The Ex-President’s Powers Will Be Questioned, Stephen Miller
But the process to prevent Trump from running again should have begun in February 2021
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC (author’s photo). I always found this building inscription troubling, especially in regard to Trump’s total disregard for the rule of law.
On the day after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, I told my JOUR 101 class that Trump’s presidency would not end well for the electoral college victor. This wasn’t a bold prediction.
Everything espoused by the narcissist-in-chief suggested the rule of law did not apply to him, with this own best example that he could get away with shooting and killing someone on Fifth Avenue.
About eight weeks later, this sentiment was further shared by his policy adviser Stephen Miller, who exclaimed on CBS’s “Face the Nation” https://youtu.be/UpTmylCXnWI:
“The powers of the president … will not be questioned.”
While the topic of the day was over the fairly narrow topic of the constitutionality of the then administration’s so-called “Muslim ban,” anyone could see that what the brazen Miller meant this White House position extended to any and all matters that might come up in the future. In fact, Miller invoked that line often.
Trump being indicted on 37 federal criminal charges, coming after the month-long investigation by the Attorney General-appointed special counsel Jack Smith, is hardly surprising. The former president helped the prosecution build the case against him by continuously changing his story about why classified material was found at his Florida residence.
Basically, he was saying he could do whatever he wanted because he was the president — Miller’s assertion — no matter how many times he contradicted himself.
The Mar-a-Lago document case offered plenty of proof to be uncovered. But didn’t Robert Mueller also issue a weighty report that suggested Trump crossed the espionage and obstruction line, regarding a too-cosy relationship with Vladimir Putin? Bill Barr managed to squash any further scrutiny, leaving the matter to the numbers game along party lines that continues to mire the legislative branch.
Of course, Barr and many others in Trump’s administration now agree or question that he was and is unfit to be president. Yet Trump somehow STILL is favored by 70 percent of GOP voters to be its nominee. Lackluster support remains for the so-called challengers, most of whom did his bidding during those four strange years.
Christie practically begged Trump for a job. While yes, Pence procedurally protected democracy on January 6th, he still made excuses for his boss who essentially put out a mob hit on him. Haley thought being the UN ambassador would set up her for now, but she’s hovering at 1 percent support. DeSantis kissed Trump’s ass for so long, and one wonders how vindictive he’ll become if his polling numbers don’t improve soon.
Why the Republican lawmakers continue to pretend that January 6th was no big deal goes beyond drinking the kool aid. Weren’t their lives also in danger when being ushered to the Capitol’s bunkers?
Twice not enough votes in the U.S. Senate prevented him from being removed from office after being impeached the Dem-controlled House of Representatives, for his role in the January 6th insurrection, and the pre-Russian invasion Ukrainian shakedown.
This time the legislative bodies’ majorities are swapped, but it won’t be Congress that decides his fate. That will be determined by the judicial branch, and no doubt Trump will continue to find lawyers he will probably stiff to argue nonsensical defenses when none exists.
Of course, the stakes are higher in the criminal felony Florida case than the Stormy Daniels payoff, corporate tax evasion, and the E. Jean Carroll, in which Trump was found gulty of sexual assault and ordered to pay $5 million.
Still coming is whether a Georgian grand jury will also indict him over his coercion of the attorney general to reverse the 2020 statewide popular vote with bogus assertions.
Not that the country has palatable choices with the field of challengers (on either side of the aisle, for that matter). But how Republicans can continue to back a convicted, lawless felon unfit for office — who while holding it clearly hated the job and sucked at it — is a question that only they can answer.
Workplace poster (author’s photo)
Now more than ever, Trump knows his best chance for avoiding a prison sentence is somehow getting reelected. The media and the Democrats played a role in normalizing his bad behavior. He should have never been able to buy a DC hotel and then expect it’s ok for him to profit from foreign governments expected to stay there. Yet he got away with it. Not paying taxes makes him smart, etc.
Once he took office, Joe Biden wanted to be perceived as the unifier, but that was a lofty goal since nearly half the country supported this disgrace. Of course, it was political, but the guiding principle should have been nobody is above the law. As soon as Merrick Garland was sworn in as attorney general, Trump’s role in overturning the 2020 results needed to be investigated because the wheels of in/justice turn slowly.
Perhaps the only thing I agree with Trump and the GOP is that it’s political. Garland should have been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but McConnell & Co. blocked it. That Trump still hasn’t been indicted in Georgia for pressuring its state’s representatives to “find” votes that didn’t exist is inexplicable. Sure the January 6th insurrection needed some investigation, but the House committee did the heavy lifting.
That this political theater of the absurd can be still happening with the 2024 primaries getting underway in six months sets new lows for government dysfunction. Washington remains the sorriest state of affairs. We’ve been saying this is the “most important election” since 2016, but the 2024 cycle will prove to be the ultimate cliffhanger with nothing short of tyranny (i.e., DOJ inscription) hanging in the balance.