Subscribe to the IHARE Blog

Donald Trump

Witch Hunter Scorecard: A Christmas Necessity

November 29, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Will the wings of Trump's minions be clipped?

Can you name all the witch hunts against the Wicked Witch of the West? It is not so easy. Keeping track of all the investigations, indictments, and trials against the Mar-a-Lago President is a challenge. I have watched TV announcers struggle to get through them all in a single session. Sometimes, the network just gives up and moves on to other news items.

There needs to be a better way. There needs to be a better to track the various seemingly ever-mounting number of suits in a constructive way that provides the viewer with a visual of what the talking head is talking about.

Therefore, I propose that a Wicked Witch of West scorecard be created. I am not going to pretend that I know all the investigations in all the areas at all the government levels currently underway. I will leave it to others to gather the information. I do know that when I am watching TV or reading an article about the witch hunts, sometimes my head spins. That is why we need a standard nomenclature. If we can track our World Wars and our Superbowls, we should be able to devise a systematic way of identifying all the legal cases involving the former President. This list then would be available digitally or perhaps on an app. That way people easily could access individual cases based on personal interest or all of them as one sees fit.

One important reason for making this request is that we are now reaching crunch time. The Trump is hitting the fan. With the appointment of a Special Counsel Jack Smith the pace will accelerate, not slow down. That is why it is essential to have a firm control for tracking the status of all the witch hunts being conducted against the Loser ex-President.

TAXES

Whatever system is used, it needs to be adaptable for new items. For example, sometime in the next few weeks it is likely that his tax returns will be made public. He declined to make them public in 2016 and 2020 because he something to hide.

He is not as wealthy as he claims he is.
He donates no or little money to charity unless it is to himself.
He uses every trick in the book and sometimes one that aren’t to minimize his taxes.
He has financial connections with Russia and Saudi Arabia.

From the moment his taxes are released there will be an army of volunteers pouring through them looking for illegal activity. Undoubtedly their exuberance will get the better of them as we saw in the Steele dossier. Still, all in all, such scrutiny by an unofficial investigatory army is likely pay dividends.

PEOPLE THROWN UNDER THE BUS

At least one trial is already underway in New York with another on the way. The focus on the tried and true technique of DELAY, DELAY DELAY has a sibling technique – throw someone under the bus. Who is that person? I never saw him before? Oh you have photos!  I take pictures with a lot of people. You can’t expect me to remember everyone who takes a picture with even if I do have the world’s greatest memory.

Alongside the Witch Hunt scorecard, there should be a list of people who are likely to be thrown under the bus.

There should also be a betting pool as to who if anyone will come clean.

HE STILL HAS NOTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Right now he is experiencing death by a thousand cuts, some of them self-inflicted. Perhaps one day there will be an OMG moment. Instead what we are likely to see is the steady drip of bad moments, some anticipated, some not.

Oath Keepers have been found guilty of sedition. How do you feel know if you are a Proud Boy? What about a fake elector? Is this what you signed up for?

There will be a steady stream of witnesses subpoenaed by the DOE. Do you want to defy one?

There will be a jury trial decision for a case in New York City for fraud by the Trump Organization. Perhaps it will go his way.

There will be a vote in Georgia involving one of his special Senate selections. Perhaps it will go his way.

There will a ruling on the Special Master, the review of documents, and the position of the Trump judge on Mar-a-Largogate. These judges and courts have had enough of the Trumpantics. And now that he has admitted that “I did it,” what is he purpose of all this smoke and mirrors anyway? Isn’t it time to cut to the chase and just indict him? Happy Holidays!

The House Select Committee will release its report in December. That should be good for several news cycles. It will remind people that he attempted to overthrow the government just as his acolytes are trying to do the same in Arizona.

Undoubtedly there will be unexpected opportunities for him to put his foot in his mouth and prove the validity of his lawyers never allowing him to take the stand. How exactly did anti-Semitic racists he did not know clear the Secret Service screening to be able to dine with the former President anyway? The drip you hear is his support dripping away. It is not yet a tsunami but there is still time.

INDICTMENTS

“…there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”      Donald Rumsfeld

By the time Donald Trump is indicted, it will be the single most anticipated event since his announcement that he is running once again for President. It is a known known.  No one will be surprised by it. It is hard to imagine a more telegraphed event than indicting him. Given all that has and will transpire, the prophecy of the Senator from South Carolina is likely to prove false. The nation will not be up in arms. There will not be riots in the street. There will not even be surprise. Instead, everyone will have their Wicked Witch of the West Witch Hunt scorecard and just mark off the appropriate Witch Hunt as having moved to the indictment.

Civil War Update: The Battle of Gettysburg 2022 Elections

November 9, 2022
by Peter Feinman
(https://www.wctrib.com)

In the battle between Donald Trump and the Constitution, the 2022 elections may be considered the Battle of Gettysburg. The current Civil War is being fought differently than the last one. That Civil War was fought at National Park Service sites. This one is being fought through the voting at all levels and the occasional violence on January 6 and with a hammer.

It is easy at this point to be caught up in the details of individual elections and not see the forest for the leaf. The Battle of Gettysburg 2022 Elections is a critical one in the determination of who will win the overall war. This midterm election was an anomaly because, as previously stated, there were two Presidents were on the ballot. Although neither one was actually on the ballot, the vote in part was a referendum on both 45 and 46.

Under normal circumstances, one would expect 46’s party not to fare well. In the past there have been tidal wave shifts against the incumbent President. Everytime a voter saw a gas price while driving or food prices while shopping, the voter was reminded that a change was needed.

On the other hand, when an 82-year old grandfather was struck with a hammer, the voter was reminded what was disgusting and repulsive about 45 and his followers. To watch Tumpicans take joy in and make fun of the hammer attack was a bridge too far for many Americans. Are these the type of people you want in charge of the country?

Fortunately for Trumpicans, many voters still vote local, the price of gas or my party. But others worry about the threat to democracy.

BATTLEGROUND

The time immediately prior to the Battle of Gettysburg 2022 Elections represents the high water mark for the Trumpican forces. Just as Napoleon and Hitler were going great guns for a while, eventually they reached their limits and it was all downhill from there. Similarly, for the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee’s campaign into Pennsylvania marked his deepest penetration into the North. Once the Union prevailed at Gettysburg, it was back to the South. Similarly, Trump’s sally into Pennsylvania led to a double defeat of his two-handpicked candidates. Republicans already debate the squandered opportunity of the nomination of two Trumpicans.

Up until Election Day, it was full speed ahead for Trumpicans. Republicans were purged from the Party either through retiring or by being primaried. Occasionally, some would win, but in general all those who favored impeachment were gone. Instead, people who supported the claim that the election had been stolen were the nominees.

Laws had been passed to suppress the votes of Democrats.

Candidates had been selected to ensure the vote count be favorable in 2024.

Supreme Court cases had been filed so only gerrymandered state legislatures could decide who had won.

An army of vote suppressors had been recruited and trained.

The only thing left was the actually vote.

THE BATTLE IS ENGAGED  

The same person who predicted a red wave in 2018, predicted one in 2022. He was so sure of the results, that a week after the election on November 15 he was prepared to announce his candidacy for2024. Apparently, he is becoming more and more ballistic about his not being in the White House now and more and more difficult to be handled. Perhaps old age is beginning to affect his mental necessities where he increasingly obsesses over his lost past. The White House has become his Rosebud except it never was his to own in the first place.

The Battle of Gettysburg 2022 Elections expose him as a loser. Sure he can influence who wins a Republican primary. Sure he can “endorse” who wins in a Republican district. But once a candidate has to venture out into the state electorate, the results are not as favorable.

2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

45 the Loser has direct significance for the 2024 elections.

Previously I had suggested that DeSantis would wait until 2023, before issuing a challenge. That timetable needs to be speeded up. 45 already was fuming about DeSantis long before the 2022 Election Day. Then he decided to fire the first formal shot by giving DeSantis one of those clever junior high school nicknames. He further sought to undermine any potential presidential bid by DeSantis by threatening to smear him and his family. Now DeSantis is a big winner with a huge financial stockpile and 45 is again a loser.

The future does not bode well for 45. Two trials already are underway in New York related to the Trump organization that no one will defend because they are too busy taking the Fifth. It is only a matter of time before he is indicted for Mar-a-Lagogate and vote tampering in Georgia. The House Select Committee will issue its report further documenting 45’s effort to overthrow Constitutional rule in the United States leading to further legal complications. As people lose their fear of retribution, even more of them may be willing to come forth. In short, he has nothing good to look forward to legally in the next two years. His legal woes will be like those gas signs, a constant reminder to the voters why it is time to move on.

How many people are going to run in 2024 with a call to relitigate 2020? Just some old guy puttering around in his luxurious nursing home surrounded by his souvenirs… and he won’t even have them anymore either.

Then what happens when Russia loses in Ukraine. On Election Day, the Russians announced a major pullback. More to come. This smart savvy invasion of no cost is leading to the defeat of Russia. What are the implications of an Ukrainian victory? What are the ripple effects of a Putin defeat in Russia, in Iran, in China, in Syria, and elsewhere? What are the kudos that will be extended to the supposedly near-death Biden when it turns out Brandon prevailed over Putin?

TRUMPICAN AGENDA

Election Day 2022 burst the bubble of the 45 Loser. He reached the limits of power the day before the election. Even if Republicans take control of the House and Senate, they are well aware that the red wave did not materialize. They are well are of who should be held responsible –  the same person who was responsible for January 6. Republicans in the House and Senate know that if they came out of box in 2023 with guns blazing to relitigate, investigate, and impeach the past, that the American voting public has no interest in it.

Americans looking at those gas prices aren’t interested in a retribution agenda. If the only goals of the Trumpican Party are to help rich people get richer and squeeze the benefits of the little people that they are not a winning formula.

In the meantime Donald Trump will be fuming constantly on Twitter or some other social media platform. Even Foxhub is ready to move on. As of right now he may the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination. By the time the actual campaign comes around he will just be an immature child with emotional maturity of a three-year old fighting to stay out prison. It will even be safe to be a real Republican then and he may be an afterthought will no role to play.

Give credit where credit is due. He completely disrupted the American political system and put democracy at risk. Now what is at risk is his own freedom. His November 15 announcement, if it happens, is likely to be pitiable compared to the escalator ride a mere seven years ago.                   

Can Trump Succeed Where Hitler, the Soviet Union, and Bin Laden Failed?

October 18, 2022
by Peter Feinman
LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP! THAT's RIGHT. LOCK HIM UP!

Adolph Hitler could not destroy America.

The Soviet Union could not destroy America.

Osama Bin-Laden could not destroy America.

Donald Trump can but he needs help.

On January 3, 2021, I posted a political action thriller blog. It was about the books and movies from the 1960s, where people were trying to take over the country and/or destroy the world. The blog was written prior to January 6. It also was written prior to all that we know today about the events surrounding the failed insurrection attempt by a defeated President. Just when you think you know all that there is to know about the event, you realize that you do not.

Sometimes actions are funny like throw a plate a ketchup on the wall and see what sticks.

Sometimes they are revealing like the lunge for control of the car to turn it around and take the Loser to the Capitol so he could appear as the valiant hero leading his forces to victory in the House chamber.

Sometimes they are scary when you realize the forces sworn to defend the Constitution took the advice to stand down. After all the insurrectionists were “my [armed] people” who had been marshalled to storm the Capitol and not Black Lives Matter or Antifa.

The question We the People now have to ask is could it happen again? Could the insurrection be successful in 2024 whereas it failed in 2020?

The second question is do the American people realize that the insurrection of 2024 is on the ballot in 2022?

THE 2024 INSURRECTION

2024 will not be a repeat of 2020.

The Insurrectionist in Chief will not be in the White House and Commander in Chief.

The Vice President would not do what the 2020 Loser wanted the 2020 Vice President to do and the laws will have changed.

If armed forces were gathering at the Capitol, the government forces would shut them down even before the event occurred.

Many of the people who led/participated in the insurrection have been arrested, found guilty, or even pleaded guilty to sedition.

There will be no Gettysburg (January 6, 2025: Suppose Biden Loses?).

The battleground will have shifted elsewhere.

THE WOUNDED EMBATTLED INSURRECTION LEADER

The situation for the leader of the insurrection also will have drastically changed. The immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old will be in a vastly altered terrain than he inhabited in 2020. No matter how much he still wants to play President, no matter how much Team Wackadoodle tells him he is the President, and no matter hard he clings to his souvenirs about when he was President, the landscape will be very different.

Just think of upcoming events this months:

1. His upcoming deposition about a rape case
2. The sentencing of Stephen Bannon and his tentative efforts now to avoid prison contrary to his early bluster
3. The start of the trial against the Trump Organization with his very own CFO testifying against him.

Even his own lawyer knows that Mar-a-Lago indictments will follow shortly after the election.

And there is more to come. In other words, there will be a constant stream of legal activities surrounding the Loser and his associates. For months if not years to come, he will be busy defending himself and throwing other people under the bus.

One should keep in mind that he is not an authoritarian leader as in China and Russia. People still make the mistake of analyzing his actions as if they were those of an adult. He lacks the cognitive skills to plan and organize anything remotely resembling a fascist authoritarian state. He is an immature child of the moment responding in CAPS to any attempts to hold him accountable in the adult world and force him to stop playing. That does not mean that there are not people working for him or on his behalf who are not seeking an authoritarian order as long as it is the right person in charge.

One may anticipate, as is already happening, that as the legal world closes in on him, so his performances in the political wrestling arena will ramp up. He will be more openly bigoted and more fervently embracing of QAnon. He constantly will be stoking his people to rise up the likes of which has never been seen before in this country the more the law moves to catch up with him and hold him accountable.

STACEY ABRAMS MOMENT

Remember Stacey Abrams? It was not that long ago – one governor cycle – when she was the “It” girl. She was the one getting widespread media attention about the changes she was about to spring on the State of Georgia and American politics write large. Now she is running again but with hardly any notice. And even the Democratic Senate wins in Georgia in 2020 are largely attributable to the actions of the meddling President as well as to her.

The same can happen to Ron DeSantis. Right now he is receiving a great deal of attention. Can he maintain that level of public interest and standing until 2028? The same applies to any of the wannabees. It is very difficult to sustain a level of enthusiastic support for years upon years if you are not named Kardashian. Just as Abrams had her moment in 2018, the wannabees will have their moment in 2024. If they do not act then, except perhaps for the one who is selected to be the Vice President candidate, the others will be relegated to the sidelines.

This means that Trump is going to be double-squeezed. On the one hand, the legal entanglements will continue to mount. They will become more and more serious. The attempt to reorganize out of New York State demonstrates the recognition that he has a lot to lose financially. Other cases suggest he could be facing not only civil penalties but criminal ones. I am struck by the comment by the judge in the rape slander case that the defendant and plaintiff are in their late seventies so the constant delay tactic will no longer suffice. Legally, Trump will become a wounded crybaby constantly lashing out in CAPS and reminding people how unfit he is for the job of President.

Sometime in 2023, a DeSantis or another wannabee will have to strike. Sometime in 2023, a DeSantis will have to proclaim there is an alternative to the wounded crybaby and he, Ron DeSantis is the one. We can see glimmers of the canaries in the coal mine already. We can see Trump-endorsed candidates pulling back from the Trump platform. In one case, we can even watch a candidate do a 180 degree turn. So there are signs that if one wants to win a state or national basis as opposed to a gerrymandered-House district, relitigating 2020 might not be a proven winner.

If a wannabee does push the wounded crybaby offstage, how much of the MAGA enthusiasm is transferable? Right now he is their Lord and Savior, the Chose One, Blessed Be his Name. The wannabees do not possess his charisma, energy, and skill in exploiting the MAGAs. QAnon cannot so easily switch to a new savior. The racist anti-Semitic militias cannot so easily switch their allegiance to anyone else now in the national arena. So if the wounded crybaby drops out for legal reasons, all bets are off in the chaos that follows to attempt to fill his shoes.

STATE ELECTION INFRASTRUCTURE

In the meantime, the effort to seize control of the election infrastructure continues. Think of 2020 as a beta test to determine the election weaknesses which can be exploited in 2024. It isn’t as if 2020 started out that way but now with hindsight it exposed the people, positions, and laws which needed to be changed to ensure a Democratic defeat in 2024.

The upcoming elections represent a test drive of the Steal the Election 22.01 for 2024.

Laws have been changed to enhance voter suppression and rig the counting.

People have been installed in the trenches to intimidate voters.

Trumpicans have cleared the decks of Republicans in elections throughout the land.

The last part of the testing for 2024 will occur in three weeks.

Given the low ratings of Joe Biden and the immediate concern over inflation, food, and rent, people are more likely to vote locally than based on the national need to save democracy in 2024. At this point, no one anticipates a blowout like 2010 or 2018, still in the civil war currently underway, it is reasonable to expect gains that will translate into success in 2024. So while the political action thriller movie is not yet over, we are getting closer and closer to the moment of truth. The war is being fought on so many battlefronts and on so many political levels that it is hard to follow all the action and unlikely that either side will achieve a decisive blow in this election.

The countdown to January 6, 2025, continues.

Judge Aileen Cannon Boldly Goes Where Vice President Mike Pence Feared to Go

September 9, 2022
by Peter Feinman
John Madden's explanations versus Aileen Cannon's (https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com)/games/images/2686

Female Latinx immigrant Aileen Cannon had the strength to go where home-grown Mike Pence feared to go. For weeks leading up to January 6 and in the time since then we have been hearing about the lack of strength of weak Mike Pence. Some of the accusations and appropriate repercussions voiced on January 6 were quite blunt and even frightening. When the moment of truth came, the so-called RINO let 45 down … and he still thinks he can be the nominee in 2024!

This time around, there was an opportunity to choose wisely. There is only vice president of the United States, so the presidential options were limited. By contrast there are multiple judges so why not shop around for the best deal? Why not bring the case before a Trump judge instead. The advantages in so doing are obvious.

I will not recount the legal issues raised by the case. I am not a lawyer and it has been done already by people who know what they are talking about. What I can say is that any time Bill Barr and Andrew Weissman are in agreement then truly legal hell has frozen over.

Another lesson to be learned is that is not just the Trump Supreme Court which is the issue. The focus so far has been on voter suppression and the election of Secretaries of State and Governors. Judges have been overlooked. Many judges were appointed by the former president. In the initial go around of stop-the-steal court cases led by the comedy act of Giuliani and Powell, the judges held firm. The Constitution prevailed against the rule of Trump. That may still happen in Mar-a-Largogate as it winds it ways up the judicial system. It is still too early to tell as this unfolding story.

ELISE STEFANIK PRECEDENT

There is a precedent, actually more than one, for the actions of Judge Cannon.  It was only a short time ago when Elise Stefanik was part of Republican Team Normal. In fact she seemed to be a breath of fresh air to rejuvenate the Republican Party. For a while she seemed to be such a person, one who would help the Party reach out to white women. Suddenly, it all went South both literally and metaphorically in her case as she joined Confederates who pledged their loyalty to Donald Trump and not to the Constitution.

Since her transformation from Republican to Trumpican RINO, she has been quite adamant and vocal in her positions. She is always ready with a tweet or press release in the most outrageous language possible as if Marjorie Taylor Greene was looking over her shoulder. Her decision has paid off for her in the House of Representatives. If Trumpicans take control after the 2022 election, her power may grow even more.

And then there is 2024. His Vice-Presidential selection is going to be a woman. The 2024 Vice-Presidential nominee will have the inside track for the 2028 Trumpican Party presidential election so while it remains a gamble it is not an unreasonable one for Stefanik. And the beauty is she did not even have to sell her soul to align herself for the possible rewards.

I am not saying Lawrence O’Donnell is right when he claims that Judge Cannon has put herself on the short list for Supreme Court nominations in the event of a Republican presidency. But clearly she is no longer an obscure rural district judge no one has ever heard on before. She has made a name for herself.

CANNON AS MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE

Unfortunately for Cannon, she has made a name for herself in a way from being taken seriously as a judge outside the Trumpican orbit. While one may or may not applaud her blatant efforts to support 45 in Mar-a-Lagogate she may have done so in too egregious a manner even for a Trumpican Senate. In this regard her ruling more resembles the submissions of Giuliani and Powell to the various courts than a serious legal ruling. However there is one big difference – she is the Judge. Therefore she has set in motion various trajectories which may simultaneously highlight the absurdity of the ruling while still forcing the action.

For example, as many commentators have noted, given the decision to have a “special master” vet for executive and legal privilege issues the material taken, how exactly would that work? Given the classification issues involved who would even be qualified? Some suggestions that come to mind are former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Barrack Obama who just visited the legitimately elected President. I am eager to learn the names of the actual candidates proposed by the two sides. Once again it will be a news cycle that Donald Trump owns at the expense of the Republicans. Only the death of the longest ruling Queen of England can displace him from his rightful place at the center of the news media circus.

Secondly, how does the examination work? This is not a Michael Cohen situation where the documents in his residence were clearly his documents and some of them were subject to attorney-client privilege (but interestingly not executive privilege). In this case, the documents are not even owned by the plaintiff save for some personal items accidentally thrown into the mix.

In other words, in her desire to help the former President, she did not think through what the implementation of her ruling actually means. The result is people scrambling to figure out what to do.

LIZ CHENEY, CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, AILEEN CANNON, AND MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE

Why do people make the decisions they do? I do not have an answer for that. What I can say is that scholars of this period will ask that question and investigate these four individuals. I picked these four women to create a definable group. One could do the same for Mike Pence, Matt Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, and Jim Jordan among others. How come Rusty Bowers made the decision he did while the Arizona Trump triplets made diametrically different decisions?

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of the country, these questions of motivations and politics have and will be raised again and again. For historians, there are the written records of the past. While the figures named in this paragraph might not compare to those from our birth, they will be part of the attempt to understand the history of this time period. Aileen Cannon thus has leapt from obscurity to historical personage in a single ruling that no one anticipated.

Nazi Germany Was a Marxist Third-World Banana Republic … and So Are We

August 15, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Who Can He Trust Now?

Please answer the following questions.

1. The documents at the home of the rightful President were
__ planted by the FBI which should be defunded
__ declassified and of no value
__ legitimately there since the election was stolen and he is the rightful President
__ all of the above

2. The United States under the illegitimate Joe Biden presidency is
__ Nazi
__ Marxist
__ third world banana republic
__ all of the above

3. The people on January 6 were
__ Antifa
__ BLM
__ FBI plants
__ tourists
__ patriots engaged in legitimate political discourse

If you are having problems answering some of these questions, imagine the challenge to the people of the future. There will be graduate seminar papers, dissertations, journal articles, and books written about the thinking of the people who defended their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name (the only time he did not plead the 5th was in answer to his name!). Think of the recent example of Trumpican thinking such as on Foxhub when the anticipated poor job numbers reflected the ineptitude of barely alive President and then the actual good numbers were released also meant we have a problem when “properly” interpreted. There is no winning an argument with them because the only acceptable argument is that no matter what, Trump is right and everyone who opposes him is not only wrong but evil.

I am writing this portion of the blog prior to the 3:00 deadline Friday for the decision on whether or not to release the warrant to the public. This is written subsequent to the target of the warrant exclaiming that of course it can be released even though he has not done so himself for five days.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This part of the blog was written on Sunday following the release of the warrant and with some time to digest the reaction. What have we learned?

1. There is always more – just when you think all the criminal actions of the Loser President have been exposed, there is more. Remember the Rudy clown show to have the courts disqualify the votes. Remember then learning about the phone call to Georgia to find the necessary votes to reverse the result (indictment expected). Remember then finding out about the insurrectionist electors. Who knew or anticipated that one? In the end, Liz Cheney detailed a seven-pronged illegal assault on democracy and the rule of law perpetrated by the President of the United States.

2. The DOJ under Merrick Garland is asleep at the wheel – How many times did talking heads bemoan the lack of the action by the DOJ under its lackluster leadership? Then you would see them piously recite that the DOJ operates in secret and we do not necessarily know what it is doing. The body language and tone signified the despair of the speakers that anything at all was being done. Then suddenly we see DOJ is a freight train hurtling towards indictments on multiple fronts including one we had never even heard about.

3. Record retention – just last Monday, just before 7:00 PM EDT, who had heard about record retention? There was some news about records flushed, shredded, burned, digested, and disposed of. But all these illegal actions for which the President and his assistants could be prosecuted occurred within the confines of the White House. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there were first 15 and then another 12 boxes of records at Mar-a-Lago including classified material that might be nuclear related.

a.There was perjury by a Trumpican election-is-stolen lawyer about when all the boxes of records had been turned over to the DOJ
b.There were extraordinarily silly explanations about how a President can declassify documents with the wave of a magic wand or just by thinking it
c.There were extraordinarily silly explanations about how a person who lacks the mental necessities to the read the Constitution yet alone a briefing report somehow needed to take these files with him when he traveled to his southern office
d.There were extraordinarily silly explanations about how documents could be declassified and reclassified as a President shuttled back and forth between his two offices
e. There was an apparently misguided perception that these documents accumulated over the entire term of the President.

On a more serious note, a gap in the record-keeping system was exposed. If I take out a book from my local library and fail to return it, the library notifies me of the past due status and asks for its return. Apparently when super-duper top-secret documents are checked out to the President who is no longer President, no alarms sounded, no whistles were blown, no sirens blared. Where were the red lights flashing that super-duper top-secret documents had not been returned and the person who had them was not entitled to them? How come in nearly 18 months, no one noticed that super-duper top-secret files were missing?

4. The Loser President thought his harebrained schemes would work – our immature child president thought he was going to continue to be able to play President for a second term. It was somewhat funny when the Secretary of State promised a smooth transition to a second Trump term. It is not so funny when the Loser did not realize until January 7 that he would have to vacate the premise on January 20.

a. Who are the people who helped him pack during that frantic period?
b. Which one is the informant who knew what was being shipped and where it was being stored?

The House Select Committee still has work to do.

5. Will Trumpicans and Republicans part ways on Documentgate? – Trumpicans are calling for defunding the FBI. Trumpicans are declaring war on the FBI which already has led to violence. Trumpicans are vowing revenge on everyone involved in this attack of the former and future President.

For the Republicans the matter is not so air-headed. There is no MAGA reason why an outgoing President should take these files whether classified or not. So far the only I reason I have heard offered is because he thought these records were his personally. There is no legal basis for such a claim but since when has he had knowledge of the law. While Trumpicans will support him no matter what, for Republicans, I suspect they will need a better explanation than they ae his records and he can do with what he wants just as he could with his DOJ, his military, his Secret Service, and his government employees. This time, that might not be enough.

 

After the Wisconsin Senate leader Robin Voss narrowly survived an unknown and poorly-funded Trumpican opponent who ran on a single issue, he fired the Wisconsin judge leading the stop-the-steal-decertify-the-election effort in the state. Elected Republican officials have the same opportunity now. The primary season is just about over. There is nothing the Trump base can do now except stay home and not vote for a Democrat in the general election. The elected Republican officials are free at last, free at last, free at last to denounce the Insurrectionist leader. Will any of them do so? This is their last chance until the House Select Committee releases its report shortly before the general election and possibly after DOJ has indicted Donald Trump for espionage. Will Ron DeSantis seize the moment?

The Trump Hit the Fan: Capone and Income Tax Fraud

August 11, 2022
by Peter Feinman
You take what you can get.

On Monday, I was minding my own business thinking about what blog to write:

Will Ukraine Be Rebuilt?
End Confederate Welfare
Indict Everyone but Trump First
Did Tom Cruise Try to Kill Hitler?

Suddenly out of nowhere the Rubicon was crossed to use a popular metaphor.

[Forthcoming history blog – Do Audiences Understand Your Metaphors and References?]

The execution of a search warrant at the home of a former and loser President already under multiple investigations is a game changer. But to what?

MAFIOSO RECEIVES SPEEDING TICKET FOR GOING 7 MILES OVER THE LIMIT

When I was growing up, I read an article in the local paper about a New Jersey Mafioso who had received a speeding ticket for going 7 miles an hour over the speeding limit. I do not recall if I even had a drivers’ license yet, but it seemed to me that ticketing a Mafioso for that infraction was not standard police work. Something else was involved.

My favorite criminal action by the current Mafioso Don was Sharpiegate. Who can forget the image of the doofus-looking Donald the Menace sitting in front of the map he had just altered? As I wrote in July 2020:

In addition, tampering with National Weather maps is a civil (criminal?) offense. While it is not an impeachable offense, it still is illegal. There will be a special exhibit in the Unpresidential Library about Sharpiegate.

Unfortunately, the significance of Sharpiegate is worse than that. If someone cannot admit error on a hurricane path, what are the chances of admitting error on coronavirus? If a person rates a 10 and wouldn’t change anything he did, what is his explanation for why there are over 135000 Americans dead now? Why did Europe quarantine us? There’s really nothing that could have been done differently? Ask him.

Now we learn that he saved that map as a memento of his presidency perhaps for future sale on eBay. While Mafioso Donny should be held accountable for Sharpiegate, like the ticket for going 7 miles per hour over the speed limit, there is more to the warrant than that given the stakes involved.

LOCK HER UP

On one hand, the Democrats now have received a gift which they can leverage into an ongoing campaign refrain.

If he had only swallowed government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only shredded government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only flushed government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only burned government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

If he had only removed government documents, it would have been enough.
LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!

Democrats now have the opportunity to constantly serenade Mafioso Donny as he prepares for his next presidential try. Perhaps Michael Flynn can lead the chant.

VICTIMHOOD CAN BE VERY EFFECTIVE

Victimhood can be a very powerful political tool. Look how it helped his 2016 opponent get to that position. After Monica Lewinsky, the co-president who had failed with Rodhamcare became “Our Lady of Perpetual Victimhood.” Remember people exclaiming “Why don’t they leave poor Hillary alone?” Nita Lowey, my own Representative, sacrificed her chance to become Senator, as she gladly stepped aside to allow someone greater than her have the honor of running. Lowey ridiculed the divided Republicans for not being united in the candidacy as the Democrats were.

For the Trumpican wannabees, the executed search warrant has been devastating. They have been obligated to rally round victimized Mafioso Donny and kiss his ring. Each one now tries to outdo the other in expressing their fealty. No one will challenge the Victim in Chief just as Lowey did not.

Unfortunately for the wannabees, there are consequences to sacrificing yourself. Once Lowey fell on her sword, never again would she have that moment when she could have become Senator. The consolation prize of putting in her charge of the Democratic House elections was a dismal mismatch. Similarly for Ron DeSantis. 2024 is his moment. Unless he is the Vice Presidential candidate, which is unlikely, he will never be better positioned to make a run for the Republican nomination than now. Assuming the United States is still a single country in 2028, the Republican presidential nominee then is more likely to be either the incumbent Trumpican Vice President or a non-Trumpican Republican.

If I may mix my metaphors, the crossing of the Rubicon is the sinking of the wannabee presidential ship. Now they are all forced to play Trump musical chairs or Trump Russian roulette to be the Vice Presidential candidate. Perhaps that is why Elise Stefanik sent a thank-you note to the Attorney General.

2022 ELECTIONS

The calculus for the 2022 midterm elections has been upended. The standard out-of-power party losses still may apply but then again, they may not. The normal political winds have been shifting in the Democratic favor lately and may continue to do so for months ahead – the price of gas is down, inflation is moderating, the stock market is up, jobs are increasing, legislation is being passed, Americans are not dyeing abroad in never ending wars … and who knows what else might happen.

Then there is abortion and Krakatoa Kansas (Krakatoa Kansas versus the Red Wave, August 7, 2022).

Now there is the Rubicon crossing. This means that practically every day there will be a Trump-related news item. It could be about the civil case in New York. It could be about January 6 cases in Fulton County, the House Select Committee, or DOJ. It could be about Documentgate. Or it could be any one of a number of associates who have been indicted, subpoena, searched, or who request immunity. And every time something happens, there will be a message as if he were still on Twitter. Given his personality and modus operandi, he will become a regular feature in the news. There will be no escaping his media presence – just what the Republican political professionals wanted to avoid.

And since Monday, Mafioso Donny has easily surpassed Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and John Eastman in the number of times he has admitted he is guilty. Only son Eric with 500 surpassed him. I know it is very difficult to actually sing all the verses of “100 Bottles of Ketchup on the Wall, 100 Bottles of Ketchup” but don’t be surprised if some enterprising young Democrats try for 440 verses of the Mafioso anthem.

The story continues to unfold. We are learning that there was an informant. There had been an earlier subpoena issued. The response was the same as by Bannon to his subpoena. Then there was a warrant. It was authorized by the Attorney General himself. Even as this blog is being typed efforts are underway to unseal the warrant. The American public will get to peak behind the curtain, something Mafioso Donny could have allowed if he did not have something to hide. Maybe he will still try to hide it.

My guess is that Macho-macho Boy thinks of Garland as some wimpy professorial type whom he can dominate the way he dominated Lafayette Square [this was written before I learned about the DOJ announcements]. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! He failed. Not only was his home violated from his perspective, his own safe was broken into. That is a physical reminder that he is not President anymore … and guarantees that he will try to be again.

Who Will Flip? Who Will be Thrown Under the Bus? Who Will be Convicted?

August 2, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Steve Bannon, chief strategist for President-elect Donald Trump, left, talks with Jared Kushner before the start of a President-elect Donald Trump's news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Who will flip? Who will be thrown under the bus? Who will be convicted? You can’t tell the players without a scorecard and it’s a big scorecard.

Steve Bannon
Andy Biggs
Christina Bobb
Mo Brooks
Gary Michael Brown
Kenneth Chesebro
Jeffrey Clark
John Eastman
Jeanna Ellis
Boris Epshteyn
Michael Flynn
Rudy Giuliani
Paul Gosar
Jim Jordan
Bruce Marks
Doug Mastriano
Mark Meadows
Clea Mitchell
Peter Navarro
Scott Perry
Sidney Powell
Mike Roman
Dan Scavino
Roger Stone
Ginni Thomas
James Troupis
KelliWard
Jack Wilenchik

As far as I know there is no betting line yet on what will happen to the various figures involved in the insurrection conspiracy. I confess that I cannot even keep track of who they all are.

All of these people (or their lawyers) should be able to read the handwriting on the wall. The House Select Committee is still in business. It is still interviewing new people and collecting new evidence. And just when you thought you knew all the illegal shenanigans associated with the insurrection first the Secret Service and DHS informs you that you don’t. There seems to be no limit to the people and departments involved. Nothing can be taken for granted.

Now consider for a moment the options facing Steve Bannon. He was easily convicted without going “medieval.” He faces sentencing and probably from a judge who shows no sign of wanting to be lenient. Bannon has the option of pursuing an expensive appeal process but to what end? One presumes either he or his lawyer or both realize that its only a matter of time before the DOJ subpoenas him. Even if Bannon pleads the 5th to every single question, either he or his lawyer or both should realize that the DOJ has sufficient evidence to indict and convict him. After all, he did do it!

So the question Bannon or his lawyer or both should be asking is “At what point will Bannon realize that resistance is futile”? At what point will he realize that he has more to gain by requesting immunity and spilling the beans than by fighting?

Think of Jared Kushner’s forthcoming book. According to excerpts revealed so far, it is not complimentary to Bannon. There was and is no love lost between the two people. Kushner exults in his triumph over Bannon. For all we know now, there may even be incriminating material against Bannon in the book. When the book is published do you think the father in-law is going to turn on his daughter’s husband and pick Bannon?

The time has come for Bannon to go medieval against Trump in exchange for full immunity. Bannon wants to live to fight another day. He was calling for a revolution prior to hooking up with Trump and he wants to continue advocating for his cause and making money after Trump fades from the scene. Right now Bannon is paying the price on behalf of someone who doesn’t care about him. Look at the opportunity to help himself if he decided right now today to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth in exchange for full immunity. Sure the Trumpicans will go medieval on him and leave threatening messages on his phone, but he will be free and on the air to defend himself and look to the post-2024 world. I am not saying Bannon will seek full immunity; I am saying it is in best interest.

Just last month, I predicted that it was all downhill for the Loser – he will gradually fade away as the Apprentice did (SCOTUS and Hutchinson: The Howard Baker Moment Has Arrived July 5, 2022). That process has started. Foxhub already is looking at the world beyond the Loser. No more free airtime as if it were 2015-2016 all over again. He is older, more subdued, and lacks new material which resonates. Instead of “Lock her up!,” Build a wall!,” “Who is going to pay? Mexico!,” now we have “Relitigate 2020.” Foxhub decision to downplay the Loser has become a national news item itself.

At some point even the Loser will realize that a campaign based on relitigating 2020 is a dead end. He knows the polls show that more and more people of his own party (are they all RINOs?) do not want him to run again. He knows that some of his hand-picked candidates are not faring well in state elections for Senator and Governor. He knows that once his candidates leave the safety of a gerrymandered district and venture out into the state arena, the nonsense they peddle rings false and does not arouse the independents they need to win … or even the Republican female votes they need to keep.

If the Senate remains under Democratic control or if the Democrats even pick up seats who will Republicans blame?
If the Democrats pick up gubernatorial seats who will Republicans blame?
If the 2022 election becomes a referendum on two presidents and Biden wins, who will Republicans blame?

We are reaching the point where fewer and fewer Republican office holders have anything to fear from the Loser. The primary season is almost over and the DOJ insurrectionist train is accelerating. We are getting closer to the point when for self-interest it is better for Republicans to denounce the Loser and his insurrection. We are not there yet and strangely enough Bannon could be the first to try. What does he have to lose?

“Thou Art the man” Said the Prophet Cheney

July 27, 2022
by Peter Feinman
Trump contemplating his future

One of the many stirring moments in the Hebrew Bible occurs when the prophet Nathan says to King David:

THOU ART THE MAN (II Sam. 12:7).

This example of truth to power has had an enduring impact on Western cultural values. It strikes a chord when Martin Luther nails his theses to the wall or John Hancock boldly signs his name to the Declaration of Independence.

Liz Cheney is following in these footsteps. Even prior to the televised House Select Committee hearings, she had asserted this charge against the former President of the United States. In the opening broadcast, she itemized the charges to be brought against the Loser just as Thomas Jefferson had spelled them out in the parts of the Declaration people routinely skip over.

Now she has upped her game. Just as the stirring words of the opening of the Declaration are the ones most frequently recited, Cheney has ratcheted up her words of existential doom facing America if the insurrectionists are not brought to justice. Teddy Roosevelt said “We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord.” Prophet Cheney continues in that mode. We the People are standing on the abyss of nonexistence and may topple into it if the insurrectionists are not held accountable.

Finally, at long last, there is public evidence that she and the House Select Committee are not waging this war alone. The DOJ has revealed that it is actively pursuing the investigation of the insurrection – not just January attack but all the ways in which the Loser sought to reverse the election, overthrew the government, and replace the rule of law with the rule of Trump.

Cheney has called out the Republican men in their fifties, sixties, and seventies, who hide behind executive privilege and fear to tell the truth. She has told them that one day Trump will be gone but their dishonor will remain forever as a permanent stain on their lives. How stupid do

Steve Bannon
Jeff Clark
John Eastman
Rudy Giuliani
Jim Jordan
Doug Mastriano
Mark Meadows
Peter Navarro
Scott Perry
Roger Stone

have to be not to know that they are going to be subpoenaed and indicted at some point in the near future. All the nonsense about executive privilege and the showmanship of going medieval will be for naught. Whatever concerns there may be over indicting a former President who has announced his candidacy for 2024 do not apply to them or any of the other people associated with the fake electors. Once the DOJ issues the subpoenas, who will be the first to flip? Soon there will be a betting line.

One cannot help but notice the role of women in the actions against the male insurrectionists. This is not to take anything away from the frighteningly scary Sydney Powell [who will play her in the movie?] or Ginni Thomas. Still, it is women who have borne the brunt of the attacks from the brave male Trumpicans with their anonymous obscene phone calls. True, men who told the truth have received them as well. But overall the invective and threatened kidnapping against the female Democratic Michigan governor exceeds that against the male Republican Georgian governor who easily triumphed in the Republican primary.

These attacks against women highlight another facet of the political dynamic. We have the image of attractive young white women working for older more powerful males. Doesn’t that seem a lot like Hollywood? I do not mean to suggest any sexual activity occurred. I do mean to suggest that a familiar power dynamic is at play. The women are there to serve the political needs of the more powerful males. If they fail to do so and instead turn against them under oath, on the cable talk shows, or both, then all hell breaks loose.

After all, the head of the Trumpican party who led the insurrection has a decades long reputation for abusing women. It is only when he lost his mojo during the first decade of this century that he ceased any physical abuse of women. Where would the Trumpican party be without “Lock her up! Lock her up!” If Joe Biden had been the candidate in 2016, Trump would have been rendered silent. Do you think a crowd would rally behind “Lock Hunter up. Lock Hunter up”?

Loyalty is one way to be endorsed by the Loser. Another way is to have taken care of women, i.e., physically put them in their place. Have you ever seen an abuser whom Trump didn’t endorse?

Abortion just continues the pattern.

If only the real world was like Westworld before the female programming went haywire.

If only all wives were from Stepford.

HE CAN’T HIDE SO HE HAS TO RUN

“Thou art the man” prophet Liz Cheney is an existential threat to Donald Trump. He is right to pour out all the invective he can muster against her. If she prevails, he loses. It is a zero-sum game. So far he controls the Trumpican Party so her future in Wyoming is non-existent. However her future in the national arena is just beginning. She is the greatest hero in America so far this century, this millennium. That designation will not change after the Wyoming primary.

In 2024, all the Trump wannabees will have fallen by the wayside. None will criticize him. Only alternate-reality Pence who thinks he was ordained to be President will persist. And then there will be Cheney, eager to go one-on-one with him. Watching Trump hide from Cheney in the 2024 elections will be a sight to behold. It will be one for the history books. His cowardice and gutlessness will be on full display … when he is not pleading the Fifth in all the cases brought against him.

Josh Hawley Declares 2024 Candidacy: Run, Josh, Run!

July 26, 2022
by Peter Feinman
RUN JOSH RUN! (CNN)

Expectations for the House Select Committee presentations were not high before it began.

“Don’t Expect Must-Watch TV” Jacob Bacharach (NYT 6/9/22)

But the Capitol riot hearings, which begin on Thursday night, may well be a dud.

            Even if they manage to drag a few million eyeballs away from the streaming platforms for a few evenings and days with some measure of spectacle and the promise of comeuppance for some minor and expendable figures from Trump-world, their scope and impact are likely to be minimal….
            They will serve as great font of rambling commentary on Twitter for a few days, among the relatively few people who regularly tweet about politics.   

Wouldn’t you like to have the opportunity to be so wrong in the lead editorial in The New York Times!

He concludes his piece with:

A terrifying historical counterfactual is that the only thing that might have gotten enough of the G.O.P. on board to matter would have been if the rioters had actually hung Mike Pence, and even then, it is hard to be sure.

We will never know what the reaction would have been if the insurrectionists had succeeded in killing Pence, Pelosi, or Hawley. It is possible that would have caused the 25th Amendment to be invoked and not just talked about. I have not seen any polls or interviews with Stop-the-Steal proponents about how they would have reacted then.

The Jan. 6 Committee Has Already Blown It

The op-ed below this editorial was “The Jan. 6 Committee Has Already Blown It” by David Brooks. He took issue with the Democratic goal of recasting the midterm election message by casting Republicans as being responsible.

They are expected to use witnesses like the former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson [who testified on June 28, 19 days later] to show exactly what went on inside the administration that day and in the lead-up to it. One lawmaker told The Washington Post that voters have shifted their attention to issues like inflation and the pandemic, so it is key to tell a gripping story that “actually breaks through.”
No offense, but these goals are pathetic.

Perhaps he spoke too soon in his dismissal of Cassidy Hutchinson!

However his larger point in his final sentence about the threat to bring American democracy to its knees is valid as Liz Cheney well knows. Brooks is right to be concerned about the 2024 election and civil war in America. If anything, he should be concerned about the 2022 elections.

Eventually, skeptics saw the light about the hearings.

“I thought the Jan. 6 committee wouldn’t matter. I was wrong” by Max Boot (Washington Post 6/14/22)

The committee’s hearings are exceeding expectations, because it is not behaving like a typical congressional committee. There is no grandstanding and no preening. There are no petty partisan squabble…. There have been no anti-Trump, much less anti-Republican, rants. The committee members are focused with forensic, factual intensity on the question of Trump’s responsibility for the events of Jan. 6.

The House Select Committee has set a standard which the Hunter Biden investigations and Joe Biden impeachments won’t come even remotely close to matching. Those Republican clown shows will only be shown on Foxhub.

…There is only the relentless march of evidence, all of it deeply incriminating to a certain former president who keeps insisting he was robbed of his rightful election victory…. Trump’s own aides have made an open-and-shut case that he I not fit to run Mar-a-lago, much less the United States of America.

It would seem the Murdoch Wall Street Journal and New York Post agree as well. More to come.

Paul Krugman has joined the bandwagon as well:

Crazies, Cowards and the Trump Coup (NYT 6/30/22)

Like many people, I expected the worst from the Jan. 6 committee: long, droning speeches, grandstanding by posturing politicians, lots of he-said-she-said.
            What we’ve gotten instead has been riveting and terrifying.

The reviews are in. The House Select Committee is boffo at the box office. It has sustained an 8-show summer series with a sequel promised.

What “more”? Second seasons often do not live up to the promise of the original series. It looks like we may be teased with “leaks” while the show is on hiatus.

There is a spinoff. In fact more than one. The DOJ appears to be gradually upping ante for the insurrections. There should be a slew of subpoenas in the coming weeks. Even if the Hitman indictment is delayed until after the election, there are plenty of subordinates who could be indicted before the election season. How about the day before Trump announces his candidacy, the DOJ indicts the first round of insurrectionists? That would make for must-see TV.

The second spinoff is in Georgia. Fulton County is moving ahead with subpoenas and target letters. It is only a matter of time before the indictments.

In the meantime, we can content ourselves with some of the more amusing aspects of the work of the House Select Committee. We can anticipate that on Josh Hawley’s tombstone, the words “Run, Josh, Run” will be inscribed. The phrase will join “Tricky Dicky” and “Slick Willie” as a defining nickname.

When the movie version is made the scene of ketchup on the wall and plates on the floor are sure to generate gales of laughter.

The scene of grabbing the steering wheel of the car and the throat of the Secret Service will play differently depending on the audience. For the people who believe in the rule of law, it will be seen as the desperate attempt of the Loser at the last moment possible to salvage victory by leading the coup at the Capital in person. For the people who believe in the rule of Trump, it will be seen as their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, fighting to the very end to save the country.

Keep in mind that Rusty Bowers has been excommunicated by the Arizona Republican Party for telling for truth.

Unfortunately, there is one area where Liz Cheney is seriously wrong. She stated that Trump “is a 76-year old man”: true. And he is “not an impressionable child”: false. He temporarily appointed Sidney Powell a special prosecutor to wreak havoc with his enemies.  Kurt Bardella, a former House GOP staffer speaking about the upcoming 2024 announcement said, “This guy has the impulse control of a freaking toddler.” He echoed the words of Mary Trump about her uncle having the emotional maturity of a three-year old.

The problem with trying to prove intent to overthrow the Constitution is that Trump lacks the mental necessities to understand what the Constitution is and or what he was doing to it. All he knows is that he wanted to keep playing President and people were telling him playtime is over. Perhaps the next hearings will address the fact that he is an immature child and not Rambo.

P.S. No matter what, Trumpican minds will not be changed.

Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden: The Heroes We Want vs the Leaders We Have

July 12, 2022
by Peter Feinman
We are a storytelling species who wants heroes (Wikipedia)

Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner are having a moment.

So are Donald Trump and Joe Biden, but in a different way.

The juxtaposition of these two pairs provides an opportunity to compare the people we admire as heroes with the actual leaders we have. The difference exposes the challenge to America today and in the next two elections this year and in 2024.

THE HEROES WE WANT

Tom Cruise has unexpectedly rocketed to a billion dollar gross in his new “Top Gun: Maverick” movie. Movies have suffered during Covid. Attendance plummeted. Movie studios wondered if people would return to the theaters, to the experience of seeing movies in-person with up to hundreds of other people. Maybe the next one would the blockbuster would be the one…. Maybe the one after that.

Then along comes the Tom Cruise move. BOFFO AT THE BOX OFFICE to use an old Hollywood term. Seemingly out of nowhere, this generation-later expansion of the original Top Gun movie startled everyone with its power. What gives?

One major difference is that the movie is a Tom Cruise movie. It is not a Roman numeral movie. It is not the latest incarnation of a super-duper movie reflecting Hollywood’s unending ability to crank out ever more new costumed beings. There are no dinosaurs in the movies or aliens of any kind. The story is not set in some mythical world in the past, present, or future. It isn’t even a special effects movie as many of the scenes that ordinarily would be special effects instead were real people learning how to fly.

In this regard, Tom Cruise represents a form of nostalgia to the good old days. You go to see (or not see) a Tom Cruise movie because it is a Tom Cruise movie. Do you really know the names of the characters he has played in his movies? Do you really know the name of the characters John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, or Gary Cooper played? No! You saw the movie because it starred John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, or Gary Stewart.

Similarly Tom Cruise is larger than his movies. In almost every movie he plays himself or at least what we imagine him to be like off screen. We didn’t care what Spencer Tracy or Jimmy Cagney was really like. Even in one of the great Star Trek episodes where Kirk travels to the 1930s past, Joan Collins says her man (Kirk) is taking her to a Clark Gable movie. The title is irrelevant.

As a country we like the Maverick character of Pete Mitchell and flock to the multiplex to see it.

Kevin Costner also is having a moment. It is on the small screen and has been building for years. He has had an iconic career in movies starring in classics in American mythology. Perhaps it is coincidence but Durham began its most recent growth spurt with the movie “Bull Durham.”  Who would have thought that an actual corn field in Iowa split among two owners would become a tourist site where fathers could have catch with their sons.

Costner like Cruise performs in human roles. Generally, he lives in the present or the real world. In that sense he is always Kevin Costner. The Lakota Nation adopted Costner as an honorary member. As a result of his performance with Whitney Houston in “The Body Guard,” he was one of eight speakers at her funeral giving by all accounts a very moving eulogy. Name another actor with that kind of intimate cross-cultural acceptance. Name a politician.

But the real impetus for his success today is an outgrowth from a different movie, “Dances with Wolves.”  As with the TV series “Yellowstone,” Costner is the driving force behind both productions. In the movie he is John Dunbar; in the TV show John Dutton. In the movie, he encounters a wolf; in the TV series, his son has a vision quest with a wolf.

“Yellowstone” has snuck up on people. It is not one of those edgier shows that draws the attention of media critics. It is not gritty. It is not urban. It isn’t even about twisted tortured souls although that might not be true in all cases. It is not exactly the Ponderosa either. Times have changed. The fictional Broken Rock Indian Reservation and people are an integral part of the continuing story line.

So here we have two athletic male heroes with charm, good looks, and ease of appearance. And then there is the real world.

THE LEADERS WE HAVE

Only one week ago on July 5, I wrote SCOTUS and Hutchinson: The Howard Baker Moment Has Arrived. I claimed that it was all downhill for Trump from that point forward and that was exactly right.

Not only did a minion witness tamper with Hutchinson, but it seems that Trump himself tampered with a witness not yet revealed. Indictments forthcoming.

Foxhub has bad-mouthed some of the Trumpican candidates as unworthy of being elected. It remembers the debacle of the 2010 Senate races when Republicans lost sure-fire pickups by nominating nut cases. It does not want to see that happen again even if they are loyal to Trump.

Polls suggest Republicans are increasingly tired of Trump-shenanigans and it is only going to get worse. They are ready to move on if he will let them. Relitigating 2020 may be Trump’s only priority but it is not that of Republicans.

Polls show that even against the near-dead Biden with horrendous approval ratings, the Loser would lose again.

At some point soon, even closet Republicans in the Congress may be ready to stand up and be counted.

Of course, Joe Biden is having a rough spell himself. His is visibly aging and tiring in a way that cannot be hidden from the voters … even the ones who support him.

There is no end in sight for gas prices or Ukraine.

He was not a bold leader even in his prime and now he is past his prime.

According to a focus group reported on in The New York Times full-page in the Sunday Review on July 10 print, people are hungry for leadership. They want leaders who are willing to tell hard truths, go against the grain, and stand up for something unpopular. These were qualities found in leaders in the past like Churchill, suffragists, and Moses. But they also had a good explanation for why we do not have such leaders – if politicians today are not brave and courageous, it might be because We the People are not brave and courageous either.

As one CNN title put it:

Americans may get the one presidential race the country doesn’t want in 2024

In 2016, Democrats nominated the one candidate Trump could beat.
In 2020, Democrats nominated the one candidate who could beat Trump.
In 2022 Democrats need Trump to suck the oxygen out of the campaign with his revenge campaign, indictments, and 2020 fixation.
In 2024 Democrats need Republicans to nominate Trump again and may even secretly fund that effort.

When the movie “January 6” is cast there will be no roles for Tom Cruise or Kevin Costner. On the other hand, woman will clamor for the opportunity to play Liz Cheney.