The Life in My Years

“ … your position and power in life do not matter: no one is above the law … “ ~ South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson following the conviction of Alex Murdaugh.

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” ~ Donald J. Trump, January 23, 2016.

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If the two statements above seem to you to be at odds with each other, well, you’re right.

Can’t go a week without hearing some version of the former statement, “Nobody is above the law.” It’s usually delivered with a self satisfied harrumph and can come from just about any mouth; politician, pundit, law enforcement official, or just the average citizen. Van Jones said it. Gloria Allred said it. John Yang, Leon Jaworski and, ironically enough, Andrew Cuomo said it.

We’ll come back to the quotes a bit later, but first, let’s get to Donald Trump’s recent bloviation, delivered on Saturday via his chicken shit media platform, Truth Social (“truth” is a seldom found commodity on that platform).

In a statement delivered all in caps (because that’s how Donnie rolls), Trump said that he will be arrested (correction: ARRESTED) on Tuesday by the New York D.A. over his alleged hush money payment to porn star, Stormy Daniels. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Trump ended his statement by urging his followers to take to the streets and protest. We saw this movie on January 6th, 2021 and it didn’t end well. In fact, it hasn’t ended. January 6th is the never ending story without apparent resolution.

But Trump wasn’t done. Feeling the need to pour more gasoline on the fire he went back on Truth Social, and posted, “WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”

To be clear, there is no evidence that Trump will be indicted on Tuesday or any other day. The D.A. has made no statement indicating an arrest or indictment. Trump’s spokesperson has said as much. But truth is not a complicating factor for the Don. Whenever he feels the time is ripe, Trump launches a preemptive strike of falsehoods and lets chaos ensue. The rational world rolls its eyes. The loony and the deluded accept it as gospel.

Trump knows this and is a master of the game. Cry out that he’s being treated unfairly and the feckless come out in droves. He whistles and the lap dogs all scurry around him, yipping and yapping, quaking with excitement and pissing all over themselves.

And so, right on cue, Kevin McCarthy took the bait and issued a statement, “Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump.”

Ah, Kevin McCarthy. Old Kev, is quite the anatomical marvel. He has two faces (maybe three or four). He has no heart, as evidenced by the fact that he had no problem voting against capping insulin prices. He showed signs of being deaf when he delivered a tone deaf “victory” speech after the “red wave” that he predicted in the recent midterm elections fizzled into a ripple. Kev is blind as evidenced by the fact that he can’t see the nation laughing at him for giving away the store to the lunatics in Congress just so that he could be a powerless figurehead of a Speaker. Kev has little hooks in his arms and legs attached to the strings that Matt Gaetz pulls whenever the Florida Congressman thinks Kev might be getting too independent.

But Kev has two other physical anomalies that are truly remarkable. Take his spine, if you can find it.  It’s made of Silly Putty. And that’s on a good day, when he’s trying his damnedest, and predictably failing, to be steadfast. Otherwise his backbone is pure jelly.

And then there are Kev’s detachable balls. While some folks are known for having “brass balls” and others for having “onions,” Kev’s nads are small and pliable. Just ask Marjorie Taylor Greene. She carries one around in her purse, and whenever she needs Kev to do her bidding, she gives it a cautionary squeeze. Kev’s other ball? Various members of the Freedom Caucus (the word “freedom” in this case is used loosely) and Tucker Carlson pass Kev’s other nut around for leverage whenever they feel the need.

I imagine that after Trump launched his post, Marjorie retrieved Kev’s ball from her purse and gave it a necessary squeeze. Nice to know that the third guy in the presidential line of succession is under the spell of the wicked white trash of Georgia.

And then there’s Mike Pence, Trump’s former Veep and long time boot-licker, who wavers on doing the right thing yet always falls short. Pence said a potential indictment “reeks of the kind of political prosecution that we endured back in the days of the Russia hoax.” Mikey, he wanted to see you lynched. Have you no pride?

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who was a serious legislator until she sold her soul to Trump and became batshit, called a potential indictment, “un-American.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio (and one of Kev’s chief ball keepers), tweeted, “God Bless President Trump.” Because Jim’s God blesses a guy who carries Putin’s water, bangs porn stars while his wife is home tending to the kid, and brags about grabbing women “by the pussy.”

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said, “If they can come for Trump, they will come for you. This type of stuff only occurs in third world authoritarian nations.” That kind of inflammatory statement is pure Biggs. It was Biggs’ own brothers, William and Daniel, who wrote a letter to the editor of The Arizona Republic calling for Biggs’ expulsion from Congress, for being partially responsible for the January 6th insurrection. If people weren’t above the law, Biggs would be in irons.

Apparently Kev, Pence, and everyone else who’s apoplectic over an indictment that may or may not come, don’t believe that “nobody is above the law.” They don’t want this played out in court. They don’t want anything that has to do with Trump played out in court. They either agree with Trump, that it’s all “unfair” (Trump’s favorite word), or they secretly believe that Trump is a serial criminal but are afraid of the political comeuppance for crossing the “Don.” I vote for the latter (there are a lot of Silly Putty spines out there). Ironic isn’t it that the, “Nobody is above the law,” statement often comes from the lips of Republicans.

Maybe the most jaw dropping aspect of this is that all of the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth is happening over a statement that Trump pulled from his ass. There is no evidence that Trump will be indicted. He certainly won’t be arrested as Trump so purposefully put it (indictment just doesn’t carry the necessary cachet). As much as I’d like to see Trump rot in a rat infested cell, I hope that there is no indictment on Tuesday. Back burner that indictment for a couple of weeks. That way the Trump lackeys will spend the remainder of this week wiping egg off their faces for once again having been played by the grifter in chief.

All of this goes back to Trump’s, Fifth Avenue quote and begs an important question. What if Donald Trump stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shot someone?

I’ve asked Trump supporters time and again, what it would take for them to turn against Trump and the question hangs in the air like the fart that the people in the room try to ignore. Stone silence. What would it take? If it’s not ‘pussy grabbing,’ or fawning all over autocrats, or inciting an insurrection, or trying to strong arm a Georgia Secretary of State to “find me 11,780 votes,” or calling fallen American servicemen “losers and suckers” or all of the racist, misogynist and violent rhetoric that Trump has spewed since he announced his candidacy in 2015, then what? I vote, nothing. There is nothing that the feebleminded passengers on the Trump train won’t excuse. For them Trump is, to paraphrase Curly Howard (of the Three Stooges), “just a victim of circumstance.”

And one other thought about that whole “nobody is above the law,” thing. It’s bullshit. If you’ve got the money and the juice, or you have a cadre of fawners in high places willing to back you and believe every fable that comes from your corrupt pie hole then you stand a fair chance of being above the law. At least in the crooked minds of those who are willing to barter their souls and reputations. You’ve sure as shit got a better chance than some poor Black man who gets cuffed and convicted for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family.

And finally, about my language. Too harsh? Too inflammatory? Maybe. Maybe not. President’s retire or get voted out of office and they fade away. They write books, or they establish their libraries, or go on the rubber chicken, speaking circuit. But for the most part, they go away. Trump has not gone away. He just continues to wreck shop. My wife often says of Trump, “He ruined this country.”

My take is slightly different. America has had its problems. Its history has some dark and insidious blemishes. There was always some amount of ruin. That said, I believe there is some truth to Lincoln’s words that came during his second, Annual Message to Congress, that America is “the last best hope of earth.” The full sentence was, “We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.” It is Trump and his mob who are working overtime to “meanly lose,” that hope.

So no, I do not apologize for my tone. I’m done with these people.