Kash Patel Is Getting in the Way of His Own Retribution
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PAUL ROSENZWEIG: Kash Patel Is Getting in the Way of His Own Retribution
LAVRENTY BERIA, THE HEAD OF THE SOVIET secret police is (perhaps apocryphally) remembered for saying, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” That chilling phrase is the very definition of what, in American law, we call a vindictive prosecution—the claim that a prosecution is being brought as retribution against a person for acts that are unrelated to the crime being charged.
The assertion is not uncommon in American jurisprudence. Almost every political figure who has been investigated by a federal prosecutor has made the argument that he is the victim of a vindictive prosecution. They usually argue that their political enemies are out to get them and that they’re innocent of any real crime. But almost every such argument fails because, until now, the claims were almost completely factually groundless.
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Jamelle Bouie: Bad at Being President [YouTube]
The Secret Podcast: What to Watch to Get Your Mind Off Politics 🔐 [YouTube]
Beg to Differ: Is the Press Preemptively Caving to Trump? [YouTube]
Across the Movie Aisle: 'Juror #2' Hits VOD
George Conway Explains it All (to Sarah Longwell): Protecting Those on the “Enemies List”
Bulwark+ Live Takes: Exposing Kash Patel's Radical Vision (w/ Paul Rosenzweig)
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SONNY BUNCH: ‘Red Rooms’ and the Web’s Intrusive Thoughts
Red Rooms, a French-Canadian film that made the festival rounds in 2023 before finally hitting video-on-demand in October of this year, is oddly disturbing.
Not because of the subject matter; the subject matter is straightforwardly disturbing. Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) is on trial for killing three young girls and livestreaming their torture and murder to miscreants on the dark web in a so-called “Red Room,” a previously mythical phenomenon. Stoically watching the trial is Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), an online poker player and fashion model; she takes one of Chevalier’s groupies, Clémentine (Laurie Babin), under her wing when she finds out the girl is functionally homeless.
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! And thanks to all of you who shared fun memories of going to Frisch’s yesterday. The local boys from Anderson Township lost in a heartbreaker. Not having a vested interest, I didn’t pay to watch the game (and Frisch’s has no TVs), but it was nice to see all the local support, driving by the local watering hole and watching neighbors look up at the snowy nail biter.
Canton, Ohio was an absolute snow globe. The perfect kind of snowy game you’d want if you have to have snow. and while a loss isn’t what they were looking for, it is a “a great lesson of life” as coach Evan Dreyer put it. Great season, Raptors.
🎵On the Jukebox…🎵 The Spike Jonze Director’s Cut of Dick Van Dyke with Christ Martin of Coldplay’s ‘All My Love’ and It’s Christmas Time (In Cleveland Heights) ft. Jason Kelce, Travis Kelce, & Boyz II Men.
Putin Thinks the U.S. Is Weak… Trump Can Show Him We’re Not, write Amb. Eric Edelman and David J. Kramer in Politico.
The Rage and Glee That Followed a C.E.O.’s Killing… Should Ring All Alarms (Zeynep Tufeckci, NYT)
Frank LaRose does the right thing… I have shifted from looking for green shoots or snapshots that the GOP can field a normal candidate for any office of importance to snapshots that the party’s pols can act normal. Longtime aspiring Senator and current Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose was faced with such a “can you be normal in this situation?” test, and I am shocked to say he passed.
At issue was the residency of Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Youngstown), whose husband is an elected official in Columbus. For those who aren’t familiar: Youngstown and Columbus are not remotely close to each other. Alas, Ohio doesn’t even require our Congress Critters to live amongst those they represent, but wisely allows married couples with complicated lives to have multiple residences. The state’s more rabid GOP partisans were insistent that Sykes, who owns a home in her district, has her paystubs associated with the address, and has it on her driver’s license, was breaking the law. While most voter fraud in recent years is for Republicans, this was a silly challenge. A low bar, yes. but while there was a 2-2 partisan deadlock on the matter, LaRose sided with the Democrats.
This is not good for LaRose’s career with Ohio Republican voters, who already have sent him the message they don’t want him as their Senator. But an interesting snapshot of periodic sanity from a party that rarely demonstrates it.
While I am pessimistic that we’ll see green shoots of a sane people taking back the GOP in the near future, as Trumpism is baked in for at least two but probably five years. Probably more.
For a Republican, any direct siding with Democrats is potentially a career ender, so those are the shoots I am looking at here as Ohio prepares for a political reality without Mike DeWine on the ballot.
Which way, Buckeye Man? Towards Matt Dolan or Vivek Ramaswamy?
Don’t answer that.
Casting A Wide Net… A conversation with
about “culture in the age of Trump 2.0, the bro-caster scourge, the masculinity crisis, fake heretics and faux populists, America's spiritual malaise,The Bear, and much more.” 🔐Return of the Wrap… The much missed McDonald’s Snack Wrap returns in 2025.
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