Let’s pretend our democracy is a human body. What do you do when it seems as if your body’s first, second, third, fourth, fifth - okay, every single line of defense, fails you? What do you do when all forms of treatment, no matter how high the hopes of the doctors, fall short, leaving the tumor to continue growing, unabated.
Don’t look now, but our ‘body’ is in danger of falling into sepsis shock. To some, it may feel like a cold - nothing to worry about. Until you wake up in the ER, your arms and legs black from the flesh-eating parasites that have made their way into your circulatory system. At the risk of using another anatomical metaphor, our Justice system is the heart of our democracy. And the prognosis isn’t good.
When the ‘antibodies’ of our system, the judges, prosecutors, Attorneys General, elected officials, the media, law enforcement, as well as the highest court in the land, fail to hold the most stentorian traitor to ever come down the pike, accountable for ANY of his deplorable actions, it threatens every cell in our ‘body.’ And, it’s contagious. Don’t think for a minute we’re the only ones who’ll suffer if our democracy dies. The disease that is Trumpism will spread like wildfire around the world. The political version of Covid-19.
Before you say, “Well, Trump’s being forced to pay $400 million in civil judgements,” has he paid a dime, yet? Sure, the clock on the interest is ticking, but has he paid? Anyone with an IQ over five knows Trump is going to do everything he can to try and figure out a way to avoid civil accountability, just like he’s always done. Be it through his usual delay tactics, finding an appellate judge(s) sympathetic to his cause, a willing foreign government happy to give him the money for 'favors later on', turning to his millions of dim-witted followers, or all of the above, to bail him out. But, I digress, as we’re not talking about civil penalties, here. Compared to this incurable cancer of a man, the civil cases are just the sniffles.
Call it what you want; due process, the slow turning wheels of Justice, etc. At the end of the day, when it comes to the problem of Donald J. Trump, why does it seem as if We The People are getting the shaft every time we turn around? Sure, there might be a lone, courageous official, or court, here and there doing their best to uphold their oath(s), but, with each passing day, it appears as if nearly every time we get close, our bubble bursts. Every time we focus on a person(s) in a position to hold Trump criminally accountable for his innumeralbe crimes against the Constitution, they’re either bending over backwards at every turn to make sure he gets away with it, or watching helplessly as their hands are tied behind their backs by the grinding garbage disposal of Justice.
Be it a Department of Justice, led by a meek Attorney General, who sat on their hands for more than a year after an attempted violent coup - only to move after a Congressional committee, one with no prosecutorial authority, made it all-but-impossible for them to continue to ignore - (for what it’s worth, I still say appointing Merrick Garland Attorney General was the biggest mistake Joe Biden ever made); A Congress so beyond broken, so full of cowards and stone-cold traitors, half of them should be prosecuted, themselves, for aiding/abetting insurrection - amongst other things. But, they won’t be.
And, of course, our irreproachable, infallible SCOTUS. These arrogant, dystopian hacks seem to be doing everything they can to afford the most treasonous president in history, by a landslide, every possible accommodation, in the hopes he ends up back in the oval before he can be held accountable for his actions. If anyone really is above the Law in this Republic, it’s our Supreme Court. Even the scandalous appearance of a sitting Justice about to hear a case in which his wife is a co-conspirator, doesn’t move the needle an inch. Zero accountability. Zero concern.
Jack Smith, the ‘Lancelot’ of this saga. Even the unflappable patriot that is Mr. Smith didn’t feel he had the cards - or the stones - to charge the architect of the coup, a coup that saw thousands sentenced to prison and several officers die, with insurrection.
For Goodness sake, there were calls to execute the Vice President of the United States, as well as the Speaker of the House, and now, it’s all but forgotten. A blip on the radar. Now, they’re the victims. At least, as far as an appeals court that just ruled against Smith and his team, are concerned. The ruling, which will, no doubt, see hundreds of sentences reduced/commuted, will do nothing but aid the toxic, carcinogenic narrative of the wannabe (soon to be?) fascist and his cronies.
Poor Fani Willis. She went on a date with someone in her office, and suddenly, she’s as corrupt as Trump? One minute, all the cards in the deck are finally looking like they’re stacking against him, then, Poof! Suddenly, she’s the one on trial? WTF is wrong with this picture? Reminds one of former Senator Al Franken’s scandal that was only a scandal because his own colleagues in the Senate climbed over themselves to prove to everyone watching they could eviscerate their own, better than anyone on the Right. This unjust, relentless persecution of a champion of democracy illustrates what we’re really best at: Attacking the righteous from all sides, like wild hyenas, while letting the real bad guys off the hook.
Then, there’s Aileen “MAGA” Canon. If she were any more pro-Trump, she’d don a pair of Ivanka’s red lingerie behind the bench. Although, it’s quite possible she may wear it underneath. Of course, there are still members of the media, like respected MSNBC pundit, Ali Velshi, who refuse to see the galactically obvious evidence all around us, and continue to utter incomprehensibly obtuse phrases such as, “It appears Trump is receiving ‘somewhat preferable’ treatment from Judge Canon.” That’s like saying, “It appears Hannibal Lecter is somewhat preferable towards meat.” The odds of this beyond corrupt jurist being held accountable and removed, are less than zero.
What about the antithesis to Elliot Richardson? Former AG, Bill Barr, single-handedly derailed years of investigations into the Trump/Russia connection - then, in an effort to avoid any/all accountability, goes on a whirlwind media tour ranting against his former boss. So far, it’s worked.
Bob Mueller’s not free from blame, either. He could’ve chose to be more forceful, to rise to the call, to see where we were heading. One simple sentence could’ve changed the course of history - and save he, and his colleagues, years of wasted effort: “It is our finding the president of the United States acted criminally.” Boom. Instead, as the late great Sean Connery said, the former director of the FBI brought a knife to a gun fight.
Let’s not forget the man of the hour. The one who, with one vote, with one flick of his pen, made all this suffering possible: The insatiably power-hungry, anti-democratic lap dog, Moscow Mitch McConnell. He could’ve seen to it Trump was held accountable. Once again, he failed us. History will not be kind, but as far as any real repercussions for a lifetime of treachery and corruption, don’t hold your breath.
Fox News: They were forced to fork over nearly $1 billion, yet, the network of lies continues to operate with impunity, as if nothing happened.
All of this should come as no surprise, however. Because, if there’s one area of criminality our Justice system has a hard time with, it’s scammers. Be it identity thieves who make millions stealing from insurance companies, retail stores, etc., and who never do a day in jail, or if they do, it’s a token sentence, then, they’re back on the streets doing it again.
Financial scammers using burner phones and phony gmail addresses to trick millions, especially the elderly, into giving up their passwords, thus draining their bank accounts; only to have law enforcement tell you it’s virtually impossible to track them down; translation; zero accountability.
Heck, even the recent Amazon documentary Operation Landslide, detailing the downfall of the Net’s biggest kiddie porn king, ends by reminding us over four thousand members of this disgusting, illegal site have yet to be questioned, let alone, arrested/prosecuted.
One just needs to look around to see the side effects of this ‘treatment’ by our crack team of judicial ‘quacks.’ It infects our everyday lives everywhere we go. Where we work, how we work, where we eat, how we treat one another, etc.
Poll workers, nationwide, resigning due to threats and stress; State/local congressmen abandoning ship every time you turn around; Teachers telling anyone/everyone thinking of getting into the noblest of professions to ‘run in the other direction’, due to the erosion of reverence/respect, as well as zero accountability on the part of parents who, instead of listening to an educated professional, point fingers at everyone but themselves for their child’s problems.
The gold standard of customer service - Restaurant owners - refusing to take responsibility/ownership of an issue, and instead, boldly taking to social media to lambast/attack their customers in grandiose fashion;
Heck, just today I went to my local market to return a simple bad piece of meat, and, instead of simply apologizing and offering me a credit, the owner accused me of ‘not cooking it properly.’
We can’t capitalist corporations, can we? The ‘life’s blood’ of this democracy; UPS breaks kids’ Xmas presents, ruining their holiday, forever, and, instead of simply crediting the parents for their irreplaceable loses, tells them they’re ‘shit out of luck’ and ‘there’s nothing we can do.’
Frontier Airlines, the company that makes the cable companies look like humanitarians, leaves a mother and her kids stranded for two days after closing all counters over an hour before take-off, costing them close to $2000 in additional expenses, not to mention untold stress/heartache, and responds with $135 in travel credits; credits that expire in three months.
Even Amazon, the bastion of amazing customer service/accountability, rather than simply crediting you the difference on a product that you find cheaper at Costco, Target, etc, refuses to price match any of its competitors; instead, daring you to take the time to box it back up and deliver it to a drop, yourself. After all, what are you gonna do about it? Not shop there anymore? Ha!
And now, as we speak, for the pièce de résistance,
the cherry on top of this ‘zero accountability’ sandwich, we get to have a front row seat as our bumbling, stumbling judicial system flails about like the Keystone Cops after a few beers, chasing the biggest scammer and con-artist in the history of history down the rabbit hole of legal loopholes, false narratives, glaringly obvious guilt, an apathetic public, an obtuse media, and massive inexplicable inaction.
If Justice is blind, there is no doubt, our Justice System is Helen Keller. If one didn’t know better, you’d think we are intentionally protecting one man’s interests over an entire nation.
Hear that sound? That’s us, flatlining.