We square johns will remember the year 2020 as one of the most traumatic periods in our lives. But Trump and his party will fondly recall this time as The Golden Era of Grifting.
Case in point: Senator Richard Burr, an example of modern Republicanism at its purest:
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who had expressed confidence in the country’s preparedness for the coronavirusoutbreak, sold a significant share of his stocks last month, according to public disclosures.
The sales included stocks in some of the industries that have been hardest hit by the global pandemic, including hotels and restaurants, shipping, drug manufacturing, and health care, records show.
Until about a week ago, President Trump and GOP leaders had projected optimism in the country’s ability to manage the global outbreak of the coronavirus.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. And this was just the beginning. Think of it this way:
The square johns are frightened. And the square johns are grateful that finally the US is setting up a trillion dollar relief program.
But that’s why square johns are such little people. Because if you’re a Republican, you don’t think like a square john, you don’t think like a little person. You think:
A trillion fucking dollars! If I could get me like even the tiniest taste… Yeah, baby, yeah!!
BTW, Burr’s not the only Senator who get what’s really happening and seized the day by its golden horns :
Burr’s sales were among those of several senators to come to light late Thursday, raising questions about whether they were influenced by private briefings on the outbreak that in subsequent weeks caused U.S. equity markets to plunge.
Also under scrutiny were sales by Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, as well as Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.).
Naturally, in a culturally healthy country, all of them would have been run out of office before midnight last night. But here we are, where we just record their lame excuses and non-sequiturs and move on to the next atrocity (seriously, Dianne, seriously?).
What a time.
Update: David Leonhardt has a round up of comments and info. Some excerpts:
Molly Knight: “Richard Burr should not hold government office by Monday. He needs to resign today.”
David French, The Dispatch: “The potential insider trading is dreadful and possibly criminal, but what could elevate this to a historic scandal is the idea that senators may have known enough to be alarmed for themselves yet still projected rosy scenarios to the public AND failed to make sure we were ready.”
David Frum of The Atlantic wants to know who else may have sold stock: “What did the Trump family sell, and when did they sell it?”
In 2012, Robert Reich notes, Burr was one of only a small number of members to vote against a law that barred them for trading on inside information.