What did you think would happen?

Pirro and Michigan were easy to predict

Jonah Goldberg once wrote that there are two classes of people: those who have been screwed by Donald Trump, and those who are yet to be. Jeanine Pirro may have just crossed over to the latter category. Summoned to the White House because she refused to by loyal to the boss, who wanted her to summon evidence of her own disbarment: meaning prosecute a false case of “who sabotaged the Reflecting Pool?”

Not thinking clearly, she decided to bring evidence to President Trump, forgetting the number one rule in the West Wing: who cares about facts? But she had a backup plan: blame Doug Burgum. After the tense meeting, which Secretary of the Interior Burgum also attended, Trump told reporters he was “not happy” with Pirro and “I haven’t made a determination” of her future.

I think her future is somewhere between being fired by a Truth Social post and being smeared to the point of death threats and deciding to walk away.

But listen, as I told our Dispatch Junto Atlanta group a few weeks ago: if the Reflecting Pool is our biggest problem, then I guess we have solved everything else. But to Trump, everything is his biggest problem, when people are not unfailingly loyal to his every whim. Few escape the crucible of his giant powered screwdriver. And to the screwdrivers, everyone is a screw (or will be screwed).

Also, let’s talk about Michigan. That state already has a reputation for swinging both rural gun-loving libertarian molon labe and also intersectional progressive anti-Semitic leftist. It all depends on where in Michigan. But the voting power resides in the cities, which appear to have powered Abdul El-Sayed, an anti-Israel intersectional progressive far-leftist, to the Democratic Senate nomination. He may not get 50 percent plus one, but Michigan’s primaries run on a plurality rule, meaning the most votes wins, period. The race is still close, but El-Sayed is ahead by more than a percentage point with > 95 percent of the vote counted.

What did we think was going to happen in Michigan?

If I wanted to construct a formula for turning Israel into a massive election issue, with those who oppose the Jewish state motivated and powerful, I think I’d just do everything Donald Trump has done. He has stood by Israel, and done whatever they asked, appearing to be Netanyahu’s toady at times. Then he pushes Netanyahu to support his harebrained schemes like the Board of Peace, which absolutely nobody thinks will work. Then he attacks Iran and puts the U.S. into a humiliating and impossible war, with the world at stake.

The easiest election message is “blame Israel.” And both the far-left and the far-right have consumed it like catnip to a feline. On the left, the “blame Israel” crowd causes people like Zohran Mamdani to be mayor of New York City. In Michigan, it causes people like Abdul El-Sayed to become Senators.

This was all perfectly predictable.