We hear "the rule of law" cited as a characteristic of democracy so often it becomes a cliche, and we utter it without much thought. Rule by an autocrat is a self-defining word: auto=one, Trump is a natural: Imagine a country ruled by someone who decides which laws to obey and which ones to ignore or distort or enforce on a political enemy. He does not believe the law applies to him, in office, out of office, or in private business. That makes he a fundamental danger to democracy. That behavior in a government office is called a dictatorship, or more politely, an autocracy This fall we heard classics from him: The Mar-a-Lago "boxes are mine"even though the law says differently. "Those box contents are all declassified, but all I have to say is they are, and I did," as he ignored the process rules; what rules?". "I'll ignore the subpoena," even though it was issued per the law, is highly likely his response to the House subpoena issued yesterday. or he'll delay, obstruct, and sue until the GOP takes over the House in 2023.. "I won the election; the election was stolen", ignoring 60 judges, a gaggle of close appointees and family. He has a lifetime history of being a scofflaw.
The rule of law is a standard which all can cite when calling foul and believe a judge will rule or a jury will decide if someone fouled it or abided by, and assumes judge and jury will be as impartial as they can in their judgment calls. The rules and the laws were those that were agreed by vote, vote of a representative in a legislative body voted there by the people. An autocrat ignores the rule and keeps on acting fouly or twists and turns the meaning until its original purpose and meaning is unrecognizable.
From an earlier blog post: Trump has a reputation and history of seeing how far he could go and what he could get away with whenever rules, laws, ethics, and shady practices were involved. USA Today compiled a list of a history of over 4 thousand civil lawsuits and criminal/civic fraud in his lifetime. If Trump observed the rule of law and the rules under which he operated and did not defy, skirt, and ignore them to feather his own financial nest and power positions, he would not be the target of so many lawsuits and criminal investigations. His legal entanglements never changed his behavior, and he turned it into a money maker.
In the days when he was in private business, he lost suits, was fined, paid restitution, and racked up substantial legal fees. He was famous for stiffing those who provided services for which they were not paid and being sued. It was the cost of doing business his way. Now in public life, those costs in defending himself are being borne by political supporters. He arranged for the RNC to pay $1.6 million in legal fees and raised over $250 million from his devoted followers on the lie since debunked that the election was stolen. Little went to attempts to overturn the election and a non-existent "legal defense fund" in a PAC. Still, much went to a fund that paid for some of his personal lifestyle expenses and income. After the Mar-a-Largo raid, he raised a million a day for the same non-existent legal defense fund. The Trump Save America PAC has over $99 million in its coffers.
The lawsuits and criminal and civil fraud charges arise from his stiffing suppliers, lenders, insurers, and service providers, and civil and criminal fraud, misusing charity foundations, avoiding tax-paying, and then getting gullible supporters to write a check to help out when he gets caught or accused. Sometimes he wins in court, and other times he loses. Recent estimates are his net worth is $3 billion. He brought that modus operandi into the White House, and we now see it writ large in the Mar-a-Lago documents seizure by the FBI. What is most disturbing is that most of his supporters do not give a whit and look for ways to rationalize their own anti-government, anti-rule of law attitudes and political loyalty, as well. . It says much about the character of his supporters and their own moral standards, gullibility, and priorities."
If Trump's actions regarding the classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago result in an indictment for breaking the rules of law and, most likely, obstruction of justice, and then found guilty at a trialthat results in some sort of punishment, is serious on its own, but it may still appear to many that he was politically prosecuted on a technicality. However, if his irresponsible actions and playing loose with classified national security documents resulted in real harm to national security, that may make his actions look truly dangerous. The more serious outcome would be to tie his guilt to outing our spies abroad, Then the case can made he cannot be trusted to be a president again because he is a danger to national security, whatever his motivation. Intelligence agencies fear that Trump has been leaking information on U.S. spies overseas (dailykos.com)
USA TODAY Network: Dive into Donald Trump's thousands of lawsuits - USA TODAY
Politicization of the Justice Department - American Oversight
Trump rakes in millions off FBI search at Mar-a-Lago - The Washington Post
What Is Donald Trump's Net Worth? (investopedia.com)
USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1118946905/trump-pac-money-fec
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