It’s ridiculous to hear the manic excitement of right-wing politicians and media opinion-journalists about Trump being a lock for the 2024 Republican nomination for president and re-election. Emasculated and fearful, these loyalists talk about him as if he is young, fit, macho, competent and in no danger of being on trial or in prison by 2024. The DOJ and the Jan. 6th Committee are conducting massive investigations into the insurrection and Trump’s possible role in the planning and organizating of the attack. The district attorney in Fulton County Georgia is considering convening a grand jury to investigate his attempts to steal the 2020 election. His “stop the steal” mantra is a gaslighting move to camouflage the actual attempts he was making to steal the election from Joe Biden.
The success of the Jan. 6th Committee depends on The Department of Justice prosecuting witnesses who ignore subpoenas issued by the committee. Legal experts, including Harvard Law professor and constitutional scholar Lawrence Tribe are questioning why Attorney General Merrick Garland has not decided to prosecute Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress by refusing to comply with the subpoena to testify. It raises the concern that Garland might be a Robert Mueller 2.0; thorough, ethical, competent and yet reluctant to take bold action against Trump and high ranking officials. Is he another Democrat who brings a squirt gun to a fight when his opponents bring an AR15?
The federal judge’s ruling eviscerated Trump’s claim of presidential privilege to use to block the National Archives release of White House records surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection. His desperate efforts to hide evidence from the committee indicates a high probability of guilt regarding the planning, organizing, and sanctioning of the anti-Constitutional attack on our democracy on Jan. 6th. The records could reveal that Trump and members of Congress cooperated and colluded in the MAGA rioter’s attempt to stop the Constitutionally ordered peaceful transfer of power to the newly elected president. It has been reported that Trump was excited about the aggressiveness of the crowd and its size. He has ignored any attempt to empathize with or defend the Capitol and DC police who fought to defend members of Congress, and were brutally harmed and several died, because his rioters said they were just doing what Trump told them to do.
However, Trump has shown empathy for Ashley Babbit, a rioter who was shot and killed while violently breaking into the Capitol in an area where members of Congress were congregating. He has referred to rioters as patriots because they support his “big lie” and make Babbit a fallen hero and a defender of democracy. Will the American justice system have the integrity and courage to hold Trump and his enablers accountable for crimes against our democracy? Will Facebook and Twitter be held responsible for contributing to the spread of disinformation and the increase of violence and division in the country? If the justice system fails to defend democracy, America is on its way to becoming a one-party autocracy run by criminals, conspiracy theorists, and traitors. That’s not hyperbole. Dozens of people associated with the former autocratic-in-chief have been jailed, indicted, are under investigation, or have lost their jobs or their license to practice law. Does that sound like a United States government or a mob syndicate?
No president in history has ever tried to overturn an election and have himself illegally reinstated into office. No former U.S. president has ever incited violence against members of Congress. No other president has told over 20,000 provable lies. No president has relentlessly threatened people by starting his followers with aggressive dog-whistling to act violently towards his opponents. No other president has been accused of sexual assault by over 25 women. No other U.S. president has had the amount of criminal and civil investigations against him that Trump is facing. Trump’s characterological pathology is the explanation for his heinous performance as president. He will lose it all in the end because fanatical cult leaders don’t end up winners.
