DL Open Thread Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Closing arguments concluded in the Trump hush-money trial, so the speculation has begun. Few think he’ll be acquitted, but opinion seems split on whether he’ll be convicted. One person who has earned the right to opinionate about Trump is David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who has covered him, mostly from a financial perspective, for 36 years. I don’t think that gives him any special insight into what a jury might do, but for what it’s worth Johnston thinks Trump will be convicted. My money’s on a hung jury, parlayed with Trump claiming total exoneration.

You would think Republican politicians would have learned by now that groveling before Trump only wins you temporary favor, and it won’t wash away previous disloyalty. Rep. Bob Good of Virginia, leader of the laughingly labeled Freedom Caucus, learned that the hard way yesterday. He was among the toadies who traveled to New York to “kiss the ring,” and the media often puts it, only to see Trump endorse his challenger because Good originally backed Ron DiSantis. BTW, a “ring” in this context is the polite media term for “sphincter.”

Primary elections in Texas swept a number of incumbent Republicans out of office, replaced by candidates further to the right. The biggest impact will be on the state’s public schools, because Gov. Greg Abbott now has enough votes to resegregate the schools via a private-school voucher system. The way bad ideas never die, they’re revived generation after generation, might be where the idea of reincarnation was born. Or reborn.

The oft-repeated story about the demise of Red Lobster pinned the blame on its all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion, but the real culprit was the private equity owners, who pillaged the business as thoroughly as the mob did that restaurant in “Goodfellas.” It was more fun to blame the country’s Homer Simpsons, though.

The floor’s yours.