reflectivepundit

The Criminally Charged Ex-President and the Morally Challenged Would-Be Presidents

By Brigitte L. Nacos

The shamefulness of the positions taken by the majority in Wednesday’s television line-up of GOP hopefuls for their party’s presidential nomination became even more clear, when their idol was arrested in a Georgia prison and forced to pose for a mug shot. A day earlier, with the exception of Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson five male competitors (DeSantis, Pence, Ramaswamy, Scott, and Burgum) and the lone female candidate (Haley) had promised to vote for Trump if he becomes their party’s nominee--even if he is criminally convicted in a court of law.  

 

Instead of taking the moral high ground like Christie and Hutchinson, even former vice president Mike Pence, who, along with his family, was physically threatened by the violent crowd invading the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 said that he still would vote for Trump again. Did he forget the rapidly erected gallows and the horrible screams “Hang Mike Pence” by those marching in the name of the then president and waving Trump flags as they launched their violent assaults?

The most obvious Trump clone on the stage, Vivek Ramaswamy, was declared the winner of the debate by Mr. Trump. That was hardly surprising because the young entrepreneur with bully manners declared that “President Trump was the best president of the 21^st century.” Moreover, he promised that as president he would pardon Trump. He then attacked Pence for not making the same commitment.

Pence refused—but left the door open for a pardon--although Trump did not take any action to call off his attack dogs in the Capitol when Pence and others were acutely threatened; moreover, Trump continues to spread the Big Lie about the 2020 election outcome.

Yes, Mike Pence deserves our respect for protecting the US Constitution and our democracy on that infamous day in January 2021. But after that courageous act, he somehow lost the courage to stand up to Trump and Trumpism and the MAGA movement--all enemies of democracy.

Ramaswamy may be auditioning for joining Trump as running mate. He will not succeed. Trump will only accept a low-key person like Pence in his team, not a hotdog like Ramaswamy. Tim Scott may fit the bill.

When asked about Trump’s mug shot, John Bolton, for a while National Security advisor in the Trump White House, said, “He could’ve smiled. He could’ve looked benign. Instead, he looks like a thug!”

Even a mug shot with a thug-like image does not matter to Trump's supporters.  Instead, there are already signs that he and they will treat this picture like a badge of honor.

The question, then, is and remains: How will the American electorate at large react and vote next year?

Does the Constitution Prohibit Trump from Being President Again?

By Brigitte L. Nacos

Two renown experts on the U.S. Constitution, liberal Harvard law professor Laurence H. Tribe and conservative former judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit J. Michael Luttig, wrote earlier this month in The Atlantic that the Constitution disqualifies former president Donald J. Trump from becoming U.S. president again. Similarly, two conservative law professors, both members of the Federalist Society, William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of St. Thomas University, concluded in their not yet published law review article according to the New York Times, “Donald Trump cannot be president — cannot run for president, cannot become president, cannot hold office — unless two-thirds of Congress decides to grant him amnesty for his conduct on Jan. 6.”

While this should be a good reason to rejoice for everyone who opposes Trump’s reelection to the highest office in the land next year, the four experts’ views have not exactly dominated the news. Obviously, most of the leading media organizations do not take the argument serious enough to give it “breaking news” prominence.

All four constitutional scholars point to the 14^th Amendment’s Section 3 that deserves to be fully cited here:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House remove such disability.

Clearly, as an officer of the United States Trump took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. And clearly, the indictments filed by special council Jack Smith in the District of Columbia and by District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia charge in detail Trump’s involvement in efforts to violate the constitutional change of power process after Biden won the 2020 election.

But the former president has not had his days in either of the two courts. He has not been convicted. The clause in the 14^th Amendment does not spell out, whether charges or convictions trigger the exclusion from holding the mentioned public offices.

Luttig and Tribe have no doubt that the charges are sufficient to ban Trump from returning to the White House. They write, “The disqualification clause operates independently of any such criminal proceedings and, indeed, also independently of impeachment proceedings and of congressional legislation. The clause was designed to operate directly and immediately upon those who betray their oaths to the Constitution, whether by taking up arms to overturn our government or by waging war on our government by attempting to overturn a presidential election through a bloodless coup.”

The Jan. 6 Indictment of Donald J. Trump: Less Shock Value Than New Normalcy—and What Now?

By Brigitte L. Nacos

After eight years of Donald Trump’s reality show performances on the political stage, his demagogic hate speech, lies, authoritarian tendencies, corruption, and a violent coup attempt to overturn the 2020 election results--nothing can shock the American public and political class with respect to the former president and current presidential candidate.

Thus, Tuesday’s four count conspiracy and obstruction Jan. 6 indictment did not result in a public shock wave but rather in a business-as-usual perception. It was simply the same as the reaction to Trump’s earlier indictments in the classified documents, hush money illegalities, and sexual assault cases.

To be sure, there was a burst of breaking news coverage in the hours following the release of the Jan. 6 indictment the other day. Talking heads spoke about the first time a former U.S. president was charged with unlawful conspiracies and obstruction to falsify election results to stay in office. What the 45-page indictment describes eloquently were not the actions of a president who respects the Constitution and the traditional democratic rules and values but of a rogue leader and long-time admirer of past and present authoritarian strongmen.

Worse yet, although Trump faces prison, if found guilty, he is the dominant candidate for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination. His best bet for beating one or more criminal convictions is a victory in next year’s election and his return to the White House.

The most recent opinion polls show that Trump and President Joe Biden are in a tied race. Of course, these numbers can change in the 15 months to next year’s election day.

But in the first hours after the latest indictment a multitude of Republicans in Washington and around the country attacked the “Biden DOJ” for charging their “innocent” leader. While Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and Asa Hutchinson spoke of the serious charges against Trump, the more Far-Right candidates Ron DeSantis blamed the “weaponized [Biden] government and Vivec Ramaswamy called the indictment “un-American.”  Nothing changed.

In the past, political observers wondered why a man like Donald Trump was able to win the 2016 election. I do not want to rehash in detail that Hillary Clinton won the total number of national vote but fell short in the electoral college that is a vestige of the undemocratic features of the US Constitution. One way or the other, some 70 million Americans voted Trump into the White House seven years ago.

Yes, Trump lost in 2020 both in the electoral college and in the nationwide total of votes. But it was not a landslide for Biden but a slim victory.

Today, the support for Trump in his MAGA movement and the Republican Party seems solid and goes up with every new set of criminal charges against him. As the campaign and the various trials approach and begin, Trump will certainly go the mass rally route again and stir his followers hate of “the other side.” Last month, Trump told his supporters already, “I’m being indicted for you!” And he promises that only he can save the country from the evil liberals, socialists, globalists, and the likes.

I think that in today’s America we should no longer focus solely on Trumpism and its threat to democracy but rather on the many Americans who believe in the values of liberal democracy, the mutual agreement on the legitimacy of majority and minority parties, the peaceful transition of power from one party and one leader to the others, and so forth…

Why is it that we do not see a potent pro-democracy movement here? This question occurs to me every time I look at the images of protesting Israelis who try to prevent their state’s fall into illiberal democracy or theocracy. There are a multitude of former Republicans, anti-Trumpers, and PACs that support them; there are the usual groups supporting the campaigns of Democrats. 

We have not seen any efforts to mobilize Americans by organizing pro-democracy rallies and perhaps even a from-below movement.  

Typically, it takes politically skilled leaders to organize grass roots political actions over longer time periods or even social movements. But the story of an Israeli woman, a particle physicist, mother of five daughters, with no political past or ambitions, who became one of the several  organizers for the pro-democracy protests in her country, is inspiring.

Why not similar initiatives in defense of democracy right here and now—before it is too late?