As a Chicagoan, I cheered when they put former Democrat governor Rod Blagojevich away for numerous crimes in 2011. At the time, he created a nonstop media circus proclaiming his innocence; that and his eventual trials in Springfield and Chicago were huge wastes of taxpayer dollars, and time that should have been spent taking care of urgent public business.
Now, after Glorious Bleater commuted Rod’s sentence, he hasn’t shown the smallest sign of reform, now saying he’s a “political prisoner.” When local TV crews covered the return to his home in a Chicago neighborhood, he couldn’t resist the chance to shriek about the evil prosecutors that put him away, and that he now calls himself a Trumpocrat. This is a dark turn for Chicago, the state of Illinois, and the U.S.; as he shares much of El Dumpo’s toxic narcissism. He says he’s going to work in criminal justice reform, to right the supposed wrongs he was subject to; I doubt that, though a slot at Fox News would be surprising. Being spared seeing this asshole on the airwaves and databits the past 8 years was a relief; I am not looking forward to his comeback.
In a segment aired yesterday, February 21, CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviews the former governor. As the discussion progresses, Cooper strains visibly at Blago’s constant stream of self-serving nonsense, calling him out on the facts at every point, an outstanding example of what TV journalism should look like. At one point though Anderson’s had enough; infuriated, he tells the governor it’s all bullshit.
Career bullshit artists look like ordinary reasonable people but they’re not. They can’t hear reason, and, like the interview shows, it’s tiring to deal with.
“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”
-Garry Kasparov