Natural Born Liars

by Not Sure

3 November 2024

Years ago, I had a friend whose wife had “an important job” and sometimes went to “important events”. One evening, that event was a fundraiser of some sort, and the headline act was former President Bill Clinton. After Clinton spoke, the guests were able to pass by him, single file, shake his hand, and speak briefly with him. She described his interaction with each guest.

“Time stood still when he took their hand and looked into their eyes. From a distance, it appeared that whoever he was speaking with was the most important person in the world. He held onto their hand and gazed deeply into their eyes. Sometimes, he would clasp his other hand over their handshake. He would smile and laugh and when they spoke, he was quiet and listened with complete attention. Then, they walked on, and that person was no more. All his attention was turned to the next person in line. Obviously, he could make each person feel like the most important man or woman in the world. So, I was wise to it, and still, when it was my turn to meet him, his charms worked. For about two or three minutes, I believed that I was the only person that Bill Clinton had ever cared about.”

She met a psychopath that night.

***

In this November 8, 2006 talk from Alan Watt, “Promise of Bread, Delivery of Circus”, Alan said, “…people who can lie to whole nations are born liars. It's a particular skill that's hard to do without blushing or flickering the eyelids and that type of thing; and they do it very well.”

***

Last night, I passed through the family room to the kitchen as my brother was watching Tucker Carlson interview someone. I was scrounging something to eat and my brother called out, “This is a very good interview.” I made a snack and brought it through. I’d never heard of Tucker’s guest. Rod Blagojevich was a representative to the state of Illinois from 1993 to 1997, and then the U.S. representative from Illinois from 1997 to 2003. A representative is a congressman. Alan has pointed out that another word for coitus, or sexual intercourse, is congress.

Before getting into politics, Blagojevich was an attorney, eventually working for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Cook County includes Chicago, so it must be one of the biggest prosecutor’s offices in the country. When he entered politics, he represented the 33rd state house district (naturally) in the Illinois House of Representatives where he supported mostly ‘law and order’ policies. Law and order policies focus on harsher enforcement and penalties to reduce crime.

In 2002, Blagojevich successfully ran for governor of the state of Illinois and was re-elected in 2006. According to Wikipedia, in 2009, he was found “guilty of public corruption after he attempted to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama upon his election to the presidency.” Blagojevich was impeached, convicted, and removed from office and was also subsequently barred by the Illinois Senate from holding public office within the state ever again. He was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. He appealed for release, and President Donald Trump commuted his sentence in 2020, after Blagojevich had been imprisoned for nearly eight years.

Right now, Blagojevich is doing the rounds, encouraging people to vote for Donald Trump on Tuesday.

I’m sure there is a lot more to the story than Tucker Carlson drew out. Blagojevich was convicted of multiple counts of abuse of power and attempts to sell legislative authorizations and/or vetoes. I don’t know how politics works. I can’t fathom how one could sell a vacant Senate seat. I assume you can’t just advertise it on eBay. He was taped by the FBI saying, “I've got this thing, and it's f***g golden. I'm just not giving it up for f***g nothing.”

Here’s the thing. Blagojevich was charming. He spoke fast without many pauses. Tucker didn’t interrupt him with questions, because that would have broken the smooth flow of insider stories and humorous recollections. Blagojevich spoke of missing his daughters growing up because he was in prison. There were tremulous modulations that sort of sounded like emotion, but it was all quite smooth, like polished patter. “This is where to make it sound like the voice might break. Hold it! Hold it! Okay, moving on.”

He had stories that were incomplete but implied richer detail, if only, if only one could press him. Some other time, over coffee, right? Because he could be your pal. After all, in prison he bonded with his fellow inmates, his “homies.” “There are a lot of good people in prison. A lot of people who don’t deserve to be there.” Tucker didn’t bother to remind him that in his life before politics, he might have put a good many of them there.

Why didn’t Obama help him when he was convicted or commute the sentence? After all, they were both from the Chicago political mafia. Oops, machine. We don’t know why. Tucker didn’t ask. We do know, because Blagojevich tells us, that “Obama is cold. All about personal gain. The Obamas are now worth nearly a billion dollars.” Tucker doesn’t remind him that he was taped saying “I've got this thing, and it's f***g golden. I'm just not giving it up for f***g nothing.” That’s ancient history. It’s not like Blagojevich was born again, but this is now and evidently, it’s a God thing and he and Tucker bonded over that. Blagojevich got closer to God in prison and Tucker was mauled by a demon in his sleep, so he says, and spent a year and half reading the Bible. He doesn’t care if you believe that story or not. He has the scars to prove it, and what else would do that to him?

Blagojevich was born in Chicago to Serb immigrants. Working class parents who believed in the American dream: anyone can make it if they are willing to work hard. He spoke for more than twenty minutes about his anger when Bill Clinton and NATO began a bombing Serbian “military targets.” He was upset that his Democratic party peers jumped right on board that campaign. He described how it was his idea and his maneuvering that resulted in him meeting Rev. Jesse Jackson and taking a trip to Serbia to orchestrate the release of three captured U.S. soldiers. Lots of interesting history in that account, and plenty of laughs too.

Blagojevich repeatedly referred to politics as a business. He talked about the hypocrisy of some politicians as repellant, unlike how it was with him and others who were more ‘genuine.’ “Look, we know that saying one thing and doing another goes on. It’s business. But it’s the joy at getting over on the public that Schumer and others like him have that’s so repellent.” Be a hypocrite. That’s just business. But don’t gloat about it!

He shared his observation about the difference between Bill and Hillary Clinton. “It was obvious that Bill was good at the business. He was a winner because people liked him, and he liked people. Hillary, on the other hand, despises people. Not just ‘the deplorables’ but all people. She’s completely focused on her ambitions, but Bill enjoyed people. That’s why they voted for him.”

My takeaway: Bill Clinton is the better psychopath. He is a psychopath’s psychopath. He is so good at his job, so good at the “business” that he makes it look easy. That’s how it is in the business of politics. The best psychopaths are the cream that rises to the top. They can bomb a nation to bits, commit genocide on an ethnic or religious group. But if they can hold your hand, gaze into your eyes, and make you feel that you are heard, you are cared for, you’re gonna vote for them.