The standard breadcrumbs have been scattered on the trail. The path is becoming clear. Remember when Roger Stone was in prison? Guilty as hell. Guilty as sin, in fact. But Trump began to talk about poor Roger and Stone’s daughter went on Fox News to plead for her poor poor father and pretty soon Stone had a commuted sentence and then he was free as a bird. And then pardoned. Stone was convicted of obstruction of justice and making false statements in connection with the congressional investigation of the 2016 Russian interference with the election case. Trump pardoned him because Trump approved of Stone’s actions. Ghislaine Maxwell will get a pardon for similar reasons. Watch.
In the case of Maxwell, what Trump has already done is institutionally catastrophic to the Department of Justice. To start, by hiring his personal criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche to become Deputy AG overseeing all prosecutions and pardons, Trump destroyed any semblance of objectivity at DOJ and signaled that it was going to become his personal law firm.
But by assigning Blanche to go on a two-day interview with a convicted child sex trafficker sitting in prison—who in all likelihood has deeply damaging information about Trump and wants a pardon—Trump has ended the separation between his personal defense and the legal machinery of the state. It’s not corruption, it is disintegration of everything we were told for years was so important by Democrats—norms, institutions and the rule of law.
This is what a decompensating government looks like, a shameless, paranoid, grandiose spectacle with no boundaries, governed by projection and magical thinking.
This morning, on Trump’s way to yet another golf course vacation, this exchange arose:
Reporter: “Would you consider a pardon or commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell?”
Trump: “I’m allowed to do it, but it’s something I haven’t thought about.”
Let’s examine what Trump’s doing here. This is his usual rhetorical pattern when trying to do something transgressive:
Step 1: Float the possibility
Step 2: Deny intention
Step 3: Let allies test narratives
Step 4: Act when resistance is lowest and leverage is highest.
What are some other examples of this?
In March 2020, two months before Bill Barr dropped the charges on Mike Flynn, and seven months before pardoning Flynn, Trump tweeted this:
“General Flynn was tormented. He’s a good man. Let’s see what happens.”
Trump knew what he was going to do ahead of time, floated the possibility, let his proxies normalize it, and then pulled the trigger when he needed Flynn for his own purposes.
Similarly, Trump said this in February 2020, four months before commuting Roger Stone’s sentence, and eight months before he pardoned Stone.
“I think Roger Stone has been treated very unfairly.”
Similar dynamics can be seen with many of Trump’s pardons, and other similarly corrupt actions, including the pardon and commutation en masse of 1,600 J6 criminals and terrorists.
The January 6 terrorists — and there is no other word for people who use bats, poles, mace, fire extinguishers and other instrumentalities against the Capitol Police, while breaking the windows and doors and breaching the Capitol — were released en masse and a lot of them have gone on to commit other crimes and become re-incarcerated.
Ghislaine Maxwell is a monster. Take the word of her victims for that.
Here is what a few of her victims said about her, for the record:
Virginia Giuffre
“Maxwell was like the ‘madam’ of the house. She was like the enforcer. She would always be the one to call me and say, ‘Jeffrey wants you. Get on the plane.’”
“She was cold. She knew what she was doing. She said it was normal. That sex with older men was how powerful women got ahead.”
Annie Farmer
“She had this fake British charm, but she was manipulative and cruel underneath. She used that charm to disarm you. And once she had control, she used it to abuse.”
“She touched my chest. She told me I needed to be more comfortable with my body. It felt so violating.”
Sarah Ransome
“She is a monster. She told me how to please Epstein. She would laugh when I cried.”
“She’s worse than him in many ways—because she’s a woman and she knew exactly what she was doing.”
Here is what a judge said about her:
“[Maxwell] was instrumental in the horrific abuse of minor girls, and she made it possible for Epstein to commit these crimes by choosing, grooming, and controlling the victims.” —Judge Alison Nathan
Trump is just fine with monsters. He’s fine with them being monsters and he’s fine with them being freed from prison to be monsters again.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “What about the base?” My best guess on that is that Trump will throw them a lot of red meat, as many names that don’t begin with the letters DJT as he can possibly find. And that may be enough. And if Maxwell can get Trump’s base off his back and get the base right with Trump again, then she will have served her purpose and earned the pardon.
Or, conceivably, Maxwell will go the way of her boyfriend, and die mysteriously in jail. It’s still a little early to tell. Or, another possibility, the theory that was initially raised by most pundits, is that Maxwell’s sentence will be commuted, but towards the end of Trump’s term. But I think that in the past 48 hours the chances of a pardon have shot up astronomically.
And Trump is a creature of habit and he is predictable. And so far the pattern that he has used in pardoning other criminals is playing out. So it’s reasonable to assume that the result is going to play out as well.
As Dr. Lennox, professor emeritus of mathematics at Oxford University, points out…Christianity is the only religion that promises justice. Christ promised to return, and, according to scripture, will judge the living and the dead. He points out, rightly so, that most people on earth will die without justice. Stalin killed tens of millions…Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler…the list is endless. How does the mother and infant, screaming into eternity, as they’re shot by nazis, get justice? In our non believing material culture, who erroneously believes science has no mystery, and has all the answers, or just believes in the material universe, there ultimately will be no justice. If you’re a member of the lucky sperm club, you win. If not, you’re ass could be locked up by a criminal, who WAS born into hundreds of millions of grifted money, although you are poor and innocent. The idea there will be no justice contradicts scripture. My point is, whatever ‘justice’ existed in our legal system, is on life support and dying fast, just as we expected, if this nazi loving malignant narcissist ever touched power again. We ALL operate with belief systems. Trump is the ultimate materialist. He will continue to do the unthinkable until only us old folks will remember there used to be a place that, despite the marbled past, was founded in the name of freedom. It was called America. I believe there will ultimately be justice, and I’ll freely accept God’s judgement. Until that day, I have no hope we will see it at the hands of human beings. It’s clear we now have a cruel dictator who has made himself the law. The only one to turn to now is the mystery of God, and the only place to be is on our knees. America…joining Atlantis as the mythological land that disappeared…