Tom Rinaldo
Tom Rinaldo's JournalLet's be clear. Trump claims he declassified documents that can identify U.S. intelligence sources
That's what it means if one accepts that Trump actually had a "standing order" to automatically declassify materials that he took to his residence. Top Secret Documents with a classification status that establishes that Human resources secrets are contained were recovered from Mar-o- Largo. Trump has never disputed that fact. Should that type of information ever be copied and then sold to U.S. adversaries by Trump employees who have access to his bedroom, office, or storage facilities, let alone by Trump himself, people will be or have already have been, executed This is true whether or not one accepts that those documents are somehow now "Declassified" and legal for Trump to possess in his home.
Furthermore, there is no legal way to temporally declassify, or narrowly declassify for certain eyes only, anything. If Trump legally declassified those documents they are declassified, period. Any media outlet can legally obtain them. Any individual can post them on the internet. In fact the Federal government would be legally required to provide those documents if a F.O.I.A. request is filed. Nowhere does Trump dispute that fact whenever he makes his assertion that all of the documents that were in his possession were declassified. He has never released any copy of his so called "standing order." If he bases his so called authority to unilaterally declassify anything on the U.S. Constitution there clearly is no provision for an Ex-President to "reclassify" anything once it has been declassified.
Conclusion: Either Trump was illegally in private possession of some of our nation's closest guarded secrets OR he released some of our nation's closed guarded secrets into the public domain so that he could legally possess them. There is no other option. His so called legal defense that nothing found at Mar-a-Logo now remains classified is in fact far more monstrous than simply claiming that he somehow thought it was OK for him to take them from the White House.
Trump can't "Win" through violence, only (potentially) through threats of it
The threat of triggering off civil unrest in the event that Trump is indicted is not an empty threat, but activating it would have the result of sealing Trump's political and legal fate, in the most negative way. Trump can not win anything through large scale violence, not an abandonment of any charges against him, not continued influence in the Republican or any other major political party, not another term in office. He can only lose. In some ways his (and his Republican allies) barely veiled threat of large scale civil unrest should authorities against him is similar to Putin's threat of unleashing nuclear war should the West move forcefully against Russia's imperialist war against Ukraine. The threat is only effective as a threat to intimidate those who would move forcefully against him. No one has more to lose from the actual use of nuclear weapons than Putin. He would not emerge stronger because of it. He would not emerge, period.
So it is with Trump and his threats of wide spread violence. Trump currently does not enjoy the support of anything approaching a majority of Americans. Neither did Hitler by the way when authorities in Germany facilitated his formal rise to power there, though they did not accurately foresee the consequences of doing so at the time. Had Hitler moved prematurely to violently seize power he would have been crushed. If Trump attempts to impose his will on the American systems of Justice and politics via large scale civil unrest, he will galvanize far greater public opposition to him, and those who support him, than already exists now. Blood would almost certainly be shed, but the outcome would not be in doubt. Trump would lose all, but he has nothing to lose by threatening violence should any moves be made against him . He can only win through intimidation what he could never win through actual conflict
The threat of violence is increasingly becoming the only remaining card Trump has to play. He has been preparing the basis for that threat ever since he first declared his candidacy for president. To intimidate, a threat must be credible, and Trump has gone to great length to make his threat credible. Yes he has the power to deliver violence onto America, but nothing that America as we know it can not and will not survive. What America as we know it can not survive is a capitulation to Trump's threats. If we give in to Trump's threats our democracy will not survive. If we don't it is Trump who will not survive.
I would be interested to see Trumpers asked to explain what Hillary should have been locked up for
Not on some twitter thread where anonymous crazy responses are par for the course, but during those one on one interviews with voters that the media loves to broadcast during political reporting.You know, the type where the reporter acts like "a good listener" to draw out a voter's views. I would love to see some reporters actually personally engage Trump voters on this. Ask them did they ever attend or see videos of Trump rallies where people chanted "Lock her up!" Then ask them what was the actual crime that Hillary supposedly committed that justified her imprisonment. Literally ask them to explain it.
It's not what Trump can finally do to break the spell he has over his cult. It's what we can do.
This was supposed to be a Red Wave election. An off year cycle with a new Democratic president and Democratic congressional majorities. The opposition party is supposed to do well. History says the Republicans are supposed to rack up big victories nationwide this year. More important, that's what the Republicans themselves said, along with the entire spectrum of the media, right to left. Add to that a level of inflation that hasn't been seen in generations, and the fact that Biden's approval numbers remain solidly negative. Until recently Republicans were confidently expecting to retake the House and Senate. Even now they still fully expect to retake the House and still hold out hope for the Senate.
The entire nation was conditioned to expect big Republican victories. If Democrats win instead, especially if we do so soundly, Trump's "so much winning mystique" will be trashed. Not among the hard core of his hard core, true, but Republicans can't govern by commanding the loyalty of the hard pit of that rotten fruit alone.
Women turning out to vote in record off year election numbers, spurred on by the fight for reproductive freedom; youth turning out to vote in record off year election numbers, spurred on by the knowledge that only Democrats are willing to fight against catastrophic climate change; voters of all ideological stripes who revere the institutions of our democracy who fear that they are hanging by a thread, collectively we all hold the power to drive a stake through the heart of Trumpism. And nothing else does.
Even if Trump somehow legally declassified those documents before leaving office...
...which is highly dubious, and impossible for him to have done alone with some secret classifications, all that gives Trump at most is a possible defense against criminal charges. HE STILL RECKLESSLY ENDANGERED NATIONAL SECURITY by declassifying materials that by any sane measure needed to be kept secret. And for what purpose? It's not like he was trying to be a whistleblower for the public good. He didn't declassify and release anything. He was hoarding state secrets in his home, whether or not it was technicality legal for him to do so. WTF?!? And Republicans in Congress seriously argue that is defensible, outside of the most narrow legal interpretation???
It's not like Trump did it by mistake. He's had that stuff in his home for a year and a half while the National Archives begged, pleaded, then demanded, and finally moved to seize them from him when all else failed. Even if a good lawyer can somehow keep Trump out of jail, how can anyone now argue that he deserves another term in office?
No "conspiracy theory" about what Trump has been up to with our enemies seems implausible now
The more malevolent the motives and behavior that can be attributed to Trump, the more likely it seems that it is true. The fact that my imagination about Trump's evil intentions can't keep pace with new revelations about his ongoing plots is truly terrifying for our nation; I thought I had a pretty good imagination.
This man was President of the United States two years ago. He might be again (though I doubt it.) I was around for Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush. I thought each of them, for different reasons and to different degrees, presented a threat to our Democracy. Not in the same dimension. Not in the same universe. They were garden snakes at worst relative to Trump's King Cobra. The fight is on to save democracy. Nothing is preordained, but I think we are winning.
Somehow I think threatening the lives of FBI agents won't play out well for those who do
There is nothing quite like crazies threatening violence against you to get the attention of the most powerful law enforcement organization in the country. There are always dozens of matters competing for the attention of the FBI. Countering conspiracies to attack the FBI is just one of those things that seems likely to rise to the top of the to do list of a lot of FBI agents who might tend to take it personally. And they won't be waiting for folks to come knocking on their doors.
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