One week later

 As things were happening last week, I wrote a post below that is likely wrong. We know more now. Two things have become clear this week:

1) The local apparat really, really wants to this story to follow an evil MAGA narrative. Julie Nelson, the anchor on the 10 p.m. news on KARE, made a point to call Boelter's activities "politically motivated" every night this week in the opening of the broadcast. It's an assertion, a mantra, and you should not question it. Boelter's letter, to the extent we understand its content, alters the narrative that's being constructed.

2) There's a barely concealed battle going on between the acting U.S. Attorney, Joe Thompson, and Mary Moriarty, the Soros-backed HennCo prosecutor. Moriarty is in trouble because she's been letting criminals loose in the usual Soros style, but she really, really wants to prosecute Boelter. The feds are taking the lead, as they have in the past, because she's feckless. 

An example of how this dynamic has played out: the previous U.S. Attorney under Biden, Andrew Luger, was the guy who actually did the heavy lifting in prosecuting the massive Feeding Our Future fraud cases, in which politically connected Somalis and their friends stole millions of dollars by claiming to feed millions of meals to kids during COVID. The locals let this go on for years. Luger is a loyal Democrat, but he's of the old-school sort and he wasn't willing to countenance the open corruption of this arrangement. These stories are not openly discussed, because they reflect badly on Walz, Keith Ellison (who took meetings with the criminals) and others within the DFL apparat.

It would be unlikely in the extreme that Walz ever communicated to Boelter except in passing; the boards that Boelter served on were advisory and weren't especially political. Having said that, there were some fairly heavy hitters on the boards, including a longtime DFL power player named Myron Frans, who has been a bigwig at the University of Minnesota and was the guy who ran the state government management office under Walz and his predecessor, Mark Dayton. As far as I know, no one has asked Frans what he thought of Boelter and his role. We'd rather not know, apparently.

I don't believe in conspiracies. Boelter has, from what we know, had an, ahem, interesting career. I'd personally like to know more about his work in Africa and whether the USAID cuts affected what he was doing. He seems to have acquired a lot of weapons and although his financial issues have been discussed, he seemed to have enough money to own a big house in the country and a lot of material possessions. Maybe the answers and statements are incoherent, but at a minimum he's a deeply weird dude. I'd prefer to simply follow the story wherever it leads, but you can see the narrative construction team straining mightily at the moment. From that you can draw your own conclusions.

The mumbling sociopath's gift to us all

Elections have consequences:

Minnesotans will likely see an increase in income taxes next year after Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a tax bill meant to bring the state tax code in line with the new federal system following a sweeping overhaul passed by the U.S. Congress last year, according to Certified Public Accountants who spoke with Fox 9.

It's also going to get harder to file returns because the new federal tax code uses a different formula to arrive at your taxable income, they said, forcing Minnesotans to essentially calculate their tax return twice. The bill vetoed by Dayton this week would have simply copied the federal formula.

"I'm very concerned for the taxpayers of Minnesota," said Todd Koch, a CPA with Jak & Company. "Without any changes, it is a very rare person that would pay less and almost everybody will pay more."

In a letter to legislative leaders this spring, state Revenue Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly said the state would have to draft more than 80 pages of new income tax instructions because Minnesota isn't currently seeing any reduction in rates or an expansion in credits but the federal system is. The work for many government agencies begins now to update the state's computer system and coordinate with software vendors like TurboTax to rewrite the programs for next year.

I've had an accountant handle my taxes for years. He's going to be getting a lot more business. I suspect anger is going to increase over Dayton's perfidy as more people learn what he did and we may yet get a special session. I don't think the DFL wants to run on tax increases and the pressure will increase for Dayton to do something. His handlers will eventually get him the message.

The mumbling sociopath

As mentioned in the previous post, there are despicable people in public life. One of them happens to be the governor of Minnesota:

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday vetoed the tax and budget bills that included the main work of the Republican-led Legislature and vowed he would not call a special session to work things out, saying, "They had their chance."

While the bills contained proposals supported by Democrats and Republicans, Dayton days earlier had telegraphed his problems with the legislation. Just a few hours before the midnight Sunday deadline for bills to pass, Dayton dashed Republican hopes that there was enough to like in tax and budget bills.

He renewed those criticisms Wednesday after the vetoes.

He described the budget bill as "not meant to be something I could sign. It was meant to be something they (Republicans) could take around the state." The tax legislation, he added was "skewed to big corporations and wealthy people, and it was unacceptable."

The Republicans will be going around the state anyway. They come to St. Paul from all corners, unlike the coterie of Metrocrats who mostly reside within 10 miles to either side of the 694/494 loop. And these Republicans will have to report that a mumbling sociopath decided it was better to make their lives more difficult because tax cuts cannot happen. There's more:

Overall, though, he ripped Republicans for bills he said were meant only for "re-election campaign slogans."

The tax bill veto could cause headaches for Minnesotans filing their taxes next year. It was intended to bring state tax law in alignment with federal tax law changes.

Conforming the federal tax code was high on lawmakers' to-do list this session because not conforming will mean complicated tax forms next year and possible increases for some Minnesotans.

Minnesotans deserve the complications, you understand. Too many of them voted for Republicans. Can't have that.

Mene Mene Franken Upharsin

At the moment, Al Franken is calling reports that he is going to resign tomorrow premature, but he's gone and he knows it. You can't have half your caucus calling for you to resign and then expect to survive. He has been weighed and found wanting in the court of public opinion, and his continued presence in the Senate complicates the efforts of his party to keep the heat on Roy Moore. If Chuck Schumer wants Franken out, he'll be out. And Schumer wants him out.

So that means Mark Dayton will be appointing a successor. The Star Tribune believes Lt. Gov. Tina Flint "Abbatoir" Smith, former Planned Parenthood honcho, will get the nod as a caretaker and that a full-on raging battle for the seat will take place in the fall 2018 special election to fill the seat for the remaining two years of Franken's term. The notion is Smith will not be interested in staying in Washington. Are we sure of that? It's pretty nice in D.C. and I'm sure Planned Parenthood would love to have their own personal senator, beyond the 48 or so they already have.

So let's handicap the field:

Tina Flint Smith. Whether she'd want to stay or not, she'd be a completely loyal soldier for Schumer. She also would not likely get in the way of Amy Klobuchar's ambitions. I think there's a strong chance she'd get the nod.

Lori Swanson. Currently the attorney general, she's better at making waves and offering soundbites than Smith, but her prosecutor profile is perhaps a little too close to Klobuchar's for Amy's comfort. However, if Dayton wants to reward Swanson for her hard work as a DFL apparatchik by giving her a head start, this could happen.

Keith Ellison. Some of the more excitable conservative commentators think Ellison would be the pick, but I don't see it. I seriously doubt he could win a statewide election, and there have been enough rumors about his zipper issues over the years that he could get the same treatment Franken has received. He's reached his career apex as the congressman for CD-5 and he's smart enough to know it.

Betty McCollum. She's stayed in Washington for nearly 20 years by living inside the lapel pocket of Nancy Pelosi. If McCollum ran for statewide office, she'd have to speak. That wouldn't go well for her. No chance.

Ilhan Omar. The DFL has high hopes for her, but she's not ready. And Scott Johnson has a few questions for her that she's never really answered.

Chris Coleman. The outgoing St. Paul mayor, who wants Mark Dayton's job, but Tim Walz is standing in the way. I could see Coleman making the switch from the governor's race and take a shot at the seat in 2018, especially if Smith gets the nod and does not run. It's also possible for Walz to decide he'd rather run for the Senate, but I think he'll have a better chance running for governor.

John Choi. A darkhorse. Currently the Ramsey County attorney, he's been less overtly partisan than some of the other county attorneys and he's been generally successful in navigating a couple of high-profile cases, especially involving the scandals at the Archdiocese. He didn't get Jeronimo Yanez convicted, but sending a cop to jail is awfully tough to do. He could get the seat and hold it for 30 years.

Who do you think will get the nod? Cast your vote in the comments section!

The Jester's Thorny Crown

Before you consider the fate of Al Franken, it's worth looking what the accusation was, directly from the his accuser, Leeann Tweeden:

When I saw the script, Franken had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’. I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute, or put my hand over his mouth, to get more laughs from the crowd.

On the day of the show Franken and I were alone backstage going over our lines one last time. He said to me, “We need to rehearse the kiss.” I laughed and ignored him. Then he said it again. I said something like, ‘Relax Al, this isn’t SNL…we don’t need to rehearse the kiss.’

He continued to insist, and I was beginning to get uncomfortable.

We are talking about events in 2006. We are talking about a man who had been married for 31 years and was 55 years old at the time. Back to Tweeden:

He repeated that actors really need to rehearse everything and that we must practice the kiss. I said ‘OK’ so he would stop badgering me. We did the line leading up to the kiss and then he came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth.

I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time.

I walked away. All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth.

I felt disgusted and violated.

Not long after, I performed the skit as written, carefully turning my head so he couldn’t kiss me on the lips.

55 years old, remember. Franken wasn't done:

Other than our dialogue on stage, I never had a voluntary conversation with Al Franken again. I avoided him as much as possible and made sure I was never alone with him again for the rest of the tour.

Franken repaid me with petty insults, including drawing devil horns on at least one of the headshots I was autographing for the troops.

But he didn’t stop there.

The tour wrapped and on Christmas Eve we began the 36-hour trip home to L.A. After 2 weeks of grueling travel and performing I was exhausted. When our C-17 cargo plane took off from Afghanistan I immediately fell asleep, even though I was still wearing my flak vest and Kevlar helmet.

It wasn’t until I was back in the US and looking through the CD of photos we were given by the photographer that I saw this one:

I'm your handyman

Tweeden's reaction? Well, what do you think?

I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep.

I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated.

How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?

It's not funny. In the least. But what do you expect from a guy who would say something like this in a major publication?

In the New York Magazine article, dated March 13, 1995, entitled "Comedy Isn't Funny: Saturday Night Live At Twenty--How The Show That Transformed TV Became A Grim Joke" Franken veers off of a discussion of a skit involving Andy Rooney, and proposes a skit involving the drugging and rape of Lesley Stahl.

Franken: And, "I give the pills to Lesley Stahl. Then, when Lesley's passed out, I take her to the closet and rape her." Or, "That's why you never see Lesley until February." Or, "When she passes out, I put her in various positions and take pictures of her."

The punchline became reality, I guess. You'll notice that the source of this anecdote is City Pages, from back in 2008. It's worth remembering, my fellow Minnesotans saw fit to elect this guy in 2008, and once again in 2014. Yes, the 2008 election was probably stolen, but we don't get to unring that bell, and Franken won a second term comfortably in 2014, when he ran against a painted sheet metal office credenza. I don't think that's exactly who he defeated, but it's been a number of years. It wasn't close, though.

So what do we make of it? My preliminary thoughts:

• Even before I heard of this incident, or read the City Pages piece back in '08, I was pretty sure Franken was a creep. He's always had that vibe. As we entered this time of tumbrels, if I'd had to predict which senators were most likely to be sexual miscreants, Franken would have been in my top 5 choices.
• The continuing saga of Roy Moore complicates Franken's career prospects. If the Democrats needed Franken, they'd have circled the wagons around him by now. They don't need him, though. If Franken were to leave tomorrow, Mark Dayton would have a replacement ready, most likely Lt. Governor Tina "Madame Abbatoir" Flint Smith, who was an executive with Planned Parenthood before she went into the retail side of politics. She would easily have use of the hagiography brigade that has served Amy Klobuchar so well over the years.
• The reason Moore matters is simple -- for the Democrats to claim any moral high ground, they need to appear tougher on their reprobates and more full-throated in their denunciations than the professional Republicans have been with Moore. It's more difficult to tut-tut Moore if you're simultaneously protecting Franken. Once Franken gave the Democrats the 60th vote for Obamacare, he's always been living on borrowed time. The moment you are no longer valuable to Chuck Schumer et al., you get this action:

• But wait -- doesn't Franken have value to the DFL? Not as much as you'd think. He ran well behind Barack Obama in '08 and he did nothing to lift the overall ticket in 2014, as Dayton and everyone else in the DFL won their races comfortably. And while it hasn't been fashionable for the DFL rank-and-file to bash Franken, there are more than a few people in the party who view him as something less than a team player. Some of the Metrocrats are hyenas, too.
• If I were to bet, I'd say Franken only survives if no one else comes forward. But if I were to bet, someone else will come forward. Franken was a reprobate long before he became a politician and if there's value in dropping on a dime on him now, and there's every reason to imagine there is value, we'll have more accusers. Some may even have pictures.

Puttin' the last three letters in bass

Gov. Dayton takes his bass boat and goes home:

Gov. Mark Dayton canceled a meeting with business owners around Lake Mille Lacs Saturday after about 75 protesters in boats encircled him on the lake to protest a temporary ban on walleye fishing.

Dayton was with a small group of people fishing for bass to promote the fishing that is still allowed at the lake after restrictions — including a ban on fishing walleye until July 28 — went into place Thursday. Dayton’s boat spent about 90 minutes on the water before heading back to land.

Passengers on roughly 25 boats displayed balloons and signs reading “REGULATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION = TYRANNY” and “GOV. DAYTON STOP LAKE MILLE LACS POLITICS!”

Don't question the governor, people. There's more:

Dayton said he respects the protesters’ frustration, but he defended the ban as a way of preserving the struggling walleye population. He said he canceled Saturday’s meeting — which was going to include several Lake Mille Lacs-area business owners — because he didn’t want to “reinforce that kind of destructive behavior.” He said he would meet with them later.

Perhaps after they go out of business. I'm not a fisherman but I know this much -- fishing for bass is quite different than fishing for walleye. The larger issues surrounding walleye populations on Mille Lacs aren't going away any time soon, either. But taking his ball, or his bass boat, and going home is par for the course for Our Governor.

2017, man

Gov. Mark Dayton explained his rationale for defunding the legislature yesterday:

Oops, that might not be from his press conference

Pardon the technical difficulties. Let's just say that Mr. Met's gesture was about the same as the governor's however:

The DFL governor on Tuesday vetoed the Legislature’s operating budget in an effort to force Republican legislative leaders to reopen disputes over taxes, education policy and immigration. That followed a decision by Republicans just days earlier to approve a bill that would have terminated funds for Dayton’s Department of Revenue had the governor not signed off on their tax cuts.

It was a surprise strike and counterstrike that soured the end of an otherwise productive legislative session. For Dayton and Republican leaders, it set up a political and legal dispute that could linger for months.

“The Minnesota Constitution gives me the authority to line-item veto appropriations,” Dayton said Wednesday. “It doesn’t qualify that I can line-item veto these but not others. It’s blanket authority.”

Dayton can believe what he wants, but I expect the state Supreme Court to strike down what Dayton did. If one branch of government can zero out the operating budget of another, then we no longer have a constitutional form of government in Minnesota, and the courts will recognize that.

What a year.

Self-marketing

One of the most important, if unwritten rules of Minnesota politics is this -- don't get in the crosshairs of James Nobles: 

A special nonpartisan report on Tuesday found ethical violations by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority (MSFA) in its use of two luxury suites at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The 100-page review by the legislative auditor also generated a testy four-hour House-Senate committee meeting as well as a sharp defense of the agency by the governor.

Legislative auditor James Nobles released the findings of his investigation into the MSFA’s use for friends and family of two “Norseman Suites” at the new $1.1 billion stadium in Minneapolis. He found the board had violated state law by not keeping records about who had been in the 18-person suites since the building opened on Aug. 3.

If you'll recall, the review came because we discovered last year that the MSFA had been using the suites for "marketing" purposes that seemed only to be giving free tickets to DFL politicians and their friends and families. There's more from the Star Tribune report:

The MSFA’s “misuse of a public resource has damaged its credibility and diminished public trust,” Nobles said. His office often conducts routine financial audits of the MSFA, but in the future “will expand our scope — or conduct supplementary audits — to examine many other aspects of the authority’s performance.”

The review was consistently critical of the MSFA. Records provided to Nobles’ office were sloppy and incomplete, the report said. The auditors had trouble matching who the guests were with who attended games, who had been given free VIP parking passes to the lot adjacent to the stadium and who had reimbursed the authority after the public outcry.

Of course, Gov. Dayton responded in his usual churlish manner:

“I expect a handful of legislators will ignore these accomplishments, and instead deride and impugn the dedicated public officials who made these successes possible. Their attempts to use this single episode to achieve their own political objectives do nothing to benefit the stadium’s operations or advance the public good,” his statement said.

It wasn't a single episode, of course. The MSFA folks used the suites on a number of occasions and would have continued to do so until the practice was exposed. Had the Star Tribune not reported on the matter at the end of November, it's likely that Michele Kelm-Helgen and Ted Mondale, who run the MSFA, would still be doling out the sweet, sweet suite tickets.

Oh, and there's one other revelation that came out. See if you can spot the larger outrage:

In a surprise that wasn’t in his report, Nobles said the MSFA had acquired a third luxury suite for $300,000 annually for the next five years. The so-called cabins and Truss Bar were built by the Vikings at the highest level of the building for $8.5 million. The MSFA will pay $1.5 million over five years to use the suites for the next 30 years — but cannot use them for Vikings games. SMG markets the suites and has brought in $192,000 since the building opened, Kelm-Helgen said.

Is it the extra suite? Nope. Instead, note that SMG, the Pennsylvania-based company that does the day-to-day operational work for the stadium, is in charge of marketing. So why would MSFA need to control two suites for marketing? That's a larger question that has yet to be answered satisfactorily. I suspect Nobles will be looking into that matter eventually.

Still time to go, Governor

Governor Mark Dayton insists he can complete his term as governor. I don't think so. He announced he has an additional health challenge yesterday, one ostensibly unrelated to whatever caused him to faint during his State of the State address on Monday:

Gov. Mark Dayton revealed Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a new personal challenge for a governor who has struggled with health problems throughout his term and is just embarking on his last two years in office

Dayton disclosed his diagnosis at a news conference the morning after he collapsed during his State of the State speech, cutting the address short and rattling several hundred state legislators and others gathered in the House chamber. Back in front of the cameras Tuesday morning, Dayton said his early prognosis is good, and that he expects to learn more after a follow-up consultation at Mayo Clinic next week to discuss treatment options.

“I don’t expect it to, within a very short period of time, impede my performance of my responsibilities,” Dayton said. “We’ll know more next week.”

It's been clear for a long time now that Dayton has multiple health issues. He's had multiple surgeries for leg and back pain and he regularly walks with a cane. He regularly slurs his words when speaking. While he's hardly unique in facing health issues as he enters his seventies (he turns 70 tomorrow), he has a high-stress job and the stress level isn't going to lessen any time soon, as he battles a legislature under Republican control.

He wants to continue. I don't think he should.

Time to go, Governor

Mark Dayton collapsed last evening as he was delivering his State of the State speech:

I don't like Mark Dayton the politician, but no one wants to see this happen. I hope he recovers from whatever illness he is fighting, but he needs to do so as a private citizen. This is going to be a contentious session and I don't think the governor is up to the task he faces. A lot of potential DFL candidates would grumble if he resigns, because it would give Lt. Governor Tina Flint Smith a big leg up in the 2018 campaign, but that shouldn't matter.

Safe space

My goodness:

Gov. Mark Dayton stormed out of a public meeting about the State Capitol restoration on Tuesday, after accusing a Republican state lawmaker of playing politics with decisions about a set of Civil War paintings and their placement in the soon-to-reopen building.

“If this commission gets hijacked for political purposes, I’ll resign from it,” Dayton said at the meeting of the Capitol Preservation Commission. He cited a recent memo by state Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, to his House colleagues arguing against what he alleged was a move by the administration to remove one or several Civil War paintings.

“The Capitol should not be designed around the likes and dislikes of any temporary tenant,” Dean wrote in the memo.

Where to begin?

• Storming out of a meeting is always the best approach to a dispute.
• I would like a bit more precision in the reporting -- "one or several"? 
• Dean is correct -- the Capitol is more than just a place the politicians meet.

There's more -- back to the Star Tribune story:

At a news conference later in the afternoon, Dayton reiterated that he believed House Republicans were trying to make political hay out of disagreements over the paintings’ placement: “I’m not going to sit around and be part of that contrivance,” the DFL governor said. He said he would not try to influence the Historical Society’s decision.

Dayton said he believed the art kerfuffle was an attempt by Republicans to distract from their inaction in addressing an expected spike in MNsure premiums in January. He also alleged that Dean, who is considering a 2018 bid for governor, was using the issue to bolster his own conservative credentials.

I don't know if the Republicans want to take action on MNsure, but they can't do a thing unless a special session is called. The only person who can call a special session is Dayton, but he won't call a special session because once the legislature is in session, it can do any number of things. Dayton only wants the lege to rubber stamp what he wants done. That's not how it works in a system of government where the legislature and the executive share power. Despite having similar voting patterns, St. Paul is not Pyongang, at least not yet. 

As for MNsure, it's difficult to see why the Republicans are responsible for fixing something that the DFL broke. At this point, Dayton would be better off calling the special session and letting the chips fall where they may, because the next lege will be completely in Republican hands and he's not likely to get a better deal on anything in 2017. And of course the personal attack on Dean is par for the course.

Someday we'll look back on the Dayton era and marvel at it all. For now, the repeated demonstrations of pique that we get from the guy who is head of the state government are causes for disgust and shame.

A reminder from afar

We'd rather not talk about our governor in Minnesota. Sometimes it takes a reminder from an outside observer to make the point. Here's Victor Davis Hanson:

In our new age of racial polarization, few have been quite as crude as Minnesota governor Mark Dayton, who lashed out at any Minnesotans who questioned the wisdom of allowing into his state mostly unvetted refugees from Somalia, a few with demonstrable Islamist ties: “If you are that intolerant, if you are that much of a racist or a bigot, then find another state. Find a state where the minority population is 1 percent or whatever.” Then Dayton zeroed in with contempt for the white working class: “Our economy cannot expand based on white, B+, Minnesota-born citizens. We don’t have enough.”

I suppose if Dayton would stop insulting them and taxing the snot out of them, we might have a few more, but I digress. Hanson brings up Dayton in service of a larger point:

White progressive elites also explain much of the disparagement. By focusing on the supposed racism of the working classes, they find exemption for their own often exclusionary lives. Paula Deen’s long ago insensitive racial epithet was nearly a career-ending gaffe, whereas the nation simply shrugged off the more recent and racist characterization of Barack Obama in 2008 by then senators Joe Biden and Harry Reid. Saturday Night Live, worried about the appearance of its nearly all-white cast, just hired a “Latina” comedian who in preemptory fashion deleted 2,000 tweets that had illustrated her own racial stereotyping of black men and Asians in general.

Those with real “white privilege” can both alleviate guilt and navigate around the ramifications of their own racialist ideologies by expressing outrage at supposedly unrepentant Confederates and hillbillies — and, more recently, Trump supporters. I know hundreds of working-class whites in rural central California and have not heard racial slurs from any of them. But then again, none stereotype other white people as “deplorable” in the fashion of Hillary Clinton in 2016. Maybe because none ever traffic in the race vocabulary of “white people,” in the fashion that Hillary Clinton did in 2008, they now feel no need to do so to demonize them.

We all need our Other. And we all need our expiation. It's a lot more tolerable if you can dump your sins on someone else. Back to Hanson:

Cowardice too plays a role. It is much easier to blast faceless white supposed Neanderthals from afar when proximate whites are frequently the sensitive metrosexuals and pajama boys of the Yale campus, in the MSNBC green room, or among the Washington press corps. When a Princeton environmental-studies major confesses to her white privilege, she seeks exemption for her own apartheid by suggesting that white racists are epidemic in places she has never visited.

Speaking truth to power is not chastising those of the same elite class but rather venturing to a Bakersfield NASCAR race or a rural Ohio fairground to blast “white privilege.”

And if you want to know why Trump is still hanging in there, even though every major media outlet around is issuing full-throated denunciations of him, it's behavior of this sort that explains it. Hanson sums it up quite nicely:

In a new world of racially segregated dorms, racially safe spaces on campus, and racial preferences for the children of Eric Holder and Jorge Ramos, one needs a quite unattractive white working class other than the sympathetic multimillionaire cadre of a John Kerry, Chelsea Clinton, or George Soros. In that context, the Clingers, the Deplorables, and the B+ers of America’s vast loser interior serve well enough.

Until they don't.

A polite suggestion to Tom Horner

This will be brief.

In 2010, Tom Horner, who packaged himself as a sensible Republican, ran against the Republican Party as a third-party candidate in the gubernatorial election. Horner took about 12% of the vote. One can argue that Horner's candidacy may have hurt both parties, but he certainly hurt the campaign of Tom Emmer, who was the Republican running for governor. As you might remember, Mark Dayton became governor.

As such, Tom Horner lost any credibility as an expert on the Republican Party. Today, he's in the Star Tribune explaining why the Republicans ought to tank the election this time to save the party.

I am #NeverTrump and as such I consider myself to be estranged from the Republican Party. I am not going to offer any advice to the party or its leaders concerning Trump. It's a matter of conscience to me that I am currently estranged. Those who remain in the party will have to sort all that out themselves.

Tom Horner took up arms against the party and was instrumental in helping to put a blithering idiot into the governor's office. He has long since forfeited any right to be seen as a credible arbiter on any matter involving the Republican Party.

My polite suggestion to Tom Horner? Have the decency to stop pretending you have any credibility in this, or any other matter. You made your choice six years ago. Your advice means nothing. Sit down and shut up.