Saturday, March 16, 2024

TWGB: The Only Winning Move

 


The disqualification trial of Fulton County DA Fani Willis saw a decision that enabled the case to continue, as Willis stays on while her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, leaves the case--but we also learn that the judge in the Trial, Scott McAfee, faced threats and was concerned about getting security for his family. This is appalling, but not an unusual feature of TrumpWorld. McAfee, a conservative, will be treated by MAGA as having been somehow biased (I checked Twitter--they are GRUMBLING) when it is hard to objectively state what was uncovered in the trial more than a mere appearance of impropriety. 

He made as fair a decision as he could. He chided Willis for her conduct. It's not enough. 

From what I can tell, the lesson of TrumpWorld is similar to the lesson of playing "tic-tac-toe" in the 1983 movie WarGames--the only winning move is not to play. It means a little something different here though--it's the choice of game. You don't win at appeasing MAGA. You win only by doing your job. In other words--how about a nice came of chess?

Mike Pence knows this one. He just recently explained why he could not endorse Donald Trump, his old running mate, for president. Trump required him to do something illegal and unconstitutional to show his loyalty and he could not. In return, his life was threatened, and Trump to this day considers Pence "disloyal". It seems clear that to Trump's mind, you cannot serve two masters: the Constitution and Trump.  It also stands as a stark warning to other would-be GOP VP nominees--he will not be someone you serve with, just someone you serve. I can only ask what the conscience of a conservative has to say about that.


District Judge Aileen Cannon in the Florida documents case recently made a ruling against Trump's bid to have charges dismissed, but it's possible that she is playing. And not just for time. Trump has admitted taking the documents, and his steps at obstruction show that he must have been aware he was not supposed to legally still have them (yes, Judge Jeanine, there was obstruction). 

Does she understand that if she does play up to MAGA, she playing against the law and our national security? Does she know the lives Trump's carelessness with these docs may have already put at risk? She is gambling with this country's future, and helping Trump or escaping whipping from MAGA is NOT a worthy trade-off. Definitely not a "win". 

Our media need to stop playing, as well. Trump is a rarity--impeached twice in just one term. He does not have the endorsement of his former VP. He has four indictments and has been determined in a court of law to be a rapist and a fraudster. He is a political freak and should be treated as one. Any given story about him should reference these things, not because they are derogatory--but because they are TRUE. He benefits from foreign money and influence as has his family. His conflicts of interest are real--not the partisan hallucinations ginned up by Trump's hacky friends in the GOP House or their variously corrupted pet witnesses. 

This is not a horserace. (Our national elections never really are: it is not a mere "purse" that is at stake.)  Trump has not only been uniquely corrupt but introduced the threat of violence and unrest into the national political picture. 

The time for playing is over. Because the metaphor isn't tic-tac-toe out there, but thermonuclear war. And no, I am not playing when I say that.

1 comment:

Charon04 said...

" ... Nathan Wade, leaves the case--but we also learn that the judge in the Trial, Scott McAfee, faced threats and was concerned about getting security for his family. ... "

Willis has tried to hire a lot of prosecutors who turned down the job, unlike Wade. Like McAfee, they feared for their personal safety, did not want to take the risk.

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