POLITICUSUSA
Donald Trump has lived in New York City for basically his entire life. But near the end of his presidency, he announced that he would be moving to Florida. And he didn’t just make the move for the weather.
As soon as Donald Trump realized that Joe Biden would be taking his job, he started planning on running again in 2024. And while the Republican party certainly seems to be behind him, there are also some significant hurdles.
Trumpism, in fact, has provided a fortuitous opening for the Republican Party establishment to salvage its own perfidious conservatism by providing a kind of straw man for the establishment.
When Donald Trump left the White House, he went right down to Florida and hasn’t really left Mar-a-Lago. Luckily for Trump the state is run by Ron DeSantis, a big booster of the former president.
And having DeSantis in charge could be beneficial to Trump in the coming months. The New York District Attorney’s office is seemingly getting closer to charging the former president with a crime.
During Thursday’s episode of Deadline White House, Nicolle Wallace and her panel broke down what would happen if DeSantis refused to extradite
Trump to New York.
Wallace asked Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor on Robert Mueller‘s team what would happen if this was the case.
“So, this happens all the time in foreign countries where essentially you have people who are sort of imprisoned in a country,” Weissman explained. “Here, Donald Trump would be imprisoned in Florida. If he went overseas, if he went to any other state, he would be subject to those laws, and so he would really have to stay in Florida. It certainly would be quite an interesting issue if he were to, for instance — this is way down the road — but if he tried to run again, he would not be inhabiting the White House in that situation because there would be papers seeking his extradition to New York.”
https://twitter.com/politicususa/status/1392999390189654021
Donald Trump remains very popular with Republican voters. The man was able to capture 75 million votes in 2020. Of course, he failed to hold the White House, Senate or House during his four years in office.
While Trump was able to capture the lion’s share of non-educated white male voters, he had trouble nearly everywhere else. Suburban woman revolted against the GOP as did a number of prominent former Republican lawmakers.
Miles Taylor, who worked in the Trump White House, was one of those Republicans. And Taylor recently announced that he would be starting a coalition of anti-Trump Republicans.
Trump, of course, could not let this threat go unanswered. He released a statement that read in part, “
A guy named Miles Taylor, who I have no idea who he is, don’t remember ever meeting him or having a conversation with, gets more publicity pretending he was in the inner circle of our Administration when he was definitely not. Some people refer to him as ‘absolutely nothing.'”
This weeks drama in the House of Representatives showed the differences in leadership style between Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell. McCarthy has been completely compromised by Donald Trump.
When the former president first incited the January 6th insurrection, McCarthy called him out. But after the House Minority Leader was called down to Mar-a-Lago, he came back to Washington fully on board with team Trump.
McConnell has largely ignored Trump and acted as if senate Republicans are completely prepared to move on without him. And when the Senate Minority Leader was asked about Liz Cheney, recently punished by McCarthy for bashing Trump, he paid her a nice compliment.
Fox News asked the Kentucky lawmaker if he still felt Cheney was an “important leader in our party and our nation?”
“
Well, there is no change,” he responded.
On Wednesday, former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller spoke to lawmakers. And while it was known that Trump’s actions on January 6th were completely un-presidential, Miller painted a picture of just how bad it really was.
As the insurrection was happening multiple calls went out to Trump to deploy the National Guard. It took hours for the former president to make the call. According to Miller, though, Trump didn’t want the guardsmen protecting lawmakers and the Capitol police, he wanted them protecting the insurrectionists.
During today’s hearing, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) asked, “did you tell the president about the mayor’s requests or did President Trump ask if there were requests?”
Miller responded that Trump had asked about requests. Donalds followed, “What was the president’s response to you with regard to the requests made to you by Mayor [Muriel] Bowser?”
Well, this is new.
Trump told his acting Secretary of Defense to use military force for what purpose?
Miller: Trump said "do whatever was necessary to protect the demonstrators that were executing their constitutionally protected rights."
Occurs in their Jan. 3 meeting. pic.twitter.com/jnEDYVUzsK
Like other presidents before him, Donald Trump rewarded supporters with roles in his administration. But the 45th president took it to an extreme. Trump’s cabinet was filled with people completely unqualified for their roles.
Betsy DeVos was a good example of this. The billionaire heiress was named Secretary of Education. Her tenure was disastrous as she sought to privatize public schools and made it easier for college rapists to get away with their crimes.
Following the January insurrection, DeVos resigned from her position. It wasn’t all that big a stance as Trump was set to leave office days later. She wrote in a resignation letter, “
That behavior was unconscionable for our country. There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”
When Donald Trump first took office, there was little Republican resistance against him. There was John McCain of course. There was also push-back from Tennessee’s Bob Corker.
But Jeff Flake was commonly the loudest Republican voice against Trump. The Arizona lawmaker retired in 2018 and has continued to distance himself from the GOP. Flake announced that he was endorsing Joe Biden for president in August of last year.
And the lawmaker has continued to speak out about what’s become of his party. On Tuesday, he wrote a scathing Washington Post op-ed about the treatment of Liz Cheney.
Flake began, “She (Cheney) will lose her position because she is refusing to play her assigned role in propagating the ‘big lie’ that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. Cheney is more dedicated to the long-term health of our constitutional system than she is to assuaging the former president’s shattered ego, and for her integrity she may well pay with her career.”
The former senator continued, “No, this is not the plot of a movie set in an asylum. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your contemporary Republican Party, where today there is no greater offense than honesty.”
"It is elementary to have to say this, but we did not become a great nation by believing or espousing nonsense, or by embracing lunacy. And if my party continues down this path, we will not be fit to govern."https://t.co/1Qz8QOuYfX
One of Donald Trump’s first actions as President was to fire US Attorney Preet Bharara. The move was met with widespread condemnation. Bharara had become a hero in New York City after prosecuting a number of the city’s worst financial cheats.
The former US Attorney now works as a distinguished scholar at NYU and hosts a couple of podcasts. Bharara recently talked about Trump’s New York City legal troubles with Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick.
Lithwick asked, “His tax returns are in the hands of Cyrus Vance Jr., the district attorney of Manhattan. They’re working to flip folks in the Trump organization. I wonder what piece of that you’re watching or are you just watching all of it? What do you expect to see in terms of accountability and having some sense that there is some closure to any of this?”
Bharara responded, “
The one that we know about most directly and most prominently is the one you mentioned, the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation
There are basically no social media sites that are willing to let Donald Trump use their platform. So the former president had to take matters into his own hands and create his own platform.
The reviews of From the Desk of Donald J. Trump haven’t been great. Some are calling it a glorified blog. And according to a recent poll from Politico/Morning Consult, even his own supporters haven’t shown much interest in it.
The pollsters asked respondents, “As you may know, former President Trump has a new social media website, From the Desk of Donald J. Trump. How much do you expect to be engaging with this new website?”
Only 29% of those polled responded positively with 12% saying a lot and 17% saying some. 71% weren’t interested saying not at all or not much.
Those who identified as Trump supporters were more positive, but not in a major way. A whopping 46% of Trump die hards said they would not be checking out the site. Only 22% of supporters said they would be visiting the site on a regular basis.
A majority of voters also felt that Trump’s current
Donald Trump’s election in 2016 changed politics forever and did so in many different ways. One of the more unfortunate consequences is that now “anyone” thinks they can run for high offices with no qualifications.
This is certainly the case with Caitlyn Jenner. She is well known of course as the parent of two of the world’s most prominent models. She was also one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
Jenner, though, is running to become Governor of California and she has no political experience. During a Monday interview with CNN, Dana Bash asked the candidate about her qualifications.
“People think of you being in show biz, think of you as a reality star,” she answered. “Certainly I’ve done that, but entertainment is a business and you have to run that business. But I’ve also done other things. We sold a billion dollars worth of exercise equipment on television. Aviation companies. I’ve just always been involved being an entrepreneur and tried to inspire my children to do the same thing, and they’ve done very well in that department, and all those life experiences about — and probably the most important thing is being a leader.”
https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1391924466721173504
When Donald Trump became a politician in 2015, it should have been clear to the Republican party who he really was. As a businessman, he had left a trail of destruction, stiffing contractors and turning his back on partners.
But desperate for control, GOP lawmakers fell right in line behind him. And they’ve offered him enormous power post presidency. Trump’s pick for Liz Cheney‘s successor, Elise Stefanik, is likely to become the next Chair of the Hose Republican Conference.
And no matter how much support is given to Trump, he is quick to punish any slight no matter how small. So it is no surprise that Trump is reportedly intrigued by the idea of throwing Kevin McCarthy under the bus.
Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey write, “One adviser said some have urged Trump to withhold his support for McCarthy to be the next speaker of the House if Republicans retake the chamber in 2022, and the former president has appeared intrigued by the idea.”
The adviser is quoted as saying, “
Why not focus on the biggest, brightest brass ring in politics and the Republican Party between now and 2024, which is who should be speaker when, with Donald Trump’s help, Republicans take the House?”
In 2016, Ted Cruz was the last man standing in the bid to keep Donald Trump from securing the nomination. Late in the game, he made desperate move to soften his campaign by naming Carly Fiorina as his running mate.
The move, of course, failed to help Cruz and the nomination went to Trump. Fiorina, while still a Republican, was more than willing to come out against the 45th president. And on Thursday, she came out against Cruz too, ripping the Texas senator.
Fiorina appeared as a guest on New Day and told Brianna Keilar, “I’ve been disappointed in Ted for some time now. I tried to help Ted’s candidacy because I thought it would be tragic and terrible if Donald Trump were the party’s nominee. Turns out I was right about Donald Trump and sadly it appears I was wrong about Ted Cruz.”
“What happened to him,” asked Keilar. “You know, I think the same thing that has happened to so many,” answered Fiorina. “And it’s an age old siren song as we just heard. Access to power and money and influence. The trouble is a lot of politicians care mostly about winning. And they’re willing to abandon their principals in order to win.”
.@CarlyFiorina blames "access to power and money and influence" for former running mate Ted Cruz's shift in principles and tone over the last 5 years.
"Turns out I was right about Donald Trump," she says, "and sadly, it appears, I was wrong about Ted Cruz." pic.twitter.com/aA2UrEIqmA
There’s a reason why Donald Trump has remained the most powerful figure in the Republican party and it has nothing to do with his political ability. It has to do with the former President’s rabid group of supporters and their willingness to do anything he tells them to.
So when Trump said he wanted Elise Stefanik to take Liz Cheney’s leadership position in Congress, it was expected MAGA world would fall in line. But they haven’t done so. In fact, there was significant push-back today to the idea of Stefanik become the next Chair of the House Republican Conference.
Lou Dobbs, the former Fox host who recently lost his job, sent out an article which attacked Stefanik. He captioned the message, “RINO Games Destroying the GOP: Elise Stefanik, GOP conference chair favorite, voted with Trump less than Liz Cheney.”
RINO Games Destroying the GOP: Elise Stefanik, GOP conference chair favorite, voted with Trump less than Liz Cheney https://t.co/RtkQt8xLgx #FoxNews
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) May 5, 2021
The idea of Stefanik was also criticized by Trump worlders like Ann Coulter, Raheem Kassam and former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis.
Like many others, the Columbia Bugle, a pro-Trump Twitter account, cited Stefanik’s voting record and tweeted, “Replacing Cheney with Stefanik is just replacing an America Last Republican with a slightly less annoying America Last Republican.”
Replacing Cheney with Stefanik is just replacing an America Last Republican with a slightly less annoying America Last Republican. https://t.co/5H6zyc7TpQ
The second time Donald Trump was impeached, it was his own fault. The former President’s lies about the election had stirred his supporters into a frenzy and they stormed the US Capitol.
The first time Trump was impeached, though, was kind of Rudy Giuliani’s fault. The bumbling lawyer had taken off to Ukraine and very openly tried to dig up dirt on Joe Biden‘s son, Hunter.
According to a new report from Buzzfeed, Giuliani wasn’t in the Ukraine alone. Along with him was a security detail from Erik Prince’s controversial company Blackwater.
Christopher Miller writes, “
Prince provided Giuliani with a personal bodyguard by the name of Thomas “Doc” Williams, who accompanied the then–personal attorney for Trump everywhere he went on the Eastern European trip.”
Twitter announced that it had suspended former President Donald Trump’s newest account, his latest attempt to return to the platform after he received a permanent ban in January. Trump had tried to launch a new Twitter account, @DJTDesk, to coincide with the release of his new webpage, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.”
“As stated in our ban evasion policy, we’ll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account,” a spokesperson for Twitter said in a statement.
Trump responded to the suspension with an angry blog post referring to Facebook, Twitter, and Google as “a total disgrace.”
“Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before,” said Trump, who is a private citizen and no longer the President of the United States. “The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.”
Twitter banned Trump from the platform in the days following the storming of the United States Capitol, which took place after the former president urged his supporters to disrupt the electoral certification of President Joe Biden‘s election win. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died during the violence that ensued.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter announced in a blog post at the time.
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,” the company added. “Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.”
In February,
Twitter CFO
Ted Cruz was one of the first members of the resistance against Donald Trump. The
Texas
It’s hard to imagine anyone staining their reputation as bad as Rudy Giuliani has. At one point, he was a revered Mayor or one of the biggest cities in America.
Fast forward 20 years and the Trump lawyer was holding a news conference next to a sex shop. There was also the humiliating appearance in the latest Borat film.
Giuliani’s apartment was recently raided by the FBI and he could be in major trouble. One would think that the FBI would be interested in hearing what he has to say about Donald Trump.
But Preet Bharara, the renowned former US Attorney was asked about Giuliani’s situation during an interview with Jake Tapper Interestingly enough, both men were prominent US Attorneys in the Southern District of New York.
Bharara told the host:
“We saw … Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen never was tied up by the Southern District of New York. He made it clear he wanted to help, but perhaps they didn’t trust his willingness. Giuliani would have to come clean about not just himself, but members of his family, political allies and Donald Trump and everyone else and not everyone, even if you want to save your own skin, is up to that task. It’s a significant thing to do. Rudy Giuliani seems to have changed a lot in the last period of years, so — and he’s unpredictable in some measure.”
The former US Attorney then opined that he thinks Giuliani would be willing to flip. “Look,” he said, “Giuliani has been quoted with that remark … saying ‘I have insurance’ in the context of good-faith listeners suggesting that he has information about Donald Trump. What else would he have been talking about when he referred to insurance in that context?”
Meghan McCain‘s father John McCain was one of the most revered Republicans of his day. He was often referred to as a Maverick due to his willingness to buck the party line.
Liz Cheney attempted to be a post-Trump maverick back in January of this year. And for voting her conscience, she has been pilloried by the Republican party.
During Wednesday’s episode of The View, McCain’s daughter Meghan warned of consequences for the GOP if they remove Cheney from power within their party.
The host vowed that women voters will notice how Cheney was treated. “The message that’s being sent by the highest member of Republicans in Congress is that women like me and Liz Cheney, who refuse to bend the knee to President Trump but still remain loyal Republicans — we don’t have a place in this party.”
.@MeghanMcCain: “The message that’s being sent by the highest member of Republicans in Congress is that women like me and Liz Cheney, who refuse to bend the knee to President Trump but still remain loyal Republicans — we don’t have a place in this party.” pic.twitter.com/pe0aE0p5nD