One of my plausible nightmare scenarios is that the Trump GOP ever more explicitly articulates their premise that Democratic leadership is bad for the country and that any action is justified to prevent it... threats, violence, forcible prevention of voting, etc.
If a president cannot be indicted for the assassination of a rival candidate (and current guidance from the DOJ, honored by the courts and congress, is that this is so) and if as Dershowitz maintains a president cannot be impeached for a crime taken to guarantee re-election...
...then there is no argument against a president assassinating the opposition except the moral one. Which fails in the case of no morals and in the case of a genuine belief that the other party represents an existential threat to the US or is somehow inherently immoral.
What else is justified under this rubric? Canceling elections, voiding their results, illegally using federal law enforcement or troops to prevent voting.
This is where "the ends justifies the means" meets Trump's contention that if "they let you" do something it must be allowed
This is where "the ends justifies the means" meets Trump's contention that if "they let you" do something it must be allowed
I will note the GOP has already been moving in this direction (how many Dem candidates for state and local office have suspended their campaigns due to white supremacist threats? How much voter suppression and gerrymandering has been allowed), and Trump merely accelerates it.
But Dershowitz is articulating the GOP's overall strategy as a legal theory governing impeachment and oversight, and that is a dangerous new wrinkle.
"If the president does it, it's not illegal" in defense of Low Poly Count Nixon, from a supposedly liberal supposed legal expert.
"If the president does it, it's not illegal" in defense of Low Poly Count Nixon, from a supposedly liberal supposed legal expert.
We've got to repudiate this argument thoroughly, in the halls of Congress and beyond.
And we've got to recognize that this has been the GOP's game for decades. Concoct and spread a worldview in which Democrats are literally murdering babies. Cast them as anti-American.
And we've got to recognize that this has been the GOP's game for decades. Concoct and spread a worldview in which Democrats are literally murdering babies. Cast them as anti-American.
The GOP project is to cast mere policy differences by Democrats as a criminal attack on the continued existence of the country, and crimes by the GOP as mere policy differences.
People very reasonably responding to this with "But won't the GOP regret this precedent when the Democrats are in charge?", but the goal here is to prevent that. Make sure they hold power forever.
If, along the road to that level of autocratic control, they lose an election or two, they can count on the Democrats being far less ruthless in applying the power the GOP establishes, and far more susceptible to shaming and outcry over it.
When Norquist declared the beginning of a permanent conservative majority back in the 90s, he was asked "But what if the Democrats win an election?" and his answer was "It won't matter. We won't let them govern."
(Does that help put a lot of the past few decades in perspective?)
(Does that help put a lot of the past few decades in perspective?)
Here's some truth that Donald has always understood deep in his bones, perhaps better than anyone alive: it doesn't matter what the rules say, all that matters is if anyone will stop you. The rules as written are obstacles to slow lesser men.
If Donald Trump is president at the end of the Senate trial (and this still strikes me as likely), he will be emboldened both by the acquittal and by the shiny argument gifted to him by Dershowitz. "I have an article II that says I can do whatever I want" and now this.
It's been ugly, neighbors, and it's going to get uglier. If he's acquitted, I think we're going to be hearing a lot more about "heads on pikes" and "getting tough" and "second amendment people" and "taking out".
Got to make dinner. Please remember to tip your weird Twitter pundit, neighbors.
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