Jared is so fucking dumb:
The White House has been working for several months to prepare for President Trump to commute the disgraced ex-governor’s [Blagojevich’s] sentence, of which he has already served seven years. The move was spurred on by Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who reportedly thought it would throw a bone to Democrats. Despite LaHood, Bost and CNN’s other sources’ claims, an administration official told CNN that Blagojevich’s case had been “vetted significantly.”
Every single thing about a Blago sentence commutation is stupid. Democrats won’t appreciate it; his corruption was so comically obvious that Trump’s commutation will have everyone wondering what Blago gave Trump to get him to do it, and it will piss off Republicans. So, of course, Jared thinks it’s a good deal.
Tom Levenson
Jared on prison matters and foreign affairs; Don Jr. on gun control…
What could possibly go wrong?
James E Powell
The benefit to Trump will be that the press/media will treat it as a Big Story with multiple layers of meaning that will require two weeks of analysis which will preclude coverage of anything negative about Trump.
Kraux Pas
Makes perfect sense to me. The one thing this administration* is succeeding at is promoting and institutionalizing corruption at all levels of society.
He needed a way to show both people engaged in comically obvious corruption and the corrupt among the Ds that it’s their time to get on his good side.
*and the rest Republican party for as long as I’ve been alive, but I digress
GailVortex
As a life-long Illinoisan, I am 100% sure that there is NO ONE who will care about Blago getting out of jail. Except maybe his family. Maybe.
However, I am not at all adverse to the idea of Jared and the Trump White House expending political capital on getting Blago’s sentence commuted.
Baud
Maybe they are hoping President Blagojevich will reciprocate.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Christ, a corrupt Democrat isn’t a Democrat and damn well should sever their sentances.
I guess a souless weasel like Jared only understands souless weasel.
Shantanu Saha
The only Illinois Democrat that might possibly like Blago is Rahm Emmanuel, because Rod would make Rahm only the second most hated Democrat in the state.
Baud
Dems are so ungrateful.
Kay
Is it even true? Doesn’t Jared have some bug up his ass against federal prosecutors because they put his crook father in prison?
You can never go wrong betting on “petty personal vendetta” with the low quality Trump hires. Go as low as you can imagine and then drop it a notch.
geg6
When I first read about this, I was just astounded that anyone thought that anyone would be “happy” that Blago’s sentence would be commuted. It is truly mind boggling that Jared is stupid enough to think any Democrats would be happy about it. I don’t know a single poor person of color who is that stupid. Just goes to show you what the privilege of wealth and whiteness can do for a person.
The Dangerman
Wasn’t Blago on the Apprentice? I could go look it up but …
matt
Theory: they sent Jared to work on this so he wouldn’t fuck other stuff up.
Betty Cracker
They’re just really bad at this. There’s no multidimensional strategy. The Trumps have no experience outside of licensing scams and fraud, and they’ve never had a boss who wasn’t named “Dad” or “me.” As a consequence, they don’t understand how shit works, so they fail.
Kay
It’s both sad and interesting that Democrats know a lot more about Republicans than Republicans know about Democrats.
It’s sad because that’s the traditional role of the less powerful, right? The people downstairs know more about the people upstairs than the reverse. They have to! They have to be on guard! :)
Kraux Pas
@geg6: C’mon, haven’t you heard the groundswell of calls from activist Democrats to release Blagojevich?
“Free Rod, free Rod!” They chant in unison. Wait, i think that was the gay strip club.
Kay
To me it was really clear when after the 2016 election everyone was demanding Democrats go talk to Trump voters.
No one told the Tea Party to go talk to Obama supporters. The assumption was they were “the public” and we were, I don’t know, an “interest group”.
waspuppet
@geg6: This is what happens when they ask Sean Hannity what Democrats think.
johnnybuck
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: they seem to have this perverse idea that Democrats revere ALL of their politicians, even convicted ones. I get that they might think that as republicans revere their disgraced leaders, so long as they don’t stray from orthodoxy.
It, for example, really blows my mind how much space the Clinton’s take up in their collective brains. It’s been two decades since Bill was President, both Clintons are retired from politics, have little sway over party’s future or it’s present for that matter, and yet they are constantly on the minds of GOP’ers. I mean, I thank them for their service and I like them both, but they don’t occupy that much space in my brain, neither does Trump, for that matter.
dmsilev
Can he really be so stupid? (Spoiler: yes). I mean, who is arguably the most popular person among Democrats today? Barack Obama. The sale of which Senate seat got Governor Goodhair into trouble? Barack Obama’s. Putting aside the whole “Democrats by and large actually care about good government” thing which I know is an alien concept to people like Trump and Kushner, even a quick look at the personalities involved should tell them that most if not all Democrats will range from apathetic to opposed on the question of clemency for Blago.
We all know that the real reason is that he appeared on Celebrity Apprentice and one of the few things that motivates Trump beyond greed and racism is misusing his power to aid former cronies.
Kay
I saw some non-celebrity being held in another country objected to the Trump Family helping only the celebrity. That’s a good point! Is this some kind of corrupt family government where only certain people get state intervention…yeah. It is.
Good try, though. It was “news” for about 20 seconds. I admit I didn’t anticipate how quickly the norms would collapse. You have to conclude they weren’t very resilient to begin with if a reality tv show family defeated them so utterly. Something was rotten in the load bearing walls.
Barbara
Jared thought firing James Comey was a brilliant idea for capturing Democratic support. Jared is an idiot.
Kraux Pas
@waspuppet: A lot of right wing media is them going back and forth about what Ds or the left supposedly believe. Virtually none of it has any basis in reality.
On occasion these RW outlets post an out of context quote to support their claims. But the content of the clip doesn’t even matter because on more than one occasion where they’ve played such clips, the content of the clip had nothing to do with what was being discussed. My efforts to point this out to the people voluntarily choosing to watch were fruitless.
Queens Lurker
Too bad Dick Durbin is in favor of commuting Rod’s sentence. Probably the only Democratic politician who is, but there you have it, the fig leaf. Kinda disappointed in the Senator.
Gretchen
It was Jared’s idea to fire Jim Comey too. He thought that since Dems were mad at him for his pré-élection press conference, we’d be happy he was fired for failing to protect Trump.
robmassing
@Barbara:
This.
Kay
@dmsilev:
Oh, God. I should have known. It’s always dumber and more petty than my guess. They work all day on this crap. Hundreds of people. That’s the part that amazes me. They have one whole person who does nothing but lie on social media and HE has a staff.
germy
Kay
Because it is more than Trump and it’s more than his rank and file voters.
His wealthy supporters just gathered in a room where the nasty moron mimicked a stereotypical Asian accent and they think this is hysterical. These are not “the best people” and it isn’t wealth or education. They’re horrible despite every advantage. There may be no way to make them better, because what else is there that would?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Kay:
Exactly it. This is a classic case of the One and the Other. Trump voters are typically, white, conservative, and a good portion of them are Middle America types in rural areas. “Real Americans”. They are the One.
We are the Other. We’re diverse and threaten the white, conservative, status quo that the media elites are themselves apart of
Queens Lurker
Last message in moderation, perhaps because of the supporting link… but the point was just to mention that unfortunately Dick Durbin is in favor of commuting RB’s sentence.
TenguPhule
How dumb is he?
/the opening to every dumb person joke in all of space and time
PaulWartenberg
Kush: “But I gave you Blago!”
Democrts: “WE DIDN’T ASK FOR BLAGO! We asked for trump to admit his role in the Russian election hacking and then resign from the White House!”
Amir Khalid
Blago has nothing to trade for a pardon, and he’s very obviously not a useful ally or a friend in Trumpland. The closest I can come to a rationale for this insane pardon is that the Trumpistas don’t believe Blago did anything wrong in trying to sell Obama’s old Senate seat — that he shouldn’t be in jail in the first place. Beyond that, it makes no sense at all to me.
CementMan
As the northeast coordinator of the Free Rod movement I must say I am very disappointed at the tone of this posting. Our movement has spent almost ten years trying to free this fine, decent man whose only real crime was being corrupt. Trump’s racism, policy of caging children, and cozying up to dictators will seem like a distant memory to his political opponents if he just would commute Rod Blagojevich’s sentence.
It is possible that the Nobel Prize that Trump didn’t get for North Korea might be well within his reach.
Frankensteinbeck
@geg6:
I think this is vitally important for understanding our politics, economy, and society in general. Attempts to judge the behavior of the rich on practical concerns are foolish. Describing them as manipulating the rubes is foolish. The rich are rubes just as much as the uneducated rural farmer. More so. Our economy is structured so that you can be as stupid as Trump and Jared, and if you already have enough money you can’t lose it. That leaves the rich with one overwhelming motivation: Their own emotions. Mostly ego.
EDIT – @Kay:
And they’re even more racist than the so-called-rubes they’re supposedly tricking. Why? Because they can afford to casually hate, and because it makes them feel naturally superior.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Amir Khalid:
Well, the plan was made up by Jared, boy genius. No wonder it doesn’t make any sense. This is the same dude who thought Trump firing Comey would please Dems
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Frankensteinbeck:
B-b-but I was reliably told by Ben Shapiro that facts don’t care about your feelings and only snowflake libturds are motivated by such things as emotions!
My life is a lie //
catbirdman
@Amir Khalid: Blag went on Trump’s show and presumably kissed a lot of Trump @ss. That goes so much farther than any sane person can be expected to appreciate.
Frankensteinbeck
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I add your joke to my argument. NOBODY whines like a criticized rich man. They’re worse than evangelicals.
Kay
@Amir Khalid:
I used to think they were trying to discredit the whole idea of prosecutions or “the rule of law” (which they have utter contempt for), but I shouldn’t have, because it’s always shallower and dumber and more petty than that.
mrmoshpotato
@Barbara:
So much extra typing. ‘Jared is an idiot.’ will suffice.
The Moar You Know
Trump thinks he can buy Dems off because his entire life has been spent buying people off. Usually for dirt cheap.
What he may fail to realize is that we have a very specific price in mind, and it’s his orange ass not occupying the Oval Office any longer. No substitutions, no trades. That’s what we want, period. And of course that’s a price he has no intention of paying. So he keeps looking around for other things he can buy us off with. This is the latest shit offer in what is about to become a long, steady stream of shitty offers as election day gets ever nearer.
BC in Illinois
Let me give the Trump family a peek into the reservoir of Democratic good will that remains for Rod Blagojevich:
Chicago Tribune Jan 30, 2009
Not one word in his defense.
Not one vote to retain him.
Not one person clapped for him.
Yeah, pardoning a corrupt politician — that EVERYBODY was happy to be rid of — is going to win over Democrats who might otherwise have voted against Trump.
Kraux Pas
Of course he only helped the celebrity. He only cares about celebrities and celebrity causes because he likes to share in the attention. Only the most recent example of Trump being the logical conclusion of the Republican party’s recent trajectory. They’ve always been celebrity obsessed. That’s why they love elevating their celebrities to office and lamenting they don’t have more support among celebrities.
And this has been getting me mad at an older example of Republican projection. Obama being portrayed as a celebrity candidate. He wasn’t a celebrity. He was a good public servant who rose to prominence on his hard work and ingenuity.
Why is it wrong to celebrate good public service?
A Ghost To Most
@Frankensteinbeck:
Which is worse: unbounded greed, or wilful ignorance powered by spite?
karen marie
@matt: No one in the administration is competent to recognize when somebody fucks up – the Blago commutation is the current Exhibit A.
I think the only reason they’re doing this is to put a Democratic elected’s corruption on the front page to distract from their own corruption. Pretty much all this administration does is work on things that will distract from their corruption and incompetence.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
It’s, frankly, one of THE most classic narcissist moves: they give you a “gift” that you never asked for and didn’t want and then berate you for not being “grateful” that they deigned to give you anything at all. They then whine to everyone they know about how “ungrateful” you are and how they work so hard to please you, but you’re just such a terrible person.
It’s yet another example of how narcissists use basic politeness as a weapon — they know that it’s not polite to complain about bad gifts, so they deliberately give bad gifts because they know the other person has to either suck it up or risk looking like an asshole.
Llelldorin
@Kay:
We’ve known for some time that celebrity could propel a candidate with few redeeming features to high office (Reagan, Ventura, and Schwarzenegger come to mind immediately, or some former generals going back to the nineteenth century). Trump’s main “contribution” is to demonstrate that celebrity is really all you need—you don’t need Reagan’s or Schwarzenegger’s transitional periods where they ingratiated themselves with the Republican establishment, for example.
cmorenc
One potential motivr for a Blajojsvich pardon by Trump that would make at least somr plausible sense is that Blahojavich represents the sort of quintessential corrupt democratic officeholder which the news publicity that would accompany the pardon would highlight – and since the ex-Gov had already served seven years incarcerated, that would presumably diminish blowback for Trump allegedly being soft on crime with the pardon.
Even with this reasoning it more likely than not won’t work out to give the GOP more advantage than problems grom the ploy.
mrmoshpotato
@GailVortex:
Care to bet?
MattF
@dmsilev: Except that the concept of admiring Obama is so alien to the Trump ménage that it would never occur to Jared. I think the operative concept here ‘Democrats will be grateful’.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Is this presidential run on the Democratic ticket or Rethuglican? First Dem to lose Chicago since…well….Wikipedia’s county breakdown only goes back to 1984.
mrmoshpotato
@Mnemosyne: Let’s not forget the Never-say-I-never-gave-you-anything crowd. Buncha a-holes too.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: It’s also the traditional role of people with empathy.
It’s not that Republicans don’t care about Democrats because they’re more powerful. They don’t care because they’re self-centered and have no interest in learning about the needs of anyone other than themselves. To the extent that they EVER care, it’s about what norms Democrats won’t violate so that Republicans can do what they want without retribution.
Basically, it’s sociopathic behavior.
cmorenc
One potential motivr for a Blajojsvich pardon by Trump that would make at least somr plausible sense is that Blahojavich represents the sort of quintessential corrupt democratic officeholder which the news publicity that would accompany the pardon would highlight – and since the ex-Gov had already served seven years incarcerated, that would presumably diminish blowback for Trump allegedly being soft on crime with the pardon.
Even with this reasoning it more likely than not won’t work out to give the GOP more advantage than problems grom the ploy.
mrmoshpotato
@The Moar You Know:
That’s part one of a set. No getting off scot-free for the fat, orange, fascist Soviet shitpile mobster conman. We want to give him (really all of them) the day in court (as defendants) they so richly deserve.
feebog
I thought at the time that 14 years was a harsh sentence and still think so. Think about what Manafort got for 10 charges. So, I don’t give a shit one way or another if Blagojevich’s remaining sentence is commuted. I would have a big problem with a full pardon. And I can’t imagine that most Dems will give a shit one way or the other.
Gelfling 545
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I haven’t heard or read of a single Dem who thinks that this SOB should have his sentence commuted. As someone said above, possibly his relatives care, possibly not.
Anonymous At Work
I had assumed that the issue was intended solely to troll Democrats. No one could be so stupid to think that Democrats would appreciate the gesture…
…
Of course, when you put those words down “No one could be so stupid…”, you run into one of the Trump Principles, “Yes, they can be THAT stupid.”
James E Powell
@Kay:
Not just an “interest group,” but a small group of undeserving complainers who do not love God or America. For most of my life, the press/media accept and repeat that the Republicans are more Godly, moral, and patriotic because . . . well, because they say they are!
schrodingers_cat
Meanwhile in Kashmir it is day 12 of a complete communications blockade. Many prominent Kashmiris have been arrested. And the army has shot at the demonstrators.
I blogged about it yesterday, A Troubled Paradise.
And here is a latest dispatch from Reuters
patroclus
In my view, as an Illinois resident who votes Dem, the sentence should be commuted. 14 years was vindictive and out of proportion to the offense. It’s not like he murdered someone or sold our electoral system to the Russians. That said, it’s not going to determine my voting or anything like that. Trump being an insane white supremacist who is destroying the international trade system and the U.S.’s hard-earned reputation in the world are a tad more important.
Barbara
@mrmoshpotato: Well, seeing as how these people live in an accountability free zone within their heads I think it helps to provide concrete examples of prior failures to preclude any possible defense like “he’s new at this kind of thing” or whatever other excuse is being vomited from the mouths of Trump’s enablers.
James E Powell
@patroclus:
Back in my beloved hometown Cleveland OH, County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora got 28 years!!! for what could only be described as garden variety corruption.
Keith P.
Why not pardon Don Siegelman instead? Dems don’t hate him like they do Blago afaik
JaySinWA
Hey, nobody is happy, so it must be a good deal. Am I right? Compromise all around!
Robert Harvey
@Mnemosyne:
I had a great aunt (by marriage, not by blood) who did this all the time. She gave me gifts I neither wanted or could keep, like $200 of perishable pastry or an ancient sectional sofa, when I lived in a tiny dorm room. Then she wanted me to paint her house while I was trying to hold down a summer job.
karen marie
@Kraux Pas: I am laughing at this. What’s wrong with it is that it highlights that Republicans are really bad at public service.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@schrodingers_cat:
Is there actually a greater good being served by all this, in terms of India’s national interests (external or internal) or is this like so many of Trump’s actions, where the horror & cruelty *is* the point?
Ramalama
@Kay:
Kind of like how we queer people know a lot more about heteros than vice versa. Though that’s getting better thanks to social media. It’s just weird though. Every once in a while when I’m listening to Pod Save America and one of the awesome dude Democrats makes a suggestion, I feel a pull in me as if they’re giving away the game. But Repubs are not paying any attention.
Unless it comes from other sources, comrades.
schrodingers_cat
@a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio:1. Stripping a region of its autonomy.
2.Governing without the consent of the governed.
3. Communication blockade
4. Putting even elected leaders who abide by the Indian constitution in jail
Even if their supposed ends are just and they are not, the means are going to provoke a backlash.
ETA: The point is to assert the Hindu identity of India and let all the other people know that they are second class citizens who are merely tolerated.
That by the way is Orange T’s goal too. Where upper caste Hindu is replaced by white Christian.
Cruelty is the means to demonstrate that.
A Ghost To Most
@schrodingers_cat: I can’t say I’m surprised. Didn’t Hindus invent the caste system?
schrodingers_cat
@A Ghost To Most: I don’t whether they invented it, but caste is a reality that cuts across religious lines in India.
A Ghost To Most
@schrodingers_cat: So was slavery in the US, and apartheid in SA.
A religion that labels an entire group of people as untouchable is worthy of nothing but contempt.
Bobby Thomson
“Democrats won’t ‘appreciate’ it?” Poor word choice. It implies this is beneficial to Democrats.
Procopius
@geg6:
I have noticed that many right wingers believe they know what others believe, and are totally wrong. They believe it anyway. Funny, now that I think about it, I’ve noticed a lot of “centrists” think they know what “leftists” believe and want, and are totally wrong, too. I don’t pretend to know what rightists or centrists actually believe or want, but what they say they want is definitely not what I want.
Procopius
@Kay:
From the Wikipedia article, “Bill Clinton pardon controversy,”
The biggest controversy was over the pardon of a jamoke named Marc Rich. His pardon was approved by then Assistant AG Eric Holder. Gosh, reading that article, I had never realized some of the bad actors he pardoned. FARC?