FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:
"It’s also up to everyone else to consider Mr. Biden’s flaws, not in the abstract, but relative to those of his opponent.” Is the WAP AFRAID TRUMP'S BROWNSHIRTS WILL BLOW UP THE WAP BUILDING IF TRUMP IS SAID IN A DEROGATORY MANNER?
Opinion The special counsel says the president is old. Nothing new about that.
FROM CNN:
"If more Republicans were willing to speak out against Trump, to forcefully acknowledge that he lost the 2020 election, that his phony claims that legal cases against him are politically motivated are lies, then more Republican voters might be persuaded. But few are willing to do so, so Trump’s false, self-serving version of reality has taken hold with an astonishingly large segment of the country, dominating the Republican Party.
Beyond Washington, death threats, swatting assaults and the prospect of violence are silencing moderate, reality-based Republicans across the country, persuading local officials to keep quiet or step out of politics altogether in the face of death threats and harassment.
During Trump’s presidency, threats of violence against members of Congress skyrocketed. And now that the election is approaching and stakes for the former president are rising, threats of violence again are surging.
In just the past few days, police have arrested a man who threatened to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell and his children. Swalwell, a Democrat, has been a fierce Trump critic. Bomb threats have shut down multiple state capitols. Police recently rushed to the home of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presides over the subversion case against Trump, in a swatting attack. And after Trump lambasted Maine’s secretary of state and Colorado’s Supreme Court for declaring him unqualified to be on their ballot, his backers launched a barrage of death threats against them.
As he leaves the door open to political violence, Trump recently sent an email to supporters falsely accusing Biden of a most egregious crime. Biden, he said, ordered special counsel Jack Smith to, “try, convict, and sentence Donald Trump to jail before the November 2024 election.” That’s the product of Trump’s dangerous, self-serving imagination.
Trump is creating the conditions for an explosion of political violence — even if he’s not a dictator yet and even if he doesn’t have authority over Seal Team 6.”
FROM:
CNN
Opinion: The fear of physical harm that keeps even Trump’s supporters in line
Updated 8:28 AM EST, Thu January 11, 2024
When Trump is a convicted felon and his chances of winning the election diminished will the Washington Post, New York Times and Republican officials lose their fear of Trump?
"Frantic Trump makes devastating admission in private
Palm Beach State Attorney David Aronberg reports on Trump privately admitting he expects to be convicted."
"Courtroom drama plan
We're told Trump plans to attend his trials in person most days, as has been his recent practice for recent court proceedings. That by itself would mean a massive change in the rhythms of a presidential campaign: Nominees typically spend their days trying to sway voters, not jurors.
- He'll rail against the judge, the charges and the timing. Part of this would be true anger, according to people who talk to him. But a big part of the courtroom theatrics would be political.
Trump feels certain the more voters think this is a political pile-on, the better he'll do. So look for Trump to continue to groan, moan and bemoan — then hit the TV cameras parked outside.
- One ally explained that by spending so much time in court, Trump is making a virtue of necessity. "You can't be defensive or never talk about it, because that just makes you look guilty," the ally said. "Your only option is to play it up."
What we're hearing: Trump's team feels certain that the indictments helped him own the GOP primary field. Each new set of charges brought a surge in donations, and a bump in polls.
- Trump advisers say he was energized by the fight: When he first launched his campaign, he didn't have a battle cry like "build that wall" in 2016. Now, he has a theory of the case: Defeat the corrupt establishment — the "deep state," as he puts it.
Reality check: Despite Trump's bluster, there's real trepidation among his advisers about what a conviction would mean. The Trump team comforts itself that independent-minded voters won't like the idea of a Democratic administration prosecuting the Republican nominee.
- A source close to Trump's team said: "When things shift to the general-election dynamic, with razor-thin margins, and you're trying to convince people who are unhappy with President Biden but are deeply skeptical of Trump personally — a conviction doesn't help persuade those people."
- In private, Trump lashes out at the prosecutors — raging that, once again, the system is rigged against him. And his team has tried every possible legal maneuver to delay the trials. "If he really thought it was a good thing, he wouldn't be so unhinged," the source said.
The risk
Polls show voters, especially swing voters, will view Trump differently if he's convicted by a jury of his peers.
- In seven swing states that will make up the most consequential fall battlegrounds, a Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll out this week found more than half of registered voters would be unwilling to vote for Trump if he were convicted of a crime (53%) or sentenced to prison (55%).
- A poll of six swing states by The New York Times and Siena College in October found 6% of voters would switch their votes to Biden if Trump were convicted and sentenced — "enough, potentially, to decide the election," The Times reported.
- But Trump's hold on the GOP could prove impregnable even to conviction. A national Yahoo News/YouGov poll out Thursday found that 72% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters think any conviction would be "an unfair outcome meant to damage [Trump] politically."
The other side: This is Biden's big bet: The belief inside the White House is that many voters won't vote for a convict — especially if the case is about the storming of the U.S. Capitol and attacks on cops."
FROM:
AXOIS
Behind the Curtain: Trump's conviction scenario
Column / Behind the Curtain
Feb 2, 2024 -
FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN RULE OF LAW:
“Prosecutors RACE to Deliver FATAL BLOW to Trump
On the Legal AF podcast, National defense attorney Michael Popok and former prosecutor Karen Friedman Agnifilo debate what happens next with the setting of the DC election inference criminal case and the NY business record fraud criminal case against Trump and whether either happen before Election Day now that the DC Court of Appeals has ruled against Trump finding no immunity from criminal prosecution.”
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