Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and if like many you’re scrounging for a reason to be thankful the conservative 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has served on up on a silver platter. They upheld a District court ruling ordering Trump to shell out $1 million bucks to Hillary Clinton, James Comey and others over his frivolous lawsuit claiming a RICO type conspiracy in the 2016 election.
I emphasized conservative because while that particular Circuit some might might think this Circuit is, if not progressive than at least moderate. Most of the news they’ve made that’s gone national is the way they’ve (more than once) slapped judge Aileen “Loose” Canon around like a tetherball. Those who follow goings on in the judiciary however know they are in fact quite conservative in general. Maybe not full-on RWNJ conservative but no one but Trump or his band of idiots would see them as being quite conservative overall.
However like an ever increasing number of judges around the country the 11th Circuit was already fed up with Trump’s bullshit before this case got dropped in their lap. Portions of their ruling might have been couched in legal terms but they were as blunt as protocol allows them to be in telling Trump to STFU and stop wasting their time. Think of it this way: When Trump comes a calling they are like the biggest, meanest dude on the playground court swatting away some Jr. High School kids shot with a ‘Don’t be bringing that weak sh*t here!’ Their ruling was of course couched in legal language but the tone was clear – ‘Shut up and PAY up a$$hole.’
The 11th Circuit held that Trump’s 2020 lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, James Comey and others was bogus. In fact, they literally called the original 108 page and subsequent then 193 page complaint “frivolous.” The judges said it violated federal court rules with tenuous links between a myriad of defendants and legal claims. Now that I think of it given how Comey was part of this and Trump already losing in Court to Comey he won’t have much of an appetite tomorrow.
It was a short  article from Raw Story explaining Trump’s (and Habba’s) loss but for the rest of today and tomorrow too I’ll smile whenever I think about it. Raw Story’s headline bluntly states that the MILLION dollar penalty against Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba was upheld on appeal.
Ah, Alina Habba. Has she EVER won a case in court for Trump? For a guy who hates losing and losers for the life of me I can’t figure out why he keeps her around. Granted, I recall a picture of her Ursula posted once here on Politizoom of her poolside at Mar A Lago in a bikini. With her face obscured as I recall from the shadow of a big hat I’ll admit as a guy to thinking she looked hot. But Trump himself never seems to hang out at the pool there so again I wonder. Babes in bikinis are a dime a dozen.
Anyway, what matters is that Trump was all butt-hurt over reporting about and investigations into his having (actually) sought and received help from Putin/Russia in the 2016 election. That he did so didn’t matter to him, only that people (with justification) questioned his having done so and even the legitimacy of his (via the quirk of the Electoral College) win. So, being Trump he sued. The case was a made up set of conspiracy theories and grievances from the start, and one would think he’d have long ago gone TACO on it like he usually does with lawsuits or threats of lawsuits. (I swear this is true – I literally typed the word lawsh*t) and had to go back and correct it)
The 11th Circuit certainly thought so. Like I said they are sick of Trump and his bullshit. Conservative or not they still believe there has to be at least SOME actual law to justify their decisions upholding old school conservatism as in helping out rich people and big business. Here there was nothing. Even IF they supported Trump which it seems they don’t. He’s just another individual as far as they are concerned and worse (for Trump) an average individual – not a rich and/or powerful one! That hurts Trump in a way I don’t think Shakespeare himself could put into words.
However the 11th Circuit left no doubt about what they thought of Trump’s lawsuit. Or what he should do with it. Visions of sticking it in a certain place where ‘the sun don’t shine’ come to mind. Or perhaps since the ruling came just in time for Thanksgiving that Trumtpy sit down and gorge himself a plate piled not with Turkey but Turkey “droppings:”
“The district court decided that the amended complaint advanced legal theories foreclosed by precedent ‘that the most basic legal research would have revealed,'” reads the 36-page decision.
“Trump and Habba argue that ‘the case law is unsettled or there was a reasonable request for an extension of the law,’ at least for the tolling argument,” the decision added. “Many of Trump’s and Habba’s legal arguments were indeed frivolous.”
As the linked article reminds us it was while he was out of office that Trump filed the ‘sprawling’ racketeering complaint which they note had dogged him throughout his first term. And to me at least beyond. It still gets mentioned sometimes after all. The point they made however is that first the District court and now on appeal the 11th Circuit hold that Trump (and Habba) did in fact commit sanctionable conduct:
“Trump leaves all these frivolous claims behind, making a total of 11 of his 16 claims he does not appeal,” the court ruled. “Trump and Habba give us no reason to reverse the district court’s ruling that these claims were frivolous.”
Trump will no doubt appeal to SCOTUS. My bet is they sit on it as long as they can. Except for Thomas and Alito they want no part of this. Granted, it’s nothing but speculation on my part but I’d be willing to bet the other four GOP appointed Justices including the three Trumpty himself appointed hope either the 25th Amendment is invoked or Mother Nature finally does her job and puts Trump where he belongs. (Under the ground with people pissing on his grave) Well, as I said if you’ve been having trouble coming up with something to be thankful for tomorrow I hope this tidbit helps.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
Not lawsuits, but lawsh!ts sounds quite reasonable.
I think you may have just coined a new word, Denis.
Thanks. Maybe in the future when writing I can say things like ‘Trump has filed a new lawshi!t…er, lawsuit’, or ‘in Trump’s lawsh!t..er, lawsuit against’ etc. That is after all what they are, big piles of shit:
pile of shit