On the point that a twice-impeached but unconvicted former American president and now the Republican nominee seeking re-election was yesterday convicted on all thirty-four counts of election fraud and is thus a convicted felon—on that point yes, one can legitimately say that for the American presidency to be so deeply shamed is sad. Out of forty-six presidents (Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive terms and his two terms are treated as separate presidencies though forty-five different men have served as president; Biden is thus “forty-six”), only one has the status of either convicted felon or convicted sexual abuser. Donald John Trump has both. It is also sad what continued support for this man says about what the Republican Party, which has chosen him for its 2024 nominee for president, has come to.
But that should not blind us to the clear fact that May 30, 2024 was a glorious day, a righteous day. The judicial system, stressed almost out of joint by a former president and his elected sycophants, worked. The curtain was lifted on all their claims of a rigged system and corruption as those claims were revealed for what they were: the debasement of a political party whose MAGA motto has devolved to “If we don’t win, it was rigged.” This theme has animated the party and particularly its now infamous leader since before the 2020 election when Trump stated it nakedly without even the adornment of fig leaves. And then he did lose, and then, outraged, he lost over sixty court cases clarifying that he lost by their findings of no election fraud.
As I noted at the time, it was wonderfully convenient that there were Republican howls and lamentations of fraud only in the states that Biden won, but not a whiff of fraud in states Trump won. As for those down-ballot Republicans who won in the Biden states? Were they elected through fraud also? No comment from MAGAdom—only the fearful silence of a mouse in a room full of cats. And now two-thirds of the GOP electorate—and virtually all of its officialdom—claim to believe that Trump was cheated out of re-election because Joe Biden is corrupt and the election was rigged. Now that is what is actually sad. What the GOP now bawls for—certainly its MAGA majority does—is a system in which they can never lose in a fair election or even a fair trial; if they lose, ipso facto, it was not fair. This overturning of the two most fundamental measures of democracy, fair elections and fair trials, by one of the two major parties does not augur well for the future, and despots the world over are smiling.
Even so, yesterday was also a righteous day because eighteen citizens, including six alternate jurors in the courtroom every day, were brave enough to accept the role of juror and to hear and see the evidence and render an evidence-based judgment. The judge conducted a trial that was professional and fair. Given Trump followers’ propensity for issuing death threats and committing actual violence (see violent protest, Charlottesville; Pelosi, Paul; insurrection, American), both the prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchan showed considerable courage in following the law. Perhaps they even heard the ancient admonition “Let justice be done though the heavens fall” hovering about their shoulders. The jurors were attentive and seemed to be able to set aside any biases, including the juror who acknowledged being a Truth Social follower (what an ironic name coming from the former president). I believe that I would say the trial was fair even had the verdict been different.
And yet, though the system worked so well in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s righteousness, there are heavy breakers amid the rocks between here and the safety of the shore. Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely delayed Trump’s classified documents trial, ensuring that it will not conclude, or probably even begin, before the election. If Trump wins in November, as she is happily aware, that trial will simply disappear, despite its likely being the closest of the four trials to a slam dunk. Meanwhile the Supreme Court purposefully stalls on Trump’s immunity claim,* also hoping (at least six of them) for a Trump victory in November that will obviate their need to decide whether a sitting president has immunity from prosecution—even if he were to send a SEAL team to assassinate a political rival or give classified documents to a foreign enemy. According to Trump’s lawyers, prosecution even in those cases could only proceed once the president has been impeached and convicted, thus reducing him to a mere citizen no longer above the law. No president has ever been impeached and convicted.
These disturbing undercurrents, especially the anti-democratic dangers posed by the elected MAGA rabble, their angry and gullible constituents, and the two MAGA Supreme Court Justices Alito and Thomas, clearly threaten our judicial system and our democracy. They stand between us and that safe shore. But yesterday was a good day, an American day, a righteous day.
* July 16 update: Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump appointee, dismissed the case altogether, Sunday, July 14, the day after the attempted assassination of Trump, claiming–shockingly–that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith was illegally appointed, since he was not approved by the President and the senate–as if the Special Prosecutor for, say, Hunter Biden had been through such a process. Moreover, this case, in which Trump illegally carted off classified documents to his Florida home, was the closest to an open and shut case among the three federal cases against him. As for the Supreme Court, the six Republican-appointed justices ruled within the last week that presidents are immune from any prosecution argued to be an “official act,” while leaving wholly undefined what constitutes an “official act.” Justice Sotamayor had asked Trump’s defense attorney if sending a Seal Team to assassinate a political rival would be allowable, and he answered that it would be prosecutable only if the president were impeached and convicted–i.e., rendering him a private citizen no longer above the law. The court majority rejected that argument, but appeared to say that any conversation between a president and the attorney general (or anyone?) would not be prosecutable even if they were conspiring to commit a crime, since such a conversation would be an official act. Indeed, it would be very tricky to come up with a presidential action that could not be construed to be an “official act.”
John Rachal's Blog
Righteous Day
May 31, 2024 at 9:58 pm (Ethics, Political Commentary)
On the point that a twice-impeached but unconvicted former American president and now the Republican nominee seeking re-election was yesterday convicted on all thirty-four counts of election fraud and is thus a convicted felon—on that point yes, one can legitimately say that for the American presidency to be so deeply shamed is sad. Out of forty-six presidents (Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive terms and his two terms are treated as separate presidencies though forty-five different men have served as president; Biden is thus “forty-six”), only one has the status of either convicted felon or convicted sexual abuser. Donald John Trump has both. It is also sad what continued support for this man says about what the Republican Party, which has chosen him for its 2024 nominee for president, has come to.
But that should not blind us to the clear fact that May 30, 2024 was a glorious day, a righteous day. The judicial system, stressed almost out of joint by a former president and his elected sycophants, worked. The curtain was lifted on all their claims of a rigged system and corruption as those claims were revealed for what they were: the debasement of a political party whose MAGA motto has devolved to “If we don’t win, it was rigged.” This theme has animated the party and particularly its now infamous leader since before the 2020 election when Trump stated it nakedly without even the adornment of fig leaves. And then he did lose, and then, outraged, he lost over sixty court cases clarifying that he lost by their findings of no election fraud.
As I noted at the time, it was wonderfully convenient that there were Republican howls and lamentations of fraud only in the states that Biden won, but not a whiff of fraud in states Trump won. As for those down-ballot Republicans who won in the Biden states? Were they elected through fraud also? No comment from MAGAdom—only the fearful silence of a mouse in a room full of cats. And now two-thirds of the GOP electorate—and virtually all of its officialdom—claim to believe that Trump was cheated out of re-election because Joe Biden is corrupt and the election was rigged. Now that is what is actually sad. What the GOP now bawls for—certainly its MAGA majority does—is a system in which they can never lose in a fair election or even a fair trial; if they lose, ipso facto, it was not fair. This overturning of the two most fundamental measures of democracy, fair elections and fair trials, by one of the two major parties does not augur well for the future, and despots the world over are smiling.
Even so, yesterday was also a righteous day because eighteen citizens, including six alternate jurors in the courtroom every day, were brave enough to accept the role of juror and to hear and see the evidence and render an evidence-based judgment. The judge conducted a trial that was professional and fair. Given Trump followers’ propensity for issuing death threats and committing actual violence (see violent protest, Charlottesville; Pelosi, Paul; insurrection, American), both the prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchan showed considerable courage in following the law. Perhaps they even heard the ancient admonition “Let justice be done though the heavens fall” hovering about their shoulders. The jurors were attentive and seemed to be able to set aside any biases, including the juror who acknowledged being a Truth Social follower (what an ironic name coming from the former president). I believe that I would say the trial was fair even had the verdict been different.
And yet, though the system worked so well in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s righteousness, there are heavy breakers amid the rocks between here and the safety of the shore. Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely delayed Trump’s classified documents trial, ensuring that it will not conclude, or probably even begin, before the election. If Trump wins in November, as she is happily aware, that trial will simply disappear, despite its likely being the closest of the four trials to a slam dunk. Meanwhile the Supreme Court purposefully stalls on Trump’s immunity claim,* also hoping (at least six of them) for a Trump victory in November that will obviate their need to decide whether a sitting president has immunity from prosecution—even if he were to send a SEAL team to assassinate a political rival or give classified documents to a foreign enemy. According to Trump’s lawyers, prosecution even in those cases could only proceed once the president has been impeached and convicted, thus reducing him to a mere citizen no longer above the law. No president has ever been impeached and convicted.
These disturbing undercurrents, especially the anti-democratic dangers posed by the elected MAGA rabble, their angry and gullible constituents, and the two MAGA Supreme Court Justices Alito and Thomas, clearly threaten our judicial system and our democracy. They stand between us and that safe shore. But yesterday was a good day, an American day, a righteous day.
* July 16 update: Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump appointee, dismissed the case altogether, Sunday, July 14, the day after the attempted assassination of Trump, claiming–shockingly–that Special Prosecutor Jack Smith was illegally appointed, since he was not approved by the President and the senate–as if the Special Prosecutor for, say, Hunter Biden had been through such a process. Moreover, this case, in which Trump illegally carted off classified documents to his Florida home, was the closest to an open and shut case among the three federal cases against him. As for the Supreme Court, the six Republican-appointed justices ruled within the last week that presidents are immune from any prosecution argued to be an “official act,” while leaving wholly undefined what constitutes an “official act.” Justice Sotamayor had asked Trump’s defense attorney if sending a Seal Team to assassinate a political rival would be allowable, and he answered that it would be prosecutable only if the president were impeached and convicted–i.e., rendering him a private citizen no longer above the law. The court majority rejected that argument, but appeared to say that any conversation between a president and the attorney general (or anyone?) would not be prosecutable even if they were conspiring to commit a crime, since such a conversation would be an official act. Indeed, it would be very tricky to come up with a presidential action that could not be construed to be an “official act.”
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