I predict Trump will be found guilty. Someone from the NY AGs office will make a statement on the steps of the courthouse.
Jury Finds Donald Trump Guilty In E Jean Carroll Defamation Case May 10, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBSyT3ebB88
Then, instead of talking about the win for the rule of law, the focus of ALL the coverage in the mainstream media will be on the appeal.
The legal experts will explain all the ways the ruling can be overturned and how an appeal can take years. The political experts will wonder if this will hurt Trump’s chances of being elected President. There will be a New York Times poll that asks if “Do you believe the conviction is legitimate?”
Trump’s GOP sycophant’s will question the integrity of the “95% Democrat jury” and wonder “who was on that jury?” New attacks on Judge Merchan and his daughter will happen, then right before sentencing time there will be ANOTHER SWATTING attempt at someone’s home.
It’s easy to predict this, because we’ve seen this before. It is all part of Trump & the RW’s long term plan to make the left feel demoralized, even following a success.
Even a successful guilty verdict won’t feel satisfying to us because of this plan. What is fascinating is that the other part of the plan is to make the right feel enraged by the left’s success. They aren’t told to “vote harder.” They are told to go and DO SOMETHING. Preferably with violence.
You know that feeling you get with Trump that even when we WIN, it’s not a win? That’s intentional. It’s part of their story about Trump. Teflon Don. What is OUR story about him? Who promotes it? Who repeats if over and over? Doea anyone go into the fever swamps of RW social media and question their view of him? Would it matter? Who challenges RW spokespeople in situations in their bubble? Outside of their bubble? Would it make a difference? Who exposes their fear of being killed by the MAGA base?
Who is helping OUR side tell our story? Are they using the same psyops techniques against the right that are used on the left? Do they use social media tools? Bots?
I’m looking forward to Annalee’s Newitz new book “Stories Are Weapons. Psychological Warfare and the American Mind about how psyops works on the American public. I have a lot of questions for HER, some about how to fight the right, but also about what can be done to help the left.
One of the things that I think needs to happen is someone needs to help the DOJ with their PR. They are terrible at PR. Even when they win, they don’t promote their successes.
Did you know that a Texas man, Frederick Francis Goltz, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years for threatening to kill Katie Hobbs, who was then the Secretary of State of Arizona?
This image provided by the Lubbock County Detention Center shows Frederick Francis Goltz, 52, of Lubbock, Texas. Goltz, who advocated for a mass shooting of poll workers and threatened two Arizona officials and their children, has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison, prosecutors said Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (Lubbock County Detention Center via AP)
No? That’s because the DOJ is terrible at PR. They don’t see it as their job to make a big deal of their victories. They put out a press release, have a boring press conference with no great visuals and NOT EVEN A PHOTO OF THE PERSON CONVICTED! Someone needs to do it for them.
The Biden admiration won’t, to talk about the success of the DOJ would make the RW scream, “SEE! SEE? We TOLD YOU! Biden is behind the DOJ prosecutions of his political opponents!”
The Dems are afraid to even acknowledging the justice system works when if holds someone on the right accountable for violating the law. I can’t see them going on TV and talking up why it’s good that the law is holding law breakers, who happen to be Republican politicians, accountable.
To compare, the GOP attacks the justice system, the process, AND the people in the process.
How could this look different? One model for victory is how E. Jean Carroll AND HER LAWYERS talked about her 1st success. But that wasn’t enough, since Trump instantly defamed her again. They prepared for the attack and won again. The story OF her 2nd success was good, they got to talk about the win again. But they still AREN’T done because, the right says “Yeah, but he’s appealing, good luck getting him to pay…”
E. Jean Carroll wins again! ABC screen grab
The MSM legal experts explained the issues about the appeal, the payment of the money, escrow vs bankruptcy and why she will likely collect in 2 years. But there still needs to be more proactive messaging from the winners about the case, because the RW’s PR plan is to minimize our wins at every turn.
The winners in the E. Jean Carroll case CAN go out and talk about it, they can push back on more attacks, and they have. They sued again. And won again. But it’s different when the STATE is the winner. I had a discussion about this with some friends recently, and they talked about how that it’s just not appropriate for the state, that has the power to take away people’s freedom, to make a big deal outside the courtroom.
Okay, but if THEY shouldn’t do it because of various and norms vs. are legally not supposed to do it, then who SHOULD be?
Because I think that someone should be promoting the win OUTSIDE THE Courtroom. The case against Trump needs to be fought and won in multiple venues. Media and social media are critical arenas today, and we can’t count on just wins in the courts to save us.
As of April 26, 2024 Donald Trump hasn’t stopped violating his Judge Merchan gag order. Until the punishments are strong enough to make him stop, we need to take steps to stop and punish his followers, who make threats on his behalf.
Marcy Wheeler was on the Nicole Sandler show last week talking about Donald Trump’s systematic threatening of his critics and how normalized political violence is for anybody who comes up against Donald Trump. I’ve written about, and asked a lot of questions about, how threats online and social media have an impact and what can be done about them. It was great to hear from Marcy the scope of the problem, how it involves the legal system, the media, social media and gave some names of major players who make threats on social media and get away with it.
“There is nobody who is on the wrong side of Donald Trump who is not stalked, who does not face mob violence, and it is systematic. There’s a group of these people, Jesse Watters, we talked about. Jack Posobiec is always involved. Mike Cernovich is always involved. These people in Roger Stone’s world. They . . . → Read More: When Trump jurors are stalked & threatened by MAGAts, who arrests them?
Jena Griswold, the Colorado Secretary of State was on Chris Hayes talking about the threats she got and revealed that there was a 600% increase in threats to her and staff. 600% WTF?
That day, she received an email declaring: “We are coming for you bitch.” Another person emailed, “If you have kids, I hope they get murdered by illegal aliens,” adding, “Seriously, just die.”
In a voicemail, someone said, “I can’t wait to find you and follow you to your house and expose your address.” Another person left a voicemail saying, “I’d love for you to die.” Some time this month, a person told Griswold on social media, “Take my advice and wear Kevlar … a lot of Kevlar!!!”
‘Just Die’: Colorado Elections Chief Who Took on Trump Sees 600% Spike in Threats, By Andrew Perez, Adam Rawnsley, Ryan Bort, Asawin Suebsaeng March 28, 2024
On these cable news segments we often hear some specific threats, but unless someone counts all the threats, and then tells the media about them, we never know just how huge the problem is. And if we don’t know how huge the problem is, we also don’t know how terrible the response to the . . . → Read More: A 600% increase in threats! Hey DOJ, where are the arrests?
Two of Trump’s worst nightmares are happening right now, he’s broke and people are laughing at him.It’s glorious! I’m enjoying these 24 hours of knowing he’s squirming. In this clip you can see how Eric Trump is personally experiencing his Dad’s humiliation at the hands of bankers and bond companies.Eric Trump Sunday interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo
“When I came to them saying, ‘Hey, can I get a 1/2 billion dollar bond?’ Maria they were laughing!”
-Eric Trump to Maria Bartiromo on Fox 3-24-2024
It’s interesting that Eric is doing this. Why not Daddy? Because they know Donald always get revenge against people who laugh at him and don’t do what he wants. On Monday there will be some story about how Trump leveraged the recent IPO to get the money for a bond. Or he’ll file for a Double Secret Special Extension that will kick the can down the road 30 days. Or, he’ll get the money from “outside the US” (I noted that Eric used that phrase intentionally twice, he’s setting it up for a “We had to go outside the US because no one would do it in the US!” We’ll . . . → Read More: They’re all laughing at you Trump!
Did you know that Judge Scott McAfee delayed his written order on Willis and Wade for a week because he had been receiving threats? He needed time for proper security to be in place for him and his family. The ONLY source that I found who mentioned this was Kyle Griffin at MSNBC.
This really PISSES ME OFF. I try to be all logical about the reasons the threats keep working and point to solutions, but I’m really sick and tired of the BS excuses by law enforcement when it comes to dealing with threats from the MAGA base to the judges, prosecutors, witnesses, jurors AND THEIR FAMILIES, in Donald Trump’s legal cases.
I’m a fast talker but slow writer so I dictated my thoughts to Otter.AI (a service I use to transcribe videos). It has a feature to summarize what you said and provide action items. It worked surprisingly well!
Spocko is frustrated with the lack of action taken by law enforcement to address threats made against judges and their families. He argues that local law enforcement should have anticipated and prepared for these threats, but their failure to do so is driving him ‘nuts.’
I just read Barb McQuade’s new book. Attack from Within. How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. I had planned to go see her in person at the Commonwealth Club and ask her some questions, but it was sold out, plus I knew what would happen, the first person at the mic would say, “I don’t have a question so much as a 3 part comment ” and talk for 5 minutes.” (I’m guilty of that myself, I even used that phrasing as a joke line with my friend Cory Doctorow and Annalee Newitz at his book reading for Red Team Blues. )My goal when asking book authors questions is to help them amplify the parts I see as important in a memorable way. Especially for an audience that needs to hear it, but will likely never read the book.So when I heard Barb was going to be on the Nicole Sandler show I wrote Nicole and said, “I think the most important point Barb makes in the book is that with social media our old metaphors of speech & debate are out of date and they are being used against us. Please get Barb to repeat this, with examples! . . . → Read More: Americans old metaphors about free speech & debate don’t work with social media. But we still cling to them says Barb McQuade
This court has proven with its actions—through one politically motivated decision after another—that it is unfit to wield the power that it does.”
The Supreme Court Must Be Stopped, Elie Mystal in the Nation. March 1, 2024
I agree with Elie. So what do we do? I’m an activist and I know that there are multiple steps to make something happen. Elie has thoughts about changing how we in the public perceive the court. Elie said, “The first step toward stopping the Supreme Court’s political actions is to treat the justices as political actors and subject them to all of the scrutiny, pressure, and protest normal political actors face every day. ” I like the way my friend Lisa Graves referred to them on the Nicole Sandler show “Politicians in robes.”
How we treat politicians in American is very different than how we treat Supreme Court Justices. We questions them, we have processes for getting rid of them when they do a bad job. Part of our perception comes from how the media treat them. That needs to change. When our perception of the court changes, so should our response to them. I LOVE the work that has . . . → Read More: How do we stop the Supreme Court?
Jamison Foser wrote an excellent piece about how the media disconnects the threat of violence from Trump and his supporters from the 14th Amendment court case. I read that and my first thought was, “Yes!” Then, “What can I do?” Followed by, “Do I have to write about it again? My brain gets tired just thinking about this! Where’s my Sodastream diet cola?” Some thoughts one liter later:1) The media doesn’t want to say it, but the threats from Donald Trump needed to be stopped years ago. Now to stop him it will involve putting him in pre-trial detention, with no direct access to social media, as the law provides.
2) Law enforcement doesn’t want to say it, but it takes too much time, money and human resources to find and arrest people making threats. So they just say, “It’s “protected” political speech and don’t charge anyone. 3) Legislators don’t want to pass laws that would appear to be targeting conservatives. Even suggesting it sends them into gaslighting hissy fits. “They want to send the FBI after me just because of a difference of opinion!” 4) Social Media companies don’t want to enforce their own Terms of Service . . . → Read More: What will it take to stop the threats of violence?
The White Nationalist group Patriot Front was confused by the turnstiles at NYC’s World Trade Center PATH station. It reminded me of this classic turnstile scene with Slim Pickens in Blazing Saddles.
But seriously folks, who is the Patriot Front and how can they be defeated once they figure out how to use turnstiles? In June I talked to Matt Binder on the Doomed podcast about Patriot Front, the Neo-Nazis group seen in this clip. They wear the same hats, khakis and gatherers on their faces when they go to Pride events, Juneteenth parades and other events.
The Patriot Front may appear dumb here, but they are very clever at avoiding being prosecuted for their use of threats online and in person. One organization that figured out how to fight them is the called Task Force Butler Institute. Their tag line: Veterans Fighting Fascism
From the Task Force Butler website under What We Do
Hold Extremists Accountable
For far too long neo-nazi, white supremacist, and fascist organizations have been able to terrorize vulnerable Americans and erode our democracy without paying a price.
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