Since his election in 2016, Trump has consistently sought to bend the law to serve him.
This is the axiom of tyrants: the law and the courts and prosecutors must serve the ruler.
Early in his administration, he called for the Justice Department to investigate his political rival, Hilary Clinton. He attacked federal judges for their decisions on immigration and his travel ban. Among other actions, he has used executive orders “to dismantle the nonpartisan civil service, the rights of workers to bargain collectively, the impartial administrative Law Judge Corps and the US Marshal’s Service.”*
Again and again in stories too numerous to list here, he has attacked the rule of law and evidence as it applies to him and his Presidential actions. Simply google “Trump’s abuse of the law” and wisely select from the 43 million hits it calls forth.
In cooperation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he survived impeachment for crimes as obvious as the Sun’s presence in the sky. We owe Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff our heartfelt thanks for making the case against him so complete. Again, just review the testimony under oath of all those who spoke of his use of the Ukraine to try to swing the 2020 election in his favor.
Now that he has neutered Senate Republicans and been acquitted, he has begun to flex his authority in ways we have not seen in our lifetime. In contrast to Trump, Nixon’s crimes are minor league exercises in the use of unconditional power.
For example, this week he has directed Attorney General Barr, a willing servant, to interfere in the sentencing of Roger Stone, one of Trump’s thugs, for obstruction of justice, perjury and witness tampering. Four career Federal prosecutors have resigned in protest of this interference. Trump has attacked the Federal judge who will hand down the sentence.
Here it is useful to note Alan Dershowitz’s defense of him during impeachment. Dershowitz argued that “presidents can literally do anything they want so long as they don’t violate federal law (including promising pardons to induce henchmen to commit crimes for them — an act James Madison considered impeachable),”** and therefore that they cannot be impeached for abuse of power, for if they believe their actions have been taken for the good of the nation (and believing your election is best for the nation would always be sound reasoning), they cannot abuse their power. This is the circular reasoning at the center of Dershowitz’s argument: ‘I believe it is good, therefore it is good, therefore I have done nothing wrong.’
This is the assertion of a monarch whereby the law and the monarch are one and the same. This is Louis IV saying, “L’état, c’est moi,” I am the State. With this argument, the United States has crossed over into certain catastrophe. Trump is the State. Trump is the law. Whatever Trump decrees cannot be wrong. He cannot be held accountable.
A recent tweet captures the essence of what Trump is seeking: “People in Poland, in Hungary, in Turkey, in the Philippines and elsewhere can recognize what’s happening right now in the US under Trump: the deliberate politicization of the rule of law so it can be used as a weapon against political enemies and as a shield for political allies.”
Vote for whomever the Democrats nominate for the Presidency. Vote for every Democrat running for the Senate and the House. Vote as if your life and the lives of your children depend upon it.
Specific Object
*Davidson, Joe, The Washington Post. “Trump Order Risks politicization of … Social Security, judiciary.” July 13, 2018.
**Goldberg, Jonah, Trib Live. “Dershowitz’s central argument for Trump must be rejected.” February 3, 2020.
