What if instead of repeating: "there've been no consequences," everyone did:
"OMG, the Trump Org has been INDICTED for FRAUD!
And the GJ is still hearing evidence."
Repeat a million times. Let it sink into the public consciousness. ("Her emails")
Instead of minimizing it.
These things puff Trump up and help his Strongman image:
🔹There are never any consequences!
🔹He gets away with everything"
🔹Yeah, okay, but what about . . . ?
These guys ⤵️LOVE when you say that.
("no consequences" also isn't true)
2/
The right-wing understands how to do that. They take something that wasn't a crime ("her emails") and repeat it over and over. Mainstream media picks it up. Pretty soon even people who don't know better start thinking HRC was a crook.
What do Trump critics do?
3/
I had an interesting discussion with @donwinslow last night. It went in a few directions (and he deleted one of his tweets) but I mostly pieced it together in 2 columns.
If no consequences will be good enough, we basically let Trump off in the media narrative.
Right?
4/
There were two columns. This is the second. Read to the end.
I've been saying this for a while: The "no consequences" people will never be satisfied.
No matter what charges are brought, it won't be enough.
Because so many influential people are saying this . . .
5/
. . . mainstream media picks it up.
Maybe Trump critics are the ones inadvertently putting Teflon on Trump.
If a Clinton org or foundation was criminally indicted for fraud, we'd never hear the end of it.
With Trump, we never hear it at all.
We hear NOTHING happened.
6/
If respected law professors "teach" the public that getting indicted for fraud is no big deal because [fill in the blank] don't be surprised if people not paying close attention think the Democrats are failures and they vote Republican again.
This is so self-defeating.
Adding this here to address some of the angry comments I'm getting⤵️
"Rule of law" doesn't mean that each transgression is punished. Quite the contrary. Due process and constitutional protections mean not every person who commits a crime gets prosecuted.
Just striving for precision here.
You meant: "Trump broke laws so I want him prosecuted."
What DOJ investigators need to do is put on blinders, follow the evidence where it leads (as they have said many times they are doing; see ⤵️for example) and ignore cries from partisans to prosecute political leaders.
The committee's mission statement includes working with other "entities" to avoid duplication of efforts."
It's also clear from their statement that they're looking beyond Jan. 6 to tie together what happened (meaning all parts of the conspiracy.) january6th.house.gov/about
It's a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and an ongoing coverup.
If people think that criminal prosecution will (1) cripple (or stop) the forces of right-wing extremism or (2) ensure a Democratic win in 2022, I can understand the panic and frustration.
I think this belief underlies much of the frustration and panic which is causing people to blame Democrats for Republican lawbreaking on the grounds that Democrats are stubbornly refusing to do The Thing that will make the problem go away.
🔹By statute, the docs go to Congress unless Trump gets a court order.
🔹Deciding his lawsuit on the merits will take months, and by then it will be too late because the docs will be on their way (in tranches) to Congress
2/
🔹So Trump filed a motion asking for a preliminary injunction asking for the docs to be held until the court can decide the case on the merits.
🔹It's harder to get a preliminary injunction than it is to win on the merits because there are additional elements to meet.
3/
The conflict is between the former and current president, not between the branches.
Issue: So what is the role of the courts?
Can the court overrule the incumbent president on behalf of a former president?
Here we get these hypotheticals. What if four former presidents disagree with the incumbent president. (Implication: What if the current president is totally off his rocker?)
Answer: There is still no clash between the branches.