IT'S COME TO THIS — The Weekly Opine

Corrupt decisions that ignore the Constitution and ignore core values of the majority of citizens will be the legacy of Chief Justice John Roberts’ Supreme Court. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Who can we rely on?

Observing the legal landscape involving Trump, right now the deck is stacked against the rule of law. Those of us who still believe in holding lawbreakers accountable may feel powerless, after the highest court in the land turned its back on the sensible (and clear cut) meaning of words in the Constitution.

On Monday, the not-so-Supreme Court ignored plainspoken language, contained in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, Section 3, and rejected Colorado’s state’s right to remove insurrectionist Trump from their primary ballot. Other states intent on removing Trump from the ballot can no longer do so, either.

In a bombshell, not only did the Supreme Court pave the way for future insurrectionists to run for president, but the court foolishly opened the door for 20-year-old U.S. citizens or foreign nationals to run for president. (If Section 3, barring insurrectionists from seeking the presidency is invalid then it’s reasonable to assume the age restriction and born-in-the-USA requirement of Article 2, Section 1.4, can conveniently be ignored.)

In a disturbing continuance, some within the legal system fail to take down the most criminal human this nation has ever produced. That is not hyperbole; name someone worse that Trump. Go ahead… Jefferson Davis? Al Capone? The Boston Strangler? Charles Manson? O.J. Simpson? Timothy McVeigh? Not one of them, or anyone else in American history, has operated with the variety of sustained moral, ethical and criminal depravity displayed by Trump.

Ironically, only in his home state has Trump been held accountable. New York state Attorney General Leticia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Judge Lewis Kaplan and Judge Arthur Engoron, free from meddling by the U.S. Supreme Court, have hammered Trump for his rape of, and subsequent defamation of, E. Jean Carroll. And the Trump Organization’s unprecedented business fraud was met with a $355 billion dollar fine, plus interest. Now, the only one of Trump’s four criminal trials still on track is Bragg’s election interference trial, set to begin March 25.

Why are some people chicken when it comes to nailing Trump? (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Trump Accommodation Club

It didn’t have to be this way. But for unexplained reasons, the Supreme Court, certain members of Congress and so-called “normal” Republican constituents have chosen to turn the other cheek when it comes to Trump. Accommodation, unfortunately, is the playbook for the very people who possess the power to stop Trump’s madness. For example, a Republican-controlled Senate twice refused to find the obviously guilty Trump guilty and remove him from the presidency. (The mainstream media undoubtedly accommodate Trump but that’s for another day.)

Robert Mueller, a Trump Accommodation Club charter member, was named special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. But Mueller accommodated when he should have taken Trump apart. The Mueller Report, without directly saying so, identified crimes committed by Trump. But during congressional testimony Mueller refused to take an aggressive, definitive stand. Instead, he delivered obscurant language, inadvertently supporting the second worst U.S. Attorney General in history, crooked Bill Barr, and his subterfuge that bailed out Trump. Mueller himself doomed public acceptance of his report when he feebly wobbled through the congressional hearing, sounding unfamiliar with the report’s content.

It has been documented in this space that former-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi set a new dilly-dallying standard while she avoided impeaching Trump the first time. Pelosi, otherwise a brilliant House Speaker, tarnished her legacy with phrases like “[Trump’s] not worth impeaching.” When urgency was required to go after the thug Trump, Pelosi accommodated, employing imprudent, cautious wariness.

Recently, in typical too-nice Democrat mode, Pelosi complimented retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell on his legislative career. The same McConnell who, by rigging the appointment process, cleared the way for Trump to appoint three conservative justices which led to the Supreme Court overturning women’s abortion rights. The same McConnell who led the way for corporate money to obscenely influence politicians and legislation. The same McConnell who this week, instead of defending his wife’s honor, endorsed Trump.

A soft and squishy approach won’t do if good is to defeat evil. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Another member of the Trump Accommodation Club is Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis. After proclaiming “imminence” Willis squandered seven months before indicting Trump. And when her mojo was working, backing Trump and his racketeering co-defendants into a corner, Willis melted down like that nuclear reactor in Chernobyl. Despite bad optics from her romantic relationship with her lead special counsel, Willis may survive attempts to remove her from the case. Still, her cringe-worthy testimony makes you wonder if Willis can handle the task. Meanwhile, precious time has been wasted.

No one is surprised that a Trump-appointed lackey, Judge Aileen Cannon, is taking good care of Trump in his classified documents case. Cannon barely pretends to do the right thing, blatantly orchestrating the timing of Trump’s classified documents trial so that – and you can take this to Las Vegas or wherever you place bets – the South Florida trial will not happen before the election.

(One wonders why Special Counsel Jack Smith chose to accommodate Trump and prosecute the classified documents case in Florida? It seems that since the documents were stolen from Washington, D.C., the trial should have been in D.C. For example, if you rob a bank in D.C. and take the money to your home in West Palm Beach, your trial would be in D.C., the jurisdiction where the crime occurred.)

The captain of the Trump Accommodation Club is Attorney General Merrick Garland. In the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, insurrection (an insurrection that produced seditious conspiracy convictions for several participants), Garland hit the snooze button relative to pursuing Trump, even though Trump guided the insurrection.

Garland appears unsure of himself, nervous and timid, a scaredy cat who allowed precious time to slip away before finally appointing Special Counsel Jack Smith, in November 2022. That’s nearly two years after Trump’s violent attempt to overthrow the United States government.

No one stoked the opportunity for Trump to get away with crimes more than Garland. And with the Supreme Court wrongly hearing, and now slow walking, Trump’s immunity appeal there is at least a 50-50 chance neither federal trial will commence before the November 2024 election. Because of his beneath-the-dignity-of-his-office anxiety, fear and hesitation when the biggest chips were on the table, Merrick Garland easily supplants Bill Barr as the worst attorney general in U.S. history.

Where will you be November 5, 2024? (Photo credit The Weekly Opine)

Who can we count on? Us, that’s who.

Failure of Congress, Robert Mueller, Nancy Pelosi, Fani Willis and Merrick Garland, coupled with corruption within the Supreme Court and blatant, corrupt accommodation courtesy of Judge Aileen Cannon make it plaintively clear: It always was, and still is, up to us.

The real key to getting rid of the stench of Trump and his MAGA ilk is for democracy-respecting citizens to show up at the polls come November, and vote against Republicans.

That’s all. Just vote. For Democrats.