In the mosh pit of “pick ME for VP” Trump World people is one Elise Stefanik. I gather once upon a time she was what passes for a moderate in the GOP and reasonably well respected. She had it seemed a promising future. Then she started drinking orange Kool-Aide (the orange comes from the make-up/spray tan Trump sweats off – I know, eeewww!) and sold her soul to the Devil Trump to get a high-up spot in GOP House Leadership. However it’s been evident for a while she’s aiming higher. As in being Trump’s running mate next year. Being a full-blown MAGA cult member she lives in an alternate reality but her once normally functioning brain knows how things work in the world she now inhabits.
Stefanik knows that if someone in Trump world wants something from Trump, they have to give him something he really wants. It’s not like the GOP House has covered itself in glory in creating any GOP legislative accomplishments, at least nothing that gives Trump something tangible. So Stefanik seems to have settled on a different strategy – getting judges Trump’s mad at formally sanctioned. She filed a formal complaint a while back against judge Engoron up in NY. That of course is something that would please Trump but it’s not getting her mentioned these days as a VP pick. So, as this article from Meaww discusses she’s trying again. This time her target is DC District Court judge Beryl Howell. Howell has presided over several cases related to the events of January 6 and that’s enough that Stefanik went looking for an excuse to file a formal complaint. Naturally the complaint requests a formal ethics investigation for “judicial misconduct.”
Howell (who served a seven year stint as Chief Judge in DC District Court) has overseen numerous Jan. 6 related cases and also other Trump related matters. She’s earned a well deserved reputation as an excellent jurist over the years. Since legally there’s nothing for Stefankik to hang her hat on she went looking for something, anything she could use. What did Stefanik “uncover?” It seems late last month judge Howell received an award and in her speech thanking those who honored her with said award said things that merit investigation and even discipline:
Stefanik argued that the remarks Judge Howell made on November 27, 2023, when she accepted an award at a Women’s White Collar Defense Association gala were, “plainly inappropriate, consisting of partisan statements, election interference, and improper extrajudicial statements while criminal cases are pending”.
Stefanik cited Heather Cox Richardson’s book Democracy Awakening, specifically a passage where Richardson wrote the U.S. is  “at a crossroads, teetering on the brink of authoritarianism” as an example of Howell’s remarks being improper. She says the judge  “promoted the Democrat political campaign theme that the re-election of Donald Trump equates to America choosing authoritarianism”. From the linked article:
While Judge Howell did not mention Trump or Republicans by name, she alluded to the former president, including in her remarks the January 6 storming of the Capitol.
Congresswoman Stefanik claimed that Howell’s speech “insinuated that the election of President Trump will lead to fascism in America”
Stefanik believes and has formally alleged judge Howell insinuated the election of Trump would turn us into a Fascist country. Well, plenty of people smarter than me (and I consider myself fairly smart) think Trump getting back in the WH will in fact lead this country into Fascism, but that’s not the point. From where I sit Stefanik is engaging in twisted Trumpian “admission but denying what’s being admitted even though it’s true.” As noted above Howell didn’t cite Trump, any Republican or the GOP by name but simply pointed out a widely held view written by someone else. Hardly something that rises to “inappropriate comments” or “judicial misconduct.”
What else did Stefanik find objectionable? Well, judge Howell spoke admiringly about about Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, who was also honored at last month’s event. As it happens Monaco is DOJ’s person in charge of prosecutions of the cases related to the the Jan. 6 insurrection riot at the Capitol:
In her acceptance speech, Howell praised Monaco by saying, “I’ve been in awe of how you remain a model of calm and grace when carrying enormous responsibility for the safety of so many. Not just in your current job, but in your prior national security role.”
“My D.C. judicial colleagues and I regularly see the impact of big lies at the sentencing of hundreds, hundreds of individuals who have been convicted for offense conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, when they disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election at the U.S. Capitol,” the judge said in her speech in November.
“As district court judges, we are all about the facts,” she added.
How saying someone doing their job and doing it well, and especially pointing out that judges are “all about the facts” rises to judicial misconduct is beyond me but I don’t drink orange Kool Aide and dwell in MAGA World. Stefanick however not only lives over in that weird world of MAGA, she wants to be elevated to Trump’s #2. (Pun intended. She really should talk to and more importantly listen to Mike Pence) For Stefanik this is beyond the pale. Virulent anti-Trump bias that manifests in unfairness to MAGA Orange Turd would be Dictator and for the nefarious purpose of hurting his chances of winning a second term:
The Republican Congresswoman stated, “I filed a judicial misconduct complaint against Judge Howell, because election interference by judges destroys public confidence in the federal judiciary, tears apart the fabric of our Republic, and is illegal. It must end now.”
The reaction on Twitter/X (TwitteX? TwiXtter?) was less than kind. You can go to the link and see some of the tweets responding to Stefanik’s nonsense but it includes things like “Turth hurts, doesn’t it?, “Donald Trump tore apart the fabric of our country. It’s about time he faces consequences.”, and one that makes the point (about VP) that I started with in this article – “‘The Apprentice’: VP Edition All this bootlicking and running interference for a criminal is because Elise thinks she has a good shot at becoming Trump’s running mate.”
Stefanik was relatively young when she went to Congress and seemed to be poised to have a long career in elective office that would provide her a reputable (in the good way) legacy. It seems to me that rather than put in the time and work she decided to use the Lyndsey Graham playbook of latching on like a lemming to someone more powerful to get ahead faster. And Trump being the biggest whale in the GOP like Graham she latched onto him. Of course lots of other Republicans have done so too. That means in order to get Trump’s attention she decided to do something others, including and especially the VP wannabes have not. Focus on going after judges that don’t care that Trump is Trump. Judges who deal in facts and the law and because the fact and law are against Trump end up ruling in ways that Trump doesn’t like.
I don’t know who Trump will wind up picking as his VP. However I think it’s safe to say Elise Stefanik is on the “no freaking way” list. She sold her soul, but it will not “profiteth her to second place in Trump/MAGA World.
She better start wearing dresses that show her…er…ASSets if she’s gonna compete with his attorney. What little brain matter keeps his body alive resides south of the border. Besides he, like the trust fund drunk from hurricane alley, like them still in middle and high school.
When it comes to commenting on women’s looks and/or “hotness” I’ve learned as a guy I’ve at times crossed the line. I will say that from the time I was young (as in old enough to like girls and wish they liked me) I’ve had a particular thing for women with black hair and fair skin. That’s never changed and not having a model’s figure doesn’t keep many such women from being attractive to me. Having said that Trump has a type, and frankly I don’t think Stefanik could carry off the “blonde look” so she can forget about being as high profile in Trump’s orbit as she clearly wants to be.
where have I heard not my type before lo
Unfortunately for their side, facts, truth, and actual reality appear to have a liberal bias.
An appearance formed by reality, not lies.