The Basic Cultural Indifference to the Endless Corruption
By 
In what is something of a sick internet joke, Scott’s post from about 17 minutes ago about how Trump has abused the pardoning power in a much more egregious way than any other president has been followed by yet another pardon which BY ITSELF would be the most massive scandal of about 43 of the 46 previous presidential administrations. For this administration it’s Wednesday:
President Trump will fully pardon the reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted three years ago of evading taxes and defrauding banks of more than $30 million to support their luxurious lifestyle.
The pardon, announced Tuesday by the White House, is the latest instance of Mr. Trump using his clemency power to settle grievances over what he calls the political weaponization of the justice system. Mr. Trump, in notifying the Chrisleys’ daughter, Savannah, called their treatment “pretty harsh,” as shown in a video clip of their call posted to social media by one of the president’s special assistants, Margo Martin. . .
What did these victims of a judicial witch hunt do, exactly, besides being rich, white, and connected?
The Chrisleys soared to fame about a decade ago in the USA Network hit “Chrisley Knows Best” as self-made, God-fearing real estate moguls who lived in a 30,000-square-foot mansion outside Atlanta. But according to prosecutors, their empire was “based on the lie that their wealth came from dedication and hard work” and they were “career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors and evading taxes at every corner.”
Sounds vaguely familiar!
I’ve been re-reading 1984, and I think I found an early draft of the Ariana Grande Theory of Politics:
. In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.
Again, the optimistic interpretation of current events is that the great bulk of the American people is made up of fundamentally incurious, politically disengaged people, who have no idea what’s going on and don’t care that they don’t.