“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must…undergo the fatigues of supporting it.” (Thomas Payne) 
Well, the Trump indictment was unsealed and the proverbial stuff hit the fan. The most serious charges are 31 counts – one count for each document – alleging Trump violated 18 USC § 793(e) – part of the Espionage Act – by retaining and not returning documents relating to national defense. The remaining six charges allege conspiracy, false statements, and canceling documents.
If the DOJ has evidence to support these charges, which I believe they do, at least to some extent, then Trump should be indicted, at least if we believe no one is above the law…but so to should President Biden, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Mike Pence, and Hunter Biden…just to name a few. And therein lies the problem.
President Biden had a habit of walking off with classified documents while he was a senator and later Vice President. Of course, he stored those documents in highly secure areas such as his garage in Wilmington, Delaware and a “locked closet” in his Pen Biden office in Washington, DC. Not sure which is more secure – the garage with his Vette or a locked closet in DC with its crime. In any event, Biden had no business keeping classified records as a senator or as a former Vice President.
In H. Clinton’s case, the FBI found 110 emails in over 50 separate email chains that were classified at the time they were received. Emails in eight of those chains were classified as “top secret.” She obtained all of this material while Secretary of State and kept it on her personal unsecured server at her personal unsecured residence – not only while she was Secretary of State, but also after she left the government. Comey’s reason for declining to recommend prosecution was he had “reasonable confidence that there was no intentional misconduct.” That’s nice, but “intent” is not required to violate 18 USC §793(e) (Espionage Act) or 18 USC §1924, both dealing with removal and retention of classified information.
Of course, former Vice President Pence had to join the ‘let’s meander off with classified documents club.’ Following the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, Pence was asked on three separate occasions if he had taken any classified documents when he left office. Three times he replied no. About a week after a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate President Biden taking classified documents, Pence informed the National Archives he found some of those pesky documents he took when his term as Vice President ended. Those documents were found in four boxes he had in his Indiana residence. Oooops.
As for Comey, well he not only had classified documents in his home – after being fired from the FBI – but shared that classified information with his lawyers – who were not authorized to see it. Two of those documents contained information classified as “secret” and two others contained information classified as “confidential.” Additionally, Comey had his friend, Daniel Richman leak an unclassified memo to the press in the hopes it would force the appointment of a special prosecutor. Then of course, there’s his involvement in the Steele Dossier. Talk about the deep state.
Let us not forget Hunter who is alleged to have engaged in bribery and tax fraud. To be fair, these are still allegations. What is fact, is that he lied on ATF Form 4473 (background check to purchase a firearm) and was unlawfully in possession of a firearm because he is, or was at the time, “an unlawful user of or addicted” to a controlled substance.” Both of these are felonies. Yet, here he is walking around smoking crack, smacking hookers’ ass, and blowing paint through straws to create high priced “art.” Must be nice to be one of the chosen.
No matter how you shred that paper, wipe that hard drive, or spin those facts, President Biden, H. Clinton, M. Pence, and J. Comey all violated 18 USC §793 (Espionage Act) and 18 USC §1924. So, riddle me this, why is Trump charged under 18 USC §793 but not the other four? For those who want to argue that Biden, Clinton, Pence, and Comey cooperated with the government whereas Trump did not – don’t. Cooperation is relevant to mitigation – lessor sentence – but not a defense to the commission of a crime. Besides, Clinton (remember the BleachBit?) and Comey did anything but cooperate. As for Biden, well he had classified documents he took… some for close to 30 years and others he took from a SCIF.
As for Hunter, granted he didn’t take classified documents. He’s just the son of a once powerful senator, Vice-President, and now President who committed at least two felonies the FBI has known about for years and yet he’s not been indicted – even though he’s been under investigation since at least 2018. Instead he’s palling around with his Dad – “‘the Big Guy” – on Air Force One.
I’m not arguing Trump should not have been indicted. What I am arguing is indicting one of Biden’s leading political opponents a year before the election, while not indicting Biden and other favored people, four of whom violated the exact same law Trump was indicted for, is third world banana republic politics. This bass ackward policy has the potential to cause a constitutional crisis and will, without a doubt, result in the further loss of trust in governmental institutions. I believe the consequences of the later will be far worse than the former.
First, neither an indictment nor a conviction can prevent Trump from becoming President. Simply put, a felon in jail can be elected President if he receives 270 electoral votes, though ironically, he would not be able to vote in presidential elections.
The only requirements for a person to be President are (1) the person must be at least 35 years old; (2) they must be a natural born citizen of the U.S.; and (3) they must have lived in the U.S. for 14 years. Don’t believe me, look it up – Article II, Sec 2, Cl. 5 of the Constitution. Congress can neither add to or subtract from these constitutional requirements.
So yes, Trump can run for office and if he receives 270 electoral votes he will become the 47th President of the U.S. In fact, in 1920 Eugene Debs, a socialist, ran for President while in prison – ironically he was in prison for violating the Espionage Act. Though a third party candidate he was not a ‘minor’ one and took over 4% of the popular vote. Pretty impressive for a socialist sitting in prison for violating the Espionage Act at the end of the First Red Scare.
Are we about to have a constitutional crisis? I don’t know, but we very well could. For the sake of argument, let’s assume Trump wins the 2024 presidential election while he’s sitting in a federal prison, what then? There’s only two ways he could be removed from office. Under the 25th Amendment Trump could be removed if a majority of his cabinet or a majority of the House certifies he is unable to discharge his duties, and then confirm that by two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate. Second, he could be removed under Article I of the Constitution – a majority vote to impeach by the House, followed by a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate to remove. Does anyone really believe you can find 218 congressmen and 66 senators to vote to remove Trump just after he was elected? Yea, me neither.
So, what do we do? Turn a wing of the prison into an alternate White House? Not sure heads of states and other dignitaries would be overly impressed having meetings in a jail cell. What about travel to foreign countries for meetings like the G-7? Does he get special parole if he wears an ankle monitor? Suspend the sentence until after he leaves office? That would just be more double standard justice – special treatment for special people but not for us rubes. Or maybe Trump could pardon himself? Though it seems counter-intuitive that a President could pardon himself, the Constitution places no limits on his pardon powers. If he does, and the Supreme Court finds he can’t, then who’s going to arrest him?
A constitutional crisis we can work through, the loss of trust in governmental institutions and the media I’m not so sure of, at least not in the short run and not without significant social upheaval.
Governments can only exist with the consent of the governed or by force of the government. All democratic forms of government, including ours, must have the consent of the governed, once that’s gone the government will collapse and be replaced – most often with one that uses force on the governed. We are at the tipping point. According to Gallup in 2022 American’s trust in:
- the Presidency is an abysmal 23% – down 15 points from a staggeringly bad 38% in 2021;
- Congress fell to an unbelievable low of 7% – down 5 points from 2021;
- the Supreme Court, fell 11 points from 36% in 2021 to 25%;
- the Criminal Justice system fell from 20% to 14% in the same time period;
- Public schools came in at 38%, down 4 points in a year;
- Newspapers went from 21% to 16%;
- And in a ‘hold my beer’ moment, Television News fell from 16% to 11%;
Pew found that in 1958 73% of Americans trusted our government to do what is right, in 1964 it was 77%. On May 1, 2022 – Before the raid on Mar-a-Largo – only 20% trusted our government in general.
Two things I find very concerning. First, instead of those in charge of our institutions addressing the reasons Americans are losing trust in them, they move to restrict our liberties. Many in government and Corporate Media, including the President himself, are not only calling for, but actually censoring Americans in the name of preventing “misinformation” and “disinformation” – which often turns out to be accurate information the government wants to hide from the public. When they aren’t censoring, they are actively attempting to take our other liberties, a few examples:
- Freedom of Religion (1 Am) is being demonized as engaging in hateful activities and even accusing some Catholics of being extremists. Offenders are often arrested and tried;
- Freedom to peacefully assemble and protest (1 Am) is being violated by investigating, arresting, and trying people without just reasons…at least if you are a member of a group the government disfavors;
- The FBI violates our right to be free of unreasonable searches (4 Am) by lying to obtain secret warrants from a secret court;
- The right of citizens to own firearms (2 Am) is under attack in states like New York, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, Oregon, and others;
- January 6 protestors, and in some instances rioters, have been denied their rights to a speedy trial (6 Am) and due process (5 Am);
I could go on, like the COVID lockdowns that turned a free nation into a prison camp and in the process violated every principle the Constitution is based on.
It seems to me that the government, with the assistance of Corporate Media has already stepped across the line from governing with the consent of the people, to using force to govern the people. We are now faced with two options. Reign the government in through voting authoritarians out of office and replacing them with people who will abide by the Constitution and force unelected bureaucrats to seek new careers. Or continue to vote for the same group of people and eventually end up in a country with widespread and violent social unrest. Guess there’s a third option – just go along and become a clone of every other freedom hating dictatorial government.
The choice is ours…I suggest we choose wisely.
Keep Calm and Jester On!