Donald Trump Announces 2016 White House Bid

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
For months now, Trudeau and his Liberal Party have been campaigning against Donald Trump instead of Pierre Poilievre. They have made statements and made social media posts tying the two together and making Trump, and Poilievre, appear evil.

Two top diplomats under Justin Trudeau have warned the PM that campaigning against Donald Trump is a dumb idea. Meanwhile, a major American conservative commentator has told The Toronto Sun, beating up on Trump won’t work out for Canada if Trump wins re-election.

Trump currently leads by 2.1% in an average of polls, according to poll aggregator Real Clear Politics, and Biden has only had the lead in three polls released since the start of the year. Beyond that, Trump is currently leading in polling for battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida, and Nevada.

“Why would you run the risk?” David McNaughton said to the Toronto Star last week.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
111,676
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Low Earth Orbit
For months now, Trudeau and his Liberal Party have been campaigning against Donald Trump instead of Pierre Poilievre. They have made statements and made social media posts tying the two together and making Trump, and Poilievre, appear evil.

Two top diplomats under Justin Trudeau have warned the PM that campaigning against Donald Trump is a dumb idea. Meanwhile, a major American conservative commentator has told The Toronto Sun, beating up on Trump won’t work out for Canada if Trump wins re-election.

Trump currently leads by 2.1% in an average of polls, according to poll aggregator Real Clear Politics, and Biden has only had the lead in three polls released since the start of the year. Beyond that, Trump is currently leading in polling for battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Wisconsin, Florida, and Nevada.

“Why would you run the risk?” David McNaughton said to the Toronto Star last week.
What the US media and polling doesnt want you to know is that Trump lead is coming from people of colour and no colour at all.
 
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spaminator

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Donald Trump claims he looks like Elvis Presley in wild Instagram post
'For so many years, people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike,' former president wrote


Author of the article:Mark Daniell
Published Feb 05, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Donald Elvis
Donald Trump has asked followers if they think he looks like Elvis. PHOTO BY INSTAGRAM
Elvis Presley fans were “all shook up” following former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that he looks like the King of Rock and Roll.


Trump surprised followers when he shared a photo to Instagram and his Truth Social platform that showed his face spliced with Presley’s.


“For so many years, people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike,” Trump wrote in the post. “Now this pic has been going all over the place. What do you think?”

His message garnered over 620,000 likes on both social media platforms but sparked a tidal wave of jokes.

Democratic strategist Johnny Palmadessa claimed Trump “clearly has dementia” after he shared the image.

“He just compared himself to Elvis because he believes they ‘look alike,'” Palmadessa wrote on X. “He needs to seek help.”

“Trump says he’s an Elvis look alike. Hopefully he will soon be doing the Jailhouse Rock. #TrumpIsNotWell,” another social media user wrote on X.


Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann piled on, writing, “Dementia J. Trump now trying to convince his cult he’s somehow like Elvis Presley. You mean both brain dead since 1977? You bet!”

Another X user tweeted, “If you believe Trump looks like Elvis do yourself a favour and stay out of any bar near closing time.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has claimed that he looks like the late music icon, who died at age 42 in 1977.

At a 2018 rally in Presley’s hometown of Tupelo, Miss., Trump said he’d been compared to Presley for years.

“I shouldn’t say this. You’ll say I’m very conceited ’cause I’m not,” Trump told the crowd as he campaigned for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. “But other than the blonde hair, when I was growing up, they said I looked like Elvis. You see that? Can you believe it? I always considered that a great compliment … We love Elvis.”



After Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Presley in November 2018, the Republican spoke about seeing the Hound Dog singer play live in Las Vegas once.

“At the end of a performance [by Presley], oftentimes the fans would go so wild — I was there once in Las Vegas at the Hilton. The fans were ripping the place apart, screaming. They were going crazy,” Trump said at the ceremony, according to a White House transcript.

“And they announced, ‘Elvis has left the house. Elvis …’ If they didn’t say that, I think I’d still be there,” Trump said. “Maybe I wouldn’t be here. But they had to do that. ‘Elvis has gone. Elvis has left.’ ”

Trump’s strange social media post comes after his rival, President Joe Biden, called the upcoming U.S. election “the weirdest campaign I’ve ever been engaged in.”


“I’m feeling good about where we are, I really am,” Biden said during a speech in Wilmington, Del., near his family home, according to The Hill. “You know, folks are starting to focus in and the guy we’re running against, he is — he’s not for anything, he’s against everything … I mean it, it’s the weirdest campaign I’ve ever been engaged in, it’s even worse in terms of his behaviour than the last time in 2020.”

The two have already been engaging in a war of words with Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, routinely referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” and “Crooked Joe.”

Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Biden has described Trump — who is facing 91 criminal charges in four felony cases — to longtime friends and close aides as a “‘sick f***’ who delights in others’ misfortunes.”


According to one source who spoke to Politico last week, Biden recently said of Trump: “What a f***ing a**hole the guy is.”

“None of it surprised me,” Jen Psaki, a former Biden White House press secretary, said of Politico’s report on Sunday’s broadcast of her MSNBC show.

“I’m not condoning it, of course, but there were definitely some Democrats out there who may have felt seen by it,” Psaki added.

But Trump is using the claim for his own gain.

In an email to drum up fundraising efforts obtained by Mediaite, Trump wrote: “BIDEN JUST CALLED ME A SICK F-WORD!”

Friend, but you know he doesn’t just think that about me, he thinks that about EVERY SINGLE ONE of my proud supporters. HE THINKS THAT ABOUT YOU! Hillary Clinton calls us deplorables. Biden will spit on us & call us every curse word in the dictionary. BUT I WILL NEVER STOP LOVING YOU BECAUSE YOU LOVE AMERICA! And I know with your patriotic support at this very moment, WE WILL STOP HIM! Before the day is over, I’m calling on EVERY PATRIOT reading this message to chip in and say, I LOVE PRESIDENT TRUMP!
The email concluded, “If you stand with me now, we’ll be the ones laughing on Election Day.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

X: @markhdaniell
1707317961092.png
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
36,884
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Donald Trump claims he looks like Elvis Presley in wild Instagram post
'For so many years, people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike,' former president wrote


Author of the article:Mark Daniell
Published Feb 05, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 3 minute read
Donald Elvis
Donald Trump has asked followers if they think he looks like Elvis. PHOTO BY INSTAGRAM
Elvis Presley fans were “all shook up” following former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims that he looks like the King of Rock and Roll.


Trump surprised followers when he shared a photo to Instagram and his Truth Social platform that showed his face spliced with Presley’s.


“For so many years, people have been saying that Elvis and I look alike,” Trump wrote in the post. “Now this pic has been going all over the place. What do you think?”

His message garnered over 620,000 likes on both social media platforms but sparked a tidal wave of jokes.

Democratic strategist Johnny Palmadessa claimed Trump “clearly has dementia” after he shared the image.

“He just compared himself to Elvis because he believes they ‘look alike,'” Palmadessa wrote on X. “He needs to seek help.”

“Trump says he’s an Elvis look alike. Hopefully he will soon be doing the Jailhouse Rock. #TrumpIsNotWell,” another social media user wrote on X.


Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann piled on, writing, “Dementia J. Trump now trying to convince his cult he’s somehow like Elvis Presley. You mean both brain dead since 1977? You bet!”

Another X user tweeted, “If you believe Trump looks like Elvis do yourself a favour and stay out of any bar near closing time.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has claimed that he looks like the late music icon, who died at age 42 in 1977.

At a 2018 rally in Presley’s hometown of Tupelo, Miss., Trump said he’d been compared to Presley for years.

“I shouldn’t say this. You’ll say I’m very conceited ’cause I’m not,” Trump told the crowd as he campaigned for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. “But other than the blonde hair, when I was growing up, they said I looked like Elvis. You see that? Can you believe it? I always considered that a great compliment … We love Elvis.”



After Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Presley in November 2018, the Republican spoke about seeing the Hound Dog singer play live in Las Vegas once.

“At the end of a performance [by Presley], oftentimes the fans would go so wild — I was there once in Las Vegas at the Hilton. The fans were ripping the place apart, screaming. They were going crazy,” Trump said at the ceremony, according to a White House transcript.

“And they announced, ‘Elvis has left the house. Elvis …’ If they didn’t say that, I think I’d still be there,” Trump said. “Maybe I wouldn’t be here. But they had to do that. ‘Elvis has gone. Elvis has left.’ ”

Trump’s strange social media post comes after his rival, President Joe Biden, called the upcoming U.S. election “the weirdest campaign I’ve ever been engaged in.”


“I’m feeling good about where we are, I really am,” Biden said during a speech in Wilmington, Del., near his family home, according to The Hill. “You know, folks are starting to focus in and the guy we’re running against, he is — he’s not for anything, he’s against everything … I mean it, it’s the weirdest campaign I’ve ever been engaged in, it’s even worse in terms of his behaviour than the last time in 2020.”

The two have already been engaging in a war of words with Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, routinely referring to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” and “Crooked Joe.”

Meanwhile, behind closed doors, Biden has described Trump — who is facing 91 criminal charges in four felony cases — to longtime friends and close aides as a “‘sick f***’ who delights in others’ misfortunes.”


According to one source who spoke to Politico last week, Biden recently said of Trump: “What a f***ing a**hole the guy is.”

“None of it surprised me,” Jen Psaki, a former Biden White House press secretary, said of Politico’s report on Sunday’s broadcast of her MSNBC show.

“I’m not condoning it, of course, but there were definitely some Democrats out there who may have felt seen by it,” Psaki added.

But Trump is using the claim for his own gain.

In an email to drum up fundraising efforts obtained by Mediaite, Trump wrote: “BIDEN JUST CALLED ME A SICK F-WORD!”

Friend, but you know he doesn’t just think that about me, he thinks that about EVERY SINGLE ONE of my proud supporters. HE THINKS THAT ABOUT YOU! Hillary Clinton calls us deplorables. Biden will spit on us & call us every curse word in the dictionary. BUT I WILL NEVER STOP LOVING YOU BECAUSE YOU LOVE AMERICA! And I know with your patriotic support at this very moment, WE WILL STOP HIM! Before the day is over, I’m calling on EVERY PATRIOT reading this message to chip in and say, I LOVE PRESIDENT TRUMP!
The email concluded, “If you stand with me now, we’ll be the ones laughing on Election Day.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

X: @markhdaniell
View attachment 21033
you aint nothing but a hounddog. lyin all the time. you aint no friend of mine. ;)
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Trump is not immune from prosecution in his 2020 election interference case, U.S. appeals court says
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker And Alanna Durkin Richer
Published Feb 06, 2024 • 3 minute read

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals panel ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting the former president’s claims that he is immune from prosecution.


The decision marks the second time in as many months that judges have spurned Trump’s immunity arguments and held that he can be prosecuted for actions undertaken while in the White House and in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. But it also sets the stage for additional appeals from the Republican ex-president that could reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The trial was originally set for March, but it was postponed last week and the judge didn’t immediately set a new date.


The trial date carries enormous political ramifications, with the Republican primary front-runner hoping to delay it until after the November election. If Trump defeats President Joe Biden, he could presumably try to use his position as head of the executive branch to order a new attorney general to dismiss the federal cases or he potentially could seek a pardon for himself.


The appeals court took center stage in the immunity dispute after the Supreme Court last month said it was at least temporarily staying out of it, rejecting a request from special counsel Jack Smith to take up the matter quickly and issue a speedy ruling.

The legally untested question before the court was whether former presidents can be prosecuted after they leave office for actions taken in the White House related to their official duties.

The Supreme Court has held that presidents are immune from civil liability for official acts, and Trump’s lawyers have for months argued that that protection should be extended to criminal prosecution as well.

They said the actions Trump was accused of in his failed bid to cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Biden, including badgering his vice president to refuse to certify the results of the election, all fell within the “outer perimeters” of a president’s official acts.


But Smith’s team has said that no such immunity exists in the U.S. Constitution or in prior cases and that, in any event, Trump’s actions weren’t part of his official duties.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, rejected Trump’s arguments in a Dec. 1 opinion that said the office of the president “does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass.”

Trump’s lawyers then appealed to the D.C. appeals court, but Smith asked the Supreme Court to weigh in first, in hopes of securing a fast and definitive ruling and preserving the March 4 trial date. The high court declined the request, leaving the matter with the appeals court.

The case was argued before Judges Florence Pan and J. Michelle Childs, appointees of Biden, a Democrat, and Karen LeCraft Henderson, who was named to the bench by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. The judges made clear their skepticism of Trump’s claims during arguments last month, when they peppered his lawyer with tough questions and posed a series of extreme hypotheticals as a way to test his legal theory of immunity — including whether a president who directed Navy commandos to assassinate a political rival could be prosecuted.


Trump’s lawyer, D. John Sauer, answered yes — but only if a president had first been impeached and convicted by Congress. That view was in keeping with the team’s position that the Constitution did not permit the prosecution of ex-presidents who had been impeached but then acquitted, like Trump.

The case in Washington is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces as he seeks to reclaim the White House this year. He faces federal charges in Florida that he illegally retained classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a case that was also brought by Smith and is set for trial in May. He’s also charged in state court in Georgia with scheming to subvert that state’s 2020 election and in New York in connection with hush money payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels. He has denied any wrongdoing.
 

spaminator

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Nikki Haley trounced by ’none of these candidates’ option in Nevada’s Republican primary
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michelle L. Price, Jonathan J. Cooper And Gabe Stern
Published Feb 07, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 5 minute read

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nikki Haley was swamped in Nevada’s symbolic Republican presidential primary as GOP voters resoundingly picked the “none of these candidates” option on the ballot in a repudiation of the former U.N. ambassador who is the last remaining major rival to front-runner Donald Trump.


Trump didn’t compete in Tuesday’s primary, which doesn’t award any delegates needed to win the GOP nomination. The former president is instead focused on caucuses that will be held Thursday and will help him move closer to becoming the Republican standard-bearer.


That leaves the results Tuesday as technically meaningless in the Republican race. But they still amount to an embarrassment for Haley, who has sought to position herself as a candidate who can genuinely compete against Trump. Instead, she became the first presidential candidate from either party to lose a race to “none of these candidates” since that option was introduced in Nevada in 1975.

Haley had said beforehand she was going to “focus on the states that are fair” and did not campaign in the western state in the weeks leading up to the caucuses, spending time instead in her home state, South Carolina, before its Feb. 24 primary. Her campaign wrote off the results with a reference to Nevada’s famous casino industry.


“Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots the house wins,” spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said. “We didn’t bother to play a game rigged for Trump. We’re full steam ahead in South Carolina and beyond.”

Trump joked on his social media network, “Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!”

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, had announced beforehand that he would vote for “none of these candidates” on Tuesday. Several Republicans interviewed heading to the polls said they intended to do the same.

Washoe County Republican Party Chair Bruce Parks, who pushed for the GOP to hold caucuses, said that he told voters who called his office — and Trump supporters — to participate in the primary by voting for “none of these candidates” over Haley.


“They basically told us they don’t care about us,” Parks said in an interview after the race was called. “By marking ‘none of these candidates,’ we respond in kind — we don’t care about you either.”

Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, a Trump ally who faces state charges for serving as a so-called “fake elector” on the former president’s behalf, said he left it to each county GOP chairman to decide if they wanted to promote “none of these candidates.” He said Haley’s seeming disrespect of Nevada voters was “reciprocated” with the results.

The Associated Press declared “none of these candidates” the winner at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday based on initial vote results that showed it with a significant lead over Haley in seven counties across the state, including in the two most populous counties.


There was also a Democratic primary on Tuesday that President Joe Biden easily won against author Marianne Williamson and a handful of less-known challengers. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota was not on the ballot.

Biden issued a statement thanking Nevada voters for their support and, with an eye toward an expected matchup in November, warned that Trump is trying to divide America.

“I want to thank the voters of Nevada for sending me and Kamala Harris to the White House four years ago, and for setting us one step further on that same path again tonight. We must organize, mobilize, and vote. Because one day, when we look back, we’ll be able to say, when American democracy was a risk, we saved it _ together,” Biden said.


Nevada lawmakers added “none of these candidates” as an option in all statewide races as a way post-Watergate for voters to participate but express dissatisfaction with their choices. “None” can’t win an elected office but it came in first in primary congressional contests in 1976 and 1978. It also finished ahead of both George Bush and Edward Kennedy in Nevada’s 1980 presidential primaries.

The caucuses on Thursday are the only Nevada contest that count toward the GOP’s presidential nomination. But they were seen as especially skewed in favor of Trump because of the intense grassroots support they require from candidates and new state party rules that benefitted him further.

Trump is expected to handily win the caucuses, which should deliver him all 26 of the state’s delegates. Delegates are party members, activists and elected officials who vote at the national party conventions to formally select the party’s nominee.


“If your goal is to win the Republican nomination for president, you go where the delegates are. And it baffles me that Nikki Haley chose not to participate,” Trump’s senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said in an interview before the primary.

Nevada, the third state in the field after Iowa and New Hampshire, was set to hold a state-run primary election instead of party-run caucuses after Democrats controlling the Legislature changed the law to try to boost participation.

Caucuses typically require voters to show up for an in-person meeting at a certain day or time, while elections can offer more flexibility to participate, with polls open for most of the day on Election Day, along with absentee or early voting.


But Nevada Republicans chose to hold party-run caucuses instead, saying they wanted certain rules in place, like a requirement that participants show a government-issued ID.

The caucuses require a candidate to intensely organize supporters around the state in order to be competitive, a feat that Trump, the former president and prohibitive front-runner, was easily positioned to do.

The Nevada GOP also restricted the involvement of super PACs like the one Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was relying on to boost his now-suspended campaign. And the party barred candidates from appearing both on the primary ballot and in the caucuses.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott also signed up to compete in Nevada’s primary instead of the caucuses before ending their presidential campaigns.

Jeff Turner, 65, came to the Reno Town Mall with a ballot checked off for “none of these candidates” while also lamenting the increasingly likely November rematch between Biden and Trump.

“I think it’s my duty,” Turner said. “I think we all have the right to vote, we ought to vote. And even if it’s none of these candidates, it’s at least stating where I’m at. And I’m hoping others will see that.”
 

spaminator

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The Supreme Court seems poised to reject efforts to kick Trump off the ballot over the Capitol riot
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Mark Sherman
Published Feb 08, 2024 • 5 minute read

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seems poised to reject attempts to kick former President Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot.


A definitive ruling for Trump, the leading Republican candidate for president, would largely end efforts in Colorado, Maine and elsewhere to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot.


Conservative and liberal justices alike questioned during arguments Thursday whether Trump can be disqualified from being president again because of his efforts to undo his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, ending with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Their main concern was whether Congress must act before states can invoke a constitutional provision that was adopted after the Civil War to prevent former officeholders who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office again. There also were questions about whether the president is covered by the provision.


Without such congressional legislation, Justice Elena Kagan was among several justices who wanted to know “why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States.”

The outcome could reflect a broad consensus of the court, and it could come quickly.

Eight of the nine justices suggested that they were open to at least some of the arguments made by Jonathan Mitchell, Trump’s lawyer at the Supreme Court. Trump could win his case if the court finds just one of those arguments persuasive.

Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor sounded like she might vote to uphold the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that found that Trump “engaged in insurrection” and is ineligible to be president. The state court ruled Trump should not be on the ballot for the state’s Republican primary on March 5.


In another sign of trouble for the Colorado voters who sued to remove Trump from the ballot, the justices spent almost no time talking about whether Trump actually “engaged in insurrection” following the 2020 election.

Lawyer Jason Murray, representing the voters, pressed the point that Trump incited the Capitol attack to prevent the peaceful handover of power “for the first time in history.”

Mitchell argued that the Capitol riot was not an insurrection and, even if it was, Trump did not participate.

Trump, speaking to reporters after the proceedings, called the Supreme Court argument “a beautiful thing to watch in many respects,” even as he complained about the case being brought in the first place.

“I hope that democracy in this country will continue,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.


The justices heard more than two hours of history-laden arguments in their first case considering Section 3 of the 14th amendment.

It sets up precisely the kind of case that the court likes to avoid, one in which it is the final arbiter of a political dispute.

Chief Justice John Roberts worried that a ruling against Trump would prompt efforts to disqualify other candidates, “and surely some of those will succeed.”

Trump’s lawyers argue that the amendment can’t be used to keep Trump off the ballot for several reasons.

For one thing, they contend the Jan. 6 riot wasn’t an insurrection, and even if it was, Trump did not participate. The wording of the amendment also excludes the presidency and candidates running for president, they say. Even if they are wrong about all of that, they argue that Congress must pass legislation to reinvigorate Section 3.


The lawyers for Republican and independent voters who sued to remove Trump’s name from the Colorado ballot counter that there is ample evidence that the events of Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection and that Trump incited it. They say it would be absurd to apply Section 3 to everything but the presidency or that Trump is somehow exempt. And the provision needs no enabling legislation, they argue.

A decision upholding the Colorado decision would amount to a declaration from the Supreme Court that Trump did engage in insurrection and is barred by the 14th Amendment from holding office again. That would allow states to keep him off the ballot and imperil his campaign.

The justices could opt for a less conclusive outcome, but with the knowledge that the issue could return to them, perhaps after the general election in November and in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis.


Trump is separately appealing to state court a ruling by Maine’s Democratic secretary of state, Shenna Bellows, that he was ineligible to appear on that state’s ballot over his role in the Capitol attack. Both the Colorado Supreme Court and the Maine secretary of state’s rulings are on hold until the appeals play out.

The court has signaled it will try to act quickly, dramatically shortening the period in which it receives written briefing and holds arguments in the courtroom.

People began lining up outside the court on Wednesday hoping to snag one of the few seats allotted to the public. “This is a landmark decision and I want to be in the room where it happened, to quote ‘Hamilton,”‘ said Susan Acker of Cincinnati, Ohio, who was in line with two friends.


The issues may be novel, but Trump is no stranger to the justices, three of whom Trump appointed when he was president. They have considered many Trump-related cases in recent years, declining to embrace his claims of fraud in the 2020 election and refusing to shield tax records from Congress and prosecutors in New York.

Before the Supreme Court is even finished deciding this case, the justices almost certainly will be dealing with another appeal from Trump, who is expected to seek an emergency order to keep his election subversion trial on hold so he can appeal lower-court rulings that he is not immune from criminal charges.

In April, the court also will hear an appeal from one of the more than 1,200 people charged in the Capitol riot. The case could upend a charge prosecutors have brought against more than 300 people, including Trump.

The court last played so central a role in presidential politics in its 5-4 decision that effectively ended the disputed 2000 election in favor of George W. Bush.

Justice Clarence Thomas is the only member of the court who also took part in Bush v. Gore. Thomas has ignored calls by some Democratic lawmakers to step aside from the case because his wife, Ginni, supported Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results and attended the rally that preceded the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters.
 

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Trump clinches win at U.S. Virgin Islands caucus, which defied Republican Party rules
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Danica Coto
Published Feb 08, 2024 • 2 minute read

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Donald Trump amassed another win at a Republican caucus held Thursday in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where officials flouted several GOP party rules, including holding the contest earlier than allowed.


The caucus is the third Republican contest held this election season with delegates at stake, with Trump receiving 73.98% of the votes and Nikki Haley 26.02%.


“I want to thank you all. We had a tremendous victory,” Trump said in brief remarks by phone to those who gathered in St. Thomas to hear the results. “We expected to win, but we didn’t expect to win by that much. You are incredible people I will never forget.”

Voters in St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John flocked to a variety of venues, including a rum bar, to nominate their candidate using ranked-choice voting.

“‘The weather is terrible, but we’ve had a great turnout,” said Valerie Stiles, a 71-year-old who works in retail sales and voted early on Thursday.

Stiles, who has lived 31 years on St. Croix, said many voters are angry about low wages and high inflation, adding that she was delighted the caucus was held before Super Tuesday.


“The (US) territories are overlooked a lot of the time,” she said.

Republicans have already had three contests — in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada — although the latter didn’t award any delegates and didn’t have Trump on the ballot.

Joining Trump on Thursday’s ballot were Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Perry Johnson and Vivek Ramaswamy, although only Trump and Haley are still in the running.

Trump already has secured two other wins in the Republican presidential race and is the only major candidate on the ballot in Nevada’s GOP caucuses on Thursday.

Republican party officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands said they opted to hold the contest early to ensure the U.S. territory played an important role in the nomination of a candidate.


“As the Virgin Islands, like the other territories, doesn’t get to vote for president in the general election, it was important to ensure the voice and votes of voters … were heard,” Gordon Ackley, chairman of the Republican Party in the Virgin Islands, said in a statement to The Associated Press. “Every state and every territory should try to make itself and its voters as relevant as possible. It’s absurd that the same couple of states have a monopoly on the calendar.”

GOP rules state that only Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina can hold primaries or caucuses before March 1. In addition, any contest held before March 15 must award delegates proportionally, while the U.S. Virgin Islands did so via ranked-choice voting.


“The Virgin Islands didn’t break any rules,” Ackley said. “We merely took advantage of an existing rule in the national Republican rules to award our nine delegates proportionally, except if the winning candidate wins with more than 50% of the vote.”

Officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands said they plan to send nine delegates and six alternates to the upcoming Republic National Convention that will be held in Wisconsin in July. However, the Republican National Committee has said the U.S. Virgin Islands has four delegates.

If they insist on sending nine, they would have to appear before the conventions committee on credentials and await a report that would determine who gets seated to the entire convention.
 

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Donald Trump wins Nevada’s Republican caucuses after being the only major candidate to participate
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michelle L. Price, Jonathan J. Cooper And Gabe Stern
Published Feb 08, 2024 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

LAS VEGAS — Former President Donald Trump won Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses Thursday after he was the only major candidate to compete.


Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley skipped the caucuses, which are the only contest in Nevada that counts toward the GOP nomination. Haley cited what she considered an unfair process favouring Trump and instead ran in Nevada’s symbolic state-run presidential primary on Tuesday, when she finished behind the “none of these candidates” option.


Trump’s win in Nevada gives him all 26 of the state’s delegates. He needs to accrue 1,215 delegates to formally clinch the party’s nomination and could reach that number in March.

Though Trump has been the front-runner, Nevada’s caucuses were seen as especially skewed in his favour due to the intense grassroots support caucuses require candidates to harness around a state in order to win. Nevada’s state party last year barred candidates from running both in the primary and caucuses and also restricted the role of super PACs like the groups that were key to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign before he dropped out.


Caucuses typically require voters to show up for an in-person meeting at a certain day or time, while elections can offer more flexibility to participate, with polls open for most of the day on Election Day along with absentee or early voting. Nevada Republicans said they wanted certain rules in place like a requirement that participants show a government-issued ID.

Trump’s supporters waited in long lines Thursday. At one caucus site at a Reno-area elementary school, a line of nearly 1,000 people stretched around the corner and down the street 20 minutes after the caucuses opened.

Voters in line, some of whom were wearing Trump hats and shirts, said they came out to back the former president in a contest that would give him a third straight win in the Republican presidential race.


“I think it’s about backing Trump up and giving him the support that he needs. And to let people know that we’re supporting him,” said Heather Kirkwood, 47.

Trump has long been immensely popular among Nevada Republicans, but he had other perceived advantages among the party’s key figures. Nevada GOP Party Chair Michael McDonald and the state’s Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid were among six Republicans in the state indicted on felony charges that they were so-called fake electors who sent certificates to Congress falsely claiming Trump won Nevada in 2020.

From Nevada, the GOP contest pivots to the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24. Trump remains popular in the deeply conservative state but Haley, who won two elections as South Carolina’s governor, is hoping to benefit from a home-state advantage. Trump is eyeing a massive delegate haul during the March 5 Super Tuesday contests, which would move him closer to becoming the GOP’s presumptive nominee.
 

Serryah

Executive Branch Member
Dec 3, 2008
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So I guess this is making the rounds.


So much for "Pro Military". But people will vote for him anyway because... reasons.