Comment on At vigil, Biden tries to comfort relatives of slain officers

“Now that former President Donald Trump is a convicted criminal, the Democratic Party finds itself wrestling with a choice that will help define this year’s presidential race: Should it try to push his felonies to the center of the election?,” the New York Times reports. “The route Democrats take may determine not only Mr.

A. O. Scott: “The way to evaluate a political speech — I mean as a literary critic, not as a pundit or a partisan — is to examine how the rhetoric rises to the occasion. Does the moment demand gravity or transcendence? Humility or defiance? Do the speaker’s words answer the call of history?” “In the case of Donald Trump’s 33-minute address in the lobby of Trump Tower on Friday, the occasion was both bizarre and momentous.

Federal prosecutors went to court last month with what seemed like a slam-dunk case that New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez had accepted bribes to help the governments of Egypt and Qatar while he was the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prosecutors have the gold bars Menendez supposedly received as a corrupt payment, a cooperating witness, and text messages that, they say, showed the senator promising to take votes and other official actions in exchange for bribes. But the prosecution is being complicated by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause—or at least by the trial judge’s expansive reading of it.

Todd Blanche told the Associated Press there was a chance Donald Trump might be sentenced to jail time. Said Blanche: “On the one hand, it would be extraordinary to send a 77-year-old to prison for a case like this. A first-time offender who was also president of United States, I mean, I think almost unheard of.” However, he added “this is a very highly publicized case” in which some might argue Trump deserves a harsher punishment because he faces charges elsewhere. Playbook: “Watch the prosecution’s filings in the run-up to the July 11 sentencing to see if they raise the 54 other charges pending against Trump as a reason Trump should face jail time — in addition to his lack of remorse, attacks on the justice system and ten contempt citations.”

“I was shocked at how he took the verdict. He just stood there and just kind of took it. And I think had a lot of appropriate solemnness for the moment that made me very proud to be sitting next to him when it, when it was happening.” — Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s attorney, quoted by the Associated Press.

Associated Press: “It’s more than drugs and border crossings. As criminals take control of territory south of the border, the U. S. could lose its top trading partner and potentially strongest ally.”