Find out about the basics of the case here.
More reactions:
“For any attorney with serious federal criminal court experience who is honest, this verdict is ridiculously bad, and the written justification is even poorer.” Duke University law professor Samuel Buell tells the story Times. “Donald Trump gets something no one else gets in federal court, he gets for no good reason, and it won’t in the least diminish the continued howling that he’s being prosecuted when he’s privileged.”
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This particular master opinion is so bad it’s hard to know where to start:
1. She says Biden hasn’t considered whether documents are protected by Exec Privilege. Nonsense. The archival letter (which the DOJ submitted to the judge) makes it clear that the current President thinks nothing of it…
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) September 5, 2022
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So Trump has a stainable executive privilege claim against one executive branch agency (DOJ) but not against another (ODNI), even though they are part of the same governing branch. Understood – totally correct.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) September 5, 2022
Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s Max Boot reflects on President Biden’s recent speech on the assault on our democracy and his focus on MAGA Republicans:
Whatever number you use for MAGA Republicans, it is clear that they represent tens of millions of voters and pose a major threat to our democracy. But there are also millions of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are not hardcore Trumpkins who are up for grabs. That includes “Never Trump” ex-Republicans like me. In elections likely to be decided on the margins, in a handful of swing states or competitive jurisdictions, relatively small swings in sentiment can trigger a political earthquake.
David Frum of The Atlantic argues that the speech hit its target perfectly:
Biden came to Philadelphia to inflict a wound on Trump’s boundless but fragile ego. Trump committed 48 hours later with a tremendously self-serving meltdown. And now his party has nowhere to hide. Trump has signed his name on every Republican line of every ballot in 2022.
Biden dangled the bait. Trump took it — and hooked his entire party with him. Republican leaders have little choice but to pretend they like it.
On the question of a possible Trump 2024 run, former State Service official James Foley offers advice for potential Trump opponents:
The fact is, Donald Trump is beatable. I’ve seen his type all over the world; he’s a wannabe autocrat who lacks the vision, discipline, and fundamental competence to accomplish anything of lasting importance – a piker compared to world-historic demagogues of recent times, or even our native breed like Huey Long. Still, Trump possesses one quality that is crucial in politics: a killer instinct. Armed with a talent for taunt, he has the ability to sense his opponents’ weaknesses and exploit them ruthlessly. And yet Trump himself is an extremely fat target of taunts, with massive liabilities as a candidate for re-election. […]
To beat Trump, potential candidates must also be willing to debunk a second major myth central to his reputation, that he was a formidable and effective leader on the international stage. The reality is that as its first Secretary of State, he frequently made mistakes in foreign affairs so memorably noted. Unfortunately, Republicans’ foreign policy arguments are largely based on the premise that America’s security and standing in the world were in good hands in Trump’s day.
As Trump grapples with factional infighting and criminal investigations, Paul Krugman considers the positive impact of Biden’s policies on the economy and their impact on wages, even in an inflationary environment:
So, yes, the Biden boom was good for workers. More Americans – a a lot of more Americans — got jobs, and while those already employed suffered a drop in real wages, that drop reflected events in global food and energy markets, not US policy.
In addition, a strong labor market appears to have helped reduce inequality. And the Biden boom may also have indirect effects that will increase wages and further reduce inequality in the future. For the seller’s labor market may have helped revitalize America’s long-dying labor movement.
John Cassidy in the New Yorker:
But the Republican claim that the economy is now in recession is not credible. If so, the signs would be visible in cyclical sectors such as construction, retail and temporary services. Instead, the payroll survey showed that all three of these sectors added jobs in June, July and August. Other reports also point to continued expansion. Consumer confidence rose in August as gas prices fell, according to the Conference Board, a business research group. The Federal Reserve of Atlanta’s GDP Now model shows annualized GDP growth over the three months from July to September moving towards 2.6 percent, which would represent a Recovery from the previous two quarters. Of course, since this is campaign season, there’s no way Republicans will admit they were wrong.
Finally, Ed Kilgore takes a look at the post-Labor Day campaign sprint:
Dobbs is a reminder that external events can shift election trends, even fairly late in the cycle. Democrats are still anxiously hoping for better economic news, although perceptions of the state of the economy usually penetrate the public consciousness well before Election Day. And arguably the “economic issues” are the most important in shaping political allegiances long-term trends like globalization, wage stagnation and declining living standards rather than last quarter’s GDP or this month’s jobs report. But if the economy produces noticeably less inflation with no signs of slipping into a recession, it will certainly help voters focus on other issues that benefit Democrats, including the fight to defend abortion rights.
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