Monday, December 02, 2024

ON THE HUNTER BIDEN PARDON AND POLITICAL "PICK ME"S

On the subject of the Hunter Biden pardon, I don't think we should dismiss this theory:

After spending some time wondering what could have tipped the balance leading to the Hunter Biden pardon, I finally started to think that the fascists may have been planning to use Hunter as their first ginned-up treason charge followed by execution.

— Jim "Not a Football Presenter" White (@jimwhitegnv.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 8:04 AM


In June, just after Hunter Biden was convicted on felony gun charges, The New York Times noted this:
During the final 11 days of the 2020 campaign, Mr. Trump referred to Hunter Biden more than five dozen times at rallies, during interviews and in social media posts. Instead of focusing on an argument for why he deserved a second term, he repeatedly posted the question, “Where’s Hunter?”

“It’s treason, or whatever you want to call it,” Mr. Trump said on the last day of the 2020 race. “We caught the whole thing. The son — where’s Hunter? Where’s Hunter?”
The Times story pointed out that Trump expressed more sympathy for the president's son during the 2024 campaign (“I had a brother who suffered tremendously from alcoholism and alcohol...”). But the story also noted that this was pure cynicism on Trump's part:
In a meeting last year, Mr. Trump acknowledged privately to an associate that attacks against the president’s son had the potential to backfire politically, according to a person who attended the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation. Mr. Trump said Republicans needed to be careful, the person said, “not to go overboard” on the Hunter Biden attacks, especially on the drug addiction issue, because it could elicit sympathy and make people view the president as a caring father.
The campaign is over, so that strategy is no longer relevant. And in any case, future FBI director Kash Patel hasn't mellowed on Hunter, even strategically. Patel clearly wants to bring new charges against Hunter. He mentions the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the clip below, but who knows what else he has in mind?

One year ago, Kash Patel, while sniffling repeatedly as he does in every interview (he just can’t shake that cold) promised to prosecute Hunter for new crimes. Then Trump names him FBI Director. He told you ahead of time he’s going after Hunter. So tired of the pearl clutchers.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) December 2, 2024 at 12:26 PM


I won't be surprised if Trump, Patel, and Attorney General Pam Bondi try to bring President Biden up on treason charges, now that Hunter appears to be out of their reach. Right-wingers don't just believe that Hunter was trading on his family name for cash. They believe both Bidens were cashing in, and selling America out to China and Ukraine. The proof they've amassed is as nonexistent as the proof that Democrats rigged the 2020 election. But they might feel they're bulletproof now and can pursue any case they find emotionally satisfying.

I've seen condemnations of the pardon described as "pearl clutching," but what I'm seeing in those condemnations is a self-righteousness that's almost gleeful. I like this response to the increasingly insufferable Nate Silver, from a former legislative candidate in New York State:



I'm sure it will astonish you to know that Silver was much more tolerant of presidential pardons during the previous administration:



Nate Silver has no ties to the Democratic Party. I can't say the same for Colorado governor Jared Polis:

Trump pardoned Jared Kushner's dad while Jared worked in the White House, then yesterday appointed Jared's dad as an ambassador, but Polis didn't have the same energy for that. Pathetic stuff that I for one won't soon forget.

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) December 1, 2024 at 8:52 PM


Polis was last seen saying nice things about the man who wants to Make Polio Great Again:



The young have a name for people like Polis: he's a "pick me." It's a name that isn't political, and is sometimes regarded as offensive. Urban Dictionary says:
A pick me is a woman that is willing to do anything for male approval. She will embarrass or throw other women under the bus to achieve this goal.
That's Polis, except he's a Democrat willing to throw other Democrats under the bus for the approval of Republicans (and members of the media, and other self-hating Democrats). Nate Silver isn't a Democrat, but he built an audience full of Democrats when he was making his name as a politcal forecaster, and now he wants to be noticed every time he slags a Democrat. It's the surest path to widespread approval in the world of politics.

Our politcal culture thinks genuine Democrats are pathetic and disgusting. It's always polite to insult Democrats. Fox News will praise you. James Carville will praise you.

The only people who won't praise you are ordinary committed Democratic voters. Unfortunately, very people in the world of politics care what we think.
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