The Vague and the Vacuous

Have you heard any of the news this week? I wouldn't blame you if you weren't listening. The news ranged from members of the House of Representatives threatening a local New York City Prosecutor's investigation of the former president and demanding copies of all of his investigational findings. (Just in case you might wonder; the separation of powers between local and federal authorities prohibits this encroachment into states' independent authority,) The same former president threatened this DA with physical harm in a social media post with a doctored photo of him (DJT) shown menacingly standing behind the DA while holding a baseball bat. What has caused all of this turmoil? DA Bragg convened a Grand Jury to look into hush money paid to porn stars who claimed to have had intimate relations with the then-candidate before his presidential run. The hush money paid was from campaign and business funds and improperly allocated in federal filings. Former attorney Michael Cohen several years ago testified that he facilitated these payments at the request of his client, DJT. He served time in jail after a conviction of lying to Congress as requested by his former boss.

Over the last few weeks, DJT has been sending out messages over social media with wilder and wilder remarks. He claimed he was to be arrested last Tuesday by the NY City District Attorney and called for his followers to come to the city and protest in front of the government courts and other buildings. Some 'never-Trumpers' were said to be thrilled about the idea of him in one of those infamous New York City perp walks. However, none of these events happened. Regardless, the DA and his staff received death threats. He also received an envelope with white powder in it sent from Florida. (It turned out to be harmless.) The echo chamber of Fox commentators and Republican congressional representatives all chimed up with cries of dismay at the nerve of a local prosecutor coming after a former president. They claimed the charges were manufactured (trumped up?), trivial, ancient, and misdemeanors, to boot! Why bother if not for political reasons, they asked? They promised retribution as they ready examinations of Hunter Biden, who at last look, had never been an elected or appointed official. Getting out over your skis again, folks?

Next, the former president tried name-calling. He called out Bragg as an "animal", and as a "degenerate psychopath" and claimed he hates America. DA Bragg is an African American man, so we could consider these comments racist. Even Joe Tacopina, the latest in his string of defense attorneys, claimed these comments were ill-advised. Other Black DAs, such as the one in DC who is investigating the use of funds collected for the 2016 inauguration, and Fani Willis, the DA for Fulton County in Georgia have also been called out with racist code words, as has the NY Attorney General Letitia James, who has bested the business organization and his charity foundation with civil litigation. There can be no positive comments to support these actions. They show no respect for the Rule of Law, for the independence of our judicial system, or for the fact that he will someday get his day in court or in many courts where he can make his case. Instead, he wants to try everything in the court of public opinion. He no longer has a Bill Barr who can override the Department of Justice, as was done after the Mueller investigation and subsequent trials. Special Counsel, Jack Smith, has shown that his decisions and requests for Grand Jury testimony are not to be disregarded. The several court cases he recently won that required testimony from several former DJT staff and attorneys show his exercise of power. So, in New York, the Grand Jury returns to the courthouse on Monday; will they deliver an indictment? Will they delay until after others finish investigations elsewhere, as some have suggested? I do not know, but assume that we shall learn something soon. What I expect is that none of these DAs, AGs, or Special Counsels will be even a bit intimidated by all the MAGA antics recently. They will ignore them and complete their duties as proscribed by their oath of office. They are people to whom an oath means something special.

Where do we go from here? There are other potential trials, such as the suit by Congressman Eric Swalwell and others who are suing because of his incitement to the January 6^th insurrection; involved police officers are also suing. There is a civil suit for defamation by writer Jean Carroll, who earlier also charged him with rape. The judge, in that case, is seating an anonymous jury, citing the possibility of threats from the former president or his MAGA crowd. It was soon after the search warrant on Mar-a-Lago, which he called a raid, that a MAGA follower attacked an FBI office in Ohio; agents killed him after a chase, so expectations of violence cannot be overblown, especially as the former chief executive keeps fanning the flames. He learned from January 6^th, but this time he has not had quite so much time to prepare.

However, he is still trying. This weekend he went to Waco, Texas, that symbol of tragedy for many, but a symbol of government overreach to the militia movement. The ATF (Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms agency) raid on David Koresh and his followers came after a long stand-off while agents were trying to serve a warrant for illegal firearms and subsequently killed agents, Koresh, women, and children who were members of an armed cult-like movement. Koresh stockpiled thousands of rounds of ammunition and firearms, so when agents fired teargas into the building, it imploded. To the Oklahoma City bombers, this was the reason for their Federal Building attack. So where else should a presidential candidate want to go? Why not go to a town where a tragedy occurred and the government was blamed? More recently, he claimed that anyone who disagrees with him hates America. Will he next proclaim himself the only true patriot? I wonder just which if any, patriotic forbearer he idolizes? Perhaps, as previously said, it was Andrew Jackson, the killer of Native Americans, or maybe Robert E. Lee, who wanted to preserve slavery? Who knows, he changes idols as the winds change.

There is another Republican candidate on the campaign stump these days. As most know, that is Ron DeSantis, the only Republican also polling in double digits these days, although the more exposure he gets, the lower his numbers seem. In a recent interview, DeSantis claimed to not remember where he was on 9/11. Excuse me, I truly doubt there are any Americans who can honestly say they do not remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard of those horrific events. Possibly he does not want to admit what he was doing; that is his prerogative, but to say he does not remember sounds untruthful. I remember I was working in my office and had no TV or radio there. I had a computer with an internet connection and first found out about the planes over the internet. On my trip into the office that morning, there was a report of a plane hitting one of the twin towers, but I assumed it was a small plane accident as had happened before in New York City. I remember the phone lines were crazy and cell phones were hard to reach. Later that day, I took my sick dog to the Vet and saw that people mostly deserted the streets as companies sent workers home early well before rush hour. I talked to my children and others I cared about, letting us all share our feelings of being safe right then, but not knowing what was to come. That evening, I watched the news with tears streaming down my face while I saw the scenes from New York City and elsewhere. We then thought the death toll to be 5000 or more (it was later revised down to about 3000.). That day is seared into my brain.

Those are just a few of my memories from that week; how about you? I do not believe DeSantis when he says he doesn't remember. The Washington Post reported this week that after college and law school, DeSantis was a JAG officer and reviewed punishments and care for the terrorists and other prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. He permitted forced feeding when prisoners held hunger strikes. After the Post printed these reports, he stated he was a junior officer and had no authority to order such punishments which are now considered torture or cruel and unusual treatments just like waterboarding. He continues to not do interviews with mainline networks or news agencies and many statements he makes are vague or promising Christian nationalism. Politico just removed a reporter who referred to communication in Florida as propaganda, perhaps to get in DeSantis' good graces. Does he have any? Is the communication propaganda? That question was not answered. His legislature is now trying to change the 15-week abortion law to a six-week gestation ban, even though there has been no outcry in his state for such legislation. He has a supportive legislature and a majority, so there is no real opposition. As they say on the news, stay tuned. We have much more to learn about this governor with hopes of autocracy.

“Til next week-Peace!