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Old 06-16-2022, 08:59 AM
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Arrow Donald Trump is almost certainly going to get away with treason. But other consequenc

Donald Trump is almost certainly going to get away with treason. But other consequences are coming
By: John Stoehr - Rawstory News - 06-16-22
Re: https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trum...es-are-coming/

If US Attorney General Merrick Garland does not bring an indictment against the former president, he will greenlight future White Houses to commit widespread crimes, said Kimberly Wehle, an ABC News legal analyst. There will “literally” be no more checks and no more balances.

She isn’t alone. Others have made the same case. Together, these seekers of justice are getting louder, as they anticipate the possibility of Donald Trump getting away with his serial acts of sedition, mutiny and treason.

But let’s not let our hopes for tomorrow (if and when Donald Trump is behind bars) overtake our understanding of today. If anything, future White Houses will be finely attuned to the law, as the people working in them will fear what happened to predecessors under Donald Trump.

If the former president is not indicted, I think we can expect the Justice Department to move heaven and earth to show the American people they can still have faith in the promise of American exceptionalism. In order to make sure the public still believes the rule of law applies equally, we can expect federal prosecutions to track down, arrest, indict and prosecute every person who came within farting distance of seditious conspiracy.

Back to the underground

More than 840 people have been indicted in connection with the J6 insurrection. Some pleaded guilty. Some said they were only following Trump’s orders. Some said they felt betrayed by the former president on account of his promising to join the sacking and looting of the US Capitol but instead going back to the White House to watch it all on television.

The Department of Justice was already in the process of rending asunder the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, two of the most notorious white-power terrorist groups. They led the J6 attack. Justice will no doubt ramp up that process after last week’s spectacular first hearing by the J6 committee. If there were misgivings about their intentions to find and murder members of the Congress, there are now no more misgivings.

That Trump planned to sacrifice his paramilitary is clear, according to J6 committee member Jamie Raskin. During a talk in April, the Maryland congressman said Trump and his coup plotters expected “Antifa” to show up January 6. The plan was for the two sides to brawl, creating fantastic television images over which the president would return as the “conquering hero” who invoked martial law to restore “law and order.”

Antifa didn’t show up. But that didn’t stop Joe Biggs, a high-profile figure in the Proud Boys, from leading his gang in chanting “F-U-C-K Antifa,” according to Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards. During testimony last week, Edwards said the mob’s attention quickly turned from Antifa to her and fellow officers. She was thrown back and knocked unconscious.

Over the weekend, police officers arrested more than 30 members of the Patriot Front, a white nationalist group. They were taken into custody on suspicion of planning to riot during a Pride event in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. According to CBS News, the FBI, which is part of the Department of Justice, is assisting in the investigation by local law enforcement.

During the Trump years, funding of and recruitment by white-power terrorists groups grew sharply and then soared in the run-up to the J6 insurrection. (That’s according to information revealed last week by the first J6 committee.) Even if the former president dodges prosecution, do you think these goons are going to think it’s OK to be out in the open?

Lackeys won’t survive:

No matter what happens to Trump, the violent faction of his constituency is almost certainly heading back underground. Attention-getting is how they grew, but only the right kind of attention (from, say, a sitting president who says, during a national debate, that they should “stand back and stand by”). The wrong kind – from polite white society, which puts greater demands on law enforcement to act – is the beginning of the end of their time above ground. Once there were criminal consequences to face, flashing the white power sign to own the libs stopped being fun.

This is likely regardless of what Garland decides to do about Trump.

But what about the respectable white people who work for presidents and who presumably recoil from violence. The same can be said of them, too. There will be checks and balances in the form of the fear of the risk involved in following a criminal president down the road to perdition.

Take Trump’s campaign and legal teams.

Once it became clear to them that the president really was going to take Rudy Giuliani’s counsel seriously – and continue to claim he won though he lost – they left, with Attorney General Bill Barr leading the way, even though the final days of the administration were on the horizon.

Am I saying they did the right thing? Not really. Barr was for voter fraud claims before he was against them. But Barr’s hypocrisy illustrates my point. He and others in Trump’s circle calculated risks, legal and political. In short order, self-interest and self-preservation made them to flee.

As for those who stood by Trump’s side all the way to the end, I don’t see how they escape accountability. None of them are as political toxic as Trump. Like Richard Nixon’s henchman, they’re likely to go down.

The FBI has been investigating Giuliani. (It raided his residences.) Peter Navarro has been indicted. Steve Bannon, too (on an unrelated charge, allegedly). John Eastman, the mastermind of the idea that Vice President Mike Pence could send electors back to their respective state, is surely in hot water. Same for Sidney Powell. She’s embroiled in a defamation suit related to her allegations that Dominion voting machines were rigged. And there are dozens of other ghouls and grifters less well-known and more likely to face prosecution as a result of being less well-known.

The takeaway?

["Trump might survive, but not his lackeys.']

Note: Future lackeys will think twice.

Ordinary hell-raising:

Our political discourse, more often than not, treats the Constitution as if it were a rule book. Deviation from the book (such as failing, possibly, to hold a criminal president accountable) is seen as opening the door to future criminal presidents – as greenlighting future White Houses to commit widespread crimes, according to legal analyst Kimberly Wehle.

The Constitution isn’t a rule book, as Wehle well knows. It’s a document to interpret. Interpretation is informed by politics. Politics, then, is where to find immediate and practical forms of checks and balances. It’s in politics, not the Constitution, where citizens can exercise their political power. The Constitution is a fine topic for a civics lesson. Better, in terms of establishing the acceptable and unacceptable, is ordinary hell-raising.

I don’t know why, but white liberals often dismiss this. During his four years, Trump was the subject of intense criticism by his fellow Republicans. That hurt him, as it hurts all presidents when party members censure them. White liberals said, yeah, yeah, so what. But from that criticism came swing voters who joined Joe Biden’s winning coalition.

Consequences are coming:

After the 2016 election, Richard Spencer was the white-power intellectual. He spoke at a gathering in Washington during which he shouted “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory” in the vein of German Nazis saluting Der Führer. Spencer was a key figure in the Charlottesville massacre during which fascists marched and chanted “the Jews will not replace us.”

Well, consequences came for him.

Laura Bassett is the editor of Jezebel. She got a tip about Richard Spencer using Bumble, a dating app, where he described himself as “a moderate.”

“I’m not a white supremacist leader anymore,” Spencer told Bassett via text. “The entire right generally hate me. The feeling of [sic] mutual. On basic issues, I’m pretty much a liberal: gun control, abortion, etc. I don’t lie or deceive anyone. The notion of listing my politics as ‘conservative’ makes me cringe. It’s complicated. I’m not a white nationalist.”

Donald Trump is almost certainly going to get away with treason. Garland won’t touch him. That will hurt those of us who believe in American exceptionalism, the idea that everyone is treated equally under law. In fact, there are rules for the powerful. There are rules for everyone else.

That should not be surprising.

But let’s not confuse dodging indictment with getting off scot-free. As they come for the little people, so do consequences come for Trump, too. We just can’t see, in the present moment, what they will be in the future.

About this writer: John Stoehr is a fellow at the Yale Journalism Initiative; a contributing writer for the Washington Monthly; a contributing editor for Religion Dispatches; and senior editor at Alternet. Follow him @johnastoehr.
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Personal note: He's leaving them out to dry! He may walk away but not
without some finacial penalites. He's socked away his money [where - nobody
will knows]. Will he go to jail - I doubt it - but other's will. Trump was wrong
from the beginnning - but the people just wanted him in - Rudy should also go
with him. He's maniupulated so many over the years. He's crook in suit and
he cares only about himself and his money that he's manipulated from the
loaners.
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If he's re-elected for whatever reasons - (which I seriously doubt) it will be a
disaster that only history will write. Meanwhile his backer's will write off their
losses to Trump - and he will retire to his gulf club and laugh all the way to
the bank.
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I also doubt Biden will run for re-election he too is showing signs of stress
and really needs to finally retire and enjoy what life he remaining without
all these issues before him.
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Well now - who wants to be President and is he or she really qualified?
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The Supreme [OLD] Court - hasn't done (excuse the expression) but
Jack Shit.
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Our military is all over the world - trying to make sense why they are
there whatsoever? We go in - we pull back - we go back in again - and
once more we pull back. What is that!!!
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What have we accomplised with the world order. We still can get along
with China - Russia and North Korea. They want us gone - forever.
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Infrastrucker in this country is worse than ever. Pollution and Environment
are worse - and the People are all broke - short of foods and money. But
we can give billions away to other nations - devaluated dollars - national
debt is in crisis. The top 1% eat rather well and have plenty of good times
doing whatever they do and it's not work! That's for us lessor class folks
to do - for less money often times.
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Retired folks are worse off then ever. Most in debt up to their ass's and bill's
that rich folks don't know how to relate to!
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Are American's Happy and Well Off - I'll put it this way Government Suck's
and we didn't raise the National Debt - You Boy's and Girl's all did that and
we gotta pay for your glorious debt you created!
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Us civvies are always to blame for whatever Washington does. You eat
three or meals a day - where most are lucky to have bread and water.
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I could go on but I think you all agree - the system is bullshit of late and
whomever is the next President - won't do a damn thing about it -
except maybe get the white house fumacated and get your jet repainted
with camafloge paint so nobody knows who you are when you arrive
wherever you guys go to give away or just party - because you can.
Taxpayer's know better than that. Shake hands with the well to do
and ignore the public with more bullshit everyday about what he or
she is doing to improve our National Interest - which isn't us!!
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__________________
Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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