"There are no rules inside the insane mind"
Steven Magee
As much as I like to think I plan my articles ahead of time, most of my ideas come impromptu from reading the news out of the White House on any given day
This weekend, for example, I read three separate articles in the New York Times that pretty well summed up our current political reality. Let me explain.
The first concerns former New York congressman George Santos. He pled guilty in August 2024 of using credit card numbers of campaign contributors and others to purchase luxury goods for himself. In other words, he admitted he was a thief. He was sentenced to ten years in federal prison, along with repaying his victims $370,000 he stole from them.
Justice.
Not so in Donald Trump’s mind. After serving just 84 days, his sentence was commuted and the mandated repayment to his victims was cancelled! And how did Mr. Trump justify such an outrageous act? “Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” he posted on Truth Social.
But Santos is not the only occasion where Mr. Trump has redefined justice. All of these convicted felons had their sentences commuted or were pardoned—their crime simply erased.
· Duke Cunningham, of California, was convicted of taking over $2 million in bribes.
· Duncan Hunter, also of California, pocketed thousands of dollars of campaign contributions and spent it on extramarital affairs.
· Rick Renzi, of Arizona, was convicted of racketeering and extortion.
· Robin Hayes, of North Carolina, lied to investigators in a bribery investigation.
· Chris Collins, of New York, pleaded guilty to insider trading and false statements.
· Michael Grimm, also of New York, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and also admitted in court that he committed perjury and hired undocumented immigrants.
· John Rowland, of Connecticut, a former governor as well as congressman, pleaded guilty to election fraud after going to prison years earlier in a separate scandal
· Steve Stockman, of Texas, was released after serving only two years of a 10-year sentence for stealing upward of $1 million.
· Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor, engaged in a criminal scheme to sell the Senate seat of Barack Obama after he was elected president
· And most notable of all, the 1,600 rioters who invaded the Capital building on January 6 in an attempt to stop the legal transfer of power—a foundational function of our democracy. All of them, even those convicted of assaulting police officers, had their sentences commuted or pardoned.
In theory, a commutation, and especially a pardon, carries with it an admission of guilt, a willingness to repent and a pledge to turn around one’s life to benefit society. But there was none of that expected in Trump world. What did every one of these people have in common? They pledged support for Donald Trump.
Only the president can offer commutations and pardons. And that is why legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin calls them an X-ray into the soul of the president. They reveal his core values. And what Mr. Trump values most is not guilt or innocence, not justice, and definitely not repentance. Mr. Trump’s soul is comprised of amoral deal-making that only benefits him.
But I have good news. On October 18, millions of people marched in cities and towns, large and small, across the nation to protest Mr. Trump’s redefinition of justice. It was called “No Kings” march.
Trump world continually warned there would be violence sponsored by Antifa—a loosely knit alliance of those opposed to fascism, even suggesting that he would have to enact the Insurrection Act to restore order. But instead of the violence Mr. Trump predicted—or even hoped for, the protests were notably filled with inflatable chickens, sharks, clowns, and even a Chicago hot dog!
Why? To attack Mr. Trump where he is most vulnerable—his ego. To give him a visible, and even humorous show of non-violent defiance.
And how did Mr. Trump respond? With an AI-generated video of him flying an Air Force jet wearing a King’s crown, all while dropping excrement on the No Kings protesters. Mr. Trump may have earned billions of dollars over his lifetime, but at his core, he is still a vulgar man with a shriveled soul devoid of any feelings for anyone or anything beyond himself.
The excrement only revealed all too clearly who he really is. But what is most damning—and most frightening—is he is actually proud of it.
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