JustOneMinute

From "See You In Court" To "See You Later, Alligator"

Team Trump had a tough day Friday.

Donald Trump’s brutal day in court

Several of the most devastating opinions, both Friday and in recent weeks, have come from conservative judges and, in some federal cases, Trump appointees.

President Donald Trump and his legal allies earned a platinum sombrero Friday, striking out five times in a matter of hours in states pivotal to the president’s push to overturn the election results — and losing a sixth in Minnesota for good measure.

It was another harsh milestone in a monthlong run of legal futility, accompanied by sharp rebukes from county, state and federal judges who continue to express shock at the Trump team’s effort to simply scrap the results of an election he lost. Several of the most devastating opinions, both Friday and in recent weeks, have come from conservative judges and, in some federal cases, Trump appointees.

I get that plenty of conservative judges, even Trump appointees, rose through the system with the support of the Republican Establishment and probably are not Trump loyalists. But law is law - partisanship notwithstanding, at some point, if even maybe-allies aren't taking your side, that may be a clue to take a hint.

Somethings Happening!

I keep having lost days, and I'm not even drinking. Maybe I should start!

Katie, Barr The Election!

AG Barr was a bit of a wet blanket for the election conspiracists out there.

Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud

Barr wants Sidney Powell to get crackin':

Barr didn’t name Powell specifically but said: “There’s been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”

In the campaign statement, Giuliani claimed there was “ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined.”

I believe it has been reported that the DoJ will continue to look high and low. Barr certainly implied that by saying they have found no evidence of widespread fraud "to date".

Giving Durham special counsel status is the buried lede. Makes it a bit harder for Team Biden to deep-six the whole thing.

Marc Rich Redux

From CNN:

Justice Department investigating potential presidential pardon bribery scheme, court records reveal

Marc Rich clearly bought a pardon from Bill Clinton but the investigation led nowhere.

Why Waste Your Time Voting?

The brilliant messaging team in the White House is now wondering about Georgia and the impact of "Stop the Steal" on Republican turnout.

In my opinion, these races should be easy. The Democrats wanted to Stop Trump and they won their war; time for them to go home. Republicans, on the other hand, wanted to support Trump but also Stop the Crazy Left. Mission Unaccomplished! OK, almost - Manchin of W VA does not rely on progressive support and has indicated he won't be backing a kooky agenda. Still, why should Reps leave the door ajar? Go Mitch 2020!

Sunday Afternoon Action

The Tampa Bay Bradys are doing nothing against Kansas City. Currently trail 17-0.

Kick Like A Girl

Finally, COVID delivers a feel-good moment for 2020 as Vanderbilt football becomes Must-See TV (SportsCenter highlights subdivision): Due to illness among their specialists, the Vandy football team will suit up Sarah Fuller, the goalie for their national championship women's soccer team. Go, girl!

Pardon Their Coverage

Resistance "Journalists" belly flop on the Flynn pardon.

For an example of an inarguably corrupt purchased pardon we turn to Bill Clinton and Marc Rich. However, despite investigations and hearings no crimes were charged.

For pardons arguably linked to obstruction of justice we can turn to Bush 41. His Christmas Eve pardon of Caspar Weinberger effectively ended the seemingly immortal Walsh investigation into Iran/Contra. And of course Wild Bill Clinton had entrants in the obstruction category, notably Susan McDougal of Whitewater fame.

Say Hello To Amy Coney Barrett

Cuomo's treatment of religious gatherings gets slapped down by the Supreme Court.

Cuomo's dodge of withdrawing the restrictions and then arguing the court did not need to rule did not work. The embittered among us recall that NY State successfully tried a similar ploy last spring with a gun related restriction.

Out Like Flynn

Trump to pardon Flynn?

To Be Fair, In His Professional Life Trump Has Presumably Had Good Lawyers

Trump is not happy with his legal team's performance, based on plausible leaks from folks familiar with his thinking. Well, nor is Rush.

I'm sure that in his earlier life as real estate mogul Trump dealt with top legal talent on a regular basis (and Mickey Cohen!). This isn't that.

Just A Head Fake

Hmm, the kraken appears to have been released from a hamster cage.

In scathing opinion, federal judge dismisses Trump campaign lawsuit in Pennsylvania

Republican party "leaders" are continuing their slow-rolling intervention. Rep. Senator Toomey of PA praises the Federal judge as "a longtime conservative Republican whom I know to be a fair and unbiased jurist", praises Biden and Harris as good people with whom he mostly disagrees, praises Trump's notable accomplishments in office, and says its time for Trump to move on.

The Trump-related passage:

“Make no mistake about it, I am deeply disappointed that President Trump and Vice President Pence were not re-elected. I endorsed the president and voted for him. During his four years in office, his administration achieved much for the American people. The tax relief and regulatory overhauls that President Trump enacted with Republicans in Congress produced the strongest economy of my adult life. He also should be applauded for forging historic peace agreements in the Middle East, facilitating the rapid development of a COVID-19 vaccine through Operation Warp Speed, appointing three outstanding Supreme Court justices, and keeping America safe by neutralizing ISIS and killing terrorists like Qasem Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

 

“To ensure that he is remembered for these outstanding accomplishments, and to help unify our country, President Trump should accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the presidential transition process.”

Letting the process play out may eventually prove to have been a helpful approach.

That said, after staring at his description of Trump's legacy, there's no mention of tough on China, trade and immigration enforcement. IF those remain closer to the mainstream of American politics its an impressive legacy.

Well. As to immigration, right now the debate seems to be presented as "children in cages" versus "abolish ICE". Lots of ground in the middle but can out two parties meet there?

Affidavit From The North Country

Powerline looks at an affidavit filed as part of the Trump vote fraud case. The lede is deeply buried, but patient readers eventually get a shock - the analysis demonstrates vote fraud by showing that total votes exceeded registered voters and area population. Unfortunately, to reach that conclusion the analyst matched Michigan votes with Minnesota voting districts, or something.  Oops.

Here’s the problem: the townships and precincts listed in paragraphs 11 and 17 of the affidavit are not in Michigan. They are in Minnesota. Monticello, Albertville, Lake Lillian, Houston, Brownsville, Runeberg, Wolf Lake, Height of Land, Detroit Lakes, Frazee, Kandiyohi–these are all towns in Minnesota. I haven’t checked them all, but I checked a lot of them, and all locations listed in paragraphs 11 and 17 that I looked up are in Minnesota, with no corresponding township in Michigan. This would have been obvious to someone from this state, but Mr. Ramsland is a Texan and the lawyers are probably not natives of either Minnesota or Michigan.

Evidently a researcher, either Mr. Ramsland or someone working for him, was working with a database and confused “MI” for Minnesota with “MI” for Michigan. (The postal code for Minnesota is MN, while Michigan is MI, so one can see how this might happen.) So the affidavit, which addresses “anomalies and red flags” in Michigan, is based largely, and mistakenly, on data from Minnesota.

This is a catastrophic error, the kind of thing that causes a legal position to crash and burn. Trump’s lawyers are fighting an uphill battle, to put it mildly, and confusing Michigan with Minnesota will at best make the hill steeper. Credibility once lost is hard to regain. Possibly Trump’s lawyers have already discovered this appalling error, and have undertaken to correct it. But the Ramsland Affidavit was filed in Georgia just yesterday.

Not helpful. Trump's self-styled 'elite strike force team' picked a bad day to give up caffeine.

Jim Geraghty of NR does a good job every day. Today he tees up the classic line from A Few God Men:

Americans Deserve the Truth, Even If It’s Unpleasant

On the menu today: a blunt message about who is conning whom in the aftermath of the 2020 elections.

You Are Being Conned

You're being conned if you take Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell seriously, that is.

Stephen Moore of the Club For Growth and now a White House counselor, says its time for Trump to move on. To be fair and IIRC he does say that Trump may have a 20% chance with his legal cases (I am now locked out of the article.)

Running The Double-Reverse

Two Republicans initially voted AGAINST certifying the controversial election tallies in Wayne County, Michigan. This would have kept Detroit-area votes off the board and created a narrow pathway to a Trump victory in MI. Wild, right?

Under enormous pressure (presumably including death threats) they switched their votes a few hours later, certifying the results and kicking the problem up to the state level. System working? Not so fast!

A day later they rescinded their reversal, or tried to. It appears they aren't legally entitled to a do-over here, but that is why we have courts and under-employed lawyers.

Whatever. Flipping Michigan will not, by itself, take the election back from Biden. But a few more hats, a few more rabbits, and who can say? As long as Trumps lawyers think they'll get paid this show will go on.