The Not-So-Fantastic Mrs. Foxx

Overall, this past week definitely ended up as one of the best of the Trump administration.  First, the Mueller report concluded that the President did not collude with the Russians in an effort to secure victory in the 2016 Presidential Election.  Then, the House of Representatives failed overwhelmingly in its effort to override President Trump’s veto of Congress’s disapproval of his National Emergency.  However, another event that took place this week did far more than just rain on the President’s parade; it reinforced a narrative that wealth, connections, and victimhood can effectively enable some people to break the law without facing any consequences.

Two months ago, actor Jussie Smollett alleged that two men in #MAGA hats committed a hate crime against him on one of the coldest days of the year in one of the most Democratic neighborhoods in the country.  Smollett, who scores quite high in the intersectionality Olympics as a black gay man, alleged that the two men told him “this is MAGA country” before assaulting him verbally and physically as well as dumping bleach on him.  While Chicago’s Democratic tilt and the polar vortex should have raised eyebrows about this alleged hate crime, Chicago Police decided to do their due diligence and investigate anyway.

Hollywood and the mainstream media jumped on the story; after all, it confirmed their pre-existing narrative of Trump supporters as jingoists who want to actively persecute minority groups.  No one embraced the narrative harder than actress Ellen Page, who appeared on “Late Night With Stephen Colbert” and attempted to lay the blame for the “hate crime” against Smollett at the feet of Vice President Mike Pence; whom she sees as a monster because he dares to believe in traditional marriage.  According to Page, “when you are in a position of power and you hate people and you want to cause suffering to them…what do you think is going to happen?”  

Eventually, the Chicago Police Department concluded that Smollett made the whole thing up.  He coordinated with two Nigerian bodybuilders, whom he paid to assault him.  Video evidence shows the brothers buying ski masks, a red hat, and gloves the day before the attack.  The Chicago Police Department concluded that Smollett orchestrated the hate crime when a hateful letter directed at Smollett addressed to the “Empire” set failed to get the media attention he hoped for. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson also alleged that Smollett did not like his salary on “Empire,” which added up to more than $1,000,000 a year.  Somebody needs to file that under the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems.

In spite of the evidence, prosecutors ultimately decided not to indict Smollett.  Text messages show that Michelle Obama’s one-time Chief of Staff, Tina Tchen, basically urged Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to go easy on Smollett.  Foxx, a George Soros-backed insurgent who ousted an incumbent in the Democratic primary back in 2016, allegedly recused herself from the case.  In spite of her recusal, Foxx seemed all to happy to oblige.  She admitted that her decision did not exonerate Smollett while a spokeswoman for her office argued that his “community service,” which amounted to nothing more than working on behalf of another member of the Chicago political machine, Jesse Jackson, as well as his forfeiture of his $10,000 bond, served as punishment enough.  Foxx also admitted that she only “colloquially” recused herself, enabling her to avoid appointing a special prosecutor in accordance with Illinois state law.  Even a card-carrying member of the SJW mayors club, Rahm Emanuel, indicated his disgust with the “whitewash of justice” that took place in the Smollett case.  Emanuel subsequently asked Smollett to pay the city a six-figure sum as reimbursement for the wasted resources devoted to his hate crime hoax and suggested that he write “I’m accountable for the hoax” on the memo.  However, the outgoing mayor apparently did not want to leave office on a high note. Eager to save face with the left after doubting the story of a member of two approved “victim” classes, Emanuel blamed President Trump for Smollett’s ability to credibly pull off the hate crime hoax and reinforced his commitment to maintaining Chicago’s status as a “Trump-free zone.” 

The latest development in the Smollett story comes just weeks after the college admissions scandal first became public. A sweeping indictment implicated two Hollywood celebrities, actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, for basically paying off colleges and concocting a variety of other schemes to ensure their underqualified children admission into elite universities. 

Unlike the Smollett case, it looks like Loughlin, Huffman, and everyone else implicated in this scandal will not escape scot-free.  Their “green privilege” may have enabled them to fraudulently secure spots for their children at America’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning but it will likely not prevent them from experiencing equal justice under the law.  As US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said when laying out the indictment, “there will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy and there will not be a separate criminal justice system either.”

As for the children who benefitted from the fraud, it looks like they will have to pay for the sins of their parents; regardless of whether or not they played a direct role in the scheme.  The University of Southern California has indicated that it may end up deciding not to re-admit Lori Loughlin’s daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, to the school for the 2019-2020 academic year and may end up banning them from the campus altogether. It looks like her presence on the yacht of a member of the USC Board of Trustees simply could not save her this time.  Based on a video she made, Olivia Jade probably won’t miss college all that much.  After all, she said she just wanted to go for the “experience” and could have cared less about the actual “learning” part of college.  Olivia probably didn’t need college to have a successful career; she had already established name ID as a social media influencer and makeup expert.  However, in the wake of the college admissions scandal, the makeup company Sephora severed its ties with the teen; calling her future into question.

Still, Huffman and Loughlin can look back on history and predict that they might not have that much to worry about in terms of legal troubles.  Then again, maybe not.  While Huffman has expressed support for liberal politicians and causes, Loughlin’s husband Mossimo Giannulli has actually donated to Republicans in the past.  History shows that Democratic officials have quite a track record of providing their friends with a get-out-of-jail free card.

Take a look at the case of billionaire and Democratic donor Jeffrey Epstein.  Palm Beach police assembled a “mountain of evidence” against Epstein including “explicit photographs of teenaged girls, incriminating phone records, and – one girl’s high school transcript.”  In spite of this, Palm Beach County Democratic Prosecutor Barry Kirschner, an earlier version of the “not-so-fantastic Mrs. Foxx,” merely charged him with one count of soliciting prosecution and offered him probation.

Going back even further into history, Marc Rich greatly benefitted from a “not-so-fantastic Mrs. Foxx,” although his get-out-of-jail free card came from someone much more powerful than the saviors of Smollett and Epstein.  Rich faced charges of tax evasion, wire fraud, and racketeering and pulled a Roman Polanski by escaping to Switzerland to avoid facing the consequences of his actions.  As it turns out, he would never have to worry about facing the consequences of his actions.  President Bill Clinton pardoned Rich on January 20, 2001; his very last day in office.  Coincidentally, Rich’s wife had given more than $1 million to the Democratic Party and $100,000 to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign.  Keep in mind this all went down as the Democrats still portrayed themselves as the party of the working class.  The American voters clearly didn’t buy it; many of the most working-class states in the union, including West Virginia and Kentucky, voted for Republican George W. Bush in the 2000 Presidential Election after previously backing Clinton. 

The college admissions scandal led even Trump-hating CNN anchor Don Lemon to admit President Trump “was right” for pointing out that we live in a rigged system. Let’s not forget that the media and President Trump’s opponents relentlessly hammered him for using the phrase “rigged system” during the 2016 campaign. 

As for Smollett, he maintains folk hero status among his friends in Hollywood. For a while, it looked like he would end up attending the 50^th Annual NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles after receiving a nomination for “best supporting actor in a drama.”  His nomination comes from his performance on “Empire” but most Americans believe his performance on “Good Morning America,” where he attempted to convince Robin Roberts and many other gullible Americans that he had in fact experienced a hate crime, came across as far more Oscar-worthy than anything he had ever done on “Empire.”  When asked for his feelings on Smollett, host Anthony Anderson said that he hoped Smollett would win the award and expressed his gratitude that “the system worked for him in his favor because the system isn’t always fair, especially for people of color.”  While Anderson has apparently decided to throw his hat into the ring for the position of President of the Jussie Smollett fan club, other contenders for the NAACP Image Awards do not share his enthusiasm.  Actress Naturi Naughton, who stars on the TV show “Power,” said that Smollett should do the honorable thing and “just sit this one out.” 

In the end, Smollett appeared to take Naughton’s advice; as he did not end up attending the awards ceremony.  While the award for Best Supporting Actor went to Jesse Williams of the never-ending medical soap opera, “Grey’s Anatomy,” Smollett definitely walked away with a participation trophy from Andersons “Black-ish” co-star Yara Shahidi, who proclaimed “I stand with Jussie” as the “Black-ish” cast accepted its Outstanding Comedy award.  The NAACP Image Awards should have lost all credibility the second it decided to award Congresswoman Maxine Waters with a Chairman’s award. Could they have at least picked somebody who did not praise Fidel Castro, encourage violence against Trump administration officials or pour gasoline on the fire during the LA race riots of the early 1990s? Apparently not.

A protest will took place outside of the Not-So-Fantastic Mrs. Foxx’s office today at 11 a.m. Central Time.  While the protest coincided with April Fools’ Day, Foxx should definitely not dismiss the protest as a joke.  Speaking of April Fools’ Day, happy birthday to Rachel Maddow; who has basically spent the past two years playing a giant April Fools’ joke on her audience by relentlessly feeding into the Trump-Russia conspiracy. Considering their mutual propensity to either fall for hoaxes or willfully ignore them, maybe Kim Foxx can sit in for Maddow the next time she decides to take a vacation.  Or maybe they can do an episode of “Trading Places.”  After all, Rachel Maddow or anyone else couldn’t possibly do a worse job as Cook County State’s Attorney than Foxx.