Betsy McCaughey, If She’s Writing                        She’s Lying

06/14/2024

     The generally prevaricating Betsy McCaughey seldom deviates from form and today’s column is no exception. Her propose, apparently, was to dull our recall of just how shameful Donald Trump’s response to the Covid epidemic truly was in the wake of the Congressional MAGA grilling of Dr. Fauci. Her methodology was a typical and unsurprising GOP “but whaddabout?” approach.

I’ve mentioned the “whaddabout defense” several times in earlier essays, but for any newbies, it refers to the practice of attempting to deflect mention of a screwup or gaffe by mentioning another’s error, frequently unrelated. An example of this might be a MAGA acolyte responding to mention of Trump’s felony conviction with, “Oh yeah? But whaddabout Hunter Biden?

In today’s column Ms. McCaughey homes in on Dr, Fauci’s concession to his inquisitors that there was no scientific data (as in peer reviewed study) to corroborate the commonsense imposition (or really just strong suggestion, as there was no mandate) for strongly recommending social distancing. Ms. McCaughey spins that factoid into a statement implying that it was ineffective and constituted federal overreach. Recommendation, remember?

So where in the world did this idea come from…that staying away from sick persons might be a good idea?

Going back to 1665, we see the realization by some of those who could do so, that distancing oneself from London was a promising idea, since the bubonic plague, which had killed 25% of all Europeans in the 14 century, was back in town. This time around the death toll was somewhat less, about 100,000 in London. Since no preventative or cure was known, those who could, principally the upper classes, distanced themselves from the source.

        One such individual, of whom you may have heard, was Isaac Newton who, in 1665, with plague stalking London, eschewed an advanced degree at Cambridge and returned to his parents’ country home. Had he not practiced social distancing, perhaps someone else would have had to formulate the laws of motion, advanced optics, and refined calculus, all done while he was social distancing.  

          New Orleans was a city of epidemics, and yellow fever was the worst, with outbreaks occurring almost annually after 1825. It was thought to be caused by miasma—humid air acting on filthy, undrained soil. The theory led residents to burn tar and shoot cannons into the air as preventative measures to “purify” it. Another idea, known as importation theory, held that the disease was spread by contact with individuals who came to the city aboard ships and railway systems. This belief led to strong anti-immigrant rhetoric and an insistence that locals were unaffected. In truth, although no one knew it at the time, the transference of infected blood by Mosquitos was a primary factor, but inter-personal exposure was also a problem. Many wealthy New Orleans families went north of Lake Pontchartrain during epidemics, practicing social distancing.

        In the 1918 global epidemic, the spread of flu was slowed by identifying suspicious cases through surveillance and voluntary and/or enforced quarantine or isolation. Because no vaccinations or antivirals were available at the time, these public health initiatives were the only effective weapons against the disease.

        My point? Social distancing was/is not new, and criticizing its recommended use against Covid, which is aerosol and flu-like in transmission (aerosol) as well of the use of masks to minimize spreading was and s sound advice. Those who rail against such measures are a large part of the problem. Those who use the bully pulpit of a syndicated column to derogate such good faith measures are little better than those who refuse to vaccinate their children and send them to school to share their measles, as has happened in Oregon over the past several years

 

                          Another Hack Writer

        I have, on several occasions, expressed my contempt for the lack of journalistic due diligence and integrity of a number of op-ed writers often featured in the local paper. I must add to that list yet another name, that of one Ben Shapiro.

        In a recent column which begins by deconstructing the recent Trump felony conviction he wrote this: “The counts had to with falsification of business records. Or election fraud. Or more tax returns. Or…. something. Nobody really knows, and apparently it was unnecessary for the jury to agree on the crime in order to find Trump guilty of one.”

        The above word salad reeks of Trump himself ranting nonsensical gibberish when he has no real message.

Let’s first look at facts (remember facts?)  The first statement is correct and had Mr. Shapiro quit when he was ahead I wouldn’t be writing this. The trial and the charges attendant to it was based on numerous violations of a New York State law which makes it a felony to falsify business records, since New York State is one of forty-three states which collect a state income tax. New York’s isn’t the highest, but at 8.82% is in the top ten. The law is an effort to prevent falsification of income or other non- business expenditures as business expenses to avoid paying tax on them.

The “election fraud” comment is, simply put, a blatant lie, having zero interface with the charged offenses. If any mention was even made regarding elections it would have been one of the Trump rants for which he was finally gag ordered.

 The “tax return” comment is only germane in that the falsification of hush money payments as business expenditures had the effect of reducing tax liability.

As for “nobody really knows” …The DA knew, the Judge knew, attorneys for both sides knew, and the jury knew, since they were, as usual, instructed specifically regarding the nature of the charges. Consequently, they were unanimous on the sole actual crimes charged – falsifying business records.

Another implied and equally spurious allegation is twofold. Many of the MAGA persuasion toss around the claim that somehow the whole thing was a result of Biden “weaponizing” the Department of Justice, when, in fact, it was about the violation of a state law prosecuted by the State of New York. No DOJ interface. None, Zip, Nada. The second part of the MAGA rant implies that Trump was singled out and that his prosecution was unusual. In truth, there is a downloadable PDF which runs to twenty-four pages of specifics regarding individuals and organizations who have been charged and convicted under this statute.

In fact, the Trump organization made that list in 2021, for millions in tax fraud but the accountancy firm was charged, and one person took the bullet of jail time, a hefty fine and loss of certification.

In the matter at hand, there were two factors which, while not subject to prosecution, per se, were root causes of the whole mess.

 The first was Trump’s concern that the fact that he had been shtupping a porn star while his wife was pregnant might become public knowledge and hurt him politically. His intent was to avoid that by buying her silence with what amounts to a hefty bribe.

The second is Trump’s well-known aversion to spending his own money, of which he has far less unencumbered than he would like us to believe. Had he simply written a personal check to Stormy Daniels there would have been no crime (other than being a sleazy adulterous shithead) no trial, and no felony convictions.

The issue is the hiding of the money as legitimate business expense, avoiding attribution of the true nature of the expenditure and (here comes the crime) writing it off as a nontaxable deduction. If this sounds “picky” try filing your own income tax, state or federal, with a deduction claimed as “$130,000 for hookers.”     

 

     

 

                                          Reality Check

Let’s get this straight, because you’ll hear numerous outright lies on the issue. Donald Trump was not convicted, (as Elon Musk recently implied) for his adulterous affair with Stormy Daniels. He was convicted because, in his efforts to make sure the rest of the world didn’t find out what a cheating con artist he is, he paid her not to talk about it. Still not what he was convicted of.

        Trump has a long history of being a tax cheat, especially in the area of claiming business expenses which either aren’t or are grossly inflated. This has even been as blatant as claiming that his Trump Tower apartment was ten times as large as it actually is. Still not a felony offense. On the other hand, paying the hush money, which he could have done in personal cash or check with no penalty, is a crime if you document it as a tax deductible business expenditure. In New York State this is a felony known as falsifying business records. Each of the documented more than 30 checks which included money which was rerouted to Ms. Daniels, but was recorded as a business expense, constitutes an individual felony.

While Trump screams “Scam” and his other favorite excuse, “Rigged”, the fact remains that a trial was held, evidence was produced, backed by testimony, and the jurors, after three days deliberation unanimously agreed that a crime had been committed and that Trump himself was complicit. Period.