November 2023 – Page 11 – The Tarbabys Blog

You’ll Love What Chris Christie Had to Say This Morning about Mark Meadows

The New Republic

You’ll Love What Chris Christie Had to Say This Morning about Mark Meadows

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling – October 31, 2023

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has a message for Republican voters holding out for Donald Trump: It’s time to stop.

Christie’s warning comes days after news that Mark Meadows, Trump’s last chief of staff and so-called “special friend,” flipped against his former boss, dishing dirty details on election fraud claims in exchange for immunity. It’ll be Meadows’s testimony, according to Christie, that seals Trump’s fate.

“This is deadly. It’s done. He’s going to be convicted. It’s over,” Christie told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on Tuesday, describing Meadows as someone “velcroed to Trump’s hip” through the entire 2020 campaign and beyond.

In several alleged meetings with special counsel Jack Smith’s team this year, Meadows told federal investigators that Trump knew he was lying when he claimed he won, mere hours after the polls closed on election night. To this day, Meadows said he has yet to see any evidence of election fraud.

“I think everybody watching needs to understand from somebody who did this work for seven years, you don’t give Mark Meadows immunity unless the evidence he has is unimpeachable,” Christie noted.

And Christie believes Trump knows it too. The 2024 GOP presidential candidate pointed to a flurry of Trump’s recent gaffes and verbal slipups on the campaign trail as evidence of heightened stress following the news of Meadows’s deal.

“I want all Republican voters to understand this, what’s going to be happening in March,” Christie said. “He’s going to be sitting in a courtroom in Washington, D.C., with Mark Meadows 20 feet away from him, saying, he committed crimes in front of me, on my watch.”

Ex-Trump Lawyer: This Is the Factor that Will Finally Put Trump Behind Bars

The New Republic

Ex-Trump Lawyer: This Is the Factor that Will Finally Put Trump Behind Bars

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling – October 31, 2023

A onetime Trump attorney thinks the former president’s social media addiction might be the end for him in his legal trials.

Throughout October, Trump has been slapped with multiple gag orders for threatening and insulting court staff and witnesses in his various legal cases—though that hasn’t been enough to stop him.

So far, Trump has been fined twice for violating the gag order in his $250 million New York bank fraud trial, but he also faces the real possibility of being jailed if he continues his antics, warned Judge Arthur Engoron.

Meanwhile, in his federal election subversion trial in Washington, D.C., Trump slammed Judge Tanya Chutkan and a potential witness, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, just hours after his gag order was reinstated on Monday. In posts to Truth Social, Trump described Barr as “dumb, weak, slow-moving, lethargic, gutless, and lazy.”

That kind of behavior will probably be enough to lock him up, according to Ty Cobb, a former Trump attorney and current partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells.

In an interview with CNN, Cobb argued that the violations in the New York trial, which are a civil matter, aren’t as “consequential” as the criminal conspiracy charges he faces in D.C.

“I think she’ll come in with a much heavier penalty and, ultimately, he’ll spend a night or a weekend in jail,” Cobb said.

“I think it’ll take that to stop it,” he added.

Ty Cobb was a part of the Trump administration legal team from July 2017 until May 2018 and managed matters related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Cobb later described Mueller as an “American hero.”

Cobb has since commented several times on Trump’s ongoing legal woes—in August, the attorney told CNN that the evidence against the former president is “so overwhelming” in the classified documents case, describing it as “tight.” In September, Cobb likened Trump to a “mob boss.”

Size of Trump’s hands at center of Supreme Court trademark case: ‘Trump Too Small’

Fox News

Size of Trump’s hands at center of Supreme Court trademark case: ‘Trump Too Small’

Brianna Herlihy – November 1, 2023

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments over whether the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) violated the First Amendment when it refused the registration of a political slogan on T-shirts that criticizes former President Donald Trump without his consent.

At the heart of the case is the question of when First Amendment protections end and the right to privacy begins when a trademark contains criticism of a government official or public figure.

In 2017, Steve Elster, a politically active Democrat attorney in California, wanted to get the phrase “Trump Too Small” printed on T-shirts to sell. The phrase originated from an exchange on the 2016 debate stage between Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The Florida senator made a crude joke in reference to the size of the former president’s hands.

But when Elster sought to trademark the slogan, he was denied by the PTO, and the Trademark and Trial Appeal Board upheld the decision, because the mark identified Trump without his consent.

The decision was reversed by a federal circuit court, noting that Elster’s trademark goes to “the heart of the First Amendment,” and held that the government has no plausible “interest in restricting speech critical of government officials or public figures in the trademark context.”

SUPREME COURT PREPARES FOR NEW TERM BY LOOKING BACK, WITH LIKELY IMPACT ON 2024 ELECTIONS

Former President Donald Trump on stage pointing to the crowd — Democrat activist Steve Elster wanted to trademark the slogan “Trump Too Small” to put on t-shirts, in reference to a crude joke Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., made towards Donald Trump on the 2016 debate stage.

The Justice Department arguing on behalf of Katherine Vidal, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, eventually appealed the case up to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Lanham Act, which is a federal statute aimed at protecting intellectual property in trademark designations, gives the PTO constitutional authority to block Elster’s trademark request.

“When registration is refused because a mark ‘[c]onsists of or comprises a name…identifying a particular living individual’ without ‘his written consent,’ ‘[n]o speech is being restricted; no one is being punished,’” the DOJ’s petition to the high court says.

‘POOP-THEMED’ JACK DANIEL’S DOG TOY PARODY NOT PROTECTED BY FIRST AMENDMENT, SUPREME COURT SAYS

SENATE DEMOCRATS TURN UP THE HEAT, ANNOUNCE ‘NEXT STEP’ IN SUPREME COURT ETHICS INVESTIGATION

Fara Sunderji, partner at international law firm Dorsey & Whitney, says, “Despite outward appearances, this case is really not about Trump or the size of his policies or (body parts).”

“Will this decision restrict speech — namely political criticism in a time where the country is so divided as the 2024 candidates are starting up their engines? The trademark applicant, Mr. Elster, would have us believe that, yes, that is what is at stake,” says Sunderji.

Supreme Court members — The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case Vidal v. Elster on Wednesday.

“So, what is the potential outcome? If the Court upholds the Federal Circuit’s opinion, will the USPTO be inundated with trademark applications for every political phrase containing a candidate’s name in the 2024 election? Probably not. Will daily life be flooded with t-shirts containing slogans with all the 2024 candidates’ names by unrelated third parties? I hope not,” concludes Sunderji.

Arguments are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Supreme Court sounds ready to rule a Californian can’t trademark T-shirts with Trump’s name

Los Angeles Times

Supreme Court sounds ready to rule a Californian can’t trademark T-shirts with Trump’s name

David G. Savage – November 1, 2023

Former President Donald Trump during the LIV Golf Pro-Am at Trump National Golf Club, Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Sterling, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) — Former President Trump during the LIV Golf Pro-Am at Trump National Golf Club in May in Sterling, Va. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

Supreme Court justices on Wednesday sounded ready to rule that a T-shirt with the phrase “Trump Too Small” cannot be trademarked by a California attorney seeking the exclusive right to sell clothing with the slogan.

Trump is not a party to the case of Vidal vs. Elster, but in the past he objected when businesses and others tried to make use of his name.

In arguments Wednesday, Biden administration attorneys urged the court to deny the trademark for the disputed shirts, but their position was not related to the message, which is critical of the former president.

Since 1946, Congress has barred the registering of a trademark that includes a name or image that identifies “a particular living individual,” administration attorneys said.

When they adopted this provision, lawmakers were particularly interested in preventing the use of a president’s or former president’s name as a means to advertise products. They cited examples such as “George Washington” coffee or “Abe Lincoln” gin.

Deputy Solicitor Gen. Malcolm Stewart described a trademark as “a condition on a federal benefit, not a restriction on the freedom of speech.”

He said California attorney and T-shirt entrepreneur Steve Elster has a right to sell his “Trump Too Small” T-shirts, but not “an exclusive right” to the phrase.

Elster said he was amused in 2016 when Republican presidential candidates exchanged comments about the size of Trump’s hands during a debate. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump had mocked as “Little Marco,” asked Trump to hold up his hands, which he did.

After Trump won the election, Elster decided to sell T-shirts with phrase “Trump Too Small,” criticizing Trump’s accomplishments on civil rights, the environment and other issues.

He was free to do so, but the Patent and Copyright Office denied his request to trademark the phrase for his exclusive use.

When he appealed the denial, a federal appeals court ruled his trademark phrase was political commentary protected by the 1st Amendment.

Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar appealed on behalf of the government and urged the Supreme Court to reverse that decision.

In arguments Wednesday, Justice Clarence Thomas said he did not see how the denial of a trademark restricted free speech, since Elster was free to sell his T-shirts and to use the phrase.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said that upholding Elster’s trademark could restrict free speech because it would prevent others from using the disputed phrase.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said it was reasonable for Congress to decide not to help others to profit from the use of a person’s name.

What Trump’s Reduced Us to: Supreme Court Hears Case Relating to Trump’s Anatomy

The New Republic

What Trump’s Reduced Us to: Supreme Court Hears Case Relating to Trump’s Anatomy

Tori Otten – November 1, 2023

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday about whether a California man can trademark a phrase mocking Donald Trump as “too small.”

Labor lawyer Stephen Elster created a line of T-shirts that describe Trump as “too small” on a variety of social and political issues, with a healthy dose of innuendo thrown in. It refers to an exchange during a 2016 presidential debate, when Marco Rubio accused Trump of having small hands. Trump, who is notoriously thin-skinned, has been unable to escape the barb since.

Elster tried to trademark the phrase “Trump too small” in 2018, but the Patent and Trademark Office denied his request. Wednesday’s lawsuit hinges on the question of whether a trademark can refer to a person. Federal law prohibits trademarks that refer to a person without that person’s consent. But last year, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that that law was in violation of the First Amendment, because it limits “speech critical of government officials or public figures.”

<span class="caption-text">Screenshot via trumptoosmall.com</span> — Screenshot via trumptoosmall.com

The Supreme Court has previously avoided taking up cases related to Trump, denying his request to intervene when Congress sought his tax records or when he lost the 2020 election, among other instances. But clearly, the justices can’t ignore Trump much longer.

Trump isn’t even a party in the Elster case—it just includes his name. But Trump himself is facing down a barrage of legal issues that will likely reach the level of the nation’s highest court.

Trump’s legal team may appeal the gag order recently imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan in his trial for trying to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has also repeatedly argued that he has presidential immunity from prosecution, and the Supreme Court may need to weigh in on that matter. Two lawsuits seek to bar Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot, and both are expected to reach the Supreme Court, as well.

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds Says ‘More Black Americans’ Want Donald Trump to Be President Again. Does He Really Speak for Black Folks?

Atlanta Black Star

Fact Check: GOP Rep. Byron Donalds Says ‘More Black Americans’ Want Donald Trump to Be President Again. Does He Really Speak for Black Folks?

Yasmeen Freightman – November 1, 2023

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). (Photo: Fox Business screenshot / YouTube)

U.S. House Rep. Byron Donalds says that Black people want Donald Trump back in office.

In an appearance on Fox News, anchor Maria Bartiromo asked the Florida Republican how he would assess the support by African-Americans for Trump.

“Oh, it’s growing, I can tell you that right now,” Donalds said. “Because, at the end of the day, our economy is struggling. That’s hurting every segment of America, including Black America. More and more Black Americans say we gotta have Trump back.”

Social media users hit back hard at Donalds’ comments.

“Byron doesn’t speak for black folks. He’s selling a narrative that is void of facts. I’m a black man; I wouldn’t vote for #DefendantTrump even if I were required to,” another X user wrote. “There is no lie Byron Donalds is unwilling to tell if it garners favor with the racist MAGA faithful,” another person commented.

Is Donalds right, though? Are more Black people siding with Trump for the 2024 presidential election? We checked the poll numbers.

Trump insisted that when his mug shot was released after he turned himself into Fulton County authorities in August for the criminal election interference indictment in Georgia, his support shot through the roof, especially among members of the Black community.

“The Black community is so different for me in the last – since that mug shot was taken, I don’t know if you’ve seen the polls; my polls with the Black community have gone up four and five times,” Trump told conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt.

He might just be confusing support with mockery. While Trump trended on social media sites for some days after the photo’s release, there’s nothing to suggest that the mug shot’s trending status directly correlated with more support for his presidential campaign.

Some polls show a slight uptick in Trump’s favorability among Black voters, but those results don’t at all align with the former president’s claim that support for him in the Black community has quadrupled. A Pew Research analysis revealed that Trump received 8% of the Black vote in the 2020 election.

Donalds has served as a mouthpiece for the Republican Party on some matters of race in politics to bolster the party’s favorability. And it’s no surprise that he’s also a loyal Trump ally. Along with numerous other Trump loyalists, the Florida congressman put his stamp of approval on Trump’s 2024 run for president back in April rather than endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Donalds said the former president is the “one leader” who can get the U.S. “back on track.”

Donalds was also recently asked if he would accept becoming Trump’s running mate and possibly becoming the next vice president.

“With respect to being potentially on the ticket, that’s really up to the president. I have no control over that,” Donalds said. “The only thing I will say is, I just want to do whatever I can to get our country back on track. That’s what I have always been committed to.”

Donalds has tried to boost his political standing in recent weeks. He made a play for House Speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s removal from the position, but he dropped his bid after he couldn’t garner enough party support.

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds Says More Black People Want Trump Back. What Is He Talking About?

The Root

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds Says More Black People Want Trump Back. What Is He Talking About?

Jessica Washington – November 1, 2023

DES MOINES, IOWA – August 12: Former U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Iowa Pork Producers Tent with Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) at the Iowa State Fair on August 12, 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa. Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls are visiting the fair, a tradition in one of the first states that will test candidates with the 2024 caucuses.

Apparently “more and more Black Americans” are hankering for former President Donald Trump’s presidency. At least, that’s if you believe Republican Congressman Byron Donalds.

During an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, Representative Donalds was asked about African American support for the former President. “Oh it’s growing, I can tell you that right now,” said Rep. Donalds. “Because, at the end of the day, our economy is struggling. That’s hurting every segment of America, including Black America. More and more Black Americans say we gotta have Trump back.”

Donalds, a Black Republican, pushing the idea that Black people love Trump now obviously works in his favor. Democrats certainly should be concerned about any shifts towards Trump among Black voters. Black voters not turning out for Democrats in 2024 in large numbers would be disastrous for their political ambitions. But there’s no evidence that Trump is suddenly a welcome guest at the average Black cookout.