Well, this scandal simply took a brilliant darkish flip!
OK, so we don’t normally cowl the Supreme Court — however let’s be trustworthy, each occasionally they sink so low it’s in our courtroom. This looks like a kind of occasions. To recap: a bombshell article in ProPublica late final week confirmed how Justice Clarence Thomas had been on the receiving finish of a heck of a variety of generosity from a Republican megadonor. Let’s get into it…
Too Close & Not Disclosed
The outlet reported that billionaire Harlan Crow has been treating Clarence and his spouse Ginni Thomas to luxurious holidays through the years with out ever disclosing them. Nominally, these are holidays along with Crow as buddies — nevertheless it’s all the time on Crow’s dime. And by dime, we imply MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. You know that second on the The Price Is Right the place the contestants have to determine how a lot the prize trip is value, all in? Well, ProPublica did the mathematics, and simply considered one of these journeys, in 2019, would have value about $500,000. And these have been occurring for twenty years now! Trips world wide on a superyacht, to Crow’s non-public resort within the Adirondacks, to an all-male retreat in California referred to as the Bohemian Grove. Who is aware of what number of thousands and thousands Thomas has been gifted through the years?
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Now, Thomas makes excellent cash as a Supreme Court Justice — $285k a yr. But there’s no means he might afford any of this! This is billionaire stuff. And it isn’t simply journeys. In 2011 Politico reported Crow donated a half million bucks to a Tea Party group created by Ginni Thomas — by that group she paid herself a wage of $120k a yr. So to say she, not less than, is in Crow’s pocket is simply talking plainly.
Weak Defense For A Judge…
How does Justice Thomas reply? Well, he admits all the information are right — he simply doesn’t suppose there’s something untoward about it. He mentioned in an official assertion he’s by no means disclosed any of those generosities as a result of he didn’t suppose he needed to:
“Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines.”
ProPublica spoke to a number of consultants who disagreed — this will likely even have violated a legislation handed within the aftermath of Watergate. But it’s really lots easier than all that. It’s the best courtroom within the land, and the rule in the case of battle of curiosity is there can’t even be the looks of corruption, not even a whiff of impropriety. And you don’t need to be an professional to see that somebody giving a Justice thousands and thousands in worth underneath the desk has greater than a whiff. We imply, these two didn’t change into “friends” till after Thomas was in his present place. And on the very least, by sidling as much as the person and taking him on all these holidays, he’s not less than bought the prospect to voice his opinions on to a Supreme Court Justice, which is a hell of much more than any poor individual will get. It’s fairly clearly sketchy. Especially coming from a donor with some very, shall we embrace, particular political beliefs…
Who Is Crow, Really?
Crow has donated not less than $10 million in precise honest-to-goodness, on-the-books donations to Republicans through the years. That isn’t counting yacht excursions of the South Pacific. He’s donated to everybody from Mitch McConnell to Lindsey Graham, from Chuck Grassley to John Kennedy. Heck, he even donated hundreds to former Democrat Krysten Sinema.
But it seems he’s not simply an anti-tax billionaire. He’s additionally an enormous historical past aficionado.
According to a brand new report in The Washingtonian over the weekend — citing an article from again in 2014 by which a Dallas Morning News reporter visited his Texas property, in addition to an nameless partygoer who reportedly noticed all of this in individual and even offered images which you’ll see HERE — Crow has fairly a group, together with:
- a backyard stuffed with statues of dictators, ones which he’d collected after they’d been toppled — together with Lenin, Stalin, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Josip Broz Tito
- a bevy of Nazi memorabilia, together with medals, patches, Hitler stamps, and embroidered linen napkins (a photograph of which was taken whereas they had been on show with at a cocktail party — it’s unclear in the event that they had been getting used)
- two of Hitler’s very personal unique work — if you happen to didn’t know he was one thing of a failed artist earlier than stepping into the genocide sport
- a duplicate of Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf, signed by the writer himself
Remember, this isn’t a public museum, that is the person’s house. This stuff is in the home the place he lives! After the article got here out, a tech researcher named Danah Boyd corroborated the nameless supply’s declare, saying she too went to the home as a part of “a meeting about the future of democracy.” She wrote on Twitter:
“Indeed Crow’s house had statues of fallen dictators. I was told that all these items were war trophies to commemorate how the “good guys” received. But no museum curator I do know would glorify such artifacts that means. Hitler’s portray was signed and simply hanging on the wall as artwork.”
She mentioned she left instantly after seeing the Nazi swag — and when she introduced it as much as others who had been on the assembly, her considerations had been handled “coldly and defensively” and that she “felt gaslit” and “didn’t attend the next meeting of the group.” She added:
“Years later, I still shudder thinking about the Nazi uniform decorations in Harlan Crow’s house. And the painting. And the book. And the statues. And the “antebellum” (professional slavery) artifacts. I’m glad others are questioning the acceptability of these supplies.”
Years in the past, I attended a gathering about the way forward for democracy at Harlan Crow’s “house” (which was staged as a museum). I left deeply shaken by the Nazi memorabilia on show. Apparently I wasn’t alone. https://t.co/AnoLUyaS5I 1/5
— danah boyd (@zephoria) April 8, 2023
Who would accumulate Nazi treasures like this and lovingly show them in their very own house? Well, Nazis for one… Hmm. We’re drawing a clean after that…
Falling At Crow’s Feet
There have been fairly a number of conservative pundits who’ve come out in protection of Crow on social media the previous couple days — most of whom, it was fairly instantly identified, had obtained some important monetary profit from the billionaire. But let’s check out the commonest protection we’ve been seeing, that that is only a pupil of historical past who has Nazi memorabilia and dictator statues amongst his assortment.
Well, let’s discuss concerning the backyard first. Crow himself mentioned the backyard is a “historical nod to the facts of man’s inhumanity to man”. There’s a distinction between remembering and honoring. This “Garden of Evil” actually appears to us to be extra in awe of those historic monsters than worry of them. We imply, this man hates communism and fascism a lot he’s spent a small fortune to continually have a look at these guys when he’s going for a peaceable stroll? Or for that matter when he’s sitting right down to dinner?
We imply, critically, the napkins. And the work! Like, it’s one factor to be eager about serial killers and have plenty of books and perhaps blu-rays of documentaries about them. It’s one other to personal an unique John Wayne Gacy portray — one thing that you just paid hundreds of {dollars} for. That crosses over from curiosity to… obsession perhaps? Crow apparently additionally has work by George W. Bush, in addition to historic objects from different eras. But there’s a LOT of WWII stuff, and the Nazi stuff is fairly disturbing. The supply who shared images from inside the house informed The Washingtonian the go to was nice sufficient — clearly nobody fell in a trapdoor and was mauled by a crocodile, regardless of it wanting like a Bond villain’s manor. However, regardless of the opposite historic artifacts, even somebody who was invited and had a pleasant time “still can’t get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia.”
The signed Mein Kampf is form of the crown jewel of disturbing historic memorabilia. It’s not like you could have that to be able to research what Hitler was as much as, such as you simply need to know your enemy. Any copy of the e-book would try this. An autographed one? Sorry, folks get autographs of individuals they’re followers of, it’s one thing they treasure. It simply is. It’s WAY creepy.
And frankly we’re previous the times of wealthy weirdos idolizing Hitler feeling like nothing greater than cartoonish straw males, the pulpy villains of dangerous motion films. Not when we’ve extremely rated pundits on 24-hour information networks spreading xenophobic and white supremacist speaking factors each evening. Not when freakin’ Kanye West is happening radio reveals saying he likes a variety of what Hitler needed to say. Think about it, y’all — somebody informed him that. The man who wrote Gold Digger didn’t come to that conclusion on his personal. Red tablets aren’t thrown from a distance, they’re slipped into scrumptious dinners and cocktails shared amongst buddies.
We’re certain we’ll by no means be capable of say with certainty that Crow collects these items as a result of he simply loves him some Nazis. But it’s fairly truthful to say most folk who hate Nazis would not need to have a look at it, wouldn’t need to preserve it cleaned and posed and displayed of their house.
And that is the man who’s within the ear and within the pockets of considered one of solely 9 members of the best courtroom within the land. Scary stuff.
[Image via Pepperdine/YouTube.]