Yesterday felt distinctly like a horror movie. The SCOTUS announcing they’d hear Donald Trump’s immunity gambit sent shock waves coursing through the news media. This should have been a no-brainer for the Supremes. A simple “no thanks” would have sufficed. Instead, at least four of the sitting “Justices” gave Trump one more day in court – plus the time it will take to get there. Chief Justice John Roberts may tell himself the Supreme Court isn’t political, but surely he chuckles sadly when he says it. He should be overseeing a 5-4 liberal majority, not the 6-3 conservative super majority that is. But then, hijacking the SCOTUS is just one more of the GOP’s growing list of crimes against democracy.
Just so we’re clear – crimes against democracy are also crimes against the rule of law. Or, put more simply, CRIMES.
The rule of law is an amazing thing but, alas, it cannot enforce itself. We The People must do that – or insist that our government of the people, by the people and for the people does it. That is what makes America the beacon it is – despite what conservatives, Republicans, Russians and other criminals have tried to do to us. Donald Trump didn’t take over the GOP, he unleashed it. He set free all the latent racism, bigotry, misogyny and willful ignorance that called Republicanism home.
Trump spent a lifetime getting away with criminal behavior. In part, that’s because we’ve weighted our criminal justice system toward punishing the powerless for drug crimes over punishing the powerful even when they threaten to overthrow our whole system of government. Merrick Garland spent a year dithering – refusing to step up to the plate and put the t-ball in front of him into the cheap seats. That was because Garland insisted – and still apparently insists – that political acts and crimes committed for a political end are the same thing.
They are not!
Trump skewed not only the GOP’s view of criminal behavior, but the news media’s, too! How can it be that a man does things so blatantly – there’s no other word but TREASONOUS – and those in power refuse to speak the word. That’s even if they describe him and his actions with every word but treasonous!
The DoJ has prosecuted the insurrection’s foot soldiers. And it knows – because there’s scads of testimony and publicly available information – that others actively planned the insurrection. We also know that numerous members of Congress played active roles in the insurrection’s planning and execution. Yet, as far as We The People know, not a single one of them has been so much as politely questioned about it.
Merrick Garland, too, is guilty of crimes against democracy.
Democracy rests upon free and fair elections. Governing a large, complex country demands that we elect people capable of the task. When we elect Representatives and Senators and presidents, we give them the authority to govern us in our stead. It’s a deal we make with ourselves and each other.
It relies on trust. Alas, not everyone is trustworthy. Some of us harbor dark, evil thoughts toward the rest of us. They loved it when they had all the power and money and no one challenged them for it. But America diversified far faster than expected. In the next 20 years or so, white people will stop being the majority of Americans.
That knowledge is what spurred America’s Old White Money to do everything it could think of – and pay for – either to blunt the majority’s will or undermine its ability to vote period.
Hell, America’s Old White Money is sooooooo afraid of losing power (and its money) that it even conspired with Russia – and committed treason.
Yeah – TREASON. We cannot use that word nearly enough.
The Republicans knew even before they nominated Trump that Vladimir Putin owned him! They said so – out loud!
June 25, 2016 – a month before the Republicans formally nominated Trump. Former Speaker Of The House Kevin McCarthy exits a meeting where our intelligence community briefed members of Congress about Putin’s ongoing attempts to undermine Ukraine’s fragile, new democracy. Having learned what he learned at meeting number one, McCarthy strode purposefully into meeting number two – this one of GOP LEADERS.
The very first thing McCarthy said upon entering: “There’s two people I think Putin pays – Rohrbacher and Trump – swear to God!“
That’s a curious thing to say about the man you’re about to nominate to be POTUS – that a hostile foreign leader pays him money. And, what does said foreign leader want in exchange for paying Trump? Everyone present understood that, yes indeed, California Representative Dana Rohrbacher was “Putin’s Favorite Congressman”. That, they all knew, compromised Rohrbacher.
Now, not only had Republican leader McCarthy equated Trump with Rohrbacher – no one present contradicted McCarthy. About either Rohrbacher or Trump. No one even questioned McCarthy – or asked why he thought that. Because they all thought it, too!
That’s why THEN Speaker Of The House Paul Ryan stepped forward. Per the Washington Post’s Adam Entous (who heard the recording someone made of the meeting): “Ryan instructed his Republican lieutenants to keep the conversation private, saying: ‘No leaks. . . . This is how we know we’re a real family here’.”
Gosh, what kind of family was Ryan thinking about except a crime family.
Right there in that room at that moment, the entire Republican Party leadership committed a crime against democracy. Our democracy.
They kept it a secret – from us, from We The People – that they KNEW that the man they were about to nominated to be POTUS would pose a GRAVE NATIONAL SECURITY RISK should he win the election. But, it gets worse!
A month later, Trump formally won the nomination. The Republican Party leadership kept their secret – even when Trump said, “Hey, Russia, if you’re listening…!”. The GOP’s leaders – all of them – knew that, yes, Russia was listening to Trump because they owned him. And now Russia – and Trump – owned the entire Republican Party, too.
Treason – the ultimate crime against democracy. And the Republican Party committed it and continues to commit it every single day.