***Slobama’s handy-dandy guide to navigating this dumb controversy***
Bad form:
—To single Griner out for her sexuality or race
—Claiming she’s transgender. She’s not
—Claiming she’s some kind of “druggie” for using a drug that’s recreationally legal in much of the U.S. at this point
Not bad form:
—Pointing out that Griner actually broke Russian law. A stupid law, but a law nevertheless
—Pointing out that the U.S. has never before traded a military person for a non-military person in these kinds of prisoner-swap situations (as far as I know)
—Pointing out that Paul Whelan would have been a more valuable trade (although the Russian side flatly took him off the table)
Borderline:
—Bringing up Griner’s history of involvement in pro-police reform advocacy. Did it play a factor in the Biden Admin.‘s decisionmaking here? Possible. But speculative. But I think it does play a role in some online Leftists’ defense of her, which is annoying.
