“She is ready to go”: Experts say Willis “showing a very strong hand” in motion to speed up trial

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked a Georgia judge to expedite the trial of all 19 defendants in her sprawling TrumpWorld RICO case after one of them moved for a speedy trial.

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of former President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 strategy, demanded a speedy trial under state law. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set his trial date for October 23, four months ahead of Willis’ proposed date, but stressed in his ruling that the trial date only applies to Chesebro “at this time.”

Willis in a filing on Tuesday asked McAfee to clarify his order, arguing that it is “improper” to automatically sever his case from the other 18 defendants.

“The State of Georgia respectfully requests that the Court set aside its Case Specific Scheduling Order entered on August 24, 2023, to the extent that the Order states, ‘[a]t this time, these deadlines do not apply to any co-defendant,'” Willis wrote.

Legal experts: Jan. 6 architect made a “risky gamble” — but Fani Willis just “called his bluff”

Georgia’s speedy trial rules require cases to be tried before the end of two court terms following an arraignment. The arraignment of all 19 defendants is set for September 6. Former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell has also moved for a speedy trial, though McAfee has not set a date for her case.

“The State maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture and that all Defendants should be tried together,” Willis’ filing said, adding that at “an absolute minimum” the court should set the trial for Powell and any other defendant that moves for a speedy trial on the same date as Chesebro.

Willis also asked the judge to set a deadline for all defendants who wish to sever their cases.

“Criminal motivations”: Experts say Fani Willis just “skillfully” used Meadows’ words against him

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller’s team, called it a “smart move” by Willis that “amps up pressure on” everyone involved.

“Shows she is ready to go,” he tweeted.

“This is either the best bluff ever or she has pocket aces she hasn’t totally shown yet,” wrote Eric Segall, a law professor at Georgia State University. “[S]he is showing a very strong hand and not giving an inch. Very interesting. Some of the defendants (not Trump) might call her bluff on trials this Fall. I’m betting she’s more than ready (with expert help from my friend John Floyd),” he added.

But former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman called the matter a “very tricky legal puzzle.”

Chesebro effectively sought to sever his case from the others, which is common since defendants may want to tell their own stories or point the finger at others “without others being able to point the finger at them,” he explained. On the other hand, it’s in prosecutors’ interest to try defendants together.

Motions to sever “require a showing from the defendant. It’s not enough that a separate trial will increase your chances for acquittal,” Litman continued. “There must be some built-in unfairness, e.g. a statement admissible against one defendant will also come in against another, even though it wouldn’t in a separate trial.”

Litman predicted it would be “extremely unlikely that the court would order everyone to be tried together at the early date.”

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“Among other things, many of the codefendants will say they don’t have time to prepare, and it violates their due process rights. Note, however, that that basically amounts to the position that the GA speedy trial act is unconstitutional as applied,” he wrote. But if a judge rules that Chesebro cannot sever his case, he has a right to a speedy trial date “but no right to be tried independently,” meaning other defendants will remain “joined at the hip.”

“If no defendant — including Trump — can make the requisite showing to sever, that’s their date too,” with the exception of those that sought to remove their cases to federal court, Litman explained.

“Thus the puzzle: it seems beyond the pale that the court would order the other 18 (or however many don’t win removal) to trial in November. But to avoid doing so, the court needs to find that some defendants have made the showing to sever, which is not automatic,” he added. “Perhaps the court will say that the unfairness requiring severance is the abbreviated time schedule itself, but Georgia law provides 3 things a court must consider in deciding a severance motion and that doesn’t really fit into any of them… I don’t envy Judge McAfee here.”

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CNN legal analyst Elie Honig argued that Willis’ move to try all the defendants at the early date was not a “reasonable request.”

“The prosecutor cannot force people who are unwilling to exercise that right to be tried that quickly,” he said. “I think what Fani Willis is doing here is, A, she’s making a statement, and that’s perfectly appropriate, to say we’re ready on everybody, and B, she’s trying to get clarity from the giant. How many trials will there be and when will they be?”

Fellow CNN analyst Jennifer Rodgers added that there is “no way 19 people can be tried together logistically” but questioned the logic of Chesebro and Powell moving for speedy trials.

“I think it’s actually foolish of the two of them to want to trial in two months, so I think Fani Willis just wants to get a date certain on the calendar for the 17 others, which is also another group she’ll have to thin down before trial because even 17 is just not going to happen logistically,” Rodgers said.

about the Fulton case

Scientists just solved the riddle of a dead star that burps ultra-hot “cosmic cannonballs” of matter

In the Sextans constellation 4,500 light-years away, a dead, magnetic star rotates 592 times in a second, emanating electromagnetic beams like an oscillating lighthouse out into the universe. But over time, this pulsar stopped pulsating light and began flashing on and off like a light switch instead. For years, it was unclear why, but a new study suggests jet expulsions of hot matter burped out like cosmic cannonballs are behind it.

This pulsar, PSR J1023+0038, or J1023 for short, orbits another low-mass star, from which it has gradually been sucking matter over time and to which it is inching closer. Stolen matter collects in a ring around J1023, but since this accumulation process began, the energy emanating from the pulsar began switching between what researchers call a “high” mode of emanating X-rays, ultraviolet and visible light, and a “low” mode in which it goes dark. The pulsar is in the “high” mode about 70% of the time, with each “low” mode lasting anywhere between 30 seconds to many minutes.

Over time, this pulsar stopped pulsating light and began flashing on and off like a light switch instead. For years, it was unclear why.

In a new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, researchers found the switching was actually being caused by huge blasts of matter rapidly torn away from the pulsar, said study author Cristina Baglio, Ph.D., a researcher at NYU Abu Dhabi.

“In particular, the observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) were crucial, allowing us to observe for the first time for this source fast microwave flashes, marking the propagation of blobs of matter, similar to cosmic cannonballs, into space,” Baglio told Salon in an email.

Magnetars and “zombie” stars: New type of ultrahigh magnetic star discovered

Pulsars are a type of neutron star formed when massive stars collapse after running out of fuel. They are relatively small, measuring about 20 kilometers across; they have magnetic fields stronger than anything on Earth; and they rotate on their axis hundreds of times per second.

Because the pulsar observed is rotating so fast and is so magnetic, it generates particles that move nearly at the speed of light. When enough matter collects around the pulsar from its neighboring star, these charged particles heat the matter up and burst out, causing the pulsar to brighten in its high mode. Eventually, jet propulsions and strong winds from within the pulsar eject the heated matter like cosmic cannonballs. Once this matter has been removed, the star dims and switches to low mode. Then the cycle begins again.

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When enough matter collects around the pulsar from its neighboring star, these charged particles heat the matter up and burst out, causing the pulsar to brighten.

“The collision of high-energy charged particles from the pulsar wind with the inflowing matter in the disc increases the ionization level of the disc,” the authors wrote. “As a result, the inflowing matter is drawn into the pulsar magnetic field and accelerated, producing a compact jet of plasma that streams out along the direction of the pulsar magnetic field lines.”

Baglio’s team used a dozen telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) facilities in Chile and the XMM Newton, Swift, NICER and Hubble Space Telescope satellites to monitor the pulsar over two nights in 2021 through various energy spectrums, including the electromagnetic spectrum, radiowaves and X-rays.

What they saw was that the switches between the two modes took place over the course of about 10 seconds — comparable to Usain Bolt’s recent 100-meter world record. However, their equipment can only capture data at a certain speed, and Baglio hypothesized that it could actually be switching as quickly as every 0.1 seconds.

The switches between the two modes took place over the course of about 10 seconds — comparable to Usain Bolt’s recent 100-meter world record.

“[That] corresponds approximately to the timescale it takes for an eye to blink,” Baglio said. “This timescale is impressive if you consider that in that short time span, a huge amount of matter is torn away and ejected from the system at nearly the speed of light.”

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The findings can help explain how matter behaves when it’s subjected to strong gravitational, magnetic and radiation fields and provide insights into the laws of physics under extreme circumstances that can’t be replicated on Earth, said study author Francesco Coti Zelati, Ph.D., a researcher at the Institute of Space Sciences. In some ways, this behavior is similar to what happens in certain black hole systems, according to the study. But it’s unclear if this happens in other types of neutron stars, Coti Zelati said.

“The mode-switching behavior observed in the pulsar … challenges our traditional understanding of how pulsars interact with their environment,” Coti Zelati told Salon in an email. “Overall, understanding the behavior of pulsars better can give us insights into extreme states of matter, magnetic fields stronger than anything we can generate on Earth and the behavior of binary star systems where matter is actively being transferred from one object to another.”

about neutron stars

India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed on the south pole of the Moon. Here’s why that matters

India made history as the first country to land near the south pole of the Moon with its Chandrayaan-3 lander on Aug. 23, 2023. This also makes it the first country to land on the Moon since China in 2020.

India is one of several countries — including the U.S. with its Artemis program — endeavoring to land on the Moon. The south pole of the Moon is of particular interest, as its surface, marked by craters, trenches and pockets of ancient ice, hasn’t been visited until now.

The Conversation U.S. asked international affairs expert Mariel Borowitz about this Moon landing’s implications for both science and the global community.

People all across India watched the broadcast of the landing.

Why are countries like India looking to go to the Moon?

Countries are interested in going to the Moon because it can inspire people, test the limits of human technical capabilities and allow us to discover more about our solar system.

The Moon has a historical and cultural significance that really seems to resonate with people – anyone in the world can look up at the night sky, see the Moon and understand how amazing it is that a spacecraft built by humans is roaming around the surface.

NASA is looking for microbial life on the Moon. We might have left it behind

The Moon also presents a unique opportunity to engage in both international cooperation and competition in a peaceful, but highly visible, way.

The fact that so many nations – the United States, Russia, China, India, Israel – and even commercial entities are interested in landing on the Moon means that there are many opportunities to forge new partnerships.

These partnerships can allow nations to do more in space by pooling resources, and they encourage more peaceful cooperation here on Earth by connecting individual researchers and organizations.

There are some people who also believe that exploration of the Moon can provide economic benefits. In the near term, this might include the emergence of startup companies working on space technology and contributing to these missions. India has seen a surge in space startups recently.

Eventually, the Moon may provide economic benefits based on the natural resources that can be found there, such as water, helium-3 and rare Earth elements.

Are we seeing new global interest in space?

Over the last few decades, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of nations involved in space activity. This is very apparent when it comes to satellites that collect imagery or data about the Earth, for example. More than 60 nations have been involved in these types of satellite missions. Now we’re seeing this trend expand to space exploration, and particularly the Moon.

In some ways, the interest in the Moon is driven by similar goals as in the first space race in the 1960s – demonstrating technological capabilities and inspiring young people and the general public. However, this time it’s not just two superpowers competing in a race. Now we have many participants, and while there is still a competitive element, there is also an opportunity for cooperation and forging new international partnerships to explore space.

Also, with all these new actors and the technical advances of the last 60 years, there is the potential to engage in more sustainable exploration. This could include building Moon bases, developing ways to use lunar resources and eventually engaging in economic activities on the Moon based on natural resources or tourism.

How does India’s mission compare with Moon missions in other countries?

India’s accomplishment is the first of its kind and very exciting, but it’s worth noting that it’s one of seven missions currently operating on and around the Moon.

In addition to India’s Chandrayaan-3 rover near the south pole, there is also South Korea’s Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, which is studying the Moon’s surface to identify future landing sites; the NASA-funded CAPSTONE spacecraft, which was developed by a space startup company; and NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The CAPSTONE craft is studying the stability of a unique orbit around the Moon, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is collecting data about the Moon and mapping sites for future missions.

Also, while India’s Chandrayaan-2 rover crashed, the accompanying orbiter is still operational. China’s Chang’e-4 and Chang’e-5 landers are still operating on the Moon as well.

Other nations and commercial entities are working to join in. Russia’s Luna-25 mission crashed into the Moon three days before the Chandrayaan-3 landed, but the fact that Russia developed the rover and got so close is still a significant achievement.

The same could be said for the lunar lander built by the private Japanese space company ispace. The lander crashed into the Moon in April 2023.

Why choose to explore the south pole of the Moon?

The south pole of the Moon is the area where nations are focused for future exploration. All of NASA’s 13 candidate landing locations for the Artemis program are located near the south pole.

This area offers the greatest potential to find water ice, which could be used to support astronauts and to make rocket fuel. It also has peaks that are in constant or near-constant sunlight, which creates excellent opportunities for generating power to support lunar activities.

about space exploration

GOP voters can’t cope with Trump charges — so Republicans double down on anti-democratic attacks

As anyone who read the indictments from special prosecutor Jack Smith or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could attest, the evidence against Donald Trump is overwhelming in both the federal and Georgia cases involving the attempted theft of the 2020 election. But even if you haven’t read a word of either, one could surmise the seriousness of the situation from the way Republican leaders are reacting. Trump’s defenders are lashing out with the favorite rhetorical device of authoritarians everywhere: Psychological projection.

Take, for instance, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blabbering on about impeachment inquiries into the baseless conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is making impotent threats of retaliatory investigations. Meanwhile, Republicans, like Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, are seeking to shield Trump from his legal woes by hijacking must-pass government funding legislation to hinder prosecutors who have successfully secured indictments of Trump. The already shrill tones emanating from Republicans on all levels are reaching glass-shattering decibels. Unfortunately, as is usually the case, they’re looking for innocent victims to take their frustration out on — and in some states, the victim is the concept of democracy itself.

In Wisconsin, voters have reacted to the twin Republican assaults on democracy and reproductive rights by electing Justice Janet Protasiewicz to the state supreme court this year. While it was not explicitly a partisan election, Protasiewicz won because she was both loudly pro-choice and critical of her opponent, Dan Kelly, for blatantly supporting Trump’s 2020 coup efforts. Wisconsin Republicans have worked hard for a long time to gut democracy in their state to the point where Democrats would have to win by 12 percentage points to get a bare minimum in the state house. The hope is that the new liberal court majority, empowered by voters, can scale back the gerrymandering.

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“This is nothing short of an unprecedented coup,” the court’s conservative chief justice, Annette Ziegler, wrote in an unhinged email to the new, voter-chosen liberal majority. She also characterized the changes to the court as a “recent hostile takeover” and accused the new majority of conducting an “illegal experiment” by voting to weaken her bureaucratic powers.

Ziegler has been using this “coup” language all over the place to demonize the liberal majority. As with most things from Republicans today, the accusation is a confession, on two levels. First, the actual coup effort of recent history, as Ziegler no doubt knows, was conducted by Trump. Second, Ziegler herself had been refusing to re-open the court to allow the new liberal majority to take cases. She’s just mad because they rewrote the rules so they can actually do the job voters hired them to do.

In Tennessee, Republicans are also having a tantrum over the fact that voters just keep insisting on their right to choose their own leaders. In April, Republicans in the state legislature expelled two members on false claims of incivility, but in reality, Republicans reject the right of voters in urban districts to elect Black Democrats as representatives. The two were shortly restored to office by voters and clearly Republicans aren’t happy about it. The majority voted again on Monday to silence Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville. Again, the pretense was that he was “out of order” during a debate over a gun safety bill.

Fani Willis proves the skeptics wrong: 18 co-defendants is a big problem for Donald Trump

Democrats walked out in protest and Jones released a video explaining, “What is happening is not democratic. It is authoritarianism.”

Just left the House Chamber after Speaker Sexton forced a vote to silence me for the remainder of the legislative day (for speaking “off topic”) and ordered the public cleared out of the gallery.

This is the authoritarianism we are fighting against. pic.twitter.com/xfDAh9DpmI

— Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_) August 28, 2023

As with the initial expulsion, what’s truly bizarre about this is Democrats have no real power in Tennessee anyway, as it’s a red state with its own dose of gerrymandering. But that’s how entitled Republicans feel in the Trump era. It’s not enough to control all levers of government. The very fact that Democrats still get to vote and speak out at all is viewed as unacceptable.

Certainly, Trump built on years of Republican voter suppression and other anti-democratic efforts, but this petulant GOP loathing of anything that even smacks of democracy owes quite a bit to his shameless assertion that any election Trump does not win is “fraud.” Now that he’s been indicted in two separate jurisdictions for his efforts to overturn democracy, Republican leaders are, in a pique of defensiveness, doubling down. Because heaven forbid they admit that having a democracy means letting voters pick who they want as leaders.

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It’s a sign of how normalized the fascist effect has become in the GOP that barely anyone batted an eye to the violent rhetoric that poured out of Republican leaders and pundits in response to Trump’s indictments. Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was squawking about how conservatives need to “rise up” and threatened a “civil war.” Failed Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake was raving about how there needs to be “a street fight, a fist fight” on Steve Bannon’s podcast. And, of course, there was the projection, such as with right-wing talk radio host Stew Peters ranting about how Democrats are “the real insurrectionists who have committed sedition,” justifying the use of “extra-legal” options to remove them from power.

What is perhaps more surprising and equally dangerous is the number of GOP figures who are propping up fake governments in an effort to undermine the authority of real elected officials. As Right Wing Watch reported, earlier this month, a group of right-wing activists led by former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum “held a simulated Article V convention in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia” in hopes of kickstarting an effort to void out the actual Constitution. Larry Klayman, of the misnamed Freedom Watch, claims to have convened an extralegal “citizen grand jury” and “citizen judge” in Idaho to file charges against President Biden for made-up crimes.

Rating the MAGA mug shots: Donald Trump and his posse pose as supervillains

It’s easy to laugh at this stuff, but it helps build up GOP morale to abuse real power to prosecute Democrats on false evidence and false accusations. On Fox News, for instance, Jesse Watters hosted a GOP political operative named Ned Ryun, who was screaming for the mass arrest of Democrats as retaliation. He didn’t even really bother to pretend they had committed crimes to justify it. Certainly, the House Republican chatter about impeaching Biden and investigating the prosecutors falls into this category. The fake grand juries and constitutional conventions only serve to make these abuses of power, used just to prop up lies, seem more legitimate.

All of this comes from the same place: The Republican belief that they should hold all the power, regardless of what voters believe. So much so that they back Trump’s criminal efforts to stay in power, despite losing an election. It’s all the more reason to hope that the March 4 date for Trump’s federal trial for an attempted coup stays put. Republicans clearly need even more persuasion that the fascistic path they are on will lead to no good. They won’t wake up overnight if their leader gets convicted for his crimes, but the more the cognitive dissonance increases, the harder it will be for them to hang on.

about Republicans’ anti-democratic moves

Don’t look away: It’s a mistake to ignore Donald Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson

Last week belonged to Donald Trump.

CNN’s Zachary Wolf correctly described it when he wrote, “The exhausting view of this bizarre week – with the first GOP presidential primary debate one day, followed by the fourth arrest this year of the former president the next – is that everyone should prepare for so much more of this uniquely American and continuously unbelievable political spectacle. It will be impossible to look away.”

One week ago, the Republican Party held its first 2024 presidential primary debate. Trump refused to participate. He leads DeSantis, his closest rival, by 40 points in polls. Trump’s foul shadow hung over the event. When asked by the moderators, 6 of the 8 prospective Republican presidential candidates basically declared their loyalty to the traitor ex-president and promised to support him should he become the party’s nominee in 2024. The Fox News crowd, gathered in Milwaukee for the debate last Wednesday, booed when Trump was criticized for his crimes against democracy.

The next day, Trump was arrested and booked at the Fulton County jail for his alleged crimes in connection with his Jan. 6 coup attempt, which involved rigging the outcome of the presidential election in Georgia. Trump immediately began selling images of his mug shot and has reportedly made millions of dollars so far from his MAGA followers. Trump’s arrests and indictments continue to fuel his popularity among his MAGA followers and other right-wing voters.

On Wednesday night, at the same time as the Republican primary debate, Trump gave a fake interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. During their conversation, Carlson and Trump amplified violent fantasies about assassination plots and civil war. The two furthered the Big Lie about the 2020 election and continued spreading the conspiracy theory that Trump is being persecuted by a “deep state” conspiracy led by the “evil” Democrats and President Joe Biden.

As I am writing this essay, Trump literally just sent out the following fundraising email to his MAGA cultists, continuing with his fascist fantasies and themes of persecution and martyrdom:

During my Tucker Carlson interview – which, by the way, has now garnered more views than when Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson – Tucker asked me how I’m able to remain cheerful even as I face 4 different sham trials and a threat of 1,000 years in prison as an innocent man.

It’s a fair question. But I told Tucker that the only reason I’m able to endure such vicious and baseless attacks is because of the wonderful support I have from the American people.

When I look at the polls, when I look at our grassroots fundraising numbers, when I tour the country and am welcomed with such unbelievable love and patriotism, I am filled with endless motivation to NEVER SURRENDER our mission to save America.

The truth is: I’m not in this fight all on my own…

…I have millions and millions of patriots standing by my side who are equally as committed to making our country great again.

And yes, that’s right – I’m talking about YOU, Friend.

Your support keeps me motivated, inspired, determined, and fearless in the face of the most vicious attacks I’ve ever been subjected to in my entire life….

(But, of course, if you’re doing poorly right now in Biden’s Third World America, don’t even think about donating. Our movement is about making YOUR life great again, so I don’t want you to incur any cost that would hurt you or your family. And very soon, I’ll be back in the White House, and you’re going to be prospering like never before. Just wait and see!)

None of this is normal.

Fani Willis proves the skeptics wrong: 18 co-defendants is a big problem for Donald Trump

Instead of continuing to warn the American people about Trump and his movement’s increasing danger to American society and democracy, the ex-president’s interview with Tucker Carlson was largely ignored by the mainstream news media or treated as a curiosity to be mocked. The worst and most dangerous reactions to Trump’s interview by the mainstream news media and its professional centrists and hope peddlers talked about it through the lens of theater criticism and horse race journalism as something “boring” or that “we heard this before and there is nothing new, so who cares?”

“The Carlson-Trump interview put on display both Trump’s paranoia as well as his uncanny ability to project it onto others.“

That a criminal ex-president, who has tens of millions of followers, and is tied in or leading President Biden in the polls, and is promising to unleash a reign of fascist terror and revenge if he get takes back the White House is being ignored and dismissed by the news media because he is “boring” and “repetitive” is an indictment of them as a class and an institution. In all, many of the same voices who normalized Donald Trump in 2016 and then acted surprised and shocked when he won are doing the same thing now. That is not a mistake; it is a choice.

In a powerful new essay at The Philadelphia Inquirer, William Bunch makes this intervention:

I guess the 20th-century author and socialist Upton Sinclair really nailed it when he wrote, ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”…

If you watch enough not-Fox cable TV news, you’ll occasionally see an expert on fascism like NYU’s Ruth Ben-Ghiat or Yale’s Timothy Snyder explaining the roots of this American authoritarianism, or you can read a piece like Margaret Sullivan’s Guardian take on the fascist appeal of Trump-clone Ramaswamy. But then it’s back to your regular programming, including a desperate desire to frame today’s clash in the context of long-lost 20th-century democratic norms, and to blame any transgressions on a mysterious “tribalism” that plagues “both sides.”….

These are the stakes: dueling visions for America — not Democratic or Republican, with parades and red, white, and blue balloons, but brutal fascism or flawed democracy. The news media needs to stop with the horse-race coverage of this modern-day March on Rome, stop digging incessantly for proof that both sides are guilty of the same sins, and stop thinking that a war for the imperiled survival of the American Experiment is some kind of inexplicable “tribalism.”

We need to hear from more experts on authoritarian movements, and fewer pollsters and political strategists. We need journalists who’ll talk a lot less about who’s up or down and a lot more about the stakes — including Trump’s plans to dismantle the democratic norms that he calls “the administrative state,” to weaponize the criminal justice system, and to surrender the war against climate change — if the 45th president becomes the 47th. We need the media to see 2024 not as a traditional election but as an effort to mobilize a mass movement that would undo democracy and splatter America with more blood like what was shed Saturday in Jacksonville. We need to understand that if the next 15 months remain the worst covered election in U.S. history, that it might also be the last.

I asked Dr. Lance Dodes, who has been one of the most consistent alarm-sounders about Trump’s diseased mind and the danger(s) he and his movement represent to the public, for his analysis of the criminal ex-president’s “interview” with Carlson:

In the Carlson interview Trump demonstrates, again, the primitive psychology that makes him the enormous danger he is to democracy and other human beings. He inadvertently tells us of his bottomless hatred and capacity for violence in the manner he always does — by attributing these characteristics of his to his victims and opponents. This primitive process, called projective identification, is evident in his recent statements such as, “There’s a level of hatred that I’ve never seen” in Democrats, and that they are “savage animals; they’re people that are sick.” Trump’s assigning his own traits to others and his simultaneous inability to recognize the actual feelings, rights or thoughts of others, coupled with his absence of the capacity for empathy, is just what is seen in the famous criminals against humanity, like Putin and the well-known tyrants of the twentieth century. Trump’s current interview is just another example of his derangement for those able, and willing, to see.

I also asked Dr. Mark Goulston, who is a leading psychiatrist and author, for his thoughts about Trump’s interview with Carlson. He focused in on Trump’s power as a cult leader:

Donald Trump was interviewed by Tucker Carlson which played at the same time as the recent GOP debate. As always Trump does have a killer instinct to turn any potential adverse event into an opportunity. For instance, consider his merchandising his mug shot to raise funds from his base. By talking “civil war and possible assassination” in his interview with Carlson, in his political base’s mind, he was able to trump anything any of the other GOP candidates could/would say in their debate. The challenge for any of his GOP or Democratic rivals is how to stop his teflonic ability to turn anything thrown at him into something that works for him. He famously said, “I Could … Shoot Somebody, And I Wouldn’t Lose Any Voters.”

How can we break the hypnotic spell he has over his base and more importantly his grip on the media which has been reporting on him every day since he announced that he was running for President in 2015? It appears that Trump is an “equal opportunity disparager,” doesn’t care about anyone else and is probably disdainful of his base for their being such easy marks for whatever he wants to do. Might there be a way to collect and broadcast video clips of arrogant disdainful remarks about people from a lower socioeconomic status that his base comes from similar to Mitt Romney saying that 47% of the United States was government dependent. And if such clips could be discovered, might there be a way to say to his followers, “Want to know what Trump really thinks of you?”

As seen on Jan. 6 and throughout the Age of Trump and beyond, the Republican Party and its propaganda machine are highly skilled at both using stochastic terrorism (coded appeals and implied threats) and overt threats and incitements to violence as a tool in their war against real democracy.

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Trump’s followers listen to these commands. Over the weekend, for example, a white supremacist murdered three Black people in Florida. National security and other experts continue to warn that there are millions of Trump’s followers and other members of the right wing who support and are potentially willing to engage in acts of terrorism and other violence – including a second coup attempt, civil war, or insurgency, to put Trump back in office.

Jason Blazakis, who is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center, explained to me via email how Trump’s interview with Carlson is part of a much larger pattern of violence and disruption by neofascist and other right-wing malign actors:

The rhetoric of the interview between Carlson and Trump represented a 45-minute microcosm of what is wrong with extreme far-right media and extreme-far right political figures. Steeped in conspiracy theories and fond memories for the January 6 insurrection, the discussion normalized violence as a response to political disappointment. Like many of President Trump’s tweets in the lead-up to the 6^th of January, the Trump/Carlson engagement created a narrative that can fuel violence. Trump doesn’t have to inspire mass protests to be dangerous. He just has to light the spark of evil in one person for them to do horrific things in his name. We saw this in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago raid, when an individual went to an FBI field office in Ohio to carry out an attack.

Donald Trump is more than a man or a leader, he is a symbol and example of a much larger history of fascist and authoritarian leaders and demagogues. In that way, Trump is behaving much the same way as Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin.

Dr. Marcel Danesi, author of the new book “Politics, Lies and Conspiracy Theories: A Cognitive Linguistic Perspective,” explained to me via email how:

The Carlson-Trump interview put on display both Trump’s paranoia as well as his uncanny ability to project it onto others, reinforcing his leadership as a valiant warrior in stopping the purported degeneration of America’s true nature. It was a lesson on the ability of the master liar to make his own paranoia everyone else’s by creating what Oscar Wilde called a “mind fog”. The interview was nothing if not a quagmire of thought confusion which, nonetheless, was intended to stoke resentments, anger, and even hatred by innuendo. In the mind fog, there is literally no clarity, just random delusional, self-referential thoughts, which Trump somehow has the uncanny ability to connect to his fictional mission to overthrow a supposed deep state.

The interview was a “Twilight Zone” of surreal verbal dysfunction, which Carlson constantly tried to make coherent with questions that appeared to have the import of truthful discourse, but which actually created further obfuscation by virtue of the fact that it allowed Trump to project paranoia. The whole interview was worrisome, reminiscent of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s warning that “Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.” Carlson and Trump repeatedly created scenarios in which the hero in America’s cultural war (Trump) feels that his liberty and thoughts were being dismantled by vast, shadowy forces. It was, overall, an example of what Orwell called “creative paranoia”, a paranoia that is partially real and partially fabricated.

Danesi also said this about Donald Trump’s mug shot:

The look of defiance that Trump simulated for his mug shot is the assumed pose of an angry lionesque warrior—an image that comes right out of Machiavelli, who advised would-be tyrants to be both a “fox,” able to baffle and deceive people, and to act and look like a “lion,” feigning bravery and strength, pretending to be a valiant warrior for truth and justice. Adopting the ferocious countenance of an angry lion allows Trump to portray himself before his sustainers as a captured leader needing protective support—the lion cannot fight the battle on his own; he needs an army behind and in front of him.

As Machiavelli went on to suggest, the master liar must never show any weakness or gentility; he must always be, or at least appear to be, brutal, exuding righteous anger, control, power. Machiavelli saw this as the necessary performance of the lion role that the despot must always be ready to enact. The mug shot is a portrait of this role.

For the American people to escape the Trumpocene and its great troubles and confusion, Donald Trump must be defeated at the polls and also convicted and sentenced to prison.

These two steps much be taken for his power as a fascist cult leader to be diminished – but as I explained in a previous essay, the neofascist movement is now much larger than he is and will endure for a very long time. To purge that poison will require a decades-long project of democratic renewal and rehabilitating the country’s civil society institutions and political culture.

But what must not happen is for the country’s news media and other opinion leaders to minimize or downplay Donald Trump and his MAGA movement’s dangers to American society. To normalize Trumpism and American neofascism by accepting it as the new status quo and reporting on it through the lens of theater criticism, “bothsidesism” or the political horserace and access journalism is to almost guarantee that it will gain a permanent foothold in American society.

For at least seven years, too many leading voices and institution in the American news media have made that choice and the enduring power of a criminal ex-president and enemy of democracy Donald Trump – who is basically tied with Biden in many polls and the Electoral College – is the result.

about Trump’s threats

Can we defend against the online anti-science movement?

Where would we be without science — living short brutish lives in caves? I exaggerate, but not much, and only to make the point that science and scientists have enriched our lives beyond measure. We travel near or far in cars that are heated or cooled as needed while we are entertained by music or podcasts. We stay awake well past dark in our well-lit homes, reading books, watching television, playing computer games and communicating with friends and family via our smartphones and the Internet.

We have comfortable furniture, indoor plumbing and appliances that clean our dishes, clothes and homes. We keep food fresh in refrigerators and cook food with convenient stoves and ovens. When we are sick or injured, we can receive medical treatments that are safe and effective.

Yet Americans have had an enduring love-hate relationship with science, making heroes out of Thomas Edison while enjoying the public pillorying of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Our misplaced faith in AI is turning the internet into a cesspool of misinformation and spam

It is ironic that tools created by scientists have amplified the current attack on science. The Internet, for example, began as an academic project that would allow interconnected computers to share data and computing power. As the Internet opened up to everyone, optimists hoped that the easy access to information would liberate people — after all, information is power.

The Internet offered the possibility and hope of genuinely free speech with people worldwide able to hear the truth uncensored by government officials. Those who are oppressed by totalitarian governments would be able to see how others live and be inspired to demand more. Those who were lied to by their governments would see the truth. Those who didn’t go to elite colleges would be able to learn online. Those who don’t know how to build a table or fix a leaky faucet could be guided by online instructions.

It hasn’t quite worked out that way.

The Internet offered the possibility and hope of genuinely free speech with people worldwide able to hear the truth uncensored by government officials.

Instead, the Internet facilitates the rapid and widespread disseminations of disinformation, both by pranksters and by the malevolent. Instead of good information winning out over bad information in the court of public opinion, it now appears that the opposite is true — that we live in a post-truth world where falsehoods are believed and facts are dismissed.

The easy access and wide reach of the Internet in general and social media in particular allows pretty much anyone to say pretty much anything and find a receptive audience, including anti-science claims that the earth is flat; the moon landings were faked; and Bill Gates orchestrated the COVID-19 crisis so that he can use vaccines to insert microchips in our bodies. Like a Frankenstein monster that has gotten out of control, the Internet powers the anti-science movement.

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Vaccines for polio, measles, mumps, chickenpox and other diseases have been lifesavers for millions, yet some people believe that vaccines are part of a nefarious government plot to harm us or spy on us. Briton Andrew Wakefield is the source of the now thoroughly debunked claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism. Journals have retracted his research and he has been barred him from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom, yet celebrities continue to spread his wildly irresponsible fabrications throughout the Internet.

Like a Frankenstein monster that has gotten out of control, the Internet powers the anti-science movement.

So, too, with dangerous falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines. Too many people have reacted to the heroic successes of scientists in developing safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines with distrust, disinformation and refusals to take the vaccine. It is sad enough that people who believe these untruths risk their lives, but they also endanger others.

A distrust of elites in general and scientists in particular is spread and magnified by the Internet swamp of fake stories, misleading videos and manipulated social media. We see clickbait that is interesting and supports our beliefs. We click, read, are happy to have our beliefs confirmed, and share the link with like-minded people. Those with different beliefs are led to different links, which they share with people who agree with them. Social media is tribalizing in that the world becomes increasingly divided into warring groups convinced that they are right and others are wrong.

Social media and Internet platforms value engagement above all else — stories people will read, videos they will watch, tweets they will share. The longer a user is engaged, the more data companies can collect and sell. Unfortunately, one of the most reliable ways to keep people engaged is to feed them sensational falsehoods. Provocative links are promoted — and things that are provocative are often exaggerated, misleading or downright lies.

One of the most reliable ways to keep people engaged is to feed them sensational falsehoods.

In addition to promoting links that titillate, algorithms select content that confirms biases and fuels hyper-partisanship by luring people into filter bubbles in which they mostly read and watch things that support their worldview. Users seldom leave their bubbles — indeed, they often don’t know they are inside a bubble — because the algorithms keep feeding them more of the same. If users are aware of people with other viewpoints, the other people are deemed enemies — uninformed and clueless.

Firehoses of falsehood have been loosely constrained by the number of people needed to do the dirty work. Now, ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) can generate an essentially infinite supply of disinformation. Even if they were specific and enforceable, agreements among tech giants to behave better will do little to reign them in. LLMs are cheap and bad actors are not easily deterred. The Internet is about to be drowned by a tsunami of deceit, much of it intended to further undermine the credibility of governments, evidence-based policies and the scientists that provide the evidence.

ChatGPT and other large language models can generate an essentially infinite supply of disinformation.

A first step for combating this coming tsunami of deceit is to block bot access to social media by requiring people creating internet accounts to be verified through clear evidence of identity. Savvy tech companies that use our internet activities to identify what we like and dislike can surely do a better job of identifying fake accounts and shuttering them.

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Social media companies can also do more to identify phony news stories and videos, tag stories and videos that are clearly false and shut down repeat-offender accounts that initiate multiple false news stories.

Another weapon in the war against lies, lies and more lies would be for schools to teach required courses in media literacy, including the ways in which we are manipulated by the media and the tricks that advertisers and others use to mislead and misinform.

It will be hard to fend off the assault on science, but it is a battle worth fighting — the costs of rejecting science are enormous, not just for anti-scientists, but for society as a whole.

about misinformation

“Negligent manslaughter”: Study finds climate change could kill 1 billion mostly poor people

By the end of the century, nearly 1 billion mostly poor people could die due to climate change, a new study suggests. If climate change reaches 2°C higher than pre-industrial levels, the level of death it will unleash would be catastrophic, according to research published in the scientific journal Energies. If true, this means that even staying within the confines of the Paris climate accord — which pledges 2°C as the upper limit of global warming — will still lead to a humanitarian disaster.

The authors, Joshua Pearce of Western University in Ontario, Canada and Richard Parncutt of University of Graz, in Austria, performed a meta-analysis on studies that examine fatalities caused by climate change impacts. They found that “a future person is killed every time 1000 tons of fossil carbon are burned.” The researchers concluded that “if warming reaches or exceeds 2 °C this century, mainly richer humans will be responsible for killing roughly 1 billion mainly poorer humans through anthropogenic global warming, which is comparable with involuntary or negligent manslaughter.”

The scientists emphasized the role of wealthy humans because research shows that they are disproportionately among the so-called “super emitters,” or wealthy individuals whose carbon footprint is significantly greater than that of ordinary people. “In 2019, fully 40% of total U.S. emissions were associated with income flows to the highest earning 10% of households,” explained the authors of a recent study in PLOS Climate.

Climate change is “a ‘new abnormal’ and it is now playing out in real time — the impacts of climate change are upon us in the form of unprecedented, dangerous extreme weather events,” Dr. Michael E. Mann, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Salon in July.

Why “The Idol” being canceled is causing so much joy: Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s big blunder

R.I.P. to “The Idol” — finally. I feel a beautiful sort of vindication that the utterly despised short-lived, controversy-laden HBO drama will never reign as the prestigious television it strived and failed to masquerade as. “Euphoria” nightmare weaver Sam Levinson and R&B singer Abel Tesfaye‘s (aka The Weeknd) disturbing male erotic passion project died bitterly before it could stop pretending to be clever, weighty and revolutionary.

[Levinson] inadvertently created one of the worst shows in recent history under the guise of creating Prestige TV.

The show was critically panned, received a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, and during its short five-episode weekly broadcast people all over the internet were seated to hatewatch it. Haters and enjoyers picked apart Tesfaye’s inexperienced acting, nepotism baby Lily-Rose Depp’s singing – who played Joselyn, the female pop star counterpart to Tesfaye’s smarmy cult leader Tedros – and Levinson’s screenwriting and direction. It would come to nobody’s surprise that people rejoiced when an HBO spokesperson announced today that “after much thought and consideration, HBO, as well as the creators and producers have decided not to move forward with a second season.”

Further, “The Idol” was the brainchild of the terrifying duo Levinson and Tesfaye. It was steeped in controversy even before it aired. During the show’s production, news broke that the original director, Amy Seimetz had left the project towards the tail end of the shoot. Reports said that Tesfaye disagreed with the show’s “female perspective.” Production was already complete on four episodes of the six-episode series, which was then over-hauled by creator Levinson, who rewrote scripts and reshot a majority of the $45 million HBO poured into the show. The budget was raised to a shameful and wasteful $75 million during Levinson’s reshoots. It’s mindboggling that HBO would spend this much money to save a show that everyone behind the scenes knew was a flaming dumpster fire ready to blow.

A timeline of HBO’s messy “torture porn” show, involving The Weeknd, Sam Levinson and Rolling Stone

Before the show came out and people could form objective opinions on it, a scathing Rolling Stone exposé was released earlier this year. The report detailed serious allegations that with Levinson at the helm of the show, he created an erratic, toxic working environment. At the Cannes Film Festival, Levinson said the Rolling Stone piece made him realize the show would be “the biggest show of the summer.”

All the hatewatching in the world wasn’t enough to revive “The Idol” from its inevitable death.

In a way, Levinson is right in a “boy who cried wolf” kind of sardonic way. He’s not right because the show is any good — but he’s right because he inadvertently created one of the worst shows in recent history under the guise of creating Prestige TV. And it’s opened the Hellmouth to discuss inherently what is wrong with the film and television industry when Barry Levinson’s annoying nepo baby son and a pretentious cinephile R&B singer are given a disposable income to create abhorrent, “sexual torture porn.”

Audiences and critics so ardently hated “The Idol” because the subject matter and behind-the-scenes drama were so hateable. Culturally, “The Idol” which was lauded by the network as “HBO’s most exciting and provocative original programs,” just didn’t appeal to what people are craving on TV. All the hatewatching in the world wasn’t enough to revive “The Idol” from its inevitable death. And that’s saying a lot because yes, we undeniably love horrible, trashy television in America. But television has become such a prestigious space that once HBO produces a show, people already have significantly high expectations.

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Prestigious HBO TV like “Succession,” “The White Lotus” and “Big Little Lies” showcase exactly the kind of voyeurism audiences revel in. These shows depict depravity and grotesque images of wealth and exploitation – but as a critique – and that’s what people crave in this modern era of TV. It reflects the obscene disparities of income inequality present in American society and culture. Eventually, we want to see the ugly, rich and inhumane people suffer because, at the end of the day, they are the villains in our stories. These satirical dramas always have a deeper core to their storytelling, and “The Idol” lost whatever sincerity it had when it succumbed to the egos of rich, unrelenting and insincere provocateurs like Levinson and Tefsaye.

The sad part about “The Idol’s” complete failure is that there is a kernel of a solid idea in the story of an exploited female pop star that Seimetz brought to life in her first draft of the show. Stories like that resonate with audiences as we have had a resurgence in understanding the nuances and exploitation of female celebrities like the pornification of child stars turned adult celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in the early aughts. Tesfaye even has the experience to speak to superstardom as his music alter ego has hit the heights of mega success in the last decade. Also, Depp is the daughter of a former A-list movie star, Johnny Depp, who has been in the news nonstop since the defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard trial rocked America and our understanding of what victim blaming on an international scale looks like. All of these people involved, in some shape or capacity, can speak to this central idea of celebrity exploitation, and yet we were left with scenes of a viral selfie of Depp’s character, Joselyn with semen on her face posted online without her consent . . . Thank god, “The Idol” was canceled.

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The royal family prevented Meghan Markle from saying this one word on “Suits”

Meghan Markle was forbidden by the royal family to say “poppycock” in an episode of the legal drama “Suits,” the show’s creator Aaron Korsh shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Korsh said that he wasn’t aware of how the royal family received and read scripts before they were filmed but he always received feedback. The specific line of dialogue that was changed was “It’s poppycock.” Korsh explained that his wife’s family use the word “when they have a topic to discuss that might be sensitive.”

In the scene, Markle’s character, Rachel is arguing with her love interest, Mike (Patrick J. Adams) and as a parallel to Korsh’s in-laws the script was written to say, “My family would say ‘poppycock.'” But Korsh said the royal family did not want her saying the word — he “presumes because they didn’t want people cutting things together of her saying ‘c**k.'” The “poppycock” changed to “bulls**t”

Korsh said “being irritated is your initial reaction” when occasional input and suggestions from the royal family changed his vision. But “it got explained to me that it was about that [splicing potential], I had some sympathy because I wouldn’t want somebody doing that to her either,” he explained. “And the thing is, I didn’t think anybody really would, but also I don’t know. People are crazy.”

Markle left the nine-season-long show in the seventh season finale in 2018, just a few weeks prior to her royal wedding to Prince Harry.

Eminem tells Vivek Ramaswamy he’s not the real Slim Shady – stop rapping “Lose Yourself”

Eminem has deemed GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is not the real Slim Shady. The rapper demanded last week that Ramaswamy stop using the hip-hop artist’s music after the politician rapped the Grammy- and Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself” from the film “8 Mile” during a campaign event.

The Republican businessman and 2024 presidential hopeful performed the song at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month. In a cease-and-desist letter, the performing rights organization BMI relayed to Ramaswamy’s campaign that it “has received a communication from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical compositions.”

“This letter serves as notice to you …that BMI has received a communication from Marshall B. Mathers, III, professionally known as Eminem, objecting to the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign’s use of Eminem’s musical compositions…”

Letter obtained by @aaronpellish & @annamajaCNN pic.twitter.com/hJsC2iW3Sn

— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) August 28, 2023

A spokesperson for Ramaswamy’s campaign said in a statement to NBC News that “to the American people’s chagrin, we will have to leave the rapping to the real Slim Shady.”

If Ramaswamy continues to use Eminem’s music whilst he is campaigning for the 2024 election, he will be in violation of the cease-and-desist, the letter said.

In response to the cease-and-desist, Ramaswamy said on X: “Will The REAL Slim Shady Please Stand Up? He didn’t just say what I think he did, did he?”

Chipotle slated to pay more than $300K in Washington, D.C. child labor lawsuit settlement

Chipotle Mexican Grill agreed to pay more than $300K to the District of Columbia following allegations that the popular chain violated D.C. child labor laws over 800 times over the last three years, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb said Monday. Schwalb’s office alleged Chipotle allowed employees under the age of 18 to work more than eight hours a day, more than 48 hours in a week and more than six consecutive days in a work week. Chipotle also allowed children to work after 10 p.m. A May 2022 investigation into the chain’s 20 D.C.-based restaurants revealed that the violations have occurred since April 2020.

As part of the settlement, Chipotle will pay D.C. $322,400 and has agreed to a new training and workplace compliance plan, according to prosecutors. Chipotle, however, “denies the District’s allegations regarding violations of any child labor laws. Nothing contained in this Settlement Agreement is or may be construed to be an admission by the Company of any violation of law or regulation, any other matter of fact or law, or any liability or wrongdoing.”

This isn’t the first time Chipotle has been accused of violating state child labor laws. In 2020, the chain paid Massachusetts $1.4 million for 13,253 alleged violations of child labor laws. And in September, Chipotle paid New Jersey $7.75 million for “alleged widespread and persistent violations of the state’s child labor laws,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin described at the time.

Prescriptions . . . for fruits and vegetables? A new study says yes — here’s why

The health of people with diabetes, hypertension and obesity improved when they could get free fruits and vegetables with a prescription from their doctors and other health professionals.

We found that these patients’ blood sugar levels, blood pressure and weight improved in our new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The improvements we saw in clinical outcomes could have a meaningful impact on overall health. For example, systolic blood pressure, or blood pressure during heartbeats, decreased more than 8 millimeters of mercury, or mm Hg, while diastolic blood pressure, or blood pressure between heartbeats, decreased nearly 5 mm Hg. For context, this is about half the drop gained through medications that lower blood pressure.

Many U.S. health care providers have been experimenting with “food is medicine” programs, which provide free, healthy food to patients — sometimes for a year or more.

This is the largest analysis to date of produce prescription programs, which are one variety of these efforts. They let patients with diet-related illnesses get apples, broccoli, berries, cucumbers and other kinds of fruits and vegetables for free. In Los Angeles, Boise, Houston, Minneapolis and other places where the programs we studied were located, participants selected the produce of their choice at grocery stores or farmers markets using electronic cards or vouchers. They typically received about US$65 per month for four to 10 months.

We pooled data from 22 U.S. produce prescription locations operated by Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit that promotes access to affordable, healthy food. None of the pilots had previously been evaluated. All 4,000 participants either had, or were at risk for, poor cardiometabolic health and were recruited from clinics serving low-income neighborhoods.

Participants in these programs ate more fruits and vegetables. They were also one-third less likely to experience food insecurity — not having enough food to meet basic needs and lead a healthy life.

Wholesome Wave’s Fruit & Vegetable Prescription Program explained.

Why it matters

More than 300,000 Americans die annually of cardiovascular disease and diabetes cases tied to what they eat.

The people in the estimated 13.5 million U.S. households experiencing food insecurity are more likely than others to have cardiometabolic health problems, such as diabetes or heart disease. They also have shorter life expectancy and higher medical costs.

Most Americans, regardless of their income, don’t follow a healthy diet. However, research shows that lower-income Americans tend to eat food that’s slightly worse for their health than those who can afford to spend more.

The 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health brought together experts who outlined a national strategy to eradicate food insecurity and reduce diet-related illnesses. It ended with a strategy calling for, among other things, more produce prescription programs.

The last White House conference on hunger and nutrition, which occurred over 50 years earlier, led to significant and lasting changes in U.S. food policies. The National School Lunch Program expanded and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, was created.

Within a year of the latest conference, two government agencies — the Indian Health Service and the Veterans Health Administration — announced produce prescription pilots. Eight state Medicaid programs have received or applied for federal waivers that would allow Medicaid to pay for produce prescriptions for up to six months for some people. However, these programs remain unavailable to most Americans who might benefit.

Dariush Mozaffarian of Tufts University discusses ‘food is medicine’ initiatives.

What’s next

We are evaluating “food is medicine” pilots funded by the Flexible Services Program in Massachusetts’ Medicaid program. We are also running a large, randomized controlled trial, in which one group of patients with cancer will get free home-delivered meals and another will receive standard care.

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Kurt Hager, Instructor of Epidemiology, UMass Chan Medical School and Fang Fang Zhang, Professor of Epidemiology, Tufts University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Law professor calls out Trump for trying to “manipulate the clock” in both ways as judge cracks down

A federal judge set a March 4 trial date in the case brought by the Justice Department against former President Donald Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, said in a hearing on Monday that the trial date suggested by federal prosecutors, who proposed Jan. 2., didn’t allow Trump enough time to prepare. But Trump’s team said the trial should be pushed back until April 2026, after the presidential election, which Chutkan said is “far beyond what is necessary.”

Trump’s lead attorney John Lauro argued that the trial date set by Chutkan would deprive the former president of the opportunity to have “adequate representation”.

“This is a request for a show trial, not a speedy trial,” Lauro said. “Mr. Trump is not above the law, but he is not below the law.”

Trump lawyer complains after Judge Chutkan sets March 4 trial date — but she’s not having it

The March 4 date, when jury selection will begin, is the day before Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states are scheduled to hold Republican primaries or caucuses.

“Trump is trying to manipulate the clock in two directions simultaneously: on one hand, he complains that the charges are too late and as such, are, in his telling, election interference, yet at the same time he asserts that the March trial date is too soon for him to mount a defense,” James Sample, a Hofstra University constitutional law professor, told Salon.

But the date also collides with two other criminal cases against the former president. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has suggested a March 4 trial date for Trump regarding election tampering charges in that state and his trial in Manhattan, where Trump is facing over 30 felony charges linked to hush-money payments to a porn actress before the 2016 election, is slated to begin on March 25.

Experts: Trump lawyer had “heated outburst attacking Judge Chutkan” — but she “called his bluff”

If the trial in Washington exceeds 11 weeks, it could overlap with Trump’s other federal trial, on charges of illegally holding onto classified documents after leaving the White House and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them, according to The New York Times. The proceedings for this trial are scheduled to begin in Florida in late May, though court schedules frequently change.

“There is no perfect time for criminal charges against a former President and a current presidential candidate,” Sample said. “The solution to his timing problems is one that he manifestly rejected via his actions – namely not to engage in the underlying conduct that led to the charges.”

Chutkan acknowledged that she was aware of Trump’s upcoming trial dates next year and his concurrent presidential campaign. However, she emphasized that she would not allow the overlap of his legal challenges and political candidacy to hinder the process of determining a date.

“If this case involved a professional athlete, it would be inappropriate to schedule a trial to accommodate her schedule,” Chutkan said. “Mr. Trump will be treated with no more or less deference than any other defendant.”

She added that there is a “societal interest to a speedy trial.”

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Following Chutkan’s ruling in Washington, Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was planning to appeal her decision.

“Deranged Jack Smith & his team of Thugs, who were caught going to the White House just prior to Indicting the 45th President of the United States (an absolute No No!), have been working on this Witch Hunt for almost 3 years, but decided to bring it smack in the middle of Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent’s campaign against him,” Trump wrote. “Election Interference! Today a biased, Trump Hating Judge gave me only a two month extension, just what our corrupt government wanted, SUPER TUESDAY. I will APPEAL!”

In private discussions with his aides, the ex-president has been open about his desire to navigate his intricate legal challenges by securing victory in the election, The Times reported. If either of his two federal trials gets postponed until after the election and Trump ends up winning, he might explore the option of pardoning himself once in office or having his attorney general dismiss the cases entirely, according to the Times.

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“Trump’s bombastic posts aside, there is no right to appeal his trial date,” Sample said. “If he is convicted at trial, and then wants to assert, on appeal that he was not afforded adequate time to prepare a trial defense, he can make that argument. The fact is that the judicial system would collapse if every perfunctory, minute decision by every trial judge was immediately appealable. Given Trump’s status as a frequent litigant he ought to know that.”

Trump is facing three additional criminal lawsuits in New York and Georgia, as well as a federal indictment in Florida linked to his handling of classified materials.

Although Chutkan said that she had communicated with the judge overseeing the Manhattan case, it remains unclear how the judges and prosecutors would navigate arranging four criminal trials in the upcoming year while Trump remains busy campaigning.

about the Jan. 6 case

“Hostile takeover”: Wisconsin conservative justice accuses elected liberal majority of a “coup”

The conservative chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday sent a seething email to the state’s new liberal majority, accusing them of a political revolt and an “illegal experiment” when they voted to shrink her powers and oust the director of state courts.

“You are making a mess of the judiciary, the court and the institution for years to come,” Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler wrote to her fellow justices and interim state court director Audrey Skwierawski, in emails obtained by the Associated Press. “This must stop. … I have no confidence in the recent hostile takeover and the chaotic effect it has had on the court, staff, and the overall stable functioning of the courts. Again, I will not condone such lawless destruction of the constitution, the judiciary, or the court. This is nothing short of an unprecedented coup. For 40 years, the role of the Chief Justice has been understood and respected. Your short term goals will cause long term, irreparable damage to the judiciary. What a historical disgrace.”

Wisconsin GOP supermajority already looking to impeach newly elected liberal Supreme Court judge

Ziegler also instructed Skwierawski to stop signing orders in her name, writing, “It has come to my attention that you have been signing my reserve judge orders without my knowledge or approval. You never asked me for permission. You do not have my permission. Stop. These orders are in my name. You have no lawful authority to sign them. If you have signed anything else under my name, please advise immediately.”

Skwierawski responded to Ziegler saying she “vehemently” disagreed, adding, “I had the legal authority and responsibility as well as the moral obligation to sign the orders for reserve judge.”

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At the start of the month, Justice Janet Protasiewicz began her 10-year term, ushering in a new liberal majority for the first time in 15 years. The AP reported that in their first week alone, liberal justices voted to fire the previous state court director, hire Skwierawski, and forge a committee to handle much of the work that Ziegler previously had, effectively weakening her.

In response to Ziegler’s email, liberal Justice Rebecca Dallet responded by saying she was “disappointed” that Ziegler elected to communicate with “deeply inappropriate, and at times partisan, tone and tenor.”

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“We are simply creating process so that a majority of the court can effectively work in the face of an intransigent and uncollegial chief who apparently insists on a public debate about issues for political purposes, rather than allow a court majority to function as it always has,” said Dallet. “Let me be crystal clear,” Dallet added. “The attempt to obstruct the proper business of the court and the furtherance of justice comes from you.”

Politico also reported that the Wisconsin GOP is zeroing in on Meagan Wolfe, the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, in a move to have her removed ahead of the state’s upcoming presidential primary. “I think that it’s largely out of a desire to find an explanation for Donald Trump’s loss other than fewer people voted for him than Joe Biden,” Ann S. Jacobs, one of the Democratic commissioners on the WEC, said of the strategies being put in place to fire Wolfe. “She is the chief elections officer, she offers a face to the conspiracy theories.”

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Pineapple, pickles and polarizing toppings: How a crowded freezer aisle is inspiring “stunt pizzas”

When I saw a picture of DiGiorno’s pineapple and pickle pizza, my first thought was that it is essentially a lab-constructed stunt pie, a half-and-half amalgam of two of the more universally polarizing pizza toppings meant to, as Food & Wine put it, “enrage the entire internet.”

To an extent, the roll-out of the product supports this theory, as it won’t actually be available in stores. Instead, starting in September, DiGiorno will give customers an opportunity to receive one free frozen pineapple and pickle pizza online during weekly drops. Per Food & Wine, the pies will be limited to one per person, reminiscent of other splashy product drops like Old Bay Vodka and Taco Bell’s Jalapeño Noir — items that absolutely dominated social media, but which very few customers actually tried.

First Taco Bell Jalapeño Noir, now Old Bay Vodka: Why food brands are shifting to unexpected spirits

However, in a competitive landscape, you’ve got to find ways to stick out. After all, the world of pizza is a crowded one.

There are over 78,000 pizza shops in the United States (1,900 of which are in New York, while Chicago has over 800) slinging dough and baking pies, which is an increase of 2.3% over last year. However, as Food Business reported, the frozen pizza industry — of which DiGiorno has long been a leader — is growing increasingly competitive, too.

According to a 2022 report from Mintel, an independent market analysis company, sales of retail pizza (which includes frozen pizza, refrigerated take-and-bakes and pizza kits) saw a 24% surge in sales during the first year of the pandemic in 2020. They spiked again in 2022 as Americans sought easy, cheap dinners during a period of profound inflation.

In the frozen aisle, the numbers continue to climb. According to Circana data collected by Food Business News, “frozen pizza sales rose 10.2% to nearly $6.9 billion while units slipped 3.1%” and the “average price per unit jumped 13.7%, more than making up for any unit decline.”

Seniority and convenience isn’t necessarily enough to secure a top spot in the freezer case, especially in the coming years.

Sally Lyons Wyatt, the executive vice president and practice leader for client insights at Circana told the publication: “When you think about a 10% increase and losing 3% in unit sales, that’s incredible. It shows that pizza still has staying power for the category in the stores.”

She points to convenience as a driving factor in the growth. “Consumers have it in a freezer in their own homes, and they can get it when they want it and bake it when they want it,” Lyons Wyatt said.

In the realm of at-home pizza, DiGiorno is something of a veteran; in 1995, Kraft released the DiGiorno brand of products (along with its now-iconic slogan, “It’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno”). The crust actually rose during baking, unlike many of the thin-crust options that dominated the market at the time.

But seniority and convenience isn’t necessarily enough to secure a top spot in the freezer case, especially in the coming years. According to new data from the London-based market research company Technavio, the global frozen pizza market is expected to grow by nearly $650 million from 2022 to 2027.

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As the category expands, we’re starting to see more range in frozen pizza offerings. You’ve got premium, gourmet-quality pies like those from Roberta’s, Table 87, Talia di Napoli and Genio Della Pizza, which are all available at supermarkets nationwide (and which were all favorably reviewed earlier this year by the New York Times food team). Digital marketplaces like Goldbelly make it easy for home cooks to order specialty pizzas directly from local makers, and fan-favorite supermarket chains, like Trader Joe’s and Aldi, continue to expand their frozen pizza selections.

Of course it makes sense that DiGiorno wants to draw attention back to their corner of the freezer case, and what better way than to create an item that will get everyone talking?

Pineapple has been a contentious topping since it was first put on pizza by a Greek immigrant living in Canada named Sam Panopoulos in 1962. Pickle pizza is a relatively newer trend, though it is now a “big dill,” as the Washington Post reported in 2022.

“It’s a new food item this year at the Minnesota and Indiana state fairs, and announcements about it have attracted attention from local media and social media oglers,” wrote the Post’s Emily Heil. “Pickles have been popping up among more traditional offerings in pizza shops, too, from chain joints to cheffy pizzerias. Most often served atop a white or ranch sauce instead of the classic red, pickles are proving that they’re more than a novelty act in the pizza-topping game.”

Personally, I’m not opposed to either topping. I was swayed in favor of pineapple after tasting pizza maker Robert Maleski’s Que Suerte — topped with crispy bacon, jalapeño, cherry tomatoes and fresh rings of pineapple — at his Chicago restaurant Milly’s Pizza in the Pan. Meanwhile, pickles, in general, provide crunch and acid, something many pizzas inherently lack.

Are they authentic toppings by any means? Of course not.

“If you took this to your nonna in Sicily, she would spit in your face,” pizza maker and restaurant owner Rachel Jennings told the Washington Post. “But, like, try it and tell me it’s not tasty.”

I’m not convinced a half-and-half frozen pizza is the best way to experience the ingredients — the texture of both pineapples and pickles tends to suffer from being frozen and reconstituted. That said, I don’t think DiGiorno’s goal is to sway anyone. It’s to catch their attention with a poppy pie that they likely won’t ever taste.

And in a crowded supermarket with an even more crowded freezer aisle, maybe it’s enough to remind shoppers that delivery isn’t the only option.

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Jack Smith’s team questions witnesses about how drunk Rudy Giuliani was while advising Trump: report

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team of prosecutors has repeatedly questioned witnesses about former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s drinking habits on and after election day in 2020 as part of an effort to discern if the former president was taking legal advice from a potentially intoxicated personal lawyer, according to a report from Rolling Stone. Investigators reportedly asked about how seemingly inebriated the former New York City mayor was during the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, a time when he was acting as an alleged co-conspirator in Trump’s attempts to flip the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The special counsel’s team also inquired as to whether Trump ever spoke with them about Giuliani’s drinking habits and if Trump ever stated that he felt Giuliani’s alcohol consumption altered his judgment or decision-making ability. Additionally, Smith’s investigators wanted to know if Trump was ever warned about Giuliani’s reported drinking problem, and if was ever told the attorney was feeding him advice legal and political advice following the election while drinking. Prosecutors wanted to know, in minute detail, “how drunk witnesses and others believed Giuliani to be during specific and consequential moments.”

Rolling Stone reported that according to lawyers and witnesses who have been in the presence of the special counsel’s investigating team, Smith is keen on determining Giuliani’s drinking habits because it could help show that Trump was actively employing counsel from someone he knew to be intoxicated. Proving this would bolster prosecutors’ argument that the former president was acting recklessly as he tried to undo the legitimate results of the election, an argument that, if used in court, could also erode Trump’s “advice of counsel” defense. Giuliani’s political adviser and spokesman, Ted Goodman, pushed back on the Rolling Stone report. “One should always question a story that is completely reliant on anonymous sources. This false narrative by nameless sources has been contradicted by on-the-record witnesses,” he said in a statement.

“Absolutely absurd”: Ex-judge calls out Trump lawyer’s “stunningly stupid” argument in court

A former judge on Monday slammed Donald Trump’s legal team for a “stunningly stupid” move in trying to delay the former president’s election subversion trial until April 2026. LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, a former California Superior Court judge, told CNN that it was “absolutely absurd” that Trump’s legal team invoked the landmark 1932 SCOTUS decision Powell v. Alabama, in which the court reversed the rape convictions of nine Black men, saying they did not receive a fair trial. The court stated that a defendant charged with a serious crime “must not be stripped of his right to have sufficient time to advise with counsel and prepare his defense.”

“What the Trump team did was say that, well, what happened in that trial is what could happen here in this trial, which was absolutely absurd,” said Cordell, noting that the men in the rape trial were not even informed that they could select their own lawyers. Conversely, the ex-president has a swath of “experienced lawyers—a whole team—[and] investigators.” The reference to Powell v. Alabama was “stunningly stupid,” Cordell said, not only because of the massive discrepancies between the two cases but also because of how it may have affected U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s case and selected the trial date. “A female judge, a Black judge, and to talk about that case and compare it to Trump’s case was absurd,” Cordell said, adding that she feels Chutkan was “absolutely offended.”

Retired Judge LaDoris Cordell on what she says was a “stunningly stupid” moment in today’s hearing, when Trump's attorney cited Powell v. Alabama, the 1932 Supreme Court decision reversing convictions of the Scottsboro Boys, young Black men falsely accused of raping a white woman pic.twitter.com/ZIZBghdjj1

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 29, 2023

In Portland, Oregon, extreme heat is making food trucks feel like ovens

When Chris Hudson saw a heat advisory in the forecast for the Portland, Oregon, area earlier this month, he sprang into action. Things were about to get sweaty in his vegan food truck and turning on its 75-pound deep fryer and 500-degree-Fahrenheit grill seemed like a bad idea.

“We are hoping to make it through the next few days by offering a cold menu,” he told his business’s followers on Instagram. Instead of grilling his famous meat-free burgers, he would serve a new “chik’n salad sando” and a “BBQ chik’n wrap.” In lieu of fries, chips. Plus, for dessert, several flavors of dairy-free milkshakes and soft-serve ice cream with chocolate dip.

The new menu was meant to tamp down temperatures inside Gnarlys, the popular food truck Hudson opened in 2021. But when the mercury climbs into the upper 90s and beyond — as it did earlier this month, breaking August records for the Portland area — there’s only so much he can do. “We were still at, like, 102 in the cart,” he told Grist, even with a portable AC unit and a fan running around the clock and with all the windows open.

A food truck is basically “a metal box,” he added. “The sun is beating down on this metal box.”

Hudson is just one of many food truck owners across the U.S. who are struggling to contend with longer and hotter summers. This year alone has seen thousands of daily temperature records fall and a brutal series of enduring heat waves has made this summer the hottest on record for more than a dozen cities in the South. Among major cities nationwide, heat waves are now happening three times more often than they used to in the 1960s.

The trend is particularly pronounced in Portland, a historically temperate city with more than 1,000 food trucks and carts, one of the highest numbers per capita in the country. All those mobile food businesses are dealing with a spike in the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves even more dramatic than what other U.S. cities are facing. Portland used to get about a week’s worth of 90-degree days every year; now it gets 27. Residents spend more than three times as many hours enduring a heat index above 90 degrees, sharply increasing the risk of heat-related illness.

“I didn’t think I would have to worry about heat in Portland,” said Hudson, who moved to the city from Chico, California in 2019. He had ruled out his second-choice city — Austin, Texas — because of its high temperatures. But now in Portland, he said, “we’re dealing with 100-something days every year … I’m worried to the point where I don’t really want to continue to be in a food truck next summer.”

Portland’s most recent heat wave reached its peak in the afternoon of Monday, August 14. Around 4 p.m. that day, the thermometer at the Portland International Airport read 108 degrees Fahrenheit, the second-hottest temperature ever recorded in the city.

But that was just the beginning for the city’s food trucks. Hours before then, as early as 9 in the morning, the temperature inside Rad Magic Subs had already hit 108 degrees. Justin Miller, who opened the submarine sandwich food truck two and a half years ago, didn’t stick around to see how hot things would eventually get — he announced a temporary closure on Instagram. But he knew from experience that the mercury would only climb higher inside the truck, potentially all the way up to 115 or 120 degrees, as the day went on. The owner of another food truck that did open for business that day reported a peak temperature of 122 degrees.

This is typical. Most food trucks are retrofitted from cargo vehicles like moving vans and are inherently prone to high heat. They have metal exteriors, limited air flow and lots of heat-generating kitchen equipment crammed into a relatively small space — sometimes as small as 70 square feet. The exact setup varies from truck to truck, depending on the kind of food being sold, but might include a massive flattop griddle next to a deep fryer or perhaps an industrial-sized oven — in addition to a big fridge, which lets off heat in order to keep food cold. Other features of a typical food truck include a large ventilation system above the cooking equipment, a generator to keep the fridge and freezer running, tanks for wastewater and freshwater and separate sinks for washing hands and doing dishes.

Unless clouds roll in to block the sun, “you really can’t get it much cooler in the cart,” said Miller. Small fans and AC units are often ineffective, since the air they blow tends to get sucked up into trucks’ exhaust fans. Even on a 61-degree evening, researchers have shown that temperatures near a food truck’s cooking area can reach as high as 105 degrees. In some jurisdictions like Los Angeles, although not in Portland, health-code regulations make it harder to cool off by preventing food trucks from opening their back doors, in order to keep insects away from the food.

Miller joined many Portland-area food truck owners in deciding to close down during the heat wave, rather than suffer through. But that’s not a decision to be taken lightly, in a sector marked by financial precarity. Many food truck owners will go to great lengths to stay open, even under sweltering, 100-degree-plus conditions.

“We have such a small profit margin that every single day matters,” said Kiaha Kurek, who owns a Hawaiian food truck in Portland called Hapa Howies, which serves a variety of hot lunch plates. Like many of the food truck owners Grist spoke with, she said she doesn’t let her two employees work once outdoor temperatures start to feel “unbearable.” But she’s willing to put herself through those uncomfortable conditions.

If it’s been a slow couple of weeks, Kurek will brave the heat by herself, wrapping a wet towel around her neck as she prepares a limited menu of cold poke bowls. “You have to think strategically,” she said. “Make sure you have lots of water on you, wear tank tops, wear shorts.”

Other strategies to beat the heat include everything from running cool water over one’s hands to eating smaller meals and nibbling spicy foods to induce sweating. One crepe truck owner in Durham, North Carolina, told the News & Observer they close their eyes and pretend the intense heat is “from the sun’s rays as we lie on a pristine beach somewhere in Aruba.” Another said they sing Christmas carols, perhaps to conjure the cooling image of snow.

Leah Tucker, founder and executive director of the Oregon Mobile Food Association, a membership organization that represents the state’s food trucks and carts, said these kinds of coping mechanisms are typical: Most food trucks are owner-operated and those owners often put their health and safety in the backseat so they can prioritize the well-being of their business. Tucker said she spends hot days encouraging food truck owner-operators to limit their hours or shut down temporarily.

“Taking a day off and closing on a really hot day is not the worst thing that could happen,” she said. “A worse scenario would be working a full shift in an extremely hot environment — and then having to take more time off because you’ve had a heat stroke.”

Indeed, the consequences of heat exposure can be crippling. Every year, extreme heat kills more Americans than any other kind of weather-related disaster and even among food truck veterans who say they’re “used to” the heat, researchers out of the University of California, Los Angeles Heat Lab have documented many cases of heat-related exhaustion, vomiting, heart attacks, nausea and more. Workers of color may be particularly vulnerable to the heat, due to centuries of baseless assumptions that these demographics are less affected by high temperatures. Sofia Sabra, a researcher at the Heat Lab, said she’s interviewed food truck workers who thought they were able to take longer shifts with no breaks “because they were Mexican.”

Despite the human health risks, many of the food truck owners Grist spoke with expressed a greater concern over equipment malfunctions during a heat wave — especially faulty refrigerators, which may not function well in temperatures above 90 degrees. Buddy Richter, who owns a Portland food truck called Buddy’s Steaks, said he stuffs ice into his fridge to keep the internal temperature from exceeding 40 degrees and spoiling his house-made vegan meats and cheeses. If the fridge breaks altogether, he said, that can lead to thousands of dollars in lost food and repair costs.

As with Hudson’s chik’n sandos and Kurek’s poke bowls, Richter often prefers to offer a special “heat wave menu” rather than close down temporarily. Still, this strategy can cause further complications. When Richter offers a hot-weather special caprese sandwich instead of his normal plant-based cheesesteaks, some visitors grumble about the change. Some are reluctant to spend money on simpler menu items that they think they could prepare at home, for cheaper.

“Half the people show up and walk away,” he said. Sometimes, he barely manages to break even on these limited-run menus, since it costs extra to buy new ingredients and equipment. Miller, with Rad Magic Subs, experiences something similar — “People say they can make [cold] sandwiches already” — while Kurek said she’ll get customers who say, “What do you mean, you don’t have your deep fryer on? It’s not that hot.”

“I look at them and I’m like, are you crazy? It’s 104 degrees outside, how hot do you think it is in here?” she said. “There’s an absolute lack of understanding.”

Gnarlys, which not only changed its menu during the heat wave but also shifted its operating hours, took to Instagram with a request for customers to “be patient and understanding” in the face of heat-related service changes. “Being frustrated and taking it out on us is not helpful for anyone. Contrary to popular belief, we do not control the weather.”

As climate change progresses, summers are only expected to get hotter. Already, the number of Americans exposed to dangerous heat waves every year has jumped by more than 125 million since 2000. And in the Pacific Northwest, by 2050, heat waves as extreme as the one that killed more than 250 people in the region in 2021 are expected to occur once every six years — rather than once a millennium.

These forecasts only increase the feeling of precarity that defines daily life for many food truck owners. Combined with the increasing risk of wildfires and the suffocating smoke they bring, Miller, with Rad Magic Subs, said the weather is “like an unfightable foe.”

“It’s our biggest challenge for sure,” he told Grist, even bigger than “the economy, supply issues, anything.” With each summer forcing more and more multi-day closures, he added, “the business model of a food truck seems to be less viable year after year.”

Many of the food truck owners Grist spoke with have the long-term goal of opening a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant; the food truck is just a stepping stone along that path. But with so few options to mitigate the relentless and worsening heat, people like Hudson and Kurek have been eager to accelerate that transition. Kurek already has a September opening date for her restaurant — a joint venture with a Portland pop-up restaurant and a new brewery. (The Hapa Howies food truck will stay in operation.)

Hudson, the owner of Gnarlys, said he isn’t yet financially ready for that move. “But I’m ready when it comes to my mental state,” he said. He’s already planned out a new, expanded menu for when that day finally comes.

This story is part of Record High, a Grist series examining extreme heat and its impact on how — and where — we live.

Trump attacks Judge Chutkan on Truth Social and vows to “appeal” trial date — which “is not a thing”

Former President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan after she slated his election conspiracy trial for March 4. The quadruply-indicted former president vowed to “appeal” the date after his team pushed to delay the trial to 2026 — but experts say a court’s scheduling order is not subject to appeal.

“Deranged Jack Smith & his team of Thugs, who were caught going to the White House just prior to Indicting the 45th President of the United States (an absolute No No!), have been working on this Witch Hunt for almost 3 years, but decided to bring it smack in the middle of Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent’s campaign against him. Election Interference! Today a biased, Trump Hating Judge gave me only a two month extension, just what our corrupt government wanted, SUPER TUESDAY. I will APPEAL!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, going on to question when Smith would “Criminally Charge” the House Jan. 6 committee, which he accused of lying.

Legal experts quickly pointed out that the order cannot be appealed. “It’s not a thing,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told The Messenger, adding that there is a “0 percent” chance of the move succeeding. “He cannot appeal the trial date,” agreed former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers. “He can continue to request that it be moved back, and ultimately if he is convicted he can try to argue that the decision to try the case when it was tried deprived him of the ability to prepare adequately, but that’s an uphill battle.” Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb warned that the post could get Trump in trouble for other reasons. “Sanctions are in order as the attack on the court is specifically out of bounds,” Cobb told the outlet, predicting that “an appellate court would reject any attempt” to force Chutkan to grant him an appeal.

Forget Aidan. “And Just Like That” needs to bring back Carrie’s voice – and column writing career

The second season of “And Just Like That” saw the return of a lot of fan favorites from “Sex and the City.” Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) repurposed her wedding dress from the first film to wear to the Met Gala, revisited her romance with ex-fiance Aidan (John Corbett), and even spoke briefly to Samantha (Kim Cattrall) while bidding farewell to her Upper East Side apartment in the season finale.

Carrie’s move to Gramercy Park with a newly adopted kitten signals a new era for the character when the show returns next season. But there is a crucial “Sex and the City” throwback that should come back for Season 3: Carrie’s writing. Specifically, her weekly columns.

Carrie always vociferously identified as a writer.

Sure, Carrie’s writing career was never that realistic — she might be the only freelance writer on the planet who has never had to hustle. On “Sex and the City” she supported herself solely through her work as a newspaper sex columnist (inspired by Candace Bushnell‘s ’90s-era columns for The New York Observer), and never expressed any ambitions beyond it.

Instead, opportunities fell into her lap. She was asked to freelance for Vogue (famously for $4 a word) and towards the end of the series, approached by book editors to turn her columns into a collection of essays.

We focused on the wrong feminist icon in the “Sex and the City” franchise

Even if she was never very ambitious, Carrie always vociferously identified as a writer. And there was a real charm having each episode themed around her column, with Carrie working through her latest romantic entanglement or friendship issues through her writing. If Carrie was frustrated with Big (Chris Noth) or in the middle of a fight with Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), she shared her feelings in her columns, which were communicated via voiceover. Even if she didn’t express herself out loud to the other characters, the audience always knew exactly where Carrie stood.

Speaking to the audience through her column allowed us into her innermost thoughts, which created an intimate connection between her and the viewer. Many fans identified as “a Carrie” because they could see themselves not just through the character’s travails, but her reflections on them too.

“And Just Like That” could have benefited from having the character narrate from her memoir-in-progress during the first season.

Reviving the “Sex and the City” franchise with “And Just Like That” without Carrie’s signature voiceover made Big’s death even more shocking in the moment, but also less impactful as the season went on. To not have access to her inner dialogue during the most momentous and tragic event of her life, as well as its immediate aftermath, felt odd and even discordant.

This season, Carrie recorded the audiobook for her memoir about losing Big. And her palpable emotion speaking the words out loud highlighted how much Carrie’s voice has been missed from this show. “And Just Like That” could have benefited from having the character narrate from her memoir-in-progress during the first season. Because while there were storylines that charted her initial devastation and how she gradually moved on, Carrie and her thought process remained largely closed off to the audience.

And this aspect became frustrating for viewers during the second season when Carrie rekindled her romance with Aidan. Carrie was always a character who threw herself into romance without reservations, and once again Carrie and Aidan fell hard for each other while ignoring their fraught past. Nevertheless, having a heart-eyed Carrie wonder out loud to Miranda, “Was Big a big mistake?” was a lightning bolt that threw fans for a loop. Miranda was so shocked she couldn’t answer the question, and the show never revisited that eyebrow-raising question again.

Sarah Jessica Parker and John Corbett in “And Just Like That” (Max)There is no bigger moment in the past two seasons that warranted Carrie’s voiceover than that statement. If we had a better idea of what spurred that bombshell beyond being in a honeymoon period (again) with Aidan, then perhaps it would not have seemed so random. (Confused viewers should not have to turn to the “And Just Like That” Writer’s Room podcast or showrunner Michael Patrick King’s post-mortem interviews to fill in the blanks when Carrie acts out of character.)

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Beyond Carrie’s characterization, her column also provided “Sex and the City” a unifying framework. No matter what happened in each episode, the stories for Carrie, Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Samantha and Miranda were always thematically linked.

And with four characters’ stories to serve in a half-hour of television every week, Carrie’s signature question, “I couldn’t help but wonder . . . ” provided balanced storytelling. If one of them was having a significant storyline, then another character was that week’s comic relief. And whether the stories were as dramatic as Carrie’s doomed affair with Big, or as light as Samantha dealing with “funky spunk,” all four women were featured in every episode. And ultimately, everyone’s story arcs received equal weight.

If Carrie returned to writing on a regular basis, then perhaps “And Just Like That” and its sprawling cast would have more cohesive storytelling and thematic unity.

With several new cast members and a longer running time, “And Just Like That’s” episodes tend to meander. It’s hard to achieve “Sex and the City’s” cohesion with this large ensemble cast of seven main characters, which extends to spouses, ex-spouses, their children and their friends. The 40-minute episodes also highlight that some of these people barely exist in the same universe. For example, there is not a lot of overlap in Carrie’s life with Nya’s (Karen Pittman), or Miranda’s life with LTW’s (Nicole Ari Parker). This results in unequal screen time for the series regulars.

If Carrie returned to writing on a regular basis, then perhaps “And Just Like That” and its sprawling cast would have more cohesive storytelling and thematic unity. As for where Carrie would write, perhaps she can get her own Substack like her former Vogue boss, Enid (Candice Bergen). (A whole season could be devoted to a rivalry between Carrie and Enid as rivals competing for the same Substack readership.)

Especially if “And Just Like That” is about the next chapter in these women’s lives, a vital part of the series should delve deeper into the fact that we are following these beloved characters into their 50s, and the unique challenges and rewards that comes with being that age.

Charlotte’s season-long arc about returning to the workplace to reclaim her identity outside of being a wife and mother was undoubtedly the strongest. It was a logical and satisfying evolution of the character we have known since she was a thirtysomething single woman whose biggest goal was finding a husband.

Sarah Jessica Parker in “And Just Like That” (Craig Blakenhorn/Max)In fact, Season 2 has actually seen every main character ruminating on their career ambitions . . . except for Carrie.

Just as when she was a freelance writer who worried she’d be “the old woman who lived in her shoes,” Carrie lacks motivation and drive in her work life. She has a lot more money now, a kitten name Shoe, but little else to keep her occupied beyond waiting five years to reunite with Aiden.

Aiden’s departure occurs just as many of Carrie’s friends are moving forward professionally or in their personal lives. A regular writing commitment (a blog or Substack or even a Threads thread) would be an ideal way for Carrie to figure out where she goes from here. She could even actively seek out writing opportunities and consider what else she wants to achieve in her work. And with aging and mortality on her mind, perhaps she could even give some thought to her legacy.

* * *

It’s understandable that by taking away Carrie’s signature voiceover, the creative team wanted to signal that “And Just Like That” is not trying to be a carbon copy of “Sex and the City.”

But the critical reaction to “And Just Like That” has been largely been, “This is so bad, but I can’t stop watching,” because our affection for these characters runs deep. We know them so well, which is why when the series depicts the original trio acting inexplicably or out of character, viewers blanch.

Even with the criticism of “And Just Like That,” the second season is largely regarded as an improvement over the first. And if Season 3 begins with Carrie back at her laptop in her new apartment, there is a good chance the series can recapture what made people fall in love with Carrie Bradshaw & Co. in the first place.

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Experts: Trump lawyer had “heated outburst attacking Judge Chutkan” — but she “called his bluff”

Former President Donald Trump’s attorney lashed out at U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan during Monday’s hearing but legal experts say he didn’t do his client any favors as she scheduled his trial to kick off on March 4, just one day before Super Tuesday.

Lauro adamantly protested the judge’s ruling, arguing that he could not adequately defend the former president within that timeline, amongst other complaints. Lauro during the hearing complained about the scope of the evidence turned over by prosecutors in discovery — about 12.8 million pages of material — even as prosecutors argued that much of the evidence has already been available to the former president’s legal team. Lauro argued that the trial should be delayed until 2026.

“This is an enormous, overwhelming task,” Lauro said, adding that he has begun drafting a series of motions in an effort to see Trump’s case diminished or altogether dismissed.

Lauro’s “heated outburst attacking Judge Chutkan” quickly gained traction across social media as legal experts warned that his tact could backfire on Trump.

Trump lawyer complains after Judge Chutkan sets March 4 trial date — but she’s not having it

Former federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner argued that Lauro “did not do himself any favors.”

“He was a bomb thrower,” he said Monday. “It sounded like he was making arguments to Donald Trump’s base, not to the judge. When the judge implored him, ‘give me a reasonable alternative proposal.’ He said, and I think I can quote him because I was furiously taking notes. He said, ‘We can’t do it in anything less than the time we have proposed.’ And she had had about enough. And she said, ‘Well, then, you just bought yourself a March 4, 2024, trial date.'”

Host Joy Reid pointed out that a lot of the “information has been out for two years. And [Chutkan] goes on to say, the defense has not identified any case in the district where the defendant was given two years in which there were no co-defendants and no ongoing pandemic.”

“You know, she called his bluff at every turn, and the prosecutors called the defense counsel’s bluff at every turn,” Kirschner said. “My favorite moment was when John Lauro was insisting he hadn’t done anything to prepare the case. He hasn’t had time. He hasn’t looked at the documents. And the prosecutor stood up and said, ‘Actually, he gave an interview to the media where he said he has read Mike Pence’s book not once but twice and is already preparing cross-examination.’ So, it sounds like the defense preparation is well underway.”

Ex-US attorney thinks Trump may “fire” his lawyer after “thoroughly unprofessional” court stunt

Kirschner also argued that Trump’s legal team ruined their chances of gaining a more advantageous trial date by asking that the trial be delayed until 2026, well after the 2024 presidential election has taken place.

“She gave the defense team several opportunities to come up with a more realistic proposed trial date,” he explained. “He refused to budge even one month or one day. By the end of the hearing, what she was thinking, she said, your idea and my idea of how much time is necessary are very different. I am setting jury selection for this case on March 4th, 2024. That gives them enough time to adequately prepare for trial.”

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Former attorney and MSNBC host Ari Melber, in conversation with former federal prosecutor David Kelley, observed Lauro’s singling out of Hunter Biden during Chutkan’s hearing, in which the lawyer accused the federal government of putting on a “show trial,” and claimed that he intends to file a specific motion alleging that the Justice Department is targeting Trump because he is a political adversary of President Joe Biden.

“There are places where, in conversation or online, someone can say a fact that sounds negative about Trump and what he did, and someone else will say, ‘but Hunter Biden,'” Melber said. “And as you know, David, I support free speech and you could say those three words any time you want and then, at a dinner or barbecue, you decide how much you think that is a rebuttal or not.”

“I’m not saying Mr. Lauro said those three words — indeed, he didn’t say the word Hunter,” Melber added. “But he did shoehorn in what, in law school, you might call a clever or creative way — he shoehorned the president’s son into the hearing today. And I didn’t see the judge respond negatively, although she certainly didn’t endorse what he was arguing. But he shoehorned it in legally by saying, but Donald Trump has attacked Hunter Biden, how do we not know — how do we not know, David, that those attacks on the president’s son didn’t create a chain of events where the president picked an AG who picked a special counsel who went after Donald Trump as a ‘retaliatory measure?'”

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“It’s interesting, because the judge is going to have to decide what to do with this,” Kelley replied. “In order … to get this motion going anywhere, he’s going to have to let specific facts in order to get a hearing on it. Because it’s going to be a very fact-specific type of analysis, and I really doubt they’re going to be able to allege facts that are going to tip the balance toward having a hearing. So, they’re going to throw a lot of stuff out there, but I think, ultimately, the judge will have plenty of room to just say, this goes nowhere.”

Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman wrote in a column for the Los Angeles Times that it” certainly doesn’t help Trump that Chutkan has made clear that his lawyer, John Lauro, is already in a fairly deep hole with the judge.”

Though Litman conceded Lauro’s “preposterous proposal” of an April 2026 trial date likely came at Trump’s behest, the attorney continuously pushed back on Chutkan during the hearing, asserting that “the trial date will deny President Trump, the opportunity to have effective assistance of counsel.”

“You and I have a very, very different estimate of… the time that’s needed to prepare for this case,” Litman quoted Chutkan as saying.

“She also noted that the Trump legal team’s claim that ‘median time’ for similar cases to go to trial — which it used to get to the April 2026 date — was misleading,” Litman observed. “That’s the time from commencement of a case to sentencing, not to trial.”

“In the setting of a federal court, these tart comments are the equivalent of a thorough boxing of Lauro’s ears. They suggested not only that the outlandish proposal of April 2026 had backfired, but also that Lauro’s credibility with Chutkan is already damaged, an ominous position, before the litigation has even started in earnest.”

about the Jan. 6 case

“This is the authoritarianism we are fighting”: Tennessee GOP silences Justin Jones

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones decried the “authoritarianism” of House Republicans on Monday after they voted to silence him for the remainder of the day’s floor session, using newly enacted chamber rules aimed at shutting down members who are deemed out of order.

The Tennessee House’s GOP supermajority barred Jones (D-52)—a member of the so-called ” Tennessee Three“—from speaking for the rest of Monday’s special session after House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-25) ruled that the Democratic lawmaker violated the new rules.

According to The Associated Press, “Jones had been criticizing legislation that would have allowed more law enforcement officers in schools and began listing other resources that the state should be providing.”

“What our schools need are mental health professionals,” Jones said. “We need funding for mental health, for counselors. We need to pay our teachers better. We don’t need more police in our schools.”

The GOP’s vote to silence Jones sparked fury in the chamber, with Democrats arguing that Sexton is selectively wielding the new rules to target outspoken gun control proponents.

Republicans voted to expel Jones from the House in April after he took to the House floor with a bullhorn to demand action to curb gun violence. The Democrat was reinstated days later and easily won reelection earlier this month.

Jones’ fellow Democrats walked off the floor with him following Monday’s vote. The Tennessean reported that “Republican lawmakers attempted to get the House floor session back on track after the Democrats left, as members of the gallery above erupted in anger with yells of ‘racists’ and ‘fascists.'”

“Chants only grew louder as state troopers began swarming the gallery to clear it,” the newspaper continued. “Demonstrators stayed in their seats as troopers began asking them to leave, but slowly cleared out into the halls to continue chanting.”

In a video posted to social media following the walkout, Jones said that “what’s happening is not democratic, it is authoritarianism.”

“The Capitol is surrounded by troopers,” said Jones. “This does not look like a democratic body.”

Just left the House Chamber after Speaker Sexton forced a vote to silence me for the remainder of the legislative day (for speaking “off topic”) and ordered the public cleared out of the gallery.

This is the authoritarianism we are fighting against. pic.twitter.com/xfDAh9DpmI

— Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_) August 28, 2023

Earlier in the day, Jones announced plans to call for a no-confidence vote against Sexton, citing the Republican leader’s alleged misuse of taxpayer funds and other abuses of authority.

Before he was silenced by the Republican supermajority, Jones had intended to introduce his proposal at the end of Monday’s session, which marked the start of the second week of a special session aimed at responding to the deadly shooting at Covenant School in Nashville earlier this year.

“The House must perform its duty to hold the speaker to account and exercise an internal check on power,” Jones wrote in a letter to his colleagues. “At a time of record low approval ratings for the Legislature, this is not just a vote of no confidence in the speaker but a vote to restore confidence in this body with the people of Tennessee.”

“He is toast”: Legal experts call out Mark Meadows’ “incriminating admission” on the witness stand

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows testified for nearly four hours on Monday as he seeks to get his Fulton County charges moved to federal court.

Meadows in what experts called a “high-risk gamble” took the stand himself during an evidentiary hearing before U.S. District Judge Scott Jones, arguing that his post-election efforts on behalf of Trump were part of his official duties. Meadows is seeking to move the case to federal court, where he may draw a more favorable judge and jury pool and can argue that he is immune from state-level charges if his actions fell under his official duties. District Attorney Fani Willis has argued that Meadows’ actions violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits political activity by federal employees, which undercuts his defense.

Meadows testified that being chief of staff was a 24/7 job, arguing that his election-related activities were related to his job advising Trump, according to CNN.

New York University Law Prof. Ryan Goodman detailed key parts of Meadows’ testimony, warning that he made some incriminating admissions on the stand.

“High-risk gamble”: Experts warn Mark Meadows’ surprise testimony could blow up in his face

Meadows testified that he recommended Trump reach out to Georgia Secretary of State Chief Investigator Frances Watson, on which Trump falsely claimed that he won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes.”

“In his own words, that is an incriminating admission that he recommended Trump make the call to Watson that is part of the alleged conspiracy,” Goodman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Meadows also acknowledged that he had “no reason to doubt” then-Attorney General Bill Barr’s conclusion that the fraud claims were meritless.

“Meadows adds that he believed at the time ‘further investigation’ was still warranted. That’s not enough to help him,” Goodman wrote, arguing that he believes “Meadows in some respects has even more criminal exposure than Trump.”

“Fatally sabotaged”: Legal experts say concession in Mark Meadows’ filing could backfire in court

Meadows later testified that he set up Trump’s infamous call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find a “less-litigious way of resolving” the fraud concerns but claimed he could not remember details for arranging for attorney Cleta Mitchell and two other Trump campaign lawyers to be on the call.

“I think he is toast,” Goodman predicted.

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Marc Short, who served as a top adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, rejected Meadows’ claim on Monday that he was acting in his official capacity.

“If that was true, then why was he circumventing all the White House counsel’s advice? Why wasn’t Pat Cipollone involved? … Why wasn’t DOJ involved?” he questioned. “Instead, Mark recruited outside lawyers [to] whom he wanted to listen. And so I think that undercuts the notion that ‘this was all part of my federal responsibility,'” he added.

Here’s Marc Short on CNN debunking Mark Meadows’s defense in the Georgia case and then debunking Trumpworld’s defense of the Raffensperger call pic.twitter.com/YEdy69SMa0

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 28, 2023

“Meadows’ position boils down to a claim that if Trump robbed a bank while president and Meadows helped him, that would be part of his official duties as chief of staff because his job was to help Trump with whatever he was doing,” wrote Randall Eliason, a professor at the George Washington University Law School. “I don’t think that’s gonna fly.”

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Legal experts argued Meadows’ risk may not have paid off as he hoped.

“I do think this was a rough day for Mark Meadows,” CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Monday, according to Mediaite. “I think it’s one thing to assert generally, ‘Well, as chief of staff I had broad duties.’ But it’s another thing to be cross-examined as he was today about very specific actions and phone calls and to sort of justify that within the scope of the chief of staff’s job.”

Georgia State Law Prof. Anthony Michael Kreis told the network that Meadows “had a very hard time today in trying to make a case.”

Though Meadows tried to offer a sweeping job description for his duties, he “didn’t really have a very good answer” when prosecutors questioned why he offered Trump campaign cash to speed up an election audit, why he coordinated the Raffensperger call and other meetings between campaign officials and fake electors, and why he did not bring in the DOJ to investigate, Kreis explained.

“He had a really tough time today. I think Brad Raffensperger made it even tougher when he came in to court and basically said that… there was no lawful outcome to change the election,” he added. “So it was a pretty tough day. That said, it’s a low threshold for Mark Meadows to show in order to have this removed to federal court.”

about Mark Meadows

If Trump falls, will MAGA vanish? It won’t be that easy

Donald Trump arrived at the Fulton County jail last Thursday in an extended motorcade, before the ex-president was arrested and booked on felony charges for his attempt to steal votes in Georgia as part of his Jan. 6 coup plot.

Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat described the scene on Twitter: “The aim of this part of the spectacle is to look ‘presidential’ and generate as much dramatic build-up as possible to the moment when he takes a hit on behalf of his people. Maximize the glamour, then milk the outrage to keep the $ coming in.”

At the Philadelphia Inquirer, William Bunch elaborates:

It was a remarkable night of imagery over substance, yet there was little discussion of why this accused felon was getting a phalanx of dozens of motorcycle cops, comprising police who are drawn to Trump’s authoritarian bluster like moths to the light.

Donald Trump immediately monetized the image of his mug shot, with it now becoming part of his fascist strongman aesthetic and another way for his cult members to signal their loyalty to him.

Fani Willis proves the skeptics wrong: 18 co-defendants is a big problem for Donald Trump

A Washington Post report offers further details:

Not long after Donald Trump was booked on felony charges alleging that he participated in a conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia, his 2024 presidential campaign was selling merchandise featuring the first mug shot of a former American president.

The merchandise, which includes T-shirts, mugs, koozies and bumper stickers of the former president’s mug shot, was for sale about 90 minutes after he was released from an Atlanta jail on Thursday. The merchandise, which includes $34 shirts, is accompanied by the words “NEVER SURRENDER!” Trump surrendered at the jail Thursday, was booked and got released on a $200,000 bond in a move his legal team negotiated this week.

The Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee is also selling his mug shot, saying it would give out a T-shirt in exchange for a $47 donation. The Trump campaign claimed in a fundraising email that his mug shot was an attempt “to make him look like a criminal in front of the entire world.”

“Please make a contribution of $47 to prove that YOU will also NEVER SURRENDER our mission — and we’ll send you a FREE T-shirt with President Trump’s OFFICIAL MUGSHOT PRINTED ON IT,” the campaign’s email reads.

In a press release, Virginia Tech political scientist Chad Hankinson explained the demagogic messaging of Trump’s mug shot as meant “to convey strength and defiance, likely a strategy used to rile up his base. The likely interpretation for them is that he is fearless, powerful, confident, and undeterred by efforts to undermine him.”

Like other political strongmen and demagogues, Donald Trump is using his power and authority over his followers to extract more money from them. Reuters reports that political analysts believe the Trump mug shot “could be a huge fundraiser”:

“His superfans are going to see this and it will be a fist-pumping exercise for them to send in that $25 and get that shirt or that mug,” said David Kochel, a veteran Republican presidential campaign operative in Iowa. “It’s kind of sad at the end of the day that the campaign is going to celebrate his indictment over 13 criminal charges — but that’s where our politics is.”

Trump has for months sought to leverage the criminal probes against him to rally support from his base, starting with his first indictment in New York. His fundraising groups, including his past and current presidential campaigns, have reported investing more than $98 million in merchandise operations since 2015, buying items like bumper stickers, hoodies and coffee mugs to sell.

Speaking to Reuters after the Republican debate on Wednesday, co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita said his team had been focused on turning the four indictments into a positive, “making sure that we were making lemonade at every opportunity, which I think we did.”

Veterans of other political operations say campaigns can make a 50% profit or more on their merchandise sales and LaCivita on Thursday warned off those trying to make money from the image without the campaign’s permission.

On X (formerly Twitter), cult expert and therapist Steven Hassan pointed out the obvious parallels that many observers, even after seven years of experience with the Trump phenomenon, are eager to avoid:

I would ask everyone to stop posting / showing Trumps mugshot. Demagogues want people to put their attention on them. Their biggest fear is to be forgotten. Btw, the pose I believe was modeled on Adolf.

Trump’s former wife claimed that he kept a copy of Adolf Hitler’s speeches at his bedside. Trump also openly admires brutal dictators such as Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

Since cults and mind control organizations are almost always involved in criminal activity, their leaders often end up in prison, or worse. Donald Trump potentially faces long prison sentences if he is convicted in the four criminal trials on 91 felony charges he faces so far. If he is found guilty on a significant number of those charges, it’s entirely possible he will die in prison.

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Public opinion polls and other evidence suggest, however, that Trump’s criminal charges have not weakened his control over his MAGA followers and the larger Republican Party. If anything, the opposite is true: Trumpism, like other forms of fascism or authoritarianism, is corrupt power that rejects the rule of law and democracy, and the ex-president’s criminal charges have only made him more popular with his true believers.

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman turned never-Trumper and pro-democracy advocate, explained this dire reality in a recent interview with Salon:

Trump has moved beyond cult leader. He’s a full-on martyr with his base. I hear it every day. Each new indictment has strengthened his support among “non MAGA” Republicans and conservatives, who have told me that it really seems like they’re piling on him now and he’s being unfairly targeted by the justice system. That’s a powerful narrative.

One of the most important dimensions of Trump’s position as a fascist cult leader — and one little discussed by the mainstream media and political class — is that he could not possibly hold such power and influence over his MAGA followers without assistance and support from many others. There is a vast infrastructure supporting his movement, which now includes most of the Republican Party and its leaders, a media propaganda machine, White Christian evangelical churches, right-wing donors, think tanks and interest groups, and many other agents and organizations.

Trumpism, like other forms of fascism or authoritarianism, is based on corrupt power that rejects the rule of law and democracy. The ex-president’s criminal charges have only made him more popular with his true believers.

Donald Trump may be a fascist cult leader, but he is not omnipotent. He should be understood as the figurehead of a much larger neofascist right-wing movement and anti-democracy conspiracy. The power of the Trump cult was on display during last Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, when six of the candidates onstage raised their hands immediately when asked whether they would support Trump if and when he is the party’s nominee. Those same candidates largely defended Trump when asked about his alleged crimes, and the crowd in Milwaukee loudly booed any criticism of Trump and the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

In a recent interview with Salon, Rick Wilson, a co-founder of the pro-democracy group the Lincoln Project, explained his view that America was facing “a serious crisis”:

Trump is leading a crime family masquerading as a political party. He empowers individuals who believe violence is a political tool, support racism and misogyny, and don’t want anything to do with governing — only obtaining power.

Trump has completely and utterly destroyed the Republican Party. The party of Reagan is no longer a legitimate party concerned about policy. It is an authoritarian force with designs on taking control of the nation and destroying any opposition to its bankrupt vision.

At the Atlantic, Tom Nichols, another former Republican, explored what last week’s debate had revealed about the Republican Party:

The GOP has mutated from a political party into an angry, unfocused, sometimes violent countercultural movement, whose members signal tribal solidarity by hating whatever they think most of their fellow citizens support. Ukraine? To hell with them! Government agencies? Disband them! Donald Trump? Pardon him!

Instead of participating in the debate on Fox News, Trump posted an interview with former Fox primetime host Tucker Carlson, where he was given free rein to lie, make threats, launch attacks, play the victim and depict an alternate reality of deep state persecution of “your favorite president,” an entirely innocent man whose actions are “perfect” and who loves his country.

Trump’s Tucker Carlson interview does not mean that Trump and Fox News are at war. If and when he becomes the Republican nominee, the network will, of course, embrace him once again.

Some observers took Trump’s interview with Carlson as another sign that the ex-president and Fox News are at war. That is too simplistic. Fox News has effectively created a force field around Trump, insulating its viewers from the truth about his alleged or apparent crimes and criminal prosecutions. If and when Trump becomes the 2024 Republican nominee, Fox News and the larger right-wing echo chamber will, of course, fully embrace him both for ideological and commercial reasons.

Trump’s power over tens of millions of Americans is evidence of how Fox News and the larger right-wing propaganda machine, over the course of several decades, have created a fact-free alternate reality for their public. Ultimately, Trump can retain his power because his MAGA followers are effectively isolated from outside (i.e., more accurate) sources of information and community that might help them find meaning and make sense of their lives and the larger world. Instead, Trump and his media supporters feed them ever more extreme falsehoods, and Trump’s followers resolve this cognitive dissonance by further surrendering to his cult.

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In a recent interview with Truthout, political scientist and Salon contributor Anthony DiMaggio explained how Trump’s power as a cult leader will likely not be weakened by his criminal trials:

One thing that seems clear to me is that none of these charges are likely to have much of an impact on Trump’s core voters. They concluded long ago that the “deep state” is out to get Trump, that evidence is being manufactured and manipulated against him in a “witch hunt” to destroy the former president, and that these “attacks” on Trump are entirely motivated by Democratic partisanship.

Trump traffics in this sort of conspiratorial rhetoric routinely. His hardcore supporters live in an alternate reality in which his claims are true simply because Trump says so. For those who doubt this, I’d direct their attention to polling during Trump’s term revealing that nearly two-thirds of Trump’s supporters said there was nothing that he could possibly do that would make them reconsider their support. … That is a cultist level of devotion that is independent of any sort of evidentiary threshold that might make someone reconsider their support for him.

In her newsletter, Ruth Ben-Ghiat largely echoes that conclusion, noting that it was “no surprise” that Trump declined to participate in last week’s debate:

That’s how demagogues behave.

Debates among presidential candidates enact the democratic principle of mutual tolerance: the notion that those who don’t share your political views have a right to free expression. The public hears an exchange of views by individuals who are on equal footing and bound by rules which are enforced by an impartial arbiter.

This is anathema to the authoritarian mindset. Personality cults posit the leader as a man above all others, and the egalitarian staging and format of debates make them dangerous to his brand. Moreover, authoritarians who depend on disinformation, threat, and corruption (including fixing elections), have much to lose by submitting to spontaneous questioning by a rival or a third party.

It would be an error of reasoning and inference to conclude that if Donald Trump is defeated at the polls once again, or even convicted and sent to prison, the MAGA cult will dissolve. That movement, and the larger neofascist tendency behind it, are much larger than any one person. Because of its vast infrastructure and power, the MAGA cult — which now controls the entire Republican Party and “conservative” movement — will almost certainly be taken over by another leader, who may be even more dangerous than Trump. If Trump is finally removed from political life by defeat, incarceration or death, he may also become a legendary martyr or deity for the movement.

Power abhors a vacuum. If Trump leaves the scene, a new Trump will rise. America’s democracy crisis is not likely to end anytime soon, no matter how many members of the news media, the political class and the general public would like to wish it away.

about the unshakable Trump cult