Carrying Blue Water

A good friend who often works in conjunction with the New York City police shared a "NYPDism" the other day:

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Translated into more generic terms, "actions have consequences."

The discussion that elicited this aphorism centered on the FBI Mar-A-Lago raid, a matter where we are both taking a "wait and see" stance. I've been following National Review's Andrew McCarthy and his coverage/speculation of this raid, and I agree with his conclusion that this raid is, under the "classified document" smokescreen, a fishing expedition for January-6th related evidence.

My friend is of the opinion that, if the FBI/DOJ raid turns out to be a sloppy nothing burger that benefits Trump, those agencies need to be taken behind the woodshed for a good flogging. I agree. But, here's where we disagree - I have way more doubt than he does that the FBI will suffer any consequences should they get skunked.

In the interest of, well - whatever a couple pints of Guinness made seem like a good idea at the time - we bet on the success of the raid.

“Success” required defining.

I contended that this raid qualifies as a success if they provide irrefutable public proof that Trump had foreknowledge of an intent to storm the Capitol - or, worse, coordinated such plans. If all they end up with are some violations re the handling of classified material, that's ho-hum stuff that they've already demonstrated a lack of interest in prosecuting others for, and that'll do more for Trump and his (near-certain, IMO) campaign to become only the second person to win non-sequential Presidencies.

He agreed.

This little wager would not warrant mention here but for Sam Harris's moment of frankness regarding tech and media suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

In case you missed it, Harris, ironically a man who purports to esteem reason and logic, asserted that Trump was such an existential threat to life, the universe, and everything that all was fair in keeping him from a second term in the White House.

Despite the fact that Trump's first term, as a matter of policy rather than rhetoric, was rather pedestrian, and that Harris and the rest of us did indeed survive his tenure.

Harris demonstrated such a severe case of TDS in stating that it would not matter to him if Hunter had "the corpses of children in his basement" that he has forever saddled himself with an albatross against his future credibility in any matter of political import. I already had a sense of Harris as a technocrat with authoritarian leanings, one of those Best-and-Brightest that know they know better than the rest of us and therefore are obligated to manage the world as they think best, and this iced it. That Harris echoed Trump’s boast that he “could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” is both ironic and a dismal telltale of how fixation on personality over policy is undermining our society.

There's been much speculation that this Mar-A-Lago business was really about provoking Trump to run again, because he'd be a more defeatable opponent than the likes of DeSantis or Haley or Scott or Cotton. Harris's candor (not a Kinsley Gaffe - he was rather clear and unapologetic in telling his truth) affirms the Occam's Razor conclusion: this is all born of visceral hatred for Trump, not of Machiavellian chess-play.

As for the Mar-A-Lago raid, I continue to wait and see. The political sandbox is agitated, the Right is demanding accountability for what at this point appears to be gross excess and the politicization of the FBI and the Justice Department, and the Left is hoping that, this time, they'll finally bag their Great Orange Whale.

You come at the king, you best not miss. - Omar Little

If they do find a smoking cannon of proof that he helped plan or coordinate the Capitol riot, then even his most ardent supporters should move on from him. As I've noted, he offers nothing, policy-wise, that others do not.

If this turns out to be yet another nothing burger (perhaps not as "nothing" as the fabricated Russia business, but you know what I mean), the Left, in all-too-common rage-induced overreach and incompetence, will have provided Trump with a giant bushel of deep-state-is-the-enemy validation and chest-thumping righteousness that may very well put him in the White House in 2024.

Those are "ifs."

What's not an "if" is the mass psychosis on the Left re anything Trump. Corrupting our institutions and tearing down democratic fundamentals should utterly eviscerate their credibility even among their own, and I hope this latest bit will continue prompting good-minded liberals to denounce the Orwellians in their tent.

Alas, I don't expect the mainstream press or the passel of left-leaning talking heads to finally embrace propriety over doing whatever it takes toward preferred outcomes. They'll continue to carry the Democrats' water, no matter what happens with Trump.