The WØRD – “Contempt”

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Contempt

It’s more than the fines handed out to defendant Donald Trump in his election interference criminal case. It’s the contempt of many Republican leaders who show contempt for our justice system. 

  • They scream about a two-tiered justice system when, in reality, they demand a system where their chosen leader is above the law.
  • They say they support the police, but have no problem with a leader who says he’d considering pardoning the criminals who attacked the Capitol on January 6 resulting in the deaths of five police officers and injuries to dozens more. 
  • They complain about alleged censorship of conservatives on social media, but pass laws censoring books about racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights.
  • They yell about their love of the Constitution, but demand police arrest people exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceful protest while defending the violent mob of January 6.

The GOP response to campus protests across the nation are a frightening replay of how the Nixon administration reacted to anti-war demonstrators in the late 1960’s: using military power to silence the protesters which culminated in the deaths of four unarmed students at Kent State University, shot by the Ohio National Guard.

This week’s Trump outrage: his plans to transform the presidency into a virtual dictatorship, revealed in a two-part interview in Time magazine. 

Some of the revelations:

  • He would not have a problem with states deciding to track pregnancies and even imprison women who have abortions
  • While taking no position on the abortion medication Mifepristone, Trump could make it illegal by ordering the FDA to withdraw approval of the treatment
  • He would use the military to seek out and arrest undocumented immigrants. It’s been illegal to use the Army for domestic law enforcement for more than a century.
  • He’s set up prison camps to hold millions of accused undocumented immigrants.
  • He would order the Justice Department to criminally charge his political opponents, and would fire any U.S. Attorney who defied his order. His purge would start with Joe Biden, even though a two-year House investigation into Biden has come up empty.
  • He would consider pardoning the hundreds of criminals who were convicted for their actions on January 6, even those responsible for attacking law enforcement officers.
  • He would fill his administration with people who supported his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen
  • He says the most pressing racial issue in America is bias against white people
  • He refused to rule out violence if he loses the 2024 election and, just as in 2020, refuses to say if he’d accept the results
  • He will move to destroy any media outlets that are critical of him, especially those with government-issued broadcast licenses
  • He will gut the Civil Service system, filling tens-of-thousands federal position with Trump loyalists who will reflexively do what he orders regardless of the law

When John Kennedy was elected President, his senior advisers were branded “the best and the brightest.” Donald Trump has made it clear the only qualification for his appointees to his cabinet and White House senior staff: total loyalty to Donald Trump.

Plain and simple, Trump is a fraud. He has lied to Michiganders again and again — on jobs, on abortion, and on every other promise he’s made. These visits don’t mask the fact that he has failed Michiganders for years and doesn’t actually care about helping them in the future. 

President Biden, on the other hand, has been showing up for Michiganders since his first day in office – and hasn’t wavered. When workers went on strike for better pay and benefits, President Biden joined the picket line and fought for them and their families. When Americans needed more affordable health care, he fought for a $35 insulin cap and lower prescription drug costs. President Biden has faithfully shown up time and time again for Michiganders. 

There is nothing that Trump can say that will erase the stark contrast between these two candidates, and Michiganders know it. This is what is at stake in November. Trump has warned us. It’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t happen.

I urge our listeners to read the full Time magazine article.

This week saw two challenges to petitions filed by Democratic congressional candidates Curtis Hertel Jr. and Adam Hollier. On this week’s podcast we get an update on those challenges from one of Michigan’s top election-law attorneys, Mark Brewer.

Mark served as MDP chairperson for 18 years. Since then he’s been the go-to attorney for Democrats statewide on matters of state election law. He’s a partner with the Goodman Acker law firm. He received his A.B. with honors from Harvard College in 1977 and a J.D. from Stanford University Law School in 1981, where he notably served on the Law Review. Following his academic achievements, Brewer embarked on a remarkable legal career. He began by clerking for a judge of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and later for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Charles Levin.

He also co-hosts the popular weekly podcast “A Republic, If You Can Keep It”.

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