“What Goes Around Comes Around” Blumenthal Satirically Suggests Biden Test Supreme Court’s Immunity Ruling
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In a tongue-in-cheek column for the New Republic, Sidney Blumenthal, a former advisor to both Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, humorously suggested that President Joe Biden test the boundaries of a recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Blumenthal pointed out that the conservative-leaning court appears to grant the president unfettered authority to act as long as it falls under the vague category of an “official act.” In a satirical tone, he proposed that Biden start by arresting members of the opposing party.
Writing in Biden’s voice, he began, “I have read the court’s majority opinion that an official act of the president is ‘presumptively’ immune from all prosecution during and after his term and that the president’s motive cannot be questioned.” He then added that he was taking “the court’s opinion to heart. I am not one to defy the court. I am, as many have remarked, an institutionalist.”
Blumenthal continued in Biden’s voice, “I regret to inform you that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has been arrested. A number of other members of the House Republican Conference have been taken into custody. Jim Jordan, unfortunately, attempted to resist arrest. After wrestling with an FBI agent, he met a tragic fate,” adding, “We can all give thanks to the Supreme Court.”
In the same vein, he wrote, “I further regret to inform you that 10 members of the Republican Senate caucus have been arrested. Again, unfortunately, Josh Hawley attempted to run away and was wounded in the leg. The incident was entirely his fault: if only he had submitted it to the authorities. Lindsey Graham was arrested in his office. He has renounced all of his former allegiances, and I have issued him a pardon—a conditional pardon. There will be no more obstruction from filibusters. Again, we can thank the court.”
Blumenthal then joked that Biden should have Chief Justice John Roberts arrested “for his treasonous comment that the president is doing something illegal, based on his very own opinion,” before suggesting that Biden expand the court and delay prosecuting Roberts “until the new 26 members take their posts.”
He concluded with a sardonic challenge: “If any reader of this column can show where anything described here would be illegal under the Supreme Court immunity ruling, please turn yourself into the nearest FBI bureau to avoid yet another tragic result,” dryly adding, “what goes around comes around.”
Blumenthal’s satirical piece underscores the perceived absurdity of the Supreme Court’s broad interpretation of presidential immunity, while humorously illustrating potential abuses of such unchecked power.
