Trump's legal troubles are just beginning
He'll miss the impeachment proceedings before too long.
Donald Trump wriggled his way out of his second impeachment, and I feel…surprisingly okay with it, honestly.
Don’t get me wrong: I thought he should have been convicted. Both times. But we knew it was never going to happen. If you had told me a few weeks ago that seven Republican Senators would turn against him, I would have been thrilled.
If Trump was allowed to move on to a life of leisure, golf and gorging on KFC, I’d be more upset. But he still finds himself at risk of federal- and state-level criminal prosecutions, and many, many lawsuits:
Trump could also face more imposing trouble in any criminal cases filed against him as local and federal authorities continue to probe the violence, as well as civil cases filed by those affected by the riot.
As a private citizen, Trump is no longer protected from legal liability, as he was when in office, and could be charged with inciting the riot. Such a federal charge would need prosecutors to prove that Trump knew his words and actions would lead to violence – a high standard established in a 1969 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the conviction of a Ku Klux Klan leader.
The attorney general of District of Columbia has also said his office was looking into whether Trump violated a local law that prohibits statements that motivate people to violence. The charge is a misdemeanour that carries a maximum of six months in jail.
Possibly working against Trump could be the impeachment trial revelation that when Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy asked Trump in a mid-riot phone conversation to call off his supporters, Trump responded: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
Such a comment could be interpreted to indicate Trump understood and condoned the rioters’ intention. Statements from rioters themselves, some of whom have directly blamed Trump for their actions, could also work against the president.
Criminally prosecution trump for inciting the Beer Belly Putsch is a stretch, I think. It’s the stuff he was already facing that I can see bringing him down for good:
Most recently, prosecutors in Georgia opened a criminal investigation related to Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results in the state. That includes a January 2 call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to reverse Biden’s victory there.
New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance has also been leading a years-long investigation that focuses, in part, on alleged hush-money payments Trump made to two women, and whether his businesses manipulated their assets to gain favourable loan terms and tax benefits.
A decision is expected soon by the Supreme Court on whether Vance can obtain eight years of Trump’s tax records and other financial information from accounting firm Mazars.
Trump’s financial records – long a subject of speculation – could lead to further investigation and possible charges, depending on their contents.
State Attorney General Letitia James is also conducting a civil investigation into whether Trump businesses falsely inflated property values.
Trump also faces legal proceedings related to allegations of sexual misconduct and rape. E Jean Carroll, a writer, currently has a pending defamation lawsuit that accuses Trump of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s. She says Trump accused her of lying about the incident to sell books. Trump has denied the allegations.
Summer Zervos, a former contestant on the Trump-hosted The Apprentice television show, is also accusing Trump of sexual misconduct, unwanted kissing and groping in a defamation lawsuit.
He’ll never admit it, but deep down, I think Trump curses the day he decided to run for President. He had a life of unparalleled luxury and fame, but it wasn’t enough. He had to have the most important job in the world, and now he doesn’t even have a Twitter account.
Trump will probably find some way to wriggle out of these jams, too. But every day he’s fighting prosecution and lawsuits is a day he’s too preoccupied (I won’t say “busy”) to launch his 2024 campaign.
If this story had come up before I became the father of a child with special needs, I would have said it’s a complete, total outrage that a comedian is being punished by the state for telling a bad joke.
Now that I am a father of a child with special needs, I understand how difficult life can be for young people who aren’t “normal,” living in a world that wasn’t really built to accommodate them. When I see people making fun of those who cannot fight back, it makes me upset.
And I still think it’s a complete, total outrage that a comedian is being punished by the state for telling a bad joke.
A decade ago, as part of his stand-up act, a Canadian comedian began telling a joke about a disabled young singer. This is how that joke ended up in front of the country's top court.
Jeremy Gabriel was born with Treacher Collins Syndrome, a genetic disorder that can affect facial bone structure and, in his case, caused severe deafness.
Despite this, he fulfilled his dream of becoming a singer, performing for public figures from songstress Celine Dion to Pope Benedict XVI - all before he reached his teens - and achieving minor celebrity status in his home province of Quebec.
In 2010, a popular Quebec comedian, Mike Ward, known for his dark and edgy comedy, put together a 90-minute stand-up act.
Alongside the thorny issues of race and religion, it targeted what he called the "sacred cows" of the province's celebrity star system, people who in his view were for various reasons - too rich, too powerful - seen as out-of-bounds for mockery.
The repercussions of that show have been followed for almost a decade in Quebec and will culminate on 15 February, when the lengthy legal battle over a joke Ward told about Gabriel in that act will be heard by Canada's Supreme Court.
[…]
When Ward's case was brought before the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal - a specialised court that handles cases related to discrimination or harassment under the provincial rights charter - the comedian lost.
The tribunal found he had "exceeded the limits of freedom of expression" and that his joke was discriminatory on the basis of disability.
He appealed, and in a 2019 split decision, the Court of Appeal mostly upheld the tribunal's ruling, as well as C$35,000 ($27,500; £20,000) awarded to Gabriel in moral and punitive damages.
The court's "intention is not to restrict creativity or censor artists' opinions", said the ruling, but "comedians, like any citizen, are responsible for the consequences of their words when they cross certain lines".
The matter is now before the Supreme Court of Canada. Quebec’s human rights commission - which can’t or won’t do anything about that province banning Muslims from wearing religious headgear, but by gum, they’re all over this - has issued a press release which endorses the Dean Baquet position on offensive speech:
The Commission also points out that effect is what matters when analysing discrimination, not intent. The Court of Appeal did not base its analysis on Mike Ward's intention while saying his controversial remarks, but on the harmful effect his words and their wide public dissemination had on Jeremy's dignity and reputation, and on the link between that effect and the teenager's disability.
Ironically - but as usual for this kind of thing - Mike Ward is now much more famous than he would have been if these legal proceedings hadn’t been launched against him. Whichever way the Supreme Court of Canada rules, his “jokes” will be entered into the court record and included in a written court decision, just as homophobic nutbag Bill Whatcott’s offending fliers are included as an appendix to the Supreme Court decision against him.
Nothing spreads hate speech like the government trying to stamp it out by force.
Me: I hate these YouTube videos my kids watch. I wish they’d read the wholesome children’s books I read when I was their age.
The wholesome children’s books I read when I was their age: