Stone Cold Cronyism

Just having a tattoo of Richard Nixon on your back should be enough to bring your character in question. However, that’s never been enough for Roger Stone, oh no. The arch-Republican, self-professed political dirty trickster and convicted felon helped the worst President in history, Donald J. Trump, get elected. One thing that Trump values above all else is loyalty to Trump. Nothing else matters. So that fact that Trump has now pardoned Stone, convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering, should sadly come as no surprise to anybody.

Despite trump’s continual bleating about “draining the swamp”, Stone has to be just about the most perfect definition of a swamp creature that could ever be imagined. A political consultant and lobbyist, Stone has worked for any number of Republican Presidents and politicians, priding himself as being a master of the dark arts of political machination.

Stone was also an Infowars host which, just like his laughable Nixon tattoo, tells you all you need to know as to what we are dealing with.

Stone had been sentenced to 40 months in prison for his aforementioned crimes in February of this year. At the whim of our toady-loving president, Stone served a mere five months of that sentence. This is bare-faced cronyism, nothing more, nothing less.

The US was founded as “a nation of laws, not men.” This was a fundamental rejection of the old world’s rule of kings, queens and emperors who, in many cases in the late eighteenth century, were often deemed to be above the law. The law applies, or at it should, equally to all Americans.

However, then Donald Trump cam along. Trump doesn’t see himself as being subject to the nation’s laws. Beyond any doubt prior to the pardoning of Stone, Trump’s reckless behavior showed us how he was using the highest office in the land for his own personal gain and to stoke his egg-shell fragile ego even further still. A cursory glance of any Trump speech will show you how he references “democracy” or “the rule of law” barley if ever.

Sure, he likes to make reference to “law enforcement” an awful lot – but that is not the same as the rule of law. Trump views the Department of Justice as an extension of his nefarious will and urges. To Trump, it is there not to serve the American people, rather to defend and promote his interests.

Attorney-General Bill Barr is the perfect example of a Trump defender extraordinaire – and he heads up the Department of Justice. Be under no illusions, Barr would have given Trump his 100% backing for Stone’s pardon. Stone was convicted of selling out the American people for the sake of a racist ex-reality tv how star now masquerading as President.

He was lucky enough to get 40 months (the judge bucked sentencing guide-lines that would have seen Stone looking at a sentence more like eight to ten years). Trump’s pardon of Stone is a big fat middle finger to the American people.

The truly repellent thing about this is that at the time of Stone’s sentencing, so very many people predicted that Trump would pardon Stone. As sure as night follows day, that’s exactly what our man-baby President went on to do. The only surprise? Trump didn’t do it sooner.

The US is way, way better than Roger Stone and Donald Trump. Both are as bad as each other and both should be sharing a cell together. The American people, diverse, cosmopolitan and increasingly less old, white and racist, deserve so much more than this current shambles. American prestige has collapsed around the world. Its cities are crying out against police brutality and systemic racism.

The country is in the crushing grip of a lethal pandemic and, in the midst of all that, Trump prioritizes the release of one of his closest toadies from prison. As detailed earlier, Trump values loyalty to him above anything else. Constitution and equality under the banner of a nation of laws be damned. We the people categorically refuse to recognize any of this corrupt garbage. We will win out. We will be victorious. This is our country and the likes of Roger Stone and Donald Trump will never take that away from us.