Commenting on the Republicans’ willingness to push the United States to the brink of financial default, Paul Waldman on Wednesday noted “one of the most fundamental and disheartening truths about the American system.” That truth is as obvious as it is profound.
“There is almost never any accountability for the people who deserve it the most.”
There are many ways of expressing it. A two-tiered system of justice. One set of rules for the rich and another for the rest. “All you’ve gotta be is white in America.“
A report released Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee majority Democrats detailed efforts Donald Trump and allies made to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election Trump lost. Most was old news. The only surprise was that no one has yet been indicted for plotting a coup. See Waldman’s quote above.
A Trump lawyer sent letters to four former advisers — Mark Meadows, Kash Patel, Dan Scavino and Stephen K. Bannon, at the least — instructing them not to comply with congressional subpoenas in the Jan. 6 insurrection investigation. The four were ordered to turn over documents to House investigators by Thursday. Trump’s contention is that records and testimony about Jan. 6 are protected “from disclosure by the executive and other privileges, including among others the presidential communications, deliberative process, and attorney-client privileges.”
That assertion of privilege is contested. At this hour, it is not clear whether any of the four complied.
True to form, Trump will dodge, delay, and go to court to evade accountability by running out the clock. With any other adversary, Trump would spend them into bankruptcy in the courts. Not so when his opponent is the U.S. government. But he will defend principles and standards of conduct he spent four years trampling underfoot. Even the Devil will tell the truth when it suits his purposes.
“Donald Trump always seems to get away with it. And he’s trying to do it again,” writes Stephen Collinson of CNN:
Accountability is critical for multiple reasons. The Capitol insurrection and Trump’s multiple attempts to subvert the election, in Washington and in the states, rank as the worst assault on the US electoral system in history. Inflicting a price for such behavior is vital to stop such abuses from happening again, and potentially could include new laws to bolster faith in elections. Recent escalations of Trump’s attacks on bedrock democratic values and signals that he is planning a new White House bid prove that his threat to democratic governance is far from elapsed and is getting worse.
The January 6 committee’s role is important in establishing a contemporary and historical record of what happened that day and Trump’s culpability amid efforts by his media propagandists and political allies to whitewash the truth and downplay an outrageous assault on the epicenter of US democracy.
Trump once again “appears to be seeking to assert privilege to cover up what multiple accounts and reports suggest is an attempt to mount a coup.” And Republicans in positions of power will again support him in evading accountability.
The argument that Trump’s nefarious plots failed so he is free of accountability is a familiar one. It was used by Republicans to excuse his abuses of power during his first impeachment on the grounds that Trump’s plan to withhold military aid to Ukraine in return for the announcement of a criminal probe into Biden did not actually come to fruition. This essentially boils down a case that a President who seeks to thwart the Constitution is only guilty if he succeeds. This discounts, for instance, strong evidence that Trump repeatedly pressured officials in the Justice Department and in states like Georgia to overturn the election — a clear and staggering abuse of power.
The courage and integrity of these officials was in the end all that stood between the United States and a lost democracy. But the near miss this time should not mean that officials subordinate to a President should be left exposed to such pressure in the future.
With Chuck Grassley, the dean of the GOP Senate, speaking at this weekend’s Iowa Trump rally, “Jan 6 has completely faded from view in the party,” tweeted Sam Stein. Trump is the now the Republican Party and the party is him.
“Through him, with him, in him,” the priest recites at the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer, called the Per Ipsum. Should Trump attempt to run for president again in 2024, it will be not as figurehead but messiah.
“There is almost never any accountability for the people who deserve it the most.”
Perhaps in hell.
Update: Define “consider.”