The Progressive Populist Today Blog: 2023-10-22

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Editorial: Devil Goes Down in Georgia

And House Republicans still can’t get down to business without a speaker.

Donald Trump’s prospects of beating the rap for conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia took a major hit Oct. 20 when Trump-aligned attorney Kenneth Chesebro pleaded guilty to reduced charges brought by Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis. Chesebro agreed to testify in cases against 17 codefendants, including the disgraced former president.

Chesebro’s plea came a day after attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in a similar deal, and their pleas, as jury selection was beginning in their cases, suggest that the district attorney has a strong RICO case and neither lawyer was interested in going to prison for Trump. Powell’s involvement in Georgia was largely related to efforts to tamper with voting machines in Coffee County, Ga., while Chesebro, who was an attorney with the Trump campaign, was involved in all aspects of the false-electors scheme in Georgia and other states and, the indictment alleges, Chesebro was central to the “strategy for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.” Both Cheseboro and Powell have provided statements to prosecutors and agreed to support the cases against Trump and Rudy Giuliani for their efforts to overturn the election. An Atlanta bail bondsman with a minor role in the alleged conspiracy also has pleaded guilty.

In Chesebro’s case, Willis is dropping six of the seven charges against him, including the racketeering charge, which would have made prison time mandatory. He pleaded guilty to a single felony count of conspiring to file false documents in Georgia and prosecutors are recommending he be sentenced to five years probation, pay a $5,000 fine and write a letter of apology to Georgia voters. For that leniency, Willis — and likely federal prosecutor Jack Smith — get testimony of the lawyer who was in the rooms where the conspiracies happened. And Chesebro’s testimony might help to corroborate any testimony from Powell, who made numerous wild claims about voting machines and dead dictators, which might be used by defense attorneys to undermine her credibility.

As we went to press, another Trump lawyer, Jenna Ellis, accepted a plea deal, leaving John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani under pressure to make their own deals, if prosecutors still need them.

In D.C., it’s been a hard three weeks for MAGA Republicans. On Oct. 3, US Rep. Matt Gaetz, head of the GOP’s Chaos Caucus, brought up then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the offense of cooperating with Democrats to keep the federal government operating six weeks into the new fiscal year, against the wishes of the “Freedom Caucus” and their Lyin’ King Donald Trump, who apparently thinks a federal shutdown would slow down federal prosecutions against him. (It wouldn’t.)

If Gaetz was embarrassed that it took 208 Democrats along with his eight Chaossians to remove McCarthy from office, the Florida Republican didn’t show it. Nor, apparently, had it occurred to Gaetz that it would be more difficult to elect a successor to McCarthy, since it would require a majority of all House members present, and Dems would be casting their 212 votes for Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries to become speaker.

The top Republican candidates for speaker were Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who earned Trump’s endorsement after participating in efforts to overturn the 2020 election and leading efforts to obstruct official investigations of Trump’s alleged crimes.

Scalise, who once touted himself as “David Duke without the baggage,” got the Republican conference’s nomination as speaker Oct. 11 in a 113-99 vote over Jordan in a secret ballot. But by the next day, more than a dozen Republicans — mainly right-wing hardliners — declared they wouldn’t vote for Scalise. He could lose no more than four Republican votes, so he withdrew from the race.

Jordan saw his way cleared to become speaker, but, unlike Scalise, Jordan went ahead with the floor vote without 217 votes in his pocket. Jordan got 200 votes on the first ballot, Oct. 17, but Jeffries’ polled 212, while 20 Republicans voted for others. Jordan supporters started to put pressure on Republican opponents, including reported threats of violence against House members and their families. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said his wife slept with a loaded gun near her bed after harassing text message and phone calls, but the threats apparently hardened the opposition, as Jordan lost the next vote Oct. 18, with 199, while 22 Republicans voted for others. On Friday, Oct. 20, 25 Republicans voted for others. Following the third defeat, Jordan was willing to give it another try, but the Republican conference abruptly dropped Jordan as their nominee for House speaker and called for new candidates. It still was not encouraging for prospects in the House going forward that 199 Republicans sided with Jordan, even after the bullying and death threats on Jordan’s behalf were reported.

Democrats suggested they might support an effort to give the interim speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), more powers to at least bring the House back into session and conduct crucial business, but that proposal was rejected by Jordan’s right-wing allies and McHenry himself.

“We’re trying to figure out if there’s a way we can get back with a Republican-only solution,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “That’s what normal majorities do. What this majority has done is prove it’s not a normal majority.”

[Editor's Note: After this went to press, House Republicans nominated Rep. Tom Emmers of Minnesota, the House majority whip, as speaker, but two dozen House MAGA Republicans opposed Emmer's bid, leaving him short of the 217 votes necessary for election, so he withdrew after a few hours. Rep. Mike Johnson, an ally of Trump during his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, stepped forward with the support of the MAGA Republicans and consolidated support of other Republicans to win the gavel ... at least until he pisses off five or more Republican reps and somebody raises a motion to vacate.]

Finally, we think President Joe Biden did a commendable job in his response to the Hamas attack on southern Israel. An estimated 2,400 Hamas commandos crossed from Gaza into Israel, killed 1,400 civilians in Israel, including more than 260 at an outdoor music festival, and took more than 200 hostages back to Gaza while thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli towns and cities.

Biden assured Israelis that the US would continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself against a militia movement that aspires to wipe the Jewish state off the map, but he warned them not to give in to the demand for revenge and he reportedly has cautioned them about invading Gaza.

Biden cautioned Israel against getting bogged down in Gaza, as the US did in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“Justice must be done,” Biden said in Tel Aviv. “But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it … After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.”

Biden has received criticism from supporters of Palestinians for not demanding an immediate ceasefire. They claim the US will share the blame for genocide, but it’s hard to sell a ceasefire in Israel while Hamas and other Islamic allies continue to fire rockets from Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Yemen, into Israel.

Israel says it only targets terrorists, who are embedded within the civilian population, and Israeli forces make an effort to avoid civilian casualties. That’s not much of a promise, but the conflict suits Iran just fine, and their support for Hamas might rehabilitate Bibi Netanyahu, whose popularity declined after he sought to rein in Israeli courts and focused on protecting Jewish settlers in the West Bank. . — JMC