This piece will be appearing as an op/ed in newspapers of my very red congressional district (VA-06) this week.
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A showdown is coming between Donald Trump and the Force of the Rule of Law.
On the one side, the American system of justice is closing in on Trump from all sides, uncovering a widespread pattern of crimes committed by Trump:
- the state of New York with its civil suit over Trump’s years-long financial cheating;
- the Department of Justice, and the District Attorney of Fulton County George, exposing a series of Trump’s crimes attempting to overturn a legitimate election;
- and the DOJ’s investigation of Trump’s theft of highly sensitive national security documents.
Any attentive citizen -- not willfully blind -- has witnessed abundant evidence of Trump’s almost habitual criminality, including crimes threatening the American constitutional order and endangering American national security.
The law would hold anyone else who’d done what Trump has done accountable.
But Trump – never one to accept defeat – is also moving toward the showdown, openly threatening violence against the forces of the Rule of Law, as they move to hold Trump accountable under the law.
As the 1/6 assault on the U.S. Capitol showed – as well as that recent Qanon rally in Ohio, with Trump and a crowd with arms upraised in what everyone shuddered to recognize as reminiscent of a Nazi salute -- Trump’s threat cannot be dismissed as an empty one.
Some, taking that threat seriously, suggest that perhaps the prosecution of Trump is not worth the risk of such civil strife.
But yielding to such intimidation would be a historic blunder. And the reason for that concerns matters far bigger than Donald Trump.
For many, the desire to see Trump held accountable grows out of their understandable frustration with how much – and for how long -- Trump has gotten away with. And indeed, Trump has shown a brilliance amounting to genius at maneuvering on the wrong side of the law, the Constitution, and simple norms of human decency and not only surviving, but rising in status and power.
(Genius—because probably no one else could anyone have gotten away with all Trump did as President.)
To be sure, the sight of such impunity is deeply offensive. But the fundamental stakes in this showdown are much bigger than Trump.
At stake is a most basic part of the constitutional system that defines America-- the principle that “No one is above the law.”
Never before has that basic principle been so profoundly threatened-- because of this confluence of circumstances:
- The case of Trump, a former President, is in the brightest of spotlights;
- The whole nation has been exposed to overwhelming evidence of Trump’s criminality;
- Trump is so blatantly attempting to defeat the Rule of Law.
If Trump were to prevail, therefore, a crucial part of how America has always defined itself would be lost.
Although it is true that Trump and his supporters might wage some kind of “war” against the Forces of the Rule of Law, these are precisely the kinds of stakes – the protection of the fundamental elements of our constitutional order– that Americans have always been willing to fight, and endure sacrifices, to protect. (We fought both world wars in the name of such principles.)
And this showdown – over whether Trump will be compelled to submit to the Rule of Law -- must be understood as part of a deeper conflict in today’s America: the battle against the forces of Fascism, which have placed the survival of American Democracy in unprecedented jeopardy.
For that quite inescapable battle, the showdown over holding Trump accountable clearly offers an ideal battlefield for the forces of Democracy and the Rule of Law. It’s a winner whether the peace is maintained or not.
- If the Trump side maintains the peace as Trump is indicted, prosecuted, and likely sentenced, the Forces of the Rule of Law will have strengthened that vital principle – that “No one is above the law.”
- If the army Trump is visibly trying to raise chooses violence, that too will be a winner in that wider struggle of lawful Democracy against lawless Fascism. A winner because Americans do not like political violence, and any political cause that resorts to discredits itself in their eyes.
The great majority of Americans, rejecting the side of violence, will turn to the Forces of the Rule of Law to protect their security and our social order. And in America, what the great majority rejects (which would be the lawless, fascistic force) loses power, and what they support (which would be the democratic force of the Rule of Law) is given the power to steer the nation forward.
Moreover, if a battle must be fought not just with law but also with violence, this is an opportune moment for American Democracy, when command over the state’s instruments of force (the FBI, the military) are in the hands of the Forces of the Rule of Law.
It is regrettable that upholding the Rule of Law might entail such sacrifices. (One recalls the casualties of the Oklahoma City bombing in the 1990s and of the Insurrection of 1/6.)
But American Democracy is under threat on multiple battlefields. And for that battle – which unfortunately we are compelled now to fight and win -- this showdown over Trump’s prosecution affords the most favorable of battlefields for the Forces of Democracy and the Rule of Law.