I refuse to dignify the unscrupulous and malicious attack on Justice Clarence Thomas by taking the bait and getting into the nitty-gritty of federal law, which seems to indicate that Thomas was not required to disclose his trips with his close friend Harlan Crow. (Though, while we’re on the topic, the report does say that Thomas disclosed gifts from Crow early on in their relationship when they were not as close of friends).

The attack on Thomas and Crow’s relationship has nothing to do with accountability or neutrality or conflicts of interest. How can you tell? Just look at the Biden family or the Pelosis or the Bushes. This is not bemoaning hypocrisy or advocating for mutually assured destruction through corruption. As I’ve said many times for TAC, most conservative pundits scream hypocrisy when they should be shouting hierarchy.

One Twitter user that has over 80 thousand followers and their own substack, @politicalmath, nailed the meaning of this latest attempt at a high-tech lynching of Thomas and company in a Twitter thread.

"This is a warning shot to anyone in elite America: If you befriend a right-wing figure, we will expose you," @politicalmath writes. "The point is to serve as a warning to others. Don't you dare befriend a conservative. Don't even think about bringing them into your friend group." Surely, this is the intended message of the latest attack on Thomas. I would be less certain that this was the message if there wasn't a consistent and concerted effort on the left to excise conservatives and conservative values from public life: in work places, in financial institutions, in local school board meetings, on social media platforms, even in their own small businesses. (Shut up and bake me a cake, bigot.)

Yet, this is exactly the scenario many of us currently find ourselves: seconds away from sacrifice on the altar of progress. The federal government has been weaponized against conservatives, and along with it, its apparatchiks in the commanding heights.

Where I disagree with our esteemed anonymous friend is that they actually do care about Harlan Crow. Of course, they do derive "perverse pleasure," but it's more than incidental. Crow is not just someone caught in the crossfire; he's a combatant, and they want to make an example of him. If he was just collateral damage, then the report would have stood on its own. Instead, however, they dove into Crow's life in an attempt to "problematize" him by pointing out he collects memorabilia from the Nazis and other evil regimes. He also has statues of tyrannical leaders, which he's placed in what he calls "the garden of evil." What they either omit or reference in passing is that this is just part of Crows impressive and extensive collection of historical artifacts. They've tried the same strategy on Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and others, but without much success. Why? Because all these men have what some call f*** you money. They certainly care about Crow and Musk and Thiel, but they're goal is to influence you.

Crow's "problematic" collection seems to indicate he believes in the expression that those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. But Crow, like many other statues, must be toppled in the name of progress.