Friday's News Part 2 The Election (and Why Harris lost) and the trials

The point is, the voters wanted a CEO type, – one who is authentic. Official Washington, especially pundits, are a bit in the dark on how this paradigm works. Morality exists inside of various paradigms – and they are not the same. In Trump’s paradigm, he did nothing wrong. He has always worked hard at looking competent – but it is not his strong suit – so he wants a medal anytime he is seen that way. This is normal for a CEO, but not for a bureaucrat. The people don’t want a bureaucrat. They don’t trust them. The best thing Trump can do for a balanced country is get good bureaucrats, like Bondi. His book is the Art of the Deal, not the Science of the Deal. Doh!

The election was not stolen. People voted for authenticity over competence. It may not have been the worst choice. Had they wanted competence, Haley would be the President elect. She should have been VP – and may have passed on the job. It would be inappropriate for us to know that answer.

Harris lost because she did not explain the inflation that everyone was feeling (which the economic statistics are now pointing out). She was between a rock and a hard place. If she had said a recession was coming, she could not tout the economy. She should have said that it was coming because of the Trump tax cuts giving too much to Wall Street to play with.

The second reason is the Catholic swing voters. Obama did not mention abortion. Clinton and Harris did, which was a mistake. In Dobbs, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU did not explain that viability is because at that point, the fetus can be born – instead leading with women’s rights – a bridge too far for moderate Catholics. Once she focused on abortion, she was doomed.

Let’s look at the court cases. Chutkan (and only Chutkan) can nullify the Office of General Counsel opinion if she wants to exercise her powers under Rule 48A – which would force the DOJ to keep going – and would probably order that Smith not be removed. Is getting him so important? Probably not. Getting Stone is – but Trump would just pardon him. I hope that when the story is written, his role is revealed. Trump essentially told people under him to show that he won – probably because Stone said he should – and then they did a really sloppy job of trying to make it happen. Even the fake electors plot was sloppy – but was below Trump’s pay grade.

Either Luck or God kept us from what would have been a real test for the rule of law – which would have occurred if the people in the insurrection whose mission was to get to where members were hiding had succeeded and done God knows what. That may be lost to history. Ask me in 20 years. Eastman was wrong in his strategy. The 12^th Amendment would have simply thrown out the contested votes – but Biden still had more than Trump and would have been the winner. The majority of those votes legally cast – not the majority of the entire electoral college, what the Amendment requires.

The NY case should not have been a felony. The campaign finance angle was too much of a reach. Reducing the charge to a misdemeanor is not tragedy. In Georgia, justice has been done. Once the call to Roethlisberger was excluded from the charge and Rudy was held liable for what happened to Ruby and Shea, nothing more is needed.

The documents case was a dispute on who gets to keep most of the archives. Trump was badly advised. All the information should have been sent to the GSA and stored in Florida or New Jersey (a better option, given global warming). The classified fell into to categories – personal trophies (that as President he could have shared with Putin and may already have) and evidence of his relationship with Putin – all of which is now considered as Official Acts. When Canon first intervened with a special master, keeping those documents – which were overclassified – away from Smith – was reasonable because the question of Official Acts immunity was still open – and could only have been given to Smith once the issue was decided. The Special Master did not get the memo – nor did Smith or Trump’s lawyers. As a former poli-sci doctoral student – the question of official acts immunity is long settled by history – ever since the cases of the Louisiana Purchase and the Barbary pirates. Or even the siting of the national capital. Much of the Virginia side was Washington’s property. Washington could not have gotten away with doing that today.

AG James giving the Trump businesses the death penalty was justified – although the real case should have had to do with potential money laundering for Moscow through Deutche Bank. Once that was off the table, the NY cases should have been dropped – but the corruption uncovered in discovery could not have been swept under the rug. This case has legs – since incompetence is no defense for fraud. He needs to designate Bedminster as the site for his presidential library and let the chips fall where they may.