Mediaboss Marketing

In the newest Impromptu podcast from Post Opinions, three columnists talked about how they are processing the unusually long general-election campaign of 2024, a rematch between a sitting president and a former president that feels absurd, high stakes and serious.

Use the audio player or The Posts Impromptu podcast feed to listen to the entire conversation.

Spotify

Apple

Google

Amazon

Perry Bacon Jr.: I do not enjoy covering this era of politics. But the audiences and the voters seem to be more engaged in it than, say, 2004 when I might have enjoyed covering it more. So its a complicated story.

Amanda Ripley: One poll shows that more than half of Americans feel dread, exhaustion and depression as they look toward it. And I can relate. And I wonder, can you? How are you both feeling as journalists and humans and Americans about the 2024 election?

Bacon: Im dreading it. I used to be someone who was very excited about going to Iowa. I think its really about [Donald] Trump. Trump creates this sense of crisis for a lot of people.

Ive gotten to a more extreme point now. When my wife and I are going to have dinner with another couple, I will usually email the man because he usually wants to do it and say, Hey, I try to avoid talking about politics during nonwork time.

Ripley: Wait. Can I just make sure I understand? You kind of want to set the stage, because people are going to naturally talk to you about politics, right? Just like were torturing you right now.

Bacon: Im getting paid for this, to be clear. Thats an important distinction!

When Im at the park with my daughter, I will really try to say, Well spend two minutes on this. And I will set a timer occasionally.

Jim Geraghty: Previously in our politics, the past generation or so, if somebody comes along whom you cant stand Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama they go away in eight years. They do not come back. Most of our former presidents are very quiet. Trump has not been that.

Ripley: Its particularly damaging for young Americans because all they know is this kind of politics, right? This kind of us versus them, burn down the house politics.

Politics are supposed to make us feel like we have some small amount of power over our destiny.

Bacon: The other thing I struggle with a lot is: What is the nature of this conflict? There were high conflicts in the 1860s and the 1960s, and I wouldnt be here on this podcast if people were not willing to engage in those conflicts. #MeToo was a high conflict moment. Im glad that happened. The 2020 protests were high conflict. Im glad those happened. The debate over how we teach race and education in Southern states is actually about something. They are trying to ban ideas that I think are important to understanding where we are in terms of race.

People are deeply concerned. They feel like the America they want is going away from them. And I dont want to minimize that conflict.

Listen to the full conversation here:

Spotify

Apple

Google

Amazon

More here:
Opinion | Impromptu podcast: Columnists on presidential campaign 2024 - The Washington Post - The Washington Post

So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. Youd better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly cant rearrange the universe.

Total solar eclipses over the heartland of America are rare. But they are totally normal celestial events.

Donald Trump isnt rare these days; unfortunately, we see him every day. But his actions are increasingly abnormal. Theyre getting that way because next week hes potentially facing the first of four criminal trials which could lead to prison time for Trump. Three times a judge has denied him a motion that would delay his trial.

While philosophers may opine about the recent solar eclipse with far more erudition than I, let me simply say that its doubtful we took the hint. I know Trump didnt. He has no ability to express humility.

With the efficiency and simplicity of someone flicking on and off a light switch, I witnessed from the birthplace of John Mellencamp (Seymour, Indiana if you cant look it up) what millions across the country saw: The sun was turned off and then on, plunging us into total darkness and then back into the bright light of day three minutes later.

It was an awesome display of celestial mechanics, but pales in comparison to the mechanics of the justice system holding Donald Trump accountable for his disruptive, divisive and illegal activities. Much as the ancient viewers of total solar eclipses once were, Trump today is in the pit of despair and hes melting down.

His emails to followers are pointed and accusatory. He complains Biden will fundraise off of his courtroom drama while Trump campaigns and fundraises off his courtroom drama. None of these BIDEN TRIALS should be allowed to take place during my campaign.Theyre all rigged and political, Trump wrote in one recent dispatch.

Its everyone elses fault. The fix is in. As much as the celestial mechanics of a total eclipse are commonly known, so are the reactions of Donald Trump when someone tries to hold him accountable for something hes done.

The total eclipse of the sun should bring about a bit of humility. The Universe doesnt care about our petty squabbles. It certainly doesnt care about Trump as much as he would like to think hes the center of the Universe. His hubris and arrogance arent rare in a society that ignores science and puts people ahead of property and competition ahead of cooperation. Thats probably Trumps mantra.

This week the demonic angel of despair and divisiveness remains as angry and as scared as Ive ever seen him. I doubt theres a safe ketchup bottle within 100 miles of Mar-a-Lago. Trump is scared out of his befouled shorts. His former CFO Allen Weisselberg got sentenced to five months in jail after committing perjury in the former presidents civil fraud case. Think hell talk? I dont know but, according to those in Trumps orbit, the Donald is worried. After his third attempt to delay his trial in Manhattan was denied, theres no doubt Trump has slipped a cog.

But, lets be honest, Donny Darko isnt the only one.

This week a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaign official was exposed for promoting false claims that the 2020 election was rigged. At the same time, Rita Palma, a New York activist working for Kennedy boasted that his candidacy is a way to block President Biden from being re-elected.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, meanwhile, still wants to dump Michael Johnson, the Republican House speaker, because he wont anoint her queen and offer subservience to her lunacy.

And finally in todays Top Ten list, Weird things wed like to blame on the eclipse but cant sponsored by David Letterman, the New York Times came out with a blistering analysis of Donald Trump that claims he grossly distorts his opponents records and exaggerates and twists the fact, often turns his criminal cases into rallying cries, makes up unverifiable claims, continues to scream about the rigged election and describes the United States as a Nation in Ruins.

Thats news? It sounds like every day I spent covering Trump during his presidency.

As much as evangelical Christians, astrologists, numerologists, Big Foot hunters, those who believe in spirits, fairies, conspiracy theorists, and alien hybrids would love to give credit to the eclipse for what they see as signs of societys apocalypse, the fact is were back to blaming ourselves or at least Donald Trump for this nonsense. Im waiting for some MAGA member of our technologically medieval society to burn their own village as a show of support or frustration you know, much like University of Kentucky basketball fans do whenever their team loses a coach or wins or loses an important ball game.

The facts show that all of this creepy news is due to the fact that Donald Trump has been normalized by too many members of the press. Its as if were shocked and what has been going on with Trump for the last decade is new to us.

Jim Acosta mentioned Tuesday on CNN that he was stunned that Trump faces no backlash for accusing Biden of using cocaine before a recent speech and former and former Republican presidential candidate and CNN analyst Joe Walsh backed up Acosta, saying it is part of the normalization of Trump by the pressThe New York Times offering insights into Trump that arent actually anything new underscores how weve simply and collectively forgotten that Donald Trump is a slithering slimeball.

He denounced a near-total ban on abortion in Arizona while proudly claiming responsibility for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade which enabled the state action in Arizona. Hes selling $60 Bibles while being unable to recite a single verse in it.

We in the media continue to treat him as a legitimate candidate while half of the electorate agrees. Every time Donald Trump goes after a judge, a jury, witnesses or his charges, we cover it but curiously we never mention Judge Aileen Cannon. Trump never goes after the judge in the Mar-a-Lago documents case against him. Thats because shes a MAGA sycophant, a prosecutor close to the case explained. Maybe thats worth reporting a little more often.

Perhaps we should be covering Trump based on the facts and not the blathering, bloviated nonsense he spouts on a daily basis. I dont care about the wild and dramatic ramblings of the demented former president. The fact is Trump has more reasons to fear the coming months than Middle Age peasants feared a solar eclipse. The eclipse, while humbling, isnt a threat to our existence. Next week Trump will face a case in court that is a threat to his existence even though its considered the weakest case against him.

The truth is much different.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

While he faces charges related to insurrection, election denial, and classified documents that sound extremely frightening, and are, there is no doubt about the facts in the Manhattan district attorneys case against Trump. They are solid. Rock solid.

I worked with Michael Cohen for many months on Revenge, his latest book that deals with the facts that have led to the charges against Trump in New York. Trump paid off Stormy Daniels for her silence. He didnt want people knowing hed been having fun with her. He used Cohen to pay her and he did it to hide that fact from potential voters. While you can pay off anyone you want, it was hiding the payoff that really hurts Donald. In the state of New York its a misdemeanor. But it became a felony when it became tied to a federal election.

Having researched this for months, its obvious what was done and why. And right now, Trump will do anything to keep from facing those charges because he knows exactly what he did. If youve ever seen My Cousin Vinny you also know that through discovery Trump has all the factual information that will be presented against him.

On background, one of the people close to the prosecution maintains that Trump is toast.

His only hope is to find one juror who loves him and will see it his way. In Manhattan, thats not a likelihood. So, the next few weeks Donald will remain extremely tense, cornered and frightened. And we all know the danger of cornering a New York sewer rat.

Defense? my source said on background, Its in de-backyard. He has no defense and he knows it.

Other than hoping for a sympathetic juror, Trumps best effort in court will be in trying to discredit Michael Cohen who made the payoff for him. Trump has already tried to do that as often as the sun rises, and has been successful fewer times than Ive personally witnessed a total solar eclipse.

The reason why he has been unsuccessful is because of the paper trail that Trump can neither deny nor explain away.

Donald Trump is, for the first time, facing something he cant wish away or pay off.

In the Science Fiction Novella Nightfall, Isaac Asimov postulates how a civilization would face a solar eclipse in a multiple star solar system that only experienced night once every two thousand years.

It's one thing to predict [the complete breakdown of civilization]. It's something else again to be right in the middle of it. It's a very humbling thing, a character in the novel noted.

The recent total solar eclipse didnt lead to a breakdown of civilization and we arent in the middle of one.

But Donald Trump is and the Manhattan case against him will be the first of four blows from which he will likely not recover. It should be a very humbling thing.

Read more

about this topic

Continue reading here:
A total eclipse of Donald Trump: First felony trial could finally humble him - Salon

Barring any last minute delays, Donald Trump is set to appear at a Manhattan courthouse on Monday for the historic start of his first criminal trial.

The case involves his alleged falsification of business records to cover up a hush-money payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. The trial will mark the first time in history that an ex-President is criminally prosecuted in court, and could take Trump away from the campaign trail for more than a month as he runs for a return to the White House.

Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has accused Trump of doctoring financial records of his companies and orchestrating a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and accused Bragg of carrying out a politically motivated witch hunt against him.

The unprecedented case is the first of Trumps four criminal cases to go to trialand may be the only one to wrap up before the November election. The trial is expected to last six weeks, starting with jury selection on Monday. Prospective jurors will be asked if they have ever attended one of Trumps rallies, if they belong to groups like the Proud Boys or Antifa, or if they volunteered with a political entity associated with the former President, according to a letter the judge provided attorneys.

Heres what to know about Trumps hush-money trial.

Prosecutors will attempt to prove that Trump is guilty of maintaining false business records with the intent to hide a $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who claimed she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006. The payments allegedly were made to keep Daniels from speaking publicly about the affair in the final weeks of Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison for each of the 34 charges against him. While paying hush money is not always illegal, prosecutors allege that Trump reimbursed his then-lawyer Michael Cohen in a series of installment payments processed by his business, which prosecutors say were fraudulently disguised as corporate legal expenses in violation of New York law.

Under New York law, falsifying business records is usually a misdemeanor but it can become a felony when there is an intent to defraud that includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal another crime. Bragg has said that the alleged payment scheme was intended to cover up violations of New York election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to illegally promote a candidate. He also said the $130,000 payment exceeded the federal campaign contribution cap and violated state tax laws.

The charges Trump faces are all considered class E felonies in New York, the lowest tier of felony charges in the state. Prosecutors will need to show that Trump not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely, but that he did so to conceal another crime.

The trial is not expected to be televised since New York state is one of three jurisdictions that does not permit audio-visual coverage of trial-court proceedings. Federal judges sometimes make an exception to this long-standing rule barring cameras from their courtrooms, but the judge presiding over the hush-money case has already rejected past media requests for greater access and appears unlikely to change course.

Pictures of Trump in the courtroom, however, may be allowed. When Trump was arraigned in Manhattan last April, Judge Juan Merchan permitted photographers to record still images before the arraignment but ruled that they would have to leave once the arraignment began. He also approved TV cameras in the hallways of the Manhattan courthouse, but said reporters would not be allowed to carry electronic recording devices into the courtroom or overflow rooms, claiming that cameras could disrupt the dignity and decorum of the court and put the safety of those involved at risk.

Under New York state law, Trump is required to attend his entire criminal trial in person, potentially limiting his ability to travel outside of the state as he campaigns for President. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks, depending on how long jury selection takes and whether the judge opts for half-day proceedings or days off to attend other cases.

But Trump may receive some leniency from the judge. The same day he is set to appear in court for the start of the trial, Trump is also scheduled to be deposed in one of the civil lawsuits stemming from the merger of his social media startup with a so-called blank check company. Judge Merchan could allow Trump to miss part of the hush-money trial to attend the deposition.

In the past, Trump has chosen to appear at some court proceedings he wasn't required to attend, often holding press conferences with reporters outside the courtrooms. Hes used those appearances to amplify both his campaign messages and his assertion that all of the charges he faces are politically motivated.

Daniels and Cohen are both expected to take the stand as witnesses for the prosecution, with Braggs office hoping that Cohen can directly tie Trump to the false business records.

Other witnesses could include Karen McDougala former Playboy model who received a $150,000 payment from the National Enquirer for rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trumpand members of Trumps inner circle, including his longtime assistant Rhona Graff, his former director of Oval Office operations Madeleine Westerhout, and former campaign and White House aide Hope Hicks.

Trumps lawyers are expected to attempt to undermine Cohens testimony by noting that he pleaded guilty to a variety of federal crimes in 2018including for his role in the hush-money paymentand that he and Trump had a falling out many years ago.

Its unclear if Trump will take the stand in his own defense, or if his lawyers will call any witnesses.

If Trump is convicted, he could face a sentence of up to four years in New York prison for each chargea maximum of 136 years. And since falsifying business records is a state crime, only the New York governorKathy Hochul, a Democratcould pardon him.

But given Trumps age, 77, lack of a prior conviction, the fact that hes the first former President to ever be criminally tried, and that he may become President again, legal experts say theres no guarantee that a conviction would result in jail time. The judge is not required to imprison Trump if hes convicted by a jury; most first-time offenders in non-violent cases are often sentenced to probation, and Trumps unique position could raise a host of extraordinary issues and considerations in sentencing.

Trump can still run for President if hes convictedor even inside a jail cellthough it would entail a range of unprecedented and untested legal questions if he wins the election after being convicted of a crime.

See the rest here:
Donald Trumps Hush-Money Trial: What to Know - TIME

When former President Donald Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination last month, his win was taken by many as both a hard-fought campaign victory and the conclusion of a long-standing inevitability. Although much of today's GOP exists as a de facto extension of the MAGA movement, Trump's dominating primary performance cannot be attributed to his personal sway over the conservative zeitgeist alone. For months the former president and his campaign team have worked behind the scenes to ensure the mechanics of this election cycle work in his favor. Some of these maneuvers have taken place publicly, such as Trump's installment of loyalists to run the Republican National Committee. Other instances have been less dramatic but equally impactful, as Trump alters both the spirit of the American electoral system and its operational structure as well.

In the past, Trump's political agenda had been "frequently stymied by infighting and incompetence" thanks, in part, to having "populated his campaigns with huge egos," Vanity Fair said. The 2024 contrast is stark, with a drama-free campaign best represented by senior advisor Chris LaCivita and his "Talmudic understanding of primary rules." LaCivita has spent much of the past year pushing for "state Republican parties to change their processes to favor Trump." Perhaps nowhere was that effort more impactful than in California, where the campaign orchestrated a change to the primary rules so that a "candidate who wins more than 50% of the statewide vote on March 5" receives the state's entire delegate count, rather than a proportional amount, Politico said. Ultimately, the maneuver was a potential "death knell for Trump's competition" like Ron DeSantis, who had been planning his California campaign to pick off delegates from the total batch under the old rules.

Recently Trump and his allies attempted a similar operation in Nebraska, which metes out electoral college votes based on district wins, rather than the winner-take-all system used by the vast majority of the country. In many past elections, "Republicans take two and Democrats take one of the state's votes, though the third is tightly contested," The Hill explained. After Republican Gov. Jim Pillen endorsed a bill to change his state's electoral college process, Trump publicly threw his support behind the measure, calling it "right for Nebraska" while urging supporters to lobby on its behalf.

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

"When you realize you can't win with the current rules, you go back to the drawing board to change the rules so you can win?" Democrat State Sen. Jen Day of Nebraska asked during last week's debate. The measure was ultimately defeated, but by lending his weight to the issue, Trump and his allies "underscore[d] just how narrow the race for 270 electoral votes could be in November," CNN said.

While the average American voter likely doesn't follow the picayune ins and outs of every state's primary voting rules, the Trump campaign has not been shy about manipulating the system in its favor. After several states "adoptedTrump-friendly rulesin 2020 to ward off competition for the then-president," in 2023 the former president's team began actively "advocating for modifications in half a dozen additional states," Reuters said, highlighting the "scale of the effort." For much of the 12 months prior to the 2024 primaries, Trump and his allies were "changing all these party rules, getting their people in place, changing the battlefield," one GOP strategist told Vanity Fair.

Trump is hardly alone in his effort to shape the existing political system to his liking. President Joe Biden's efforts with Democrats to change the primary schedule so South Carolina a state widely seen as being to his political advantage would vote first helped fend off a challenge from Minnesota Rep. Dean Philips. It also "helped set up an advantage for Trump" by cutting into then-chief rival Nikki Haley's base since "any registered voter can participate in either party's primary. But voters can only choose one primary," Politico said.

Working the electoral system to benefit incumbents may well be a bipartisan pursuit. For someone like Trump, who has built his political capital on claims of being the victim of a "rigged election," however, it might be the deciding factor in a path back to power.

To continue reading this article...

Create a free account

Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.

Already have an account? Sign in

Subscribe to The Week

Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.

Cancel or pause at any time.

Already a subscriber to The Week?

Unlimited website access is included with Digital and Print + Digital subscriptions. Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.

See more here:
Trump campaign changes election rules to try to win in 2024 - The Week

The captivity of the pro-life movement to the character of Donald Trump is a crucial aspect of contemporary abortion politics. But maybe not quite in the way suggested by Trumps decision this week to publicly distance himself from his pro-life supporters by refusing to endorse national restrictions on late-term abortions.

That refusal was a sign of the anti-abortion movements political weakness but not necessarily a major blow to its cause. The contemplated legislation was unlikely to pass the Senate no matter what stance Trump took, and positioning the G.O.P. as a defender of state-based regulation usefully focuses abortion opponents on their most important challenge: defending the abortion restrictions that are already on the books in conservative states, and finding ways to win over the voters who have turned against the pro-life side in every post-Dobbs referendum with Arizona looming as the next battleground now that its Supreme Court has upheld an 1864 law that bans nearly all abortions.

The problem for pro-lifers is that these efforts at persuasion have become markedly less effective over a timeline that overlaps closely with Trumps takeover of the Republican Party. The captivity of abortion opponents, in this sense, isnt about the specific policy stances that Trump might choose and that they might then have to reluctantly accept. Its about the ways in which a Trumpist form of conservatism seems inherently to make Americans more pro-choice.

For most of my lifetime, public opinion on abortion was fairly stable, leaning pro-choice but with a strong pro-life minority and a lot of people in the middle expressing support for some restrictions but not others. But since the mid-2010s there has been a clear shift in favor of abortion rights: More Americans support abortion without restriction that at any point since Roe v. Wade was handed down.

You can tell various stories about these numbers that do not implicate Trump himself. For instance, America has become notably less Christian and less socially conservative, and maybe it stands to reason that as the country turned left on issues like same-sex marriage or marijuana legalization, it would swing left on abortion as well.

Or again, it was clear that Roe was threatened well before Dobbs was issued, so maybe it was the prospect of abortion being back in the political arena that focused the minds of abortion moderates and made them more solidly pro-choice.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in.

Want all of The Times?Subscribe.

See original here:
Opinion | How the Pro-Life Movements Deal With Trump Made America More Pro-Choice - The New York Times