Did you catch yesterday’s special edition of Chicago Public Square? Things like that don’t happen without financial support from readers like you. If that’s not already you, it can be—for as little as $1, once. And now the news:
What about the jurors? Previewing what awaits the 12 New Yorkers who yesterday found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 charges in a scheme to rig the 2016 election, The Daily Beast foresees money, fame … and haunted dreams.
■ Illinois Republican Party chair Don Tracy compares the conviction to “a political prosecution the likes of which occurs [sic] in banana republics” …
■ … but other Trump sycophants are portraying the conviction as great news …
■ … and MAGA types have been flooding pro-Trump websites with calls for revolution and violence.
■ CNN’s Oliver Darcy: “In the hours after the verdict … talk of the U.S. having transformed into a third-world dictatorship was the norm in pro-Trump media” …
■ … but historian Heather Cox Richardson says “Twelve ordinary Americans did what Republican senators refused to do. They protected the rule of law.”
■ Progress Report editor Jordan Zakarin: They “showed far more spine than U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose extreme reticence to prosecute Trump’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection rendered it likely that this will be the only trial that Trump faces before Election Day.”
‘Democrats should make sure it’s all but stamped on his forehead.’ USA Today columnist Rex Huppke: “Trump … has damaged our political system so badly and melted the brains of so many voters that I have zero confidence decency and common sense will prevail.”
■ The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet: Trump’s conviction sends President Biden’s reelection campaign into unprecedented territory.
■ Gov. Pritzker’s take: “Trump is a racist, a homophobe, a grifter and … now … a felon.”
■ Live updates: Trump was to hold a news conference at Chicago Public Square’s email deadline this morning.
■ He’ll probably have to give up any guns in his possession …
■ … but he may still be able to vote because, as Lisa Needham observes ironically at Public Notice, “he was convicted in a blue state that is less inclined to deny voting rights.”
■ Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post: “The only thing that could upend the exquisite implementation of rule of law would be the election of this felon.”
■ Former Illinois Republican Rep. turned Trump critic Adam Kinzinger: “No court case will save us; electoral victory will.”
‘I have been turned into a caricature.’ Embattled CTA president Dorval Carter’s firing back at his critics: “This city has a history of attacking … your African American leaders.”
■ Several City Council members remain critical.
‘All the ingredients for full-blown, 1968-level disaster are lined up on the counter, waiting to be mixed together.’ But Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg holds out hope this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago “could buff the gouges out of the city’s battered reputation.”
■ The city’s inspector general is sounding an alarm about the Chicago Police Department’s unpreparedness for the scale of potential protests and unrest during the convention.
■ Curious about the city’s (potentially) bad cops? Searching by name and badge number is about to get easier.
Bird flu takes wing. Michigan’s health department reports the nation’s third human case.
■ Chicago’s declared its measles outbreak history.
‘The jury apparently did not buy defense attorney Todd Blanche’s description of witness … Michael Cohen as what?’ Question No. 1 on this week’s news quiz devised by past Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner Fritz Holznagel revisits a key moment in the Trump trial.
Remote-work fun. Axios: An alliance of Chicago business and tourism organizations has launched a summerlong program encouraging people to do their jobs virtually from some of the city’s coolest locations.
■ Also: The Sundance film festival is headed this way in about a month.
■ And maybe some more aurora borealis tonight.
Postscript. After this edition of Square was published to the web, Google-owned Blogger stuck this weird advisory before those visiting the page:
■ Update from Blogger, 11:25 a.m.: “We have re-evaluated the post. … Upon review, the post has been reinstated.”