There’s some debate swirling about as to whether the Biden Administration should or should not investigate and prosecute members of the Trump Administration for the laundry list of crimes it participated in. In considering whether or not its worth the time, distraction, and antagonism such investigations/trials will require, we need to keep the following points in mind:
- Because Ford pardoned Nixon and there was no lasting response by Congress, electoral shenanigans by major party campaigns were normalized and became expected.
- Because Reagan wasn’t impeached, prosecuted or even meaningfully sanctioned for Iran-Contra and his Administration’s poorly-executed antics in Central America, White House-authorized shenanigans overseas were normalized and became expected (even if they were expressly forbidden by Congress).
- Because Bush43 wasn’t impeached, prosecuted, meaningfully sanctioned, or even subject to Congressional Censure for either of the quagmires he created in Afghanistan or Iraq, never mind his terrible lack of leadership in 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, Presidential overreach and mismanagement in national security became normalized and even expected.
If the Trump Administration is not prosecuted or sanctioned, Executive Branch self-dealing, grifting as policy, and outright treason to the country will become normalized and even expected.
At that point, its anything goes, and we’ll have finished our transformation to a failed state.
Forget whether Trump himself stands trial or not; the guy likely would perjure himself like made on the stand anyway. What his Administration as a whole did was criminal in so many ways it demands a clear response. Forget Trump himself; go after Bannon, Miller, Stone, Cohen, and the rest, but these investigations and prosecutions must happen!
History demonstrates the alternative to investigations is to make what Trump did as acceptable, and that merely guarantees worse to come.
Its really is that simple.
UPDATE: Two things I want to express here.
First: I’m on the Rec List? Wow. Many thanks, though I question why.
Second, I need to clarify a few points that were badly expressed above.
Clarification One: its not the Biden Administration that should or should not investigate Trump and his Administration. That task must be handled by either the DOJ or some independent body put together for just that purpose, with an impenetrable wall between whoever is doing it and all branches of government.
Clarification Two: when I said “forget whether Trump himself stands trial or not”, I meant we shouldn’t focus on that career failure from Queens himself as the be-all/end-all. His various conspirators and enablers should be the first targets, especially his immediate family. Even he pardons everyone and their brother, investigations can and should take place, and perversely a blanket pardon would make that easier as it will provide an immediate and public list of targets.
Clarification Three: the purpose of this diary wasn’t to preach to the choir. It was meant to provide readers with a simple, stock answer to anyone within their personal circle of family/friends/whatever who expresses doubts about the need for investigation (and ideally, prosecution) of the outgoing Administration’s actions/conduct. We on this side tend to suck at messaging, so this is my meager offering at addressing that failing on this issue.
Thanks again to everyone who recc’d and responded. Here’s hoping better days are ahead for us.