Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/03/working-with-trump-destroys-yo.html
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That’s the thing that boggles my mind about these trump-clingers. From Rudy Guilliani to Bill Barr, they were like 1 day from retirement, or already in it, both cruising on an unearned reputation and narrative of their lives that should have put them comfortably to bed. They didn’t even need a job. Why? Why do it at all?
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I think this has been the biggest revelation of the Trump era: that there are so many “rules” and “borders” and “ethical barriers” that we’ve just never bothered to have actual laws (with teeth) to strengthen or guard against because everyone else in the office has at least tried to protect their honor, their reputation, their legacy, or whatever you want to call it. Trump and friends took a good hard look at the boundaries they weren’t supposed to cross, realized that pretty much the worst thing that can happen is a stern, disapproving note of discontent (oh no! ‘held in contempt’, whatever shall he do?) and started raking in the monetary rewards.
It’s the old Dark Side analogy: being evil as fuck is easy, quick, and profitable, if you don’t care about what happens afterwards.
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Yep - they’ll only care if their post Trump jobs dry up in the wigngnut welfare ecosystem.
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Call you representative in the House, call your senators. Tell them not to stand with this shit.
Write letters to the editor.
Join a local Indivisible chapter and learn how to do effective activist stuff.
Find the local Democratic (or DSA or whatever) party office and offer to volunteer to get out the vote.
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Barr, a once-respected figure in conservative legal circles and a relatively uncontroversial Attorney General during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush
Wait, what?
If he was respected in conservative legal circles it’s because he was helping conservative politicians cover up their involvement in scandals. All working for (not “with”) Il Douche does is make a person less shameful about his naturally shameless behaviour.
Making the choice to work for this narcissistic grifter is an indication that one is either very naive or (more likely) already bent.
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Pardons, Lobbying Jobs, Insider Trading, Board of Director Positions, Lucrative Contracts after being run over, shit on and humiliated by el trumpo … what’s to loose?
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As this article shows, old sins are soon forgotten. Barr will soon be “respected” again.
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Well, the mechanics of accountability are broken - by design, because ‘winning’ is the only thing that matters - and the Republicans are assuming it will ever be thus.
May it prove to be their hubris.
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With apologies to Brooke Foss Westcott:
Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last working for the Trump administration shows what we have become.
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It’s like everyone is forgetting that every republican president since Reagan was considered a dramatic aberration (Maybe not H.W.)… But then the political class slowly acclimatized to those aberrations and now holds them up as “normal.”
You already have to have so much cognitive dissonance to be a conservative that I don’t think it’s really that difficult for them to rationalize supporting Trump. He actually gives them cover to hold abhorrent views (they get to claim they are working behind the scenes to moderate his insanity “for the good of the country.” Those bad ideas were Trump, not us).
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Money; power; white supremacy; fear and hatred of minorities and poor people; a corporate world view that neoliberalism is the best, truest form of capitalism; a belief that socialists are destroying America; a belief that people aren’t equal and aren’t meant to be, so those at the top – including Trump – are somehow superior and have the right to call the shots. It’s how the world works. Even though Trump is clearly an illiterate idiot, grifter, traitor, and mafia don – he’s the boss, and they aren’t.
So you suck it up and do what you’re told, because like it or not, fair or unfair, that’s how the world works.
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It’s always bad, even when it’s good people.
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As I was watching Barr sweat yesterday, I tried to imagine what the orange asshole has on him. I can’t think of any other reason for him to do this. A weird fetish? Video of a strange drunken rant? WHAT DOES HE HAVE ON YOU, BILL?!
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At a certain point in one’s political career reputation and legacy are the most important assets one has.
Giuliani isn’t going to live long enough for the money he makes as a Fox News comedy relief act to substantially improve his remaining years, but his Trump apologist nonsense has pretty thoroughly destroyed any chance he might have once had for getting a street in Manhattan named after him or a nice statue in Central Park.
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Who is Mike Pence?
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form Chris Hedges “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle”(https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033)
“Washington has become our Versailles. We are ruled, entertained, and informed by courtiers – and the media has evolved into a class of courtiers. … We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games, and the purpose behind it is deception.”
Written before 2016, its really worth reading for laying out to what an extent we have become a society ruled by “engagement” without any consideration of truth or value
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The US has become so polarized that people like Barr can blatantly lie and around half the population will still support him, even if a portion of those supporters still think less of him. His reputation is ruined with a majority of Americans but roughly 35% will still consider him a hero.
If you’re throwing your lot in with wealthy grifters who can buy their way out of trouble then you’re set, you’re not going to end up homeless in the gutter, you’re not even going to end up working as a mid-level accountant in some small company. Even if Barr loses his license to practice law he will simply become a paid consultant on Fox News or start his own conservative think tank or PAC or website. Consider how well Oliver North has done since Iran/Contra.
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All this crap is making James Comey look surprisingly good. I bet he’s feeling smug right now. Love him or hate him for how he handled Clinton’s and Trump’s investigations before the election, but he didn’t do it for partisan reasons. He’s one of the few who didn’t sell his soul and is now running around shaming the people who did. I don’t really like the guy, but the US would still be better off with him and more like him.
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