The Justice Department alarmed voting-law experts Thursday by announcing an investigation into nine discarded ballots found in northeastern Pennsylvania, a case immediately seized upon by the Trump campaign as evidence of a dark Democratic conspiracy to tamper with the presidential election.
President Trump also appeared to cite the case, telling reporters at the White House that ballots had been found ‘in a wastepaper basket in some location. … We want to make sure that the election is honest, and I’m not sure that it can be.’
The president’s comments marked his latest attempt to stoke uncertainty and alarm about the legitimacy of the upcoming election.
(Washington Post, September 25, 2020)
Am I the only one who sees this juvenile ruse for what it is…; or that it’s only the beginning of what will be many such false-flag capers?
After all, it reeks of the same dirty-trick that has operatives infiltrating BLM protests to instigate confrontations with the police and perpetrate indiscriminate vandalism and looting. And all this just to enable Trump to say, “See, I told you so! Those BLM protesters are nothing but a bunch of marauding anarchists.”
But I maintain that, despite his lies, ruses, and lawlessness, Trump is not the problem. It does not even lie with his gullible supporters – who are blithely risking their lives just to be entertained by his norm-busting, Barnum-&-Bailey shtick.
The problem is that people like Attorney General William Barr, who heads the Justice Department, continue to display a Stockholm Syndrome-like willingness to defend every Orwellian thing he says and enable every fascist thing he does.
No less an authority on American politics than Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward is openly bemoaning, “What the f*ck happened to America?” This is why I also maintain that, when historians begin asking that question, they will find that the Trump presidency said more about his willing executioners than about Trump himself.
In the meantime, I repeat my entreaty for the media to stop manufacturing outrage over everything he says and does. Instead, they would provide a far more useful public service by calling out BLM-protest infiltrators and Trumpian executioners like Barr and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff.
The latter manifested an acute case of Stockholm Syndrome when Trump dispatched him to all media outlets today to throw FBI Director Christopher Wray under the bus. This, because Wray dared to testify – at a congressional hearing this week – that the report about discarded ballots amounting to widespread election fraud is pathological, Trumpian bullsh*t.
His Supreme Court Nominee
Speaking of media mindlessness, I have no idea why they spent so much of this week manufacturing suspense over which female judge Trump would nominate to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Here, for example, is the headline Politico ran on Tuesday:
Trumpworld clashes over Barrett vs. Lagoa.
The problem is that, given his categorical imperative to nominate a woman, nobody should have had any doubt which one Trump would pick, namely the prettiest one: Amy Coney Barrett. Sorry, Judge Lagoa, but this is just how the brain of this buffoon – who you probably voted for – works.
In fact, he’s picking Judge Barrett for the same reason his dick-for-brains led him to blurt out that he deserved to be the Republican presidential nominee, namely because (he thought) his wife was the prettiest of all the candidates’ spouses. He even tweeted crude comparisons in a boorish and vain attempt to prove it.
In any case, picking Barrett as his third-straight white nominee should make clear to all Hispanics that his regard for them will never extend beyond cartoonish pandering for their votes. After all, her looks aside, Lagoa is every bit as conservative as Barret and would vote the same on the Court, effectively.
Not to mention that his white supporters worship him unconditionally. He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote among them, remember? Therefore, you’d think he would have nominated Lagoa — given that doing so would clearly gain him votes.
Except that, Trump is so blinded by racism, he could see no public good or personal benefit in nominating a Hispanic to this prestigious position. Never mind that, unlike practically every other white politician in America, he would see nothing wrong with having a Supreme Court composed entirely of white justices.
That said, I feel obliged to reiterate this admonition: If conservative and evangelical leaders have any hope of redemption, after seeing their handpicked nominee confirmed, they should disown Trump with even greater conviction and dispatch than Peter disowned Jesus Christ.
Related commentaries:
Trump’s executioners… Ruth Bader Ginsburg…
* This commentary was originally published yesterday, Friday, at 6:38 p.m.