December 5, 2020

Tiffany Cross dropped the mic on Donald Trump’s record with Black people and it was a great omen for her future as a permanent replacement for Joy Reid.

Cross demolished the myth that Trump is a friend to Blacks:

CROSS: This entire notion that Donald Trump and Jared Kushner did so much for Black people is as asinine as Mitch McConnell writing an op-ed about his role in the civil rights movement. It’s quite ridiculous and unworthy of a segment on a show that this fabulous Dr. Jason Johnson is hosting.

But I do just want to remind the audience that the first year that Donald Trump was in office, Jared and Ivanka Kushner made over $80 million while they were in office. The second year, that inflated to $135 million. So why might he be trying to pre-pardon his children in his last few days in office? And I'm really curious how this will all play out.

Jason, you know, being raised in households like we were, we were raised to distrust the system. Everyone around me keeps saying the system is going to work, he's going to leave. These people are the human embodiment of why we are so distrustful of a system that has routinely and historically and consistently harmed us.

And so now we see the results of centuries of white supremacy that has elevated this very below-average, basic, unintelligent man to the highest office in the land, as his first job in government being president of the United States. And here we are in the grips of a global pandemic that disproportionately harms black and brown folks and an increasingly problematic economy while these bread lines are getting longer. And I should point out that he's also rushing through executions, federal executions, at this point in his presidency.

Interestingly, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance thinks that state and local prosecutors may be the ones to save us:

VANCE: One of the most fascinating features of the legal landscape here is that traditionally state prosecutors have stepped aside to let the federal government prosecute corruption cases. The federal government has more resources, it moves more quickly, the sentences tend to be longer. But I think that your question is an important one to ask here.

We know Cy Vance in Manhattan is pushing cases on the Trumps. Mimi Rocah will be the district attorney in Westchester County. She will likely have jurisdiction over some Trump-related cases. We don't know what other state and local DAs will proceed but I suspect that they will pick up the slack if there is any.

And I would be remiss if I didn't pick up on Tiffany's point about concerns about this Justice Department and this speedup in executions as it draws to a close, to make the point that this week, I was proud to be one of over 100 prosecutors, state and federal, Democrat and Republican, who wrote to say that the death penalty is something that this country should no longer push forward with, that it's outmoded and unfair. And perhaps what we will see is state prosecutors take on responsibility for the corruption cases, is that this push to reform the criminal justice system, to end the use of the death penalty will also come from them as well.

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