Friday Round Up! 8/11/23

The cheesy propaganda plan behind the January 6 coup attempt...and everyone gets a special counsel!

I know the big news that just broke yesterday is the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling left out — I want one too! (I feel the same way about not being on Russia’s sanctions list.) I need to learn more about what, exactly, the special counsel is still investigating to comment more on this, but one thing that has become clear is that the purpose of appointing a special counsel — to ensure the public’s faith in the impartiality and independence of the Justice Department — is not really having its intended effect, at least among Republicans. The complaint seems to be that the special counsel is the same U.S. Attorney, David Weiss, who investigated Hunter in Delaware, which obviously makes him corrupt. Weiss, of course, was appointed by Trump and is a holdover…but if your purpose is to keep a narrative alive, not actually get to the bottom of what you claim to be concerned about, then I suppose that doesn’t matter. I have to take this opportunity to post a copy of my friend George Conway’s flowchart on the Hunter Biden investigation (I think it could use more stick figures and little color but it is actually quite promising):

Renato and I will discuss the latest special counsel in next week’s podcast, but this week we discussed the December 6 memo written by one of Trump’s lawyers, Kenneth Cheseboro. The CAFE Insider note I wrote on the memo is listed below.

My articles this week:

• I elaborate on Trump’s use of the courts and Justice Department to generate legitimizing propaganda for his January 6 coup attempt in this week’s note for CAFE Insider

• If you’re interested, more on legitimizing propaganda and other types of propaganda in this early class lesson, for which I have removed the paywall

• Because special counsels are the gift that keeps on giving, here’s a post from last December with some history on the special counsel and the parameters of the current regulations

Other articles worth reading:

• This piece by Hillary Clinton for The Atlantic, on the weaponization of loneliness. This article is what sparked our office hours discussion this past week on the loss of social connection in America, and I followed up with some additional resources on that topic here. Clinton’s piece reminded me of this quote from Alexis deTocqueville’s Democracy in America (Vol. II, Ch. 4):

Despotism which by its nature is suspicious, sees in the separation among men the surest guarantee of its continuance, and it usually makes every effort to keep them separate. No vice of the human heart is so acceptable to it as selfishness: a despot easily forgives his subjects for not loving him, provided they do not love one another. He does not ask them to assist him in governing the state; it is enough that they do not aspire to govern it themselves. He stigmatizes as turbulent and unruly spirits those who would combine their exertions to promote the prosperity of the community; and, perverting the natural meaning of words, he applauds as good citizens those who have no sympathy for any but themselves.

Upcoming events:

• Wine & Fries Club Happy Hour with Michael Cohen, Sunday, August 27, 8 p.m. EDT. Zoom link will be sent to Founding Members at 5 p.m.

No TV clips this week but it sounds like there could be big news dropping next week on the Georgia front, so hopefully there will be several in next week’s round up. Until then, enjoy the last weeks of the summer!