Original Intent

The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed — William Gibson

I. The System is Blinking Red

“No Pelosi. No shifty Schiff. No liberal nonsense. Only the truth.” — Jim Jordan, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee

“It was like January 6th all over again. The same Republicans that helped the insurrectionists five years ago, they control the committees, wield subpoena power, call witnesses that lie on command. They’re turning their fever dreams into reality. Isn’t that what happened at the Salem witch trials?” — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Congresswoman shortly after her arrest

“Trump supporters were insurrectionists. That’s a lie. The liberal media never tells the truth. Ever since he came down the escalator, their only goal has been to undermine the greatest president in our history.” — Candace Owens, Commentator

“No mail-in ballots. No illegals coming across the border to cast votes. No China vote tally manipulation. Law-abiding, Constitution-loving Republicans made sure America had an honest-to-goodness, red, white and blue, proud-as-a-peacock election.” — Senator John Kennedy, Louisiana, on the eve of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

“I must warn the viewer that I’m going to discuss an uncomfortable subject. Women especially might find themselves triggered by what I’m about to say. You’ve been warned. Here goes. […] The right metaphor can unlock a world of meaning. It can reveal much more than a simple description could ever reveal because metaphor carries layers of implication. It can focus our attention on, not just what happened, but on what might happen. Psychology tells us that rapists are not driven by a desire for sex, but by a desire to exert power. The rapist wants to humiliate the victim, destroy the victim’s sense of self and security. The rapist wants his victims to acknowledge that he is God, and that he possesses the power of life and death. The political rapists, known more broadly as the Republican Party, do not use power to govern but to destroy. Their targets are always those perceived to be weak, vulnerable, defenseless. Political rapists cannot be swayed by logic, reason, or emotion. They possess no inner being that one might appeal to. Emptiness is their disease. They are a non-person in a person’s body.” — Medhi Hasan, MSNBC

“Children are taught that society works according to rules and no amount of whining will delay punishment, the only force that can restore balance in society. Adults understand that. That’s why they are called adults. That’s why they make the big decisions in life. Those on the Left, however, who grew up with unlimited love and constant praise, who were never scolded no matter what they did, they do not understand the power of punishment. They don’t appreciate how important it is to family life, how it keeps a society together, how it brings nature back into balance.” — Tucker Carlson, Fox News

II. The Trial

“Nothing is ‘normal’ about this trial, not the evidence, not the charges, and not the dismantling of jurisprudential precedent and procedure. The same justice system that has been notoriously slow when it was tasked to deliver justice for people of color, has suddenly embraced the ‘get it done quick’ mantra of the second Trump administration. To be fair, there are times when that’s exactly the attitude a country needs. Yet it was absent when Covid arrived at our shores a half-dozen years ago. Imagine how many more Americans would have been alive if that ‘get it done quick’ attitude brought the country together to contain the virus. Quick legal trials, like this one, are the stuff of nightmares. They leave little time for thoughtfulness, reflection, deliberation. Never in history has there been a quick trial that did not make a mockery of long standing principles. I fear that’s exactly what the Supreme Court is doing.” — Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

“I have no sympathy for Jill Biden. I’m convinced she made all the big decisions in the White House. She’s guilty of treason, maybe more than Joe is.” — Candace Owens, Commentator

“Dr. Jill Biden, vilified by the right-wing media, convicted in the court of public opinion, branded a Svengali who controlled President Biden, was a chimera of the Republican imagination. They needed a woman, especially an educated woman, to be the source of ruin. Bad decisions, they believe, are never the result of men, especially such fine specimens as Stephen Miller, or Texas Senator Rafael Cruz, and especially not the Second Son of God, Donald J. Trump. In the Republican Protocols of the Elders of Zion, there’s always a cunning sorceress who must be stopped before she destroys their fascistic Garden of Eden.“ — Joy Ann Reid, MSNBC

“I applaud the courage of the Chief Justice. Despite what her critics say, she did not ignore process and precedent. The Chief Justice did something more important. She swept away the juridical cobwebs, bringing the court into alignment with the original intent of the Constitution. If there is a presidential award for streamlining a bloated system, I can think of no person more deserving than Chief Justice Barrett.” — Ross Douthat, NY Times columnist

“How can the Supreme Court, whose normal role is to render judgement on the decisions of lower courts, to review the constitutionality of legislation, how can they conduct a trial, render a verdict, and deliver a sentence. What court can a defendant appeal to if the highest court in the land was judge, jury, and executioner. There is no court higher than the Supreme Court. Only a presidential pardon could undo the damage, an event as unlikely as Trump delivering his health plan, or Christ returning to earth.” — Ari Melber, MSNBC

“Show trials are performative in nature, the modern equivalent of a public stoning. They are never meant to reveal truth, but to create a preferred truth. They must be quick and must be spectacular. They feed the thirst for revenge which could never be satisfied by a slow, deliberative process.” — Masha Gessen, Author, Activist

III. The Aftermath

“The Enlightenment experiment is over. Cruelty has triumphed over reason. The Disunited States, split along tribal loyalties, its magnificent accomplishments a distant memory, will continue its plunge into a Hobbesian war of ‘all against all.’ Its billionaire saviours, the only ones with the economic and political power to save the country, saw this as another opportunity to increase wealth, each outbidding the other for the right to livestream the spectacle of a thousand volts coursing through the flesh of a former President and First Lady.” — Chris Hedges, Author, Journalist

“We watched in horror, sure that the Supreme Court would not allow the charade to continue, that even the most conservative of them would wake up and come to their senses. They did not, and we are worse off for it.” — Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, speaking shortly after the electrocutions of Joseph and Jill Biden

“He fooled them in 2016. He fooled them in 2024. My father came back better. He promised to obliterate Iran, and he did. He promised to execute the traitorous Bidens, and he did. He promised to make America great again, and he did.” — Donald Trump, Jr. , America First Rally, Madison Square Garden

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