New in PN: Why Epstein has Trump crashing out
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Biden was very concerned that he not seem like he was controlling the DOJ, even as Republicans assumed he was controlling the DOJ.
And maybe Biden kept that air gap in place. Leaving the files sitting there for Trump to find.
Trump enters office and is confident there is nothing there because *he* would have used that information so he assumes that's what Biden would have done. He tells Bondi "don't worry you can release them" with confidence.
Then Bondi looks at the files.
I know we have all forgotten about this but it's supposed to be a big scandal if the president even knows too much about what the DOJ is doing.
Hard to remember that when the president is sending his personal lawyer to interview Maxwell about a pardon deal to keep his name out of her mouth.
We are so far gone.
And in being so far gone we're forgetting where we used to be.
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OMG I just realized something.
"Former President Joe Biden was underwater in the polls for months. If he had damaging information against Trump ... why wouldn’t he have ordered Garland to release the files immediately? Obviously, any fair-minded observer would point out that’s not how Biden and especially the norms-obsessed Attorney General Merrick Garland operated"
But that *is* how Trump assumed they would operate, so he assumed there was nothing damaging to him in the files.
Democrats only believe that breaking precious norms is acceptable when it is done to undermine the left. They will trample the left in primaries, sling lies and dirt to stop us: so we assume they'd do the same for the far right. Not so!
No such luck. To them Republicans are *honorable* opponents. They still care if Republicans think they are respectable. Even though Republicans hate them and aren't even paying attention to that at all.
And they don't care if progressives hate them.
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Democrats only believe that breaking precious norms is acceptable when it is done to undermine the left. They will trample the left in primaries, sling lies and dirt to stop us: so we assume they'd do the same for the far right. Not so!
No such luck. To them Republicans are *honorable* opponents. They still care if Republicans think they are respectable. Even though Republicans hate them and aren't even paying attention to that at all.
And they don't care if progressives hate them.
Ruth didn't retire, that would be playing politics.
They tried to run the whole Russian election interference investigation as fairly as possible. Which made it trivial to undermine politically.
Rather than use the Epstien issue they let the DOJ work independently and allowed justice to "take it course" so who ended up driving that one?
The norms matter more than the lives on the line. They will die for the norms.
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Ruth didn't retire, that would be playing politics.
They tried to run the whole Russian election interference investigation as fairly as possible. Which made it trivial to undermine politically.
Rather than use the Epstien issue they let the DOJ work independently and allowed justice to "take it course" so who ended up driving that one?
The norms matter more than the lives on the line. They will die for the norms.
How can I teach moderate Democrats Republicans have no more respect for them than they do for me, a horrible leftist?
How can I teach Black American men that Republicans don't think you are any more American than an undocumented immigrant?
How can I teach the well-off married gay couple that they aren't any more acceptable than a trans woman living on the streets?
We are all the same. I am *honored* to be with you all.
You should be honored to be with me. Welcome to the boat.
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How can I teach moderate Democrats Republicans have no more respect for them than they do for me, a horrible leftist?
How can I teach Black American men that Republicans don't think you are any more American than an undocumented immigrant?
How can I teach the well-off married gay couple that they aren't any more acceptable than a trans woman living on the streets?
We are all the same. I am *honored* to be with you all.
You should be honored to be with me. Welcome to the boat.
@futurebird @atrupar I'm sort of confused every time I see a photo of a Black ICE agent, but it's not my place to comment. I just wonder what their moms think.
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@futurebird @atrupar I'm sort of confused every time I see a photo of a Black ICE agent, but it's not my place to comment. I just wonder what their moms think.
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How can I teach moderate Democrats Republicans have no more respect for them than they do for me, a horrible leftist?
How can I teach Black American men that Republicans don't think you are any more American than an undocumented immigrant?
How can I teach the well-off married gay couple that they aren't any more acceptable than a trans woman living on the streets?
We are all the same. I am *honored* to be with you all.
You should be honored to be with me. Welcome to the boat.
@futurebird @atrupar If you view the Republicans accurately (and want to live in a democracy), it's not just a civil war it's "God will know his own"; if you want democracy (or a habitable planet), you have to break the cultural continuity of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and the Oil Empire.
"Norms and decency" allows people to continue to construct self-respect despite NOT wanting to live in a democracy. People mostly want a guarantee of stable status, not a better world.
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@futurebird @atrupar If you view the Republicans accurately (and want to live in a democracy), it's not just a civil war it's "God will know his own"; if you want democracy (or a habitable planet), you have to break the cultural continuity of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and the Oil Empire.
"Norms and decency" allows people to continue to construct self-respect despite NOT wanting to live in a democracy. People mostly want a guarantee of stable status, not a better world.
I mean I get it. You have a decent job. You have your house in order. Why rock the boat?
That inertia is real, and non-trivial.
"Can't we just go back to how things were?"
I don't think that we can. The page is turning and we need to have a vision for what will be there that is better than what the right has already constructed.
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I know we have all forgotten about this but it's supposed to be a big scandal if the president even knows too much about what the DOJ is doing.
Hard to remember that when the president is sending his personal lawyer to interview Maxwell about a pardon deal to keep his name out of her mouth.
We are so far gone.
And in being so far gone we're forgetting where we used to be.
It won't be foolproof. AFAIK pardons are permanent and cannot be revoked. Maxwell can agree to anything and tear up the agreement after the pardon. It may suit her to talk at some point.
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It won't be foolproof. AFAIK pardons are permanent and cannot be revoked. Maxwell can agree to anything and tear up the agreement after the pardon. It may suit her to talk at some point.
Why not simply release the files which already contain her accounts, but also evidence, videos, photos, testimony of victims, financial records... everything?
Only if she has *new* information should anyone need to talk to her. But how could we even know without seeing the files first?
I do think she is the source for the infamous "birthday book" which she is clearly using to blackmail a sitting president while we all watch and pretend this is normal. It's absurdity!
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Democrats only believe that breaking precious norms is acceptable when it is done to undermine the left. They will trample the left in primaries, sling lies and dirt to stop us: so we assume they'd do the same for the far right. Not so!
No such luck. To them Republicans are *honorable* opponents. They still care if Republicans think they are respectable. Even though Republicans hate them and aren't even paying attention to that at all.
And they don't care if progressives hate them.
Hah, there's probably a shit ton of Democrats in those files, too. They can pretend that they're being "honorable" by *checks notes* not cracking down on serious patterns of sexual assault, but let's face it those files would probably put a massive bipartisan crater in Washington and Wall Street if this were ever investigated in any serious way.
Anyway, anybody who'd consider fascists HONORABLE opponents whatsoever to begin with, is probably also a fascist.
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Hah, there's probably a shit ton of Democrats in those files, too. They can pretend that they're being "honorable" by *checks notes* not cracking down on serious patterns of sexual assault, but let's face it those files would probably put a massive bipartisan crater in Washington and Wall Street if this were ever investigated in any serious way.
Anyway, anybody who'd consider fascists HONORABLE opponents whatsoever to begin with, is probably also a fascist.
Yeah it could be that too. It's even more of a reason to not interfere and be distant.
