As monumental a feat as it was when Donald Trump, a celebrity businessman and reality TV star, got himself elected president of the United States, there should be a general sense among everyone, including his critics, that we’re living in an absurd time, and responding to it with melodrama only heightens the absurdity.
But the critics never catch on.
Case in point: All four Justice Department prosecutors resigned on Tuesday from the Roger Stone case shortly after their superiors at the department said their recommended sentence of up to nine years in prison for Stone was excessive and would have to be reduced.
The prosecutors would understandably be irked to have the department pull rank and contradict their judgment — no one likes to be schlonged — but this is really, really not the time to make a big show about principles and the “rule of law,” etc.
Imagine feeling moved to take a stand over the sentencing of Stone, a 67-year-old clownish figure who was convicted of being a harmless liar.
True, Stone broke the law when he told government officials multiple lies about his role in the 2016 campaign. He lied about his overtures to Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and he wanted other people to lie for him about it all, too.
Yet, no one during the trial testified that Stone had any meaningful contact with WikiLeaks or knowledge of the hacked Democratic National Committee emails that WikiLeaks strategically released throughout the campaign to the detriment of Hillary Clinton.
Nope, Stone was just a liar and made the unfortunate decision to work for Trump, who has been under hot pursuit by the authorities since he became the Republican nominee in 2016.
This all goes back to Russia and its elusive ties to Trump. A slew of people are now in prison or are going to prison for something that, so far as we can tell, doesn’t exist. Just ask Robert Mueller and his 500 witnesses, just as many search warrants, unlimited budget and time, 20 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, and nearly 3,000 subpoenas.
The enormity that would normally accompany associates of the president going to prison and Justice Department lawyers resigning en masse is rendered lame when you consider that — it’s Trump.
It’s just like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi actually going through the effort of impeachment when the recipient of her labor was the guy who just bragged that his “hair looks good” in a photo where nothing about his hair actually looks good.
Stone’s conviction was silly, and now the lawyers who got him convicted look even sillier.
