Trump's Legal Problems Are Going Away - The Wednesday AM Quickie 11/27/24

By Jacob Silverman — Nov 27, 2024

Rudy Giuliani's completely deserved slide into disgrace is going pretty well. -Jacob

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THE BIG NEWS

Donald Trump Skates On Hush Money Sentencing – And Everything Else

After several postponements, repeat felon Donald Trump was supposed to be sentenced in New York City yesterday for being convicted of 34 criminal charges in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. Instead, Judge Juan Merchan has adjourned the case indefinitely, essentially punting on the issue until some later date – perhaps after Trump finishes his term. Or maybe never.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said that he would challenge any motion to dismiss the conviction. Both sides are supposed to submit briefs to Judge Merchan next month. There's the obvious blaring deadline of Trump becoming the next president on January 20, but some legal experts have noted that he's not "President-elect" until Dec. 17, when the electoral college convenes. We might be beyond debating those kind of picayune legal details now. Trump is going to be the next president, and he's likely to assume office unencumbered by any of the numerous criminal and civil cases he's faced in the last year.

Assuming that all this – Trump, the courts, Judge Merchan, the US nation-state – still exists in 2029, it's possible that Merchan could sentence Trump then. He could receive prison time. This is such a thin reed to hang onto that the question of Trump's potential legal accountability is quickly becoming academic. Any legal sanction against the next president would eventually be overturned by the right-wing Supreme Court.

It's over.

MORE STORIES TO WATCH

Israel and Hezbollah Agree to Ceasefire

With a push from the Biden administration, Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire. Israel continued bombing targets across Lebanon, including in the heart of Beirut, up until the ceasefire took effect at 4am local time. Reports from Beirut described traffic-choked streets of panicked civilians trying to escape the city as missiles leveled buildings without warning. More than 3,700 Lebanese people have been killed in the latest conflict, with 886,000 people displaced and whole villages destroyed in the south.

The ceasefire may temporarily mothball the conflict in Lebanon – although Israel had previously demanded the right to intervene at will south of the Litani River. But the agreement is separate from any possible ceasefire negotiations over Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his hardline defense minister Yoav Gallant after he said that the IDF had no reason to be in Gaza anymore.

Trump Wants To Start His Second Term By Shooting the American Economy In the Foot

Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico – our two closest trading partners and generally cool countries that we should try to get along with – is predictably causing uncertainty, resentment, and blowback. The mafioso-style proposal is that Canada and Mexico must totally stop the flow of migrants and fentanyl – an impossible demand, for reasons practical, moral, economic, and legal – or else Trump will tax goods from those countries at 20 percent or more. Those costs would be passed onto American consumers and hamper cross-border trade and generally make people's lives worse, but Trump doesn't know or doesn't care.

Yesterday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in one of her daily press briefings, spoke out against Trump's genuinely dangerous and unnecessary threats of economic warfare. Sheinbaum chided Trump's short-sightedness and said Mexico would respond with its own tariffs.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been more conciliatory, telling Trump that Canada is fortifying its border and that they can work together on trade. "The idea of going to war with the United States isn’t what anyone wants," said Trudeau. Conservative Canadian politicians like Ontario Premier Doug Ford adopted a much different framing: "To compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I've ever heard from our friends and closest allies, the United States of America," he said. Oh.

QUICKEST QUICKIES: Trump Corruption Edition

Donnie Dodges Another Criminal Trial A federal judge dismissed Jack Smith's criminal case against Donald Trump. Citing DoJ policy against prosecuting sitting presidents, Smith filed earlier this week for the case to be dismissed. via Al Jazeera.
Leading Grifter Is Trump's Biggest Crypto Investor In a development that thrills this newsletter-writer, Justin Sun, one of the most hilariously absurd (and successful) crypto outlaws, is now the biggest investor in Trump's World Liberty Financial crypto company. Sun, who is being sued by the SEC for fraud and likely fears criminal charges in the US, plunked down $30 million. Should buy him something. via Decrypt.
No FBI Background Checks for Trump Appointees The Trump team is putting off FBI background checks (or perhaps chucking them entirely) for political appointees until after they get their security clearances and begin their government work. That is, of course, the opposite order in which the process usually proceeds. via The Guardian.
Farmers Worried Trump Will Deport Their Workers Farm industry groups have asked Trump to exempt their workers from deportation – a request that you might hear a lot from other industries in the coming months. About one million farm workers – or half of all working in the US – are undocumented. via Reuters.

SOME NUMBER

50 percent

That's the percentage of Gaza's population that Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, a racist right-wing extremist, thinks can be forced to "voluntarily emigrate," allowing Israelis to occupy and settle Gaza. "We don’t need to be scared of this word [occupation]," he told a settlers group.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

11/27: It’s Hump Day! Sam, Emma, and the MR Crew are breaking down some of the biggest news stories of the day and will (hopefully) get to your calls in the first hour of the show!

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

THESE GUYS ARE SO FULL OF SHIT

Excuse me, ma'am, a classical liberal is speaking.

Trump Is Already Betraying His Populist Pose

Appointing billionaires, Middle Eastern petro-state lobbyists, Wall Streeters, and (shocking) a pro-vaccine doctor, Trump's right-wing populism shtick has never felt more thin.

PARTING WORDS

"We do not produce weapons, we do not consume synthetic drugs. Unfortunately what we do have is the people who are being killed by the crime that is responding to the demand in your country."

-- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responding to tariff threats from President-elect Donald Trump.

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