Editor’s Note: Say What? is the segment of Liberty Nation Radio where we unveil some of the most wacky, astonishing, and damnable things uttered by politicians and the chattering class.
Tim Donner: After the nation braced for impact if Officer Derek Chauvin had been acquitted of the killing of George Floyd came sweet relief for the war-torn cities haunted by the riots of last summer.
Judge Peter Cahill (reading jury verdicts): We the jury in the above-entitled matter as to count one, unintentional second degree murder while committing a felony, find the defendant guilty ... Third degree murder, we find the defendant guilty ... Bail is revoked, bond is discharged, and the defendant is remanded into the custody of the Hennepin County Sheriff.
Tim: So with Officer Chauvin locked away for many years, we can examine exactly how he was convicted. Though the trial itself was by most accounts conducted fairly, the inflammatory comments of grandstanding politicians placed a vise grip of pressure on the jury, including this particularly incendiary one from the infamous Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).
Maxine Waters: We're looking for a guilty verdict. If nothing does not happen, then we know that we've got to not only stay in the streets, but we've got to fight for justice. We've got to get more confrontational. We've got to make sure that they know that we mean business.
Tim: Well, Judge Cahill was having none of that, admitting to Chauvin's lawyer that the statement by Maxine Waters could be very damaging.
Judge Cahill: Well, I'll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned. I'm aware of the media reports. I'm aware that Congresswoman Waters was talking specifically about this trial and about the unacceptability of anything less than a murder conviction and talk about being confrontational. This goes back to what I've been saying from the beginning. I wish elected officials would stop talking about this case, especially in a manner that is disrespectful to the rule of law and the judicial branch and our function. I think if they want to give their opinions, they should do so in a respectful and in a manner that is consistent with their oath to the Constitution to respect the co-equal branch of government. Their failure to do so, I think, is abhorrent.
Tim: Let's hope someone in the political class is listening to the good judge. But following the verdict, the politicians could not help themselves, piling on the bandwagon and taking virtue signaling to another level, starting with a colleague of Waters, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), plus the vice president and president.
Cori Bush: This verdict is a step. It's a popping of the lock. This was accountability, but it's not yet justice.
Vice President Kamala Harris: A measure of justice isn't the same as equal justice. This verdict brings us a step closer and the fact is we still have work to do. America has a long history of systemic racism. Black Americans and black men in particular have been treated throughout the course of our history as less than human.
President Joe Biden: Systemic racism, it's a stain on our nation's soul, the knee on the neck of justice for black Americans. We have to listen. I can't breathe. I can't breathe.
Tim: High drama from the 46th president, a stern lecture from the VP, and a call to action by the entire left.
Meanwhile, those looking for clues on the future plans of 45th President Donald Trump may have gotten one in an interview on Fox News where Trump downplayed -- when does he ever do that? -- the issue of Biden's decline and his age, the same age as Trump will be if he runs again in 2024.
Donald Trump: He’s (Biden) going to be 79 years old. That is not old. I know many people in their late 80s that are just as good as they were years ago. I spoke to one who's 92 years old. He said, "I feel better than I did 20 years ago." 78, 79 is not old, but he ... Look, I don't think it's even appropriate for me to comment on that. It sort of speaks for itself.
Tim: Well, I guess there's a first time for everything -- and that may be the first time I've ever heard Trump refuse to comment on the troubles of a political opponent or almost anything, for that matter.
Finally, there's something to be said for hearing the truth from a source the left can't dismiss as they do everyone on the right. So as vaccination nation grows by more than two million people every day, we look back and deplore so many of the command-and-control mechanisms assembled by the left during the pandemic. But when leftist icon Bill Maher says it, it's an entirely different thing, especially when he becomes maybe the first liberal in the country to actually say anything nice about the rising star in the GOP, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Bill Maher: Texas lifted its COVID restrictions recently, and their infection rates went down in part because of people getting outside to let the sun and wind do their thing. But to many liberals, that can't be right because Texas and beach-loving Florida have Republican governors. I've read that the governor of Florida reads … Apparently, the governor is also a voracious consumer of the scientific literature, and maybe that's why he protected his most vulnerable population, the elderly, way better than did the governor of New York.
Tim: Well, you’ve got to give it to Bill Maher. When this longtime, outspoken, liberal social commentator lurches uncontrollably into the truth, as he does from time to time, he goes all in.
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