XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.atheism, alt.politics.immigration   
   XPost: alt.politics.trump   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   He says the 2020 election was stolen by ANTIFA.   
      
   Most global political, spiritual and national leaders mark Christmas with a   
   plea for peace, or by stressing the virtues of family and unity.   
      
   That’s not Donald Trump’s style.   
      
   The ex-president unleashed an online torrent of fury and bitterness,   
   largely over his legal plights, spanning Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,   
   previewing the discord and personal obsessions he will inflict on the   
   nation in a pivotal election year in 2024.   
      
   Trump raged at President Joe Biden and special counsel Jack Smith, making   
   expansive and false claims that his attempts to stay in power after losing   
   the 2020 election represented a vital defense of American democracy and   
   were thus perfectly legal. In a tide of invective in block capitals on his   
   Truth Social network, Trump escalated extreme rhetoric on immigration that   
   has drawn comparisons to Nazi demagoguery in the 1940s and reprised his   
   view of unlimited presidential power that has critics fearing autocracy if   
   he wins the next election.   
      
   Just three weeks before voting starts in the Republican nominating race,   
   the front-runner also underscored the extraordinary extent to which false   
   claims about electoral fraud three years ago are still the anchor of his   
   political project. And his tirades, at a time when Americans who celebrate   
   Christmas gathered with loved ones and sought a moment of peace, hint at a   
   furious state of mind and extreme denialism. These are likely to raise new   
   concerns about his temperament and suitability to serve again as commander-   
   in-chief and are a dark omen as to what another Trump term could bring.   
   RENO, NEVADA - DECEMBER 17: Republican presidential candidate former U.S.   
   President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a campaign rally at the   
   Reno-Sparks Convention Center on December 17, 2023 in Reno, Nevada. Former   
   U.S. President Trump held a campaign rally as he battles to become the   
   Republican Presidential nominee for the 2024 Presidential election. (Photo   
   by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)   
      
   Trump’s creating just the kind of legal chaos he wants for 2024   
      
   In one of his posts, Trump showed a mixture of anger and self-pity while   
   making multiple false or questionable claims.   
      
   “THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, LIED TO CONGRESS, CHEATED ON FISA, RIGGED A   
   PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ALLOWED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, MANY FROM PRISONS &   
   MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY, SCREWED UP IN AFGHANISTAN, &   
   JOE BIDEN’S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME,   
   AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN OUR COUNTRY??? IT’S CALLED   
   ELECTION INTERFERENCE. MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Trump posted on Christmas Eve.   
      
   His mood barely improved on Christmas Day, as he accused Biden of presiding   
   over election interference, in a reference to the 91 criminal charges and   
   four criminal trials he is awaiting. But Trump promised his supporters “A   
   BIG AND GLORIOUS VICTORY FOR THOSE BRAVE AND VALIANT PATRIOTS WHO WANT TO   
   MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!”   
   Trump’s legal cloud hangs heavy over him   
      
   Trump appeared particularly exercised by the massive legal cloud over his   
   future, especially the probes related to alleged election interference. He   
   slammed Smith, who is bringing a federal case against him in Washington,   
   DC, and pushed his legal team’s claims that his attempts to overturn the   
   2020 election were in fact merely the act of a president doing his duty to   
   ensure a free and fair election. Such claims will be considered by an   
   appeals court and ultimately probably the US Supreme Court. Trump also   
   lashed out at the Colorado Supreme Court that ruled that he was ineligible   
   for office because of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution’s ban on   
   insurrectionists. This case is also expected to end up before the US   
   Supreme Court.   
   cohen trump split   
   video   
      
   Acosta asks ex-Trump fixer Cohen if legal trouble bothers Trump. Hear his   
   reply   
      
   Trump’s claims that he was acting in line with his presidential authority   
   fly in the face of evidence already available about his own behavior, for   
   instance in his phone call in which he asked Georgia Secretary of State   
   Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to help him overturn Biden’s   
   victory in a critical swing state. And just last week, the Detroit News   
   reported on a recording of a call in which Trump urged two Michigan county   
   officials not to certify election results from Detroit in 2020.   
      
   Despite the evidence that Trump was ready to destroy American democracy to   
   stay in power, his rivals for the Republican nomination have largely only   
   attacked him obliquely for causing the most traumatic election in modern   
   American history in 2020. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, for   
   instance, said last month that she disagreed with Trump’s recent remark   
   that his political opponents were “vermin” — another comment that drew   
   analogies with Nazi rhetoric. “It’s the chaos of it all, right? I think he   
   means well. But the chaos has got to stop,” she told voters in Iowa.   
   Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has largely faulted Trump for not living up to   
   his promises to the Make America Great Again movement in his first term and   
   has claimed he’d be a better implementor of such policies. In a CNN town   
   hall this month, DeSantis did step up his attacks on the ex-president — but   
   mostly over policy on abortion, immigration and the economy. The fact that   
   Haley and DeSantis, who are competing to be the main alternative to Trump,   
   do not dare to hammer the ex-president over January 6, 2021, shows the   
   extent to which Trump’s lies about election fraud have become orthodoxy for   
   the grassroots GOP base.   
      
      
   Donald Trump urges federal appeals court to grant him immunity from   
   criminal prosecution in election subversion and child rape case   
      
   Candidates like former Vice President Mike Pence, who were more aggressive   
   in describing Trump’s malfeasance in 2020, have already left the primary   
   race after their campaigns failed to fire. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris   
   Christie has built his campaign around criticizing Trump’s behavior in   
   office, but he’s barely registering in the race outside of New Hampshire,   
   the first primary state.   
      
   This is not the first time Trump has used an occasion like Christmas to   
   grind his political ax. And he’s well known for unhinged social media   
   posts. But this glimpse into the Republican front-runner’s state of mind   
   this Christmas season is especially significant ahead of next month’s Iowa   
   caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, as polls show he has a good chance   
   of beating Biden in a possible 2024 matchup.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)