Call it Corey Lewandowski’s “called shot.”
In baseball legend, the New York Yankees’ Babe Ruth, in Game Three of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, stepped to the plate, pointed to the center-field bleachers — and proceeded to hit a home run exactly where he had pointed. The Cubs players, who had been standing on their dugout’s steps and razzing Ruth relentlessly, fell back, astonished and humiliated. A reporter for the New York World-Telegram immortalized the moment, using terminology from the world of billiards. The headline:
RUTH CALLS SHOT AS HE PUTS HOME RUN NO. 2 IN SIDE POCKET
This bit of baseball lore became known as Babe Ruth’s “called shot” — and it came to mind watching former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski testify in front of the Democrat-run House Judiciary Committee.
Under Chairman Jerrold Nadler, the committee has become infamous as a political clown show, with Nadler’s fellow Democrats turning a committee with the job of an impartial oversight of the administration of justice into a partisan lynch mob intent on impeaching a president for no other reason than that he won the 2016 election.
Corey sat down at the witness table, looked Chairman Nadler and his fellow Democrats in the eye, and effortlessly hit a political home run, saying this of the Mueller report:
It is now clear the investigation was populated by many Trump haters who had their own agenda — to try and take down a duly elected president of the United States. As for actual collusion or conspiracy, there was none. What there has been, however, is harassment of this president from the day he won the election.
Bingo.
Calmly, dispassionately — not to mention with a dash of humor — Lewandowski easily swatted away the rantings and railings coming in his direction. He rendered his questioners, like those long-ago Chicago Cubs mercilessly badgering and berating Babe Ruth, humiliated and scorned.
The mass humiliation of Nadler and his fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats was not lost on commentators on the liberal cable nets. Courtesy of Rush Limbaugh, who put together a montage of fuming anti-Trumpers and Never Trumpers that went like this:
BRIAN WILLIAMS: It was truly remarkable to watch. For most of the day, they couldn’t lay a glove on this witness.
KURT BARDELLA: I really don’t understand what House Democrats are doing.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: House Democrats thought they had Corey Lewandowski right where they wanted him.
JAKE SHERMAN: At the end of the day, Democrats are gonna have to leave this hearing and say, “What did we accomplish today?” They don’t know what they’re doing.
ERIN BURNETT: Things got muddled. It didn’t come to life.
KEN DILANIAN: It’s largely been a failure, because Democrats have been more interested in getting their moment on television of yelling at Corey Lewandowski.
AMANDA CARPENTER: Corey Lewandowski owned the Judiciary Committee. Jerry Nadler played a stupid game.
ALI VELSHI: Today has been rocky.
NICOLLE WALLACE: The word that I heard from sources today was “hapless.”
DON LEMON: Did Democrats get played by Trump, Team Trump?
RICK WILSON: They got rolled like a cheap rug.
What Corey Lewandowski did this week was shine the spotlight on the foaming irrationality of those obsessed with Trump and suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome. Those afflicted with TDS have no idea how crazy, not to mention intolerant and contemptuous of their fellow Americans, they appear.
Whether it is the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee making fools of themselves with Corey Lewandowski or the New York Times deservedly red-faced after running a story on Justice Brett Kavanaugh that — oops — had zero basis in fact, or MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell putting out a phony story about Trump and Russian oligarchs that had to be retracted the very next night, what these and countless other incidents in the Trump era reveal is nothing more than a wildly incoherent hatred of this president. And in fact, a hatred of and contempt for, his supporters. A hatred that is so deep and irrational that they will do anything and everything to overturn the votes of millions of Americans — starting with but not limited to impeachment.
The Corey Lewandowski appearance in front of a bumbling, fumbling House Judiciary Committee was a notable moment. Aside from Corey’s Ruthian moment, it was also a reminder of another famous backfire from the history of congressional Democrats.
Way back in the 1980s, Reagan-hating Democrats put together a joint Senate-House Committee to investigate what was known in the day as the Iran–Contra affair. Confident they had the goods, the committee summoned a little-known Marine colonel who had served on the Reagan National Security staff for testimony. Appearing in uniform, medals bristling, Lt. Col. Oliver North proceeded to make the pious members of the committee look like idiots — and the country rallied instantly to both Ollie North and to Reagan.
The ancient wisdom here is something the Judiciary Democrats clearly had not learned. They wanted Corey Lewandowski hauled in front of their committee so they could run a televised political show trial. They got their wish — and it backfired. Big time.
Which is to say, be careful what you wish for.
