Democracy 2024: # 25

This has turned out to be quite the week.

 

To think though, most of the media coverage for most of the week was about the vigil for and ultimate tragic conclusion to the tourist submersible which imploded in the Atlantic Ocean while trying to allow rich people to look at the wreckage of the Titanic. It is of course very sad that five souls were lost. There may be a movie about this someday but probably not a Celine Dion ballad to go along with it. Throughout the week, for whatever reason, I found myself trying to avoid television coverage of this whole episode.

Far more significant was the story that broke late yesterday afternoon in which it appeared that a full on coup may be taking place in Russia. This was an immensely complex and complicated story but the bottom line was that these surprising events were signifying a big problem for Vladimir Putin and thus was good news for Ukraine and good news for the United States.

Then today, the script suddenly turned. Instead of the tantalizing possibilities of watching urban warfare on the streets of Moscow play out on live television Saturday evening and Sunday, the rebel leader decided to retreat and is apparently headed to Belarus as a form of exile after criminal charges were dropped. America and the world are still left wondering what exactly happened, what it all means, and what it might mean for the future.

 

Some of the predictable nutjob voices on the right are even saying that everything that happened is all part of a Joe Biden/Deep State meant to distract from problems at home.

 

To be brief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former chef for Russian President Putin looked like he was prepared to lead an armed revolt to topple the dictator but some sort of deal was cut and Putin will probably be alive a week from now. Prigozhin, the brutal leader of the Wagner mercenary group, which has been fighting in Ukraine on behalf of Mother Russia is probably not too long for this Earth now, He may or may not realize that.

 

There are no good guys in this story. Both Putin and Prigozhin are brutal killers who are enemies of America, of freedom itself, and are very bad for the victimized Russian populace.There is an old saying that goes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", but in this case, they are both enemies. Still though, Putin is the person currently holding on to power in Russia and acting as a war criminal in Ukraine. Anything, literally almost anything, that could see him thrown from power would be a welcome development. Yes, there are concerns about what a Russian civil war and the prospect of nuclear weapons could mean, but the overall logic was that Russians fighting Russians would be the best possible news for Ukraine surviving and reclaiming land that was taken from them. So, there is another saying I once heard in regards to when Iran fought Iraq in a war, "I wish both sides Mazel Tov." 

 

I could make a lot of analogies to a Trump vs DeSantis battle for the leadership of the Republican Party but I will try to keep in mind this is about a hostile foreign government and not internal U.S. politics, no matter how displeasing the current situation may look in that regard.

 

The best possible news would have been if there was some sort of conflict that took both Putin and Prigozhin off the proverbial playing field. That will not be, at least for now and there are a lot of questions. This all started though as the Wagner mercenaries were unhappy about the way that the war on Ukraine was going and the losses that Russians, both official soldiers and soldiers of fortune were suffering. Late in the week, the Wagner leader went public and said that Putin had been lying about the war all along and the reasons presented for it were all made up. Thus, it seemed to make sense to root for him against Putin, at least initially.

 

The armed convoy of rebels took over a Russian outpost in the south of the country and were driving towards Moscow with seemingly little opposition. Putin allegedly fled the capital, (along with  many oligarchs.) I should of course mention that Volodymyr Zelenskyy remained in Kyiv when he was targeted by an advancing and seemingly powerful foreign army while Putin might have fled because a bunch of rebels had turned their back on him.

Today though, with a relatively short while left to go to Moscow, Prigozhin turned his people and tanks back. Putin had threatened to crush the rebellion of course and the Wagner head was indicted on criminal insurrection charges. Somehow though, as the story goes, the President of Belarus, one of Putin's few friends left in the world, brokered a deal in which charges would be dropped and Prigozhin would go into exile in that country. So much of this makes little sense. What kind of money did Wagner receive in return? What concessions did Russia have to make in regards to its military leadership? What will now become of the Wagner fighters? Are they going to stop fighting in Ukraine or join a more formal alliance with the regular Russian military, many of whom are unenthusiastic conscripts. With independent media virtually barred in Russia, how much of this are the Russian people even aware of?

From what I can surmise, Putin might have dodged a very short-term bullet, but he has shown weakness by this whole incident, even having it require some sort of deal to be made (although it is likely that he intends to find a way to still punish his old chef somehow.) We can only hope this is a sign that the brutal reign of Putin is coming closer to an end and the nation will continue to grapple with internal fissures, as well as the brave and courageous fighting of Ukraine, whom America and the world must continue to stand behind.

 

In "other news", Hunter Biden has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to some relatively minor federal charges that as long as a judge agrees (which is pretty much a given) will keep him out of prison, and free to keep attending his father's State Dinners, as he did this week after the news broke. Seriously, Biden Administration, I agree that the right is ridiculously obsessed with Hunter but this is very bad optics. Hunter should have been told a long time ago to just stay away from any sort of spotlight and the White House public events as long as his father was still President.

Republicans allege that Hunter was given a "sweetheart deal" while Democrats and the Justice Department insist this was not the case and the Trump appointed U.S. Attorney for Delaware had free reign to act anyway he wanted in regards to charging the younger Biden on taxes, guns, or anything else that was being investigated.

I have mixed feelings, On the surface, based on what legal experts have said, it does not appear that Hunter Biden got an easier deal than others in his situation would have. At least, not politically connected rich white men like himself. This has been an investigation that has dragged on for years (a large part of which when Donald Trump was in charge of the Justice Department) and it seems like there are still a lot of questions. It is very valid to point out that Joe Biden allowed the Republican appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss to stay in this role precisely as to not look like they were trying to interfere in the investigation. Still there is an IRS employee, who many consider credible, who has said that the Biden Justice Department pressured Weiss to not charge Hunter Biden on more serious matters related to business dealings with foreign governments. This is important to get to the bottom of, although that is probably doubtful in the current political environment. Congressional Republicans and like-minded partisans continue to yell very loudly that there is all sorts of evidence against the "Biden Crime Family" in regards to Chine, Ukraine, and other places. Thus far, any sort of solid evidence has not been produced.

Generally speaking, I have no doubt that Hunter Biden (and probably other Biden family members as well) got rich trading off of his father's name going back to his time as Vice President. That is unethical as hell but perhaps not technically illegal, and thus, the Justice Department cannot charge someone with something that is merely unethical but not illegal. I also find it extremely hard to believe that Joe Biden had never discussed his son's business dealings at all or was completely unaware of what he was up to. If nothing else, Joe Biden has frequently turned a blind eye to Hunter, and that should matter to the American voter. Finally, the recent claim from President Biden in a television interview that his son had done "nothing wrong", is now completely debunked once and for all. No sitting President should ever have made those comments about what was an ongoing investigation and Hunter Biden himself is now admitting he did illegal things. So, Joe Biden will probably have to fight very hard to not defend his son publicly at all moving forward.

Speaking of finding it hard to not speak publicly, Donald Trump continues to find ways to drive his lawyers crazy, even as the news on the multiple legal fronts surrounding him continue to get more ominous. This week, on two consecutive days, Fox News aired a truly bizarre sitdown with Trump in which the former President and Republican frontrunner spoke at length with Bret Baier, who asked fair and hard questions. I could write multiple pages on this interview alone but will only hit on a couple brief things.

Trump said he did not have time to go through the boxes containing classified documents because he was "busy" and that these secret documents were interspersed in these boxes with newspaper clippings and golf shirts and pants. I could practically hear the champagne popping at Jack Smith's office.

He claimed he won the 2020 election, now, not necessarily because he really got more votes than Biden that were not counted properly, but because the votes for Biden were on fake paper. He said that Ron DeSantis shut Florida down too much and did worse on Covid than New York because Florida had more people die. This still does not make sense because he is trying on the one had to say DeSantis took Covid too seriously and not seriously enough at the same time. Trump acolytes do not care about this inconsistency. Trump took personal credit for the vaccines but said he does not talk about it because the vaccines are not popular with Republicans. He said he did not fire Dr. Fauci because he was not supposed to, even though he said he really could have, but "it was one of those things."

The biggest embarrassment in this interview for Trump though had to be the way be pushed his plan to implement the death penalty for drug dealers (saying that he was inspired by the way the dictator of Communist China puts drug dealers to death) but also bragged that he pardoned drug dealers and freed them from prison when he was President. Baier pointed out that the much ballyhooed Alice Johnson (friend of Kim Kardashian) who was released from prison for serving a lengthy drug dealing sentence would be "killed" under what Trump said he wanted to do to drug dealers and you could literally see Trump start to squirm.

Also this week, former Texas Congressman Will Hurd (whose middle initial is B. and thus has the name "Will B. Hurd" which is sort of a great name for either a rapper or a politician) became the latest Republican to enter the crowded Presidential field. Hurd, a 45 year old former CIA agent, who was recently married, is the son of an African-American father and a white mother who represented a heavily Latino traditionally Democrat district in Texas before he decided to not seek reelection.

Hurd has always been a particular favorite of mine for a variety of reasons. He is clearly running for President in the "non Trump lane" along with Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie. This is in contrast to the major candidates running in the "Trump Lite" lane such as Pence, Haley, Scott, Burgum, and Suarez or the "Ultra-Trump" lane like DeSantis or Ramaswamy.

Clearly, the non-Trump lane must eventually come down to one person. I am torn at the moment myself between Hutchinson and Hurd. Perhaps I am now going to lean, at least for now, towards Hurd, because I find him more inspiring in regards to his vision of the Republican Party and the country, but on the issues, he is probably very similar to Hutchinson. When all is said and done, the concepts of money and name recognition could ultimately have me casting a primary vote for Christie as well.

Among the three, when it comes to the "must support the nominee no matter what debate pledge", Hutchinson seems to be saying he really does not want to sign it but may have no choice, while Christie is saying he will sign it and laugh it off at the same time. This week, Hurd said he will not sign it, even if it means he will not get to be on the debate stage. Of course, I still wonder if Trump will even bother to debate in the primaries.

I think I have covered a ton of ground this Saturday and did not even manage to get into a discussion of abortion politics on the one year anniversary of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade (something I believe was long overdue in a Constitutional sense.) I could have also covered the misguided adventures of House Republicans as they managed to censure California Democrat Adam Schiff (thus greatly helping his U.S. Senate primary campaign) or their"symbolic efforts" to expunge the two Impeachments of Donald Trump from the record. Talk about "cancel culture." I also cannot get into the exchange that had Marjorie Taylor Greene call Lauren Boebert a "little bitch" on the House floor. Perhaps, topics like this can be delved into more in the weeks ahead, along with the latest in RFK Jr. conspiracy theories.

For now, the race for the White House continues,When all is said and done, someone will be moving into or remaining at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Maybe a deal can be made to send Donald Trump to Belarus.