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This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.

The final hearing of the House January 6 Committee made clear that a duly elected and sworn president of the United States tried to overthrow the constitutional order. When are we going to act on that knowledge?

But first, here are three new stories from The Atlantic.

There are days when the presidency of Donald Trump seems like just another natural disaster that we can allow to recede into history after we count its victims and repair the damage. But earthquakes and volcanoes do not have will and cannot choose to return and destroy again. Trump, however, is like a hurricane pacing just offshore, waiting and plotting to flatten and flood our political system, perhaps for good.

And the hell of it is, we Americans know hes there. We know what hes done and what he can do (again). Yet millions of us would gladly welcome his landfall again. Millions more of us have thrown up our hands in exasperation as Trump and most of his regiment of Renfields have, for now, managed to escape any consequences for their actions.

Yesterday, in what was likely the final hearing of the January 6 committee, the nation was told, once more and without ambiguity, that Donald Trump, the commander in chief, actively sought to subvert our democratic order. My Atlantic colleague David Frum summed up the committees findingsand the nations reactionin one tweet: Decisive [and] irrefutable documentary evidence that the 45th president of the United States tried to overthrow the US Constitution by violence, no big deal, just another news day.

For years, I have been wondering when Americans would draw the line on Trump and his minions. We could rehearse the litany of Trumps awfulness: his vulgarity, his racism, his callous disregard for veterans, his pathetic submissiveness around Vladimir Putin. We could remind ourselves of the attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government that got him impeached (the first time).

None of it seems to matter, because for a large swath of the American public, nothing really matters. And here, I do not mean only the MAGA Republicans, loyalists who are already a lost cause. (Trump was tragically prescient when he said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they would not abandon him.) Nor do I mean the people who have attached their parasitical careers to their Trumpian host.

No, I mean the ordinary Americans who shrug at a violent insurrection and the near-miss of a coup. As the historian Michael Beschloss said on MSNBC last night after the hearing, Trump probably wanted to declare martial law. He also pointed out that the insurrection was a close-run thing, noting that if Trump and those rioters had been a little bit faster, we might be living in a country of unbelievable darkness and cruelty.

But who cares? After all, inflation is too high, and gas is still too expensive, and thats a bigger problem than the overthrow of the government, isnt it?

The worst of the worst, however, are the people in public life who know better but who refuse to condemn the candidates flying Trumps banner. Ohio Senator Rob Portman, for example, supports J. D. Vance, a former Trump critic who now slathers himself in the stink of Trumpism like a teenage kid with his first bottle of cheap body spray. Portman is retiring and had nothing to losewell, nothing except his long-standing reputation as a decent manbut he declared his support anyway. Apparently, with a Senate seat in play, Portman thought it gauche to be too judgmental about Vance emulating Trump, the president who put his own vice president in mortal danger.

In a country that still had a functional moral compass, citizens would watch the January 6 hearings, band together regardless of party or region, and refuse to vote for anyone remotely associated with Donald Trump, whom the committee has proved, I think, to be an enemy of the Constitution of the United States. His party, as an institution, supports him virtually unconditionally, and several GOP candidates around the country have already vowed to join Trump in his continuing attack on our democracy. To vote for any of these people is to vote against our constitutional order.

Its that simple.

Many GOP supporters, particularly in the conservative-media ecosystem, would reject all of this as guilt by associationas if somehow, a candidate who embraces Trump may be excused for supporting lawlessness and sedition. This is how, for example, The Wall Street Journal justified endorsing Kari Lake in Arizona. Lake is one of the most extreme election deniers and Trump sycophants in the GOP, but the Journal thinks shed be great on the issue of school choice, as though the funding of education would be the big issue if Lake conspires with other Trump cultists across the United States to deliver the final blow to the notion of the peaceful and constitutional transfer of power.

In the confusion of the moment back in January 2021, it was easier to believe that perhaps the mob was spontaneous, that elected Republicans were sincere in reviling Trump for his part in creating it, and that the GOP might come to its senses, at least where Trump is concerned. Today, thanks to the January 6 committee and the evidence it has amassed, we know better. To vote for anyone still loyal to a party led by the narcissistic sociopath who put our elected officials and our political system itself in peril is to abandon any pretense of caring whether the United States remains a constitutional democracy. The question is whether enough of us will care, in little more than three weeks from now, to make a difference.

Related:

Pregnancy Is a War; Birth Is a Cease-Fire

By Katherine J. Wu

Evolutionarily speaking, every human is a bit of a preemie. The nine months most babies spend in the womb are enough for them to be born with open eyes, functional ears, and a few useful reflexesbut not the ability to stand, sprint, climb, or grasp onto their parents limbs. Compared with other primates, our offspring are wobbly and inept; theyd probably get their butts kicked by infant lemurs, gorillas, and even tiny tarsiers, which all come out more fully formed. Think of it this way: Researchers have estimated that, for a newborn human to be birthed with a brain as well developed as that of a newborn chimp, they would have to gestate for at least an extra seven monthsat which point they might run 27 inches from head to toe, and weigh a good 17 or 18 pounds, more than the heftiest bowling ball on the rack.

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I still get a Sunday paper. I know I can read it in bits and pieces on the internet, but theres something about Sundays that just makes me want to spread newsprint all over the place. Maybe its nostalgia; as a child, of course, I snatched up the funnies, and I am one of the cranky older people who today laments the shrinkage in size and length of the comics (which I still read first even now). In college and graduate school, the Sunday paper came along to brunch, for a group of friends to share and discuss.

But I also come back to my phone or desktop for some weekend reads, and you should too, starting this Sunday, October 16, when we launch The Atlantics new culture-focused weekend edition of the Daily. Every Sunday, our writers will provide answers to interesting questions about many areas of culture. This week, the debut installment includes recommendations on what to read, watch, and listen to from the Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert, a 2022 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. In response to What was the last thing that made you snort with laughter?, she answers, This is going to make me seem unbearably basic, but I believe it was a facial expression Kelly Bishop made on Gilmore Girls when Lorelai did something irritating.

Tom

Isabel Fattal contributed to this newsletter.

See the original post:
Donald Trump Tried to Destroy the Constitution - The Atlantic

January 6th was one of the most dramatic and consequential moments in our nations history, proclaimed Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) as portrayed tonight on Saturday Night Live again by Kenan Thompson. So, to fight back, we assembled a team of monotone nerds to do a PowerPoint, the longtime cast member added as fellow SNLers played Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and soon-to-be departing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), the latter in the form of Heidi Gardner.

Yep, with double duty by Megan Thee Stallion as host and musical guest, the third episode of SNLs 48th season kicked off with the January 6th Select Committees unanimous October 13 vote to subpoena Donald Trump. Of course, even with the wide spectrum of opinions about the effectiveness of the congressional panels multiple primetime and otherwise televised hearings over the past few months to make the case and tighten the legal vice on one-time SNL host Trump, SNL couldnt resist undercutting its own caricature with the promise of a little treat, as held up by Thompson played by another Thompson.

Aww, cmon, cant I have one cupcake now, whined Illinois GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger, brought to life here by Andrew Dismukes. A big Dick Cheney energy joke from Gardner as the ex-VPs daughter echoing a real-life recent comment from Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake on Trump held some promise for the skit. Unfortunately, not every indication of hope is a prayer answered, if you know what I mean?

Circling around the explosive video from that terrible day in early 2021 that was unveiled at this weeks final January 6th Committee hearing until next months midterms, a Door Dash jab at now Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (Sarah Sherman) of New York and Californias finest House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Chloe Fineman) missed the mark in trying to thread the comedy needle. The fact is the work of the Select Committee to investigation the violent MAGA insurrection of last year and literally save American democracy has become even more vital in recent weeks, making ripping at the shortcomings of its execution simply just too soon as you can see above.

You know the votes dont matter, raged Trump (James Austin Johnson) while seated in the bathroom of the White House. Ive always said that the votes dont matter at all, SNLs Trump went on, name-dropping Rockys Apollo Creed as if the character was a real person and pal, Obamacare, and his own VP Mike Dead Yet Pence. Because what even is the vote? Its just a piece of paper you fold up.

A week after Herschel Walkers haywire personal life and Georgia Senate seat bid was mocked as part of SNLs last cold open, and a day after the fake-badge-flashing candidates bizarre real-life debate with incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock rendered satire almost DOA, SNL tonight seemed lost in the current events it traditionally puts under the knife in its cold open.

We tried, it was a fun country while it lasted, lamented Kenan Thompsons Thompson with little humor on the empty gesture of the subpoena vote. A vote that Trump in reality and on SNL has no intention of complying with as he moves towards a 2024 POTUS bid.

D.C. politics aside, today was the third appearance by Megan Thee Stallion on the long-running NBC late-nighter, but the chart toppers debut as host. All of which lands her now in the somewhat elite club of 40 performers who have held both the frontperson and musical guest roles on SNL simultaneously. Of that rarified group of nearly four dozen spanning the past nearly five decades, JLo, Justin Timberlake, Drake, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Garth Brooks and Paul Simon have all served as host and musical guests at least twice, with the Mrs. Robinson songwriter holding the top spot as a four-time participant. Heres some more math: Simon has been the musical guest on SNL eight times including as the opener in the shows first post-9/11 episode, and made six cameos over the decades, one of which was pre-recorded.

It was announced tonight that Jack Harrow would take on the host and musical guest double gig on the October 29th airing of SNL.

View post:
SNL Scorns Donald Trump Subpoena Vote At This Weeks January 6 Committee Hearing In Tired Cold Open - Deadline

Motion for Preliminary Injunction Seeks to Stop Ongoing Fraud, Prevent Trump fromMoving Assets to Evade Liability, and Appoint a Monitor to Oversee Financial Disclosures

NEW YORK New York Attorney General Letitia James took action today to stop Donald Trump and the Trump Organization from continuing to engage in the significant fraudulent and illegal business activity outlined in Attorney General James September 2022 lawsuit pending trial. In a motion for a preliminary injunction filed today, Attorney General James is seeking several measures to stop Mr. Trump and the Trump Organizations ongoing fraudulent scheme and ensure funds are available to satisfy any disgorgement award, including prohibiting the Trump Organization from transferring any material assets to another entity without court approval, requiring that any new financial disclosures to banks and insurers contain all supporting and relevant material, and asking for the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee compliance with these measures. Attorney General James is also seeking the courts permission to serve Mr. Trump and Eric Trump electronically, as both defendants and their counsels have refused to accept service of the complaints for almost a month.

Our investigation uncovered the fact that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization engaged in significant fraud to inflate his personal net worth by billions of dollars to illegally enrich himself and cheat the system, said Attorney General James. Since we filed this sweeping lawsuit last month, Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have continued those same fraudulent practices and taken measures to evade responsibility. Today, we are seeking an immediate stop to these actions because Mr. Trump should not get to play by different rules.

Since Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization became aware of the Office of the Attorney General's (OAG) investigation, they have continued to use many practices they knew to be improper or fraudulent, including on Mr. Trumps 2021 Statement of Financial Condition.

Beyond the continuation of that fraud, the Trump Organization appears to be taking steps to restructure its business to evade the reaches of OAGs lawsuit. On September 21, 2022, the same day OAG filed its lawsuit, the Trump Organization registered a new entity with the New York Secretary of State: Trump Organization II LLC. That entity is a foreign corporation that was incorporated in Delaware. The Trump Organization has since refused to provide any assurance that it will not seek to move assets out of New York to evade legal accountability.

Specifically, OAG is seeking an order that would prohibit the Trump Organization from submitting a statement of financial condition or other asset disclosure for Mr. Trump to lenders and insurers, either to satisfy existing obligations or to obtain new financing and insurance, that fails to adequately disclose the assumptions and techniques used for valuing his assets, as outlined in the complaint. The order would also prohibit the Trump Organization from transferring any material asset to a non-party affiliate or otherwise disposing of a material asset without court approval.

In order to oversee these requests, the motion seeks the appointment of an independent monitor until trial that would oversee the submission of financial disclosure information to any accounting firm compiling the 2022 Statement of Financial Condition; financial disclosures to lenders and insurers required by continuing obligations or to obtain new financing and insurance; and any corporate disposition of significant assets.

In September 2022, Attorney General James filed a lawsuit against Mr. Trump, the Trump Organization, senior management, and involved entities for engaging in years of financial fraud to obtain a host of economic benefits. The lawsuit alleges that Mr. Trump, with the help of his children Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump, and other senior executives at the Trump Organization, falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums, and to gain tax benefits, among other things. From 2011 to 2021, Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization knowingly and intentionally created more than 200 false and misleading valuations of assets on his annual Statements of Financial Condition to defraud financial institutions.

This investigation and subsequent legal action have been conducted by Senior Enforcement Counsel Kevin Wallace, Special Counsel Andrew Amer, Assistant Attorney General Colleen K. Faherty, Assistant Attorney General Alex Finkelstein, Assistant Attorney General Wil Handley, Assistant Attorney General Stephanie Torre, Special Counsel to the Solicitor General Eric R. Haren, Enforcement Section Chief Louis M. Solomon and Legal Support Analyst Samantha Stern. Additional support was provided by Assistant Attorney Generals Sherief Gaber and Matthew Conrad, Data Analyst Anushua Choudhury, Senior Data Analyst Akram Hasanov, Data Scientist Chansoo Song, Deputy Director of Research and Analytics Megan Thorsfeldt, and Director of Research and Analytics Jonathan Werberg; as well as Information Technology Specialist Hewson Chen, Information Technology Specialist Paige Podolny, and Information Technology Specialist John Roach. Appellate support was provided by Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale and Assistant Solicitor General Eric Del Pozo. The investigationand legal action are overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.

A memorandum of lawandaffirmationwere filed in this matter.

To access the exhibits:

Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5

See the original post here:
Attorney General James Takes Action to Immediately Stop Donald Trump and the Trump Organization from Continuing Financial Fraud - New York State...

Theres no shortage of threats to democracy this political season, and, during a debate last week in Ohio, two candidates for the U.S. Senate were asked what they thought the greatest danger might be. Representative Tim Ryan, the Democrat, who spoke first, said that it was extremism, and then got more specific: his opponent, J.D. Vance, he said, has no ability to stand up to his own party, or to anybody. At a recent rally in Youngstown, Donald Trump had bragged, J.D. is kissing my ass, he wants my support. But what was even more troubling to Ryan was Vances response, which was to join Trump onstage, shaking his hand, taking pictures. Ryan said, I dont know anybody I grew up withI dont know anybody I went to high school withthat would allow somebody to take their dignity like that.

With the midterms now only a few weeks away, one shouldnt expect an overflowing of dignity in any of the half-dozen or so states, including Ohio, where Senate seats are being seriously contested. At the rally, Vance, who came to prominence as the author of Hillbilly Elegy and then reinvented himself as a MAGA man, said that Ryan doesnt seem like an Ohioan because hes a fan of yoga. Vance has also suggested that President Joe Biden was letting fentanyl stream across the border in order to punish Republican votersan insinuation that G.O.P. candidates around the country have echoed. Recent polls have Ryan and Vance within a few points of each other, but Trump won the state in 2020 by more than eight points.

According to projections by the research firm AdImpact, a hundred and thirty-eight million dollars will be spent in the Ohio race on media advertising alone. Roughly a quarter billion dollars is expected to be spent on ads in Senate races in Nevada, in Arizona, and in Pennsylvania, and two hundred and seventy-six million is the estimate for the most expensive race, in Georgia. The motive for these outlays is clear. A sitting Presidents party usually loses seats in the midterms, and that seems likely to happen in the House, where the Democrats have a margin of just eight. Barring a blue wave, Kevin McCarthy, not Nancy Pelosi, will be Speaker in January. But the Democrats have a decent shot at holding on to the Senate, which is now evenly divided, and even of picking up a seat or two.

It helps that, of the thirty-five seats being contested, twenty-one are held by Republicans. And, owing to Republican retirements, there are open seats that now seem to be in the Democrats reach in Ohio and in Pennsylvania, where John Fetterman, the hoodie-wearing lieutenant governor, is in a close race against Mehmet Oz, the Trump-endorsed television doctor. The situation is similar in North Carolina, where a Democrat, Cheri Beasley, is running a strong race against Representative Ted Budd. Beasley, who would be the states first Black woman senator, is a former chief justice of the states Supreme Court; Budd has said that the January 6th assault was just patriots standing up.

In the House, Budd co-sponsored a bill that would ban abortion nationwide after about the six-week mark, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Democrats around the country appear to be benefitting from public anger at this summers Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and made bills such as Budds plausible. Republicans, in turn, have focussed on discontent with inflation and, in attacks that are more and more crudely drawn, on immigration and crime. In Wisconsin, ads for Ron Johnson, the most vulnerable G.O.P. Senate incumbent, portray his challenger, Mandela Barnes, the states Democratic lieutenant governor, as an inciter of mobs who wants to empty prisons and unleash havoc in the streets. The January 6th committee linked Johnson to Trumps fake elector scheme; the Senator called the allegation a smear and said that hed been involved for only a couple seconds.

Pennsylvania, however, has been seen as the Democrats best pick-up chance. The Fetterman campaign gained ground by portraying Oz as a huckster whose true home is New Jersey. The question is Fettermans health. He had a stroke a few days before the primary, in May, and by his own account has not fully recovered. He has spoken at some rallies, but still has difficulty with auditory processing. In interviews, he uses transcription software: he reads what is said to him, then responds. That technological work-around will get its biggest test on October 25th, when the candidates debate. The health discussion has exposed the lowness of Ozs campaign, which at one point said that, as a debate accommodation, it would let Fetterman raise his hand and say bathroom break! More recently, Oz has focussed on claiming that Fetterman is weak on crime, calling him Free-Them-All Fetterman.

The Democrats also need to hold on to the seats they have. In Arizona, Senator Mark Kelly has had a small but steady lead over Blake Masters, a Trumpist who is funded by Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire. (Thiel is also backing Vance.) In Nevada, though, in some polls, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is falling behind Adam Laxalt, the grandson of Paul Laxalt, the late Nevada senator. Earlier this month, Laxalt appeared with Trump at a rally where the former President said that, because of Democrats, American cities are drenched in blood.

But the most concentrated locus of G.O.P. indignity is in the race in Georgia between Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who won a special election in 2020, and Herschel Walker, whose tight connection with Trump extends back to his stint, in the nineteen-eighties, with the New Jersey Generals, a team (in the ill-fated U.S. Football League) that Trump briefly owned. In the latest spectaclein a campaign that has been full of thema woman told reporters that Walker had pressured her to get an abortion and had paid for it. (She is also the mother of one of his children.) Walker, who supports an abortion ban with no exceptions, has offered bafflingly phrased denialsas he does on many subjects. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, is still standing behind Walker. Last week, Senators Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, and Rick Scott, of Florida, joined Walker at a campaign stop.

Cotton said that fans of the Razorbacks, the University of Arkansas football team, had not forgotten how Walker dominated them when he played for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. But, Cotton said, they have no hard feelings, because they want Republicans back in charge in Washington. The message to G.O.P. voters is that they all need to see themselves as indulgent Razorback fans. The Republicans are going after the Senate with Trumps team, and they have stopped caring what it takes to get over the line.

Here is the original post:
The G.O.P. Is Standing by Trumpists Ahead of the Senate Midterms - The New Yorker

We were taught as children that lying had consequences. Is that still true? The jury is still out. Events last week serve as a reminder that an epic political struggle is underway in this country between forces defending the rule of law and the integrity of elections and those who would subvert it.

Thats why voters should regard the casting of ballots on Nov. 8 as something more than a midterm election. Its also a referendum on core American values, notably the integrity of state and national elections, and the ability to uphold criminal and civil laws when public figures are caught lying.

It is an unassailable fact that Joe Biden won and Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. Voter fraud played no role in the outcome in any of the 50 states. More than 60 state and federal court judges rejected claims by Trump and his circle of fringe supporters that the election was stolen.

Yet many Republican officeholders and candidates in Texas and across the country continue to support Trumps Big Lie. Evidence gathered by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, most of it provided by Republicans who served in the Trump administration, shows that Trump, his family and his senior advisors all knew he lost to Biden by more than 4 million votes.

Yet the Big Lie persists. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was front and center in the many unsuccessful efforts to take the Big Lie into federal court and overturn the election. He did so even as he remained under criminal indictment on two securities fraud counts, charges that are now seven years old.

Will Paxton be held accountable?

Paxtons political power in this red state has enabled him to evade trial on the charges. In his case, allegedly lying about his own business affairs and lying on behalf of Trump has not resulted in any consequences, at least not yet. Voters can send a message and strip Paxton from his apparent legal immunity by voting him out of office on Nov. 8.

Republican voters should set aside party loyalty and vote against any candidate who supports Trumps Big Lie. Consider it a vote for an enduring democracy.

A rambling 14-page letter Trump released Friday following his subpoena by the Jan. 6 House committee repeats his false claims that he won the election. Trump openly brags about the size of the mob that came to hear him speak before marching on the Capitol, and he dismisses the House committee work as a political witch hunt.

Will Trump be held accountable?

Its now up to the Justice Department to take the committees work and its own investigative findings and decide if Trump is fit to run for office again or whether, as the evidence shows, he was party to insurrection against the U.S. government and is therefore disqualified from holding office.

Voters, meanwhile, continue to be fed lies by right-wing fringe media figures and social media feeds, including lies delivered in Spanish and intended to suppress or mislead Latino voters. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro joined other Latino leaders last week in calling out the disinformation campaigns spread via Youtube, Facebook and other channels.

Will conspiracy theorist Alex Jones be held accountable?

Juries have delivered damning verdicts against the Austin-based Jones and his Infowars podcast and website, and last week a Connecticut jury returned a stunning $965 million judgment against Jones. Will the courts ultimately require Jones to surrender his fortune, estimated to be $270 million, to financially compensate the families who lost children in the Sandy Hook school shooting and then were victimized again by Jones and his Infowars broadcasts and postings claiming the school massacre was a government-staged hoax?

For me, the Nov. 8 midterm election is both the first opportunity to hold a free and fair election after 2020 and a prelude to the 2024 presidential election and the ability of the nation to continue to select a president without powerful political forces seeking to undermine the vote.

As early voting polls open eight days from now, election integrity should be on the minds of voters who can send a message that telling the truth and not spreading lies still matter.

This seasons vote is all about accountability.

Link:
The Big Lie still poses a threat to democracy and election integrity - San Antonio Report