This guy, this morning, and I won’t put you through the other three posts:
SO, WE CAUGHT THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THROUGH THE USE OF THE FBI & OTHER AGENCIES, CONCLUSIVELY & IRREFUTABLY CHEATING ON THE 2020 Presidential Election, AND COMPLETELY & ILLEGALLY CHANGING ITS RESULT. THIS WAS ONLY ONE OF MANY FORMS OF CHEATING, BUT FRANKLY, IT WAS A BEAUT! THE FBI HAS NO EXCUSE, THEY WERE CAUGHT COLD, BUT THIS MUST NOT BECOME A COLD CASE. NOW WHAT? HONEST & BRAVE PROSECUTORS & JUDGES MUST STEP UP & CLEAN OUT THIS CANCER WHICH IS DESTROYING OUR ONCE GREAT COUNTRY!
You mad, bro? It is so damned ironic because Trump wouldn’t be president were it not for the FBI (Especially the NYC Office), which dumped Weiner’s “Laptop” and “more emails” – which didn’t exist – just eight days prior to the election too late for the FBI to really clear Hillary.
Anyway, as always, there are about a half dozen lies in that statement, but that’s not the point today. (By the way, the above post came one hour after another post that same almost the same thing.) No, this column is going to focus on why Trump is jumping on this FBI thing so strongly.
IF Trump is indicted, it will be based on evidence gathered by the FBI. Trump knows that the FBI didn’t flip the election or lose the election, and there were plenty of anti-Biden things on Twitter. But Trump needs the FBI to be a horrific organization (Even though they were under Bill Barr at the time) so that if he is indicted, he can say, “See! They hate Trump! First, they stole the election from me, and now they are planting evidence to charge me because they know that I will win in 2024 and this is the only way to keep me out.”
Trump is not a smart man. Nor is he an educated man. But he does have this feral survival instinct that informs this type of strategy. The cognitive dissonance required to blame the FBI for their policies – when he was head of the government – is impressive. And he would be furious anyway, but he would be more focused on Twitter flipping the election (How does he know it impacted a single vote? We STILL don’t know exactly “why” the laptop is important). But putting the FBI squarely in his crosshairs is more about future accusations than anything about “now,” or even back in October of 2020.
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[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK
He’s a nazi. Maybe not smart enough or educated enough to understand how Hitler and his propaganda minister used lies and propaganda to turn lies into ‘truth’, but, due to his lifetime of deceit, he’s the benefactor of the nazi adage, tell a lie enough times and it will be ‘truth’ for the mass of people who want to believe it. If Hitler had the internet and faux news at the time, there’s reason to believe he could have taken over europe & the world. There were a lot of nazi sympathizers in the US at the time even without a 24/7 media stream spewing lies. Our country’s citizens sacrificed in ways never seen since. Now people are too lazy to figure out truth from lies. At least 75 million are.
Well, he’s been so stuck in 2020 at least he’s kinda, sorta looking ahead a bit. Albeit in his own strange, fucked-up with nonsensical thinking way… Baby steps. (Maybe)
Concerning the past, I always remind my children with the following question: can you drive down the road staring in the rear view mirror? Of course not. As the greatest coach Dean Smith used to teach his players about ‘mistakes’, do the following: 1)recognize them, 2)admit them, 3)learn from them, 4)forget them. Good advice. Narcissists don’t take advice. As Trump said about every goddamn thing…I know better than the experts. Of course, he’s an empty headed bag of skin. I’m just glad he didn’t drop nukes on the hurricanes or build a wall across southern Colorado to keep the new Mexicans from crossing the border. What a moron.
Dean Smith is one of my all-time heroes. Civil Rights leader, father figure to young men, and a great coach.
I met him in 1998 at the Durham YMCA. He was there with Jimmy Black and a couple of Duke players to support a basketball program designed to give the young men in Durham a place to play at the new YMCA in downtown Durham. After all his success and fame, he was the most humble person I’ve ever encountered. Left an impression on me since 1998. I also attended his service at the Dean Dome after he died. His former players, many wearing NBA rings, more than any other program in college ball, felt the same way. Father figure, mentor, inspirational leader. He was maniacal about his players getting an education, even though he sent more talent early to the NBA long before anyone else, starting with Bob McAdoo in 1972. A lot of folks don’t know that coach K and he became friends as did their wives. K and his wife visited Dean at the beach when his dementia robbed him of his prodigious memory. He was a rare human being deserving of the Presidential Medal. He also started all this ‘analytics’ that everyone blatters on about these days. He was an innovator. He was never about himself. Those days are gone.
Such a wonderful response. I’m saving this.
Oh, and I should say that I’m a Gonzaga alum. In my first year (89) they won 8 games. By my senior year they’d won 20. Three years later 1995 they were in the tournament, 4 yrs later was the run to the elite 8, and they’ve gone to 23 straight tournaments, 2nd only to Kansas. And, in their first National title game, lost to UNC in a game that was… extremely close until the worst call ever with 2:00 left and our PG twisted an ankle on the play.
So, for me to love UNC and Coach Smith is just such a beautiful man. He encouraged his players to miss practice for a protest over how low the school paid the black cooks. Amazing.
There have been plenty of great articles about the UNC-Duke rivalry. I recall a great one in Sports Illustrated decades ago when both Smith and Coach K, as well as each program was awesome. It covered a lot of ground including the style of play each coach utilized. Smith’s teams were noted for rigid roles – one joke being Smith was the last person able to hold Michael Jordan under 20 points a game. Even Jordan, a rare talent even in college stuck to his assigned role. Coach K on the other hand had a system of interchangable parts on offense, a much more free-form approach. The article went on to note that Smith who was as you note known to be politically progressive presided over the most “corporate” program and system in the county, while the West Point grad Coach K who as I said was far more permissive with his players and offense (defense was another matter!) leaned conservative. (Although unless I’m mistaken he never spoke/advocated for candidates or policies)
Now that I live outside Raleigh I have encountered my share of hard-core fans of both programs. Sometimes the disdain of some is way the fuck over the top. And for Tar Heel (UNC to those who aren’t basketball fans) fans I will provoke howls for saying this but I always thought in one respect Coach K had the right perspective on the whole “which school’s program is the best?” thing. His position was that Carolina had a longer and more consistent history at being in the very top tier of college basketball. He was frank about admiring the fact they were great. But, he also said there was no reason Duke couldn’t be great too, that it didn’t have to be only one school or the other. I always liked that attitude. Champions want to take on the best and if one of your annual rivals for the title of best team in a given year is only six or seven miles away so what? It gives every fan within driving distance that more reason to come and watch and support/root against BOTH schools. Neither coach was afraid of the competition. They relished it! Something people should think about. Greatness inspires (or should) more greatness, and if one isn’t there what should be done is put in the work to become great instead of using one’s effort to tear down a rival’s greatness!
There have been only TWO programs that have won 5 titles since they opened the tournament in 1975. UNC & Duke. Prior to that you had to win the ACC tournament in the best league in the land. So many great teams didn’t get to play so anyone prior to 75 needs to have an asterisk. A little known personal secret Duke fans will be jealous of…through circumstances, I became close friends in the 90s with Mike Cragg the SID and he later rose through the ranks at Duke and now is athletic director at St. John’s. He’s a great guy and tried to help me bounce back from a failed adoption. Anyway in 95 K was down with his back. Mike let me sit in his seat in Cameron during the famous overtime game where they still show the Stackhouse dunk. The only rule was I couldn’t openly root for my Alma mater. That was an experience. Every Duke fan needs to go if they can. I loved the game but my finger took a beating as I had to find ways to keep quiet! I hope no one gives him grief over this reveal, since some fans are rabid & this is the first time I’ve made it public. Mike and Paige were good friends and I wish him huge success in his new job.