Yankees, Cowboys, and Joe Biden

Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Warren are casualties in a civil war

I have two suspicions about national politics:

1. Complicated federal laws are weapons that rival factions in the government use against each other. “You won’t play ball with us? We just might charge you with breaking campaign finance laws. We just might investigate your brother-in-law for securities fraud.”
2. The chief reason for FBI and NSA warrantless spying is to blackmail politicians. “We saw what you did in that bedroom from your own phone. We heard what you said to your spouse. We just might take it to the press.”

The quick, sudden retreat of Joe Biden’s Democratic strongest rivals in the last ten days causes me to speculate: Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Warren withdrew from the Democratic race because they were coerced into doing so. They were each threatened with some sort of investigation or exposure if they continued.

They don’t have to be guilty of anything criminal or otherwise disqualifying. The point was to threaten them — to make life hell for them and ruin their careers — if they didn’t cooperate by withdrawing. A “Not Guilty” jury verdict three years from now on a bogus charge would be small consolation for a tarnished name and ruined career. By withdrawing, they each could survive politically to run again in four or eight years.

I don’t know for sure how often such coercion happens in Washington. But we’ve seen a…