Indict The Bastard

Given today’s momentous events in Washington, Scoop is republishing a piece by its columnist in California, Martin LeFevre, from over a year ago, “Indict the Bastard.” As the author writes today, “Prescience is secondary, since it flows from perception and insight in the present, which in turn informs and influences the course of future action and events. America will now have its essential reckoning.“

Having predicted the election of George Bush (twice), Barack Obama, and most notably, Donald Trump, you would think I ‘d have voice in the United States. You’d be wrong. But since what passes for democracy in America hangs in the balance, I must speak up.

In keeping with a long tradition of Americans looking the other way, hoping bad things will go away, and trying to have things both ways, the January 6 Committee is signaling that it won’t call for the indictment of Donald Trump. If it does not, the Justice Department, under Merrick Garland, will almost certainly not indict him. Trump will run again in 2024, and very possibly steal the election.

Having accused the Democrats of rigging the last election, the MAGA Republicans are methodically pouring a putrid foundation to rig the next one. Trump could well become president again by usurping the will of the people and destroying the Constitution of the United States. After all, he subverted a founding principle of the United States – the peaceful transfer of power.

The status quo loving President Obama did not hold Bush-Cheney accountable for the malicious invasion of Iraq, and the albatross of Afghanistan was hung around his neck after he doubled down there a year after taking office. Obama also had the big bankers by the balls when they came on bended knee to the White House following the 2007 global financial meltdown they were responsible for, but to their surprise, he bowed before them and let them off the hook. That helped to pave the way for Trump.

Robert Mueller caved after his interminable investigation of Trump’s collusion with Russia and more importantly, obstruction of justice in the investigation. That allowed William Barr to push his ample weight as Attorney General into the vacuum and prematurely exonerate Trump.

Completing the arc of recent history, the Republicans in the Senate, who had their lives threatened as much as the Democrats by the January 6 insurrectionists, couldn’t even convict Trump as he was leaving office after the House of Representatives impeached him (for the second time).

The same basic pattern is playing out again in real time, and the MAGA mob is laughing all the way to the hell they have in store for America after the Trump rump Republican Party takes the House and Senate in November.

There’s only one thing now that can stop the catastrophe of Trump’s return, and it isn’t the mythical rising up of the good and great American people. He and his cronies need to be held accountable for their crimes.

In short, this nation has to put Donald Trump on trial. Even if he’s not convicted, it will arrest the plunge into fascism. Failure to do so will be a betrayal of the Constitution and democratic traditions, and demonstrate a profound lack of faith in the American people.

Make no mistake about it: the Donald plans to return with a vengeance. Trump wants not just vindication for losing the election, which the monumental loser could not accept, but revenge on all his enemies, Democrats and Republicans alike.

The January 6 Committee is afraid of appearing partisan by openly recommending the Justice Department indict Trump. And Merrick Garland and the Justice Department are afraid of violence if Trump is indicted and put on trial. The gathering forces of fascism in America are relying on these fears.

First, these are political crimes for god’s sakes, not just criminal offences (though Trump is clearly guilty of those as well). It’s absurd to try to scrub the politics from political life. Let right-wing pricks like Tucker Carlson scream partisanship from the rafters. They’re doing so anyway.

Second, Donald Trump, his mob base, and the Republicans with few exceptions (two of them sit on the January 6 Committee – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger) are cowards. They will crawl back under the rocks they were hiding under before a lack of informed citizenship by the American people (the vast majority of whom don’t care about anything but me and mine) allowed them to slither out.

Remember, after telling the mob he assembled that he would lead them to the Capitol, Trump hid out in the White House, gleefully watching as his filthy rabble stormed “the People’s House,” hunted for members of Congress, as well as his own Vice-President, on whom Trump sicced the mob.

The January 6 Committee and many others, in office or the major media, are repeating ad nauseum that “democracy is in real and present danger in America.” If they mean it, they’ve got to draw a line and insist on the indictment of Donald Trump and the other conspirators.

If the January 6 Committee strongly recommends Trump’s indictment, the Justice Department will be under enormous pressure indict Trump as soon as possible. This is the last chance. A nation that doesn’t hold a seditious president accountable doesn’t deserve to keep even a semblance of a democracy.

The trial will achieve what America has long avoided doing: Bring political malfeasance and rot out into the light of day, and have a long overdue national reckoning.

Let the chips fall where they may. The time for clever calculations and denial is over. Fearing violence and declining to hold autocrats accountable, at home or abroad, emboldens them and invites more conflict and violence.

© Scoop Media