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Agreed. Now Mitt Romney who is disgusted by Trump is now saying the Brigg's NY prosecution was wrong to do. What's with these people?

Hiding payments to a porn star for sex and disguising them as a legal business expense is fraud.

Post of the year, at least so far.

The problem with Biden remains. He just keeps on supporting Netanyahu and it makes absolutely no sense. Netanyahu ignores him, comes close to attacking him, keeps up the slaughter of Palestinians, etc. Biden does absolutely nothing other than saying that he is supporting Israel and the effect is that he also supports slaughter. It simply makes no sense. Then he starts in with the southern border, finally but now all the lefties are yelling at him. He is also, however, trying to make the spouses of Americans citizens of America (I always thought that was automatic).

I really hope Biden knows what he is doing because I REALLY want him to beat Trump. Trump, on the other hand, just keeps on putting along with a lie here and another there and everybody around him cheers. I my local paper there was a Trumpite that was terribly upset about Trump's law suit. Said the Trump stuff about the judge being a Democrat and also has a daughter that is a Democrat. That, I guess, makes the results bad. Makes no sense to me but I betcha they will try and get the whole thing cancelled because of that stuff and then it will go to the Supremes and they will say that's fine with them. If the Democrats by some miracle gets control of the congress they gotta do something about the Supremes!

What Sen Romney is not saying is he will support Trump. This is in contradistinction to Sen McConnell who has on more than one occasion condemned Trump for Trump's attempted insurrection, or AG Barr's same condemnation, but both WILL support Trump. That, I do not comprehend, but Romney's comment is a weak attempt to question the judicial validity of prosecution based on TIMING.

There is no doubt as to the facts of the case. There is little to no doubt Trump was involved. Trump's team offered no real defense to refute the facts of the case, but relied on disparaging co-conspirators. Really??? It's how prosecutions against conspiracies work.

So what is Romney talking about? Romney doesn't represent the political criticisms i.e. weaponization, front running opponent, etc, he represents the idea why it has taken so long to make the prosecution, but not necessarily for political reasons. This is a weak point and had he taken a little time to consider what is was saying, ,he would have deduced the complexity of any prosecution against any former (or current) president.

It's an obvious exercise in the non-political realm of even contemplating a prosecution of a former president. This is BIG as some would say. Its never been done in American history (since we have had more less upstanding people occupying the WH, until now), so the prosecution better have an overwhelming case to present, or this would set back any chance of ever prosecuting any criminal occupying the WH. And that's just from a non- partisan perspective.

Now let's consider the partisan view. There is an optical view that any prosecution of any member of the opposition party would be in fact a political prosecution, regardless of the facts. Some consideration must be made and decided on solely by the facts of the case. Are they overwhelming ... is it a "crime" worthy of prosecution? So yes there are for some "crimes" prosecutorial discretion. So when it is not the case?

Should any prosecutor neglect their duty to uphold the law, and in particular to ignore the law for any person, regardless of their place in society, political affiliation, or job, it would be tantamount to overturning one of the fundamental tenets of the Constitution i.e. no man is above the law. In the Hush Money Case, the facts made it abundantly clear a crime had been committed by a former president, and he can not under any circumstances be allowed a pass simply because he was a former president, or of a different political party, or what his current activities may be.

Now had Romney done a thought experiment, he would have found it was years before the "crime" had been revealed. It took years to gather the evidence. And due process had to be ensured that it was not simply a political prosecution (almost unheard of in America) before proceeding. The timing is unfortunate as it allows conspiracy theorists to have a field day promoting political prosecutions. Had the NY AG's office not proceeded it would have been one more nail in the coffin of Democracy.

It’s called party loyalty, rporter. Since 2000 in both the midterms and presidential elections, both major parties have average 93% voting for their candidates, 6% for the opposition party’s candidates, 1% third party. As for the timing of the trial, that was due to Trump’s delaying tactics. Trump and his lawyers have done everything possible to delay the start of these trials until after the election. The blame falls squarely and solely on Trump for the timing. Without Trump’s delaying tactics we probably would have had at least 3 of the trials already if not all 4.

What I find most interesting is comparing voter intent this year to how the two major parties voted in 2020 and 2016.
2016 Republicans 88% Trump, 8% Clinton, 4% third party, Democrats 8% Trump, 89% Clinton 3% third party. Independents, 46% Trump, 42% Clinton 12% third party.
2020 Republicans 94% Trump, 6% Biden, 0% third party, Democrats 5% Trump, 94% Biden, 1% third party, independents 41% Trump, 54% Biden, 5% third party.
2024 voter intent Republicans 88% Trump, 3% Biden, 4% third party, 5% undecided. Democrats 2% Trump, 89% Biden, 4% third party, 5% undecided. Independents 38% Trump, 34% Biden, 15% third party, 13% undecided.

If history is a guide, most of those 5% undecided for both major parties will vote for their party’s nominee bringing their party’s vote back up to the 93% historical average. What really stands out is how this year much more resembles 2016 than 2020. Especially with independents and those planning on voting third-party vote.

"It’s called party loyalty" ... I think you're wrong in this case.

For a normal election it would be true, party loyalty plays a big part but when you examine MAGA it is far more than the routine garden variety of loyalty. When MAGA proclaims Trump was sent by God to save America .... that is not party loyalty .... that is religious cultish behavior. When elected officials are in fear of their lives and political futures should they speak poorly of the cult leader .... that is not about party loyalty.

You should be able to point out the same MAGA behavior among Democrat party loyalists ... adoration of leader ... denial of ANY critical reports of leader .... emboldened by lawlessness .... fear of base ... etc

This is a case where the label party loyalty has obfuscated reality ... it is a cult masquerading as party loyalty.

"As for the timing of the trial, that was due to Trump’s delaying tactics"

So, while it is true Trump has delayed the trials, it is also true 3 of the 4 indictments were brought after he declared. Fundamentally, prosecutors had to ensure the cases they were to bring had the proverbial 110% due diligence applied to every "i" and "t", and thus it took more time than would usually be afforded cases with the same crimes by "ordinary" people.

Look ... Republicans and especially MAGA are paranoid, and thus delusional. They see all sorts of boogeymen under every bed, so just by the very reality of cases brought at this time ... just prior to an election has inspired conspiracy theorists to work overtime. Had I been Sec Clintons IT guy, I would have told her by having a private email server it would infect Republicans with a fever that she would conducting some nefarious business on it .... which it did. I would have told AG Garland to bring charges against Trump early for his part in J6, even if they did not have all the evidence ... just to preemptively shunt MAGA conspiracies ... and since he didn't the conspiracy theorists have run rampant with the weaponization of DoJ by political prosecutions (never mind DoJ is prosecuting Democrats as well ... doesn't matter for the delusionally paranoid).

Regardless of any logical conclusions, it wouldn't matter to MAGA. Trump has been sent by God to save America and the evil empire of satan worshipping globalists who are out to get him. There can be no rational analysis of MAGA as they are suffering from politically induced delusions. You can describe the symptoms but you can not understand the disease.

You can call it whatever you want rporter. The fact remains on average since 2000 that in the end 93% of republicans will vote for their candidate, 93% of democrats for theirs. Who the candidates are doesn’t matter, be that Gore, Bush or Kerry Bush or Obama McCain, Obama Romney, Clinton Trump, Biden Trump or for this years rematch? Some years the percentage has been as low as 88% or as high as 96%, but on average it’s 93%.

"You can call it whatever you want"

You do not see the difference between loyalty to Trump and Republican Party loyalty?????

Sure, I do. But that doesn’t change the numbers. Regardless of the reason, which is why I said call it what you want. In the end it will be right around 93% of republicans voting for Trump. Loyalty to Trump or loyalty to the republican party, doesn’t matter, their votes count the same. Same with Biden. 49% of those voting for Biden are doing so because they’re mostly against Trump while 49% are mostly for Biden. Question 15. With Trump, 72% of those voting for Trump are mostly for Trump, 26% mostly against Biden. Question 16. Still regardless of the reason, their votes count the same. I love these nuances which probably doesn’t mean a thing in the final outcome. A vote is a vote is a vote. I do however like to find the reasons behind the vote.

https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/econTabReport_5ePXwWM.pdf

Here’s something else, 15% of republicans view Trump negatively or unfavorably. Yet only 3% of republicans say they’ll vote for Biden. 12 of that 15% will still vote for Trump even if they think Trump is a scumbag. Reminds me of that old political saying, my party’s worst candidate is always better then your party’s best candidate.