(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . They Did Him No Favors! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-02 One bad apple in the barrel will spoil many of the other apples. I remember being furious with Gerald Ford for pardoning Richard Nixon. I remember saying that the President must not be above the law and that the pardon of Nixon eliminated all penalties for any POTUS who breaks the law. Over the years I came to accept the argument that the impeachment and threat of being removed from office were enough of a deterrence, and that charging Nixon with a crime was unnecessary and probably too divisive. I believe Gerald Ford was a sincere and compassionate man, but I now know that I was right the first time. The Republicans, always too slow to learn, refused to convict Trump of his crimes during either of the impeachment trials and thereby eliminated the Gerald Ford argument. If Trump is not put on trial in a court of law there will be no restraints on any president. Like Trump, any president who keeps the support of his party will be free to bury evidence by pardoning anyone who could be forced to testify against him, will be able to accept and even illicit the aid of foreign countries to help him or her win elections, and will be free to destroy our democracy by overturning elections or even conducting a violent coup d'etat. In other words, the rule of law is our only defense against the threat posed by would be tyrants! If Trump was not so intellectually and morally bankrupt, he would have looked at the mountain of evidence being amassed against him; he would have said “do me no favors” to his party, and he would have offered to resign in exchange for a pardon or immunity from prosecution.* Trump did none of those things, and, unlike the Republican Party of 1973, this Republican Party not only refused to remove Trump from office but even swore allegiance to him. In doing so they have forsaken Conservatism and embraced fascism. Trump continues to rail against the rule of law, even to the point of implicitly threatening Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg with physical violence. Instead of condemning those threats, the Republican Party has gone into full fascist mode with sham hearings and attempts to illegally interfere with the proceedings of a state court over which congress has no jurisdiction. Tail Gunner Jim Jordan is even threatening the NY court system by saying he will withhold federal funding for that system. Of course the bumpkin Jordan is too ignorant to realize that NY does not need federal funds and is perfectly free to tell him to pound sand. Pity that the voters in Jordan's district do not seem to have the good sense to tell him to pound sand! It is a sad thing that we have a former president that has to be indicted as a criminal, but it is a good thing that we are indicting him! I believe we must go further. The congress members who participated in trying to overthrow the election should also be held accountable. The fact that the tea bagging MAGAs in their districts do not have the good sense to do that makes the task of holding those congress members accountable for violating their oath of office and committing crimes more difficult but it also makes doing so far more important! Do not spare me the hysterical reactions, the anger, or the drama! Those reactions cannot be avoided, and fear of them will only cause paralysis. The Republicans have turned the swamp into a cesspool we must clean out! I know some of you are probably saying, “one war at a time, Steve,” and I agree that Trump has to be the priority. But I think, at the very least, we must have hearings (probably in the senate) so that those who are still capable of recognizing what is real can see how destructive the Republican fascists are, and why those fascists must answer for the threat they pose to our constitution. *Unlike Nixon Trump had just lost an election rather than winning one, but in regard to the first impeachment in particular he still might have been able the make some sort of deal. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/2/2161640/-They-Did-Him-No-Favors Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/