"The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll," [Trump] wrote, misspelling "Pool."Oh, yeah? Where are they?
According to The Washington Post, Park Police arrested a single person on Friday: David Hearn, a 67-year-old man from Bethesda and a three-time Olympic canoe slalom athlete, on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.A reminder that Hearn doesn’t have to tell this story in court. The government has to prove he’s guilty of “destruction of government property.” They’ll need a bit more than “Suspect was seen with his hand in the water.” Hearn’s counsel could simply bring in some YouTube videos about the conditions in the pool to remind the jury about what everybody knows. The government has to prove Hearn did any damage. Hearn doesn’t have to prove he didn’t.
Hearn's account bears no resemblance to a coordinated assault on a national landmark. He told the Post he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride, including a loop around Hains Point, and swung by the Lincoln Memorial to see the refurbished pool for himself. Noticing a chunk of the new "American flag blue" liner that had partially detached from the bottom, he reached into the water to feel it. Moments later, as he was getting ready to leave, officers put him in handcuffs.
"I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn told the paper. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."
Remember the Subway Sandwich guy?
Hearn’s story also underlines Podhoretz’ point:
Hearn was just another visitor to the park. But he probably arrived after Trump’s first screed about vandalism. That’s another reason the jury is likely to let him go.*Someone cut a 250-ft. gash in a location open 24 hours a day in the most visited national park in the United States in one of its most famous sites and nobody saw it happening or filmed it at the time? This is as credible as him saying we won the war. https://t.co/EJF9iYslln
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) June 21, 2026
Game, set, match. Call it the Subway Sandwich Guy rule.
*Or a judge. I can’t imagine a judge would be any more sympathetic to the government’s charge than a jury would be.
No comments:
Post a Comment