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Tag: Donald Trump
This content is restricted to subscribers
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
This content is restricted to subscribers
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
Donald Trump, convicted criminal.
If you want to get detailed and in-depth coverage and commentary about this historic criminal case, there’s lots and lots that has been written by some smart Americans this morning.
But if you want the perspective of a Canadian who worked as a volunteer for Joe Biden in his last couple campaigns, you’ve come to the right place.
Ten observations.
1) The people who are said to me that Trump would never ever be convicted are the same people now saying the conviction will help him win. Why don’t I listen to these super smart people? I know nothing about politics or the law.
2) He won’t get jail time. White collar crime, first offense (that we know about anyway), no prior criminal record. Jail time seems impossible. My question is, will Canadian border agents let the Mango Mussolini into the country now that he’s a convicted criminal?
3) A related point on that: in Florida, where Trump resides, convicted felons are not allowed to vote. Among other things, this presents the delicious possibility the Trump will be unable to vote for himself at the Republican convention where he is the presumptive presidential nominee.
4) Related to that related point: his sentencing is happening four days before the GOP convention kicks off in Milwaukee. Whatever the Trumpkins may think, it’s going to be interesting to see how sane, law-and-order Republicans applaud a convicted crook. Expect lots of close-ups of Nikki Haley’s hands.
5) The 2024 Democratic convention in Chicago was always going to be a circus, just like the Democratic convention in Chicago was in 1968. The reason: anti-Semitic Gen Z types descending on the Windy City to violently protest Joe Biden’s longtime support of Israel. Now, the GOP will have a deep, dark pall over the proceedings: their candidate is a convicted criminal. Ouch.
6) And, sure, lots of MAGA Republicans won’t care about the fact that their messiah is a crook. They’d vote for him if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue, as Trump himself has bragged in the past. Democrats, meanwhile, were never going to vote for him. Neither matter. The most important constituency in American politics isn’t committed partisans (who should be committed, most days). It’s registered Independents. Those people decide presidential elections. And they are the ones who don’t, and won’t, shrug that twelve of Don the Con’s peers unanimously decided he broke the law 34 times.
7) Which is why it’s so hard for MAGA nutbars to spin this one away as a Biden-led conspiracy: Agent Orange was convicted, unanimously, by twelve regular citizens – include some who admitted they use Trump’s Truth Social platform to get their news. Saying there’s a judge-led conspiracy is always easy. Saying twelve regular folks conspired against you is a lot harder.
8) His sentence may not include jail time. But it ain’t gonna be nothing. Why? Because Cadet Bone Spur repeatedly (and insanely) attacked the judge, the lawyers, and the entire legal system, every single day for weeks. That’s what judges call “showing no remorse.” A lack of remorse is a major, major factor in sentencing. It’ll be a factor when the judge brings his gavel down on July 11.
9) Biden and the Democrats now have a smoother ride to re-election. Sorry, MAGA knuckle-draggers, but they do. You can write the attack ads yourself: just show average Americans saying, straight to camera: “I don’t want a convicted criminal to be my president.” It’ll work. Trust me.
10) I’ve worked for Jean Chretien. I’ve worked for Joe Biden. Their political opponents always, always make the same mistake: they underestimate them. Biden was being underestimated by American pundits and politicos. Now, it’s impossible to do that. One candidate is a convicted felon. The other isn’t. Some days, that’s all you need to know.
But again, what do I know about politics? I’m just a dumb Canadian lawyer and former advisor to a Canadian Prime Minister.
Pay me no mind. Keep doing what you’re doing, Republicans.
Please.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
This content is restricted to subscribers
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
This content is restricted to subscribers
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
Who would have believed we’d see the day where the FBI raided the private residence of a former U.S. President, either Republican or Democrat? Yet, it actually materialized this week – and many questions surrounding this stunning decision remain unanswered.
On Monday, FBI agents raided Donald Trump’s home at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. This is related to 15 boxes of classified material that the former President reportedly took with him upon leaving the White House. The U.S. Justice Department, speaking on behalf of the National Archives and Records Administration, is investigating the matter and hasn’t revealed any of the contents.
Trump’s Aug. 8 press release described his home as being “under siege.” He noted that “such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before.” As well, he made this juxtaposition, “What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat National Committee? Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the United States.”
Is this an accurate interpretation? Let’s try to piece together some of what we know.
18 U.S. Code § 2071 (Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally) specifically bars the removal of classified documents by judicial and public office holders. Anyone who does could potentially be fined, imprisoned for up to three years – or both. The Code also states the following, “Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.”
This seems pretty cut and dry. Except for one thing: no current or former U.S. President has ever been criminally investigated for the removal of classified or declassified documents. While there’s a first for everything, and no-one is above the law, the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago could lead to a multitude of legal interpretations and court battles.
“Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations,” noted Fox News’s Bradford Betz, Jon Street, David Spunt ands Brooke Singman on Aug. 8, “though it is possible that Trump could try to argue that, as president, he was the ultimate declassification authority.”
Trump, like many Presidents who preceded him, declassified various documents, papers, studies and other materials while in office. That’s a common procedure and perfectly acceptable. The question here is whether the 15 boxes of classified material were either declassified when he was still in the Oval Office, or shifted from the designation of classified to declassified when he brought them to Mar-a-Lago. The latter has obviously never been tested in a court of law, and could set a legal precedent for Joe Biden, the current President, and all other office holders moving forward.
The removal of the 15 boxes from the White House is the most likely reason why the FBI raided Trump’s private home. Some people believed it was related to the proceedings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, or January 6 committee, but several news reports have denied this. While it’s impossible to say with any degree of certainty whether the upcoming midterm elections did or didn’t play a role, the timing is certainly unusual. One has to hope the FBI made this difficult decision unilaterally.
Did the FBI do the right thing in raiding Mar-a-Lago?
That’s a difficult question to answer at this stage. It depends on what the FBI knows, or suspects, is in those boxes. Trump’s strongest critics and supporters all claim to have the answers – but in reality, they don’t have the slightest clue. It would be wise for everyone to keep silent for the time being until the investigation has been concluded. Alas, we know that’s not going to happen in this day and age.
If the FBI ultimately finds incriminating material related to the former President, ex-White House staff or both, it needs to be dealt with under the fullest extent of the law. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. If nothing of importance or relevance is unveiled, it will be a mess of epic proportions. The reputation of the 114-year-old intelligence and security service will also be irreparably damaged.
Many things are riding on the FBI’s raid of Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago, including the political landscape in Washington for the next two years. It’s unfortunate that it had to reach this point, and could leave the U.S. in a more vulnerable position than ever before.
Michael Taube, a long-time newspaper columnist and political commentator, was a speechwriter for former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
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One year into his presidency, Joe Biden took questions from reporters for over an hour and a half.
Like his first year in office, it was an uneven performance, but it was also several things at once: it was calm and professional, a bit folksy, a bit in the weeds, even sometimes a bit blunt. He flashed anger at disingenuous questions, cracked jokes and flashed a big grin. He joked if reporters wanted to “go another two hours” and at one point let journalists ask questions by passing the microphone down the row of chairs.
His withdrawal from Afghanistan was a humanitarian, geopolitical and PR nightmare, but he defended the decision in a convincing way that there was never going to be a good time to leave, but leave he must with Americans unwilling to risk more lives and spend indefinite sums.
He made news, saying he would be open to splitting his signature Build Back Better bill into individual packages, prioritizing the half-trillion dollars for climate action, and trying to make progress on early childhood education.
His American Recovery Act was a massive stimulus and public health bill, larger than anyone thought could pass. His bipartisan infrastructure deal also was not only more money than anyone thought would happen, but passed with real bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans – something no one thought could happen.
On COVID-19, he brought reasonableness and a general sense of science guiding decisions, after the chaos of the Trump years. He prioritized vaccines and got them out the door. He failed to anticipate the anti-vaxxer extremists would self-sabotage their own health, and wasn’t prepared for the variants. But, there is a sense that he at least put a lid on the pandemic after a year of Trumpian disaster.
His efforts on voting rights and fair elections came belatedly, but forcefully. He needs to find a way to get something done on this, come hell or high water. Executive action if congress fails to act. Narrow efforts if he can’t get the whole package – but not just about how to count the votes after they’re cast. He also has to ensure the rules of the game are fair. This is about America’s original sin of a racial caste system as much as it is about democracy. It is too big to ignore.
He’s taken the politics largely out of the justice system, though it would be nice to see more forceful prosecution of the January 6th insurrection. Perhaps his Attorney-General is on it, and he as president is removed from it. That’s as it should be, but it’s unsatisfying, I suppose.
He’s also a typical Democratic president when it comes to Canada: friendly, but in it for his country, not for our interests.
He is ultimately stymied by his narrow margins in the Congress, a victim of the big-ten nature of his party, with senators and congressmen who’d be moderate Tories in Canada made to caucus with young socialists. I still don’t understand why he didn’t offer a few Republican senators an ambassadorship to (at least temporarily) boost his margin in the senate, but maybe that’s why I did the comms, not the legislative strategy.
The press conference – both in style and length – was a fitting rebuttal to the notion that he’s lost a step. His forcefulness of late has shown he has the energy to lead – he just needs the wins to prove it.
His consistent refrain, and probably best political point, was to challenge the Republicans for not only being the Truman “do nothing Republican congress”, but taking it even further, repeatedly asking, “What are they even for?” Calling out the performative vacuousness of his opposition has legs. “What would even be the Republican platform right now?” he asked. It’s a line that hits the mark. “I honest to God don’t know what they’re for.” Indeed.
The first year can best be summed up as a decent start, with room to improve. After four years of Trump, that’s pretty reassuring.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.
