Why Donald Trump’s allies can smile after being given a prison sentence – Henry McLeish

Donald Trump is trashing the rule of law in the US, as Republicans turn a blind eye and Democrats trash each other, writes Henry McLeish.
Trump ally Roger Stone leaves court after being sentenced to 40-months in prison (Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)Trump ally Roger Stone leaves court after being sentenced to 40-months in prison (Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump ally Roger Stone leaves court after being sentenced to 40-months in prison (Picture: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

There was a slight glimmer of hope, that in the aftermath of the US President’s impeachment acquittal, he would learn lessons, offer some contrition for his behaviour and pay some respect to the rule of law. Not surprisingly, the opposite happened. An emboldened Trump declared himself the “chief law enforcement officer” of America, suggesting he is not only above the law, but he is the law: leader and President, now becomes ruler and King.

This followed an astonishing week, even by his own standards, in which Trump embarked upon a purge of his enemies and sent a tweet urging the Attorney General William Barr to intervene in the case of Roger Stone, his long-time friend awaiting sentence for lying to Congress and witness tampering. Barr, by way of coincidence, scrapped the sentencing guidelines his department had submitted to the judge, suggesting seven to nine years in federal prison.

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Startled by Barr and Trump’s unprecedented interference in a criminal trial, the four prosecutors in the Stone trial resigned. The actions of the Attorney General attracted a letter signed by nearly 2,500 former justice department employees bitterly condemning the politicisation of Barr’s office and his willingness to be the political stooge of the President; a role he seems to perform with ease and regularity.

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The Federal Judges Association weighed in and called an emergency meeting. The backlash continued when a former US Deputy Attorney General described Trump’s America as a “Banana Republic”.

Never has there been such a sense of chaos in the US Attorney General’s office and such deep anger at the trashing of the rule of law by a US President.

Criminals pardoned by Trump

Not content with undermining the impartiality of the legal process and urging leniency for a friend in a serious criminal trial, Trump attacked the federal judge dealing with the Stone case, accused a juror of bias and suggested he might want to sue his own government for the indictment and impeachment “hell” that he and his family had suffered. The President remains obsessed with removing his impeachment from public consciousness and the official record.

In a few tweets, Trump had managed to ride roughshod over the checks and balances outlined in the constitution, and undermine the idea that justice is blind.

As if the President hadn’t done enough personal and institutional damage, Trump, in the guise of granting executive clemency, pardoned and commuted the sentences and convictions of 11 people. These were criminals and convicts – and mainly friends of the President.

His strategy is transparent – punish your enemies, who are patriots, and reward your friends, who are crooks, remove those who tell the truth, and reward those who lie, and do things because you can and not because they are right or just or ethical.

Roger Stone received a 40-month prison sentence. The President then hinted that he would be pardoned.

‘The appalling silence of good people’

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This has been the most dangerous and destructive week in the Trump presidency. From a European and British perspective, there is an obvious question to be asked. If alarm bells are ringing, why is the response so muted, indeed at times non-existent?

A quote from Martin Luther King Jr provides a part-explanation: “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of the period... was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

Where are the “good” people? News outlets, such as CNN or MSNBC, the Washington Post and the New York Times, are progressive voices, but they speak to an incredibly limited audience and don’t speak to Trump’s base.

Whatever happened to the “good” people in the Republican party and, in particular, its Congressional leadership? The party seems more loyal to the President than it is to the US. In a week in which the President has so obviously trashed the rule of law and the institutions that protect it, the Republican Party has fled the field, neither supporting nor condemning, but just silent about the most audacious attack on what America stands for.

The President believes he has the right to use the US legal system for his own personal benefit and to shape it in his own image. Senate leaders are comfortable with this.

The “good” people in the Democratic Party are also distracted. The latest televised debate in Las Vegas was a strange affair, held a few days before the Nevada caucus, amidst Trump’s attack on the rule of law. The two-hour debate itself was a breathtaking bloodbath with anger and personal bitterness on display in a way that would be unimaginable in the UK. But beside the passion and personal points-scoring, there were two important omissions.

The only moral imperative

First, in a city that had experienced the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in American history – in 2017 when 58 innocent people were killed – there was no mention of guns. Even from the point of view of respect, there should have been an opportunity for the candidates to express their solidarity and support for tightening gun controls. A policy that Trump embraces so quickly after every massacre, but never delivers on.

Second, references to Trump were sparse. The ‘destructor-in-chief’ should have figured more prominently. More puzzling, the assault on the rule of law was not mentioned. James Carville, political strategist for President Clinton, said recently that the only moral imperative in the forthcoming election was to beat Trump. For some bizarre reason, the six candidates, on the platform in Las Vegas, were so consumed by their need to beat each other up, that Trump just didn’t figure.

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Do progressive Americans and the Democratic Party believe that Trump is a mere one-off, a maverick, unhinged, and uncontrolled, and on a political ego trip where, as a narcissist and ex TV celebrity, he does things because he can and uses his lack of shame, feelings, respect and empathy, to get by?

Or are they willing to accept that something profound is going on and that there is a deeper truth, confirming that Trump was a political accident waiting to happen, supported by social media and the Russians, created by a weak, ineffective and vulnerable democracy, and now nurtured by a corrupt political process in which ordinary people have more faith and trust in God, guns, capitalism and the Supreme Court than they have in government or elections?

Did Steve Bannon write the script so Trump could work from his playbook? The idea that the President might know what he is doing is far more frightening.

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