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Resolute: Maine Judge Puts Trump Back on Ballot for Now, Dems Put the Heat on Biden-Harris to ‘Get in Gear’

Plus, Trump defamation trial has all the twists and drama and silliness of a daytime court TV show.

Nice shot of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Somewhere Trump is thinking, "Mike Pence never looked at me that way."

By Al Perrotta Published on January 18, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Trump throws down on defamation judge, Dem strategists want Biden to pick up the pace, and “Remember the Maine Ballot!” The #2024Election action is nonstop, and we are Resolute.

Maine Judge Puts Trump Back on the Ballot Pending Supreme Court Ruling

A Superior Court judge in Maine has sent the issue of Donald Trump being on the ballot back to the Secretary of State who unilaterally tossed him off with the instruction to delay any action until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in.

So thanks to the stay, Trump remains on the Maine ballot. For now. Oddly, the AP story details the argument in favor of using the 14th Amendment to keep the GOP front-runner off the ballot but doesn’t mention the arguments against, or the fact that states from coast-to-coast not named Colorado or Maine have laughed off similar efforts. Sometimes they put their whole weight on the scales. Sometimes just a pinky.

If He Doesn’t Win the Presidency, How About a Daytime TV Court Show?

Trump was in a New York courtroom again, this time involving the defamation case of E. Jean Carroll. Judge Lewis Kaplan already found against Trump for his comments about Carroll after she accused him of rape. Now a New York jury has to decide how much Trump has to pay.

Kaplan wasn’t happy with Trump muttering under his breath and threatened to throw him out of the courtroom. “I would love that, I would love that,” Trump responded.

As for Carroll, she admitted that she talked about Trump during her book tour because “the book was not selling.”

She also confirmed the idea for suing Trump came from notorious Trump hater George Conway and admitted to destroying evidence under subpoena.

Trump has denied ever meeting Carroll and sites like National Pulse point out how the scenario the self-described Law & Order fan lays out replicates an episode of Law & Order, and contains major inconsistencies … including not knowing what year the alleged attack happened.

Every hour Trump’s in court it’s an hour he’s not on the campaign trail or fund-raising. As Conway would know, being the ex of Trump’s former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Someday we’ll explore the expression “passive aggressive.”

Meanwhile, Trump won’t be at the trial today. The judge refused a delay to allow the former President to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral.

Chants of “VP! VP!” Greet Vivek as He Campaigns With Trump

Fresh off endorsing Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy stirred up Tuesday night’s rally in New Hampshire. The enthusiastic crowd started chanting “VP! VP!”

VP? Eh. More like a rap group’s MC, “master of ceremonies.” The performer charged with creating a “lively and energetic atmosphere,” a “hype man.” Wouldn’t that be something? A President of the United States not only having a press secretary, but an MC?

Actually Biden has one of them already. It’s called an MSNBC.

Biden Being Pressured to Get His Campaign Going

The heat is on Biden-Harris from inside the tent. According to Axios, “Lots of high-level Democrats are warning that President Biden and his reelection team are too complacent — and unimaginative — about the threat of losing to Donald Trump.” Obama’s strategist David Axelrod is telling Biden to “get into gear.”

You can see what they mean. What’s Biden been doing? Before yesterday, Biden had 4 public events in the past 25 days, and a couple of those were mere cameos. Tuesday’s lid on Biden came at 10 a.m. Sure, the Federal government had a snow day, but he works at home. In a big White House.

Speaking of snow and big houses, did you see how special prosecutor David Weiss is admitting the FBI found cocaine residue on the gun pouch belonging to Hunter, which builds on the “overwhelming” proof he lied on his gun application form about being clean? Now, this ain’t about Hunter. The FBI had the gun in 2019. They didn’t test it for cocaine until last year. Why was the case sitting around for years?

The Laptop is Real … FBI Finally Admits

But in even bigger news, the Federal court filings confirm — Joe Biden’s DOJ confirms — that Hunter’s laptop is legit and was abandoned at that computer repair shop in Delaware. Again, the FBI had the laptop — and thus all the mountains of evidence pointing to the financial schemes of Biden Inc. since 2019. I get sitting on your hands in this cold weather. But four years?!

Worse, this FBI stayed silent when Intelligence Community leaders like James Clapper and John Brennan claimed the laptop was illegitimate Russian misinformation and this FBI warned Facebook and Twitter off the laptop story in advance with a false claim about Russian disinformation about to drop on Hunter, which lead directly to the social media killing of the New York Post laptop story revealing the allegations against Joe Biden.

A suppression operation that — at least according to a post-election survey — gave Biden the victory.

But now DOJ confirms … the laptop is real.

Kamala’s Scared

Kamala Harris, unlike her boss, has been out and about. She practically took over ABC programming Tuesday and Wednesday. Seemed everywhere but on General Hospital. (What a hoot that would have been? “Nurse, have you been hitting the laughing gas again?!?”)

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Seriously … Harris told The View she was “scared as h***” of the prospect of a Trump victory. Sure, that’s in line with the whole “threat to democracy” line, so she was just following the script in that sense. But she made another comment to ABC News that’s an eyebrow raiser.

Asked about the race she said, “I’m of the school that you either run unopposed or you run scared.”

A generous interpretation is “if you have an opponent, never assume victory.” However, in Harris’ case, her boss and their DOJ and progressive D.A. allies are doing everything they can to keep Biden-Harris from having an opponent. They’re trying to imprison their leading opponent. For that matter, the DNC is making sure Biden doesn’t have any opposition on the ballot in the primary.

But what does it say about Harris that she uses “scared” in reference to herself several times? Not exactly an FDR mindset.

Let’s Leave With a Chuckle

Biden’s refusal to take part in the Democratic primary in New Hampshire (and lack of public appearances) have given rise to a humorous ad from Democratic candidate Dean Phillips. Phillips enlists Bigfoot himself to mock the rare Biden sightings.

Nikki Haley is being tagged with a label that could be hard to shake. Getting compared to Hillary Clinton. Sure it’s unfair. But it does make for a fun meme.

Finally, the great Babylon Bee threw down a funny in the wake of Trump’s victory in Iowa.

Which reminds me: While New Hampshire’s primary is only 5 days away … baseball’s Spring Training is only 27 days away!

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and co-author of the counter-terrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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