Deep State Amnesia: The Selective Memory of 2016

Time after time, progressives—in politics and the media—have convinced themselves they are so right and Donald Trump is so (always) wrong—they can turn reality upside down to suit their narrative.  It takes a special sort of arrogance and smugness to assert that more than 77 million (49.9 percent of the vote in 2024) of your fellow countrymen are too stupid and/or evil to see the light and agree with you.  Pile on an air of self-righteousness with a touch of “all the cool kids agree with us, and to disagree is really in bad taste,” and we are where we are.  

Progressives consistently insist that what they want to be fact is fact (with a healthy measure of cooking the books).  In looking at the past, they behave as though they are the only ones who know how to use Google and ChatGPT.  In examining the present, they essentially assert that what is up is down and what is down is up.  They seem to be asking: Who are you going to believe?  Me or your lying eyes?  

When it comes to lawfare, we hear both the progressive politicians and their fellow travelers in the media argue that President Trump is breaking new ground while their buddies in the Deep State are pure as the driven snow.  “No proof.  Discredited.  Unprecedented.”  Hogwash.  Today, let’s just look at the 2016 election.

In 2016, FBI Director James Comey universally decided that while Hillary Clinton destroyed evidence, compromised the confidentiality of top-secret documents, and fell well short of being candid, she would not be prosecuted.  Never mind that the decision to prosecute does not come from the FBI.  That is the purview of the Department of Justice.  Then Attorney General Loretta Lynch was none too pleased to be usurped.  This, of course, came after Bill Clinton jumped into her plane on the tarmac for a 30-minute discussion.  Who believes the subject of his wife never came up?  

This is a good starter for highlighting the progressive point of view that, unless you have it on tape, just take our word for it.  No common sense should be applied.  Despite having a very forgetful memory, it is a fact that Comey lied under oath.  When asked by Senator Grassley if anonymous sources had been involved in the investigation, Comey responded no.  That is despite using the discredited Steele Dossier multiple times.  Oh yeah.  I think I remember that dossier being paid for by the Clinton campaign, running the money through a law firm.  When this was prosecuted in a Washington, D.C. court, the jury forewoman said the case concerning money laundering was just not very important. This does not compel me to pretend the law was not broken.

Who can forget FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page?  After complaining about the smell of MAGA voters at a Walmart, Lisa asked if Trump could win.  His response was “No.  No, he won’t.  We will stop it.”  Once more, I am told to view this as harmless chatter among lovers.

Between being elected and inaugurated, our intelligence community rushed to generate a report showing the Russians had a role in electing Trump.  Those in senior positions repeatedly stated the report needed to be done prior to the inauguration, so it was in the hands of President Obama.  Maybe he did not directly order it.  Again, that does not mean we need to turn a blind eye to his role.  The rush to get the report completed resulted in several instances where some officials would not join in agreeing with various conclusions.  At one point, CIA Director James Brennan responded to being told something was inaccurate by saying, “Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?”  We generally call this lying.

Early in Trump’s first term, Attorney General Sessions fired the Deputy FBI Director James McCabe for lacking candor, “including under oath multiple times.”  In 2015, his wife Jill ran as a Democrat for the Virginia State Senate.  Think it’s okay to believe the lad might have put his thumb on the scale a few times?

We could go on and on and on just on the 2016 election.  Space prevents it.  Off and on, we will return to the subject of lawfare.  There assuredly will be plenty of material.

Common Sense: When you are the one who has passed gas, it probably is not a great idea to complain about the smell.