Well, Rudy's stall tactics have collapsed. His refusal to turn over discovery materials and then his "I admit I was wrong but not really so the case is moot but I don't have to pay any damages" filings have worn out the judge. She's ruled that he is de facto liable and that the jury will only determine damages.
She added that he can still reverse this and get a normal trial if he complies with all the orders - but he's not going to do that.
@RationalLeft we spoke about this yesterday, the whole purpose here was so their strategists will run with the story Rudy "Did not even get a fair trial!"
You and I understand the underpinnings of this, but there base will never, and that's all that matters here.
It LOOKS like the government/deep state is denying Rudy his American rights!
@SentinelOfTruth Meh. They're preaching to the converted with that crap. The ones who'll buy it were going down with the MAGA ship no matter what.
@RationalLeft You're not wrong, but you can't dismiss it out of hand either. There's a point here for this. Either they break the emotional threshold with public sentiment (unlikely), or they whip the cult into a frothy rage and they actually go out and try to start a war.
And yes, I believe the Right wing machine is cynical enough to throw lives away in their thrist to rule, but the immediate impact will be bad.
@SentinelOfTruth I don't dismiss the risk of them sparking violence... because they already have, and will continue to do so.
But I don't think individual stunts like Rudy's courtroom whining are more than one more piece in their massive campaign of base brainwashing.
@RationalLeft I just see this as part of a much larger call to violence push than we've seen in the past. Even larger than Jan 6th. Like, the equivalent to "If I can't rule, NO ONE WILL!" kind of move.
What I would like to see more of is calling out of the tactic first than dismissing it as just another political dog whistle from the Right.
It's akin to people publicly dragging out the whole attempt by rw pundits to eqaute the indictments to innocent, mudane choices.
We need more this.
@SentinelOfTruth When I talk here or elsewhere about right-wing agitation, I get both "ignore it, you're giving them exactly what they want by getting worked up about it" and "you're not taking it seriously enough" responses.
@RationalLeft To be clear, that wasn't directed at you, but more of a general blanket. We should all state the scam first and often, and then dismiss it for what it is.
Anyone pretending the former isn't happening and claiming the latter alone is playing into their strategy in my opinion.
They just turn around and either claim we're stupid, or we're cowards for not calling it out. Might as not play into their hands.
@SentinelOfTruth Understood. π
@SentinelOfTruth NB that Judge Howell directly called out his "play to the base" games.