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Donald Trump
The best way for the extreme rightwing Republican supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect former President Trump from being criminally prosecuted for trying to overthrow American democracy for as long as possible is to do nothing at all.
So that’s exactly what the supermajority Trump created on the court did just before Christmas. The court refused to fast-track its review of Trump’s preposterous legal claim he is immune from prosecution for any crimes he committed as president.
Usually when Republicans file desperate appeals with the Supreme Court, they want legal action as quickly as possible. In Trump’s case, just the opposite is true.
Justice delayed is justice denied for every American who has been appalled watching former President Trump evade justice for three years for creating the most deadly and destructive terrorist attack on the U.S. Congress in American history.
Ridiculous Appeals
By slow-walking consideration of Trump’s appeal, the Supreme Court gave the former president everything he wanted. It delayed the starting date of March 4 for Trump’s criminal trial by special prosecutor Jack Smith for his central role in the violent attempt to overthrow President Biden’s election.
Trump has more ridiculous appeals where that came from to continue preventing prosecutor Jack Smith from publicly presenting the mountain of damning evidence and testimony from administration eyewitnesses including Mike Pence and White House lawyers to every crime Trump committed to initiate and perpetuate all the murder and mayhem America watched on January 6.
Never mind there’s not a shred of legal support in the Constitution or in the law for Trump’s nonsensical claim former presidents have lifetime immunity from ever being prosecuted for as many crimes as they want to commit as president.
Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan knocked down that absurdity with the only possible legal decision: “Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy … that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass … Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”
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Sabotage the Prosecution
The court’s intentional sabotage of Trump’s criminal prosecution will become obvious if the court sets a new speed record fast-tracking the reversal of the Colorado State Supreme Court’s decision removing Trump from the state’s primary election ballot for engaging in a violent insurrection against the United States.
It would also blow the cover of all those justices claiming to be Constitutional “originalists” whenever they want to destroy voting rights and other constitutional rights for racial minorities, women or any religion in America other than white Christian nationalism. They believe the founding fathers had the right idea about democracy when they limited the right to vote and other Constitutional rights to wealthy white men who owned valuable property including other human beings.
There couldn’t be any more explicit constitutional originalism than the 1868 language included in the 14th Amendment abolishing slavery after the Civil War, the first violent insurrection to try to overthrow American democracy. Section 3 bans treasonous supporters of the Confederacy from serving as president or in the House and Senate if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof.”
The Supreme Court’s Christmas gift to Trump feeds directly into Trump’s real plan to stay out of prison for the insurrection. If Trump can delay his prosecution until after the 2024 election, he’s convinced there are enough violent, hateful Americans who love him to elect him president again.
End the Rule of Law?
Trump has publicly promised to end the rule of law in America by ridding the Justice Department of legitimate prosecutors and hiring his own to lock up President Biden and his entire family. His campaign rhetoric gets crazier every day, quoting speeches by both Adolph Hitler and Vladimir Putin. Republicans think it’s funny.
Many Democrats are terrified by polls showing Americans would even consider electing Trump again. Here’s all I know a year before the election.
- Everything looks pretty good in Wisconsin, a crucial battleground state. The state Supreme Court is on track to strengthen democracy with fair voting districts and support for women’s rights.
- The driving election issue is restoring abortion rights in both red and blue states. It’s now protected in 21 states with activists working to add 12 more in 2024.
- Biden’s economic year was one of the best in American history. Robust monthly job growth, rising wages and falling inflation from a 2022 peak of 9.1 to 3.1% has ended fears of a recession creating a historically rare soft economic landing. The Fed has penciled in three interest rate cuts in 2024.
When most voters start thinking about the next election, I’m convinced they’ll prefer a successful American president who supports democracy to a raving, aging fanboy of Hitler and Putin.
About those polls, the only Americans who answer cellphone calls from pollsters are those who recognize their names.
