A Variety of Quick Updates

looking behind the potemkin everything

First

A Florida lawyer filed a lawsuit on August 24 asking the federal courts to declare Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency. The lawsuit was widely covered as a serious challenge to the political future of that monster Donald “Putin” Trump.

But I read the stupid thing, and said this about it: “It’s a Potemkin lawsuit. It barely exists. Be grateful it was filed electronically, or the world would have wasted seven pieces of paper on it. And probably half a crayon.”

The lawsuit was thrown out of court on Friday, a week after it was filed.

The federal courts move very s l o w l y. It’s an accomplishment to bounce something off the courthouse this quickly. Please add points to the scoreboard for the one extremely marginal independent journalistish person who told you it was barely an actual lawsuit.

Second

I’ve urged you to pay close and amused attention to the NYU professor and “authoritarianism expert” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, America’s Dumbest Professor™, as the clown-nosed exemplar of a self-declared elite class that’s grinding itself into a miserable state of total madness. And, ladies and gentlemen, she does not disappoint. Here she warns that former Attorney General Bill Barr is trying to seem like a nice man who hates tRuMMMmPPPP, but LOOK OUT, because he’s actually a FILTHY PAPIST, and their kind hates democracy:

Religious bigotry is the new progessivism, or something. (Outside the immediate orbit of Professor Ben-Ghiat, See also this new warning in the Sacramento Bee that dangerous regressive evangelicals are participating in the governance of public schools.)

The new RBG also has a Substack page, and ohhhhhhhhh wow is it fun to read. Recently she wrote about that monster Mark Meadows, psychologizing her way into extreme outer space and deriving a total picture of his deepest inner being from the single image of his mugshot. But then you can click on the comment thread and watch Blue Anon blossom in its full febrile glory:

“I have no doubt all the cards will be laid down with timely precision.” Jack and Fani — we’re on a first-name basis with America’s Saviors — are calmly and quietly preparing for the mass arrest of Republican elected officials. one.by.one. tRuSt tEh pLAAnNNN!!!! The whole political opposition is going to prison! To protect against Trump’s authoritarianism!!!!!!!

This is better entertainment than Vegas and Branson rolled together and stuffed into Disneyland.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, you will not be shocked to hear, is deeply engaged with the finest minds in America:

Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Molly Jong-Fast and Susan Glasser and George Conway — all in the same discussion! Imagine the depth of the insight!

Third

I assume most readers will have seen at least some clips from the Washington Post reporter Philip Bump’s Nathan Thurm act on a podcast this week, as he seethed and ranted and fake-laughed and twitched and writhed at suggestions — WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT!?!?!?!? — that maybe Hunter Biden brought home some foreign money for his dad.

Philip Bump is one of “mainstream” journalism’s true miracles, a die-hard proponent of every piece of RUSSIA DOSSIER and similar fantasy bullshit that’s been crammed down our throats for the last few years. I wrote about his amazing gifts for bad faith argument here:

So alert readers of Tell Me How This Ends were well equipped for the moment. We suit up in our bullshit armor and…wade into the…bullshit. A lot. So.

Will be doing lots of family stuff over the Labor Day weekend, so I’m hoping to be offline more often than not. Thanks for reading. Glad to have company for this strange and unfortunate journey.