TWGB: Barr, The Master of Muppets, and the Nuclear Hackeysack

 

Martha: He called you a RINO
Barr: A RINO for him is anyone who disagrees with him that the election was stolen. pic.twitter.com/aNER1VubFu

— Acyn (@Acyn) September 6, 2022

Einstein called it a "gedankenexperiment"--it's where you think something out instead of just believing you know what you might not know. MAGAs follow from Trump's pronouncements to presume that if Trump calls someone a RINO--that is what they are. If he calls the press "lying", they assume that is what the media do--they lie, because the obviously not ever lying Trump said so. Trump has found himself at odds with the media, with people who have worked for him, with politicians who formerly agreed with, at least, his policies. What if the common denominator here is Trump himself--a difficult and self-defeating person whose life is the center of a perpetual clusterfuck machine?

Like I said, it's just a thought experiment, but one that Republicans need to engage in, because they have been the ones making origami swallows of their conscience and their reputations on his behalf. Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon allows for a special master in Trump's stolen documents case, which bodes to slow down the investigation, and even rejected an amicus curiae from former GOP officials who understand very well what Trump did wrong. Aw, c'mon Aileen? Are we really that obtuse? She could have just booted this case on jurisdictional grounds and not been the one to decide to slow down the process with an unnecessary Special Master. This is muppetry. She gave Trump's legal team more than it asked for, and I think entirely for appearances' sake. So as not to get a visit from Trump's flying monkeys. Or at least, I think that's the least stupid interpretation of why she might have. I certainly hope the reason isn't more transactional. 

Barr knows this decision isn't smart, and like I said, he will support his party but he won't stoop to be an idiot about it. 

The reason why is, once you know what Trump is about, you wait for the other shoe to drop, because if it looks bad, it is bad. I feel like after pardoning Trump in advance by neutering the Mueller report, maybe at some point in discovering that Trump was using the voter fraud lie to steal the election hisownself, Barr finally saw that Trump just does illegal shit and tapped all the way out. This is what I would call:  a reasonable thing to do. 

Where I stand on the special master "just go on with it or appeal" question is--just indict. I'm no expert, but DOJ and ODNI have been through this shit and know by now what they have. I don't know what the odds ever are of putting Trump away for as long as whatever it takes is, but here's the funny thing:

He had nuclear secrets about another country.  I can't imagine that was something he wanted for his presidential library or for his memoirs. It seems to me he had a particular purpose for that sort of thing, and he's a known extortionist, vide his first impeachment.  He loves illicitly obtained information.  He always has--it's titillating, it's leverage, it's the function of knowledge as power. 

Now, A lot of MAGAs have been wondering about the peekaboo nature of the idea that Trump had nuclear secrets or anything worth indicting him at all on. So here's my humble take--why did he take what he took, snowflake? Because it wasn't valuable? Do you think he's stupid? He took valuable things because he considered himself woefully underpaid for the experience of being Commander in Chief and then losing a bid for a second term. It's leverage and spite. 

It's like taking all the ashtrays and towels and whatnot from a hotel because you got pissy about the service, times a billion. Except with human lives in the balance. Not that Trump would care about that. 

But people have killed their political future for Trump. And it won't end there. Because Trump got a lot of help from his friends. And maybe all of the people who helped him along the way might need to get some distance from the kind of politics he represents. 

How long does the GOP keep being a fool for him? I feel like the nuclear secrets should be an indication he had bad intent. But that's just me. Clearly, people can disagree. But I know which side I would err on.