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If Trump's Level of Lawlessness Were to be Given a Pass.. The Cost of Not Holding Trump Accountable

The issue of whether or not to deal with the crimes that have been committed by Trump and his gang is admittedly a very difficult one. But let me just lay out one important reason that not prosecuting would be a dangerous course.

(Which doesn’t mean that prosecuting doesn’t also have its dangers—  which is why I’ve proposed a couple of means of minimizing those dangers. See “Biden’s Dilemma: How to Deal with the Trumpian Crime Wave.”)

We should not lose sight of how extreme, pervasive, and comprehensive Trump’s lawlessness has been.

If Trump had been just a bit shady on the margins, or maybe even had broken the law only once, however seriously, one might ignore it. The American political situation could arguably sweep such presidential conduct under the rug and never really confront it. (We more or less survived intact George H.W. Bush’s pardons of the lawbreakers in the Iran-Contra scandal.)

But Trump's lawlessness -- Trump’s utter contempt for everything that might circumscribe his behavior (whether the Constitution, the laws, the norms, or basic moral and ethical principles) -- means that his case is make or break for the whole issue of accountability, for whether it is true or not, as we Americans always claim, that “no one is above the law (not even a President).”

If Trump’s level of lawlessness is not to be held accountable, then nothing is to be.

To ignore this is to say that there's no limit to what Presidents can get away with.

No, we do not want to tear the nation apart. But given how terrible it would be to send the message into the American future that a President can defeat the rule of law, wouldn’t it behoove us to apply our creativity to find how best to hold Trump accountable without tearing the nation apart?


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