Donald Trump gives something away with his unhinged meltdown about Special Counsel Jack Smith
It’s a truism among debaters that when an opponent attacks you personally they have already lost the debate. Nothing quite makes a fallacy official like a Latin equivalent. A personal attack is referred to in Latin as an argumentum ad hominem, that is, “argument against the person.” Or ad hominem for short.
One of the most prolific exponents of the ad hominem argument is Donald Trump. In fact I cannot think of a single instance when he’s had a public quarrel with someone that he hasn’t also made it a point to attack them personally.
A particularly vicious Trump speciality includes an attack on a family member of his opponent. The wife and father of Ted Cruz are cases in point, where both were singled out for brutal attacks by Trump. The former for her looks, the latter for hints that he was involved in the Kennedy assassination. (That Cruz later became a prominent Trump lickspittle is particularly disgusting, and proof of what a shallow coward and fool he is.)
So it should come as no surprise that Trump has gone after Jack Smith’s wife. Smith, as you will recall, is the DOJ Special Counsel appointed by Merrick Garland to look into the crimes of Donald Trump.
Trump took to “Truth” Social last week to rant about Smith’s wife, Katy Chevigny. He attached screenshots of her Tweets supporting the Democratic Party and accused the Department of Justice of being biased in their investigation. This is nonsense, of course. Katy Chevigney’s political affiliations have nothing to do with Jack Smith’s job.
A parallel has now recently been drawn between Katy Chevigny and Ginni Thomas, the wife of Clarence Thomas. The “reasoning” goes that liberals have no business being outraged over the politics of Ginni Thomas while giving Katy Chevigny a pass. This is specious logic. We fully expect Ginni Thomas to be a conservative, that isn’t our problem. Our problem is that Ginni Thomas played an active role in the January 6th, 2021 attempt to treasonously subvert the presidential election and overthrow the government. I think conservatives already get the difference. They are merely being disingenuous in their desperation.
Katy Chevigny is a documentary filmmaker who has been associated with several excellent projects, including (as director) “E-Team,” an award-winning documentary about human rights abuse, and (as producer) “Becoming,” a documentary about Michelle Obama.
Trump makes the particularly childish ad hominem attack by referring to Katy Chevigny as “an acolyte” of “Barack Hussein Obama.” MAGA loons who have nothing original or significant to say think it’s somehow conclusively incriminating to point out that Obama’s middle name is the same as the surname of the former dictator of Iraq. Donald Trump is impressed by this, just like the 12 year old that he is.
Donald Trump’s attack on Jack Smith’s wife positively reeks of desperation. He’s obviously very worried about what Smith will unearth, and he’s resorting to his usual last resort, the personal attack, with the hope that it will have the requisite chilling effect.
Personal attacks aren’t just what Trump does, it’s what Republicans do. Their particular evil is the kind that makes victims of the innocent, such as whistleblowers, such as family members of people they dislike, such as witnesses before the J6 committee.
They have now taken up the Katy Chevigny dog howl at the moon and are faking their outrage about it. They’ll continue to howl until they return to their favourite bone: Hunter Biden. It’s the Republican way, and I don’t know about you, brothers and sisters, but I am positively sick of it, sick of them, sick of their pettiness, sick of their cowardice, sick of their chickenshit ways. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.