Beam me up, Sidney!
Is it a crime to take bad legal advice? That’s the George Costanza defense Donald Trump’s sycophants are positing. The answer is Yes, when it is bad advice; yes, when the advice advocates breaking the law, seizing power, overturning the will of the voters, and subverting the Constitution.
The former president’s lead attorney on the new charges told Bret Baier at Fox News: “I would like them to try to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Trump believed that these [voter fraud] allegations were false.”
Trump may well call George Costanza as a witness for the defense. Jerry Seinfeld’s best friend issued this obiter dicta: “It’s not a lie if you believe it.”
Trump chose the bad advice he wanted.
He ignored 60 judicial decisions, state and federal, including that of his own Supreme Court nominees. Trump blew off Attorney General Bill Barr, acting AG Jeffrey Rosen, and deputy AG Richard Donoghue. He pooh poohed the counsel of White House lawyers Patrick Cippolone; Patrick Philbin, and Eric Herschmann; same with the vice president’s attorney Greg Jacob. Discounted the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber- and Infrastructure Security. Turned his back on the director of National Security. Repudiated the Republican governors of Arizona and Georgia; the Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, Robin Vos. Instead, Trump chose to follow the advice of Rudy Giuliani, who told an Arizona state committee “We have a lot of theories, just no evidence.”
Instead, #45 chose to believe Sidney Powell, now defending herself against defamation charges after alleging the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez jiggered voting machines. He followed the script of John “Plead the Fifth” Eastman, who posited that the vice president was in a unique position of unilaterally overturning a presidential election. And Jeffrey Clark, who championed “internet theories” about voting machines’ being hacked via “smart thermostats.” Clark was willing to issue a letter telling seven toss-up states (including Wisconsin) that the Justice Department was investigating “various irregularities” when it had already found no such thing.
He said, according to special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment, Mike Pence is “too honest.”
“Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” — Donald Trump
→ Read the indictment!
Here is the problem
Trump isn’t the only one who believes what he chooses to believe. Tuesday’s New York Times poll says Trump captures 54% of the Republican primary vote. His dupes have jumped — willingly, enthusiastically — into the rabbit hole with an insurrectionist, flim flam man, sexual molester, straight-out liar, and sore loser because his insecurities are their insecurities — the Constitution be damned.
No amount of exploded theories can ameliorate their Trump derangement. What his supporters refuse (again) to understand is that he cannot beat Joe Biden, much less a better Democrat(ic) candidate. Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy in National Review:
The Democrats are trying to get Trump nominated because they know they would beat him decisively in November 2024. …
His 46% high-water mark, even as an incumbent, [was achieved] before the stop-the-steal nonsense, the Capitol riot, and the string of indictments and civil complaints, the 2018 midterms, Trump’s costing Republicans control of the Senate in 2020, and the 2022 “red wave” that never happened thanks to Trump-supported candidates ….
[Trump’s] unfavorability with the general public hovers around 60%. There is no reason to believe this will change. To the contrary, about 54% of voters cast their ballots for someone other than Trump in 2016 and 2020, when he was more popular nationwide than he is now.
Recent Pew polling indicates that just a hair under a third of Republicans now view him very or mostly unfavorably. The remaining two-thirds view him favorably, but that is down from three-quarters last year. It is reasonable to forecast that at least a quarter of Republicans will not support Trump under any circumstances. … They just won’t vote (or will vote third-party, write-in, or some similarly futile vehicle for registering discontent). …
— Andrew McCarthy, “Trump can’t win“
Blaska’s Bottom Line: That describes the Head Groundskeeper at Stately Blaska Manor, and he is not alone. We fear, however, months of January Sixes to come.
11 responses to “Trump chose the bad advice he wanted”
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It’s useful to remember that, prior to his 2016 ascent as the Republican Golden (heh, heh) Boy, Mr. Trump was a lifelong liberal New York Democrat. Perhaps he’s a Democrat Manchurian candidate, freshly re-activated. He may be the only putative Republican candidate capable of losing to Mr. Biden (or whoever) in 2024.
Trump needs Biden as the only candidate he might beat; Biden needs Trump as the only candidate he maybe could beat.
Biden and Trump are in a dead heat for the prize. You’re right about DT’s New York City days, brynstane. He was “golden” then, too, 70s through early 2000s. I recall reading an article in the arts and entertainment magazine Vanity Fair in the late eighties that practically deified Trump and first wife, Ivana. The Donald’s slow free fall from favor is accelerating. Bye bye, Donnie.
“Cannot beat Joe Biden”
Arguable as Trump is ahead in some polls. You probably haven’t noticed that Biden is getting deeper in his own pile of shit, and on top of that his dementia continues to progress.
Trump will be the GOP nominee. Dem nominee is TBD.
Yet again Squire consults Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals: accuse your enemies of your own sins but at least Squire has promoted us from cultists to sycophants.
Trump can’t win! Seems I’ve heard that before.
Recall that Nixon knew there was a chance that Boss Daley’s Cook County ballot harvesting gave JFK Illinois and the election. Nixon came back with the biggest win until Joe Biden.
Then the Swamp took Nixon down.
Then the Swamp took Trump down.
Po’ Slo’ Joe is deteriorating. Anyone think Kamala or Newsome can win?
Me neither.
Lord willin’ Trump gets another swipe at the Swamp.
Why didn’t “the Swamp” take RoJo down?
They were too busy with Trump.
“They were too busy with Trump.” 😛 But he was 2020, Ron Johnson was 2022. Mark, at no point in the campaign year of 2020 did the public opinion polls show Trump winning. But, somehow, the election was stolen from him? Who is your source for that? The My Pillow Man? Alex Jones? Sidney Powell? Drunk Rudy?
The public opinion polls immediately before Trump’s election gave Hillary a 90 to 98% chance of winning.
Mark, what is the source of your election denialism?