Just Say "Know"

I have some really excellent advice for every Republican member of Congress.  Okay, yes, I know, I don’t expect that any Republicans in Congress will read this, unless perhaps a wormhole opens up in the universe.  But it’s still really excellent advice, and I take a responsibility to at least offer it to them.

First though, it requires establishing some facts.  I’m aware that all Republicans in Congress know and understand these facts (other than Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Lauren Boebert and Paul Gosar), even if they come across to the public like they don’t.  But they actually do.  Because it’s borderline impossible not to (unless you’re Marjorie Tayl…okay, you know).  But just so we all are on the same page, I want to firmly establish foundationally what every Republican in Congress absolutely knows.

So, an open word to all Republicans in Congress –

To start with, unlike most Americans, you actually know who Trump is, you actually have dealt with him personally face-to-face.  And you also know others who even worked with him intimately and have told you the stories about him.  So, you know, from the inside.

You know, too, that he doesn’t read highly classified documents and the highest classified material on nuclear weapons, or read pretty much anything – let alone take material home to read and study at night, especially when it’s TV-watching time.

You know this.

And you know that he didn’t just wave his hand to declassify all material whenever he took it from its SCIF-secure location to his residence – because you actually know for a literal fact that’s not how declassifying is done.  You know that each document that’s declassified must be literally marked on it to show everyone who next reads the material that it has been declassified.  And you know that every piece would have to be re-classified and then marked “Classified” again – or even “Top Secret” – when returned.  Every time, each document.  Unless Trump supposedly wanted to keep the most highly secret material forever unclassified for anyone to see, which would quite literally put us all at risk.

You know this.  You know that’s how declassifying works.

And you actually know that a president alone can’t himself just declassify documents about nuclear weapons, that there is a totally separate procedure for declassifying nuclear material that requires other people and other levels of security because it’s so highly secret and deeply protected.  Because it’s about nuclear weapons.

And you know, too, that even if by some miracle everything at Mar-a-Lago had been previously declassified, including all the highest classified material on nuclear weapons, Trump still had no right to have any of it because…it’s not his.  Not his as a private citizen, but rather government property that belongs to the government as critical material to protect the safety of the United States and its agents, and it must – by federal law – must be kept by the government.  And to take government property like this to your home is a crime, which you know because as government officials you know the law about protecting government property.

You know all this. 

And you know for a fact that the government has been trying to get the material back from Trump for eight months.  And you know that the Department of Justice then served him with a subpoena two months earlier, which you know Trump ignored.  So, you actually know that it’s not just a case of “Gee, all they had to do was ask” to get the material back, like Trump insists – because, again, the government has been asking for eight months and sent a subpoena and waited on that for two months, but it was ignored.  And you know what would happen if you ignored a subpoena about…well, anything, let alone classified documents.

And you also know that nothing was “planted,” because Trump’s own lawyer Christina Bobb not only said on camera that she was there on site during the search, but also that Trump and his family themselves watched “the whole thing” on closed circuit TV.  You know this because the video of her saying it has been shown on television news and all over the Internet.  Over and over.

And further, you know this search wasn’t political because you know the FBI director was appointed by Trump and you know that the federal judge who authorized the search warrant was also appointed by Trump.  And the judge’s wife was appointed a Circuit Court judge by then- governor Republican Rick Scott.

You know this.  You know all of this.  You actually, really know it.

And you know, as well, that the search warrant says in black-and-white that there is probable cause evidence that government material at Mar-a-Lago has been destroyed, which is a whole separate level of federal crime, and that is why there was urgency to make the search.

And you know that among all these boxes of government material that Trump took to his home at Mar-a-Lago, material that included documents not just marked classified, and not just marked Top Secret, but even marked the highest level Top Secret/ Sensitive Compartmented Information.  Material so highly classified that it was only allowed to be read in an incredibly secured SCIF, where one can’t even take in a cel phone, in order to protect its safety – and that you know among these documents are material about nuclear weapons, because that’s the kind of papers that get such highly-protected TS/SCI classification.  Nuclear weapons.

And importantly, because you do actually know personally who Trump is, you know that all of the charges about him taking classified information to Mar-a-Lago and destroying some it are true.  Because you know that’s who he is.  You know his past breaches of security.  You know that he took the Russian Foreign Minister into the Oval Office and told him top-level security about a planned Islamic State operation.  You know that at a public dinner at Mar-a-Lago that Trump had with the Japanese Prime Minister, the two openly discussed a North Korea missile tests, as guest nearby listened and too photos. You know that Trump tweeted a highly-sensitive photo of an accident that took place at an Iran space facility.  You know that Trump publicly said he trusted Russian dictator Putin more than all U.S. intelligence services.  You know Trump expressed his love for the brutal North Korean dictator.  You know that a Chinese spy was caught at Mar-a-Lago after breaking in during a party.  You know Trump tore up government documents and flushed them down his toilet.  You know all this about Trump, because you literally know who he is.  And not only do you know this deep in your heart, but you know it on the surface of your skin.  Because you’ve had to deal with him for the past five years.  So, you know it’s all true.

And you know on top of all this (which is saying a lot), that Trump is also being investigated by the Justice Department for planning a coup.  And that he’s being investigated in Georgia for being caught on tape asking for 11,870 votes to commit election fraud.  And that the New York Attorney General is investigating his company – and that Trump pleaded the Fifth 440 times.  And that the Manhattan D.A. is investigating his company.  And that the House Select Committee is still investigation the January 6 Insurrection and still have more hearings.  And that his charity foundation – his charity!! – was already investigated and shut down for gross fraud.

You know all this.  You know it.  Whatever you choose to say publicly to your base in order to raise money or hold their support or please Trump, you actually know all of this to be true, to be reality.  You know it.  You know that nothing above is false, absolutely none of it. You know all of this is true.

There is something called Occam’s Razor.  That’s the theorem that says when there are many explanations for something, the simplest one is the truth.  And the simplest explanation here is that Trump took the classified documents, never declassified them and destroyed some.

You know that.

So, here is my really excellent advice.

Protect yourself.  This Mar-a-Lago story is going Really Badly for Trump.  In fact, put aside all his other problems – which is a mountain to put aside – put aside the DOJ’s January 6 investigation, and the Georgia investigation, and the New York state AG investigation, and the Manhattan D.A. investigation, and the House Select Committee investigation, all of it, put that all aside and just look at the search of Mar-a-Lago alone.  Only that.  As horribly as that search warrant story is going, it will get worse – as FBI agents go through what they recovered, interview everyone involved with helping him move all the material there from the White House (because you know he didn’t pack it up himself, of course), as these people give evidence because none of them will want to go to prison for espionage, as material is found to be missing, all his defenses will collapse, and additional charges will be made beyond just stealing classified government documents. The more you put yourself on the side of defending Trump over the search and on the side of attacking the FBI and on the side of still bringing up “But Hilary’s emails” (tm) and “Hunter Biden’s computer!” (tm), the more you yourself will be tarred by it.

And remember:  the “it” you will be tarred by for defending includes stealing government documents about nuclear weapons and dealing with the Espionage Act.  That can’t be something you want to be anywhere near, let alone have it stick to all parts of your body the more you move and talk.  It does not come off easily.  You do not want to be covered with defending the theft of documents on nuclear weapons and destroying classified government documents and the Espionage Act.  No way.

So, take a deep breath and go “dark” on this.  You don’t even have to criticize Trump, that’s how easy this is.  Just avoid saying anything.  And as elected officials in Congress, you know how to do that like you know how to breathe.  No comment, I haven’t seen the article, I haven’t heard his statement, I’m on the phone right now, while this is under investigation I can’t say anything, I have to get to a meeting, no comment, no comment, no comment.

This is going Really badly for Trump.  It will only get worse.  You do not want to be tarred with this.  And this is only the Mar-a-Lago story.  Get tarred by that, and you risk getting swallowed up by the undertow of all the stories of TrumpWorld for being the defender of stealing Top Secret documents on nuclear weapons and the Espionage Act.

And all you have to do is – nothing.  Just say nothing.

You’re welcome.