People are jumping the gun in their reaction to the indictment of Donald Trump.
Today's post risks being a killjoy amidst the mixed sounds of cheering and outrage. I feel like a designated driver at a raucous party.
Comments coming from the anti-Trump world of mainstream commentary and Twitter celebrants are giddy at the prospect of Trump in prison. Meanwhile, Republican officeholders have closed ranks echoing Trump. They call it an outrage that a former president would be subject to criminal investigation and prosecution by a Democratic District Attorney.
People need to calm down, slow down, and wait for justice to play out. It is good citizenship. It is also good politics.
There is no shortage of images circulating of Trump in prison looking glum and punished. Michael Cohen, who was sentenced to three years in prison for his part in Trump's mess, posted this image:
An indictment isn't guilt, conviction, and sentencing. It is just an early step in the process. Commentary in non-Trump media are calling it historic, "the first ever indicted president," and speculating about whether Trump can run for office from prison. Oh, what a delicious subject for them.
Meanwhile Republicans are apoplectic. The response goes beyond parody as they fulminate with angry indignation that Trump is being indicted, and by a puppet of George Soros no less. Trump called it "an attack on our country the likes of which has never been seen before." Ted Cruz raises money saying "Once again, the Left is weaponizing our legal system!" DeSantis said “The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is un-American.”
Republicans are not claiming Trump is innocent. They know better than to climb out onto that limb. The attack is on the prosecution itself.
There is another way either party could handle this. It would be to make an entirely different point. Demonstrate patriotic commitment to equal justice and the rule of law. Treat the indictment with sober seriousness. This is our legal system, not a sporting event. Simultaneously condemn celebrity culture and the entitlement of the rich and famous. That would help make a serious subject more popular.
There is a tradition to look back to. Presidents, former presidents, billionaires, sports stars, and movie stars are subject to the same laws as everyone else. At the height of his popularity Elvis Presley was drafted--just like other young men. It legitimized the draft and government generally. At the height of his career Mohamed Ali resisted the draft and was tried and convicted. Before he went crazy, Rudolf Giuliani became popular by perfecting the "perp walk" of the rich and powerful. He was an equal-opportunity prosecutor. The Watergate hearings and subsequent prosecutions of "all the president's men" demonstrated an American consensus about justice. Crimes are crimes. The scofflaw southern governors of the 1950s and 1960s who defied integration laws were the villains, at least to a majority of Americans.
Republicans are missing an opportunity here. They could be communicating that they are the party of reform, clean government, and the opponent of privilege. They want credibility with working class and suburban Americans, and claim to be the opponents of elitists. So why are Republicans rallying against a District Attorney investigating and prosecuting a crime against a person of privilege? He is too good to prosecute? They are on the wrong side on this.
Democrats, too, need to chill. Don't openly savor guilty verdicts before we know the nature of the indictments. It shows disrespect to the process. Democrats want to regain credibility as a party of law and order. Many Democrats say openly that they suspect police officers profile minorities as presumably guilty. So don't gleefully presume Trump guilty under legal standards. It feeds White working class resentment that Democrats indulge Blacks and pick on Trump. Trump tells White voters that Democratic attacks on him are really targeting them.
Democrats shouldn't take the bait. The high road is also the politically smart one. Stand for sober, equal justice. Praise justice, not victory.
Trump has led the GOP into a bad spot, where they celebrate defiance of the law. They say it is all a game and it is rigged against them. The better frame for Democrats is to contrast themselves against the GOP by endorsing calm, adult justice.
I agree. It is the responsibility of every American who values the rule of law to let the judicial system grind away, fine, however, slowly.
I believe that Republicans have really jumped into the trick bag on this one. In particular, because this first indictment was on the most fragile charges, Repubilcans have largely fallen in line, with their cries of "witchhunt," and worse. What is going to happen now, I think, is that as more serious charges and more sustainable cases are made, Republicans have already committed to defending Trump and condemning the process. I don't think they can get off that train. Mitch McConnell was pretty much alone, standing at the station, watching the locomotive roll out under full steam.
If Nixon and Agnew had been prosecuted, I don't think we'd have arrived here. I've been waiting over half a century for justice to be served. So I can wait a bit longer.