Doesn’t much matter. If you must know, Wikipedia has an extensive article on his life as “poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson That’s a lot of jobs for one life.

One of Johnson’s most well-known attributed quotes is: “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

I thought of that when reading the reports that Jenna Ellis, an unknown lawyer until she joined forces with Donald Trump to overthrow the government and install him as president/king/despot/rule-for-life, had turned on her liege lord. And make no mistake, overthrowing the government and anointing Trump was the plan.

Of course, it failed. Miserably. Not only was the incitement thoroughly documented on video and otherwise, but the attack itself was also filmed by multiple people, including some of the participants themselves in one of the great self-owns of all time. One of the best videos of the attack was produced by the New York Times:  https://tinyurl.com/4btuf4y5

For her efforts, Ms. Ellis has earned the distinction of being indicted, along with Trump and many others, in Georgia. For reasons currently unknown, she was not indicted by the Special Counsel Jack Smith but that could still happen.

Reports now indicate that Ms. Ellis, like some of the other insurrectionists, has had a change of heart. Jenna Ellis Denounces ‘Malignant Narcissist’ Trump, Publicly Distances Herself From Former President,https://tinyurl.com/km4z7v8b:

I simply can’t support him for elected office again. Why I have chosen to distance is because of that, frankly, malignant narcissistic tendency to simply say that he’s never done anything wrong.” The most notable component of Ellis’ remarks was her criticism of Trump supporters. She claimed that some of them had elevated Trump to the level of “idolatry” and were prioritizing their devotion to him over their dedication to conservative ideas, the Constitution, and the country. She challenged Americans, particularly conservatives and Christians, to reconsider their voting and allegiances.

… And the total idolatry that I’m seeing from some of the supporters that are unwilling to put the constitution and the country and the conservative principles above their love for a star is really troubling. And I think that we do need to, as Americans and as conservatives and particularly as Christians, take this very seriously and understand where are we putting our vote.

And in the Guardian, it is noted that “in 2020 Ellis rose from relative obscurity to become part of what she called an “elite strike force team” working to overturn Trump’s defeat by Biden.” https://tinyurl.com/bsk4rjyp

Covering all her bases, Ellis, while rejecting Trump as a candidate to vote for, hastened to assure him that, “I have great love and respect for him personally.” Trump, being the great transactionalist that he is, will not likely find such professions of affection meaningful if she’s going to withhold her vote.

Reading those reports reminded me of some of the defenses offered by Proud Boys and others like them who conspired to pull off the insurrection and have been sentenced to long prison terms.

One popular one was “I was just following the direction of my commander-in-chief,” an apparent reference to the Constitutional provision (Article II) that “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States….” The problem with that defense, of course, was, among other things, that the Proud Boys were not inthe Army, Navy, or a Militia of the any state called into the actual service of the United States.

But, as the Samuel Johnson quote reminds us, the mind concentrates when faced with hanging and the Proud Boys being sentenced to decades in prison is the functional equivalent of being hanged. The defense has been uniformly rejected by the courts, as it should be.

As for Jenna Ellis’ sudden “awakening” to Trump’s “malignant narcissism,” her statements smack of performative timing inspired by being indicted for multiple felonies for which she has few, if any, realistic defenses. If she had been awake during the months leading up to January 6, she would already have been aware that Trump a cancer on American democracy. Many of the tear-shedding insurrectionists in their pleas for leniency have, once sentenced, reverted to type, and continued to declare their allegiance to Trump and the false-flag “stolen election” nonsense. One can’t help wondering if Ellis won’t do the same thing once she knows just how high her hanging will be.