Weekly Mind Dump, 10/15-21, 2023: The Faustian Bargain of Disgraced Jan. 6 Attorney Kenneth Chesebro
And - the administration and moderate Israelis will need to look beyond the Hamas attack and resuscitate the Two State peace process.
Kenneth Chesebro:
Those who’ve been reading my posts for some time will have to excuse me for clutching my pearls in shock yet again over yet another case of a very smart person of good breeding and platinum credentials hurling himself wholeheartedly into the burbling, fetid cesspool of MAGA World. I’ve written about this phenomenon in Please Do Not Feed the Whores, Parts I & II, The Lara Loganization of Maria Bartiromo, Elise Stefanik's Glass Eyes and other essays. A student of history, I’ve always been fascinated with those who, despite knowing better, sell their souls to the devil; some of the smartest people who end up prostituting themselves to a false god or a bogus ideology.
This time my shock and ire are directed at Kenneth Chesebro, the “brains” behind Trump’s insane fake electors scheme. Chesebro this week pled guilty in Fulton County, GA Superior Court to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Had he gone to trial next week and (likely) lost, he would’ve been facing years in prison and a hefty fine. By pleading out, he was merely slapped with 100 hours of community service, five years probation and a $5,000 fine. The catch, of course, is that he is committed to ratting out the entire Trump Crime Family’s circle of fellow conspirators.
A Harvard-trained lawyer who was mentored by distinguished constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe and who clerked for the legendary D.C. District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell, of Watergate fame, Chesebro went on over the course of his career to work on high profile cases of a liberal bent, including the 2000 Bush v. Gore presidential election dispute and litigation against Big Tobacco.
But he apparently underwent a transformation after hitting the jackpot with a Bitcoin gamble in 2014 and divorce from his wife. It was around then that he began devoting his legal energies to right-wing causes. Fast forward to 2016 and we see Chesebro at the January 6 Capitol siege cutting a dashing figure sporting a bright red MAGA hat. Subsequent investigations reveal that he was behind the fake electors scheme.
I’m perplexed in this case by two things: 1) how a man with Chesebro’s sterling credentials and brains could devote himself to Donald Trump; and 2) how such a smart, once highly rational man could dream up such a dumb ploy as concocting fake electors and thinking he could get away with it? With the aim of subverting the Constitution, no less. It’s like sending fake diplomats to the UN Security Council to vote on an issue involving a global crisis, or sending fake NFL players to compete in the Super Bowl. Utterly insane.
“I still don’t see what should have been a warning sign,” Laurence Tribe, told the New York Times. “Was there anything I could or should have done?” “He wanted to be close to the action,” Tribe concluded, describing Chesebro as a “moral chameleon.” Tribe is among 60 lawyers and scholars who signed an ethics complaint in New York that could result in Chesebro’s disbarment.
For his part, Chesebro has defended himself by asserting, “It is the duty of any attorney to leave no stone unturned in examining the legal options that exist in a particular situation.” By committing treason? Puh-leeze!
Maybe, as with so many others like him, Chesebro seemingly succumbed to Trump’s Zombie Apocalypse, his brain devoured by MAGA demons.
That’s one explanation. Another is more conventional and time-proven.
Hitler acolyte Albert Speer, also a highly educated man of good breeding, said his failing was weakness of character combined with overweening ambition. He said he wallowed in the reflected glory of Hitler’s power, hoping “to gather some of his popularity, his glory, his greatness, around myself.” But a historian said of Speer, “He knew exactly what he was doing, and he wasn’t duped or anything else. He was a sinner by omission and commission, and he went wading right in. His problem wasn’t blindness. It was blind ambition.”
This likely accounts for Chesebro’s turn to the dark side. Disbarment should be the least of his punishments. But, then again, it is said that we all have our price. Perhaps I am being too high-minded. Who’s to say that any of us wouldn’t make the same Faustian bargain in the right circumstances?
Israel-Palestine:
I don’t have much to add to my comments of last week on this issue. My Foreign Service colleague Luis Moreno, who served as number two in our embassy in Israel and knows in intimate detail the history and players on Israel-Palestine, commented on “X,” today:
Right now, the two state solution is as dead as it’s ever been. Which is why when the shooting stops, there is an opportunity to start over, whether than means reviving a younger, less corrupt P[alestinian] A[uthority], fostering new moderate groups or a temporary trusteeship. Need to start thinking now!
I couldn’t agree more. When the dust begins to settle somewhat from the current crisis, a renewed effort needs to be generated to revive negotiations for a two-state solution. Frankly, this won’t be possible as long as Netanyahu and Likud are in charge. Hopefully, they will be booted from power as the price for letting their guard down, resulting in Israel’s own Pearl Harbor-like attack. Washington will then need to engage with moderate Israeli parties who are serious about seeking a settlement.
And once we get through this crisis, President Biden would be wise to task his National Security Council and State’s Policy Planning Staff with formulating fresh ideas and proposals for getting the peace process back on track.
The alternative would be continued building resentments and radicalization of the Palestinian population, particularly its burgeoning male youth component, and many more years of violence and instability.
My two shekels anyway.
I'm seeing what I call "failed extroverts." They want to be out-front leaders, who are emulated with tons of followers. But, alas, they've failed. And they're just schlubs like most everyone else. So these failed extroverts think some of Trumps moxie will rub off on them just by being close to him. So they sign up and dress up and do stupid stuff. Perhaps there are introverts involved in this nonsense, too. That I don't know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYBj0J99i8