I'm beginning to think right-wing knuckleheads are worse than left-wing

 

What gave rise to that thought was the outrage being expressed at Pam Bondi, our new Attorney-General, for her "delay" in not releasing the latest Epstein files right away, without prior scrutiny.  It's not surprising to anyone who has even a smidgen of legal knowledge.  Those files have to be examined page by page, paragraph by paragraph, sentence by sentence, because if something is released that impacts ongoing court cases or affects one of Epstein's victims, there'll be hell to pay.

Jeff Childers sums it up very well.

We think we’ve captured the Deep State on Twitter, but they’re using Twitter to capture us.

🪖 I won’t bury the lede. I will tell you exactly how they’re doing it to us. And then I will show you just where it has cropped up next.

Step One: Pick an effective conservative figure with influence or political power.

Step Two: Wait for them to do something even slightly open to interpretation.

Step Three: Seed social media with just enough innuendo to turn skepticism into a purity spiral.

Step Four: Place the popcorn bag in the microwave, label side down.

Let me now introduce you to one Pamela “Jane” Bondi, Trump’s pick for Attorney General:

You already know the maddening story. For ages, Pam promised to release the Epstein files. Last week, the highly anticipated Epstein reveal exploded like a DNC pipe bomb in a chaotic, misfired disaster. Blame ricocheted to the FBI’s SDNY field office, and within days, its never-Trump assistant director abruptly resigned. But what didn’t happen was any Epstein data dump. Instead, we got a mess of official explanations—none of which made sense.

🪖 In immediate response, as though from nowhere, a huge black-pilled mob rose up to take Pam down. She’s part of the coverup! She’s on the list! She was probably in on it from the start! Progressive media, otherwise allergic to Epstein stories, suddenly discovered a fresh sense of urgency, sprang into action, and began excavating a massive pig-pile of blame.

. . .

🪖 COINTEL. It has all the hallmarks. Let me show you. But first, to answer the inevitable objection, I am not saying we shouldn’t hold conservative leaders to account or nudge them in the right direction. Of course we should. But keeping our own side accountable should not involve character assassination or unsupported allegations or imputed motives.

Yesterday, some people were convinced to jettison a conservative Supreme Court Justice based on an ambiguous facial expression. That is not how we should hold our key conservatives to account.

Here are the red flags that Bondi’s character assassination is a psyop. First, Democrats are gleefully joining in. These are the same people shrieking about DOGE getting access to private IRS files, but now, they suddenly reject the idea that Pam might need to redact witness and source information? When did Democrats become the champions of full disclosure?

Second, all the angst is based solely on guesses about Pam’s dark motives, with zero rational examination of the actual facts. Here’s a fact: If Pam releases the Epstein files too quickly and even one accidentally unredacted sex-trafficked victim claims her life is ruined—or if one confidential source is put “in danger”—Democrats will never shut up about it. And they’ll use it to take down the entire Trump Administration. It will be evidence of Trump’s recklessness and “moving too fast.” That’s the minefield Pam is tiptoeing through.

Of course, she must be careful. She must be double-careful, since there are malign actors inside the FBI who might mis-redact the files on purpose just to create that scandal.

Here’s another fact. Pam said the FBI was resisting her directives. And people just dismissed that? Out of hand? Really? After everything we’ve seen, does anyone seriously doubt that the FBI has people trying to sabotage her?

Another fact: Pam has been on the job for a few weeks. And yet, some people think she can just log in, click “Epstein Files.zip,” and hit “Download.” Guys, be serious. Realistically, pulling it all together could take years.

The point isn’t to make excuses for Pam Bondi. That’s not my job. I’m not even arguing that everything is legit. The point is that no reasoned discussion is happening—and that is a red flag. What we see is pure outrage. Manufactured outrage. At our own side. And it’s doing exactly what it was designed to do: creating infighting, breeding factionalism, and tearing MAGA apart from within.

There are enemies within. Let’s not make things easy for them.

There's more at the link:  and, as always with Jeff Childers, it's all worth reading.

The outraged frothing-at-the-mouth that I've seen from some right-wing and conservative commenters is so over-the-top it's ridiculous.  Sure, I don't think Pam Bondi is an angel in human form, and I'm sure she's made mistakes in the past, and I don't expect her to be a legal and intellectual Einstein when it comes to the myriad challenges facing her in one of the toughest jobs in the United States.  I do, however, think that President Trump appointed her because he thinks she's the best person to do that job.  That being the case, I accept his judgment - after all, a great deal of the success of his administration will be riding on her, so he's had to be very careful about his choices! - and, like him, I'll give her space and time to settle in, and deal with the Deep State opposition to the President's policies that's presently baked-in to the Justice Department.  It's going to take hard work and a lot of time to get rid of that hangover.  Good luck to her as she tackles it - and let's not be too eager to criticize.  How well would we do in such a position?  I'm willing to bet I wouldn't do well at all . . . so I'll cheer her on from the sidelines.

Peter