Last week, Trump sent a cease and desist letter to the RNC, NRCC, and the NRSC, ordering these organizations to stop using his name in their fundraising campaigns.  His takeover, and ultimate destruction of the GOP is now unavoidable.  The Republican party that we came to know and disagree with no longer exists; in 2016, the party handed trump the keys to the kingdom and he’s now burned the whole thing down.  He’s coopted the entire organization with all of its members, and now has cut off the money they were using to perpetuate themselves.

Think about it – CPAC this year was nothing short of a Trump coronation.  Every single speaker worshiped him, and declared him the only brand the GOP had.  Hell, they even had a golden idol of Trump and everyone wanted to be photographed standing next to it.  No Republican will oppose him on any policy or even publicly disagree with him.  Trump has so amassed support for himself with a radical (and violent) base that he’s cowed the entire Republican delegation at the local, state, and federal level.  After handing the party over to Trump, he’s now cut off the money so he can take it all for himself.

After coopting the party, he’s now using the same tactics he’s always used in life – lawsuits.  Trump’s primary tool, besides prolific lying, is to use lawsuits as a bludgeon to force capitulation to his demands. That didn’t work as president, but it most certainly works in private life, and now he’s turned it on those who have handed him their party and their fundraising apparatus.  Trump’s plan is now crystal clear – when he announced at CPAC last week that he’s not starting a third party, what he meant was there was no need to, because he was taking over the GOP.  Now party leaders have a decision; start a new party to siphon people away from Trump, or just lay low, hoping that one of the criminal cases against Trump sticks enough to take him out of the limelight.

This will be interesting for those of us on the outside of this soap opera to watch.  I can only hope it continues to weaken the GOP and its really bad ideas.

Smartmatic, the voting machine company dragged into the fake controversy over non-existent massive voter fraud, got a belly fully of the disinformation about them spewing from Fox Noise, OAN, and Newsmax.  Last week, counsel for the company delivered a 20 page cease and desist letter, demanding full retractions on the lies the networks have been running in a continuous loop.  Clearly the disinformation is egregious enough that Smartmatic got Fox counsel’s attention.  Lou Dobbs got the message and aired a segment on Friday evening that debunked a bunch the bullshit he’s been repeating that was started by Rudy and his merry band of soon-to-be-disbarred lawless lawyers.  It’s unclear if Smartmatic will be happy with that step, but they have clearly took the wind out of Fox’s sails.  It will be entertaining to see how OAN and Newsmax handle the actual threat of serious legal liability.