Are we afraid to test the principle that no one is above the law?
Good question from @MattDallek
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"If Trump were indicted, he would become the first former president to stand criminal trial...
This list is hardly exhaustive and omits the dozen-plus civil lawsuits and civil investigations Trump faces."
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"The rule of law, the notion that we are all equal under our criminal justice system, is among the noblest of principles but also the ugliest of myths.
The question of putting Trump on trial ... is a test for a principle of democracy"
~@MattDallek
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"With Trump in the White House, his friends & allies already had their own system of justice...
all convicted felons who received pardons from Trump or had their sentences commuted by him. Three of those convictions occurred during Trump’s presidency"
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"Inaction [failing to prosecute Trump] mocks the nation’s professed ideal that no one sits above the law — and Americans might wonder whether our democracy can survive what amounts to the explicit approval of lawlessness."
#NoOneIsAboveTheLaw
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"Indicting could trigger violence, spark a cycle of retribution once Republicans take back power...
But the far graver peril in this situation is inaction, a paralyzing refusal to hold Trump criminally liable for his behavior."
#NoOneIsAboveTheLaw
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"Refusing to hold officials accountable for crimes emboldens them...
The costs of not prosecuting Trump have already been significant — and they’re already grounds for fear."
#DemocracyInDanger
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"Trump has long sanctioned violence among his supporters...
the failure to prosecute Trump for any crimes he himself commits empowers him to do it louder."
#DomesticTerrorism
#StochasticTerrorism
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"Trump’s supporters are watching.
After years of his burn-it-all-down oratory and above-the-law governance, they are emboldened...
Not prosecuting Trump has already signaled to his supporters that accountability is for suckers."
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
"“I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president,” Trump told the conservative organization Turning Point USA...
Until the criminal justice system stops him, he will continue to believe that."
#NoOneIsAboveTheLaw
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/0…
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