Part of Trump's playbook will be to weaponize the DoJ, IRS and FBI to investigate and prosecute those who have stood against him. His appointments to lead agencies confirm that plan. He will use the threat of endless legal jeopardy to attempt to silence his critics and opponents.
There is something that President Biden, who has, with his pardon of his son Hunter, now crossed the Rubicon of pardons, can do to completely derail Trump's plan: he can grant preemptive pardons to every federal employee for any official acts taken during his administration! Using the exact language employed by the Supreme Court in granting immunity to Presidents, Biden can (and should) say that because he is immune, and not even evidence of anything he did while in office may be used in a legal proceeding, and because "the buck stops here", with him as the ultimate responsible officer of the administration, no subordinate should have to worry about being investigated or prosecuted for anything done in Biden's name.
Doing this represents the ultimate Emperor's New Clothes strategy, as every planned investigation by Congress, by the FBI, and selective prosecution by DoJ will run up against the very standard woven from whole cloth by the MAGA majority of the Supreme Court! Each case will require a federal judge to parse the ridiculous edges of what is an official act or evidence of one. Every state-level case will be removed to federal court for that same purpose. If the gears were slow in Trump's case, this simple act (which may not be questioned because the pardon power is without limit) will dump tons of sand into the works, grinding them to a full halt.
The only question now is whether President Biden has the intestinal fortitude to grant such a pardon. The Nixon pardon is ample precedent. The Trump immunity provides the reductio ad absurdum. As legal and political jiu jitsu, it's elegant.
I had a similar thought when I heard about the Hunter Biden pardon last night and hope it’s a sign that Biden will act aggressively within the wide margins the Court has given him while he can. Protecting the integrity of institutions against a lawless administration requires a different mindset than rebuilding those institutions (i.e. the Merrick Garland approach) following a lawless administration.
It seems to me that Americans are - most of all - dissatisfied with the long-term effects of Reaganism. All that “trickle-down” stuff never worked for them and, now, they’ve decided that Democrats are to blame for what Ronnie wrought. (To be fair, many Democrats collaborated with the oligarchs’ upward mobility.) I think accountability will have to wait until we address what many of our fellow citizens consider the bigger problem, even if they don’t understand its origin.
Matt:
Part of Trump's playbook will be to weaponize the DoJ, IRS and FBI to investigate and prosecute those who have stood against him. His appointments to lead agencies confirm that plan. He will use the threat of endless legal jeopardy to attempt to silence his critics and opponents.
There is something that President Biden, who has, with his pardon of his son Hunter, now crossed the Rubicon of pardons, can do to completely derail Trump's plan: he can grant preemptive pardons to every federal employee for any official acts taken during his administration! Using the exact language employed by the Supreme Court in granting immunity to Presidents, Biden can (and should) say that because he is immune, and not even evidence of anything he did while in office may be used in a legal proceeding, and because "the buck stops here", with him as the ultimate responsible officer of the administration, no subordinate should have to worry about being investigated or prosecuted for anything done in Biden's name.
Doing this represents the ultimate Emperor's New Clothes strategy, as every planned investigation by Congress, by the FBI, and selective prosecution by DoJ will run up against the very standard woven from whole cloth by the MAGA majority of the Supreme Court! Each case will require a federal judge to parse the ridiculous edges of what is an official act or evidence of one. Every state-level case will be removed to federal court for that same purpose. If the gears were slow in Trump's case, this simple act (which may not be questioned because the pardon power is without limit) will dump tons of sand into the works, grinding them to a full halt.
The only question now is whether President Biden has the intestinal fortitude to grant such a pardon. The Nixon pardon is ample precedent. The Trump immunity provides the reductio ad absurdum. As legal and political jiu jitsu, it's elegant.
I had a similar thought when I heard about the Hunter Biden pardon last night and hope it’s a sign that Biden will act aggressively within the wide margins the Court has given him while he can. Protecting the integrity of institutions against a lawless administration requires a different mindset than rebuilding those institutions (i.e. the Merrick Garland approach) following a lawless administration.
I look at this as just another triumph of politics over law.
It seems to me that Americans are - most of all - dissatisfied with the long-term effects of Reaganism. All that “trickle-down” stuff never worked for them and, now, they’ve decided that Democrats are to blame for what Ronnie wrought. (To be fair, many Democrats collaborated with the oligarchs’ upward mobility.) I think accountability will have to wait until we address what many of our fellow citizens consider the bigger problem, even if they don’t understand its origin.