Smoke And Mirrors

Even before the latest news, Trump’s Deflecting Pool fiasco was the perfect metaphor for his disastrous “presidency.” It has it all: incompetence, arrogance, cronyism, lying, corruption, blame-shifting. Then his weaponized and degraded DOJ dropped charges against an Olympian canoeist who dipped his hand into virescent waters to touch a cerulean shard. The charges were ridiculous from the outset, transparently intended to give credence to Trump’s desperate scapegoating for his self-created disaster.

There was never substantiation that David Hearn caused a penny’s worth of damage, let alone the thousand-dollar threshold for a felony charge. Yet Trump’s incompetent and embarrassing choice for US Attorney, Jeanine Pirro, recidivist disprover of the “ham sandwich” trope, and, like so many of Trump’s competence-not-required appointees, a former Fox “news” personality, incited an indictment, repeatedly claiming there were photos, witness testimony, expert analysis, and damning video showing the man VIOLENTLY ripping sealant from the bottom of the pool. USING BOTH HANDS!

Shortly after we learned that the government’s expert contradicted everything Trump-level prevaricator Pirro claimed, the charges went the way of day-one-ended Ukraine war, Mexico-paid border wall, and Iran’s obliterated nuclear program pronouncements. It happened immediately after Mr. Hearn’s lawyers petitioned to release grand jury transcripts, likely to have revealed the malfeasance of Trump’s DOJ lawyers in securing the indictment. Withdrawing all charges, Judge-not Jeanine’s report described the damage as due to “rushed and botched installation,” with no evidence of vandalism.

That’s not all, because, with Trump, it never is. When he secretes lies, like climate change hoaxes and stolen elections, and unlike his wives, he sticks with them forever. So, even after the revelation that his inexpert hire’s shoddy work and not vandalism caused the damage, he kept insisting the opposite. So accustomed is he to lies getting him out of trouble, he released a video which, he claimed, confirms very vandalistic vandals vandalizing vandally. It doesn’t. Have a look. What it confirms is Trump’s psychopathy.

Whether Trump knows he’s lying or believes the lies is moot. MAGA believes. Republican kangaroo courtiers create diversions to wipe them away. We’re camel-strawed with a “president” for whom lying is a way of life, a formerly useful political party that has embraced it as modus operandi, and a Republican-controlled Senate too cowed and corrupt to reject Trump’s uniformly alarming nominees for critical positions. Like Todd Blanche, up for permanent Attorney General.

Two outgoing senators, Carolina Tom and Texas John, with nothing meaningful to lose, made a sham show of refusing to advance Blanche out of committee unless he’d put in writing the undoing of Trump’s slush fund for insurrectionists, seditionists, and other criminals, as well as the unspeakably corrupt, permanent exculpation of all crimes, past, present, and future committed by Trump, his spawn, and his businesses. All of which was “negotiated” by Blanche in the baddest of faith.

Predictable as Trump lies yet to come, they executed a mammoth cave after Blanche smoked a few mirrors, purporting to have complied with their demands. He did nothing of the sort. Surely all three know it, but now they have the cover of darkness. The honorable duo turned out to be just as weak as their compadres of contemptibility.

The original Blanche-created outrages were formally agreed to and signed by both parties: Trump suing Trump. Included in that document was the stipulation that it could be revised only by agreement and signature of both parties. What Trickster Todd produced was a unilateral “memorandum.” The prior agreement remains in effect unless Trump signs on. Will he? Whereas it purports to have ended the crime-loving slush fund, it appears to keep in place the prosecution-avoiding provisions for all of Trump’s prior and current crimes, possibly allowing the pursuit of future crimes he’ll surely commit. Assuming Trump’s pet DOJ would choose to. Will it?

Even if the memorandum was bilaterally signed, wiping out all previous provisions, which it isn’t, there remain plenty of reasons why Blanche should be rejected like a moldy tomato. The timid two and all Republican senators know it. As acting A.G., he approved going after the so-called pool vandals, which they weren’t. He okayed the persecution of six Democratic members of Congress who reminded troops they can refuse illegal orders. He was instrumental in withholding and lying about the Epstein files, quidded a suspicious quo with Ghislaine Maxwell, and did Trump’s bidding in indicting James Comey.

Without fail, he’s demonstrated loyalty to Trump over the Constitution and ethical departmental independence. He was and remains Trump’s personal attorney, which he doesn’t hide because Republican submissiveness guarantees he doesn’t have to. He’s the archetypal Trump appointee and, as such, will likely be confirmed.

We can only wonder if any of the approval monkeys dba Republican senators look at the harm being done by the Trump goons they okayed and have regrets. If not, they’ll have eternity to ponder what they did, assuming Hell exists, which is doubtful, but in the era of Trump, I kinda hope it does. I’m willing to take my chances.