Was catching up on earlier posts and saw a twit embed from ambulatory cream cheese sculpture Hugh Hewitt that illustrates a particularly irritating (to me) weasel whistle:
Jack Smith, an American Javert, should be obliged to prosecute this case outside of the Beltway. Former President Trump deserves a fair trial on these unprecedented charges which will strike tens of millions of Americans as a political witch hunt.
Emphasis mine. What’s a weasel whistle? It’s a phrase I made up just now for the expression of second-hand grievance. It’s an attempt to speak on behalf of a group while simultaneously handling said group with tongs so as to avoid associating oneself with its possibly contagious stupidity.
In that construction, it’s not Hewitt who’s loathe to hold his party’s disgraced former POTUS and current 2024 frontrunner accountable in the prescribed manner. He’s pretending to cape for “tens of millions” of slack-jawed yokels who Hewitt knows will regard anything less than a Trump Restoration and presidency for life as a “political witch hunt.”
All manner of craven, ambitious dingleberries who want to profit from the Trump cult without getting the ick on them speak in the same way. FL Gov. DeFlated used a weasel whistle to justify making it even harder to register and vote after bragging that the state’s 2020 election was a model for the nation.
He also sold the completely unnecessary multimillion-dollar election police force as necessary to restore confidence since lots of citizens are allegedly “concerned” about voter fraud. It’s a load of horseshit.
The latest indictment cites Trump’s “pervasive and destabilizing lies.” Hewitt’s meeping and DeFailure’s voter suppression bamboozles are examples of the fallout of those lies.
As a nation, I don’t think we’ll ever truly scrub out the Trump stain. It has indelibly marred America, like a greasy Trump Tower taco bowl tipped onto an unfortunate customer’s lap.
But to recover as best we can and move forward, we’ve got to stop catering to Trump’s idiot cult. Forget the so-called “forgotten man.” Maybe he was forgotten for good reason? Because he’s an obnoxious moron?
I say it’s past time to forget him again because he’s had his day — the endless diner interviews, the unwarranted toleration of babbling public idiocy, the laws supposedly crafted to assuage the “fuck your feelings” crowd’s fucking feelings. Enough, goddammit!
Bill and I watched baseball instead of news last night (fuck the fucking Yankees!), but from what I gather via brief snippets I’ve seen, most pundits don’t expect Trump’s J6 trial to change any minds. Maybe. It surely won’t dent the cultists’ armor of willful self-delusion.
But the trial of a former U.S. president will unquestionably be a sensational event. I remember the OJ Simpson trial, and even though I wasn’t especially interested and was out of the country for the denouement, nearly 30 years later, I remember how inescapable the coverage was, how everyone debated evidence and testimony and critiqued attorneys as if they were Court TV hosts.
We’re in a different media environment now, but I expect the coverage will be the OJ trial x infinity. Even if not a single cultist comes to their senses, maybe the public hashing of the evidence will lodge in normie brains, the way the description of Nicole Simpson’s dog’s “plaintive wail” still resides in mine decades later.
And maybe, just maybe, that will inspire an even clearer majority to say to hell with these belligerent, whiny dopes. Not just their criminal leader — the dumb followers too, and the craven weasels like Hewitt who demand deference to that jackass rabble. To hell with them all!
Rob in CT
Republicans and their mouthpieces have been doing this for a long time.
They concoct some ridiculous bullshit, spread it merrily and then say “well, lots of people believe this [bullshit we spread] so we must therefore investigate it further!”
Baud
Trump won’t have a dream team of lawyers.
suzanne
I am already there, of course. But the belligerent, whiny dopes are armed, and that scares me.
Old School
The population of the United States is 330 million.
Tens of millions will believe the 1/6 charges were a political witch hunt if Trump is convicted in a trial held in Jackson, Mississippi.
NotMax
I was in the country and managed to escape the entirety of the Simpson trial and coverage thereof.
YMMV.
Ken
Would you accept delusional?
Alison Rose
My Brooklyn-Dodgers-fan mother heartily agrees.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Nightmares are a type of dream.
No One You Know
To judge by the article at the link, Republicans realize that a way to power is to let the next combination of election season and pandemic should be helped to disable or kill as many people as possible. God will know his own!
UncleEbeneezer
The best thing the trial can do (aside from conviction) would be to: 1.) serve as a deterrent to future coup attempts and 2.) energize Dems to bust our asses to re-elect Biden. Of course it won’t change the minds of MAGAts, in general.
surfk9
Me genuflecting to BC “I’m not worthy”
You have summed up my feelings about these yokels better than I ever could.
scav
Clap all you want, there ain’t no tinkerbell.
A lesson clearly not learned by many.
Tony Jay
1) Hewitt is exactly as stupid as he needs to be to say what he does.
2) I am in Venice and it is astonishing.
3) Every single American you cannot personally locate is currently here.
MomSense
Do we know if this trial will be televised?
Baud
@MomSense:
No, only the revolution.
smith
Fair and public trials, convictions and appropriate sentences for TFG and his co-conspirators would go a long way to scrubbing that stain. It would help reestablish the idea that our democratic system is resilient and can right itself even after the severest of blows.
FastEdD
TFG is a gigantic zit that needs to be popped. This time, this time it will be popped. By a judge and jury that don’t take any shit from anyone.
Alison Rose
@MomSense: They were discussing this on MSNBC, and a lawyer guest said it would be up to John Roberts, so……..who fucking knows. I think it should be, though.
Geminid
Hew Hewitt is a salesman, and his product is Republican unity. That’s why he will back Trump. He knows that if Republican leaders turn on Trump, Trump will turn his supporters on them. Then, Republicans can kiss their House majority and prospective Senate majority goodbye.
FelonyGovt
Anyone who still supports Trump after everything that has come out these past years is a delusional, racist, treasonous fucker. I agree, we need to ignore them, and that includes not rising to the bait when they try to upset us with their idiot comments and musings. Seems like all they live for these days is to own the libs- let’s deprive them of that pleasure.
RaflW
Barely ambulatory TIA robot (aka Mitch McConnell) steadfastly refuses to say anything on camera about Trump other than “I made myself clear in the past and will never make that mistake again.”
Utter cowards, the lot of them (save Lisa Murkowski).
Butch
@suzanne: So are a lot of liberals. I’m tired of being told to wet my pants and hide under the bed because of these people. Most of them can’t walk from their table to the buffet line at Golden Corral without stopping for breath; they’re all talk.
LAO
@Alison Rose: Whether to permit cameras in a federal courtroom is decision that can only be made by the the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
ETA: so my money’s on no camera’s because Roberts is a piece of poop.
Falling Diphthong
It’s an example of something I’m seeing a lot of from conservatives trying to defend Trump: “Good luck getting people to buy this when millions of people believe (thing I know is a lie, so I’m not going to state it like I believe it’s a fact, I’m just saying that people could believe it).”
Public discourse abandoning the standard “Is the thing I just said actually true?” for “What about the special feelings in my tum tum?” is not good for the nation.
Scout211
I saw that also as a rallying cry given to the masses. “Here’s your reason to revolt, people! Go forth and rally in the streets!” (While Hewitt stays locked up in his cushy ivory tower).
And in Florida news, I saw that Disney’s governing district in Florida slashes all DEI programs
It is beyond ridiculous how they defend their racism. But it’s just another day ending in “y” in Florida government. ☹️
Ken
@LAO: I’m not finding “camera” anywhere in the Constitution, so from where does that power derive? A law, perhaps, passed by the same Congress that, according to Alito, doesn’t have the power to make any rules for the court?
Alison Rose
@LAO: Yeah, that’s…what I said?
RaflW
@Tony Jay: It does not look to be scalding hot in Venice the next few days. Congrats on your timing if you’re still there.
The outer reaches of Cannaregio can be a nice relief from the crowds. Burano, being a bit longer Vaporetto ride, was also charming and less packed when we visited.
Jackie
@MomSense: News media says no – unless Congress makes an exception?
I don’t know if the judge has any say.
For historical reasons alone, it should be.
Baud
@suzanne:
Not to diminish domestic terrorism, but you’re more likely to be harmed by ordinary crime than the violence of the Trump base.
ETA: More likely to be a victim of ordinary crime than of foreign terroristism too
LAO
@Alison Rose: yeah. I was agreeing with you but I re-read my comment and I sound like I’m violently disagreeing with you. So, apologies. I may be hangry. Sorry.
patrick II
Jack Smith an “American Javert” does not seem like much of an insult to me. After all, Trump is not some poor man stealing bread for his starving family but a murderous bastard trying to steal the democratic lifeblood of a country. He deserves a relentless foe and Jack Javert Smith fits the bill.
NotMax
@LAO
In a minority, I know, but am not much in favor of cameras, rather I’d like to have the release of full audio following the close of each day’s session.
Kirk
We’ll no more erase that stain than we will the stain of slavery. And as with that stain, what we do about it will be our test of character for good and ill.
RaflW
@smith: I think we’ve already seen some benefit from the J6 prosecutions. Trump has barely been able to raise a crowd at his various arraignments because the rubes saw him that he doesn’t have a dime’s worth of concern for their legal defenses.
Now, what do we make of DeSantis violently threatening the civil service? Seems grossly desperate, but also at least a tad stochastic.
Baud
And they call us elitist.
frosty
@Alison Rose: My dad was Brooklyn fan! He grew up in Queens. I got a B Dodger hat in his memory.
When somebody asks “Boston?” I answer “It’s Dodger Blue. Think about it.”
LAO
@Ken: In addition to his role as chief justice, Roberts is also chief administrator of the federal court. It’s either in a regulation or statute. I’m not sure.
Geminid
@RaflW: McConnell cares about one thing now, and one thing only: electing Republican Senators next year. If there is something he can say that will further this goal, he’ll say it. If there’s not, he’ll say nothing.
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Why would John Roberts have a say?
The Loose Cannon Judge got to say NO for the MAL documents charge.
Steve in the ATL
@Tony Jay: if you can find it (no small task), the Peggy Guggenheim is excellent
LAO
@NotMax: I’m not sure where I stand but I agree 100% with the premise that there needs to be public accountability/disclosure.
RaflW
@LAO: Has the news emerged here that Judge Cannon accepted a very luxe 2021 vacation from Leonard Leo?
Yeah, she disclosed it on her forms, but ‘transparency’ c. 18 months later does not wash away the corrupt appearance.
JoyceH
I do hope Smith has more J6 indictments coming! The Post has an article today about how Jeffrey Clark is becoming a luminary in the GOP. Quite a jump from “we’ll call you if there’s an oil slick”. Trump couldn’t have got as far as he did without this band of enabling minions. Lock ‘em up!
Betty Cracker
@Scout211: As usual, DeSantis hires a multiracial team of crackpots to dismantle DEI programs, whitewash public school history lessons, etc. No one can call him racist! 🙄
TheOtherHank
The weasel whistle seems like it’s “What we will tell the children?” from the 90s updated for the 21st century
Roger Moore
“It won’t change anyone’s mind” is another kind of deflection. I don’t know if it’s a weasel whistle or some other kind of avoidance mechanism, but it’s dishonest at its core. They’re giving themselves an excuse for bothsider trial coverage. Yes, they’ll recite the boring facts, but then they’ll present why someone who really wants to believe in Trump can ignore them.
LAO
@RaflW: ah, no. Is there a link?
RaflW
@Geminid: Another joyless old toad seeking to immiserate anyone under 65. I’m 57, and horrified by the gerontocracy. Or is it a gerontopoly? Geronarchy?
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: I was cheated by a cab driver in Istanbul–does that count?
I even knew what he was doing, but it was about US$8 and I knew he needed it more than I did….
JaySinWA
@Baud: Terrorism is meant to make people afraid. At some point it can become a real threat to larger groups, but usually it works to make people afraid to do things that might attract the attention of terrorists.
The odds may be in your favor, but do you want to take the chance?
MattF
Agree that Hewitt is awful. I read his columns to keep an eye on my own discipline. If I read something of his and think “Hey, that sounds reasonable”, it’s time (again) to recall that RW partisans will lie. A lot, and repeatedly.
Jeffro
I’m good with forgetting about MAGAts and their concerns. They’re welcome to let me know if and when they recover their morals and/or their responsibilities as citizens.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud:
they pronounce it “ja-vert” so it’s not elitist
Jeffro
@Tony Jay: 3) we’d heard it was gettin’ a bit crowded!
I’m a big fan of those “instead of going to famous tourist spot X, try lesser-known spot Y” lists (applies to our crowded national parks, too)
Lots of fun to be had with many fewer people around.
Hang in there!
suzanne
@Butch:
These are the ones I know who are armed to the teeth. They’re pants-shitting scared because they know they can’t handle any physical challenge at all. The best hope I have is that a STEMI takes them before they shoot anyone. The guy who shot Ralph Yarl, and the man who murdered the girl who turned down the wrong driveway are of this type!
RaflW
@LAO: “In September 2021, Cannon accepted an all-expenses paid trip – transportation, meals and hotel – to the posh Sage Lodge Resort & Spa in Pray, MT. to attend a six-day “colloquium seminar” held by George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law (Law and Economics Center), according to an annual financial disclosure Cannon filed on May 16, 2022. (Cannon incorrectly listed the name as George Madison University.)”
via Florida Bulldog Apparently got reupped on Muskkker today and appeared to me to be breaking news. The resort is one of those $700/nt type luxe joints.
Still, under-discussed re: the current case she’s hearing, IMO.
NotMax
@Roger Moore
And a slice of America will be apoplectic if/when Wheel of Fortune is pre-empted.
//
LAO
@RaflW: thanks
Alison Rose
@LAO: LOL no worries, I just had a momentary flash of doubt that I’d used the wrong name. I was like, no no he IS the CJ, right??? LOL
Jeffro
This. It cannot be said any better.
That hardcore MAGA 30ish% will turn their frothing insanity on the GOP establishment in 2 seconds if hacks like Hewitt don’t keep putting up a show of support for trumpov the whole flaming way down.
MattF
And here’s Greg Sargent on that David Brooks column. Sargent emphasizes how badly and how seriously and how often Brooks lies. Which, IMO, is the correct way to respond.
Alison Rose
@frosty: My mom was born in Brooklyn, and they moved to Queens when she was around 11, I think. Kindred spirits! :P
p.a.
@Betty Cracker: I can’t post the photo here but there’s an internet post (Instagram? Tumblr?)
“The people who threw rocks at Ruby Bridges for trying to go to school in 1960 are now upset their grandchildren might learn about them throwing rocks at Ruby Bridges for trying to go to school.”
WaterGirl
@p.a.:
Isn’t that the truth!
trollhattan
Hugh Hewitt lives? He’s kind of 2003.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Because that’s what the current law is — cameras are not generally allowed in federal courts, and it is the domain of the Chief Justice to make an exception.
Elizabelle
@RaflW:
That’s actually not its name, because sound out the acronym.
It is the Antonin Scalia Law School.
patrick II
@RaflW:
The rumor among right-wing extremists that might normally attend is that it is an F.B.I. trick to round them up and arrest them, so don’t attend. The Justice Department’s pursuit and successful prosecution of many of the J6 rioters has given them pause. That is how it is supposed to work.
geg6
@Butch:
Come sit by me. Simpatico.
Brachiator
@patrick II:
A lot of people don’t know or muddle the details and just have an image of a rigid cop relentlessly pursuing some guy past all reason.
There might be some people who call up images of the Americanized version of this tale, Lt Gerard pursuing the innocent Dr Richard Kimble in “The Fugitive.”
And there is the irony of law-and-order types now rooting for the bad guy.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
“Gimme a K!”
Crowd: “K!”
“Gimme an A!”
Crowd: “A!”
“Gimme an R!”
Crowd: “R!”
“Gimme an M!”
Crowd: “M!”
“Gimme another A!”
Crowd: “A!”
“What;s that spell?
Crowd: “Woke!”
//
frosty
@Alison Rose: Favorite story I’ve probably posted here before. I lived in SoCal for a few years. At one time I was sharing a house – we were all Dodger fans. My dad had a conference out there and stopped in to see me. We were hanging around the TV and the conversation went something like this:
What are you watching? (Dad)
Dodgers (Housemate)
I used to watch the Dodgers at Ebbets Field (Dad)
I had instant credibility with my housemates after that!!!
Geminid
@MattF: Hewitt’s larger platform is his radio show, weekdays 9am to noon on 300+ stations.
As a young lawyer, Hewitt worked in the Reagan administration. Then he prospered as a real estate lawyer in Southern California, and did a little radio work on the side. The nationally syndicated radio show is a second career.
Hewitt is head of the Richard Nixon Library, where he occasionally hosts Big Thinkers talking foreign policy. He splits his time between Southern California and Northern Virginia.
Rob in CT
@patrick II:
Something to remember whenever someone wants to go soft on RWers because they might get upset.
Fuck ’em, they’re bullies who will cower if smacked down.
Jackie
A cup of Dark Joe never tasted better! 😂
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvfLiY7tayd/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D
opiejeanne
@Tony Jay:
They all just got off of a f$%#@ng cruise ship.
piratedan
I have no idea on why you want to put all of these humble courtroom sketch artists out on the streets. If we get cameras, we get punditry attempting to spin what we’re actually seeing and hearing and I’m not entirely sure that would be a good thing… because political gadflies like us would watch intent knowing it’s history in the making (like Watergate and J6) as a watershed event… yet I could also see it becoming a Rupert Murdoch incite the masses event as well.
In a way, watching the Faux News schtick, it feels like it’s a replay of that old spy flick Telefon (with Charles Bronson) and now after decades of programming, they’re awaiting word from their superiors to go out and fuck shit up.
Alison Rose
@frosty: Nice! :)
Anoniminous
@p.a.:
The Internets have been won.
NotMax
@Tony Jay
If they all pack into Piazza San Marco and take a flash photo at the same time it’ll be enough to make the Venetians blind.
;)
Betty Cracker
@p.a.: Unfortunately, hiring a crackpot whose parents might have been pelted with rocks to do the dirty work seems to be pretty effective. What’s obvious to us is sadly not to the average citizen.
Steve in the ATL
@NotMax:
delete your account.
cain
The day of the verdict is going to be one where nobody is going to be on the streets or working. It will be Trump’s greatest dream! When the eyes of the entire world is completely on him – he’s going to bask in it. :D
Because that’s the kind of crazy motherfucker we have to deal with.
Jay
@piratedan:
sorry, but the Courtroom Sketch Artists are being replaced with AI programs all across the nation.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: we were in NoVA at the time when that whole thing went down and it was quite hysterical
“the acronym for the GMU law school is what, now? Say that again?”
LOLOL
Butch
@geg6: Thank you. I’ve just heard too much of it. They want trouble bring it on.
louc
Re: Hewitt, as Tom Nichols said, what a paltroon. In fact, what Bugs Bunny said, what a maroon.
thalarctosMaritimus
@Elizabelle: That was its name, though, for a hilarious few hours before they figured it out and hurriedly changed it. I remember LMAO at the initial announcement.
Anonymous At Work
@Alison Rose: “I’m not crying! You’re crying!”
Rooting for the Steinbrennettes to sit out the playoffs. Mets just held a firesale at the trade deadline. Dodgers, well, Dodgers have had a decade of huge paychecks and how many MLB titles do they have to show?
Tony Jay
There was some prick in Palazzo San Marco wearing a wanker’s ‘Freedom For Life – 2nd Amendment 1784’ T-Shirt and the bronzed, wizened face of a man who knows he’s a human buttplug. Pissed me right off, so I had to explain the history and current misuse of the 2nd Amendment to The Boy.
“They just want to be murderers.” is his considered opinion. Smart lad.
Other than that, loving Venice. Definitely come back if at all possible.
Betty Cracker
@Tony Jay: Smart lad nailed it. If I ever leave my gun-ridden shithole country again, I’m heading for Da Boot. I’ll pretend to be Canadian.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
Go for Bermudan. Easier accent to emulate.
;)
Tony Jay
@Betty Cracker:
Fucking Canadians. They broke bacon and I for one will never forgive them.
Chris
“American Javert” is an interesting thing to call someone.
Whatever else he is, Javert is relentlessly honest. That’s arguably his whole problem. The man he’s pursuing did, in fact, break the law, exposing and arresting him is in fact Javert’s sworn duty (Victor Hugo’s whole point wasn’t that cops are big meanies but that the laws are unjust and that applying them “fairly” will often lead to far worse crimes than those the lawbreakers commit), and the man is as harsh and unforgiving in holding himself to standard as anyone else. When he first exposes “Monsieur Madeleine” as Valjean and thinks he’s made a mistake, he goes to see the man, admits that he was partly driven by personal resentment, demands to be fired, becomes upset when Valjean refuses, and has to have it explained to him that that kind of honesty is precisely why he’s so valuable. And when he finally fails in his duty because enough basic humanity’s broken through to him that he can’t do it, the resulting blow to his beliefs is so much he ends up killing himself.
We’d honestly be vastly better off if most of our cops were more like Javert rather than less. And, of course, he’s exactly what you ought to want in an investigator for a crime of this scale.
Captain C
@Baud:
It’ll be more like a surreal nightmare team.
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
It wasn’t even hard. I’ve never been one to watch the TV news, and it was easy enough to skip past the trial coverage in the newspaper. Of course it helped even more that the local paper for me at the time was the Bristol Herald-Courier, a small newspaper for a small town, so they couldn’t have massive coverage of it any which way.
Honus
@Chris: also, the defining characteristic of Javert was a complete lack of empathy. And when I think of empathy I automatically think of donald trump
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I was in Vienna when the verdict dropped, and strangers buttonholed me in coffee shops and bars to talk about the trial when they heard my accent. In my lifetime, only wars and 9/11 generated anything like the coverage and cultural saturation that trial did, IIRC.
sdhays
@Chris: Excellent point.
waspuppet
OK so I like the term weasel whistle but I don’t think that’s what Hugh Hewitt is doing here.
I think a weasel whistle is when they go “If it turns out to be true that Hunter Biden blah blah blah then blah blah blah greatest threat in the history of the republic impeachment blah blah” and skip over the part where it’s not actually true and they have zero evidence of their claims.
When Hewitt, DeSantis et al repeat the “tens of millions of Americans” line it’s a threat: “Did you like Jan. 6? Because that’ll be happening coast to coast if you investigate/charge/convict Trump. And if you don’t think it’ll happen everywhere all at once, well maybe so, but you’ll never know where or when it could happen.” That’s what they’re talking about.
Chris
@waspuppet:
Yep.
It’s also, as usual per them, a statement of “only red staters are allowed to rule.” 99% of the people in the Beltway aren’t politicians; they’re as ordinary as anyone you’d meet in any other part of the country. But of course the only parts of the country where ordinary people can be trusted with things like jury duty are the blood red ones.
Chief Oshkosh
@patrick II: Hm. Sounds sort of like the effect the rightwing wants to have on poor and POC voters by making laws that increase the probably that voters will be challenged and possibly arrested at the polls. Maybe we can start a rumor that the FBI is monitoring you at the voting booth AND via mail-in voting. The Deep State is coming for you! Best not vote at all, or even register!, you know, just to be safe.
Miss Bianca
@RaflW:
Yeah, and seeing their peers in seditious jackassery not only getting no help from Trump, but definitely getting some serious time in prison, is likely having a dampening effect on the Deplorables as well.
brantl
@RaflW: And Romney.