The chief duty of government is to keep the peace and stand out of the sunshine of the people.
James A. Garfield, in a letter to H. N. Eldridge (December 12, 1869) as quoted in Garfield (1978) by Allen Peskin, Ch. 13.
On July 13, 1973, the minority (Republican) counsel on the Senate Watergate investigative committee, Donald Sanders, asked Nixon aide Alexander Butterfield if he knew of any recordings made in the Nixon White House, and Butterfield responded, “everything was taped” at least while Nixon was in attendance, and that “there was not so much as a hint that something should not be taped.”
This revelation of the Nixon Tapes transformed the Watergate scandal into a major legal (as well as political) event; with the court-forced disclosure of the tapes, it proved to be one of the most striking examples of “government transparency” in modern times.
On Wednesday, in “The Devil and the Deep Blue Dress,” Paul Jacob dealt with the closing of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Since then, reactions have run the gamut, but there is a persistent theme: disbelief. What President Trump and his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, have told us about Epstein is not widely believed. But what does this mean for those most closely associated with reforming the FBI, Dan Bongino and his boss, Kash Patel?
Well, Laura Loomer made waves on X:
The New Republic tries to place this tweet in context: “It’s important to keep in mind that Loomer has her own agenda when she ‘reports’ on the Trump administration, and is desperate for any job that will keep her in close to the Oval Office.” But the progressive magazine goes on to say that Loomer has exerted no small amount of influence on the Trump Administration in the past.
“Conservatives have taken to social media to back FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino in an apparent falling out between the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) following Attorney General Pam Bondi’s defense of a memo regarding the Epstein files,” explains Newsweek.
“According to a far-left Axios scoop,” the Independent Sentinel tells us, “Dan Bongino took the day off today after a clash with Pam Blondi [sic] over the handling of the Epstein tapes. The dispute erupted Wednesday amid the fallout on the administration walking back its claims about Epstein. They said there was no client list and he committed suicide.”
Kash Patel, Director of the FBI, is also rumored to be thinking of throwing in the towel — but also seeks to put the AG to the curb.
What does this all mean? “Could you imagine you’re Dan Bongino?” asks the host of The Quartering podcast. “And you’re worth like . . . 200 million dollars. You know. F**k it. Just quit…. All he has to do is quit and say ‘I did the best I could; the Deep State is still real.’ You know. That kind of stuff. And then . . . 99% of people will forgive him. I guarantee you that fact.” The podcaster’s belief? The one that quits first will have the least mess on them.
Seems about right.
But nothing has happened yet, and Trump Again/Off-Again Bill Mitchell thinks a whole lot of folks are speculating, not reporting:
Uh, we know who.
Oh, wasn’t it odd to see Ms. Loomer’s put-down of AG Bondi as “Blondi” carry over into the news reports without correction?
A realm of intimate, personal power is developing — power of the individual to conduct his own education, find his own inspiration, shape his own environment, and share his adventure with whoever is interested.
Stewart Brand, Whole Earth Catalog (1968).
On July 12, 1917, vigilantes kidnapped and deported nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona. This came to be known as the Bisbee Deportation.
On the same day in 1948, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion ordered the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.
“It was the first assassination attempt since 1981 to wound a current or former president — a bullet grazed Mr. Trump’s ear.” Such a close miss! No wonder Trump now suggests he’s on a mission from God.
The Times’s Washington reporter says the agency has, since the shooting, endured “intense” scrutiny, but that’s not what it looks like from here in the bleachers. The Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt was dropped by the media like a hot rock, after the first week or so, receiving very little public scrutiny . . . considering its grave implications. (Pun intended.)
“Multiple inquiries, including from Congress,” the Times goes on, “into the security lapses at Butler had some overlapping conclusions, in particular that there was a significant breakdown in communications between agents themselves, and between Secret Service agents and the local law enforcement helping to secure the rally site.”
By Hanlon’s razor, we are supposed to avoid using malice and conspiracy as explanations for when things go wrong . . . if at all possible. And incompetence — if not exactly Hanlon’s chosen word, stupidity — is indeed the official determination.
And now it has been dealt with. Officially. A few agents were suspended without pay from ten to 42 days.
Is that enough?
Such gross incompetence deserves an outright termination of employment. Everybody knows this.
Is it really that impossible to fire a government employee?
Some will speculate that they were treated lightly to keep their mouths shut.
You know, about a conspiracy.
But the undoubted proliferation of stupidity in government always makes Hanlon’s razor easy to apply.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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I am trying to do two things: dare to be a radical and not be a fool, which, if I may judge by the exhibitions around me, is a matter of no small difficulty.
James A. Garfield, in a letter to Burke Aaron Hinsdale (January 1, 1867); quoted in The Life of Gen. James A. Garfield (1880) by Jonas Mills Bundy, p. 77.
On July 11, 1804, General Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, and Colonel Aaron Burr, third (and sitting) Vice President of the United States, took part in a duel at a site known as the Weehawken Dueling Grounds, a narrow ledge about 20 feet above the river, which, at the time, offered a secluded spot with a clear view of Manhattan.
Hamilton, less than 50 years of age, died the next day of complications from a bullet wound; Burr, who was not hit, died on September 14, 32 years later at age 80.
Now, billionaire Musk appears to be serious about his proposed “third party,” the “America Party.” A name perfectly designed to ruffle Trumpian feathers. It might steal some of the thunder of “America First” and “Make America Great Again.”
The president mocks the notion, saying that third parties “have never succeeded in the United States.”
Well, that is not exactly true. For a long time, it was second parties that had problems.
The first party, the Federalists, basically lost for a generation, finally withering away against the onslaught of that most American party of all, the Democratic-Republican.
When the victorious party reformed under the leadership of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren to become the Democratic Party, the Whig Party emerged to counter-act Jackson’s imperial presidency. The Whigs had some success — if with a string of presidents almost no one remembers — only to lose ground to Democrats and then a whiggish replacement, the Republican Party.
Yes, Trump’s own party was a “third” party once.
And it achieved power largely because the Democrats split into two for the 1860 election, leaving a sectional plurality candidate (Abraham Lincoln) to win the Electoral College as a Republican.
In modern times, Republicans and Democrats have ably squelched challenger parties.
So Trump’s right — in spirit.
Now enter Andrew Yang, enthusiastic for the upstart. But how can his Universal Basic Income agenda fit with Elon’s fight against over-spending?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* Though, some wonder if the Trump-Musk feud isn’t all an act.
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In the ideal socialist state, power will not attract power freaks. People who make decisions will show no slightest bias towards their own interests. There will be no way for a clever man to bend the institutions to serve his own ends. And the rivers will run uphill.
David Director Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom (1973), p. 108.