Most dictators have the decency to do this shit behind closed doors. The fact that Trump is proudly tweeting about extorting $40 million seems like a really bad sign for our immediate future.
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Nonetheless, the matter seems to have extracted two important & potentially useful general concessions from Trump:
1. ‘Our Justice System is betrayed when it is misused to achieve political ends.’
2. ‘Lawyers and law firms play a vital role in ensuring that we live up to that standard as a Nation.’
There’s always been corruption and self-dealing in the U.S., but Musk and Trump are doing it all so publicly that I’m struggling to think of anything comparable in history.
It’s downright cartoonish. We live in a cartoon reality where the bad guy’s criminal acts can be understood by a toddler.
It’s definitely brazen, but don’t you think they are still doing worse things behind closed doors ? I don’t believe we are seeing the worst of it - National security issues, election interference etc likely done privately
Republicans used to be more subtle with their evil, only gradually escalating their crimes. But now as the oldest among them are recognizing their approaching mortality, they're desperate to see the fascist oligarchy they spent their lives trying to build.
That's been a feature of all this: the cinematic/televisual outrageousness. It has the effect (intended or otherwise) of making things "unbelievable" until too late, of making others skeptical it's happening. The whole thing seems like something out of MCU, minus CGI.
Reminds me of the book Matilda, when the new school children are horrified to see the headmistress swing a girl around by the pigtails and toss her over the fence. One kid is astonished she gets away with that.
Matilda points out she gets away with it because it's so wild no parent would ever believe it if their child told them. She notes that if someone wants to get away with something bad, it's better to go the whole hog.
A big part of their radical constituency was weened on televangelism and pro wrestling so they expect/demand a spectacle. Why they produce the deportation videos too.
What he learned from Watergate ("It's not the crime, it's the cover-up") was to do all his crimes in the open. No cover-up = nothing for the media to uncover = no coverage. He gets away with it every single time.
The reason for this is that they are doing at home what we have done unto other governments for over a hundred years. We see now at home the same sickening story that has played out inumerable times across the globe in asia, south america, etc etc.
Sad part is that roughly a quarter of the country is cheering them all and another quarter has no idea what’s going on because of apathy and disinterest. Our country is in a sad state.
But these firms aren’t some corner grocer getting a shakedown by some local mobster. I expected a multinational law firm like Paul Weiss, which had $2.6 billion in revenue last year, might put up a little more fight.
How do they ever expect to get clients that the government is suing? How could those clients ever feel like those lawyers would stand up for them against the government?
You're making a pretty big assumption to assume that anything Trump says is factual. From past incidents, it's probably safe to assume (until there's actual reporting) that the $40m is for pro bono work they were already doing.
I agree that Trump makes shit up, but the end of that tweet has what purports to be a quote from the law firm. I guess he could completely invent that too but I’m not sure what the motivation would be unless he really got them to do this.
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Reputation: down the toilet.
1. ‘Our Justice System is betrayed when it is misused to achieve political ends.’
2. ‘Lawyers and law firms play a vital role in ensuring that we live up to that standard as a Nation.’
They parade their fascism around and shove it in everybody's faces.
It's in the playbook.
It’s downright cartoonish. We live in a cartoon reality where the bad guy’s criminal acts can be understood by a toddler.
Now they're Lucy in the candy factory.
And then they say "I don't understand why people would vote for a Bad Guy. Did he lie and say he was a Good Guy?"
"Not really. He said all the bad stuff he was going to do."
"That doesn't make sense"
https://youtu.be/5RpPTRcz1no?si=gbNZhbyTAKua2lRa
And so many/damn near all of us are in that “walking through soup” mode where just nothing feels real at all anymore.
Gang recognize gang
Raspekt