Supreme Court to Rule on Trump's Immunity Claim

 Now that the Supreme Court has, intentionally or inadvertently, aligned with those seeking to delay the trial of Donald Trump, on charges stemming from the January 6th insurrection,  until after the election, it is time to consider other potential consequences.

If Trump wins the election he will either direct his attorney-general to dismiss the case or attempt to pardon himself. Should Trump adopt the first alternative, I believe the judge before whom the case is pending has the authority, indeed, the duty to reject such a result as contrary to the public interest. Rule 48 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that a pending criminal case may be dismissed by the prosecutor “ on leave of the court “. Case law makes it clear that the judge should deny such a motion if dismissing the case would be unjust or is not in the public interest. Clearly, a self-directed dismissal of the charges against Trump would be a manifest injustice.
Whether Trump can pardon himself raises legal issues which remain to be resolved. Can we be confident that this Supreme Court will not sanction such an undemocratic exercise of self-interest?

The Political Failure of Bidenomics

 Democrats, David Brooks tells us, have lost their hold on the non-college educated working class despite the economic gains made by that group under President Biden’s favorable programs. The reasons he offers for this defection is a sense of non-recognition and adverse moral judgments by college educated elites who regard the less-educated as socially backward.  Those without college degrees are more likely to be engaged with “ flag, family and faith “ than their better educated counterparts who tend to be progressive and concerned with social issues.So the cause of the political realignment is cultural not economic.

The troubling conclusion to be drawn from this analysis is that religion is failing in its fundamental mission to promote love, tolerance and morality. How, otherwise, can persons of greater faith be embracing politicians who demonstrate daily that they have no regard for truth, empathy or human decency.

Trump's Sneakers

 Donald Trump has had many personae; founder of a fake university, purveyor of putrid steaks, false foundation head, failed casino owner, sexual assailant and racist landlord to name a few. He is, at bottom, a classic con man, a modern-day snake oil salesman. His latest flimflam, a day after being pilloried in a New York court case for misrepresentations of mega proportion, he has launched a sale of Trump sneakers for $399 per pair. It will not be surprising if his hypnotized horde of followers continue to shell out hard earned bucks to this Pied Piper of predatory practices.

The Cure for What Ails Our Democracy

 

 David Brooks argues that the solution for the political dysfunction that currently plagues our society is for the citizenry to embrace pluralism by balancing goals that are competing or in tension and, thus, arrive at compromises which advance the greater good. Mr. Brooks’ essay is erudite and thoughtful but, at least in one respect, oversimplifies the problem. Mr. Brooks declares that we are not engaged in a struggle of good versus evil, unlike World War II and the Civil War, but rather in a conflict between liberal values and Trumpian populism and that each view has legitimate concerns. If that was an accurate description of the situation a solution could be achieved. Unfortunately, there is a significant proportion of the American population that has been infected by the contagion of hate spread by Donald Trump. That faction, like Mr. Trump, is driven by racial, religious , sexist and gender intolerance and is not open to compromise or accommodation. In that respect, we are engaged in a war of good versus evil and, heaven help the nation, there does not seem to be a reasonable remedy.

Classified Documents Report

 

Shamefully, Special Counsel Robert Hur has put a political cast on his report finding that criminal charges against President Biden are not warranted for his mishandling of classified documents. Taking a page from one of his predecessors, Kenneth Starr, who gratuitously included salacious details of President Bill Clinton’s conduct in his report on an unrelated matter, Special Counsel Hur handed Donald Trump political fodder by describing President Biden as an old man with memory problems. That comment, though arguably relevant to his decision not to recommend criminal prosecution, was of minuscule significance compared to the other circumstances which compelled his conclusion not to bring criminal charges. Surely, Mr. Hur knew that the political consequences of including that description of the president far outweighed its legal relevance and is likely to impact the coming election.

Border War At The Supreme Court

 Even as Donald Trump’s tyrannical agenda threatens the foundation of our democracy, the conservative, more accurately the radical majority of the Supreme Court is mounting an equally destructive assault on our basic form of government.

The United States, for centuries, has been the world’s exemplar of a democratic republic insured by a written constitution. Though comprised of individual states, the nation functions as a cohesive whole by application of the doctrine of federalism which makes the Constitution and the laws passed by Congress the supreme law of the land.
Now, the majority of Supreme Court justices seem poised to discard that time tested  and historically honored form of government and, instead, empower individual states to choose their own course, unencumbered by constitutional restraints and in defiance of federal law. If those justices achieve that end, the nation will disintegrate into 50 disparate and alienated jurisdictions, individual liberties will be left to the mercy of hostile local majorities and the dream of America will dissolve in chaos.