/or pass the Federalist Society's ultra-conservative (i.e., anti-American) litmus tests.
Some of you guys here are the most ethereal theorists I've ever seen.
There is a difference between classroom, smart, and streetsmart between booksmart and action smart
Sadly, you are not either kind of smart.
And that's a very odd use of "ethereal." It sounds like you just tried to make yourself sound smarter by using a word that you really don't understand.
(And why are you replying to a comment of mine that you already replied to once before, and I replied to your reply? Why are you now jumping back several steps in the discussion thread?)
It's funny you should use third-party affiliates and of course name them anti-American
What's really incredible to me is every time there's a event or a rally that Republicans attend you hear the chance USA USA never heard it once at a Democrat rally or other event
In fact, I love that the two top left leaning newspapers in the country when they put the picture of Trump being shot in Butler they actually scrubbed the picture of the American flag in the background only to have to re-do do it because of backlash
Your ‘points’ are clearly pathetic against the FACTS of TRUTH.
That is true to the major newspapers in the country, actually scrubbed the photo of the American flag behind Trump look it up yourself
Hear the "chance?" Did you mean, hear the chants? Chanting is basically a primitive, tribal exercise. Why are MAGA cult members so proud of behaving like cave men?
And your replies are so scattershot as to be nearly incoherent. Learn how to hold up your end of a logical discussion, and maybe we'd get somewhere. I'm not wasting time trying to talk to someone who, in true Trumpian fashion, can't maintain a train of thought.
I’m voice texting and I don’t go back and check because I do post a lot and so AutoCorrect takes over but I think the people here are intelligent enough to understand what I mean without correcting my 10th grade English paper for syntax structure punctuation or the like
And please stop with a Trumpian fashion when you do that, your needless prejudice comes out. I happen not to like Trump I like every one of his policies. And that’s what you vote for not allowed of the ancient historical crap that’s being brought up here for the crystal ball Ouija board nonsense people guessing what’s gonna happen Sad Prejudice at its finest look up the word
By the way, you should know something that you obviously don’t know
Maga is a good phrase. Maga is a positive phrase. Maga is an American phrase and should not be besmirched . It simply means make America great again and if you don’t want America to be great again, there are many countries you’re free to live in.
You mean the latest addition to the Supreme Court who didn't even know the definition of a woman, and didn't know whether she was one or not ?
Wellness has gone overboard, which is one of the reasons that Trump is in the White House so if you're referring to his cabinet, I'm assuming with your vast experience and knowledge of how to pick a cabinet we should pay closer attention.
Every single president picks people who are loyal to them, except Trump, who picked two Democrats to be in his cabinet for the first time ever, and the misogynist in chief just picked two women to lead the most important post in this cabinet, the first ever woman, chief of staff And a woman who hold the second most important job in his cabinet of attorney general
His cabinet is one of the most diverse without even trying to be diverse
And for you to try to insinuate or make the case for Kamala Harris being the leader of the free world and you call that a qualified candidate, give me a break
Who said anything about Kamala Harris? You're making things up. Try to pay attention before you reply. But yes, anyone, including my dog, would be a better president than the failed-businessman-turned-gameshow-host, cult leader, and wannabe dictator who will be sworn in later this month.
"Wellness has gone overboard?" What does that even mean? That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How can anyone or anything be too well?
Of course, you immediately and needlessly bring up issues of gender/sexuality. Right wingers are obsessed with controlling other people's bodies and sexuality. It's an obvious sign of their own insecurity about their own sexuality. Get over yourself.
Well, then your dog should either be on TV or in a circus or maybe both
So were you talking about Bill Clinton or John Kennedy? Or maybe even Ted Kennedy even better or maybe John Edwards or maybe Anthony Weiner or maybe Gary Hart.
Guess you already forgot he was president And here you are still standing, barely after after Biden's administration
You see.. here’s where you lose, and you lose at the top of your post
Failed businessman ? Omg. This is why ignorance should not be posted here.
There are religious people, mostly on the right who feel that abortion is wrong who feel that it’s killing a living being. Just so you know they were over 73 million of those last year in the world.
Most “right wing” people don’t care what people do with their bodies as long as they don’t get special compensation for doing so or special privileges for doing so You wanna have an abortion pay for it.
75% of the people on the right believe in exceptions. Of course you would know that being a hard left wing Proponent
I voice text everything and what I said, but was apparently AutoCorrect it was wokeness has gone over
Assure you, nobody on the right cares what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. Just don’t try to sell it to the world
I actually feel sorry for you and your one-sided perspective of life.
You have no idea what people on the right side of the ledger think and it’s obvious by your post
And you should understand that the extremes of both party are both more vocal than the middle and maybe that’s why you think the way you think because that’s what you hear unfortunately it’s not the case on either side of the aisle
EXACTLY! The proof is there for all to learn. This is how bad republicans are destroying America 🇺🇸 STOP Voting for them!
You know, Stephanie basket of deplorable didn’t work too well for Hillary
Putting 77 million people in the same basket and calling them dumb is the reason that Legacy media is now gone.
S. Arch - I'm not sure you are correct about a proposal for "...expanding the judiciary by appointing hundreds of new federal judges to 'reduce the backlog of cases.' " I could be wrong, but I believe the hundreds of new judges proposed by trump's lackeys are to be administrative judges to reduce the backlog of immigration cases, not the types of cases Mr. Reich spoke about in his Substack article here.
Well, Mr. Wright just wrote an article about that Biden appointed more judges and have about 100 more than Trump has.
So I guess indeed, it works both ways
Hm. I don't know. Do you have a source for that? None of the articles I've read say anything about the judges being limited to immigration cases only. In fact, the House already passed a bill to add 66 new judges. I don't see what would stop Republicans from adding even more once they take power.....
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-house-passes-bill-expand-judiciary-despite-biden-veto-threat-2024-12-12/
I didn't say that maybe you were talking to somebody else I have no idea what these judges are in charge for there's too many to count
Now that is very good news!
💓Reich💓 :"The only real firewall against the Trump regime... judges..."...
Me:"The only real firewall against the Trump regime in 2016 were teams of actors faking out judges with videos they staged of "expensive fights" between "MAGA" actors and actors playing the protesters at his rallies... protesters Trump incited violence against... while promising to "pay the legal fees" of the perpetrators😁😁😁😁👍
Here is the documentary ( by UC Berkeley professor ) of the thwarting of the part of democracy that should have prevented Trump in the first place:
https://youtu.be/psebm9RJDvU?si=IyKX2eSZQf_T5dmL&t=4941
Note: It seems like it would have been easy to fool the MAGA that witnessed the "expensive fights" to testify that the "expensive injuries" were real😁😁😁😁
I envisioned hundreds of teams of actors fighting each other...
...https://youtu.be/JMK6lzmSk2o?si=2KJOJCk7WPW9eFBC&t=96
each team with their own Ambulance... driving off after pulling off the "Perfect Caper" ... like the final scene from the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TV shows...
https://youtu.be/lt8X9lrpLoc?si=Kl_6hknIxZYYH4gP&t=15771
What are these web addresses pointing to? What kind of site has an address at “youtu.be”????? I’m not going to visit one of those — who the hell knows what that is????
Who’s tying to pull the wool over people’s eyes here?
Gad!
[looked it up and Google says it’s an address “shortener” provided by Google. Other responses say it’s hinky.
So maybe just a shortener???? What the f…. I’m still not going there. Shortened the address by three digits. Wow. Fuhgeddaboutit.]
...from July 2023 (you never answered anything):
Dear Pat Goudey OBrien <nnobrien@gmail.com>
I hope you are well
Sorry for the in formality
Thank you for your efforts,
Impressive CV:😁😁😁😁😁
linkedin.com/in/pat-goudey-obrien-32546913,
especially😁😁😁😁😁
thetamaracpress.com,
"Editing Services"?😁😁😁😁😁
Hey, thanks for this link. I'm not quite half-way through watching it. It's very interesting!
You guys shouldn't be talking about judges and using them as leverage because I would be willing to bet that a few people could convince Tomas and Alito to step down and put in there Ted Cruz and Trey Gowdy instead. I don't think you want that.
I like that Trump regime very cute
They got there in the same exact manner that every other Cabinet or affiliate gets there by the choice of the winner of the election. And they have to get confirmed by the Senate.
troll
Hundreds March for ‘Intifada’ in NYC Hours After Attacks in New Orleans, Las Vegas The Biden administration is out of control
As well as politicians in New York.
The terrifying reality of Trump's second term: Your job, savings and freedom are at risk
As we come to the end of a difficult year, it’s important to establish a baseline for seeing how much worse Trump will make the American system starting January 20. Here are 20 current realities for where we are now — some brought on by Trump’s first term:
First, forget politics as you’ve come to see it as electoral contests between Democrats and Republicans. Think power. The underlying contest is between a small minority who have gained power over the system — really, an oligarchy of extraordinarily wealthy and powerful white men — and the vast majority who have little or none. Starting January 20, the oligarchy will be far more powerful.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retirement/the-terrifying-reality-of-trump-s-second-term-your-job-savings-and-freedom-are-at-risk-opinion/ar-AA1wNIPc?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ASTS&cvid=59e28744c7b64747a101d9079cfac49f&ei=12
🤔We should not and must not let go and ignore the moral corruption which Trump committed, spread and still commits to our great country. They are his legacy to which decent people must object. He encouraged us to be selfish people, disrespect others, and our democratic and legal system. He poisoned the well of democracy and decency from which we and our children and grandchildren must drink. His cabal of the craven continues to corrupt our fragile democracy. His pardons ignored the proper procedures and mocked the entire justice system. He evaded Congress by appointing acting secretaries and other high officials. He fired and demeaned medical and scientific experts, governmental attorneys, and other top officials who did not loyally bow to his outlandish demands. In May 2018, he disbanded the pandemic response team and sabotaged America's ability to respond to Covid. He inspired and encouraged the January 6 insurrection where MAGA broke into our house and spread feces on the walls. He brought out the worst in millions of people, twisted selfishness into a virtue, and divided us into groups held together by suspicion and even hatred towards others. His egotistical vitriol feeds violence. He continues his 50,000+ documented lies and it destroys the US from within. A president is supposed to be a decent moral and ethical leader not merely a law breaker. In this, Trump failed miserably. This is not what the leader of the USA should do. He has no shame or sense of decency and yet he convinced people to vote for him.
He's not honest with himself first, and that's why he isn't honest with anyone else. He has no integrity or sense of ethics. It's a shameful example to put in front of the people of the United States and the free world.
Your of course correct and MAGA voters, they had a choice, either good or evil, they chose evil instead
Americans, by and large, will come to lack ethics... I suppose the majority are already there. Wall Street bankers and lawyers have annulled what the schools taught us.
I think ethics are taught more successfully by family.
Yes, in a sane world, but the toxic politics that have divided families lays that idea to rest.
And what do the schools teach now? Abbreviated sound bites of history? Short form ethical behavior? Morally maximizing profitability?Transparent excuses suitable for those times when naughty fingers have been caught in cookie jar?
I am a semi-retired PhD scientist substitute teaching in my local high school at this moment. My impression is that I can't teach the students much of anything lest I get in trouble with the parents, regular teachers and administration. I try to coach them in STEM subjects and stay away from everything else. Two years ago I didn't behave this way. But, now I do. I hope this helps your understanding. Best,
Do they offer logic in the curriculum- propositional or predicate? COPI like.
I have heard this kind of complaint from others. I heard it from a teacher of 3rd graders who said the only way she could teach to get the kids to learn was to shut the door and ignore what she was being told to do by the administators.This was an intelligent woman with many years teaching experience whose judgement I trusted.
The naieve question is how to make the changes needed so that you can teach on non-STEM?
Bert, thank you for this valuable contribution. The parents are a huge problem. You cannot fight them, but at least you can familiarize your students with Descartes advise: doubt everything!
Thank you Bert. My mom was a teacher too. You have greatly informed my understanding. What a damn shame.
djt’s code… “ honesty” is for losers
Mwiener--If that be the case, honest is for losers, we might as well let Trump do as he pleases. Basically, what your inferring is this country has already lost. I envision far more honest people living here than dishonest ones.
He also suffers from a Narcissistic Personality Disorder and always has since daddy refused to tell baby "no."
Power is in the decency and creativity of the American people. Bob is like a good professor explaining possible ways to control the damage.
But the limits are also evident: it is an American habit to bring everything to the court, but it won't be enough. We should find a strategy to cope with the amorality of the chaos to come. My idea:
- stop hoping for a decisive strategy, but combine strategies;
- realise the decent and social society you want around you, on small scale;
- make use of donors to finance your civil iniatives;
- create a social morality;
- and so on...
Innovation and creativity are in the DNA of every American: appeal to them and don't exclude the misled Trump-voters.
Good directions, Tom!
All due Respect Tom. I don't think that Robert goes by the nick Bob. I don't like the nick Bill either. Nick names should only be used in the case of familiarity and friendship, unless the person publicly uses it.
Excellent points, John! I will NEVER forget the horrible behavior and criminal acts this tiny little man has caused and done!! He is making every effort to tear our country apart! They may not write about his horrible acts in the history books but oral history handed down from parent to child will tell the chilling facts about this monster!
There are already books written about trump 1.0 by insiders and persons of good repute. There will be books written about this incoming regime also by insiders and persons of good repute. True, some publishers may avoid being associated with them out of fear, but the books will be published. The books may be banned but they will be read nonetheless.
I read a post about banned books. The person who posted was in elementary school in the 1970’s. The teacher announced to the class the books that were to be banned. Three times. Very slowly. The wise kids wrote down all the titles and then checked them out of the public library.
Many of us could have “little free lending libraries” or book swaps to make certain the censorship fails.
I've started stocking the free libraries around me with pro democracy literature and books relevant to resistance. There are even pro democracy children's books you could purchase and donate.
You're right, A R! I got a mental image of kids hiding books about the orange man's horribleness under their mattresses like I did when I was young with books like Lady Chatterley's Lover, 1984, The Catcher in the Rye and Tropic of Cancer! Kids always find a way to read or talk about those things parents don't want them to!
Does Gen Y, Z and A read? Or do they stare all day at the tiny screen in their hand?
Don't knock them staring at the tiny screen. I have four kids ages 7 to 27...including the much maligned teen. These kids are WOKE in the best possible way. They're reading and listening and watching. It maybe in a different form and it may be smaller bites, but they are getting the message. Don't crap on them cuz they're young and modern. That's boomer crap.
He also has no sense of compassion or kindness, qualities that he has infested too many in this country.
Rotten inside, he is but a shell of greed and cruelty
Didn’t PT Barnum famously note that ‘There’s a sucker born every minute’? And suckers these fools will remain until Trump and his puppets cut off their Medicare and Social Security and enforce substandard education on their children. I tremble to see the rage-filled outcome.
Will they say some of them, we did not know he would do that, to us? how much of it was the love of cruelty, to hurt the other? the immigrants, guess what MAGA, what Trump does to one, he does to all, when it comes to all mighty dollar, his God, as too, he worships himself and his ego, as he looks staring in the mirror, saying to himself, are I not the greatest human being or is it king? on planet earth............🤮
Education has been substandard for decades. But yes, it could get worse
No one will ever convince me that he legitimately won this election! The only way we can really fix this is by fixing the Gerrymandering! Unfortunately Gerrymandering isn’t a partisan issue which the Federal Government managed to infiltrate on a state level. How did our country get to a point where only seven states decide the future of our Government? We truly need to study how states like WI and GA (for that one election) beat the Gerrymandering in their states! This is our true path to victory and saving us from the most transactional, corrupt President in our American history!
Agree, Bonnie. He did not legitimately win, IMO. But the Dems couldn't wait to concede, so any question was immediately quashed.
Indeed! he did not, but MAGA love their savior? no!!! more like the destroyer
John, you point out the true legacy of 45/47..
‘Moral Corruption’…
Decent people Will object. Most humans develop beyond the primitive. Law and order, even kindness has value for many of us.
Correct you are in that assertion, for if not, then I believe we as humans, we would be extinct already as a species, that said, we as a species, endowed with higher intelligence, are not doing right by other species that share this world, the world of nature and as for Trump, he has been labeled by phycologists as a psychopath, let that sink in America and indeed the world, scary!
Excellent, succinct summary! So how did he do it? If we do not address the causes we will be trapped even after Trump is gone.
How do we break the Trump wannabe mold? so that does not come back, revisited in another? Trump like person, never mind the fact, we have MAGA, they're not simply going away or anytime soon, ah🤔 therein too, lies the rub and the existential problem
tRUMP's policies will affect some of his base. ?Things may change in the MAGA demographic.
Thank you for all you do!
I have been tuned into the Trump Show since 2015. I do not need to hear all his flaws reiterated. They are deeply imbedded into my very being.
It's very simple: The USA has been handed over to a crook. We got what we earned.
I have moved "ahead" since Oct 7 2023; I now try to concentrate solely on the Middle East. The Horror Show de jour.
Not all of us? got what we earned? it is hard to move on, when this evil monstrosity is going to be president again! but should I not be surprised, MAGA loves their savior, let's see howe long that love affair with him lasts?
Indeed, though, Trump, the consume crook, can we all say, Trump Crime Inc and the grand fleecing of America
Well, of course not all of us. However, how about our vote for the party of Biden/ Harris that supports genocide and endless wars?
How about the take over of the people's interests by greedy Corporations???
We seem to have no say in any of it.
I am waiting to see the legal defense of that Luigi guy who killed the CEO of the criminal "health" insurance company. I knew that if they caught him, and they were sure to, the defense would be ...an incredible big deal.
Feds have stepped in to label him a terrorist, further showing how vitally important it is to our government that our corporations are fully supported.. ........Regardless.
YES, It was impossible to ignore The Greatest Show on Earth for 10 years. Now, I find it predictable. Same same. Just worst.
The new monster in my headlights is Israel....shoving us willingly to WW3.
Corporations are People, remember🤔 for money trumps the real people's free speech, so says the rotten to the core, Supreme Court conservatives, they use the Constitution as T.P when they quote their brand of so-called constitutional originalism
Our last ditch effort. “The upshot is that Donald Trump remains constitutionally disqualified from the presidency and may not lawfully serve in that office or any other unless Congress removes the disqualification by two-thirds majorities of both houses. Nothing in Trump v. Anderson changes that legal reality.”
William Baude and Michael Paulsen, Harvard Law Review, Sweeping Section Three under the Rug: A Comment on Trump v. Anderson
Takes 20% of members of Congress to shift the burden to Trump.
I have asked Sen. Amy Klobuchar about this via email. Her response? A template that ignores those concerns and focuses instead on how she will proceed in vetting regarding cabinet posts! Our Congress seems to be selling out to the oligarchy. I await to hear from my other Senator and hope for a better reply. There's a march on DC Jan. 3-5 on just this matter. Those living nearby are encouraged to attend!
Try House members. too.
Substitute Washington for Chicago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4BJpC-esA8
My House rep is a devoted MAGA man: waste of precious time.
The importance of this action even if it fails makes news and calls attention to the matter at hand. I am appalled by the lack of outrage and oaths broken by not supporting our Constitution!
Laurie, Daniel: march in DC planned for Jan. 3-5 on this huge concern that Congress make the effort to thrawt this nightmare. Too many weak lawmakers, including my Senators from MN that is distressing: they need to get courage or resign.
Thank you for all you do, Daniel, and good luck!
Can Kamala Harris vote on this with the Congress?
I question Kamala Laurie, she rushed to concede at 4 Pm on Nov 6th while they ere still counting votes on the east coast not to mention the other 3 time zones.
Nobody is perfect. Maybe she was threatened.
Daniel Solomon ; Our founders hung traitors. the 14th amendment section 3 disqualification clause is self enforcing, according to Lawrence Tribe and retired conservative Judge J Michael Luttig. Not sure what that means in this situation . The President is supposed to protect us and our constitution, I have read. What, to your knowledge, would that look like if he used the increased power of the Executive recently bestowed by the Current Supreme Court? What could he do today?
I'm afraid that he's not going to assert himself. Because we were attacked by a foreign power, he could declare an emergency.
Biden show some courage, some decisiveness? Or rather his handlers?
They should do it, if they can.
Contact dems in Congress ASAP.
There's members serving on The Constitution Subcommittee too! They should be on top of this.
Daniel Solomon : I just called my representative and spoke with someone who said the message was received, and thanked me. so thank you!
I just contacted my representative in Congress and spoke with someone who answered the phone, and requested that Richie Neal not vote to certify Donald trump's Electoral College votes, because under the 14th amendment section 3 disqualification clause, he is disabled and disqualified to hold office anywhere in our government. because of a glitch I had earlier this year been told that my rep for the second district was Mr. McGovern of Worcester, MA. I left an email with the same message, but was messaged that it was not my district. Oh well ; two for the effort of one.
What can I call the action that will block djt? rejecting the Electoral votes for a disqualified presidential candidate?
Daniel Solomon ; so Biden uses the enhanced executive powers to deflect this ongoing coup, and since this is an emergency, he appoints a qualified judge to invoke the 14th amendment, section 3 disqualification clause to rid us of the disabled Donald J Trump, and any other disabled disqualified in Congress, or whatever it takes to get him out of holding any office.
Not necessary. https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/5055171-constitution-insurrection-trump-disqualification/
Biden will do nothing, the Democratic party will do nothing Daniel, and I am still getting "please give me money" letters from them. No way Jose.
William ; contact your representative in Congress and tell them to not certify the Electoral College votes for trump, because he is disqualified under the 14th Amendment section3 disqualification clause. he violated his oath to the Constitution because, after having taken an oath to support the constitution, he engaged in an attack on Our Capitol ; to interfere with the certification of votes. it takes 20% of Congress to block trump. I got through minutes ago by phone, and a person took my message and thanked me.
Daniel : thank you for this!
Daniel Solomon ; The only way this could work with the 20% of Congress doing anything is if they get to it fast enough, and there is enough support. Is there any other remedy? The executive?
No longer.
I like your ideas, Laurie, but exactly how is President Biden supposed to accomplish these things? He has no constitutional authority to unilaterally carry them out. I see, "should, should, should," but "should" gets us nowhere. We need to be realists.
from Daniel Solomon :
Robert Reich
Daniel Solomon replied to your comment on The only real firewall against the Trump regime.
Not necessary. "https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/5055171-constitution-insurrection-trump-disqualification/ "The unlikelihood of congressional Republicans doing anything that might elect Harris as president is obvious. But Democrats need to take a stand against Electoral College votes for a person disqualified by the Constitution from holding office unless and until this disability is removed. No less is required by their oath to support and defend the Constitution. "
Our hands are tied with our MAGA SCOTUS. I wish Biden would have been more agressive with reforming the Supreme Court. He was too scared about how unpopular this would be and didn’t attempt to fix the problems with SCOTUS. I assure you tump will mess with it and make it even more MAGA. We also need Congress to step in and fix SCOTUS since they are an equal branch of Government and can override some of the stuff they have done.
Bonnie Bonham : Call or contact your representative ASAP and tell them not to certify Electoral college votes for Disqualified Donald Trump. Under the law of the 14th amendment , section 3 disqualification clause he is unfit and disabled for serving in any office in our government. 20% of congress is needed to block him!
MAGA Scotus has Nothing to do with this. Only the congress.
CO, ME, and IL tried to get him off the ballot in their states when the Republicans were having their primaries and it went to the Supreme Court and they ruled it unconstitutional to kick him off.
Bonnie , true, but Congress can choose not to certify the electoral college votes for a disqualified, disabled candidate, or even "president Elect". In fact, it is their duty to reject such a person.
I’ll try to contact Josh Hawley and Ann Wagner and let them know I don’t want tump to be certified as our President because he is a certifiable psychopath😖 did I mention I’d have to convince Josh Hawley and Ann Wagner?! Both these lawmakers are as MAGA as it gets. I still try to reach out to let them know how my family and me feel about certain issues, but I don’t ever get very far cause they’re all about tump.
Obviously, having representatives like that are a bummer.
I completely agree! She conceded immediately after she got the news. the Dems were so eager to take the high road to show him how it should be done, but we did want a fight! I am truly changing my voting registration from Democrat to Independent! I get the feeling that this fascist state I live in has a way to purge Democratic votes!😂 However, Anne Wagner for MO District 2 is so gerrymandered it’s ridiculous! Her gerrymander mile radius is off the charts large with the largest county in the state lumped in with 3 large Republican counties. I wish the Democrats in our state Government would be more aggressive with trying to fix the problem. We haven’t voted for a Dem since Pres Clinton. We used to be a swing state.
Denise Donaldson : We need to have information we never learned in school. It's hard to be a realist when we are not Constitutional scholars. See below :
I truly am concerned that our Constitution will be among the documents he will steal for his Mar-a-lago vanity collection! We need to physically protect our original copy of the constitution from his entitlement to take ‘whatever the hell he wants’ from our Government archives!
Now all that information lined up is encouraging! tRump is litigious...he likes the court and used it all the time. It is going to swing back around at him now and that will be satisfying indeed.
sure, djt “used” the courts. like al qaeda he used the vulnerabilities of our system against itself.
but he is intent on tearing down processes … destroying laws.
i fear this description has a lot of “ ifs” that are viable only IF our laws and processes are ALLOWED to exist ( and work)
Yes, it will, Dee!!
Let us consider how "A toxic brew of money and threats is perverting the courts.
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/elon-musk-alex-jones-money-threats-courts?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Let's hope
President Biden HAS been busy behind the scenes. His appointments of so many Federal Judges will give us a chance to keep Trump and his “friends “ at bay. Biden has done a lot of great things that the MSN hasn’t given him credit for!
Yes, he has, Kathy, and when the dust settles, all of his accomplishments will be talked about compared to the orange man's!
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-is-using-unitary-executive-theory-in-his-bid-to-amass-supreme-power/
Yes, it’s frightening! I just needed some positive vibes.
What is most disappointing is the amount of time and the taxpayer’s hard earned money that will be spent by our federal government to fight all the court cases that will be brought by Trump and his cohorts. Not to mention, that time and money will not be used where it should which is helping solve real issues and helping people who need it.
That's true, Elaine, but until we can get him out of the White House, we absolutely must fight him at every turn and to do that we will have to take him to court. If we allow him to do any of those things Professor Reich mentioned, the time and money we didn't spend to stop him won't be there for us when we need it.
I am not as optimistic as Dr. Reich. If Trump does not like a decision, he appeals until he gets an appellate court that will rule in his favor. It is clear that many judges (including SCOTUS) have been ruling outside the law--just look at the immunity case. Where in the Constitution or any Federal Statute does it say anything about Presidential immunity? In fact, the founders were dead set against creating a "king." The justices made their decision based upon politics. This behavior shows that many on the bench are willing to do anything to support their candidate--and it is a sad day for the American justice system.
Trump's attorney Alina Habba, appeared on Fox "news" before the verdict was announced on the immunity decision, and actually said that trump's three appointees "owed him", and should do the "right thing". (paraphrasing). I was gob smacked that such a thing could even happen ; A court case being tampered with on that level. Where are the ethics? free speech? Sheesh!
And out in the open! They don't even hide it and still get away scotfree.
Lonnie--Trump's pathetic attempts at running this country will reach a precipice. After viewing the destructive nature surrounding everything the man favors, I truly feel the walls of Jericho will do as they have done in the past, and Mr. Trump will find himself languishing beneath the rubble.
Hoping you are correct. I just worry because of the team he hopes to put in place, and about the power of musk et al.
Joshua succeeded because he convinced a Jericho woman that she and her relatives would be spared. Trump is telling our white women that they will be spared from what is coming to the rest of us.
I sure hope so!
Did you mean "precipice" instead of "perspicuous"?
Paula--Thanks
Let me guess: autocorrect chose the wrong word? I hate when that happens! 🤣
I use Microsoft Word regularly. I took care to shut off all of the auto-correction and auto-editing functions. Probably all of us have experienced unwanted “correction” by MS Word as well as the auto-correcting function of this forum.
the republicans have no excuses
for their many egregious abuses
when their boss's ass they kiss
they stand over the abyss
and should trip on their enormous prepuces
Well said. Thank you.
Which is why the public's faith in the courts, especially the USSC, is at record lows.
Maybe what’s influencing public opinion against the courts is the realization that justice is influenced (and perhaps determined) by politics. “Not this man,” they shouted, “but Barabbas!”
I’m not optimistic either - he plans to expand federal judges, he CouId also expand the sc, and I’m not convinced violence won’t come in to play. He had a good coach in putin. I do hope Roberts predictions are correct, I don’t mind being wrong in this. Maybe our population is more used to democracy than other countries who have fallen to dictators, and will indeed fight back hard.
Thank you! This gives me hope💙🙏.
Not really. Reich says SCOTUS can't rubber-stamp whatever Trump & his cronies want to do because less than 1% of federal cases ever reach the Supreme Court. But that ignores the fact of how precedent works within the judiciary. SCOTUS does not need to weigh in on every single case individually. They might only weigh in on 1% of cases, but many of those cases are exemplary of thousands of other pending cases. So, once SCOTUS establishes a precedent in the form of legal reasoning related to a certain issue, lower federal courts then apply that precedent to all the other the cases related to that issue.
Reich also thinks it's significant that 370 federal judges were appointed by Democrats compared to 267 appointed by Republicans. Is Reich not aware that Trump's advisors have already proposed expanding the judiciary by appointing hundreds of new federal judges to "reduce the backlog of cases." Do you think those hundreds of new federal judges appointed by Trump will be fair and objective? Do you think they will even be qualified jurists?
I am disappointed that the pundits have not promoted cutting Trump off at the pass. We were attacked by a foreign enemy. There are major dicrepancies in the election. Trump is not eligible to be inaugurated.
Many Substack authors are aking me to reup. I don't think so......
Thank you, for this Professor Reich, that is the most uplifting news I've read. With the lower courts on our side we stand a very good chance of outlasting the 2025er/Mump regime.
Hope that judicial checks will function with Trump control over the other two branches of
Government is our last resort. Dysfunction caused by the competing factions within his regime is the other hope that will result in Congressional losses come 2027 midterms. How much damage will he cause in those two years?
Agreed! We can only hope that he will cause enough damage to turn enough of his current supporters against him. I’m thinking of reductions to safety nets, rising prices due to tariffs, for starters. Meanwhile a strong challenge from the left needs to be developed/promoted. We need to make significant gains in both houses in 2026 to stay his little hands.
So it's OK if the rest of us experience real suffering, as long as the MAGAs revolt against mango man?
We are all going to suffer. What I hope is that enough MAGA begin to suffer that they turn against their Fuhrer.
Trump will need money by the end of March. This is why he supports Mike Johnson. What should Dems do? Starve the beast while Trump is in office?
Oppose Trumps tax cuts which benefit the Oligarchy. Starving the social programs which disproportionately benefit the red states is the Dems best weapon for exposing Trump hypocrisy and winning the midterms.
You are right, Robert. Also, creating a financial crisis would backfire.
What did SCOTUS say about the 14th amendment section three? What was the rationalization? Why is he about to be sworn in?
The SCOTUS ruled in tRump's favor when Colorado tried to keep him off the ballot. Their 'justification' was that he hadn't been convicted in court yet. If he HAD been convicted before the election, THEN he could be disqualified. Thank you, Merrick Garland and Eileen Canon.
"Heads they win , tails we lose"? wouldn't it be great if Congress managed to reject the illegitimate Electoral College votes for this illegitimate and disabled candidate?
They can. According to an article on “The Hill” Congress can disallow him. Here’s the https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5064440-biden-honors-cheney-jan-6-committee/
All I can say is C'mon, judges! Prevent this jerk from causing such unwanted and unnecessary pain in our country! I was caught up short when I read in Professor Reich's post about Native Americans, as in people that were here long before Europeans arrived, didn't receive birthright citizenship until 1924? What the hell? They are without a doubt THE AMERICAN CITIZEN! Good Lord! Also, I simply cannot believe this small little orange stain thinks he can decide who can have birthright citizenship? What a load of BS! C'mon, judges! Knock him down every single time!! Cut him off at the knees!! Stand up for our Democracy!!
Racism is a powerful tool of oppression.
Yes, it is, Gregg! It is so very hard to combat something that is taught, albeit subconsciously, from birth! Kids pick up on racism when they are young. When they hear their parents calling people of other races and cultures derogatory names and see how they act superior to those people, they begin to do it, too. I wish we could shake that, but I don't know how it would be done. Oh to have the innocence of children who see no color or difference in their friends! I'm reminded of the ad that played so much during the summer. Two little boys, one white, one black, racing down the street toward each other, arms opened wide to greet with a hug. Wouldn't it be great if we could see past color? Wouldn't it be great if we were open to learn from other cultures? What a wonderful world that would be!
Did you notice that Elon Musk already denounced racism? This S. African may not like African Americans, but if so, it is not because of skin color.
Maybe just posturing. if they worked for him it would be equal opportunity exploitation.
Good Morning
This is not in response to your post but I do have an important question and maybe you can answer it. On Jan 20 what will be the order of swearing in - Trump before Musk or Musk before Trump. As I say, an important question. Good luck to us all not matter which.
hmmmmm Musk instead of Melania holding the Lincoln bible. oy
Melania would have left him had he lost, but now she is scared of his power too.......ah well lots of Dresses for the next four years.....
I like that imagery Mweiner 💙
It may be that there are many Democratically-appointed Federal judges out there. But the problem that We face when it comes to Federal Law is the FINAL court that gets to say the Last Word on any subject is SCOTUS -- which has six justices NOT appointed by Democrats. In fact, three of those six were appointed by Trump himself. And Alito, Roberts, and Thomas are about as crooked as a judge can get without being locked up themselves.
What We DO have on Our side is _TIME_. The judicial process -- going from lower courts through the appeals procedures -- is usually quite time-consuming. That will limit just how many items the GOP can push through in just two years. [HOWEVER, as We saw in Bush v Gore in 2000, SCOTUS is entirely capable of bypassing the judicial process and handing down a VERY quick summary judgement in hardly any time at all.]
"There are people under the delusion that mafia states and dictatorships don't have courts.
Courts are incredibly important to the survival of a dictatorship. They have judges, lawyers, jurisdictions. They have a system to lend an official gloss to the persecution of innocents."
"In authoritarian states, courts are essential. They function as a vehicle to enable white-collar and organized crime. To let police get away with abuse of innocent citizens, often minorities.
The US justice system is not very different."
"You can learn a lot about how America works by studying the legal systems of authoritarian states abroad."
"Laws don't matter once the dictator comes into power as a wrecking ball. Laws are only as good as the people who uphold them and people in US institutions haven't been good at all. Yet pundits and politicians want Americans to retain faith in a broken and, frankly, evil system."
"The US has a legal system that exonerates wealthy abusers of power and is structured around bribery, threats and complicity. That pundits won't bring that up on the air, despite a multitude of concrete examples, is very interesting."
"The US still has freedom of speech and media that citizens of any dictatorship would envy. Instead of taking advantage of it, legal pundits get on TV and lie to the public, throwing these rights away to defend blatant institutional corruption."
"Instead of informing the public about state corruption, they chant little mantras about their reverence for officials who are betraying our country with their inertia, with their inaction, with their complicity."
Nazilaw
"In the early 1930s, Nazi lawyers were engaged in creating a race law founded on anti- miscegenation law and race-based immigration, naturalization, and second-class citizenship law. They went looking for foreign models, and found them—in the United States of America."
https://www.history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crow
This is a true story that American schoolchildren are never taught.
And if the fourth Reich gets their way, it will never be taught.
Abraham Lincoln, FDR, H, Truman, D. Eisenhower, JFK, L. Johnson well understood the importance of racial integration for US national security. Not so the Confederates supporting Trump.
I am no expert on American law and procedure, but while Trump may be a moron, his backers, and the authors of Project 2025 are not and can afford the very best legal opinions. They will have thought through all the strategies and they know what they are doing. By all means, try everything, but I really doubt it'll be allowed to work.
Trump's more brutal strategy, well suited to a fascist dictator taking control by declaring martial law, would be simply to arrest any Dem leaning judges that dare oppose him. And if that is obvious to me, I am sure it is obvious to Trump and his team.
Which leads to the biggest issue right now - many Dems are still thinking inside the box of law and order, and business as usual, and "it'll all turn out OK because this is America and we believe in all these rules", and even "It's only 4 years and we need a strategy for the next election"! Hellooooo? Anybody home?.
Trump doesn't believe in the rules, or even the Constitution, and Musk and Vance don't believe in these rules, and apparently 55% of Americans are fed up with the Dems and their rules, and many in the police, military and security services will support Trump so won't apply these rules, and all of the above certainly won't be playing by the Dems rules.
I really think some of you guys need a reality check, and will probably get exactly that on the 20th.
well said. If Trump takes over the executive branch then the power of government can be used to persecute all those that stand against Trump regime. This is what Orban has done in Hungary.
Preparing for an expected attempt at dictatorship is what this forum is all about.
“Of the 680 federal district court judges, 370 were appointed by Democrats compared to 267 by Republicans.”
The numbers here don’t add up, of course. Better to say that, of 680 total seats on the federal district judiciary, 370 are occupied by Democrats, and 267 by Republicans.
That leaves 43 vacancies that Trump will surely fill with unqualified political hacks on the order of Aileen Cannon, whose loose-cannon, precedent-defying rulings derailed the classified documents case against Trump.