What did Donald Trump do today?
He retreated deeper into paranoia about "threats" against him, this time from seashells.
A day after Trump's meltdown where he said that a late-night comedian's joke about his poor marital and physical health on Thursday somehow incited the security breach at the WHCD on Saturday, his administration found a new way to paint him as the victim of "threats": by indicting a political opponent for writing numbers with seashells.
Former FBI director James Comey posted this picture of seashells spelling out "86 47" to his Instagram account last May. "86" is American slang dating back to the 1930s meaning "get rid of" or "cancel" or "undo." It was usually used in the context of the service industry: unruly patrons or unwanted orders could be "86'ed." 47, of course, refers to Trump, who often calls himself by the number of his presidential term.
The indictment today claims that by spelling out numbers meaning "get rid of Trump" or "undo Trump's presidency," Comey was threatening Trump's life. It did not specify whether the Trump administration considers the use of seashells to do this as an aggravating factor.
It does, however, say with a straight face that by spelling out these numbers, Comey "did knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States."
There's no love lost between Comey and Trump, which might explain why Comey—like a sizable majority of Americans—want Trump "86'ed" via impeachment or removal by the 25th Amendment. Trump fired former Comey during his first term after Comey repeatedly refused to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump, and in particular after Comey refused to back Trump's lie that Comey had exonerated him over his campaign's collusion with the Putin regime. (Lifelong Republican Comey, as well as a Republican special counsel and a Republican-led Senate committee, have all said that Trump did accept Russian help to influence the 2016 election.)
An earlier indictment against Comey for the same "crime" has already been thrown out, and the overwhelming consensus is that this will be laughed out of court as well, if it even makes it there. Social media today was full of screenshots of Republican politicians who had used the "86" term against their political opponents to zero controversy or criminal liability.
Trump himself doesn't appear to have ever used the term in a political context, but he has, for example:
- called for his own Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to be executed
- said that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) should be shot
- posted social media images of Joe Biden being hogtied (among countless other images of violence against politicians he hates), as well as an AI slop video of him literally dumping shit on Americans from a plane.
- said that Hunter Biden should face the "death penalty" for tax evasion
In fact, if seashell numbers count, it's almost easier to say who Trump hasn't committed or threatened violence against, a list that amounts to himself, certain world leaders he admires, and some (but not all) of his immediate family.
Why does this matter?
- Making it illegal to suggest that the leader's time in office should ever end is basically square one for a dictatorship.
- It's embarrassing for the most powerful man in the world to be this committed to playing the victim.
- It is not, under any conceivable circumstance where the Constitution still protects Americans' right to free speech and to choose their own government, to say "86 47."
- 86 47. [—Ed.]