(Guardian UK) Two and a half years after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, an estimated 12 million American adults, or 4.4% of the adult population, believe violence is justified to restore Donald Trump to the White House.

Though the number of adults who believe this has declined since the insurrection, recent survey data from the University of Chicago reveal alarming and dangerous levels of support for political violence and conspiracy theories across the United States.

The university’s Chicago Project on Security & Threats (CPOST) research center has been conducting Dangers to Democracy surveys of American adults on political violence and attitudes towards democracy since shortly after the January 6 attacks. In new data from April shared exclusively with the Guardian, researchers found a continued support for violence to achieve various political goals on both sides of the aisle, and a general distrust for democracy.

The results are particularly alarming as the 2024 election approaches without essential safeguards that some lawmakers say could help prevent another violent attack on US democracy.

For the next year and a half through the 2024 election, CPOST will be releasing new survey data tracking continued dangers to democracy every three months. The data will be published first with the Guardian. This data will be critical at a time when efforts to erode democracy feel increasingly prevalent in the United States, from candidates who deny the results of their elections to governmental taskforces attempting to prosecute people who unintentionally violate voting laws. .............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/09/january-6-trump-political-violence-survey

The legal dominoes finally start to fall against Trump
Trump has lost the shield of the presidency that kept him safe for four years and the rule of law is coming for him

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED JUNE 9, 2023 8:53AM (EDT)


(Salon) Another day, another Donald Trump indictment.

In April, the former president and current candidate for president was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Last month, he was found guilty in a civil court of sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. And last night, as expected, he was indicted on federal charges pertaining to the collection of classified documents he refused to give back to the government after departing the White House.

And that's just for starters.

Trump is still facing a huge civil case in New York over his shady business dealings and he's under criminal investigations in both state and federal jurisdictions regarding his attempted coup in 2020.

One by one the legal dominoes are finally starting to fall.

....(snip)....

Trump has acted in inexplicably suspicious and self-defeating ways since he first ran for president in 2016. From calling on Russia to hack his rival's emails to his strange affinity for the worst dictators on the planet to his pathological lying about everything, Donald Trump has acted in ways that only cult members could excuse as normal.

This Mar-a-Lago case is especially vexing. When he decided to tell the government to go pound sand, he was not some naif who hadn't been in government before and didn't know the rules. He'd been president for four years by that time and knew very well that he was not supposed to keep classified documents at his beach club. And if they had been taken by accident in his chaotic move from the White House, he also knew very well that he should just give them back. But he refused, once again raising suspicions that he must be doing something nefarious with them. His behavior ever since then has done nothing to allay those concerns. Again, nobody normal would behave this way.

But now he's lost the shield of the presidency that kept him safe for four years and the rule of law is coming for him. If the case is strong (and we don't know that it is) he could face jail time. The only thing we do know about the indictment at this writing on Thursday night is that there are seven crimes charged. (We don't know how many counts there might be.) Trump's lawyer James Trusty appeared on television Thursday and said he had only seen a summary but the language indicates that one of the crimes falls under the Espionage Act and others refer to conspiracy, false statements and obstruction of justice. We'll have to wait to see exactly what they are charging but these are very serious crimes. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/09/the-legal-dominoes-finally-start-to-fall-against/

Donald Trump has fallen, and he can't get up: This may be the week the Demogorgon is caged
Trump's crude bluster has gotten him through life, business and politics — so far. He's not ready for what's coming

By BRIAN KAREM
Columnist
PUBLISHED JUNE 8, 2023 9:09AM (EDT)


(Salon) The news for Donald Trump isn't subtle: He's the target of a federal investigation.

It's historic. It's blunt. It cuts to the quick.

On Wednesday evening, news broke that Trump received a target letter from the Department of Justice – that means a letter sent by federal prosecutors to a person when there is "substantial evidence linking him or her to the commission of a crime and who, in the judgment of the prosecutor, is a putative defendant," in order to afford them a chance to testify before any indictment is issued.

You can't be any more blunt than that.

Once again Trump is making history — not exactly in the way he intended, but as the classic rock anthem he likes to play at his rallies tells us, you can't always get what you want.

....(snip)....

They are coming for Donald Trump; they inch closer to him each day. There is no subtlety in the actions of special counsel Jack Smith, the Manhattan district attorney's office or the federal grand juries at work in Washington, D.C., and Florida.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that John Solomon, a conservative writer and one of Trump's representatives to the National Archives, had "published an article claiming that federal prosecutors had notified the former president he was a target of their investigation and was likely to be indicted 'imminently'" in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Trump bluntly denied it. Other sources have now confirmed it.

....(snip)....

Donald Trump represents the worst in American politics. He represents the destruction of cohesion and the ascendancy of dunces — elected officials incapable of holding any job outside of Washington and determined to keep their power by manipulating voters through gerrymandering, rhetoric, voter suppression and fear. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/08/donald-has-fallen-and-he-cant-get-up-this-may-be-the-week-the-demogorgon-is-caged/

( Toronto Star) If Canada were a colour, it would be orange.

The orange flames of the burning trees, from one end of this country to the other, pushing air quality levels in Toronto, across Ontario and elsewhere to their most hazardous levels.

The orange haze that this country’s wildfires have cast upon New York’s Empire State Building and other world-famous landmarks.

The haunting images of Canada’s flaming tinder leaving its mark on America have effectively captured the vast power of nature’s wrath, and have become the global face of an unfolding ecological and humanitarian disaster in this country.

It is a disaster that has burned nearly four million hectares of land so far this year, and which could see Canada on track to record its most damaging wildfire season since 1995 — outstripping the British Columbia fires of 2021 and the Northwest Territories blazes of 2014.

And it’s unclear when the smoke will dissipate, with Toronto’s air quality health index expected to hover at levels 8 and 9, considered “high risk,” through Thursday, and smoke from hundreds of wildfires continuing to cause air quality warnings throughout Canada’s most populated corridor. ........(more)

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/06/07/the-new-reality-canadian-wildfires-become-the-global-face-of-unfolding-ecological-disaster.html

(Salon) Legal experts compared former President Donald Trump to Richard Nixon after the special counsel team investigating his removal of classified documents from the White House obtained an audio recording in which he admits to have a secret document that he cannot show to others because of its classification.

Special counsel Jack Smith's office in March obtained a recording of Trump speaking to former chief of staff Mark Meadows' autobiography ghostwriters about a secret document he has about Iran war plans and complaining that he should have declassified the material when he was president, according to CNN and other outlets.

Former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman called the recording "smoking gun" evidence.

"The new tape is potentially killer evidence of Trump's guilty state of mind—he knows he hasn't declassified everything and he knows there are rules," he tweeted.

The existence of the recording reminded some former prosecutors of Nixon's penchant for recording his conversations — which ultimately led to his downfall during the Watergate scandal. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/02/legal-experts-compare-to-nixon-over-secret-tapes--and-key-aide-gave-doj-even-more-evidence/

Trump's Big Lie is ruining it for the rest of the Republican field
Republican voters still believe that Trump won the last election in a landslide and the Democrats stole it from him

By HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
Columnist
PUBLISHED JUNE 2, 2023 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Well, it appears that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has survived the tantrum from the right-wing Freedom Caucus members after he made a deal with Joe Biden that essentially won none of their priorities and pushed off their next hostage opportunity until 2025. They weren't happy but they were anxious to get back to screeching about "wokeness," attacking the "Deep State" and pretending to do investigations into Joe Biden so they let it slide.

With that saga ending with a whimper, not a bang, it's time to rejoin the Republican presidential primary clown car. Both front-runner former President Donald Trump and his chief rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were in Iowa this week wooing the midwestern white conservatives who are the supposed avatars of Real America. Appearing before small intimate crowds isn't either man's strong suit but it's an important rite of passage that even Donald Trump can't entirely escape.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1664231759297257475

....(snip)....

People are wondering why he pronounces his last name in two different ways (sometimes it's Dee-Santis and sometimes it's Duh-Santis) and that makes him testy as well:

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1664429167444631558

That's very cute but it doesn't address the question as to why he would do something so odd. The man's reputation for being just plain weird grows stronger by the day.

....(snip)....

For his part, DeSantis seems to think he has the slam dunk electability argument with his exhortations to put an end to the "culture of losing," suggesting in so many words that Trump is a loser who has run the GOP into the ground. He's right about that but he doesn't seem to realize that Republican voters are convinced otherwise. On Tuesday, Monmouth released a poll showing that almost two-thirds of Republicans think Trump is best positioned to beat Biden.

And why wouldn't they? They believe that Trump won the last election in a landslide and the Democrats stole it from him! Until Ron DeSantis and the rest of the field are willing to admit that Trump's contention that he actually won the election was a big lie, this attack is going to not only fall flat, it's going to offend the very voters to whom they are trying to appeal. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/02/big-lie-is-ruining-it-for-the-rest-of-the-field/

(Detroit Free Press) The 2023 Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear is returning to the streets of downtown this weekend. After decades on Belle Isle, the race is heading back to its roots as a downtown race for the first time since 1991.

Drivers and racing fans alike will need to adjust to the race's new location and track. Here's everything you need to know about this weekend's event:

2023 Chevrolet Grand Prix Presented by Lear

When: Friday-Sunday

Where: Downtown Detroit.

How to watch: The 2023 IndyCar Grand Prix will be streamed on NBC/ WDIV Local 4.

Weather forecast: Friday, sunny, 90 degrees; Saturday, mostly sunny, 86 degrees; Sunday, sunny, 81 degrees.

Detroit Grand Prix tickets

Tickets are still available on the Grand Prix website. Friday is "Free Prix Day" meaning that Grandstands 1 and 9 are free to the public on a first-come first-serve basis. Reserved seating is sold out for Sunday, but general admission tickets are still available. ................................(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/motor/2023/06/01/detroit-grand-prix-2023-course-map-road-closures-traffic-tickets/70272803007/

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming -- A visitor to Yellowstone National Park was caught on camera in an incredibly dangerous stunt.

Park officials warn the public to not approach bison and other wildlife in the park.

But a woman was seen recently standing just a foot or two away from a bison laying on the ground.

Just so she could take some selfies.

Experts say the woman could easily have been gored. And the animal would then have to be euthanized, through no fault of its own. ................(more)

https://abc7ny.com/bison-yellowstone-park-national-service-wildlife/13325823/

(Salon) An employee at Mar-a-Lago who assisted with moving boxes of documents last June was questioned regarding his behavior in relation to a government request for surveillance footage from former President Donald Trump's property, according to The Washington Post.

The employee has been questioned several times by authorities after video footage revealed their involvement in assisting Walt Nauta, a Trump aide, in moving boxes into a storage room at Mar-a-Lago a day before Justice Department officials came with FBI agents to collect classified material in response to the subpoena, the Post reported last week.

"If true that the President Trump's employees moved classified documents ahead of a DOJ visit to Mar-a-lago, those actions, if linked to President Trump, could be demonstrative of his intent to unlawfully prevent the retrieval of the documents," Temidayo Aganga-Williams, partner at Selendy Gay Elsberg and former senior investigative counsel for the House Jan. 6 committee, told Salon.

Special counsel Jack Smith's investigators are trying to determine whether Trump or people close to him attempted to obstruct justice in response to a grand jury subpoena requiring the return of classified documents, or if they lied about what happened, people familiar with the matter told the Post. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/05/31/legal-expert-trumps-trusted-mar-a-lago-aides-may-soon-be-testifying-witnesses-against-him/

Trials and triggers: Psychiatrists warn Trump's psychosis will grow "as he becomes more desperate"
"Trump's behavior is worse now but that's only because we're seeing a peeling away of his façade"

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED JUNE 1, 2023 6:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump, the traitor ex-president who attempted a coup on Jan. 6, a confirmed sex predator, an indicted felon who has been arrested for his alleged crimes, a white supremacist, an enemy of democracy and the humane society, a man who behaves as though he is a sociopath if not a full-on psychopath, a criminal mastermind, and presumed Republican 2024 presidential nominee made the following pronouncement via his Truth Social disinformation platform in "honor" of Memorial Day on Monday:



While too many among the American news media have convinced themselves – incorrectly – that repeatedly listing Trump's many crimes and other horrible behavior is "counter-productive" and "unnecessary" because "everyone knows it already," it remains critically important to continue to do so. Why? One of the main ways that fascism and authoritarianism and other anti-democracy movements take hold in a society is through normalization.

In total, the mainstream news media, political class, and the American people have, for various reasons, become largely numb to the aberrant, anti-human and generally pathological behavior of Donald Trump and the larger Republican fascist and MAGA movement. Moreover, in the case of the mainstream news media (see CNN's recent Trump "town hall" special), as an institution it has largely decided that Donald Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign and legions of MAGAites are too good for business to be condemned and then subsequently treated as the existential threat to American democracy they actually are.

....(snip)....

Trumpism, like other forms of fascism, is first and foremost an example of collective pathology and other maladaptive behavior on a societal scale. Mental health professionals have the training to explain and diagnose such behavior, as manifest by both individuals and on the collective level.

....(snip)....

Dr. Justin Frank, who is the author of the book "Trump on the Couch", said this:



....(snip)....

The picture is clear: As the 2024 presidential campaign begins in earnest, Donald Trump will become more dangerous, violent, threatening, unhinged, and his true horrible self, further unmasked and unleashed if such a thing is even possible. .........(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/01/trials-and-triggers-psychiatrists-warn-psychosis-will-grow-as-he-becomes-more-desperate/