We should talk about two stories published over the weekend, and what they tell Americans about the true objective of Donald Trump.
First, the administration shut down a bribery investigation of Tom Homan. Before Trump was reelected, Homan accepted a $50,000 bag of cash from an undercover FBI agent, according to Reuters. Homan apparently promised “immigration-related” government contracts once he was back in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Second, Trump demanded that US Attorney General Pam Bondi move more quickly to prosecute named enemies, including US Senator Adam Schiff, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump called them “guilty as hell” on Truth Social in what appears to be a post intended to be a direct message to Bondi. As one observer noted wryly, “this is literally just Watergate but instead of the Nixon tapes, Trump just … tweeted it out.”
This twofold perversion of the law is indeed what Richard Nixon was guilty of. He knew he was guilty of it. That’s why he hid it and it took a year for investigators to uncover it. Trump, meanwhile, isn’t bothering to hide it, but either way, it’s criminal.
As Jonathan Bernstein said:
“Richard Nixon resigned ahead of certain impeachment and removal in part for a much milder version of all this, one that took place in absolute secrecy and took over a year to uncover. Trump is doing a much worse version. Out in the open. It’s obviously a blatant, massive violation of his oath of office, and [Chief Justice] John Roberts notwithstanding … well, I’m not a lawyer, but it sure looks criminal to me.”
More than that, however, it’s a window into what Trump truly wants — rules and laws that protect him and his friends while at the same time, those very same rules and laws punish his enemies. He wants rules and laws to explicitly recognize in-groups and out-groups. And he wants law enforcement to recognize that difference when enforcing the law.
All men are created equal? Nope. Justice is blind? Nah.
Most of us believe the law should be applied without fear or favor. Whether you’re white or Black, Christian or Muslim, straight or trans — everyone is subject to the same rule of law. Everyone should be treated equally. And when the law isn’t applied that way, we call it injustice.
But I think most of us misunderstand, more or less, how equality is viewed by Trump and the rest of their MAGA movement. Equality is no virtue. It’s a vice. It is a violation of their rights and liberties, and a subversion of what they believe to be the natural order of things — in which American society is shaped like a pyramid, with money and power gathered toward the top and controlled by rich white men. Importantly, the in-group should never be treated the same way as the out-group. When the law is applied equally, they call that injustice.
All this is blindingly hypocritical (and we should say so) but the term “hypocrisy” can’t capture the enormity of the fraud. MAGA does not pay lip service to equality. It opposes it, often openly. A better term is impunity — for the rule of law and for the rest of the small-r republican values that are enshrined in the Constitution. Impunity is the true goal. Trump’s success, whatever that means, literally depends on everyone else obeying the law, under penalty of law, while he is free to break it.
That’s what was going on when Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked: "Why won't the president accept the conclusions of his DOJ to not bring charges against Letitia James?"
Her response: "The president has every right to express how he feels about these people … who literally tried to ruin his life … He wants to see accountability."
Crimes for me, punishment for thee.
Trump isn’t hiding the fraud the way Nixon did, but he is hiding it in his own way — beneath a mountain of propaganda about his enemies.
The Justice Department official who closed the bribery investigation into Tom Homan said it was a “deep state” op. Trump himself urged Bondi to prosecute quickly based on the lie that his impeachments and indictments were baseless. He said: “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me … OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
But I think the lies could fade into the background as the abject unfairness of his presidency comes more into the mainstream view. Indeed, the lies could end up fading even faster thanks to Trump himself. His post, which was clearly intended for Bondi, conveys a sense of urgency — as if he’s aware that time is running out for his totalitarian project and people are beginning to figure out his scam.
Polls indicate a public deeply dissatisfied with his presidency, creating conditions for a potential takeover of the Congress by the Democrats. Such uncertainty is going to give collaborators and opportunists like Bondi a serious reason to hesitate. As David Frum wrote, “Such people now have to make a difficult calculation: Do the present benefits of submitting to Trump’s will outweigh the future hazards?"
That’s why, it’s a good idea for the Democrats to begin building a case for law and order, which is to say, for restoring the equal and moral administration of justice. (Reformers like Casey Michel and Adam Bonica might call this an anti-corruption platform, for other reasons.) Do it now, as Trump’s power grab is reaching a tipping point. Promise to hold accountable anyone tempted to break the law in Trump’s name.
“I want to make it clear. There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year,” California Congressman Eric Swalwell said. “To the FCC chairperson [Brendan Carr] and anyone involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records, because you’re going to be in this room answering questions about the deals that you struck, and who benefited, and what the cost was to the American people.”
I have some sympathy for Democratic leaders in that it’s difficult to pinpoint a “kitchen-table” issue that will appeal to a broad majority of people, but especially voters who are loosely affiliated with the parties. Right now, they have settled on health care. All the power to them.
But Trump is unlike any president in our lifetimes, even Nixon, who was a crook. Everything Trump has done since taking office a second time — illegal tariffs, illegal self-dealing, illegal funding cuts, illegal terminations, illegal military occupations, illegal immigrant detentions, illegal media censorship, illegal everything, virtually — is rooted in the fact that his administration is, as David Letterman said last week, an “authoritarian criminal administration.”
Fighting crime is perhaps the kitchen-table issue.
Besides, being the party of crime-fighters has a nice ring to it.
