The Illusion of Justice
There is a famous bit in the Peanuts cartoons that probably best describes what many of us are feeling at this point. Lucy Van Pelt repeatedly convinces Charlie Brown to try to kick a football. Each time she promises that she won’t move the football at the last moment. Every time he barrels full speed ahead and every time she moves the football. Charlie Brown will lose his balance and land on his backside.
On a seemingly weekly basis we are told that Donald Trump is about to be indicted. He has been sued well over 100 times in his lifetimes. Sometimes he is forced to pay a minimal amount, but he has never been held truly responsible for any his financial crimes. He has committed fraud, treason, and has been credibly accused of numerous sexual crimes as well. As we sit here, he has a grand jury looking at his “perfect” phone call where he blatantly tries to interfere in an election and strongarm the secretary of state into falsifying the results. Then, there was the theft of hundreds of documents he had no rights to. The Justice Department could charge him with illegally possessing those documents, obstruction of justice when he refused to return them, and probably much more. Then, there was the illegal campaign expenditure where he paid off a porn star and former playmate.
Of course, because he is a brazen jackass he didn’t stop that. He released a post on social media showing himself holding a bat next to a picture of the district attorney. Legal experts have said that this broke an additional four laws by itself. Obviously, apologists will argue that he really wasn’t being serious. That’s what they all say before someone actually attempts to harm the district attorney. He did the exact same thing when he called for his followers to storm the capitol. It wasn’t serious until it was.
Here in Texas we know this story all too well. Our attorney general has been under indictment every day of his term. He then was able to run for reelection and was given another term. He will never go to trial. Donald Trump will never go to trial. We know this too. In this situation we find ourselves being the sucker and shill. Yet, every week we see the reports that an indictment is imminent. The mainstream media is playing the role of Lucy Van Pelt and Charlie Brown at the same time. Even if indicted, there will be no perp walk. There will be no jail time. There will be no justice.
This is where we need to reframe and readjust. Partisan media will frame this as a right vs. left issue. Fox will point out all of the crimes that the Bidens have supposedly committed. MSNBC will continue to tell how a Trump indictment is imminent. Whether the Bidens have done anything wrong is not really the issue. The issue is that there has always been a two-tiered aspect to our justice system. Some are able to buy their way out of facing justice. The rest of us must face the music when we screw up. If the mainstream media focused on that and admitted what all of us know to be true then they could simply outline the crimes that the rich and powerful commit and just move on. They could look at the disparate results that depend on how much any one person has to shirk their culpability. Don’t cry wolf. Don’t hype up a possible indictment we know isn’t coming. It never does. That’s more the point.
Very sad and, even more sadly, all too true.
1Andy Borowitz had a great headline in the New Yorker last week: Trump Claims Failure to Arrest Him is Conspiracy to Keep Him From Getting Donations. This is the whole thing about the GOP pols and their hangers-on.
2The etymology of the word “privilege” explains it all.
3Nick, I agree with your obvious prediction that TFFG will walk and just keep grifting off the threats of prosecution. I can always hope we get pleasantly surprised.
4Just how has Ken Paxton delayed his trial for 7-8 years? I mean, what allegedly legal maneuvers have let him run free and completely unrestricted? Is it a case of the prosecutor being a Good Buddy of Paxton, and agreeing with every request for another delay?
Sidenote: for those who don’t have an Oxford English Dictionary, Mike is referring to “private law”. I had to go look it up, in spite of being supposedly educated and all. Everyone else here at the Salon probably already knew it ….
5As long as Trampy stays in the spotlight, he’s a happy bunny .
6There is this old thing about increasing weight on a tree limb. It does take a long time for that limb to break free from the tree despite what nature throws at it. Depending how high up it is, the trip to the ground adds to the force of the landing. Depending on whether it lands on thick grass or hard pan, what happens next is always the same – the limb is helpless AND useless. It has a few options: get picked up and run through a chipper or just rot in place and turn itself into nature’s own fertillizer.
7Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators of South Park) were interviewed early on about the series. They said that the Eric Cartman character represented “the junk in everyone’s soul.” So, in essence, he wasn’t even a fully human character. He was more of a caricature of the worst parts of humanity. I see Donald Trump through the same prism.
It never ceases to amaze me how I see people at the gym, grocery store, or in and about town all wearing Trump tee shirts or with bumper stickers on the back of their cars. I have never put a political sticker on my car or worn a tee-shirt glorifying a politician. Granted, a part of that is being a teacher with a wife that ostensibly works for a government agency. Yet, even if we weren’t those things I would feel no overwhelming urge to do it.
Ultimately, Trump isn’t really human. Sure, he technically is I guess, but he is more a mirror. So it is not surprising to see people make all kinds of excuses for him. He was really joking. Then, he never jokes. Would a smart businessman really do stuff this stupid? It’s all a convenient dodge of the ultimate responsibility. If a Democrat gets thrown in jail then I am able to acknowledge that they were probably a scumbag. You can’t throw Trump in jail because so many people have their identities wrapped up in that mirror. He does what they wish they could do. Like Cartman, he really isn’t all that smart. He has just learned over the course of 50+ years that he will never be held responsible. That’s ultimately on us.
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