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The Trump Hit the Fan: Capone and Income Tax Fraud

August 11, 2022
by Peter Feinman
You take what you can get.

On Monday, I was minding my own business thinking about what blog to write:

Will Ukraine Be Rebuilt?
End Confederate Welfare
Indict Everyone but Trump First
Did Tom Cruise Try to Kill Hitler?

Suddenly out of nowhere the Rubicon was crossed to use a popular metaphor.

[Forthcoming history blog – Do Audiences Understand Your Metaphors and References?]

The execution of a search warrant at the home of a former and loser President already under multiple investigations is a game changer. But to what?

MAFIOSO RECEIVES SPEEDING TICKET FOR GOING 7 MILES OVER THE LIMIT

When I was growing up, I read an article in the local paper about a New Jersey Mafioso who had received a speeding ticket for going 7 miles an hour over the speeding limit. I do not recall if I even had a drivers’ license yet, but it seemed to me that ticketing a Mafioso for that infraction was not standard police work. Something else was involved.

My favorite criminal action by the current Mafioso Don was Sharpiegate. Who can forget the image of the doofus-looking Donald the Menace sitting in front of the map he had just altered? As I wrote in July 2020:

In addition, tampering with National Weather maps is a civil (criminal?) offense. While it is not an impeachable offense, it still is illegal. There will be a special exhibit in the Unpresidential Library about Sharpiegate.

Unfortunately, the significance of Sharpiegate is worse than that. If someone cannot admit error on a hurricane path, what are the chances of admitting error on coronavirus? If a person rates a 10 and wouldn’t change anything he did, what is his explanation for why there are over 135000 Americans dead now? Why did Europe quarantine us? There’s really nothing that could have been done differently? Ask him.

Now we learn that he saved that map as a memento of his presidency perhaps for future sale on eBay. While Mafioso Donny should be held accountable for Sharpiegate, like the ticket for going 7 miles per hour over the speed limit, there is more to the warrant than that given the stakes involved.

LOCK HER UP

On one hand, the Democrats now have received a gift which they can leverage into an ongoing campaign refrain.

If he had only swallowed government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only shredded government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only flushed government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only burned government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only removed government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

Democrats now have the opportunity to constantly serenade Mafioso Donny as he prepares for his next presidential try. Perhaps Michael Flynn can lead the chant.

VICTIMHOOD CAN BE VERY EFFECTIVE

Victimhood can be a very powerful political tool. Look how it helped his 2016 opponent get to that position. After Monica Lewinsky, the co-president who had failed with Rodhamcare became “Our Lady of Perpetual Victimhood.” Remember people exclaiming “Why don’t they leave poor Hillary alone?” Nita Lowey, my own Representative, sacrificed her chance to become Senator, as she gladly stepped aside to allow someone greater than her have the honor of running. Lowey ridiculed the divided Republicans for not being united in the candidacy as the Democrats were.

For the Trumpican wannabees, the executed search warrant has been devastating. They have been obligated to rally round victimized Mafioso Donny and kiss his ring. Each one now tries to outdo the other in expressing their fealty. No one will challenge the Victim in Chief just as Lowey did not.

Unfortunately for the wannabees, there are consequences to sacrificing yourself. Once Lowey fell on her sword, never again would she have that moment when she could have become Senator. The consolation prize of putting in her charge of the Democratic House elections was a dismal mismatch. Similarly for Ron DeSantis. 2024 is his moment. Unless he is the Vice Presidential candidate, which is unlikely, he will never be better positioned to make a run for the Republican nomination than now. Assuming the United States is still a single country in 2028, the Republican presidential nominee then is more likely to be either the incumbent Trumpican Vice President or a non-Trumpican Republican.

If I may mix my metaphors, the crossing of the Rubicon is the sinking of the wannabee presidential ship. Now they are all forced to play Trump musical chairs or Trump Russian roulette to be the Vice Presidential candidate. Perhaps that is why Elise Stefanik sent a thank-you note to the Attorney General.

2022 ELECTIONS

The calculus for the 2022 midterm elections has been upended. The standard out-of-power party losses still may apply but then again, they may not. The normal political winds have been shifting in the Democratic favor lately and may continue to do so for months ahead – the price of gas is down, inflation is moderating, the stock market is up, jobs are increasing, legislation is being passed, Americans are not dyeing abroad in never ending wars … and who knows what else might happen.

Then there is abortion and Krakatoa Kansas (Krakatoa Kansas versus the Red Wave, August 7, 2022).

Now there is the Rubicon crossing. This means that practically every day there will be a Trump-related news item. It could be about the civil case in New York. It could be about January 6 cases in Fulton County, the House Select Committee, or DOJ. It could be about Documentgate. Or it could be any one of a number of associates who have been indicted, subpoena, searched, or who request immunity. And every time something happens, there will be a message as if he were still on Twitter. Given his personality and modus operandi, he will become a regular feature in the news. There will be no escaping his media presence – just what the Republican political professionals wanted to avoid.

And since Monday, Mafioso Donny has easily surpassed Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and John Eastman in the number of times he has admitted he is guilty. Only son Eric with 500 surpassed him. I know it is very difficult to actually sing all the verses of “100 Bottles of Ketchup on the Wall, 100 Bottles of Ketchup” but don’t be surprised if some enterprising young Democrats try for 440 verses of the Mafioso anthem.

The story continues to unfold. We are learning that there was an informant. There had been an earlier subpoena issued. The response was the same as by Bannon to his subpoena. Then there was a warrant. It was authorized by the Attorney General himself. Even as this blog is being typed efforts are underway to unseal the warrant. The American public will get to peak behind the curtain, something Mafioso Donny could have allowed if he did not have something to hide. Maybe he will still try to hide it.

My guess is that Macho-macho Boy thinks of Garland as some wimpy professorial type whom he can dominate the way he dominated Lafayette Square [this was written before I learned about the DOJ announcements]. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! He failed. Not only was his home violated from his perspective, his own safe was broken into. That is a physical reminder that he is not President anymore … and guarantees that he will try to be again.

Who Will Flip? Who Will be Thrown Under the Bus? Who Will be Convicted?

August 2, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Steve Bannon, chief strategist for President-elect Donald Trump, left, talks with Jared Kushner before the start of a President-elect Donald Trump's news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Who will flip? Who will be thrown under the bus? Who will be convicted? You can’t tell the players without a scorecard and it’s a big scorecard.

Steve Bannon
Andy Biggs
Christina Bobb
Mo Brooks
Gary Michael Brown
Kenneth Chesebro
Jeffrey Clark
John Eastman
Jeanna Ellis
Boris Epshteyn
Michael Flynn
Rudy Giuliani
Paul Gosar
Jim Jordan
Bruce Marks
Doug Mastriano
Mark Meadows
Clea Mitchell
Peter Navarro
Scott Perry
Sidney Powell
Mike Roman
Dan Scavino
Roger Stone
Ginni Thomas
James Troupis
KelliWard
Jack Wilenchik

As far as I know there is no betting line yet on what will happen to the various figures involved in the insurrection conspiracy. I confess that I cannot even keep track of who they all are.

All of these people (or their lawyers) should be able to read the handwriting on the wall. The House Select Committee is still in business. It is still interviewing new people and collecting new evidence. And just when you thought you knew all the illegal shenanigans associated with the insurrection first the Secret Service and DHS informs you that you don’t. There seems to be no limit to the people and departments involved. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Now consider for a moment the options facing Steve Bannon. He was easily convicted without going “medieval.” He faces sentencing and probably from a judge who shows no sign of wanting to be lenient. Bannon has the option of pursuing an expensive appeal process but to what end? One presumes either he or his lawyer or both realize that its only a matter of time before the DOJ subpoenas him. Even if Bannon pleads the 5th to every single question, either he or his lawyer or both should realize that the DOJ has sufficient evidence to indict and convict him. After all, he did do it!

So the question Bannon or his lawyer or both should be asking is “At what point will Bannon realize that resistance is futile”? At what point will he realize that he has more to gain by requesting immunity and spilling the beans than by fighting?

Think of Jared Kushner’s forthcoming book. According to excerpts revealed so far, it is not complimentary to Bannon. There was and is no love lost between the two people. Kushner exults in his triumph over Bannon. For all we know now, there may even be incriminating material against Bannon in the book. When the book is published do you think the father in-law is going to turn on his daughter’s husband and pick Bannon?

The time has come for Bannon to go medieval against Trump in exchange for full immunity. Bannon wants to live to fight another day. He was calling for a revolution prior to hooking up with Trump and he wants to continue advocating for his cause and making money after Trump fades from the scene. Right now Bannon is paying the price on behalf of someone who doesn’t care about him. Look at the opportunity to help himself if he decided right now today to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth in exchange for full immunity. Sure the Trumpicans will go medieval on him and leave threatening messages on his phone, but he will be free and on the air to defend himself and look to the post-2024 world. I am not saying Bannon will seek full immunity; I am saying it is in best interest.

Just last month, I predicted that it was all downhill for the Loser – he will gradually fade away as the Apprentice did (SCOTUS and Hutchinson: The Howard Baker Moment Has Arrived July 5, 2022). That process has started. Foxhub already is looking at the world beyond the Loser. No more free airtime as if it were 2015-2016 all over again. He is older, more subdued, and lacks new material which resonates. Instead of “Lock her up!,” Build a wall!,” “Who is going to pay? Mexico!,” now we have “Relitigate 2020.” Foxhub decision to downplay the Loser has become a national news item itself.

At some point even the Loser will realize that a campaign based on relitigating 2020 is a dead end. He knows the polls show that more and more people of his own party (are they all RINOs?) do not want him to run again. He knows that some of his hand-picked candidates are not faring well in state elections for Senator and Governor. He knows that once his candidates leave the safety of a gerrymandered district and venture out into the state arena, the nonsense they peddle rings false and does not arouse the independents they need to win … or even the Republican female votes they need to keep.

If the Senate remains under Democratic control or if the Democrats even pick up seats who will Republicans blame?
If the Democrats pick up gubernatorial seats who will Republicans blame?
If the 2022 election becomes a referendum on two presidents and Biden wins, who will Republicans blame?

We are reaching the point where fewer and fewer Republican office holders have anything to fear from the Loser. The primary season is almost over and the DOJ insurrectionist train is accelerating. We are getting closer to the point when for self-interest it is better for Republicans to denounce the Loser and his insurrection. We are not there yet and strangely enough Bannon could be the first to try. What does he have to lose?

The Battle for Bill Barr: Where Is His Loyalty in a Country based on the Rule of Law?

February 19, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Where Is Barr's Allegiance? (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Remember when Matt Whitaker was the Acting Attorney General? It’s only a little over a year ago when he stepped down. Remember how unqualified he was for the job? Remember the concerns over what he might do on behalf of his boss? Remember how he auditioned for the job on cable talk shows? Think of how easily he could have snapped Little Adam Schiff in half if he had had the chance. Remember how you wanted him to be replaced by a real Attorney General?

Be careful what you wish for.

On paper, at least, Bill Barr seemed eminently qualified for the job. He had the potential to bring professionalism to the job just as various military people would do to various jobs in the White House. Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.

As we now know, the new Attorney General had only two specific jobs:

1. Indict the Deep State
2. Protect the Trump State criminal syndicate.

So now a year later how is he doing as the rumors swirl over whether or not he will resign and whether or not he should resign.

INDICT THE DEEP STATE

All things considered, he has not done so a good job so far in indicting those who are the enemies of the President of the United States. It is not because he objects to the Department of Justice being weaponized as a legal hit squad for the President of the United States (unless it was by Barack Obama or some traitor Democrat who wanted to do so). The problem has been so far he hasn’t been able to make the facts fit the Fox narrative.

For months, Fox had been fulminating if not frothing at mouth in anticipation of the Inspector General report that would blow the lid on the greatest corruption conspiracy in the history of the United States. Finally after having to put up with Fake News Witch Hunt Mueller Hoax, the truth would be revealed. At last, the American people would have inconvertible proof that everything Duped-Again-by-Russia Hannity had said was true. But alas, the report proved to be a nothingburger save it confirmed some of the liberal complaints against the FBI for abuse of power.

Then there was the Andrew McCabe fiasco.  His name was drawn through the mud time and time again both by Little Donee Wanny and the Fox propaganda machine. He really was raked through the coals. It was only a matter of time, before this thoroughly corrupt person paid the price for his role in the Deep State attack on the duly elected President.

Surprise. Surprise. Surprise. McCabe didn’t only beat the rap, there was no rap to beat. After all was said and done, McCabe wasn’t simply acquitted, he wasn’t even charged! The DOJ decided it could not even bring charges against the officially-designated disloyal traitor member of the Deep State. Imagine that. There wasn’t even enough evidence against him to impanel a grand jury. How pathetic.

Was the Deep State going to get away for perpetrating the greatest corruption scandal in the history of the United States?

There is still one more arrow in the quiver to slay the Deep State. Hope springs eternal on Fox. All eyes now turn to Durham. He certainly knows what is expected of him. He must prove that the Russia investigation was a complete hoax perpetrated by disloyal traitors and that Flynn was not guilty. He certainly knows that he needs to deliver an indictment of the Deep State prior to the Trumpican Convention launching the official campaign season. Or if he cannot do it by then, then at least as an October surprise. That way there would be little time to react before the election and it would be fresh in people’s minds that America’s greatest president had been the target of America’s greatest corruption conspiracy.

But what if despite all the trips to Italy, this final report turns out to be a nothingburger too? Suppose all that is found is small potatoes or “process crimes” in the words of Fox? What then?

Barr is trying as best he can to deliver the goods the Trump State wants. Suppose in the words of the last impeachment, there is no there there, then what? Suppose he doesn’t have the goods? He knows that if all he has are Fox talking points that will be insufficient to get a Washington, DC grand jury to indict.

To wrap up Task #1, so far there is nothing to show for the efforts to indict the Deep State, the clock is ticking, and the odds are against any indictments that fulfill the desires of Fox and the Impeached One.

PROTECT THE TRUMP STATE CRIMINAL SYNDICATE

Task #2 is an entirely different story. On this task, Barr shows great success with even more to come.

First, he torpedoed the Mueller report. True, Mueller did a horrendous job presenting the report to the American people. Barr simply thrust the sword into the straight arrow out of his league in a media crazed world. Success story #1.

Second, he put the kibosh on all Mueller-initiated probes handed over by the Special Counsel to the various district attorneys. All these avenues of investigation to pursue and everything came to a dead halt.  Success story #2.

Third, he put the kibosh on the whistleblower report. That attempt to squelch the truth proved unsuccessful and the President of the United States was impeached. No success here.

Fourth, he is squeezing the investigation of all things related to Ukraine to ensure that nothing dangerous, i.e., truthful, about the obstruction sees the light of day. Nobody who participated in the obstruction conspiracy will be indicted. The Russian information on the Bidens and the Ukraine will be treated like gospel unlike the Russian information in the Steele Dossier. Watch Duped-again-by-Russia Hannity enthusiastically embrace everything spoon fed by Russia this time around. Success story #3.

Fifth, he moved to reduce the sentence of Roger Stone. His actions here have been eclipsed by the Impeached One. Since the sentencing is scheduled for after this blog is posted, it is too early to tell what the impact will be on the browbeating of the judge. This is a no-decision yet item.

In the meantime, there have been other developments related to Barr’s performance.

At least one attorney quit in protest.
Multiple attorneys withdrew from Stone case.
More than 2,000 former Justice Department officials who served in Republican as well as Democratic administrations have signed a statement calling on him resign.
Federal judges have called an emergency meeting in response to the antics of the Impeached One.
The rank and file are grumbling as they watch their integrity besmirched.
The Attorney General has been demoted by the Impeached One to being the second highest law enforcement official in the land.

All in all, it is easy to understand that a person with even a shred of dignity and self-respect might be feeling the pressure even as he is dedicated to fulfilling the desires of our immature child-president. Has he no sense of shame? Has he no sense of decency? Look at what is happening in a country based on the rule of law by the would-be highest law enforcement official in the land.

Attacking the Deep State when there is no evidence to support it.
Attacking judges.
Attacking the DOJ.
Pardoning criminals who show no remorse and doing so on a whim outside of channels.

Is there a limit to how much abuse Bill Barr will take in the weaponization of the DOJ to attack the Deep State enemies of the Impeached One and to defend the cronies of the Trump criminal syndicate?

And if he does resign, who would become the Attorney General?

Even with Mitch McConnell steering the way, is a bruising Senate battle to approve a replacement during a presidential campaign the best course of action? Why not simply appoint an Acting Attorney General? Who would he appoint if his current “Roy Cohn” resigned?

Ridiculous Rudy, Attack Mutt.

Be careful what you wish for.