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A "total clown show." Lester Black

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat is certain that Tim Eyman's run for governor will do more harm than good for Washington State's Republicans. He is certain of this because, one, Republicans, fear he will turn the "race into a circus," and his campaign would be a "total clown show." The GOP also predicts that Eyman will fail because he "reached the end of his credibility.” Westneat reminds the reader of "the video of him stealing a chair this year from Office Depot." He is certain it will used by his opponent in a “should this man be your governor?” ad campaign.

The main piece of information that one can draw from Westneat's optimistic post, "Just when it couldn’t get any worse for state Republicans, along comes their old friend Eyman," is that he has not been watching the impeachment hearings, or learned about the Gallagher case, or the Lorance case, or the Golsteyn case, or that Joe Arpaio is running for sheriff again. There is a trend here, and its message is simple: White men are above the law. Tim Eyman's run for governor could not have been more timely.

Edward Gallagher, Clint Lorance, or Matthew Golsteyn are white men/soldiers whose war crimes were pardoned by Trump. These men were not accused by crazy Democrats from Southern California, of mouthy progressives from Detroit, or godless socialists from the Bronx. They were accused by their fellow soldiers. And Trump now wants the liberated war criminals to be a part of his 2020 run for president.

Daily Beast:

If Donald Trump gets his wish, he’ll soon take the three convicted or accused war criminals he spared from consequence on the road as special guests in his re-election campaign, according to two sources who have heard Trump discuss their potential roles for the 2020 effort.

My point is that we live in a time when white male lawlessness is brazenly promoted. The presidency of Trump has this as its essence: All is permitted if you are a white man like him. And from this essence emerges the fame and exoneration of Edward Gallagher, whose case was packed with soldiers who described him as a serial killer.

The Denver Post:

Two Navy SEALs testified Friday that their platoon chief gunned down a young girl and an old man in Iraq in 2017 from his sniper’s perch, though neither witnessed him pulling the trigger.

The SEALs said shots came from the tower where Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher was posted and they watched through their scopes as the civilians fell to the ground.

Were the two Navy SEAL accusers Ilhan Abdullahi Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? No. They weren't. They were hardcore Navy SEAL snipers. And they were freaked the fuck out by Gallagher. And what is the message that Trump's pardon sends to the American public? White men cannot be wrong. Therefore, white men are above the law. (In this post, I'm examining the proximate cause of the pardons and not their ultimate cause.)

There is much more. This is from Task & Purpose, a website for the military community ("service members, veterans, and spouses"):

Tolbert [a Navy SEAL sniper] testified that he was scanning windows along the riverbank searching for targets when he noticed a man moving closer to the river. As another SEAL explained in previous testimony, firing warning shots to keep civilians off the battlefield was a standard practice, according to their rules of engagement.

"I aimed to the side — far to the side — and fired," Tolbert testified. "I took the shot. The man got startled."

The man then ran from the river to a nearby building and tried to go inside, but the door was locked, Tolbert said.
"He ran north to south across the road," Tolbert said. "That's when I saw the red mark on his back and I saw him fall for the first time. Blood started to pool and I knew it was a square hit in the back." Over the radio, he said he heard Gallagher tell the other snipers, "you guys missed him but I got him."


Enter Tim Eyman. How does he announce his run for governor? By breaking the rules, and getting away with it.


Two important things to note in this announcement. One, Eyman knows very well he will be cut off. Two, he knows he will be cut off while attacking Seattle, the Pacific Northwest capital of urban elites. Many in the sticks and suburbs will see in Eyman's presentation a real disruptor, a white man going rogue. Westneat sees Eyman's Office Depot incident as conclusively damning, the doggedly low-information white voter in Clark County or Snohomish County sees cred in a mediocre white man with big political ambitions.

During the Obama years, an important change in mainstream white male American culture occurred. In the past, it could be argued that the dumbest white man was still smarter than any kind of black man. After Obama, this belief found itself standing on very shaky ground. The response to a worldview smashed by Obama's competence was to assert that competence did not matter. Here is your Trump. His present occupation of the White House says, for those who conveniently ignore his inherited wealth and status, being white and male is more than enough. If you are accused of killing lots of Arabs, you can't be wrong because you are a white man. If you were accused of stealing furniture, no matter, you can still run for governor and win. In the world we are now in, a lack of credibility does not close opportunities for a white male politician on the right. Indeed, it will energize rather than depress the GOP's base.