#Former President Donald J. Trump

[xtruss]

Map of The US With Trump's Shadow Looming. Image: Alberto Miranda

America Will Need A New Vocabulary To Discuss Its Presidential Election! Unprecedented, Uncharted, Not Unthinkable

— November 13th, 2023 | By John Prideaux

Barring unforeseen illness or death, the 2024 presidential election will be a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. This will be confirmed by the party primaries, which in 2024 will be completed much earlier than usual. Normally the incumbent president is chosen as his party’s nominee without much of a fight. On the Democratic side that will happen again. But the Republican side, where one candidate is so far ahead already that he has been able to skip the early debates, will be much weirder.

In a typical primary cycle, Americans have to wait until the end of March, or beyond, to know who the challenger is likely to be. This time the Republican primary could in effect be finished by the end of February. Americans would then be subjected to a full eight months of a general election campaign between two unpopular candidates—while America’s allies around the globe hold their breath.

If the primaries are less relevant than usual, the attention of politically engaged Americans (particularly those who do not wish to see a second Trump presidency), will shift from Trump the candidate to Trump the defendant. The former president’s federal trial for attempting to overturn the 2020 election starts on March 4th, the day before “Super Tuesday”, when 13 states will vote in the Republican primary.

His campaign will take advantage of this timing, portraying the cases against Mr Trump as a left-wing plot to prevent him from winning a second term and inviting his backers to vote for him (and donate to his legal fund) as an act of defiance. One of Mr Trump’s favourite political techniques is to turn whatever he stands accused of back against his accusers. Thus, while he is actually on trial in a federal court for undermining American democracy, he will claim that the real threat to democratic freedom is the federal court.

The coronations of the candidates will take place in Milwaukee, where the Republicans will hold their convention in July, and Chicago, where Democrats will gather in August to enthuse about four more years of Mr Biden (at the end of which their candidate would be 86 years old). The choice of locations is another reminder of the outsized importance of the Midwest in an election year, and the extent to which the contest to choose the president is not really a national election.

It Is Hard To Overstate How Important The Outcome Will Be, For America And The World

If the vote is close, as most presidential elections are now, then the result will come down to what happens in six states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. This means states with a combined population of 50m people, a bit more than Spain but fewer than Italy, will choose the next president. A bigger swing in either direction could bring a few more states into play: Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, perhaps even Florida.

The federal cases against Mr Trump are unlikely to be litigated by November 5th, the day of the election, because Mr Trump’s legal strategy will be to delay and then to appeal. As a result, for the first time, America will have a presidential candidate on the ballot who stands accused of federal and state crimes. Words like ”uncharted” and “unprecedented” were worn out by the end of Mr Trump’s first term. America will need new ones for this election.

It is hard to overstate how important the outcome will be for America and the rest of the world. America’s next president will face some predictable problems. The trust funds that pay for Social Security and Medicare (health care for pensioners) are running out of money. Nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea will be in the in-tray again. And there is the looming question of Taiwan. China-watchers in the West believe there is a narrow window, which overlaps with the next presidency, during which the People’s Liberation Army would have the advantage in a conflict over the island. The president chosen in 2024 will thus be in charge in the moment of maximum danger.

Most crises, though, are of the unexpected sort. In 2016 Mr Trump campaigned on ending American entanglements in the Middle East. Less than a year later, he gave the order to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Syrian territory. The last year of his presidency was consumed by mishandling the spread of a new virus. Mr Biden’s presidency has been steadier and more successful, but the subjects that have demanded most of his attention—the bungled retreat from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a war between Israel and Hamas—were unforeseen.

A second Trump win, though, would be predictably awful. Plans will be laid over the next 12 months to staff his administration with true believers. The full effect is hard to imagine. What would it mean for foreign policy, or action on climate change? Would other countries elect nationalist populists in imitation again, as Brazil did in 2018?

For America, the questions are even bigger. What would it mean for the country’s democracy to re-elect a man who governed as Mr Trump did, who was impeached twice by the House of Representatives—and who tried to overturn the result of the last election? ■

— John Prideaux, United States Editor, The Economist

[thejewishlink]

Trump: FBI ‘could have planted anything they wanted'

Trump: FBI ‘could have planted anything they wanted’

Trump says after raid ‘there is tremendous anger in the country’ and reaches out to DOJ with offer to help calm down the situation. Former President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will do whatever he can “to help the country” and that the “temperature has to be brought down” after the outrage generated by the FBI’s raid on his Mar-a-Lago home last week. In his first interview since the…

[fightingformore]

We were so close to a pride month conviction 😭😭😭

[seamsofparadise]

gottem

[deadpresidents]

"What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 millions people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen."

-- "How Far Would He Go", TIME Magazine's interviews with Donald Trump, April 30, 2024.

I know we're saturated in coverage of Trump and it's easy (and probably better for our mental health) to usually ignore most of the articles when we see them, especially since he's so full of shit and infuriating. But it's also important to recognize that he is going to be the Republican nominee for President and he could absolutely be elected in November, and if you thought his first term was scary and dangerous, you need to understand that in a second term he's going to have people around him that are better prepared and VERY willing to do the crazy shit that he wants to do to this country. They aren't even hiding the fact that they are seeking vengeance against political opponents whom they feel have wronged them, and are ready to fundamentally dismantle the democratic foundations that are barely holding this country together after nearly 250 years.

Just look at what Trump says about the people who he incited to attack the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and halt the peaceful transfer of power that has happened every four years since 1789:

"Trump has sought to recast an insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. 'I call them the J-6 patriots,' he say. When I ask whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says, 'Yes, absolutely.' As Trump faces dozens of felony charges, including for election interference, conspiracy to defraud the United States, willful retention of national-security secrets, and falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments, he has tried to turn legal peril into a badge of honor."

Oh, and please note that Trump -- a former President of the United States and possible future President of the United States -- said on the record in these interviews with TIME: "There is a definite antiwhite feeling in the country and that can't be allowed either." We are at a point where political leaders are outright saying that in this country again, and it's because of Donald Trump.

So, take the time to recognize that Trump is straight-up telling us the country we're going to be living in if he wins again in November. And understand that your vote matters -- and WHO you vote for matters -- because, as I've been saying for years now, ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES.

[minnesotafollower]

President Biden’s Inspiring Praise of John McCain and Criticism of Donald Trump  and MAGA 

On September 28, 2023, President Joe Biden was in Tempe, Arizona to  announce a major federal grant to the state of Arizona to help design and build a new McCain National Library at Arizona State University. The President’s remarks on that occasion honored his deceased friend, John McCain, followed by the President’s blistering attack on Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA)…

[hispersions]

god keeps me humble by reminding me every so often that I will never be as funny as my mother

[tinyowlthoughts]

YEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

Edit to add:

"But this doesn't mean he's going to jail."

You're absolutely right, it doesn't. But you know what it does mean, now that Donald J. Trump, former 45 president of the United States is a convicted felon?

He had to sit there as 12 New Yorkers (the state that 'turned their back' on him) said, 34 times, that he was guilty.

That they didn't believe him.

That they had no faith in his/the defenses version of events.

That they believe he not only cheated on his just-gave-birth wife with a porn star (and damn, is Stormy Daniels a motherfucking star!), but that he also paid her off to hide it before his election.

That they believe Cohen over Trump.

That they think he is a lying sack of shit and weren't afraid to call him out on it (not literally).

Statistically, someone on that jury voted for Trump to be president.

That same person voted for him to be guilty.

And he just had to sit there and take it. No rebuttal. No interruption. No insults or name calling.

He couldn't defend himself, because his defense already failed.

Is he going to jail? Highly unlikely (unless he does something stupid like threaten the jurors/their families/the prosecution/the judge/etc. again, I'm pretty sure the Judge is on his very last tether with Trump).

But the sentencing is July 11.

4 days before the Republican National Convention.

Where it's assumed Trump is going to be their nominee.

Will they nominate a convicted felon?

(...I'm trying to be dramatic and mysterious but let's face it, the RNC would nominate a rotten banana if it was racist and money-grubbing enough.)

What happens in the future is uncertain, but today - right now - Trump WAS convicted.

He is now a convicted felon.

And as a convicted felon there is one very important thing he cannot do.

Vote.

So yeah, he probably won't go to jail, but for now we can just enjoy that 12 New Yorkers called him out to his face and that he, a former president, can't even vote in his own (potential) election.

<3

[tyetknot]

Failed former US President Donald J Trump is now a CONVICTED FELON on all 34 counts in the first, and weakest, of 4 court cases (still waiting on stolen documents, January 6, and Georgia RICO cases), so on this blessed day I am wishing any and all worm-brained doomers a very EAT SHIT.

That is all!

[donuteater13]

In a ruling from today, former United States President, Donald J. Trump has been found guilty of 34 felonies in New York state!

For more information, look up "Donald Trump rule 34"!

[xtruss]

A detail view of a face mask on September 24, 2021, in Kohler, Wisconsin. Donald Trump and conservatives across social media are heightening awareness to potential mask mandates due to new cases stemming from coronavirus variants. Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

United States: Mask Mandate Comeback Sparks 'We Will Not Comply' Movement

— By Nick Mordowanec | August 31, 2023

will not comply' movement is slowly formulating across social media, spurred by Donald Trump's renewed focus on mask mandates and COVID-affiliated lockdowns that he initiated at the pandemic's inception.

Trump, in a video posted Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, vowed to reject any "fearmongering" of new coronavirus variants and if elected president pledged to cut federal funding for entities like schools and airlines that follow such protocols.

Trump was the individual who set the original mandates and lockdowns in motion, however, when coronavirus cases escalated exponentially starting in March 2020. At the time, he urged individuals to avoid bars, restaurants and other areas where 10 or more people were gathered in the hope that the virus would dissipate by that summer.

"'Do not comply' means your [sic] not going to go to work if your employer requires a mask as part of the 'mandate' not law; your [sic] not going to wear one at the Dr, Dentist, restaurant or stores," wrote one Facebook user. "Imagine if everyone did not comply how that would hurt our government or economy.

"If every American did not go to work or buy anything at all for one or two days things would get real. We are all slaves to our Government until we stop conforming to the demands and dollar."

New coronavirus variants now emerging with case spikes in certain parts of the United States include EG.5 and BA.2.86. Major companies like Pfizer and Moderna who were highly involved in the swift rollout of vaccines at the height of the pandemic are scheduled to release a new vaccine in mid-September to combat the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, pending approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A CDC spokesperson told Newsweek on Thursday via email that the center's advice for individual and community actions around COVID-19 is tied to hospital admission levels, which are currently low for more than 97 percent of the country.

"CDC continues to recommend that all people are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines and take steps to themselves and others," the spokesperson said. "Anyone may choose to wear a mask at any time."

Time may tell whether the discussion around mandates and lockdowns is alarmist considering that very few places in the country have COVID-related measures currently in place.

One, for example, is Morris Brown College, a small Atlanta-based historically Black college, which told students to adhere to mask-wearing for a two-week period due to an influx of COVID-related cases.

"Dear Atlanta College, Regarding your precautionary mask mandate... I have a precautionary Foot I'd like to shove up you're a**!" wrote comedian and former Saturday Night Live actor Rob Schneider on X, in response to the Morris Brown mandate. "But don't worry, it's just for the next 14 days! For your own protection! Ps. Students WAKE UP, SHEEPLE! SAY NO!"

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin released a video on X of her literally shaking her head when confronted with hypothetical mandates, even burning some masks outdoors.

Libs of Tik Tok, which has 2.4 million followers on X, is encouraging individuals to ignore all mandates and pledges to support impacted businesses—and even pay any fines for noncompliance.

One X user posted that she would ignore mandates instituted by Trump, President Joe Biden or anyone else.

"I won't mask again," the user wrote. "I don't care what Trump or Fauci or Birx or Biden or any other governmental agency try and push again. I won't deal with the anxiety mask wearing brings me again. Not going to cover my daughter's beautiful face or force her to deal with the frequent painful breakouts again. Nope. For my child, I say, never again."

[sargeantposting]

A Logan Sargeant Primer: Part I (2000 - 2015)

Logan grows up in a ritzy suburb of Fort Lauderdale called Lighthouse Point with his parents and his older brother, Dalton.

The Sargeants don't have a deep motorsport history. Dalton and Logan get their first go-karts for Christmas in 2006, a gift from their father after their mother refuses to let her children ride dirt bikes anymore. Logan tells the NYT that:

“No one in the family was really even that much into racing. We just picked it up as a hobby, something to do on the weekend.”

The two brothers get more serious as the years go by-- within a few years, they're racing competitively. They both do well. Logan finishes in third place in only his first year of racing, and wins two titles in his second. 

Unfortunately, they figure out fairly quickly that there isn’t much more room to advance in American karting:

My older brother, Dalton, and I had been racing for a few years, and it had gotten to the point where we were asking around about where the next best level of competition was, and everybody was saying the same thing…. It was always Europe, Europe, Europe, Europe. To the point where my parents really started to think about it. At first it was just this idea, like Maybe we’ll move to Europe, who knows. I was just a kid overhearing stuff, so I didn’t know how serious the conversation must have been until this day I’ll never forget.

The conversation gets serious in 2012, when Logan’s dad, Daniel, asks the two if they want to move to Switzerland:

It was summer, and we were out to lunch. It was me, my dad, and Dalton. [...] So we’re at this restaurant, right? Chowing down on burgers (my favorite), and my dad gets to asking us about racing. Finally, he’s like, “What do you guys think? Do you really want to race in Europe? Are you 100% sure about this?” Me being 11 and naive, I was like, “Yeah sure.”  Looking back on it, I think I was lucky I was that young and that I didn’t really know what I was signing up for. All the different ways it could change my life, the level of sacrifice it would require from my whole family. Because if I had known, I don’t know if I would’ve made the same decision so easily. It all happened fast, like in the movies. One minute, it’s Christmas, I’m six, and me and Dalton are yelling at the top of our lungs, excited about the two karts sitting in the driveway, pointed diagonally at each other like in a magazine. Next minute, I’m 11 and Dalton’s 14. We’re sitting at the table eating lunch with my dad, and it’s decided — our family’s moving to Europe.

When Logan tells the same story in GQ in 2023, he says:

I was always just going with the flow. For me it was just: sure.

The Sergeant family leaves for Switzerland just as Logan finishes up fifth grade. While Logan always talks about the family move to Switzerland in the context of his parents making sacrifices for his career, it's a little more complicated than that.

 GQ’s profile steps around the subject, briefly mentioning that “in addition to the racing opportunities, [Logan’s] Dad had business there.” Unfortunately, business would be an understatement. 

At the time, Logan’s dad, Daniel, worked for the family business– an asphalt trading and shipping company named Sergeant Marine. One of the driving forces behind Sergeant Marine’s success would be Daniel’s older brother, Harry. 

When Logan’s detractors mention his family’s connections to Trump, they’re usually referencing Harry. The NYT describes his billionaire uncle as “a former [Top Gun] fighter pilot and onetime finance chair of Florida’s Republican Party who has been sued by the brother-in-law of King Abdullah II of Jordan and whose name turned up, tangentially, in the 2020 impeachment of former President Donald J. Trump. (Harry was not accused of any wrongdoing.)” 

Harry would leave the company around the time Daniel moved his family to Switzerland. According to The Florida Phoenix, “The entire family was embroiled in a long-running bitter series of lawsuits that ended with a 2015 bankruptcy settlement. Harry III walked away with a cool $56-million. In return he gave up any claim to ownership of Sargeant Marine and other family companies. There were 14 different lawsuits in several states in addition to the bankruptcy. The lawsuits produced salacious testimony that could only arise in a vicious dispute between millionaires. Harry III accused his brother Daniel of spending millions on his sons’ pursuits of race car driving and other ventures. Meanwhile, Daniel accused Sargeant III of being a spendthrift on things such as a $7.5-million mansion, private jets and exotic cars.”

Logan with his dad.

It would, somehow, get worse:

Oil and asphalt mogul Harry Sargeant III claims that industrial design plans along with recordings of "private consensual relations" were purloined from his private email account and traded off to a corporate intelligence agent as part of a years-long smear campaign against him spearheaded by his brother. Reigniting a long-running saga of brother-against-brother litigation, Harry Sargeant III claims that hundreds of pages of business records, personal discussions and "extremely sensitive videos and photographs" were illegally obtained from his email account. The material was used as currency for information-bartering between his brother Daniel Sargeant and a corporate intelligence chief at the nonparty legal service firm Burford, the lawsuit alleges. Harry is demanding damages for alleged invasion of privacy on the part of Daniel. The brothers had in years past worked together on managing the Sargeant family's global oil and asphalt empire, before intra-family disputes began to tear them apart. [...] The lawsuit claims the Burford investigator, a former corporate attorney, knows Harry well. According to the court documents, the investigator for years worked as an enforcement agent on a $28 million judgment secured against Harry by the king of Jordan's brother-in-law Mohammad Al-Saleh, who accused Harry of cutting him out of a deal to distribute oil to troops in the Iraq War. [...] Harry claims brother Daniel gave the corporate intelligence agent the treasure trove of Harry's emails  in exchange for inside information that would help the Sargeant family's asphalt company Latin American Investments in a separate multimillion-dollar legal dispute. Harry's underlying email account ran on a server of the family company Sargeant Marine. When he was ousted from the Sargeant empire, Harry had been told that the account was cut off at the root and all information in it had been destroyed, the lawsuit says. The lifted emails were instead provided to an "untold number of people" inside and outside of the family businesses in 2016, the lawsuit claims.

The information that Daniel traded his brother’s sex tape for would end up being useless. Daniel is currently out a $5 million bond and awaiting sentencing for the foreign bribery and money laundering charges he pled guilty to back in 2019. After bribing officials in three South American countries to secure asphalt contracts, the Department of Justice ended up making an example of the company– and Daniel– for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. 

While Logan cites his career as a big reason for the family move, it appears that Sargeant Marine had conveniently made shell companies in Switzerland to aid in their illegal business dealings that same year.

Logan, blissfully unaware of any drama, tries to make the most of the big move. They move to Lugano, Switzerland– Dalton and Logan go to the American School on weekdays and race on the weekends in the European junior circuit, bouncing them between Italy, Switzerland and Britain. In GQ, Logan says:

“I definitely felt like school was a lot more challenging than in Florida,” he recalled. “And we were missing a lot of school, for sure, but that’s part of it with racing. It is what it is.”

Logan loves Switzerland. In his Players’ Tribune article, he says:

We moved into a three-bedroom apartment. It was me, my parents, Dalton, and our dog Roxy, the world traveler. Big difference from Florida. We had a whole new life. I loved Switzerland. I had a lot of good friends at my school there. I can’t explain it, but I just felt more a part of things. Me and my friends were big Chelsea fans, and we’d be hanging out, playing soccer all the time. We played Call of Duty like every other kid in the world.

However… Logan is the only one. Daniel is out doing shady asphalt deals around the world and suing his brother. Dalton moves back to Florida after a year-and-a-half. Their mother follows soon after that. Logan ends up living alone at the school: 

Dalton was my older brother, so for as far back as I can remember, I was chasing him. Man, we fought all the time. Every race, we were up against all these other kids, but he was always the one I was really trying to beat. But the thing is, when you’re a kid you miss things. You just can’t see everything so clearly. Like, for instance, being a bit older than me, I think he felt the shift more strongly when we moved, but I didn’t know it. He stayed in Switzerland for a year and a half, did some European karting, and started testing Formula cars. Then one day he just decided he wanted to go home and race in America. I won’t lie, that was a shock at the time. But I get it more now. Making that big life change was hard on my mom, too. Just think, you’re living in this brand new place, don’t have many friends. Me and Dalton were at school all day. My dad was traveling all over the place with work, so he was hardly there. The reality is, she was on her own a lot. So she ended up going back to Florida, too. For about a year and a half after that, it was just me. I was living at the school during that time.

When talking about how his mom moved back to Florida while Logan was living alone in Europe as a teenager, he told the Players’ Tribune that:

Looking back on everything, I just see all the sacrifices they made, and it means so much. No matter what they were going through, my family always pushed me to keep going. I feel like that was probably the hardest for my mom, especially. She means the world to me. She’s a bit of a worrier too, and overthinks. I think I get that from her. She’s always been the person I could go to when I was doubting myself. So I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to encourage me to keep going, when I know she probably wanted our family to be together. I’m really grateful, not only that they believed in me that much, to move our entire family, but that they took my passion for driving seriously enough not to let me give it all up.

While Logan’s personal life may be troubled, his karting career is doing exceptionally well. In 2014, he wins the prestigious SuperNats18 in Vegas:

Infinity Sports Management, Facebook - SARGEANT DOMINATES IN LAS VEGAS. Logan Sargeant produced a stunning display last weekend in the TAG Junior category at the Supernationals race in Las Vegas. After finishing runner up in the race in 2013 Logan was eager to go one better this year and bring home the winners trophy. Although Logan got pipped in qualifying he still managed to win every heat ensuring he would start from pole position for the final on Sunday. From there he kept the lead and came home 5.6 seconds clear of the second driver. With this win in TAG Junior Logan become the first driver ever to win the TAG Cadet and TAG Junior categories at the Supernationals race.

2015 manages to be even more exceptional. Logan starts the season by being the first North American driver to win a WSK event by winning the WSK Champions Cup in La Conca, Italy.

Logan with his mother after winning the WSK Champions Cup.

The season reaches its peak with Logan becomes the first American to win an FIA Karting World Championship, the top junior series, since Lake Speed in 1978.

He gets to go to the FIA Awards:

Logan: And I couldn’t thank my mechanic enough. And also my parents, uh, they really helped me to be able to win the world championship and it’s just an amazing feeling. Interviewer: I mean, did you, did you, what did you do when you found out you won? Did you call your friends at home? Did you phone your grandpa? What did you get up to? Logan: Uh, no, I just gave my mom and dad a really big hug. Interviewer: Is it still sinking in now? Logan: Yeah, it’s, it’s a really emotional thing. [...] Interviewer: Tell me about when you were a little bit younger than you are now. You’re only 14 now. But why racing, why, why is this so important to you? Logan: Um, well, my dad bought me a, a racing kart when I was five years old and we started from there. We thought it would just be like a little hobby and, uh, it ended up becoming like a professional thing we did. So. Interviewer: So, so was there a moment when you, when you or your dad just thought ‘Wow, I’m quick. I can do this’? Logan: Um, well, not really. We just kept progressing and then, um, when we, when we decided to come to Europe to race, um, we moved to Switzerland and from then on we were just, uh, going to school, I started going to school in Switzerland. And, yeah, and then we just kept going and then ended up like this. Interviewer: Do you have any other hobbies? Can you fit anything else in? Logan: Um, well, other than school it’s really hard. But when I get my breaks and I go back to Florida for, um, I like to go fishing a lot and, yeah, that’s what I do. Mostly. 

When interviewed after his win, Logan tells kart360 that:

Moving away from home is a very hard thing in your own personal life. You lose all of your best friends. You don’t have your "home" and you have to adapt to a different culture. It is hard to move to a country that speaks a different language than what you know, but racing is so important to me that I stuck through it and kept on going.

Logan clearly struggles on a personal level. He discusses his feelings in his Players’ Tribune article, saying: 

Coming up racing as a kid isn’t easy. That’s the most honest way I can put it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to myself, I’m done. I’m ready to come home. I’m glad I didn’t, but there were plenty of times when I wanted to. I remember one big time was the summer right after Dalton went back. We took this trip to the Bahamas with some of our extended family and friends. We were on the water, and everything was feeling like old times. And I think I just had this pit in the bottom of my stomach, like dreading going back. There was a night when I went to my mom, and I was like, “I’m just ready to come home.” I remember her asking me more questions about what I was feeling. I don’t even remember what I said, to be honest. I just remember that she didn’t tell me what to do. She left it completely up to me. My dad used to always say, “If you put in the work now, it’ll pay off eventually — it’ll be worth it.” And he kind of reminded me of that on that trip too. It’ll be worth it. Those four little words … that’s what kept me going. After that I sucked it up, went back to Switzerland, put my head down, and I went for it."

When Logan makes the jump to single seaters the next year, his parents rent him an apartment to live in by himself in London. The only time he’ll spend more than a few weeks in the US since he was a 12-year old would be during COVID.

But Logan’s time in single seaters will be for the next installment.

Logan through the years.

[donald-trump-official]

Is this really president Donald J. Trump

Former* president Donald J. Trump

[zvaigzdelasas]

President Biden fought on Friday to save a bipartisan immigration deal from collapse in Congress, vowing to shut down the border if the plan became law even as the Republican speaker pronounced it dead on arrival in the House.

In a written statement that came as Senate negotiators scrambled to finalize a deal that former President Donald J. Trump is pressuring Republicans to oppose, Mr. Biden used his most stringent language yet about the border, declaring it “broken” and in “crisis” and promising to halt migration immediately if Congress sends him the proposal.

“What’s been negotiated would — if passed into law — be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country,” he said. “It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law."[...]

Under the emerging deal, the administration would be required to shut down the border to migrants attempting to enter without prior authorization if encounters rise above 5,000 on any given day[...]

As the immigration plan teeters on Capitol Hill, the fate of additional aid for Ukraine also hangs in the balance[...]

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, told fellow Republicans behind closed doors this week that Mr. Trump’s hostility to the plan and his growing dominance in the primary had put them “in a quandary.”

Mr. McConnell, a chief Republican proponent of sending more aid to Ukraine, has been a vocal supporter of the border deal that members of his party have insisted upon as the price of their backing for continued assistance for Kyiv.[...]

The bipartisan team of senators that has been working for months to strike a compromise to crack down on [...] migration and drug trafficking across the southern border with Mexico has come to an agreement in recent days on a set of policy changes. They include measures to make it more difficult to secure asylum, increase detention facilities, and force the administration to turn away migrants without visas if more than 5,000 people attempt to cross into the country unlawfully on any given day.

26 Jan 24

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The New Yorker just issued its cover: Donald J Trump, A Man of Conviction, by John Cuneo

+

Justice.

May 31, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Justice.

On Thursday, May 30, justice was served in a Manhattan courtroom.

A jury of twelve citizens convicted Donald Trump on thirty-four felony counts of falsifying documents to interfere in the 2016 election.

Justice was served.

Trump received a fair trial before an impartial jury presided over by an even-handed judge.

Trump had the right to testify or remain silent. He chose to remain silent—as permitted by the Fifth Amendment.

He had the unlimited right to challenge jurors “for cause” if he demonstrated that a juror could not render an impartial verdict. Trump challenged only one juror for cause—a juror who had once been the houseguest of one of Trump's attorneys. That juror was later excused on a peremptory challenge by Trump.

Trump had ten “peremptory challenges” that allowed him to excuse jurors without providing a reason. Trump exercised all ten peremptory challenges.

Trump was able to object to the testimony of witnesses and the introduction of exhibits. He objected continuously. Many of his objections were sustained, and most were overruled (because they were baseless).

He cross-examined every witness offered by the prosecution. He offered two witnesses in his defense. They sealed his fate.

He made an opening statement and a closing argument to the jury.

He was able to submit and object to jury instructions.

After the jury began deliberations, its requests to review key evidence and important jury instructions indicated that it took its charge seriously.

The length of the jury’s deliberations and the unanimity of its verdict on thirty-four counts demonstrate that they were persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Trump was guilty as charged.

Justice was served.

The verdict matters because it demonstrates to Americans that the core of our democracy is strong and true.

One fair verdict will offset a dozen compromised and corrupt judges and justices. The verdict demonstrates what justice looks like—and reminds us of what we can have again if we gain control of Congress and retain the presidency.

The verdict is important because it reminds Americans that no person is above the law in our democracy. That bedrock truth must be reinforced periodically, or it will lose its animating force.

The verdict also speaks to the world. It reminds friends and foes alike that the audacious American experiment is robust and secure. Convicting a former president in a fair trial is something few other nations would attempt—much less accomplish in a peaceful and orderly manner.

The verdict gives Americans much to be thankful for:

A fair jury composed of twelve Americans willing to perform the simple but extraordinary task of sitting in judgment over a former president.

A District Attorney willing to carefully review the evidence and follow the law.

Competent and diligent prosecutors willing to do the hard work necessary to achieve justice.

An honorable, fair, firm judge willing to protect the rights of the defendant and the interests of the people in seeing justice served.

Court officers, law enforcement officers, clerks, paralegals, and court reporters who ensured that the court proceeding unfolded in an orderly and safe manner.

Given the fundamental fairness of the trial and verdict, Republicans are reduced to attacking the justice system itself. In a coordinated effort, Republican members of Congress issued statements that called the trial “rigged,” insulted the integrity of the jury, compared the proceeding to “show trials in Cuba under Castro,” and said that May 30 was “the most shameful day in American history.”

While we should be concerned about the assaults on the justice system, let’s recognize that the system prevailed today—despite seven years of attacks by Trump and his enablers. The trial and verdict served as a stress test for the justice system—and it passed.

There will be time to assess the political ramifications of the verdict. Today, we should celebrate that the justice system worked despite enormous efforts to obstruct and undermine it.

That is a remarkable, glorious achievement that stands alone.

Sit with that truth for a moment before returning to the urgent task of preventing Trump's reelection. We deserve a moment of calm reflection and sober relief that justice was served.

Justice.

Finally.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[2bpoliticallycurious]

FINALLY: Trump Is Indicted in Documents Case

Thank goodness for Jack Smith! Finally, Trump might be brought to justice!

According to The New York Times:

Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face federal charges. The Justice Department took the legally and politically momentous step of lodging federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump, multiple people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The charges follow a lengthy investigation of his handling of classified documents that he took with him upon leaving office and into whether he obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim them. The indictment, filed in Federal District Court in Miami, is the first time in American history a former president has faced federal charges. [...] Mr. Trump was charged with a total of seven counts, including willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and an obstruction of justice conspiracy, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump is expected to surrender himself to authorities in Miami on Tuesday, according to a person close to him and his own post on Truth Social. The indictment, filed by the office of the special counsel Jack Smith, came about two months after local prosecutors in New York filed more than 30 felony charges against Mr. Trump in a case connected to a hush money payment to a porn star in advance of the 2016 election.