{"id":16264,"date":"2022-09-03T17:20:23","date_gmt":"2022-09-04T00:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=16264"},"modified":"2022-09-03T17:20:23","modified_gmt":"2022-09-04T00:20:23","slug":"rules-fairness-hypocrisy-and-both-sides-ism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2022\/09\/03\/rules-fairness-hypocrisy-and-both-sides-ism\/","title":{"rendered":"Rules, Fairness, Hypocrisy, and Both-Sides-ism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More recent headlines.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/09\/03\/opinion\/03bouie-newsletter-1\/merlin_184385691_d96220a2-6783-41f6-9728-db2577b773c9-jumbo.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><strong>CNN, 3 Sep 2022<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/09\/03\/politics\/trump-jail-sentences-mishandled-classified-information-kfile\/index.html\">Donald Trump has repeatedly called for lengthy jail sentences for those who he claimed mishandled classified information<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n&#8220;On political corruption, we are going to restore honor to our government, &#8221; Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/factba.se\/transcript\/donald-trump-speech-charlotte-nc-august-18-2016\" target=\"_blank\">said in August 2016<\/a>. &#8220;In my administration, I&#8217;m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in July of that year, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/factba.se\/transcript\/donald-trump-speech-raleigh-nc-july-5-2016\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> Clinton&#8217;s mishandling &#8220;disqualifies&#8221; her from public service.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, Jamelle Bouie, 3 Sep 2022<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/03\/opinion\/republican-rules-michigan-alaska.html\">Republicans Are Showing Contempt for the Rules<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nThere are almost always new examples of Republican politicians rejecting any result or rule that doesn\u2019t favor their interests, and this week we have two.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He discusses how Republicans in Michigan kept an abortion-rights amendment off the November ballot because of &#8220;less than optimal spacing between the words on the petition,&#8221; whereas &#8220;Had this been an amendment to <i>ban<\/i> abortion, there is no question that Republican officials would have allowed it on the ballot.&#8221; And their complaints about the voting system in Alaska (which I discussed yesterday) because Sarah Palin didn&#8217;t win.<\/p>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p>Another example:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Washington Post, Dana Milbank, 30 Aug 2022<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/08\/30\/trump-hillary-clinton-classified-documents-equal-treatment\/\">Trump wants to be treated like Hillary Clinton? By all means.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Condensing greatly, matching investigations into Clinton point by point:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The FBI should undertake a sprawling, multiyear investigation into Trump\u2019s conduct &#8230; while he runs for president in 2024. &#8230;<\/li>\n<li>After Trump secures the GOP nomination, the head of the FBI should break with long-standing Justice Department protocols and publicly announce that while he doesn\u2019t recommend prosecuting Trump, Trump was \u201cextremely careless\u201d with classified information. &#8230;<\/li>\n<li>13 days before the 2024 election, a top official with the Democratic nominee\u2019s campaign should announce that he has heard via leaks by \u201cactive\u201d FBI agents of a coming \u201csurprise\u201d related to the Trump investigation.<\/li>\n<li>Eleven days before the election&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Two days before the election&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>That is precisely what happened to Clinton in 2016. And Trump wants to be held to the same standard? Well, fair is fair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, 2 Sep 2022<\/strong> (on today&#8217;s front page): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/02\/us\/politics\/trump-biden-democracy.html\">Parties\u2019 Divergent Realities Challenge Biden\u2019s Defense of Democracy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because Republicans\/conservatives have one set of rules for their enemies, different rules for themselves.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Republicans\u2019 reaction to Mr. Biden\u2019s speech was remarkable. For years, they stood quietly by as Mr. Trump vilified and demonized anyone who disagreed with him \u2014 encouraging supporters to <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/us\/100000004269364\/trump-and-violence.html\">beat up protesters<\/a>; demanding that <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/08\/us\/politics\/trump-calls-to-indict-political-rivals.html\">his rivals be arrested<\/a>; <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/25\/us\/politics\/trump-russia.html\">accusing critics of treason<\/a> and <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/26\/us\/politics\/klausutis-letter-jack-dorsey.html\">even murder<\/a>; <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/watch-live-trump-visits-minnesota-to-speak-about-the-economy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">calling opponents \u201cfascists\u201d<\/a>; and retweeting a supporter saying <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2020\/05\/28\/trump-retweets-video-saying-only-good-democrat-is-dead-democrat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cthe only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.\u201d<\/a> But they rose up as one on Thursday night and Friday to complain that Mr. Biden was the one being divisive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s unthinkable that a president would speak about half of Americans that way,\u201d <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NikkiHaley\/status\/1565786486120800260?cxt=HHwWiICzteyg5borAAAA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said Nikki Haley<\/a>, who was Mr. Trump\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations. \u201cLeaders protect the Constitution,\u201d <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mikepompeo\/status\/1565748690706468867?cxt=HHwWhsC80e6I1LorAAAA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">added Mike Pompeo<\/a>, who was Mr. Trump\u2019s secretary of state. \u201cThey don\u2019t declare half of America to be enemies of the state like Joe Biden did last night.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The hypocrisy here should not be difficult to detect.<\/p>\n<p>The question is, what are the complaints Republicans\/conservatives have about their opponents that merit this kind of &#8220;both-side-ism&#8221; (a topic covered a day or two ago here) coverage? In fact, the article soon admits,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When it comes to democracy in America, there is no real equivalence, of course. The elder Mr. Trump sought to use the power of his office to overturn a democratic election, pressuring state and local officials, the Justice Department, members of Congress and his own vice president to disregard the will of the people to keep him in office. When that did not work, he <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/21\/us\/politics\/trump-jan-6.html\">riled up a crowd that stormed the Capitol<\/a>, disrupting the counting of Electoral College votes and threatening to execute those standing in Mr. Trump\u2019s way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A bit farther down, we get this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere is a real difference in how the parties define democracy,\u201d said Nicole Hemmer, a historian at Vanderbilt University and author of <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/30\/books\/partisans-nicole-hemmer.html\">\u201cPartisans,\u201d<\/a> a newly published history of the rise of conservative movement figures in the 1990s and their transformation of American politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Republican Party at the moment subscribes to a much narrower definition, as is evident in their support for everything from voter suppression to extensive gerrymandering to the right of Republican officials to overturn voter preferences in the certification process,\u201d she added. \u201cThe Democratic Party favors not only a more inclusive voting system but more robust systems to support majoritarian politics.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>OK, the Democrats are inclusive, the Republicans exclusive. We knew this. And this is an academic generalization. Where are the specific awful things Democrats are doing that begin to compare to what the Trump and MAGA Republicans are doing? Nothing here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More recent headlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-resistance","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16264"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16269,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16264\/revisions\/16269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}