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And yet Republicans are once again rallying behind him, except for the "no hopers" (Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson). Even the supposedly "rational and normal" Tim Scott is offering words of support for the Former Guy.

What does it say about this country--or a huge chunk of it, anyway--that an indictment for trying to overturn a free and fair election actually INCREASES your popularity in your party? What does it say about this country that this execrable, seditious grifter stands an excellent chance of recapturing the White House in the next election, despite everything we already knew about him and what we have come to find out since the last election?

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Ian, I am stunned by the response by the likes of DeSantis and Scott. Maybe I shouldn't be. Writing on it now.

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The Caudillo of DeSantistan is a unique political animal.

He and his campaign team must be taking the political-version of psychotropic psylocibin, living the delusional idea that sticking up for Trump will help him be the "fall-to" MAGA guy when the Defendant-In-Chief goes down in court and is sentenced to live in a working class urban neighborhood commune performing 4-years of community service.

Chris,

As a reporter, and student of news, has there ever been anything resembling a car-crash after there has already been a car-crash in politics???

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It says we better stop complaining about Joe Biden's major successes and stop letting the Perfect be the enemy of the Good Enough (I always like Tom Clancy's character John Clark's rule: "Good enough is good enough and perfect is a pain in the ass.") and get all the Volvo Driving Chardonnay Swillers to go out and work their perfect little asses off to win in 2024, and not just the presidency.

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It says the Republican Party should go the way of the Whigs.

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Dan,

You're assuming they haven't.

Perfect symmetry --- the Republican Party came from the ashes of the Whigs and to those ashes it will return 180 years later.

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More amazing than the level of detail/confirmation in the indictment is his Lemmings refusal to acknowledge the facts and their growing chorus of "Nazi Germany".

Pence's tweet last night is what they all should be saying

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Agree. The defense of him is amazing.

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I would never tell another writer what to say, but I think the word you might want here is "appalling."

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How about appallingly absurd?

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Everyone, everywhere is writing analysis of The Indictment - even though there is not much that we did not already know. Chris's take on the indictment is the reason that I am a subscriber, it is not just a ChatGPT regurgitation of facts, Chris distilled and crystalized its salient points.

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Tim, that makes my day. Thank you.

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Good summary - think you have it right.

And Rudy showed even more "doltness" in his "first amendment rights" defense comments last night.

Sense this is just the first thrust by Jack Smith - feels like there will be a lot of individual indictments to come, depending upon how the co-conspirators respond, and how the others not yet named respond.

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Agree, Mike. I think there is WAY more to come.

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Please please - arrestthe congressional insurrectionists: starting with Ted Cruz, Scott "General Jack D. Ripper" Perry, Jungle Gym Jordan and Marjorie Traitor Goon.

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Rudy has been a tool since before 9-11.

My brother is a medical doctor working with Manhattan's homeless for 30+ years. As such, he knows many of the police precincts and firehouses around The City.

Prior to 9-11, Dr. Dave was well acquainted with the non-communication between the Service entities, who complained about redundancy and miscommunications between them.

"Hizzoner" Rudy made a sweetheart deal with a political crony, the Twin Towers management, to move police/fire cell tower communications to the towers, over the objection of both Service commissioners because of security issues that could be better controlled on hard phonelines.

Furthermore, Rudy's magical 21st-century cell communications vision never created a unified system that was proven fatal on 9-11.

But Rudy's penchant for public relations moved him to be a sympathetic character dealing with the destruction in Lower Manhattan, although his fuqued-up business choice of communication site as a civilian elected official over day-to-day professionals proves at least the "pathetic" part of "sympathetic" was appropriate.

The recently cited "Co-Conspirator," honored by SNL the following Saturday after 9-11, while standing with the soon-to-be-convicted felon Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, was eventually dubbed "America's Mayor."

After the legal process is done with him in the current reality, Rudy will go down in history as a celebrity grasping, marginally intelligent person who slipped up the ladder of success until the "Peter Principle" made obvious that his intellectual and grifting skills had reached their height.

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Agree that Rudy has been a dolt since before 9/11. He presented himself as a hero during those horrific days, people thinking that was the true Rudy and he has gone down the proverbial rabbit hole. No, he’s been this dolt before 9/11 and that was the true Rudy, although, now much much worse.

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Jeffrey Clark - like most right wingers - is as big a moron as he looks (other examples: fatface Comer, rockhead Jordan, potatoface Marjorie Traitor Goon). Further proof that scoring high enough on the LSAT to get into law school and parroting back well enough to pass and graduate, is no sign of actual intelligence.

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TC

You seem to have captured the philosophy of stalwart Republican, Alice Roosevelt Longworth (Teddy's daughter), who had a pillow embroidered with "IF YOU CAN’T SAY SOMETHING GOOD ABOUT SOMEONE, SIT RIGHT HERE BY ME.

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Yes, I like that a lot. :-)

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I feel humbled by your adjectives, compared to ones I've coined.

While not intended to be misogynistic, I do use Madge "Dude Looks Like Lady" Greene, #1 because she does and #2, as a homage to Joe Perry, my neighbor when I lived on the South Shore of Boston.

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45 pages indictment for the 45th president.

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I think your analysis is spot on. Can't wait for the rest of the shoes to drop on these clowns.

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Thanks for the kind words, Dan.

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Chris: Excellent points.

But, you left out one of the worst co-conspirators (possibly #3), lawyer Sidney Powell, who filed a lawsuit against the Governor of Georgia on November 25, 2020, alleging massive election fraud, which was dismissed on December 7, 2020.

When this rat was cornered some months ago the "Kraken" lawyer admitted in a federal court filing that no reasonable person would conclude that her statements about a phony election allegations were statements of fact. I

In light of the Dominion lawsuit, Powell now considers it not reasonable for people to have taken her blatherings seriously.

Now that is a unique defense strategy!!!

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Sidney Powell is ALL over that indictment too -- no question about it.

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The latest NY Times poll has 70%+ of the GOP believing Trump didn't commit any crime(s). It will be interesting to see if this support softens after the knee-jerk reactions to the indictments are over.

I am not hopeful...

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Neither am I. I think that group lives in an alternate media world where Trump is being railroaded by a political DOJ.

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It’s beyond that. It’s truly a cult where the only truth is what the Dear Leader speaks.

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I worry that I am enjoying this so much and am looking forward to the whole series and sequels.

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I think that is always the danger with Trump. He makes everything into a circus and a reality TV show. So, it doesn't feel totally real.

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This is just one of the numerous reasons Trump should never occupy the White House again and I remain confident that he will never again be the President of this great . I trust the ingenuity and instincts of the American people

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Thank you for the summary.

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Hope it is helpful!

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The lack of moral and ethical courage by Republican leaders will follow them into be history books and the story is definitely not going to be a good look.

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It's very true indeed. Pence was saving the Country at the expense of his political career. That's what genuine Heroes/Heroine are made of. On the contrary,Trump was trying to destroy the country tin order to save his tumultuous political career. In the end Pence won and history will remember him for that. History will also remember Trump for his actions. That's why it's appalling that some people are still trying to defend him(Trump that is)

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Does anyone get the feeling that the fat orange one could shoot Patrick Mahomes at the 50 yd line of Arrowhead Stadium and his Chief loving followers would still be singing his praises?

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I have said this before and will say it again, it is a sad state of affairs that as a country, we could elect Trump to be in the Oval Office once again. Appalling. I do not understand it and can’t believe that leadership hasn’t said ENOUGH. Let’s dump him and move on. They have had more than enough times to be able to unload him. Should have stopped him in 2016 but didn’t, thankfully, the country came to its senses and booted him out in 2020. However, he has momentum and is now thrice indicted and will be the nominee and very real chance to be back in the White House. This country won’t know what they will be in store for and it isn’t going to be good. It will come down to a handful of states and am very very frightened of what could happen. The co-conspirators are no surprise, really. Interesting to see who #6 is.

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