The Grand Illusion
Now that the federal courts have indicated that an indictment of the former president for attempting to overturn the results of the last presidential election is likely, Republican officer-holders, among them several individuals seeking the nomination, have intensified their attacks on the Department of Justice, primarily by claiming that DOJ has weaponized the law to unfairly target Trump and by pushing the idea of “returning” to a system of justice that applies equally, regardless of party.
What’s not in question is that the mob attacking the U.S. Capitol on January 6th forced its way into the Capitol and attacked Capitol police and others in an effort to overturn the election. What’s also not in question is that Trump incited the riot and attack.
Scores of those in the mob have been prosecuted and convicted. Not prosecuting Trump for inciting the mob and for other actions to illegally overturn the election would not be a return to equal justice, but a return to the dual standard of law that has tacitly been practiced for at least a century, where those with wealth and power tend get off far more easily than those who are poor and disadvantaged.
As for the Hunter Biden case, most tax evaders who pay the back taxes are let off and serve no time in prison – and the firearms charge is almost never invoked if there wasn’t a crime of violence involved. DOJ prosecuted Hunter Biden far more vigorously than has been the custom or fact in the past, and yet the Republicans claim that his sentences weren’t sufficient.
So the Republican charges of “weaponization” really amount to a statement that they don’t want the rich white man who tried to overturn the government to be prosecuted, possibly because he’s their guy and they fear him, and that they want a return to the way of enforcing the law that’s easier on those who are rich and white and harder on everyone else.
So Hunter Biden and the rioters who followed Trump’s inciting all get punished under law, but the Republicans want Trump off scot-free?
Besides being blatant hypocrisy, that’s hardly equal justice by any definition.
Shrug. It’s easy to understand if you just accept that Republicans in office are simply acting. The Republican base has been taught that grandstanding is what their legislators do.
After all, the base believes that government is the problem. Far better to have legislators that don’t legislate, but just rant.
I think you basically have the thrust of it. They want a return to the good old days when the law protected, but didn’t bind rich, white people, and bound, but did not protect everyone else.
Yes, I agree, protection for the powerful and punishment & exploitation for the poorer people and minorities is the goal.
Sabotaging the working of government when they’re in government or in a position to do so, is part of a deliberate strategy to portray government as the problem, so they can sell off (or give away) public assets to the rich and powerful, and give them an ever freeer hand to exploit the powerless for their own gain.
I’ve also noticed, for years now, that they tend to project their own actions on their opponents. Whenever republicans and rightwingers accuse democrats or lefties of something, if you take a closer look, it’s something they themselves are doing to a much worse degree.
It’s gotten to a point where you could almost automatically reverse the direction of the accusation, look for proof, and find it.
That’s not to say democrats never do anything wrong, but it’s almost always to a much lesser degree when you dig up and compare the proof on both sides of such political accusations.
Welcome to the outlaw and disorder party…