The problem with moving the goalposts of normalcy is that eventually you get into the perverse and it is considered the norm. We are there. We have been there for a while. John Eastman, who is the sophist’s sophist, the liar’s liar, who spews fallacious arguments the way the rest of us breathe, talks about the Insurrection Act and how close we came to it — with his help. Although he omits that part, certainly.
John Eastman says that if Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election had been successful, "one hopes that our military" would have understood its obligation to quell any riots because failure to do so would mean "subjecting yourself to mob rule." https://t.co/zPAu4mOCM7 pic.twitter.com/snwXF6Iwqq
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 9, 2023
Eastman is trying to wriggle out of his role in the January 6 Capitol riot but I think history is going to show that he wanted to push the envelope and see how far he got. Eastman is virtually a clone of Steve Bannon in that regard. They both want to see what they can get away with, although, of the two, at least Bannon comes right out and says he wants “to burn it all down,” so give him credit for candor, at least.
Now the newest development in the Eastman saga is something you don’t see every day. Eastman is in the middle of a disbarment trial, which is bad enough. But what is really a bummer is that he’s about to be indicted by Jack Smith, so he needs the judge to do a postponement on his disbarment proceedings. Huh?
Oh yes. Eastman is suspected as being Co-conspirator 2, remember that guy? Politico:
Attorney John Eastman, an architect of Donald Trump’s last-ditch efforts to subvert the 2020 election, is asking a California judge to postpone disbarment proceedings lodged against him, saying he’s increasingly concerned he’s about to be criminally charged by special counsel Jack Smith.
“[R]ecent developments in the investigation have renewed and intensified [Eastman’s] concerns that the federal government might bring charges against him,” his attorneys Randall Miller and Zachary Mayer wrote in an Aug. 4 filing posted to the court’s public docket on Monday.
Miller said the growing concern about criminal charges might prompt Eastman to assert his Fifth Amendment rights during disbarment proceedings. The Fifth Amendment generally allows people to refuse to provide testimony that could be used against them. But invoking the Fifth Amendment in the disbarment proceedings would jeopardize Eastman’s ability to defend his law license, his lawyers wrote.
“[Eastman] requests that the Court exercise its discretion to stay the State Bar’s disciplinary proceeding against him pending resolution of a parallel criminal investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Jack Smith and any trial or other proceedings that may result from that investigation,” Miller and Mayer wrote.
What to do what to do? Eastman needs desperately to be able to plead the Fifth but if he does, then there goes the law license. The law license is gone anyway, so do what you need to do, John. Maybe we’ll all chip in here: alright, all you legal types on this site, what is your advice to John Eastman?
- Bend over and kiss your ass goodbye?
- Start pacing off 6′ by 8′ it’s a space you’re going to soon be familiar with?
- Ask Donald Trump to pay your legal bills and listen to him laugh?
- All of the above?
It is indeed a verity, one that gets proven more and more as time goes by, that Everything Trump Touches Dies.
Eastman clearly has forgotten the old saying that when you’re in a hole the first thing is to STOP DIGGING! He’s already dug himself into one deep effing hole yet he seems determined to make it “the deepest, most beautiful hole you’ve even seen.”
Personally, I think Trump-O will never see any jail time……but the rest of these yahoos….
…….I hope you like the taste of a big ol’ sh!t sammich……’cause that is the main entree daily on your menu in prison……with Trump-O laughing while you chew away…….before he forgets who you were.
Sux to be you, rite???….what idiots.
We’re missing the point, they have no Defense Ursula 😕
if you could have a sit down with Federalist paid Eastman
Steve: why did you do this
Eastman: if we pulled it off, I’d have you shot.
don’t laugh 😒 can’t happen here happens everyday, ask Nigeria,
Of course Jan 6 was quintessential mob rule. If Pence had cooperated, the authentic electoral college tallies would have been rejected, giving trump and his conspirators an opportunity to substitute the fake electors and their votes. But they knew Pence wasn’t going to cooperate, so they devised a plan for the riot, which would provide a cover for Pence’s assassination and ignite mass protests in major cities. That would be the trigger for invoking the Insurrection Act and imposing martial law. In the midst of this chaos Congress would eventually certify the fake electoral tallies and declare the orange abomination the winner. Then right-wing media would go to work trying to justify the result. The big question in my mind is, did Grassley have ‘skin in the game’? That’s something Jack Smith may tell us. Can’t wait for this trial to begin.
I rewatched hours of the history channel covering WW2, a conflict my five uncles were in, in both Europe and the pacific. Watching the precarious position the world was in for years trying to stop fascism is sobering. The atrocities committed would be easier to accept from supernatural demons, but, they were just human beings acting like demons. The sacrifices of innocent civilians, which was about 68% of the casualties, was sickening. The soviets lost 25 million people, many before we lost a single solider in Europe. Thousands of marines landed on heavy fortified beaches losing tens of thousands of BOYS. We firebombed the wooden city of Tokyo burning 90,000 people to death. We did the same to scores of cities. Japanese civilians committed mass murder of their children and suicide rather than surrender. The darkness rained hell on the earth. My point is we CANNOT allow something like that to ever take place ON OUR SOIL. Right now we’re in a position to stop it with the vote for maybe the last time. A vote EARNED IN BLOOD. We have a year to do whatever you can, with what you have, where you are. Confront this evil stupidity and DONT STOP. Don’t stop until this evil is chased back into the dark corners where it belongs. Every act of courage is never wasted. As Nelson Mandela once stated, it’s not our darkness that scares us…but our light. When you act in freedom and courage, you give others the permission to do the same. We still have time. We can’t depend on a few to win the battle for us. Even if Trump were put under the jailhouse, the war would continue. When I leave this mortal coil, I would like to look back and KNOW I didn’t live in fear, but understood that, although no one is immune to fear, I realized there were more important things to embrace. Truth. Love. Freedom. Joy. Beauty. Faith. Hope. Family. And our children’s lives and future. Together we will prevail. I’m absolutely convinced of that.
I look back at our country as it was then, and frankly when I look back at my own life (I’m mid sixties now, and my own dad fought in WWII) and we simple don’t have the will our parent’s and grandparent’s generations did. It wasn’t just the millions who served in uniform and especially those who saw combat (on land, at sea and in the air) but so many others including civilians here at home. And while sure, as always there were some war profiteers and rich folks who pulled strings overwhelmingly we were all in it together and making sacrifices for the fight against fascism. The sons of both Harry Hopkins (FDR’s closest advisor) and Leverett Staltonsall (the top Republican) were killed in action and the sons of other high elected officials served, often in harm’s way. FDR himself had sons who served. In fact one, to Eleanor’s great dismay (she didn’t care for my Marine Corps – thought we were too crass/crude) wasn’t just a Marine but a Raider! People were eager to join up and serve. Due to the long-term effects of malnutrition and brutal living conditions a quarter of those who volunteered or were drafted were deemed medically unfit and for most it was devastating to them. They felt ashamed of not being able to join the fight. People, all the way down to children on the home front took part in raising money to buy war bonds, to gather materials (scrap metal, bottles/glass, old tires, tin cans – stuff that could be recycled) and gave up on having new gloves, belts and other leather products were the norm. And rationing, serious rationing of all manner of items and serious penalties for those caught cheating. Food (the govt. put out information on how even people in cities could grow some of their own, as well as extra that could be sold or even given to the govt. to make rations for troops), how to “stretch” what they had and still provide a basic level of nutrition for a population still recovering from the Depression. Imagine not just gas, but things you eat/drink every day (and ingredients to cook with) being strictly rationed – sugar, coffee, vegetables, meat, milk including for baby forumula. This list goes on and on. Wool and even other materials to make clothing, sheets etc. I wrote a piece on Kos about it several years ago. Can you in your wildest imagination envision TODAY’S Americans putting up with even part of all that? I sure as hell can’t.
And worse, damned near everyone who did, who sacrificed in all manner of ways during that awful period of time is dead. No one left to bear witness. History books, even good ones that truly depict things don’t have the same impact as a person we grew up knowing and trusting. And now, with each passing year more and more of the children of those who could tell the stories firsthand are dying too. Gen whatever letter they go by don’t want to hear old farts like me telling them what my parents and others of their generation told us all!
I fear we are on an inexorable path to what Leo Szilard (who was the impetus for the building of that first “pile” that produced the first nuclear chain reaction said when the experiment was successful. As most were celebrating he said “The world is headed for trouble. The world is headed for grief.”
My God, Scott. Rarely am I moved by anyone’s writing as I was by that. I always look forward to your comments but that one was outstanding. K
Well I’m sure they will look at putting the disbarment on hold because with a conviction it would make the disbarment merely a paperwork thing. And when you talk about a jail cell there’s something you are forgetting. This is from someone that’s seen a couple. Granted it’s 6’ by 8’ but you also have your bunk and your toilet and your wash basin. So that gets you down to about 2’ by 6’. Just about enough for two good strides before you have to turn around. It does make for some long days. And I would do something wrong just so I could be there when they bring these cherries 🍒 in. It would be the equivalent of a naked woman walking onto the jail house floor. And I guarantee there would be a lottery for first guy to bust the cherry of any of these clowns. Sounds crude but life in jail is sick and you better be one mean sonofabitch if you want to keep what’s yours yours.