After incidents of mass killing at schools, thoughts turn
toward curbing the great American killing machine. However, in nearly every
case, no gun safety legislation is enacted. Yet, one state has acted
promptly following the massacre at the school at Covenant Presbyterian Church
in Nashville. Hannah Schoenbaum of the
AP reports
North Carolina residents can now buy a handgun without
getting a permit from a local sheriff, after the Republican-controlled state
legislature on Wednesday overrode the Democratic governor’s veto — a first
since 2018.
The House voted 71-46 to enact the bill, which eliminates
the longstanding permit system requiring sheriffs to perform character
evaluations and criminal history checks of pistol applicants. The Senate
overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto in a party-line vote on Tuesday.
The permit repeal takes effect immediately. Cooper and
Democratic lawmakers warned it allows more dangerous people to obtain weapons
through private sales, which do not require a background check, and limits law
enforcement’s ability to prevent them from committing violent crimes.
But bill supporters say the sheriff screening process is no
longer necessary in light of significant updates to the national background
check system, and that the permit requirement didn’t serve as a crime
deterrent.
If that sounds like a rationalization, well, of course it is. Before Governor Cooper's veto was overwritten, Schoenbaum had noted
Although bill supporters say substantial updates to the
national background check system have rendered the requirement duplicative,
Democrats warn that its repeal would create a dangerous loophole. Background
checks are not mandatory for private gun sales or exchanges between individuals,
which require only a sheriff-issued permit.
Gun-control advocates and Democratic lawmakers argue the
sheriff’s evaluation is sometimes the only barrier preventing someone with a
history of violence or suicidal ideation from obtaining a gun. Its repeal, they
said, would enable more people to acquire firearms from unlicensed private
sellers — those not obligated to verify that the buyer can legally possess a
gun — online and at gun shows.
Asked on Wednesday if the United States Senate will consider gun safety legislation, Senate Minority
Whip John Thune said "It's just premature to talk about it." The
Republican majority of the North Carolina legislature begs to differ- it's
never premature to encourage mass murder.
After the Nashville school shooting, Senate Minority Whip John Thune says any discussion of gun legislation is “premature,” even though a majority of voters support reforms.
CNN’s @mkraju: “130 mass shootings just this year alone.”
It was the good, the bad, and the ugly when while addressing the Small Business Administration Women’s Business Summit
US President Joe
Biden on Monday (local time) termed the school shooting at Nashville which
claimed the lives of six people as “sick” and said that the US has to do more
about gun violence and stressed that “it’s ripping the soul of this nation.”
Biden’s remarks come after a person killed six people,
including three children at Covenant School in Nashville.
He also called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban
and said that the shooter in Nashville reportedly had two assault weapons and a
pistol.
So the President urged Congress to pass an assault weapons
ban. High-capacity magazines, allowing
allowing users to get off numerous rounds of ammunition in an instant, have no
legitimate recreational use. They are used to kill lots of people,
quickly. Admittedly, banning muskets, as intended by the Framers, could be violative of the Second Amendment.
Nevertheless, it was bad when Biden added
It’s just sick. You know, we’re still gathering the facts of
what happened and why. And we do know that, as of now, there are a number of
people who are not going to, did not make it, including children. And it’s
heartbreaking. A family’s worst nightmare.
Commission of a horrific act we could not imagine ourselves
or our loved ones does not qualify the act as sick. It would be more accurate
to characterize it- as Democrats assiduously avoid doing- as evil. We probably
will never know for sure because assailant Audrey Hale was killed by police but
The shooter had drawn detailed maps of Covenant School,
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a press conference. Drake said
that the suspect in Monday’s shooting was armed with three firearms, CNN
reported.
Drake further said that the shooter entered the school by
shooting through one of the doors. The shooter was once a student at the
school, CNN reported citing initial findings from police.
According to CNN, John Drake said, “We’ve also determined
that there were maps drawn of the school in detail of surveillance, entry
points, et cetera. We know and believe entry was gained through shooting
through one of the doors, is how they actually got into the school.” (ANI).
As I'm writing (typing) this, Nashville Police is revealing
that Hale possessed seven weapons bought- legally- at five different stores.
This was not an impulsive act but one which was carefully
planned. Thus, one cannot suggest (as Biden did) that the murderer was
"sick" simultaneously from disregarding the possible impact of her
identification as transsexual. I
wouldn't go there- but neither would I blithely refer to an evil act as sick.
But while Biden should be lauded for reminding the public
that assault weapons should not be possessed by non-civilians, he ought to be
condemned for flippancy at the planned event.
The conservative daily rag New York Post notes
My name is Joe Biden. I’m Dr. Jill Biden’s husband,” the
80-year-old president began his remarks at an East Room gathering of
women-owned businesses.
“And I eat Jeni’s ice cream — chocolate chip. I came down
because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream,” he said.
“By the way, I have a whole refrigerator full upstairs,”
Biden added at his only scheduled public appearance of the day. “You think I’m
kidding? I’m not.”
After addressing the murders in Nashville, the President
returned to the subject of ice cream with another shout-out
to a rep from Jeni’s, an Ohio-based chain with shops across the country,
including a location near the White House.
“The businesses represented in this room stretch across
industries, from restaurants to architectural firms to hardware stores, plus
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. And by the way — by the way, it is splendid,” Biden
gushed.
“If I were allowed to take you upstairs, you got a whole
freezer full of Jeni’s chocolate chip ice cream,” Biden went on — closing his
eyes slightly as if to reminisce about taking a bite.
“You know it’s pretty dull when you’ve been in public life
as long as I have and you’re known for two things: chocolate chip ice cream and
Ray-Bans sunglasses, but what the hell,” the president added.
Joe Biden does very good stand-up. However, whatever the original purpose of the gathering, this occasion called for solemnity and was not the time to be jocular. As I'm
writing (typing) this, Nashville Police is revealing that Hale possessed seven
weapons bought- legally- at five different stores. This highlights both the
horrid nature of the act committed and the need to ban the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of these deadly weapons.
It's an interesting, not rhetorical question, asked by one
tweeter: "why are we letting one man systematically destroy our nation
right before our eyes?"
A group of lawmakers
led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) visited the D.C. jail Friday where
Donald Trump supporters have been held for rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6,
2021.
The delegation consisted of House Oversight Committee
members investigating the supposed unequal treatment of Jan. 6 rioters Greene
describes as “political prisoners"...
After touring the facility for about two hours with about a
dozen colleagues, including two Democrats, Greene told reporters the visit
confirmed her view that there’s a double standard.
“There’s a very different treatment for pretrial Jan. 6
defendants,” she said.
The two Democrats from the committee, Reps. Robert Garcia
(Ca.) and Jasmine Crockett (Texas), agreed that Jan. 6 defendants received
different treatment ― except they said it was better treatment.
A trio of House Republican committee chairs say the House of
Representatives could soon take up legislation to strip state and local
prosecutors of the authority to prosecute former presidents in response to
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s potential indictment of former
president Donald Trump.
In a letter to Mr Bragg, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim
Jordan, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, and House Administration
Committee Chair Bryan Steil rejected arguments the Manhattan prosecutor gave in
response to the trio’s demand that he give evidence before their panels about
the ongoing investigation into Mr Trump.
Mr Bragg’s probe could result in the twice-impeached
ex-president becoming the first former US chief executive to face criminal
charges over hush money payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in
2016.
Last week, Mr Bragg’s office slammed the 20 March demand for
his testimony as “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution”
which only arose “after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would
be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged [Congress] to
intervene”.
“Your letter treads into territory very clearly reserved to
the states. It suggests that Congress’s investigation is being ‘conducted
solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to ‘punish’
those investigated,’ and is, therefore, ‘indefensible,’” said Leslie Dubek, who
is Mr Bragg’s general counsel, in a response sent to the chairmen on Thursday.
There is a story here beyond the obvious ones about
criminality and the separation of powers.
Grossly lacking prescience, Politico on the day after last
year's mid-term elections reported
As the night wore on, Republicans began to express concern
that the results were not what they were expecting, or hoping for. Senior party
officials vented that in too many contests, candidates had embraced positions
adopted by Trump that were too far outside the mainstream.
With Trump poised to announce a 2024 bid, some said the
party needed to have a post-election reckoning — and a discussion about whether
the GOP needed to turn to someone else.
How times have changed- and in less than five months. Tim Alberta in The Atlantic finds
Piety aside, raw political calculation was at work. Trump’s
relationship with the evangelical movement—once seemingly shatterproof, then
shaky after his violent departure from the White House—is now in pieces, thanks
to his social-media tirade last fall blaming pro-lifers for the Republicans’
lackluster midterm performance.
And yet, as the perspective of white evangelicals has
takes a slightly nuanced (not what they're know for) turn, House Republicans
are fronting for Donald Trump's authoritarian schemes.
Only a few seconds into the video below, Michael Steele
remarks "I need to start with a question for today's Republican Party.
What the hell's wrong with you?
You will get the answer to that question from few pundits or journalists and
from even fewer Democratic politicians. But the problem is that, whether they
actually agree with Donald Trump- the jury is out- House Republicans really
like what Donald Trump is doing. They really, really do like it, and want to
make sure everyone knows it.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the siege in which
Federal agents raided the compound about 10 miles east of
Waco on Feb. 28, 1993. They were trying to arrest sect leader David Koresh for
stockpiling illegal weapons, but Branch Davidian members had been tipped off
about the raid and a shootout ensued. Four agents and six Davidians were killed
that day, leading to what would become a 51-day standoff.
As the weeks dragged on, federal authorities said they were
becoming increasingly worried about the Davidian children possibly being
abused. Then on April 19, 1993, after an FBI negotiator shouted over a
loudspeaker for Koresh to lead his people out and “be a messiah, not a
destroyer,” military vehicles began ramming the buildings and spraying tear gas
inside.
A few hours later, flames were seen spreading through the
compound. Authorities said the Davidians died by suicide by setting the fire
and shooting themselves. Survivors have denied there was a suicide pact, saying
military vehicles knocked over lanterns and ignited the blaze.
Nearly a dozen Davidians went on trial; all were acquitted
of murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges. But five were convicted of
voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges, and three were convicted on weapons
charges.
It was thus Donald Trump's modus operandi to choose Waco for his rally on Saturday evening. In a commentary appearing in June,
2020 in The Washington Post, history professor Peniel E. Joseph noted
President Trump’s original decision to stage his first
public rally on Juneteenth in Tulsa — the site of the worst anti-black racist
massacre in American history — has deep roots in political leaders’ strategic
displays of political solidarity with racists and those who support racial
terror. The vocal minority of Never Trumpers — including such notable
conservative intellectuals as George Will, Max Boot and William Kristol —
proclaim their loyalty to a different Republican Party, that of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan, the iconic former B-movie actor, California governor
and two-term president, ushered in “Morning in America” through trickle-down
economics that paved the way for the huge wealth gap the nation suffers from
today.
Black America remembers Reagan much differently than
apologists who claim him as a politically conservative figure who stood above
the racist din of some of his more unseemly supporters.
As the Republican nominee for president in 1980, Reagan
staged an Aug. 3 rally at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi, an event that
was weighted with racist symbolism. Neshoba County was the site of the brutal
murders of the black activist James Chaney and white civil rights workers
Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman.
Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman were killed during 1964’s
Mississippi Freedom Summer, a historic effort by the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to bring democracy and racial justice to the
Magnolia State. The interracial trio of activists went missing June 21 outside
of tiny Philadelphia, Miss. Their bodies were recovered Aug. 4 in an earthen
dam, and they have become enshrined as three of the most visible martyrs of the
civil rights era.
The fact that two white men were murdered by a combination
of racist law enforcement and white vigilantes lent their deaths more weight in
the public’s imagination. Freedom Summer continued, with activists emboldened,
rather than fearstruck, by acts of racial terror orchestrated by Mississippi
officials. Almost 1,000 white volunteers bolstered the SNCC staff’s efforts to
organize Freedom Schools, literacy and civics classes, voter registration and
integrated libraries.
Reagan knew all of this and still held a raucous rally in
Neshoba County, where he declared his allegiance to “states’ rights,” a dog
whistle fully understood by the white people in attendance who embraced the
conservative former California governor and actor as a political hero straight
from central casting.
There is a straight line in the Republican Party from the man Archbishop Desmond
Tutu labeled "a racist, pure and simple" to Donald J. Trump. Ever eager to stir up racial animosity, the 45th President of
the USA, updated for the 21st century, is a proper heir to the patron saint of the GOP. It will be Donald J. Trump in the flesh in Waco, Texas. But the ghost of Ronald(6) Wilson(6) Reagan(6) will join his Republican Party in attendance.
In an overnight social media post, former President Donald
J. Trump predicted that “potential death and destruction” may result if, as
expected, he was charged by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, in
connection with hush-money payments to a porn star made during the 2016
presidential campaign.
Hours later, the district attorney’s office discovered a
threatening letter addressed to Mr. Bragg containing white powder — later
determined not to be dangerous — in its mailroom...
Around midday on Friday, a threatening letter containing a suspicious white powder was found in the mailroom for the district attorney’s office, which is in the building where the grand jury meets, a spokesman for the Police Department said.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said that Mr. Bragg had informed the office that the powder was immediately contained “and that the N.Y.P.D. Emergency Service Unit and the N.Y.C. Department of Environmental Protection determined there was no dangerous substance.” In that message, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, the office’s leadership assured prosecutors that “we are well-prepared for any possibility.”
The envelope in which it was sent was addressed to Mr. Bragg, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The person said that inside the envelope was a single piece of white paper with a brief message containing the typewritten words “ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU” followed by 13 exclamation points.
The comments from Mr. Trump, made between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.
on his social media site, Truth Social, were a stark escalation in his
rhetorical attacks on Mr. Bragg ahead of a likely indictment on charges that
Mr. Trump said would be unfounded.
“What kind of person,” Mr. Trump wrote of Mr. Bragg, “can
charge another person, in this case a former president of the United States,
who got more votes than any sitting president in history, and leading candidate
(by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a crime, when it is known
by all that NO crime has been committed, & also that potential death &
destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our country?”
“Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate
psychopath that truely hates the USA!” the former president wrote.
I don't know whether Donald Trump is a psychopath, which is
an informal term rather than an official clinical diagnosis and refers in
psychiatry to someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). Common symptoms which Trump exhibits are behavior which
conflicts with social norms, lack of empathy and remorse, and manipulating
and/or hurting others. But they include also an inability to distinguish
between right and wrong and disregard for safety and responsiblity.
I don't believe the ex-President generally possesses the
latter two but your mileage may vary. That illustrates the point that none of
us can responsibly diagnose him without a personal examination.
Nonetheless, if we cannot prove with our limited knowledge
that Trump is "a degenerate psychopath," we do know that he truly
hates the USA, which indicates that at least part of his threatening tweet
constitutes psychological projection. In a tweet given little attention, last
October 30 Trump posted on his Truth Social
The Witch Hunt continues, and after 6 years and millions of
pages of documents, they've got nothing. If I had what Hunter and Joe had, it
would be the Electric Chair. Our Country is Rigged, Crooked, and Evil - We must
bring it back, and FAST. Next stop, Communism!
Just as New Year's Eve is Amateur Night, so is sending white
power to one's antagonist while threatening "I am going to kill you" in all caps followed by multiple exclamation points. As Donald Trump could attest to, this is not how La Cosa Nostra and other professionals do it.
Nevertheless, somehow in some way at some time this will escalate into the kind of violence the ex-President will savor. It's tempting to say that Trump won't be satisfied until one of his acolytes murders at least one critic or opponent of his. However, he still will not be satisfied, his bloodlust rising to a new level.
Yes, we are going again- only not in the way the Speaker of the House wants us to believe.
We've seen this play before because they've run this play before.
Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump.
I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by…
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the likely
successor to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), told Fox News’s Sean Hannity
explicitly on Tuesday night that the Clinton investigation was part of a
“strategy to fight and win.”
He explained: “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable,
right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee.
What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s
untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not
fought.”
The Republican-led House hasn’t been particularly good at
governing, but perhaps governing has never been the point. Why govern when
there’s a future election to influence?
Then, governing wasn't the point because there was a future election to influence. And influence they did. In June, 2017 NBC News reported
Endless investigations. The biggest scandal since Watergate.
Coverups. An inability to govern. A possible constitutional crisis. These were
all arguments that Donald Trump made against Hillary Clinton in the closing
days of the 2016 presidential election.
They brought the receipts, recalling
October 28 in Cedar Rapids, IA: “As you’ve heard, earlier today the FBI after discovering
new emails is reopening their investigation into Hillary Clinton… The
investigation is the biggest political scandal since Watergate and it’s
everybody’s hope that justice at last can be delivered.”
November 2 in Miami, FL: “If Hillary Clinton were to be elected, it would create an
unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis. Haven’t we just been
through a lot with the Clintons, right?”
November 2 in Orlando, FL:: “Hillary is likely to be under investigation for many years,
probably concluding in a criminal trial.”
November 4 in Atkinson, NH: “She'll be under investigation for years. She'll be with
trials. Our country, we have to get back to work.”
November 4 in Wilmington, OH: “Hillary has engaged in a criminal massive enterprise and
cover-ups like probably nobody ever before.”
November 5 in Reno, NV: “There's virtually no doubt that FBI Director Comey and the
great, great special agents of the FBI will be able to collect more than enough
evidence to garner indictments against Hillary Clinton and her inner circle,
despite her efforts to disparage them and to discredit them. If she were to win
this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that
situation, we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment
and ultimately a criminal trial.”
November 5 in Denver, CO: “Her current scandals and controversies will continue
throughout her presidency and we will make it honestly, look, it's gonna be
virtually impossible for her to govern. Now, the Republicans have talked very
tough and the Democrats. It's gonna be just another mess for another four
years, folks. A mess. We've got to get back to work, right? I mean, we have to
get back to work.”
November 6 in Minneapolis, MN: “First thing you should do is get rid of Clinton. Hillary
Clinton will be under investigation for a long, long time for her many crimes
against our nation, our people, our democracy, likely concluding in a criminal
trial.”
November 6 in Moon Township, PA: “The investigations into her crimes will go on for a long,
long time. The rank and file special agents at the FBI won't let her get away
with these terrible crimes, including the deletion of 33,000 emails after
receiving a congressional subpoena. Right now, she's being protected by a
rigged system.”
On October 27, 2016, the day before Trump began his barrage of statements claiming that election of Hillary Clinton would bring unprecedented chaos to American government, Trump trailed his opponent by 5.4 points in the Real Clear Politics average.Approximately 24 hours before the polls opened, the deficit had dropped to 2.5 points, critically assisted by the announcement on 10/28 by FBI director Jim Comey that he had found a new trove of suspicious Clinton emails.
Comey figuratively plunged the knife into the heart of the Democrat's campaign on October 28. After the induced hysteria had subsided, he pulled the knife out by announcing on November 7 that they were emails already examined. These actions only enhanced the argument, central to his campaign, that Trump made on November 2 that "If Hillary Clinton were to be elected, it would create an unprecedented and protracted constitutional crisis."
This was the culmination of the complaint of Majority Leader McCarthy 13-14 months earlier that Hillary Clinton not only was "untrustable." Left unstated but implied was the chaos of Benghazi and the subsequent hearings would become the norm, with the chaos of endless committee hearings, if she were to become the nation's chief executive.
And now we have the same, but with increased institutional power and influence, Kevin McCarthy trampling over the fundamental concept of separation of powers by threatening investigations into a "radical DA" who would dare enforce the law against a private citizen, Donald Trump.
McCarthy boasted in 2015 that hearings into Clinton's role in Benghazi had brought her poll numbers down. Those hearings laid the groundwork for the overwrought, largely trumped-up (pun intended) e-mail scandal, exploited by an irresponsible media. Dionne then recognized that tax money "was going out the door primarily to affect the chances of one particular candidate for president." It's more than six years later, but as Chris Cillizza explained ten months ago, Kevin McCarthy is owned lock, stock, and barrel by Donald J. Trump.
What are they teaching at the William and Mary Law School?
Matt Gaetz graduated in 2007 from the law school at William and Mary in Virginia, passed the bar exam, became a lawyer, and appears to know little about criminal proceeding. In the video available below, he states
If I were governor of Florida, I would not allow any Floridian to be hauled before some sort of Soros-backed prosecutor in some blue city over politics. And I wouldn't make an exception to not protect the President of the United States.
Ron DeSantis should be standing in the breach to stop any sort of extradition of President Trump from the State of Florida and the fact that he's not doing so puts every Floridian at risk to be the subject of false allegations.
Matt Gaetz attacks Desantis: “Desantis should be standing in the breach to stop any sort of extradition of Trump from Florida. The fact that he’s not doing so puts every Floridian at risk.” pic.twitter.com/2OTkYR85ZM
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) March 22, 2023
During the 2022 election cycle, the social justice organization Color of Change PAC endorsed Alvin Bragg for Manhattan District Attorney. A few days later, George Soros gave one million dollars to the group, which reportedly spent approximately half a million dollars to get Bragg elected. Thus, the connection between Bragg and Soros is very much indirect. Gaetz- and other Republicans- could attack Color of Change for considering race as a factor in its support of candidates, but that would require Republicans to confront the issue of race which, contrary to elite opinion, they generally are reluctant to do.
It's misleading and very clever for Gaetz to refer in this context to "President Trump" rather than "ex-President Trump" or "Donald Trump." We learned during the presidency of Donald Trump that he wouldn't be charged with an offense simply because of the bizarre perception that a sitting President could not be charged because, well, a sitting President could not be charged. No one is above the law except when he is.
Of course, we don't know whether Donald Trump is the subject of false allegations because no indictment has been handed down. However, he now is the ex-President, the former President, now a private citizen for the purposes of criminal prosecution.
If indicted, he probably will turn himself in to authorities in New York City. If he does, extradition is a moot point because he will not have been arrested in the State of Florida, which would have exposed him to extradition. Were he to be arrested in his home state and then challenged extradition, Trump would nearly certainly fail in his fight against extradition because the grounds for success are very limited. That would be the case for anyone and even if Representative Gaetz were Governor Gaetz, he would not be able to block return of the defendant to New York State.
I'm certain that the inability of an alleged offender to block the charging state from getting hold of him never bothered Matt Gaetz before. I am less certain how someone can graduate from a law school and pass the bar exam without understanding that no governor can fight extradition of a resident of his own state who turns himself in to another state without being arrested.
Many cable news lawyers apparently know so little about criminal law, sometimes even going so far as to maintain- with a straight face- that prosecutors are immune to political pressure. However, even by the fairly low standards for these lawyers, Matt Gaetz's evident, though perhaps feigned, ignorance stands apart. Hopefully, William and Mary is not churning out candidates for the profession who are as willing to pontificate about that which they know so little.
It's a safe bet that in any one year, thousands of Floridians already are at the risk of false allegations without an expression of concern from Matt Gaetz These are primarily misdemeanants but- having neither the money nor the power over others as does Trump- the alleged offenders are prosecuted, put onto probation, or even incarcerated. (If you would have guessed this would be a priority of black lives matter protesters, guess again.) Money talks, power shouts, and that will continue to be the case whatever happens to Donald Trump.
