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Republicans defend Trump on the lawfare trials — 37 Comments

1. In general, when it comes to elected politicians, sometimes it’s easier to just assume that they’re all awful. Such a conclusion requires no effort, no research, and it can often prove to be true. But, as Neo points out, not always. Pessimism is a powerful force. The upside to pessimism is that if you’re wrong, it’s good, and if you’re right… well at least you have the satisfaction of being right.

2. Nonapod:

   I see it constantly, and I believe it leads to a bitter apathy that is counterproductive and actually destructive to the values the person on the right holds.

3. Speaking of govt. malfeasance in pursuing a political enemy:

   well, here we go again – there is new book out about the JFK assassination available on Amazon:

   The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: The Final Analysis: Forensic Analysis of the JFK Autopsy X-Rays Proves Two Headshots from the Right Front and One from the Rear Paperback – March 8, 2024
   by David W. Mantik M.D., Ph.D. (Author), Jerome R. Corsi Ph.D. (Author)

   Why do I think this will not be the last book written on this topic?

   Given the recent events re: pursuing Trump, the Russia-Trump hoax (supported by the several US intelligence agencies and the FBI) , etc., I would not be surprised at all if it was proved – not necessarily in this book – with near 100% reliability that elements within the US govt. (for whatever reason) carried out a “hit” on JFK.

   I have not read this book and most likely will not, but I no longer consider it an impossibility that elements within our govt carried out the “hit” on JFK.
   Why they would do this?
   I have no idea.

4. This country is so far gone it’s staggering.

5. Back during COVID-19, a friend said something along the lines of “‘I haven’t heard him say anything” about either the Governor of Texas or Trump – I don’t remember which one now. I had just read or watched a statement from the person he was speaking of. I asked my friend, where do you get your news? A lot of stuff is on Social media now. A lot of the destructive ” mostly peaceful ” events were being posted to social media. If you followed a few persons in the know, who collected links, you could see a lot that was going on. I am no longer on Facebook, and that is one thing I miss. But a few sites like this, AceofSpadesHQ, Breitbart, even the Fox website picks up a lot of social media links.

6. Nonapod

   What is the alternative given that “news” is when things go wrong? And given how fast life is for the average family, or even individual I don’t see how things could be different. I don’t think Cincinnatus exists and politics takes a lot of time most people don’t have. In the end it sounds like the teachers voice in Peanuts but it controls your life.

7. I don’t see the actual harm this sort of talk does. It’s not as if any swing voters are likely to see these; such people rarely visit the comments sections.

   I also suspect – strongly – that many such comments refer to politicians the speakers will oppose on other grounds. One of mine (Tillis) is cited above, but this is NOT the reason I intend to vote against him. OTOH, I would vote for Hogan or Collins if I lived in MD or ME. There are good reasons to get rid of wets if you live somewhere there is a reasonable hope to get someone better. I have always envied the Left’s ability to discipline Democrats. Who thinks, say, Nadler, is really very committed to the Left?

8. Eeyore:

   The harm is people on the right not voting in general. The perfect is the enemy of the good.

   And most of the comments are not specific to a particular politician. They’re about the whole thing: Republicans and Democrats are alike and so there’s no reason to vote for any of them. It’s a deep cynicism about everyone.

9. I remember that comment. And I remember thinking “Poor Neo” when I saw it. “After all she’s done to shed light on our current predicament — especially on that very point — comments like that still happen here.”

   Alas, I think those type of comments will only proliferate, even here. It goes along with the “Every Republican is a RINO — except Trump” and “Trump is the *only one* who can save us” type comments that are everywhere now. Trump has gone beyond being a mere political figure to many of his supporters. He’s now a messianic figure.

   I don’t get it. When I think of the qualities I’d expect to see in a messiah, I don’t see many in Trump. So even if I thought we needed a messiah — and at this point we just might — Trump is obviously not it. But here we are. Sigh.

10. JohnTyler:

    Read Bugiolisi’s book on the assassination, as I’ve said many many times before.

    The rest is just a big industry of lies. A very very popular one, with new entrants all the time.

11. For those that believe Oswald didn’t act alone- Read Posner’s ‘Case Closed: …… ” and listen to this Peter Robinson (Uncommon Knowledge) podcast https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-pr8jb-13e0e63 about Oswald’s neighbor.

12. Mark:

    Posner’s book is good, although I think Bugliosi’s is better. Posner’s is more concise and Bugliosi’s is extremely thorough.

    But those who prefer to believe in conspiracy speculation will never stop doing so, IMHO.

13. }}} No, they are not, and it’s a dangerous error to think so although a common one. They are different on many metrics, although the GOP often disappoints by joining the Democrats on certain issues, particularly involving spending. However, the Democrats are far left and are approving of many policies and people that are far more destructive to the nation and the world than what the Republicans advocate.

    While not voting “because they are the same”, or, even worse, voting for a Dem in “protest” of them being “the same” is insanely stupid, there is, unfortunately, a tendency to conflate where the GOP is now with where the Left is, because, unfortunately, these days, Ralph Nader is a far right lunatic.

    As I have quipped on other occasions, the PostModern Left these days is so far off in left field that they can’t see the center of the road with the Webb telescope.

    This means that the “Right” can be almost anywhere and be far far right of where the PML lunatics are. But they unfortunately tend to be well to the left of where conservatives ought to be on many many issues.

14. }}} Read Posner’s ‘Case Closed:

    The problem I have with Posner’s book (I read it back when JFK came out, e.g., over 30y ago) is that he keeps skirting obvious questions that challenge his thesis, and it drove me nuts.

    I can’t recall too many of them, but one blatantly clear one is that, when in Russia, his compatriots went hunting with him. They specifically and expressly state that he could not hit the broad side of a barn door with a shotgun.

    THEN he comes back to the USA and is a hotshot sniper? I mean, going out to a range and hitting targets like a sniper…? WTF?

    I am not a fan of CTs in general, and this one runs very much afoul of “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.” — it’s been more than enough time for a few people to have made a deathbed confession of their involvement.

    BUT… there is a lot of really weird shit surrounding the history of Oswald. Unquestionably a litany of “Things that make you go, ‘Hmmmmm….'”

    The whole assassination has as many hinky elements surrounding it as the 2020 election. No hard proof of jack or his smelly companion, but waaay more improbabilities collected together than can be rationally acceptable.

15. OBloody:

    Read Bugliosi’s book. I cannot stress that highly enough. It is superior to Posner’s and it makes an ironclad case.

    The assassination has no “hinky” elements and more proof than any case in history – as readers of Bugliosi’s book will discover.

    Read Bugliosi. And read my previous posts on the subject. But above all, read his book. It’s very long and very comprehensive. It basically covers – and obliterates – all of the conspiracy theories, every single one.

16. Romney’s incapable of saying anything that isn’t vapid.

17. I can’t recall too many of them, but one blatantly clear one is that, when in Russia, his compatriots went hunting with him. They specifically and expressly state that he could not hit the broad side of a barn door with a shotgun. THEN he comes back to the USA and is a hotshot sniper? I mean, going out to a range and hitting targets like a sniper…? WTF?
    ==
    He had training in the Marines. You didn’t have to be a hot shot sniper to hit the targets he hit.

18. Dems are driving us to hell in a handbasket with a majority of one which one is is warnock considering that fetterman seems to appearing sensible
    Meanwhile half the gop caucus went in on another ruinous continuing resolution that did nothing to fix the border or the zombie pentagon or another of the corrupt
    foundations

19. Re: “Reclaiming History” by Vincent Bugliosi

    Leaving aside all the inside baseball (but still important) of the JFK assassination, the first 320 pages provide a riveting account of the assassination as it happened and was reported.

20. huxley:

    Agreed. The descriptive material is incredibly thorough but also riveting. Even people who think they know everything about the assassination often have huge gaps in their knowledge that the book can fill in.

    The next couple of hundred pages in the book are great, too.

    Much of the rest after that is taking conspiracy by conspiracy theory point by point by point. It’s quite a tour de force.

21. Off topic.

    I hope Snow on Pine is OK.

    He has been AWOL for a while.

22. Of course they handed many of the assasination files to larry sabato might as well have given them to mr magoo

    Good to hear

23. “Remember folks, the Democrats and Republicans in DC are not opponents, they’re dance partners.” Sgt. Joe Friday

    “No, they are not, and it’s a dangerous error to think so although a common one. They are different on many metrics, although the GOP often disappoints by joining the Democrats on certain issues, particularly involving spending. However, the Democrats are far left and are approving of many policies and people that are far more destructive to the nation and the world than what the Republicans advocate.” neo

    Is it fair to say that when they “often disappoint” they are then acting as “dance partners”?

    Is the refusal of the House GOP to pass single issue bills that would force the dems to either stop the illegal invasion or see their pet departments (EPA, DoE, etc.) defunded… an example of the GOP acting as a… dance partner?

    Is the refusal of the House GOP to pass single issue bills that would force the dems to either stop the obscene deficit spending or again, see their pet departments (EPA, DoE, etc.) defunded… an example of the GOP acting as a dance partner?

    In fact, is the refusal of the House GOP to pass single issue bills itself an example of the GOP acting as a dance partner?

    How is the House controlled GOP’s refusal to use the Power of the Purse not proof of the GOP acting as a dance partner? One that the Dems can count on when needed?

    Yes, the two factions within the Uni-Party have different agendas, each has their own road… to the same destination.

24. Online commenters have a limitless supply of chips to lay down at any time. Win or lose, right or wrong, we are always playing. Politicians have only so many chips and they can easily lose them. They have to weigh their bets carefully, so it’s not always easy to know how to judge them fairly.

    It’s good that so many Republican politicians have had the courage to speak out against the persecution of Trump. It may not be good that people don’t notice their taking a stand, but it’s good that the mainstream media hasn’t been able to crucify them for pointing out the fraud and injustice of the trials.

25. “I believe President Trump’s character and conduct make him unfit for office,” Romney said in a statement.

    Has any Democrat ever said that about Slick Willy? Trump is painted as a hopelessly horny sex addict of low moral character. Bill Clinton is called a lovable scallywag with a roving eye. I’m not claiming Trump is an angel, but his womanizing record is minor league compared to Wiliam Jefferson Clinton.

    I would say about Sgt. Joe Friday’s comment about Republicans not defending Trump – the Sgt must not watch much Fox or Newsmax. There are Republicans on there defending him everyday. Rubio, Cruz, Mike Johnson, John Kennedy,
    J.D. Vance, M.T. Greene, Chip Roy, etc. Trump has a lot of support among Republicans in Congress, but there are a few who aren’t on board – Mitcth, Romney, and Thune come to mind.

    Considering the steaming mess that Biden has managed to get us into – inflation, an open border, e-car quotas, solar and wind subsidies, illegal student loan forgiveness, prosecuting political opponents, high interest rates, increasing crime, a failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, cozying up to Iran, backing Israel only when it’s politically expedient, proceeding too cautiously in Ukraine, and much more – I don’t understand why anyone with a grasp of the above issues would vote for Biden or stay home.

    Trump was a pretty good POTUS even with a good deal of the government trying to undermine him. He won’t be worse than Biden.

26. People here are going to seek and therefore find. But what about the huge chunk of the populace who consume news passively?

    I feel Friday’s frustration, but unlike him, I chalk it up to the willful efforts of a complicit news and social media establishment to keep the news within the bounds they define. My in-laws vote, and they vote Democrat – even though they are serious gun owners (like SERIOUS), hate illegal immigration, owned a small business until retirement, never let an American holiday go by without flying the American flag, believe that sex is a binary (without hating trans people – just not affirming the claim that a trans person IS the trans sex they claim) and natal men should stay out of women’s sports, prisons, crisis centers, dressing rooms… They are modern Republicans, but they have no idea of that fact because the information they passively consume tells them that Republicans are drooling insurrectionists who want to put y’all back in chains and burn Mark Twain and forcibly impregnate women.

    They aren’t clear on how my husband and I fit into that picture, but they appear to think we’re just outliers, probably because of my husband’s good solid California upbringing and my late but eventual arrival on the West Coast (this despite the fact that they’re both from way east of CA!), instead of perfectly normal mainstream Republicans.

27. OBloody:

    Donald Bellisario (Hollywood producer, with credits on “Magnum PI”, “NCIS”, “Quantum Leap”, etc.) was a Marine who served with Oswald in the same unit in the 1950s. He underwent the same combat training as Oswald, and says that he believes Oswald was the lone shooter. He dedicated an episode of “Quantum Leap” to prove it.

    https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/09/18/Donald-Paul-Bellisario-is-the-only-Hollywood-producer-so/9471716788800/

    BTW, it’s a great episode, one of the best time travel shows I’ve seen.

28. J.J.:

    Joe Lieberman on Bill Clinton:

    “Such behavior is not only inappropriate,” Lieberman said. “It is immoral and it is harmful.” Clinton’s actions, he said, “contradicted the values” the president has publicly embraced for the past six years and “compromised his moral authority” to restore the strength of the American family.

29. Geoffrey Britain:

    I assume you know the difference between siding with an opponent on occasion and siding with that opponent all the time (being indistinguishable in goals and actions from that opponent).

    It is illogical to pick and choose certain specific ways in which the parties are similar and then say they basically have the same goals and are on the way to the same destination, period. On a few issues, yes, but not – for example – on Israel, not on religious freedom, not on judicial nominations, not on defense, not on education, not on rules for voting security, not on a host of other important issues.

    The GOP has a paper-thin majority in the House and is a minority in the Senate. It can’t pass anything in the House unless it’s almost unanimous. Republicans tend to be more individualistic than Democrats in their votes and it’s very hard to get that near-unanimity, and even when it is accomplished then the measures are defeated in the Senate.

    I’ve noticed that most of the criticism of the GOP doesn’t take these facts into account – including the fact that not every GOP member of Congress is a conservative. The less conservative, the more like Democrats the GOP member of Congress is. It’s just not a unitary bunch, but that doesn’t mean that it’s indistinguishable from the Democrat Party or even close to that.

30. om:

    Snow on Pine last commented here on April 14. Not especially long ago.

31. Aha, there were some principled Democrats in those days:

    “Immediately after Lieberman concluded his statement, two senior Democrats – Sens. Bob Kerrey (Neb.) and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (N.Y.) – rose to endorse Lieberman’s rebuke of the president and to praise him for his words.” Good for them. They were certainly in the minority on the Democrat side.

    Joe Lieberman was a principled man. Unusually so in a Democrat, IMO. (Okay, Alan Dershowitz is also a principled Dem.) So unusually so that he decided later in his career that he could no longer be a Democrat. (Dersh can’t bring himself to do it, even though he should.)

    Let’s just say the criticism of Bill on the left and in the MSM was rare.

32. neo:

    Whew. Glad to have been mistaken.

33. Related:
    ” Roger Kimball: The Trump trial is a precursor to how a republic ends. Not with a bang, but a perversion of the law.”—
    https://instapundit.com/642376/

34. On Oswald, my wife has a fun story. She’s a country girl, and when she was in HS, someone said no one could make that shot. One boy said “I think I could. I KNOW my father could.” (The 2nd is pure Virginia.)

    The next weekend his parents heard shooting, and the mother sent the father to find out why. It stopped for a bit, then started up again. She followed, and saw her husband, hanging to the side of a silo, shooting at a bale of hay, set on a moving tractor.

    On the main point, I still object. Republican politicians are not afraid of their base, Democrats are. And the Left benefits from that. Unless we can put some fear into them, we will lose.

35. The maneuvering around the efforts to remove the Speaker are worrisome because the Democrats are so close to the majority and that would allow them to remove Trump from the ballot. It is suspicious.

36. BUT… there is a lot of really weird shit surrounding the history of Oswald. Unquestionably a litany of “Things that make you go, ‘Hmmmmm….’”
    ==
    Try a thought experiment which absolves Oswald. The conspirators have to identify a scapegoat on short notice. (The route of the motorcade in question was decided upon < two weeks earlier, IIRC). As it happens, they have one in their Rolodex who works at a commercial building along the route. They would know this because their Rolodex is continuously updated and they remarked it when Oswald was hired there about six weeks earlier. (Oswald would have been difficult to track because he was fired from his job frequently and had moved from New Orleans to Dallas just months earlier). Their trackers discover he bought a Carcano rifle via mail order that summer. So, they go over to his boarding house and cadge it. Oh, wait, he keeps it in Ruth Paine's garage. So, they steal it from there, carefully picking a time when neither Mrs. Paine nor Mrs. Oswald (nor Mr. Paine) are at the house. One of the boys infiltrates the School Book Depository undetected, builds a sniper's nest and plugs Gov. Connolly and the President before leaving the building undetected.
    ==
    You have to love it when a plan comes together. Oswald was in a car pool with other Depository employees. The conspirators managed to pick a day when he had a package with him on the way to work. ("Curtain rods", he said). Oswald's foreman held a roll call after the assassination. All but one of the men on his staff were present. The missing employee was … Lee Oswald. Later in the day, a man took out his pistol and fired away at a Dallas city cop in full view of a scrum of witnesses. Then he goes and hides himself (witnessed by local merchants) in one business, then another. Witnesses identify a movie theatre said assailant entered. Dallas police enter the theatre and find Lee Oswald just mindin' his own business, right? The man must have been the unluckiest man alive.

37. The definitive proof that, for me, Oswald was the assassin was an article in a gun magazine. It described Marine Corps firearms instructors recreating the shooting. They couldn’t do it. BUT! It turns out that Oswald was left handed and shot that way. The Marine shooters easily made the shot shooting left handed. Holding the rifle in the left hand and working the bolt with the right hand. This is shooting from a rest, as it’s believed Oswald did.

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