(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: With Donald Trump, there's no second act [1] [] Date: 2023-06-16 Astead W. Herndon/The New York Times: Trump and the Fun Factor How his legal challenges play into his reputation as an entertainer. After poring over traditional markers about fund-raising and poll numbers, Nate mentioned another standard I’ve been thinking about over the past few days: Do Trump’s legal challenges make him more (or less) fun? The question is awkward, as it suggests that the reasons some Americans are drawn to politicians are divorced from the seriousness of their office. But after Trump’s arraignment in federal court in Miami this week, I’m reminded of its importance. Everyone knows wrestling is phony. And/but If wrestling isn’t fun, why watch? x This is one for New York Times Pitchbot. https://t.co/xOljGbs9R1 — David Karol (@DKarol) June 15, 2023 Alan Feuer/The New York Times: In Miami, the Only Violence From Trump Supporters Was Rhetorical Calls for retribution were plentiful after the former president’s indictments, but the demonstrations proved tame, a possible result of the aggressive prosecution of the Jan. 6 rioters. Both times — first in April in Manhattan and then on Tuesday in Miami — police and civic leaders raised concerns that the angry rhetoric could lead to violent protests when Mr. Trump appeared in court. Both times, in both cities, the crowds that actually showed up for Mr. Trump were relatively tame and fairly small. But just because the aggressive words did not result in aggressive actions hardly meant they were not corrosive to the fabric or the practice of democracy, scholars of political violence said. They did, however, note that after the cataclysmic events of Jan. 6, 2021, many Trump supporters have become more reluctant to act on statements by Mr. Trump’s allies suggesting that a second American Revolution might be coming or calling for civil war. You know what’s the best deterrent for a civil war? Losing and being held accountable. x One of Trump's problems is that he so desperately wants to get what he wants that he'll believe anyone who tells him that he can. And because of this, there's always someone who tells him that he can. https://t.co/eZvqLID7gE — Sean T at RCP is a free elf (@SeanTrende) June 15, 2023 NBC News: Nevada 'fake electors' appear before D.C. grand jury investigating Jan. 6 Even as Trump is set to appear in court in Miami in the classified documents probe, a grand jury investigation into the aftermath of the 2020 election is continuing in Washington. Nevada GOP Chair Michael McDonald, a close Trump political ally, as well as Jim DeGraffenreid, the state party’s vice chair, were spotted by NBC News entering the area where the Jan. 6 jury is meeting at the Washington federal courthouse Tuesday. When asked about having to appear the same day as Trump’s court date, McDonald joked to an NBC News reporter: “Not on my bucket list.” McDonald had previously confirmed to NBC News that federal authorities seized his cellphone as part of the investigation. Jill Lawrence/The Bulwark: “Threading the Needle” on Trump Is a Dangerous Game You can protect national security. Or you can protect Trump. You can’t do both. We have seen that it’s risky to spin and feed paranoid fantasies about federal officials and agencies. We saw on January 6, 2021, what happened when Trump persuaded thousands of people that he had been wronged, that they had been wronged, and that violence against the government—the government Trump himself had sworn to protect and defend—was the answer. So: Full-on trashing and undermining of the government is being used to cover and distract from relatively mild, conditional critiques of Trump. This is a civic and physical hazard to America, and those with the least to lose are leading the way. x 🚨 NEW national survey (from @NavigatorSurvey) Disney remains unchanged. DeSantis has plummeted. DISNEY - May '22: +32 - Today: 23: +31 DeSantis - Nov '22: +2 - Today: -16 (32-48%) pic.twitter.com/3w660p2EPu — Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) June 15, 2023 POLITICO: As indictments pile up, Trump’s Senate GOP skeptics multiply His number of upper-chamber Republican endorsers is equal to the number who say they want another nominee — or who voted to bar him from office. Trump leads the field in Senate GOP endorsements, with 10 officially on board and potentially more on the way. But some Republican senators are quietly making moves: Four have endorsed non-Trump candidates, a couple more say they want a different nominee, several others grimace when asked about his electoral prospects and even some staunch defenders are staying formally neutral so far. That includes Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), a longtime Trump ally who — as of now — will only say that “I’ve endorsed his policies.” “An official endorsement, I have not. I’ve been pretty clear I’d like to see someone articulate for the Republican Party what we’re going to do policy-wise,” added Braun, who’s running for governor of his bright-red state. He said he wouldn’t endorse one of Trump’s rivals and is waiting for the former president’s approach to “crystallize.” In total, the number of senators who say they want someone other than Trump or who voted to bar him from office is equal to the number endorsing him. And while the primary won’t be won in the Senate GOP, Trump’s critics there represent a considerable swath of the party base, including donors , that want a different standard-bearer to take on President Joe Biden. The New York Times: Trump Indictment Shows Critical Evidence Came From One of His Own Lawyers M. Evan Corcoran, who was hired to represent the former president after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, could be a key witness in the trial. Mr. Corcoran’s notes, first recorded into an iPhone and then transcribed on paper, essentially gave prosecutors a road map to building their case. Mr. Trump, according to the indictment, pressured Mr. Corcoran to thwart investigators from reclaiming reams of classified material and even suggested to him that it might be better to lie to investigators and withhold the documents altogether. Earlier this year, over Mr. Trump’s objections, the special counsel overseeing the investigation, Jack Smith, obtained the notes through an invocation of the crime-fraud exception. That exception is a provision of the law that allows prosecutors to work around the normal protections of attorney-client privilege if they have reason to believe and can demonstrate to a judge that a client used legal advice to further a crime. x It’s so rare to break the attorney-client privilege this way that I can’t think of any other examples. I’m sure it’s happened but not in my cases or any that I’ve heard of. (And will be challenged again here before trial). — Elie Honig (@eliehonig) June 14, 2023 The New York Times: [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/16/2175589/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Roundup-With-Donald-Trump-there-s-no-second-act Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/