The return of the Yos! and Oys! – plus a new addition.

B. Jay Cooper occasionally hands out awards for Yos! and Oys!, celebrating those individuals who do good deeds (Yo!) and bad ones (Oy!). The Committee on Yos! and Oys! meets when it feels like it.

Today, the return of the Oys! and Yos! with a new addition – the Mehs! Mehs! are, well, they aren’t much. It’s kind of the nothing burger category which likely will be used few and far between. But, in this world, they deserve a place because, well, so much is over-hyped when most often it’s a Meh!

This Oy! just in...

Former President Donald J. Trump pleaded the Fifth yesterday morning when sitting for a deposition in the New York investigation of his real estate business. Trump, who once said anyone pleading the Fifth was guilty, tried to get ahead of repeats of that claim, said, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?… Now, I know the answer to that question”, because of his being “targeted” by lawyers, prosecutors and the news media who left him “no choice” but to take the Fifth.

Lordy, he is good at trying to cover his tush.

The inaugural Meh! goes to…

Attorney General Merrick Garland for doing his job. There is little doubt that before a warrant was sought to search Trump’s Florida mansion (well, only 2% of it – three of 126 rooms) Garland had to sign off before it went to a federal magistrate for decision. Because Garland is a former judge, he takes things slow and ponderously. As would a federal magistrate. So, if we all get to see the warrant that was issued, I imagine we’ll have good reason to know it had ‘probable cause.’

Though that will not penetrate the Trump supporters’ minds because, well, just because.

A second Oy! goes to Donald J.  Trump for his continuing demonstration of his “projecting” personality...

... meaning that often when Trump takes a shot at his opponents he uses a put-down similar to what was used against him. (Think “fake news” when anyone accuses him of anything) This one is for his unsubstantiated claim that the Democrats had his home “raided” because of some nefarious desire to hurt his planned but not announced 2024 campaign to regain office.

This from the same ex-president who constantly complained that his own appointees during his administration wouldn’t do things like shoot protestors in the leg or have the Department of Justice make a false statement to further his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged 2020 election. He probably just thinks Biden’s appointees are more “loyal” to him when actually, they are just following the Constitution.

Another Meh! goes to, well, the politics of today...

The search warrant for Trump’s palace has the unintended consequence of fueling not just the tried and true Trumpies but the scared-and-frightened elected Republicans and candidates who feel they must support Trump in this or lose ‘the base’ (nearly qualified as an Oy! but it’s just a reality in today’s Republican Party).

Oy! to the media and political consultants...

... for using the word “narrative” to explain what used to be referred to as “spin” and really is, usually, bullsh*t to avoid talking about facts.

The media has totally bought into the word because, I think, it makes them sound inside-y. Stick to the facts, my friends, just as you ask Trump to do.

A huge Yo! to Congresswoman Liz Cheney...

... for all she is doing and sacrificing to be a contributing member of the Jan. 6th Select Committee. It’s almost needless to say because she made the decision to put her political future on the line to serve and do the right thing and follow the Constitution.

Trump supporters can call her a RHINO (Republican in Name Only) but that’s just the “narrative” – she voted with Trump more often than anointed toady Mark Meadows when he was in Congress, before being snatched up by Trump as his chief of staff. (Sad, Liz actually deserves only a “meh!” for this since it’s her duty and oath to follow the Constitution but in the current politics, well, we see what’s happening to most of those Republican elected officials who voted to impeach Trump.) So, in this climate, she moves to a Yo!

GOING FURTHER:

• Fifth Amendment | United States Courts
• Esper says Trump wanted to shoot protesters | Axios
• Liz Cheney is the Obi-Wan to Trump’s Darth Vader | Washington Post

— AUTHOR —

▫ B. Jay Cooper, Former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Also headed communications offices at the RNC, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University.
► Twitter

Sources

• Text: This piece was originally published in The Screaming Moderate and re-published in PMP Magazine on 11 August 2022, with the author’s consent. | The author writes in a personal capacity.
• Cover: Unsplash/Floris Van Cauwelaert. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)