I’m still riding a sugar high like a 5 y.o. that cracked into a new box of Ding Dongs. But like actor Larry David, I’m trying to Curb My enthusiasm. It’s tough, but I owe it to my readers.
There were 11 new miscreants and Trump sycophants who turned up being indicted in Arizona today for their part in the Fake Elector scheme. I’ve already dealt with Boris Epsteyn, and still have a warm glow, but it was surprising to see the number of non Arizona legislative names that cropped up once again.
I thought that it might be both entertaining as well as instructive to take a look at what the ultimate effect of Trump’s disastrous four year reign of terror have had on those around him. This is not an exhaustive or deep dive, but as you read through the list, please keep in mind that the majority of the people here were by most accounts normal working professionals before they started dancing behind Trump’s Pied Piper’s flute. But former GOP strategist Rick Wilson nailed it perfectly with the title of his book, Everything Trump Touches, Dies. To wit;
- Respected GOP pollster and strategist KellyAnne Conway was one of Trump’s earliest and most ardent converts. Conjb got booted from both MSNBC as well as CNN for being incapable of answering a simple question. Conjob crafted the nonsensical and abhorrent phrase Alternate Facts. Conjob’s devotion cost her her marriage, and in a post Trump world, her earnings potential are going to be seiously hampered
- Rudy Giuliani is a former two term Mayor of New York, as well as a presidential candidate. But thanks to Trump, Giuliani has his license to practice law suspended, and will like lose it permanently. He’s on the hool for a $100 million+ defamation judgement, his luxury apartment is on the block, and he’s reduced to a podcast paid for by a vitamin company. Giuliani’s current persona is a sad, pathetic, delusional dotard
- Jenna Ellis was a young, ambitious lawyer, seduced by the persona of Trump. She placed her law license at risk by signing off on a palsied document to the DOJ that all classified documents had been returned, when no other Trump lawyer would touch it with fire tongs. Her law license is at risk. She was indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, copped a tearful plea to try to save her license, and has now been indicted in Arizona
- Sidney Powell has always been a flake, but a mild mannered and inoffensive kind of flake. Now, as the Wicked Witch of The Big Steal, she’s a laughingstock, her Texas lar license is at risk, and she also copped a guilty plea in Fulton County in a last ditch to save it. She may still be on the hook in the Michigan fraud scheme investigation
- Peter Navarro was a middle-of-the-road who knows what. Trump signed him on as his Chief Foreign Trade Advisor, and Navarro quickly distinguished himself by making long, rambling, incoherent statements from the podium. Then Navarro tried his hand at politics, falsely claiming to be the architect of The Green Bay Sweep scam to send the electoral results to the US House, which would hand Trump a dictatorship. Tonight Navarro is eating protein loaf and sleeping on a prison bunk
- John Eastgman was a moderately well regarded constitutional law school professor with tenure at a college in California. despite Navarro’s rantings, it was Eastman who was actually the architect of the fake electors plot, sending the Trump campaign a 35 page power point presentation about how they could use the US House to use the fraudulent elector ballots to send the electoral college vote the the House floor, where the GOP majority would hand Trump the keys to the car
- Mark Meadows was a moderately talented Freedom caucus House member, with nice committee assignments, and a safely gerrymandered district. And then Traitor Tot tapped him on the shoulder to be his Chief of Staff. Why Meadows would want to take a job that former RNC Chair Reince Priebus and former General John Kelly had jettisoned is beyond me. And now Meadows is an unindicted co-conspirator in the DC case, indicted in Fulton County, Heorgia, and freshly minted indicted in Arizona
See my point? Every last one of these people were ordinary, everyday slobs you could meet on the street, in a law office, or in a classroom. They were just trying to make a buck, and chase the American Dream. And then they got sucked into the vortex of the Trump Black Hole, and now the remainder of their sad lives are ruined. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of them aren’t rooting for Traitor Tot to go down in the Manhattan criminal trial. Hell, joy where you find it.
I thank you for the privilege of your tie.
I don’t most of them got sucked in – they willingly jumped into the orange is the new black hole. I find Ellis to be interesting here. She copped a plea in GA as you pointed out, hoping to both save her law license and to maybe avoid doing time. I would have thought she’d do the same in Arizona. Maybe they weren’t interested for whatever reason. However there’s another possibility. Mike Flynn pled guilty and was set to take a dose of medicine, probably in a tacit agreement to get prosecutors to give his son a pass. Then he met the aforementioned Sydney Powell who was once respectable but had gone over to the dark side. She convinced him to blow the whole thing up and will new AG Bilirubin Barr leading the way to get Flynn off the hook the case went to hell. I’m guessing that the only reason Flynn’s son didn’t wind up prosecuted is a combination of Garland’s timidness and Barr fucking with the case like he did up in SDNY for Trump.
Given how the GA case got sidetracked and seemed on life support is it possible Ellis regrets having pled out? And found her own version of a Sydney Powell? If so it’s a bad call on her part. It looks like the GA case might be getting back on track and that’s a big “Uh Oh” for Ellis as her agreement requires cooperation in other cases. Like Arizona for example! IF Ellis held out instead of doing what she did in GA and cut a cooperation deal it will go badly for her in two different STATE jurisdictions. Beyond the power of a Presidential pardon. GA Governors can’t pardon at all. There’s a board which in theory has such powers but it’s a complicated process and pretty much useless to try, especially without really top legal talent which Ellis can’t afford.
In AZ GOPer politicians are doing their level best to turn the state purple, and perhaps it might become (very) light blue. That means counting on a pardon there is a dicey proposition. We should keep an eye on this to see if Ellis suddenly pleads out. You can bet the prosecutors in Fulton County GA are consulting with their counterparts in AZ asking WTF is going on with Ellis out there? If they don’t like the answers and get documentation she’s refusing to cooperate expect to see her back in front of judge McAffee in Fulton County. With a LOT of explaining to do!