For one glorious day, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel found a legion of conservative admirers.
The right didn’t suddenly switch parties or applaud his rickety Windy City record. Instead, conservatives cheered Emanuel’s full-throated attack on the news that all 16 charges against “Empire” co-star Jussie Smollett got dismissed.
Smollett, who is gay, black and virulently anti-President Donald Trump, claimed earlier this year to be the victim of a hate crime. We later saw a mountain’s worth of evidence showing he made the entire narrative up.
Maybe two mountains.
All the while Smollett maintained his innocence. He still does despite the dizzying stack of truths staring him down.
So when Chicago prosecutors set Smollett free, fair-minded folks cried out in outrage. In cases like this, where the subject is an unabashed liberal, fellow liberals sometimes stay silent.
Not this time. A few pounced along with conservatives.
Both former Obama strategist David Axelrod and Emanuel blasted the decision in no uncertain terms. Of course, the Mayor’s voice mattered more, especially given the ferocity of his comments and his position. He called the situation a “whitewash,” later demanding the star pay the city’s $130,000 bills for the work done on the case.
Conservatives on Twitter praised the soon-to-be ex-mayor, applauding his clear moral vision in this particular incident.
Oddly, Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department are PISSED over this Smollett thing.
Never thought I’d agree with Rahm on ANYTHING.
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) March 26, 2019
Emanuel could have basked in his sudden bipartisan moment. Instead, he retreated into the arms of The ResistanceTM.
He blamed President Donald Trump.
“Let me be clear about something. The only reason Jussie Smollett thought he could take advantage of a hoax about a hate crime is because of the environment, the toxic environment that Donald Trump created,” Emanuel said.
He added the president should “stay out of this” after Trump publicly shredded the decision to wrap the case this week.
Emanuel is correct in one area. Smollett banked on the false notion that hate crimes are spiking dramatically due to Trump. He figured the media would feast on his faux attack for that very reason.
Smollett was right. The media did just that, even though his story looked preposterous on the surface.
Today’s left can’t stop blaming Trump for everything. Progressive stars evoked Trump the day Smollett got arrested for falsifying a hate crime. They, too, blamed the president for the crush of hate crimes, even though many proved to be as fictional as Smollett’s “attack.”
Actress Ellen Page blamed the Trump administration for Smollett’s attack on “The Late Show.” She later refused to apologize when we learned the fictional nature of the assault. Instead, she doubled down.
More recently, liberals blamed the New Zealand mosque shooting that left 50 innocents dead on Trump.
So Emanuel was just following unofficial orders by doing the same in the Smollett case … eventually. He could have ignored that toxic impulse and stuck to the facts.
Instead, he proved conservatives should be wary of praising anyone on the left in the Age of Trump.
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