Today is Tuesday, June 27, 2023. The tape doesn’t lie! As of yesterday, the newest bombshell about the alleged criminal activities conducted by the former president broke last night as I was typing my blog on the coronavirus pandemic. This new revelation is the most damning that could result in jail time for the ex-president. It’s that explosive! On the tape which is being broadcast on all of the “fake news” networks, you hear the twice-impeached, twice-indicted sexual predator ex-president confess to people at his Bedminster resort that he’s in possession of classified documents that he did not declassify and that he regarded the whole affair as a laughing matter. Here is a former president who treated national security information as cavalierly as an elementary school child engaged in front of the class in a show and tell presentation. How abominable, how terrifying!

The ramifications of this latest piece of evidence against Dumpf is covered in a Raw Story article by Sarah K. Burns entitled ‘Game over’ for Trump: Mueller prosecutor says all that is left is for jury to do is follow the law.”

The two legal analysts who appeared on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show last night agreed that the tape of Donald Trump showing classified documents to people is all that is needed to sink him legally.

The first MSNBC contributor, Andrew Weissmann, the former senior prosecutor for Robert Mueller, said that a key point to remember is that this tape has been in the hands of the Justice Department and possibly even defendant Donald Dumpf for quite a while. It means that Dumpf knew what was heard and lied in all of the interviews he’s given where he tried to claim the documents weren’t classified.

Weissmann said, “And knowing Jack Smith, they have interviewed everybody other than the former president who was in that room.” But the hard and fast truth, the former prosecutor said, is that the tape is serious, “and this is game over if you are following the facts and the law. He’s charged with having classified information and knowing that he had classified information. He’s not even charged with dissemination, that is, showing it to somebody. But even that could be proved. And the tape recording is absolutely clear. This is a question, now, of simply, will the government get a trial before the general election? Will a jury actually follow the law and the facts, and will the electorate follow the facts and care?”

The second analyst, Bradley Moss, focused in on the laughter heard on the tape, which, he said, goes to the complete lack of seriousness with which the individuals, along with Dumpf, regarded national security. There was also worthless joking about Hillary Clinton having classified documents [boy, is that rich!] and falsely claiming that she showed classified information, Trump confessing to having classified documents, and then showing them to others.

Moss addresses the offensiveness of it all, saying, “That is quite possibly the most offensive part of all of this. I hear laughter. Hey, look what I’ve got! This document that the military gave me, that is still classified, probably at least top secret. Look how cool this is. And let’s joke about, you know, Hillary Clinton sending emails to Anthony Weiner. And by the way, bring me a couple of cokes.” (This is how the offensive tape ends, with Dumpf asking for cokes, his unhealthy drink of choice for his entire life.) Moss continues to say “I hear recklessness. I hear laughter,” not disguising his disgust. Moss directs his anger at the person at the center of the tape: Donald J. Dumpf, who showed contempt over the handling of classified information and disseminated the laughter among the staffers surrounding him in that room. Moss declaims, “This is not funny. These are classified documents. This is national defense information. It is not a joke.”

Again, Weissmann exclaims, “Game over!” Let’s hope the words of this seasoned prosecutor ring true and we have a conviction here. Dumpf’s luck should now have run out.

The good guys finally are given a win, as the compromised Supreme Court finally ruled against venomous election deniers and extremists seeking to undermine this country’s democracy in a significant ruling today. Today the Supreme Court said that the North Carolina Supreme Court did not violate the elections clause of the U.S. Constitution when it invalidated the state’s 2020 congressional map, rejecting a broad version of a controversial legal Independent State Legislature theory pushed by supporters of former president Donald Dumpf. This new victory for democracy is covered in an online CNN article by Ariane de Vogue and Tierney Sneed entitled “Supreme Court rejects controversial Trump-backed election law theory.”

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 opinion.

The case had captured the nation’s attention because repugnican “lawmakers in North Carolina were asking the justices to adopt a long-dormant legal theory and hold that state courts and other state entities have a limited role in reviewing election rules established by state legislatures when it comes to federal elections.”

In his opinion, Roberts wrote that “federal courts must not abandon their duty to exercise judicial review.” Roberts was joined by fellow conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett and liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Sagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

This decision will have ramifications for the future of elections nationwide.

Former President Barack Obama said the case had the potential to “dismantle our system of checks and balances.”

The North Carolina controversy arose after the state Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2022 congressional map as an illegal partisan gerrymander, replacing it with court-drawn maps that favored Democrats.

After the state high court ruled, North Carolina Republican lawmakers appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the state Supreme Court had exceeded its authority. With today’s powerful decision, that theory was demolished by the ruling.

The court’s ruling was praised by a large swath of voting rights attorneys, including the lawyers who represented the voters who had challenged the North Carolina redistricting map and who opposed the independent state legislature theory in court.

Jessica Ring Amunson and Sam Hirsch, partners at the law firm Jenner & Block who represented one of the voter advocacy groups involved in the case, said, “This ruling is a complete victory for our democratic system and makes clear that state legislatures cannot ignore or defy state law when regulating federal elections.”

A long-time contributor to MSNBC, Neal Katyal, who offers insightful analyses on the network very frequently, actually argued his client’s case before the Supreme Court today and Lawrence O’Donnell just mentioned his latest legal victory today on his show. Katyal represented Common Cause, one of the voting rights groups that challenged the Republican-drawn map. He said, “Today’s ruling affirms the crucial role state courts play in overseeing federal elections.”

As would be expected of this far-right Supreme Court, dissent was provided by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Justice Samuel Alito. The other justice who wrote a dissent was Justice Clarence Thomas. How nice that they are finally in a minority!

This is really a win for America! And a fucking loss to Dumpf and his far-right malcontents who have no respect for and understanding of the Constitution.

Stay safe and be well.