Timeline

Unfit for ANY Office
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

Unfit for ANY Office

The House Jan. 6 Committee has made history by referring a former president for criminal prosecution.

Two years to the day of the "will be wild" tweet, the Jan. 6 Committee not only released a summary report compiling damning evidence of Trump's involvement with the infamous Capitol attack, but significantly escalated the 18-month investigation by referring Trump and several of his inner circle (including Giuliani, Meadows, and Eastman) for criminal prosecution.

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Trump's No Good, Very Bad Day
Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein

Trump's No Good, Very Bad Day

Trump lost in court, is facing new criminal referrals, and suffered an embarrassing political defeat all in one day.

Tuesday was an especially bad day for Donald Trump. A New York jury convicted Trump owned organizations of 17 counts related to tax evasion and fraud. Chairman Thompson announced that the January 6 Committee will make criminal referrals for the attack on the Capitol and attempted coup. Trump's handpicked candidate, Herschel Walker lost to Georgia Senator Warnock, giving Democrats a 51 seat majority in the Senate.

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McConnell and McCarthy: McCowards
Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein

McConnell and McCarthy: McCowards

The GOP leadership is silent as Trump calls for the "termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

MAGA Republicans love Trump for his unapologetic embrace of white supremacy, bigotry, antisemitism, and crazy conspiracy theories. Unfortunately for Republicans, Trump is toxic with everyone else. The Republican Catch 22 is that they can't win elections with Trump, but they also can't win elections without MAGA Republicans still loyal to Trump.

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January 6th Was Seditious Conspiracy
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

January 6th Was Seditious Conspiracy

The Oath Keepers’ convictions for seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding is a blow to Trump and GOP efforts to whitewash the January 6th Insurrection.

In a landmark decision, a federal jury has convicted Trump loyalists for participating in a violent conspiracy to block the transfer of presidential power. The Oath Keepers wanted Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act to mobilize the military and private militia. In another legal defeat for Trump, an appeals court ended the special master appointed to review thousands of government documents seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.

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Trump's Dinner for Schmucks
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

Trump's Dinner for Schmucks

Wikipedia defines a schmuck as “stupid or foolish, or an obnoxious, contemptible, or detestable person.”

Thanksgiving week Trump broke bread with an antisemitic Holocaust denier at his Mar-a-Lago home and told Ye, "I really like this guy. He gets me." With his own daughter and Jewish son-in-law declaring they want nothing to do with his re-election, Trump is counting on rightwing hate groups, white Christian nationalists, and conspiracy theorists to win the GOP primaries.

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GOP Hate Politics Inspires Killing Sprees
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

GOP Hate Politics Inspires Killing Sprees

The past six years have seen a bombardment of anti-LGBT hate from Republican extremists. This type of rhetoric has lethal consequences.

GOP leadership has not been shy about condemning the queer community. In fact, this year alone has seen more than 340 anti-LGBT bills filed. Naturally, right-wing extremists are listening, mobilizing, and taking deadly direct action around this cause.

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DOJ Appoints Special Counsel
Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein

DOJ Appoints Special Counsel

Due to "extraordinary circumstances," the Trump investigations have been turned over to a special counsel with experience in prosecuting political corruption.

Jack Smith's appointment as special counsel is a sign that Trump may soon be facing criminal indictments for the January 6 Insurrection, obstruction of justice, and for stealing sensitive government documents. Attorney General Garland said that, "Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead.”

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Florida Man Makes Announcement
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

Florida Man Makes Announcement

The twice impeached former President who attempted an armed insurrection announces he is running for president.

Donald Trump is running for president in a desperate attempt to claim political persecution for his multiple legal problems and to stay relevant after his hand picked MAGA candidates failed in the midterm elections. Although the GOP leadership is ready to move on, Trump is still popular with the Republican base and is favored to win the GOP nomination.

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The Biggest Loser
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

The Biggest Loser

Republicans are calling the 2022 elections a disaster and are blaming Trump for a historic midterm election defeat.

Trump has an iron grip on the GOP base, but his brand of anti-democratic, grievance politics is alienating voters. Many of the extremists pushed by Trump in the primaries failed to win swing districts as women and young voters turnout for Democrats. The modest GOP gains in the House are mostly a result of Gerrymandered districts and control of the Senate may come down to yet another runoff election in Georgia.

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The GOP Culture War Targets Schools
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

The GOP Culture War Targets Schools

Rightwing extremists groups like the 1776 Project PAC are spending millions to target local school boards across the country.

After the Black Lives Matter protests, Trump mobilized his supporters to target school boards for teaching Critical Race Theory. Now there is dramatic growth of rightwing groups spending dark Super PAC money with disinformation and hyper-partisan campaigns running on banning books, demonizing LGBTQ+ students and teachers, anti-vax COVID conspiracies, and whitewashing American history.

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Where's Nancy?
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

Where's Nancy?

The break into Speaker Pelosi's home was inspired by white nationalism and right-wing conspiracy theories promoted by Trump and GOP political leaders.

Threats of political violence have increased tenfold in the five years since Trump’s election. Recently, U.S. law enforcement agencies are warning about the increased threat of domestic terrorism leading up to the midterm elections. It is no surprise that Pelosi's attacker was motivated by the same lies of election fraud and conspiracy theories that inspired the January 6 insurrectionists to target the House Speaker with chants of "Where is Nancy."

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Death Con 3 On Jewish People
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

Death Con 3 On Jewish People

Trump's GOP is repeating antisemitic tropes as a midterm election strategy to boost turnout from Christian nationalists and white supremacists.

Republicans have embraced rightwing extremists who increasingly use social media to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories. Kanye's threat of going "Death Con 3 on Jewish People." is part of a much larger wave of antisemitism that has a majority of American Jews fearing violence.

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Conspiracy to Defraud the United States
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

A federal judge stated that Trump's emails are evidence of a crime, and that Trump led a “knowing misrepresentation of voter fraud numbers in Georgia when seeking to overturn the election results in federal court.”

District Court Judge Carter ordered the public release of incriminating emails that show Trump knowingly lied about voter fraud in legal court filings. “President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public,” Carter wrote. “The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States.”

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Armed and Ready, Mr. President
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

Armed and Ready, Mr. President

The January 6 Committee votes unanimously to subpoena Trump for leading a violent insurrection to stay in power.

The violence on January 6th was an essential part of Trump's plan to stay in power. Trump's inner circle worked with white supremacist and militia groups to attack the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said, “We have left no doubt – none – that Donald Trump led an effort to upend American democracy that directly resulted in the violence of January 6.”

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Upon the Edge of a Knife
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

Upon the Edge of a Knife

Trump's GOP has fully embraced a right wing, anti-democrat movement that threatens to seize power and reshape America.

With election deniers potentially taking over Congress and the Supreme Court poised to overturn millions of Americans' voting rights, this election is upon the edge of a knife. At the same time, far-right extremists are agitating for violence and another civil war.

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The Eye of the MAGA Storm
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

The Eye of the MAGA Storm

Florida Governor DeSantis is at the center of a right wing culture war that cruelly targets immigrants, transgender and gay children, and black voters.

There is a growing competition within the GOP leadership to win over the MAGA base by being anti-woke. Florida Governor DeSantis is leading the pack with cruel political stunts that includes arresting black voters, criminalizing gay and transgender students, and using government funds to fly legal migrants to Martha's Vineyard with false promisses of jobs and housing.

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The Art of the Steal
Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein

The Art of the Steal

Two separate civil court cases have Trump in hot water for failing to provide evidence that Trump did not illegally take classified government documents and for stealing $250 million in a 10 year scheme to defraud investors and tax officials.

Judge Raymond Dearie called out Trump's legal team for failing to provide any evidence that Trump declassified top secret documents seized from his home saying, "My view is you can't have your cake and eat it too." Also in the news, New York State Attorney General Letitia James is suing Trump for defrauding lenders, insurance brokers and tax authorities saying that Trump, "violated a host of state criminal laws" and characterized lying about his net worth as, "the art of the steal.”

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Q Is for Crazy
The Culture War Michael Bornstein The Culture War Michael Bornstein

Q Is for Crazy

Trump's embrace of the QAnon conspiracy cult is encouraging violent extremists who preach domestic terrorism and political murder to restore Trump to power.

Donald Trump is losing support from Republicans and under the threat of multiple criminal investigations. Like a cornered animal or mob boss, Trump is threatening violence if he is prosecuted. Now his campaign is openly supporting QAnon conspiracies and symbols to build an army of violent extremists. The QAnon salute seen at Trump's rallies is being compared to the Sieg Heil salute used by Nazis.

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Phones Don't Lie - Republicans Do.
Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein Abuse of Power Michael Bornstein

Phones Don't Lie - Republicans Do.

The thousands of phone records, text messages and emails seized by federal and state investigations has Trump World nervous about criminal prosecution.

Cell phones from Trump's inner circle may provide the hard evidence needed to prosecute Trump. Federal investigators have seized at least 9 cell phones from Trump's inner circle including election denier Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy. The January 6 Committee is expanding their investigation, with thousands of recently recovered Secret Service text messages and communications from the January 6 Insurrection.

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DOJ Expands Trump Investigation
Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein Attack on Democracy Michael Bornstein

DOJ Expands Trump Investigation

The Department of Justice issued 40 subpoenas and seized phones of Trump's former staff in a growing investigation of the January 6 Insurrection.

Trump's legal problems keeping getting worse. Recent actions by the DOJ show a larger than expected criminal investigation of Trump's failed coup to overturn the 2020 election. The National Archives is unsure if Trump is still withholding national documents. And now the Senate Judiciary Committee has launched a probe into reports that Trump pressured federal prosecutors investigate his political opponents.

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