Commentary

I’m not alone in my quest for the criminal indictment and trial of Donald Trump after he leaves office

In whatever manner Donald Trump leaves the presidency – resignation, the 25^th Amendment, impeachment and removal, or, if all else fails, when his term expires on January 20^th – Donald Trump should be indicted and prosecuted for his crimes. This is a position I’ve advocated in my last few columns.

This is also a position for which I’ve gotten substantial pushback from readers and friends whom I respect. Their arguments include:

• Biden can’t waste political capital on this;
• There are more important agenda items the Biden administration must focus on;
• A criminal prosecution will be divisive when the country needs healing;
• Trump was simply exercising his First Amendment right to free speech.

In a post yesterday, I wrote this in response*:

And to those Democrats who believe that Trump should not be prosecuted after he leaves office because it will divert attention from Biden’s agenda items or “waste precious political capital,” I ask you to reconsider. Trump’s needs to held accountable. If the Cabinet and the Congress won’t do it, then the judicial system must. No one is above the law. Trump broke the law this week and he’s broken the law innumerable other times. He must be tried and, if convicted, punished to the full extent of the law. I know trying him is a double-edged sword. Putting him on trial will anger his base (and who knows how many more “non-base” Republican followers), potentially wreaking more havoc on the country. But not trying him…in essence giving him a “get out of jail free” card…will embolden his base. And who knows what the consequences of that will be.

(*Note: I did not address the divisiveness issue because no matter what happens there will be divisiveness. I did not address the free speech issue because speech is not always free, particularly if it incites criminal action and there is evidence of the speakers “state of mind” to incite.)

Well, I discovered I’m not alone in my point of view; The Washington Post published two Op-Ed columns today basically supporting the same position.

The first, written by Randall D. Eliason was headlined, “Trump should be criminally investigated.” Eliason spent 12 years as an assistant United States attorney for the District of Columbia, is a contributing columnist for The Washington Post and writes about white collar crime and federal criminal law. He currently teaches at George Washington Law School, and taught at American University Washington College of Law and at Georgetown University Law Center. He has a JD from Harvard Law School.

Ellison closes his column with this:

Many are urging Trump’s immediate impeachment or removal by invocation of the 25th Amendment. That should absolutely be done, as soon as possible. But it wouldn’t be enough. There must be a forceful response to this outrage beyond merely depriving Trump of his final days in office. After Jan. 20, the Biden Justice Department should convene a grand jury investigation of Trump’s unprecedented assault on America’s democracy.

The second, written by Jennifer Rubin, was headlined, “Trump can and must be prosecuted.” Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post. She covers politics and policy, foreign and domestic, and provides insight into the conservative movement, the Republican and Democratic parties, and threats to Western democracies. Prior to her career in journalism, Rubin practiced labor law for two decades, an experience that informs and enriches her work.

Rubin concludes:

No president has done anything remotely like what Trump did, so his prosecution would not run the risk of criminalizing ordinary political activity or even highly unacceptable behavior (such as obstruction of justice, as the Mueller investigation had found). As we come to grasp the enormity of Wednesday’s political and criminal offense, the notion of letting Trump “walk” can rightfully be seen as preposterous.

Here are links and PDFs (for those of who who don’t subscribe to the Post) to both Op-Eds. Take a look and let me know what you think.

“Trump should be criminally investigated.” by Randall D. Eliason

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-should-be-criminally-investigated/2021/01/07/900ffa1a-5135-11eb-b96e-0e54447b23a1_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_21

“Trump can and must be prosecuted.” by Jennifer Rubin

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/08/trump-can-must-be-prosecuted/

Commentary

T.S. Elliot, like the rest of us, didn’t anticipate Trump.

As I write this, Donald J. Trump will occupy the White House for 11 more days. Perhaps in those 11 days one of these three things will occur that will make Elliot’s actual words, “Not with a bang, but a whimper,” ring true.

• Perhaps he will resign and leave that House honorably and peacefully.

• Perhaps the 25th Amendment will be invoked and he will Constitutionally be removed from office, leaving that House, along with miscreant family, in shame.

• Or perhaps he will be the only president who will have the unenviable distinction of being impeached twice!

So, how will the worst presidency, overseen by the worst President in the history of the United States, end…banging or whimpering?

• Resignation is highly unlikely. The man’s ego, his whole persona, will not allow him to resign. After all, resignation is the right thing to do. And when has he ever done the right thing?

Whimper #1:

X

• Invoking the 25th Amendment requires the leadership of the Vice President, and then a majority of the Cabinet to agree. The current Vice President, Mike Pence, the man who, it has been reported, was the target of the Capitol stormers, whose objective was to kidnap and murder him because he wouldn’t follow Trump’s directive to illegally overturn the election, has indicated he won’t bring it up. (What will it take to make this man publicly rebuke Trump?) And never mind that Cabinet members like Elaine Chao and Betsy DeVos who have resigned, like rats leaving a sinking ship, so that they would not have to vote for removal in the unlikely event that the 25th Amendment got to that point, or current sitting Cabinet members like Steve Mnuchin and others who have signaled they would vote no – proving that their allegiance is to the criminal Trump, not to they people they were sworn to serve.

Whimper #2:

XX

• A second impeachment is a distinct possibility. But is it too late? Certainly for removal, which is really the only thing that counts; Mitch “Profile in (Un) Courage” McConnell has already stated that if the House sends impeachment papers to the Senate as early as Monday, January 11, the earliest he will bring the matter to the Senate floor for a trial is MONDAY, JANUARY 19 – THE DAY BEFORE TRUMP IS SCHEDULED TO LEAVE OFFICE ANYWAY!

Whimper #3:

XXX

Now, to those Republicans reading this (yes, all two of you) who agree with what I’d call “Capitol Baseball,” the game in which three strikes does not mean you’re out, and the 45% of the rest of you Republicans who, according to a YouGov poll released yesterday, backed the assault on the Capitol Building, or to the 67% of Republicans who felt the protesters were not a threat to democracy, I leave you with this:

(Full disclosure: This video shows the Trump party watching the gathering of the crowd at The Ellipse. Trump and his gang watched the actual assault of the Capitol Building in the comfort and safety of the White House.)

And to those Democrats who believe that Trump should not be prosecuted after he leaves office because it will divert attention from Biden’s agenda items or “waste precious political capital,” I ask you to reconsider. Trump’s needs to held accountable. If the Cabinet and the Congress won’t do it, then the judicial system must. No one is above the law. Trump broke the law this week and he’s broken the law innumerable other times. He must be tried and, if convicted, punished to the full extent of the law. I know trying him is a double-edged sword. Putting him on trial will anger his base (and who knows how many more “non-base” Republican followers), potentially wreaking more havoc on the country. But not trying him…in essence giving him a “get out of jail free” card…will embolden his base. And who knows what the consequences of that will be.

Trump began his presidency four years ago talking about “American carnage.” I hate to say it but whichever way he leaves office, he will leave with those words, words that no one at the time could believe he said, coming true.

Commentary

Trump suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself

The New York Times reported today that “President Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency.”

Commentary

A day that promised to be euphoric turned into one of the worst days in the history of the United States of America.

(Note to readers: I know I told you that I was taking a break from Around the Block to spend more time with other writing projects. Yesterday’s events however, were so egregious I found I could not live with myself if I didn’t comment on them. Thanks for your indulgence.)

Commentary

“That’s right, Benjamin. Around the Block is going on hiatus.”

As many of you know, I hold a special place in my heart for Paul Simon. My first introduction to Queens College was Paul, a graduating senior, performing at freshman orientation the spring before our official matriculation. At Queens I joined the AEπ fraternity where Paul’s brother, Eddie, and Art’s brother, Jerry, were my fraternity brothers. (Truth be told, Eddie was actually a better guitarist than Paul). In my tortured attempts to play the guitar, my go-to songs were many of Paul’s, including, one of his best, the heartfelt “Kathy’s Song.” In fact years later, in 2016, I wrote an Around the Block called “Sanders’ campaign use of Simon & Garfunkel song widely praised” in which I took Art to task for taking credit for Paul’s song, “America.” In it, I included a reference to the “Kathy” of “Kathy’s Song.”

Commentary

Mel Brooks claims no relation. “Alabama? What, are you a mashugana?”

Mo Brooks is a Republican Congressman from Alabama. While he is not as funny as his namesake, Mel Brooks (or, for that matter, Albert Brooks), he is definitely laughable.

(Just to get this out of the way upfront – for you 50’s sitcom aficionados, Rep. Brooks is not the grandson of our revered, sardonic TV teacher Connie Brooks, better known as “Our Miss Brooks.” Our Mr. Brooks’ lack of brains and sense of irony confirms that.)

But, you ask, why am I even mentioning the Honorable Mr. Brooks? Because this week he announced that he will challenge the tally of Electoral College votes when Congress officially certifies the results of the presidential election on Jan. 6.

While the move is unlikely to succeed, it has generated praise from the defeated, lame-duck president, Donald John Trump (seen above with Congressman Brooks).

Brooks told USA Today that he wanted to “reject the count of particular states” like Georgia and Pennsylvania that had “flawed election systems.”

He went on to say, “In my judgment*, if only lawful votes cast by American citizens are counted, Donald Trump won the Electoral College.” The large numbers of mail-in ballots in key states, the majority of which broke for Biden, were “illegal,” he claimed.

(*Although the irony of only questioning mail-in ballot in states that Trump lost apparently escaped him, due to lack of space, I have decided not to opine any further on Congressman Brooks’ judgement.)

When asked whether his challenge is garnering support in Congress, Brooks told USA Today, “…double figures” of House lawmakers had come to him in support of the proposal.

Brooks did not specify whether “double figures” meant 10 or 99. Ten, of course is plausible as anyone who follows Republicans in Congress can easily count 10 nut case Representatives on the fingers of one hand (or is it two hands?) – here’s 8 without even trying: Louie Gohmert, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lee Zeldin, Devin Nunes, Joe Wilson, Virginia Foxx, Kevin McCarthy – too bad the new Congress is sworn in on January 3 or we could add Steve King and Ted Yoho to the list.

With no due respect to Representative Brooks, isn’t the Electoral College bad enough? Do we really have to pile on with this nonsense as well?

And speaking about bad enough, does anyone reading this remember, in their lifetimes, a worse time in America? Sure, there are contenders: 9-11, Vietnam, Jim Crow, the Cold War, the ’50’s fear of nuclear annihilation, McCarthyism, WWII, Jerry Lewis movies. But eventually the country rallied and overcame the adversity. Do you see any sign that we can, and will, overcome the adversity, the polarization, the divisiveness, we’re facing now?

What we’re currently experiencing is not just depressing, it is outrageous; we are watching a fundamental attack on democracy by people who should know better; Mo Brooks’ challenge to the Electoral College vote is just a ridiculous side show.

As I read through the never-ending attempts to discredit the election, as I watch the antics of clowns like Rudy Giuliani, as I view Trump’s 46-minute taped screed about how he “won” the election, as I hear few, if any, Republican office holders support the election results and abandon the lunatic in the White House, all I can think about is this: it’s time for some movie remakes.

Let’s start with “Seven Days in May.” Call it “Seven Days in December.” But with a major plot twist — rather than one rogue officer, General James Mattoon Scott, (the Burt Lancaster character channeling Curtis LeMay) attempting a coup, it would be the story of an insurrection against the government of the United States led by an entire major national political party, supported by 75 million duped and misguided citizens.

Or maybe this: a remake of the great 1976 film by Paddy Chayefsky, “Network.” It can be called “Cable News,” with Rachel Maddow, taking over the Howard Beale role screaming at the camera, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Can there be anything more apropos for this day and age?

Well, maybe. How about a film called the “Manchurian Voter,” in which 75 million Americans are brainwashed into believing Donald Trump is the greatest president in American history and vote to keep him (and his progeny) in office forever?

I can’t wait for Oscars night!