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LINK Republicans are outraged that Donald Trump isn't above the law -- The Daily Kos

Donald Trump is facing possible criminal indictment with his usual grace and openness to facing the consequences of his actions, and it’s showing his continued hold on the Republican Party. With Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg expected to announce charges against Trump for his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, Trump is raging, and other Republicans are springing to his defense.

Trump is raising the prospect of a repeat of Jan. 6, calling on his supporters to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK,” with language similar to the language he used to incite the attack on the U.S. Capitol. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy followed Trump in denouncing the investigation as politically motivated, but tried to tamp down on the Jan. 6 repeat.

“I don’t think people should protest this, no,” McCarthy said Sunday. Then he went for a hilarious lie: “And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that, either.”

While McCarthy prefers that there not be violence in the streets, he did threaten multiple House investigations of Bragg in a tweet railing against “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump.” Bragg is an independently elected county official, not that that will stop House Republicans from looking for ways to use their committees to “investigate,” aLa attack him.

Mike Pence likewise sprang to Trump’s defense over the weekend. Fresh off of making headlines by saying “history will hold [Trump] accountable for his incitement of the Jan. 6 crowd,” Pence made clear he meant that only history should hold him accountable. Pence strongly disapproves of a prosecutor holding Trump accountable for anything.

“I'm taken aback at the idea of indicting a former president of the United States at a—at a time when there's a crime wave in New York City,” Pence told Jonathan Karl on ABC’s This Week, “that fact that the Manhattan D.A. thinks that indicting President Trump is his top priority I think it—just tells you everything you need to know about the radical left in this country. It just feels like a politically charged prosecution here. And I—for my part, I just feel like it's just not what the American people want to see.”

Let’s take this one point at a time, because Pence is so perfectly encapsulating the Republican position on prosecuting Trump.

First: There is no crime wave in New York City. And former presidents should not be protected from prosecution just because of their elevated status.

Second: The Manhattan district attorney obviously does not think that indicting Trump is his top priority. He already set aside a plan by his predecessor to indict Trump for his financial dealings, and Bragg has now been in office for more than a year. Something one does more than a year after getting the ability to do it is, by definition, not a top priority.

Third: Alvin Bragg is in no way the “radical left,” although he is, to translate what Pence really meant, Black.

Fourth: This may feel politically charged because Republicans are politicizing it through their insistence that Trump should be immune from prosecution. But not charging Trump with crimes he committed would be a political move in itself. Power shouldn’t put people above the law.

And finally: It doesn’t—or shouldn’t—matter what the American people want to see when it comes to prosecuting crimes. As a side issue, it’s no surprise that the people Pence talks to don’t want Trump indicted, but plenty of people will be breaking out the party hats and streamers if and when it happens. But again, prosecution for crimes should not be a popularity contest and being famous and rich and powerful should not insulate you.

But that is the official Trump/Republican position: Charges against Trump can only ever be a politically motivated abuse of power, no matter how many crimes he commits. In reality, of course, while Trump’s prominence has drawn the attention of prosecutors, there’s been an obvious reluctance to charge him with anything because Trump is a political figure and he and his allies will harass the prosecutors and use the charges to whip up their base.

The talking points have spread far and wide in the Republican Party.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has made a name as a non-Trumpy Republican, but he also echoed this line. He claimed he’s met with people and “none of them were big Trump supporters, but they all said they felt like he was being attacked.” Okay … and? Additionally, “There are other issues that really take precedent in terms of where this country needs to go.” But what a county-level district attorney does is never going to determine where the country as a whole is going! Except to the extent that if prosecutors send the message that the powerful are above the law, the country goes in a bad direction.

“I think this is one of the worst uses of the justice system we’ve ever seen,” said Rep. Byron Donalds. “It’s going to descend all of America into further chaos.” To his first point, this is a country with massive racial disparities in arrest, prosecution, and sentencing. That’s not a worse use of the justice system than prosecuting one person? To his second point, the chaos will only come if Trump and Republicans incite violence in response to Trump being charged.

Republicans are lining up to decry the possibility that Trump will be charged. But while it would be a political decision to charge a politician for a crime if there was not evidence that they had indeed committed a crime, it would equally be a political decision not to charge a politician for a crime if there was evidence they had committed one. There is a lot of evidence that Donald Trump has committed crimes. He may face charges in multiple jurisdictions—in addition to Manhattan, there’s the possibility of charges in Fulton County, Georgia, where District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 election in that state, while at the federal level special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election nationally as well as his classified document hoard at Mar-a-Lago. But all of these are serious investigations being carefully conducted by seasoned prosecutors. And Trump is receiving far more deference than the average American would. But for him and Republicans, any consequences Trump ever faces for his actions will be seen as illegitimate—and that’s on them.

snytiger6 9 Mar 20
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