(For a proper definition of the term "McAlpine Gambit," see the preceding post.)
A paranoid theory? Yep! I admit it.
Look, we're all paranoid these days. Everybody's doing it. I'm not completely immune to trends; in 1970, I even had a pair of bell bottoms.
To a large degree, I fastened onto this "McAlpine Gambit" theory because I was freaked out by Trump's decidedly non-Trumpian response to Blasey Ford. He actually said the right things...
"Why would I attack her?" Trump asked, according to two sources with knowledge of his remarks.Can you blame me for feeling flummoxed and suspicious? That's not Trump. Donald Trump does not say such words.
Rather than lashing out in anger or defensiveness, Trump said Monday he'd like to "see a complete process."
"I'd like everybody to be very happy. Most importantly, I want the American people to be happy, because they're getting somebody that is great," he said.
And then, yesterday, we finally got the tweet I've been waiting for -- the tweet that restored my faith in Donald Trump:
I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!Now THAT'S Trump: Attack! Smear! Attack! Smear!
Granted, the lack of spelling errors is a bit worrisome, but the capitalization of Law Enforcement Authorities is a robustly Trumpian touch. He's back! The orange imposter has been banished. No more Mr. Nice Guy. The genuine thug has returned, and he's as vulgar as ever.
For three days, Donald Trump acted like a human being. He acted (dare one even say the word?) presidential. Either a truly Machiavellian scheme was afoot or the Apocalypse was nigh. No other conclusion seemed possible.
But with that one tweet, Trump has restored my faith in inhumanity. Well, his inhumanity.
Maybe -- just maybe -- the Blasey Ford accusation isn't a Machiavellian trick. Maybe this story is what it seems to be. Maybe it is possible to be too cynical, even in today's world.
By the way, Ed Whelan has disavowed his mistaken identity theory. I admit that I thought that this theory might prove important. It wasn't so much that I trusted Whelan or his analysis, but the amount of sheer research that went into his tweets led me to suspect that this suggestion would play an as-yet undefined role in what I called "The Big Plot Twist." Whelan knows the law, and I didn't think that he would place himself at legal risk by naming an innocent party as a sexual assailant -- not unless Whelan had some advance knowledge of how this play would end.
I was right about one thing: His tweets were actually a group effort. So give me credit for that correct guess.
Rosenstein. Yesterday's NYT story about Rod Rosenstein made me sick to my stomach -- so much so that I couldn't stand to think about politics for much of the day. That's why I didn't contribute a post.
Trump has given strong hints that he will use the revelation as an excuse to fire Rosenstein -- a firing which will lead, eventually, to a shut-down of the Mueller probe.
Liberals, in their effort to bring the story into discredit, spent the day attacking the NYT. Assailing the credibility of the NYT is precisely what Trump wants. However you take this story, it was a win-win for the Mango-In-Chief.
Personally, I am persuaded that Rosenstein really did talk about invoking the 25th. Not only that: I think everyone connected with this administration has talked about that possibility at one time or another. How could they do otherwise? They've seen Trump's bizarre behavior first-hand, and they surely felt the need to discuss the situation with others, in private. Late at night, as the ice clinked and the scotch poured, the thought must have entered their heads: What if the guy really is too crazy to do the job?
Omarosa gave her book that title for a reason.
As for the claim that Rosenstein talked about clandestinely recording Trump: Well, is that idea really such a stretch? Omarosa and Cohen actually did make recordings. If the 25th ever does come into play (with this president or any future president), the claimants are going to need evidence sufficient to convince Congress. Nowadays, you can't just say "He's nuts." You have to prove it.
THE freakiest event yesterday was Sean Hannity's warning to Trump. Hannity really seems to believe that the NYT article was part of a liberal plot to tempt the president into firing Rosenstein -- an outcome which Hannity believes would prove ruinous to Trump.
And people think my little theories are weird...!
Speaking of weird theories: Ben Carson has topped everyone.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson told an audience of conservative activists on Friday that the sexual assault allegations facing President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court are part of a plot by socialists to take over America that dates back more than a century.In the real world, Fabianism hasn't been a "thing" in America for more than a century. But in the mythos created by the John Birch Society and their ideological allies, Fabianism never went away -- in fact, it is the most powerful conspiratorial force in the modern world.
"If you really understand the big picture of what's going on, then what's going on with Kavanaugh will make perfectly good sense to you," Carson said at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington. "There've been people in this country for a very long time, going all the way back to the Fabians, people who've wanted to fundamentally change this country."
The Birchers outlined the Fabian conspiracy in a book called Fabian Freeway, published in 1966 and available here. (Western Islands was a Birch imprint.)
This summary of Birchite thought may be of some value to anyone trying to understand what Carson was nattering on about. The meme was never retired, as this 2010 blog post illustrates. In nooks and crannies of our culture rarely visited by you and I, there were podcasts which incessantly screeched about Barack Obama's perceived "Fabianism."
Birchers aren't the only ones who see Evil Fabians under every bed. This site, for example, sees the Fabians as part of a "Jesuit Vatican New World Order." That news probably would have come as a big surprise to Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, who really were Fabians. I do not believe that they were terribly fond of the Jesuits.
Basically, we're supposed to think that H.G. Wells and GBS were the enemies of humanity -- and that Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are the good guys.
Riiiiight.
14 comments:
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
These days, there are rats everywhere. So a bit of conspiratorial thinking, as you have often pointed out, is a healthy counter to a dangerous credulity which has the tendency to make decent people think that the drastic changes being enacted daily and the departures from Democratic tradition are somehow unimportant and will be easily undone.
It will take at least a generation, if we work hard and are lucky, to regain what we've lost since Reagan was in office.
Joseph, you write, "Maybe -- just maybe -- the Blasey Ford accusation isn't a Machiavellian trick...." true. But the Repuclinns seem to think that it is. Or that they can use it as such. I think it's all about who controls the narrative at this point, and the R's, now sinking in the polls, could be proven wrong. Or, if they do get their Golden Kav in, it could prove so costly in political terms as to have been not worth it.
Tom
We must consider the possibility that the Sulzberger clan owns a few closeted skeletons, and that Vladimir Satanovich Putin has learned the locations and contents of those closets.
We must consider this with any uncharacteristically pro-Trump move made by supposedly anti-Trump figures and institutions these days.
(That's my version of paranoia.) ;)
It didn't matter to the rice farmer if the oppression was from Saigon or Hanoi as long as bored Americans didn't turn his water buffalo into hamburger. The republicans know Americans will put up with rat fuckery as long as it's not their ox gored. We deserve he government we get.
No need to feel bad about getting your McAlpine gambit analysis wrong. Even if this isn't it, you know Republicans have been talking about how they can pull one off. And as Tom said above, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
"THE freakiest event yesterday was Sean Hannity's warning to Trump. Hannity really seems to believe that the NYT article was part of a liberal plot to tempt the president into firing Rosenstein -- an outcome which Hannity believes would prove ruinous to Trump."
I'm glad you noticed this. Tells me that Trump won't use this as a pretext to fire Rosenstein. So we should be safe... for now.
For three days Trump acted like a man facing the gallows whose mind was wonderfully focused.
What has me spooked is that a Rosenstein firing will sweep this SCOTUS confirmation away just as the Blasey Ford accusation swept away Kavanaugh's concealed documents and perjuries. The Shock Doctrine.
To be fair, Carson said "All the way back to the Fabians", which implies Fabians themselves aren't a problem in the present. Incidentally, the logo of the Fabian Society is a wolf wearing the skins of sheeps.
As far as "controlling the narrative" I'd like to see Blasey Ford interviewed early next week by Oprah, Dr. Phil or even Megyn Kelly. Someone who would be close to an honest broker asking neutral questions to get Fords story out there. She would be well lit and made up. And think of the ratings! Donny's head would explode.
Perhaps that period where Trump appeared civilized in his tweets was due to staff tweeting while Trump was off to the Carolinas trying to appear presidential -- and failing.
There is one "trap" scenario that makes sense -- the discrediting of Joe Biden as the 2020 Democratic contender because of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill fiasco.
I recall when I first started working temporary jobs well over 30 years ago that there was either flirting or someone aggressively showing they wanted someone else in a group setting. It was just a time when there was no way to interact online and set up parameters. So is it fair to judge what is said today and agreed upon today as a benchmark with what happened 40 years ago? Of course what Kavanaugh is accused of goes over the line, but, I wonder, is it just the aggression that matters? Did Kavanaugh continue to stalk this person and talk badly about her, or did he leave like a wounded puppy and was even embarrassed to ever see her again. I think it matters because many people were really flying blind 40 years ago. Men were supposed to try and "get it", and women were supposed to refuse or get some type of respect in return, such as a boyfriend. That's just the way it was forty years ago.
I haven't read the exact accusation and I probably should before commenting. I recall reading he allegedly pinned her on a bed and she had to fight him off. If a guy has been taught that girls will always put up a fight first, what a screwed up time to be in. I was lucky enough to not have that kind of influence, but if I had, I might have been just as stupid as Kavanaugh allegedly was.
I am just concerned that as the line moves towards what SHOULD be acceptable levels of respect when interacting with others and then applying the correct line to the past seems wildly confusing in some ways, and in other ways seems like the right thing to do.
Joe Biden allegedly plagiarized speeches when he ran for president back in the 90's I think it was. So did he do his time or is it fair game to bring that back up if he runs again?
No doubt - Ben Carson's reincarnation of the Fabians results from a "brain booster smart drug" that makes him smarter. I think I saw a tweet that indicates Trump is interested - I wonder why?
@Stephen Morgan No, the Fabian Society logo is a tortoise with its right foreleg raised, saying "When I strike, I strike hard." The wolf-in-sheepskins was its original coat of arms, but it was quickly abandoned, while that goddamned tortoise was printed on every publication for years....
Speaking of years, years ago -- between what would have been my junior and senior years of college, had I gone to a college that used such terminology -- I spent a Summer in London as an intern with the Fabians. Nowadays, there's a staff of twelve working at the Fabians' new, larger offices, but back then there were four full-time staff members -- including the two rather formidable, chain-smoking, fifty-something East End women who answered the phones, handled subscriptions and membership inquiries, and took care of mailings -- and me, a suspiciously long-haired Yank who'd never heard of the organization three months earlier. Not only that, but I arrived to learn the Society had been an intern-free zone for several years, thanks to a deeply held antipathy towards interns in general, and American interns in specific. Somehow, the sponsoring organization had managed to talk them into taking a flier on me, a decision no one seemed to remember making and which increasingly was looking like a bad idea. At the very least, no one had much of an idea what to do with me...
...so I ended up doing a little of everything: Organizing their archives; helping vet a couple of submitted publications dealing with US politics and labor; taking minutes at the near-daily meetings of various working groups; helping out at the annual board meeting; cleaning up the basement; manning the switchboard. I got to meet many of the movers-and-shakers in the Labour (and, alas, soon the Social Democratic) Parties, including quite a few of James Callaghan's cabinet ministers, as well as a number of leading journalists on the left. I got to courier documents to Buckingham Palace, and I was present at John B. Anderson's disastrous meet-and-greet with Members of Parliament.
Given these my bona fides, then, I feel pretty confident in saying the Fabian Society -- at least in the closing years of its first century -- was most certainly not in charge of the world. At the time, they were essentially waiting for the Social Democrat shoe to drop, and wondering if, when it did, could the organization survive? (At the time, a significant portion of their budget came from an annual donation by the heir to one of the UK's largest mercantile fortunes -- and rumored to be the primary source of funding for the gradually coalescing Social Democrats.) In fact, IIRC, when I stopped by the offices four years later while in the UK on my honeymoon, the staff was down one scary front-office harridan, due to a lack of funds. Unless the secret to controlling Western Civilization has something to do with dandruff, which I recall the Society managing to generate in a quite outstanding range and amount, I don't think several months of my life were spent in the secret Dartmouth Street headquarters of the Masters of the Universe.
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