Would love to convince us that our democracy doesn’t work

Walter Einenkel of Daily Kos reported that the latest stunts in the House Oversight Committee to slander and attempt to impeach Biden went so poorly that many people are declaring the impeachment effort to be dead. Though reading through this post I should clarify that Democrats on the committee declared it dead. I suppose their cause is helped by Sean Hannity on Fox News not bothering to report on the latest effort.

Rep. Eric Swalwell used his time to pronounce the sham inquiry “Dunzo. Bye bye. Rigor mortis. Lights out. Curtain drop. Mic drop. Peace. Adios. Sayonara. Au revoir. Or a language that you all understand, ‘Do svidaniya.’”

Will Republicans continue to flog the corpse? The nasty guy has until Monday to post bond for the nearly half billion judgment against him and I wrote he appears to not have the money. Hunter of Kos listed the ways that deadline might be met. An appeals court could step in because in the current American legal system “courts generally despise the thought of handing out big penalties to wealthy financial crooks.” Instead of one $464 million bond he could try for several $100 million bonds. But with the nasty guy’s reputation for inflating the value of his assets who will accept his real estate as collateral? He could sell property, but buyers don’t have time to verify the quality of the goods. A foreign power might offer a “loan” – in the manner of the Saudis giving the Pandemic Prince and Princess $2 billion. (Hmm. This fine is only a quarter of what was given them. Maybe daughter would bail him out?) Such a “loan” would be called if the nasty guy returned to the Oval Office, though payment probably won’t be in cash. He could declare bankruptcy, but that would severely tarnish his image as candidate for president and that is much more valuable to him. Or he could do nothing now. Then when assets are seized he campaigns on how unfairly he’s been treated. He might be surprised, if he wins, how hard it will be to get some of those assets back. Bob in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos quoted late night commentary:

“Donald Trump is having some money problems. He’s having trouble coming up with a $464 million bond to cover the judgment against him in New York. Trump has until Monday to get the bond, and if he doesn’t, the attorney general may start seizing his assets. They could even seize his plane. I vote for that. I can think of nothing more delightful. Can you imagine the sight of Donald Trump standing in line for a Southwest flight in boarding group C? … But of course the real loser here is Melania. She may end up with half of the nothing he owns now. I hope she got an advance on that prenup, because if you think she hates him now, wait until he’s poor." —Jimmy Kimmel "[My student debt relief program] doesn’t apply to everyone. Just yesterday, a defeated-looking man came up and said, 'I’m being crushed by debt. I’m completely wiped out.' I said, ‘Sorry, Donald, I can’t help out.' ” —President Biden, at the Gridiron Dinner

Remember the 2016 campaign when the nasty guy seemed to surround himself with people who turned out to be criminals? At the top of the list were Paul Manafort, Corey Lewandowski, and Roger Stone. Hunter reports they’re back.

It's going to be a clown show, yes, but it's also going to be incredibly dangerous for the country. Trump has thrown his lot in with theocratic fascists, with seditionists, and most of all with those willing to bend laws as much as is necessary to cement far-right rule.

Aldous Pennyfarthing of the Kos community reported a case of another Republican who switched a very principled position to bend a knee to the nasty guy. Then Pennyfarthing contrasted that with a few Republicans who haven’t bent their knee and ends with Liz Cheney talking to Stephen Colbert. Here’s a bit of that.

The way to think about it is, America’s adversaries would love nothing more than to convince us that our democracy doesn’t work, and right now you have Donald Trump and the Republicans who support him doing the work of our adversaries. And it is a really dangerous thing we’re seeing, and it’s especially dangerous because the president of the United States is responsible for enforcing the laws. He’s responsible for ensuring the laws are faithfully executed.

Kaili Joy Gray of Kos reported the nasty guy asked the quadrennial campaign question, “Are you better off than four years ago?” Biden tweeted a response: “Donald, I’m glad you asked.” He included a video of how bad and deadly the pandemic was in March of 2020. Joan McCarter of Kos reported that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a “motion to vacate the chair.” Yeah, that was the same motion that led to the ouster of Kevin McCarthy only six months ago. Greene filed it because she and the Freedom Caucus were upset with the budget bills the House approved with a lot of Democrat support to prevent a government shutdown this weekend (if the Senate can act in time). Though Greene filed it, she didn’t activate it. That means the House didn’t have to vote on it immediately (which is good because after the budget vote they started a two week break for Passover and Easter). This time the gang that ousted McCarthy don’t seem to be so interested in ousting Johnson. Democrats may even consider protecting Johnson – for a price, like moving the aid to Ukraine bill. Though that might convince more Republicans that an ouster is needed. Charles Jay of the Kos community reported Sen. Elizabeth Warren reintroduced the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which would be a 2 cent tax on every dollar of net worth over $50 million and a 3 cent tax on every dollar of net worth over $1 billion. And if one tries to flee to a tax haven there is a 40% exit tax. Yeah, Senate Republicans will filibuster it. And the House would kill it. But introducing it now isn’t just for this year. It is now a campaign issue. Jay adds a few statistics to back up why voters would see it as important.

According to University of California-Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, the richest top 0.1% have seen their share of American wealth triple from 7% to 20% between the late 1970s and 2019, while the bottom 90% have seen their share drop from about 35% to 25%. ... ProPublica found that the 25 richest Americans paid a true federal tax rate of only 3.4%, while the median American household earned about $70,000 annually and paid 14% in federal taxes. And Amazon’s Bezos? He had a true tax rate of only 1%.

Last week United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain testified before the Senate and Einenkel posted a bit of video and transcript. Fain noted people in the Senate will say working class people are lazy. He said there is an epidemic of lazy people, who freeload off the labor of others, but they’re not the working class.

It's a group of people who are never talked about for how little they actually work and produce, and how little they contribute to humanity. The people I'm talking about are the Wall Street freeloaders, the masters of passive income. Those who profit off the labor of others have all the time in the world, while those who make this country run, the people who build the products and contribute to labor have less and less time for themselves, for their families, and for their lives.