Trump-appointed judge balks at a plea deal
Republicans can’t believe their luck. They’ve been hurling contempt at David Weiss, the Trump-appointed special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, for years.
They wanted Weiss to prosecute Hunter on trumped-up charges and implicate his father, President Joe Biden. Instead, Weiss struck what Republicans denounced as “a sweetheart deal,” giving Hunter a get-out-of-jail-free card.
But media reports said it was a done deal. I even sealed it with my blog post “Hunter Biden Plea Deal Brings Presidential Relief but Incites Trumpian Projection” on June 20, 2023. Both parties attended today’s hearing expecting to formalize that deal. But it did not go according to plan.
A deal for Hunter Biden to plead guilty to a pair of misdemeanor tax charges while avoiding prosecution on a gun charge hit a last-minute snag, with the judge in the case unexpectedly putting off her decision.
The federal judge overseeing the case, Maryellen Noreika, deferred her decision on approving the deal between Mr. Biden and federal prosecutors on Wednesday afternoon — the latest twist in a politically charged case that seemed to have been sewn up just hours earlier.”
(The New York Times, July 26, 2023)
Republicans, in their gloating frenzy, could barely contain themselves. After all, they see this judge balking as proof their weaponization of the Department of Justice is working. And that should sound familiar. Because the agenda they’re executing is one of projection so brazen, it’s like watching a child spill his milk and then blame it on his innocent twin brother.
Trump crime family vs. Biden crime family
Of course, propagating the term ‘Biden crime family’ is very Trumpian. It reflects that whenever Donald Trump accuses anyone of anything, he’s unwittingly admitting his guilt. And Republicans are blithely parroting his projection.
So beware whenever you hear them damning the Biden crime family. They’re just deflecting from the Trump crime family.
In this case, it’s sufficient to remember that Trump is a twice-impeached, twice-indicted, coup-plotting, mendacious grifter. And that his children were up to their gills in peddling influence during his presidency to enrich themselves.
Exhibit A is his daughter Ivanka Trump’s notorious Chinese patents. But no less incriminating is his son-in-law Jared’s $2 billion Saudi “investment.”
Frankly, their well-documented misdeeds make the Trumps the first crime family to become the first family of the United States.
Compared to all that, Hunter’s misdeeds at issue look petty. Except that Republicans are exploiting Hunter’s drug-addled mistakes to incriminate his father.
At the very least, they’re trying to dirty Biden’s character. You know, the way Trump tried in vain to do by getting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden.
Republican lies, projection, and hypocrisy
The base of the Republican Party is essentially a MAGA cult. That’s why even erstwhile moderate Republicans now spew extreme lies to project Trumpian faults onto Democrats.
And they’ve convinced themselves that hypocrisy in pursuit of political power is a virtue, not a vice. That’s why arguing with Republicans these days amounts to little more than debunking whataboutisms and false equivalencies.
In short, the only reason Republicans are serving in Congress is to do Trump’s bidding. And that has them executing a scorched-earth plan to get Trump elected again. Because his freedom depends on it. That explains this bidding:
‘Congress, if you will, please investigate the political witch hunts against me currently being brought by the corrupt DOJ and FBI, who are totally out of control,’ Donald Trump said in a video message.”
(The Daily Beast, July 25, 2023)
Because his intent here is every bit as corrupt as when he infamously begged Russia to find dirt on Hillary by saying, “Russia, if you’re listening — I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Hunting Hunter to kill Joe
This case shows that even Republican-nominated judges and prosecutors are weaponizing their authority to further a political agenda. That explains today’s balk. Because this Trump-appointed judge bent over backward to show that she’s willing to hunt Hunter too.
The parties resolved their issues in 10 minutes, and she could have settled any potential jurisdictional issues in even less time. But she delayed doing so to give Republicans time to spin their unhinged claims about the “Biden crime family.”
You need only think of the way Bill Barr delayed releasing the Mueller report – when he was still doing Trump’s bidding as attorney general. That gave Republicans time to spin their unhinged claims about Trump’s innocence. And they did that so egregiously that Special Counsel Robert Mueller denounced Barr under oath for enabling them. But the misdeed was done.
Meanwhile, everyone knows the judge will approve the plea deal when she reconvenes the hearing next month.
Of course, this weaponization also explains Trump-appointed justices on the Supreme Court joining their Republican-appointed brethren in rolling back voting rights for Blacks, limiting abortion rights for women, and ending affirmative action for historically disadvantaged groups, including women.
But I cannot emphasize enough that the sole purpose of prosecuting Hunter is to kill Joe’s political career. And it might work. Because Biden’s love for his son is such that he might think running for reelection is not worth it if that means Republicans engaging in terminal persecution of Hunter.
After all, his love for his son Beau was such that his sudden death forced Biden to suspend plans to run for president in 2016. No doubt Republicans hope they can force history to repeat itself – not with Hunter dying, of course, just with the credible threat of him ending up in jail.
Aside from projecting, Republicans have become masters of gaslighting and rationalization. That’s why they would argue there’s virtue in visiting the sins of the son upon the father. After all, God only admonished that “the sins of the father should not be visited upon the son.”
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