Don’t lose the plot
On Sunday the FBI searched President Joe Biden’s home for classified documents – an event that right wing conspiracy theorists celebrated thoroughly across their social media loony bins. But back in the real world, it was reported hours later that Biden himself had asked the FBI to conduct the search, in order to put the matter to bed.
In other words, Biden knows full well that this is a complete non-story, and he’s taking the necessary steps to make sure it’s properly investigated and thus put to rest as quickly as possible. There is no scandal, there never was a scandal, there isn’t going to be a scandal, and – outside of right wing fantasyland – this non-story is already finished.
Yet even as we continue to see signs that this non-scandal is being sorted away, the doomsday types on our are nonetheless up in arms. They’re demanding to know why the FBI hasn’t searched Trump Tower or Trump Bedminster. Well, first of all, Biden asked the FBI to search his home because he has nothing to hide. Trump, who is on his way to prison because he committed espionage, is not going to consent to anything that’ll make it that much easier to put him in prison.
But even setting that aside, the reality of this story is the same as it was months ago. If the FBI had reason to believe there were actually classified documents at Trump’s other properties, it would have obtained a warrant and searched them a long time ago. Period. It’s that simple. And that’s not surprising. When Trump was leaving office, he made it very clear that Mar-a-Lago would be his home going forward, so of course he hid his stolen classified documents there. And that’s where the Feds found them.
Far too many people on our side are still making the same old mistakes. First, they’re framing the Biden non-story and the Trump criminal scandal in the same breath, so they can contrast them. That’s a huge mistake. These stories are in no way related. Biden’s proactive cooperation proves that he knows this is a complete non-scandal that’s going nowhere, or else he wouldn’t be so proactive. Trump’s attempts at stalling the Feds at every turn are proof that he knows he’s guilty, and that he knows he’s going to prison for it. When folks on our side put these two completely different kinds of storylines in the same breath so they can complain that Biden isn’t being treated fairly or whatever, they’re just making a mess of the narrative.
Second, far too many folks on our side are playing the same old game of spinning every new political story in hyperbolically defeatist fashion so they can feel maximum outrage over it. They want the Feds to be treating Biden unfairly, so they can gripe about how outrageous it is. They want Trump to be getting away with it all, so they can feel as much outrage as possible coursing through their veins. These types of folks on our side are as psychologically broken as anyone on the other side.
But again, back in the sane real world, the Biden documents story is a non-story that’s already in the process of being put to bed. It’s only still getting nonstop breathless coverage from Fox News and other right wing propaganda outlets, which means it’ll have zero impact on mainstream Americans; no phony political scandal ever has any impact unless the mainstream media outlets are also willing to dishonestly hype it all day every day.
And Donald Trump is more clearly on track than ever to be indicted for espionage and end up in prison. Just look at what all keeps coming out about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal probe against Trump. It couldn’t be much more obvious that Trump is going down. Even as Biden moves so quickly to clear his name, Trump’s own defensive actions make clear that he knows he’s going to prison,
