The Nicole Sandler Show Nicole Sandler

The verdicts are in! Donald J Trump found guilty on all 34 counts, but you already knew that.
However, today is Friday, so Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net is here.
We discuss the verdicts, the hypocrisy and worse from the right, the fact that they're out for revenge, and that Hunter Biden's gun charges trial gets underway on Monday.
Never a dull moment!




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Literally ten minutes before hitting the air, the word came down that the jury had reached a verdict in the first criminal trial of the former guy.  Needless to say, everything I had planned for today's show was thrown out the window.... but Howie Klein still joined me to help celebrate the news that our justice system works. 

We were going as history was made today. Of course, the fight isn't over. Trump is playing the victim, trotting out his "it was rigged" tourettes. He doesn't know how to say anything else. 

Tomorrow, Marcy Wheeler will be here for a postscript, and a preview of the revenge they'll want to take out on Hunter Biden. Strap in...






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ur favorite legal expert Lisa Graves returns to the show to bring some clarity to the surreal legal news we've been dealing with the the past few weeks. First, there's the Trump trial - the one of four criminal cases that he should be standing trial for. Closing arguments were delivered yesterday; the judge gave the jury instructions this morning and the first day of deliberations are done. Of course TFG went out to the microphones and continued his normal practice of lying about everything.

The second big story that's broken over the past few weeks involved Supreme Court *justice* Samuel Alito. We now know that he and his wife (he blames his wife, whatta guy!) have flown flags supporting the insurrection and Trump at their VA home and their beach home, yet he refuses to recuse himself from any case dealing with Jan 6. Yeah, we have a few things to talk with Lisa Graves about today...






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The title of today's episode is taken from a line in a commencement address delivered this weekend by filmmaker/historian Ken Burns to the graduating class at Brandeis University. I heard enough plaudits about it to seek it out, and I must agree. In fact, so much that I'm going to share the final 8 1/2 minutes or so of it on today's show. I'll also post the entire thing on my website where I'll post today's show (nicolesandler.com/5-28-24) so you can easily find it to watch the rest of it.

With the spectacle of the first criminal trial of a former president coming to and end, and the amount of disinformation and propaganda warping the minds of the gullible, i've been having flashbacks to 2016 when our world was falling apart. Some idiot on Facebook defending TFG posted a response to something I wrote with "we survived Trump once, we will again"... a sentiment with which I wholly disagree.

This, if he succeeds in lying, cheating and stealing his way back into the oval office, will be the end of our democracy as we know it. Ken Burns chucked his longstanding policy of neutrality in this speech when he said, "The presumptive Republican nominee is the opioid of all opioids, an easy cure for what some believe is the solution to our myriad pains and problems. When in fact with him, you end up re-enslaved with an even bigger problem, a worse affliction and addiction, 'a bigger delusion', James Baldwin would say, the author and finisher of our national existence, our national suicide as Mr. Lincoln prophesies. Do not be seduced by easy equalization. There is nothing equal about this equation. We are at an existential crossroads in our political and civic lives. This is a choice that could not be clearer."

It's with that in mind that we'll hear the rest of that address today, and I'll bring you the latest on the closing arguments, the newest roadblock to justice thrown up by one of TFG's appointees to the bench, the latest outrage over the fact that our Supreme Court is sickeningly compromised and that we are, to put it bluntly, fucked. And not in a good way.




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We made it through another eventful week in the most insane decade of my life, and I'm old. We celebrate Fridays because the weekend is here, but not before we recap some of the news made during the week that's ending. It seems that each week these days is more outlandish than the one before, and this one is no different.

Among the news and stories that Emptywheel.net's Marcy Wheeler and I discussed today are the complete mess that is the Supreme Court. ProPublica this week confirmed and shared photographic proof that Justice Samuel Alito flew a second flag (this one at his NJ shore beach house) supporting Trump's insurrection and, this one specifically, Christian Nationalism. We discussed fascism and the staffer who reportedly posted the blatantly fascist "Reich" video to TFG's 'Truth Social' account. There was the lie told by Trump and his minions that the DOJ had an order to assassinate him during the execution of the search warrant at Mar A Lago, and we spent a few minutes talking about the "hush money" trial in NY where closing statements will be argued on Tuesday. The jury could get the case as soon as Wednesday. And, who knows? We might have a verdict by the time Marcy and I reconvene next Friday.

Oh, and of course we spoke about the circus surrounding Hunter Biden, whose second trial will get underway in Los Angeles in September.  The first one (on gun charges) will happen in Delaware in early June. Strap in...

Marcy is actually doing another podcast these days. She's working with the awesome Jason Statler (aka @LOLGOP) on a new podcast called Ball of Thread.  Follow the link for more info or to listen.






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It's Thursday (or as I prefer, Friday Eve) has arrived. That means a visit with Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny to talk politics. One subject that shouldn't fall under the category of "politics" is "The Supreme Court." But norms are dead, and we're now living in opposite world. So all bets are off....




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