A Bad Take in a Country Full of Them
Published at 09:13 on 15 January 2023
This is just another bad take in a country full of them. A bad take underpinned, no doubt, by the naïve faith that the USA is special and the rules of democratic decline therefore do not apply to it.
A bad take that, combined with a nation full of similarly bad takes, has the overall effect that if you are sufficiently powerful, you can do anything and get away with it. A nation full of bad takes which is now already a nation of men and not a nation of laws. A nation that acts like a cocky teenager who believes that his drinking will never lead to his driving causing any problems.
Yes, it all complicates things, no doubt about that. But the cases are not completely identical (one accused criminal’s actions appear to be mostly accidental, governed by how the accused cooperated with the authorities to the point of informing them of the unlawful behavior). The complications are not being disputed by me here. What I am taking issue with is the outright celebration of how there is now a path to holding neither Trump nor Biden accountable for something that would land J. Random Federal Employee behind bars in detention pending a criminal trial.
Both should be held accountable, and this accountability process includes taking into account one accused’s cooperation and the other accused’s lack of remorse into fact. If this ends in Biden being compelled to resign with a misdemeanor charge to his name, so be it. No special rights for the powerful.
There is only one place where a nation ruled by the principle that the powerful can do whatever the hell they want can go, and it is not a good place.
Maybe things will change, and a turn off the road to hell will be taken before the inevitable arrival at that road’s destination comes, but I’m not holding my breath.