Eleven Thousand & Counting!

Information released this week by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that over 11,000 documents have been retrieved from the former president’s home in Mar-a-Lago was shocking to many. None of these papers should ever have been taken from the White House and it is increasingly clear that these delays about releases were deliberate. His attorneys signed documents in June stating that all remaining papers requested by the National Archives were returned on that visit by the FBI. These statements were not accurate and now the attorneys are in trouble.

Hundreds of these documents bore varying classified levels from Confidential to Top Secret, Special Compartmented Information. They found some in their labeled folders in personal closets, and in the personal desk of the president in his home, next to his passport. It defies belief to think that he did not know they were there. No one has answered the question regarding why he kept them. Was it pure acquisitiveness? ‘I was president, ergo, these are my documents?’ Or was it to share gathered information with his friends (here is an intercept of this leader’s conversation with some other leader) or perhaps enemies of our country? Who knows? There were also dozens of empty Red labeled “Secret” folders. What happened to the documents they were supposed to hold? Were the contents co-mingled with miscellaneous papers, destroyed, or sold/shared with enemy agents? Security staff is now trying to discern the answers to these questions and determine if the misuse of these documents has compromised foreign assets or information gathering.

DJTs’ attorneys made requests to have the judge appoint a Special Master to review the documents and pull out any that deal with attorney-client privilege. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who supported the imperial presidency when he was in office, claimed that this special master request was a red herring and stalling measure. The FBI stated it appointed a “filter team” to look for documents that fit that description and put them aside. However, they clarified that the vast majority of the documents they retrieved belong to the American people and were required by law to be sent to the National Archives. In the over 18 months since Biden became President, DJT improperly secreted, obstructed, and even refused to comply with a subpoena for these papers.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is in turmoil. Senator Lindsey Graham even claimed that if the Department of Justice prosecuted DJT, there would be riots in the streets, which was certainly an irresponsible statement. Of course, the echoes of right-wing media promoted these comments. Other associates tried to re-litigate the Hillary Clinton email server issues, claiming these were parallels, forgetting to mention that as soon as she realized that this was a problem, Secretary Clinton cooperated in resolving the issue. The DOJ is not issuing press statements but has addressed the concerns of the courts in Florida, from the Magistrate who issued the search warrant to the Judge in the court where lawyers are requesting the Special Master. Each new filing or answer to judicial queries is digging the hole deeper. Meanwhile, the Grand Jury in Washington DC continues to hear from insiders who were instrumental in the last administration. Attorney Pat Cipollone and his deputy Pat Philbin both appeared last week. Authorities believe that there will be no indictments before the midterm elections, so as not to influence the results. There are no guarantees that the Attorney General of New York or the District Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, will be so reticent. One can hope.

Recently, President Biden met with several historians to discuss the status of democracy in America. Among them were Michael Beschloss, Jon Meacham, and Anne Applebaum, who met and discussed the historical long view. They looked at other times of trouble just before the Civil War in comparison, and during the period before the Second World War when the authoritarianism of Hitler and Mussolini made it to the U.S. and found favor. Beschloss recently said that we are all in “existential danger of having our democracy and democracies around the world destroyed.”

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, President Biden spoke to America. He said ‘too much of what is happening today in our country is not normal.’ He continued by saying:

“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very republic,” Biden said in a rare moment of calling out his predecessor by his name. “Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated.”

Standing in front of Independence Hall, the cradle of American democracy, Biden told the crowd: “MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love.” He continued: “For a long time, we’ve reassured ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it is not. We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us,” Biden said.

According to Politico: “The phrase ‘battle for the soul of the nation’ has dominated his rhetoric since, and Biden has declared that the foundation of his presidency was to prove that democracies could still deliver for their people and stand up to rising autocracies across the globe. He vowed to run to heal the wounds opened by Trump’s term and has grown deeply dismayed, aides said, by the political polarization and anger that has only deepened during his own time in the White House.”

Biden has called out MAGA Republicans and the cult they adhere to as undemocratic. He also spoke recently, asking moderate Republicans and Independents to step forward to help preserve this democracy and oppose those who would resort to violence. He asked, “How can one support democracy and the police, yet attack the police on January 6^th?

“You cannot be pro-insurrection and pro-cop!”

In a follow-up rebuttal this weekend, the former presidency also spoke in Pennsylvania, this time to support the Republican right-wing candidate for governor in PA, Doug Mastriano. However, a significant part of his speech was to present him as a victim of governmental overreach and to rail against President Biden and his administration. According to the New York Times: His speech came two days after Mr. Biden warned that democratic values were under assault by forces loyal to Mr. Trump. The former president described Mr. Biden’s address as “the most vicious, hateful, and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president.”

He also claimed that, according to Biden, all present in his audience were enemies of the state. During recent speeches, he returned to the demand that he be reinstated to his rightful place in the oval office as he won in 2020. Banned from Twitter, he communicates with the country through his private group Truth Social, where he can send out tweets. One day last week, he sent over 60 communications. Some believe that he is becoming unhinged; others think he is just stressed by all the issues he is embroiled in and is striking out because of his stressors. His remarks seem to show a total meltdown as he quoted Qanon, made outrageous statements, and flat-out lied, claiming that if he were still president, there would be no inflation and gas would be $2.00 a gallon. Childishly, he doctored photos of Biden and posted them on his page; these acts are unfit for a former president.

When our scholars and our historians, knowledgeable as they are, are sounding the alarms about dangerous trends, when we have a former president who has no moral grounding and supports terrorists and dictators, we have a combustible situation. I can only hope that average ordinary people, regardless of party, think that this country, as a whole, is more important than the desires of a single narcissistic man. Where are we as a country going to go as these battles wage forward? I do not know, but I think that somehow, we have to return to the status of supporting the concepts of democracy set forward in the U.S. Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We need to return to efforts to create that more perfect Union, difficult as it might be; even as we acknowledge that when this document was written, it did not include all of us.

Monday is Labor Day. It is time to do more than give lip service to all the hard workers in our country, especially those in healthcare and others who work in service industries and helped us all get through the pandemic, many with great sacrifices to themselves and their families. Applause Applause!! Let’s celebrate the teachers, who have had huge hurdles in trying to do their jobs; Governor DeSantis and his pandering regulations are among them! No kudos to Starbucks for closing recently unionized stores, or Amazon for trying to stop unions. C’mon guys, you make enough money to afford to pay your workers' living wages and benefits. Unions are positive entities. Think of the greater good!

“Til next week-Peace!