Trump has repeatedly publicized the names of people in his various trials such as judges, judges’ family, witnesses and jurors. He’s been placed under gag orders and violates them … which would get most people locked away in jail. But he’s an important person so he gets a pass. The Republicans who whine about how we have a two-tier justice system think Trump’s being uniquely persecuted; in reality he’s in the top tier, the ones who get treated with kid gloves. Never mind that some of his ranting has inspired attempted violence.
Likewise he’s put up a $175 million bond for his bank-fraud case while his lawyers work on appeals. It seems possible that the bond company can’t pay. If correct and Trump refuses to pay up down the road, the company may default. Will that enable Trump to skate without paying?
This is not new. As author Jesse Eisinger says, the legal system in the 21st century has lost the will to prosecute the rich and powerful. It’s still outrageous. As LGM blogged recently, “while it’s obviously true that at no point in American history has it been close to true that the rich and the poor were equal before the law, our historical traditions have to this point required at most points at least some real effort to keep up appearances, in the sense that open bribery of the judicial system and the like wasn’t an option for the good and the great.”
Trump’s second term would eliminate even the slight possibility that we hold the rich and powerful to account, that we can (as I often say) make wickedness unsafe in any station. This would be a bad thing. It’s bad enough now: convicted murderer Rebecca Grossman stayed out of jail three years while her lawyer kept postponing the trial, got a sympathetic LA Times portrayal and is now fighting for a new trial. Her sentencing has been postponed; I’m guessing if she gets a retrial she’ll once again stay free until it happens (I hope I’m wrong).
Another factor is that many right-wingers are authoritarian followers: they want their leaders to deal harshly with wrongdoers but the leaders themselves are above criticism. Or as Fred Clark writes, they assume there’s nothing to criticize: religious leaders who impose the word of god are obviously going to make the country better. No, they won’t — but deciding leaders aren’t accountable to us is disastrous. “The more authority any given human has, the more accountable that person must be, lest they wield that authority unjustly, as we humans inevitably tend to do.”
As Jennifer Rubin says, it’s not like other rich people are safe if Trump gains office. He and his party, unchecked, will make the world a more dangerous place in every way. And anyone who pisses Trump off could end up the target of a vendetta, as many tyrants throughout history have done. Trump has never shown loyalty to anyone though he demands it from everyone; even so, many people will kowtow or accommodate a Trump dictatorship.
If we want American justice and America itself to survive 2024, Trump has to lose.
