Mark Karlin: Trump Makes Merrick Garland an Offer He Can Refuse
Donald Trump, arsonist. (Gage Skidmore)
August 16, 2022
MARK KARLIN — EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH
Is Melania Trump’s memoir going to be entitled, “Married to the Mob”?
It sounds like a cliché, especially with the frequent references to Trump as a Don and being all Mobbed up to help finance and build The Trump Organization.
On Monday, Trump told Fox Digital News that he was having his lawyers “reach out” to Garland and the DOJ because he was concerned that “the temperature has to be brought down.” He would do whatever he can to help, he averred.
Then he went on a blistering attack against the FBI and DOJ, and again virulently derided the raid on Mar-a-Lago that seized secret documents that belong to the nation and could imperil national security if seen or obtained by a third party.
He poured gasoline on the fire he created, and claims that he wanted to “help” put out. His goal, of course, was to intimidate Garland to back off an investigation into Trump’s concealment of US government documents that could do grave harm to the nation.
In short, it was like a Mob film scene where some “made” men threaten an informer with torture and the killing of his family members — “You wouldn’t want anything to happen to them” — if he doesn’t cooperate.
In this case, the threatened man is Garland, and the family is America.
As Joan McCarter of Daily Kos wrote on Monday:
Trump’s “offer” to the Justice Department claiming his desire to “help the country” sounds eerily like the lead-in to his September 2020 debate declaration: “I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace,” Trump said then. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said. “But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.”
Trump’s “offer” is a signal to his followers and to the Department of Justice and to the FBI, just like that debate statement. If he doesn’t get what he wants, his thugs are ready to attack. Again.
Garland, who has shown himself to be made of sterner stuff than many thought, is not backing down. He is asking that the probable cause affidavits remain sealed so as not to compromise persons or information that might be vital in a potential criminal case. Trump is fighting to have them opened so he can dox any identified informants and throw a wrench into the grand jury proceedings focusing on him.
Trump’s alleged overture to DOJ is all about “flooding the zone.” Trumpistas don’t care about facts or even national security if their beloved Trump is under attack. After all, Trump, like most fascists, is an emotional leader who actually salivates at actions like the FBI raid. It gives him a chance to reignite the id of his base who are beholden to him for standing up for a white Christian America.
Trump is the Pied Piper of whites who resent that America has become diverse and embracing of non-whites. Indeed, Majorie Taylor Greene recently stated,
“I believe that white men are the most persecuted identity in America,” the extremist lawmaker told a podcaster. Young white men, she continued, “are put bottom on the list of so many things.”
This is Trump’s world. Facts don’t matter, just devotion to a white Christian patriarchal nation represented by the iconic leader of the realm, Trump.
In fact, Greene proposed that the reason white men read “so much pornography” is because they have lost their self-esteem to a secular nation. Yes, she did say that, and it goes a long way in understanding why Merrick Garland shouldn’t yield to the Mob-like gambits of Trump.