To me, 2024 seems like the best opportunity in a long time for an Independent to show up and become competitive in the popularity vote while both the parties have shown poor turnouts in the voters in comparison to the registered voters in each state of the primary. Strangely, a legitimate Independent has not shown up, and those that are legitimate competition of the RNC and DNC seem to be sitting back...waiting for Trump to become a convicted felon. In my recent travels, I have met more people who hate Trump than those who hate Biden but few talk about the Independents mainly because the Independents they think would be very successful has yet to enter the ring. Trump is more associated with evil whereas Biden is more associated with doing a poor job although he (more like the FED) has gotten Inflation to decline. Americans are still spending too much of their money while enjoying higher wages but their lifestyle is too expensive...it requires them to work multiple jobs although multiple job holders have been on the rise since 2013. Household debt is still rising but that's not new and a problem of over a decade. The economy is still improving after coming out of a Pandemic...it should continue to improve going into the November 2024 elections but it seems it is "less important" to Americans...it's just a feeling that economic growth is less important because too many other headline news seems much more important. I think it has something to do with the growing polarization in politics, dysfunctional Congress, increasing fighting/military attacks in the world, voters angry at both Republicans & Democrats and waiting for decisions by the Supreme Court. In some ways, it feels like America is inside the eye of a growing storm and we just do not know yet how much chaos it will be if Trump (a rapist / decided by civil courts) becomes a convicted felon for other criminal activities... I do not have confidence in America about being able to do the right thing when it comes to Trump no matter how much money my family & friends in the States are making...many are well paid (most money they've ever made) but have a feeling it's not enough. It's time for Haley to stop playing nice because if she continues to follow Trump like some dark figure in an alley...he will go after her family, and begin to cater again to White Supremacy for votes as a scare tactic (warning) to the rest of America. Only in America wrbtrader
Haley, Biden and any Independents needs to capitalize on these court rulings to remind voters about the "evil" that would lurk in the Oval Office if he's president again. ------- No immunity: Donald Trump can be tried on election interference charges, appeals court says WASHINGTON – A federal appeals panel ruled unanimously Tuesday that Donald Trump isn'timmune to charges he tried to overturn the 2020 election, in a decision that Trump is expected to appeal either to the full appeals court or to the Supreme Court. Trump's lawyers had argued that any act by a president − even ordering themurder of political opponents by U.S. Navy SEALS− cannot be prosecuted unless the president is first impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate. But a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote. "For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump... with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant," the panel ruled. "But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution." The case marked the first chance for a federal appeals court to gauge a former president's criminal immunity because Trump is the first one to be charged. Each side claims the Constitution and historical precedent are on their side. The case could eventually reach the Supreme Court, where Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith last month asked for a ruling. But the high court said the appeals court should weigh in first. The case was decided by a three-judge panel. Judge Karen Henderson was appointed by George H.W. Bush, and Michelle Childs and FlorencePan were each appointed by Joe Biden. Judges asked about a president ordering SEAL Team 6 to murder a political rival Trump's lawyer John Sauer had argued that a president is shielded from criminal charges for his actions while in office because otherwise political rivals could seek to punish him for contentious policy decisions. Sauer argued a president would have to be impeached and convicted in a Senate trial before he could be charged with killing a political rival, accepting bribes or committing treason. Judge Pan asked Sauer whether he was saying the president “could sell pardons, could sell military secrets, could order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival.” Sauer replied that a president would be swiftly impeached and convicted for murder. But he said otherwise the Supreme Court has held that a president’s official acts are never reviewable by the courts. “There is a political process that would have to occur under our Constitution," Sauer said. “If there’s no impeachment ever, and no conviction, then the official acts are immune. Period." A prosecutor, assistant special counsel James Pearce, voiced concern for the country’s future if presidents could kill rivals or sell national secrets and suffer no consequences without an impeachment and conviction. Trump, who attended the hearing, was impeached in the House of Representatives on charges he incited the insurrection Jan. 6, 2021, but he was acquitted in the Senate trial. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan scheduled Trump's trial for March 4, but preparations are on hold while the immunity question is resolved. Trump has sought to push this and three other criminal trials he faces until after the November election, as he campaigns again for the White House. What are the charges Trump is seeking to dismiss? Trump has pleaded not guilty to four federal charges − three for conspiracy and one for obstruction − for falsely claiming election fraud and trying to overturn the legitimate election results. Prosecutors contend the conspiracies culminated with the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. The riot temporarily prevented Congress from certifying Biden's victory, forced lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence to flee and injured more than 140 police officers. What is Trump's argument? Trump's lawyers argued that the Constitution and the country's founders believed the president should be shielded from criminal prosecution to protect the office from political antagonists. "No prosecutor, judge, or jury may sit in judgment over the President’s official acts," Sauer wrote in his filing. "A President’s official acts 'can never be examinable by the courts,'" he wrote, quoting one of the earliest Supreme Court decisions. The Senate’s acquittal of Trump at an impeachment trial charging him with inciting the insurrection at the Capitol prevented him from being tried again for the same events, Sauer argued. The Senate voted 57-43 to convict Trump, but a two-thirds majority was required for conviction. “A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function,” Trump said in an all-caps post on Truth Social on Jan. 18. “Even events that ‘cross the line’ must fall under total immunity, or it will be years of trauma trying to determine good from bad.” Alice Clapman, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, said Trump's legal argument for relying on a Senate conviction could allow lawmakers representing just 14% of the country's population to prevent a criminal prosecution. She called impeachment "totally different" from the criminal justice system. "It's essentially a political decision," she said of impeachment. "He's just trying to fit a square peg into a round hole." What have prosecutors argued? Smith's team argued that historical precedent, the principles of the separation of powers between branches of government and the Constitution all make clear that a former president can be charged criminally. Lawyers for the special counsel argued that Trump’s claim of immunity would prevent prosecution of a president who accepts a bribe in exchange for directing a lucrative government contract, a president who instructs the FBI to plant evidence on a political enemy, a president who orders the National Guard to murder his critics or a president who sells nuclear secrets to an adversary. “Under the defendant’s framework, the Nation would have no recourse to deter a President from inciting his supporters during a State of the Union address to kill opposing lawmakers – thereby hamstringing any impeachment proceeding – to ensure that he remains in office unlawfully,” assistant special counsel James Pearce wrote. Trump gets no immunity from federal election charges: Appeals court (usatoday.com) wrbtrader