A Certain Fatalism Sets In
� Today, I am going to look at some of the recent news articles and analyses that have caught my attention.
� On the topic of the 2024 presidential election, Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal that "Trump foes who hope he'll be found guilty in the New York case and sentenced to prison time think this will finish him off. He won't. Donald Trump doesn't know it, but he'll love prison." Noonan argues that Trump will be the most specially treated convict in American history and that he will thrive in prison, becoming the king of Rikers and making himself into a martyr.
� Three people familiar with the situation told Politico that Trump asked oil industry executives to donate $1 billion to aid his campaign to retake the White House. This request was made during a meeting of industry executives at Trump's home in Palm Beach, Florida. While shocking, experts say that this request would probably not break the law. Unless Trump explicitly stated a specific amount of money he wanted deposited in a specific campaign vehicle in exchange for a specific policy goal, there is little chance that it would violate bribery laws.
� At the same time, unredacted documents recently revealed that top Biden administration officials worked with the National Archives to develop Special Counsel Jack Smith's case against Trump involving the former president's alleged mishandling of classified material. The disclosures indicate that the Department of Justice was in touch with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) throughout 2021, undermining the DOJ's claims that it became involved in the matter only after the Archives sent it a criminal referral on February 9, 2022. The court exhibits show that Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su regularly communicated with Archive officials, raising questions about whether Biden was forthright when he told '60 Minutes' that he wasn't involved in the investigation.
� Let me end today with a bird song. Enjoy!