#684 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday June 14)
Good morning,
THE MAR-A-LAGO DOCUMENTS INDICTMENT
Yesterday, Donald Trump appeared in Miami. So did many of his supporters.
There is so much to say about this case that it requires three Musings to review the facts, what the case does (and doesn’t do), what the claims are from the Trumpists, etc. At play are several concerns. These are the main questions, together with my short conclusions:
· Did Mr. Trump violate numerous laws by retaining classified documents, then obfuscate multiple attempts by the government to obtain the documents and lie to investigators? Most assuredly, yes.
· Did he leave these documents in places where others could see them and/or did he share them with others? Yes, there are pictures and video of the documents and their “storage” and a tape recording of Mr. Trump acknowledging the documents were not his and were confidential and then sharing them.
· Are the facts here the same as with Messrs. Pence and Biden inadvertently retaining top secret documents? Of course not. They gave them back immediately and did thorough searches to make sure all such documents were delivered.
· Lindsey Graham says this is no different from Hillary Clinton. Not even close; in her investigation, charges were not brought, and the emails were not top secret documents.
· Should a former president be indicted and prosecuted for a crime? To some, there apparently is no crime great enough to warrant prosecution. Yes, there are crimes to which any citizen should be held responsible.
· Does this begin a series of tit-for-tat political prosecutions? I actually doubt it. Sure, House Committees will be established to investigate and investigate. I don’t think prosecutors will pursue future ex-presidents just because of this. And while I fully expect some threats to go after Democratic presidents in the future, it is unlikely the Justice Department will pursue anything other than something equally egregious to Mr. Trump’s behaviors.
· What are Mr. Trump’s supporters prepared to do to undermine our institutions, protest, and/or engage in violence? This is the most troubling to answer. The violent rhetoric is on the Internet. Mr. Trump has called for protests. Kari Lake, the failed Republican from Arizona, and others are alluding to violence.
IS IT A WITCH HUNT?
It may be that Donald Trump is the most attacked, maligned, victimized human being in recent memory. It may be that the “deep state” and the radical left, two ill-defined but, according to Trump and his allies, evil cabals of people set to destroy America, have brilliantly orchestrated and executed a “witch hunt” of historic proportion. It may be that Mr. Trump’s enemies are manipulating or creating facts with the objective of destroying this great and innocent American hero.
Or could it be that this guy is a criminal narcissist, serial user of people, and self-aggrandizing bad actor. The facts support this conclusion more than the prior ones.
Years ago, Mr. Trump turned the world on its head when he and his followers began disputing basic facts. Then they created facts of their own. Now that they have been presented with incontrovertible facts that convinced prosecutors and a Grand Jury, their mantra has shifted from claiming the facts are untrue, conspicuously skipping past them and focusing instead on why, even if everything is true, they do not justify any legal accountability for Mr. Trump. “Plan B” is to deflect, pose other “what about this” arguments, and, in the height of irony, claim that going after Mr. Trump would debase and endanger the office of the presidency. They believe that going after Mr. Trump would open a tit-for-tat series of attacks on the president when the other party is in power. Basically, they would like us to ignore illegal acts and let Mr. Trump continue on the potential road to another term because if we don’t, then they will go crazy and hit the nuclear button against future leaders.
THIS CASE
The facts are pretty clear—even clearer in all the other cases Mr. Trump will face. He and his supporters that nothing happened or the facts aren’t true—just that it was no big deal and that the case should be dropped, for the good of the country. While they deride the prosecutors for bringing this case, among others, they diminish everyone involved, feeding their minions with lies about motive and casting aspersions on our system of government. Here are the facts:
Trump did it. He took the documents, shared some with others, knew they were classified, and left them in unsecured locations (and moved them around). The facts are pretty clear.
While he claims he’s being singled out, others have been prosecuted for less.
Trump refused to comply with the repeated requests and subpoenas. He claims there should have been discussions with his people (there were). If this really were a witch hunt, he and his team would not have given repeated opportunities, and showed repeated deference over a period of months.
His lawyers represented to a court, on Mr. Trump’s authority, that everything was delivered, while knowing that was untrue.
He claims he owned the documents. I have read nothing indicating any legal scholar or lawyer not under his employ supports this.
He claims to have declassified the documents, though there are procedures for doing so that he did not follow. He also claims he can declassify a document simply by intending to do so. Really?
He is on tape saying that he was aware of the nature of the documents and that he didn’t own them.
ON WHOSE SIDE DOES ONE STAND?
We are at an inflection point in the sorry saga of Mr. Trump. There now is a fairly clear divide between those who acknowledge facts and hold him accountable for his wrongdoing and those who will do anything—including casting aspersions upon the justice system, on law enforcement officials, on prosecutors, on the judiciary, and on the countless public servants (mostly Republicans), who spoke out against Mr. Trump’s many abuses of office and efforts to thwart the legal system. These people are the same people from the same party that once venerated and supported law and order, and accountability—in order to pursue a politically untrue narrative. It will be interesting to see if prominent Republican leaders will break ranks to tell their rank-and-file that, yes, Trump is a man who (regardless of what you think about his policies) has serially done wrong and is unfit to be president. I really believe history will judge harshly Republican leaders who don’t break with Mr. Trump.
Then there are those who counsel what amounts to warfare. Here is Kari Lake, failed candidate for Governor of Arizona (though she continues, in Trumpian fashion, to deny the results and the election was stolen):
“If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me.”
“We’re at war, people—we’re at war.”
It is hard to imagine whether there is anything Mr. Trump can do that could ever be perceived as wrong by others. As he noted, he could walk out onto Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and people would come to his defense. I suspect he’s right. When political support becomes admiration, evolves to idolatry, and reaches its apex at adoration and a willingness to do anything for the supreme leader, we all are in danger.
This coming Monday will be the second of three Musings on this theme. Tomorrow and Friday are devoted to our fathers.
Have a good day,
Glenn
From the archives: