Uncle Sam v. Uncle Thomas

Supremely Disconcerting...Again

April 20, 2023

For those of you keeping scorn, Clarence "Uncle" Thomas is a disgraceful, and as time goes by, a more and more disgraced and dangerously partisan pig. He needs to be carefully seated in a chair (think Bobby Seale) and have the 1619 Project read to him over and over until he can recite it back verbatim. Uncle T seems to have a problem with people of color, civil rights and democracy in general.

Thomas is easily the most corrupt Supreme Court justice ever, and with any luck, guts and justice, it will stay that way. There needs to be an enforceable code of ethics for these lifetime-appointed, all-but-untouchable jurists. Right after Thomas is either impeached, forced to resign or arrested and tried.

Thomas was almost tolerable for all those years when he was the Court mime. Then we learned about his nut-job, Qanon-addled, sedition-enamored wife Ginni. Then Uncle T started opening his Scalia-esque mouth and we came to know without doubt what we always knew intuitively – Thomas is a radical right-wing ideologue who is more than happy to change settled law to match his alternative facts and beliefs. Thomas most recently voiced opposition to guaranteeing a defendant’s right to legal counsel.

Long-time Supreme Court mime Clarence Thomas

Thomas has decided that the right to an attorney just doesn’t jive with truth, justice or the American way. Did I mention justice? You know, because public defenders are so great and people who need them should be able to navigate the legal system on their own.

What’s next for Uncle T – get rid of Miranda? Rescind the right to vote for women and Black people?

And, wouldn’t you know, soon after we learned of Thomas’ interest in once again moving America ahead to the past, new information came to light about Clarence Thomas living under his very own rule of law, one very different than the rule of law under which most other Americans are expected to live.

The latest of Uncle T’s questionable – oh, who am I kidding, there’s nothing questionable about it – maneuvers (that we know of) was the disclosure of his gallivanting with Ratpublican activist billionaire Harlan Crow for more than two decades. After this story broke, video emerged of Thomas saying, “I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it. I come from regular stock, and I prefer that—I prefer being around that.”

Ginni and Clarence enjoying the normal ambiance of a Walmart parking lot

It appears that Thomas also prefers being flown on private jets to luxury yachts and smoking fine (Cuban?) cigars with people like Crow and Leonard Leo – who brought you Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Clowny Barrett – in places that could not be further removed from Walmart parking lots. There are no reports of Crow, Thomas, et al spending any quality time in Walmart parking lots on any of their vacations.

Just for the record, Crow has also funneled plenty of money to famed friend of the Jan 6 insurrection and wife of Supreme Court justice/scofflaw Clarence Thomas – Ginni Thomas, who vigorously supports the overthrow of the government of the United States.

Thomas neglected to report any of what amount to massive gifts from Crow, which could total in the neighborhood of a million dollars – a very different neighborhood than the one occupied by Walmart shoppers and campers. His excuse was that he asked some of his friends (Harlan Crow perhaps?) whether he needed to report any of this to anyone, and they said heck no.

As if all of this malarkey was not enough, we then learned that the Ratpublican mega-donor bought several properties – including the house that Thomas’ mother still lives in – from Thomas, who somehow neglected to disclose. You may recall that the Thomases had previously been found to have “forgotten” to report large sums of income on their taxes in the past.

Can you say Whitewater?

Crow and Thomas claim they are old friends. That “friendship” does not precede Thomas’ time on the high court. How many Supreme Court justices do you have as friends?

Hitler, anyone?

Oh, I almost forgot. The lovely and financially talented Harlan Crow collects Nazi memorabilia. Specifically, swastika-emblazoned linens, Hitler’s teapot, two paintings done by Der Fucker himself, and autographed copy of Mein Kampf. Are you jealous yet?

Crow’s garden features statues of 20^th century despots including Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Lenin and Stalin. What, no Hitler statue? Crow has opted for the I’m-just-trying-to-preserve-history defense – you know, like those other freedom lovers who claim that preserving Confederate iconography is simply an attempt to preserve that history because heritage and not anything at all to do with preserving the racism behind it all.

Harlan Crow (right), Thomas, Leonard Leo, and friends wishing they were at Walmart

Crow claims that he collects all these Nazi mementos and has a garden full of despots because he hates communism and fascism, because who among us who hate fascists wouldn’t want to be surrounded by constant reminders of the worst human beings in history. Who wouldn’t wish to have original recordings of Charles Manson, or the cutlery used by Jeffrey Dahmer, or Kim Jong Un’s hair clippings, or Donald Trump’s soiled underwear?

I. Mangrey recoiling.