The Trump constitutional crisis is both a matter of law and politics.
Politics won.
Playing out at the pace of the legal system, rather than the pace of a mini-series, the audience lost the drift. The critics hijacked the script and re-wrote it.
For consumers of mainstream news, yesterday was a big day. It was a day for exclamation marks.
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| Huffington Post |
This is the big one. No more sideshows and bank shots in an effort to apply the law to Trump. The New York case of Trump lying over property valuations helped Trump. Of course he tried to cheat on his taxes. Everyone wants maximum value when they sell stuff and minimum value when they are taxed on it. The Carroll rape case was another gift to him. Trump voters simply do not care that Trump wrestled his fingers into some woman. Biblical King David lusted after Bathsheba, another man's wife, arranged to get the man killed, and then married the widow. David is a hero who "did good things" as king; Trump is a hero who "did good things" as president. Republican voters just don't care about Trump and women. The documents case is yet another a gift to Trump. He looks guilty, but the case is filled with "whatabouts." What about Hillary's emails? What about Biden's papers in the garage? What about Pence's papers? Classified/non-classified, could-a-/should-a declassified. It is a matter of selective prosecution, Trump claims. And in the Georgia case, Trump said "find" not "steal," or "forge," the 12,000 votes. It looks close, sort of guilty, but it is deniable, and if the local DA really, truly had the goods this would have moved forward a year ago.
As a courtroom drama, the Trump Stole the Election drama lagged, and the delays aren't over. There are motions over venue, over evidence, then appeals over those decisions. Finding attorneys licensed in the right states. Executive privilege claims. Subpoenas served; subpoenas ignored. Fifth amendment claims. Schedule conflicts. I presume the pace of events is the result of good and necessary legal process, but it is bad drama. Half the audience lost the theme of the drama, and indeed reversed it. Actors changed their lines. The comments by Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell calling Trump's original crime a national tragedy are long past and forgotten, and now re-written.
The forum that moved quickly, when events were evident, was the second impeachment. The iron was hot. The political issue was clear. Then we had, in effect, jury nullification by GOP senators. Why impeach a guy who is already out of office? It was a version of the O.J. Simpson jury. Neither body could bear to convict one of their own, and impeachment trials are political. The legal system would deal with Trump, McConnell said.
It may well not. Most Republicans don't think Trump did anything wrong in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Yesterday, while half of Americans were thinking "finally!" the other half were getting the news that the big news happening in America involves Hunter Biden. Here is Fox News' opening page several hours after the announcement of the indictment.
Later in the evening Fox introduced to its viewers and readers the news that Trump had a new indictment. The story is that the indictment was a carefully timed diversion by Democrats to take public attention off the real news.
Who is so foolish, so blind, so siloed as to believe that narrative? Nearly all Republican voters, and about half of Americans. A NYTimes/Siena poll shows Trump and Biden tied in a head-to-head race. To win an electoral college victory by carrying tipping-point battleground states like Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona, a Democrat needs to win with a 4% margin nationally. All this news did not hurt Trump, not yet, and maybe never.
Will justice be served? Possibly. If the pace of litigation allows this to go to trial before the election, possibly Americans will follow the train of evidence. but American voters will see a different trial from the ones seen by the jury, and Americans will see commentary, not evidence. Convictions require a unanimous jury. The O.J. Simpson jury is a heads up. A hung jury is a vindication of Trump, or at least Trump will claim it is.
Ultimately, Trump's guilt is a political decision by the American people, not a legal one. Trump's was a political crime against democracy, if Americans so judge it. But Trump and the alternative media have had time and reason to create a different narrative. It is that Trump, our Trump, our leader Trump, is the victim of a crime against democracy, the unjust prosecution of a political enemy who has done nothing wrong, or at least nothing that everyone else doesn't do.
The off-ramp for Americans to have judged Trump's behavior unacceptable was the second impeachment. Republicans missed the exit.
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25 comments:
Trump predictably claimed the “lawlessness” of his latest indictments “is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.” Projecting their own faults onto others is one of the many personality disorders characteristic of the far-right. Ever since Putin helped make Trump their leader, the Republican Party has become like a Russian fifth column.
As one of the commenters on this blog put it, Trump and his supporters “want to blow up the system” and replace it with an autocracy led by a maniac. No sane American with any loyalty to our Constitution and our nation’s founding principles would ever vote for such a monstrosity, but most Republicans would.
I’m afraid you’re right Peter. Trump needs to be soundly defeated in the election along with other republicans who support the lies. Then the Republican Party can move toward some semblance of honesty. If the court hearing is televised, like the watergate hearings, the effect may be more profound. I’m hoping.
This all feels so anticlimactic. (Yawn).
Nixon wasn't a criminal per se, and certainly not a cult leader. The Republicans self-policed, and his rivals went on to take over the party. But, because their governing principle is unsustainable, they began the drift to the far right and opened themselves up to the possibility of a autocrat so it feels inevitable that we find ourselves here now.
We face two main perils; if Trump is re-elected or if a Trump backed Republican becomes President. Both depend on maintaining the cult base, so Republicans are unlikely to abandon him, and so the indictments may be incidental to the larger issue facing the Republic which is the breakdown of the two party system.
Too many people these days have brief attention spans. Patience Is still a virtue. Good things come to those who wait.
It can take years or even decades to bring some criminals to justice. Some folks are very uninformed about our form of government and our legal system, unfortunately.
When is Penis Sage going to write about his idol Joe Biden taking bribes from China, and then modifying foreign policy to pacify China?
I am hoping that a behind the scenes deal will be reached: Trump decides not to run in 2024, and in return, all charges against him are dropped. That’s what would be best for the country.
What would be best for the country is holding the people trying to destroy it accountable. Let's maintain our republic and its rule of law.
M.T.'s "solution" is what let Nixon escape Justice and set us on the long slide to where we are now.
Failure to seriously punish trump et al will result in copy cat dictators for perhaps a very long time.
Succinct and well said, and I couldn't agree more.
Not holding criminals accountable for their criminal acts, especially when on the scale and seriousness of Trump's alleged ones, would be an unconscionable abandonment of the basic principles of law and order a society must abide by not to collapse in tyranny or anarchy.
Does anyone think that the Former Occupant will voluntarily go to prison? Lol
No, that would be awful for this country.
We all know he's campaigning to raise money and stay out of jail.
What MT proposes rewards lawlessness.
Besides, when has TFG ever honored a deal he made?
Agreed.
Putting Nixon on trial would’ve divided the country in a damaging way. Gerald Ford did the right thing by pardoning Nixon, even though it may have cost Ford reelection in 1976.
I don’t see what good would’ve been accomplished beyond causing Nixon to resign.
"Ultimately, Trump's guilt is a political decision by the American people, not a legal one." That is true in the sense that if Trump gets re-elected President, he will force the DOJ to drop his prosections. But if he fails to get re-elected, his fate will indeed be in the hands of juroros.
But if he fails to get re-elected, his fate will indeed be in the hands of juroros.
I didn’t realize the Trump trial was going to be in Mexico. 😀
Trump is too toxic to win a general election, and Republicans are too batshit crazy to nominate someone reasonable, so he will undoubtedly get his day in court - and many more at the rate the indictments are rolling in.
Pardoning Nixon may or may not have been smart, but his offense didn't even come close to Trump's. We'd have to be as crazy as the Republicans to let a coup attempt slide.
Mexico? WTF?
Malcolm,
“Juroros” sounded Spanish to me…
Yo no Conozco ninguna palabra como juroros. Lo siento, pero es la verdad.
No problemo… 😀
Ouch! I hate it when people say “no problems”
The word is problemA, seemingly easy enough to remember. El problema.
Sorry, no hablo espagnol. 🤷♂️
¡No problema!
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