If society is managed through fear (it is), politics is managed through false hope and expectations. There's simply no way that a fair-minded observer cannot cast a wide gaze on the last several decades of American politics and see the almost embarrassing lather that movement stalwarts and party loyalists regularly work themselves into for ultimately no reason.
The current lather, of course, is the feverish hope on the right that the Joe Biden autopen revelation is going to undo some of the worst acts and pardons of the previous administration. Fueled by Trump campaign advisers…
…MAGA activists have been downright giddy about the possibility, spreading the absurdly unworkable theory into the deepest corners of the movement, stoking hopes and building anticipation:
If you enjoy speculation, then by all means, don't let me stop you. If you like debating the merits and validity of using an autopen for significant legal documents, go for it. But ultimately, none of this is going to amount to anything.
Was Joe Biden aware of what he was doing? I sincerely doubt it. I wrote for four years that someone else or (more likely) a cabal of "someones" were pulling the strings of Joe's ever-deteriorating puppet. But will the near totality of Joe's inner Cabinet and closest advisers testify under oath that Biden willfully and with intent desired those things signed? Absolutely. And that's all that will matter to a court.
Even if he didn't physically sign the pardons.
Even if he was in another state when they were signed.
Intent matters, and the Democrats will have plenty of folks willing to testify he had signified his intent. Case then, ultimately closed.
Of course, the MAGA movement aren't the only ones soothing themselves with wild hypotheticals. Currently the Left is beside itself in the hopes that Donald Trump's administration has finally revealed itself as the fascist regime they've always said it would be. Specifically, they are pointing to the White House "ignoring" the ruling from District Court Judge James Boasberg that attempted to stay the deportation of Venezuelan gangsters. Whether it's the Democrat Party propagandists at Politico, Reuters, or Axios, the quiet murmurs of "above the law," and "constitutional crisis," and "impeachable offense" have started churning up the futile hopes of progressives everywhere.
It's slightly reminiscent of their relentless drumbeat during Trump's first term about how the walls were closing in on him. 👇
Watch that whole clip and realize how many people got so incredibly worked up - on both sides - about what was being said. And it turned out to be nothing but inflated, over the top, exaggerative and performative nonsense, 100% hysteria.
Simply put, a federal district judge has no jurisdiction to arrest the workings of the president when he is acting consistent with his designated Article II powers (which in the case of the illegal alien invasion, he is).
I'm not suggesting that any of this is new to our current moment. Remember, Barack Obama was once going to be ruled ineligible to hold office because all he could produce was his Certificate of Live Birth, and not his long-form birth certificate to prove he wasn't actually born in Kenya. Before that, George W. Bush was going to be impeached, removed, and convicted for his deception regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Even before that, I remember my freshman year of college when the Lewinsky scandal broke, sitting with friends in the student center discussing the imminent impeachment and end of the Bill Clinton presidency.
The 24-hour news cycle, combined with inexorable, inescapable narratives pouring from social media, as well as our own human passions, preferences, and partialities, creates a toxic brew of self-delusion that grips us all when we don't take the time to disembark the politics crazy train.
So despite what you may have heard, or may be helping spread: Joe Biden's pardons will remain. Trump's actions regarding enemy aliens will persist. And I'm starting to think that Bill Clinton may finish out his term after all.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
