Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump, Navajo Heros, Jaime Phillips, and The Washington Post

To Richard Milhous Nixon, who never let me down.

One of two dedications in a collection of Hunter S. Thompson's writings titled, "The Great Shark Hunt."

It's hard to know what Thompson would have thought, or written when it comes to Donald Trump, Judge Roy Moore, and the current line up of unrepentant criminals who pose as the alternative media. He checked out long before this band of Vandals sacked and burned the American political system and its moral underpinnings so thoroughly they make Dick Nixon look like Mahatma Gandhi.

The one thing we can be certain of is when Dr. Thompson was faced with evil he was never at a loss for words, or outrage--and neither should anyone else.

Yes, everything decent and civilized about the republic is coming unglued and it only took a year of Donald J. Trump for it to happen. Yesterday the gruesome clown, who is supposed to be the president of everyone in this nation, dragged three aged Navajo warriors into a room in the White House dominated by a painting of Andrew Jackson. Trump is a big fan of Jackson and seemed not to care ol' Hickory removed huge numbers of Native Americans from their homelands at the point of bayonets. The forced march west to what is now Oklahoma was filled with so much disease, deprivation, and death it became known as, "The Trail of Tears."

During the ceremony, which was to honor the World War II marines who served as code talkers, Trump--never able to restrain himself from insulting somebody--derisively referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas. In the next breath he told one of the men, "..but I like you." At that point the only surprise was he didn't call the veteran, Chief, or Tonto.

Trump's cruel racist buffoonery overshadowed the Washington Post's revelation that an employee, or volunteer of an organization called, Project Veritas had tried to scam them into running an untrue story on Judge Roy Moore. The "sting," which was set up to discredit both the Post and Moore's female accusers, had been in the works since the day after the publication ran a story about the former Alabama supreme court judge's amorous advances toward a 14 year old girl.

Project Veritas was established by one James O'Keefe in 2010. It also employs a guy named Robert J. Halderman who is a former TV producer. Shortly after the group's founding, O'Keefe was convicted of a misdemeanor when he tried to gain access to a federal building with a fake ID and Halderman did six months in jail after he attempted to blackmail late night TV host David Letterman.

Impressed by the no holds barred enterprising spirit of the organization, a Trump charity donated $10,000 to Project Veritas during the heat of the 2016 presidential campaign. Not long afterward the candidate himself began to quote their, "in depth reporting," on professional demonstrators who were allegedly paid by the democrats.

The short version of the latest sordid tale goes this way. Immediately after the initial Post report about Moore's predatory behavior a reporter received an email from a woman who claimed she had some serious dirt on the republican senate candidate.

The Post says the woman, identified as Jaime Phillips, contacted Post journalist, Beth Reinhard with the offer of a story. A scant day later a right wing web site reported on a tweet from an account ID'd as @umpire43. It read, "A family friend in Alabama just told my wife that a WAPO reporter named Beth offered her $1,000 to accuse Roy Moore." The paper immediately denied it had offered anyone money. The entire twitter account, which was known for flights of alt right fantasy has since been deleted.

Alarm bells really began to go off as Ms. Phillips became overly edgy when Reinhard told her the Post would have to fact check her story and asked for documentation of what the woman alleged was an abortion demanded and paid for by Roy Moore when she was 15.

After insisting to speak to another Post journalist Ms. Phillips bolted from a second in person interview after she was confronted with proof she had established a Go Fund Me page. On the page she was asking for contributions to help her with expenses as she began a new career with an unnamed right wing news outlet dedicated to exposing the truth about the left wing.

The Post then details how two of its journalists followed Ms. Phillips after the second interview and witnessed her walking into the offices of Project Veritas. At last report her car remains in the parking lot there and James O'Keefe is refusing to answer any questions about her.

No one, including The Washington Post, knows if the Moore campaign was involved in the attempted scam, if Project Veritas was acting on its own, or was perhaps doing so at the behest of that chubby Nazi, Steve Bannon. My money is on Bannon, but it is highly doubtful we'll ever know for sure. 

Given past evidence it is pretty clear that even as these words are being typed desperate alt right minions are getting ready to portray Jaime Phillips as a left wing plant paid for by--you guessed it--The Washington Post.

The in depth story of the entire grotesque saga appeared on line at washingtonpost.com on Monday, 11-27-17 at 11:35pm.

Go read it and while you do, weep for the state of the union.

And yes, ladies and gentlemen, the bar is open.

11-28-17