After a long, too long wait, it appears indictments are coming soon of disgraced, criminal, and corrupt past President Donald Trump for his onerous attempts to derail democracy and initiate a coup to overturn a legal election that defeated him.
Indicting Trump must, and should be, a given. But let’s not forget those enabled him in their conspiracy of sedition and, yes, outright treason.
Writes columnist Jennifer Rubin in The Washington Post:
There’s no doubt that Donald Trump was the instigator of the 2020 insurrection. But the former president’s schemes never would have gotten far (or even off the ground) without the participation of right-wing media executives, lawyers and pliant state officials. Without holding these enablers accountable, democracy and the rule of law will remain at risk.
At Fox News, for example, it was not simply the hosts who promulgated the “big lie” of a stolen election, according to the legal filing against the network by Dominion Voting Systems. (Disclaimer: I am an MSNBC contributor.) Former House speaker Paul D. Ryan, as a board member for Fox Corp., knew full well that the network was lying to viewers. Ryan even wrote to News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch to warn the network not to spread the election lie. Yet Ryan remained in his position, reaping the benefits of his position and lending his prestige to the network.
Ryan evidenced his stunning lack of self-awareness during a recent interview with Charlie Sykes, founder of the Bulwark. Sykes asked whether Ryan, as a Fox Corp. board member, bears responsibility for “a company that is pumping toxic sludge, racism, disinformation, and attacks on democracy”:
Ryan’s evasive and simplistic answer for his role: I do. I have a responsibility to offer my opinion and perspective and I do that, but I don’t go on TV and do it right. So I offer my perspective, my opinion, often. I’ll just leave it at that. Okay.”
—Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post
No, Ryan, it is not OK. As an elected official, you took an oath to serve the country and its citizens,, an oath you and your co-conspirators, ignored.
In the name of preserving a political movement, Ryan remained silent until a lawsuit forced him to testify. He continues serving as a board member to that organization masquerading as a news network. Even if only by public shaming, the former speaker should also be held accountable. Without figures like him enabling Fox News’s lies, the machinery of the “big lie” would have sputtered to a stop.
The same is true for the many lawyers who played a part in the coup attempt. They filed more than 60 bogus challenges to the 2020 election on behalf of the Trump campaign; devised the phony elector scheme; and assisted Trump in attempting to strong-arm state election officials. For the sake of accountability and to deter other lawyers from similar efforts in the future, those involved must be disciplined. If they committed crimes, they must be prosecuted.
Progress has already been made: John Eastman, the architect of the coup plot, faces disciplinary charges from the California state bar. The D.C. bar has similarly filed ethics charges against Jeffrey Clark, the former Justice Department official whom Trump attempted to appoint as acting attorney general. And Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has been suspended from the New York bar.
All criminal litigants deserve a vigorous defense, but lawyers have no obligation to represent those who raise meritless claims. They cannot conspire with clients to undermine the Constitution. Just as the Justice Department must prosecute the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol, so, too, must lawyers, who are officers of the court, be held accountable for their role carrying out Trump’s schemes. This is the essence of the rule of law.
That brings us to another category of enablers: the state Republican officials who signed on as phony electors. As the House Jan. 6 select committee reported: “In five of these States — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin — the certificates they signed used the language that falsely declared themselves to be ‘the duly elected and qualified Electors’ from their State. This declaration was false because none of the signatories had been granted that official status by their State government in the form of a certificate of ascertainment.”
State prosecutors such as Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., as well as special counsel Jack Smith, cannot look the other way simply because these individuals did not physically enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. These officials still did violence to the Constitution and cannot walk away scot-free. If they are not held accountable, what message would that send to the next group of lawmakers who participate in future coups?
—Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post
Who indeed? Of course, the biggest message will be sent when Donald John Trump is indicted, arrested, tried, and convicted for several of hi many crimes against the nation.
In a democratic society, traitors must be punished.
So must their enablers.
All of them.
Copyright © 2023 Capitol Hill Blue
1 thought on “Time to indict and convict Trump, along with his many enablers”
I couldn’t agree more Doug. Traitors and Insurrectionists need to be punished or democracy is just a farce waiting for the next criminal crew to do it the right way and end democracy for good in America. We came way to close for comfort on Jan. 6th but we’re still not out of the woods. JUSTICE MATTERS !!
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