TRUMP AS USEFUL IDIOT FOR THE LEFT

Once again Donald J. Trump’s ego has stomped on his common sense, or what remains of it. We remember how his egocentric obsession with the outcome of the last presidential election caused him to favor “loyal” candidates in Georgia rather than those that might destroy the Democrat’s slim majority in the Senate. Flawed Trump candidates in purple states in the midterm elections helped shore up the Senate for the Left and mitigate the predicted “red wave” in the House. And now, his ego has shot him in the politico-legal foot.

There is no question that the Department of Justice has been weaponized against conservatives (the asymmetric application of the enforcement apparatus has been laid out in detail in prior rants, and won’t be revisited here). The current legal bludgeoning of Trump is a continuation of the banana republic-type behavior we’ve witnessed since even before the Russia Hoax. Any honest, informed citizen can see the slow-walk of the Biden scandal. The televised hearings on of January 6^th and the prosecution of Trump in NY re the Stormy Daniels debacle were examples of laughable political theater. Politically, the current indictment of Trump over the stored top secret documents in Mar-a-Lago, however, is not a laughing matter. Oh, it’s clearly disgustingly partisan, in keeping with prior Democrat behavior. But Trump, once again, has armed the opposition—and this time sacrificed himself, potentially along with the Republican Party.

In the bygone days of Secretary of State and future presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, we all recall the scandal of secret documents stored on her home server that were eventually found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Despite the subsequent bit-bleaching of her server and electronic devices to hide the evidence, FBI Director James Comey not only incongruously declared an absence of “intent,” then went on to unilaterally proclaim intent as the measure by which prosecution should be undertaken, allowing Hillary to walk. Now we have an ex-president in legal peril who kept secret documents, as did Pence and Biden (who both returned them). Charges against Pence were dismissed. Biden is being “investigated,” and I won’t hold my breath on that outcome. But Trump, either through hubris or blinding anger from his wounded ego, decided not to defang the situation by simply returning the documents. Instead, he hid a quantity of the boxes from his lawyers, who unknowingly claimed all had been returned, and which were subsequently uncovered by authorities. On top of this political and legal malfeasance, Trump was recorded as sharing some of the content of secret files to an individual who was without appropriate security clearance and then proclaiming he had not declassified them and could no longer do so, countering his own defense that, as president, he had had the right to automatically declassify all documents in his possession. This makes a legal defense going forward challenging, at best.

There is a clear, banana republic-style double standard being used to indict Trump and further divide the nation. The remedy would be a political, rather than a legal one, i.e., a refusal by the DOJ to prosecute, consistent with prior precedent. Instead, Biden et. al. has chosen, as we might expect, to allow this unprecedented indictment of a president to move forward. The effects of this are predictable. The pro-Trump Republican base will be justifiably outraged, likely increasing Trump’s chances of winning a Republican primary. Unfortunately, I fear it will further decrease his chances of winning a national election (I’ve already expressed concerns about his ability, in the setting of TDS, to overcome even a decomposing zombie such as Biden). But I see a second, perhaps even more substantial danger to the Republican Party as a whole: As the understandable ire on the right from this political injustice grows, it is not inconceivable that it will radicalize more disgruntled voters in right wing of the party, increasing the likelihood of politically-motivated violence. This, in turn, will justify, or appear to, the Biden contention that the alt-Right and “MAGA Republicans” are the dominant “threat to democracy,” and will be used to intensify the crack down on conservative speech and potentially alienate more of the centrist and independent votes needed in a national contest.

Trump’s policies were a force for good when he served in the White House. Political and legal stupidity may end up making him a useful idiot for the Left, and cost him and his party an election. Or it may open the door to other Republican contenders. In any case, handing the noose to the hangman for your own lynching is never a great idea.

THE TRUMP RUN—CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

The prevalent wisdom is that the indictment of Donald Trump occurred at this time because the Democrats hate him and are terrified of a second go in the White House. While this is true and true, I’m not alone in maintaining that the indictment is precisely timed by the Left to assist Trump in his quest for a primary win.

The dynamics of a primary election and a national one are vastly different. With Trump’s unflagging base of somewhere ~30% of Republican voters, he undeniably has an advantage going into the primary and polls support this contention. The current indictment, with all available information, is based on flimsy charges and no likely crime, much less a felony. And this isn’t my opinion, but those of more than one attorney not associated with the case. The unequal application of the law is fodder for another rant, but the obvious injustice has triggered the expected primary poll bump for Trump. While the Left in power is abysmal when it comes to governing, this incompetence does not extend to the arena of politics. A small radical contingent would never have been able to control the educational system, the culture, and then the government by planned incremental baby steps over decades without a collective sociopolitical genius that would be admirable if it weren’t so evil. So it seemed a stretch to me that they wouldn’t see the benefit this arraignment will gift Trump in the primary run. And now with the the over-the-top “let’s throw 34 felony charges at the wall and see what sticks” announcement, it became clear that my analysis was on point: They’re not even bothering to hide the politicization.

I was a Cruz man for Trump run #1, but unhesitatingly voted Trump over Hillary, correctly perceiving at worst he was the lesser of two evils. I hadn’t expected his policies to be so spot-on, nor their implementation so successful with the political headwinds he faced and an uphill climb against an entrenched, hostile Deep State. The first businessman in a long line of career politicians in the White House proved to be the recipe our nation needed. While his outsider status gave him the clarity to oppose deep-rooted corruption, his lack of political acumen coupled with an outsized narcissism only rivaled by his predecessor did not serve him well. With his frequently boorish tweets and political gaffs (possibly the biggest resulting in the loss of a Senate majority via the midterm Georgia race when he placed perceived personal disloyalty above the Party and the country), he fanned into flames an already smoldering Trump Derangement Syndrome. TDS is not just limited to the far Left—many moderate Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans suffer from the malady. Its most important symptom is an inability to see, remember, or acknowledge his salutary policies and the attendant favorable outcomes (recall that not a single Democrat clapped during his State of the Union address when the historically low unemployment rates in minority communities were referenced). Although not the sole reason for Trump’s loss to a failing, basement-sequestered Biden on his second run, I maintain it played a major, if not the most crucial, role. Viewing the political landscape through the eyes of a Leftist (as headache-provoking as that may be), the prospect of a DeSantis (or other) candidacy is much more concerning. Trump is a known quantity, with an already failed run (fairly or unfairly) against Biden, and national polls suggest even less across-the-board popularity than in 2020. And the Leftist media benefit in eyeballs and dollars with Trump in the picture. While the indictment will energize Trump supporters and those already committed to a non-Democrat candidate, it’s not likely to swing otherwise receptive but uncommitted voters. Hanging one’s hopes on the ongoing abysmal track record of Biden’s ongoing disastrous reign of tyranny may be a fool’s game, judging by the results of the midterm elections.

I fear that in a national election a candidate with the millstone of TDS around his neck who has lost once to a doddering fool, can lose again.