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Fani Willis – Lynsey Weatherspoon for TIME |
And indeed, there will
be time/… And time yet for a hundred indecisions/ And for a hundred visions and
revisions/ before the taking of a toast and tea – T. S. Elliot, The Love Song
of J. Alfred Prufrock
Harris For President
Republicans, some unaffiliateds and some Democrats believe
that President Joe Biden is decomposing before their very eyes; therefore, any
vote for Biden in 2024 will be a vote for Vice President Kamala Harris as
president. Depending upon when Biden exits
the scene – some suppose sooner rather than later -- Harris could be president
for two plus terms. Her approval rating is about 1% lower than Biden’s.
The Los Angeles Times tells us, “As of
Is the above scenario likely or unlikely?
It’s certainly possible. Whether it is likely or
not time will tell and time, before the upcoming 2024 presidential election, is
growing short.
The United States has trudged along in the absence of
presidential leaders more significant than Biden or Trump. What Democrats are
pleased to call “the democracy” did not collapse upon the death of Franklin
Roosevelt on Apr 12, 1945. The day Roosevelt shucked off this moral coil, was
followed by April 13, 1945 – and Harry Truman, Roosevelt’s Vice President.
Truman replaced Henry Agard Wallace of Iowa, who had
replaced John Nance Garner of Texas, Roosevelt’s first Vice President from
1933-1941, a lengthy run. Perhaps even more given to plain-speaking than
Truman, Garner, asked what he thought of the office as such, said, “It wasn’t
worth a warm bucket of spit.” Actually, Garner used a different term than “spit,”
still regarded as unprintable by fussy newspapers.
But Garner’s characterization of the office is not too farfetched.
A president’s vice president is supposed to be the president’s shadow in
office. Harris has been a serviceable shadow for Biden. There are some
reporters and commentators, none of them writing for what former President
Donald Trump contemptuously calls the nation’s “fake media,” who have suggested
that Biden himself is a shadow president – and also a plagiarist. That would
make Harris the shadow of a shadow.
Fani Willis
Fani Willis is the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney
who has, according to George Washington University law professor Jonathan
Turley, recently made a serious unforced error.
Newsweek tells us: “On Thursday, Willis' attorney,
Cinque Axam, filed a motion to stop Willis from being forced to testify by
subpoena in the divorce of Nathan and Joycelyn Wade on January 23, according to
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Her testimony at the divorce trial likely will be
embarrassing to Willis, who has been in an affair with Willis’ current paramour
and prosecution partner Nathan Wade. But Willis plans to argue in court that
her paramour’s wife has, by calling her as a witness in the divorce proceeding,
“conspired with interested parties in the criminal election interference case
to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass and oppress District
Attorney Willis,” according to her defense attorney.
Turley believes such claims may not be helpful to the
oppressed Willis: “The level of animus and vexatious language in the filing
only magnifies the concern over the Willis-Wade relationship. By attacking the
estranged wife of her alleged lover, Willis only increases concerns over the
professional separation between Willis and Wade in making decisions in the
case… The accusatory motion was a mistake in my view. Willis could have
objected to the necessity of the deposition on factual and legal grounds (as
she does) without escalating the rhetoric and recriminations."
Willis evidently wants to win both the political and moral
high ground and, at the same time, tilt the scales of justice in favor of
Nathan Wade in his contested divorce case.
There is a stinger in Willis’ accusatory motion. Who can
forget that Willis has used RICO legislation to pursue charges against former
President Donald Trump, even though the architect of initial RICO legislation
warned that it should never be used in political cases? The purpose of the RICO
ACT was to facilitate the prosecution of mob and gang members accused of
conspiring with others to avoid prosecution. The RICO law in Georgia, some
would argue, has been distended to the point of absurdity.
Wade’s estranged wife, Willis asserts in her legal claim,
has “conspired
with interested parties in the criminal election interference case [involving
former President Donald Trump] to use the civil discovery process to annoy,
embarrass and oppress District Attorney Willis [emphasis mine].” But, of
course, discovery proceedings are far less oppressive than RICO proceedings
and, as we have been told countless times, no man or woman is above the law in
the United States.
The office of the oppressed Georgia District Attorney has
paid Wade nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022, according to the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Does Willis propose to ensnare her paramour’s estranged wife
in her larger RICO case against Trump and associates? Or is her counter claim
an effort to snuff out a fire in the political kitchen that might affect her
effort to bring her charges against Trump to their appointed end before
citizens of the United State go to the polls to choose their next president?
Time will tell.
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