RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/07/16/the-lawfare-against-trump-is-falling-apart/

It has been a truly crazy few days in the American political news cycle. While nothing could quite top former president Donald J Trump dodging an actual bullet, which clipped the top of his ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, on Monday he dodged a huge legal bullet as well.

Florida judge Aileen Cannon dismissed perhaps the most serious federal charges that Trump faced – 40 felony counts for possession and destruction of classified documents. This included crimes under the Espionage Act and the ‘willful retention of national-defence information; conspiracy to obstruct justice; false statements and representations’. ‘Each of the more than 30 willful-retention counts carry a maximum 10-year sentence’, the Associated Press reported back in April.

Judge Cannon’s bombshell ruling was a rebuke to the Biden Justice Department and attorney general Merrick Garland. Her decision centred around funding and oversight of the Special Counsel, an office originally constituted by congressional act following Watergate.

‘Cannon chose to dismiss the federal case because Garland unlawfully appointed [special counsel Jack] Smith, whom the president did not nominate nor did the Senate confirm for his prosecutorial position. Moreover, Congress did not appropriate funds to Smith’s investigation as required under federal law’, the National Review explains. At the heart of the matter is who has the authority to investigate federal crimes. By law, they must be ‘officers of the United States’, and that designation can only be given two ways – by being ‘nominated by the president and then confirmed by the Senate’ or ‘appointed to a position that “shall be established by law”’ – which is to say, by congressional statute’, as Andy McCarthy notes. Smith was not appointed via either of these democratic procedures.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/07/unanswered_questions_about_the_trump_assassination_attempt.html

Donald J. Trump didn’t have to run for president in 2015, or in 2020, or in 2024. He had a magnificent life. Why subject himself to the barbs and arrows of a political class and their media allies well-versed in the politics of personal destruction?

Only one reason: because he loved his country to the extent he was willing to sacrifice his wealth, livelihood and even his life to serve it.

Donald Trump is the only president to have left the White House poorer than when he took office.

I believe God himself protected Donald Trump on Saturday. Just a few millimeters in either direction, and the many bullets his would-be assassin fired at him would have blown his brains out.

I believe that God sends His guardian angels to protect those He chooses. Don’t ask me why or how He chooses whom to protect. But in my own life, I know I have been saved in so many times of great peril by a higher force, certainly not by my own hand. I have recounted some of those “close calls” in my book, And the Rest is History. After a while, saying you have been lucky is just not enough.

God extended a hedge of protection around Donald Trump. He saved him from a would-be assassin’s bullets for a purpose – His purpose. And that purpose can only be to turn His people back to Him.

The morning after the assassination, a blogger I have never met sent me Isaiah 54:17, which reads: 

No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord.

It’s remarkable to watch leading Democrats preach to the nation about forgiveness and tolerance and coming together, when the hate-filled rhetoric they have employed non-stop since Donald Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower in July 2015 has engendered the very intolerance they now berate.

Just days before the assassination attempt, Joe Biden himself told donors, “we’re done talking about the debate. It’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/pro-palestinian-group-with-alleged-terror-ties-ordered-to-provide-donor-lists-to-virginia-ag/?utm_

A Virginia court ordered the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) organization to produce documents detailing organizational structure, employees, and donors, among other pieces of information, state attorney general Jason Miyares (R.) announced Tuesday.

Miyares and his office opened an investigation into AMP in October 2023. The attorney general hopes to determine whether AMP has solicited contributions without having registered with the necessary state agencies, as well as the veracity of allegations that AMP has offered support to terrorist organizations.

In the civil investigative demand Miyares issued to AMP in October, the attorney general’s office wrote that, based on its investigation, it has reason to believe the organization may have “knowingly used or permitted the use of funds raised by a solicitation of contributions to provide support to terrorists, terrorist organizations, terrorist activities, or family members of terrorists.”

AMP has received attention for its role in supporting the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) organization, which has established chapters on college campuses across the country. Those chapters, in turn, have been behind waves of anti-Israel, pro-terror protests in higher education and on American streets since October 7.

http://www.swtottd.blogspot.com

Identity politics have divided us into warring camps. While it is terrible to accept the fact that we live in a time of such hatred, we do. The attempted assassination of Mr. Trump was the most recent and most violent. The intention of those who promoted identity politics may have been well-intentioned, but the consequences have been disastrous. Where division is sown violence is reaped.

I write as a conservative. I believe in family, tradition, the rule of law, limited government, free markets, a balanced budget in time of peace, and the freedom to follow one’s dreams, so long as one does no harm to others. I believe that government has a responsibility to keep us safe, our borders secure, to educate youth, and to provide for those unable to care for themselves. As well, we live in a global world; we cannot hide in isolation. Mr. Trump has never been my preference, but he served as a good President – at least in my opinion – for four years, and he did so under circumstances that would have undone most politicians. Elected President in 2016, he was deemed illegitimate by mainstream media and by most Democrats. With the help of a weaponized justice department, he was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians, with investigations interrupting his Administration. Four years later the intelligence community deliberately ignored the fact of Hunter Biden’s laptop, accusing Mr. Trump of being a Putin puppet. While never tarred and feathered, he has been investigated, denigrated, penalized, impeached and indicted. And now some nut has tried to kill him. He has been called a liar, fraudster and a threat to democracy – by those who misuse instruments of democracy to destroy him. Hollywood and social media elites have called for his death. The hypocrisy has been breathtaking, especially by those who inflict division, but then claim it is their desire to unite the country. While most politicians go to Washington and see their wealth increase, Mr. Trump saw his net worth decline by over a billion dollars during his four years as President.

https://www.thefp.com/p/yuval-levin-assassination-attempt-america-choice

At first glance, Saturday’s terrifying assassination attempt on Donald Trump seems like an obvious extension of our depressing political drift. 

We have grown more divided in this century, we use more militant rhetoric, and political violence has escalated. In the last 15 years, there have been shootings of members of Congress of both parties, a foiled assassination attempt of a Supreme Court justice and his family, a mob storming the Capitol to disrupt the certification of a presidential election, and rising levels of threats against public officials of all sorts. A near assassination of a once and perhaps future president might seem like all too natural a next step. 

And yet, this moment feels like a sharp break. Maybe because it was by far the highest profile act of domestic political violence in this century, directed at the highest profile figure in our politics, in front of television cameras, that it struck even our cynical culture as a shock. It gave us a terrible glimpse into what it would feel like to live beyond the bounds of our constitutional republic.

We have tested those bounds pretty aggressively in the last few years. Our leading politicians have called each other fascists and enemies of the people, deployed or threatened to deploy the justice system against their opponents, declared that election results were illegitimate, and insisted that our society’s very existence would be imperiled if the other party were in power. Donald Trump himself has been the worst offender on this front, but his opponents and critics have frequently come close. Both sides have seemed incapable of criticizing one another’s violations of essential norms without engaging in their own. All of this has shown contempt for the character of our republic. 

But what Trump’s would-be assassin did on Saturday was different—and not only by degree. 

https://www.racket.news/p/the-surrender

The decision was announced at a White House briefing Monday morning. “In light of this weekend’s events, the president has directed me to work with the Secret Service to provide protection to Robert Kennedy Jr.,” was the quote from Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas.

It’s difficult to read the line “in light of this weekend’s events” and not see an admission on the part of the White House that Secret Service protection was previously being denied to Kennedy, Jr. for political reasons, or out of spite, if those are even two different things in this era. Whatever the original prerogative was for pushing the envelope with that denial, it seems to have been removed by series of paradigm-shattering news events, leading to a flurry of real and symbolic surrenders.

MSNBC likewise made an extraordinary decision Sunday night to pull Morning Joe, with CNN saying the network wanted to “to avoid a scenario in which one of the show’s stable of two dozen-plus guests might make an inappropriate comment on live television.” As with the Secret Service decision, MSNBC was making a major admission, essentially telling audiences its lead morning news show is either not really a news show, or that its format only holds up under something less than maximum scrutiny. I can’t recall a similar act of self-sabotage in media.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/america/2024/07/joe-biden-on-the-back-foot/

Within minutes of the attempt on Donald Trump’s life, Joe Biden’s handlers suspended all campaign advertising. They had no choice. As demonstrated in the weeks leading up to the shooting, the Democrats’ ads had assailed him as a threat to everything that is good and decent about America. Incendiary rhetoric, as the President intoned on Sunday night in his address to the nation, must be condemned.

Below, excerpts of that Oval Office (in italic) message and, below each, some links and background to what might well be the biggest example of hypocrisy since Captain Renault evinced shock at finding a roulette wheel in Rick’s gin joint.

My fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies.  We’re neighbors.  We’re friends, coworkers, citizens.  And, most importantly, we are fellow Americans.  And we must stand together. 

Translation: We must stand together, especially those amongst my fellow Democrats who have been calling on me to stand down. 

Yesterday’s shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania calls on all of us to take a step back, take stock of where we are, how we go forward from here. 

How indeed! The day before Thomas Matthew Crooks’ bullet took the tip off Donald Trump’s right ear, the man demanding “a step back” from fighting words variously described Trump as “a rapist”*, “a convicted criminal”, “a business fraud”, “a threat to this nation” who is “unhinged” and, inevitably, an enemy of “our democracy” who would force the public servants he doesn’t sack to pledge their loyalty to him personally.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-compromised-secret-service

It was a shot heard around the world. 

On Saturday, a gunman whom the FBI has identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a burst of rifle shots at former president Donald Trump, grazing his ear and nearly killing him. The attempted assassination is an historic, and perilous, moment. We’ll get commentaries and investigations, and the government will announce reforms.

But amid all the chaos weaves the thread of another story, one that reveals a mounting problem in our political life. A surprising number of the Secret Service agents protecting the former president were women. And, according to video recordings of the scene, many did not acquit themselves favorably.

Scene one: after President Trump ducks, a group of agents leaps to him and protects him with their bodies. A female agent who rushes to the stage acts bravely, without a doubt, but the point of the “huddle” is to protect the president. The agent was much shorter than President Trump, leaving his head and neck exposed after he stood up.

Scene two: as Trump enters the escape vehicle, a female Secret Service agent fumbles her gun and cannot find her holster; another female agent appears confused and, in the moment of crisis, decides to use both of her hands to put on her sunglasses; a third looks frightened and uncertain.

These agents wear the typical Secret Service outfits—Kevlar vests pressing against white shirts; black blazers with gold pins; dark sunglasses—but to an impartial observer, they do not appear to have the same poise, confidence, and strength as the male agents around them.

The obvious question: Why so many female agents? The answer, unfortunately, is the same as in many other institutions: DEI. The Secret Service has highlighted “diversity” as a key priority and its director, Kimberly Cheatle, named to the position in 2022, has pledged to increase dramatically the number of women in the ranks.

This is official policy. The Secret Service openly boasts that it “prioritizes recruiting women candidates” and has formulated an “affirmative action” plan to increase the number of women, LGBT, Native Americans, and other identity groups.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/political-rhetoric-and-the-trump-assassination-attempt

By December 2023, the Biden campaign’s frequent equation of Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler had caught the attention even of some in the mainstream media. “In most situations, comparing a political opponent to Adolf Hitler might seem like an extraordinary step,” wrote Politico. “For Joe Biden’s campaign, it has become part of the routine of running against Donald Trump.” CNN predicted that the Trump-is-Hitler “attack line” would likely be “central” to the president’s efforts to win reelection. Other outlets contributed their own Trump-Hitler comparisons. The New Republic’s June 2024 issue, a special report on “American Fascism,” showed a blended image of Trump and the Führer on its cover.

It was not even necessary to make an explicit Hitler comparison; the similarities were too obvious. Robert Kagan told the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart that Trump was a “natural dictator.” If you “give him unchecked power in the United States, I think any sensible person would find that a frightening proposition.” Americans are whistling past the graveyard, Kagan warned. All checks on presidential power will be impotent against Trump’s attacks on the Founder’s constitutional order, he declared.

“Existential threats” can seem to demand a different set of rules from those governing ordinary political life. Had the July 20, 1944, assassination plot against Hitler been successful, the plotters would have been greeted across the world as heroes.

Thomas Matthew Crooks, who missed blowing out Donald Trump’s brain by a few inches and who murdered a Trump supporter instead, may have thought of himself as just such a hero-in-waiting.

So now we gaze into the abyss. Every act of political violence opens up the prospect of the collapse of civil order. When political disagreement becomes lethal and political leaders risk their lives to run for or occupy political office, we trade the civil peace bequeathed to us by centuries of Western civilization for Third World anarchy.