When High School American history teachers in thirty years (assuming we have high schools, and, assuming we still have teachers) look back, they will call this the \u201cTrump Era\u201d. Right or wrong, he earned the distinction of having his name attached to a time in American history, just as much as the Roosevelts, or Jackson, or even Washington. And, assuming those future teachers (I kind of have a \u201cJetson\u2019s\u201d image of the thing) are somewhat truthful, they will talk about the awful polarization of our time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We do that now when we teach about the Pre-Civil War period of the United States. Starting with the aging \u201cGreat Compromisers\u201d of the 1850\u2019s Congress, the country found less to agree upon, and more to rail against. By 1856, the compromising was over, and in five years the chasm over the issue of slavery drove us to Civil War. When Lincoln intoned that a nation could not live “Half slave and half free,\u201d he wasn\u2019t saying something new. He was just recognizing that all the other methods of conflict resolution had failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not prophesizing a civil war now, but I am saying that most of our methods of conflict resolution have failed as well. We used to depend on the Courts to balance our partisan conflicts. But that is seldom the case anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look at the current North Carolina Supreme Court election, where a majority of Republicans on the Court are still refusing to acknowledge the narrow victory of a Democrat, Allison Riggs for one of their seats. After the original vote count, the Democrat won by 700 or so votes out of 5.5 million. The Republican candidate, Jefferson Griffin, rightfully demanded a recount. And when that count didn\u2019t change the outcome, he asked for a second hand recount. Riggs gained a few votes, to a winning margin of 734.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, after all of that, Griffin went to court to demand that 60,000 ballots be thrown out due to \u201cineligibility\u201d. This is after the state ruled them eligible and allowed them to vote, an ex-post-facto argument. And who will determine whether Griffin or Riggs will be on the North Carolina Supreme Court based on this \u201cafter the fact\u201d eligibility decision? Well, the Republican majority of the North Carolina Supreme Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It used to be that we would still trust \u201cthe Court\u201d to do the right thing. Today, no one will be surprised if North Carolina\u2019s highest judicial body does the \u201cpolitical\u201d thing, and puts another Republican on the bench. It would just be another \u201cmarker\u201d in our age of division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much as some would tell us to deny \u201cour lying ears\u201d, we know that Donald Trump and his MAGA minions declared the intent to \u201cpunish\u201d those who tried to hold them accountable for trying to steal the 2020 election and the Insurrection of January 6th<\/sup>. Those to be punished are literally on an \u201cenemies list\u201d, published by Trump\u2019s candidate for FBI Director, Kash Patel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And they are ingrained in statement after statement, in public and on social media, made by the candidate himself as he ran for President in 2024. The \u201cLOCK HER UP\u201d chant against Hillary Clinton in 2016, became \u201cLOCK THEM UP\u201d, to include the January 6th<\/sup> Congressional Committee, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Jack Smith of the Justice Department, General Milley, and others. In fact, Trump thought that Milley ought to be executed for treason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be easy to say that it was all \u201crhetoric\u201d, and that no one would use the Justice Department to exact some form of revenge against an \u201cenemies list\u201d. But there\u2019s one thing this \u201cTrump Era\u201d taught us. From the early \u201cMuslim Ban\u201d to child separation at the border: if they can think it, they can do it. No one should be surprised if members of the list; from Liz Cheney to Adam Kinzinger to Dr. Fauci to the good General; find themselves under criminal investigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I guess we could hope that the \u201cnorms\u201d hold, and that the Courts would toss such investigations out. But there\u2019s little we\u2019ve seen in the American Court system, especially the United States Supreme Court, that should give us comfort. The Supreme Court has gone so far as created a blanket immunity for the President of the United States for \u201cofficial\u201d criminal wrong-doing, taking the ancient concept of \u201csovereign immunity\u201d and applying it to the Presidency as if he was what George Washington refused to be, a King. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Biden, in the last morning of his Presidency, recognized that we live in \u201cdifferent\u201d times. He issued a Presidential pardon to the members of the January 6th<\/sup> Congressional Committee, to those who testified before that Committee, to Dr. Anthony Fauci, and to General Milley. They are pardoned for any \u201ccrime\u201d they might have committed in that time. And, they are now immune from investigation and prosecution. General Milley, now retired, was \u201cdeeply grateful\u201d for the pardon, stating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There will be some, even some Democrats, who criticize President Biden. They say that granting a pardon is conceding that there was in fact a \u201ccrime\u201d, that needed pardoning. Some will say that even if Patel\u2019s FBI (if he gets appointed) did investigate, the Courts would protect justice and prove them innocent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we don\u2019t live in a time of \u201cinnocence\u201d. We live in the Trump Era, where, injustice is not only possible, it\u2019s likely. It\u2019s Inauguration Day, and dozens of Executive Orders will be issued this afternoon. Many of them will highlight the injustice of our new leaders. So for one last time, thank you Joe Biden, for everything you did, and for what you did today. It was just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you don\u2019t represent the end of justice in our Nation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What They Think<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Injustice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n