Donald Trump and the party of political violence

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Several times over the past few years, political observers have compared Donald Trump’s presidency to Richard Nixon’s. The audio tapes implicated each of them in criminal behavior. Both tried to manipulate the Justice Department to avoid prosecution. Both made history as “firsts” – Nixon for resigning from the presidency, Trump for being impeached while a former president.

The difference is how Republicans responded to the Nixon and Trump scandals.

When evidence emerged that Nixon had obstructed justice, enough Republicans were ready to impeach and remove him from office. Instead, they pushed him into resignation; Rank-and-file Republicans have signaled their support.

After special prosecutor Archibald Cox tried to force Nixon to turn over tape recordings proving his involvement in the Watergate scandal, Nixon fired him. Within 36 hours, the Western Union office in Washington received 71,000 telegrams, mostly supporting impeachment. Polls showed only 24 percent of Americans approved of Nixon’s job performance.

When it comes to Trump, however, there has been little pushback from Republican leaders or audible outcry from GOP voters about Trump’s improprieties, including his alleged crimes.

In 2021, only seven of the 50 Senate Republicans dared to vote for his conviction after the House impeached him for inciting an insurrection to overthrow the 2020 election. Only one Republican in the Senate voted to convict Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of justice in his first impeachment trial in 2020.

Trump has apparently decided he can’t be touched. If Congress had held him accountable for bad behavior, he might have been more careful to avoid the criminal behavior he is now charged with.

Similarly, strict law enforcement is necessary to discourage Trump’s people from obscene threats of violence. Last week, The New York Times reported that Trump’s supporters referred to his latest accusations as an act of war and called for violence and an uprising. Fortunately, the MAGA militia did not answer the call when Trump appeared on Tuesday to face charges under the Espionage Act. Several relatives came out to Miami for his arrest. The Justice Department may have intimidated them with its arrest of approximately 1,000 participants after the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

However, calls for violence continue. Trump recently accused special prosecutor Jack Smith of being a terrorist and referred to Smith’s wife and sister-in-law as “Trump haters.” On social media, Trump supporters reacted to his latest indictment by threatening civil war, declaring that “we need to start killing these traitorous f—kstains. […] until the bodies start stacking up,” and wrote that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s children are “fair game.”

After Trump’s latest accusation, even his main political opponent at the moment, Florida’s rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, came to his defense, saying, “Arming federal law enforcement is a mortal which is a threat to a free society.” While no one can deny DeSantis’ expertise in threatening a free society, his statement makes no sense. The government should always “use” law enforcement to deal with lawbreakers. That is one of the keys to a free society.

US Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) tweeted that “We have reached the stage of war. Eye for an eye,” after Smith released the indictment regarding the classified documents; Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Trump’s eldest child, posted “RETRIBUTION IS COMING”; and Kari Lake, who lost last year’s Arizona gubernatorial election, reminded us that many of Trump’s supporters own guns. A conservative talk show host has suggested obliquely that the US Marines should forcibly remove President Biden from the White House.

As the New York Times reported earlier this month, “Calls to action and threats were amplified on right-wing media sites and met with supportive responses from social media users and cheers from audiences, who have been conditioned for years by Mr. Trump and his allies to see any effort to hold him accountable as attacks against him.” The key word is “responsible.”

The Times continued, “Experts on political violence warn that attacks against people or institutions become more likely when elected officials or prominent media figures can threaten violence with impunity. Experts on political violence say that even aggressive speech by high-profile individuals does not directly end in physical harm, it creates a dangerous environment in which the idea of ​​violence becomes more accepted. , especially if such rhetoric goes unchecked.”

“So far, the politicians who have used this rhetoric to incite people to violence have not been held accountable,” said Mary McCord, a former senior official at the Justice Department. “Until that happens, there’s not a bit of a barrier to using this kind of language.”

Federal law enforcement officers are doing their jobs, but where is the pushback from the American people? Where are the 71,000 telegrams now? Where are the respected members of society and both political parties who should be on talk shows and social media to make it clear that it is not only unacceptable but also un-American to promote or participate in political violence, domestic terrorism and armed threats, including declarations that the children of law enforcement officers are “fair game”? Shouldn’t we reclaim the American flag from violent extremists who claim to be patriots by wrapping themselves in it?

Perhaps Trump and his supporters are feeling the brunt of the First Amendment’s body armor as they try to intimidate and intimidate law enforcement. But the US Supreme Court has ruled that speech is not protected when it is “directed to the incitement or imminent commission of unlawful action and is likely to incite or commit such action.”

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If there is one lesson we should take from the Trump years, it is that impunity for wrongdoing encourages more wrongdoing, including violence and incitement to violence. Loyal Americans must stand against terrorism and violence in all forms, verbal and physical, overt and implied, from both sides. Prominent influencers from sports, entertainment, religion and other areas in civil society should speak out publicly to condemn political violence and threats. And the Republican Party should officially distance itself from Trump, kick him off its ticket and recommend that its 36 million registered voters do the same.

Those who remember Watergate know the chaos it caused. We also remember how Republicans did the right thing. Who would have thought that 50 years later Watergate would be considered the “good old days” of taking a stand against corruption?

William S. Becker is co-editor and a contributor to “Democracy Unchained: How to Rebuild Government for the People,” a collection of more than 30 essays by American thought leaders on topics such as the perceived legitimacy of the Court supreme

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