8647 or S647: Take Your Pick

This guy is an idiot; well, sort of

Make no mistake…. THIS is what he meant.

Arrest James Comey. pic.twitter.com/TCqp46m0QZ

— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) May 16, 2025

This right-wing fellow knows that he has carte blanche to post recklessly because under Trump puppet Pam Bondi, the gloves are off. Any Democrat or left-leaning Independent is fair game for prosecution and, down the line, deportation. Moreover, the tweeter in his bio identifies himself as a "Christian," so he is entitled to say whatever he wishes to say or do in the name of "faith."

And anyway, this fellow is significantly brighter than James Comey, which is to say, smarter than the tree growing in your backyard. Or dying in your backyard. As TIME notes

The Obama appointee who was fired by Donald Trump in 2017 is being investigated by federal law enforcement after posting a photo of seashells on a beach that appeared to form the shape of “86 47,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday, claiming that the since-deleted post was a call for the assassination of the President….

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” Comey wrote in the caption accompanying the Thursday Instagram post. Comey later clarified in a follow-up post, “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”

Oh, dear Lord. The proper response is "I didn't know it was political" (or better, "It is not political.") Conceding that he thought it was "political" begs the question of "what political message was it sending?'

TIME explains

Eighty-six is slang broadly meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of,” or “to refuse service to,” according to Merriam-Webster, although the dictionary notes that it has recently, albeit sparsely, also been used to mean “to kill.” Forty-seven, meanwhile, is an apparent reference to Trump, who is the 47th President of the U.S.

To a male growing up in the mid- to late- twentieth century, "86" meant "to eliminate," anything from avoiding to kill, depending on the circumstance. However, Matt Gaetz would have accepted the TIME definition:

Oops!!! Hey did you see this @FBIDirectorKash and @KristiNoem? pic.twitter.com/Fzq7qTjH4K

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) May 16, 2025

James Comey is a 64-year-old former FBI director who should have known better. Instagram is not a social network service  for 74-years-olds and Comey has gotten himself into a bucket of (mostly undeserved) hot water because he thought that he was one of the cool kids. It is especially not a service or platform for lawyers, engineers, and other individuals whose imagination run the gamut from A to B- who sees things as they are rather than as they are widely misinterpreted as.

When such individuals see four letters strung together with an emphasis on one letter, they should read the number in that manner. In this case,  the numbers 8647 ran together with one number- the 8- standing out.

 

That 8- which looks a little like an S- stands  apart from the 647. It is most logically seen as an 8 followed by the three-digit 647. That would be logical but, of course, Instagram.

Jim Comey posted this probably because he is not the brightest bulb in the pack. In 2016, he reported an investigation into Hillary Clinton, which was ongoing, but not an investigation into the Trump campaign, which was ongoing. With fewer than two weeks before the 11;16 election, he was informed of a cache of emails between Clinton and  aide Huma Abedin had been found on a computer belonging to Representative Anthony Weiner (her husband). In order to determine whether any was classified, he needed to ask a Court for a search warrant, which would have been leaked to Republicans. They in turn would have leaked the news to the public.

Comey could have waited until after the election to obtain a warrant. However, convinced that Hillary Clinton would win, he was afraid that he'd be accused of playing politics to have ensured the defeat of Donald Trump. He notified congressional leaders because he had earlier promised Congress to notify it of any developments.

Then-Republican National Committee chairperson Reince Priebus claimed "The F.B.I.'s decision to reopen their criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's secret email server just 11 day before the lection shows how serious this discovery must be." 

It is unknown whether, just as presciently, Priebus earlier this year declared "extensive Super Bowl success ensures that the Kansas City Chiefs will wallop the Philadelphia Eagles in the upcoming Big Game." Following a dip in Clinton's numbers following Comey's announcement in late October, voters had largely forgotten about the announcement. But when the FBI director on November 6, two days before the election, stated that the emails were only ones which previously had been reviewed, the public was reminded about this exaggerated scandal. HRC then lost an election she was expected, but not certain, to win.

The FBI director declined to vote in the election because he believed in that position he needed to project objectivity and neutrality. However, he really, really wanted Donald Trump to be defeated, while his actions probably were the deciding factor getting Trump elected.

As we first learned in the Ashcroft-Comey-NSA episode during the Bush 43 Administration, Comey is not someone lacking integrity. At the same time, he is not someone excessively imbued with intelligence or sound judgement. He should have left the seashell photo alone, and it is a mystery why he would say he thought it had political significance when it was unclear what it was about or that it wasn't even S647. It is a tempest in a teapot, though excellent fodder for a media which would rather not focus on Donald Trump, who has recommended that Mark Milley and Elizabeth Cheney be executed, that Judges be prosecuted, and his political opponents be imprisoned.

Share |

Gaetz Speaking For Others

In my last post, I mildly criticized one of the tweets of former US Representative Matt Walsh of Illinois, However, he has (and still does) admit "I was part of the Trump cult- and I got out of the Trump cult." One of his tweets from Saturday, August 13 closely reflects remarks of his from eighteen months ago.

I come from the Republican Party base. I left the base. But I still engage with the base daily. I’ve said often that the GOP base has become radicalized. What Gaetz says here is what I’ve heard from the base repeatedly for the past few years. America needs to wake up to this. https://t.co/Rnj7VfNSXU

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) August 13, 2023

Donald Trump took a few questions from the crowd at the Iowa State Fair as he made his way to a scheduled meeting with supportive GOP legislators.  On the stage with the ex-President, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida remarked

Mr. President, I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country. They are opening our borders. They are weaponizing our law enforcement against patriotic Americans who love this nation as we should. We are having a great time at the fair. We love standing with you. But we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C. 

And so to all my friends here in Iowa, when you see them come for this man, they are coming for our movement and they are coming for all of us. As hard as you see him work, I need you to work ten times harder, a hundred times harder, we're going to win Iowa....

Obviously, Gaetz is mistaken in most of this. Just as obviously, the most dangerous remark is "only through force do we make any change" in the federal government.

As Walsh recognizes, "force" is not negotiation, persuasion, or even mild intimidation. It is a call to violence, and it resonates with the GOP base. Nonetheless, in his many tweets, Walsh blames party politicians even more than he does the base, which is in part responding to the red wall of complicity  characterizing the response of Republican politicians to the hateful, bigoted, violent rhetoric of their leader.

In an interview conducted in February of 2022 by Chauncey Devega of Salon, Walsh had stated

I hear from thousands of Republican voters every single day. If there's one message that I try to convey to the MSNBC viewers of the world, it is the following: These people, the Trump folks, the Republican voters of today, they would happily burn this country down to get the country they want. They would happily do it. And they tell me that. I don't think the folks who watch CNN and MSNBC every night really understand that fact.

There is an echo-chamber effect among Democrats, liberals and progressives, the NPR and MSNBC types. They refuse to accept that the people living in TrumpWorld and the MAGAverse really believe what they are being told. Those Trumpists don't think they are sick. They don't think they're confused. They don't think they're lost. They think that you folks, the Democrats, the "liberals,"  are the sick and confused ones. The MAGAverse is the real world to them, and all your interventions will not help them…. 

They are not nuts. All the good New York City liberal types — the elites, I will call them — they just laugh and think all these people are nuts or that they are all bigots. They are not. They're dead-set on what they want to do. Their country, they believe, their 1953 America, has been taken away from them. In the form of Donald Trump, they have somebody who is going to bring it back, step by step. These Trump followers are taking the long view. The MSNBC crowd does not understand that fact at all.

Walsh suggested to Devega that most of them are not primarily motivated by bigotry. I would add to Walsh's critique that liberals and to a lesser extent centrists believe the "MAGAverse" may be nuts or bigots- or dopes. Very few are "nuts" or crazy. 

More of what the ex-Tea Party stalwart referred to as "the MSNBC crowd" now understands the Trump enthusiasts. Warning on Saturday that in advocating "force" Gaetz was preaching to the crowd, Walsh does not characterize the base other than as "radicalized." Yet, perhaps he realizes that there is at work something even darker than he explained eighteen months ago. Even with that left unsaid, his message begs to be heeded. 

Share |

Aside From Everything He Said, He Is Right

What are they teaching at the William and Mary Law School?

Matt Gaetz graduated in 2007 from the law school at William and Mary in Virginia, passed the bar exam, became a lawyer, and appears to know little about criminal proceeding. In the video available below, he states

If I were governor of Florida, I would not allow any Floridian to be hauled before some sort of Soros-backed prosecutor in some blue city over politics. And I wouldn't make an exception to not protect the President of the United States.

Ron DeSantis should be standing in the breach to stop any sort of extradition of President Trump from the State of Florida and the fact that he's not doing so puts every Floridian at risk to be the subject of false allegations.

Matt Gaetz attacks Desantis: “Desantis should be standing in the breach to stop any sort of extradition of Trump from Florida. The fact that he’s not doing so puts every Floridian at risk.” pic.twitter.com/2OTkYR85ZM

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) March 22, 2023

During the 2022 election cycle, the social justice organization Color of Change PAC endorsed Alvin Bragg for Manhattan District Attorney. A few days later, George Soros gave one million dollars to the group, which reportedly spent approximately half a million dollars to get Bragg elected. Thus, the connection between Bragg and Soros is very much indirect. Gaetz- and other Republicans- could attack Color of Change for considering race as a factor in its support of candidates, but that would require Republicans to confront the issue of race which, contrary to elite opinion, they generally are reluctant to do.

It's misleading and very clever for Gaetz to refer in this context to "President Trump" rather than "ex-President Trump" or "Donald Trump." We learned during the presidency of Donald Trump that he wouldn't be charged with an offense simply because of the bizarre perception that a sitting President could not be charged because, well, a sitting President could not be charged. No one is above the law except when he is.

Of course, we don't know whether Donald Trump is the subject of false allegations because no indictment has been handed down. However, he now is the ex-President, the former President, now a private citizen for the purposes of criminal prosecution.

If indicted, he probably will turn himself in to authorities in New York City. If he does, extradition is a moot point because he will not have been arrested in the State of Florida, which would have exposed him to extradition. Were he to be arrested in his home state and then challenged extradition, Trump would nearly certainly fail in his fight against extradition because the grounds for success are very limited. That would be the case for anyone and even if Representative Gaetz were Governor Gaetz, he would not be able to block return of the defendant to New York State. 

I'm certain that the inability of an alleged offender to block the charging state from getting hold of him never bothered Matt Gaetz before. I am less certain how someone can graduate from a law school and pass the bar exam without understanding that no governor can fight extradition of a resident of his own state who turns himself in to another state without being arrested.

Many cable news lawyers apparently know so little about criminal law, sometimes even going so far as to maintain- with a straight face- that prosecutors are immune to political pressure. However, even by the fairly low standards for these lawyers, Matt Gaetz's evident, though perhaps feigned, ignorance stands apart. Hopefully, William and Mary is not churning out candidates for the profession who are as willing to pontificate about that which they know so little.

It's a safe bet that in any one year, thousands of Floridians already are at the risk of false allegations without an expression of concern from Matt Gaetz These are primarily misdemeanants but- having neither the money nor the power over others as does Trump- the alleged offenders are prosecuted, put onto probation, or even incarcerated. (If you would have guessed this would be a priority of black lives matter protesters, guess again.) Money talks, power shouts, and that will continue to be the case whatever happens to Donald Trump.

Share |

Close

As NBC News reports

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz sprung onto the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference and took a victory lap after federal authorities recently informed him that he would not be charged in a sex trafficking investigation.

 “If you don’t mind me saying so, I think vindication looks pretty good on me!” Gaetz said to a cheering crowd.....

 Minutes later, Gaetz, now serving on the select committee investigating the so-called weaponization of the federal government, suggested eliminating federal investigative agencies.

 “I don’t care if it takes every second of our time and every ounce of our energy, we either get this government back on our side or we defund, get rid of, abolish the FBI CDC, ATF,” Gaetz said to applause.

Gaetz had been under investigation for underage sex trafficking allegations that looked at his role in a larger scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.

The core of that investigation included testimony from a former Gaetz associate, Joel Greenberg. Greenberg previously pleaded guilty to six charges, including sex trafficking of a minor, identity theft, stalking, wire fraud and conspiracy to bribe a public official, and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators as part of his plea agreement.

You would think that Gaetz would be appreciative that the Department of Justice helped him dodge a bullet by declining to prosecute him. Yet, moments before gloating

Gaetz, now serving on the select committee investigating the so-called weaponization of the federal government, suggested eliminating federal investigative agencies.

“I don’t care if it takes every second of our time and every ounce of our energy, we either get this government back on our side or we defund, get rid of, abolish the FBI CDC, ATF,” Gaetz said to applause.

"They say fascist so much it has no meaning anymore."

Is that so. https://t.co/lxh3mghgfa

— MMcConnell (@mattlogical) March 3, 2023

At first thought, Gaetz could seem like a reckless libertarian eager to demolish federal law enforcement. However, he's signaling what Republicans such as Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, by far the two individuals most likely to be the next GOP presidential nominee, would do if they became President. They would be determined to bring federal law enforcement agencies- and local and state police forces- to heel.

This would be the thrust of a Trump or DeSantis presidency, and the Florida governor recently

endorsed the revival of a Trump-era initiative aimed at stripping tens of thousands of federal employees of their civil service protections....

In October 2020, Trump signed an executive order establishing a new Schedule F job classification within the federal government’s excepted service for federal workers in policy-related jobs that would exempt their positions from most civil service rules. The edict ordered agencies to identify positions that would qualify for the new job category and convert employees in those jobs to Schedule F, effectively making them at-will employees.

So it's not only law enforcement that would be brought to heel but the entire federal government, which would be mobilized to enforce the will of the President and consolidate his power. Within the four years of the presidential term, an authoritarian state would be the favorite to overtake the representative democracy of the last two-and-a-half centuries. 

When he says the GOP would bring federal law enforcement agencies "to heel," it might not meet the dictionary definition of "fascism."  But it's awfully close.

 

Share |

Ask Mike Tyson What Happened to Matt Gaetz

Everyone needs a little help from his friends and

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) praised former President Trump and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for pushing him over the finish line and helping him secure the gavel.

He gave the two credit for convincing each of the six remaining Republican holdouts — of which Gaetz was one — to vote “present” on the 15th ballot, lowering the number of votes McCarthy needed to win.

Wisely, if a little unfairly, there was one individual McCarthy chose not to thank for helping his win his battle for Speaker of the House. CNN reported

Before the final vote, pandemonium erupted on the House floor after Gaetz waited until the very end of the 14th ballot to vote “present” when McCarthy needed one more “yes” vote. Stunned after believing he had the votes, McCarthy faced his most embarrassing defeat yet. McCarthy’s allies encircled Gaetz to try to find a way forward. McCarthy soon made a bee-line for discussion and started engaging Gaetz, too.

After McCarthy walked away from Gaetz, looking dejected, Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers moved toward the conversation and lunged at Gaetz, having to be physically restrained by Republican Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina. Rogers, a Republican from Alabama who earlier in the week warned the GOP dissidents they would lose their committee assignments, told Gaetz he would be “finished” for continuing to wreck the speaker’s vote.

Representative Patrick McHenry, a loyal McCarthyite, moved to adjourn the chamber until Monday and a majority voted to adjourn when

with less than a minute left to go in the vote, Gaetz moved toward the front of the chamber, grabbing a red index card to change his vote on adjournment. Gaetz walked toward McCarthy, and the two briefly exchanged words. McCarthy then raised his hand and yelled out, “One more!” as he triumphantly walked toward the front of the chamber to change his vote, too. It was the GOP leader’s final negotiation capping an emotional roller coaster over the course of four days as he was held hostage by a narrow faction of his conference. Dozens of Republicans followed McCarthy and Gaetz to defeat the adjournment measure, and McCarthy’s victory, at last, was at hand.

The six Republican holdouts all voted present on the 15th ballot, giving McCarthy a 216-212 victory...

Gaetz changed his vote for some reason or another but it appears not to have been any additional concessions he gained from the cowardly and superficial McCarthy because Gaetz admitted “I ran out of things I could even imagine to ask for.”  If those concessions had been sufficient for the Floridian to vote for McCarthy, he would already have done so. Instead, after denying a victory for the latter on the 14th ballot and voting for an adjournment which would have given the anti-McCarthy forces a chance to regain momentum over the weekend, Gaetz changed course.

We'll never know the reason definitively because unsurprisingly, no one wants to 'fess up. However, CNN correspondent Melanie Zanona (as seen at 4:59 of the video, with subtitles, below) has stated

And so Kevin McCarthy was completely dejected. We saw him walk up the aisle toward where Boebert and Gaetz were sitting and pleading with them to vote for him. He was in a moment of desperation.

Not to worry, Kev. Your muscle is on its way:

And then he saw Mike Rogers coming up from him behind the well, coming down the aisle. And this is the one- he's a chairman, uh, he's a close McCarthy ally. he has been growing frustrated and more frustrated with the holdouts all week. So that is important context. In fact, we are told that he had threatened to kick some of the holdouts off of their committee assignments if they didn't fall in line. So he was frustrated. he came down the aisle and sources told Annie Grier that he basically said "Matt, you're finished" to him and at that point, Hudson, another member, he came up behind him, sort of muzzled both and tried to hold him back so he wasn't able to speak any more.

Well played- so well played that one is tempted to wonder how Rogers, born in Indiana but raised in Alabama and representing one of its congressional districts, so effectively exhibited the ways of La Cosa Nostra, an organization always far less influential there than in the urban Northeast, Midwest, Florida, and Texas.

"Matt, you're finished" is so vague and threatening that Representative Gaetz probably was unclear what exactly Rogers was referring to, and didn't want to find out. And Representative Hudson holding Rogers back was a nice touch, a fine portrayal of a good cop, bad cop routine. It was almost as if it had been choreographed, which cannot be determined because cable news networks are disinterested in an event once the video becomes stale.

You can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar, the cliche runs.  Not being a bee, Gaetz was insufficiently moved by the favors granted him by Kevin McCarthy and  became motivated only when a southern colleague issued an unspecific threat of political, personal, or professional injury. "Everyone has a plan," Mike Tyson once noted, "until they get punched in the mouth."

Matt Gaetz got punched in the face and his plan went out the window, which may be a message for Democrats as they ponder how to deal with the new GOP majority in the House.

 

Share |