Semafor reported last night that Joe Kent, momentary half-resistance hero and full-time white nationalist weirdo, is being investigated by the FBI for leaking classified information. According to Semafor, at least, the investigation predates his high-profile, news-driving resignation. We don’t know many details of this investigation. It’s at least possible that, rather than being retaliation for the resignation, it was actually the cause of it. In other words, maybe Kent saw the investigation was building, that the moment was right, and made his push to clothe the investigation and any possible future charges as retaliation. But let’s set that possibility aside for the moment. Because there’s another possibility I want to explore, one that goes to the heart of how Trump II works.
For that we need to shift our attention to our old friend Corey Lewandowski, the women-kinetic scrounger and bag man. Today NBC (and other news outlets) reported on Lewandowski’s demand for bribes as the price of getting pieces of the massive Department of Homeland Security mass deportation funding spree. The accusations (and, little question, the underlying facts) are no surprise. This is a thoroughly corrupt administration, and Lewandowksi has been notoriously corrupt ever since he strode into the public eye in 2015 as part of Trump’s original campaign entourage. (Remember, he was the first campaign manager.) All of that goes without saying. The part that interests me is the dynamic which applies in different ways from the littlest MAGAland cog in the administration to Trump himself.
You have to hold onto power because if you don’t, you lose your immunity. Here I don’t mean legal immunity per se. It’s just that if you’re a made man in the Trump world, there’s no Justice Department. Nothing matters. Do whatever you want. The DOJ won’t touch you. But once you’re cast off the island everything changes. The veil of impunity gets lifted.
I’m not saying Lewandowski or Kristi Noem are going to be indicted for anything. Lewandowski is almost unique in Trumpland for being cast out and cast back in countless times. But we see this dynamic again and again applied to everyone in that world. Everyone knew Lewandowski was doing this stuff, just as Corey and Kristi’s Mile High Express that DHS was buying for them was common knowledge. In a way, it’s a bit like how the mob used to require that an associate kill someone before becoming a made man. It’s not just a proof of seriousness. It’s also a kind of control. Part of going on a corruption spree on the inside is that you’ve made yourself a hostage to the organization. Once you’re on the outs (even if not quite permanently), all or at least a nice chunk of what you were doing on the inside gets leaked. Maybe an investigation or two even start.