Thread by @mcjulie

Trying to remember a time when rich white men well connected to the power structure DIDN'T get away with crimes and coming up blank.

We have this kind of general sense that Nixon got caught, but did he really? He wasn't even impeached. He certainly wasn't officially removed from office. He never did jail time.

No, he resigned and lived out the rest of his life in comfort -- sure, he was a bit of a joke, but he also had Nixon apologists pushing an assortment of "he wasn't THAT bad" narratives

I remember when I found out John McCain, supposed Republican of integrity, was a member of the Keating Five and I couldn't fully get over the idea that, not only were none of the Five ~punished~ in any meaningful way --

They suffered no penalties, served out their terms, two ran for re-election and won, and McCain went on to run for president, during which time his role in that scandal never got mentioned ONCE

And Iran-Contra -- I remember the religious right adoring Oliver North as some kind of martyr, and it was a church deacon or somebody like that praying for "Oliver North, that great, Godly man" which prompted my definitive break with the church, but what actually HAPPENED to him?

North was convicted. Then his convictions were reversed. He was never penalized in any meaningful way, and now he's president of the NRA.

This is why @sarahkendzior really had it right about the Mueller report (which, I remind you, NOBODY HAS SEEN YET) -- the problem won't be that it doesn't find anything, the problem will be that nobody will DO anything, no matter what it finds.

Like, imagine the Barr summary included both charges -- obstruction AND conspiracy with Russia -- under "not proven, not exonerated" What would be happening now? Would there be congressional hearings? Would all these news outlets be saying "yeah, he's guilty?"

I suspect, no. They would be acting exactly like they are right now. As if "not exonerated" means "exonerated" and the biased summary might as well be the report itself and ready to move on to the next phase of the cycle, the "he's not that bad" phase

And yet, WHAT EVEN IF WE DID HAVE THOSE CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS? What if congress dives into the full Mueller report & finds DJT guilty as hell of obstruction of justice, McConnell guilty as hell of conspiracy, obstruction, fraud, whatever -- what would actually happen?

I'm betting: DJT resigns, Pence takes over, and pardons him. McConnell is reprimanded officially but serves out his term, then does not seek re-election.
That's it. That's what would happen.

You know it's true, because that's what always happens.
The congressional hearings create the comforting illusion that justice is being done, but nothing really happens to punish them men involved, or prevent the next crime.

Justice & rule of law are nice ideas, but they have NEVER applied to the ruling class. We have hearings & reprimands & scoldings that make it seem like maybe they do, but... they don't.

And the question is what to do about it?
Because the important thing is to STOP them, and it's increasingly obvious that we can't use the law to do that, which we probably should have known.

How do we stop them?