Hint: He’s going to act like a maniac and incite his followers—some of whom may get violent.

Now that a Manhattan grand jury has reportedly indicted former President Donald Trump, ending his half-century of successfully escaping law enforcement, here are three things you can count on.

Trump’s support among Republicans will rise, at least for a while.

Trump will surrender to avoid the risk of pre-trial detention and be fingerprinted, mug shotted and, perhaps, put in handcuffs while his Secret Service detail watches.

Trump will continue riling up the most deranged and fanatical MAGA elements for “the final battle” to put him back in the White House.

That last point will prove to be an important test of both Trump’s influence and the effectiveness of our Justice Department in discouraging more violence by Trump’s most deranged followers.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-to-expect-next-from-donald-trump-first-indicted-ex-us-president

Donald Trump’s lawyers are already building out his legal defense. But the strategy hinges on an assumption that may not be true.

Finally faced with an actual criminal indictment, former President Donald Trump is settling on a familiar—if contradictory—defense strategy: Blame his previous lawyer, and say he would have done it anyway.

There’s just one problem: The indictment might be more sprawling than just the Stormy Daniels hush money payments that Trump’s team has claimed it was expecting for months.

On Thursday, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump—something he immediately characterized as “Political Persecution and Election Interference.”

The historic move capped a years-long local investigation involving those secret payments to silence a porn star from outing their sexual affair and potentially tanking his 2016 presidential campaign. While new reporting suggests that the Daniels case may not represent the full scope of charges—reportedly running more than 30 counts—that particular item largely hinges on the account of a less than reliable narrator.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-trumps-risky-plan-to-fight-the-stormy-daniels-hush-money-case

Rep. Adam Schiff saw some ominous warning signs after Trump was indicted on Thursday.

When news broke on Thursday that former President Donald Trump was criminally indicted in Manhattan, congressional Republicans—as they’ve done countless times before—immediately declared they would leverage their power to defend him.

“I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy,” tweeted Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), “by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.” Days before the indictment, GOP chairmen signaled they would demand the testimony of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Key lawmakers also quickly declared they would retaliate against Democrats. “Hunter Biden: Call your lawyers,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) tweeted after the indictment news broke.

Few officials are more familiar with the GOP playbook than Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who made his name as perhaps Trump’s most dedicated foe in Congress.

In an interview on Friday with The Daily Beast, Schiff said McCarthy and GOP lawmakers’ plan to run interference for Trump in response to the indictment are “very true to form.”

But Schiff argued a key difference this time around—as Trump makes grim history as first U.S. president to ever face criminal charges—is that Republicans wield real power to disrupt the proceedings to hold him accountable.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/adam-schiff-house-gop-control-adds-new-danger-to-trump-case

Nearly seven years ago, the GOP made what many party officials privately called a devil’s bargain with Donald Trump. The bill just came due.

It’s not possible yet to assess the strength of Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump. The investigation was known to involve hush money payments to a porn star to cover up an alleged affair, but its full dimensions and the precise charges on which a New York grand jury indicted the former president Thursday afternoon remain under seal and may not be known until his arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday.

Nor is there much point in trying to guess the impact on a general election that remains more than 19 months — and perhaps several indictments — in the future.

But what is clear is that Republicans now face what may be a worst-case scenario: For at least some time, the front-runner for their nomination will be campaigning while facing criminal charges. That’s likely to strengthen him in the eyes of a significant share of the party’s voters even as a majority of Americans view it as disqualifying.

If Trump wins the nomination, the party’s fate could be lashed to the outcome of a criminal trial. If he loses, the indictment will give him every incentive to once again cry foul and denounce whoever beat him.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-03-31/the-gop-made-a-devils-bargain-with-trump-the-bill-is-coming-due-essential-politics

The Republican Party has degenerated into nothing more than a refuge of cowards, criminals, and traitors. And they should be talked about using those very same terms.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday teased future, unspecified action against Disney after the entertainment giant appeared to thwart his attempts at a takeover of its special governing powers.

“There’s a lot of little back-and-forths going on now with the state taking control, but rest assured, you know, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” the Republican governor told a crowd in Smyrna, Georgia. “There’s more to come in that regard.”

The comments come a day after DeSantis allies on the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board – the body that oversees the land in and around Disney’s Orlando-area theme parks – unveiled that the company had quietly reached an agreement with the outgoing board that turned over most of its governing powers to Disney. The new board hired outside legal counsel as it weighs its options to claw back its authority.

Yet, DeSantis on Thursday continued to claim victory over Disney in a dispute that first began last year when the company vowed to help overturn a new law that limited the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. DeSantis responded by vowing to strip the company of its longstanding power to tax, borrow and build infrastructure projects in Central Florida in an area known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

“I don’t know that it’s the appropriate use of shareholder resources to be shilling for gender ideology in kindergarten, but nevertheless, that’s what they decided to do,” DeSantis said.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/desantis-disney-battle/index.html

DeSantis is a despicable POS.

In his remarks, the governor essentially flips everything he’s previously pontificated about fighting crime.

Gov. Ron DeSantis often invokes his executive creed that prosecutors cannot and must not fail to charge crimes in their jurisdictions because lawlessness and anarchy will ensue.

To buttress his resolve about prosecuting all violations of the law, DeSantis summarily removed Hillsborough County’s Andrew Warren –– a twice-elected state attorney and the chief law enforcement authority in a judicial circuit –– because the prosecutor signed a letter about not prosecuting violations of a future law (being considered by the Legislature) limiting abortions and its providers. The law is the law (or would be the law). No prosecutor can refuse to enforce it for policy or political reasons.

Now comes a Manhattan grand jury, acting just like the local grand juries that convene and make charging decisions every week in Florida’s 20 judicial circuits, and reportedly votes to indict Donald Trump on dozens of felony charges relating to his payment of hush money to a porn star with whom he is said to have had an affair. The indictment, confirmed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, remains under seal, likely until the defendant makes his initial appearance and is arraigned on the charges in a New York state court.

Because the defendant is now a resident of Florida, the issue of how and when he would make his first court appearance in New York quickly percolated to the top of the “what if” list. What happens if the defendant fights interstate extradition became an instant bullet point of commentary.

We didn’t have to wait long for DeSantis, prosecutor prodder, to provide an answer that essentially flips everything he’s previously pontificated about fighting crime. DeSantis, within hours of the news of the New York indictment, summarily announced on Twitter that he would not assist in the extradition of the defendant (former President Donald Trump). His social media declaration of not enforcing the interstate compact governing extraditions when he hasn’t even seen the charging document is its own indictment of the governor.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2023/03/31/heres-what-gov-desantis-did-donald-trump-andrew-warren-column/

The Dream Center in Sarasota is caught in the middle of the political battle between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden's Administration over federal immigration policy.

The situation sheds light on how the department has implemented, and potentially bungled, directives under Gov. Ron DeSantis to deny licenses to organizations that accept federal contracts to house unaccompanied immigrant children who cross the Southwest U.S. border illegally and seek to be resettled in Florida.

Lutheran Services Florida Inc., the Tampa-based nonprofit that operates the Dream Center, filed a claim in January against the Florida Department of Children and Families after the department denied the shelter its license because it accepts federal contracts to house unaccompanied immigrant children.

The case, which was scheduled for a hearing on Tuesday, was postponed after both Lutheran Services Florida and DCF indicated they are working on a settlement agreement.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/31/florida-governor-ron-desantis-immigration-sarasota-shelter-caught-middle-feud-unaccompanied-minors/70055438007/

DeSantis' campaign of hate continues while he ignores dealing intelligently with Florida's homeowner insurance crisis.

It’s no surprise that House Republicans leaped to Donald Trump’s defense after news of his indictment broke late Thursday. What was striking, though, was how many elected GOP officials now sound like Trump.

“Political Persecution,” Trump alleged in his statement.

“Political persecution,” parroted Reps. Diana Harshbarger (Tenn.), Josh Brecheen (Okla.), Claudia Tenney (N.Y.), and Paul Gosar (Ariz.).

“Blatant Election Interference,” Trump announced.

“This is unprecedented election interference,” echoed GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.).

“An attempt to interfere in our Presidential election,” echoed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/31/house-gop-debates-public-urination/

Source: Washington Post

The office of New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday urged House Republicans to withdraw a demand for information on its case against former president Donald Trump, again rebuffing what it characterized as “unlawful political interference” in an ongoing criminal case.

In a letter to the three committee chairmen who are pressing for documents and testimony about Trump’s case, Leslie B. Dubeck, the general counsel for Bragg’s office, chastised them for choosing to “collaborate” with the former president, who is now under indictment. A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on Thursday after hearing evidence about alleged hush-money payments from Trump to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

As of Friday morning, the indictment — with specific charges against Trump — remains sealed. On his Truth Social platform, Trump has kept up a steady stream of attacks on Bragg in all-caps posts and condemned the indictment.

“As you are no doubt aware, former President Trump has directed harsh invective against District Attorney Bragg and threatened on social media that his arrest or indictment in New York may unleash ‘death & destruction,’” Dubeck wrote.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/31/trump-house-gop-alvin-bragg/

Conservative commentators, presenting the indictment as political oppression, predicted ‘unrest’

Fox News hosts and other conservative commentators fulminated Thursday night against the indictment of Donald Trump, portraying it as an act of political repression, calling for protests and predicting “unrest.”

“It almost feels they’re pushing the population to react,” said Fox prime-time host Tucker Carlson, referring vaguely to Democrats. “‘We think they’re demoralized and passive, let’s see if they really are.’ At what point do we conclude they’re doing this in order to produce a reaction?”

Carlson’s guest, former ESPN personality Jason Whitlock, struck a similar tone: “They are agitating for unrest. That is the only way to interpret this,” he said, before seeming to call for some kind of response: “I’m ready for whatever’s next. And I hope every other man out there watching this show, I hope you’re ready for whatever’s next. If that’s what they want, let’s get to it.”

Carlson’s 8 p.m. show offered some of the most fiery talk on a heated night of conservative reaction to a New York grand jury’s decision to indict Trump after hearing evidence about hush money paid to an adult-film star during his 2016 race for president. Former Fox host Glenn Beck visited the show to predict the country would be “at war” by 2025; the indictment’s intent, he warned was “to inflame this country” so that an unnamed entity “could close the cage” on those who react.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/03/30/trump-indict-fox-tucker/