Now that Hunter’s laptop has replaced Hillary’s emails as the distraction topic déjouer, I need someone from the right wing to tell me how their transgressions make Donald Trump innocent. Reports of the younger Biden being videoed snorting cocaine or Hillary Clinton bleaching emails are now a part of the right-wing fever swamp. Somehow, they believe it absolves a former Republican President of guilt. Too many Republicans missed a childhood lesson that saved many from bumps and bruises; if Johnny jumped off the cliff, would you?
Let’s concede the point
I have a challenge that does not involve swallowing cinnamon or marinating chicken in Nyquil. We have spent weeks arguing the obvious, that Donald Trump secreted away documents that may cost this country what we all agree is our most precious asset, the blood, and treasure of Americans. If you are a right-winger or have right-wing frenemies, concede the point that the FBI spread government documents on the floor of his Mar-A-Lago office to make him look like a slob. Concede the point that agents touched his wife’s frilly pantaloons or that they may have touched Barron’s gold-leafed PS5 controller. Then ask yourself, what in those scenarios absolves Mr. Trump from having stolen from the government?
As the former President’s legal troubles mount, he cannot keep from confessing. His recent interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity is but just the latest example. Telling Sean Hannity that he could think a document’s declassification before shipping them out of the White House is an explicit confession. Immediately after the FBI executed a legal search and seizure warrant, Mr. Trump and his allies accused the FBI of “planting evidence.” The declassification ruse is a distraction alone. In taking government material, the former President violated the law whether the documents were classified or not. If Mr. Trump had declassified papers and legally possessed others, how could they be planted as evidence of a crime?
His pseudo-mob-like obsession with criminality and violence has been well documented. Punch him [protester] in the face, fight like Hell, and I could shoot someone of Fifth Avenue. His phony macho has created an affiliation and reverence with strong men accused of political assassination and horrific murder. In a debate with Hillary Clinton, when she pointed to his criminal and moral avoidance of paying his taxes, he said, “that makes me smart.” New York’s Attorney General Letitia James filed a compelling 250 million dollar lawsuit and, some would say, an airtight case for fraudulent business practices by the former President and his family. Of course, Mr. Trump, I am sure against legal advice, attacked NYAG James—assigning a nickname and resorting to his usual defense of witch-hunt.
What is always glaringly missing in his defenses is the assertion of innocence. He did not attack Ms. James’ facts or figures; he called her ‘peek-a-boo.’ Trump and his sycophants made accusations about her future political aspirations. If this all sounds familiar, it is because right-wingers have adopted attack over evidence, the lie over truth, and closed their eyes to the dissolution of democracy.
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