Donald Trump continues to lie to the American people about the imminent passage of a new Obamacare repeal and replace bill. Ultra Conservative George Will explains why it will not happen and the reason will shock many. George Will spoke an inconvenient truth to the Trump voter George Will realized that America's health care reality means…
Don't count on Trump's sprawling federal indictment for removing and compromising highly classified information to turn the tide on Republican support, warned reporter James Risen for The Intercept on Friday — as he is essentially a "cult leader" and his followers are in a "fever dream" of loyalty and grievance.
"The Republican Party has devolved into a cult of personality, where every new piece of evidence of their leader’s criminality becomes another reason for his followers to defend him," wrote Risen. "Donald Trump has now been indicted twice in just over two months, in separate cases involving accusations of unrelated crimes. Both times, Republicans have rallied around him. The group of whiners and weaklings who are running against Trump for next year’s Republican presidential nomination are so intimidated by his hold on the party’s base that they are afraid to publicly tell the truth, which is that Trump is a thug who should be in prison instead of the White House."
The problem for Republicans, continued Risen, is that this isn't even where it is likely to end — more indictments could be coming.
"Trump faces the very real possibility that he will be indicted at least two more times this year, in cases related to his efforts to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election," wrote Risen. "In Georgia, he could be charged later this summer for his efforts to change the outcome of the presidential election in the state, which Joe Biden won. A separate federal investigation is underway into Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and his broader efforts to overturn the presidential election."
And criminal charges aren't the only concern, either; Trump is also facing a civil fraud case against his family and company by New York State, which they are are attempting to stonewall. And all of this overlooks all the legal matters in Trump's rearview mirror, like his double impeachment and the Mueller Report.
"Will four criminal indictments, a wide-ranging civil fraud case, a civil sexual abuse and defamation verdict, two impeachments, a stalled obstruction of justice case, and 30,573 lies be enough to wake up Republicans?" wrote Risen. "During the early days of his 2016 presidential campaign, after he began to attract huge crowds of zealous supporters, Trump famously said that 'I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.' He is currently testing that theory. So far, the Republican Party is proving him right."
A former cabinet official who served in the Trump administration said Friday that the indictment against his former boss isn’t politically motivated, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Mark Esper, who served as Secretary of Defense under Trump, expressed his view about the 37-count indictment Trump is facing in connection with the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago while speaking before business and political leaders in downtown Salt Lake City, the report said.
“I think some of the investigations have been politically tinged against him. This one, I don’t think so,” Esper said.
Esper said the allegations against Trump are “serious.”
“It was clear he had classified documents. I know what’s important about handling classified documents. This is serious. If you were a young soldier, sailor, or airman and had classified documents at your home, you’d be court-martialed. You could see jail time.”
Esper did not say whether he believes his former boss broke the law.
“There are two basic principles. Nobody is above the law, and everybody is innocent until proven guilty,” Esper said.
Trump appointed Esper Acting Secretary of Defense June 19, 2019, and the Senate confirmed him to the post July 23 of that year. Trump fired Esper Nov. 8, 2020 in a tweet.
Esper on Friday issued a call for unity among growing hyperpartisanship.
“The wings of the two parties are pushing the reasonable middle around. We get trapped in these partisan fights. We get trapped in the name-calling,” Esper said.
“We have an enormous debt of $32 trillion. The interest on that debt we pay every year is about $500 billion. The defense budget is $800 billion. We have to fix our debt problem, but we’ll never get to that until we solve our partisan differences.”
Former President Donald Trump's associates were initially hopeful that his being indicted in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case would be a good thing for him, by giving him a boost to his fundraising and polling — but they were horrified when they actually got a look at the indictment and realized he was on the hook for 37 charges including Espionage Act offenses and obstruction, reported Kristen Holmes on CNN Friday.
"What are you learning about the mood in Trump World tonight, now that they know he's been indicted, now that they've had a very riveting read and a very damning read in this indictment?" asked anchor Erin Burnett.
"We spent the day talking about Trump's orbit," said Holmes, adding that "there was a shift in the mood in Trump World."
"As we reported last night, some of these Trump advisers were feeling really bullish," said Holmes. "They were talking about how good this was going to be politically. I had one person tell me that they were happy that the indictment came before the fourth quarter was over because they were looking for a fundraising boost like they saw after that Manhattan indictment. Today it seemed to shift a little bit. Even this morning Trump played golf with a representative. Allies were calling Trump World trying to shore up support for the president. Once the charges were revealed, it took a shift once people started weighing what was in the document. It went from being political to legal. The legal implications of these charges. What is this going to mean? What is a trial actually going to look like? As you noted, how is this going to affect the election?"
"I had talked to a number of advisers who said, yes, this might help him win the GOP nomination," continued Holmes. "There is no doubt this will rile up the base. However, what is this going to do for a general election? It seems as though it wasn't a small handful of advisers I had spoken to, that a larger group that this perspective was starting to sink in. As we talk about the shifting view, looking at the legal aspect. As you noted, this is a day when Trump is rebuilding his entire legal team. He has two top lawyers who have resigned and he is looking at Miami-based lawyers right now. We know he is scouting that out."
"I have been talking to a couple of sources down in Florida who have heard about calls being made," Holmes added. "Something to keep an eye on. They are taking this seriously, and it really does seem as though the gravity has sunk in of the charges."
Kristen Holmes says Trump allies thought indictment would help him until they saw itwww.youtube.com
Copyright © 2023 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | Manage Preferences
For corrections contact corrections@rawstory.com, for support contact support@rawstory.com.
