The appeals court in DC just placed a stay on the limited gag order Judge Chutkan placed on Donald Trump which will stay in place until they hold a hearing on the matter on November 20. This gives Donald 17 days in which to mock, insult, and otherwise threaten potential witnesses and jurors. I know this is standard operating procedure in such matters, but given everything else that’s been happening in Donald’s other trials, it continues to feel like the deck is increasingly stacked in his favor.
Yes, Judge Engoron slapped Donald with two fines totaling $15,000, but Donald had to push the bounds of threatening speech before that happened. The good news is that Engoron, as of today, has expanded the limited gag order to include the Trump lawyers. Donald and his sons, however, are still allowed to lie to reporters about pretty much everything, as long as they stop short of launching personal attacks against court officers or those testifying.
In Florida, Donald’s personal pocket judge Aileen Cannon continues to protect her favorite defendant. She tips her hand when it comes to 1) her contempt for the prosecution and 2) her clear desire to push back the trial as much as possible so Donald can run for re-elected as possible.
The point here is to underscore just how insane our acceptance of the unacceptable has become. We continue to follow norms and traditions not because they aid in the running of a healthy, democratic, system but because, even when they are unhealthy and undemocratic, that’s just the way it’s always been so what are we going to do about it.
We have the same attitude when it comes to antiquated, anti-democratic mechanisms like the filibuster and the electoral college or the egregiously anti-democratic make-up of the Senate in which, the 49 Republicans represent 41 million fewer voters than the 51 senators who caucus with the Democrats. Wyoming, with its population of 500,000 has as much representation as California, which has a population of 39 million. Mitch McConnell, as Senate Majority leader had the power to deny Pres. Barack Obama his right to fill an empty Supreme Court seat and we just don’t seem to think that’s a problem that needs to be fixed.
No matter how corrupt the Supreme Court might be, apparently there is just no way to institute any kind of ethics reform and the idea of leveling the playing field in order to neutralize the Court’s illegitimacy by expanding the Court is not even under serious consideration. We throw up our hands and say, “well, the Court, which represents the views of approximately 30% of Americans, is going to undermine democracy for the next 40 years and I guess we just have to let it happen.
We come to accept lies as truth, like the segregation of neighborhoods and therefore schools has been something American citizens have chosen, when in reality segregation is something that has been carefully manipulated over decades by politicians and courts.
What’s really pushed me over the edge regarding our politicians’ unwillingness to make our system more fair, more functional, and more equitable is the fact that Tommy Tuberville, very possible the least intelligent person ever to hold a Senate seat has FOR NINE MONTHS now placed a hold on all military promotions because HE disagrees with the Pentagon policy that allows service women to travel in order to receive healthcare if they are stationed in states which deny abortion services to women—which at this point is more than half of them. The Senate hold is an arcane parliamentary procedure and Tuberville is abusing it.
Tuberville’s belief about abortion rights is at odds with the vast majority of Americans; his Senate colleagues do not support his stunt which is incredibly damaging to the armed services. And yet, this one unworthy man has been allowed to undermine American national security at a time when two wars—between Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas—are being fought with great consequence to democracy in general and American foreign policy in particular.
Over 300 promotions are currently being blocked. The only way to get around the holds is to process and vote on each candidate individually. This would take approximately 700 hours. In other words, the Senate would have to work 24 hours a day for over 29 days in order to get it done. This is dangerous, unacceptable, and breathtakingly stupid.
I’ll dig into this issue more next week but for now, we cannot let this stuff continue to fly under the radar. I absolutely refuse to believe nothing can be done. We need to vote for people who will do it.
Today I had the honor of co-hosting Katie Couric’s podcast Next Question with the actual Katie Couric, and the guest was Adam Kinzinger which might sound odd to some of you. But it was actually a really fascinating conversation. It’s being released next Thursday so I will get you the link when I have it. I also wanted to let you know that Adam, who some of you may know used to be in the house of Representatives and, along with Liz Cheney, was one of only two Republicans to serve on the January 6th Committee, agreed to be a guest on a Deep Dive. So, I’ll keep you posted about that as well.
That’s Just the Way It Is