We don’t miss Jeff B Sesh. We knew the hand he kept perpetually fingers-crossed behind his back was also clutching a hood.

But there’s one moment that arose during the first days of the Trump administration, involving a decision Sessions made, that offered us all the saddest glimpse of hope.

Confronted with evidence of lies – perjury – regarding contacts with the Russian ambassador during the campaign, the newly appointed AG had a choice to make. During the transition no one had yet seen a Donald John Trump administration and had no sense of what to expect. Including the new cabinet.

So about this lie he gets caught out committing. He no doubt received pressure to toe the line during the transition period. Party bosses and industry tycoons alike seeking to avoid a sheen of obvious chicanery right out of the gate – lest the horses of global finance get spooked and fall out of rhythm. The seasoned politician announced his recusal from any DOJ investigations into the matters. Startlingly.

That was, we now know, what’s left of decorum in the new federal poldom. I’m not applauding his decision. What else did he know to do? To people used to stealing behind closed doors, an urge towards some version of decorum manifests when exposure seems an imminent and foreseeable thing. Even a complete thug like Sessions has an ounce of it somewhere in his bones.

There had been a guy with an ounce of decorum, of shame.

That guy’s gone.

These new thugs, more vicious by a magnitude than many before seen, empowered by a malaise of entitled nihilism, their sense of shame incapacitated by insecurity and resentments inherited from their forebears, these mutant, narcissistic robber barons – these guys that are left are quite pleased to steal in plain sight of day.

We are now so used to daily theft, we forget what it was like to not have plutocrats looting the nation’s treasure – sprung of misbegotten beginnings, yes, but still theoretically the People’s – in plain view.

…

So back to that glimmer of hope. At the time, we had just gone through a surreal holiday season where Donald referred to “my enemies” in his first address, Obama failed to storm Trump Tower with G men and drive Russia from Crimea, call a reelection, etc. etc., even though Teh Meddling, and the most vulnerable among us shivered in terror at the unbelievably looming surety of oppression. We were ready for the worst. We got a glimpse of hope … Treason! That’s a more lethal bullet than sex predator, conman, etc. etc. etc. … maybe the Frontis Piece of the Beast, the Make Us Great Deceiver, is mortal after all …

… but it was misdirection. Look into Russia all you want. Plenty of meddling. Not a lot of witting coordination. Not a lot of clear evidence of conspiracy beforehand. Unlike in the cases of the House of Sa’ud and Isra’el and Turkey and the list goes on, not beyond a shadow of a doubt. In those other cases, there are veritable receipts. Not just for hush money – a violation of federal election law that is a pile of money away from being placed on the head of another – but for quid pro quo. That’s foreign interference in our policy. Unconscionable to any but the most brainwashed.

And none of us paid any attention to it. We thought they were giving away their game. Instead the media stacked wood for two years holding out hope that an authoritarian Republican from the Bush II regime was going to save the status quo, and thereby all of us. Never ever has God drawn up a plan for such a member of the modern Republican party. Never is one ever likely to exist.

And never has there ever been a media conglomerate drawn up by God or Human willing to exercise restraint when it comes to stoking fear and anxiety to turn a profit. They never, ever want the profits to go away. It’s against their laws of neoliberal capitalism. They’re addicted to the profits “reporting” – repeating – DJT’s chaos carnival brings to them. It is not that the media corporations can’t save us. In fact, they most probably simply don’t want to.

Let’s believe there is a case – many – against DJT and his son and others Obstructing Justice. But the well is poisoned. The water for both came from the same place – and half of that report was following up on what could have been false hope. Faulty interpretation of info. It will be difficult to promise a pee-tape, deliver a hastily and clumsily dictated cover-up letter on Air Force One, and expect the same response from the American hoiploi.

Count all the votes. Check the election machines. They hide their crimes in plain sight by repeating the opposite of what they’ve done. You’ll find the evidence. But please stop being misdirected.