Alan Dershowitz was once considered something of a “liberal lion,” a brilliant legal mind who fought for truth and justice and education. Something shifted over the years though – Dershowitz began appearing on Fox News more and more, and he began parroting those nonsensical faux-legal arguments popularized by the far right. Then at some point, Dershowitz became a full-throated Trump supporter. His old friends were and are baffled by the change. Especially his friends in the elite coastal enclave of Martha’s Vineyard, where Dershowitz summers like an aristocrat. Well, now Dershowitz has written an unintentionally hilarious op-ed in The Hill about how Mean Old Democrats are conspiring to… not speak to him at Martha’s Vineyard, because he’s a Trump-supporting wingnut. Yes, he’s equating his social-pariah status with some kind of civil rights issue. My God.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) recently told her supporters to hound President Trump’s Cabinet members wherever they find them: “They’re not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they’re not going to be able to stop at a gas station, they’re not going to be able to shop at a department store. The people are going to turn on them, they’re going to protest, they’re going to absolutely harass them.”
Waters does not speak for all Democrats or liberals. Nor do those who threw Sarah Huckabee Sanders out of the Red Hen restaurant. Neither do those who have harassed other members of the Trump administration. But these rude extremists are a symptom of the times. The divisions have gotten so bad that many on both sides refuse to speak or listen to those on the other side. Either you are for Trump or against him, and that is all some people need to know to make judgments about you.
I know this because I have experienced this firsthand on Martha’s Vineyard. I am not a Trump supporter nor am I member of the Trump administration…But that is not good enough for some of my old friends on Martha’s Vineyard. For them, it is enough that what I have said about the Constitution might help Trump. So they are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Martha’s Vineyard. One of them, an academic at a distinguished university, has told people that he would not attend any dinner or party to which I was invited. He and others have demanded “trigger warnings” so that they can be assured of having “safe spaces” in which they will not encounter me or my ideas. Others have said they will discontinue contributions to organizations that sponsor my talks.
This is all familiar to me, since I lived through McCarthyism in the 1950s, when lawyers who represented alleged communists on civil libertarian grounds were shunned.
Can you even imagine being regarded as one of the great legal minds of your generation, and then sitting down to write an op-ed for The Hill about how IT’S TOTALLY MCCARTHYISM because you don’t get invited to parties in Martha’s Vineyard anymore? This is not a civil rights issue. This is not a civil liberties issue. This is not McCarthyism or discrimination. I can’t believe I have to say this to a legal scholar, but here we go: freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence. That is the lesson being provided to all of the Trump administration employees and Trump-supporting douchebags out there. If you want to support Trump, go ahead. If you want to work for Trump, go ahead. But just know that there are consequences, and those consequences involve sane people wanting nothing to do with your dumb ass in social settings, at parties or in restaurants.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Giving a fascist advice makes you part of the problem. He’s a joke now and he’s going to double down with trump because that group is the only one that will have him now.
What the hell does he expect? It’s mind boggling!!
This article about his pity party was in my Twitter feed yesterday, with what I thought was THE PERFECT meme response.
It said:
“I don’t give a f#ck
—pic of the backside of a large rat—
But here’s a rat’s a$$”.
I sent it all my friends, as I don’t talk to Trumpeteers anymore.
Pure perfection.
LOVE that!!!!
I love that response. Bravo.
People (especially those with power and privilege) who endorse racist, misogynistic, oppressive policies SHOULD be shamed.
#MakeRacistsAfraidAgain
Don’t comment on politics but he is the worst.
He still carries the odor of being a part of the O.J. Defense team as well…
Lawyers have to defend people to the best of their ability, that’s how our system works. I would never fault a lawyer for doing his or her job well for a client. So his work on the OJ case is irrelevant to me.
Alan is being shunned because contrary to his claim, he is indeed a Trump supporter and a very active one at that. He is asked to come on many news shows, and it is clear from how he talks that he is fine with Trump and his actions personally. It is not just about different interpretations of the Constitution or defending a guilty client in court. He is going way beyond that to defend and promote Trump. He has developed a personal friendship with Trump, which makes me wonder how good he is at reading people these days. It’s pretty obvious that Trump is a sleaze and a crook and has been for decades. Either Alan is unusually clueless for a legal eagle or he has benefitted from close connections with a crook. I realize people do show different aspects of themselves to different people, but Trump has been letting it all hang out for the past few years in public. I don’t see how Alan could miss seeing what kind of a man Trump really is after watching him during the campaign and now as POTUS. And he likes that man he sees.
Alan is basically that guest who insists on getting drunk and dancing around with a lampshade on his head, and his old friends find him repulsive and that’s why they don’t want to hang out with him. He has changed and they have not. Withdrawing friendship is their right. Go make new friends, Alan.
Jwoolman, thank you for saying it so well!
And Kaiser’s “freedom of speech is not freedom from consequence” is, as far as I’m concerned, the quote of the day, even perhaps the quote of the year. Too many people right now seem to think their right of free speech is being impinged upon if they are criticized, despised, shunned, or lose respect because of their words.
Welcome to Reality, Alan.
-What a GREAT line!
“Giving a fascist advice makes you part of the problem.”
I am stealing that.
Oh he does not get invited to social events in Martha’s Vineyard anymore… I don’t really care do U? Womp womp.
That’s a real devastating blow, right? Compared to people losing their health insurance, their homes, THEIR CHILDREN.
I really wonder if he has early onset dementia or something because I used to read his books when I was considering going to law school and he has a brilliant legal mind. I have no idea what happened to him. I say good for his friends on Martha’s Vineyard for shunning him. Poor baby, while other people are suffering and having their kids ripped away from them he doesn’t get invited to dinner parties on Martha’s Vineyard. He’s cancelled.
He may have a brilliant legal mind but he has no morals or character. Nothing to do with dementia. He’s just showing his true colours.
H, his evolution of views over time parallels that of a close family member of mine. In both cases I think some of it may be related to age-related changes in the prefrontal cortex, but also in both cases I think it is much more closely related to being a cis-het white man with a powerful sense of entitlement stemming from that identity, and then marinating for a couple of decades in the right-wing propaganda ecosystem. As being a cis-het white man ceases to afford *quite* as much privilege over every other category of human being, they have come to feel increasingly threatened and aggrieved at having to consider all these other points of view. When Trump arrived and basically said outright, “You guys are the best! You don’t have to worry about all these other losers, they’re just whiners trying to take away everything you EARNED through your HARD WORK with NO extra advantages. Eff ’em, let’s keep all the good stuff for ourselves,” they grabbed onto that with both hands and won’t let go. It’s sweet balm to their ears to hear their self-conception affirmed like this, and it shuts out everything else. It’s very sad, and I doubt it is in any way reversible.
FWP for sure. Boo effing boo.
He was a big part of OJ’s dream team. He’s very smart, but he often uses his skills to help very wealthy people avoid consequences.
@the other Katherine, that’s my take on the situation as well.
Why do people go into denial when someone says, “He’s acting like he’s sliding into dementia.”
All it does is show they have no clue what they’re refuting. IF they knew, they’d be able to think several steps ahead, to see symptoms that take years to develop.
But they’re in denial. They better HOPE they don’t watch it happen. When you’re aware, you pick up on small lapses, that increase over time. It’s not overnight.
Not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I highly doubt this is a case of dementia onset.
Personally, as someone who works with psych and dementia and geriatric patients, I find this declaration of “it must be dementia!” every time someone in the public sphere (who they don’t ACTUALLY know) does something “uncharacteristic” for their -perceived- personality, to be dangerous and in bad taste.
The fact of the matter is, this is most likely how he’s always been, he just feels comfortable showcasing it now that Trump is in charge. I mean, if the guy sitting in the White House (not my President) can be utter scum, why can’t he?
Poor Al…Well Alan there are children being separated from their parents due to his trash bag buddy Trump. F*uck OFF Alan.
And they call us snowflakes?
Shunning is underrated by most liberals (relative centrists especially) as a tool for effecting behavioral change. You probably won’t change someone’s mind, but you can change their behavior and the impact they have on other people. And you can insulate yourself from giving a platform to the bad behavior as well.
(In case it wasn’t clear, my point isn’t that liberals are somehow delicate snowflakes compared to conservatives. My point is that obnoxious far-right loudmouths like Dersh are just as snowflake-y as anyone else. We all crave human connection, whether we admit it or not.)
Exactly. And if there ever was a case for shunning and public shaming as a tactic, it surely is thousands of children kidnapped from their parents with no clue as to where they are. Three year olds are facing judges alone to explain why their parents brought them to the US. If that doesn’t make people realize how bizarre the situation has become – I don’t know what will.
This is an emergency, a massive Amber Alert, and too many people still think it’s time to offer tea and cookies and make polite conversation with the abductors. Maxine Waters knows who we are dealing with and the urgency of the situation, and that is why she is sounding the alarm and driving the fire truck at top speed with the siren on.
The fact that he thinks it is relatable to the majority of Americans that his wealthy friends on Martha’s Vineyard don’t invite him anymore to parties solidifies the fact that he officially completely out of touch and is likely a closet Trump supporter. It is a lot worse to be a young child locked in a cage separated from your parent indefinitely than to be shunned at a party on Martha’s Vineyard. Let me get out my tiny violin.
Round of applause for this comment.
Please play your sad song on your mini violin as I wipe away the single tear streaming down my cheek. *sniff*
Maybe the fact that he is friends with not only 45 but other disgusting people makes other people feel dirty being near him? Could be. Didn’t he defend Woody Allen too?
.
Part of the OJ defense team.
Closeted?? He’s on Faux News spouting this crap all the time. He’s a proud Trumpeteer! He just doesn’t want the blowback. But HOW he could think his Liberal minded friends would still embrace him, well, that makes me think there is some big a$$ delusion starting.
It’s mind boggling how many people are just like him though! Family members, friends, coworkers, etc all seem to think there should be no judgement of them based upon their politics. I’ve never seen such cluelessness in my life.
I was raised by a mother who told me, in no uncertain terms, that it was rude to ask about politics, to talk about politics, that politics were personal. I had asked her who she voted for when I was about 10, and she said, “that’s none of your business.” lol!
These days there are so many people who insist on pushing their ideas on others, arguing on social media, and then whining about people not wanting to be around them, all while calling others snowflakes. I just don’t get it. If you don’t want to be judged on your politics, keep them to yourself. So many people expect a consequence free life, I’ve never seen anything like it, the delusion is real.
Sorry this is so long, I guess I’ve wanted to say all this stuff for a while. lol
I for one am happy to hear that not all of the richies on the Vineyard are Trump supporters. (And yes, I know MA = blue state yadda yadda very well, but 2018 has removed much of my faith.)
It’s going to be a rough Summer in Martha’s Vineyard for a man that likes to talk, he is pretty miffed, since he wrote about it.
A mother with baby/toddler went up to Scott Pruitt eating lunch, to let him know he was ruining the environment, he looked like a deer caught in headlights.
I saw that, and it was perfection. She went HIGH.
She was perfection! She was polite, specific and concise.
Dershowitz had friends? He has always been a rude, abrasive man who was barely tolerated. And I doubt those shunning him used the words “safe space” or “trigger warning.” Those are terms the far right extremists use to ridicule anyone who doesn’t support them.
Oh I fully believe they used phrases like “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings.” And I do agree that it has a shade of McCarthyism about it, in the 1950s Hollywood, if you were suspected or so much as whispered to be a Communist, or have Communist sympathies, or uttered anything even the most vaguely supportive about (then) USSR, you found yourself shunned from social circles, blacklisted from work. It happened outside Hollywood as well, it was a dark time.
That said, Alan, you reap what you sow. You know what they say about those who lie down with dogs (no disrespect to actual canines).
During the era of McCarthy, however, those Hollywood writers and others suspected of having communist ties were prosecuted by THE GOVERNMENT and many went to prison for refusing to lie and give the unAmerican Activities committee more names to go after. They were not simply “shunned” or “banned” from private establishments: They were prosecuted by their own government. Huge fucking difference.
Polonoscopy yes the government started all that. But do you really think there was no societal blowback on that either? Where the fear of everything “red” (fostered by the government) didn’t bleed over into social circles, even families? Please tell me you’re not that fucking naive.
@ Heather
Yes there was ostracization during McCarthyism because people were terrified that sympathy expressed toward their friends and family would then turn into suspicion on them. It is not remotely the same. No one ostracizing Alan Dershowitz is afraid of being pulled into a brutal and specious *government investigation* they’re just letting their ahole neighbor know they do not like and do not want him around. There is no comparison between McCarthyism and people shutting out their trumpy neighbors.
There is no way they used those phrases, as Lightpurple said. They’re straight off the right wing talking point memo and Dershowitz is clearly trying to use them to mock (unless one of his neighbors said those things facetiously, which is also possible). And in no way is being shunned from parties comparable to McCarthyism. The false equivalencies from the right are just mind boggling.
What Alan doesn’t seem to realize is that his experience is actually about him being McCarthy and others refusing to accept and normalize him. He is not playing the role of one of McCarthy’s victims, but rather the role of a McCarthy supporter and collaborator.
We may have suffered less from McCarthyism if people had shunned him and all his little friends. Make people face the consequences of their awful treatment of others. Don’t put up with it in the name of politeness or fear. And people who openly support bad people who are mistreating others can’t pretend not to be involved.
Yeah, not buying that anyone announced “safe spaces”. That was just red meat for the Trumpers.
Well Alan and the rest of Team Rancid Orange better hope everyone of those children are reunited with their families. If any child goes missing, the resulting uproar and fallout will make them not to want to leave their home. Focus on returning those children instead of your social life
Well Alan, You brought this on yourself. Label the left snowflakes and guess what? They’re gonna freeze your ass out.
I’m so sick of the right asking for civility from left when they’re the ones equating liberals with American enemies and going around saying that liberalism is a mental disorder. Like, what the f*ck do you expect when you insult people like this?
The right has done an excellent job of turning principles held by the left against the left. Those very morals and values are being used against us to cut us off at the knees.
Re: Alan Dershowitz: I read somewhere (Politico?) that he said that he started routinely appearing on Fox because CNN wouldn’t book him but he has been on a rightward turn for a long time now.
Yeah, I never did understand where the far-right got this idea that the idea of a tolerant society as espoused by liberals includes extending personal tolerance to a**holes busy reveling in a**hole behavior. Allowing the most vile person in the room to dominate every conversation and decision isn’t tolerance, it’s cowardice. And if there’s one thing people who live openly as liberals in red states aren’t, it’s cowards.
I know, right? YOU Leftie are intolerant because you won’t tolerate my intolerance. It’s f*cked up. As hard as it is to do (and understand), we have to step inside of their logic mode in order to disrupt and destabilize it. Even though I say that I’m not sure if that’s the right answer cause with them we are dealing with the lizard brain as opposed to the frontal lobe.
I would find this funny, except that these people are so narcissistic. Families are being devastated and little toddlers are screaming for their mommies and this guy is crying about parties on Martha’s Vineyard. You know, it’s not funny.
So let me get this straight…he’s bitching about being ostracized by his rich friends on Martha’s Vineyard, where he keeps a summer home, comparing it to McCarthyism and yet it’s everyone on the left that are the elitist snowflakes? Got it.
LOL.. Alan dude…..
“You know that they say somethings are better left unsaid
It wasn’t like you only talked to him
And you know it
(Don’t act like you don’t know it)
All of these things people told me
Keep messing with my head
Should’ve picked honesty
Then you may not have thought it
You don’t have to say, what you did
I already know
Now there’s just no chance
With you and me
There’ll never be
Don’t it make you sad about it?
[FILL IN THE BLANK…………]
I say this as someone about to celebrate her 60simethingth bday, married to a man 15 years older: Sometimes, retirement is an excellent thing for all parties.
Sounds like Alan wants Martha’s Vineyard to be his safe space.
So I read that trump is using military money to increase production of military jets domestically, and thus bring jobs back to the US. That is *exactly* how Hitler won over Germans.
The Nazis used the same language to describe Jewish people as Trump uses for immigrants, and the Nazis also gutted health protections for th disabled and mentally ill, talking about how they only wanted people who were physically healthy and not a drain on the people and society. Eye roll.
I often think of how stephen hawking would have been killed in the US and Germany.
How many Germans said they just wanted jobs after being poor and that was why they supported Hitler.
I guess I am saying I wish Dershowitz read some more german history than complain on the hill.
Wah, wah! They don’t invite me any more, Mommy! Sorry Alan, but I really don’t care (do you guys?) He’s so punchable when he’s on CNN
Boo hoo Alan, boo hoo.
Don’t know how to respond to these trumpers. Their clueless cruelty and entitled destruction of basic human decency is beyond Twilight Zone creepy. So best to shun them.
Dershowitz has always been about making himself a media darling starting out as a liberal of sorts. He wrote the screenplay for “Reversal of Fortune,” to showcase his own deeply felt “genius” and he often inserted himself into any big news case such as the OJ Simpson trial.
So now he hops on the drump bandwagon to get attention. Any “genius” he had is now drowned out by the barbaric attacks by Fox News and many other second rate Republicans. And he’s whining just like drump. Unbelievable.
Hey, Alan, I bet there are plenty of deplorable who would hang with you. But they won’t be in posh Martha’s Vineyard.
He is insufferable. Don’t people like him get it? We are beyond unfuriated with what the orange monster is doing to our country and our democracy. We grieve what we are losing and what we are becoming. People like A.D. who defend the orange monster’s destruction are intensely loathed. As they should be.
Womp Womp Dersh!
Stop being the public mouthpiece for Emperor Zero and making ridiculous claims that EZ can pardon himself and co-conspirators.
Oh yeah, and don’t worry about your time in the barrel coming…any teens you’d like to discuss?
Oh, he was involved with Epstein too! I wonder if that’s why he’s sucking up to E Zero? Interesting.
Recently a dear childhood friend left this realm which rarely if ever offered her little more than a glimpse at a joyous existence. Whatever she suffered, she’d endure with one foot in front of the other, thinking of others and always on the sunny side.
She commenced the “Thanks, Obama” ruminations and I bit my tongue. Live free and let it ride. I didn’t want to imagine whatever was at the root of her consternation. I still cherished the friend I’d had since elementary school.
And then she drank the deplorable draino and I just flat out ghosted her ass. She would intermittently reach out, once on Christmas even and still I remained in the cognito on my high horse. I never told her that no, I did not want a commie military base in Cuba or that the emperor was for a fact certain nekkid.
Meanwhile she found she was terminally ill and was suffering terribly. I, however, was not aware. She just wanted to speak and laugh with her dear friend. I was too ashamed to even show my face at her funeral.
Life’s a bitch and then you die. She has my love on the other side now. I would liked to have figured it out so she wouldn’t have had to wait.
I’m so sorry you are carrying this. We live in times that are tearing families and life long friendships apart. I don’t know what to say. I’m very sorry about your friend.
This brought tears. It’s all so difficult.
About a year ago I decided to look up some old classmates on FB after an old classmate contacted me. One I looked up was my grade school best friend. We had lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same Catholic Church and grade school and high school. Our lives were so similar growing up. Well, much to my surprise her page is filled with Muslim hate, liberal hate, Democrat hate, Obama hate, immigrant hate, Hate. … All hate. And I couldn’t help think what the hell went wrong with her. I did not contact her but every once in awhile when I want to know what the deplorables are reading I go to her page to see the hate and lies.
You can’t blame yourself for distancing yourself and not knowing she was ill. Unfortunately it is a consequence for many people who are Trump supporters as they become isolated from former friends/family. If they support him, it is possible people will choose to disassociate themselves because nobody wants to be around someone who supports that kind of person. I understand you feel ashamed but you truly didn’t know and you were probably hurt seeing someone you loved supporting someone you found abhorrent. At least she is at peace now and no longer suffering is really all you need to tell yourself.
I am so sorry. It’s heartbreaking to hear this.
I know you’re feeling guilty, but I’m curious what the guilt stems from? When my Dad’s cancer turned terminal really quick he would repeatedly say, “This is the natural course of life.” and would prepare us for his pending death. I refused to acknowledge it until he could barely get out of bed. Seeing the amount of pain he was in, I told him I understood and that Mom and I would mourn for him in Maui.
So, I guess I’m saying, when you ghost someone, basically you’re saying you’re dead to them. Is that the guilt? Or the fact that they died therefore you feel guilty because of a natural progression of the circle of life?
In a round about way, I guess I’m just curious why you’re owning and carrying her hate now because she’s gone and shackling yourself with unnecessary guilt. Pick yourself up. You ghosted her for a legitimate reason because you recognize life is too short for spending it on negative people. Your guilt isn’t going to change her mind since she’s not here. The only one that continues to be affected is you.
This is also a reason I’m not a fan of ghosting. It leaves people haunted.
@original poster
Was the relationship you had with your friend really that good? It sounds like there wasn’t a lot of listening on both sides, like there wasn’t respect for women (as barbara bush said, any woman that votes for trump is questionable), and like there wasn’t much, if any empathy for others from this friend. How do you have a relationship with someone like that – where what they want matters more than anyone else? Genuinely curious.
Was this really a good friend relationship if you felt you had to keep so much of yourself hidden? When they were clearly ok with hating others not like them?
I end with this: You are not a bad person. Your mental health and protecting yourself from people who cannot listen to or respect women and many others is important and ok.
If you were an assault victim, a person of color, someone with a preexisting condition, or all three, trump supporters devalued your experiences and life. It is always ok to leave behind people who invalidate and demean your life.
PS I am so sorry your friend died and you are in pain about how it all went down. I understand the connection was valuable to you. Nonetheless I will always support someone taking time from people when it stresses your mental and emotional health to be around people who cannot listen to your needs and thoughts.
Floydee Mercer your lovely and important message, so gracefully and subtly delivered, unfortunately resonated here on CB with a dull thud. I got it though. Thank you (*off to poke my dear conservative friend on fb*).
Sometimes people simply change significantly and are no longer the same people you once considered a close friend.
You are understandably mourning the loss of your friend, but that loss happened a long time ago. The person you knew had died inside and was reborn as someone you did not know or like.
You followed your conscience and need to avoid any feeling of guilt about this. You stuck with her much longer than your gut was telling you to do, that is enough. You can’t fix other people.
The woman who died recently was not the same woman you had once called friend. She only looked like her.
If you look at Twitter, no. The ones using those terms are the MAGAts and Trumpets who throw them at anyone who opposes Trump and accuses them of using those terms. I very much doubt the wealthy 70 year olds on the Vineyard are using those terms to describe themselves.
Allow me to quote Raylan Givens to Mr. Dershowitz.
When you run into an a$$hole in the morning, you ran into an a$$hole. When you run into a$$holes all day, YOU’RE the a$$hole.
If everyone is shunning him, perhaps he needs to do some soul searching as to why.
It is so funny you chose to quote Raylan. I finally had a chance to watch Justified and I liked it. It is good escapist insomnia watching and I found myself laughing at some of the scenes.
Justified is masterclass in words and gives great insight into Kentuckian hillibilies.
Yes about the masterclass in words! I think it’s the best adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s work, really captured the spirit of his writing. And it’s a great cast and interesting story. One of my all time favorite dramas.
I love the absurdist angle of the characters and the language. I will be sad to see the end.
Imagine being in your 70’s complaining that other rich folks don’t want to hang out with you at your vacation home. Then having a platform like The Hill to complain about it like it’s your neighborhood newsletter. Must be nice.
I’m tickled that a common question in my life of “Who all is gonna be there?” is being framed by Dershowitz as a “safe space” PC liberal conspiracy against free ideas.
Trump is not the only less than healthy acquaintance he has…
*wispers “Jeffrey Epstein”
Womp womp
Thoughts and Prayers…. I’ll be sure to pour some of my champagne out in honor of your lost dinner party invitation (cue tiny violin)
🥂 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Womp womp….
Sorry you fascist gasbag. You reap what you sow
Wikipedia on Dershowitz: “Much of his legal career has focused on criminal law, and his clients have included high-profile figures such as Patty Hearst, Harry Reems, Leona Helmsley, Jim Bakker, Mike Tyson, Michael Milken, O.J. Simpson and Kirtanananda Swami. Dershowitz also reports to have been one of Nelson Mandela’s lawyers.[21] He sees himself as a “lawyer of last resort” – someone to turn to when the defendant has few other legal options – and takes those cases that are what he calls “the most challenging, the most difficult and precedent-setting cases”.[22] He is currently advising Julian Assange’s legal team.[23]”
Yeah, he’s a regular Legal-Aid type.
Welp, time to update his Wikipedia page: Two months ago Dershowitz joined Harvey Weinstein’s defense team as a “consultant,” evidently
Alan Dershowitz may not be defending Trump for altruistic reasons. Like Trump, Alan Dershowitz is alleged to be friends with Jeffrey Epstein and a participant in the disgusting crimes that Epstein did. So Dershowitz is defending Trump so that his own’s deeds don’t come to light.
Enjoy your shunning. You’ve earned it!
Right. Liberals are the out-of-touch elitists. In the meantime, Dershowitz is the real victim because Chip and Muffy won’t talk to him on the Vineyard anymore. Good God.
Chip and Muffy 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I was so happy to hear he’s being shunned! Martha’s Vineyard is full of people who are power players in academia and many industries. This is one time I am in support of “trickle down theory.” I hope they are indeed throwing their megabucks and snide attitudes against everything Trump represents, and everyone who is enabling him.
P.S. Dershowitz is a pedophile.
Yes, I was coming down to make this exact comment. He defends Trump relentlessly because like Trump and Prince Andrew, and Bill Clinton, he was also present on Epstein’s island.
Did anyone catch Bill Maher show last Friday? Michael Moore speaks to me
Sorry, I can’t stand Michael Moore. But Ben Shapiro confirmed for me that he is a rude, loud, obnoxious idiot, as I suspected.
Yep. Michael Moore was one of those douchey old white men who thought that trump’s election would spur the revolution, anyone who gets crushed in the meantime be damned.
He gets none of my energy.
Betsy – I didn’t get that feeling from Moore about the election. He seemed to simply be predicting that Trump would win, based on his assessment of potential voters and their mood, which was very uncomfortable for people to hear. He didn’t seem happy about it.
Moore also was predicting Trump’s win would inspire a revolution of sorts, and Donald certainly has stimulated a huge increase in public protests. But he’s doing so much damage so fast that people really can’t keep up. We’re a long way from revolution.
I actually had the same feeling of impending doom myself about the 2016 election. Americans have a long-standing habit of low voter turnout, which means the most passionate can determine the results and Trump’s supporters were certainly passionate. I also knew we had clear signs of selective meddling with the vote counts since at least 2004, via those vulnerable machines. Vote-shifting programs are easy to write and do not require connection to the net, I could write one with some modest effort and I haven’t written a program in decades. Modern technology has advanced considerably over the past couple of decades and meddling at a short or long distance can be done in various ways.
Sure enough, Trump won with an astonishingly small number of deciding votes (about 75,000 gave him the electoral votes, which is within machine error) but recounts were shut down by the lawyers or practically impossible anyway.
I get nervous with all the talk of a “blue tsunami” in November. Not if we don’t fix the vote counting system. If we don’t have paper backup on all machines or simply use paper ballots, and if we don’t have mandatory recounts of the paper ballots – don’t be surprised if the Republicans maintain their majorities in the House and Senate. The stakes are high and the hackers will be paid well. We also may see an astonishing rise in voter suppression, all signs are pointing to that. Plus disinformation campaigns are locked and loaded and practicing right now. The Department of Justice has been the place to report voting problems in real-time in the past, but that will be a dead end this time. The federal government is not really doing much to secure the vote counting systems or to deal with voter suppression, and in fact has been doing things that actually inhibit such efforts.
We really are stuck unless Bob Mueller is the hero people are hoping he is. Not personally holding my breath, though.
Apart from Dershowitz, but definitely truly deplorable conduct, the White House twitter account launched attacks yesterday against Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. That means that our tax dollars paid some employees to use government funded phones or computers and other taxpayer funded resources to launch political attacks in flagrant violations of federal laws governing the use of government resources and staff time.
I have contacted Mitch McConnell’s office demanding he call for the immediate termination of all involved. I encourage everyone to do the same. Just be polite.
I’m sure that was ethically wrong too.
Flagrantly and blatantly.
Good thinking, I need to make some calls.
I saw these twitter attacks. They are an outrage! Every day the Trump loons go too far (again).
People who summer on Martha’s Vineyard have been doing so for generations. Whether they own or rent. Affluent or not so much. His brilliant legal mind has never gotten in the way of his thirst for the spotlight. That thirst seems not to have diminished his social life no matter how odious he’s been in the past. That includes his relationship with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
His friends no longer wish to socialise with him because he has become an unlikeable person not merely because he has unlikeable views.
And Alan IT IS NOT MAXINE WATERS FAULT.
Aw did liddle Alan get shut out from the soirees with rich people? Well I’m sure the Orange Nazi will let him buy a membership to one of his rotting clubs. He can roll around with the rest of the deplorables.
I think some of this poor-meing is because trumpers genuinely did not realize they are not the majority. I think they thought they had a silent majority of conservatives who wanted all these policies and they are shocked to find that no, the majority of the country including a lot of conservatives do not want this. They expected to do all the awful things they’re doing, and then go out to eat or go on vacation and enjoy themselves in peace because they thought they were the heroes of this silent majority. Turns out, America is further along the progressive track than they realized, as democrats move into true progressivism and conservatives become centrists, and they aren’t speaking for anyone but the tiki torch racists. The Fox News misinformation bubble completely mislead them and their disdain for “liberal media” (our media is so conservative, it’s hilarious to me every time I hear it referred to as “liberal”) prevents them from seeing the signs of social progress. All these confrontations is their bubble bursting, and they are truly shocked to find they are the villains and they lash out with their poor-me narratives to try and reclaim their place in their imaginary heroic story. I base these conclusions on trumpers in my family.
Also I can’t wait for Jared and Ivanka to try and resume their lives in New York and find themselves completely shunned by society. She was supposed to be the one to bring the trump family into the most elevated circles of American high society and she will be shut out right alongside the rest of them.
You made a great point. Right wingers do think they have the majority on their side and they are shocked to realize that they don’t. They have their loudmouths, Cheeto-eating basement dwellers and bots, but there are more of us than there are of them. That’s why so many of their rallies, gatherings and events like Trump’s inauguration flopped: Because they don’t have the numbers and they don’t have the will. They don’t want to leave the comfort zone of their homes and laptops. Look at all of the successful protests since Trump—the right wing could never get the same turnout.
This post left out the part where Alan said he voted for Hillary and donated to her campaign. EDIT – maybe he really is concerned with some of the news coming out about the government’s actions in the investigations. As an independent voter, I am as well, though maybe my concerns will be unfounded.
I’m an independent, too, but I’m not giving him a pass on Fox News even if he did vote for Clinton. It’s one thing to be critical of bias in media. It’s another thing to indirectly or directly support a channel that is notoriously racist, sexist, and openly misleads the public for purposes of propaganda.
Womp womp.
What about the Hill for allowing him to write this pity play nonsense? The press is complicit because they normalize them and then they depict them as victims.
Alan Dershowitz has always been a big, immature baby who throws a tantrum whenever someone does something he doesn’t like or personally approve of. There was a big story in academia a while back about how he personally went out of his way to sabotage Norman Finkelstein’s tenure application at DePaul University. The university committee insisted that they denied Finkelstein tenure out of their own reasons, but the point still stands that Dershowitz is a petty, vindictive, arrogant ahole and anything that makes him unhappy or miserable gives me sincere joy. There are few people who could provoke that response, and he’s one of them.
Stay miserable, you f*ck.
A – So you’re saying the two big babies, Alan and Trump, are having play dates?
No wonder Alan loves Donald.
It might instead be because he is a pedo and and pedo apologist, see Jeffery Espstein and/or Filthy Rich by James Patterson.
Oh cry me a GD river, Dersh. I live in rural Kentucky, Trump country, and I’ve had the opposite problem. Dating is a long, gone dream for me living here (at least as far as I’ve seen so far). It was practically impossible for me to find a job (this place very much does not like “outsiders” – they treat an ‘immigrant’ from Florida like an immigrant from another country). I finally got a job at Dairy Queen and some freelance gigs from the local paper. And I have found some friends, but it took a loooong time. The liberals pretty much seek on another out and it’s like some secret society LOL so suck it up, buttercup, the MAGA people aren’t any better at being “civilized.” They’re actually a lot worse. My own fkn PASTOR (well, ex-pastor now) blocked me on FB after realizing i was pro-choice. Good times.
Shannon, I feel for you. I lived in Wyoming for several years. I know exactly what you’re talking about. The shunning happens to liberals in conservative areas too, but they like to believe they are the polite ones.
What Trump is saying, doing and instigating goes way beyond the average disagreement on politics between liberals and conservatives. He is taking children away from parents and during public speeches, He is talking about how he might stay in office even if he gets voted out. He has caused such a divide in this country that he could incite riots or even the next civil war. We have to start doing whatever we can to protect OUR civil liberties and OUR free speach.
You made your choice Alan. The stink of Trump will cling to you for life. You can’t wash it off.
He’s never been a liberal, a fake one, a liberal lite or a person with vaguely liberal edges maybe.
As for McCarthyism he may want to dwell on his hardcore campaign to destroy Norman Finklestein’s career and have his university post rescinded because he disagreed with his political views. THAT is a lot closer than people deciding not to invite your crusty, ha;f cementing hoary old right wing ass to parties anymore.
People acting all shocked about Dershowitz should know that he was already an insufferable a**hole 25 years ago when I took his class in college. Nothing is shocking other than the right leaning of his politics now.