Unbelievable

I was going to write today about Roy Moore's lawyer Trenton Garmon whose bizarre interview I came across when I had MSNBC on yesterday.  It's been described in many places as a "trainwreck" and it was.  You could only stare and think this is unbelievable.  At one point, I thought co-host Stephanie Ruhle was going to leap through the monitor to throttle him, when he started bringing up the heritage of the the other co-host Ari Velshi. At one point, when Garmon started talking about Velshi's countries in his background, Ruhle incredulously called out, "He's from CANADA."  (Velshi was oddly quiet and composed during it all.  I got the sense this was for two reasons -- 1) He sat there thinking it was best to just stay silent and let the guy keep digging his own grave, and 2) "Hey, Stephanie's on the attack, I am really incredibly well-covered here. Let her shred him...")

It was so pathetic, though, and got enough coverage throughout the day, that going into all the detail of why it was so pathetic that I realized I had much better ways to use my time.

It's important, though, to mention that later in the day I discovered something I hadn't realized at the time.  As horrible as Trenton Garmon was, I didn't realize when I heard him on MSNBC that he was the SAME numbing fool who had been on CNN only days before, interviewed by Don Lemon, who kept calling him "Don Easy Peazy Lemon Squeazy,"  No, really.  

"I hope that I'd be able to give you the name 'Don Easy Peazy Lemon Squeazy,' right? You'll take it easy on me."  Lemon let it go the first time, but eventually had enough.  Here's a part of that. I'm not suggesting you watch the whole thing (your head will hurt), but I offer it as proof because otherwise you might not believe me...
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All this came to a head in the evening when neoconservative operative David Frum (who to his credit has been blisteringly critical of the Trump administration and appears apoplectic about it all) was a guest on MSNBC had one of the best lines of recent days.  After host Ari Melber ran a clip of Trevor Garman being held out to dry by Stephanie Ruhle, floundering helplessly over Ari Velshi's heritage, Melber ask Frum for a comment.  "Well, this is why you should pay your legal bills," he said.  "Because if you don't...you don't get quality help."  

The other panelists and host tried to stay serious, but each one burst into laughter.

(Side note. In some excellent research and reporting by Grant Stern -- thus far only posted in a series of notes on Twitter, not yet on his website, The Stern Facts, a site I've previous mentioned here in regards to his reporting on Trump associate Felix Sater -- he made some fascinating discoveries about attorney Trenton Garman.  The short version is that Garman attended an un-accredited law school and was disbarred Trenton Rogers Garmon was disbarred by the Alabama Bar Association in 2013, having pretended "to be a preacher in order to solicit legal work from the parents of a 13-year-old who recently died.  When appealed, his disbarment was upheld by the Alabama Supreme court...under then-Chief Justice Roy Moore!  Six months after his 90-day disbarment ended, Garman returned to practice law in Alabama.  Which I guess explains a lot about his two recent TV disasters.)

But for all that, going into meticulous details over Trenton Garman's meltdown -- or meltdowns -- just wasn't necessary.  The broad strokes, I realized, was more than enough.  His comments really don't matter.  The flood gates have opened, and he's the guy holding a leaky pail.​

What I realized was something else.

It's great so many people, especially Republicans, are now coming around to believe the women about Roy Moore, as additional charges keep surfacing. BUT...the first four women ON THE RECORD should have been enough. With 30 sources. What if it had "only" been the 14-year child who was willing to speak??! Her story hasn't changed one word. But she would have been alone. And likely ignored, unbelieved. And smeared as a liberal hoax out to make a buck. But it would have been the exact same story most now believe, because there not only are others, but SO MANY others. To think that having this many stories of child molestation is "lucky" is pathetic. Those first four braves souls was more than plenty.

And each day, for the past months since the Harvey Weinstein story broke and then grew -- indeed the past since, since the Trump accusers became news -- we regularly have it drilled into us why women don't come forward with accusations of sexual harassment or worse.

And in the end, all these far-right defenders of Roy Moore blaming his troubles on just "liberal smears" are digging a very deep hole for themselves. Because as the story becomes more clear to almost EVERYONE that it's true, this weak line of defense will be discredited every next time they try it.

It's The Boy Who Cried Wolf in reverse. "The sky isn't falling, the sky isn't falling." But that's what you said last time -- and it DID fall. And it crushed you.  

​And they will, hopefully, be the ones not believed.