Primary results indicate Trump still sways voters in Indiana, but races later in May will determine if that translates to Louisiana, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia

The bad news in yesterday's primary elections is that Donald Trump still has influence in Indiana. The good news is that Chedrick Greene won Michigan’s special election, ensuring Democrats will maintain control of the state Senate through the remainder of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s term at year’s end. Even more good news is that former Sen. Sherrod Brown has won the Democratic nomination in Ohio’s special Senate election, paving the way for a nationally watched general election matchup against Republican incumbent Jon Husted for J.D. Vance's old seat.

In hopeful news, according to  a report at Politico, "We're about to find out if Trump is a kingmaker or lame duck; so far, his chosen candidates are struggling to dominate their fields.

Let's take a closer look at races in Indiana, where Trump has shown he still holds sway despite the war in Iran, a struggling economy, high gas prices, and other self-inflicted GOP wounds. That Indianans seem willing to overlook all of Trump's negatives does not speak well for the Hoosier state. Here is a special Legal Schnauzer advisory: Do not move to Indiana; after all we have learned about the Trump admin, Hoosiers still think this White House is worth supporting. That is stupid on steroids. Avoid! From a report at NBC News:

President Donald Trump exacted revenge on Indiana Republican legislators who foiled his redistricting push last year in the state, backing challengers who unseated five incumbents in Tuesday's primaries, NBC News projects.

One other GOP state senator who faced a Trump-endorsed opponent was locked in a tight race, while another survived.

The double-digit defeats of the five incumbents, some of whom are veterans of the Indiana Legislature, underscore the influence Trump continues to wield over the Republican Party, even as his approval rating among Americans broadly sags amid rising gas prices and the Iran war. Several other GOP-led states redrew their maps at Trump's urging. But ultimately, the heavy-handed pressure campaign from Trump and his allies backfired in Indiana. Six months later, several of those lawmakers paid the price for crossing Trump.

“Big night for MAGA in Indiana. Proud to have helped elect more conservative Republicans to the Indiana State Senate,” U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., whose aligned groups spent heavily ahead of Tuesday's primaries, wrote in a post on X. . . . 

One state senator who drew Trump's ire, Greg Goode, won his primary Tuesday. Goode bested Vigo County Council member Brenda Wilson, who was backed by Trump, and Alexandra Wilson, a network engineer. One of the primaries remained too close to call Tuesday night. With nearly all of the expected vote in, state Sen. Spencer Deery led Paula Copenhaver, an aide to Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, by 3 votes.

Other high-profile races, in other states, will be decided later this month. This is from a summary at Politico:

May 16: Louisiana

Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow is struggling to dominate the polls in her primary challenge to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who earned MAGA’s ire for voting to convict Trump on impeachment charges in 2021. The latest Emerson College poll shows Letlow locked in a close three-way race, with her at 27 percent, State Treasurer John Fleming at 28 percent and Cassidy at 21 percent. Nearly 1 in 4 likely GOP primary voters are undecided.

Letlow entered the race at Trump’s urging. She boasts endorsements from Louisiana’s GOP Gov. Jeff Landry and national groups like the Make America Healthy Again PAC, which has promised $1 million in support like distributing mailers — a needed financial boost given her middling war chest compared with Cassidy’s.

But Trump has not sent the cavalry for Letlow, withholding his own war chest and not making any trips to Louisiana on her behalf. The president recently doubled down on his campaign against Cassidy, telling GOP primary voters to kick the incumbent “OUT OF OFFICE” — but Trump notably did not name-drop Letlow or urge voters to back her.

May 19: Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia

Trump faces two very different tests of his influence in Kentucky, where he is simultaneously boosting Rep. Andy Barr as retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s successor and pushing to oust a longtime thorn in his side in Thomas Massie.

The president waded in late for Barr, endorsing the representative less than three weeks before the primary while also offering one of his two rivals, businessman Nate Morris, a job in his administration — a move that could help propel Barr past former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

But it is Massie’s 4th District race that may prove more troublesome for Trump. The president finally fronted a challenger to the renegade Republican after Massie voted against the party’s signature tax-and-spending package last year, and Trump’s allies have now poured more than $10 million into sinking the incumbent.

So far, Massie has withstood the onslaught. He leads his rival, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, in polling, fundraising and name ID. One recent survey showed half of likely voters in his deep-red district with a libertarian bent preferred an independent-minded lawmaker, compared to 37 percent who wanted a strong Trump supporter.

Massie, who threads that needle by saying he’s with Trump “91 percent of the time,” argues that supporting him and the president aren’t “mutually exclusive things.” And he thinks the Trump-directed flood of outside money against him has its limits.

“If outside billionaires spend millions of dollars, they can change somebody’s profile,” Massie said in a recent interview. “But I think what they’re going to find out is that my brand is established well enough … that [they] can persuade some of the people, but they’re not going to be able to persuade enough of them.”

The president isn’t being driven by revenge in Alabama. But even there, his chosen candidate is battling to break through a crowded GOP primary field for Senate: The Trump-backed Rep. Barry Moore has a slight lead in public polling, while Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has been in office for nearly a decade, is holding his own.

Meanwhile in Georgia, Trump’s backing of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ gubernatorial run is a rebuke of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who rose to national prominence by defying the president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and is himself running for governor.

Still, Trump’s endorsement has its limits: Rick Jackson, a health care executive, has a slight lead over Jones in most polls for the GOP primary as he also makes a play for the MAGA base. He’s been pummeling the lieutenant governor with millions spent on attack ads.

“If any other candidate had received that amount of negative, they would be polling within the margin of error of zero,” said a Georgia-based Republican strategist who is unaffiliated with any candidate and was granted anonymity to speak openly. “When you’re looking at the reasons why [Jones] is now in a toss-up race, I would say the President’s endorsement is by far the top reason why.”

May 26: Texas run-off

After Sen. John Cornyn finished ahead of Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas’ March primary, Republicans in Washington were on standby for Trump’s expected endorsement. It never came.

Perhaps in the clearest example of MAGA beginning to make decisions without Trump’s explicit approval, Texas Republicans have rallied around the scandal-plagued Paxton. Polling now shows that a Trump endorsement for Cornyn, at this point, likely wouldn’t sway voters significantly — and Paxton would maintain his edge.

GOP Texas consultant Vinny Minchillo says if Trump does decide to weigh in, he “will have to sell this to the faithful and tell them exactly what to do. Especially if he endorses Cornyn.”

Trump’s endorsement still matters, he said, but “less so with each day that passes.”

Trump blames Democrats for Rudy Giuliani's hospitalization and renews claims that Dems cheated to win election, even though he has admitted he lost

(Atlanta Black Star -- Facebook)

Even when he is talking about a longtime ally's health crisis, Donald Trump cannot help but spew nonsense, with a heavy dose of b.s. Our president can't even keep his stories straight, so is it any wonder leaders and citizens around the globe have little confidence in Trump and view him as not worthy of their trust.

Consider Trump's statements about former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was hospitalized over the weekend in Florida with what sources call an "overwhelming" bout of pneumonia. While Trump apparently wanted to draw attention and sympathy to his friend's condition, he could not do it, instead raising questions about his own mental health. Under the headline "'Absolutely demented': Trump raises eyebrows with 'bonkers' claims after pal is hospitalized, Robert Davis writes:

President Donald Trump stunned political analysts and observers on Sunday after he made a "bonkers" claim about one of his friends who was hospitalized.

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and a close ally of Trump's, was hospitalized in Florida on Sunday, according to a report by The New York Times. Giuliani was admitted to the hospital due to pneumonia, but a spokesperson for the former mayor said he is in "critical but stable" condition.

Trump took to Truth Social to share his concerns about Giuliani's health in a post that included an absolutely wild accusation, according to analysts.

In a twist that is not surprising considering that Trump is a malignant narcissist, he turned a statement that was supposed to be about Guiliani into a commentary on himself. Perhaps even more astonishing to some observers, Trump essentially blamed Giuliani's health problems on Democrats. (I'm not kidding!) Trump did not specifically blame Joe Biden, but you know that has to be coming; give it time.

Here is the content of Trump's Truth Social post, as reported by Robert Davis. (Warning: There is a lot to unload in the following statement, but I will highlight in yellow the part I think might be most important for America's future.):

"Our fabulous Rudy Giuliani, a True Warrior, and the Best Mayor in the History of New York City, BY FAR, has been hospitalized, and is in critical condition," Trump wrote in the post. "What a tragedy that he was treated so badly by the Radical Left Lunatics, Democrats ALL — AND HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING! They cheated on the Elections, fabricated hundreds of stories, did anything possible to destroy our Nation, and now, look at Rudy. So sad!"

As you might expect, that drew severe blowback from several quarters. Raw Story reports:

Analysts and observers reacted to the post on social media.

"This is an absolutely demented statement from the president. He lost the 2020 election and that has nothing to do with Giuliani’s health problems," journalist Aaron Rupar posted on Bluesky.

"Rudy Giuliani isn't the only one having a health crisis. Trump seems to have forgotten that all 60 bogus court cases regarding the 2020 election were LOST and some of those lying lawyers are no longer allowed to practice. The President of the US is stark raving bonkers, daily, publicly," Elaina McCartney, a political commentator, posted on Bluesky.

"Everything always has to be about him," Xavier Gonzalez, a political commentator, posted on Bluesky.

What about the section I highlighted above as being of particular importance? In it, Trump is claiming Democrats "cheated on the Elections," an apparent reference to the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to Joe Biden. Here is the key point: Trump now claims, and has been claiming for some time, that he was cheated in that election -- even though he already has admitted that he lost. Here are several examples where Trump said he knew he lost, usually using the term "by a whisker":

* NBC News: Trump admits in podcast appearance that he did not win the election against Joe Biden;

* The Guardian: Trump privately admitted to aides he lost the election, top aides testify;

* Common Cause: Eight times Trump knew he lost; 

* Mother Jones: Trump finally is admitting he lost the 2020 election.

After all of these times admitting that he lost in 2020, why did Trump use the occasion of Rudy Giuliani's hospitalization to change course and claim Democrats won by cheating -- which in his own words, he knows is not true? 

I submit this is a sign of jumbled, disordered thinking that is a hallmark of a personality disorder (actually two personality disorders) that can be destructive when everyday people unknowingly encounter them -- and can be ruinous to a nation that is under the misguided leadership of a president who is afflicted with them. That is why I recently started that we must find a way to force Trump and his GOP enablers out of office -- now, immediately, before it's too late, before he causes a disaster in the Middle East, with possible spread to Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, and beyond. Heck, this is a guy who has attacked or threatened an ever-growing list of nations -- Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Greenland, Denmark, Mexico, Canada, Cuba, Nigeria, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Panama, Iraq, the Gaza Strip and . . . you get the picture. That is not normal, but our leaders seem to be hoping Trumpism will work itself out -- or maybe wear itself out.

But I doubt that will happen, partly because our government is set up to thwart the kind of coup we sometimes see in less-advanced nations. Despite that, I have reached the following conclusion, and based on my social media feeds, I think substantial number of my countrymen (and women) have reached similar conclusions. Trump is the most dangerous adversary our nation  has faced in our lifetimes, certainly within the western hemisphere. That's right, the strange phone calls are coming from inside the house. And we can't expect to root out a lawless adversary and his cohorts by adhering to rules that no longer apply. I suspect some type of military intervention is needed to extinguish the threat, followed by a Nuremberg-style commission to impose accountability and take steps to revise our governing documents so that no such threat ever takes hold in the future. 

We will be taking a deeper look in upcoming posts at all of these challenges, especially the personality disorders that are driving Trump's unhinged approach to governance and the cult-like qualities that have some Americans -- despite all of the evidence he is unfit and never should have been allowed on the 2024 ballot due to his status as an insurrectionist -- still supporting a president who has driven us to the edge of a cliff. We invite you to stay with us.

Trump's ploy to remove U.S. troops from Germany -- based on pouting, not planning -- draws the ire of powerful GOP Congressmen from Deep South states

(Kaler Barta, Facebook)

Not content to sow chaos in Central America, South America, and the Middle East, Donald Trump is attempting to repeat his "feat" in Europe. Evidence of that comes from Trump's declaration that he will withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany. Over the weekend, Trump doubled down on his claim, saying he would bring the number of troops "way down," even below the originally stated 5,000 number. That comes from a report at Associated Press (AP) under the headline "Trump says US will reduce number of troops in Germany 'a lot further' than withdrawal of 5,000":

President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. will significantly reduce its troop presence in Germany, escalating a dispute with Chancellor Friedrich Merz as he seeks to scale back America’s commitment to European security.

The Pentagon on Friday had initially announced it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but when asked Saturday about the reason for the move, Trump didn’t offer an explanation and said an even bigger reduction was coming.

Why did Trump offer no explanation? Well, he probably doesn't have one because he is America's "toddler in chief," who doesn't seem to have the forethought to plan anything. Is Trump withdrawing troops because he is in a snit over German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's critique of the U.S. war effort in Iran? Published reports, such as this one from The Hill, suggest the answer yes: 

It is not surprising that Trump was annoyed by Merz’s comments to a group of students in Germany. Merz essentially suggested that Iran was defeating the Trump administration at the negotiating table.

“The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad ​and then leave again without any result,” Merz said during a talk to students in the German town of Marsberg, Reuters reported. 

“An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so-called Revolutionary Guards. And so, I hope that this ends as quickly as possible,” he added.

Perhaps tired of Trump's childish, blowhard ways, at least one German official sounded as if he would be content just to have the U.S. president out of his hair. The official also suggested Trump's plans would weaken U.S. global standing -- a position Trump apparently doesn't agree with or doesn't care about. From the AP report:

Earlier on Saturday, Germany’s defense minister appeared to take in stride the news that 5,000 U.S. troops would be leaving his country.

Boris Pistorius said the drawdown, which Trump has threatened for years, was expected, and he said European nations needed to take on more responsibility for their own defense. But he also emphasized that security cooperation benefited both sides of the trans-Atlantic partnership.

“The presence of American soldiers in Europe, and especially in Germany, is in our interest and in the interest of the U.S.,” Pistorius told the German news agency dpa.

Pistorius is not the only prominent figure who is none-too-thrilled with Trump's directive. It also is meeting skepticism at home, AP reports:

The planned withdrawal faced bipartisan resistance in Washington, with swift criticism from Democrats and concern from Republicans that it would send the “wrong signal” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose full-scale invasion of Ukraine recently entered its fifth year.

Trump’s decision comes as he seethes at European allies over their unwillingness to join his campaign with Israel against Iran. He has lashed out at leaders like Merz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

After swift pushback from Democrats on Friday, Republican leaders of both armed services committees in Congress said Saturday they were “very concerned” about the troop withdrawal.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama said the decision risked “undermining deterrence and sending the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin.”

They also said the Pentagon had decided to cancel the planned deployment of the Army’s Long-Range Fires Battalion. A statement from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell that the draw-down decision came after "thorough review" made no mention of that.

Wicker and Rogers said any significant change to the U.S. force posture in Europe warrants review and coordination with Congress.

How scattered has Trump administration planning been toward the security of Germany, one of America's longest and most loyal allies? The following from AP provides a disconcerting answer:

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the branches of the U.S. military didn’t have prior knowledge of the decision to draw down the 5,000 troops and learned about it “in real time.”

What have we learned above? Let's do a quick review:

(1)  A U.S. defense official said branches of the military did not have prior knowledge of the decision to draw down 5,000 troops, learning about it in real time;

(2) Two Republican members of Congress from Deep South, deep-red states indicated input from Congress had not been included in the draw-down decision and related plans. 

Is this how a toddler in chief conducts planning for an operation that could have a major impact on global stability? That appears to be the case.

Could Wicker and Rogers lead a GOP uprising against the Trump administration's  disdainful treatment of both Congress and a trusted ally? Let's consider this from an AP report on a joint statement from the Republican senators:

“We expect the Department to engage with its oversight committees in the days and weeks ahead on this decision and its implications for U.S. deterrence and trans-Atlantic security,” they said in a joint statement.

They also noted that Germany has heeded Trump’s call to shoulder more of the burden of defense spending in Europe, while giving U.S. forces access to its bases and airspace in the war against Iran.

If Trump starts losing the support of Republican senators in Mississippi and Alabama, does that mean his regime could be heading for collapse? We certainly can hope so.

Now that Donald Trump has caused James Comey to be prosecuted for "criminally viewing seashells," even the president's allies see the case as 'embarrassing'

George Stephanopoulos and Jonathan Karl, (Good Morning America)

How bad is the criminal "seashells" case Donald Trump caused to be brought against former FBI director James Comey? Trump's fellow Republicans are expressing embarrassment about it -- at least when they are out of the president's hearing range. That's from an article at HuffPost under the headline "Even Trump's Allies Reportedly think The Comey Indictment Is Silly: 'Embarrassing"; ABC's Jonathan Karl said sources have called it the "flimsiest" federal indictment they have ever seen." Elyse Wanshel writes:

Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl reported on “Good Morning America” (GMA) Wednesday that even President Donald Trump’s allies think the new indictment of former FBI Director James Comey is a waste of time, and have been expressing this opinion behind the president’s back, per a video published by Mediaite.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department indicted Comey after a grand jury in North Carolina accused him on two counts of making threats against the president’s life over an Instagram post that the former FBI director shared almost a year ago, and later deleted.

The post in question included a photo of seashells on a beach arranged to read, “86 47.” The number 86 is sometimes used as slang for tossing something out or getting rid of it, and is often used in restaurants to indicate a menu item is no longer available.

If that sounds laughable to you, lawyers in the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) apparently agree; they don't seem to be putting serious effort into the case. According to a report at Yahoo! News, the document makes no reference to evidence, aside from the photograph Comey took on a North Carolina beach. Has our sense of justice sunk so law that DOJ lawyers think that constitutes a crime? The answer appears to be yes. We advise caution when you next walk along an ocean's shore; you could wind up behind bars. Wanshel writes:

“GMA” co-anchor George Stephanopoulos noted to Karl Wednesday that the “first indictment of James Comey was dismissed,” and that “lawyers close to the president” said this indictment would likely see the same fate.

And this is when Karl decided to spill the tea about what sources close to the president have told him.

“I’ve been talking to current and former prosecutors, federal prosecutors who are calling this the flimsiest federal indictment that they have ever seen,” Karl said. “Even Trump’s allies are privately calling it ‘embarrassing,’ or as one very prominent former Trump DOJ official told me last night, ‘depressing.’”

In standard Trumpian fashion, we see signs that DOJ officials are lying about what prompted them to bring the case:

“There is no doubt that this indictment was driven by the president himself,” Karl said. “Look, Donald Trump has made it clear for years that he wants to indict Jim Comey. As recently as three days ago, he suggested that Comey needed to be prosecuted — although he offered an entirely different reason. And Trump has put enormous pressure on the people who work for him to go after not just Comey, but a long list of his perceived political enemies.”

He continued, “One of the main reasons he fired Attorney General Pam Bondi is that he felt she was not being aggressive enough in prosecuting those enemies, and Attorney General Todd Blanche knows that if he wants to be formally nominated as AG — right now he’s just the acting Attorney General — he needs to prove to President Trump that he will be more aggressive in prosecuting those enemies than Bondi was.”

He added, “And I can tell you this … shortly after that indictment was announced, Todd Blanche was at the White House meeting with senior White House officials.”