Disgraced U.S. Senator Robert Menendez.
WASHINGTON, DC-New Jersey Senator Cory Booker this week said he had a “Spartacus moment” while falsely claiming to release “confidential” non-confidential papers before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
“Spartacus” today has become a rallying cry for blue Dems across the country as Booker ceremoniously kicked off his unofficial Presidential campaign for 2020.
According to the story of Spartacus, he was the leader of a slave uprising against the Roman Empire.
“This rebellion, interpreted by some as an example of oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning oligarchy, has provided inspiration for many political thinkers, and has been featured in literature, television, and film. Although this interpretation is not specifically contradicted by classical historians,” Wikipedia historians point out.
Like Spartacus himself, Booker’s story is based on a tale which left out much of the details…like, Booker’s “classified” documents weren’t even classified.
So if Booker is Spartacus, would that make Senator Bob Menendez Caligula? After all, we’re using classical Roman era historical figures in our comparisons now.
According to History.com, “The third of Rome’s emperors, Caligula achieved feats of waste and carnage during his four-year reign (A.D. 37-41) unmatched even by his infamous nephew Nero. The son of a great military leader, he escaped family intrigues to take the throne, but his personal and fiscal excesses led him to be the first Roman emperor to be assassinated.”
Could Menendez be the first Democratic Senator of New Jersey in a very long time to lose his seat because of the trail and stench of corruption that has wafted alongside his nearly every step in Washington…and the Caribbean?
Memorial of Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (Caligula).
“Caligula lavished money on building projects, from the practical (aqueducts and harbors) to the cultural (theaters and temples) to the downright bizarre (requisitioning hundreds of Roman merchant ships to construct a 2-mile floating bridge across the Bay of Bauli so he could spend two days galloping back and forth across it,” History.com details. “But he literally wallowed in luxury, allegedly rolling around in piles of money and drinking precious pearls dissolved in vinegar. He continued his childhood games of dress-up, donning strange clothing, women’s shoes and lavish accessories and wigs.”
Menendez was brought up on bribery charges last year. According to federal prosecutors, the New Jersey senator received more than $750,000 in political campaign contributions from his partner, Salomon Melgen. Melgen was later convicted of his crimes, but the Menendez trial ended with a hung jury.
What we did find out during the trial was that Melgen, according to multiple sources, paid for Menendez and his girlfriend to stay at the Parisian Hotel and to travel using the convicted doctor’s private jet.
Fox News reported, “Federal prosecutors said that Menendez “sold his office for a lifestyle that he couldn’t afford.”
The New York Times was one of many liberal news outlets to report this past spring that Menendez was severely admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for using his position as senator to promote the doctor’s personal and financial interests.
Yet, he is still the Democrat’s nominee for the U.S. Senate this November.
According to the New York Times, in its letter of admonition, the Ethics Committee acknowledged that the trial “did not result in a conviction,” but wrote, “The criminal system, however, neither enforces nor supplants the Senate’s rules or standards of conduct, and the committee’s action stands independent from that result.”
So, in closing, if Booker is New Jersey’s Spartacus, it would be fitting that Menendez is New Jersey’s Caligula.