February 21, 2024

Apparently Matt Walsh (of The Daily Wire's Facebook algorithm manipulation outfit) has a problem.

He doesn't get satire, and he certainly doesn't know much about Clarence Thomas.

You'll remember that Sunday night John Oliver offered Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas one million dollars a year of Oliver's own money, as well as a sweet multi-million dollar motor home, in exchange for Thomas's resignation from the high court.

But this offer followed Oliver's main segment outlining in great detail the amounts of largesse Clarence Thomas has already taken from his very close and personal friend, billionaire Harlan Crow, whose "relationship" with the Supreme Court is just a wee bit suspicious.

As John Oliver said in his segment, "I can't believe this is legal!" And because SCOTUS exempts themselves from judicial ethics rules on reporting gifts among other things, it appears that it is legal.

Enter Matt Walsh, clutching pearls and calling for John Oliver's imprisonment. But not Harlan Crow's.

Take off all the bonus points to Matt for a very big failed attempt to make this about race.

MATT WALSH (HOST): As for the substance of this latest comedy bit from John Oliver, you know, it goes without saying, of course, that if any white person did exactly the same thing but directed it at a Black liberal instead, then they would be condemned as racist by the entire media and everybody on the left. And, you know, they would be trying to put them in jail probably for it. And it would -- you know, because obviously, right? You've got a white guy trying to buy off a Black public official. It's -- openly saying this guy is for sale. I'm buying you. As a Black public, I'm gonna buy you. And in any other context, that would be -- it would be considered to be just insanely racist. But those rules are suspended, of course, because it's Clarence Thomas and they despise him. And they despise him, in fact, significantly more than they despise any white person who has the same ideas or even any other -- I mean, you might -- like, why are they so hung up on Clarence Thomas? There are other conservatives on the Supreme Court. Not enough, in my opinion. Not enough reliable ones. But why all this special vitriol for Clarence Thomas? And the answer is that, because he's Black. And so, they consider his conservatism to be sort of a betrayal.

John Oliver believes that he owns Clarence Thomas. He believes that Thomas, being a Black man, belongs to him ideologically. And the fact that he isn't cooperating, the fact that he is his own man with his own point of view sends guys like John Oliver into a rage. The amount of undisguised contempt that they have for this guy, starting with the fact he's calling Clarence Thomas by his first name, you know, not using his proper titles. Spitting in his face, basically, calling into question his basic integrity as a man, And he feels absolutely entitled to do all of that because Thomas has betrayed him by not being a Marxist ghoul.

Now, you know that I'm not one to do the whole, Dems are the real racist bit. You know, that's not my thing. You know how I feel about that generally. But in this case, you really just can't help but notice that John Oliver literally treats the guy like an escaped slave, that is actually how he treats him. I mean, he's trying to buy him back. That's what he's doing. And he's doing all this while being painfully unfunny on top of it, which is the real -- which, again, that is the real offense here.

...

And, you know, by the way, it -- it should also be said that, yes, that whole segment was a federal crime. You know, just that small little detail. So bribing -- openly bribing a federal official, a Supreme Court justice is a crime. I mean, you -- that's punishable by up to 15 years in prison. And I would love to see -- I mean, if Trump wins in 2024, he should really go after John Oliver and try to put him in prison for bribing a federal official. 100 percent he should do it.

Matt, if anyone is treating Clarence Thomas like his personal Black token servant, it's Harlan Crow. Harlan Crow, Matt.

Watch this space, Matt Walsh may win the 2024 Crookie Award for "Bad Take of the Year," and it's only February.

Media Matters

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