What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Lucidor]

The border could use some cyborgs and martial arts trained bats. I'm shocked Trump missed that.

[Sheilbh]

The Hill published a piece by Eric Trump, which quoted "the great Marcus Aurelius from The Gladiator":

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/464256-eric-trump-hypocrisy-creates-unlevel-playing-field-in-politics

[FunkMonk]

The Onion was ahead of its time.

[Razgovory]

Gladiator and The Gladiator are separate films...

[Admiral Yi]

Guess Papa Joe skipped the lesson about doing coke while in the military.

[The Minsky Moment]

It should be pointed out that Albus Dumbledore rejected certain ideas of Marcus Aurelius.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/oct/07/trump-news-today-live-syria-kurds-whistleblower-impeachment-inquiry-latest-updates

Judge orders Trump to turn over eight years of tax returns

Federal judge Victor Marrero this morning rejected Donald Trump's challenge to the release of his tax returns for a New York state criminal probe after Trump's lawyers alleged being president makes him immune to any investigation.

In a 75-page ruling, Marrero said he cannot endorse such a "categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process," according to the AP.

Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R Vance Jr, is seeking the tax returns as part of his office's investigation of the Trump Organization's involvement in paying two women to keep quiet about their claims of having had affairs with the president.

Marrero's ruling allows the DA's office to subpoena eight years of the president's personal and corporate tax returns.

Trump's lawyers have already indicated they will appeal the judge's decision.

This court cannot endorse such a categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process as being countenanced by the nation's constitutional plan, especially in the light of the fundamental concerns over excessive arrogation of power that animated the Constitution's delicate structure and its calibrated balance of authority among the three branches of the national government, as well as between the federal and state authorities. Hence, the expansive notion of constitutional immunity invoked here to shield the president from judicial process would constitute an overreach of executive power.

[The Minsky Moment]

The story mischaracterized the decision.

The case is about subpoenas issued by a state district attorney.  Trump sued in federal court to try to block the subpoenas.

What Judge Marrero actually ruled was that he was obliged to abstain from hearing the case because the federal courts aren't supposed to meddle in ongoing state criminal proceedings unless there is no remedy in state court.  Marrero ruled (correctly) that there is an adequate state court remedy and thus dismissed Trump's suit.  Trump can still try to get a protective order in state court, assuming he hasn't already failed or waived his rights.

In the second part of Marrero's decision, he addresses the merits and rejects Trump's position.  This entire section is essentially dicta - it's has no real meaning or effect because the judge already decided he must abstain from a decision.  Ostensibly that section is there to save time if the appeal's court rejects the abstention holding; in reality, I suspect the judge wanted to make his views known on the substance.

The abstention decision is critical because it is widely believed Trump's people went to federal court with the intention of seeking immediate review at the Supreme Court.  Now that reformed Presidential power zealot Justice Kavanaugh is on the bench, the Trumpistas dream of attacking the US v Nixon and Clinton v Jones precedents and establishing the principle of absolute Presidential immunity from legal process.  However, if the case returns to state court, there is no immediate direct path to the Supremes.

[Syt]

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/07/politics/trump-tax-returns-lawsuit/index.html

Judge dismisses Trump request to keep taxes secret in New York

(CNN)A federal judge on Monday dismissed President Donald Trump's effort to prevent his tax returns from being turned over to a New York grand jury.

The ruling raises the likelihood that Trump's tax returns will be provided in response to the subpoena, although any material obtained through a grand jury subpoena is covered by grand jury secrecy rules, meaning it would likely become public only if it were used as evidence at a trial.

Dismissing Trump's "extraordinary" claim that any occupant of the White House enjoys "absolute immunity from criminal process of any kind," US District Court Judge Victor Marrero said in a 75-page opinion that such a position "would constitute an overreach of executive power."

An attorney for Trump filed an emergency notice of appeal to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals minutes after the district court judge filed his decision, and the appeals court immediately ordered a temporary stay of the subpoena.

In a tweet Monday, Trump criticized the legal effort.

"The Radical Left Democrats have failed on all fronts, so now they are pushing local New York City and State Democrat prosecutors to go get President Trump. A thing like this has never happened to any President before. Not even close!" Trump tweeted.

Prosecutors are looking at whether the Trump Organization violated any New York state laws -- including potentially filing false business records -- in its effort to reimburse Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, who paid some of the hush money on Trump's behalf. Cohen is serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty in a federal case concerning the payments.

As part of its probe, the DA's office sent Trump's accounting firm, Mazars USA, a grand jury subpoena seeking tax returns and related documents going back to 2011. On Monday, a spokeswoman for the company said, "Mazars USA will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations."

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, led by Cyrus Vance, Jr., is examining hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who alleged having affairs with Trump a decade ago. Trump has denied the affairs.

In his opinion, Marrero allowed that some aspects of the criminal process could impede a President's ability to perform his duties. "Certainly lengthy imprisonment upon conviction would produce that result," he wrote.

But, Marrero added, "that consequence would not necessarily follow every stage of every criminal proceeding," and in particular, he said, doesn't extend to a president's compliance with a grand jury subpoena for records the president controls.

The judge wrote that the issues at hand stretched back to questions addressed by the Founding Fathers.

"Shunning the concept of the inviolability of the person of the King of England and the bounds of the monarch's protective screen covering the Crown's actions from legal scrutiny, the Founders disclaimed any notion that the Constitution generally conferred similarly all-encompassing immunity upon the President," Marrero wrote.

Courts have ruled that a president can be subjected to a civil suit concerning conduct that took place before he took office and must comply with subpoenas regarding third parties, Marrero pointed out. "The notion of federal supremacy and presidential immunity from judicial process that the President here invokes, unqualified and boundless in its reach as described above, cuts across the grain of these constitutional precedents," he wrote.

The ruling is also a setback for the US Justice Department, which had asked last week to temporarily block the subpoena, to allow time for "appropriate briefing of the weighty constitutional issues involved."

"The President's complaint raises a number of significant constitutional issues that potentially implicate important interests of the United States," DOJ officials wrote in a court filing.

[viper37]

Guess Papa Joe skipped the lesson about doing coke while in the military.

Reserve.  Past the usual service age.  Not that big of a deal.
At least, compared to a notorious draft dodger and his sons and daughter who never bothered to enlist in the first place.

[Syt]

https://www.nbcnews.com/card/trump-implies-vets-suffering-ptsd-can-t-handle-war-n658706

Cadet Bonespurs on PTSD:

Trump Implies Vets Suffering From PTSD 'Can't Handle' War

Donald Trump has come under fire for comments he made during a Q&A with retired veterans Tuesday morning.

Speaking with the Retired American Warriors PAC in Virginia, the Republican nominee suggested veterans suffering from PTSD are not "strong" and "can't handle" the stresses of war.

"When people come back from war and combat and they see things that, maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," Trump said.

Trump later vowed to have a "very robust performance" when it came to dealing with veterans and mental health care.

Trump's comments received swift criticism from leaders of veterans organizations. Jon Soltz, an Iraq War Veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, said Trump's statements perpetuate the stigma around mental health and PTSD in the military.

"The fact is, dealing with the mental wounds from war has nothing to do about someone's strength," Soltz said in a statement. "If Donald Trump took even three seconds trying to understand and respect our veterans, he'd understand that."

[Admiral Yi]

   There goes the coup d'etat.

[garbon]

I just had a client who told me there was something wrong with my apostrophe but they called it a hyphen. #Trump?

[Caliga]

  There goes the coup d'etat.

The thing is Trump's not brave enough to slap a soldier for PTSD like Patton did.

[The Brain]

https://www.nbcnews.com/card/trump-implies-vets-suffering-ptsd-can-t-handle-war-n658706

Cadet Bonespurs on PTSD:

Trump Implies Vets Suffering From PTSD 'Can't Handle' War

Donald Trump has come under fire for comments he made during a Q&A with retired veterans Tuesday morning.

Speaking with the Retired American Warriors PAC in Virginia, the Republican nominee suggested veterans suffering from PTSD are not "strong" and "can't handle" the stresses of war.

"When people come back from war and combat and they see things that, maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it," Trump said.

Trump later vowed to have a "very robust performance" when it came to dealing with veterans and mental health care.

Trump's comments received swift criticism from leaders of veterans organizations. Jon Soltz, an Iraq War Veteran and chairman of VoteVets.org, said Trump's statements perpetuate the stigma around mental health and PTSD in the military.

"The fact is, dealing with the mental wounds from war has nothing to do about someone's strength," Soltz said in a statement. "If Donald Trump took even three seconds trying to understand and respect our veterans, he'd understand that."

It's been 3 years. Let it go.