The bar already is too low for this to mean anything. A judge has blocked the proposed settlement already, so it's insanely suspicious that Trump was willing to withdraw Blanche if necessary to not give up the settlement in writing.
Two huge problems that probably make this worthless despite that it almost certainly will satisfy the GOP holdouts:
Now they have produced an "order," but it's not even clear what legal effect it has or why it can't be replaced with a new "order" reinstating it. The DOJ can't issue a court order and it's redundant to the court order. So it must be an internal order and if the DOJ has the power to issue it, it has the power to revoke it.
There is still a retroactive immunity! How this is never in the headlines, is just a reflection of how they've successfully poisoned the conversation. Here's the article:
The document released by Blanche on Sunday night also limits the scope of another provision of the settlement that provided broad immunity for Trump and members of his family from tax audits. It clarifies that the tax audit immunity agreement “applies only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.
I doubt "claims open at the time of the settlement" is genuinely limiting. So the president and his entire family gratuitously get exactly what they wanted, a free criminal immunity for their fraudulent tax returns. The prospective immunity was never going to be held up in court anyway.
Blanche is Trump's personal attorney. Not was, is. Just like Bondi. Cornyn and Tillis did this so they can lie to themselves that they had a backbone, that's all.
She also provides the most simple living reminder of how just weird and psychopathic the right is, and how much the Overton window has shifted since Mr. Rogers. "Don't kill children," "give children food," "give children medical care," "keep children safe" equals "radical leftist" if you go by the right's echo chamber, which is just...actually insane.
After a June raid at Home Depot in Hollywood, body camera footage captured an agent saying: “There was a guy, I’m pretty sure he’s wet he was just sitting in that minivan.” A text chain revealed an agent referring to “tonks everywhere selling food” — using a word reportedly derived from the sound an agent’s utility flashlight makes when hitting a migrant’s head. In a video, an agent said, “Yeah, just plug us in wherever you see some tonks and we’ll jump out.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Tonk." I bet they get a little special feeling saying it, too. Verbally confirming the power they have and can't wait to use, the power to be violent without consequence, to not even treat these people as humans, to hurt them in exchange for a fleeting adrenaline surge and the ability to brag about it to other half-wits.
It's crazy to imagine how much faith in humanity I had back in 2014 compared to what I've lost by now.
Nope, I’d rather we descend into full fascism and this country tears itself apart.
That's your right, but I hope you understand why that's completely irrational and nihilistic. That scenario involves likely civil war and thousands, tens of thousands, or millions of innocent deaths, at a level none of us can fully imagine.
I'm writing this now because I've seen way too many of these litmus purity test debates in 2024. If you care about people, vote in the way that helps them the most, even if imperfect. It should be that simple.
Yes, they resisted for now. But respectfully, I think believing in some magical power of the parliamentarian epitomizes institutional thinking, and ignores asymmetric problems in fighting fascism. A democratic institution has to resist every fascist attempt at takeover to survive; a fascist attempt to take over only has to succeed once. And the parliamentarian is an incredibly weak link in our institutional chain, while other stronger links like an independent DOJ and Supreme Court, have already fallen.
Thune didn't fire her yet because he is an old-school Republican trying to maintain traditional GOP power structures. But think back: in 2020, even the House was not overwhelmingly MAGA, with traditionalists holding power, and the Senate was barely Ted Cruz. By 2024, the House was overwhelmingly MAGA, and the Senate had plenty of MAGA. The Senate GOP now thinks they retain independence but fears the bad polls, and shows how afraid they are by still hiding behind Thune who is the lighting rod for Trump. And Trump will keep pushing, endorsing opponents, and sic-ing MAGA's base on resisting senators. He's a narcissistic sociopath and will never accept, "no."
Eventually Trump will push hard enough and the Senate will be weak enough to elect a Mike Johnson figure who is as completely broken and spineless. We have to hold out until 2028 before the GOP loses the Senate, most likely. Then they will do what Trump does via his other captured institutions - break the law and let others fight about it in court while he wields and consolidates power. A parliamentarian isn't even a speedbump at that point.
What every traditional politician aspires to is to transcend any actual effort and just become the brand, while everyone else just maintains it (i.e., them).
That explains why the overwhelming majority of politicians are so much more concerned with narratives and PR optics. It's not because it's inherent to politics, though we certainly can be forgiven for thinking that having seen it all our lives. Branding and PR is important in modern times, sure, but really only in service of the work. It's never, ever more important than the actual work.
No, politics should be the art of negotiating differing opinions to get things done on behalf of communities of people. But instead it's just people who probably have spent their whole lives thinking about marketing, but instead of going to work at ad agencies to advertise other companies and people, they advertise themselves.
It's why Mamdani, at least as he exists today (and god, I hope in the future) is so refreshing. He just seems to want to get stuff done.
Have you not had a job, or somehow they've never been allowed to fire you? I'm not playing dumb, I may actually be dumb - I just can't imagine what job doesn't carry a risk of being fired (except maybe tenured professor)?
I would usually give a lot of credit to someone trying something different, but I'd drive a 1971 Ford Pinto before I ever intentionally get within photographable proximity to a Cybertruck.
“We need to sort of take a close look at spending and make sure that money is being spent in sensible ways and that it is not wasted or spent on fraudulent activities. And I got a lot of flack for this, obviously,” he said.
Really? That's why you got flack?
Well, I can't speak for everyone, but you got flack from me not for making sure money is being spent in sensible ways. I gave you some flack for being a self-dealing, child-killing, own-fart-smelling, public data-stealing, ketamine-addicted Nazi fascist sociopath who not only wielded your deluded political persecution complex as a weapon for punishing innocent people, you did so without even giving them the dignity of your actual attention unaided by AI.
It's true, but the value is diminishing. I've tried that and more than once in the past half year, the advice within reddit posts were clearly astroturf AI-generated slop, and some of them were upvoted in similar amounts to apparent real recommendations.
Companies know Reddit is a recommendation hotspot, and stealth advertising is becoming typical business practice.
It's precisely because they know it's illegal that they aren't saying anything. If they don't overtly lie and just refuse to talk, they won't obviously open themselves up to prosecution by a later administration (in theory, though I am sure a motivated prosecutor will be able to make a case either way).
The bar already is too low for this to mean anything. A judge has blocked the proposed settlement already, so it's insanely suspicious that Trump was willing to withdraw Blanche if necessary to not give up the settlement in writing.
Two huge problems that probably make this worthless despite that it almost certainly will satisfy the GOP holdouts:
I doubt "claims open at the time of the settlement" is genuinely limiting. So the president and his entire family gratuitously get exactly what they wanted, a free criminal immunity for their fraudulent tax returns. The prospective immunity was never going to be held up in court anyway.
Blanche is Trump's personal attorney. Not was, is. Just like Bondi. Cornyn and Tillis did this so they can lie to themselves that they had a backbone, that's all.