The Joke Is on You, Mr. President
Is President Donald Trump ignorant of the workings of the American system of jurisprudence, or is he contemptuous of constitutional values? Or does he blend lack of knowledge with malevolence, resulting in the most serious threat to American democracy since Richard Nixon? Trump’s toxic brew was on display last week, first in his blusterous reaction to the New York City terrorist attack and, then, in his repeated and — in American history — unprecedented calls for the Justice Department to investigate his 2016 presidential political opponent.
Trump’s reaction to the New York attack was to blame the criminal justice system. The president evidently believes that granting due process of law to criminal defendants encourages terrorism. “We need quick justice and we need strong justice — much quicker and much stronger than we have right now,” Trump said. “Because what we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughingstock. And no wonder so much of this stuff takes place.”
Think about that statement: The president of the United States said the criminal justice system of the country he governs is a “joke.” The thought is so repugnant that the White House press secretary’s defense of the president was to deny he said what he clearly said. When a reporter asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders, “Why did the president call the U.S. justice system a joke and a laughingstock,” she responded, “That’s not what he said. He said that the process has people calling us a joke and a laughingstock.” No, he did not. Trump never said there were “people calling us a joke.” He called our system “a joke.”
But, never mind the semantics. The president is wrong. The American justice system has handed down stiff punishments to convicted terrorists, and it has done so quickly. “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid tried to blow up a plane in 2001, pleaded guilty the next year, and was sentenced to life in prison the year after. In 2010, Faisal Shahzad attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square; five months later, he received a life sentence. The surviving bomber of the 2013 Boston Marathon was convicted and sentenced to death two years later. Is this not quick enough for our president of the short attention span? And, all of this was done legally and with constitutional protections. Looks to me like a system worthy of praise, not condemnation.
Even worse than his offensive comments about terrorism and justice were Trump’s frequent calls for an investigation of his 2016 political opponent. It is no accident that Trump’s tweet storm about Hillary Clinton’s alleged misdeeds followed fast on the special counsel’s indictments of Trump campaign officials. The president clearly is a man desperate to change the subject. Hence, this tweet: “There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”
It gets worse. “Major violation of Campaign Finance Laws and Money Laundering — where is our Justice Department?” Trump tweeted. Then, this: “Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems..” And, finally, this tweet: “....People are angry. At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it!”
All this suggests the instincts of an autocrat. True, Trump sometimes appears to glimpse that his power is limited, but that awareness is followed quickly by a lament that he lacks the authority to prosecute his opponents. “You know, the saddest thing is, because I am the president of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department,” Trump told a conservative talk show host. “I’m not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I’m not supposed to be doing the kind of things I would love to be doing and I am very frustrated by it.”
Before leaving on his 12-day trip to Asia, Trump demanded that his Justice Department shape up and go after the administration’s political enemies. “I’m really not involved with the Justice Department,” the president said. “I’d like to let it run itself. But, honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats…. A lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me.”
In his nine months in office, the president has not confined his attacks on the Constitution to rhetoric. He has acted numerous times. He fired the FBI director over the Russia investigation, meddled in the prosecution of Joe Arpaio, the notorious anti-immigrant sheriff from Arizona whom Trump subsequently pardoned, and urged the FBI to lay off investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn. These are the actions of a would-be autocrat insensitive to the values of the American constitutional system.
So far, the nation can take comfort in the president’s inability to get his way. Prosecutors in New York have moved against the accused attacker in a legal manner, and there is no evidence that Justice Department officials are heeding Trump’s demand to investigate Clinton.
Americans can take pride that the system erected by the Founders has resisted Trump’s autocratic tendencies. But, there is no telling how far this president — either through his ignorance or his malevolence — will go if the special prosecutor’s investigation of Russian meddling in the election gets closer to Trump. Then, Trump’s actions may force Congress to take the decisive step and impeach this autocratic president.
If that happens, it will not be the criminal justice system that is a “joke.” Instead, the joke will be on Donald Trump.
Posted November 7, 2017