Why Trump will not announce whether or not he is running until after the midterms?

Because, if the Democrats maintain control of the House and Senate, who would be there to protect him? The Republicans cannot protect him if they are in the minority.

Also, if he were to announce that he was running before the midterms, and Republicans lost both the House and Senate, they would blame him. So, he will wait.

The only reason he would announce a run in '24, if Democrats are in control, would be to stuff his pockets with campaign donations. He would steal as much as possible from his gullible followers.

His only strategy would be to disrupt and create havoc in our political system. If Republicans do not win either the House or Senate, he may just call them a bunch of losers and start his own Third Party?

Republicans are going to have a helluva mess to clean up.

An indictment of Donald Trump is an indictment of the Republican Party.

That is why it is so hard to convict a former president.

A conviction of Trump is a conviction of the Republicans. They were with him every step of the way in his criminal spree against our nation.

To their credit, many Republicans left their Party when it was obvious the direction they were going. But, unfortunately almost all elected Republicans chose to stand with him, as his crimes grew more and more hideous.

It is probably impossible for one political Party to convict another political Party thru the courts, even if they are all guilty. They can only be convicted thru public opinion.

In my opinion, this is the impossible situation we, as Democrats, find ourselves today. We know that Donald Trump is guilty of serious crimes against our nation, and that the Republicans in Washington are accessories to the crimes.

But what, realistically, can be done? Other than to convict them in the arena of public opinion and to defeat them at the polls?

It is a political dilemma. This is the reality that confronts Merrick Garland and the Dept of Justice. Can they convict a former president if his political Party is also guilty?

When do we learn that the National Archives helped Trump move and destroy records?

I would not be surprised.

We tend to think of the NARA as incorruptible, but how did they get 15 boxes back from Mara-a-Lago?

These people were so corrupt that we can not begin to comprehend how deep the corruption went.

Broomstraw Philosophers and Scuppernong Wine

The damn dam has broke.

Usually, when Liz Cheney makes a statement, you can take it pretty seriously. Near the end of the Committee's last hearing, she made the comment about "the dam has broke"? What did she mean by that?

Now, we see people like Mulvaney and Pompeo, and others, agreeing to testify in front of the Committee. Why are they doing it?

Likely, because they would like to be on record before they are subpoenaed to be in front of a criminal grand jury? Somehow it would make them look more cooperative, with nothing to hide. They do not wish to be directly connected to the DOJ investigation to overthrow our government, by violent means. They prefer to put some distance between themselves and Donald Trump.

Questions the DOJ must ask the former VP ?

These are questions that cannot be answered by a former Chief of Staff or a representative of the former Vice-President. They can only be answered by Mike Pence.

Did you or any of your family ever feel threatened on January 6th? And why?

Why did you not come forward until now?

How much pressure did you feel to change the electoral votes on January 6th?

Did you, with the approval of General Milley, call out military assistance to clear the Capitol on January 6th?

Did you ever receive a phone call from Donald Trump during the siege of the Capitol?

Did you ever feel that our democracy was under threat?

Are we in a recession?

I think we are, but the indications are that it is a very light recession. We are now in negative growth for two successive quarters, which is the measure most economists use.

However, in the last quarter, the GDP grew at a negative rate of 1.7%. Not terrible but not great. The most recent numbers for this quarter show a negative rate of .9%, almost half of the last quarter. With gas prices declining, it is very possible we will be back in positive growth by the next quarter.

Naturally, the Republicans are already looking to make hay out of these numbers. They are calling it the "Biden recession".

So far, it is a very light recession but it is what it is.

Will the Georgia elector fraud case harm the federal investigation?

Will it slow down or obstruct the work that the DOJ is doing? Will it put some folks into "double jeopardy"?

Fani Willis is fearless. I am sure she will not hesitate to subpoena whomever she thinks will help her case, including Donald J Trump. I would not be surprised to see him named as a "target" in her investigation sometime soon. How could he not be?

What is at stake in the DOJ investigation?

If Donald Trump is not indicted for his crimes, there is no reason to believe he would not maintain control of the Republican Party and be their nominee for the White House in 2024.

And he could very well "win" the next election. Then, what would happen?

My brain and my gut tells me that the next Administration of Donald Trump would make the first one look like a picnic. It would be all-out fascist.

It would be criminal in every aspect. Criminals would be running our government for their own personal enrichment. Pardons would await anyone that was charged with a crime.

The cruelty and inhumane actions would be unimaginable at this time.

We would no longer be a democracy in any sense of the word.

If Trump is not prosecuted, or if the investigation is passed over to a Special Prosecutor, it would be the end of democracy in America.

In my opinion, that is what is at stake for Merrick Garland. That is what is at stake for all of us.

Does anyone else believe the situation is this dire?

Trump's first impulse seems to be to resort to threats of violence.

He speaks of "two sets of justice". In reality, that is usually correct.

However, for those that he wants to hear the code, it means something different. It means they might have to take "justice" into their own hands and clean up the mess that is intimidating him.

In yesterday's speech, he said the "Unselect Committee" was made up of "political hacks and thugs". He pushed for the death penalty for drug dealers. He praised Communist China's justice system.

He said that we are a "failing nation". He said, "Our country is now a cesspool of crime."

He thought the federal government should bypass Governors and send in the National Guard to places like Chicago. He thought they should build high quality tent cities on the outskirts of big urban centers to house the homeless and give them psychiatric help.

More info at this link:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/trump-dc-speech/index.html