14 Comments
author

In TrumpWorld, bad news is good news if it keeps Trump in the headlines. It’s a neurosis.

Expand full comment
Mar 22, 2023Liked by David Thornton

I just read this article, my first from The Racket News service. It appears that The Racket News service does not really report the news, but rather the writers opinion of who the news story is about. Sadly, this is not unexpected. Try reporting just the news and let the reader form their opinion from the facts that you provide. If you must opine in your reporting, then present other sides to your opinion. Your description of Trump shielding himself with layers of underlings, to include an attorney, sounds quite like Joe Biden. I am not a Trump fan, but I certainly believe that Biden’s hands are just as dirty. Try opining like that!

Expand full comment
author
Mar 22, 2023·edited Mar 22, 2023Author

Hi Vincent, and welcome to the Racket News. I’ll start by saying that we are a news and perspective outlet. We don’t try to compete with the objective news media, but we think people like our blend of bringing facts together, explaining them, and opining. We often try to mix it with a little humor as well.

We are conservative Christians, but we are nonpartisans who see major flaws in both parties. Sometimes that means we draw fire from both sides. So be it. It’s our niche and it’s what we truly believe.

In keeping with truth and reality, I also have to point out that Trump is in real legal trouble, Biden is not, regardless of what other networks and sites may say. Biden is no saint, but he’s not going to jail. Period.

If you want to disagree, we encourage that as well. We often have lively and enlightening discussions from our commenters, both in the comments thread and our various social media accounts. Just remember to keep it civil.

I’ll give you this link to one of our earliest posts that explains more about who we are and why we do what we do the way we do it. We hope that you’ll stick with us long enough to get a good taste of our style.

https://www.theracketnews.com/p/why-we-are-raising-a-racket

Expand full comment

"What separates Trump from the Bidens and Pences with classified documents in their garages and attics is the fact that Biden and Pence did the right thing and called in the FBI when the material was found."

Once again, you really do not know what Biden and Pence did. You know only the story that they and their lawyers concocted for public release. It may or may not be true. We do know what Trump did is pretty much what he said except the declassification part is questionable. I do know he could have released the classified documents to the press if he wished to do so while he was President.

Expand full comment

One of my points was that the reaction of Trump supporters to this overtly political prosecution would galvanize support for him amongst his supporters and likely amongst those afraid of America becoming another Banana Republic.

Expand full comment

This political persecution reminds me of the Brazilian, Chilean and Nigerian governments handling of past presidents. Besides the obvious lack of credibility, don't they realize that it is just going to get him elected next go around. The left won't be able to generate enough "so called" legitimate votes next time around to overcome the 74 Million votes that President Trump will surely get next time with all of this publicity.

Expand full comment
author

I think you’re mistaken. I know Trump is well ahead in the Republican primary polling, but I still hear from a lot of Republicans who say they will never vote for him again after J6. Most of these folks seem to like Pence and/or Haley.

I think Trump peaked in 2020 and it still wasn’t enough. He lost and he lost legitimately.

Expand full comment
Mar 22, 2023Liked by David Thornton

If you really think that indicting and trying Trump via due process means is likely to get him elected, then you should be cheering for his indictment - yes?

To note: any indictment will be for actions taken by Trump that violated the law - not for political disagreement. Ideally, this is how any prosecution would occur: political considerations should be left aside. And while thus far no POTUS has been indicted/tried/convicted - we likely would have experienced it with Nixon if he hadn't been pardoned by Gerald Ford.

If anything, failing to indict and try Trump per our usual processes would make us a banana republic where politicians are above the law.

Expand full comment

"If you really think that indicting and trying Trump via due process means is likely to get him elected, then you should be cheering for his indictment - yes?"

No. If there is enough evidence of criminal guilt, he should be indicted and tried. If a felony must be manufactured to put him on trial, that is a banana republic tactic.

Expand full comment
Mar 28, 2023·edited Mar 28, 2023

Patterico has an interesting write-up on this at https://patterico.substack.com/p/questioning-an-advisory-opinion-about. TL;DR summation: the plain text of the NY state law for upgrading the financial fraud from a misdemeanor to a felony states “A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when he commits the crime of falsifying business records in the second degree, and when his intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof. Falsifying business records in the first degree is a class E felony.” - and in this specific case Trump would be aiding Michael Cohen's crime (for which Cohen was charged and pled guilty) by concealing the payments' purposes.

To quote a later part of the write-up:

"Trump didn’t even have to have the intent to commit a campaign finance violation under the New York statute. He just had to have intended to cover it up. Under the analysis we just performed, the campaign finance violation could in theory have been committed by Cohen and Cohen alone, and Trump could have come along after the fact and tried to conceal the payoff for reasons which “include[]” a desire to cover up Cohen’s crime. That’s not what happened, of course; Trump was intimately involved in all of it. But all he has to have done is intended a coverup of another’s person’s crime—a crime of which that other person stands duly convicted in federal court."

Expand full comment

I do not have nearly enough legal knowledge and lawyer instincts to go through all those mental contortions. I'm just glad the company I worked for had a great law firm to review all of my contract documents and defend me from lawsuits by disgruntled former employees.

Expand full comment

The thing about Patterico's write-up is it doesn't require contortions like others have suggested - wherein Trump himself committed another crime that then upgrades the fraudulent records misdemeanor to a felony. It solely refers to the statute itself and that the intent of the fraud was to conceal Cohen's crime - and that is enough to meet the statute for upgrade to a felony.

See https://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article175.php#p175.05.

175.05 is the relevant part of the statute about the misdemeanor, and the next part (175.10) is about how the misdemeanor is upgraded to a felony.

Expand full comment

I admire your perseverance, but I'm not swayed. Trump may be indicted by a NY grand jury, but he will never face a conviction that sticks in this particular case. It's easy to find New Yorkers who believe Trump's motives were impure. Hell, most of the commenters on this site believe that, but they do not know. Intent will never be proven unless they can find witnesses other than Michael Cohen. Check out any of the news reports on Robert Costello's testimony before the grand jury. It is unlikely that the prosecution can show Trump did anything more than reimburse Cohen for legal services for negotiating an NDA.

The link below from several years ago is somewhat dated but it appears to be pretty factual even if the author does seem to hope for more proof of evil doing by Donald Trump. More recent evidence indicates that there should be doubt about Trump's guilt. Bragg is simply trying to create a crime to prosecute Trump and keep a campaign promise.

https://www.vox.com/2019/3/6/18253467/trump-michael-cohen-checks-legal-stormy-daniels

Expand full comment