Don’t waste your breath

I’ve been checking in with various news sources, like I always do, and I’ve noticed that many TV journalists and legal experts are patiently describing to the audience what is going on with the INDICATEMENT indictment of Donald Trump.

Yes, it’s not unusual for other countries to charge politicians for corruption. Come to think of it, it’s not even unusual for the US to do that. There are plenty of politicians in our past who have been charged and sometimes convicted of various crimes. Webster Hubble, Elliott Spitzer (maybe just investigated), Tom Delay and Spiro Agnew come to mind. (Here’s a list of American politicians convicted of crimes stretching waaaaaay back to the beginning of this nation) The only truly unusual thing about the US is that we seem to have a justice department ruling left over from the Nixon era that says it’s improper to indict a “sitting” president. There is even a difference of opinion over whether that’s valid or constitutional. For example, if Trump really had shot and killed someone on Fifth Avenue while he was president, I’m pretty sure some 50 year old memo wouldn’t stop him from being arrested and tried for murder. The difference is that back when that memo was written, presidents had some sense of the dignity of the office and the expectation is that public outcry would cause him (its always been a him) to resign before the arrest.

They’ve also gone to great lengths to explain that he will be treated like everyone else. There will be a presumption of innocence. There will be a trial. Heck, the jury may acquit him. Sure he’ll have to be arraigned, fingerprinted and mugshotted. It’s a felony charge after all. But he probably isn’t going to be perp walked or handcuffed like normal people because of his security details.

I’d prefer it if he cooperated with dignity and set an example of calm submission to the rule of law with the expectation that he will be treated with fairness and without favor. But let’s be honest, this is Trump we’re talking about. He’s already got the rest of his party involved even though this is not a political prosecution. This is a legal procedure, one that has already sent one and possibly two people to jail. (I have no doubt that Alan Weisselberg has finally started to cooperate). We don’t even know what he’s charged with yet. So, the hyperventilation and chest pounding from Rhonda Santis and Qevin McCarthy seem premature at best and highly partial to protecting one single, powerful and wealthy person above all others at worst.

But none of this is going to make an impact on MAGA brains. They’ve already been pre-conditioned to perceive the indictment as unfair for reasons that make absolutely no sense to the rest of us. Plus, they’ve been innoculated. There’s been enough information out there on Trump’s many crimes that they’ve become immune to all but the most shocking information. Right now, the most shocking revelations are about the defamation case against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems. If a typical Fox News viewer can look past the emails and text messages from Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdock and the Fox Brain executive and still trust Fox as a source of legitimate news, then the rest of us need to give up on them.

Let them get mad. It’s what they do best. They rage, rage against the dying of the right and their own lifetime of underachievement. Somehow, they’ve been taught that the rest of us are responsible for their misfortunes and inferiority complexes. Trump did that. He played on their fears and sense of themselves. Then he flooded their brains with lies and disinformation and told them that EVERYONE does that, even though everyone doesn’t do that.

In a sense, they are no different from Russian citizens glued to state run TV because they don’t have any other sources of news or are incapable of seeking out other sources of news. They are convinced that Ukraine started the war against them, which is laughable given Ukraine’s size and sense of self preservation. They also think the United States is their sworn enemy determined to overturn the Russian state. Well, we are now. But back in 2021, we didn’t GAF about Russia. No one wanted the massive corrupt mafia state with the minuscule GDP and countryside full of clueless people beaten down by learned helplessness. That’s where MAGA is headed.

There’s nothing we can do about that. They’ve got to figure it out for themselves. I just hope the media doesn’t start their diner journalism again. We’ve heard quite enough from the irrationally inflamed and belligerent MAGA Republicans. It’s time we interviewed everyone else to show just how outnumbered MAGA is.

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