The primary necessity of an effective con is to have the mark believe the conman’s assertion. That is the hard part. The mark has to believe that the result is possible, even if it sounds far-fetched. Even though Donald Trump lost the electoral vote to Joe Biden, 306 to 232, Trump insisted that he really won, and the election was stolen. Millions of voters believed this claim, but Judge Linda V. Parker of the federal district court in Detroit might finally have issued the decision that resolves a legal dispute on the matter.
Trump supporters in several states have audited the election process to disclose irregularities that might change the election result, but none have been uncovered. Lawyers supporting Trump have filed 62 cases in state and federal court, all for naught. But up until the Detroit case Trump’s lawyers simply got adverse decisions, and they left the courthouse to try again.
Sidney Powell and a team of eight other lawyers brought what she called the Kraken cases that were supposed to do the trick for Trump. The case was named after a Scandinavian sea monster that terrified seamen in the North Sea. Fortunately, Judge Linda V. Parker of the federal district court in Detroit was not at all concerned about mythology. In a 110-page order she defined the Kraken complaint as “an … abuse of the judicial process.” She further decreed that the purpose of Powell’s suit was to deceive “a federal court and the American people into believing that rights were infringed.”
According to Judge Parker, “this case was never about fraud. It was about undermining the people’s faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so.”
She held the lawyers responsible for reimbursing Detroit’s legal fees and a complaint was filed with local legal authorities in the home states of the offending plaintiff lawyers for possible suspension or disbarment. Judge Linda V. Parker is definitely not a mark. After Judge Parker’s order, it is unlikely that competent lawyers will put their professional standing at risk in support of Trump’s skullduggery.
