Fri: The $160 Million Dollar Man is a Loser

This is An Important Decision

Former President Donald Trump is not eligible to appear on Maine’s presidential primary ballot, according to a decision released by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Thursday.

In a hearing earlier this month, Bellows heard challenges to Trump’s eligibility for the primary ballot. Several people, including three former state officials, have argued the former president is ineligible under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which says anyone who took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution but then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” may no longer hold office.

“The events of January 6, 2021 were unprecedented and tragic,” Bellows wrote in reference to the Trump-fueled insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “They were an attack not only upon the Capitol and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law. The evidence here demonstrates that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of the outgoing President.”

“I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” she wrote toward the end of her decision. “Democracy is sacred ... I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”

Why? (My opinion)

One argument raised against the Colorado decision is that courts should not be the ones to enforce the requirements to be President. Now we have a Secretary of State enforcing the requirements.

It may be that who enforces the requirements is different in each state, depending on state law. However, this pushes the issue of enforcement on to SCOTUS. They may duck the issue, but at least it is raised.

Will the Boomers Be a Bust?

The story goes that baby boomers are going to give tens of trillions of dollars to their heirs over the next few decades.

The “generational wealth transfer” has become a media fascination, both for its eye-popping size and because it might help younger generations as they face doubts about their financial security.

That shift is already in the works, and will continue for a couple of decades. According to wealth management firm Cerulli Associates, some $53 trillion will be passed down from boomers to their Gen X, millennial and Gen Z heirs, as well as to charities. That includes both gifts during their lifetimes and inheritances afterward.

But the overwhelming cost of health care for older people means most people in those later generations won’t inherit much, even if their elders seem well-off today.

The bulk of the trillions will go from one group of already wealthy people to another. Cerulli estimated that 68% of the wealth transferred between 2020 and 2045 — which includes boomers as well as older generations — will come from U.S. households with at least $1 million in investable assets. And only 6.9% of households have that kind of wealth to begin with, Cerulli added.

That might be obvious, but the notion still raises the prospect of large numbers of people getting a life-changing amount of money, a last gift from a parent or grandparent that meaningfully alters their circumstances.

Collectively, baby boomers benefited a great deal from America’s economic growth over the second half of the 20th century. The economy boomed in their childhoods as the U.S. became a superpower, and as adults, they had an easier time buying low-cost housing than their children or grandchildren would. Those who bought homes benefited as those properties increased in value. They’ve had the most time to benefit from the U.S. stock market, which has soared roughly 4,000% since 1969.

Why the ‘wealth transfer’ from Boomers to their heirs won’t be as large as expected

The Cheese Bro Comes Through

Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail.

So, Trump campaign operatives scrambled to fly copies of the phony certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin to the nation’s capital, relying on a haphazard chain of couriers, as well as help from two Republicans in Congress, to try to get the documents to then-Vice President Mike Pence while he presided over the Electoral College certification.

The operatives even considered chartering a jet to ensure the files reached Washington, DC, in time for the January 6, 2021, proceeding, according to emails and recordings obtained by CNN.

The new details provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the chaotic last-minute effort to keep Donald Trump in office. The fake electors scheme features prominently in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal indictment against the former president, and some of the officials who were involved have spoken to Smith’s investigators.

The emails and recordings also indicate that a top Trump campaign lawyer was part of 11th-hour discussions about delivering the fake elector certificates to Pence, potentially undercutting his testimony to the House select committee that investigated January 6 that he had passed off responsibility and didn’t want to put the former vice president in a difficult spot.

These details largely come from pro-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who was an architect of the fake electors plot and is now a key cooperator in several state probes into the scheme. Chesebro pleaded guilty in October to a felony conspiracy charge in Georgia in connection with the electors’ plan, and has met with prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, who are investigating the sham GOP electors in their own states.

Recordings, emails show how Trump team flew fake elector ballots to DC in final push to overturn 2020 election