![Donald Trump]()
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me among those who believe the wheels of US justice should turn as
surely for Donald Trump as for any ordinary criminal suspect. No man is
higher than the law etc. Yet I cannot help worrying that the Republican
party’s response to this week’s FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago has pushed
America’s democratic predicament into terrifying new waters. Stripped
to its essence, Trump and his furies are vowing to use the machinery of
federal law enforcement to punish their political enemies. To be sure,
Trump tried, and mostly failed, to do that in his first term in office.
His Don Corleone instincts bumped up against too many resignation
threats and were hemmed in by too much adult supervision to prevail. His
second term would be no dress rehearsal. From day one, Trump would have
ultra-loyalists in position to give form to his reptilian soul. No more
Chris Wrays, or Jeff Rosens, or even Bill Barrs. On the military side,
no more Mark Milleys or Jim Mattises. Think of Richard Grenell as
secretary of state, Jeff Clark as attorney-general and Mike Flynn as
secretary of defence. These are the types of thugs who Trump knows will
broach no dissent. In
2016, Trump rhetorically ran against the deep state. Next time he will
have an actual plan to turn the US federal government into an instrument
of his will. His goal would be to abolish the guardrails, which is a
posh way of saying he will end the US republic. Swampians who want to
learn more should read Axios’s Jonathan Swan on Trump’s Schedule F plans. I
still think it’s essential to prosecute Trump for the attempted coup on
January 6, 2021, assuming Merrick Garland can build a watertight case.
No self-preserving republic can allow an assault on its foundations to
go unanswered. It is a question of principle. Yet I am also aware that
on pragmatic grounds, the various federal and state criminal and civil
probes of Trump are likely to be turned to his political advantage.
Trump in 2024 will run against the witch hunters on the promise that if
he wins he will burn them. Remember, Trump projects his desires on to
others. This week he accused the Department of Justice of conducting a
political investigation. His supporters referred to the Gestapo. Because
Trump is unable to comprehend the concept of blind justice he assumes
everyone is crooked. It has also been noted that Trump has repeatedly
said only guilty people plead the Fifth Amendment right to remain
silent, which is what Trump did in New York this week. I
draw two conclusions from this week’s evidence of the gathering
investigations into Trump. First, his party is with him. The alacrity
with which figures such as Kevin McCarthy, the possible (indeed, still
likely) next Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Marco Rubio,
the shape-shifting Floridian senator, echoed Trump’s rhetoric made that
very clear. His party is too cowed to take on the Maga mob. They have
signed up to a tit-for-tat view of the rule of law in which revenge will
be theirs. This is beyond bleak. Second, Trump’s rebooted sense of
victimhood has made him the overwhelming favourite to be the 2024
Republican nominee. He could announce his candidacy at any point. A few
months ago, there were telling signs that Trump’s stranglehold over the
party was weakening, which I wrote about here.
But in this perverse world the wheels of justice are Trump’s friend.
The more thoroughly Garland does his job, the clearer the 2024 battle
lines will be: Trump versus the rule of law. |