Maybe Rudy is no friend of the New York mob, but he seems to have buttered his bread

with money from the pro-Russian Ukrainian mob and maybe the Russian mafia/KGB.

I'm trying to recall if Rudy is mentioned in Craig Ungar's book House of Trump, House of Putin. Ungar does write in some detail about the Russian mafia moving into New York too, during the exact times you're talking about. They started small and grew and grew, at one point gaining extraordinary power in NYC.

I'd like to see that series you're talking about. Sounds fascinating.

Damned right.

I've seen these attacks on Twitter as a recurring theme

And I don't trust the motives of these attackers. I think it's yet another effort to cause us to lose confidence in and distrust an important part of our team and divide us on a sideshow issue. I wish there was some way to track down the origin of social media accounts attacking the Lincoln Project, because I'm half-convinced we'd discover some of them are of foreign origin.

Finally, you have to ask yourself the obvious question of who would be trying to get us to distrust the Lincoln Project? Someone who fears the Lincoln Project. Someone who finds them effective and wishes they would go away.

Always think about motive.

This post overlooks something very obvious.

Trump is surrounded by people who are none of these things, who have found someone highly susceptible to influence and easily manipulated at a time when both the interests of Trump and the interests of far right powers within the Republican party have come into perfect alignment. Authoritarianistic aims is the only hope of survival for these people, so expect them to execute authoritarian policies.

When two such entities find their goals in alignment, it is a moot point how "bored" or stupid Trump is. John Yoo isn't stupid. William Barr isn't stupid. Stephen Miller has totalitarian aims, and so do many of Trump's most prolific donors. It is a movement with tremendous money and evil ingenuity behind it.

In my opinion, people downplay the significance of what is unfolding at tremendous risk.

Listen to people like Timothy Snyder.

Check out this NYT piece:

American Catastrophe Through German Eyes

Trump says he wants to protect law-abiding citizens. In 1933, Hitler issued his ‘Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State.’

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/opinion/trump-germany.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

American Catastrophe Through German Eyes (NYT Opinion)

New York Times
By Roger Cohen
Opinion Columnist
July 24, 2020


Trump says he wants to protect law-abiding citizens. In 1933, Hitler issued his ‘Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State.’

Here's a link to the Michelle Goldberg/Timothy Snyder piece referred to

in this interview:

Trump’s Occupation of American Cities Has Begun

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/opinion/portland-protests-trump.html

Same here. I feel like we're in that moment now where we're going to have to

admit that we can't stop him, and that creates an impasse that's hard to circumvent.

In past crises we at least pretended we knew what to do next. We'd issue a subpoena, file a lawsuit, hold a hearing, ask for an injunction, take something to a federal judge, demand an investigation, write a report. Or, the Senate "could do something" or "might do something", or we can pass a bill and talk about how we passed a bill. Impeach him. (And we did the right thing).

It's like Mary Trump writes at the closing of one of the chapters in her book: He always gets away it.

We have the federal troop situation, and we also have a legal test coming where John Yoo is going to help Trump rule by decree. We have a president flouting that he's ignoring transgressions by Russia against our troops, our country and our election.

And I think it's getting harder to believe there is any way to stop it. Yesterday I listened to Senator Merkley trying to explain what we could do about the federal police coming into our cities, but in truth, he ended up explaining why we actually couldn't do anything except write letters, make inquiries of DHS and the Border Patrol, and pass bills that the Senate won't take up.

Lastly, what on earth will Trump do to screw up the election? John Yoo believes he can have unlimited power now following the DACA decision by the SCOTUS.

I hate to sound pessimistic, because I'm usually optimistic, but we're hitting an impediment now that will take real ingenuity, creativity and some great legal minds to smash to pieces.

Kicking for visibility.

I hope you get an answer. This question has been on my mind for the past few days. What if the president/prime minister of a nation doesn't request or want it?

Living prior presidents plus the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, plus Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? Or would we request intervention from some allied countries, who would request it on our behalf?

Good deal! But I thought all or nearly all of the Virginia Giuffre

civil lawsuit documents had been released. Maybe we'll finally see the complete depositions. One thing that was missing from the last dump were large sections of the depositions.

In any event, this should be interesting. Let's see if Dershowitz or any other politicians try to block it (again).

You know, I'd bet anything these goons are staying at Trump hotels and

properties, if there are such properties in the areas they are being deployed. Maybe that would be one possible way to track them down to get some identification or a fix on who they are, or catch them doing something embarrassing while off duty at the local bar. They have to park somewhere at night, and it would be tragic beyond comprehension if their tires were slashed or something of that nature. So don't do that!