The Big Giant Distraction

"...they hate - our country." 

I don't know how it gets any clearer than that. A very American brand of casual racism is embedded in that statement. And the fact that he said it that way - casually and without self-consciousness - shows it to be deeply embedded in Lindsey Graham's heart.

Tim Wise at Medium:

For years people have debated whether Donald Trump is a racist.

For some, the answer was always an obvious yes. When you launch your campaign by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug dealers, claim a Mexican American judge can’t fairly adjudicate a lawsuit against you because of his ethnicity, call African nations “shitholes,” and suggest we need more immigrants from Norway and fewer from Haiti or Central America, you’ve earned the title. To say nothing of soft-pedaling Nazis in Charlottesville, of course.

The evidence of Trump’s racial bias is clear; it stretches back decades and is available for all who are willing to see.

But for others, the charge was unfair. Not only Trump supporters, whose denial is at least understandable but even those who are critical of him.

“Well,” they would aver. “Maybe it’s not fair to call him a racist. I mean, we don’t know what’s in his heart.”

But as Amanda Marcotte explained after watching the always execrable Chuck Todd inquire into the aortic nature of Trump’s prejudice, the question of whether one is a racist “in their heart” is a bizarre one:

Let us imagine for a minute a person who loves, say, the Philadelphia Eagles as much as Trump loves racist language and actions. He tweets about the Eagles regularly, often using all-caps. He buys season tickets and attends every Eagles game he possibly can. He’s been talking about the Eagles and watching their games for decades. He feels elated when they win and crushed when they lose. He wears his Eagles logo hat all the time.

Would anyone look at that man and ask, ‘But wait — is he an Eagles fan in his heart?’

Marcotte’s point was simple, though it is often missed. Racism may be a noun, but it functions as a verb. It’s about what one does, not merely what one is.

Meanwhile, here's the thing: the air is filled with chaff and the water is slick with chum. 

Whatever it is they don't want us to see might be getting closer and clearer.

All this shit hit the fan on the day of Jeffrey Epstein's bail hearing, at which it was revealed that he had a Saudi passport - with a fake identity - plus a bugout stash of diamonds and dollars. They also found 100s if not 1000s of pictures of underage girls.

And -

CBS News:

ABC News:

Attorney Brad Edwards, who represents Epstein accuser Courtney Wild and several other alleged victims, claims that Epstein's 13-month jail sentence -- the result of a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Florida -- failed to prevent the money manager accused of sexually assaulting numerous underage girls from having "improper sexual contact" with young women.

Mother Jones:

As Mother Jones noted during the 2016 presidential election, Trump was known to pay particular attention to Epstein during his Florida pool parties. “He threw a party one night just because of Epstein,” former beauty pageant promoter George Houraney said of Trump. “He said, ‘The other guys aren’t coming, but I don’t care because Jeff’s coming.’”

The video’s emergence comes as more women come forward to allege that Epstein sexually abused them. In recent days, prosecutors have also revealed that several suspicious items, including a fake passport with a Saudi address and Epstein’s photo and “piles of cash,” were uncovered in Epstein’s Manhattan home.

Remind me again why everyone freaks out about Joe Biden putting his hands on someone’s shoulders?pic.twitter.com/TV9F0IaXkO

— TDP (@TDPattillo) July 17, 2019

What remains now is that we're being asked - again - to dismiss what we see, and believe only what they tell us.

But also, there's the probability that all of this smoke indicates only a little fire where 45* is concerned. He may be perfectly happy to let the speculation run wild so that when the "truth" is revealed, and it's less horrific than what we're being encouraged to imagine, it plays out as "what was the big deal here?" even though it may well be a big fucking deal - because yes, having sex with children is a very bad thing and it is in fact a big fucking deal.

A president who hangs out with guys who have sex with children is a big fucking deal. 

And the fact that possibly more than a few of this president's buddies were involved in having sex with children is a big fucking deal.

Trafficking in children for guys to have sex with - is a big fucking deal.

And the attempts to cover it all up is a big fucking deal.