My wife – I’ll call her Jane – has a suggestion for Donald Trump. It’s not quite what you might expect.
There is a rather interesting conversation to be had about Donald Trump and the speculation surrounding his health and political future.
Some people speculate about how much longer he might remain in office. Others speculate about what might happen should he suddenly disappear from the political landscape.
My wife, however, has a rather different proposition.
She doesn’t want Donald Trump to die.
No, Jane would much prefer that he stick around for a good long while.
Why?
Because she wants him to live long enough to witness the consequences of his actions. She wants him to experience the indignity of being held accountable, rather than escaping into the mythology of a political martyr.
I rather like her thinking.
There is something fundamentally wrong with a political system in which the departure or death of a powerful individual can become a substitute for accountability.
Trump has spent an extraordinary amount of time portraying investigations into his conduct as political persecution. He has attacked prosecutors, judges, investigators and institutions whenever their actions have threatened his interests.
Yet the principle at stake is remarkably straightforward.
Nobody should be above the law.
Not a president. Not a former president. Not a billionaire. And certainly not someone who believes that occupying the White House somehow confers a permanent exemption from ordinary standards of accountability.
And what about the family?
Political power should not become a family business in which access, influence and proximity to the presidency are treated as opportunities for private enrichment.
Where legitimate questions arise about financial dealings, business interests or possible conflicts of interest, those questions deserve proper scrutiny. Family connections should provide neither automatic protection nor automatic condemnation. Evidence should determine the answers.
That is what accountability looks like.
Of course, Trump might prefer that history remember him as a persecuted leader, a victim of political enemies and a man who was simply too successful for his opponents to tolerate.
But history is not obliged to accept somebody’s preferred version of events.
Nor should the American justice system.
There is a difference between wishing someone harm and wishing that someone lives long enough to answer for their actions.
Jane understands that distinction perfectly.
She isn’t asking for a premature ending to the Trump story. She wants the chapters that follow to include investigations, evidence, scrutiny and, where wrongdoing is established, consequences.
No convenient escape. No automatic absolution. No rewriting the story simply because the leading character has left the stage.
And perhaps that is the most important point.
Accountability should never be about revenge. It should be about establishing the truth, protecting democratic institutions and demonstrating that public office is a responsibility, not a personal entitlement.
So, Donald, if Jane had her way, you would have plenty of time ahead of you.
Plenty of time to enjoy retirement, reflect on your presidency and perhaps discover that the rules apply to everybody.
She has a message for you.
Don’t die on us yet, Donald. There’s some music to face.
And frankly, I think she speaks for quite a few people who would prefer to see justice served while everyone involved is still around to witness it.
And hopefully, it makes him squirm. Every second of his life. Preferably in a prison cell.
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I tip my hat to Jane; thanks for sharing with us Roswell.
It is important for all to see the Trump regime held accountable. There is an inbuilt desire for retribution in most people, but as Roswell and Jane point out it is the accountability for actions that is important, not retribution.
Trump’s actions, imo, are worthy of impeachment. It would be in the USA’s interest to have him removed from office, even though that means a man willing to prostitute himself to any cause would take his place.
This is unlikely to happen, imo, as the Democratic Party still won’t have the numbers in the Senate to make it stick. That is not unless more than a handful of Republican senators are willing to reject just voting on party lines (assuming Trump can be shown to have breached the law or whatever.)
As Democrats lay the groundwork for investigations, many in the party are wary of the most aggressive tool available to them: impeachment. Trump, the only president to have been impeached twice, has said it would be “very unfair” if Democrats move to impeach him a third time.
Some Democrats have floated impeachment as an option, but others argue it could distract from their affordability agenda.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which plays a key role in the impeachment process, told MS NOW in August that Trump is “very eager” for Democrats to impeach him so he can mobilize his political base.
“We’re not going to play into the game,” he said.
(Los Angeles Times)
Having congressional investigations into someone who is deceased can look petty, and it certainly could be painted as such by vested interests. But it is important any wrongdoing by the Trump regime be exposed. It would be best if Trump was still alive as the investigations were conducted and when any findings delivered; even if that requires listening to him and his sychophantic network calling them ‘witchhunts’.
Well, given his dickey ticker, his kidney problems, his many toxic infections and his daily drug habits, could be that Jane may not get her longer term wish!
Thanks, Thommo. It was her come-back at me when I said that I hope he snaps his mortal coil any day now.
Hmmm ….. I think Jane has a deliciously wicked mind. Well done!!
So moving forward one step to consider how the MSM would respond after four (4) years of sycophantic grovelling, ignoring & polishing on behalf of TACO Trumpery.
Would the MSM dump him, and by ignoring him make him totally irrelevant to American society??
Would his billionaire AI mates exclude him from the Internet so that his sad, demented geriatric ravings were blocked at source??
Would the American voters care any which way, or is well deserved ignominy the optimal solution??
I think the Democrats want Trump to play out his full term. If they try to impeach him before-hand it will take an enormous amount of time, energy and law fare contests and they risk losing it to a nasty backlash by his hard-line backers. Also the community at large will see impeachment as a distraction from the social reforms that the Democrats must now address as existential issues.
If I were the Leader of the House I would adopt Paul Keating’s tactic when John Hewson asked why wouldn’t call an early election?
Keating replied: “…Because I want to do you slowly, mate…”
The MSM will abandon and crucify Trump after he leaves office and thus he will fade into ignominious retirement, forgotten but not forgiven.
I don’t want him dead for a long time. Ideally, I want some sort of seizure that renders him “locked-in” – incapable of speech or voluntary movement, but aware of what is happening around him. And I want it to happen publicly, so the cult can’t try to turn it into a mystery nor him into a martyr.
And then the accountability for everyone else can get underway …
I think it’s way past time that the law caught up with his offspring.
Take that intellectual giant, Donald Jnr. He writes out a cheque (a bribe) for Stormy Daniels, signs it, and hands it to Trump solicitor Michael Cohen, who did as instructed and delivered it to Daniels.
Who went to jail?
The messenger. Cohen.