If At First You Don't Succeed...

Trump's DOJ and FCC had two ghastly court filings yesterday.  Indicting former FBI Director James Comey (again) for posting a photo of sea shells showing "86 47" and claiming it was a death threat - and threatening ABC licenses (again) for a Jimmy Kimmel joke about Trump being a quarter of a century older than his life because they claim that was an assassination threat.

The Comey case is infuriating, but is saved by being almost comical.  (So much so that I have a hard time grasping is how even a Grand Jury returned the indictment.)  It's likely to be thrown out by a judge for being ludicrous - not to mention that it took the FBI five months to realize that these sea shells were supposedly a threat worth indicting.  But if it does go to trial, keep in mind that this would need a unanimous jury (!!) to find the former FBI Director guilty of a threat to kill the president with seashell code.  Unanimous.  Let me repeat:  unanimous.

I almost hope it does go to court - just to see the defense bring in all of Trump's own threatening posts and videos and public statements.  This would include the AI video Trump posted of a tied-up President Biden in the back of a truck.  And a tweet that MS NOW showed by then-Congressman Matt Gaetz) about how his wing of the party had just "86'd" some MAGOP officials. And this tweet from a few years ago by Jack Posobiec, an extreme-right activist and "reporter" who's a Trump favorite and recently got press credentials.

When all of this evidence that shows what Trump himself has done and all the evidence that shows what the DOJ ignored when the MAGOP did the exact same thing, it seems the greater possibility is not that the DOJ will win its case, but that the attorneys arguing it get reprimanded by the court and are at risk of being sanctioned.

(All the more so since this indictment comes after the Trump DOJ are again trying to convict James Comey, having tried once before to indict him, and that one got thrown out of court.  Trying to re-indict someone specifically because you failed the first time is considered Really Bad by the DOJ's own standards.)

But most of all, I'd pay cash money to be in court when the defense parades in all the restaurant workers explaining what "86" means to them when one of the dishes is off the menu, and brings in all the bar workers who explain what they mean by "86" a drunk customer.

I have two hopes here:

My first hope is that the option exists for Comey of a suit against the government for malicious prosecution.  It might make the DOJ wary of other such abusive lawsuits.  But I don't know how that works with the federal government.

And my second hope that if the judge does dismiss the case, he does so by saying in his written ruling that he is "86-ing" the charges.

It's the FCC threat to ABC that I find more galling.  Because that's a threat to all networks and all media.  The exact same threat the FCC is again trying to get Jimmy Kimmel fired.  And while I think ABC learned from its last experience with Kimmel, I don't know how they'll react, or how other networks and media will react in the future to make sure they don't offend Trump's delicate and humorless heart and have to deal with this.  

The thing is, such a truly fascist, strong-arming of the media - let alone over a joke, and a joke that they've completely misinterpreted - is not something that everyone on the right and in Congress approves of.  It's not only deep government involvement in private business, which is contrary to conservative philosophy, but it's also a huge abuse of the First Amendment.  For that matter, even Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Cancun) has repeated his earlier condemnation of the FCC's action.  (At that point, when the FCC strong-armed ABC, Cruz likened it to the mob and something out of Goodfellas.)  This time, he released a statement that said - 

"It's not the government's job to censor speech, and I do not believe the FCC should operate as the speech police." 

When you're on the far right and you've lost Ted Cruz, you know you're dancing on incredibly thin ice.

Moreover, this is so much evidence that the Trump administration that they don't don't what Jimmy Kimmel said seriously and know he wasn't threatening that Trump should be killed.  After all, just yesterday, Trump himself made almost the exact same joke that Kimmel did!  Kimmel had joked about Melania looking forward to being a widow -- since, after all, Trump is almost 80, a quarter of a century older than his wife.  What Trump quipped (yesterday!) is that that his parents had been married for 63 years -- and then turned to Melania and said, "That's a record we won't be able to match, darling.  Just not going to work out that way. We'll do well, but we're not going to do that well".

Furthermore, then there was White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt right before the White House Correspondents dinner on Saturday.  She's on video doing an interview at the event, saying how great Trump's speech will be that night, how funny it is, and that "There will be some shots will be fired tonight."  (Yes, really!)  Surely, no one sane thinks she was saying there would be an assassination attempt.  Any more than Trump and the FCC know Jimmy Kimmel was either.  They were both talking about...jokes.

What I'd like to believe is that ABC finally gets that the FCC has crossed the line much too far and so respond, "Bring it on, we will fight you if you do anything to us because of a joke about old age."  And that all the networks stand with them.  Including CBS.  And the early report is that ABC is staking its place and will defend their position firmly.  Hopefully the other networks will issue statements.

The one thing that gives me comfort about all of this is that I think the public will get it.  All of it.  Both abusive attacks.  They got it the first time that ABC put Jimmy Kimmel on leave and then brought him back really fast.  (And this time around, Kimmel has received a highly-regarded Peabody Award that he received only last week -- given to him specifically for his commentary after having been taken off!)  And the Comey suit is just laughably so obvious and ludicrous (sea shells!!!!) that it can be missed.  And I think this massive retribution and grotesque abuse of power by Trump -- a guy already with a pathetic 34% approval, fighting a war he started that the public aggressively hates, and gas prices continuing to soar -- will backfire on him and the entire MAGOP who enable this even more.

As I've said:  these sickening things that Trump does are hellish and hurt the public badly - but they also hurt Trump badly.  And at a 34% approval, the public gets it.  And is infuriated.

Okay, I have a third hope.  

I hope that Jimmy Kimmel has James Comey on as a guest.