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True colors

Published by Tom Sullivan on September 23, 2023

Brace for “both sides” on steroids

Gold bar found during search of Sen. Bob Menendez’s Mew Jersey home in 2022 search by federal agents. According the the indictment, over $100,000 in gold bar in addition to over $480,000 in cash. Photo: U.S. Southern District of New York

Some musings on the Menendez case and more. ICYMI (ABC News):

A federal grand jury in New York has returned a sweeping indictment against United States Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, in connection with improper foreign relations and business dealings.

The investigation focused on a luxury car, gold bars and an apartment allegedly received by Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian. His wife was also indicted.

This is the second time Menendez has been charged with corruption. “A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts and a judge acquitted him on some charges.” This time he stands accused of accepting bribes in exchange for using his foreign affairs clout to help Egypt. He says he will not resign.

I joked online Friday that all Menendez need do now is switch parties. The GOP will welcome him openly (see NC state Rep. Tricia Cotham), fundraise for his defense, and claim the indictment is a politically motivated act against a Republican by a “weaponized” Biden Department of Justice.

True colors

I joked about Cotham too soon (Texas Tribune):

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a longtime Democrat, is now a Republican — turning Dallas into the largest city in the country with a GOP mayor.

“Today I am changing my party affiliation,” Johnson wrote in an op-ed published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. “Next spring, I will be voting in the Republican primary. When my career in elected office ends in 2027 on the inauguration of my successor as mayor, I will leave office as a Republican.”

Johnson served in the Texas Legislature for nine years as a Democrat before he was elected as Dallas mayor in 2019. Though the mayor’s position is technically nonpartisan, Johnson joins Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker as one of two Republican mayors to lead a major Texas city.

Johnson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

James F. Love IV reaches back a few centuries for a historical analogue:

Historian Heather Cox Richardson opts for a more contemporary reference:

There’s a touch of corruption in the fall air, isn’t there, observes Rachel Bitecofer.

Judd Legum notes the irony in how swiftly Democrats booted Al Franken over an adolescent prank.

But Menendez with his cash and gold bars is more of an “old boy” that other old boys will defend. Both Schumer and Durbin are well past their “best by” dates.

Meanwhile, Rep. Max Frost (D-Fla.), political activist, national organizing director for March for Our Lives, and the first Gen Z member of Congress, is in the Rose Garden during his first term introducing the president as he announces formation of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

Which side are you on?

Kidding aside about Menendez switching parties, unless Democrats swiftly make him walk the plank, Trump, the GOP, and press stenographers will use the Menendez indictment to supercharge their narrative that “both sides” are equally corrupt. It will distract from Trump’s four indictments, the coup-related trials, and the threat posed by the Trump’s fascist movement. Bums need to be voted out. Biden himself advocated that on Friday. But a “both your houses” backlash the republic does not need.

Hill Democrats rallying around Menendez could further dampen enthusiasm for voting among young independents at a time when the republic needs their energy most to defeat reactionaries who would burn it down. Frost represents their future. Menendez is a boat anchor.

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