I used to wonder why Trump had such fondness for authoritarian leaders of other countries: North Korea, China, Russia, Hungary. Those nations aren’t exactly exemplars of freedom and human rights, to put it mildly.
But now that Trump is unleashing his own authoritarianism to a much greater degree than he did in his first term as president, it’s obvious that Trump adores authoritarians because he’s one himself. And if there’s one person Trump loves (there may only be one), it’s himself.
Yesterday Trump posted this on his Truth Social propaganda account. “Pam” is Pam Bondi, Trump’s Attorney General. James Comey was the FBI Director in Trump’s first term. Adam Schiff is a United States Senator. Letitia James is the New York Attorney General (he spelled her first name wrong). What they have in common is that they all irritated Trump by standing up to his outrageous and often illegal behavior.
As painful as it is for me to pay close attention to Trump’s B.S. that he spouts in his Truth Social posts, I’ll suck it up and comment on each of Trump’s highly inappropriate statements, which, combined, amount to a full-throated impeachment-worthy call for Bondi to use her position to prosecute three opponents of Trump on — there’s no other way to say this — trumped up charges.
He starts out by citing over 30 members of the Cult of Trump who supposedly are upset that Bondi is actually acting like a responsible attorney in this instance and not prosecuting people who haven’t committed a crime. That’s heresy for Trump, whose twisted legal theory is “If I don’t like someone, make up some crime and find them guilty of the thing they didn’t do.”
Then Trump declares that Comey, Schiff, and James are “guilty as hell” of the things they didn’t do, but so far Bondi hasn’t started an investigation into the things they didn’t do — which isn’t at all surprising, since it’s tough to investigate a crime that never happened.
The references to a U.S. Attorney in Virginia relate to Erik Siebert, who declined to start investigations into James and Comey, undoubtedly because there wasn’t any evidence of wrongdoing by them. Virginia’s two Democratic senators didn’t block Siebert’s nomination (through the Blue Slip process). Siebert resigned rather than go against his oath of office to uphold the law and the constitution. Naturally Trump lied about firing him, though Siebert did resign under pressure.
Lindsey Halligan was Trump’s personal lawyer. He wants to install her as Siebert’s replacement, even though she has never prosecuted a case in her entire career. Halligan’s current job is removing “improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution. So her only qualification to be the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia is that Trump believes that Halligan will prosecute anyone Trump wants indicted, regardless of the not-so-minor fact that they haven’t done anything wrong.
Regarding Trump’s two impeachments and five indictments, they were all well deserved.
Regarding the indictments, Trump was found guilty of sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll and of falsifying business records connected with his Stormy Daniels affair. The cases involving Trump’s mishandling of classified government documents and interference in the certification of the 2020 election were dropped after Trump was re-elected in 2024. Both cases had ample evidence for a conviction if they’d been able to move forward. The Georgia case alleging interference with the 2020 election has stumbled along and is on hold at present.
So those five indictments definitely weren’t about nothing, or as Trump puts it, NOTHING. Yet Trump’s sole reason for wanting Bondi to prosecute James, Comey, and Schiff even though there’s no evidence they committed any crimes, is that Trump was prosecuted and twice convicted for his crimes. This is like a spoiled child wailing and crying because their sibling got dessert and they didn’t, even though the spoiled brat didn’t finish their dinner and so doesn’t deserve dessert.
All this would be amusing, if it wasn’t so serious. The United States is moving rapidly toward becoming a country run by an authoritarian who has no respect for the constitution and our rule of law. Trump is a clear and present danger to our democracy. He needs to be opposed with strength, fortitude, and determination, or my 18 year old grandchild isn’t going to be able to live in the free country that all of us have taken for granted. Until now.
NEXT DAY UPDATE: The Washington Post has an excellent story about how dangerous and unusual Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department to go after his political opponents is. Here’s a gift link to “Trump’s new demands on Justice Department raise alarm among prosecutors.” Everyone should be able to read the story. Excerpt:
Other federal prosecutors in Maryland, Georgia and western Virginia who are currently handling politically sensitive probes may soon face similar pressure to fall in line.
“I just want people to act. They have to act,” Trump told reporters outside the White House Saturday evening, adding: “We have to act fast.”
Former Justice Department officials said they are stunned by what they see as the acceleration and increasing audacity of Trump’s demands.
Just in the past week, the president and members of his administration threatened to prosecute critics for what they described as “hate speech.”They floated the notion of charging Democratic donors and organizers under federal racketeering laws. And on Friday, they forced out Erik S. Siebert, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, after he opted not to pursue indictments against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and former FBI director James B. Comey, citing a lack of evidence that they had committed crimes.
Any one of those events, in previous administrations, could have spawned congressional investigations, probes by inspectors general and widespread pushback from inside the Justice Department, an institution that since Watergate has prized itself on its independence from direct White House pressure, legal observers said.
“We’ve never seen anything even approaching this level of interference with the day-to-day job of prosecutors,” said Carol Lam, a former U.S. attorney in California, who served during the administration of President George W. Bush.
“Having personal vindictiveness steer prosecutions, you see that seeping down the ranks” of the Justice Department, she said. “And there appears to be no bottom.”
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