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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023

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What do you do when caught with top secret documents? Deflect:

[He] didn’t know the documents were there, and didn’t become aware they were there, until his personal lawyers informed the White House counsel’s office, one source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Of course, this time it’s Joe Biden, not Donald Trump. The President’s staff has handed over several documents, including TS//SCI, leftover from his time as VP. His personal attorneys found the documents on November 2nd while clearing out a closet in his former Penn Biden center office, immediately notified NARA, and handed off the hot potato the next day. Since then the DoJ has appointed an attorney to figure out who’s responsible for the illegally handled files. Other than that, most everyone involved has refused to comment unless they represent one of the parties in court.

Now for the obvious comparisons:

  • The type of documents seem similar to those kept in Mar-A-Lago, and were haphazardly filed in a similar manner

  • NARA didn’t know about (or request) the missing files

  • If Biden’s team is concealing more documents, they’re doing a much better job

  • The FBI is watching but not serving any warrants

  • Perhaps most importantly, the President is deflecting and denying rather than crying “witch hunt”

This leads, naturally, to two movies on one screen. Either the President is taking all the right actions after some staffer’s fuckup, or the security state is shamelessly giving him a slap on the wrist. What few outlets are writing on the subject fall into these two narratives. Democrats can’t help but compare the “scope and scale” of the violations, while Republicans emphasize the lack of door-kicking.

Neither stance addresses the real deciding factor of a smoking gun. This is going to be a Hillary situation. Like her infamous server, responsibility is diluted enough that no charges will be brought. (Note that I’ve made the same prediction about Mar-A-Lago.) Both narratives will try to spin epistemic uncertainty into iron-clad assurance, thus adding no value.

The only real conclusion is that you or I wouldn’t get off nearly so easily. If you’re going to store classified documents for your job, you’d better talk softly and hire a big staff.

An interesting angle of this that I have not yet heard discussed is the possible intent behind the publicity this is getting.

I don't think many would dispute that intense coverage of Trump's documents handling was fueled by:

  1. On the left, a desire to see Trump weakened/prosecuted

  2. On the right, amplification of the Trump persecution narrative

Now, arguably, the left-leaning establishment drives both engines that are key to #1: Institutional DC (or "the deep state") bureaucrats at the National Archives and FBI whose pressing of this issue drove the narrative; and, #2, the national media that made hay out of the confrontation. The right, as it does, reacted to this tag-team with the usual indignance.

So what are we to make of the left-leaning establishment+media now doing the same to Biden (although more gently, and well after it might have impacted the mid-term elections)?

There has been speculation among low-key conspiracy theorists over whether Biden would "be allowed" by the backroom DNC power players to run for re-election, or even to see out his full term, as due to his age and other failings he is considered a weak candidate. Could this minor scandal with a key element of hypocrisy be intentional "friendly fire," pushed by the DNC and/or potential Democrat rivals to make him a less viable candidate or even force a premature resignation? It's not a big enough scandal to ruin Biden's reputation but reminds me a little of the Al Franken situation, where Democrats used him as a pawn to show "We hold our own to the same standards!" and conveniently make room for a more demographically attractive replacement with no inconvenient loss of political power.

Why else would we even hear about this?