April 5, 2023
TRUMP RANKS AMONG "TOP 10" U.S. POLITICAL "SCOUNDRELS" -- NEW CANDIDATE FOR STATE'S ATTORNEY IN 2024
by RUSS STEWART
America’s political history is replete with scoundrels, reprobates, fools, liars, knaves, criminals – some of them would-be presidents and two actual presidents. Blatant opportunism, narcissism, egomania and sociopath behavior are the character traits of all of them.
Politicians fall into three categories: Immoral, amoral and moral. Their task is to do and say whatever is necessary to get elected and stay elected. So amoral is usually the norm. Differentiating between Right/Wrong and True/False is not a priority.
With ex-president Donald Trump’s April 4 Manhattan grand jury indictment for paying hush-money from one of his corporations in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels with whom he had a 2006 liaison. Trump vaults to among the topmost of my “Top 10” list of renowned historical scoundrels. He joins such worthies as Aaron Burr, Henry Clay, James Blaine, William Jennings Bryan, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, George Wallace, Joe McCarthy and, lest we not forget, Illinois’ very own Rod Blagojevich.
A “scoundrel” is defined as a rascal, sometimes wicked or villainous, other times lovable or even charming. Compare the much-hated, neurotically paranoid Nixon to the garrulous Clinton, a mostly-harmless rogue whose “bimbo eruptions” (as described in those days) were a source of national amusement to everybody except Hillary.
The problem arises when amorality becomes borderline immorality, when one’s moral compass is so flawed that one no longer knows or chooses to do or say what is right/wrong – only what’s-good-for-me versus what’s-bad-for-me. That’s the definition of a sociopath: Somebody detached from reality.
Trump faces 4 other ongoing investigations: By the DOJ regarding Jan. 6 (incitement to riot, insurrection) and Mar-A-Lago documents (obstruction of justice), by the Atlanta DA regarding the GA 2020 vote, and by the NY attorney general regarding his income taxes. Federal law prohibits direct corporate donations to political campaigns. The Manhattan DA claims the $130,000 hush money was political and that Trump (and his lawyers) “falsified documents,” committing two felonies. Trump will claim the hush money was for his personal benefit. Trump will win an acquittal.
AARON BURR: Election tampering is a U.S. tradition dating back to 1800. Burr was a New York politician, ally of agrarian limited-government advocate Thomas Jefferson, and rival of Alexander Hamilton (who he killed in a duel). Burr agreed to run as VP with Jefferson against Federalist John Adams’s ticket, and they won the electoral vote 73-65. At the time electors were chosen by the state legislatures, and Burr delivered NY and victory.
Also at the time electors were required to vote for two candidates with the second-placer being VP. Burr decided he wanted to be the first-placer, since he and Jefferson both had 73 votes. He conspired with the Federalists to divert some of Adams’s 65 votes to him. The ploy was exposed and Burr spent 4 years being reviled and ignored, getting dumped as VP in 1804.
Burr then headed westward, which at the time was in the throes of a Mexican insurrection against Spain’s colonialism and military colonization, and the U.S. on the brink of war with Spain over control of Florida and the Louisiana territories. Burr conspired with the revolutionaries to try to prod the U.S. into a war, with his payback being a massive personal land grant of all territory from Texas to California if the rebels won. In effect, Burr would have his own country and rule like a King.
But the 1794 Neutrality Act made it a misdemeanor for U.S. citizens to meddle in the affairs of hemispheric U.S. neighbors. Jefferson, when Burr’s alleged sedition was discovered, issued an arrest warrant for treason. Burr was acquitted at a federal trial and self-exiled to Europe. He was a conniving rogue, but creative.
HENRY CLAY: What good is power if it can’t be used to get more power? Clay was the ultimate egotistical opportunist. His political philosophy was “What’s in it for me?” His all-consuming obsession was to be president, and he ran and lost 3 times.
In 1824 he was U.S. House speaker and he, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and William Crawford were running for president. The Constitution provided that the House choose among the top three if none gets an electoral vote majority. But the EV was 84/99/41/37, with Clay fourth.
So Clay had a bitter decision to make: Have HIS House elect HIS choice. Clay chose Adams and Adams chose Clay as Secretary of State, then viewed as a pathway to the presidency. Jackson, a military hero from Tennessee, was viewed by Kentuckian Clay as a rival for the West’s vote. Enraged Jacksonians howled “corrupt bargain” and the general ousted Adams in 1828 by an EV of 178-83. Clay ran against Jackson in 1832 and got crushed 210-49.
1844 looked like Clay’s year. Sectional and secessionist ardor had cooled. Clay, now a Whig, thought his opponent (D) would be ex-president Martin Van Buren of New York, who lost in 1840. The bubbling issue was annexation of Texas, which the South championed (as a new Slave State) and the Abolitionists rabidly opposed.
Clay slyly made a deal with Van Buren: Both would be publicly anti-annex, removing that issue. But then Van Buren lost the nomination to pro-annex James Polk, making Texas THE issue. Clay was cornered. Polk won 170-105, sweeping the South and West plus NY (30) and PA (20). Clay lost NY by a few thousand votes; had he won it the EV would have been 135-135.
JAMES BLAINE: He was the “continental liar from the state of Maine.” He understood the art of the lie, which was to accuse his accusers of lying about his seemingly endless bribe-taking. He was very good at it. He lost for president in 1884.
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN: It is said that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. Bryan lost for president in 1896, 1900 and 1908. He was an arrogant, narrow-minded, intolerant, self-righteous rogue.
RICHARD NIXON: Books have been written about the content of character, or lack thereof. He was insecure, paranoid, mean, had low self-esteem, and was a pathological liar. Watergate would have gotten him impeached and prosecuted. Instead, he resigned and got pardoned.
BILL CLINTON: “He’s a really good liar,” said Senator Bob Kerrey of Clinton in the 1990s. “I mean really good.” Remember his “I did not have sex with that woman” (meaning Monica Lewinsky) lie? He was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice but acquitted. He is not revered.
JOE McCARTHY: The Wisconsin senator (R) proclaimed in 1950 that there were “205 communists” in the U.S. State Dept., then 57, then 81. Lying begets more lies, the lying gets easier, and begets publicity, and lies become whoppers. The liar soon becomes a laughingstock. McCarthy was a pathetic rogue living in his delusional world.
GEORGE WALLACE: “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” bellowed Alabama’s governor in the early 1960s. Racial hatred was a political tactic in the pre-1960s South, used to divert attention from squalid schools, a shabby economy and corrupt politicians. He was a vile rogue and product of his era.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH: As Illinois’ first and thus far only governor to be impeached, he is an example of the Peter Principle, which posits that people rise to the level of their incompetence. To go beyond invites the consequences of stupidity. Father-in-law Dick Mell made him governor. He never earned it, never tried to understand nor master the job.
By 2008 the feds had wiretapped the governor’s phone. After Obama 2008 election, Blagojevich the Senate appointment “golden” and Jesse Jackson Jr. reportedly offered a $1 million donation to get it. When the feds released the tapes the IL legislature impeached him and the feds indicted him for “public corruption.” At his retrial he was convicted on 17 of 20 counts and got a 14-year sentence. He is a dumb rogue, more to be pitied than reviled. Trump eventually commuted his sentence.
STATE’S ATTORNEY UPDATE: According to Democratic sources it is now all-but-certain that Kim Foxx will NOT seek a third term in 2024 (unless she changes her mind if Brandon Johnson wins). First into the field is Brendan O’Leary, an assistant state’s attorney (ASA) back in the 1990s who then spent 23 years with the FBI, heading the public corruption unit he retired. He has been heavily recruited by some politicians and trade union leaders, who will provide instant funding.
Ready to announce in July upon her retirement is Appellate Court justice Eileen O’Neill Burke, who has been on the bench since 2008. The presumptive slated candidate will be 1st Assistant State’s Attorney Risa Lanier, a 20-year prosecutor who has held the job since Sept. 2021, Her predecessor Jennifer Coleman resigned in May 2021 for bungling the Adam Toledo police shooting case.
Lanier is backed by Toni Preckwinkle, the Black committeepersons and the Leftists who adore Foxx’s criminal-coddling policies. If two credible Whites face a slated Black, then Lanier wins easily. O’Leary’s task is to get Burke out of the race.
Read more Analysis & Opinion from Russ Stewart at Russstewart.com
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