Sunday, February 13, 2022

Remember When Trump World Wanted to Prosecute Nancy Pelosi for Destruction of Official Documents?

Projection is always the sincerest form of Trumpism.

by CHRIS TRUAX
FEBRUARY 11, 2022 
THE BULWARK

"America", a fully-working solid gold toilet, created by Maurizio Cattelan and a letter 
about the missing 15 boxes of records from the Trump White House
 (Photos: GettyImages)

There’s a saying—often attributed to Sun Tzu but probably from James Clavell—that if you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by. In many ways, that’s a pretty apt description of Never Trumpers and the Trump presidency.

Don’t get me wrong. Our democracy is under threat and we need to do everything to actively combat that threat. But we can also take comfort in the fact that MAGA’s stupidity and incompetence always reveals itself in the end. The mill of reality may grind a little slowly sometimes but it grinds incredibly fine and, when it comes to the MAGA world, often with hilarious results.

You may dimly recall that in the before times back in 2020, Nancy Pelosi made brief headlines for tearing up a copy of Trump’s speech at the State of the Union address. What you probably don’t recall is MAGA world’s reaction to that moment.

Matt Gaetz even filed a formal complaint with the House Ethics committee and asked that Pelosi be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

To cap it all off, Donald Trump himself condemned Pelosi for her “illegal” actions.

“Well, I thought it was a terrible thing when she ripped up the speech. First of all, it’s an official document. You’re not allowed—it’s illegal what she did.”

Of course, all of this outrage was misplaced because the copy of his speech that Trump handed to Pelosi was not an “official record.” As a legal matter, it was simply a piece of paper and her personal property.

And now, almost exactly two years to the day later, President Trump has been referred to the Department of Justice for—and I have tears in my eyes as I write this—ripping up official documents.

Donald Trump is incontrovertible proof that God loves America and that He has an excellent—if slightly dark—sense of humor. When most countries face a wave of populist authoritarianism, it’s being led by an Orban or a Mussolini. Ours is being led by Elmer Fudd, a leader so incompetent and so . . . actively stupid that it almost beggars description.

We Never Trumpers still have a hard fight on our hands. But we know that, in the end, MAGA’s alternate reality bubble will collapse and that Donald Trump and all the rest will eventually float by on the river of history. And on that day, when the history books are written, the final verdict on Donald Trump will be, “What a maroon!”


Chris Truax is an appellate lawyer in San Diego and the CEO of CertifiedVoter.com, the first system designed to deter foreign interference in American social media. He is a member of the Guardrails of Democracy Project.

'We followed no rules' in 'crazy and strange' Trump White House: former press secretary

Tom Boggioni
February 11, 2022

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP

Appearing on CNN's "New Day" on Friday morning to talk about reports of Donald Trump destroying documents -- including reportedly flushing some down the toilet -- former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham explained that there were few rules when she worked there.

Speaking with hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar, Grisham alternately called the former president "paranoid" and "strange" in his habits.

"You know, I wasn't surprised when I saw the report," she told the CNN hosts. "I think what's important is this is another example of a White House and an administration that we had no rules, we followed no rules. Obviously, with this, I do think it should be looked into. But there's going to be a lot that goes into it. They may have been marked top secret but had the president declassify them, who packed them, what was the intent there? Was everything really returned? I think the point is, I know people are talking about, you know, should he get in trouble legally for this?"

READ: Trump should be indicted for at least six crimes and banned from politics: legal experts

Asked, "Was it a nervous tic or because he wanted them out of circulation?" she replied, "I don't know the answer to that to be honest with you. I always thought it was a nervous tic. It was -- he always tore everything up," before later adding, "I saw him put some of the torn up pieces inside his jacket pocket and I thought, huh, wonder why that's going in his pocket rather than on the floor? There weren't alarm bells for me at the time because I was so used to seeing it. but I distinctly remember wondering why they went in his pocket? Maybe to be flushed in a toilet later."

Trump committed crimes when he took 'top secret' files: If prosecution is 'politicizing the law' -- then he’s above it

After accusing Trump of being "paranoid" she added, "You know, he didn't trust anybody. He didn't trust the people around him. He didn't trust the people who were around him the most. There were just times when he would want to do things alone."

"I saw him meet with Rudy Giuliani before in a room with literally nobody else in there -- he was just a paranoid man," she continued. "And for me, he was always that way. So it didn't set alarm bells off. Now that I have kind of stepped back and taken a break from this cult-like atmosphere, I'm seeing how crazy and strange it all was."

Watch below:
CNN 02 11 2022 

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