19 April 22
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Marc Ash
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19 April 22
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Merrick Garland must do it now, before it's too late
To be endorsed by Trump, candidates apparently must fulfill three prerequisites: 1) They have to be running in swing states whose primaries and general elections will attract lots of media attention. 2) They must be totally committed to Trump and his big lie. And 3) they must have shown themselves capable of promoting Trump and his lie with the kind of celebrity pizzaz that sells well on television.
Vance — celebrity author of “Hillbilly Elegy” — was originally appalled by Trump and his lie, and said so. But now that he’s running for the Senate, Vance has become one of the most forceful promoters of Trump and articulate peddlers of his big lie. As Trump noted about Vance, “he gets it now.”
Oz is a celebrity television doctor who has over the years come under fire for bogus on-air medical advice, which makes him perfect for promoting Trump and his big lie, too. Trump admires Oz’s television bona fides: “They liked him for a long time,” Trump said of Oz at a rally in Pennsylvania last week. “That’s like a poll. You know, when you’re in television for 18 years, that’s like a poll. That means people like you.”
Walker fits the criteria, as well. He was both a college and NFL star.
Trump couldn’t care less whether he’s viewed as a “kingmaker” by the press and politicians inside the Beltway. He cares only about his narcissistic need to delegitimize the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. And he has a knack for recognizing ambitious, unprincipled, television-savvy hucksters who will help him.
Let me pause here to emphasize two things that are too easily forgotten. First, no one to this day has produced even a shred of evidence that fraud affected the results of the 2020 election. Sixty federal judges, along with Trump’s own departments of justice and homeland security, have concluded that Biden won fair and square.
Second, the lynchpin of democracy is the peaceful transition of power from those who lose elections to those who win them. Yet it’s been over a year and half since Trump has refused to concede — continuously spreading his big lie that the election was stolen, pushing public officials at all levels of government to overturn the election, and instigating an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on the day Congress was to certify the election results. As Federal District Court Judge David Carter stated in a recent opinion, “[T]he Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”
Trump is already well on the way to rebuilding the Republican Party around his big lie. He is purging the GOP of his critics and installing loyalists in key state positions. And he is inspiring GOP-state legislatures to enact election sabotage laws that will give Trump and his supporters opportunities to rig congressional election results. The upcoming 2022 congressional elections will serve as proving grounds for his attempt to steal the 2024 presidential election.
Trump is a growing menace to our system of self-government. The longer he goes without being held accountable for what he has done, the more danger he poses.
The critical question, then, is whether Attorney General Merrick Garland will bring criminal charges against him — and when. The window of opportunity is closing fast. The House Select Committee on January 6 will be holding public hearings in a few weeks and report its findings thereafter. (The committee has already collected nearly 10,000 documents and conducted more than 860 depositions and interviews, including with Trump family members and his close associates.) If Republicans take over the House in the midterm elections, they are sure to close down the inquiry.
Moreover, immediately after the midterm elections, America will be in the gravitational pull of the 2024 presidential primaries — in which Trump will almost certainly play a leading role, unless he is indicted and convicted. He has already amassed a campaign chest of more than $120 million, more than double that of the Republican National Committee. During the last six months of 2021, his PAC raised more money online than the GOP every day but two. And once he is a declared candidate, it will be impossible for Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms to stop him from engulfing them with his lies.
Some say Garland should not bring criminal charges against Trump because criminal charges have never before been brought against a former president. This is a specious argument because no former president has ever before attempted to overthrow a duly elected President — the first attempted coup in the 233-year history of the United States government.
Others worry that criminal charges against Trump — along with a trial and possible imprisonment — would only deepen the fierce partisan divide that’s already drained trust out of much of American democracy. This is a legitimate concern. But failure to hold Trump accountable for what he has done would pose a far greater risk for American democracy — permanently entrenching distrust in our election system and legitimizing future battles over every contest, possibly provoking repeated rounds of violence.
Trump’s indictment and conviction must occur as quickly as possible. The upcoming midterm elections won’t simply be a battle between Republicans and Democrats. They will be a battle between Trump acolytes and fair election supporters over protecting the integrity of our elections and our democracy. The sooner Trump is held accountable for his criminality, the safer American democracy will be.
A Ukrainian multiple rocket launcher BM-21 "Grad" shells Russian troops' position, near Luhansk, in the Donbas region. (photo: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP)
A view of new graves for people killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at a cemetery in Irpin, Kyiv region, Ukraine April 18, 2022. (photo: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)
The town, which had a pre-war population of about 62,000, was one of the main hotspots of fighting with Russian troops before they pulled back from Ukraine's northern regions to intensify their offensive in the east.
At a cemetery on the outskirts of Irpin, dozens of new graves have been dug and heaped with wreaths. Under the watch of a few tearful mourners, workers hurriedly shovelled the sandy earth into one grave on Monday.
"As of now, we have inspected 269 dead bodies," said Serhiy Panteleyev, first deputy head of the police's main investigation department, at an online briefing.
He said forensic work was ongoing to determine the cause of death for many of the victims, sharing photos of severely charred human remains.
He said seven sites in Irpin where civilians were allegedly shot have been inspected, without giving further details.
Russia denies targeting civilians and has dismissed allegations its troops committed war crimes in occupied areas of Ukraine.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. (photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden. (photo: Ryan Collerd/Getty Images)
Honduran refugees detained by police. (photo: AP)
Oil pumps. (photo: History)
As gas prices have increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Biden has been under pressure to expand oil production in the U.S., while also facing calls from fellow Democrats to take action to reduce fossil fuel emissions in the country.
The government plans to charge greatly increased royalty rates for companies to drill and conduct an assessment of the climate impact of developing the land, reported Reuters. The new royalty rate will be 18.75 percent, up from 12.5 percent. It is the first time royalty rates have been increased since the 1920s, said the Associated Press.
“How we manage our public lands and waters says everything about what we value as a nation,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, as Reuters reported.
The Department of the Interior press release said that the Bureau of Land Management will issue its sale notices for upcoming lease sales, as well as the final environmental assessments, today.
The Interior Department said that many recommendations from its November 2021 Report on the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Program will be incorporated into the lease sales, including community input and consultation with Tribes.
“For too long, the federal oil and gas leasing programs have prioritized the wants of extractive industries above local communities, the natural environment, the impact on our air and water, the needs of tribal nations, and, moreover, other uses of our shared public lands,” Haaland said, as reported by The New York Times. “Today, we begin to reset how and what we consider to be the highest and best use of Americans’ resources for the benefit of all current and future generations.”
The announcement drew a confused response from the oil industry.
“It’s a mixed message and strangely incoherent,” said CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America Jeff Eshelman, as the New York Times reported. “This administration has begged for more oil from foreign nations, blames American energy producers for price gouging and sitting on leases. Now… under pressure, it announces a lease sale with major royalty increases that will add uncertainty to drilling plans for years.”
The lease sales drew criticism from environmental groups, who denounced them as heedlessly dismissive of the climate crisis.
“The Biden administration’s claim that it must hold these lease sales is pure fiction and a reckless failure of climate leadership,” said public lands program director for the Center for Biological Diversity Randi Spivak, as reported by Reuters. “It’s as if they’re ignoring the horror of firestorms, floods and megadroughts, and accepting climate catastrophes as business as usual.”
Special Coverage: Ukraine, A Historic Resistance
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