Stay in Your Lane, Jimbo

    You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in the US House who's more deeply in the tank for Trump than Jim Jordan. And, even considering the latter-day brain drain in the Republican Party, you'd be just as hard-pressed to find someone stupider than Jim Jordan.

     Part of Jordan's rapid-fire stupidity manifests in his penchant for magical thinking. To wit:

     Jordan's planning on traveling to Manhattan to take part in a "field hearing" entitled, "Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan." Obviously, this is all cynically designed to undercut Bragg's case and the grand jury's 34 count indictment of Donald Trump last Tuesday. The committee brashly announces it "will examine how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents."

     It's hard to see how Bragg can be tarred with such a brush considering that, as his own office stated, "The Manhattan D.A.'s Office welcomes public safety conversations. In fact, we'll start: Just-released NYPD data show shootings and homicides are down in New York City for the first quarter of this year ... Virtually every major crime category is lower in Manhattan now than it was last year (as of 4/2/23): murders are down 14%, shootings are down 14%, burglaries are down 21%, and robberies are down 8%."

     Those are some pretty good numbers for a DA who's been in office for less than a year and a half. Furthermore, Bragg's office stated, "In D.A. Bragg's first year in office, New York City had one of the lowest murder rates of major cities in the United States (5.2) — nearly three times lower than Columbus, Ohio (15.4). If Chairman Jordan truly cared about public safety, he could take a short drive to Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Akron, or Toledo in his home state, instead of using taxpayer dollars to travel hundreds of miles out of his way."

     Undeterred, Jordan proceeded to subpoena Mark Pomerantz, one of the two attorneys who'd noisily resigned in protest last year over Bragg's unwillingness to push the case against Trump. Jordan's intent here is slightly more rational and almost seems to make sense. If Pomerantz shows up (it's hard to imagine him doing so since he was a state prosecutor who was attached to a state investigation. And if he doesn't show up, the Judiciary Committee can refer it to Justice until the cows come home but it's hard to see them actually acting on it), one knows what Jordan's tactic will be-

     To attack Pomerantz for political bias in his zeal to have Trump prosecuted.

     The "field hearings" are much more opaque in their purpose. First of all, "field hearings" would not be an official Judiciary Committee hearing any more than a little girl's tea party with her stuffed animals and dolls would be a real tea party.

     Secondly, it's impossible to see how New York's supposedly out of control crime rate would make Donald Trump look any less guilty than he already does. But these proposed hearings, which, despite not being official in any way, shape or form, would still likely cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.

     Thirdly, Jordan doesn't seem to understand that, as powerful as federal government is, it still has no jurisdiction or authority over the Manhattan DA's office. Even from a funding aspect, it's a dog that won't hunt because Bragg's office gets just 1% of its annual fuinding from the federal government. And, as Bragg's general counsel Ms. Dubek tartly brought up, since 2015, the Manhattan DA's office has gotten over a billion dollars in asset forfeitures for the national treasury.

     Lastly, this is a hell of an audacious turn for Jordan to make since he's also the chair of a subcommittee that's actually named, "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government", which is precisely how Jordan is using his bully pulpit. All in the service of perhaps the greatest criminal in American history.

     So, sure, let's put another wrestling coach in a position of power, since it worked out so well the last time.