"If you thought it couldn't happen in America, you were wrong."

"Second, American patriots of all political stripes must come to terms with the current fallen state of the nation. The prosecution and incarceration of political opponents on trumped-up (no pun intended) charges is third-world, tinpot dictatorship, banana republic-type stuff—pure and simple." Josh Hammer

RealityBites by Broc Smith

Biden Smiles When Asked About Trump’s Guilty Verdict (legalinsurrection.com)

Joe Biden is asked a question about Donald Trump being a political prisoner by his government.
He grins for a few seconds before walking out of the room without saying anything. pic.twitter.com/00ttZKSMBZ

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 31, 2024

 Post-Trump Verdict, Will the American Right Finally Wake Up? | Opinion - Newsweek  "Like many others in the punditry space, I am a lawyer by background. I practiced law at a major global law firm. I clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. I have I have  published multiple pieces of formal legal scholarship on constitutional issues. I regularly lecture at law schools and present to professional lawyer groups across the country on assorted legal topics. I host two shows, one of which is explicitly legal-based—and with a focus, above all, on the unprecedented lawfare tactics sullying the 2024 presidential race. 

"In other words, I know a thing or two about the law. And I have been doing my part to sound the alarm on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's sham prosecution and eventual show trial of former President Donald Trump ever since the George Soros-backed lawman first dropped his ludicrous 34-count indictment over a year ago. There are far too many technical deficiencies in Bragg's "case," to say nothing of the grotesque manner in which the presiding judge comported himself at trial, to recapitulate here.

"But for present purposes, the key point is this: None of those details matter. None of them.

"The key points following Thursday's first-ever criminal "conviction" of a former U.S. president, rather, are three-fold.

"First, the Democrats' long march to get the nefarious Orange Man by any means necessary, beginning with the 2016 election cycle, has finally worked. There was the Russia collusion hoax—birthed by the failed Hillary Clinton campaign and laundered through Fusion GPS and the tony law firm Perkins Coie LLP. There was the illegitimate spying on Trump campaign hands like Carter Page. There were the Democrats' street hooligans, from the Women's March of 2017 through the Antifa-Black Lives Matter riots of 2020. There was the constant Deep State undermining of the presidential agenda. There were two bogus impeachments—for an entirely inconsequential phone call with the Ukrainian president, and for the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol jamboree that transpired mere days before Trump was set to leave town anyway. Most recently, there was the Aug. 2022 predawn FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago, and all the multistate lawfare that has followed.

"And now, here we are."

Israel Defender Senator John Fetterman Given Hero’s Welcome at Yeshiva University Commencement

 Sen. John Fetterman dramatically whips off Harvard hood at Yeshiva University commencement: ‘Profoundly disappointed’ (legalinsurrection.com)

"Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) gave the commencement address at Yeshiva University this week. Fetterman has been in the news frequently over the last several months for breaking with the progressive wing of his party and standing up as a vocal defender of Israel following the October 7th attacks.

"During the proceedings, Fetterman even defiantly removed his Harvard hood, a dramatic and symbolic gesture. Fetterman was given the school’s greatest award.

The Jewish Journal reports:

Yeshiva University Honors Senator John Fetterman With Its Highest Award

“I’m just a senator with a big mouth that happens to be committed to Israel,” said Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) at Yeshiva University’s 93rd annual commencement ceremony on Wednesday. Fetterman received the private Modern Orthodox Jewish University’s highest honor for global leadership, the Presidential Medallion.

“It is truly humbling to be invited to share in this milestone with the graduates of Yeshiva University,” said Fetterman. “As we gather to celebrate the achievements of the graduating class, we must also acknowledge the profound significance of their journey within the context of the recent surge in antisemitism across the country.”

Fetterman said he was surprised by the invitation to speak at the ceremony, especially after finding out that last year’s commencement speaker was the inventor of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. “I don’t belong in that company, I truly don’t,” Fetterman, 54, told the 1,700 graduates at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens." . . .">To a standing ovation, Senator John Fetterman removed his Harvard Crimson hood during commencement today in outrage over the rampant antisemitism here on campus. This is what true leadership looks like!

🎥 @safier pic.twitter.com/2nSG1liuja

— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) May 29, 2024

Don't Kid Yourself, They Are Antisemites – HotAir     "A Facebook group for Chicago therapists was asked whether anyone would be comfortable taking a Zionist client.   Those who volunteered to help the person were then added to a list of suspected Zionists run by a second group of "anti-racist" therapists." 

Unsurprisingly, some therapists answered that of course they would work with patients who believed the State of Israel has a right to exist, which, after all, is the real meaning of the question. "Are you a Zionist?" is almost exactly the same question as "Does Israel have a right to exist." They mean the same thing, only stated differently. 

Robert De Niro Goes Full Travis Bickle: The Biden Campaign’s Court Presser Turns into a Sad Spectacle

 JONATHAN TURLEY

. . ."De Niro has gone full Travis Bickle. However, now 80, it came across as De Niro screaming at the courthouse for Trump to get off his lawn.

"The diatribe is consistent with the messaging of Democrats, including President Biden, that “democracy is on the ballot” and that this may be our last election. De Niro was not satisfied with that alarmist message and decided to take it to an apocalyptic level in predicting a global meltdown.

"As I have previously written, it is a narrative that ignores our history and our values. To suggest that this may be our last democratic election is to suggest that both branches (and the population at large) would stand idly by as a president assumed tyrannical powers. That did not occur, even when this country was united by wars and national emergencies. With the nation now divided right down the middle, it is even less likely.

"That is why the “democracy is on the ballot” claims border on defamation against our Constitution. We have the most successful and stable democratic system in history. The success of that system is not measured by those who would riot or challenge our values. It is measured by how the system responds. Our system works because it was not only written for times of relative unity and calm, it also was written for times like these.

"What was particularly weird is that the Biden campaign succeeded in reinforcing the view of this case as lawfare, an effort to stop Trump at any cost." . . .

Travesty

 "The case violated virtually every aspect of the Sixth Amendment. The top New York court or the United States Supreme Court had better step in or this will not go well for America." Andrea Widburg 

Trump was tried by a jury not of his peers but of his political enemies, all Democrats

. . ."There were other problems, too, with this case -- Trump was tried by a jury not of his peers but of his political enemies, all Democrats, one a teachers union member, none sequestered, all voting against Trump on election day. Worse still, Trump was tried by a judge with profound conflicts of interest, his daughter a Democrat political operative, himself a Biden donor, giving an illegal donation for which he was only "cautioned" by the New York bar authorities instead of disqualified. Worse still is the oddity of his trying multiple Trump allies in the past, always handing out the maximum sentence he could get away with. That's too much coincidence." . . .

Felon? Trump is in good company - Monica Showalter  . . ."Trump also joins Lech Walesa of Poland for the 'felon' title. Walesa was arrested and jailed in Poland in 1981, shortly after dicator Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law on the entire country based on his protests for free trade unions. Dictators declare national emergencies based on "threats to democracy" and it doesn't take long for them to just round their political opponents up.

"Trump also joins Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, back when it was Czechoslovakia for the title of "felon." Havel had been banned, blacklisted and gagged for years for speaking and writing about the ruling communists' corruption of language, and finally, was imprisoned four times by the communist Soviet puppet regime for challenging the regime. Sound like anyone you know in the states? Certainly the dynamic of harassment and then imprisonment suggests a parallel." . . .

President Donald Trump’s sacrifices are like no other leader in the history of America - Rajan Laad   . . ."Now for Barack Obama. The Obamas entered the White House with $1.3 million. Upon leaving, they received lucrative book, oratory, movie, and podcast deals which caused their net worth to multiply by almost 24 times, to $70 million. Experts claim that if the Obamas proceed on this trajectory they will be worth $242.5 million when all is said and done.

"What do we infer?

"All former presidents have benefitted from their tenure in the White House.

"The benefits are not just financial but social, as they are welcomed in elite circles that probably would have never entertained them before their presidencies.. . .

. . ."There is only one president in recent times who lost financially and socially following his tenure at the White House—that man is Donald J. Trump.

"Before being sworn in his net worth was around $3 billion, due to his amazing success in real estate and as a brand. After leaving the White House, his worth dwindled to $2.3 billion. Trump’s net worth soared to $6.5 billion a few months back when his popular Truth Social became a publicly-traded company." . . .

Team Biden: a black mark on American justice

 

Team Biden Reacts to the Trump Verdict (townhall.com)  "Team Biden is reacting to the guilty verdict handed down to former President Donald Trump by a New York City jury Thursday afternoon after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed 34 felony charges, which were upgraded from misdemeanors with spent statutes of limitations, against him in April 2023. "

"First, the Biden campaign: 

In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.

Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today's verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president." . . .

A Manhattan Canned Hunt: The Trump Jury is Out But is the Case in the Bag? – JONATHAN TURLEY   . . ."Today the jury began its deliberations in the trial of former president Donald Trump. Before jurors left, however, Judge Juan Merchan framed their deliberations in a way that seemed less like a jury deliberation than a canned hunt.

"For many of us, the Trump trial has seemed otherworldly, a vaguely familiar proceeding where common elements of a trial seem to have been flipped.

"Even before the jury instructions, the trial was controversial for both liberal and conservative commentators. At the start of closing arguments, most honest observers were still wondering what the prosecutors were alleging as to the crime that Trump was allegedly concealing with the falsification of business records.

"Then came the closing arguments. Around the country, it is standard for the government to go first with a closing to allow the defense to respond. The government is then given the privilege of a rebuttal after the defense rests. In New York, the defense must go first, giving the government free rein over its closing with no risk of contradiction from the defense. With the exception of objections, any abusive or improper arguments are left to the judge to address." . . . 

Jonathan Turley Has a Lot to Say About the Trump Verdict (townhall.com)

. . ."Merchan did ask about the bail status, and the prosecution said there's no bail.

"Sentencing is scheduled for July 11, four days out from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump will be selected as the party's nominee. Nothing in the Constitution currently precludes Trump from running for president in November.

"Trump is expected to appeal immediately, though the appeals process typically takes years.

" 'This gonna go up on appeal," Turley predicted." . . .

Lock ’em up libs run the Democrat Party -

  - Washington Examiner

"Consider Biden’s choice of running mate: Kamala Harris. Harris’s political persona was as mostly as a ruthless prosecutor. “She is a dead-on prosecutor,” Harris’s political mentor Willie Brown wrote in her first months in the Senate, “and when she goes into that mode, watch out. She is out for blood.”

"Her failed 2020 presidential campaign, which was the audition for her vice president role, was explicitly about prosecuting “bad” guys.

"Then consider the Biden administration’s overzealous prosecution of pro-lifers, part of their outreach to their abortion-supporting base.

"Recall the Left’s bizarre infatuation with prosecutors Robert Mueller and Jack Smith.

"Also, consider the mania of liberal politicians calling for the jailing of Kyle Rittenhouse, who quite obviously acted in self-defense when he shot three different people who seemingly were trying to kill him.

Lock up Kyle Rittenhouse and throw away the key.

— Hakeem Jeffries (@hakeemjeffries) November 10, 2021

Biden Ends the U.S.-Israel Alliance at a Fortuitous Moment

 Biden Ends the U.S.-Israel Alliance at a Fortuitous Moment - CarolineGlick.com

"Delegations to the Egyptian-hosted hostage negotiations left Cairo on Thursday night after talks collapsed. A member of the U.S. delegation led by CIA director Willian Burns briefed reporters that the talks failed “due to Israel’s operations in Rafah.”

"Under normal circumstances—circumstances that would see the United States siding with Israel in its demands for the release of all hostages, as well as the eradication of Hamas’s forces and its regime of terror—such a statement could easily have been interpreted as supportive of Israel’s operation in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, where terrorist strongholds still function.

"Israel made an offer to Hamas that U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken praised as “incredibly generous.” Hamas rejected it completely, so Israel renewed its offensive entering Rafah. Nothing weakens Hamas’s negotiating position more than defeat. And now, having rejected the deal, Hamas can only expect a much worse offer from its perspective whenever talks are renewed.

"Unfortunately, that isn’t what the U.S. announcement meant at all. It meant that the Hamas and the U.S. positions are in complete alignment. This isn’t new information. The fact that the United States, like Hamas, views the hostages as a means to force Israel to capitulate to Hamas’s demands—including ending the war with Hamas victorious, leaving more than 100 held captive behind in Gaza and thousands of terrorists freed from Israeli prisons—became clear last Saturday.". . .

We are in uncharted territory now, friends. It's anybody's guess what will happen next.

 

"BREAKING NEWS: I’M A POLITICAL PRISONER!" — Trump's Donation Page Crashes as Supporters Flood Website Following Guilty Verdict in 'Sham Trial' on All 34 Counts | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

"The American political landscape has been rocked by what many are calling a travesty of justice. After a contentious trial, widely regarded as politically motivated, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all 34 counts against President Trump.

"Shortly after the verdict was announced, President Trump’s official website was updated with a bold and defiant message: “BREAKING NEWS: I’M A POLITICAL PRISONER!”

"According to the fundraising email:

I was just convicted in a RIGGED political Witch Hunt trial: I DID NOTHING WRONG!

They’ve raided my home, arrested me, took my mugshot, AND NOW THEY’VE JUST CONVICTED ME!

But with your support at this moment in history, WE WILL WIN BACK THE WHITE HOUSE AND MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Crooked Joe Biden needs to get the message – right here, right now – that his chances of a 2nd term END TODAY!

Will the Trump Verdict Have Much Effect on the 2024 Election? New Poll Says No.   . . ."A guilty verdict - which, as we see, is the case - 67 percent of registered voters say it will make no impact, while 17 percent say they will be less likely to vote for Trump; fifteen percent say they will be more likely to vote for him. This is a statistical wash; although we should note that this poll was taken before the verdict, when all this was hypothetical. At the moment, though, the only indicator we have is that this verdict won't have much effect.

"As for the impact of a not-guilty verdict - well, there's little point in discussing that now.

"There are a few likely outcomes of all this that we can predict right away, though:

"Joe Biden - or rather, his handlers - have the reason they need to pull out of any presidential debates now. Biden can swell up and pontificate that he's not going to debate a "convicted felon," and Democrats will line up to bark and clap like trained seals; this works to the Democrats' advantage, as any debate performance by the clearly-impaired president was bound to be a disaster.

"Donald Trump (and this is a guess, but I think it's a pretty good one) will suffer some see-sawing in the polls for a few days, but will continue slowly gaining ground, as he has been doing in recent weeks.

"If Donald Trump does win the election, which is perfectly possible as there is nothing in the Constitution prohibiting a convicted felon from running for or being elected president, the left will use this verdict as a reason to screech "Illegitimate President" for four years."

But in a Biden second term, there will be no guardrails. The administration’s decision to abandon Jerusalem and side with its enemies is a terrible development. But the fortuitous timing allows Israel and the American people to minimize the damage in the coming months, and, if Biden is denied a second term, over the next four years. 

 

Biden-Harris Campaign Issues Completely Disgusting Statement After Trump Conviction

 Jennifer Van Laar – RedState

The Biden-Harris campaign has released a statement after a jury returned its verdict in Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial. Given that Joe Biden's son is facing federal criminal charges in two jurisdictions and goes on trial next week, the statement itself is completely asinine and tone deaf.

It reads:

“In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.

“Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.

“The threat Trump poses to our democracy has never been greater. He is running an increasingly unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution, pledging to be a dictator ‘on day one’ and calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain and keep power. A second Trump term means chaos, ripping away Americans’ freedoms and fomenting political violence – and the American people will reject it this November.”

"A second Trump term means chaos? More chaos than we already have? We already know what a Trump presidency means and chaos is not what we experienced during the first three years of Trump's presidency. The only "chaos" from 2017 through early 2020 was due to sham impeachment hearings by the Democrats - sham hearings that were a fitting prelude to the institutionalized lawfare Trump's been subjected to since Democrats knew he was coming back as the GOP's 2024 nominee.

 "It really takes some stones for Joe Biden to say "Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain" given the indictment against Hunter Biden and everything the IRS whistleblowers testified to last year, when they said they were not allowed to pursue any leads that could eventually reveal evidence that Joe Biden committed a crime.

"President Biden was slated to deliver remarks from the White House after the verdict was released, but has postponed those remarks."

 Biden’s courthouse folly - Washington Examiner  "Whatever the jury decides in former President Donald Trump’s New York City felony bookkeeping trial, any pretense that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution was not entirely political died Tuesday when President Joe Biden’s campaign held an event on the courthouse steps.

“ 'First of all, let me say this,” Biden spokesman Michael Tyler shouted over Trump supporters taunting the Biden campaign. “First and foremost, we are not here today because of what is going on over there,” Tyler continued, motioning toward the courthouse. “We are here today because you all are here,” he said, motioning to the assembled press.

"But the only reason the press were there was the spectacle of the Trump trial, a trial Biden’s White House has more than happily supported with snide remarks about Trump’s required presence in the courtroom. Tyler then added to the absurdity of the spectacle by introducing a masked Robert De Niro, who claimed Trump “wants to destroy not only this city, but the country, and eventually, he could destroy the world.”

"The farce of Biden’s courthouse campaign press conference has been more than matched by Bragg’s preposterous arguments in the courtroom. Trump is charged with falsifying business records by causing his accountants to label payments to lawyer Michael Cohen as legal expenses rather than something else. The prosecution has not, however, given any guidance on what an accurate description of the payments would have been." . . .

"Whatever the jury decides in former President Donald Trump’s New York City felony bookkeeping trial, any pretense that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution was not entirely political died Tuesday when President Joe Biden’s campaign held an event on the courthouse steps.

“First of all, let me say this,” Biden spokesman Michael Tyler shouted over Trump supporters taunting the Biden campaign. “First and foremost, we are not here today because f what is going on over there,” Tyler continued, motioning toward the courthouse. “We are here today because you all are here,” he said, motioning to the assembled press.

"But the only reason the press were there was the spectacle of the Trump trial, a trial Biden’s White House has more than happily supported with snide remarks about Trump’s required presence in the courtroom. Tyler then added to the absurdity of the spectacle by introducing a masked Robert De Niro, who claimed Trump “wants to destroy not only this city, but the country, and eventually, he could destroy the world.”

"The farce of Biden’s courthouse campaign press conference has been more than matched by Bragg’s preposterous arguments in the courtroom. Trump is charged with falsifying business records by causing his accountants to label payments to lawyer Michael Cohen as legal expenses rather than something else. The prosecution has not, however, given any guidance on what an accurate description of the payments would have been." . . .

Pennsylvania Stands Up ‘Scranton Joe’: Biden’s Philadelphia Event Empty (breitbart.com)  "Few people were reportedly in attendance at a Joe Biden rally in Philadelphia on Wednesday, despite Pennsylvania being an important swing state for him to win.

"Photos showing vast spaces of emptiness at the Philadelphia rally began to circulate on Wednesday from New York Post reporter Steven Nelson.

“Photos from President Biden’s Philadelphia rally: the school’s gym is only about half full of supporters A good amount of space is empty and spacious press workspace takes up the rest,” Nelson noted on X.

Trump Trial Judge Could be Disbarred for his Actions. Here is the Case Against Him... (Video)

 The Gateway Pundit | by Grant Stinchfield

The Judge overseeing President Trump’s New York trial has broken numerous judicial standards that his behavior should lead to his disbarment. Judge Juan Merchan’s bias against President Trump is indisputable. Any “reasonable” person can spot it. We go through each of his missteps, mistakes, and deceitful decisions aimed at swaying the jury to convict.

"His behavior is so outside the bounds of standard judicial conduct that he is guilty of not just ethical violations, but he clearly has violated Donald Trump’s constitutional right to due process.

"That violation could lead the U.S. Supreme Court to step in. In this podcast, I lay out the exact New York Statutes that prove Judge Juan Merchan’s official misconduct." . . .

Joe Biden Visits Daughter-in-Law Hallie Ahead of Testimony at Hunter Biden’s Gun Trial

 

National Review (msn.com) "Less than two weeks before Hunter Biden is set to go to trial for felony gun charges, his father, President Joe Biden, paid a visit to one of the upcoming trial’s key witnesses.

"Last night, Joe Biden visited his daughter-in-law Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden and ex-girlfriend of Hunter Biden, according to the White House pool report. Beau Biden was deployed to Iraq and it is Memorial Day weekend.

The president does not appear to be distancing himself from his son as the criminal trial is set to get underway. Joe Biden’s visit to Hallie Biden follows a state dinner held by the White House last week with Hunter Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland on the guest list.

Garland is responsible for appointing special counsel David Weiss, who is leading the prosecution of Hunter Biden. The younger Biden’s attorneys have unsuccessfully sought to dismiss his gun charges based on arguments that Weiss is unlawfully appointed and selectively prosecuting Biden, even though Weiss’s boss is an appointee of Biden’s father.

Three of Hunter Biden’s exes, including ex-wife Kathleen Buhle and Hallie Biden, are expected to testify about Hunter’s drug addiction at his gun trial beginning next week, the New York Post reported based on the prosecution’s trial brief filed last week. The women are not named in the court filings, but they are identifiable based on data from Biden’s abandoned laptop, Biden’s memoir, public reports, and other available records.

Related video: 'Important part' is Joe Biden keeping 'distance': Pre-trial hearing on Hunter gun charges underway (MSNBC). . . Hunter Biden's Ex-Stripper Baby Mama to Publish Tell-All in August  

Popcorn: Hunter Biden's Ex-Stripper Baby Mama to Publish Tell-All in August – PJ Media  "The 2024 United States Presidential Election Circus continues to keep all three rings busy 24/7 with stuff to watch. The one certainty that we can count on is that we are not going to be bored between now and November. 

"One of the biggest assists that Joe Biden got from mainstream and social media in 2020 was the brutal effectiveness with which they swept the news of his boy Hunter's laptop under the rug. In fact, they insisted that it wasn't even real. If any of us in conservative media dared mention it, we were silenced and de-platformed. Even the New York Post got booted from social media for having the audacity to publish the very real news about it. 

"Whether it would have changed anything is impossible to know now, but the unmitigated sleaziness of Hunter Biden might have been off-putting to those soccer moms who flocked to his daddy in that election. 

"Even Joe Biden's Department of Justice head goon Merrick Garland couldn't keep Hunter away from a reckoning, although he did try. Victoria wrote the other day that the formerly fake laptop is so real that it's going to be evidence in his gun trial. 

"The judge in that trial ruled that many aspects of Hunter Biden's wilder days couldn't be discussed. Well, one of them is going to get some airtime later this summer. " .  . .