EJ Dionne: There's no escape from holding Trump accountable

[Nevilledog]

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EJ Dionne
@EJDionne
The nature of Trump’s presidency will complicate any path back to the old ways and the old rules. It’s Trump’s poisoned chalice. His impunity must end.
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Washington Post Opinions
@PostOpinions
There’s no escape from holding Trump accountable, @EJDionne writes https://wapo.st/3cCmq6E
6:28 PM · Jun 12, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/12/theres-no-escape-holding-trump-accountable/

It was inevitable that the Trump administration’s politically motivated misuse of the investigative arms of government would burst into public view and demand accountability. That moment is upon us.

The revelation that the Trump Justice Department secretly sought the phone records of two Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee who were among President Donald Trump’s sharpest critics (along with those of their aides and family members) was the shock that the system needed.

It underscored the tension between two essential goals for the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland: how to depoliticize a department that effectively became an arm of the White House under Trump without evading the imperative of requiring a lawless presidency to answer for its abuses.

Garland has faced criticism for recent Justice Department decisions that, in defending the institution of the presidency, also served Trump’s interests.

But the disclosures about previously secret Justice Department efforts under Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and William P. Barr to obtain the phone records of two California Democrats, Reps. Adam B. Schiff and Eric Swalwell, raised an uncomfortable but fundamental question: Does fighting against using the justice system for political purposes require a new administration to expose and, if appropriate, prosecute a previous administration for the very violation the responsible newcomers are trying to avoid?

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[Poiuyt]

1. Nothing will happen to Trump except in the history books

As more we learn about the past four years, the more that historians and political scientists will label him as the worst president in US history.

[Takket]

2. if the police completely ignore bank robberies, and don't ever arrest anyone for robbing a bank,

are more people going to rob banks?

punishing those guilty of criminal act serves as a deterrent for anyone else to try the same, and pretty much is literally the entire point of having a criminal justice system. Tonight i saw a state senator from Arizona literally threaten to imprison Merrick Garland because he even suggested DOJ get involved with protecting voters rights in AZ. Does anyone think we need to wring our hands about how this looks? Does anyone think the right isn't going to call Garland's DOJ the most corrupt organization on Earth even if they do NOTHING to drumpf? No, those loud ass scumbags are going to lie and cry and scream no matter what you do, so you know what? Let them scream, and do the job REAL Americans elected you to do. Expose it all, and prove it all beyond any reasonable doubt in a court room.

[onecaliberal]

3. 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻 Every word of that. n/t