If the goal of current and former federal government officials was to restore some semblance of trust in our institutions, this past week has done absolutely nothing to move the ball forward in that direction. Either by a multitude of unforced errors and tacit admissions, or by information gathered from congressional investigations, the leadership of both parties has been exposed as the frauds and liars that, as many people understand instinctively, they have been all along.
The Joe Biden autopen scandal broke loose Monday following reporting from the New York Times revealing that White House staffers aggressively abused the digital signature of the former president to pardon dozens, including Biden’s son and brother and Democrat-aligned bureaucrats such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and to commute over 4,200 prison sentences for people convicted of crimes up to and including first degree murder and knowingly supporting a terrorist organization.
The former president told the New York Times he personally decided who would be pardoned or have their sentences commuted, but the claim carries no weight due to Biden’s severe and degenerative mental condition and his contentious relationship with the truth over his five decades in public office.
The Trump administration is facing its own struggles, largely of its own making. After pledging repeatedly to release all information concerning Jeffrey Epstein and his likely ties to intelligence agencies and/or his blackmailing of rich and powerful men in American society and beyond, the Trump DOJ would now like you to forget that Epstein ever existed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Deputy Director Dan Bongino have all claimed that Epstein committed suicide in prison and that there is no evidence that he was connected to the CIA. President Donald Trump further muddied the waters by claiming, contrary to his Justice Department’s assertion that no “Epstein list” exists, that the list does exist but is “phony.”
“Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration? … They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier,” the president posted on Truth Social.
Whether you believe that the Epstein files are fraudulent, or that they are a figment of our imaginations, the number of Trump administration officials who are shamelessly lying regarding the issue is unquestionably higher than zero, and, quite frankly, “Obama created the Epstein files” sounds about as believable as “I knew every one of the thousands of criminals I helped on the way out.”
Voting in America is, by and large, a binary choice. There are no serious third parties (and Elon Musk’s America Party will almost certainly fizzle out as well), so your choice, for all intents and purposes, will remain between the R and the D, but you would be wise to view anything coming out of Washington, especially from the party in power, with extreme skepticism, even if it is coming from the politicians you supported.
Trump’s “big lie” during his first term was the infamous “15 days to slow the spread,” and he also fibbed about meaningless issues such as his inaugural crowd size. Biden lied about all manner of things, ranging from his botched Afghanistan pullout to the claim that his Catholic school teacher was drafted by the Green Bay Packers.
WATCH BIDEN’S DOCTOR REFUSE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS BEFORE HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
President Woodrow Wilson’s 1916 reelection campaign touted the slogan “he kept us out of war,” as the dastardly president was already making preparations to enter World War I. President Lyndon B. Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to enter the Vietnam War, which killed 58,000 American soldiers with no discernible benefit, and President George H.W. Bush’s “read my lips, no new taxes” gave us another notorious liar: Bill Clinton.
Politicians are convinced, for some reason, that admitting they made a mistake is akin to total surrender on the political battlefield, so they will continue to lie shamelessly and indiscriminately. Your government has not only failed to restore trust in the institutions, but it has not even made a serious attempt to do so.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.