The Alt Left And Alt Right Agree: Trump Is Innocent

Without reading the charges, Matt Taibbi and Marjorie Taylor Greene already knew the answer.

by Ben Cohen

This was Marjorie Taylor Greene’s take on the indictment and arrest of Donald J. Trump on 34 felony counts in New York:

On the other side of the Alt spectrum was Matt Taibbi, who had almost the exact same response:

Greene is obviously a highly partisan Trump cultist incapable of commenting on any political topic seriously, but she is parroting the same argument every other Trump supporter in America is. The Alt right (which is broadly speaking the MAGA right) maintains Trump is innocent because elitist Democrats are engaged in a witch hunt to imprison the former president at any cost. Here was Trump acolyte and perennial grifter Lindsey Graham throwing red meat to the MAGA crowd by claiming “this is going to destroy America”:

Lindsey Graham @LindseyGrahamSC

If you’re like me, you’re frustrated. This indictment is shocking, dangerous, and one of the most irresponsible decisions in American history by any prosecutor. But what can we do? You can help me stand with the President by fighting back TODAY. >> teamgraham.us/4tc0k0o3

Graham of course used his appearance on Sean Hannity to fundraise for himself, because the only way to stop the destruction of America is to give him money.

While we can discount the rantings and obvious swindlers like Greene and Graham, Taibbi was, at least at one point, a very credible journalist without an ideological axe to grind. That he is repeating and regurgitating the same talking points indicates something has gone horribly wrong with American political culture. Taibbi, Greene and Graham have a combined 5 million Twitter followers and are rallying their respective movements around the same idea the Donald Trump should not be held accountable for the alleged crimes he committed.

Their reasoning?

1) He is a former president, and 2) the charges are the result of a “weaponized justice system” built on “thin pretexts”.

Notably, Green, Taibbi and Graham’s statements were all released before they had even seen the indictment. How they would know the charges were spurious is anyone’s guess. Again, Greene and Graham aren’t serious people, but Taibbi is (or was) an actual journalist, so the only plausible explanation is that he wants the charges against Trump to be (forgive the pun) trumped up.

The Trump effect

The emergence of Donald Trump as a major political force in America has fractured the culture into an unrecognizable mess of fear, irrationality, and conspiracy theory driven hysteria. More than anything though, his wrecking ball like impact on the nation has given ammunition to radicals who want to see “the system” torn down so that they can build a utopia of their own fantasies.

Unfortunately, this coincided with online technological advances that poured rocket fuel on to an already toxic mess.

Once fringe Alt movements confined to obscure websites like Breitbart.com suddenly became mainstream. While Breitbart attacked traditional Republicanism and pushed the Trump movement forward on the right, media organizations like Russia Today (RT) helped create an Alt left wing narrative aimed at countering mainstream liberalism. Provocative commentators were given salaries and large platforms giving them access to millions of people. With the rise of platforms like Youtube and Substack combined with powerful monetization tools, many of these actors now have their own audiences they can access instantaneously and grow exponentially.

Matt Taibbi has 1.8 million Twitter followers and hundreds of thousands of Substack readers. Jordan Peterson has 6.7 million Youtube subscribers. Ben Shapiro has 5.5 million Youtube subscribers. The Alt movements have gone viral, and the rest of the political system is struggling to stabilize under their relentless assaults on basic logic and reason.

Horseshoe effect

The alliances now being built by Alt left and Alt right forces were entirely predictable. With the center as a common enemy, enterprising Alt commentators use each other’s audiences to build their brand and bank accounts. Matt Taibbi is now Tucker Carlson’s best friend. Russell Brand is Ben Shapiro’s good pal, and so on and so forth. They disagree on issues like social welfare, global warming etc, but despise the political establishment so much that they are almost indistinguishable in every other aspect.

The spectacle of Matt Taibbi arguing in apparent good faith that holding Donald Trump accountable for numerous, very well documented alleged crimes will lead the US on a path towards autocracy is stunning, but not necessarily surprising. Taibbi has to believe this because he cannot alienate the massive audience he has built that insists the Democratic establishment is responsible for all of America’s woes. Taibbi isn’t a Trump fan, but he sees a greater enemy that is so nefarious he has to ignore real evidence of criminal wrongdoing. The Alt right grifters must also maintain this lunacy because their entire ideology is predicated on Trump being a victim of centrist/traditionalist forces.

And thus we witness the once great Matt Taibbi and the deranged MAGA fanatic Marjorie Taylor Greene making identical points on Twitter.

Hold the center

It is amazing to think that a former president who was impeached twice, attempted to overthrow the US government, and engaged in so many potentially criminal acts it is almost impossible to keep track of them all is still a free man. It is more amazing to see elected politicians and reputable journalists argue that he should evade prosecution because it would prevent the US from becoming an autocracy.

The political center is made up almost entirely of Democrats and a small minority of sensible Republicans. This is still the dominant force in US politics, but only just, and it is battling daily to stop the country from unraveling.

Prosecuting Donald Trump is crucial for the survival of the US as a functioning democracy. It cannot claim to be “a government of laws, not men” if presidents are able to commit egregious criminal acts and evade legal responsibility. The political center still believes this and has won a major victory with the recent indictment.

Trump should face the same legal process any of us would if we engaged in criminal activity — not because it is politically expedient but because it sets a precedent that no one is above the law. At the very least we should all support criminal proceedings to allow the legal system to work as it was intended. Trump may be found innocent on the 34 counts he has been indicted for in New York. This may not be the outcome many of us want, but at least we know that former presidents can be charged, can be arrested and will have to face a judge and jury for their actions.

Trump is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. But he is facing justice and it proves a sane version of America is still very much alive and well.

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