The Trump administration: the pursuit of justice or of revenge?
One can hardly blame Trump for wanting to go after the people who used lawfare against him – who invented charges and twisted the intent of statutes in order to end his political career, bankrupt him and his family, and ultimately imprison him if they possibly could manage it. Their actions should have put every American on notice that they were adopting Beria-like strategies and going very far in a dangerous direction.
That danger wasn’t only to Trump and the right. They were further undermining respect for the law itself, which had already been undermined by every miscarriage of justice that ever was, and the more obvious the injustice the more deeply the disrespect. Therefore, every time a political prosecution is mounted, the charges must be ironclad to avoid the inevitable conclusion that the prosecution is merely political and opportunistic. And the cases against Trump were quite the opposite of ironclad.
The left committed very real violations that need redress, as Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) has said:
“Now they’re like, ‘Oh, this is, this is retribution,’ and it’s like, ‘No, no. It’s justice. You really did do these things,” he said, laying out specifics of what the left has done.
“You really did target pro-life Catholics. You really did target parents who went to school board meetings, and weaponized the government. You really have put people in prison for non-violent offenses. You’ve tried to bankrupt people. You’ve completely corrupted and abused the whole purpose of the Department of Justice, and that is going to be remedied, and frankly, the people that have done it are going to be held accountable,” Davidson promised.
But there’s a caveat: it will be seen by the American people as tit-for-tat revenge unless the evidence against such offenders is crystal clear and the charges are not the result of the twisting of statutes to make them fit a situation to which they were never meant to apply. And that’s not just some sort of moral stance; it’s a practical one as well. If one of the reasons the GOP is in power is to right wrongs, the process of doing so must be seen as fair or the Republicans will lose the American people and the worm will turn once again, back to the left.
One would think a number of things the DoJ did were illegal in the actual sense. Thus, using the law to remedy them would look legit.
But what is illegal about “going after” pro-life Catholics? Each useless investigation, each case dropped after the “suspect” spent huge sums on defense, each “raid”, were they actually illegal?
The ATF managed, through diligent attention to detail, to avoid any possibility that they wouldn’t have to “legally” murder Malinowski in Little Rock. Where in the process is there a law broken?
For the most part, this is discretion we’re looking at.
Was it illegal for Lois Lerner to aim the IRS at conservative non-profits? Show me the law.
Nope. This is going to be a dirty war.
Let’s see, Neo: would it be tit-for-tat to use a 6 AM raid on his private residence, complete with swat teams, red lights, and frogmen, to bring Eric Holder and Merrick Garland in to answer questions about the way they ran the DOJ? Umm, yeah, I guess so. Ditch the frogmen. But alert CNN in advance.
Go for revenge. Go hard.
The Rule of Law in America has probably been screwed up since its inception. What happened to Trump happens most everyday across America. I would not be in a big rush to fix it.
Start with what was brought out during the targeting of pro-life Catholics and parents who went to school board meetings—include those targeted in the Trump admin and Trump himself. The Soros Crime Family and its links to the Justice systems, and those in it who are connected to Soros.
Long list, I am sure, which looks like something Matt Gaetz is extremely qualified for. I am sure Trump will not allow “revenge” or lawfare or etc. to enter in—he suffered from such and will be focused on fixing it.
I think that Richard Aubrey nails it. It’s not that the public would see it as tit-for-tat, it would be tit-for-tat.
There really isn’t a good way to use criminal law to redress these wrongs without performing the same sort of legal pretzel act as Jack Smith, Fani Willis, and Alvin Bragg. If there is, by all means, do it, but don’t be like Jack Smith and try to prosecute DOJ personnel for “conspiracy to deprive rights” or something political like that.
The best move would have been to fire everyone involved with targeting pro-lifers, parents at school board meetings, and the like . . . generally clear the Augean stables. And then get on with the task of administering the Justice Department in a neutral and non-partisan manner. A more creative response might have involved revoking security clearances or finding some sort of procedural mechanism to make it harder for these folks to be hired by the government again.
But, instead Trump fights . . . stupidly and loses. He will here too. Remember, that if Gaetz actually succeeds in getting himself confirmed and bringing all of these cases that people want, they will most likely be tried to a DC jury, just like Durham’s cases. And Durham actually had meritorious cases. Gaetz (or whoever else) is going to be bringing handwave cases like the ones that were brought against Trump.
Also, has anyone considered that when the Trump administration (inevitably) loses is retributive lawfare cases, that result is going to politically validate the actions of Trump’s enemies?
Senator Bill Hagerty lays out a clear case for Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth.
It’s interesting that his pushing back against the narrative leaves Andrea Mitchell flummoxed.
11-14-2024 Hagerty Joins Andrea Mitchell Reports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmTKEGSACuA&t=445s
The headline in the article Neo linked to:
Exclusive — Rep. Warren Davidson: Trump’s Cabinet Will Bring ‘Justice’ for Real Abuses of Power, Not Baseless Lawfare
Reading the article I didn’t get the impression he was suggesting there would be criminal cases brought against employees of the DOJ, but justice would be exposing their misuse of their position for political purposes and a cleaning house of the DOJ of anyone that has done so.
If there is a clear violation of the law, a criminal case should be brought to discourage misusing the DOJ in the future.
Has the DOJ been politicized in the past? Yes. J. Edgar Hoover famously used the FBI to dig up dirt that could be used to keep members of Congress and the executive branch in line.
The Prisoner’s Dilemma. Tit for tat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma
Trump must respond. Accountability must be applied.
But there will be a fine line.
Come to think of it, though. What about civil suits? How much of DoJ overreach would be beyond the “scope” of their work to get past qualified immunity?
Sue the individuals, of course, not the taxpayers.
Is Trump really as vindictive as the Democrats say? He seems to find catharsis in speaking his mind. He probably does want investigation of what’s been going on. Don’t we all? Any investigations are going to be portrayed as a vindictive witch hunt by the media. From what I’ve seen though, Trump’s not as keen on putting political opponents on trial or in jail as the Democrats have been.
Abraxas, good point. I would say no, based on the fact that people like Vance, Gabbard and Rubio are all part of his new administration, even thought they were all very vocal critics of Trump in the past.
Might this be more like the revelations of Twitter when Musk took over. I’m sure the Senate/House committees (and it might be worth a special select committee) to look into the potential abuses by the DOJ, once the Trump administration gets access to potentially critical files about what the government was up to.
Let’s hope they don’t find empty bottles of bleach when Republicans finally get to enter the top floors of the DOJ offices.
Could the putative victims sue DoJ individuals in the locations of the offense?
No matter how clear and incontrovertible the evidence, no matter how rigorous and fair the legal proceedings, the left will portray it as strictly political in nature, as illegal persecution and unconstitutional as well. And millions of liberal useful idiots will swallow it, hook, line and sinker.
The simple truth is that our political and legal system can only work when both sides play by the rules. The American system has been slowly being heated up in the pot and it’s almost too late.
The left has only one rule; total dominance. Any tactic is fair game for them, no matter how depraved. Under those conditions, to continue to play by ‘the rules’ is to make of the constitution, a suicide pact.
We are not dealing with reasoned disagreement. The projection on the left is truly pathological, they lust to rid themselves of their opposition and the more their agenda is frustrated, the more widespread will be the calls to arrange for a permanent solution.
Fanatical ideologues are congenitally incapable of accepting a peace that denies them total power. Watch for them to double down, again and again on the lies.
If allowed to continue to engage in dishonest tactics they will ultimately succeed because in effect they ‘rig the game’. They wanted laws and legal penalties against dis-misinformation with them being the arbiters of ‘truth’. Give them the laws they lust for but with fact based reason determining what is true and what is not. And when they are caught issuing provable lies, when they fail to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth… arrest them, prosecute them and imprison them. Place a target on the media, academia and politicians. Break the backs of those who work to assassinate truth.
Otherwise, when an ignorant, gullible public gives power back to them, watch them act to implement a ‘solution’ that leaves them permanently in charge.
When someone in effect declares you to be a mortal enemy of all that is ‘good’ (as they have us)… you either take them at their word or allow yourself to become their victim. For victims they intend to make of any who oppose their ideological ‘gods’. Heed the writing on the wall or prepare to pay the price that willful denial ever extracts.
Abraxas:
The fact that Trump didn’t start legal proceedings against Hillary Clinton is a good indication to me that he’s not particularly vindictive at all. He talks a good game, though.
Yes, well the party is still on. Republicans and their base seem almost drunk on the power they’ve been granted by the voters, such a big win.
But there’s still a country to run, and while the Federal Government is a huge employer, there are limits to the manpower. So if 90% of the manpower is focused on revenge, who will be administering the budget for Federal Lands, for highways, for little old ladies and their Social Security.
I think the best think for Trump to do, outside of proposing a cabinet full of samurai as he is presently doing, is to lay several layers of beef onto the Office of the Inspector General, and let them go to town. This is what they’re supposed to do. They have the procedures, the expertise, they own the franchise, they command attention. And nobody can complain, when they produce findings, that it was unfair.
“But there’s still a country to run, and….”
No, there isn’t. There is a GOVERNMENT to run. We elected Trump because we DON’T want the country to be run by the government.
Was it illegal for Lois Lerner to aim the IRS at conservative non-profits? Show me the law.
==
There’s a reason she took the 5th in front of a committee of Congress, a reason Eric Holder assigned the case to an Obama donor, and a reason the IRS played hide the ball not only with Congress but with its own inspector-general.
But, instead Trump fights . . . stupidly and loses. He will here too.
==
I gather your handlers told you to pretend to excellence in prognostication.
Art.
Perhaps they just didn’t want to allow the orders to be tracked up to Obama.
There was an article going around last week with the title “Justice Without Revenge”. I didn’t read it through, but that seems to me to capture the spirit of the matter. I agree that it would be a fine line.
But indeed, maybe Art Deco’s point about those of the Democratic administrations’ people that pled the Fifth points the way to a good place to start: pull on those threads in particular and see where they go. Aggie’s idea, too, about utilizing the Inspectorate General sounds interesting.
Only thing is… four years is not a lot of time when it comes to this sort of thing.
It appears that the murder of crows had no effect on Bauxite, all were eaten and CC™ is unleashed.
I think Neo’s article summed it up well: justice or revenge? The Lawfarers’ abuses are blatant enough to be prosecuted without twisting the law. If convictions (that are just) are achieved, that will also be a form of revenge.
One definition of revenge is “to exact punishment for a wrong in a resentful spirit.” https://www.thefreedictionary.com/revenge
Trump is entitled to a resentful spirit, given the abuse he (and others) suffered. Actual revenge would be if he arranged Garland’s assassination.
Besides the lawfare against Trump and conservatives, many other acts should be targeted: Biden’s corruption, apparently with our adversaries; Biden and Mayorkas’ flouting immigration laws and not defending the Homeland etc. We should pray for wisdom for Trump and his administration, for how to focus their energies.
Justice for the conspirators of Crossfire Hurricane, the J6 false flag affair and so many others would entail prison terms and possibly executions.
the dems had already set up trip wires, before day one, the danchenko dossier, the leaks from the third highest doj official, sally yates, sic, the lying about the flynn conversation, he had to first replace the atty general then remove yates, but her replacement rosenstein, was part of the fisa fraud, then the conjured up recusal based on the earlier matter, etc, you need to know how things work, they forced general flynn out, so they could control the intelligence, with mcmaster, someone I used to respect
I suspected the substance of the conversation was what the general had affirmed but it took three years, sidney powell’s efforts to unravel this fraud
why do people reputedly on our side, have so hard a time with this, the Kavanaugh matter was similar, the ‘fine people’ hoax, even when caught the perpetrators found a way to slither out, strzok, klinesmith, sussman, of course marc elias is still playing games trying to steal the pennsylvania senate seat, as he has done with the other three
yes what cnn and msnbc say doesnt really matter
PS – If punishments strong enough to be a deterrent are not meted out, the neocommunists’ insurrection will continue.
we’re lucky if they get the comfy chair, clinesmith suspended sentence, reinstated,
strzok paid off, mccabe well sentenced to cnn is some kind of punishment I suppose, comey is still going around like the flying dutchman comey like the wicked which of the west,
reading his labeled ficttion is bad enough, like Tappers work
“Instead Trump fights stupidly and loses”
You mean like in the election Bauxite?
Ed Morrissey, at HotAir, quotes the Wall St. Journal. The Gaetz nomination might not even make it out of the Judiciary Committee, much less through a floor vote. Senators think Ted Cruz or Mike Lee would be easily confirmed.
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/11/15/wsj-gaetz-nomination-doomed-in-committee-n3797028
I would be fine with revenge as a motive.
The Marxists won’t give up, and are already planning revenge, count on it.
Justice or revenge? As noted in the comments above, there is a fine line. One word that seems to be overlooked, a word we no longer see frequently used may be more fit here: a “reckoning.” A balancing of the books.
As noted above, any kind of legal action, however mild, will be labeled revenge/retribution by the left, (as if that were somehow wrong to do) but what is the alternative? To permit such obvious misuse of law (lawfare) to go unrequited is to tacitly approve its continuing use. You get more of what you subsidize and a lack punishment for such wrongdoing is a subsidy just as surely as a million dollar payment to Harpo Productions is a contribution to Oprah.
Art Deco – I’ll pass on your regards to my “handlers.” 🙂
If punishments strong enough to be a deterrent are not meted out, the neocommunists’ insurrection will continue.
–Dax
The lack of punishment will continue until the insurrections stop!
What miguel said, above. All of it.
Question: Why should it surprise anyone when thugs refer to simple justice as “vengeance”? Put another way, why shouldn’t Democrats, who earnestly, constantly and consistently characterize their political opponents as Nazis, as Hitler, as Garbage, as Deplorables, as Enemies of Democracy, etc., break the law—and justify breaking it—while at the same time refusing to take any culpable responsibility for it? To the contrary: they congratulate themselves for it and describe it as the highest form of patriotism and good governance.
IOW, “Saving Our Democracy” = trashing the country.
This should, by now, be crystal clear—in spite of the best efforts of the Media to conceal it, obfuscate, lie about it and misrepresent it.
In the latest election, it became crystal clear to much of the electorate, who preferred to believe their “lying eyes” instead of Democratic Party and Media “truths”….