“He pulls a knife, you pull a gun, he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.” – Officer Jim Malone, The Untouchables
CNN gleefully reports, “Trump is just days from his first criminal trial after latest legal gambit fails.” According to the “analysis” piece, Trump being the first president to be brought to criminal trial would mark him with a “historic stigma.” If convicted of a felony, it could also render Trump ineligible to hold public office, even if he were elected president in a landslide.
Whether or not the Democrats would risk overturning an election in such a way is anyone’s guess. Odds are they would. Either way, they have nothing to lose in moving forward with these indictments because, as usual, Republicans are putting up no resistance whatsoever. Yes, they’re crying about it, calling the persecution of Trump “lawfare” and wringing their hands about the precedents being set.
No one cares. No one ever cares when Republicans complain about Democratic enormities. Republicans complain (and fund raise) and Democrats continue to act. This cycle needs to be broken.
The Republicans must indict Barack Obama and arrest him. And they have to make it look worse than Trump’s arrest. Issue a warrant and film him, cuffed, being put into the back of a police car, with the cop helpfully pushing his head down as is their custom for the suspect’s safety.
He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue, figuratively speaking.
It’s not as if this is some Herculean task. Every president commits indictable crimes while in office. They all use the IRS to go after political opponents. Obama did. Republicans screamed about it. Indict him for it. Find a right-wing court in a red state and bring the charges. As the Democrats have shown, they don’t even have be legit. “Trumped up” charges will do just fine, pun intended. Let Biden know he’s next, the minute he leaves office.
The Republicans could even bring legitimate charges, like violating the War Powers Act while in office, which Obama did on hundreds of occasions. He bombed Syria not only without Congressional approval but after Congress refused to grant his request for authorization. Who cares if Trump and Biden did it, too? This isn’t about fairness or consistency or proving some academic point. It’s war. You either fight, surrender, or die.
I can already hear the sanctimonious objections from conservatives who “don’t want to live in a country where the sacred trust of enforcing the law is abused in this manner.” Newsflash: you already do. The only question is whether you’re going to do something about it other than cry.
But cry about it is all Republicans ever do. When in power, the Democrats act; the Republicans talk (and fund raise). Consider a sports analogy.
Back in the early 1990s, the Buffalo Bills had one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history. They scored so many points so fast that Jim Kelly’s and Thurman Thomas’ statistics were actually muted in some seasons because they were taken out of the game so early. The Bills blew out teams that badly (and then lost the Super Bowl four straight times).
During a playoff game in Buffalo against Kansas City, analyst and former coach Bill Walsh remarked that the Chiefs’ strategy of “dive right, dive left” for three yards and a cloud of dust was never going to work while the Bills were busy gobbling up yards throwing the ball downfield.
He was right. The Bills were up 17-0 by halftime and never looked back.
This Republicans have been the 1992 Chiefs for the past one hundred years. When the Democrats have power, they make one great leap forward after another in expanding the reach of government. Republicans kick and scream while they’re doing it but when handed the reins of power they do nothing. Once the Democrats are back in, another great leap forward. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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Tom Mullen is the author of It’s the Fed, Stupidand Where Do Conservatives and Liberals Come From? And What Ever Happened to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness?
