Inflation is his fault, even though it’s global, and America has one of the developed world’s lowest inflation rates.
The unfulfilled promise of student loan forgiveness is his fault, even though the Supreme Court’s rightwing justices struck it down.
Hunter Biden’s shenanigans are his fault, even though no other American father is expected to control his adult children.
But all of that is old news. This weekend, Trump’s conviction in a New York state court is front and center, and that’s Joe Biden’s fault, too.
Nearly every Republican politician is saying so, and one of Trump’s lawyers went on ABC’s “This Week” show to reiterate that claim until host George Stephanopoulos cut him off (read story here).
That lawyer is Will Scharf, who describes himself on his website as “a constitutional attorney, a former violent crime prosecutor, and a conservative activist running for Missouri Attorney General.” He declares he’s “at the forefront of the fight to defend the MAGA movement and its leader, President Trump, against the unconstitutional campaign of lawfare being waged by Joe Biden and his crooked political allies.”
When Stephanopoulos interrupted him, Scharf “pressed on, refusing to concede” that Biden had nothing to do with the state prosecution, saying, “I vehemently disagree that President Biden and his political allies aren’t up to their necks in this prosecution” (watch video here).
That’s when Stephanophoulos cut him off, on the principle that ABC declines to be another Fox News, and isn’t going to let a guest use their media platform to propagate falsehoods to their audience.
Scharf is a lawyer, and knows accusations have to be backed up with evidence; except in politics, where anything goes. Finding himself truth-challenged by a no-nonsense TV host (meaning he wasn’t on Fox),
“Scharf pointed to the prosecutor in the case, Matthew Colangelo, ‘standing over [District Attorney] Alvin Bragg’s shoulder when he announced this verdict’ as evidence of political interference, noting he used to work at the Department of Justice.”
This is extremely subtle dot connecting, and it’s over my head.
Bragg did hire Colangelo for this case because he’d worked on it with New York AG Letitia James, who brought the civil case against Trump and his business empire (see story here). But it’s not unusual for D.A.s to bring in outside help on complex cases.
From James’s shop, Colangelo (profiled here, circled in red below) went to the Department of Justice, but that’s not unusual, either. Ambitious lawyers move around to build their resume. It means nothing.
There’s no conspiracy there. Scharf knows this, but as a GOP candidate, he has to sell MAGA political goods in his public appearances.
Blowing apart Scharf’s argument is easy. Even if the D.A. was out to get Trump, and hire someone from the DoJ to help him, Scharf is still leaving out two things: (1) Trump’s conduct, and (2) the fact an impartial jury of ordinary citizens convicted him based on evidence.
But in Trump World, that’s Joe Biden’s fault, too. Welcome to Alice in Wonderland. While we’re here doing this, let’s blame some more things on Joe Biden, too. To keep this simple, and since “everything” is very broad, I’ll start with dogs. The premise is that everything involving dogs is Biden’s fault.
Kristi Noem’s dead dog is Biden’s fault. The death threat against Biden’s dog is Biden’s fault. The cop shooting a blind and deaf dog is Biden’s fault. The fact Clarence Thomas doesn’t have a dog is Biden’s fault. See how that works?
