When the news broke Friday before last, like 9 days ago, I was sitting in an auto-shop in Stockton, CA. Since I’m still standing-in-the-corner on Facebook, I tweeted this, 1246 PST, October 28, 2016:

Yep, exactly how I took it. Mere prelude to an "OK, now we're REALLY sure" right before Election Day. #corruption https://t.co/hUmL2nvTdI — Richard Nikoley (@rnikoley) October 28, 2016

And so it has come to pass, now 2 days before election day. Just in time.

Whew! They did it! They pulled out all the stops in 9 days to make sure there were no crimes in 650,000 emails that haven’t already been excused; that needed, once again, to be excused. Comey’s original excuse for Hillary was, in retrospect, broad enough to also cover her divulging of the toppest of secretz not only to Anthony Wiener, but to her maid.

…That Comey has hugely bungled this is difficult to deny from looks and appearances, no matter who he wants to be President. If the narrative from the right is correct, he has doubled down in pissing off his own agents and has now pissed off the investigative arm of the NYPD.

That’s one fuck of a lot of capital to spend, even for the sake of the Clintons. After all, it’s not like he’s a Saudi oil prince.

So, what gives?

Three generalized possibilities stream past my consciousness: 1) the narrative of the right is correct, and he’s dumb enough to piss off a lot of people even more, 2) he’s trying to please too many people too much of the time—tightrope and fence-walking style—and is just running for the light at the end of the November 8-tunnel, or 3) he’s cleverly throwing Hillary, the DNC, and the Obama administration a bone—that’s, in my opinion, a “be careful what you wish for” bone, which they fully understand as such, but can’t criticize him for.

I lean towards number three. I was never super enamored of the convenience of the right’s narrative, even though it appears to have been “substantiated” by “sources close to X.”

The irrevocable damage was done 9 days ago, and for those former Hillary supporters who were pissed or tired or fatigued or had enough or saw this is never going to end ever! chez Clinton—and switched (plenty of anecdotes if you care to look)—this just affirms what’s in play that’s part of why they switched. In this context, it could actually be an impressive maneuver or ploy by Comey, and you don’t even need to understand any motivations.

The very bottom line, to me, is that this newest revelation:

Does not get anyone to embrace Hillary or switch to Hillary Does not get anyone to give up on Trump Does little to nothing to energize existing Hillary voters who’ve been struggling with the tradeoff between going to vote on Tuesday, or doing almost anything else

In other words, it maybe helps Trump, and may actually hurt Hillary even more—though you will see the polling organizations do their duty and show you what a “great value” they are in the “reporting” of “results” you expect to hear, such that you continue to trust their “expertise.”

I’ve never thought any of this scandal stuff has been the main meat of the contest, on either side, and to the extent scandals plague, they plague Hillary—and not necessarily on the facts, but on the fatigue of the Clinton’s forever being embroiled in scandal.

Do you know what the meat is?

The meat is that’s it’s not Hillary running for president at all. Never has been. It’s the Democrat establishment, the incumbent administration, the intelligentsia, the left, the do-gooders, social justice warriors, transvestites, the elite, Hollywood, esteemed figures in literature, academia, entertainers, the legal profession, those with institutional tenure and pensions…and the list goes on.

vs

Donald J. Trump