MSNBC has made some terrific decisions, lately. First, we learn that Joy Reid will take over the 7 pm evening anchor spot that Chris Matthews vacated — HUZZAH! Second, I have seen the inimitable Elie Mystal appear as a guest on the network twice in the last 2 weeks! This morning, those things converged as Mystal appeared on AM Joy to talk about the gross corruption reflected in Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence. He also had some perspective for Democrats on how they could use their power, once they get it back.
At the beginning of the segment, Reid's panel discussed the Stone business, and the potential for a second impeachment, should Trump win a second term.
On his last day in office, Barack Obama pardoned 330 nonviolent drug offenders. And that was a great work. That was great work by the Obama/Biden administration. But there are 78,000 federal nonviolent drug offenders. You want to show Republicans what a fully operational pardon power looks like? Pardon them ALL on day one of the Biden administration. What are Republicans going to say? We don't like the process? No, no, no. Republicans forfeited forever their right to complain about the pardon process.
Personally, I think Biden doing something so bold as pardoning 78,000 nonviolent drug offenders is about as likely as the Dems ginning up for another impeachment — of either Trump OR Bill Barr. But I could not agree with Mystal more, here, both in sentiment and intensity.
Then, there was an exchange between Reid and Anthony Scaramucci wherein the Mooch acted ridiculous, and as if he hadn't ever watched AM Joy to notice that they've been on to Bill Barr and Donald Trump since forever. So we can skip right over that part. But when Scaramucci suggested that in order to defeat Trump, one has to think like him, Reid picked up on that thread and asked Mystal to attempt to predict what Trump might do to hang on to power.
The way that I link up — not the Stone thing but the other big legal news this week — the fact that Supreme Court said that Cy Vance's District Attorney subpoena can go forward, after Trump complains again about it for a little bit, that portends, to me, additional legal, umm, exposure for Donald Trump in 2021, should he lose in November. So I think the law is coming for Trump, but he has to lose. You have to beat him in November for us to have laws.
I mean, it would be nice to live in a country where we still had laws, right? Remember what that was like? I know, it's hard. Because don't look now, but that thing Barr attempted with Geoffrey Berman at SDNY? He actually accomplished that very thing last night in EDNY.
The EDNY line of succession, to Bill Barr's pick rather than the U.S. Attorney's deputy, is the exact protocol that Geoffrey Berman told Congress a day earlier would have been “unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained."
EDNY declined to comment on that protocol. https://t.co/GaCxPSuo6z— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 11, 2020
Yeah, Biden losing in November is just not an option, people.
