An interesting contrast is with our neighbor to the South, Brazil. Jair Bolsonaro plotted a coup after the 2022 election, his supporters attacked the Brazilian congress and supreme court. However, immediately the attackers were rounded up by police and prosecuted. Within a year, Bolsonaro had been barred from running for office again until 2030 and he was prosecuted for several allegations of fraud in the 2022 Brazilian elections and situations linked to the January 8 attack on federal government buildings. The decision came after a 5–2 vote in favor of conviction. He is appealing.
So, what is the difference between us and Brazil? Brazil had been under brutal military dictatorship for 20 years until 1985. The people of Brazil could not afford to be complacent since there was memory of where this all led. With the exception of our African American population, we have had political security and stability since our Civil War and have a complacent population that does not understand the darkness Trump could lead us into.
Great analytical comparison. Thank you. Some see the slowness of bringing cases against the 06jan21 rioters as cowardice. Sometimes, however, I wonder if our leadership views itself as sitting on a powder-keg of possible, increasingly plausible, civil war. Now I know how President Buchanan must have felt; he handled the situation poorly, of course. The analogy here is one of feeling, not of circumstance. Our prosecutors should press ahead with their cases, a compromised Supreme Court and fifty year old opinion from the Office of Legal counsel be damned.
P.S., clan Buchanan must be celebrating Trump as he has easily supplanted their ancestor as the worst President in American history.
Of course, the other major factor here is money and access to it. In Trump's case, there have been the lobbyist and average (duped) citizen donations. It's a double standard of justice for white wealthy males.
The irony is that Trump feels he is a victim in part because he is a white wealthy male. I have listened in on the morning call-in show on C-span, 'Washington Journal', the past few days. Obviously the call-in group is not a representative sample of the larger population. Nevertheless, I am surprised by several African American Trump supporters who sympathize with Trump by viewing him as suffering a similar injustice as Blacks often do with the legal system.
As I agree with Ken's reply, too, here is another example of that contagion. Some people make superficial comparisons and just don't stop to *think*, as in critical thinking: "Wait...What?!" BTW, Jill Biden was here in Erie, PA, to give a commencement speech to community college graduates, as she had promised to do when the school was created, and it was very inspiring. The only politics she mentioned was a call by Joe Biden for more funding for such places (which Republicans have thwarted). The local Republican propaganda person totally lied about Biden and projected awful things. Republicans thrive on ignorance.
I read that as part of the sentencing process that Donald will have a mental health evaluation. I am wondering what this entails and if it will have an impact on sentencing. Also, Merchan has been so good as a judge, it is hard to imagine how he would not give Donald a significant sentence given his behavior, lack of remorse and continued aggression.
Though I would like to see Trump go to prison, Judge Merchan impresses me as being less vindictive than I; he will likely stick by the norms of sentencing for a crime like this one. Additionally, sending Trump to jail for a conviction open to appeal and deemed illegitimate by many Guns-&-Jesus (sic) types (sick), may precipitate widespread violence.
Well, when 3% of the country (i.e., 20-25 guns on average per capita, including children) owns 50% of the guns -- and, likely, most or all of the assault the assault weapons and infected by the Trump contagion -- the possibility of ungovernability would be crossing my mind.
Let it cross your mind and then flush it down the toilet! We cannot even begin to allow ourselves to be ruled by fear! Otherwise, this democracy is really over!
Yes, Ned, I don't deny that perilous possibility. However, as you have noted elsewhere, appeasement and silence merely fuels the dictatorial personality.
Thank you for that succinct and powerful psychological post-mortem on Trump’s multiple-felony New York conviction. Your unique insight into Trump’s gang leader kinship of mindset and behavioral reaction post-conviction is insightful, sobering and provocative. However, some differences do come to mind:
First, unlike a convicted gang leader, Trump commands a vast vigilante cult comprised of a political base and elected Its political party member co-conspirators of kindred, psychotic delusion willing and potentially able to wreck violent, vengeful havoc not only on those individual (mostly former) gang members who betrayed him in court but on the American judicial and political systems to in effect nullify that jury’s verdict through an extremely dangerous fascist cult movement.
Second, as you have admonished repeatedly, due to intra-psychiatric professional interference and calcified media gestalt, public apprehension of the psychological analysis of Trump and his eponymous shared psychotic contagion provided by you and fellow psychiatric professionals has been tragically and catastrophically delayed as an antidote for containing Trump’s personal lawbreaking and violent fascist threat to America’s democratic republic. Containing and taming the psychotic gang leader is often thorny enough, but how do our institutions and their operative norms contain a mass psychotic cult animated by racism, grievance and predilection for violent, subversive and treasonous behavior, etc. that has collectively doubled and tripled down on cognitive dissonance to the point of not only delegitimating institutional and Constitution authority in its own mindset but displacing objective reality with a confected alternative reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi Germany?
Of particular concern for me is how many educated people, who reasonably ought to know better, are flocking into the cognitive under-class. Like all those German intellectuals signing up for the SS.
We are in trouble. Get your passport & plans to travel ready. I distrust the voters, institutions and media. Our underbelly of fearful, angry, hate-filled, racist (many against their own ethnicity) people are ready to go the distance. Fed by propaganda, spin and lies which they rationalize. Supreme Court is involved - unreasoning, angry and power-filled. No need to reply. I'm subscribing. Have your publications. Best, be safe and well. - A.
Fascism historian and expert Timothy Snyder warns of the fascist ploy of intimidating the populace to acquiesce in advance of a takeover, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as in Nazi Germany.
I fear, along with about half the country, that the "cult" of trumpian cruelty has grown too massive to quell, too inflamed & incited to calm down, as planned by people like Bannon, Flynn, MTG. The fascist media machine now dominated the news cycles, given voice as "mainstream". Listen to Jesse Waters as a benchmark, not news at all, blatant anti-democratic, projected corruption & attacks right out of trump's mouth. Even locking the criminal mob boss up won't stop the entire political party that's been corrupted, turned toward terroristic threats, insurrection & violence.
Robert De Niro is a small break in the wall of noise, exposing the truth & danger of the months ahead. We need entire institutions, hundreds of spokespeople & influencers to come out swinging & be brutally honest about the fascist threat growing more dangerous every time the monster molester psycho opens his mouth, sends a mob message, incites his surrogates, holds a "press" propaganda rant.
The cure for cruelty & corruption is the sunlight of truth & legitimate justice. We've been bullied & pummeled for 7 years into a small window of months where this may or may not be possible. Our future determined by how many good folks rise up to take action.
I hope America is saved by Halloween. I like to say that, while I am confident that we will muddle through this crisis, that confidence reflects necessity rather than optimism. The world after not muddling through, as you suggest by Thanksgiving, is too difficult for me to contemplate. One things that must change: making our legal system more responsive and less sclerotic.
Given the American tradition of NOT strongly prosecuting “high dollar white color crime,” especially never before having previously convicted citizen Trump taste jail food, ISTM that some unique punishment must be designed for this historic judgement of 34 felony convictions!
Much to my surprise, Dr Lee barely makes reference, nor does anyone I have heard report, on the enormous financial costs of this accurately diagnosed sociopathic to US, the American taxpayers?
Therefore, I suggest 2 sentences be applied in to this “convicted felon.”
First, let the enormous cost of the “US Secret Service staffers”, already being paid, be turned into some strict form of “house arrest”!
And, second, let legislation be passed that the former #45 lose his government pension, based on the proven 34 New York felonies related to his election, and, the documentable costs of the January 6th riots at our Nation’s Capitol.
Any House arrest will then be carried out in lesser and lesser expensive locations, as #45’s fines in the multiple millions, already assessed, will need to be paid off.
I trust that Dr Lee and her professional colleagues, dedicated to governmental social justice, and other concerned citizens, tuned in here, will be able to support or creatively contribute to other effective sentencing arrangements for this #45 felons “historically unique verdict.”
Fascists are strongman as long as they continue to escape rule of law & accountability. When rule of law catches upto them, they are pathetic cowards. I saw Trump's press statement after conviction. His hair messed up, depressed face looking worn out, weak voice, low energy, looking like a sad old man. And he was unethusastically whining about how he was treated unfairly.
While much is said about mystical charisma of this man. He's just propped up by big billionaires, corrupted media & social media, corrupted judges & bureaucrats. Never forget that Fascists are powerless nobodies without any intellect & vitality. They can only stand with support of their corrupted special interest groups.
Normally, I would thank you for an essay that is short-&-sweEt. This time, however, I thank you for an article that is short-&-sweAt. Frightening times with overt threats of violence. Dr Heather Cox Richardson also wrote about these trumper tantrums last night. Hopefully, you two are in contact.
This charge was arguably the weakest of the four pending against Trump. Yet twelve different people from different backgrounds voted unanimously four hundred, eight times in favor of Trump's guilt. The success of the trial may break the log-jam and move Special Counsel Smith to have his 'documents' case re-assigned to a more seasoned, less overtly partisan judge.
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A compromised Supreme Court temporizing on some an absurd immunity claim and a fifty year old White House legal opinion -- drafted in the midst of the Watergate scandal -- should not defer these trials from proceeding this summer or autumn. Your well-documented concern about Trump's mental state increases the urgency of moving the judicial process forward.
Good comment, Ned, with one huge caveat: Your statement that “This charge was arguably the weakest of the four pending against Trump” could not be further from the truth. Although prima facie plausible, we need to understand that these felonies represent and expose Trump’s original electoral sin, if you will. They were likely the sine qua non of deceitful stratagems that catapulted him into presidential power which he then finagled to criminally attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat by various machinations, most notably those carried out by his violent insurrectionist cult goons on Jan. 6, along with his criminal retention and likely treasonous disclosure of national security secrets.
Perhaps, I was not clear in what I was saying. Many people familiar with the case have expressed concerns over the strength of the legal reasoning behind the charges. I was relieved that the conviction came from a jury of educated and seemingly fair-minded people in a case presided over by a decent, even-tempered Judge. I had expected a hung jury.
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Ken, you are right on the (hush😉) money about what the conviction and trial transcripts related plainly about Trump's character and the break-down of integrity during the 2016 campaign. I studied the 'Mueller Report'; it made clear that Trump was likely guilty of collusion, if such treason were not a 'proveable beast'. Hopefully, this conviction will generate the momentum to move forward with at least one of the other indictments before the election.
🤞
As an erstwhile Republican, the way Trump drumpfs institutions of republican governance; the way he instigates violence to remain in power; as well as, the incessant trumper tantrums by Trump and the nattering nabobs of narcissism in Congress pain me deeply as I grieve the sullying of the Party of Lincoln.
BELOW: a neater summary of the concerns I sought to express.
'The Economist' published a concise composite of the technical (not moral or ethical) skepticism today. "This verdict is particularly vulnerable to appeal because of the lack of clear precedent for the charges . . . Falsifying business expenses is a misdemeanour under New York law, but by arguing that that crime was committed in order to commit or conceal another one, Mr Bragg was able to charge Mr Trump with felonies. Prosecutors argued, and Judge Juan Merchan agreed, that jurors did not even have to agree on precisely what other law Mr Trump violated, resulting in a vagueness that is sure to be one of the grounds for appeal . . . Mr Bragg’s predecessor, as well as Mr Biden’s Justice Department, considered bringing versions of these charges and elected not to. Compared with the other cases pending against Mr Trump, this one always seemed too much of a stretch to command widespread public legitimacy . . . ."
Thank you again and again. I particularly liked the reference to projection. I think in his case, it's also a form of con with misdirection like in the shell game. Vote Blue!
Dr. Lee, I've heard legal commentators on television news programs say that, among the factors the trial judge can consider in sentencing is Donald Trump's mental health. One commentator mentioned the conceivable requirement of his submitting to counseling. I also wonder whether a requirement might be his submitting to a mental health evaluation. If these were possible, it seems that such a requirement -- whether he submitted to it or not -- might represent a possibly significant threat to his cult-leader hold on his millions of followers and his mastery of Republican congressional, state, and local sycophants and wealthy business enablers looking to a President Trump to lower their taxes and regulations against their activities. Such a situation might legally pose to all of them and the larger U.S. public and voting population the proposition you have been arguing since 2015: This man isn't mentally well, to the point of being a danger to the U.S. and world. Some, perhaps many, might be compelled to ask: Why am I following a mentally unwell person? Many would resist, but some, perhaps many, might leave him -- enough to defeat him in the 2024 election and possibly then to permit the pending federal prosecutions to proceed. If this is possible, please consider using your resources and contacts to see whether his mental health might be factored into his sentencing -- perhaps as part of the D.A.'s sentencing recommendation and/or via petitions by others involved in the trial and negatively impacted by him -- such as Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, and, if permissible, petitions by others, such as the New York State attorney general, E.Jean Carroll or her counsel, law enforcement officers injured in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, et. al. Thank you for your consideration.
Dr. Lee, I strongly believe that testosterone is a very powerful drug, and is behind virtually every crime of dominance or violence. What are your insights about the role of gender in all of the most horrible national and global events, and how rarely these events occur at the hands of women? (Raise boys and girls the same way!) Yours very truly, Dr (Rose) Maly
It cannot be understated how your predictions and warnings of violence directly associated with Donald Trump have not only come true, but, in my opinion, are even more dire, more frightening, and more widespread than I imagined. I find Trump's followers analogous to offspring of either insects or spiders, hundreds or thousands of genetically pre-programmed individuals carrying out their loyal duties perpetuating reproduction of, in this case, not a queen, but a king.
I just heard a lawyer familiar with criminal court and sentencing explain the process on MSNBC. He explained they will ask him a series of questions. Aside from the fact that many have suggested over the years that Trump takes (possibly abuses) Adderall and that his White House doctors abused their responsibility by “handing out” controlled substances, important questions will be directed to his health, specifically mental health. I fear the media and Merchan will be passive and however he ‘behaves’ (as a petulant child) they will accept his likely denial. Another opportunity for media to turn to experts in this arena rather than George Conway who acts as one!
I believe many of our republic is wilifully ignorant; waiting for someone else to vote; and upset when the others vote the wrong way. Every citizen's duty is to vote. Most stay home and watch other propaganda. "We, the people" is a call to be a thoughtful, informed person. A thoughtful compassionate person IS NOT someone who doesn't pay attention & easily swayed by fear, hatred, and envy of others. Benjamin Franklin and others in Philadelphia worked hard to give us a country. And we spit them in the face.
Agree with your sentiment right down the line, Anne. In fairness to others, many people are not that interested in politics; they see politics as a dirty business. With several high profile corruption trials and investigations ongoing, they may have reason to think so. Additionally, may people are very busy in their lives. It is people like Dr Lee et al., plus the rest of us who must somehow reach out to people to engage them into voting. Hard to do but worth the try.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for your succinct background and cogent analysis pertaining to the very recent conviction of a former US president on multiple counts. A 34-count conviction is a sobering reality and can by no means be ascribed to braggarty belligerence and merchants of machiavellian machinations against the hapless convicted; but, rather, to careful, courageous, conscientious carrying out of court responsibility by custodians of criminal justice. With this judicial conviction of a former president of the United States of America, for wrongs prior to accession to office, which can be gaily regarded as a seven storey yardstick of America finally returning to the normality of nations in the 21st century, the system of checks and balances in America has been volubly restored in no small way, although this task is never literally wrapped up for familiar and unfamiliar purposes. Congratulations, America, and the next step is systematic reduction of a national debt burden that exceeds that of two continents in US dollars......! Just as doctor is a yardstick of academic excellence to persons not wholly anaesthetized by complacency, so judicial and juror integrity, even in the littlest of law libraries, are stellar yardsticks of civilian and patriotic excellence in duty to the people. When powerful and influential persons are convicted in court, if their appeals keep them out of prison they invariably declare victory at some appropriate and opportune moment, to avoid the multiplicity of unresolved cases from turning dramatically against them through crowd confidence and belligerence, and effectively undoing all of the achievements of the appeals and landing them in the proverbial "slammer," whose key is "thrown away." More volume is because of more cases trenchantly and trunculently pressing in to "complete" the job, making it "impossibull" to rationally do otherwise than lie low and savor the "victory" thereafter, although some other constructive options may also suggest themselves... Hence, I firmly believe in the primacy of the frequency bands of "mind over matter" and vibrancy over veneer in human conundrums. Thus, the former president and current guy would do well to eventually heed the British adage of "mum's the word," for the good of him and his followers, who may ultimately learn to "sing a new song." G-d bless...!!
An interesting contrast is with our neighbor to the South, Brazil. Jair Bolsonaro plotted a coup after the 2022 election, his supporters attacked the Brazilian congress and supreme court. However, immediately the attackers were rounded up by police and prosecuted. Within a year, Bolsonaro had been barred from running for office again until 2030 and he was prosecuted for several allegations of fraud in the 2022 Brazilian elections and situations linked to the January 8 attack on federal government buildings. The decision came after a 5–2 vote in favor of conviction. He is appealing.
So, what is the difference between us and Brazil? Brazil had been under brutal military dictatorship for 20 years until 1985. The people of Brazil could not afford to be complacent since there was memory of where this all led. With the exception of our African American population, we have had political security and stability since our Civil War and have a complacent population that does not understand the darkness Trump could lead us into.
Great analytical comparison. Thank you. Some see the slowness of bringing cases against the 06jan21 rioters as cowardice. Sometimes, however, I wonder if our leadership views itself as sitting on a powder-keg of possible, increasingly plausible, civil war. Now I know how President Buchanan must have felt; he handled the situation poorly, of course. The analogy here is one of feeling, not of circumstance. Our prosecutors should press ahead with their cases, a compromised Supreme Court and fifty year old opinion from the Office of Legal counsel be damned.
P.S., clan Buchanan must be celebrating Trump as he has easily supplanted their ancestor as the worst President in American history.
Of course, the other major factor here is money and access to it. In Trump's case, there have been the lobbyist and average (duped) citizen donations. It's a double standard of justice for white wealthy males.
The irony is that Trump feels he is a victim in part because he is a white wealthy male. I have listened in on the morning call-in show on C-span, 'Washington Journal', the past few days. Obviously the call-in group is not a representative sample of the larger population. Nevertheless, I am surprised by several African American Trump supporters who sympathize with Trump by viewing him as suffering a similar injustice as Blacks often do with the legal system.
As I agree with Ken's reply, too, here is another example of that contagion. Some people make superficial comparisons and just don't stop to *think*, as in critical thinking: "Wait...What?!" BTW, Jill Biden was here in Erie, PA, to give a commencement speech to community college graduates, as she had promised to do when the school was created, and it was very inspiring. The only politics she mentioned was a call by Joe Biden for more funding for such places (which Republicans have thwarted). The local Republican propaganda person totally lied about Biden and projected awful things. Republicans thrive on ignorance.
This is a pathetic development but psychologically understandable as projection and identification with the oppressor.
I read that as part of the sentencing process that Donald will have a mental health evaluation. I am wondering what this entails and if it will have an impact on sentencing. Also, Merchan has been so good as a judge, it is hard to imagine how he would not give Donald a significant sentence given his behavior, lack of remorse and continued aggression.
Though I would like to see Trump go to prison, Judge Merchan impresses me as being less vindictive than I; he will likely stick by the norms of sentencing for a crime like this one. Additionally, sending Trump to jail for a conviction open to appeal and deemed illegitimate by many Guns-&-Jesus (sic) types (sick), may precipitate widespread violence.
The risk of violent blowback from MAGA fascist goons must play no role in administering condign punishment to Trump in this or any other case.
Well, when 3% of the country (i.e., 20-25 guns on average per capita, including children) owns 50% of the guns -- and, likely, most or all of the assault the assault weapons and infected by the Trump contagion -- the possibility of ungovernability would be crossing my mind.
Let it cross your mind and then flush it down the toilet! We cannot even begin to allow ourselves to be ruled by fear! Otherwise, this democracy is really over!
Yes, Ned, I don't deny that perilous possibility. However, as you have noted elsewhere, appeasement and silence merely fuels the dictatorial personality.
You are right. As my father used to remind me, if one does not have something (s)he is willing to die for, (s)he has very little to live for.
When are the Guns n Jesus white men gonna finish high school?
Thank you for that succinct and powerful psychological post-mortem on Trump’s multiple-felony New York conviction. Your unique insight into Trump’s gang leader kinship of mindset and behavioral reaction post-conviction is insightful, sobering and provocative. However, some differences do come to mind:
First, unlike a convicted gang leader, Trump commands a vast vigilante cult comprised of a political base and elected Its political party member co-conspirators of kindred, psychotic delusion willing and potentially able to wreck violent, vengeful havoc not only on those individual (mostly former) gang members who betrayed him in court but on the American judicial and political systems to in effect nullify that jury’s verdict through an extremely dangerous fascist cult movement.
Second, as you have admonished repeatedly, due to intra-psychiatric professional interference and calcified media gestalt, public apprehension of the psychological analysis of Trump and his eponymous shared psychotic contagion provided by you and fellow psychiatric professionals has been tragically and catastrophically delayed as an antidote for containing Trump’s personal lawbreaking and violent fascist threat to America’s democratic republic. Containing and taming the psychotic gang leader is often thorny enough, but how do our institutions and their operative norms contain a mass psychotic cult animated by racism, grievance and predilection for violent, subversive and treasonous behavior, etc. that has collectively doubled and tripled down on cognitive dissonance to the point of not only delegitimating institutional and Constitution authority in its own mindset but displacing objective reality with a confected alternative reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi Germany?
Of particular concern for me is how many educated people, who reasonably ought to know better, are flocking into the cognitive under-class. Like all those German intellectuals signing up for the SS.
Nailed it, Ned.
Thank you, Ken.
We are in trouble. Get your passport & plans to travel ready. I distrust the voters, institutions and media. Our underbelly of fearful, angry, hate-filled, racist (many against their own ethnicity) people are ready to go the distance. Fed by propaganda, spin and lies which they rationalize. Supreme Court is involved - unreasoning, angry and power-filled. No need to reply. I'm subscribing. Have your publications. Best, be safe and well. - A.
Sometimes I wonder if our republic is exhausted.
Fascism historian and expert Timothy Snyder warns of the fascist ploy of intimidating the populace to acquiesce in advance of a takeover, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as in Nazi Germany.
Scary, Ken, scary.
Exhausted. I
😢
I’m fighting like hell! I will not be ruled by fear, no matter what!
That's the spirit, Maly!
I fear, along with about half the country, that the "cult" of trumpian cruelty has grown too massive to quell, too inflamed & incited to calm down, as planned by people like Bannon, Flynn, MTG. The fascist media machine now dominated the news cycles, given voice as "mainstream". Listen to Jesse Waters as a benchmark, not news at all, blatant anti-democratic, projected corruption & attacks right out of trump's mouth. Even locking the criminal mob boss up won't stop the entire political party that's been corrupted, turned toward terroristic threats, insurrection & violence.
Robert De Niro is a small break in the wall of noise, exposing the truth & danger of the months ahead. We need entire institutions, hundreds of spokespeople & influencers to come out swinging & be brutally honest about the fascist threat growing more dangerous every time the monster molester psycho opens his mouth, sends a mob message, incites his surrogates, holds a "press" propaganda rant.
The cure for cruelty & corruption is the sunlight of truth & legitimate justice. We've been bullied & pummeled for 7 years into a small window of months where this may or may not be possible. Our future determined by how many good folks rise up to take action.
https://voteamerica.com
Former Representative Kinzinger (R-IL) suggests that the best cure may take place in millions of dining rooms. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5021441/user-clip-brav-rep-kinzinger
will America be saved by Halloween? because by Thankgiving dinner, it will be too late
I hope America is saved by Halloween. I like to say that, while I am confident that we will muddle through this crisis, that confidence reflects necessity rather than optimism. The world after not muddling through, as you suggest by Thanksgiving, is too difficult for me to contemplate. One things that must change: making our legal system more responsive and less sclerotic.
Given the American tradition of NOT strongly prosecuting “high dollar white color crime,” especially never before having previously convicted citizen Trump taste jail food, ISTM that some unique punishment must be designed for this historic judgement of 34 felony convictions!
Much to my surprise, Dr Lee barely makes reference, nor does anyone I have heard report, on the enormous financial costs of this accurately diagnosed sociopathic to US, the American taxpayers?
Therefore, I suggest 2 sentences be applied in to this “convicted felon.”
First, let the enormous cost of the “US Secret Service staffers”, already being paid, be turned into some strict form of “house arrest”!
And, second, let legislation be passed that the former #45 lose his government pension, based on the proven 34 New York felonies related to his election, and, the documentable costs of the January 6th riots at our Nation’s Capitol.
Any House arrest will then be carried out in lesser and lesser expensive locations, as #45’s fines in the multiple millions, already assessed, will need to be paid off.
I trust that Dr Lee and her professional colleagues, dedicated to governmental social justice, and other concerned citizens, tuned in here, will be able to support or creatively contribute to other effective sentencing arrangements for this #45 felons “historically unique verdict.”
Those are great ideas. Trump is a corrupt socio-path bent on 'wealthy celebrity'; hit him where it hurts most.
Fascists are strongman as long as they continue to escape rule of law & accountability. When rule of law catches upto them, they are pathetic cowards. I saw Trump's press statement after conviction. His hair messed up, depressed face looking worn out, weak voice, low energy, looking like a sad old man. And he was unethusastically whining about how he was treated unfairly.
While much is said about mystical charisma of this man. He's just propped up by big billionaires, corrupted media & social media, corrupted judges & bureaucrats. Never forget that Fascists are powerless nobodies without any intellect & vitality. They can only stand with support of their corrupted special interest groups.
Man, oh man, I find it difficult not to yell out expletives when I hear Trump wending and whining his way through trumper tantrums.
Normally, I would thank you for an essay that is short-&-sweEt. This time, however, I thank you for an article that is short-&-sweAt. Frightening times with overt threats of violence. Dr Heather Cox Richardson also wrote about these trumper tantrums last night. Hopefully, you two are in contact.
🤞
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-31-2024/comments You and I are on the same page. Working together, you two would provide all the more cogent a case against Trump.
🤝
This charge was arguably the weakest of the four pending against Trump. Yet twelve different people from different backgrounds voted unanimously four hundred, eight times in favor of Trump's guilt. The success of the trial may break the log-jam and move Special Counsel Smith to have his 'documents' case re-assigned to a more seasoned, less overtly partisan judge.
⚖️
A compromised Supreme Court temporizing on some an absurd immunity claim and a fifty year old White House legal opinion -- drafted in the midst of the Watergate scandal -- should not defer these trials from proceeding this summer or autumn. Your well-documented concern about Trump's mental state increases the urgency of moving the judicial process forward.
Good comment, Ned, with one huge caveat: Your statement that “This charge was arguably the weakest of the four pending against Trump” could not be further from the truth. Although prima facie plausible, we need to understand that these felonies represent and expose Trump’s original electoral sin, if you will. They were likely the sine qua non of deceitful stratagems that catapulted him into presidential power which he then finagled to criminally attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat by various machinations, most notably those carried out by his violent insurrectionist cult goons on Jan. 6, along with his criminal retention and likely treasonous disclosure of national security secrets.
Perhaps, I was not clear in what I was saying. Many people familiar with the case have expressed concerns over the strength of the legal reasoning behind the charges. I was relieved that the conviction came from a jury of educated and seemingly fair-minded people in a case presided over by a decent, even-tempered Judge. I had expected a hung jury.
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Ken, you are right on the (hush😉) money about what the conviction and trial transcripts related plainly about Trump's character and the break-down of integrity during the 2016 campaign. I studied the 'Mueller Report'; it made clear that Trump was likely guilty of collusion, if such treason were not a 'proveable beast'. Hopefully, this conviction will generate the momentum to move forward with at least one of the other indictments before the election.
🤞
As an erstwhile Republican, the way Trump drumpfs institutions of republican governance; the way he instigates violence to remain in power; as well as, the incessant trumper tantrums by Trump and the nattering nabobs of narcissism in Congress pain me deeply as I grieve the sullying of the Party of Lincoln.
😢
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-republican-party-gop-whigging-out-you-make-call-ned/ (written 6½ years ago)
🤢
BELOW: a neater summary of the concerns I sought to express.
'The Economist' published a concise composite of the technical (not moral or ethical) skepticism today. "This verdict is particularly vulnerable to appeal because of the lack of clear precedent for the charges . . . Falsifying business expenses is a misdemeanour under New York law, but by arguing that that crime was committed in order to commit or conceal another one, Mr Bragg was able to charge Mr Trump with felonies. Prosecutors argued, and Judge Juan Merchan agreed, that jurors did not even have to agree on precisely what other law Mr Trump violated, resulting in a vagueness that is sure to be one of the grounds for appeal . . . Mr Bragg’s predecessor, as well as Mr Biden’s Justice Department, considered bringing versions of these charges and elected not to. Compared with the other cases pending against Mr Trump, this one always seemed too much of a stretch to command widespread public legitimacy . . . ."
Ned, I love "nattering nabobs of narcissism," a nice update on Spiro Agnew's "nattering nabobs of negativity"!
Thank you again and again. I particularly liked the reference to projection. I think in his case, it's also a form of con with misdirection like in the shell game. Vote Blue!
it is time for the Great Middle, as I call us, to exert ourselves in every possible venue and way of talking and in civic engagement.
Dr. Lee, I've heard legal commentators on television news programs say that, among the factors the trial judge can consider in sentencing is Donald Trump's mental health. One commentator mentioned the conceivable requirement of his submitting to counseling. I also wonder whether a requirement might be his submitting to a mental health evaluation. If these were possible, it seems that such a requirement -- whether he submitted to it or not -- might represent a possibly significant threat to his cult-leader hold on his millions of followers and his mastery of Republican congressional, state, and local sycophants and wealthy business enablers looking to a President Trump to lower their taxes and regulations against their activities. Such a situation might legally pose to all of them and the larger U.S. public and voting population the proposition you have been arguing since 2015: This man isn't mentally well, to the point of being a danger to the U.S. and world. Some, perhaps many, might be compelled to ask: Why am I following a mentally unwell person? Many would resist, but some, perhaps many, might leave him -- enough to defeat him in the 2024 election and possibly then to permit the pending federal prosecutions to proceed. If this is possible, please consider using your resources and contacts to see whether his mental health might be factored into his sentencing -- perhaps as part of the D.A.'s sentencing recommendation and/or via petitions by others involved in the trial and negatively impacted by him -- such as Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, and, if permissible, petitions by others, such as the New York State attorney general, E.Jean Carroll or her counsel, law enforcement officers injured in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, et. al. Thank you for your consideration.
Great idea! Many may go from Trump to Mr Kennedy since those switchers might be what one used to call 'Reagan Democrats'.
Dr. Lee, I strongly believe that testosterone is a very powerful drug, and is behind virtually every crime of dominance or violence. What are your insights about the role of gender in all of the most horrible national and global events, and how rarely these events occur at the hands of women? (Raise boys and girls the same way!) Yours very truly, Dr (Rose) Maly
It cannot be understated how your predictions and warnings of violence directly associated with Donald Trump have not only come true, but, in my opinion, are even more dire, more frightening, and more widespread than I imagined. I find Trump's followers analogous to offspring of either insects or spiders, hundreds or thousands of genetically pre-programmed individuals carrying out their loyal duties perpetuating reproduction of, in this case, not a queen, but a king.
I just heard a lawyer familiar with criminal court and sentencing explain the process on MSNBC. He explained they will ask him a series of questions. Aside from the fact that many have suggested over the years that Trump takes (possibly abuses) Adderall and that his White House doctors abused their responsibility by “handing out” controlled substances, important questions will be directed to his health, specifically mental health. I fear the media and Merchan will be passive and however he ‘behaves’ (as a petulant child) they will accept his likely denial. Another opportunity for media to turn to experts in this arena rather than George Conway who acts as one!
I believe many of our republic is wilifully ignorant; waiting for someone else to vote; and upset when the others vote the wrong way. Every citizen's duty is to vote. Most stay home and watch other propaganda. "We, the people" is a call to be a thoughtful, informed person. A thoughtful compassionate person IS NOT someone who doesn't pay attention & easily swayed by fear, hatred, and envy of others. Benjamin Franklin and others in Philadelphia worked hard to give us a country. And we spit them in the face.
Agree with your sentiment right down the line, Anne. In fairness to others, many people are not that interested in politics; they see politics as a dirty business. With several high profile corruption trials and investigations ongoing, they may have reason to think so. Additionally, may people are very busy in their lives. It is people like Dr Lee et al., plus the rest of us who must somehow reach out to people to engage them into voting. Hard to do but worth the try.
Thank you, Dr. Lee, for your succinct background and cogent analysis pertaining to the very recent conviction of a former US president on multiple counts. A 34-count conviction is a sobering reality and can by no means be ascribed to braggarty belligerence and merchants of machiavellian machinations against the hapless convicted; but, rather, to careful, courageous, conscientious carrying out of court responsibility by custodians of criminal justice. With this judicial conviction of a former president of the United States of America, for wrongs prior to accession to office, which can be gaily regarded as a seven storey yardstick of America finally returning to the normality of nations in the 21st century, the system of checks and balances in America has been volubly restored in no small way, although this task is never literally wrapped up for familiar and unfamiliar purposes. Congratulations, America, and the next step is systematic reduction of a national debt burden that exceeds that of two continents in US dollars......! Just as doctor is a yardstick of academic excellence to persons not wholly anaesthetized by complacency, so judicial and juror integrity, even in the littlest of law libraries, are stellar yardsticks of civilian and patriotic excellence in duty to the people. When powerful and influential persons are convicted in court, if their appeals keep them out of prison they invariably declare victory at some appropriate and opportune moment, to avoid the multiplicity of unresolved cases from turning dramatically against them through crowd confidence and belligerence, and effectively undoing all of the achievements of the appeals and landing them in the proverbial "slammer," whose key is "thrown away." More volume is because of more cases trenchantly and trunculently pressing in to "complete" the job, making it "impossibull" to rationally do otherwise than lie low and savor the "victory" thereafter, although some other constructive options may also suggest themselves... Hence, I firmly believe in the primacy of the frequency bands of "mind over matter" and vibrancy over veneer in human conundrums. Thus, the former president and current guy would do well to eventually heed the British adage of "mum's the word," for the good of him and his followers, who may ultimately learn to "sing a new song." G-d bless...!!
I believe we will muddle through these darkening days, less out of optimism and mostly out of necessity.