Stormy

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Tony Perkins of the retrograde and poorly named Family Research Council exposed the fraudulence of his project in a conversation with Politico recently by calling a "mulligan" on Trump's behavior for having gotten caught paying off the sex professional known as Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign to buy her silence concerning Trump's availing himself of her sexual consent after the birth of his youngest child with his third and current wife, Melania in 2006.  With the transaction, Trump was no doubt proactively seeking to prevent compounded gratuitous revelations of sleaze piling up on the Trump brand as the election drew to a close, regardless of the outcome.  While the stench of hypocrisy looms about Perkins' explications, he makes plain the motivations: Trump is delivering on Perkins' pet projects with a remarkably (for Trump) consistent agenda of anti-immigrant, anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ themes.  The clumsy illegality of much of it means that it's happening not without pushback and in many cases ultimately without a lot of success, but in the eyes of Perkins (and of the present day scions of the historically puritan moralist clans of Graham and Falwell) Trump is blameless, uniquely without sin as modern presidents go in the advance of the cause.

What's fraudulent is not Perkin's forgiveness of Trump's immorality and illegality.  Nothing could be more honest.  If anything, Perkins' lack of judgment about a fellow traveler's behavior is a refreshing change from his usual modus operandi.  It's actually the rest of his stuff that's fraudulent-- family, research, evangelism, religion, morality.  This is a front for what by his actions and words he admits is his true project, namely the subjugation and suppression of women, the abnegation of the rights of LGBTQ oriented people, and the oppression of non-Protestant non-Europeans and those outside of his class and sect via political clampdown. His brother in arms Franklin Graham calls this "protecting Christian values", as if the ones needing protection in this country are the Franklin Grahams and Tony Perkinses.  On the other hand, he may have a point that those who make a habit of asking for it by punching down to their fellow Americans may not just be paranoid that they might someday actually get it back.

And by the way, I don't play golf but a mulligan-- which is illegal in standard play-- is not properly a patent looking away from poor playing and cheating.  A mulligan is a generous agreement that fortunes were not with one's opponent on a play.  In what universe can Trump's actions be reasonably explained away as an incidence of bad luck?  Furthermore, the mulligan is given at a disadvantage to the grantor in the short term (in the hopes and understanding that an opponent may grant a similar favor in the future should fortunes reverse).  In this instance, Perkins is seeking a mulligan for himself, in effect assuming forgiveness of  himself for overlooking flagrant immorality in his benefactor to his own advantage.  It's facilely understandable, but it's not forgivable and it's not forgettable. And I don't think it means what he think it means.

(While writing this I discovered that Amanda Marcotte has made much the same points and much more eloquently at that at Salon.  Updated 3/26 to reflect Daniel's account of the act that inspired the threats against her and the bought silence on the part of actors on Trump's behalf.  Recent details from multiple women reveal a pattern of sex by whatever means necessary followed by heavy handed threats of violence and or "catch and kill" tactics or nondisclosure payments on the part of Team Trump for ... for what?  Nothing about recent revelations should come as any shock to those who are onto the sleaze of the creep-in-chief and no revelation seems tawdry enough to move the meter on his supporter's high esteem of their fantasy fuehrer.  The sloppiness with which stories are 'killed' as if almost to ensure their being spread is almost enough to make one wonder if the cacophony of revelations isn't the point.)