Barr - The Trump Toad - Goes Berserk With Authoritarian Babble (Applying Sedition Law To Protesters? Seriously?)

The bombastic 'Brat-in-chief' pleads with his Top Toad to go after DOJ prosecutors, medical experts, protesters and others - to help him sneak into  the Oval Office again.

Attorney General and Primo Trump Toad, errr. Toady, William Barr, told the nation’s federal prosecutors to be aggressive when charging violent demonstrators with crimes, including potentially prosecuting them for plotting to "overthrow the U.S. government", people familiar with the conversation said.  

In a conference call with U.S. attorneys across the country last week, Barr warned that sometimes violent demonstrations across the U.S. "could worsen" as the November presidential election approaches. He encouraged the prosecutors to seek a number federal charges, including under a rarely used sedition law, even when state charges could apply, the people said.     

This is, of course, totally deranged  and the calling card of an all out extremist authoritarian,  totally following in the footsteps of his authoritarian master, Dotard. It was also a prelude to more recent batshit crazy rhetoric (as media commentator Charlie Pierce noted on All In last night) showing how dangerous this guy is.  What rhetoric?  Well, appearing at Hillsdale College, in a "Breitbart-laden"  brain fart fest,  this fat toad compared pandemic lockdowns to "slavery" and  "house arrest", babbling:

"This is one of the greatest intrusions on civil liberty in American history."

Which is choice, given this is the same toad  wanted to use sedition law against protesters.   Barr in his harangue also went after DOJ prosecutors, saying:  

"Individual prosecutors can sometimes become headhunters all too often and are consumed with taking down their target.  When the most junior members set the agenda might be a good philosophy for a Montessori pre-school but it's no way to run a federal agency."

The  Trump Toad didn't mention any specific cases by name but he has been rightly criticized for moving to drop the prosecution of Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn - for his collaboration with the Russkies and even admitting guilt.  Indeed,  the report from the FBI Flynn interview, known as the FBI 302, showed clearly Flynn was not coerced in any way, and further was given every chance to take an honorable out.   To that end during the interview the agents gave Flynn every opportunity to come clean, even parroting back his own words to try to jog his memory. But Flynn insisted on lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador Kislyak - regarding U.S. sanctions and a UN vote.  Given the FBI had intercepts of the phone conversations the FBI couldn't help but notice they conflicted with the public account. 

So Barr is yapping bare bullshit. What's more, the statement filed at the time of Flynn's guilty plea showed Flynn coordinated the substance of his calls to Kislyak with a senior member of the Trump transition team.  A collusion no brainer, hell a conspiracy no brainer.

Barr in his meltdown against his own DOJ prosecutors (none of them "juniors" - but rather seasoned career civil servants) also clearly chafed at the criticism he took for wanting to lighten the sentence of career criminal and pathological dirty trickster, Roger Stone.  Recall at the House Judiciary Committee hearing in July, this  bloated Toad had the effrontery to ask (WSJ, July 29, p. A3):

"Let me ask you, do you think it is fair for a 67-year old man to be sent to prison for seven to nine years?"

When a perceptive onlooker could have pointed out that Bernie Madoff - at age 71 years - was sentenced to 150 years for his esoteric  crime of using a Ponzi scheme to bilk his investors out of millions.  

Back to his blabbery about pursuing "sedition" charges against protesters.  Barr knows damned well the chilling effect this "sedition" bunkum is bound to have on first amendment free speech rights.   Jenny Carroll, a University of Alabama law professor put it into perspective (WSJ, Sept. 15), noting that  

“There’s all these different statutes the government can use if they are worried about things like property damage. If you start charging those people, even if you don’t get a conviction, it may make people think twice before going out to exercise their right to free speech.”

As I noted in previous posts, all this proves is that Barr is Trump's devoted  lapdog or primary toady. Doing the Dotard's bidding any which way to try to shoehorn this Hitler Jr.  authoritarian into four more years of misrule and destruction of democracy.   For that is Trump's  prime directive: disrupt and lie, bring specious charges and above all, weaken all agencies in the government- from the DOJ, to the FDA, to the CDC, to the NOAA.  Oh, yeah, and increase the U.S. death toll from the virus to 6.4 million to achieve "herd immunity" a la Scott Atlas quack theory, e.g. 

• New Details Show Extent To Which Medical Professio...

Barr has already done a bang up job on the DOJ - bringing this once - venerated independent arm of justice into disgrace by turning it into Trump's personal grievance and revenge outfit.    He's undermined the DOJ to the point of even calling career prosecutors "preschoolers"  because they believed in equal justice under the actual laws, not some "Reich" version that would set  criminal rat traitors like Michael Flynn free and pond scum like Roger Stone free earlier.   Meanwhile, at Hillsdale, Barr effectively declared HE is the final arbiter of justice as he took umbrage at the criticism that he interfered in the Flynn and Stone cases.  In his words:

"What do you mean by interfere?  Under the law all prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general."

But that does not include undermining the law to pursue righteous prosecutorial power!   As former prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg put it thusly:  "The principles articulated may be appropriate. But he fails miserably in the execution. He continues to weigh in on behalf of the friends and allies of the president, which is deeply disturbing.."

It also flouts any even-handed recognition of justice as defined in our constitution. Which document was never intended to set the AG up as a law  unto himself. 

Barr, according to many pundits, is also likely to unleash an "October surprise" (assuming the Trumpies and Pompeo don't  find a way to start a war first) targeting the FBI operation "Crossfire Hurricane". That FBI investigation started after Trump lackey George Papadopolous shot his mouth off to an Aussie about campaign connections to the Russians.   Now, Barr aims to discredit it using a puppet named John Durham. 

Recall, for perspective that a 434-page report issued by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation into the Trump campaign. In doing so, Horowitz implicitly rejected GOP assertions that the case was launched out of political animus, or that the FBI broke its own rules on using informants. 

At the time Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham  -  who Barr handpicked to conduct an investigation parallel to that of Horowitz-   wasn't having any of Horowitz conclusions, issuing his own statement:

“Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the Inspector General that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened.”

This, of course, is total codswallop. How do we KNOW this? We have foreign intercepts of meetings of Trump cronies, e.g. Carter Page, with Russian  (GRU) agents.  It was these intercepts and related documents - including  FISA warrants- that disclosed just how deep the Trumpies were in with the Russkies. For more on those connections and even conspiracy to toss the election to Trump, read the Senate Intelligence Committee report final volume, entitled :  “Volume 5: Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities,” 

We now know because of Barr and Durham's hijinks in trying to upend these earlier investigations,  a top aide to Durham (Nora Dannehy) has resigned (WSJ, Sept. 10, p. A4).   A colleague of Ms. Dannehy's said "the resignation was especially surprising because of her close relationship with Mr. Durham with whom she worked on complex and sensitive investigations."

But perhaps what she saw as Durham's betrayal of the rule of law, and especially cooperating with Barr in its destruction, was a bridge too far.  She likely was especially motivated to ditch the cesspool Durham was involved in after Barr told NBC News that "others would be criminally prosecuted in connection with the probe".  That includes anyone and every one involved in operation Crossfire Hurricane.   All this to try to whitewash the Mueller probe, the FBI investigation and all else that makes Trump into the conniving criminal he is.   

As Charlie Pierce said on ALL In last night:

"Not only was Barr making the argument (that you can prosecute members of the other party) he was saying that's the way the system is designed. It's crazy!  He's making the argument that the Department of Justice should operate as the political arm of whatever administration is in power.  And I'm sorry, that's just nuts."

Pierce then reminded viewers this was Bill Barr's modus operandi going back to the first Bush administration. Then he advised the elder Bush to pardon all those criminals connected to the Iran-Contra conspiracy who might testify against him.   As Pierce put it:  "Two times now he's taken the side of defending the executive branch instead of the American people and the Constitution."

That segment ended with a warning for voters to be aware of a trumped up "October surprise" and not be  misled by it.  We also need to heed Matt Miller's warning on the previous 'All In' expressing concern about what Barr might do regarding the mail ballot counts on election night or after. Especially as this Toad has - like Trump - gone after mail voting.  We need to be aware then, if his October surprise doesn't have the effect he wants, i.e. on polls,  he will try to scuttle the election's legitimacy (if Biden wins, or is leading) for his master Donnie Bonespurs.

Buckle your seat belts, kiddies, because we are in for a rough ride over the next 46 days- and beyond.

See Also:

William Barr has gone too far before, but never this far

• By Ruth Marcus

AND:

We’re all trapped in William Barr’s paranoid fantasy world

Protests Are More Powerful Than Voting? Don't Even Think Of Drinking That Kool Aid!

"We had eight years of governing nihilism in the Republican Party, even when they were the majority in the House, and then in the Senate. And that paved the way for the Trump era, because what we saw from Trump as a candidate was a post -policy candidacy - and now we have three plus years of a post policy presidency...This is why the coming election cycles are so important. Parties change only when voters tell them they have to change.." - Steve Benen, last night on The Rachel Maddow Show, explaining why policy issues are no longer taken seriously by the modern GOP.

It turns out that the latest deformed meme to be making the rounds is that "protests have more impact than voting or politics"  (Denver Post, 'Young in U.S.  Question  Value of Voting', June 7, p. 3A).   As we read in the piece:

"Barack Obama had a favorite saying on the campaign trail, 'Don't Boo--- Vote!' But young protesters galvanized by police brutality seem to be sketching out a present day response: 'Sure, maybe. But first some well -directed fury'"

And of course we know that well - placed fury clears the sinuses, gets the blood boiling and satiates those ramped up emotions- especially building after spending two months looking at the 4 walls in quarantine.  But that heady feeling of marching in the streets and yelling heads off still doesn't address the core problem: the presence of toxic enablers and white supremacy panderers in their various  political positions - who will keep on keeping on stoking hate and fear, until they are removed.

Trouble is, voting -  casting ballots in elections -   is the only way to remove these roaches. Protest until you're blue in the face and your throats are hoarse from screaming, with your body now wracked by Covid-   that won't get rid of the sewer rats.  You have to move asses to register to vote, and then do it. 

Back in 2008, one of the most stirring sights in Colorado political history was that of angry students from Colorado College (in Colorado Springs)  pouring out of their dorms and classes to vote in the 2008 elections.  Indeed I kept the image clipped out from The Colorado Springs Independent:







Colorado College students yell 'Obamanos!' on their way to the polls in November, 2008.


These youngsters had had enough of the Bush-Republican epoch of nonstop wars, killing, and torture (e.g. of the Abu Ghraib prisoners in Iraq) and knew in their hearts merely marching in the streets wouldn't be enough. They knew while marches and protests might have a 'feel good' elixir effect they really needed to get out, register, and then vote!  And so it was their massive actions swept Barack Obama to the presidency, and we beheld a new dawn of promise. (And perhaps equally important, an end to Republican misrule.)

According to the Denver Post piece, however, for the young today that may not be enough, given marching in the streets seems so much more exciting.  And besides, many cities are even responding with new declarations of police oversight.  So why vote?   Well, because protests galore won't rid us of the toxic malignancy fouling the White House and from whom all the hate, white supremacist venom, and division spew.

According to one  young college student quoted in the piece, her preferred candidate (Bernie Sanders) was knocked out,  so what was the point?  She had about as much interest in Biden as slurping up a cold bowl of porridge.   Others expressed a sense of frustration, i.e. that those in office have done little to stem the flood of crises- from mounting student loan debt, to exploding health care costs, to environmental atrocities and recurring economic uncertainty.

A 27 year old protester in Philly named Zoe Demkowitz moaned:

"In an ideal world, all of these issues would be solved by going out and voting. I tried that. I voted for the right people and this shit still happens!"

Welcome to the real world, kiddies!  Here's what few of these idealist voters (and not- yet voters) don't get:  Not voting, going only the protest route instead, leaves the door open for much WORSE actors and outcomes. Exhibit A: Donald J. Trump.  In the words of a recent TIME essay (June 15, p. 30):

"If the George Floyd video was the match and the coronavirus the kindling, Donald Trump provided the gasoline. Since the start of his term Trump has turned the Oval Office into an instrument of racial, ethnic and cultural division. A man who both -sided a white supremacist march, went to war with NFL players protesting police brutality, called African nations 'shithole countries' and told American congresswomen to 'go back' to where they came from, was never going to appeal to harmony now."

 In a related Post piece ('Trump Tests Role He's Long Admired: Strong Man', May 31)  we're warned that Trump may just be "tuning up" his autocratic, authoritarian ways for a 2nd term - assuming not enough people cast ballots to get rid of his toxic ass.  We learn he is especially fond of Philippine strong man Rodrigo Duterte's methods, i.e.

"Duterte is already planning to sign legislation to allow his government to classify some political opponents as terrorists, this mere days after Trump claimed he would designate a group of protesters as 'Antifa terrorists'

And let's bear in mind  under Duterte's regime, using squads of violent police vigilantes and hired thugs,  over 8,000 have already been killed or dispatched in other ways, i.e. to remote labor camps.  Make no mistake that having shattered nearly every norm of law and accountability Trump will yearn to do the same if he gets re-elected on account of American voter complacency.   It will literally be "Trump Unchained"  - a foul maniac and traitor who will now believe he can do anything he wishes- plus he will have William Barr to assure everyone Der Fuhrer is above the law.

 Those  who doubt such excesses could come to pass ought to hear from Janice's German friends Marlies and Ingeborg, who recalled how no German believed Hitler could actually come to power and launch concentration camps. But he did.  The chance we have now is to prevent this from repeating with Trump,  the new Hitler.  

But that means voting - even if one faces long lines, or having to get a proper ID first (see top graphic) - oh, and even "crawling over broken glass" to cast that ballot if you have to.

Again, I return to my theme that voting isn't just about getting "the ideal" candidate into office or having him or her perform to a preternatural, ideal standard of righting all wrongs, or sealing a "green New Deal". No, it also means,  even more importantly  - preventing the bad guys remaining in office or grabbing more power - like Trump, William Barr, Lindsey Graham etc.  Hence, the uber objective is stopping these vermin from completing their destruction of this democratic experiment.  In other words, voting is as much or more about limiting damage and eliminating toxic leaders as it is putting in the best.

Here Masha Gessen's book 'Surviving Autocracy' sheds much needed light on our predicament.  Gessen observes that the U.S. has been totally unprepared for a destabilizing demagogue like Donald Trump.  Not because he 'came from nowhere' but rather he took advantage of a political system ripe for demagoguery.  He succeeded because too many voters abdicated their responsibilities and in doing so threw a monkey wrench into governance.   As Gessen writes:

"No powerful political actor had set out to destroy the American political system itself - until that is, Trump won the Republican nomination. He was probably the first major party nominee to run not for president but for autocrat. "

  The past three and a half years, of course, have revealed not only his penchant for authoritarianism  - and worshipping autocrats like Rodrigo Duterte - but also for side -action destruction of the state and its protections via dismantling of regulations, blowing off congressional subpoenas,  and attacking everything from health care to women's  procreative rights and the environment. It doesn't take a Mensa level IQ to see that all the above are set to be magnified in another Trump term. Especially if yet another Right winger is appointed to the Supreme Court, paving away for a permanent judicial holocaust ripping away right by right as the last residue of our Republic crumbles.  Indeed, another Trump term has the potential to finish this nation off as a functioning democracy.  

Even WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan,  after Trump's last abominable two weeks - which included routing peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square under clouds of tear gas and rubber bullets - knows the writing is on the wall.   As she wrote in her recent (June 6-7, p. A13) piece:

"This will not end well. With his timing he'd know it. He should give an Oval Office address announcing he's leaving: 'America, you don't deserve me'.  Truer words have never been spoken in that old place."

The problem is that Trump will never resign,  he lacks the  moral compass,  and self-awareness of his malevolent folly and incompetence. So it's wishful thinking. The only way to oust this maggot is to vote him out. (Though Janice hopes Covid-19 will take him out when he resumes his rallies.)  But again, voting is the only realistic antidote so this is not the time to make the perfect the enemy of the good, or even the 'just ok' or 'acceptable'.  

At the end of the Denver Post piece one guy named Jason Culler - who marched in a Philadelphia protest- was asked his opinion of voting in the coming election. Culler "predicted the current election cycle would not produce leaders who adequately reflected the crowds filling the streets" and he went on to assert:

"Not this election. Not the Democratic Party, not the Republican Party.  These people don't represent us. That's why we're fighting out here on the streets."

Eliciting the need for a mental intervention in the form of a sobering quotation from Steve Benen's new book,'The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing And Seized American Politics', e.g.

"The electorate long had reason to assume both major parties were mature and responsible. ...But the actions of the Republican Party over the last decade make it abundantly clear it's time to re-evaluate that assumption.

The current iteration of the GOP is indifferent to the substance of governing.  It is disdainful of expertise and analysis.   It is hostile toward evidence and arithmetic.  It is tethered to few, if any, policy preferences,.The modern Republican Party has become a post policy party."

 Got that, Jason?  So by conflating the two parties in your false equivalence quote you are displaying: a) gross ignorance, and b) a cavalier attitude to facts and history that could see Trump re-elected.  Among the most disturbing comments from Steve Benen last night was how Republicans "have simply taken their 2016 platform and slapped a sticker on it saying '2020'.  So Republicans still don't have much interest in governing."  

In other words, no new policy positions or advances, none.  This also matched Trump's campaign web page which revealed no policies or issues, compared to 30 on Biden's web page, according to Benen.

And given Trump's fascination with strongman dictators like Duterte one also has to ask Jason how much longer he and his cohort believe they can protest if Trump is re-elected and marshals violent right wing  vigilantes  and para -military police operations to crack down,  All because little Jason punked out on account of petty grievances and disappointments with both parties.  Thereby failing to distinguish between the existential threat of Trump with his cult GOP  and the Democrats and Joe Biden - who at least endorse active governance. (Even if all their accomplishments may not measure up to Jason's fantasies.)

Or as Janice put it with one of her inimitable analogies: "Mistaking not getting a three course, fine dining experience at the Ritz for being force- fed five day old tacos full of salmonella and E Coli. at "Trump's Taco Emporium"

This is what Jason - in his hopeless naivete - fails to grasp: Voting is not a simple matter of electing someone to perfectly represent you or your ideals, but more importantly, ensuring the demagogue who despises you and your ideals is not elected, period!  

If you want to make things 1,000 times worse for yourself and your millions of fellow protesters, fail to turn up to vote  in November to oust the demagogue authoritarian and his toxic enablers in the Senate GOP,  poisoning the national well. If you opt to prevent even a hint of positive change to surface, keep drinking the kool aid that protests alone hold the key to historical change in this country. 

See Also:2020 Elections | Donald Trump

Mission Imperative: Come November, Trump Must Go

by Michael Winship | May 13, 2020 - 5:50am | permalink

Excerpt:

"There must be one mission above all, one goal supreme: Vote this monster out of the White House. And along with him, tow to the nearest dump the clown car of malefactors who gave him license to cripple our republic.

Donald Trump’s defeat and the defeat of those in Congress who have enabled him with nary a word of protest are Priorities Number 1 through 100. Focus. Don’t be diverted by ideological hairsplitting and intraparty squabbling. Drive this creature and his army of creeps, leeches and miscreants back to the wet market from which they came."

Why Tara Reade's Biden Allegations Don't Meet Basic Moral Standards Of Justice Or Proportion

Aristotle: Articulated the Principle of the Mean and Nicomachean Ethics, thereby establishing the most fundamental moral framework - and before Christianity

"The national media has looked into these allegations and has been unable to corroborate any of them."  - Lis Smith (NY Times), this morning on 'Morning Joe'

"You waited 27 years. You think it couldn't wait a few more months? That's what I'd like to ask Ms. Reade. Why now? I'm not saying why not 27 years ago. I understand it can take victims years to come forward. I'm saying, why not before Super Tuesday? Why not last fall when we still had a dozen other candidates to choose from? Why wait until Biden is our only hope against Trump and then take him down?"  - Bill Maher, on his 'New Rules' REAL TIME segment Friday.


The  tragedy of Tara Reade and her sexual allegations against Joe Biden is that she chose the middle of the most existentially critical presidential campaign in U.S. history to  voice them.  Indeed, she also - in a recent interview with Megyn Kelly- called on Biden  (our putative only hope to take down Trump)-  to "drop out"  of the race.  And who, may I ask, would then step in with Joe Biden now the only human element standing between us all and a potential Trump re-election, and the shattering of every last vestige of morality, civility and rule of law?   

 In the wake of the Barr DOJ torpedoing the prosecution of Michael Flynn, inviting total corrupt rot of our justice system, and almost 80,000 dead Americans because of Trump's incompetent response to the pandemic, we see only the tip of the carnage to come if he is re-elected. Indeed the Sunday Denver Post ('Trump Rolls Back 60 Environmental Regulations'' p. 1A) shows the extent of harm this maggot has already perpetrated on the environment which include (ibid.):

-- Lifting all bans on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve

-  Relaxing air pollution regs for plants that burn waste coal - increasing asthma and respiratory problems for millions

-  Cancelling requirements for oil and gas companies to report methane emissions (Methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas than CO2)

-  Lifting a ban on chorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to developmental disabilities in children

- Revoked rule preventing coal companies from dumping debris, waste into nearby  streams

- Scaled back water pollution protections for tributaries, wetlands

- Rolled back a 40-year rule to protect migratory birds

-Currently conducting a sweeping overhaul of National Environmental Policy Act which will limit the environmental concerns  federal agencies will be permitted to address, take into account.

It doesn't take a Mensa level IQ to see that all the above,  not to mention the Trump cabal's war on women in removing reproductive rights, outlawing abortion and possibly even birth control (especially if yet another Right winger is appointed to the Supreme Court) bode ill for us all. Indeed, another Trump term has the potential to finish this nation off as a functioning democracy.  

Here,  Marlies, (a German friend of Janice's)  comments come to mind, when Janice skyped with her last Friday: "My God! What is happening now in your country reminds me of what happened after Hitler came to power in 1933!"

Overwrought? Exaggerated? Nope. That's how a lot of our German friends (many relatives or friends of my late sister-in-law Krimhilde, see it.  We may not see it so, because: 1) we have become too  inured to the constant exposure to Trump's countless transgressions and their magnitude, and 2) we are deterred from proper perspective by a misreading of "Godwin's law". (I.e. the first person who mentions any comparisons with Hitler and Nazis loses an argument, see e.g.

• Godwin's Law And Obama's Warning About Hitler And ...

So there is no doubt that this election is perhaps the most pivotal in our 230-odd year history.  It may well mean the difference between preserving the constitutional foundations we have (and shoring up what's left), or losing them all in a Trump reincarnation - thanks to Reade's accusations against the only viable candidate left to take him on.

Here, it is instructive to return to the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, perhaps the most fundamental moral principles ever conceived,  e.g.

• Nichomachean Ethics & the basis for Provisional Mo...

They are fundamental because they precede the excesses and exaggerations of subsequent Christian moral absolutism, which toxic mental stains persist to this day as embodied in the beliefs of the Trumpie Evangelicals.  Aristotle, by contrast, adopted a measured articulation of moral choices based on his Principle of the Mean.  It is useful then to consider the "Just" in the context of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, which can be regarded as the most basic of moral standards.In particular whether Ms. Reade's accusations - true or false- are justly advanced at this time.  As Aristotle puts it:

"The Just then, is a certain proportionable thing. For proportion does not merely apply to number in the abstract, but to number generally, since it is equality of ratios and implies four terms at least (that this is the case in what is called discrete proportion is plain and obvious, but it is true also in continual proportion, for this uses the one term as two and mentions it twice, thus A:B:C may be expressed A:B::B:C. ....It will stand then thus: A:B::C:D, and then permutando, A:C::B:D and then (supposing C and D to represent the things) A+C:B+D::A:B. The distribution in fact consisting in putting together these terms thus: and if they are put together so as preserve this same ratio, the distribution puts them together justly. So then the joining of the first and third and second and fourth proportionals is the Just in the distribution, and this Just is the mean relatively to that which violates the proportionate, for the proportionate is a mean and the Just is proportionate. "

That leads to the conclusion:

"The Unjust is that which violates the proportionate"

This warrants further elaboration by way of his "Principle of the mean".   To briefly put it into perspective:   Every considered action - for whatever reason - has a "mean" or middle choice, as well as two extremes, one deficient, the other in excess.   The "just" or "mean state" of action then - based on the above articulation - means one avoiding either extreme.  For example, "moral virtue" exercised in moral action can lie between the excess of extreme moral indignation leading to persecution, and laxity or dismissing said transgression.   And this cognitive assessment of the mean is not easy! As Aristotle reminds us (p.32, The Nicomachean Ethics):

"And so it is hard to be good, for surely hard it is in each instance to find the mean point...and so to act in due proportion, at the right time, with the right object, and in the right manner."

Based on the above, what is evident to me is that Tara Reade violated Aristotle's  ethical proportion (and principle of the mean)  by  first not attending to the "right time".   She chose, wittingly or otherwise, the absolute wrong time to raise her complaints (which have also contradicted each other at different times),  in the middle of the most critical election campaign ever. And for which the wrong decision by the electorate could usher in a holocaust of moral dissolution if the morally bankrupt Trump is re-elected.

Reade's  accusations also flout two other aspects of the Mean by demanding a standard of "compensation" (Biden departing the campaign) totally disproportionate to what personal satisfaction merits.   Hence, Aristotle would argue her demand for Biden's departure violates the "right manner" and "the right object" by punishing not only Joe Biden but the likely 190 million citizens (and immigrants) who will be injured if that is accepted, i.e. if Biden is the optimal hope to end Trump's increasingly malignant reign of terror.   

 Thus, by seeking a perceived personal justice and harming Biden in the process (as a candidate to oppose the vastly more morally compromised Trump) she risks vitiating any effort to remove the threat of Trump.  Also, in this context,  arguably harming millions of women whose lives will now be upended by his re-election, i.e. when they will be denied access to birth control, abortion or even basic health care (say if the ACA is overturned)  Not to mention the millions of immigrants who stand to also become the targets of Trump and his Gestapo aide Stephen Miller.

In other words, Reade demands a standard of satisfaction that promises to compound the existing evil by many orders of magnitude- while trying to expunge and obtain satisfaction for the  vastly lesser evil she attributes to Biden.  But by violating the Principle of the Mean in this "Trifecta" (time, manner, object)  Reade, in effect, has failed to meet the most basic of moral standards for justice, as embodied in the most fundamental Aristotelian ethics.

What should Reade have done if convinced she merited "justice" for what she believes Biden did to her?  Applying the Principle of the Mean, in respect to the elements of time, manner and object, she ought to have brought forth her complaints when the Democratic field still had  10-11 contenders.  Then, by calling for Biden to drop out, there'd have at least been other choices of candidate which could practically be made at that time.  There would also have been sufficient time for an investigation - say by the DNC - as opposed to barely three months before the Milwaukee convention.    Failing that window of opportunity, she ought to have waited until after the election to bring out these charges, as opposed to this critical period in the campaign (and in the middle of a pandemic)  which questions the role of her own ego  - and desire for attention.  

Reade's choices and actions transpired in the most parlous time in our history,    with no room for any margin of error, or adverse distractions.  Especially with Trump dangerously consolidating power using lackeys like William Barr  - destroying the DOJ and the rule of law - while bragging that the "winners will write the history".  Well, we cannot afford to have these vermin become repeat winners in November. Hence,  there is no other option now than to ignore Tara Reade, especially as no 'there' has been found there (unlike with Trump.).  Too much is on the line, and in respect of too many millions of lives being derailed or lost  - to allow one' woman's disproportionate quest for "justice"  to upset the whole damned  national "applecart".  (With which, btw, Janice totally concurs.)

Or to put it another way: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.

See Also

Michael Winship

2020 Elections | Donald Trump

Mission Imperative: Come November, Trump Must Go

by Michael Winship | May 13, 2020 - 5:50am | permalink

Excerpt:

"There must be one mission above all, one goal supreme: Vote this monster out of the White House. And along with him, tow to the nearest dump the clown car of malefactors who gave him license to cripple our republic.

Donald Trump’s defeat and the defeat of those in Congress who have enabled him with nary a word of protest are Priorities Number 1 through 100. Focus. Don’t be diverted by ideological hairsplitting and intraparty squabbling. Drive this creature and his army of creeps, leeches and miscreants back to the wet market from which they came."

And:

Lucian K. Truscott IV

Donald Trump

"Obamagate" And "Lock Her Up": Pointing the Way Toward "Heil Trump"

And:

2020 Elections | Donald Trump | Joe Biden

Election Doomsday 2020: Here’s How Scholars Fear the Trump-biden Race Could Go Terribly Wrong