Enough is enough.  TFG, who has done, and continues to do more to destroy our country than anyone in US history, should have his bail revoked and jailed until trial.  Not only has he made fascism and authoritarianism acceptable in polite society, he is intentionally stepping over the limits of the law by defaming and threatening judges, their staffs, prosecutors, and witnesses.  Worse, he regularly defames their families with intensely personal and childish attacks insulting everything from their looks to their politics, which are definitely off limits and none of his fucking business.

Last week, almost immediately after NY judge Juan Merchan, who’s presiding over TFG’s hush money case, imposed a limited gag order against him, he attacked the judge’s 30 something year old daughter, calling her a “Trump hater”, among other vile accusations.  Yesterday, he posted a video of a pickup truck festooned with Trump flags including a tailgate mural of Biden hogtied in the bed of the truck.  The post went viral instantly, blowing up the internet.  Contrary to normal conduct, his lawyers are actively enabling this behavior by filing a continuous stream of idiotic motions demanding that TFG be given special rights because being forced to not threaten others is required because doing so is “election interference” and a violation of his “First Amendment rights”.

TFG regularly and loudly complains that he’s being singled out while falsely claiming that Biden is behind all the prosecutions, including the state cases.  That’s all bullshit, of course, except for the being singled out part; but it’s not like he says.  He is definitely being singled out, allowed WHILE ON BAIL to freely travel, use social media to attack his perceived enemies, shoot off his mouth, spread vicious lies about witnesses, attorneys, judges, and their families, and generally be a 24 karat gold asshole.  No other indicted felon on bail would be allowed to do anything close to what he does on a daily basis.  Yesterday, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said that if anyone else had posted a picture of Biden being kidnapped the Secret Service would be knocking on that individual’s door within hours.  TFG gets a pass because he’s, well, TFG.  She also said this about TFG conduct:

“Actions have consequences. Judges have the ability to compel good behavior from defendants on bond pending trial in their court. They can go so far as taking away their guns once they’re indicted or prevent them from contacting and threatening witnesses and victims. They should tell him he can’t threaten the President of the United States. It’s time for the courts to stop bending over backward to protect Trump. He’s entitled to all the constitutional protections any other criminal defendant receives, but he’s not entitled to more.”

TFG is a threat to the nation, to individuals personally, and to the rule of law.  And we know why he’s doing what he’s doing – he’s trying to run out the clock to the election, AND is working hard to intimidate witnesses and the jury pool in 4 different jurisdictions.  It’s simply go to stop.  As Vance says, the courts are bending over backwards to accommodate his behavior.  Judge Cannon is actually in the bag for him as well as more than a few of SCOTUS justices.  It’s up to the state or federal judges to take action.

Take custody of this shitbag and confiscate his phone.  Let him sit in jail wearing an orange jumpsuit until his trials.  If they do that, I’ll guarantee his lawyers will then stop the delaying tactics.  Time to return to the rule of law.  Jail him. NOW.

I start off hating this argument that I am about to make. You hear people say that this election is the most important in our nation’s history. Of course, that’s always true until the next one. Hyperbole doesn’t do anyone any good. It conjures up images of a Shepard boy clearing his throat about some wolf he may have seen.

However, it is impossible to ignore the rhetoric. The GOP nominee for president of the United States is predicting a bloodbath if he loses. We can try as hard as we can to normalize this. He is just a raving lunatic. He is just joking. He is speaking figuratively and nothing he says is to be taken seriously. He really didn’t say it and if he said he didn’t really mean it. Even if he did mean it who cares?

We’ve seen this all before and we saw January 6th. Whether or not he is really serious doesn’t even matter at this point. He’s activated hundreds if not thousands of people to not only believe the words he is saying, but also do something about it. This is nut crunching time folks. If we want to keep democracy around we have to defeat this man and defeat him soundly.

In the backdrop we have the burgeoning presidential runs or RFK Jr., Cornel West, and whatever No Labels wants to throw up there. We should talk for a minute about what third party candidates are there to do. Usually they are there because there is dissatisfaction with the two major parties. It can come down to the platforms or the candidates themselves.

In this case, you have two old men that weren’t particularly popular last time that are running again. Very few people wanted this matchup again. Yet, here we are. However, we need to be very clear about what third party candidates do. They don’t win. They’ve never won and they likely never will win. They do two things. They syphon votes from one or both of the major parties and they get at least one of the major parties to adopt some of their policy planks.

RFK is known for two things. He’s a Kennedy and he’s anti=vax. Maybe Trump adapts the second plank but RFK isn’t likely to siphon votes from Trump. Biden is not adopting an anti-vax stance anytime soon. West doesn’t have any major policy initiatives that we know of. His is more of a protest run based on dissatisfaction with the two major parties.

Under normal circumstances that would be fine. Yet, that is calling for us to normalize Trump. We can’t. We shouldn’t. The press has been carrying that water for over eight years probably because Trump is good for business. Outrage is good for business. It creates page views, likes, comments, and sells ad space. Yet, Trump has not been artful about where this is going. He is openly broadcasting it at this point.

Maybe he is playing ten dimensional chess. Maybe he has done a thorough analysis of the electorate and the press environment and determined that this is the best way to position himself to gain power. Maybe he is just a damn lucky fool that stumbled into this because no one wants to be the bad guy and tell him no. That dirty job goes to the American people.

We start with Kennedy, West, and No Labels. I don’t know what you think you are doing. Maybe you think you are representing a portion of the electorate that is dissatisfied with the choices they have. Maybe you think you are raising issues neither major party is raising. Maybe you are a bought and sold stooge for the Russians or Trump himself. Whether your motives be pure or sinister (or somewhere in between) it doesn’t matter. You need to bow out and you need to bow out now. Let that son of a bitch be dead and buried and then you can tilt at your windmills.

The GOP is dead. If you think that’s hyperbole or you think I am making that up we should heed the words of Donald Trump Jr. Obviously the name still exists. People will carry the title in the halls of Congress, state legislatures, school boards, and city councils. Still, make no mistake. It is very much dead.

Listen long enough to the kid’s thoughts you get the idea that they think this is a good thing. In addition to the takeover of the RNC, there have been whispers that he wants to drive all non-MAGA Republicans out of the party. I’m not sure what that makes the Republican party because the platform has become the man. I’m not exactly certain what that means because he doesn’t know what it means.

This is not really new ground, but should be the backdrop of where we should go from here. Yes, he absolutely needs to be defeated and possibly thrown in jail. I say possibly because I just don’t see it happening. Some people have the knack for avoiding responsibility. Maybe everything catches up with him if he loses in November.

The question is what to do after that. What have we learned? Can the GOP be rebuilt or will a new center-right party emerge in its ashes? Either way, all of us should reckon with how an evil and unfit man could advance that far in American politics. Sure, Democrats can call this a Republican problem but it is really an American one. If a similar charismatic leader that promised victory and power emerged on the left could the Democrats resist them if he or she were unfit?

We must contend with a few inconvenient facts. The main one is that the last eight or nine years has made us collectively worse. There can be no denying this. We have become a more hateful people. Whether we hate him or the people that he hates, we are a more hateful people. A large part of this is owning our own role in this cycle of hate.

I see it on social media as I offer my opinion on my public wall and see it devolve into a pissing match between liberals and conservatives. I am either wittingly or unwittingly egging this on by commenting in the first place. Even though my words haven’t been hateful, a small part of me responds in glee when I see my friends roast someone I don’t agree with.

Are they really horrible people or do we just have a difference of opinion? The answer is not so simple. I think the words, deeds, and aura of this man has brought the worst out in people. Those feelings were always there. Those opinions were always there. He just made it okay. People that do and say horrible things are at least on the road to being horrible . There is always redemption and there is always forgiveness, but we also have to be very honest about what we are dealing with.

Yet, there are also folks that are good and decent people that simply hold conservative viewpoints. There are good and decent people that hold liberal or progressive viewpoints. The way through the fog is identifying the difference. Can we identify decency in those we disagree with? In some cases that decency simply is not there. We cannot allow indecent people anywhere near leadership. It is not fair to say that conservative people are all indecent, but it seems like a majority of indecent people are conservative. It will take all of us to get this ship back in order. We have to realize that decency is more important than party.

As we expected, Judge McAfee, the judge overseeing the Georgia Racketeering case, ruled today that the romantic relationship between DA Fani Willis and her chief prosecutor Nathan Wade did not avoid the appearance of conflict while not technically violating the law.  He gave her the choice that either she or Wade had to go.  He talked extensively about Willis’ poor judgement in a case this important and her unprofessional behavior during testimony.  Wade resigned a few hours later.  Legal experts are saying that this debacle almost assures that the case will unlikely go to trial before the election.

As I said before, this is 100% Willis’ fault.  What she did was stupid, but exceptionally stupid when she was going after a former president of the US.  The carelessness is breathtaking.  In another slow moving disaster, the NY hush money case was delayed today for at least 30 days because, after a YEAR of waiting, the SDNY US attorney’s office dumped 150,000 pages of evidence that DA Bragg had requested.  TFG’s lawyer asked for a 90 day delay but the judge delayed for 30, but that will surely be appealed.

So, with a big assist from the Trump-Thomas SCOTUS when they rewrote the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, it looks like TFG’s going to win by running out the clock.  Add that to TFG’s handpicked judge in Florida slow walking the documents case and that’s almost a certainty.  What’s infuriating is that Garland, the NY DA, and Fani Willis dragged their feet so long that we’re now up against the election and it’s almost certain that no trial, much less a verdict, will happen before the election.  Garland sat on his ass for almost two years before he was shamed into prosecuting Trump only after the Select Committee on January 6th produced a warehouse full of damning evidence of insurrection.  He also KNEW TFG was sitting on thousands of government documents, 800 of which were classified TOP SECRET, but waited 21 months to finally do something.  Because of that negligence and the stupidity on Willis’ part, we’re not going to get any justice before Election Day.

There’s a good chance TFG’s going to win the election, and if he does, the documents case and the election interference cases will certainly be dropped by his new AG.  The NY hush money case and Georgia case will continue, but prosecuting a sitting president will be almost impossible, and the Trump-Thomas SCOTUS will make sure nothing happens.  Fani Willis will probably lose her re-election bid and the new DA could just drop the Georgia case. But those aren’t the biggest problems – the biggest problem is that TFG will gut the DOJ and FBI, pardon the almost 1,000 charged or convicted insurrectionists, and undo all the progress we’ve made while Biden has been in office.   He’ll pack the WH and his cabinet with criminals, white supremacists, and authoritarians, and it could easily be game over for the US as we know it.  If by chance he loses the election, he most certainly won’t accept it and will call for civil war.  There’s no good result here, and you can thank the Trump-Thomas Court, Merrick Garland, and Fani Willis.  Thanks for nothing.

TFG just can’t help himself.  Tonight he lashed out on Truth Social at Jimmy Kimmel who was hosting the Oscars on ABC.  In part he said,

“Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars. His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be…Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos.  He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous.  Also a really bad politically correct show tonight, and for years – Disjointed, boring, and very unfair.  Why don’t they just give the Oscars to those that deserve them. Maybe that way their audience and TV ratings will come back from the depths. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Kimmel read it live on the air asking the audience if they could guess which former president had posted it, then responded:

“I’m surprised you’re watching; isn’t it past your jail time?”

Best comeback ever.

At long last, the fake gold plated billionaire facade is falling down around TFG’s ears.  Longstanding watchers have known that he’s always been full of hot air, not money, and had it not been for Fred Trump’s fortune and Russian money, TFG would have fallen by the wayside years ago.  Because they are well known, I won’t list all of his failures, but he’s lost banks and investors billions over the years, has been a pariah in New York for 40 years and only pulled himself from the brink with a successful “reality” television show and selling real estate to Russian oligarchs.

He used the presidency of the US as a cash cow, raking in millions at his hotel in a US government owned building in DC , overcharging government agencies for hotel charges, and making millions from foreign countries who laundered money through his resorts and buildings.  All of that, though, didn’t actually build any long term wealth for TFG because he really only owns a fraction of his properties with investors and massive debt.  Because of his terrible reputation and disastrous presidency, even his licensing deals have dried up.  Even with all that foreign money, his resorts lose millions every year and the musical chairs game is coming to an end.  He now owes massive financial penalties for sexual assault, massive financial fraud, and defamation that he’s still committing, and the tab is now well over half a billion dollars.  He’s admitted in official court papers that he doesn’t have the money to pay.

So, TFG is for sale. The purchase price is only reachable by the billionaire class consisting of guys like Musk, Bezos, and a handful of others, and on Sunday he met with Musk in Palm Beach.  Even after his $44 billion fiasco with Twitter, Musk is still estimated to be worth over $200 billion, and Bezos is more.  I’m not convinced that Musk is buying because much of his fortune is in SpaceX and Tesla stock, but there’s also this other little detail that SpaceX is significantly dependent on the US government for a good chunk of its revenue even though they don’t disclose the amounts.  So, if Musk purchases TFG and he loses the election, he would be hundreds of millions in the hole and have a pissed off Biden to deal with.  I don’t believe Bezos is a buyer.  It’s just not his style.  So, what if a Russian oligarch purchases him?  There’s not a lot we can do, especially since the Thomas Trump SCOTUS has pretty much unwound any meaningful campaign finance laws.  As well, it’s unclear if there are any state or federal requirements for Trump to disclose where he got the money to pay off his debts except for IRS regulations and if he’s president, that doesn’t mean anything.

So picture this – there’s a really good chance that we could have a president that has been bought and paid for by an oligarch who will remain unidentified; the DOJ will quickly drop all federal charges against him.  That leaves the NY hush money case and the Georgia RICO case which Fani Willis has almost singlehandedly fucked up for all of us with her love life. On the same day of his inauguration, he’ll immediately begin disassembling the US government as we know it through Project 2025 and re-forming it for his own benefit which includes consolidating power to the Oval Office and turning the DOJ into a weapon to prosecute political enemies like Joe Biden, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, and may others.

How’s that picture look?  So, sleep well tonight, dear readers, as the rest of 2024 could be the end of the US as we know it if Americans don’t get off their ass and take responsibility for themselves.