I’ll make this short. Now that former FBI Director James Comey has been arraigned on two counts attention is focused on the strength, or lack thereof of the government’s case. Legal pundits are near unanimous in their belief that while it’s a high bar to get a case dismissed for selective/vindictive prosecution there might be a chance with this one. However even if this gets to trial the issue will be there and a public post Trump made on Truth Social will be entered into evidence. That post? We are learning it wasn’t supposed to be a public post!
That’s right folks. That long, rambling complaint Trumpy made on his Truth Social platform (which got picked up everywhere) was a typical word-salad of Trumpian grievance. All the “unfair’ things he’d been subjected to and complaining no one would try and convict Comey for him. With the clock running out on the statute of limitations the pressure was on. He dumped his own pick for U.S. Attorney in the eastern District of Virginia which had jurisdiction and told AG Bondi in the post his new choice Lindsay Halligan was a bigly awesome lawyer who would get it done. (Reminder – Halligan worked on the periphery of a grand total of three federal cases doing insurance litigation in private practice in Florida and NO criminal law experience)
It was quite the post, although as I said we’ve seen that kind of ranting from Trump lots of times before. Under the best of circumstances it was counter-productive to Trump’s desire to see Comey convicted and behind bars. And these are FAR from the best circumstances. Now, as this HuffPost article tells us that post was never intended to go up on Truth Social. It was supposed to be a DM! Yes, you read that right. Trump messed up by posting what he did. Dementia Donnie in all his vain glory publicly posted what he thought was a private message. I guess to Bondi.
The short HuffPost piece cites the Wall Street Journal (sadly that article is hidden behind a payall) which broke this story about Trump and his twitchy thumbs and rotting brain somehow thought he was on some private chat platform sending Bondi a message but instead was on his own freaking public site. I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing FAKE NEWS and criticism of the WSJ but I trust their reporting on this:
President Donald Trump’s scolding command on Truth Social for Pam Bondi to prosecute James Comey and other political targets was supposed to be a DM, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Trump, who has been accused of having dementia by a few prominent Democrats recently, thought he had sent Bondi the message privately last month and expressed surprise that it was public, according to the unnamed officials. A distressed Bondi called White House aides and Trump, prompting the president to follow up with an entry of glowing praise about Bondi.
HuffPost points out that given the nature of the public post it seemed like it was supposed to be a private message to Bondi. Well, if THAT is the kind of stuff he sends to her (and others) I think that’s a story in and of itself. Can you imagine working for a dumbass like Trump and having to deal with him blowing up your phone with this kind of crap? THIS is how he spends his days. And nights. Even worse they know they can’t ignore it. They have to respond! It really makes me wonder what’s wrong with THESE people that they are willing to put up with this bullshit. When Trump is no longer President and their careers are in ruins for some a level of reason and sanity will creep into their brain housing groups and they’ll live in regret for the rest of their lives.
Even if they are struck with fear for even thinking the words “25th Amendment” you know some of these folks can’t help but wonder if it’s safe to hint about to to other cabinet officials. Trump clearly lost what little had had before damn near half this country decided to give him another crack at the WH. Many are regretting that but THEY can’t do anything. However staff in the WH and the cabinet can. They see him all the time. They want to do do all the Project 2025 stuff and worse but Trump’s demented incompetence is gumming up the works!
What a lot of them are probably starting to wonder is their own liability down the road. The WSJ has sources admitting that Trumpty screwed up big time. That he THOUGHT he was sending a private message when in fact he had a ‘draft post” page open on Truth Social. That’s some kind of screwup, even for Trump. Here’s the thing. Now that we know this was supposed to be a private message you have to wonder what kind of sh*t he’s sent to others?
The thought of one day being under investigation and getting a subpoena issued for all the private messages Trump sent to them (remember, Executive Privilege only exists for the CURRENT occupant of the Oval Office) and have to explain why they didn’t intervene and invoke the 25th. Well, exploring that is a longer discussion best left for another time. For now, it’s enough to know that Trump has badly damaged the chances of “getting” Comey AND it was because he was so out of it he didn’t even realize he was making a public post on his own freaking social media platform!
One last thing. That message that was supposed to be private is worth a look-see. People really should burn it into their brain so I’ll conclude with providing the text of the September 20 post:
“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, “same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past. A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so. Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot. We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT”
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Your optimism that the American public CARES about democracy, fascism, telling the truth, etc., is cute. The evidence says otherwise.
Trump only beat Harris by 1.5% in the popular vote. AND being not just a woman but one of color she had TWO strikes against her yet she still almost won. We can rehash all that for days on end. What’s more important is that other candidates also pulled in some of the vote. Not much, but enough to keep Trump from getting even to the 50% mark.
To me, that means half the country wanted no part of Trump getting back into office. That my friend is why I hold out hope. Add in that Trump’s policies have already done so much damage his approval ratings are near his worst and probably will surpass his old low water mark and yes, I believe IF we work our asses off we can stop a total descent into fascism. Not controlling either side of Capitol Hill is a problem to be sure. A GOP who can read poll numbers and understand them just like the two of us being scared to death of Trump mystifies me.
As this shutdown mess has continued I sometimes find myself thinking as bad as it would be, perhaps Senate Democrats should make a big show of pointing out what will happen if they relent and let the GOP pass that CR. Starting with come November Republicans STILL won’t have negotiated (at least in good faith) to save healthcare. And how much people are being told their premiums will jump. How many rural/small town hospitals, so many of which are in MAGA country will shut down. Come November there won’t be any legislation passed to stop what the BBB did. Many tens of millions will lose healthcare and not just folks who get it via the ACA. Merry Fucking Christmas America including MAGA America!
The other thing they can do, which Schumer I’m afraid won’t allow is point out that right now, today Thune could pass the CR. He can use the so-called ‘nuclear option’ and suspend the rules (like they do on other matters like judges/Justices) and move to a straight up or down vote. Every Democrat can abstain, and make it clear ahead of time they will do so. Throw down the fucking gauntlet and tell the GOP “Fine. You didn’t just want it, you DEMANDED it to please Trump and pay for your tax cut for billionaires. YOU OWN IT, and we will be reminding voters of it every day.”
The GOP has counted on Democrats to bail them out all along. Hell, Thune punted by trying to get the House, which is far more vulnerable to changing hands in the midterm to have THEIR moderates (for lack of a better descriptor) fix the mess. Johnson of course did exactly what Trump told him to do and now the ball is back in Thune’s court.
The way I see this playing out is the GOP/Trump will ‘win’ and gut healthcare. How WE make them pay is the issue. My fear is that Schumer simply isn’t up to the task of leading the fight. We need someone with a commanding presence to take over as Democratic Leader in the Senate to take the fight right at Thune, Trump and the GOP. Much as I hate losing him from Judiciary Sheldon Whitehouse would be awesome. He’s got chops. Gravitas and an encyclopedia of knowledge. AND the ability to talk in terms average people can understand.
But still, keep in ming half the country did NOT vote for Trump. He started out as a minority prez and his approval on damned near every issue is underwater. If I’m not mistaken even freaking immigration is underwater or headed that way for him! With the right leadership we can get it done.