Even Trump’s Scams Are Half-Hearted
His grifts are … not what they used to be.
The weight of his history appears to have collapsed the Great Beast. As 2022 concludes, Donald Trump can only be properly construed under the category of anticlimactic. The twinkle in his eye as he did the Devil’s bidding is no longer a glistening with skeletal reds. The Department of Justice is closing in on The Donald, as he was once called, in brighter days, when he sat on the left hand side of the Other Guy. Let’s face it — the gild is off the lily at Mar a Lago. The Trump Organization lost a secret contempt trial. Weisselberg might flip. His hand-picked midterm candidates all flopped. And, in perhaps the most telling signal of his loss of prestige, Ivanka no longer has need of Pappa. That’s got to hurt.
Trump is trapped in a complex web of cases. The Lord of the Flies is in the process of being envenomed by the intrepid Tish James. His lackluster candidacy for President is almost certainly a Netanyahu-esque stratagem for him to escape — or at least gain leverage on — his tireless legal pursuers. Zach Beauchamp of Vox wrote this during the Netanyahu campaign, comparing the Prime Minister’s legal woes to Trump’s:
Now, Netanyahu is running for prime minister on the theory that he is being persecuted — and he has a reasonable chance to win. If he wins, there is every expectation that he will do something to protect himself, be it passing a law immunizing himself from prosecution or firing the attorney general and appointing a more pliant replacement.
For those of us who support a serious inquiry into Trump’s behavior, the Israeli experience should be sobering. It should dash any hope that a trial, no matter how strong the prosecution’s case, could resolve the political question of Trump in any definitive sense.
And yet, Netanyahu won while Trump is in a dogfight of his life. De Santis is, quite frankly, a younger, better educated authoritarian. Further, Rupert no longer fancies the “Florida Man.” The Murdoch media is currently flirting heavily with the other Ron.
Finally, as it turned out, candidate quality indeed mattered, as Mitch McConnell reminded us this week. Arizona, New Hampshire, and Georgia all presented winnable races, it not for Trump's intercession. “Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in ‘22 because the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “So my view was do the best you can with the cards you’re dealt. Now, hopefully, in the next cycle we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome.” McConnell, to be sure, could have essentially ended Trump’s political career had he got behind the second impeachment trial. But the then-Majority Leader voted not guilty, and Trump was cleared in a 57-43 vote, thus allowing his political stranglehold over the party to continue. So, here we are.
Charmed, I’m sure.
Love and Rockets is still independent. (TNY)
“And on Nov. 28, the day the Senate considered amendments and reached a pivotal agreement on the Respect for Marriage Act—a landmark bill to codify federal recognition of same-sex marriages, negotiated in large part by Sinema, who is bisexual—Facebook Sinema listed an $80 cycling jersey in three Facebook groups around 12:30 p.m.” (Slate)
What’s wrong at the New York Times. (TAP)
Ana Cabrera confirms exit at CNN. (Variety)
2022 was the year of the Podcast. (VF)