As Politico reports in the USA this morning:
Donald Trump has not been exonerated for his “unprecedented criminal effort” to subvert the 2020 election and cling to power after he lost to Joe Biden.
That's the message special counsel Jack Smith delivered in his final report, which laid out evidence Smith said would have resulted in Trump's conviction at trial. Trump is only off the hook, the special counsel wrote, because he won back the White House in 2024, forcing the Justice Department to shut down the historic prosecution.
Do I believe this - because I know the US Republicans will not? Yes, I do.
Do I believe Trump should still be prosecuted? Yes, I do. There will be the chance in four years' time unless Trump excuses himself - which would be unprecedented.
And do I think the world should take note? Of course, I do. This man is not just a felon (as he can rightly be described); he can also be fairly considered to be the person behind a coup attempt in the USA, the consequences of which he only avoided by getting re-elected as President using the funds of far-right oligarchs who have the intention of completing the job of destroying democracy, which he very clearly began.
Anyone dealing with him has to know that.
Relationships of trust, such as they might be, have to take this fact into account.
And when. considering the role of the USA as a defender of the Western world and its democracies (as it has liked to style itself), the fact that the man now in charge of its forces does not actually believe in democracy has to be acknowledged.
Many of us have long had our doubts about the claims made by US politicians on a great many issues, considering the place to be so dysfunctional when viewed from afar that anything they said was very obviously in conflict with the reality of the lives lived by so many Americans. And yet, deep down, I also thought they believed the stories they told themselves, however unlikely their actions made that seem. Now, I cannot do that. Trump is, in this sense, honest: he does not pretend to be governing for the sake of anyone but himself, which is precisely what he will do.
The real question is, however, the 'so what?' one. What difference does knowing all this really make because it is Trump who is now in office? Amercian justice has failed. The constitution has failed to protect the country from one of the biggest threats it has ever faced. A man wholly unfit to lead the country is in charge. There is nothing anyone there, or as relevant, outside the US can do about it.
And yet there is. We could have leaders who make it clear that they know what Trump is.
We could have politicians who could deliver the Hugh Grant speech from 'Love Actually'.
We could have combined action to challenge the worst of what he will do, from a trade war to deportation, to the persecution of minorities and more.
We could say that this is not the way the world should be.
We could have politicians who say that, but will we when so many are already queuing up to imitate Trump's actions, as Farage and Badenoch are certainly trying to do here in the UK, with Starmer and Lammy already looking hopelessly discombobulated by everything about his election?
My fear is that fear will prevail, that right will not be done, words will not be said, and that harm will happen in plain sight and go uncommented on by those with the power to speak but who will choose not to do so. I would like to be wrong. Let's see what happens.
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Let’s not forget that Trump – as well as being a felon – has had links with Russia that have not really been addressed and counts Roger Stone among the people he works with who himself was associated with one Roy Cohn – look that character up – who had a long standing association with the Trump family and who was involved in the McCarthy period (mind you, so was arch Liberal Bobby Kennedy at one time).
Trump has led a charmed life to be honest – he has had lots of protection to get where he is.
Conspiracy? I think we are looking at a bona fide project to be honest.
TBH Eagleton nailed what happened here as the ‘Starmer Project’ which now know (as some of us lefties half-knew) was financed and directed from 2015, aided by a huge chunk of the ‘Labour’ hierarchy. To call Trumps accession a project seems appropriate, if on a much larger scale. Behind our version we have the very wealthy, private equity, and foreign sovereign interests (USA and Israel). Fortunately our version is Tory, not fascist; it seems the latter may arrive if Labour don’t change course.
Trump became president by winning the support of (much) more of the voting population than Harris. Who spent much, much more on her campaign.
So you comment about ‘far right’ money needs a significant caveat!
Politely, that is nonsense, unless of course you think that spending had no influence at all, in which case why was it spent?
As I understand it, Democrats raised & spent significantly more on trying to win the election than Republicans, quite dramatically so in the case of the Presidential & Senate ‘races’. So whatever the origin of their funding (‘right’ or ‘left’) Republicans seem to have put it to better use. It’s quite bewildering, & hard to believe that cheating wasn’t involved, not least because Trump has never achieved anything in his life without cheating. https://www.opensecrets.org/elections-overview
How much was social and other media support worth?
@Belinda
Trump won re-election because the average “wage earning” USA household did feel “immediate direct tangible financial benefits” of Biden’s policies.
Trump has two years or he (the Republicans) will lose control of both the the Senate and the House. If Trump loses control of one or both chambers of Congress, just take him out of the oven and stick a fork in him as he is DONE!
There is a brewing schism in the Republican party that is getting wider by the minute.
…did NOT feel “immediate direct tangible financial benefits” of Biden’s policies… I assume. Yes. One would also hope they were sickened by his backing of genocide or proxy wars, but I suspect they were indifferent to that. MAGA implies its right to rule the world.
@Inga,
Sorry! My mind was moving faster than my fingers!
As a dual UK/US national I despair that both my home countries are in the grip of malign political and economic forces. We who see this have to work and stand together to try and combat the worst that may be in store.
On this topic two excellent segments of Rachel Maddow’s show are well worth watching, Richard.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
She is good
“. .the Hugh Grant speech from ‘Love Actually’”
. . . or the Michael Douglas speech from “The American President”
We might step back from denouncing Trump as a classic fascist if, in 4 years time, he just leaves office and allows a free ( or as free as the US oligarchy allows) election of a successor.
But current events in South Korea might provide him with a blueprint of a strategy to stay in power.
There , an incumbent President , not wishing to allow normal politics to proceed , tried to introduce Martial Law to suppress his opponents. ( It has still not been explained WHY he chose such a risky action).
Though he failed to impose Martial Law, he resists being arrested by simply staying in his office and surrounding himself with his own armed security troops. Also, thousands of his civilian supporters gather around the building some waving printed placards with the slogan, in English, ” Stop the Steal”, Trumps own slogan when denying the election of Biden. The same crowds wave US flags.
As I write, the legitimate security forces seem reluctant to provoke disorder by trying to break through the cordon to arrest him. Stalemate. How committed to democracy is the South Korean army or other parts of the state administration? The same question could be asked of the US state machine. And who in the USA would be willing to provoke Civil War if Trump could repeat his strategy of gathering thousands of armed supporters on the streets of Washington? We are cursed to be living in interesting times.
I gather this morning that he has been arrested
Well, if he has been arrested, the comparisons with Trump become clearer. Trumps own coup also collapsed as he did not line up sufficient support from the military or police. Presumably, neither man will make the same mistake next time.