Saturday, February 22, 2020

There's No Business like Snow Business


“I’m returning home today from a long exile a freed political prisoner,” he told the media Wednesday from the stoop of his Chicago house. “I want to say again to the people of Illinois who twice elected me governor: I didn’t let you down. I would have let you down if I gave in to this. But resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.”

“This is the larger fight that is before all of us as Americans,” Blagojevich said on Fox News Wednesday. “Some of these same people again have tried to do at the Major League-level to a Republican president what they were able successfully to do to a Democratic governor. And they are threatening to take away from all of us our rights to choose our own leaders through free and fair elections.”

Donald Trump?  No; Rod Blagojevich.  But the former governor and felon (his sentence was commuted, not expunged) speaks the same language.  And it's a language that explains why Trump won't (never say never, but still) pardon Roger Stone; or Paul Manafort (who?); or Michael Flynn.  Because Trump needs enemies, and real "victims" of his enemies are better than imaginary ones (the "Deep State" and "Democrats" in general).  Trump's Twitter feed is full of the slightly subtler version of this:

(Yes, all of that is crap and lies; but who cares anymore?  Trump needs enemies, and Hillary is still Trump Enemy #1.)  And of course Great Leader must speak:

Enemies large and small.

But why won't he pardon Stone?  How can he, and still rail against the judges and juries and all the enemies of Trump (and so the enemies of Trump supporters and all right-thinking people.  Sort of like people who don't support Bernie)?  Trump needs enemies, and the more concrete the symbol of those enemies, the better.  Maybe he'd really like to prosecute Andrew McCabe and James Comey, but he's never made any real effort to "Lock her up!"  He needs the rally chants.  Past tense is so last week's news and today's fish wrap.  Birdcages are lined with last week's news.  Trump needs to keep that stuff fresh even if it's no more likely than the sun rising in the west tomorrow.  He's not going to prosecute Joe or Hunter Biden, either.  But if he can bring up something to accuse them of....

We have always been at war with Eastasia.  Except this is better than war.  This is the enemy that keeps on being the enemy.  Besides, where is the constituency for Paul Manafort or Michael Flynn or Roger Stone?  If Trump pardons them, doesn't that mean they were important, they served a role, they actually contributed to the Unprecedented Victory of Dear Great Leader?  Can't allow even the hint of that.  Manafort is in prison, Flynn is sporadically in the headlines, and Roger Stone only came to notice because of the sentencing hearing.  Will Trump do anything now?

And give up show business??

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